Hence, proceeding on his way, the visitor returns east from the sixth room into the fifth, and turns thence south, into the pa.s.sage which leads into the western gallery of the Museum, and immediately into
THE EGYPTIAN ROOM.
This room is always an attractive part of the Museum to the majority of visitors. Here are arranged ill.u.s.trative specimens of the arts and customs of people who lived two thousand years before our era; and the preserved bodies of men and women who trod the streets of Thebes and Memphis, partakers of an advanced civilisation, when the inhabitants of Europe were roaming about uncultivated wastes, in a state of barbarism. Here are graceful household vessels, compared with the art of which the willow pattern of the nineteenth century is a barbarism, and fabrics of which modern Manchester would not be ashamed. Into this room a vast collection of Egyptian curiosities is crowded; and, with patience, the visitor may glean from an examination of its contents a vivid general idea of the arts and social comforts of the ancient people who built the Pyramids, and were in the height of their prosperity centuries before the Christian era. The cases are so divided and sub-divided that it is only by paying particular attention to the numbers marked upon them that the visitor can hope to follow our directions with ease. He will see, however, on first entering the room, that the mummies are placed in cases occupying the central s.p.a.ce of the room; and that huge and gaudily painted coffins, having a somewhat ghastly effect, are placed perpendicularly here and there on the top of the wall cases. But the attention of the visitor on entering this room is usually rivetted at once upon the human remains of people that flourished more than two thousand years before our era.
The first thought that rises in the mind of the spectator on beholding these wrecks of the human form, is,--why all this trouble, these bandages, these scents, and these ornaments? It is as well, therefore, to explain that the ancient Egyptians believed that there would be a resurrection of the body hereafter. They believed that these poor mummies would issue from these waxen bandages, and once more walk and talk as of old; hence their gigantic excavations at Thebes for secure tombs; hence the great Pyramids built to preserve the sacred forms of their Pharaohs. Some of the ancient Egyptians retained the embalmed bodies of their relations in their houses, enclosed in coffins, upon which the face of the deceased was faithfully pourtrayed. Some specimens of these representations are in the room, and some in the Egyptian saloon below. The mummies of the poorer cla.s.ses were not so well preserved as those of the rich; therefore, remains of the plebs have crumbled to dust, while those of the sacerdotal cla.s.s, having been deprived of the intestines, and the brain having been drawn through the nose, having been filled with myrrh, ca.s.sia, &c., soaked in natron,[7] and then securely bandaged, have remained in a comparatively sound state to the present time, and may be found in every museum of any note.
HUMAN MUMMIES.
The first five cases to which the visitor would do well to direct his attention are those marked from 46 to 50. In the first division is deposited the mummy of a female, with a gilt mask over the head and an oskh or collar about the neck; and mummies of children, and fragments of coffins, with paintings of Egyptian deities upon them. In the second division of the cases, lies some of the kingly dust of the builder of the third pyramid, King Mencheres; also, part of his coffin; the sides of a coffin decorated with drawings of deities; clumps of mummied hair; and mummies of children. In the third division are tesserae from Egyptian mummies of the Grecian period, with various figures, including one of Anubis, the embalmer of the dead; a mummy of Amounirion covered with a curious network of bugles in blue porcelain; the upper part of a coffin with dedications to the Egyptian G.o.d Osiris; a small coffin containing the mummy of a child; the mummy of a female, Auch-sen-nefer, upon which is a scarabaeus, the sacred beetle of the Egyptians. In the fourth division the princ.i.p.al object is the coffin of the last-named mummy, with representations of various deities, including Nutpe, or the Abyss of Heaven, a female figure with a vase on her head; and linen wrappers from mummies of the Greek period. Having examined these human relics of remote antiquity, the visitor should pa.s.s at once to cases 63, 64, leaving the intermediate cases for future examination, where he will find sc.r.a.ps and fragments of the coffins, wrappers, and ornaments of various mummies. In the first division are fragments of the mask of mummy coffins; fragments from the lower end of coffins with the Egyptian bull Apis carrying a mummy upon it; and hands (one holding a roll) from mummy coffins; sepulchral sandals, one with a foreign figure bandaged, in token of the enemies of the deceased being at his feet. In the second division are a variety of sepulchral tablets to Osiris, Isis, Anubis, and other Egyptian deities. The next twelve cases are filled with human mummies and their coffins. In the first case is a mummy (1) of Pefaakhons, an auditor of the royal palace during the twenty-sixth dynasty. This mummy is about two thousand two hundred years old. Upon it the visitor may notice the representation of Egyptian deities Osiris, the Hawk of Ra, Isis, the embalmer Anubis, and the bull Apis. Mummy number two, in this case, is that of a priest of Amoun, Penamoun, swathed in its bandages, and here also is the outer linen case of the mummy of Harononkh. The next case (66) is devoted to the mummy and coffin of Tatshbapem: the figures here represented are the deceased praying to Osiris, the usual figure of the embalmer of the dead, Anubis, and a scarabaeus, or sacred beetle, made of beads. The next case contains the coffin and mummy of a priestess of Amoun, named Kotbti. The hair is attached to the mask of the face, as the visitor will observe, by two ivory studs: there are wooden models of the hands and arms decorated with bracelets and rings; each hand upon the coffin holds a nosegay, and here again the black Anubis with, his golden face appears in company with Thoth (a figure of a man with the head of an ibis), the Mercury of the Egyptians, G.o.d of the moon and inventor of speech, Isis, the Egyptian Ceres, and Nutpe, the Abyss of Heaven. The next case (68) is the highly decorated coffin of the incense-bearer of the abode of Noumra. Here the judgment scene of the Amenti is pourtrayed; Osiris, in the shape of a sphinx; and other sacred figures. The following case (69) contains a mummy (l) of a Theban priest of Amoun, swathed in its outer linen coverings, which are decorated with various Egyptian divinities, and with Asiatic captives at the feet: the second object in this case is the coffin of an incense-bearer of the temple of Khons, with the usual representations of the sepulchral deities.
Advancing in the regular order in which the cases are numbered, the visitor will next notice in case 70 the inner coffin of a supposed Egyptian king, with the bandages with inscriptions at the side. Three mummies are placed in the next case (71) the first of which is crumbling rapidly, the feet being already gone: and the bandages of the second present pictures of Anubis embalming the deceased, and Isis mourning over the ceremony. The next four cases (72-75) are also filled with mummies and their appendages, of which the mummy and coffin of a sacred functionary with a gilded face, and a picture of the deceased adoring King Amenophis the First, in the 73rd case, and the mummy and coffin of a musician of the Roman era of Egypt in case 74 are the most remarkable. The last case of mummies (76) contains three mummies. The first is that of a priestess of Amoun, whose form is discernible through the bandages, the feet of which are visible, and the third is that of a woman named Cleopatra, of the family of Soter, Archon of Thebes, with a comb in the hair, and upon the bandages the usual sepulchral deities, including the black Anubis, and in the next case is her coffin.
The visitor having completed his survey of the human mummies should return to the series of cases marked from 52 to 58, in which he will find a curious a.s.sortment of
ANIMAL MUMMIES.
Animal life was venerated by the Egyptians. Certain animals were sacred in certain parts of the country; but the ibis and the hawk were generally worshipped. The sacred birds were attended to by the priests. Seven cases in this room are entirely filled with the mummies of these sacred birds. Here are mummies of dog-headed baboons, worshipped at Hermopolis, and sacred to Thoth; a head of the cynocephalus from Thebes; mummies of jackals, sacred to the sepulchral Anubis; the head of a dog in bandages, and one with the bandages unrolled. Mummies of oats, the female being sacred to the G.o.ddess Pasht, or Diana, and the male to the sun; a wooden figure of a cat containing the mummy of one; and bronze cats from the cat mummy pits of Abouseir. In the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth cases are mummies of parts of bulls; gazelles; unrolled heads of rams; and the mummy of a lamb. In the two following cases (56, 57) are a variety of mummies of the ibis, perhaps, the most sacred bird of the Egyptians, and the emblem of Thoth: these include Sir J. G. Wilkinson"s present of the black ibis and two eggs; and conical pots containing mummies of the ibis. The last case (58) contains some strange mummies, including those of crocodiles, emblematic of the Egyptian Sevek, the subduer; mummies of snakes sacred to Isis, in the shape of circular cakes; and in case 60, the visitor may notice more specimens of mummy snakes and fish. The next two cases are filled with the specimens of some dried birds of ancient Egypt, some stamped with the names of Sesostris, Amenophis, and Thothmes; and some from the Pyramids of Illahoun, Howara, and Dashour. The visitor should now direct his attention to the large collection of
EGYPTIAN SEPULCHRAL AND OTHER ORNAMENTS.
These are interesting as ill.u.s.trative of the Egyptian art of remote period. These fragments occupy no less than twenty-four cases (77-102). In the first case (77) the visitor should notice the coffin of the mummy Cleopatra, ornamented on the outside with ordinary emblematical drawings and on the inside with a Greek zodiac. The three next cases (78-80) are filled with sepulchral tablets representing various Egyptian divinities, among which the embalmer of the dead, Anubis, ever figures prominently. The cases marked 81, 82, are filled with a collection of rings of ivory, jasper, and cornelian; gold, silver, and porcelain earrings and bracelets; signets with scarabaei, or sacred beetles, in gold, silver, bronze, and some of the Graeco-Egyptian period, in iron; necklaces, ornamented with various religious symbols, in gold, jasper, amethyst; and in the 83rd case are some specimens of old Egyptian gla.s.s. The next six cases (84-89) are entirely devoted to sepulchral ornaments, including sepulchral tablets showing priests adoring the sun, scenes of the embalmment of the dead, and devotees adoring their favourite deities; pectoral plates; patches from the network outer coverings of mummies, including the popular scarabaei, wings, sceptres headed with, the lotus flower, and the crowns of upper and lower Egypt, all in porcelain--all taken from the coffins of various mummies. Case 90 contains the coffin of the archon of Thebes, Soter, with the hawk of the sun on the top, and the judgment scenes of the Amenti on the sides. The next three cases (91-93) are filled with more specimens of Egyptian ornaments, including four sides of a sepulchral box in wood (92), and sepulchral tablets. The three cases next in succession (94-96) are filled with amulets of all kinds, chiefly in the form of the scarabaeus, cut in stone. The scarabaeus of the Egyptians was an emblem of the Divinity, which the devout wore about their necks, and hung round the necks of their dead relatives, as in the present day an effigy of the Virgin rests often upon the cold breast of a Catholic corpse. As the visitor will perceive, the collection of amulets comprehends representations of various sacred animals, including the hedgehog. They are, in some cases, nearly four thousand years old. The collection of scarabaei includes one recording the marriage of Amenophis III. to Queen Taia, and several bearing the name of Rameses, or Sesostris, according to the Greeks. These ornaments are in various substances; the more valuable being in cornelian, and basalt. The following three cases (97-99) contain sepulchral tablets in wood, with various sacred drawings upon them; and in the 100th case are inclosed the sepulchral scarabaei, usually engraved with a prayer, and found inserted in the folds of mummy bandages. Several are costly, as for instance that marked 7875 of green jaspyr, said to have been extracted from the coffin of King Enantef. The next two cases (101, 102) contain various interesting fragments from mummies, including plain scarabaei and other symbolic amulets, and ornaments inscribed with the names of early Egyptian kings. Having noticed these revelations of Egypt"s sepulchres, the visitor should turn at once to the eastern wall cases in which he will find a vast collection of
EGYPTIAN DEITIES.
The innumerable little figures scattered throughout the first seven cases are all Egyptian deities with their appropriate symbols, including those in porcelain and stone with holes bored in them for the purpose of attaching them to mummy bandages; those in wood which were carved generally to decorate tombs, and those in bronze which were the household G.o.ds. It would be impossible for the general visitor to examine this collection in detail, but he may notice the chief deities with the extraordinary jumble of human and brute life which they present. First of all the visitor will remark, in the first division of the first case, a sandstone figure, seven inches high, seated upon a throne with lotus sceptres, and attendant deities; this is Amenra, the Jupiter of the Egyptians; and in the same case Phtah, the Vulcan of the Egyptians, with a gour, or animal-headed sceptre in both hands, and an oskh, or semi-circular collar, about his neck; the Egyptian Saturn, Sabak, with the head of a crocodile, with the shenti about his loins; and Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury, with an ibis head surmounted by a crescent moon. In the second division, or case, amid the strange figures, the visitor should remark the Egyptian Juno, Mout, or mother, represented in the act of suckling, and wearing the pschent, or cap, worn only by deities and Pharaohs; the Egyptian Minerva, Nepth, on a throne, with the teshr, or inferior cap on her head; a human form with a goat"s head, wearing a conical cap ornamented with two ostrich feathers, and disk on goat"s horns, representing Num, or water, called Jupiter Chnumis by the Greeks; Khem, the Egyptian Pan, standing on nine bows; a youthful figure with one lock of hair, and supporting the lunar disk, representing Chons, or the Egyptian Hercules; an Egyptian Venus, Athor, in gold, cow-headed; Ra, the sun, seated, and hawk-headed; Nefer Atum, with the lotus flower and plumes for head ornaments, from Memphis, and reverenced as the guardian of the sun"s nostril; and the Egyptian Diana, Pasht, or Bubastis, a bronze female figure with the head of a cat. The third division includes a group, in vitrified earth, representing Amenra seated on a feathered throne; a triad, in blue porcelain, of Amoun Mout, the mother, and Chons, or Hercules; a figure in lapis-lazuli of the Egyptian Minerva, Nepth; Num, ram-headed, walking; Ptah-Socharis standing upon two crocodiles, and supporting two hawks on his shoulders; and Pasht, the Egyptian Diana, lion-headed. The third and fourth cases are filled with more specimens of ancient Egyptian deities. In the first division the visitor should remark a stone figure of the Egyptian Pluto, Osiris Pethempamentes, with the atf, or conical cap, on his head, and the curved sceptre, and three-thonged whip in his hand; a figure in stone, seated, wearing a conical cap, and holding the sceptre called a gom, which represents the Egyptian Bacchus, Osiris Ounophris; and a painted wooden figure, kneeling, and supporting a building and a basket, representing the Egyptian Proserpine, Nepththys, mistress of the palace. The second and third divisions contain some remarkable figures, including bronze groups of Osiris-ioh, or the moon, with the lunar disk; a walking figure of Anubis, with a jackal"s head; the ibis-headed Thoth, and Har-si-esi with a hawk"s head, each pouring a flood of water upon the earth; various hawk-headed and other deities, in the beautiful lapis lazuli, blue porcelain, and green felspar, including Isis suckling her son Horus, and walking with a throne on her head; Nephthys walking; a porcelain Horus with the mystic lock; a blue porcelain plate, representing a procession of female deities; a snake-headed deity, also in blue porcelain; and a porcelain Thoth carrying a scarabaeus.
In the fourth division the visitor will at once notice a small monument in calcareous stone, about one foot two inches in height, with various deities represented upon it; also other monuments, one decorated with a flying scarabaeus; Horus seated upon a throne flanked with lions; and Pasht upon a throne supported by two negroes and two Asiatics. The fifth case is devoted also to deities, which the visitor will recognise, and here he should notice the terra-cotta figure, with a buckler and sword, which represents the Mars of the Egyptians, known as Onouris. The princ.i.p.al object in the sixth case is the mummy-shaped coffin of a Theban priest, called Penamen, and grouped near it are offering stands and fragments. The seventh case contains one or two remarkable groups, including some sacred animals; statues of Horns and the son of Horus supporting three vases upon goat"s horns; various figures of Khons, one standing on a lotus flower; an extraordinary figure of Phtah-Socharis upon two crocodiles; Ta-ur, an erect hippopotamus, with human b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and the back covered by a crocodile"s tail; Typhon, a.s.s-headed; and the tortoise-headed guardian of the third hall of the Amenti, recovered from the tombs of the kings at Thebes. Having noticed these remarkable combinations and symbols of the religious idea of ancient Egypt, the visitor should rapidly examine the extraordinary collection of
SACRED ANIMALS,
which exhibit, in their infinite variety, a confusion of species so ingenious and astonishing, that the spectator who has the least zoological enthusiasm is utterly confounded by the strange sights that are here. These animals are collected into four cases (8-11), the two first of which are chiefly devoted to the quadrupeds; and the two last to the birds. Among the former, or quadrupeds, the visitor will particularly remark the cynocephali, or dog-headed baboons, in bronze and stone; various lions; cats, with bored ears; jackals; shrew mice bearing the winged world; bulls; gazelles; a kneeling ibex; a ram walking with the conical cap on its head; a sow with pigs, in bronze; a quadruped with a viper"s head; sphinxes, one covered with a lotus; and various models of hares, ram"s heads, &c. These animals, that is to say the sacred animals that actually had life, were waited upon by the priests, and the pain of death was inflicted upon any person who killed them. Among the birds are many figures of hawks, some with human faces, others with the solar disk on the head, or the conical cap; the ibis, variously decorated; snakes and fishes; uraei; wooden fragments of vipers; frogs; scorpions; a bronze crocodile; scarabaei, in lapis-lazuli and other substances; emblems of stability; a wooden head of the hippopotamus from the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes; vultures; and snakes.
Next to the cases of sacred animals are two (12, 13) devoted to small statues of various kinds, in various substances. In the first division of these cases are stone heads of priests, and officers of state with long hair; and in the second, many curious objects are arranged, including figures of men seated on thrones; a standing figure of a Pharaoh; a long haired officer of state carved in ebony; rowers, with moveable arms, taken from the models of boats. The third division includes a dark green figure of a royal scribe, kneeling and holding a tablet on which the prenomen of Rameses is visible; kings in various att.i.tudes; the bronze figure of a kneeling priest supporting a bowl containing loaves; an altar of libation, with sacred animals, and vases, cakes, &c.; various figures of scribes and others; a female figure with a calf suspended about the neck by its legs, and the hand resting upon the horns of a gazelle; reclining female figures; parts of two females supporting monkeys; a seated female with blue hair; and fragments of figures. The fourth division contains other Egyptian figures. Having examined these two cases the visitor should approach those in which the larger
EGYPTIAN HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS
and other curiosities are deposited. These cases are six in number (14-19). From these cases the visitor will have an opportunity of gathering a general idea of the domestic comforts of the ancient Egyptians. Here are arranged their chairs, stools, and head-rests, as they were used three thousand years ago. In the first division are, an inlaid stool from Thebes, with a maroon-coloured seat; and a high-backed chair, inlaid with ivory and dark woods, and a seat of cordage, also from Thebes; but the most curious objects in this division are the Egyptian pillows or head-rests, called uls. These are hollowed clumps of wood or metallic substance, supported upon a column, and used by the hardy ancients as rests for the head. In the present day the poorest beggar would think one of these uls a sorry rest for his weary head: yet some of the specimens have the t.i.tles of men of distinction engraved upon them. Pillows, however, were not unknown luxuries to the Egyptians, as a pillow of linen, stuffed with water-fowl feathers, and deposited in the second division of the cases under notice, testifies. In this second division are fragments of couches, the decorations chiefly representing animals; fragments, in calcareous stone, from the propylon of the brick pyramid of Dashour; cramps, from Thebes and the temple of Berenice; iron keys from Thebes; bronze hinges; porcelain tiles from the door of a pyramid; an interesting stone model of a house; a model from Upper Egypt of a granary, with a covered shed at one corner from which a man apparently surveyed the operations of the workmen below. A Leghorn mouse, setting aside the feelings of enthusiastic antiquaries
THE EGYPTIAN ROOM
consumed the grain that lay in the model granaries. From this curious relic the visitor will turn with some astonishment to an ancient Egyptian wig: it is curled on the top and plaited at the sides, and is in all respects a well manufactured article. It is a state wig, worn only on great occasions--the Egyptians going habitually closely shaven. In the third division of the cases are a.s.sembled various bulky figures, which the visitor will recognise as various Egyptian deities: there is Pasht with his lion"s head; Num, ram-headed; Thoth, ibis-headed, and others; also the figure of a Pharaoh, or Egyptian king, with the teshr, a royal cap, all taken from the tombs of the kings at Thebes.
In the two next cases (20, 21) the visitor will find various specimens of the dresses and personal ornaments of the ancient Egyptians. In the first division are a leather cap, cut into net-work from a single piece, the ordinary male head-dress; a leather workman"s ap.r.o.n: a palm-leaf basket, and a linen cloth tunic that was found in it at Thebes. The toilet vessels of various substances and shapes, used to contain the metallic dye for the eye-lids, called sthem, worn by the ancient Egyptians, including the cylindrical case, bearing the royal names, are arranged in the second division, together with ivory, porcelain, and other hair studs, and a pair of cord sandals from Memphis. The third division is filled with varieties of Egyptian mirrors, pins, combs, and sandals. The mirrors of the Egyptians consisted of circular metallic plates, with variously ornamented handles. The specimens in this case, which have lost their l.u.s.tre under centuries of rust, include one with a lotus handle, ornamented with the Egyptian G.o.ddess of beauty, Athor; one with a tress of hair as a design for the handle: and others ornamented with the head of the much reverenced hawk. The pins are in bronze and wood, and were used by the Egyptian ladies either to bind the hair or to apply the sthem to the eyelids. The combs show a double row of teeth, and are of wood.
The shoes and sandals are of various kinds, but the greatest variety of these articles is deposited in the fourth division of the cases.
These are made of palm leaves, wood, and papyrus: those with high-peaked toes are the most ancient, having been worn in the eighteenth dynasty, about fourteen centuries before our era.
The nine following cases (22-32) are devoted to the vases and other domestic vessels of the Egyptians; an intervening case (27) being filled with the cedar coffin of a prophet priest of Amoun in Thebes, elaborately ornamented with various religious symbols. Some of the vases are inscribed with royal names of early dynasties, proving their great antiquity: some of the most elegant dating so far back as fourteen centuries before our era. These specimens of ancient Egyptian workmanship suggest a state of high artistic refinement of a remoter antiquity than the Grecian, wrecks of which lie in the Elgin and other saloons on the bas.e.m.e.nt of the museum. Of the large collection here arranged the visitor will only care to notice the more remarkable specimens. The uses to which these cups and bowls and vases were put, may be inferred partly from their shapes, and partly from the material of which they were made; those of a costly kind being probably the receptacles of the unguents with which the ancient Egyptians of both s.e.xes anointed their persons after the bath; and the larger and less costly varieties being the wine vases, &c, in common use. Two ancient vases are in the first division of the case (22, 23) one with the name of a king before the twelfth dynasty, and the more modern one of the twenty-fifth dynasty. In the second division the visitor should notice the small aragonite vases, resembling wine-gla.s.ses; in the third case a slab, upon which are six vases of various shapes in calcareous stone; in the fourth a vase from Lower Egypt, with the quant.i.ty it holds inscribed upon it. In the next five cases, 24-27 are filled with cups, and bowls, small vases, and lamps, including pottery vases shaped like the pine cone; blue porcelain vase with a pattern; a highly ornamented porcelain jug; vases in the shape of the hedgehog and the ibis; gla.s.s, long-necked vases; a large blue bowl, ornamented with leaves; a porcelain vase of the time of Sesostris, ornamented with petals of the lotus flower; polished terra-cotta vases; double vases; a lamp shaped like a bottle: a vase for libations in terra-cotta, with a spout shaped like a bird"s beak; bottle-shaped vase in painted pottery, with three handles, and symbolic decorations; and curious perforated cups on feet. The three cases marked 30-32 contain also some curious vases and lamps, including a vase shaped like a woman playing a guitar, from Thebes; a vase issuing from a flower, in red pottery; a, lamb reclining as a vase; gourd-shaped vases; earthenware bowls covered with various deities; and lamps ornamented with toads, boars" heads, children, and leaves, in relief.
Other vases are arranged here and there about the five next cases (33-37) together with agricultural implements; and, strange to say, viands prepared perhaps for some of the mummies that lie in the immediate neighbourhood, together with odd bits and fragments, all ill.u.s.trative of times before Alexander had bequeathed the Ptolemies to Egypt. In the first two divisions, the remarkable objects are various, bronze buckets with ornamental outlines of various deities and sacred animals; a rectangular bronze table, perforated to receive vessels; bronze lamps, &c.; and in the third division the visitor should certainly notice the two-staged stand of papyrus and cane from a private tomb at Thebes, with trussed ducks and cakes of bread upon it; baskets containing fruits, as figs, pomegranates, dates, cakes of barley, &e. The fourth division contains some old agricultural implements, including the fragments of a sickle found by Belzoni under a statue at Karnak; a wooden pick-axe; an Egyptian hoe; a yoke of acacia wood; eight steps of wood from a rope-ladder, and specimens of palm-fibre rope.
Pa.s.sing from these interesting relics of ancient manufacturing skill, the visitor will next arrive before two cases (36, 37) of Egyptian fragments of tombs, and weapons of war, ill.u.s.trating the means of killing and the fashion of burial. In the first division are various goms, or Egyptian sceptres and staffs, some of ebony and some of wood; and the blade of a war-axe, with the name of Thothmes III. inscribed upon it. A variety of offensive weapons are arranged in the second division, including bronze war-axes, one with a hollow silver handle; daggers; bows and arrows, the arrows pointed with triangular bronze heads, and fragments of flint-arrow-heads; fowling-sticks; handsome bronze bladed knives, with agate and other handles, some worked with gold, &c. The fragments in the third division include a knotted rope; a piked club; wooden fan handles; wooden paddles carved with heads of jackals; a mast for the model of a boat; and in the fourth division are a curious cuira.s.s and helmet, from the tombs of Manfaloot, fashioned from a crocodile skin. At this point is another intermediate case containing a mummy, coffin, and boards. The coffin is shaped like a mummy, with a green face, and Netpe, between Isis and Nephthys on the breast, with the deceased being introduced to the deities, among whom he is to be divided by Thoth. This coffin was presented to the Museum by George III.
Having peered into the fragmentary establishments of ancient Egypt, followed the contemporaries of Sesostris into their dining-rooms, even noticed specimens of their dishes, and seen them in their waxen winding-sheets, the visitor may now pa.s.s to the next case (39) and notice some of the remains of the materials by the means of which they recorded their actions, and traced their lineaments. Here are displayed the ancient Egyptian pens and pencils, colours and ink, all shrivelled and discoloured with the mould of centuries, but remaining still to bear witness to the early love of knowledge and of art, that urged the Egyptian scribe and the Egyptian artist to fashion them. In the first division are the rectangular pallets, with grooves for the wooden pens or reeds, and hollows for the colour or ink; and here, too, are the kash, or pens used by the ancient scribes. The pallets have inscriptions upon them; on one there is an invocation to the G.o.ddess of writing. Fragments of one or two colours, with the palm-leaf baskets in which they were deposited are also in this case; together with stands with small colour vases; slabs with colour jars; mullets for grinding, a basket with paint-brushes made of palm-fibres; and upon a thin piece of cedar wood is a portrait of an Egyptian female of the Greek period. Amidst other minute objects lie Egyptian folding wax tablets for writing; a cylindrical ink-box, with a chain attached to hold the pen case; seals of various kinds with impressions of bulls, jackals, and hieroglyphics; portion of a calendar on stone; and fragments of Egyptian writing on stone, and chiefly from tombs.
These fragments ill.u.s.trative of the Egyptian character are continued in the first two divisions of the cases marked 40, 41, including a panel and stud from an ebony box inscribed with the t.i.tles of Amenophis III. and his daughter; and a fragment in ebony, with an inscribed dedication to Anubis. Among the miscellaneous objects also in these divisions are various boxes in wood, papyrus, one veneered with white and red ivory, some inscribed with names; and one with a pyramidal cover, veneered with ivory and ornamented with figures and birds. The next or third division is filled with varieties of Egyptian spoons. Some of these are curious. They are chiefly of wood; but some are of ivory. Among them are wooden spoons, shovel, egg and cartouche-shaped; one with the handle carved in the shape of lotus flowers; one with a moveable cover from Memphis; one with the handle representing a gazelle, and within fish demolishing a water plant, from Thebes; one in the shape of a fish; one circular, with a lotus handle and a hawk cynocephalus on its edge; one with the form of a fish for a bowl, and a fox seizing the fish for a handle; and others equally curious in point of design. The last, or fourth division of the case is full of ancient Egyptian building materials, including fragments of painted plaster; stamps for bricks; palm-fibre brushes for colouring walls, and smoothing tools.
EGYPTIAN TOOLS
are disposed through the two cases (42, 43) which the visitor should now examine. In the first division are some palm-leaf baskets; wooden mallets, one found in the masonry of the great pyramid at Abooseir; and staves; in the second division a large variety of curious tools is exhibited, including Egyptian saws, bradawls, chisels, an adze, axe blades, knives of bronze, generally inscribed with hieroglyphics, hones, bronze nails; mysterious bronze tools, the use of which is unknown, all interesting to those who are in any way interested in the history of the wonderful people who inhabited the valley of the Nile, and wielded these tools there, when our island was an untilled desert.
The third division of the case contains strange handles decorated with the popular lotus flower, fragments of an ivory gorget, with figures of various animals oddly grouped upon it; various fragments of carving, and pedestals bearing inscriptions; and in the fourth, or last, division of the case are various baskets, coloured and plain.
The first division of the next case (44, 45) is also given up to palm-leaf baskets of various descriptions, which the visitor should examine as ill.u.s.trating the perfection to which the workers of the palm-leaf brought their handicraft. Leaving the tools and baskets behind, the visitor will now approach the
EGYPTIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,
which occupy the second division of the case. It is well known that music was generally cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, even before Terpander had devised a system of musical notation: and that in their religious ceremonies music was much used. The sistrum, of which the visitor will notice one or two samples in the division, was the instrument most generally used. It consisted of wires suspended through the sides of an arch, to which a handle, generally highly ornamented with the head of Athor, as in the one in the case, is fixed:--the wires terminating with heads of sacred animals, upon which rings were suspended that produced sounds by being shaken backwards and forwards.
There are also some Egyptian harps; portions of flutes found in the northern brick pyramids at Dashour; a pipe with seven burnt holes in it; and a pair of bronze cymbals tied together by a band of linen. The division next to that in which the musical instruments are arranged, is filled with
EGYPTIAN TOYS.
Perhaps, no portion of this interesting Egyptian room so forcibly impresses the spectator with the truth and reality of its revelations, as these rude toys, that must have been handled by prattling Egyptian children, when all was dark throughout Europe, save on the sh.o.r.e of the southern sea, where glimmered fitful lights of awakening civilisation, and Homer was enshrining the poor knowledge of his period in the splendid fancies of his poet soul. Not vastly different from the rude dolls of the present century must these of Egypt have been when fresh from the workman"s hand. They are in a very disabled state now, however; one being a rude representation of an Egyptian Miss Biffen, altogether guiltless of legs; and others, the flat variety, having hair made of clay beads. In the case with these relics are porcelain models of eggs, b.a.l.l.s, fruit; wooden fish; leather and palm-leaf b.a.l.l.s, stuffed; dice, and various draughtsmen, with the heads of cats; and one with the figure of a jackal. The last two divisions of the case under notice are entirely filled with a variety of specimens of
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FABRICS.
This division is always interesting to visitors who have any knowledge of the essential excellences of textile fabrics. There can be no doubt of the high repute in which the linens of ancient Egypt were held of old; but the samples which have remained in a state of preservation up to the present day, being mostly bandages of the coa.r.s.e cloths from mummies, it is hardly possible to estimate fairly the excellence of the fabrics with which, the great men of ancient Egypt adorned their persons and those of their wives. However, one or two samples of linen, as fine as the celebrated muslins of India, remain, and the visitor should notice particularly those clothes in the case with fine blue selvage. In the case also are part of the bandages of an Egyptian mummy of the Greek period, and a sample of ancient Egyptian linen bleached by the modern process. With these specimens are skeins of thread, spindles, and knitting-needles; bronze sewing needles; and a hackle for flax-dressing. With this case the visitor closes his examination of the wall cases of the Egyptian room. On taking a general survey of the room, the objects that will first attract his attention are the casts of the remarkable sculptures from the entrance to the temple at Beit-onally near Kalabshe, placed over the wall-cases against the eastern and western walls. These are faithful representations of the painted sculpture for which the ancient Egyptians were famous, about thirteen centuries before our era. The specimens in the room represent the triumphs of the second Rameses.
The cast against the eastern wall is in two distinct compartments. In the first, Rameses, accompanied by his sons, is driving his vanquished Ethiopian enemies into a wood: in the second part the conqueror is investing the vanquished Ethiopian prince with a gold chain, and behind are the spoils of war, and Ethiopians leading strange oxen to the victor; while, in the lower division, the vanquished prince is presenting a load of tributary treasure to the king, followed by a crowd of Ethiopians, leading all kinds of animals. These paintings, as the visitor will observe, are painted without regard to light and shade, the figures are huddled together, and the drawing is of the most rigid description. The casts against the western wall are in five compartments, and celebrate the victories of Rameses over the Asiatic nations. In the first compartment Rameses is receiving his Asiatic captives; in the second he is about to decapitate a prisoner; in the third, in his kingly cap, he is defeating an Asiatic army, who are represented in active flight; in the fourth he is attacking an Asiatic fortress; and in the fifth the king is again receiving Asiatic prisoners. Having noticed these remarkable antiquities, the visitor should examine the plaster models, placed upon the central table of the room, of the obelisks of Karnak and Heliopolis. Above the door is a leather cross, from the dress of a Copt priest, supposed to be about twelve hundred years old. Above various cases are placed mummy coffins, and figures of deities too large for the cases; but the mummy-case deposited over case 31 is worth special attention. It is scooped out of the trunk of a tree, has the face painted black, a vulture on the chest, and other ornaments and symbols. Near it, over cases 30-32, are deposited four sepulchral vases of a military officer, containing the parts removed from the body in the process of embalming. Each vase was sacred to a deity; the first, containing the stomach and appendages, was sacred to Amset the first genius of the dead; the second, containing the lesser intestines, was presided over by the second genius of the dead, Hapi; the lungs and heart, deposited in the third vase, were sacred to Siumutf, the third genius; and to the fourth genius the vase containing the liver and gall-bladder was dedicated.
The visitor having noticed these objects has done with the Egyptian room. It is well, however, to pause upon the threshold, and before dismissing these interesting glimpses into the life, long since scattered as dust, upon the soil of Egypt, to call to mind the prominent points of the impressive story that may be read in the room he is about to quit. He may wander back through the histories of ages upon ages; pause before the revelations of Herodotus; and recall the mighty romances of Homer; and, pausing even there, where all is so dim, and little understood, turn once more to these fragmentary monuments of a civilisation that existed even centuries before the great Greek poet. So silently, for us of the present hour, time rolled by in those days, that we fail to grasp the measure of the distance which separates our fret and toil of the nineteenth century, from that busy valley of the Nile; when the second Rameses reigned in all his glory; when precise artists were ruling geometrical lines upon stones to make their careful drawings; and painters, with their palm-fibre brushes, all unconscious of the critics that lay yet silently in the womb of time, who would shovel the dust and dirt of centuries from before their works, and tell the story of Rameses from these rude revelations. Curious thoughts crowd in every busy brain, before these strange relics. Lost in the depths of the past, the mind, with a leap, often grasps at the future; and men will be found seriously saying to themselves, as they notice how we depend for our knowledge of ancient Egyptian fabrics upon the shrouds of ancient Egyptians,--what, if we looked forward, and in the remote centuries that are rolling toward us, see all our vast and busy Lancashire some layers underground, and archaeologists busy with our winding sheet! Well, at the least, these thoughts are not idle. It does all of us good to think often of what has been, and to dream of the future to which we are driving "down the ringing grooves of time"--to think sometimes of the fine people who had their glorious days, when London was distributed, untouched by human hands, in clayey strata, and remote stone quarries; and hereabouts, to the minds of the Greeks, lay the islands of the blessed.
The visitor should now proceed southward into the room called The Bronze Room. Here are collected the ancient bronzes of which the Museum trustees are in possession; including specimens of the fine castings of ancient Greece, which, with all our modern contrivances, we cannot surpa.s.s in the present day. The cases to the left are filled with a supplementary collection of the remains of ancient Egyptian art, for which s.p.a.ce could not be found in the Egyptian room. These occupy no less than twenty-six cases. The first eleven cases (1-11) are filled with various sepulchral fragments in various substances, and porcelain and terra-cotta figures, which the visitor who has just emerged from the Egyptian room will again recognise. Here the strange figures of the Egyptian deities occur again and again; but the visitor should pause before the case 10, 11, in which are deposited models of the Egyptian funeral boats, in stone and wood, from Thebes, and on the fourth shelf a Roman caricature on papyrus, representing lions and goats playing at dice, and foxes driving geese. In the Egyptian cases are more specimens of cynocephali, jackal, and hawks" heads, models of the four sepulchral vases, in pottery and wood; more mummy coffins, fragments of inscribed pottery, large Egyptian terra-cotta vases, and in cases 24, 25, are deposited some fragments in terra-cotta, and bronze excavated by Mr. Layard, in ancient a.s.syria. Having glanced at these Egyptian cases the visitor should turn at once to the collection of
GREEK AND ROMAN BRONZES,
which fill the cases numbered from 29 to 112. The visitor particularly interested in Greek and Roman art, might here spend an entire day.
Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, was used by the ancients for the manufacture of all kinds of edge-tools, long before iron was smelted from the earth in which it is invariably found; and mineralogists of the present day are surprised to see the works which the ancients executed with a material, that no modern workmen could use as a cutting medium. Stone masons" chisels, and fine edged weapons of war, were made of bronze in those days. The collection of bronzes which the visitor is now about to examine, cannot be said to be a perfect collection; yet it contains some beautiful specimens, and one that is said to be the finest bronze in Europe. The antiquarian pauses with delight before these marvellous specimens of ancient skill; and reflecting upon the difficulties which beset the caster in bronze, it is astonishing to see the precision and the exquisite finish with which the artists of ancient Greece and Rome performed their labours.
Some of their bronze manufacture were hammered, but most of those works from which we derive a knowledge of their greatness as artists were cast. Of those colossal bronzes which were studded about Rome, Athens, and Delphos, few remain at the present day. The material of which they were composed was too valuable to escape the clutch of barbaric conquerors; therefore the bronzes which remain are chiefly of a small size, but still sufficiently perfect to a.s.sure us of the great works that filled every open place in the towns of ancient Greece and Rome. In these cases the visitor will find a great number of bronze utensils and personal ornaments: metal mirrors; lamps; incense vessels, or thuribula; the saucers for pouring libations, called paterae; tripods of all kinds and variously ornamented; candelabra; and the clasps of the Romans called fibulae.
Beginning with the first case, 29, 30, the visitor will first remark three ancient vases or amphorae, and five jugs, from Corfu, aged about five centuries before our era; and in the same cases, on the third and fourth shelves, Athenian vases, variously ornamented with geometrical designs, animals, and birds, in the most ancient style. The next case also contains vases of the most ancient style, from Athens, including a fine specimen surmounted by two horses. In cases 33, 34, are further specimens of the vases of ancient Greece, on some of which red figures are traced upon a black ground, and on others a red ground is adopted, with the ornamental figures in black: among the ornaments on those vases the visitor should notice the cupids represented in blue and white on one of these vases, and on another the figure of a crawling boy, with a low stool and an apple before him. The vases in the next cases (35, 36) contain some fine specimens of Athenian art about the time of Pericles, with figures traced red and black, representing Orestes and Electra at the tomb of Agamemnon. In these cases also are some Athenian gla.s.s vases, and opaque gla.s.s vessels from Melos; terra-cotta bas-reliefs, representing Bellerophon destroying the Chimera; Perseus destroying the gorgon Medusa, and other cla.s.sical subjects; and upon the third shelf, amid unguent boxes, terra-cotta lamps, and a terra-cotta doll, is a curious vase containing bones, with a silver Athenian coin, attached to the jar by careful relatives, to pay for the deceased"s transit across the Styx. A collection of terra-cotta figures are arranged upon the four shelves of case 37.
These include an ancient comic actor as Hercules; Athenian ladies bearing water jugs, called Hydriophorae; Ceres; a dancing group from Athens; animals; stools; and dancing figures from the south of Italy.
No less than three hundred and thirty-three handles from the wine vessels or amphorae of ancient Rhodes are deposited in cases 38, 39.
Some are inscribed with the names of the chief magistrate. Varieties of vessels in terra-cotta fill the two first shelves of the cases 40, 41, from Etruria; upon the third shelf are fragments of large bronzes, including the staff of AEsculapius with the serpent; and the bronze groups distributed upon the fourth shelf include three figures of Hercules; and two figures supposed to be a Ptolemy and his queen arrayed as Fortune. The cases 42-45 are filled with bronze weapons, including spear-heads from the sepulchres of Etruria; arrow-heads and bronze swords of the Roman time; standards with the famous Roman eagles; helmets, including a famous one dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, by Hiero I. on the occasion of gaining a victory over the Tuscans at c.u.mae, upwards of four centuries before our era; and one found at Olympia, dedicated by the Argives; bronze plates, and military belts, from Vulci. The next six cases (46-51) are filled with various Grecian and Roman antiquities, of which the visitor should particularly notice amid bronze amphorae, tripods, gla.s.s beads, weights in the shape of busts, sacrificial knives, and bronze hatchet heads, three cistae or boxes, with cla.s.sical groups in relief upon them, the subject of one being Hercules grasping serpents. These cistae were the toilette boxes of the ancients. Here too the visitor should remark the hearth (a tripod) with charcoal still upon it, with fire-irons and cooking utensils; and a variety of tripods variously ornamented with sphinxes, Boreas carrying away Orithyia; and leaden vases from Delos, holding the ashes of the dead. An interesting collection of candelabra, from the Etruscan sepulchres, is arranged in the next cases (52, 53). These candelabra were highly esteemed throughout ancient Greece. They are decorated chiefly with mythological subjects, and have, attached to them, vessels for dipping into larger vessels. Those in the next case (54) are of the Roman period. Having glanced at the censers and bronze lamps in the next cases (56-57) the visitor may pa.s.s on to the case numbered 58-64, in which is a large collection of bronze vessels, including unguent vases, which are the most highly decorated, braziers, cauldrons, and jugs. The two next cases contain a great number of bronze figures of various heathen deities, representations of mythological events. Here are, a winged Victory holding an egg; figures of Juno Sospita; figures for mirrors; Apollos; a giant hurling a rock; one of the Gorgons; figures of Mars, in the old grotesque style; a reclining Dionysus, drinking; satyrs; Aphrodite; Aurora bearing off t.i.thonus or Cephalus; Hercules; Ariadne playing on the lyre; Hercules killing the Maenalian stag; Minerva; and other figures, all drawn from Grecian mythology. These cases present, at a glance, more than any other in the collection, the various excellences of ancient bronzes. The ancient mirrors are arranged in the next two cases (68, 69)--one polished to show their old effect; and in the 70th case are Etruscan and Roman fibulae or clasps in general use in the olden time, in lieu of b.u.t.tons or hooks. The drainings of the lake of Monte Falterona brought to light the most attractive objects of the next three cases (71-73), including the fine Etruscan statue of Mars, the large statue of a youth; and here also are a group of Aurora bearing off Memnon; and a satyr and a bacchante for the top of a candelabrum. Finely ornamented mirrors, with figures chased, bas-relief, representing, among other subjects, Minerva before Paris; Achilles arming before Thetis; a winged Hercules killing the Lernean Hydra; Juno and her rivals preparing for the judgment of Paris; Hercules bearing off a female figure; Venus holding a dove, as a mirror handle; the Dioscuri, Clytemnestra and Helen; Aphrodite nursing Eros; and Dolon, Ulysses, and Diomed. Bronze figures of Greek and Roman divinities fill the next case, including a silver group of Saturn devouring his children; no less than nineteen Jupiters, one in silver with a goat at his side. These are continued in the following case (78), including Isis; Ganymede and the eagle; Terpsich.o.r.e; Apollos; Junos; a fine Apollo from Paramythia; a Triton, with crab"s claws, and a face turning into sea weed; Dianas, one, in silver, holding a crescent; and Neptune, distinguishable by his trident. Three cases, next in order of number (80-82), are devoted to ancient Roman horse-trappings. Busts of Minerva occupy the most prominent positions in the 83rd case; and in the next case (84) are no less than twenty-one figures of Mercury, one of which, distinguishable by the gold collar about the neck, is reputed the most beautiful bronze in Europe. These figures of Mercury are in various att.i.tudes. Here the c.o.c.ks, emblematic of the athletic games, are before him--there he is flying on Jupiter"s eagle; and near these figures are arranged twenty-eight figures of Venus; in one place the G.o.ddess is rising from the sea, in another she is arranging her sandal, or riding her swan.
Playful Cupids, thirty-five in number, and gambolling variously, occupy the position next in order to the figures of Venus. Here the little G.o.d is running, there he bears the anointing-box of Venus--there he is laughing, in another corner his laughter is turned to tears, and in another he is ingloriously intoxicated. In another direction he is exhibited in his amiable moods, feeding a hare with grapes, or toying with a swan. The next case (86) contains an a.s.sortment of ancient glazed articles including gla.s.s studs, b.u.t.tons, &c., from the sepulchres of Etruria; bronze sandals from Armentum; and glazed ware of various shapes. In the 87th case are deposited four curious fragments from Perugia, of chariot chasings, representing various warlike emblems and doings; and an ancient scabbard engraved with an outline of Briseis led by Achilles. Deities fill the next case (89), including fourteen figures of Harpocrates; a Pan; and figures of Bacchus. Silenus, with silver eyes and a crown set with garnets, will be found in the next case (90) where Hercules is strangling the Nemean lion; and another Silenus kneeling on a wine-skin. Cupid is seizing the weapons of the strong Hercules while the latter sleeps; in the next case (91), here also he is grappling with the Maenalian stag, and Pan shows his goat"s legs. The 92nd, 93rd and 94th cases are filled with various mirrors from Athens; the anciently prized knuckle bones of a small animal; bronze earrings from a tomb in Cephalonia; sling bullets found at Saguntum; part of a lyre, and wooden flutes discovered near Athens; a gilt myrtle crown; gla.s.s mosaics from the Parthenon; iron knives and fetters from Athens; a jar that once held the famed Lycian eye ointment; one of the bronze tickets of a judge; and leaden weights. Hercules is vigorously at work in the groups of the next case (95), and herein are figures of Victory and Fortune; two sphinxes, and other groups. The head of Polyphemus appears prominently in the 96th case; and in the remaining cases miscellaneously grouped, are ancient dice, some of which have been loaded, suggesting the antiquity of roguery; ivory hair pins; bronze needles; gla.s.s beads; fragments of cornelian and other cups, and gla.s.s; bronze figures of animals; inlaid and enamel work; styli for writing upon wax; ancient medical instruments; and old Roman finger-rings.
Over the Egyptian cases are deposited fac-similes of paintings of a tomb at Vulci, discovered in the year 1832. These represent various ancient games of racing and leaping. Over the cases 38-58 are other fac-similes from a tomb, also at Vulci, in a mutilated condition; and against the southern wall are the ceilings of the tomb. Having examined these things the visitor should proceed on his southward course, and, pa.s.sing through the southern entrance of the bronze room, enter the fine apartment, known as the Etruscan room, in which the
ETRUSCAN VASES
are arranged. These are a series of earthen vases discovered in Italy.
These painted vases are the spoil from the tombs of the ancient Etruscans. The Etruscans inhabited the northern parts of Italy, and flourished there in a state of comparative civilisation, when the rest of the Peninsula, save where the Greeks were busy on its southern sh.o.r.e, was in a barbarous state. The Etruscan tombs present various degrees of ornament according to the wealth of their occupant, but in all of them painted vases of some description are found. It is maintained by many learned men that these beautiful vases were not a native manufacture, but were bought by the Etruscans of the Greeks of Southern Italy, who imported them from the famous potteries of Athens.
The Greek inscriptions on some of these vases, and the Greek subjects from which the decorations are taken, tend strongly to confirm this hypothesis. It is, however, altogether a mystery why the Etruscans surrounded their dead with these vases. They were not used to hold human bones, nor to contain food for the deceased; but that the Etruscans held them in high estimation as sepulchral ornaments is certain from the fact that they are found universally in their tombs, the finer and more elaborate in the sepulchres of the rich, and the coa.r.s.er and plainer kinds in the graves of the poor. The visitor will do well to walk carefully round this room in which the Etruscan vases belonging to the Museum are deposited. They are arranged in the supposed chronological order in which they were manufactured; the clumsy and coa.r.s.e ware being placed in the first case, as exhibiting the dawn of the potter"s art, and the more elaborate and highly-wrought specimens being arranged in regular order of improvement in the succeeding cases.
The first five cases are filled with clumsy black ware, ornamented in some cases with figures in relief, and extracted from tombs discovered on the site of the oldest Etruscan towns, which circ.u.mstance has led antiquaries to allow the Etruscans the honour of having fashioned these rude specimens of pottery; but as the samples display a higher degree of skill they refuse to allow the Etruscans the merit of having improved the clumsiness of their early handiwork. In the sixth and seventh cases are pale vases with deep red figures, chiefly of animals upon them, chiefly from Canino and Vulci. The exertions of the Prince of Canino in excavating on his estate in search of Etruscan tombs and their treasures are well known; and the enthusiasm with which Sir William Hamilton, while on his emba.s.sy at Naples, bought the curiosities of Etruscan tombs, should be remembered. Few Englishmen, however, can think pleasantly of those times when the Hamiltons were at Naples, when Lady Hamilton did her country great services; then recall the picture of the poor woman fed by a charitable neighbour at Calais, think of Horatio"s last words, and then of the country that forgets the woman"s service, and the hero"s dying words. Well, the visitor may pa.s.s on his way amidst these spoils from Etruscan tombs, and forgetting the family to whom we owe many of them, serenely watch the gradual improvement in the manufacture. The best have black figures upon a dark ground. The gla.s.s cases in the centre of the room contain those vases which are painted on both sides. On the walls of the room above the cases are fac-similes of paintings from some of the Etruscan tombs. Some of them represent dances and games; but one represents a female in the act of covering the head of a man who has just expired, while a male figure is drawing a covering over the feet, and two spectators are in att.i.tudes of grief in the neighbourhood.
Having roamed amid the spoils of Etruscan tombs, the search after which is now a settled business in parts of Italy, the visitor may take a southerly direction through two empty rooms into that at the southern extremity of the western wing. Here a few miscellaneous objects are deposited, amongst which in the eastern cases he should notice some curious old enamels, and the frescoes from St. Stephen"s Chapel, Westminster, and on the floor, a model of the Victory. He should then turn in an easternly direction into the Ethnographical room, which, to the visitor without a guide has very much the appearance of a confined curiosity shop; but on inspection proves to be an interesting compartment of the Museum, in which curiosities ill.u.s.trative of the civilisation of various countries and continents are arranged. Before applying himself to the wall cases, however, the visitor would do well to advance to the eastern extremity of the room, noticing the objects deposited in the central s.p.a.ce by the way. These consist of Flaxman"s cast of the shield of Achilles; a model of the Thugs fashioned at Madras by a native artist; a model of a moveable temple; her Majesty"s present to the museum of a great Chinese bell, surmounted by the Chinese national dragon, and decorated with figures of Buddh, from a temple near Ningpo; and various cromlechs or sepulchres of the ancient Britons, ruder in their construction than those with which the visitor has lately busied himself. Having arrived at the eastern end of the room, the visitor should advance to the northern wall cases, and begin his inspection. He will at once remark that the first five cases (1-5) are devoted to