GENEEAL PROGRESS AT THE MUSEUM. l7 



In the Department of Manuscripts have been received under 

 the will of the late Miss Harriet C. Plowden the original 

 autographs of a Sonata by Beethoven and of nine Quartettes 

 by Mozart. The late Sir Thomas Brooke, Bart., of Armitago 

 Bridge, Huddersfield, has bequeathed a Latin Psalter written 

 in gold, with a portrait of the Emperor Lothaiie, A.D. 840-855, 

 and three Chartularies of Cockersand Abbey, co. Lane, 1268, 

 -and of Selby Abbey and Fountains Abbey, co. York, of the 

 14th and 15th centuries. Valuable manuscripts have been 

 acquired from the collection of the late Sir Thomas Phillipps 

 and include Royal Wardrobe account-books of the reign of 

 Edward I., legal Year-Books from Edward I. to Henry V., and 

 .i3ome interesting Jacobite letter-books. 



The Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts 

 has added to its valuable Arabic collection some further manu- 

 scripts of the 14th and later centuries, and to its Chinese 

 ■collection some rare printed works. 



The Department of Prints and Drawings has acquired some 

 interesting drawings of the French and English Schools, and 

 has added choice specimens of Japanese wood-cuts to its collec- 

 tion. It is also indebted to Sir Hickman Bacon, Bart., for a 

 further gift of Japanese prints. Among modern examples, 

 attention may be drawn to the collection of proofs of wood-cuts 

 -executed by Swain from designs by recent English artists. 



The Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities has 

 .acquired, in addition to some valuable specimens of the Early 

 and Middle Egyptian Empires, a series of stelae of the Late 

 Empire (p. 57) which are not strongly represented in the 

 Museum. Among the Assyrian acquisitions is a fine collection 

 ■of engraved cylinder-seals dating from the Babylonian to the 

 Persian period. 



Among the additions to the Department of Greek and Roman 

 Antiquities attention may be drawn to a bronze statuette of a 

 negro boy, Graeco-Roman work of the best period, presented 

 by Mr. W. C. Alexander. 



The Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities has 

 received by gift from Sir John Brunner and Sir Henry Howorth 

 an important series of implements of the Bronze and Early Iron 

 Ages, and a series of early German antiquities, chiefly from 

 Hohenzollern and the Swiss Lakes, collected by Mr. H. Edelmann 

 of Sigmaringen. The Department is also indebted to Lord 

 Alington for the gift of tesselated Roman pavements from 

 Wimborne, co. Dorset ; and to Messrs. Yamanaka for two 

 Chinese bronze figures, one of colossal size, of fine workman- 

 ship. A fine Sassanian silver dish has also been purchased. 

 Among the Ethnographical accessions is to be noted a very 

 important series of objects from the Congo Free State, collected 

 in the course of the expedition under the leadership of Mr. 

 E. Torday ; and this series has been supplemented by a further 

 collection from the same source, presented by the Christy 

 Trustees. 



102 B 



