The Cruise of the Branwen

ATHENS measurement which the old builders had long ago overpassed and laid aside. The saddest thing about a visit to the Acropolis is the thought that its worst ruin has been wrought by the hand of man. In 1687, for instance, the Venetian troops were under the command of Count Konigsmark, who represented Fr~ncesco Morosini, when a German lieutanant fired the bomb which blew up the Turks' powder-maga– zine within the Parthenon. The Germans certainly owe the world a debt for that unlucky act of vandalism. But they have done their best to repay it by the excavation of Olympia in Elis. I shall not multiply instances which are merely irritating, especially in a land where the in– habitants care so little, it appears, for the treasures of their inheritance ; but it is im– possible for an Englishman to avoid regretting that, if it were necessary for Lord Elgin to take away the famous marbles in order to preserve them, he should have given so little care to the super– vision of their removal. His ignorant and clumsy workmen almost destroyed the work of Ictinus while engaged in saving the sculptures of Pheidias. Yet, though bereft of well-nigh every orna– ment, and mutilated even in the skeleton of its structural anatomy, the Parthenon retains the unfaded glamour of its first conception. Like a broken statue which suggests the marvels of the perfect masterpiece, it preserves the spell which first inspired its wondrous lines, and leaves to every understanding heart the happy task of filling up the gaps at pleasure. This is the more remarkable 1 39