Page:Letters from England.djvu/50

 The Pilgrim Goes Over More Museums

EALTHY England has amassed the treasures of the whole world in her collections; none too creative herself, she has carted away the metope of the Acropolis and the Egyptian colossi of porphyry or granite, the Assyrian bas-reliefs, knotty plastic works of ancient Yucatan, smiling Buddhas, Japanese wood-carvings and lacquer-work, the pick of continental art and a medley of souvenirs from the colonies: iron-work, fabrics, glass, vases, snuff-boxes, book-bindings, statues, pictures, enamel, inlaid escritoires, Saracen swords, and heaven alone knows what else; perhaps everything in the world that is of any value.

I now should assuredly be very learned about various styles and cultures; I should relate something about the stages in the