He was anxious that casts of the whole of the extant sculptures of the Parthenon should be exhibited, in the same relative situation to the eye of the viewer which they had originally occupied in the Temple at Athens. He was also desirous that a public competition of sculptors should be provided for, in order to a series of comparative restorations of the perfect work, based upon other casts of its surviving portions, and wrought in presence of the remains of the authentic sculpture itself. [Sidenote: CONTINUANCE OF THE LABOURS OF LUSIERI AT ATHENS, UNTIL 1816.] Meanwhile, the chief of the artists employed in the work of drawing and modelling continued his labours at Athens, and in its vicinity, for more than twelve years after Lord ELGIN’S departure from Constantinople. Between the years 1811 and 1816, inclusive, eighty cases containing sculpture, casts, drawings, and other works of art, were added to the Elgin Collection in London. In the year last named, when the question of artistic value had already been very effectively determined by the cumulative force of enlightened opinion, a Select Committee of the House of Commons was at length appointed, to inquire whether it were expedient that Lord ELGIN’S Collection ‘should be purchased on behalf of the Public, and, if so, what price it may be reasonable to allow for the same.’ [Sidenote: _Report on Earl of Elgin’s Collection_ (1816), p. 8.] By this Committee it was reported to the House that ‘several of the most eminent artists in this kingdom rate these marbles in the very first class of ancient art; ... speak of them with admiration and enthusiasm; and, notwithstanding their manifold injuries, ... and mutilations, ... consider them as among the finest models and most exquisite monuments of antiquity.’ It was also reported that their removal to England had been explicitly authorised by the Turkish Government. [Sidenote: _Ib._, p. 16.] The Committee further recommended their purchase for the Public at the sum of thirty-five thousand pounds; and that the Earl of ELGIN and his heirs (being Earls of Elgin) should be perpetual Trustees of the British Museum. [Sidenote: _Ib._, p. 27.] And the Committee expressed, in conclusion, its hope that the Elgin Marbles might long serve as models and examples to those who, by knowing how to revere and appreciate them, may first learn to imitate, and ultimately to rival them. On the 1st of July, 1816, the Act for effecting the purchase was passed by the Legislature. I do not know that any one member of the Society of Dilettanti really regretted the fact. But it is certain that by a very eminent connoisseur on the Continent it was much regretted. The King of Bavaria had already lodged a sum of thirty thousand pounds in an English banking house, by way of securing a pre-emption, should the controversy amongst the connoisseurs on this side of the Channel, of which so much had been heard, lead the British Parliament eventually