Chap. II. ARCHEOLO GISTS AND of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This correspondence BOOK II. had for its object, not merely the enrichment of his own CLASSICAL Museum, but the awakening of local attention throughout the country to its antiquities and history; matters which EXPLORERS, had theretofore been but too much neglected-in the Neapolitan fashion. One of the earliest and choicest acquisitions made by HAMILTON in the early years of his residence at Naples was a collection of vases belonging to the senatorial family of PORCINARI, many of which had been gathered from sepulchres and excavations in Magna Græcia. This purchase, made in 1766 and afterwards largely increased, may be regarded as the substantial beginning of the noble series. of vases Museum. now so prominent a part of our National Thus had been formed, by degrees, at Naples, a museum which, at the beginning of the year 1772, included seven hundred and thirty fictile vases; a hundred and seventy-five terra-cottas; about three hundred specimens of ancient glass (including three of the most perfect cinerary urns known, at that time, to have been discovered); six hundred and twenty-seven bronzes, of which nearly one-half illustrated the arms and armour of the ancients; more than two hundred specimens of sacrificial, domestic, and architectonic, instruments and implements; fourteen bassi-relievi, busts, masques, and inscribed tablets; about a hundred and fifty miscellaneous pieces of ancient ivory, including a curious series of tessaræ; a hundred and forty-nine gems, chiefly scarabai; a hundred and forty-three personal ornaments, of various kinds, in gold; a hundred and fifty-two fibula in various materials; and more than six thousand coins and medals, comprising a considerable series from the towns of Magna Græcia. BOOK II, GISTS AND The first fruits of this noble collection was the publication, commenced in the year 1766, of the work entitled Antiquités Etrusques, &c., with admirable illustrations, and EXPLORERS. with a descriptive text, written in French by D'HANCARVILLE. The first edition of this costly book was issued. ANTIQUITÉS at Naples. It naturally attracted great attention. PUBLICA TION OF THE ETRUSQUES.' No such collection of fictile vases-in their combination of number and beauty—had been theretofore known. The two volumes published at Sir William's cost in 1766, were followed by two other volumes in 1767. All of them were executed with great care and with lavish expenditure. But the later edition, printed at Florence-long afterwards—is in many points superior.* Whilst the volumes were still incomplete, Mr. HAMILTON circulated proof plates of the work with great liberality. Some of these proofs were lent to our famous English potter, Josiah WEDGWOOD, and gave a strong impulse to his taste and artistic zeal. But they excited an eager longing for access to the vases themselves, as the only satisvol. ii, p. 72. factory models. Meteyard, Life of Josiah Bentley, When WEDGWOOD wrote to his friend and partner, Wedgwood to BENTLEY; Mr. HAMBLETON, you know, has flattered the 10 May, 1770. old pot-painters very much,' one feels that for the moment that excellent man's prepossessions had been rubbed a little, against the grain. But he shows directly that there is no real intent to impeach the Editor's honesty in the matter. He has, no doubt,' adds WEDGWOOD, 'taken his designs from the very best vases extant,' which was precisely what it was his duty to do, since selection was the task in hand, not the publication of seven hundred specimens. That superiority, however, is only partial. The original Naples edition, along with many errors, contains much valuable matter omitted in the reprint. 4 Chap. II. ARCHEOLO This Collection-far more remarkable than any, of its BOOK II, kind, which had yet come to England-was brought over CLASSICAL in 1772, and offered to the Trustees of the British Museum. An appeal was made to Parliament, and the first grant of EXPLORERS > public money, worthy of mention, was now made in order to its acquisition. The sum given to Mr. HAMILTON was eight thousand four hundred pounds. How soon one of the incidental results of the acquisition returned to the Public much more than its cost-leaving out of account altogether the best returns which accrue from such Collections—is among the familiar annals of our commerce. Josiah WEDGWOOD told a Committee of the House of Commons that, within two years, he had himself brought into England, by his imitations of the Hamilton vases in his manufactory at Etruria, about three times the sum which the Collection had cost to the country. GISTS AND PLORATIONS AND HERCU At the beginning of the year 1772 Mr. HAMILTON was THE EXmade a Knight of the Bath. He returned to Naples soon AT POMPEI after the transfer of his antiquities to the Museum, and ere LANEUM. long he was busily engaged in new explorations at Pompeii and at Herculaneum. He sent to the Society of Antiquaries, in 1777, an interesting account of the discoveries at Pompeii, which is printed in the fourth volume of the Archæologia. At Herculaneum he employed, during many years, Father Antonio PIAGGI to superintend excavations and make drawings, and gave him an annual salary equal to a hundred pounds sterling, after vainly endeavouring— at that time-to urge on the Neapolitan Government its own duty to carry on the task in an adequate manner for the honour of the nation, and to publish the results of the explorations for the general benefit of learning. Sir William's services as an ambassador were rendered with zeal and with credit, as opportunity offered. But the BOOK II, Chap. II. CLASSICAL ARCHEOLO GISTS AND opportunity, in his earlier period, was comparatively rare. It was, perhaps, despite the proverb, not altogether a happy thing for Naples that its annals were tiresome. The rust EXPLORERS. of inactivity showed itself there, as so often elsewhere, to be much more fatal than the exhaustion of strife. Certainly, to the ambassador, it was a personal misfortune that, when the affairs of Naples became really momentous to Englishmen, the vigour and the will of earlier days were then departing from the man whose energies were at length to be put to the test in the proper sphere of his profession. Meanwhile, and in his prime, he had but-from time to time to make routine memorials as to matters of individual wrong; to heal breaches between one Bourbon and another; and to secure the neutrality of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during the war which grew out of the struggle in America. Such matters made no great inroad upon the pursuits of the naturalist and the antiquarian. Labour on the mountains, in the excavations, and in the study, had been, now for many years, relieved by congenial friendships. There had been an improvement in the tone of Neapolitan Society since HAMILTON's first appearance. And all that was best in Naples had gathered round him. To English travellers his hospitalities were splendid and unremitting. But in 1782 the circle lost its mistress. Seven years before, Sir William and Lady HAMILTON had been bereaved of a daughter-their only child. In 1783 occurred the dreadful earthquake in Calabria, the greatest calamity of the century save that at Lisbon. Among the scientific correspondents in England with whom Sir William HAMILTON kept up an intercourse was Sir Joseph BANKS, then the President of the Royal Society. 4 To him was sent the fullest account that was attainable of Book II, the sad event of 1783. Chap. II. CLASSICAL ARCHEOLO GISTS AND It had chanced that just before the news reached Naples, Sir Joseph had written to HAMILTON about some experi- EXPLORERS. ments and discoveries on the composition and transmutation of water. He had said, jestingly: In future we philosophers shall rejoice when an eruption, which may swallow up a few towns, affords subsistence for as many nations of animals and vegetables.' This letter HAMILTON was about to answer when he received the intelligence from Calabria. 1783. Hamilton to 'We have had here,' he writes, some shocks of an earthquake which, in Calabria Ultra, has swallowed up or destroyed almost every town, together with some towns in Sicily. Every hour brings in accounts of fresh disasters. Some thousands of people will perish with hunger before the provisions sent from hence can reach them. This, Feb 18. I believe, will prove to have been the greatest calamity that has happened in this century. An end is put to the Carnival. The theatres are shut. I suppose Saint Janu- Banks, MS. arius will be brought out.' There had been no exaggeration in these first reports. It was found that at Terranova, not only were all the buildings destroyed, but the very ground on which they stood sunk to such a depth as to form a sort of gulf. In that district alone 3043 people lost their lives. At Seminara 1328 persons were buried beneath the ruins. In other and adjacent districts more than 3300 persons perished. In 1784 the ambassador visited England. His stay was brief. But an incident which occurred during this visit gave its colour to the rest of his life. In 1791 Sir William HAMILTON was made a Privy Councillor, and in the same year (nine years after the death Addit., 8967, |