Alabama State Intelligencer

Greece. The following description of the Parthenon,

which we extract from a letter dated at Athens,

will probably interest our readers. 'There is an interest

almost sacred attached to the history of Grecian

art, and the enthusiasm of the writer, from

whose letter we quote below, is calculated to communicate

itself to the reader:

"How shall I introduce you to the holiest and

most magnificent ruin the world contains? The temple

of the tutelary goddess of Athens and of Greece.

As I wound round the corner of the Propylaea, and

caught the first full view of its stupendous remains,

the sentiments with which it filled me were those

of admiration and awe: which, as I continued to

gaze, increased in purity and depth till lost in one

delicious glow of enthusiasm. I scarcely knew whether

I was in the body or out of it.' This is not exaggeration.

No painting, or statue, or landscape—I

might almost add, no poetical description, or burst

of eloquence, ever affected me like this first view of

the Parthenon. Nor is the admiration occasioned

by the entire view diminished by an examination

of the parts in detail; on the contrary, it is, if possible,

increased: for, as you had before observed a perfect

harmony running through the whole design, you

now perceive the same inimitable and uninterrupted

perfection extended to its minutest parts—the flutings

of the columns, the swell of the capitals, and all the

endless ornaments of the architrave, frieze and cornice.

But that which fills you with the purest delight

in this minute examination, is what remains of

the bass-relief sculpture on the frieze of the cell in

the Pronaos; the figures here are for the most part

equestrian, and though some tasteless barbarians

have knocked off pieces of them for specimens, many

of them are still almost entire. There is nothing

in Florence that surpasses and little that equals them.

What fire! what truth! what delicacy! what finish!

Surely the chisel of Phidias must have given the

last touch to these matchless productions; and though

they have been exposed to the weather for more

than twenty centuries, they still retain all the freshness

with which they issued from his unrivalled hand.

The Parthenon has not suffered much from the war,

but the other remains within the Acropolis, as well

as most of those within the walls of the city, have

been considerably affected, some of them injured,

and others benefitted by its devastations; while

those within the city remain nearly in the same

state as described by Hobhouse in 1820."