452 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



hanced ; but the value to the 

 buyer will iu no degree be affected 

 bv the extraneous accidents. Sup- 

 posing again, artists to have been 

 engaged at considerable salaries 

 during a large period in which 

 they could do little or nothing, 

 the first cost would be burden- 

 some in this case also to the em- 

 ployer, but those who bouglit 

 would look only at the value of 

 the aiticle in the market where 

 it might be exposed to sale, with- 

 out caring, or intjuiiing how, or 

 at what expense it was brought 

 thither. 



Supposing, on the other hand, 

 that the thirteen other metopes 

 had been bought at the Custom- 

 Sor.se sale at the same price which 

 chat of Mr. Choiseul (Joullier 

 ^'etched, it could never be said, 

 Jiat the value of them was no 

 more than twenty-four or twenty- 

 tive pounds apiece. 



It is perfectly just and rea- 

 sonable that the seller shoidd en- 

 deavour fully to reimburse him- 

 self for all expenses, and to ac- 

 quire a profit also, but it will be 

 impossible for him to do so, when- 

 ever the disbursements have tjx- 

 ceeded the fair money price of 

 that which he has to dispose of. 



Your committee refer to Lord 

 Elgin's evidence for the large and 

 heaNy charges which have at- 

 tended the formation of this col- 

 lection, and the placing of it 

 in its present situation j which 

 amount, from 1799, to January 

 1803, to 62,4401. including 

 23 ,2401 for the interest of money ; 

 and accoiding to a suj)|)leuiental 

 account, continued from 1803 to 

 1816, to no less a sum than 

 74,0001. including the same sum 

 for interest. 



All the papers which are in his 

 possession upon this subject, in- 

 cluding a journal of above 90 

 pages, of the daily expenses of his 

 principal artist Lusieri(from 1803 

 to the close of 1814) who still re- 

 mains in his emi)loyment at 

 Athens, together with the account 

 current of Messrs. Hayes, of 

 Malta, (from April 1807 to May 

 1811) have been freely submitted 

 to your committee ; and there 

 cai> be no doubt, from the inspec- 

 tion of those accounts, confirmed 

 also by other testimony, that the 

 disbursements were very consider- 

 able ; but suj)posing them to 

 reach the full sum at which they 

 are calculated, your committee do 

 not hesitate to express their opi- 

 nion, that they ailord no just cri- 

 terion of tlie value of the collec- 

 tion, and therefore must not be 

 taken as a just basis for estimat- 

 ing it. 



Two valuations, and only two 

 in detail, have been laid before 

 your connnittee, which are print- 

 ed; differing most widely in the 

 particidars, and in the total; that 

 of Mr. Payne Knight amoui.tingto 

 25,O00l. and that of Mr. Hamil- 

 ton to 60,8001. 



The only other sum mentioned 

 as a money price, is in the evi- 

 dence of the Earl of Aberdeen, 

 who named 35,(j001. as a sort jf 

 conjf ciural estimate of the whole, 

 without entering into particulars. 



In addition to the instances of 

 prices quoted in Mr. Payne 

 Knight's evidence, the sums paid 

 for other celebrated marbles, de- 

 serve lo be brought under the 

 notice of the House. 



The Townley collection, which 

 was purchased for the British 

 Museum in June 18! '.5, for 



20,0001. 



