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Article ANTIQUARIES AND ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 11 of 18 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Antiquaries And Antiquities.
country , the lid is turned over , the corners being cut so as to alloAV of the lapping . The remains of Roman London are continually admitting of fresh illustration , and , as we hear of a Professorship of English History ancl Archaeology being about to be established in King ' s College , it is to be hoped that tlie claims of this branch of the
science will not be forgotten . There is a society , too , whose province extends to the south side of the Thames—the Surrey Archaeological , Avhich bids fair to be one of the most successful of all the county associations of this nature . It seems strange that such a body was not organized long ago . No county abounds ivith interesting antiquities more than Surrey ; and , with such names as Ave see enlisted in the work , there can scarcely be a doubt of the serA * ices it may render to antiquarian science .
We come now to consider the facilities afforded in our day for the study of antiquities ; and first , there is the National collection — admirable in all that regards Rome , Nineveh , Babylon , Mexico , ancl India , most poor and deficient as regards our own country . Nor is this deficiency to be accounted for by any peculiar difficulty in procuring the antiquities themselves ;
day by day , they are offered singly , and occasionally by Avhole series ; but there seems to be some fatality on the subject , the best collections are almost invariably refused , ancl the most interesting specimens , when offered singly , share the same fate . Indeed , it would seem as though the managers of the British Museum were desirous of preventing British archaeology from
haA'ing any fair representation Avithin the walls , committed to then * care . The collection of plays in MS . lately purchased by Lord Ellesmere , ought to have been in the British Museum : the literary world has spoken its sentiments on that subject pretty freely . The Faussett collection of British antiquities ought to haA'e been in the same repository ; HOAV it AA'ill adorn
a more liberal and more enlightened city ; ancl yet it is hardly fair to blame London for the misdeservings of those who govern the British Museum ; it is quite right that the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury should be trustees ; but it woulcl not be reasonable to expect them personally to examine every addition to our treasures of art , science , or antiquity .
As , therefore , there is oftentimes , in political matters , a power behind the throne ; so also , in this case , is there a power behind the trustees , greater than the trustees . For this reason , until a considerable change shall take place in the staff of this important institution , it will be in vain to look for a true archaeological academy Avithin the Avails of Avhat was once Montague House .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Antiquaries And Antiquities.
country , the lid is turned over , the corners being cut so as to alloAV of the lapping . The remains of Roman London are continually admitting of fresh illustration , and , as we hear of a Professorship of English History ancl Archaeology being about to be established in King ' s College , it is to be hoped that tlie claims of this branch of the
science will not be forgotten . There is a society , too , whose province extends to the south side of the Thames—the Surrey Archaeological , Avhich bids fair to be one of the most successful of all the county associations of this nature . It seems strange that such a body was not organized long ago . No county abounds ivith interesting antiquities more than Surrey ; and , with such names as Ave see enlisted in the work , there can scarcely be a doubt of the serA * ices it may render to antiquarian science .
We come now to consider the facilities afforded in our day for the study of antiquities ; and first , there is the National collection — admirable in all that regards Rome , Nineveh , Babylon , Mexico , ancl India , most poor and deficient as regards our own country . Nor is this deficiency to be accounted for by any peculiar difficulty in procuring the antiquities themselves ;
day by day , they are offered singly , and occasionally by Avhole series ; but there seems to be some fatality on the subject , the best collections are almost invariably refused , ancl the most interesting specimens , when offered singly , share the same fate . Indeed , it would seem as though the managers of the British Museum were desirous of preventing British archaeology from
haA'ing any fair representation Avithin the walls , committed to then * care . The collection of plays in MS . lately purchased by Lord Ellesmere , ought to have been in the British Museum : the literary world has spoken its sentiments on that subject pretty freely . The Faussett collection of British antiquities ought to haA'e been in the same repository ; HOAV it AA'ill adorn
a more liberal and more enlightened city ; ancl yet it is hardly fair to blame London for the misdeservings of those who govern the British Museum ; it is quite right that the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury should be trustees ; but it woulcl not be reasonable to expect them personally to examine every addition to our treasures of art , science , or antiquity .
As , therefore , there is oftentimes , in political matters , a power behind the throne ; so also , in this case , is there a power behind the trustees , greater than the trustees . For this reason , until a considerable change shall take place in the staff of this important institution , it will be in vain to look for a true archaeological academy Avithin the Avails of Avhat was once Montague House .