Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/157

 Notices of ^ufjacological ^ubluations. MUSEUM DISNEIANUM, Being a Description of a Collection of Ancient Marbles, and Specimens of Ancient Art, in the possession of John Disnev, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A. Parts I., 11., 4to, 1846 and 1848. In England, no residence of an educated person is considered complete without a library, in a more restricted or a more enlarged sense, according to the taste, the means, or the pursuits of the owner. Amongst the learned and the wealtli}', the portion of the mansion appropriated to this purpose is generally considerable ; often the noblest apartment of all is that devoted to literature, and to this is attached, in not a few instances, the museum, or collection of objects of ancient art, either in a separate room, or so placed in cases as to fall in with the general arrangement of the apartment. It is to one of these private museums that our attention has been recently attracted, by the appearance of two handsome quarto volumes, forming Parts I and II of an illustrated Catalogue Fumonnee of the Museum Disueianum, deposited at The Hyde, near Ingatestone, in Essex. These volumes have been produced at the private cost of the spirited owner of the collection, in a most munificent and tasteful manner, thus enabling the community at large to participate in the enjoyment of the treasures of anti- quity which he possesses. A few works of this kind already adorn our libraries, one of the finest, is the Museum Worsleyanum. Mr. Payne Knight's Gems, &c.. Sir H. Englefield's Vases, and several others might be cited. The public, and more especially the learned portion of it, are under great obligations to Mr. Disney for thus again stimulating the popular taste in this direction, and we hope that his example will be followed by others of our wealthy possessors ; but we especially desire that those who possess objects of British art, or such as may be more particularly illustrative of the early history of their country, would bring them forth from their reposi- tories, and, by similarly illustrated works, impart the knowledge of them to others. Few persons are aware of the vast aggregate amount of the private collections in this country. In some, armour and weapons pre- dominate ; in others, armorial ensigns, heraldic devices and seals ; in some, again, the objects in domestic use by our ancestors ; in others, embroidery and needlework from the fair hands of courtly dames of past ages. Enamels are the delight of one collector, carving and sculpture and antique marquetrie absorb the attention of another ; porcelain and glass, with tlieir gay colours, illuminate the buffet of a third, dividing the interest of the beholder wnth the rare productions of Greek art, or of the still more ancient Etruscan and Egyptian, whilst the collection of the Honourable Robert Curzon, jun., at Parham, by his spirited endeavours, has been enriched from the arsenal at Constantinople. The Museuni Disneianum, as we are informed in the introduction, owes its origin to the late Mr. Thomas Hollis and his friend, Mr. Thomas Brand, both sedulous collectors in Italy about one hundred years ago. The present proprietor has added considerably to the collection, and now, with a true love