479 
in loneliness, and often in sinking of heart, and which, even 
when pursued successfully, obtains but little echo in the heart 
of the general public. But let us not forget that we are liable 
here to prejudice, against which it befits us manfully to strive— 
the confining too much the view of our own field, in a spirit 
of narrow inquiry, excluding the claims of others. It is pre- 
cisely from this feeling that my learned friend, Dr. Worsaae, 
has been led to refer the culture of all the northern nations 
to the influence of his own Scandinavian forefathers; and it 
is in the same narrow spirit of inquiry that most of the French 
archeologists have laboured, to the great disadvantage of our 
common study. 
‘* Now, Gentlemen, let us, with the full spirit of an en- 
lightened patriotism, devote ourselves to the illustration of our 
own antiquities; let us love them, and, loving them, labour 
to bring them to light; but let us not believe that they are all 
we have to learn, or that they convey all that can be taught. 
Let us look upon them only as links in one great chain, which 
embraces many nations, and many periods of human culture, 
which has no place of its own, unless considered in co-ordina- 
tion with other links in a still greater chain, but the full ela- 
boration of which is necessary before its cosmic relation can be 
* well and thoroughly comprehended. Let us be sure that we 
are not exclusive, but comprehensive, in what we do; and let 
us, above all things, never lose sight of this great truth, that 
the interests of man have at all times led to a close communion 
between the several divisions of his race,—that nothing can 
be dissociated in History, and that nothing must be dissociated 
in the study of Archeology. While labouring to perfect our 
own portion of the work, let us look out abroad, and encou- 
rage our fellow-labourers to perfect theirs; and let us make 
them feel as we feel ourselves, that the work can only be pro- 
fitably done when all men are called to lay their hands to it. 
«¢ While complimenting you on the magnificent collection 
_ which the Academy has formed, let me not utter words which 
VOL. VI. 2x 
