There is very little di&rence bet ween the proportions of this drawing and that of' P/fde I. The columns of the first story are, in lyight, eight of their diameters. and the bases one. All the columns, except those of the corners. have eight brackets at the top of their shafts. which form a kind of very clumsy capitals. This ornaineet, very common in Chinese edifices, is not at all pleasing to our eyes. The columns or the second orders are in diameter about tinv•filths of the diameter of the first. Their height is six diameters and a half, and they are without bases. Under the second roof is seen an entrelas, all around, composed of circles and squat-es. The corners of the two roofs are enriched whh ornaments, which mon ers and fidiage ; and the top is ornamented with two dolphins at the two extremities, and in the middle with a great tleuron resembling a tulip.
"These three forms are more frequent than any other in the temples of China, and especially in those of much extent. For the small temples they often use the model shown in Plate 1., Figure 2. Sometimes, as may be seen in that drawing, the edifice is shut betbre by movable gates, having four columns that advance in the manner of pro-style temples. At other times the building is quite open in the front, and has simply four columns that support the roof.
"I have seen at Canton some other forms of temples ; but none of them appeared to toe worthy of representation except two little buildings, of wood, raised in the courts of one of the pagodas of the western suburb, (Figures 2 and 3, of Platen!, he the plans of them.) These are two pavilions, that cover two iron vases, that the Chinese use in the sacrifices of gilt paper, which they make to their idols on festival days ; they are both octagons, and composed of eight columns, which support a root' surinonnted with a lamp and other ornaments, which are represented in the drawing. Figure 3, is a little raised, and surrounded with steps. The columns have bases of a profile little different from the attic. A frieze charged with inseriptions in large Chinese characters, surround the space between the columns under the roof. The lantern has eight sides, it is covered with a roof in sima inversa, and on the top is seen an ornament consisting of a small globe surrounded with leaves and flowers." Figure 2. " is raised on a socle, and surrounded with an entrelas of masonry. There are no bases to the columns, and under the first roof is seen an ornament composed of interwoven lozenges. The lamp has eight little columns, without bases or capitals, which support a conic roof, orna mented with eight dolphins, each of which rests on one of the columns. The top of the building consists of a pierced ball, whose top ends in a flower.
The proportions of these little temples may be deduced from the scale that I have annexed to the drawings." " Towers, or Taas.—The Chinese give the name of taa to their towers. and the Europeans call them (as well as temples) pagodas: they are very common in China. Du Ila1de says, that in some provinces they are in every city, and even in every considerable village. The most remarkable of these edifices are the famous porcelain tower of Nang-king and that of Tong-chang-fou. They are both very magnificent.
"The form of these leas is pretty uniform ; they are divided into seven. eight, and sometimes ten stories, which diminish gradually both in height and from the base to the top. Every story has a kind of cornice, which supports x roof, at the corners of are hung copper bells, and is surrounded with a narrow gallery bor dered with a balustrade. These edifices have conunonly a long pole at the top, surrounded by several circles of iron, supperted by eight chains, tied by one end to the top of the pope, and by the other to the angles of the roof of the highest story." The origin and objects of these towers have been the cause of much discussion among European antiquaries, nor has the question been as yet satisfactorily settled, some considering them as merely commemorative, some as campaniles or bel fries, some as landmarka and beacons, while others assert that they are sepulchral, and produce as a confirmation of their opinion the discovery of a stone coffin fitted in the pedestal of the tower of Ardmore. Valleney affirms that they were fire towers erected to Baal. while others no less learned identify them with the round towers of Ireland. This last idea may appear extravagant at first sight, yet upon further examina tion it will be finind equally as reasonable as any of the preceding. The Irish towers are generally believed to be of Celtic origin, erected by the same hands as the structures of Stonehenge, and others similar to them scattered over the British Isles; now, strange to say, we have the same class of erections in China, in the province of Keang-nan, and in a locality famed not more for its romantic scenery than its ancient legends: here we find not only the monolithon, or single, upright column, the counterpart of those already described under Celtic Jrchiteeture ; but even the most per fect form of Druidical structures, the circle, and several of the intermediate erections, proving without doubt the connection between them, and the remains of Celtic erection in the remote west. Add to this, that towers are found in close proximity with such structures, and it must be allowed that their sup posed identity with those of Ireland is not indulged without some reason.