The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-10-11


have been so polished by the hands and feet of
thousands, that you must walk carefully to
avoid sliding down, conducts to a spacious
vaulted chamber. There is no light but what
enters the door, and this falls directly upon the
tomb of the Queen in the centre. Shah Jehan,
whose ashes are covered by a simpler cenotaph,
raised somewhat above hers, sleeps by her side.
The vault was filed with the odors of rose, Jas
mine and sandal-wood, the precious affairs Of
which are sprinkled upon the tomb. Wreaths
of beautiful flowers lay upon it, or withered
around its base.
These were the true tombs, the monuments
for display being placed in the grand hall above,
which is a lofty rotunda, lighted both from
above and below by screens of marble, wrought
in filigree. 1t is paved with blocks of white
marble and jasper, and ornamented with a
wainscoting of sculptured tablets, representing
flowers. The tombs are sarcophagi of the purest
marble, exquisitely inlaid with blood stone,
agate, cOrnelisn, lapis-lazuli, and other pre-
cious stones, and surrounded with an octagonal
screen six feet high, in the open tracery Of
which lilies, irises, and other flowers, are inter
wrought with the most intricate ornamental
designs. This is also of marble covered with
precious stones. From the resemblance of this
screen and the workmanship of the tomb to
Florentine mosaic, it is supposed by some to
have been executed by an Italian artist and
/ have even heard it stated that the Tai was
designed by an Italian architect. One look at
the TAI ought to assure any intelligent man
that this Is talse-nay, impossible, from the
very nature of the thing. The Tai is the purest
Saracenlc, IN form, proportions, and ornamental
designs. If that were not sufficient, we have
still the name of the Moslem architect, sculp-
tured upon the building.
consider 1t extremely doubtful whether any
Italian had anything to do with the work, though
" is barely possible that one may have been
employed upon the screen around the tombs.
In the weekly account of the expenditures for
the building of the Tai, there is a certain sum
mentioned as paid to "the foreign stOne-cutter,"
who may either have been Italian, Turkish, or
Persian. AS for the flowers, represented i'm
bas-rellet on the marble panels it has been said
that they are not to be found in India Now,
these flowers, as near as they can be identified,
are the tulip, the iris, (both natives of Persia
and the lotus But noticed a curious feature
IN the sculpture, which makes it clear to me
that the artist was a native. The fO,rers lack
perspective, which would never have been the
fault OF an Italian artist of Shah Jehan's time
ABOUT the middle of the seventeenth century.
Bishop Heber has declared that he recognised
Italian art in the ornaments of the Tai, but he
declared also that its minarets have no beauty.
that the Fort of Agra is built of granite. and
fell into many other glaring errors both of taste
and observation, which have no time to point
out.
The dome of the Tai contains an echo more
sweet, pure, and prolonged, than that in the
Bsptstry Of Pisa, which is the finest in Eu-
rope. A single musical tone, uttered by the
voice, floats and scars overhead, in long, De
hclous undulation, fainting away so slowly that
you hear 1t after it is SILENT as you see, or seem
to see, lark you have been watching, after il
is swallowed up IN the blue of heaven. pic
tured to myself the effect of an Arabic or Persian
lament for the lovely Moor Jehan, sung over
her tomb. The responses that would come from
above, in the pauses Of the song, must resemble
the harmonies of angels in Paradise The hall.
Notwithstanding the precious materials of which
1t Is built, and the elaborate finish Of its orna
ments, has grave and solemn effect, infusinc
peaceful serenity of mind, such as we feel
n wnen eontsmpi iab esl harry dnhh erp
-, Do behold the Tai without feehlS-d
thrill that sends the moisture to has eye, has no
sense of beauty in his soul.
The Tai truly is, as ] have already said, a
poem. 1t is not only a pure architectural type,
but also a creation which satisfies the magma
ton, because its characteristic is Beauty Did
you ever build q Castle in the Air? Here is
one, brought down to earth, and fixed for the
-
and, when seen from distance, so like fabric
of mist and sunbeams, with its great dome soar
ing up, silvery bubble, about to burst in the
sun, that, even after you have touched it, and
climbed to Its summit, you almost doubt its
reality. The four minarets which surround it
are perfect-no other epithet will describe them.
Yen cannot conceive of their proportions being
changed in any way, without damage to the gen
eral effect. On one side of the Tai is mosque
with three domes, of red sandstone, cover
ed with mosaic OF white marble. Now, on the
opposite side, there is building precisely sim
liar, but of no use whatever, except as a balance
to the mosque, lest the perfect symmetry of the
whole design should be spoiled. This building
is called the .jO,cdJ, or " answer" Nothing
can better illustrate the feeling for proportion
which prevailed in those days-and proportion
is Art.
In comparing these masterpieces of architec-
ture with the Moorish remains in Spain, which
resemble them most nearly, have been struck
with the singular fact that while, at the central
seats of the Moslem Empire, Art reached but
comparative degree of development, here, in
India, and there, on the opposite and most
distant frontiers, it attained a rapid and splendid
elimination. The capitals of the Caliphs and
the Sultsns-Bagdad, Cairo, Damascus, and
Constantinople stand far below Agra and
itecture, notwithstanding the latter cities have
but few and scattered remains. 1t is not i'm
probable that the Moorish architects, after the
fall of Granada, gradually made their way to
the eastward, and that their art was thus brought
to lndia-or, at least, that they modified and
improved the art then existing. The conquest
Of India by Baber grandson Of Tamerane, and
grandfather of Akbar) is almost coeval with
the expulsion of the Moors from Granada.
But the sun grows hot it is nearly noon.
We have spent three hours in and around the
Tai, and we must leave it. Nothing that is
beautiful can be given up without pang; but
if man would travel, he must endure many
such partings. / must add, however, before we
go, that on the opposite bank of the Jumna
there is an immense foundation.terrace, where
on, it is said, Shah Jehan intended to erect a
tomb for himself, of equal magnifcence; but
the rebellion of his sons, and his own death,
prevented 1t. What the gods permitted to Love,
they forbade to Vanity. A shekh, who takes
care of the Tai, told me- that had the Emperor
carried out his design, the tombs were to have
been joined by bridge, with silver railing
on each side. He told me that the Tai, with
It's gateways, mosque, and other buildings at
tached, had cost seven crores of rupees
s35 100000. This, however, is quite i'm
possible, when we consider the cheapneSs of
labor in those days. and believe the real cost
is estimated at f3, 900 900, ISIS, 10000, which
does not seem exaggerated.
CONSUMPTION OF GOLD.-It has been ascer-
tanned that in Birmingham, England, not less
than one thousand ounces of fine gold are used
weekly, equivalent to some S9O0,Q10 annually;
and that the consumption Of gold leaf in eight
manufacturing towns Is equal to five hundred
and eighty-four ounces weekly. For gliding
metals, by electrotype and the water-gilding