68 INTRODUCTION TO THE 



ments ; their ornaments ; their utensils ; which, in 

 design and execution, may vie with whatever modern 

 Europe, or classical antiquity can exhibit. 



It is a favourite study with the scholar to trace 

 the remains of Grecian or Roman workmanship : 

 he turns over his Montfaucon with learned satisfac- 

 tion ; and he gazes with rapture on the noble col- 

 lection of Sir William Hamilton. The amusement is 

 rational and instructive. But will not his curiosity 

 be more awakened, will he not find even more real 

 matter for important reflection, by passing an hour 

 in surveying the numerous specimens of the ingenuity 

 our newly-discovered friends brought from the utmost 

 recesses of the globe to enrich the British Museum, 

 and the valuable repository of Sir Ashton Lever ? 

 If the curiosities of Sir Ash ton's Sandwich-room 

 alone, were the only acquisition gained by our visits 

 to the Pacific Ocean, who that has taste to admire, 

 or even eyes to behold, could hesitate to pronounce, 

 that Captain Cook had not sailed in vain ? The ex- 

 pence of his three voyages did not perhaps far exceed 

 that of digging out the buried contents of Hercu- 

 laneum. And we may add, that the novelties of the 

 Society or Sandwich islands, seem better calculated 

 to engage the attention of the studious in our times 

 than the antiquities, which exhibit proofs of Roman 

 magnificence. 



The grounds for making this remark cannot be 

 better explained, than in the words of a very in- 

 genious writer; " In an age (says Mr. Warton*), 

 " advanced to the highest degree of refinement, that 

 " species of curiosity commences, which is busied in 

 " contemplating the progress of social life, in display- 

 " ing the gradations of society, and in tracing 

 " the gradations from barbarism to civility. That 

 " these speculations should become the favourite 

 " topics of such a period is extremely natural. We 

 " look back on the savage condition of our ancestors 



* Preface to his History of English Poetry. 



