45 Geo. ttt 



<qiience of a representation to them, that the 

 preserving and exhibiting it to the public 

 View in the Metropolis would be highly ad* 

 vantageous to the Cultivation of the Fine 

 Arts, and at the same time honourable to the 

 memory of their deceased Relation, have ex- 

 pressed their consent to surrender this Col- 

 lection to the Public, if Parliament should be 

 disposed to Purchase the same at the Sum of 

 Twenty thousand Pounds, being (as they 

 state) far less than its value, and if the like 

 privilege were conferred upon their Family 

 as was granted, in the like Cases, to the 

 Families of Sir Hans Shane and the Earl of 

 Oxford, by vesting in the Heirs of the late 

 Charles Townley, Esquire, the Power of no- 

 minating two Trustees of the British Museum 

 in perpetual Succession ; and that the Pe- 

 titioners conceive it to be an Object of great 

 National Importance for the Improvement of 

 the Fine Arts, that a Collection of Antique 

 Sculpture, of such acknowledged and un- 

 rivalled Excellence, should be acquired and 

 preserved for Public Inspection and Use ; 

 and they have felt it the more incumbent 

 upon them, to submit these Circumstances 

 to the Consideration of Parliament; as they 



