Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Excerpt from The Wonders of Art: Containing an Account of Celebrated Ancient Ruins; Fortifications; Public Edifices; Monuments; And Some of the Most Curious and Useful Inventions in Modern Times, Designed for the Instruction of Young Persons
Had we never seen or heard of a common watch, on first being presented with one we should think it a wonderful production. But as we have been familiar with it from childhood, we think little or nothing of it. We feel no admiration for it, unless it have some extra workmanship or decorations about it. In that case we think far more of its glittering diamonds, and of its richly embossed ornaments, than we do of its ingenious and perfect mechanism. This is precisely the same as it is in surveying the works of nature. We scarcely give a thought to that portion which we have always seen in profusion, and which has been made the subject of investigation, although it be the star-bespangled heavens which hang over our head like a curtain - or the green earth spread under our feet, like a richly wrought carpet.
Hence, while endeavoring to arrest the attention of readers, and especially of young readers, we endeavor to present such objects as they may not have heard of, or with which they are not familiar, to the neglect of other matters in themselves more worthy of attention. This consideration has guided the editor, in the preparation of the following little volume. It is made up also in reference to persons of different grades of literary attainment.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.