the Earl of Elgin's Ptirsuiis in Greece. 413 



fiad been reduced to powder, and soused. Then, and then 

 only, did lord Elgin employ means to rescue what still re- 

 mained from a similar fate. Among these objects is a horse's 

 head, which far surpasses any thing of the kind, both in 

 the truth and spirit of the execution. The nostrils are dis- 

 tended, the ears erect; the veins swollen, one might al- 

 most say throbbing: his mouth is open, and he seems to 

 neigh with the conscious pride of belonging to the Ruler of 

 the Waves. Besides this inimitable head, lord Elgin has 

 procured, from the same pediment, two colossal groupes, 

 each consisting of two female figures. They are formed of 

 single massive blocks of Pentelic marble : their attitudes are 

 most graceful ; and the lightness and elegance of the dra- 

 pery exquisite. From the same pediment has also been 

 procured a male statue, in a reclinmg posture, supposed to 

 represent Neptune; and, above all, the figure denomi- 

 nated the Theseus, which is universally admitted to be su- 

 perior to any piece of statuary ever brought into England. 

 Each of these statues is worked with such care, and the 

 finishing even carried so far, that every part, and the very 

 plinth itself in which they rest, are equally polished on 

 every side. 



From the opisthodomos of the Parthenon, lord Elgin 

 also procured some valuable inscriptions, written in the 

 manner called Kionedon or columnar, next in antiquity to 

 the Boustrophcdon. The greasiest care is taken to preserve 

 an equal number of letters in each line; even monosyllables 

 are separated occasionally into two parts, if the line has had 

 its complement, and the next line then begins with the end 

 of the broken word. The letters range perpendicularly, as 

 well as horizontally, so as to render it almost impossible to 

 make any interpolation or erasure of the original text. The 

 subjects of these monuments are public decrees of the peo- 

 ple ; accounts of the riches contained in the treasury, and 

 delivered by the administrators to their successors in office; 

 enumerations of the statues; the silver, gold, and precious 

 stones, deposited in the temples; estimates for the public 

 works, &c. 



The Parthenon itself, independently of its decorative 

 sculpture, is so chaste and perfect a model of Doric archi- 

 tecture, that lord Elgin conceived it to be of the highest 

 importance to the arts, to secure original specimens of each 

 member of that edifice. These consist of a capital ; assizes 

 of the columns themselves, to show the exact form of the 

 curve used in channelling; a trigiyph, and motules from 

 the cornice, and even some of the marble tiles with which 

 3 the 



