Z THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



John Foulston, esq., of Athenian, Cottage, North 

 Hill, from a fellow feeling with the members of the 

 society, furnished the plans and elevations, and 

 superintended the work, till the completion in 

 February, 1819, when it was opened for the public 

 business of the Institution. 



The front is a Doric portico of four columns, the 

 centre intercolumniation being wider than the others 

 similar to the portico of the Temple of Theseus, at 

 Athens, but more massive in its proportions. The 

 sides of the building are plain beyond the returns 

 of the portico, except that the entablature with the 

 triglyphs and metopes are continued the whole 

 length of the sides. The portico is nearly thirty-six 

 feet in breadth. The entrance from the portico is 

 into the vestibule, which is ornamented by an entab- 

 lature supported by Doric columns. In the vestibule 

 are casts of the Venus de Medicis, the fighting 

 gladiator, and a mutilated faun ; in the staircase is 

 the head and trunk of the genius of the capital. 

 Above the vestibule is the library, which contains a 

 choice collection of rare and valuable books, and is 

 supplied with home and foreign periodicals, &c., &c. 

 In the same apartment is part of the philosophical 

 apparatus belonging to the society ; it also contains 

 a fine bust of Achilles, and a cast from one of the 

 horses of the chariot of night. 



The Athenseum, or lecture room of the Institution, 

 is 36 feet long, by 30 broad, and is fitted with 

 sittings for about 200 persons. This room is graced 

 by noble casts from some of the Elgin marbles. The 

 River God, Ilissus, and the Theseus ; the justly 

 celebrated originals formerly decorated in part the 

 pediment of the Parthenon at Athens, but, during 

 the siege of that city by the Venetians, in the year 

 1687, they were thrown down by the bursting of a 

 bomb. The Earl of Elgin, while on his embassy to 

 the Ottoman Porte, obtained permission to remove 

 these splendid specimens of sculpture to this king- 

 dom ; and, in the year 1816, the whole of them were 



