Chap. II. ARCHEOLO EXPLORERS. their favourite practice of converting the finest of the Greek BOOK II, Temples into powder magazines. Twenty of the metopes CLASSICAL of the northern side of the Parthenon had been, in conse- GISTS AND quence of this practice, destroyed by an explosion during the Venetian siege of Athens in the seventeenth century. The Temple of Neptune was found by Lord ELGIN devoted to the same use, at the beginning of the nine- 1800. teenth. No methods of extending his researches, so as to make them as nearly exhaustive as the circumstances would admit, were overlooked by the ambassador. Through the friendship of the Capitan Pasha, Lord ELGIN had already, whilst yet at the Dardanelles, obtained the famous Boustrophedon inscription from Cape Sigæum. Through the friendship of the Archbishop of Athens, he now procured leave to search the churches and convents of Attica, and the search led to his possession of many of the minor but very interesting works of sculpture and architecture which came eventually to England along with the marbles of the Par thenon. on the Earl of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece, &c., Of the curious range and variety of the dangers to which the remains of ancient art were exposed under Turkish rule, the Boustrophedon inscription just mentioned affords an Memorandum instance worth noting. Lord ELGIN found it in use as a seat, or couch, at the door of a Greek chapel, to which persons afflicted with ague or rheumatism were in the habit of p. 35. resorting, in order to recline on this marble, which, in their eyes, possessed a mysterious and curative virtue. was so placed as to lift the patient into a much than that which he had been wont to breathe below, and it commanded a most cheerful sea-view; but it was the ill fate of the inscription to have a magical fame, instead of the atmosphere. Constant rubbing had already half obliterated The seat purer air Воок II, Chap. II. CLASSICAL its contents. But for Lord ELGIN, the whole would soon have disappeared. At Athens itself, the loftier of the sculptures in the Acropolis enjoyed equal favour in the eyes of EXPLORERS. Turkish marksmen, as affording excellent targets. ARCHEOLO GISTS AND Ibid, 31. In the course of various excavations made, not only at Athens, but at Æginæ, Argos, and Corinth, a large collection of vases was also formed. It was the first collection which sufficed, incontestibly, to vindicate the claim of the Greeks to the invention of that beautiful ware, to which the name of Etruscan' was so long and so inaccurately given. One of the most interesting of the many minor discoveries made in the course of Lord ELGIN'S researches comprised a large marble vase, five feet in circumference, which enclosed a bronze vase of thirteen inches diameter. In this were found a lachrymatory of alabaster and a deposit of burnt bones, with a myrtle-wreath finely wrought in gold. This discovery was made in a tumulus on the road leading from Port Piræus to the Salaminian Ferry and Eleusis. Early in 1803, all the sculptured marbles from the Parthenon which it was found practicable to remove were prepared for embarkation. Both of those so prepared and of the few that were left, casts had been made, together with a complete series of drawings to scale. That great monument of art had been exhaustively studied, with the aid of all the information that could be gathered from the drawings made by the French artist, CARREY, in 1674, and those of the English architect, STUART, in 1752. A general monumental survey of Athens and Attica was also compiled and illustrated. The original fricze, in low relief, of the cella of the Par Chap. II. ARCHEOLO. thenon-representing the chief festive solemnity of Athens, BOOK II, the Panathenaic procession-had extended, in the whole, to CLASSICAL about five hundred and twenty feet in length. That por- GISTS AND tion which eventually reached England amounted to two EXPLORERS. hundred and fifty feet. And of this a considerable part was obtained by excavations. Of a small portion of the remainder casts were brought. But the bulk of it had been long before destroyed. Of the statues which adorned the pediments a large portion had also perished, yet enough survived to indicate the design and character of the whole. Of statues and fragments of statues, seventeen were brought to England. Of metopes in high relief, from the frieze of the entablature, fourteen were brought. CULTIES OF AND THE Thus far, an almost incredible amount of effort and toil THE DIFFIhad been rewarded by a result large enough to dwarf all TRANSPORT previous researches of a like kind. But the difficulties and dangers of the task were very far from being ended. The ATCERIGO. ponderous marbles had to be carried from Athens to the Piræus. There was neither machinery for lifting, nor appliances for haulage. There were no roads. The energy, however, which had wrestled with so many previous obstacles triumphed over these. But only to encounter new peril in the shape of a fierce storm at sea. Part of the Elgin Marbles had been at length embarked in the ship, purchased at Lord ELGIN's own cost, in which Mr. HAMILTON sailed for England, carrying with him also his drawings and journals. The vessel was wrecked near Cerigo. Seven cases of sculpture sunk with the ship. Only four, out of the eleven embarked in the Mentor, were saved, along with the papers and drawings. Meanwhile, Lord ELGIN himself, on his homeward journey, was, upon the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, arrested and 'detained' in France. BOOK II, Chap. II. CLASSICAL ARCHEOLO GISTS AND If the reader will now recall to mind, for an instant, the mortifications and discouragements, as well as the incessant toils, which had attended this attempt to give to the whole EXPLORERS. body of English artists, archæologists, and students, advantages which theretofore only a very small and exceptionally fortunate knot of them could enjoy, or hope to enjoy, he will, perhaps, incline to think that enough had been done for honour. The casts and drawings had been saved. The removal of marbles had formed no part of Lord ELGIN's first design. It was only when proof had come-plain as the noonday sun-that to remove was to preserve, and to preserve, not for England alone, but for the civilised world, that leave to carry away was sought from the Turkish authorities, and removal resolved upon. LORD ELGIN Entreaty to the British Government that the thorough exploration of the Peloponnesus, by the draughtsman and the modeller, should be made a national object, had been but so much breath spent in vain. Private resources had then been lavished, beyond the bounds of prudence, to confer a public boon. Personal hardships and popular animosities had been alike met by steady courage and quiet endurance. All kinds of local obstacle had been conquered. And now some of the most precious results of so much toil and outlay lay at the bottom of the sea. The chief toiler was a prisoner in France. But Lord ELGIN was not yet beaten. He came of a tough race. He was 'One of the few, the letter'd and the brave, Bound to no clime, and victors o'er the grave.' The buried marbles were raised, at the cost of two more years of labour, and after an expenditure, in the long effort, BRANDED, IN of nearly five thousand pounds, in addition to the original ENGLAND, AS loss of the ship. Then a storm of another sort had to be A ROBBER. Chap. II. GISTS AND faced in its turn. A burst of anger, classical and poetical, BOOK II, declared the ambassador to be, not a benefactor, but a thief. CLASSICAL The gale blew upon him from many points. The author ARCHOLO of the Classical Tour through Italy declared that Lord EXPLORERS. ELGIN's rapacity is a crime against all ages and all generations; depriving the Past of the trophies of their genius Classical and the title-deeds of their fame, the Present of the strongest Eustace, 'Link'd with the fool's who fired th' Ephesian dome- That the abuse might have variety, as well as vigour, a very . PHIDIAS did not work in marble at all.' These oracular sentences, and many more of a like cast, were given to the world under the sanction of the Society of Dilettanti,' Byron, Curse of Minerva, § 7 |