i 1264-9 
LVIII. Report of the Select Committee of the House of Com- 
mons, appointed to inguire, whether it be expedient that the 
Collection mentioned in the Earl of Evetn’s Petition, pre- 
sented to the House on the 15th Day of February last, should 
be purchased on behalf of the Public; and if so, whai Price it 
may be reasonable to allow for the same. 
ry. 
i] HE Select Committee consider the subject referred to them, 
as divided into four principal heads ; 
The first of which relates to the authority by which this col- 
lection was acquired :—The second to the circumstances under 
which that authority was granted:—The third to the merit of 
the marbles as works of sculpture, aud the importance of making 
them public property, for the purpose of promoting the study of 
the fine arts in Great Britain ;—and The fourth to their value as 
objects of sale; which includes the consideration of the expense 
which has attended the removing, transporting, and bringing 
them to England. To these will be added some general obser- 
vations upon what is to be found, in various authors, relating to 
these marbles. 
I. When the Earl of Elgin quitted England upon his mission 
to the Ottoman Porte, it was his original intention to make that 
appointment beneticial to the progress of the fine arts in Great 
Britain, by procuring accurate drawings and casts of the valu- 
able remains of sculpture and architecture scattered throughout 
Greece, and particularly concentrated at Athens. 
With this view he engaged Signor Lusieri, a painter of repu- 
tation, who was then in the service of the King of the TwoSicilies, 
together with two arehitects, two modellers, and a figure-painter, 
whom Mr, Hamilton (now under-secretary of state) engaged at 
Rome and dispatched with Lusieri, in the summer of 1800, from 
Constantinople to Athens. 
They were employed there about nine months, from August 
1800 to May 1801, without having any sort of facility or accom- 
modation afforded to them: nor was the Acropolis accessible to 
them, even for the purpose of taking drawings, except by the 
payment of a large fee, which was exacted daily. 
The other five artists were withdrawn from Athens in January 
1803; but Lusieri has continued there ever since, excepting du- 
rjng the short period of our hostilities with the Ottoman Porte. 
During the year 1800, Egypt was in the power of the French: 
and that sort of contempt and dislike which has always charac- 
terized the Turkish government and people in their behaviour 
towards every denomination of Christians, prevailed in full force. 
The success of the British arms in Egypt, and the expeeted 
, yestitution 
