Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/13



no very distant period the study of antiquities has passed, in popular esteem, from contempt to comparative honour. That this change should have occurred in an age by no means remarkable either for its reverence for the past, or its sensibility to impressions of romance; an age distinguished, in common phrase, as preeminently "practical" and "utilitarian," furnishes some proof of an improvement in the method in which the study itself has been pursued. Whilst the remains of former times were collected and treasured rather for their own sake, than for the illustration they afforded to history, social manners, or art, the antiquary was considered a worshipper of what was essentially unreal, and had therefore little claim for sympathy or support from others. His researches have risen in estimation, as they have been animated by a more comprehensive spirit, and directed to a more instructive end: whilst the very effort which has elevated Archaeology to the dignity of a science, has at the same time, by exhibiting the past in a more lively relationship with the present, given to the study more general interest.

An honourable position has thus been gained. To maintain it, the student of antiquities must struggle,—not against the "spirit of the age," still less against rival sciences,—but against that which can alone permanently degrade any science, an unphilosophic or sterile system. The credit of Archaeology must ultimately depend upon the value of its results. Nothing will more tend to keep up its efficiency, than an occasional, even a periodical, balancing of its accounts, and estimate of its progress. In all pursuits such reviews are of service; but they are peculiarly important in a study where the attention is apt to be distracted by the