The Elgin marbles from the Temple of Minerva at Athens, on sixty-one selected from "Stuart's and Revett's Antiquities of Athens" (London, 1816)

ON THE EARL OF ELGIN'S COLLECTION OF MARBLES, &c. 51

thing from being removed, that the local governors of Athens, who were assailable by bribery, endea- J. B. S Morritt,

voured to conduct the business as secretly as they could, whenever any thing was to be removed,______i?"

even of the Marbles which were down. I myself negotiated with the commander of the citadel for the
removal of one or two pieces of the frieze, that were thrown down and neglected among rubbish:
he was very willing to do it for a sum of money, if he could do it without the knowledge of any
person whatever. This negotiation coming however to the ear of the French agent, who wanted it for
himself, he prevented my getting it, by threatening the magistrate to make it known to his superiors j
in consequence of which it remained where it was. s*J. • '

You understood there was always a great difference between the Marbles already thrown dow^
and those that were standing in their places?— I had endeavoured to include in the bargain one of
the metopes which had not fallen, but which was so loose that it appeared on the point of coming
down. I found him much more scrupulous on this point than with respect to those which had fallen;
and I think that he would not on any consideration have allowed those that were secure to be removed,.
I do not know how far the Government might have relaxed afterwards; but I met with the same
difficulty at Ephesus, and at Amyclag, where I wished to procure the Marbles, Lord Aberdeen has
since successfully brought over; they all were looked upon as the property of the State. The answer
given to me was, that they should be extremely glad to sell them; and the magistrate told me, he
valued the money more than the Marbles, but that it was as much as his head was worth.

Do you think the Greeks were anxious that those Marbles should not be removed from Athens ? —
They were decidedly and strongly desirous that they should not be removed.

- Are you of opinion that nothing but the influence of a public character could have obtained the
permission to remove these? — The different views of an arbitrary Government in Turkey change so
from year to year, that I can speak,to it only for the time I was there. When I was there in 1796,1
certainly conceived nothing but the influence of a public character could obtain that permission.

Do you think that even the influence of a public character could have obtained it at that time ? —
It is impossible, so little as I know of the politics of the Court of Turkey, to answer that question.
Did you try at Constantinople to procure permission to remove any Marbles ? — I did not.
Were you acquainted with any circumstances attending either the acquisitions of Monsieur
Choiseul's Marbles, or their removal from Greece? — Monsieur Fauvel, who has since been the
French Consul, I believe, and who for some time had been employed in collecting for Monsieur
Choiseul, informed me that much influence had been used by Choiseul, in order to procure the
Collection he made; and a part of that Collection, which was still in Turkey, and some of it in Fauvel's
own hands, was detained by him, and by the French Ambassador for the Republic, as the property of
the Great Nation, as he called it; Monsieur Choiseul having at that time become a candidate for
employment under the then existing French Government.

It was considered that those Marbles which had been obtained by Monsieur Choiseul in his public
character, had been obtained in a manner which constituted them the property of the French Govern-
ment ? — I believe they were at that time considered as the property of the French Government, under
the emigration of Monsieur Choiseul, and the confiscation of his property by the Government.
Are you acquainted with the Elgin Marbles?— I am.

In. what class of art do you esteem them ? — I esteem them, many of them, as the purest
specimens of the finest age of Greece. ,

Do you consider it of consequence to the welfare of art in this Country, that this Collection should
become the property of the Public ? — In my own judgment, I should say it was of the first importance
to the progress of art.

Have you ever looked at this Collection with a view to its money value ? — I cannot say that
I can form any judgment upon that subject; so much of the value of works of art is ideal. I
consider it as unique, certainly, in point of design, and as an undoubted specimen of the best age