Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/533

 ELGIN- ELGIN MARBLES 525 passed in diplomatic employments. After fill- ing missions to Brussels and Berlin, he was sent in 17.99 as envoy extraordinary to Constanti- nople, when the idea occurred to him of rescu- ing from time and the Turks and removing to England the celebrated sculptures which are now in the British museum, and bear his name. He procured the permission of the Porte to take away from the ruins of ancient Athens " any stones that might appear interesting to him." With the aid of a corps of artists from Italy, and at his own expense (the British gov- ernment having declined to further the under- taking), he succeeded in the course of ten years in detaching from the Parthenon, or in excavating from the rubbish at its base, abun- dant specimens of the various descriptions of sculptures with which it was ornamented. The first instalment of these treasures of antiquity arrived in England in 1808, and excited a feel- ing of admiration and delight, not unmingled, however, with indignation at what was consid- ered the vandalism of Lord Elgin in removing doubts as to their artistic value. It was said that he had spent much time and money in pro- curing indifferent Roman marbles of the time of Hadrian, and the project of purchasing them for the nation was strongly opposed. Lord Byron is said to have carried his feelings on the subject of the alleged depredations of Lord Elgin to such an extent, that on a visit to the Parthenon he inscribed in a conspicuous place, Quod non fecerunt Gotlii, hoc fecerunt Scoti ; and he further gave vent to his indig- nation in the " Curse of Minerva," written in 1811. Among those who urged upon govern- ment the purchase of the marbles was the painter Haydon, whose style received its direc- tion from the contemplation of them, and to whose earnest pleas with men in power was partly attributed the offer of 30,000 for the entire collection, made by Mr. Perceval, the Premier, in 1811, which however was refused, n 1812, 80 additional cases arrived in Eng- land, a number of valuable marbles having pre- viously suffered shipwreck, and in 1815 Lord Elgin offered to make over the collection to the nation for a reasonable sum. In the succeed- ing year the purchase was effected for 35,- 000, the actual outlay having exceeded 50,- 000. The services of Lord Elgin in bringing within the reach of artists, as well as in pre- serving from the ravages of time, these master- pieces of antiquity, are now fully appreciated ; subsequent events having shown that, had he not removed them, the greater part would have been long since destroyed. In the war of Greek independence, and especially in the last siege of Athens in 1826-'7, the Parthenon suf- fered very serious damage. Lord Elgin was a Scotch representative peer for 50 years. In 1810 he published in defence of his conduct a 4to volume, entitled "Memorandum on the subject of the Earl of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece." II. James Brace, 8th earl of Elgin and 12th of Kincardine, a British statesman, son of the preceding, born July 20, 1811, died at Dhurmsala, India, Nov. 20, 1863. His studies were begun at Eton, and completed at Christchurch, Oxford, where he graduated in 1833. He was afterward elected fellow of Merton college. He commenced public life as one of the members of parliament for South- ampton in 1841, but before the year was out succeeded to the title and estates of his father. In 1842 he was appointed governor of Jamaica, and in 1846 governor general of Canada. He negotiated in 1854 a treaty of commercial re- ciprocity with the United States, after which he resigned his office, returned to England, and received the appointment of lord lieutenant of Fifeshire. In the spring of 1857 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to Peking, immediately proceeded to the East, was pres- ent at the taking of Canton, and, in conjunc- tion with the French, succeeded by vigorous measures in reducing the Chinese to terms. After signing a treaty with the Chinese com- missioners at Tientsin, June 26, 1858, the con- ditions of which were highly favorable to the British, he sailed for Japan, entered the harbor of Yedo, which the Americans had opened to foreigners, obtained important commercial privileges for his countrymen, concluded a treaty with the Japanese, Aug. 26, and in May, 1859, returned to England. He was again sent to China in the following year, and on the conquest of Peking by the allied French and British entered that city in triumph. He returned in 1861, and in 1862 was appointed viceroy and governor general of India, but was soon compelled by ill health to resign, and died shortly after. His "Letters and Journals," edited by Theodore Walrond, was published in London in 1872. ELGIN MARBLES, a collection of ancient sculptures chiefly taken from the Parthenon at Athens, now deposited in the British mu- seum. They derive their name from the earl of Elgin. (See ELGIN, EAEL OF.) The sculp- tures on the Parthenon consisted of three kinds : the colossal statues on the tympana of the pedi- ments, the metopes, and the frieze around the cella. Of the first, the Elgin collection con- tains statues or fragments of statues from both pediments, those from the eastern, on which was represented the birth of Minerva, being the best preserved, while those repre- senting the contest of Neptune and Minerva for the possession of Attica are chiefly torsos and fragments, procured by excavation. Of the 92 metopes, it contains 15 from the S. side of the building, representing in high relief the combats of the Centaurs and Lapithse, and a cast from another now in the Louvre. The slabs from the frieze of the cella, representing in low relief the great Panathenaic procession, are the most numerous and the best preserved of all the specimens in the collection. In addi- tion to these, Lord Elgin procured from the ruins about the Athenian Acropolis the colossal
 * them from their original resting place, or with