INTRODUCTION. 
*1V 
usually, though erroneously, called Etruscan* 
caused the whole collection to be brought to Eng¬ 
land ; and having afforded an opportunity to a 
Committee of the House of Commons to inspect 
the same, and to satisfy themselves as to its real 
value and importance, the House, upon the report 
of this committee, voted the sum of ^8,400 
to Sir William Hamilton for the purchase thereof, 
in order to its being deposited in the Museum for 
the use of the public. It will be needless to 
point out, to those who, being conversant 
with the arts, may have opportunities of in¬ 
specting this addition, how much it has 
contributed, and will no doubt still contri¬ 
bute, to the improvement of the national 
taste; the contrast between the present and the 
former style in all our manufactures in which 
the finer arts are concerned, being too obvious to 
be here particularly insisted upon. The Public is 
also largely indebted to Sir William Hamilton for 
many liberal and repeated donations which he 
has from time to time conferred on the Museum, 
not only in addition to the above collection of 
antiquities, but also in abundance of articles of 
natural history, particularly of the volcanic pro¬ 
ductions of Mount Vesusius, of which he has per¬ 
haps been the most careful observer since the days 
of Pliny. 
An oppor- 
