GENERAL PROGRESS AT THE MUSEUM. l7 



the Gth century B.C., usually associated with the name of 

 Croesus, was the original object of the recent exploration. 

 This temple was only touched by Wood. The whole area of 

 the surviving platform has now been cleared, and, from the 

 numerous fragments recovered, an architectural restoration 

 of all except the architraves will be possible. 3. The third 

 temple, the existence of which has been hitherto unsuspected, 

 was very little below the level of the one above and was of 

 smaller area. Only small traces of it remain, and its period 

 of existence was probably short. 4. Of the lowest and 

 earliest temple, the structure of what may have been the 

 naos or statue-base alone remains. The lowest blocks of 

 this structure are laid on the virgin sand. It was here that 

 numerous objects of gold, ivory, &c. were found. From 

 the style of these objects it is inferred that the period of 

 this earliest temple was probably not earlier than the 

 7th century B.C. The work was much impeded by abnor- 

 mally heavy rains. 



The repository built at Hendon for the storage of ^"news- 

 papers and other printed matter having been completely 

 fitted with book-presses, the collections of English provincial 

 newspapers and of Scottish and Irish newspapers, consisting 

 of 48,000 volumes, have been removed thither. By special 

 arrangement, the papers are made available to Readers on 

 notice being given. 



The Exhibition Gallery of the Prints and Drawings and 

 the Glass and Ceramic Gallery and English Ceramic Ante- 

 Room have been re-painted. 



The planing and polishing of the wooden flooring of the 

 Upper Floor of the Museum has been further extended to 

 various rooms ; the floor of the Ethnographical Gallery alone 

 remaining to be dealt with. 



An improvement has been effected in the service of the 

 Reading Room by widening the gangway used for the 

 delivery of books from the Library. 



An exhibition of Mezzotint Portraits, selected chiefly 

 from the collection bequeathed to the Trustees by the late 

 Lord Cheylesmore, has been arranged in the Department of 

 Prints and Drawings. 



In the King's Library a temporary exhibition, illustrating 

 the history of the British Navy and commemorating the 

 Nelson Centenary, is displayed, consisting of manuscripts, 

 autographs, books, prints, and medals selected from the 

 collections. 



Among the more important additions to the several 

 Departments the following may be specially noticed : — 



The Department of Printed Books has acquired a series 

 of rare English and Scottish books printed before the year 

 1640. Among other rare books, the most notable is a copy 

 of the second edition of the Latin-German Dictionary known 

 as the '•' Vocabularius ex quo," printed at Eltville near Mainz, 

 in 1469, with type which owed its origin to the famous 

 printer Gutenberg, 



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