coins of Alexander and his father exceed in beauty all that were ever executed, if we except those of Sicily, Magna Grecia, and the ancient ones of Asia Minor.  Sicilian medals are famous for workmanship, even from the time of Gelo.  The coins of the Syrian kings, successors to Alexander, almost equal his own in beauty; but adequate judges confine their high praises of the Greek mint to those coins struck before the subjection of Greece to the Roman empire.  The Roman coins, considered as medals in a cabinet, may be divided into two great classes—­the consular and the imperial; both are numerous and valuable.  In the cabinet of the Grand Duke of Tuscany is a set of twelve medals of Antonius Pius, each with one of the signs of the Zodiac on the reverse, and part of another set, eight in number with as many of the labors of Hercules.

RESTORING ANCIENT EDIFICES.

As in comparative anatomy it is easy, from a single bone, to designate and describe the animal to which it belonged, so in architecture it is easy to restore, by a few fragments, any ancient building.  In consequence of the known simplicity and regularity of most antique edifices, the task of restoration, by means of drawings and models, is much less difficult than might be supposed.  The ground work, or some sufficient parts of it, commonly extant, shows the length and breadth of the building, with the positions of the walls, doors and columns.  A single column, or part of a column, whether standing or fallen, with a fragment of the entablature, furnishes data from which the remainder of the colonnade and the height of the edifice can be made out.  A single stone from the cornice of the pediment, is sufficient to give the angle of inclination, and consequently the height of the roof.  In this way the structure of many beautiful edifices has been accurately determined, when in so ruinous a state as scarcely to have left one stone upon another.

NAPOLEON’S LOVE OF ART.

Napoleon was not only a true lover of art, but an excellent connoisseur.  He did more to elevate the arts and sciences in France than all the monarchs together who had preceded him.  It was a part of his policy to honor and reward every man of genius, no matter what his origin, and thus to develop the intellect of his country.  He foresaw the advantage of making Paris the great centre of art; therefore he did not hesitate to transport from the countries he conquered, the most renowned and valuable works of ancient and modern times.  “Paris is Rome; Paris is now the great centre of art,” said he to Canova in 1810, when that great sculptor visited Paris at his command, and whom he endeavored to persuade to permanently remain in his service.  West, after his return to England from Paris, where he had had several interviews with Bonaparte, expressed his admiration of the man in such warm terms as offended the officials of the government, and caused such opposition, that he deemed it proper to resign the President’s chair in the Royal Academy.  The truth is, it was not the conqueror, as the English pretended, but his exalted ideas of the arts, and of their value to a country, which captivated West, whose peaceful tenets led him to abhor war and devastation.