1804.] 
when he fees Iphigenia deliver to Pylades 
a letter written on a {crap of paper, and 
folded like thofe which are fent daily by 
the poft. Afop, at the Court of Creefus, 
addreffing a Colonel ina French uniform ; 
and Strabo, in the piece of Democritus in 
Love, looking through his telefcope at the 
fieeples, and making almanacks, are 
equally abifurd. Laftly, had antiquity 
been more attentively obferved, the elder 
Horatius would not have called Servius 
Tullius Sire ; and the great Racine him- 
felf, who was fo well veried in the ftudy 
ef the claffic authors; would not have 
made his interlocutors repeat‘ fo often the 
viord Madame. 
- Study of Archeology, and the Mode of ob- 
taining a Knowledge of that Science. 
In the preceding article I have expound- 
ed what has been my aim in commencing 
my courfes of leftures, and in publifhing 
this and my other elementary works.— 
Without making a parade of an eloquence 
of ftyle, on the tcore of which I feel my- 
felf deficient, or of a vain erudition, 
which is eafy to acquire, I thall fimply re- 
matk, that if I have any advantage over 
many others who might do better than 
myfelf, it is becaufe I am entrufted with 
the charge of the richeft collection of an- 
tiques of every defcription, with the ex- 
ception of thofe of Italy ; at the fame time 
that I have within my reach one of the 
fine& Iibraries in the world. * 
Several men of diftinguifhed merit have 
mquired how a courfe of le&tures on anti- 
quities is to be given. It appears tome 
that I have furnifhed areply to this quef- 
tion, by the enumeration of the attain- 
ments which form the bafis of the inftruc- 
tion. Who can poflcfs fo extenfive and 
fo varied a colie€tion as that of the 
French National Mufeum? And who can 
entertain any doubt of the intereft of the 
courfe in which all the monuments cited 
in the lectures may be fucceflively brought 
to the view. If thefe legtures fail to 
pleafe, the Profeflor does not hefitate to 
declare that the fault originates with him ; 
fince it requires but a moderate fhare of 
talents on his fide to intere(t his auditors, 
when he can place before them a multi- 
tude of curiofities, forare, fo interefling, 
and of fo varied a nature. 
_ This is not the firft opportunity, how- 
ever, which has been offered to thofe 
who have profeffed a wifh to be inftruéted 
in the fcience of archeology, fimilar lec- 
a 
¥ That ot Paris, 
IntroduStion to the Study of Archeology, 
$35 
tures having been infituted at the time of 
the revival of the arts. 
At Florence, Lorenzo de Medici efta- 
blifhed {chools, the profeffors of which 
were enjoined to lay before their pupils the 
productions of the ancients, and to enable 
them, by their inftructions, to appreciate 
their merits, before they were allowed to 
follow the bent of their own particular 
genius. ‘Thefe fchools contributed ta 
form a great number of firft-rate {culp- 
tors, painters, and architects, the moft ce- 
lebrated of whom was Michael Angelo 
Buonarotti. “Fhe effect of this example 
was, that the patrons of learning would 
not allow any monument to pafs unno- 
ticed, and either wrote or cayfed defcripe 
tions to he made of them. 
From that epoch feveral diftinguifhed 
men of letters have taught archeology.— 
Niewpoart attached himfelf to the part 
of the cuftoms and ufages ; while Chrift 
and Ernefti made the monuments their 
particular purfuit. Oberlin has, during 
thirty years, profeffed archeology in the 
city of Strafburg, with fo much celebrity, 
that a confiderable number of enlightened 
men have judged it advifcable to take lef- 
fons from him before they fhould fet out 
on their travels. Heyne, the friend and 
fucceflor of the immortal Winckelmann, 
ftill teaches archeology in the Univerfity 
of Gottingen. Bufching, who united to 
a profound knowledge of geography that 
of antiquities, has left us feveral of the 
Treatifes he drew up for the ufe of his 
pupils. The celebrated Eckhel, conler- 
vator of the Mufeum of Vienna, delivers 
regular courles of lectures on antiquities. 
The definition of archeology which I 
have given, and the method I have adopt- 
ed in deicribing its different branches, 
prove that it forms a particular {cience : 
it may, therefore, be reduced by precepts 
into a theory, and may be taught. To- 
thofe who fhould allege, that it may be 
learned without a mafter by any one who 
fhould purchafe the different works in 
which it is treated, my anfwer would be 
briefly this—that, independently of the 
works in queftion being as fcarce and dif- 
ficult of purchafe as they are numerous, 
the fight of the monuments, without the 
obfervation of which it is impoffible te 
make any certain and rapid progrefs, 
would be a conftant obftacle to the profe- 
cution of the ftudy. To maintain the 
contrary propofition would be as if one 
were to fay, that courfes of natural hiftory 
are not of any utility, becaufe rature is 
every where to be found, and becaule 
the books which treat of her works are 
in 
