Page:Landon in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book 1835.pdf/85

Rh

Rh

'Tis they who elevate and who redeem, By some great purpose, some on-looking end, The mere brute exercise of common strength. Yet these have left no trace. The mighty shrine, Undeified, speaks force, and only force, Man's meanest attribute.

is impossible to help regretting the desecration of these Titanic temples. Better the imposing presence of any religion than of none. The utter desertion of these cavern shrines is even more extraordinary than their original erection. Architecture was the first wonder of the world. Alike gigantic—the pyramid, the temple, and the tomb are the written language of earth's earliest records. No details of builder or of building have come down to our distant day. Yet the principle in man's nature which led to their erection remains the same. We comprehend the motive of these mighty monuments. But in the Caves of Elephanta not a trace remains, to account for one of the most singular revolutions that ever took place in public opinion; taking place, too, in a country where every thing is so immoveable. Strange, for the religion to remain the same, when its altars are deserted! There are some mysteries, like the statue of Isis, from whose face science never lifts the veil.