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tain blocks, called Elgin Marbles; and he may express a hope that before he sits down he may be able to convince the House that there are blocks enough at home without sending to Athens for them. He will next, probably, reprobate the mode

in which Lord Elgin obtained these marbles. It has been asserted that they were in a process of destruction; that the Turks fired at them as marks; "but what," Mr. Hammersley may justly ask, "what does that signify? the Turks had a right to fire at them, and God forbid we should interfere with the rights of any other people! Suppose that, in this country, the Board of Ordnance should choose to fire at St. Paul's; suppose, even, that they were to place a couple of howitzers on Ludgate-hill, and batter down the great cupola-I put an extreme case; but would even this justify the Turkish Ambassador in carrying off the rest of that noble edifice to his lodgings in Fludyer-street, and afterwards shipping it in transports in the river, consigned to

the Waivode of Athens? If it would not, what right had Lord Elgin to convey the Parthenon (which I understand to be the St. Paul's of Athens) to this town? what is sauce for the goose is, as the poet expresses it, sauce for the gander."

Mr. Hammersley might next proceed to object to the price" they were valued at 35,000l. Thirtyfive thousand pounds!!! He had seen them, and a more worthless, dirty heap of rubbish he had never set eyes on; they were old, dusty, chipped and broken. He had taken some pains to ascertain the price of statues, and he might inform the house that Mr. Rubble, an eminent stone-mason in the Newroad, would make a complete set of new statues for one-tenth of the sum proposed to be given for those which were only second-hand. Nay more, he might have the pleasure to state that a respectable artist on the other side of Westminster-bridge, Mr. Coade, had invented a composition which was fire-proof; and he had ascertained that Mr. Coade would be happy

to make a bran-new Theseus for 251. This native artist would also undertake a female figure with a head for 157. and yet it is proposed to give ten times that sum for a female figure without a head; fit for nothing, if he might presume to be jocose, but the sign of the good woman, which he had seen over some shops in the city.

"As for Scaphaphora,* Metapes, Hygeias, and Quadrigas walking in procession, he knew nothing about them; but this he did know, that Mr. Coade would engage to make a complete Britannia, with a Lion and Unicorn to match, all as large as life, for a less sum than Lord Elgin charges for a horse's head; and a full length statue of the Thames, with an urn, two oars, and a swan, may be had cheaper than the river Ilissus, which has neither urns, nor oars, nor even a head; and what is a river without a head?"

Upon the whole, however, Mr. Hammersley, with

* The mis-spelling of these words was probably intentional, and they are therefore left as they originally appeared.-E.

his characteristic liberality, may probably propose some degree of remuneration to Lord Elgin; and he would, we think, be likely to conclude with the following resolutions :

1. That the value of the Elgin Marbles, estimated according to Mr. Coade's proposal for making new ones, is 4481. 78. 91⁄2d.

2. That Lord Elgin has no right to the said sum of 4487. 78. 9 d. nor to any other sum whatsoever on account of these marbles.

3. That a sum of 25,000l. be, therefore, presented to the Earl of Elgin, as a mark of the disapprobation of this House.

4. That the whole of the said Marbles shall be, with all convenient dispatch, sent back to Athens, consigned to the joint care of the Captain-Pacha and the Mufti, in order to the speedy re-establishment of the Cathedral of the Parthenon in that ancient city.

5. That with a view of making amends for the

spoliation of the said Cathedral, and of marking the liberality and taste of the British Nation, a sum not exceeding 1201. be granted to his majesty to make good the defects of Theseus and the other Goddesses and Statues in General, previous to their being returned to Athens, and that the City Members and the Members serving for the home counties, all the Members for Ireland, and Gentlemen of the Long Robe, be a Committee for the Repairs of the said Goddesses and Statues. (Hear, Hear!)

There will be, we dare say, no want of Members desirous to second these motions; but we can imagine no one more likely to catch the Speaker's eye than Mr. GORDON, who may observe "that these statues are in such a state of mutilation, that several of them are deficient in the most important and weightiest particulars: the front side of the Ilissus, and the backside of the Theseus, are greatly damaged; the torso of Neptune is worse even than the torso of the Belvidere: every body knows the latter is perfect

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