of the majestic rock on which they stand, seem of that rock a part, whence lofty towers, festooned by the ivy "garland of eternity," look down upon prosperous towns as they gleam from afar amid patriarchal oaks. At the commencement of the eighth century, the hopes began to show much solicitude in behalf of the arts. In that age they gained great temporal advantages, and their revenues enabled them to do immense good for Italy. But the era of Charlemagne, which opened about the middle of the eighth century and continued into the ninth, was one in which a greater number of grand edifices were dedicated to Christianity. Rising to extensive dominion, this extraordinary man did much to restore the arts and promote the cause of universal civilization. Meanwhile the decrepit empire of the East was becoming too feeble to employ her architects and artisans, so that when the auxiliary help was needed it was thence derived to plan and execute the supreme seat of civil and ecclesiastical power beyond the Alps. At Aix-la-Chapelle a new form of art arose, to which the general name of Gothic may be correctly applied, meaning thereby all the styles which were introduced by those Teutonic tribes of barbarians who overwhelmed the Roman empire, and established themselves within its boundaries. Exactly in the ratio this barbarian element prevailed along the course of its westward development, architecture flourished in originality and beauty, the aggregated worth of which was always found at the point remotest from its source. All the western styles were derived from Roman art, but before the tenth century the originals had been forgotten, and a new type appeared wholly independent of the old one. The forms of the pillars, of the piers, and the arches they support, are different as created by Gothic genius. The whole edifice is roofed with intersecting vaults, which have become an integral part of the inner design, while buttresses afford firm support outside.