PREFACE. SEP 5 '40 VISITING the ancient countries of Egypt, Greece, and Italy being the chief object of travelling at the present day, the consequent interest taken in the remains of the former grandeur, magnificence, and high civilisation of these countries, has made Archæology one of the most important and most interesting studies. Egypt, Greece, and Italy were the fountain heads of our civilisation and the sources of our knowledge; to them we can trace, link by link, the origin of all that is ornamental, graceful, and beautiful in our architecture, sculpture and in the arts of design. Remains, evincing the perfection they have reached in these arts, and attesting the stages of development which have been passed through leading to that culminating point of excellence, are still objects of the greatest interest in those countries. An intimate knowledge, therefore, of the original state and former perfection, and also of the present state of these remains has been a matter of the deepest interest to many. Each country has found ardent investigators of its history and antiquities. The ruins of Egypt have yielded an endless amount of historical information to the ardent researches and zeal of Young, Champollion, Rosellini, Wilkinson, Bunsen, Lepsius, Birch. The temples and Cyclopean remains of Greece have been accurately drawn and described by Chandler, Stuart, Dodwell, Müller, Leake, Falkener, Wordsworth, Penrose. The remains of ancient art in Italy have been always a favourite theme of writers of different countries, English, 3727 |