proach to these magnitudes." (Prof. Cockerell's Lectures, 1850.) The tympanum of the pediment is enriched with a group allegorical of the "Progress of Civilization," and thus described by the sculptor, Sir Richard Westmacott, R.A.:

"Commencing at the western end or angle of the pediment, Man is represented emerging from a rude savage stage through the influence of Religion. He is next personified as a hunter and tiller of the earth, and labouring for his subsistence. Patriarchal simplicity then becomes invaded, and the worship of the true God defiled. Paganism prevails, and becomes diffused by means of the Arts. The worship of the heavenly bodies, and their supposed influence, led the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and other nations to study astronomy, typified by the centre statue-the key-stone to the composition. Civilization is now presumed to have made considerable progress. Descending towards the eastern angle of the pediment is Mathematics, in allusion to Science being now pursued on known sound principles. The Drama, Poetry, and Music balance the group of the Fine Arts on the western side, the whole composition terminating with Natural History, in which such subjects or specimens only are represented as could be made most effective in sculpture." The crocodile is emblematic of the cruelty of man in savage life the tortoise of his slow progress to civilization. The figure of Astronomy is 12 feet high, and weighs between 7 and 8 tons. The several figures are executed in Portland-stone, and the decorative accessories are gilt.

The ornamental gates and railing inclosing the courtyard were commenced in model by Lovati, who died before he had made much progress; they were completed by Mr. Thomas and Messrs. Collmann and Davis. The railing-spears painted dark copper, with the heads gilt, and with an ornamented band-is raised upon a granite curb. In the centre of the railing is a grand set of carriage-gates and foot-entrances, strengthened by fluted columns with composite capitals, richly gilt, surmounted by vases. The frieze is wholly of hammered iron: the remainder of the iron-work is cast from metal moulds, and was chiefly piece-moulded, in order to obtain relief. The carriage-gates are moved by a windlass, both sides opening simultaneously. Each half of these gates weighs upwards of five tons. The height of the iron-work is 9 feet to the top rail: the length of the whole palisade is about 800 feet. The metal-work was contracted for by Walker, of York, and cost nearly 80007. Upon the granite gate-piers are to be placed sitting statues of Bacon and Newton, and upon the two end piers Milton and Shakspeare. The buildings have altogether cost upwards of 800,0007.

The

As you stand beneath the portico, the effect is truly majestic, and you are impressed with the feeling that this is a noble institution of a great country. The principal entrance is by a carved oak door, 9 feet 6 inches in width, and 24 feet in height. hall is Grecian-Doric. The ceiling, trabeated and deeply coffered, is enriched with Greek frets and other ornaments in various colours, painted in encaustic. Here are three marble statues: the Hon. Mrs. Damer, holding a small figure of the Genius of the Thames; Shakspeare, by Roubiliac; and Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., by Chantrey. The statue of Shakspeare was bequeathed by Garrick to the Museum after the death of his widow; the statue of Sir Joseph Banks was presented by his personal friends. tween these statues is the doorway to the Grenville Library. East of the hall is the Manuscripts Department; west, the principal staircase (with carved vases of Huddlestone stone), and a gallery which forms the approach to the Collection of Antiquities.

Be

To inspect the several collections in the order in which they are described in the official Guide, the visitor will ascend to the upper floor by the principal staircase, and enter the exhibition rooms of the Zoological Department. These rooms form part of the southern, the whole of the eastern, and part of the northern sides of the upper floor. The Minerals and Fossils which are next described, are contained in the remaining part of the northern side. The Botanical exhibition is displayed in two rooms in the southern front of the building, which are entered by a doorway on the eastern side of the Central Saloon in the Zoological Department. Following still the order of the Guide, the visitor will descend the principal stairs to the hall, and enter the Department of Antiquities by the doorway near the south-western angle. The Antiquities occupy the whole of the western parts of the ground floor, several rooms connected therewith on the basement, and the western side of the upper floor. On the lower floor, the eastern portion of the south front, and part of the east wing, is the Library of Manuscripts. The remainder of the east side, and the whole of the northern side of the quadrangle, are occupied by the Printed Books. The entrance to the Grenville room is on the eastern side of the hall, under the clock. In this room is deposited the splendid library bequeathed to the nation in 1847 by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, a marble bust of whom, by Comolli, stands in a recess on the southern side. Here, as well as in the Royal library, are exhibited various printed books, selected to show the progress of the art of printing, with specimens of ornamental and curious binding. From the Grenville library the visitor proceeds to the Manuscript Saloon, where selections of manuscripts, charters, autographs, and seals are arranged for inspection. The visitor next enters the Royal library, and here, besides the printed books already mentioned, are exhibited some interesting and valuable specimens from the department of prints and drawings.

THE ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS.-Specimens from the existing classes of Animals are contained in three Galleries; and are arranged in two series. The Beasts, Birds,

Reptiles, and Fishes are exhibited in the Wall Cases. The hard parts of the Radiated, Molluscous, and Annulose Animals, (as Shells, Corals, Sea Eggs, Starfish, Crustacea,) and Insects, and the Eggs of Birds, are arranged in a series in the Table-Cases of the several Rooms.

The General Collection of Mammals, or Beasts which suckle their young, is arranged in three Rooms, the Hoofed Beasts (Ungulata) being contained in the Central Saloon and Southern Zoological gallery, and the Beasts with claws (Unguiculata) in the Mammalia Saloon.

Central Saloon. In the Cases the specimens of the Antelopes, Goats, and Sheep; and the Bats, or Cheiroptera. Some of the larger Mammalia are placed on the floor, such as the Giraffes, and the Morse or Walrus. Also, the full-grown male Gorilla, of the female, and of a young male, from the Gaboon, Equatorial Africa; horns of Oxen.

Southern Zoological Gallery.-In Cases, the continuation of the collection of the Hoofed Quadrupeds, as the Oxen, Elands, Deer, Camels, Llamas, Horses, and the various species of Swine. Here also are placed the species of Armadillo, Manis, and Sloth. On the Wall Cases are the horns of Antelopes, and on the floor are arranged the different Rhinoceros, Indian Elephant; a very young African Elephant, remarkable for the large size of its ears; specimens of the young, half-grown, and adult Hippopotamus, and the wild Oxen from India and Java. Here is the aurochs, or shaggy-maned Lithuanian Bison, presented by Nicholas, Emperor of Russia, and said to be the finest specimen of stuffing in the Museum. Above the bison of the prairies is the ornithiorhyncus, with a bird-like bill,-the water-mole of Australia.

Mammalia Saloon.-In the Cases are the specimens of Handed, Rapacious, Glirine, and Pouched Beasts; over the Cases are the different kinds of Seals, Manatees, and Porpoises; and arranged in Table Cases are the general collections of Corals.

Eastern Zoological Gallery, 300 feet long and 50 feet wide.-The general collection of Birds; the collection of Shells of Molluscous animals, and a series of horns of Deer and Rhinoceros. Here is a Reeves's Chinese pheasant (tail-feathers 5 feet 6 inches long); and next the ostriches are a Dutch painting of the extinct dodo, a foot of the bird supposed to be more than two and a half centuries old, and a cast of the head; also, a specimen of the rare apteryx, or wingless bird of New Zealand.

Above the Wall Cases are 116 portraits of sovereigns, statesmen, heroes, travellers, and men of science, -a few from the Sloanean and Cottonian collections: including two portraits of Oliver Cromwell (one a copy from an original possessed by a great-grandson of Cromwell; the other an original presented by Cromwell himself to Nath. Rich, a colonel in the parliamentary army, and bequeathed to the Museum, in 1784, by Sir Robert Rich, Bart.); three portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, Richard II., Edward III., Henry V., Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, James I., Charles I. and II., &c.; three portraits of Sir Hans Sloane; Peter I. of Russia, Stanislaus Augustus I. of Poland, Charles XII. of Sweden, and Louis XIV. of France; Lord Bacon; the poets Pope and Prior; Dr. John Ray, the first great English naturalist; George Buchanan, 1581, on panel; Sir Francis Drake and Captain Dampier; Martin Luther, 1546, on panel; Gutenberg, the inventor of printing; Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist; Vesalius, by Sir Antonio More; Mary Davis, 1688, "mtatis 74," with a horn-like wen on her head; Sir Robert Cotton, Dr. Birch, Humphrey Wanley, Sir H. Spelman, and Sir W. Dugdale; Camden, on panel; Thomas Britton, the musical small-coal-man; Andrew Marvell, said to be the only portrait extant of him; &c. This is, probably, the largest collection of portraits in the kingdom: many are ill-painted, others very curious, and some unique; the majority of them had long lain in the lumber-lofts of the old Museum, when they were hung up, chiefly at the suggestion of the late Mr. William Smith, of Lisle-street. A very interesting catalogue raisonnée of these pictures appeared in the Times, Nov. 27 and Dec. 8, 1838.

Northern Zoological Gallery-five rooms: 1. Nests of Birds and Insects; larger Reptiles; rarest small Quadrupeds; the Aye-aye of Madagascar; 3. British Zoological Collection-the Vertebrated Animals; the larger species, such as the Whales, Sharks, Tunny, &c., are suspended on the Walls, or placed on the Cases; the eggs of the Birds; a series of British Annulose Animals; the stuffed exotic Reptiles and Batrachia; the hard parts of the Radiated Animals, including the Sea-Eggs, Sea-Stars, and Encrinites; 4. The stuffed collection of exotic bony Fish; select specimens of Annulose Animals; Insects-Beetles, Praying Mantis, Walking Stick, and Leaf Insects, White Ants, Wasps and Becs, Butterflies, Spiders, Crustacea; 5. The exotic Cartilaginous Fish, such as the voracious Sharks; the Rays; the Torpedo or Numb-fish; Sturgeons; the saws of various Saw-fish, and larger Sponges.

North Gallery.-Fossil Remains in six rooms, partly in Zoological order and partly

in Geological sequence. 1. Plants. 2. Fishes, arranged chiefly after Agassiz. 3. Reptilian Remains: Frog, Tortoise, and Crocodile; the Iguanodon and Megalosaurus; gigantic Salamander, mistaken for a human skeleton; remains of Iguanodon, 70 feet long, from Tilgate Forest, Sussex; of the Hylæosaurus, or Wealden lizard; and the Plesiosaurus; the Epyornis, extinct wingless bird from Madagascar, remains referred by Professor Owen to distinct genera, some of which are still living in New Zealand, whilst others are, most probably, extinct. Amongst the living species may be noticed the Notornis Mantelli, a very large species of the Rail family. The Dinornis, wingless, and gigantic, from 10 to 11 feet in height, Dicynodon from South Africa, with two large descending tusks; enormous Tortoise from India. 4. Reptilian Remains; birds and Marsupials. 5. Mammalian Remains: corals, mollusca, nummulites, stone lilies, sea urchins, worms, insects, crustacea, trilobites, fossil shells. 6. Edentata and Pachydermata: skeleton of the Megatherium; Elephant, and Mastodon; cast of the skeleton of the Megatherium Americanum, found in Buenos Ayres; fossil human skeleton from Guadaloupe, &c. In Saurian Fossils the Museum is eminently rich; as well as in gigantic osseous remains; and impressions of vegetables, fruit, and fish.

Mineral Collection, mostly on Berzelius's system, in four rooms: mass of Meteoric Iron (1400lbs.) from Buenos Ayres; native Silver from Konsberg; trunk of a tree converted into semi-opal; large mass of Websterite from Newhaven; Tortoise sculptured in Nephrite, or Jade, from the banks of the Jumna; Esquimaux knife and harpoon, of meteoric iron; a large collection of Meteoric Stones chronologically arranged. Here, also, are Diamonds of various forms, and models of celebrated diamonds. The collection is superior to any in Europe, and includes a splendid cabinet of minerals from the Harz Mountains.

THE BOTANICAL OR BANKSIAN DEPARTMENT contains the Herbaria of Sir Hans Sloane (336 volumes bound in 262); the Herbaria of Plukenet and Petiver; collections from those of Merret, Cunningham, Hermann, Robart, Bernard de Jussieu, Tournefort, Scheuchzer, Kamel, Vaillant, Kampfer, Catesby, Houston, and Boerhaave; the Plants presented to the Royal Society by the Company of Apothecaries from 1722 to 1796, as rent paid by the Company for the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. Also the Herbarium of the Baron de Moll; the Herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks, mostly in cabinets, nearly 30,000 species, including Sir Joseph's collections upon his voyage with Captain Cook, and the Plants collected in subsequent voyages of discovery; Loureiro's Plants from Cochin China; an extensive series presented by the East India Company; Egyptian Plants, presented by Wilkinson, &c. The Flowers and Fruits preserved in spirits, and the dried Seeds and Fruits, are fine; as are also the various specimens of Woods.

The

DEPARTMENTS OF ANTIQUITIES.-The collections are divided into two series. first, consisting of Sculpture, including Inscription and Architectural remains, occupies the Ground Floor of the South-western and Western portions of the building; and to this division have been added some rooms in the basement-Assyria and other countries. The second series, placed in a suite of rooms on the Upper Floor, comprehends all the smaller remains, of whatever nation or period, such as Vases and Terra-cottas, Bronzes, Coins, and Medals, and articles of personal or domestic use. To the latter division are attached the Ethnographical specimens. The four principal series of Sculptures are the Roman, including the mixed class termed Græco-Roman, the Hellenic, the Assyrian, and the Egyptian at right angles to the Roman. To the left of the Hall, on entering the building, is the Roman Gallery. On the South side are miscellaneous Roman antiquities discovered in this country, belonging to British Antiquities. On the opposite side is the series of Roman Iconographical or portrait Sculptures, whether statues or busts. In 1864 were added nine statues from the Farnese Palace at Rome, purchased from the ex-king of Naples, for 4000l. These statues are: 1. A Mercury, nearly identical in pose and scale with the celebrated statue in the Belvedere of the Vatican. 2. An equestrian statue of a Roman Emperor of heroic size. The head is that of a Caligula, but doubts have been entertained whether it belongs to the body: this group is in very fine condition, and especially interesting, as being one of the very few equestrian statues which have been preserved to us from antiquity. 3. The celebrated and unique copy of the Diadumenos of Polycletus. This figure, engraved in K. O. Müller's Denkmäler d. a. Kunst, taf. xxxi. No. 136, represents a Greek athlete binding a diadem round his head, whence the name Diadumenos: used as a canon of proportions in the ancient schools, and which, at a later period, sold for the enormous sum of 100 talents, equal to 25,000l. 4. An Apollo playing on the lyre, in the same attitude as the beautiful statue from Cyrene, in the British Museum, but naked. 6. An heroic figure, possibly a King of the Macedonian period in the character of a Deity. 7. A Satyr holding up a basket in which is an

Amorino. The two remaining statues are a group of Mercury and Hersé. An interesting notice of these statues, from the pen of Professor Gerhard, of Berlin, is to be found in Bunsen's great work on the Topography of Rome.

Also, a bronze lamp found on the site of Julian's palace, probably of a date prior to the Christian era, and considered to be Greek-a most beautiful work.

British and Anglo-Roman Remains—Tessellated pavements, Roman altars, sarcophagi, Roman pigs of lead; tessellated pavements from the Bank of England and Threadneedle-street and other parts; Roman mill fragments from Trinity House-square, and a sarcophagus from Haydon-square.

In 1864, were added 2000 objects, connected with the first or early appearance of man on this earth, as flint implements, or weapons found in the drift, a section of a Danish Kjokkenmödding, relics from caves of the South of France, implements of bone, engraving and sculpture on bone and horn, remains of the Stone Period, bronze implements, celts and arrow-heads, bronze figures of animals, Roman remains-all extremely interesting to the antiquary and geologist, &c. Also, the Collection of Remains found in the cavern at Abbeville, with specimens of the cave bones and stones, illustrating the Antiquity of Man.

Greco-Roman Rooms.-Statues and bas-reliefs by Greek artists, or from Greek originals; busts of mythological, poetical, and historical personages; statues and busts of Roman emperors; architectural and decorative sculptures and bas-reliefs; sepulchral monuments, Etruscan, Greek, and Roman; Roman altars; pavement from Carthage; bas-relief of Jupiter and Leda; the group of Mithra; the Rondini Faun; torso of Venus, from Richmond House; bas-relief of the Apotheosis of Homer, cost 10007.; Persepolitan marbles, presented by Sir Gore Ouseley and the Earl of Aberdeen ; a Venus of the Capitol; and other high-class marbles from the collections of Sir W. Hamilton, R. Payne Knight, and Edmund Burke; including, from the latter, the copy of the Cupid of Praxiteles, presented by the painter Barry to Burke. Here also are a sarcophagus from Sidon, sculptured with combats of Greeks, Amazons, and Centaurs; and a magnificent marble tazza 4 feet 3 inches high, and 3 feet 7 inches diameter.

The Townley Collection of bas-reliefs, vases, statues, and groups, heads and busts, includes 83 terra-cottas: the famed Discobolus, or Quoit-thrower, in marble, from the bronze of the sculptor Myron; Venus, or Dione, the finest Greek statue seen by Canova in England; Venus Victrix, of the highest style of art; busts of Pallas, Hercules, Minerva, and Homer; bust of "Clytie rising from a sunflower;" and busts of Greek poets and philosophers. The Bacchus is finest-so beautiful, self-possessed, and severe; Bacchus, the mighty conqueror of India-not a drunken boy-but the power, not the victim of wine.

These stores of Greek and Roman art were collected by Mr. Charles Townley, chiefly at Rome, between 1765 and 1772; and were arranged by him at No. 7, Park-street, Westminster, with accompaniments so classically correct, that the house resembled the interior of a Roman villa. The dining-room had walls of scagliola porphyry; and here were placed the largest and most valuable statues, lighted by lamps almost to animation. Mr. Townley died in 1805; and his collection of marbles and terra-cottas was purchased by the British Museum for 20,000l., and first exhibited in a gallery built for their reception in 1808. Mr. Townley's bronzes, coins, gems, drawings, &c., chiefly illustrating the sculptures, were subsequently purchased by the Museum for 82001. A bust of Mr. Townley, by Nollekens, is placed near the entrance to the Central Saloon. Subsequent acquisitions have been made by the bequest of the collection of R. Payne Knight, Esq., in 1824, and by various individual purchases and donations.

Lycian Gallery.-Reliefs, tombs, and sarcophagi discovered and brought to England by Sir Charles Fellows, principally from the ruins of Xanthus, S. W. Asia Minor; dating from the earliest Greek period to that of the Byzantine empire, and earlier than the Parthenon. Model of the Harpy Tomb, with its actual white marble reliefs, presumed to represesent the daughters of Pandarus carried off by Harpies: the tomb itself was a square shaft, 80 tons weight. Model of an Ionic peristyle building, with 14 columns and statues; the friezes representing the conquest of Lycia by the Persians, and the siege of Xanthus. Tomb of Paiafa: roof resembling an inverted boat, and an early Gothic arch; the sides sculptured with combats of warriors on horseback and foot; a chariot, sphinxes, &c. Casts from the sculptured Rock-tomb at Myra, with bilingual (Greek and Lycian) inscription.

Elgin Rooms.-The Elgin marbles, brought from the Parthenon at Athens by the Earl of Elgin: some are the work of Phidias himself. (See in this room two models of the Parthenon, each 12 feet long, made by R. C. Lucas, described in Remarks on the