to humble ourselves by any such reflections, if we did but consider that, at a remoter period, extending far back into the ages of barbarism, they were still more costly and magnificent than in the middle ages; and if we could look with a prophetic eye beyond the present, into that period of the future, when the human race shall have attained the perfection of civilization, we should probably witness a simplicity unsurpassed by anything the world has ever seen, in connection with the finer works of art.

The Bunker Hill Monument, which is a mere toy, in comparison with similar works of ancient times, was yet too vast for the superior intelligence of our people. Had it been delayed fifty years longer, it could not have been erected. The people of New England are free, and colossal architecture is the united work of despotism and slavery. As men advance in intelligence and freedom, they make art contribute to their comfort, their convenience, and their pleasures; and the works of architecture and sculpture will be constantly growing less and less stupendous, the palaces of the wealthy and noble will be less costly, and the dwellings of the common people more comfortable aud commodious, as the light of a more rational system of Christianity is shed abroad among men. Tombs can never again be so magnificent as in the early ages, unless mankind should relapse into barbarism. Men will think more of nature and less of art, when providing memorials and a resting place for the dead.

The ancients built stupendous tombs, in which the dead were piled up without regard to any feeling, except perhaps, that of rescuing them from the dust, as if by embalming and preserving their bodies, they obtained for them the boon of immortality. Now we place the body in the grave; we consign dust to dust; we restore the

remains of our friends to the bosom of the earth, and we make their mortal part a humble offering to nature, while we commend the immortal spirit to the God who gave it.

The ancients had less distinct ideas of the soul's immortality, and cherished an inferior amount of tender sentiment in connection with the dead. They had no love of nature; since the love of art, for the display of art, precedes in the human breast, this more fervent and poetic feeling. Hence their tombs, many specimens of which exist on a small scale in every burial ground at the present time, were mostly revolting objects. It is now customary to bury the dead in graves, covered with the green turf and the wild flowers of the field. Men will gradually learn to set less value upon art in this connection, and will think more of nature. They will learn that the only service we ought to render the dead is to secure their remains from desecration in the grave, and to provide a simple and durable monument, for the record of their virtues, and to serve as the means of identifying their place of burial.

PILGRIM PATH.

ON the left is seen the marble sarcophagus erected in memory of BARTHOLOMEW CHEEVER, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, who came to America from Canterbury, England, in 1637. On the monument also are inscribed the names of some of his descendants and their families.

On the right is a view of the monuments of S. QUINCY, J. SHAW, A. RICE, and T. HAVILAND.