I imagine that very few people have the time to read lengthy treatises on architecture, but that there are many who would be glad to know the chief historical facts, were these to be presented within a small compass. I hope, therefore, that this volume may be of interest to the general reader and may find its way to schools other than those which make art matters their specialty, for it seems to me that if the average schoolboy were taught as much about the history of the most useful and beautiful of the creations of the people of each age, as about the manner and quantity of warfare and slaughter in which they indulged, he would obtain as valuable a quality of information. ART SCHOOLS OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM. March, 1887 LIST OF PLATES. ST. TROPHYME AT ARLES, _Frontispiece_. FACING PAGE THE GREEK ORDERS, 56 PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS AT ATHENS, 62 THE ROMAN ORDERS, 70 PALACE OF DIOCLETIAN AT SPALATRO, 73 PLAN OF THE PANTHEON AT ROME, 74 PLAN OF THE BATHS OF AGRIPPA, 75 PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN AT BAALBEK, 76 PLAN OF THE OLD BASILICA OF ST. PAUL’S BEYOND THE WALLS, 89 ST. VITALE, OF RAVENNA, 92 THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA MEDICA, 93 THE TEMPLE OF VESTA, SOMETIMES CALLED THE TEMPLE OF HERCULES, 94 THE BAPTISTERY OF CONSTANTINE, 94 THE PENDENTIVE SYSTEM IN BYZANTINE DOMES, 97 CHURCH OF SERGIUS AND BACCHUS AT CONSTANTINOPLE, 98 PLAN OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, 99 ROMANESQUE CONSTRUCTION, 121 COMPARATIVE SERIES, SHOWING GREEK, ROMAN, ROMANESQUE, AND GOTHIC METHODS OF SUPPORT, 124 PLAN OF STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL, 128 CHEVET OF NOTRE DAME DU PORT AT CLERMONT, 130 PLAN OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL, 134 PLAN OF AN ENGLISH CATHEDRAL, 136 PLAN OF ST. PETER’S AS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BY MICHAEL ANGELO, 155 PLAN OF CHURCH OF THE HOTEL DES INVALIDES AT PARIS, 160 CONTENTS. PAGE