Here Mr. George shut his book, and rose from his seat, saying, as he did so,—
"The Coliseum is so large that it covers six acres of ground."
"Six acres?" repeated Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George. "It is six hundred and twenty feet long. That is monstrous for such a building; but then the steamship Great Eastern is about a hundred feet longer."
"Then the Great Eastern is bigger than the Coliseum."
"She is longer," said Mr. George, "but she is not so wide nor so high."
"And which, all things considered, is the greatest work, do you think?" asked Rollo.
"The Coliseum may have cost the most labor," said Mr. George, "but the Great Eastern is far above it, in my opinion, in every element of real greatness. The Coliseum is a most wonderful structure, no doubt; but the building of an iron ship like the Great Eastern, to be propelled by steam against all the storms and tempests of the ocean, to the remotest corners of the earth, with ten thousand tons of merchandise on board, or ten thousand men, is, in my opinion, much the greatest exploit."
"At any rate," said Rollo, "the Coliseum makes the finest ruin."
"I am not certain of that, even," said Mr. George. "Suppose that the Great Eastern were to be drawn up upon the shore somewhere near London, and be abandoned there; and that then the whole world should relapse into barbarism, and remain so for a thousand years, and afterwards there should come a revival of science and civilization, and people should come here to see the ruins of the Coliseum, and go to London to see those of the great ship, I think they would consider the ship the greater wonder of the two."