210 Memorandum on the Suhject of 



Tonic Temple, on the Ilyssus, which, in Stuavl's lime, 

 (about the vear 1759,) was in tolerable preservation, had 

 so completely disappeared, that its foundation can no longer 

 be ascertained. Another temple, near Olympia, had shared 

 a similar fate, within the recollection of man. The Tem- 

 ple of Minerva had ^been converted into a powder maga- 

 zine, and been completely destroyed, from a shell failing 

 upon it, during the bombardment of Athens by the Vene- 

 tians towards the end of the seventeenth century ; and even 

 this accident had not deterred the Turks from applying the 

 beautiful Temple of Neptune and Erechtheus to the same 

 use, whereby it is constantly exposed to a similar fate. 

 Many of the statues on the posticnm of the Temple of Mi- - 

 nerva, (Parthenon,) \vh\ch had been thrown down by the 

 explosion, had been absolutely pounded for mortar, because 

 thcv furnished the whitest marble within reach ; and the 

 parts of the modern fortilicalion, and the miserable houses 

 where this mortar was so applied, were discovered. Besides, 

 it is well known that the Turks will frequently climb up the 

 ruined walls, and amuse themselves in defacing any sculp- 

 ture they can reach ; or in breaking columns, statues, or 

 other remains of antiijuily, in the fond expectation of find- 

 ins within them some hidden treasures. 



Under these circumstances, lord Elgin felt himself im- 

 pelled, by a stronger motive than personal gratification, to 

 endeavour to preserve any specimens of sculpture, he could, 

 without injury, rescue from such impending ruin. He had, 

 besides, another inducement, and an example before him, 

 in the conduct of the last French embassy sent to Turkey 

 before the revolution. French artists did then remove se- 

 veral of the sculptured ornaments from several edifices in 

 the Acropolis, and particularly from the Parthenon. In 

 lowering one of the metopes, the tackle failed, and it was 

 dashed to pieces ; but other objects from the same temple 

 were conveyed to France, where they are held in the very 

 hishest estimation, and some of them occupy conspicuous 

 places in the gallery of the Louvre*. And the same agents 

 were remaining at Athens during lord Elgin's embassy, 

 waitinsi only the return of French influence at the Porte to 

 renew their optratious. Actuated by these inducements, 

 lord Elgin made use of all bis means, and ultimately with 



* ;"iV<; nic.if nnaire fles Beaux Arts, par A. I.. Millin, UWi, article Paj-- 

 theiirm • and the Memrrir, on the subject of a fragment of the frize of that 

 temple, broiijiht bv M. JL»e Choiseul Goaffier from Athens, aiid constituted 

 national property during the French revoiuiioa. The Memoir is published 

 in M. Millia'' Munumeus JiUiijues inidils. 



such 



