INTRODUCTION. 
xxxi 
these collections, and whose names and dona- 
tions are carefully registered in a book kept for the 
purpose, we must here select, as being foremost 
inth eir liberality, three gentlemen of the same 
family, viz. Colonel William, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. 
Smart Lethiullier, who, so early as the year 17^6 
began their benefactions, and continued them for 
several years, thereby materially increasing the 
collection of Egyptian Antiquities, to which they 
added two mummies, and a great number of idols, 
utensils, and other implements. 
The name of Thomas Hollis, of Corscom.be, Thomas HoiKs, 
Esq. 
in Dorsetshire, Esq. appears perhaps more fre- 
quently than any other in the list of Benefactors ; 
he having, from the year I7 5 ^> ^° * ne ^ a y °f his 
death in 1774, been unremitted in his contri- 
butions, consisting chiefly of rare books, prints, 
a variety of bronze ido!§_, and various other pro- 
ductions of the arts. 
The late Earl of Exeter ranks likewise very TheE?jiof 
high in the register of Benefactors, not so much 
perhaps for the number of his gifts, as for their 
intrinsic value and importance. Among these 
are the bronze head of Homer, which he 
purchased at the sale of Dr. Mead's collection ; 
a large, if not complete, set of the Roman As, 
and 
