One of the most interesting of the many minor discoveries made in the course of Lord ELGIN’S researches comprised a large marble vase, five feet in circumference, which enclosed a bronze vase of thirteen inches diameter. In this were found a lachrymatory of alabaster and a deposit of burnt bones, with a myrtle-wreath finely wrought in gold. This discovery was made in a tumulus on the road leading from Port Piræus to the Salaminian Ferry and Eleusis. Early in 1803, all the sculptured marbles from the Parthenon which it was found practicable to remove were prepared for embarkation. Both of those so prepared and of the few that were left, casts had been made, together with a complete series of drawings to scale. That great monument of art had been exhaustively studied, with the aid of all the information that could be gathered from the drawings made by the French artist, CARREY, in 1674, and those of the English architect, STUART, in 1752. A general monumental survey of Athens and Attica was also compiled and illustrated. The original frieze, in low relief, of the _cella_ of the Parthenon—representing the chief festive solemnity of Athens, the Panathenaic procession—had extended, in the whole, to about five hundred and twenty feet in length. That portion which eventually reached England amounted to two hundred and fifty feet. And of this a considerable part was obtained by excavations. Of a small portion of the remainder casts were brought. But the bulk of it had been long before destroyed. Of the statues which adorned the pediments a large portion had also perished, yet enough survived to indicate the design and character of the whole. Of statues and fragments of statues, seventeen were brought to England. Of metopes in high relief, from the frieze of the entablature, fourteen were brought. [Sidenote: THE DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT AND THE SHIPWRECK AT CERIGO.] Thus far, an almost incredible amount of effort and toil had been rewarded by a result large enough to dwarf all previous researches of a like kind. But the difficulties and dangers of the task were very far from being ended. The ponderous marbles had to be carried from Athens to the Piræus. There was neither machinery for lifting, nor appliances for haulage. There were no roads. The energy, however, which had wrestled with so many previous obstacles triumphed over these. But only to encounter new peril in the shape of a fierce storm at sea. Part of the Elgin Marbles had been at length embarked in the ship, purchased at Lord ELGIN’S own cost, in which Mr. HAMILTON sailed for England, carrying with him also his drawings and journals. The vessel was wrecked near Cerigo. Seven cases of sculpture sunk with the ship. Only four, out of the eleven embarked in the _Mentor_, were saved, along with the papers and drawings. Meanwhile, Lord ELGIN himself, on his homeward journey, was, upon the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, arrested and ‘detained’ in France.