Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-02-01
Among the Antiquities in the British
Museum.


knew that it was of no use to at
tempt to see any thing thoroughly, for
these winter days are short, and it gets
dark in London by 8: 80. So I wander
ed on without method or plan, and it is
just as good a way as II other, for
every room and every case within each
room contains abundant material for
study or contemplation. Here, for ex-
ample, in the British and Medieval
room are the earliest products of human
industry yet d~iscovered-a number of
fine implements, which have been found
from time to time with the bones of the
mammoth and other extinct animals.
These are the oldest remains of
European man, and in another part of
the museum one may see the fossils
among which they were discovered.
Then there are numerous relics of the
lake people, that strange race which
lived in dwellings built on piles in the
Swiss lakes. Many of their sshouse-
hold gods'' are gathered here, and near
to them are sepulchral urns and other
objects which have been found in An
glo-Saxon cemeteries. But all these seem
to belong to yesterday compared with a
small article which I noticed in a case
among what is known as the "Slade
Collection" It is an Egyptian amulet
with "Prenomen of Nuantef w., a
monarch of the eleventh dynasty
placed by Lepsius B. G. 2423 to $780,"
1t is about the size of a $50 gold piece,
made of bronze. Even the mummies
in the cases, in some of which the out
lines of the female form are wonderfully
well preserved, can not be older than
this-although we have part of the cof-
fin and body of King Menkara, who
built the third pyramid, and who was
the Mycerinus of the Greeks. There
are in other cases some beautifully
carved female figures, and ali sorts of
household furniture, such as folding
seats, tables, and pillows. There is a
little apparatus for painting the eyes,
and the "wig of an Egyptian lady of
rank, and the box for holding it," But
who could describe half the curiosities
brought together inthe Egyptian galle-
ries alone, to say nothing of the infinite
number of glorious works of art stored
up in the Greek and Roman galleries
the statues, the vases, the iewelry, the
glass, the marvellous works in gold and
silver and other metals? The man who
attempted to carry out any such design
in Il single letter, or in 90 letters, would
only beWilder his readers and stupe-
fy himself. Everywhere I went l
found but few people-it was Friday
last, a public day, but one on which
workingmen and their families are sch
dom able OF willing to get out for a
holiday. And scarcely any one else
seems to go to the museum, except
scholars who are at work on q special
subject, or visitors from abroad.
The number of American visit
ors is generally large in the
course of a year. Last Friday L think
there were not two dozen persons in the
building, leaving out students and
attendants. The basement" devoted
to that astonishing history in stone of
the great Sardanapalus / had entirely
to myself, and much did l marvel at
the vigor with which the carvings are
executed-the representations of the
hunting parties with their dogs and
mules and attendants, or of Sandana-
palus in his chariot hunting lions, and
bringing them down at a rate which
would have astonished even Gordon
Cumming-all the figures, and each
detail of the picture, down to the har-
ness, reins, and trappings of the mules
being perfectly clear, sharp and dis
tinct. From this strange scene | made
up my way through the Roman gallery,
where young ladies were iudustriously
copying "Venus'' or "Apollo," and
to that great collection of manuscripts
among which are collected a deed bear
ing the signature of William Shaks-
peare, and letters OIL manuscripts
of famous men and women
from Martin Luther to Macau-
ley, to say nothing of the "char-
~ters," which extend from the time of
Ethelred ca. D. 692) to the reign OF
Victoria.-Cor. NeV York World.