How to See the British Museum in Four Visits. Blanchard Jerrold

      Published by Good Press, 2019

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      EAN 4064066243791

Table of Contents

       INTRODUCTION.

       VISIT THE FIRST.

       VISIT THE SECOND.

       VISIT THE THIRD.

       VISIT THE FOURTH.

       NOTES

      INTRODUCTION

      VISIT THE FIRST

      SOUTHERN ZOOLOGICAL ROOM.—Hoofed Animals:—Giraffe;

       Walrus; Rhinoceros; Buffalo; Antelope.

      SOUTHERN ZOOLOGICAL GALLERY.—Hoofed Animals:—Wild Ox;

       Hippopotamus; Elephant; Llama; Bison; Armadillo; Deer.

      MAMMALIA SALOON.—Bears; Monkeys; Cat Tribe; Dog Family;

       Bear Tribe; Mole Tribe; Marsupial Animals; Seal Tribe;

       Corals

      EASTERN ZOOLOGICAL GALLERY.—Birds of Prey; Perching

       Birds; Scraping Birds; Wading Birds; Web-footed Birds.

      NORTHERN ZOOLOGICAL GALLERY.—Bats; Reptiles; Serpents;

       Tortoises; Crocodiles; Frogs.

      BRITISH ZOOLOGICAL ROOM.—Carnivorous Beasts; Glirine

       Beasts; Hoofed Beasts; Insectivorous Beasts; British

       Reptiles; British Fish.

      NORTHERN ZOOLOGICAL GALLERY—(continued).—Spiny-finned Fishes; Soft-finned Fishes; Cartilaginous Fishes; Sponges; Shell-fish; The Beetle Tribe; Butterflies and Moths.

      EASTERN ZOOLOGICAL GALLERY.—Star-fish; Sea-eggs; Shells.

      VISIT THE SECOND

      NORTHERN MINERAL AND FOSSIL GALLERY.—Fossil Vegetables;

       Minerals; Fossil Animals; Fossil Fishes; Fossil Mammalia.

      THE EGYPTIAN ROOM.—Human Mummies; Animal Mummies;

       Sepulchral Ornaments; Egyptian Deities; Sacred

       Animals; Household Objects; Tools; Musical Instruments;

       Toys; Textile Fabrics.

      THE BRONZE ROOM.—Greek and Roman Bronzes.

      ETRUSCAN ROOM.—Etruscan Vases

      ETHNOGRAPHICAL ROOM.—Chinese Curiosities; Indian

       Curiosities; African Curiosities; American Curiosities

      VISIT THE THIRD

      EGYPTIAN SALOON.—Egyptian Sculpture; Egyptian

       Coffins; Egyptian Tombstones; Sepulchral Vases;

       Human Statues; Egyptian Sphinxes; Egyptian Frescoes.

      THE LYCIAN ROOM.—Lycian Tombs; Lycian Sculpture.

      THE NIMROUD ROOM.—Assyrian Sculpture.

      VISIT THE FOURTH

      Townley Sculpture; Antiquities of Britain.

      PHIGALEIAN SALOON.—Battle with the Amazons.

      ELGIN SALOON.—Elgin Marbles; Metopes of the Parthenon;

       Eastern Frieze; Northern Frieze; Western Frieze;

       Southern Frieze; Eastern Pediment; Western Pediment;

       Temple of the Erectheum; Temple of Theseus;

       Lantern of Demosthenes.

      CONCLUSION

      INTRODUCTION.

       Table of Contents

      The money to found a British Museum was raised by a lottery in the middle of the last century. Sir Hans Sloane having offered his books and museum of natural history to Parliament, for less than half its value (20,000£.), it was purchased, together with the famous Harleian and Cottonian MSS., and deposited in Montague House, Bloomsbury, which had been bought of the Earl of Halifax, for the sum of 10,250£. Of the present British Museum this beginning forms a very insignificant part. The nucleus was established however; and soon eminent men, who valued their literary and scientific collections as storehouses that should be accessible to all classes of students, began to turn their attention to the collections in Montague House. Foremost among the donors George the Second should be mentioned, as having made over to the nation the royal library, together with the right of demanding a copy of every book entered at Stationers' Hall. Successively, the libraries of Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Birch, Sir John Hawkins, Dr. Burney and Garrick, and the Royal, Arundel, Lansdowne, Bridgewater, and other MSS. were added to the great store. Captain Cook returned home with additions to the museum of natural history; Sir William Hamilton's collection of vases was purchased in 1772; the spoils of Abercrombie's Egyptian campaign enriched the museum with some fine Egyptian antiquities; grants of money secured the Townley marbles, the Phigalian sculptures, and at last the Elgin marbles; and of late, the accessions to the vast collection, including Layard's treasures, the Xanthian marbles, fossils, birds, curiosities, from the frozen seas, China, the solitudes of Central Africa, and other remote places, where scientific men have been of late prosecuting their studies have been received. In 1823 it was allowed by Parliament that the collection had grown too large for the house in which it was crammed; and accordingly in this year it was resolved to destroy the old residence of the Earl of Halifax, and build a new structure on its site. Sir Robert Smirke, the architect of the present structure, has certainly had good cause to complain of the niggardly supplies voted from time to time for the building, which has been twenty-eight years in progress. The regulations for the admission of the public have fairly kept pace with the progress of those liberal ideas to which the collection is greatly indebted, and of which it is a monument. It will be interesting for the visitor of to-day, to contrast the rules by which he is admitted, with those that fettered his ancestors of the eighteenth century. In the year 1759, the trustees of this institution published their "Statutes and Rules relating to the Inspection and Use of the British Museum." This instructive document may now serve to illustrate the darkness from which, even now, we are struggling. Those visitors who now consider it rather an affront to be required to give up their cane or umbrella at the entrance to our museums and galleries, will be astonished to learn, that in the early days of the museum, those persons who wished to inspect the national collection, were required to make previous application to the porter, in writing, stating their names, condition, and places of abode, as also the day and hour at which they desired to be admitted. Their applications were written down in a register, which was submitted every evening to the librarian or secretary in attendance. If this official, judging from the condition and ostensible character of an applicant, deemed him eligible for admittance, he directed the porter to give him a ticket on the following day. Thus the candidate for admission was compelled to make two visits, before he could learn whether it was the gracious will of a librarian or secretary that he should be allowed the privilege of inspecting Sir Hans Sloane's curiosities. If successful, his trouble did not end when he obtained the ticket; for it was provided by the trustees that no more than ten tickets