Before that time, before the age of Crœsus and the rise of the Persian Empire, the history of Greece is very imperfectly known to us, through the traditions of the temples and the old families, which are seldom wholly to be trusted. Where history is uncertain it is of untold value to have monuments and works of human manufacture to supplement it. These provide a skeleton of fact with which to compare legend and tradition. It is now generally recognized that before writings in the form of inscriptions and coins come into general use, pottery furnishes the most continuous and most trustworthy material for the dating of sites, indications of commercial intercourse, the movements of peoples. In recent years the study of prehistoric Greece has made immense strides, primarily owing to the excavations of Schliemann, Evans and other investigators. The subject seems to fascinate the younger generation of archæologists; and the pottery found in the graves of the early inhabitants of Greece and Asia Minor has been worked at with great minuteness and to much result. It has revealed to us the outlines of the early history of Crete, the Troad, Laconia, Thessaly, and a number of other districts. Constant comparison with the results of finds in Egypt which can be dated from inscriptions has revealed in a measure the state of the civilization of the Ægean in century beyond century, back to Neolithic times. When Greek civilization became fully established, in the sixth century, when inscriptions and coins begin to give us far more exact information than that which can be derived from pottery, the interest attaching to the latter does not cease, but it changes in character. We no longer go to it to determine the outlines of the history of civilization. But it has now become a thing precious in itself because of its beauty, its close relation to the poetry, the religion and the life of Greece. The elegant forms of Greek vases and the charm of the designs painted on them have caused them to be sought after by great museums and wealthy collectors. The graves of Italy, Sicily, Hellas, have poured out a constant supply of these works of art, some of them beyond value. Classical archæologists have naturally given much attention to them; and of late years the assignment of examples to noted masters, and the study of their technique have been zealously prosecuted. They belong too wholly to a civilization which has passed away to be readily understood by ordinary visitors of museums; but those who have once been bitten with their charm find in them an occupation, a delight and a solace which are great helps in life. Greece is the classical land of art in all its forms, and the principles of art which were established by the successive schools of art there can never be wholly neglected. If we set aside the pottery of China and Japan, which is, in another sphere, of unsurpassed beauty, the pottery of Greece is the only perfectly