In the month of August 1836, the eldest of the three brothers, who is a dyer, was occupied with the details of his trade, and in a great heat, when loud cries from without informed him that a youth named Lartignes, the son of his father's bitterest enemy, was drowning in the river close by. Without a moment's hesitation he rushed out to his aid: in his precipitation he severely hurt his foot on the river side, but, unmindful of the injury he had sustained, he hastened on, leaped into the river, seized the drowning youth, and was bringing him to shore, when, his strength suddenly failing him, he was himself, with his burden, carried off by the stream. But luckily one of his brothers was there he saw the imminence of the danger which both ran, and immediately threw himself into the river to their aid. But to whom did he go first? To Lartignes, the son of his enemy! After depositing him in safety on the bank, he returned to his brother. Both were saved.

On another occasion, the river Lot having overflowed its banks during the night, invaded one of the most populous neighbourhoods of the town, causing incalculable loss of life and property. The next morning the victims of this terrible disaster might everywhere be discerned on the roofs of their houses, where they had taken refuge from the encroaching flood. The eldest of the brothers Conté was then serving in the French army, but his two brothers, the youngest of whom was only thirteen years of age, were still in Cahors, ready to risk their lives for the safety of their fellow-creatures. Notwithstanding the furious lashing of the waves, they entered their boat, and, one by one, rescued sixty persons from their precarious position. They did not leave the spot until, what with their own efforts, and those of some intrepid friends, the whole of the unfortunate creatures were in safety. But such unwonted exertions could not fail of producing their results for two months they were laid up with a burning fever, which threatened to end their days. Even then, one of the two brothers hearing that a poor old woman, of seventy-two years of age, had fallen into the river, instantly rushed out to her aid, and, without even bestowing a thought on the great risk he thus incurred by the state in which he was, he plunged into the river, and was fortunate enough in saving her. In 1838 the three brothers received from the French Academy a prize of 3000 francs (£120), accompanied with many expressions of esteem and admiration.

The three noble brothers still live, happy and honoured by their fellow-citizens, who feel a legitimate pride in numbering them among the inhabitants of Cahors. And long may they live, were it but to offer the touching example of such fraternal concord, which, if on ordinary occasions it be worthy of praise, may well be termed admirable when, as with the brothers Conté, it tends to unity of purpose in such a noble aim as the relief of our fellow

creatures!

HE erection of structures, either for shelter, for worship, for commemoration, or for other useful and ornamental purposes, is one of those branches of art in which mankind very early excelled. Hence it is that in eastern countries, whence we trace the progress of civilisation, some of the noblest and most stupendous of human erections are still to be found. Egypt, Syria, Persia, India, and China had their pyramids, catacombs, walls, towers, and temples long before Greece and Rome had being and though these may be deficient in that taste and ornamental gracefulness which make the Athenian structures models even at the present day, still many of them possessed a vastness and grandeur of conception which has stamped them as wonders to all following ages. When science and art arose in Greece, and flowed onward along the southern and western shores of Europe, even to our own remote island, the genius of architecture displayed itself in another form; the semi-barbaric vastitude of the Oriental pile gave way to chastened elegance and symmetrical compactness-beauty of form, and skilful arrangement, were substituted for mere magnitude and expense of labour. Notwithstanding the wide difference which thus exists between past and present, every age has had its architectural curiosity, remarkable for the skill, genius, labour, or boldness displayed in its accomplishment.

PYRAMIDS AND MONUMENTS OF EGYPT.

The whole of this interesting country is crowded with monuments of the gigantic architecture of former times and of different ages, among the most ancient, and by far the most stupendous of which are the Pyramids. These colossal erections, to which there is no parallel in other countries, are situated on a rocky tract at the foot of those mountains which form the western boundary of the valley of the Nile. They are about thirty in number, and are scattered along a tract of nearly seventy miles in length—commencing with those of Gizeh, near Cairo, and ending with a small group a little below Feshu. The principal group-a distant view of which is given in the cut preceding this article-occurs near the place where stood the ancient city of Memphis, and consists of four pretty entire, with a number of smaller ones in a state of dilapidation. The four faces exactly correspond to the four cardinal points. The most northern, commonly known as the "Great Pyramid," is the largest; its perpendicular height being little short of 500 feet, and its base covering more than eleven acres of land. The base forms a square, whose side is 733 feet; and as the length of the sloping side upwards is equal to that of the base, each face presents an equilateral triangle. It must not be supposed, however, that these structures are smooth-sided, sharp-pointed, mathematical pyramids; for the summits are not now entire, and the sides, whatever may have been their original condition, consist in reality of a number of steps formed by the successive layers of stone. The number of steps in the Great Pyramid are from 207 to 212, each step or layer being from two and a half to four feet high, and broad in proportion to its height-the length of some of the blocks being not less than thirty feet. The size of the blocks is unequal, but they have all the figure of a prism, that they may fit closely together. These external layers have neither mortar nor cramps; but in the body of the Pyramid a kind of cement is used, composed of lime, earth, and clay. The only foundation is the surface of the subjacent rock, which is about eighty feet above the level of the ground annually overflowed by the Nile.

Respecting the purpose of these erections numerous conjectures have been offered; but the opinion now generally entertained is, that they were erected by the ancient kings of Egypt as their private mausoleums or tombs. This idea is so far supported by the fact, that the larger pyramid, near Memphis, has interior chambers, in one of which is a marble sarcophagus, supposed to have contained the ashes of the monarch who completed the structure. The passages and chambers of this pyramid, which are walled and covered with polished marble and granite, are of a curious and intricate kind. They have been entered and explored

by various travellers, who have described the hazardous nature of the undertaking, and who are unanimous in their belief that other passages and chambers-perhaps the chief recesses-are yet to be discovered. None of the others of this group have been opened, nor have they been so frequently ascended as the Great Pyramid, in consequence of their offering a less extensive prospect of the surrounding country. The summits of the second and third are coated with polished granite, and that of the fourth, though destitute of such coating, is nevertheless terminated by a single block of stone. All this group, indeed, seem to have been originally coated, so as to make their sides one uniform slope, and also to have had their summits sharp and pointed; but time has destroyed their finish, and left it in accumulations of stone and mortar at their bases. It must not be supposed, however, that all the pyramids are equally magnificent in their structure; for many of those farther up the country are built of unburned bricks, or are mere accumulations of earth, faced with these materials.

The Egyptian pyramids, as has been stated, are of different ages; but those we have described are considered by Mr Wilkinson to be the most ancient, and to have been built by Suphis, and his brother Sensuphis, about 2120 years before the Christian era. But whatever was the time of their erection, or by whom erected, there can be no doubt of their being amongst the earliest, as they are unquestionably the most stupendous, monuments of human architecture. Diodorus Siculus asserts that the building of the Great Pyramid occupied about twenty years, and that three hundred and sixty thousand men were employed in its construction; and when its vastitude, its finish externally and internally, and the then comparatively rude state of mechanical power are taken into account, one cannot consider his statement as in any degree exaggerated.

The other architectural monuments of Egypt which have attracted the attention of after-ages are the Great Sphinx, the labyrinth of Arsinöe, the reputed musical statues of Memnon, the hieroglyphical obelisks of Luxor, the catacombs of Thebes, the obelisks known as Cleopatra's Needles, and the Pillar of Pompey. The Great Sphinx, though sadly mutilated, is still to be seen about sixty yards to the south-east of the Great Pyramid already described. This enormous figure-which is intended to represent the body of a lion with the breasts and head of a woman-is cut out of the solid rock, and seems to have been formed as a monument in connexion with the inundation of the Nile, which takes place when the sun passes from Leo to Virgo. Its huge recumbent body, about sixty feet in length, and its outstretched fore-legs, are almost entirely buried in sand and rubbish; but the neck and head rise above the wreck-the latter being twenty feet high-and, though much mutilated, still possessing a considerable degree of feminine beauty.

passed with a vast ditch filled with water, and lined with bricks on both sides; and as the earth dug out made the bricks, we may judge of the size by the height and thickness of the walls. There were one hundred gates round the wall, twenty-five on each side, all of solid brass; between every two of these gates were three towers, and four more at the four corners, and each of these towers was ten feet higher than the walls: in all, there were 250 towers. The Euphrates flowed through the middle of the city from north to south, over which there was a bridge 1100 yards long, and 30 feet wide; on each end of the bridge was a palace of vast magnificence, which communicated with each other by a tunnel under a channel of the river. Added to this, ancient historians tell us of the hanging gardens built in Babylon upon arches and towers, wherein grew trees of great height. There are said to have been five of these, each containing about four English acres, consisting of terraces one above another, as high as the wall of the city. The ascent from terrace to terrace was by steps ten feet wide, and was strengthened by a wall surrounding it on every side twentytwo feet thick; and the floors on each of them were laid in this order: first, on the tops of the arches, a bed or pavement of stones, sixteen feet long and four feet broad; over this a layer of reed, mixed with earth, and over this two courses of brick, and over these thick sheets of lead, and on these the earth or mould, which was so deep, as to give root to the largest trees. Upon the uppermost of these terraces was a reservoir, supplied by an engine with water from the river Euphrates." celebrated Tower of Babel, originally built in the plains of Shinar, but afterwards enclosed as a part of Babylon, was carried on, according to Scriptural chronology, 2247 years before Christ. Its altitude is said to have been about 843 feet (being 343 feet higher than the loftiest of the Pyramids of Egypt), and its circumference at the base 8430 feet-admeasurements generally repeated, but for which there is no authentic record.

The

Ecbatane, the capital of Media, was also of immense magnificence-being eight leagues in circumference, and surrounded with seven walls, in form of an amphitheatre, the battlements of which were painted of various colours, and gilded. Nineveh, according to Diodorus, was sixty miles in circuit; the walls, which were defended by 1500 towers, were 100 feet high, and so broad, that three chariots could go abreast on them. Persepolis was another city, of which all historians speak as being one of the most ancient and noble of Asia. There remain the ruins of one of its palaces, which measured 600 paces in front, and still displays the relics of its ancient grandeur. Tyre, Balbec, and Palmyra, were likewise famous cities of antiquity-the temple of the sun in the latter being regarded, in its day, as one of the most gorgeous of Oriental erections. Every child must have heard of the famous towers and walls of Troy; and few readers