Sir William Ouseley says, that he did not perceive among these monuments of antiquity, which the Takht exhibits: 1, any object appearing to be a vestige of the Arsacidan kings; 2, nor any vestige of the Sassanian dynasty, except two inscriptions; 3, nor any representation of a crooked sword; 4, nor any human figure with a full face; 5, nor any human figure mounted on horseback; 6, nor any figure of a woman; 7, nor any sculpture representing ships, or alluding to naval or marine affairs; 8, nor any arches; 9, nor any human figure sitting cross-legged, or resting on the knees and heels, according to modern usage in Persia; 10, nor any human figure in a state of nudity; 11, nor any vestiges either of wood or of brick; 12, nor any remains of gilding; 13, nor any insulated statue, or sculptured figure, separated from the general mass of marble, and showing in full relief the entire form of any object. Nor did he see any figure, that has ever actually been an object of idolatrous veneration. “The reader will easily believe,” says Sir William, “this catalogue of negative remarks might have been considerably augmented, when he considers the great extent of these stupendous ruins; the seeming anomalies of their plan; the extraordinary style of their architecture; the labyrinths or narrow passages, which have been excavated with much art in the adjacent mountains, and of which no traveller has yet ascertained either the termination or the mysterious design; the multiplicity of ornamental devices in the ruins; and, above all, of the human figures which their sculptures exhibit. “That I have not exaggerated the wonders of Jemsheed’s throne,” continues this accomplished traveller and scholar, “will be evident, on a reference to the accounts, given by most respectable persons of various countries, who, in different ages, have visited its ruins. Not only youthful travellers, glowing with lively imaginations; but those of sober judgment, matured by the experience of many years, seem, as they approach the venerable monuments, to be inspired by the genius of Eastern romance; and their respective languages scarcely furnish epithets capable of expressing with adequate energy the astonishment and admiration, excited by such a stupendous object.” The learning, which Sir William has expended upon Persepolis and other cities of the East, is astonishing. In regard to a portion of a platform, another traveller says:—“To me it seemed to tell its own story; lying like the buried body of the last Darius under the ruins of his capital, and speaking with a voice from the grave; crying, in the words of Euripides over the like desolation; ‘Oh woe, woe, woe! my country lost! and thou, boast of my noble ancestors, how art thou shrunk;—how art thou vanished!’”