by many to be the site of Troy, and placed it at the disposal of Dr. Schliemann. The Egyptian Government now takes an enlightened care of the monuments of that country, which are under the charge of M. Mariette. In France there is a Monuments Commission, to whom a sum of more than 40,000l. a year is entrusted, but who have no compulsory powers. This precedent has been more than once urged against us in the House of Commons; but the fact is that, precisely from the absence of any such powers, the system does not work satisfactorily. Our own government even now spends certain sums on archæological objects. The House of Commons itself has always shown a liberal spirit in such matters; it has voted without a question considerable sums to carry on archæological researches in other countries, and gives ungrudgingly the supplies necessary to maintain the British Museum on a scale worthy of a great empire. No one regrets the sums which have been spent on the Assyrian, Egyptian, and other treasures which adorn our museums; but it is surely remarkable that we should take so much care of the monuments of other nations, and yet entirely neglect those of our own country. Of course such monuments as Stonehenge and Abury cannot be placed in a museum; they must be protected, if at all, on the spots where they were erected by our forefathers. Indeed, the principle that it is our duty to maintain national monuments has already been admitted. In the 25th clause of the Irish Church Act—a clause passed, I believe, without any difference of opinion in the House-it was enacted that when any church or ecclesiastical building deserved to be maintained as a national monument by reason of its architectural character or antiquity, the Commissioners shall by order vest such church, building, or structure in the Secretary of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, to be held by such Secretary, his heirs and assigns, upon trust for the Commissioners of Public Works, to be preserved as a national monument, and not to be used as a place of public worship; and the Commissioners shall ascertain and by order declare what sum is, in their judgment, required for maintaining as national monuments the churches, buildings, or structures so vested, and shall pay such sum accordingly to the said Secretary, to be held upon trust for the said Commissioners, and to be applied by them in maintaining the said churches, buildings, and structures. In conclusion I will only mention one other fact which, I think, will not be without interest. Though we may in many cases infer Shakespeare's opinions, there is, I believe, only one in which we have the actual expression of his own sentiments; and it is one bearing directly on the object of this bill. It appears that there was in his day a question of enclosing some land near Welcombe, on part of which was an old camp, known as the Dingles, and commanding a ford over the river near Stratford-on-Avon. The corporation sent an agent named Greene, who was a cousin of Shakespeare, up to London to protect their interests. Parts of Greene's diary are preserved, and under the date of the 1st of September, 1615, is an entry that his cousin Shakespeare told him he could not beare the enclosing of Welcombe.' This is, I believe, the only authentic expression of Shakespeare's opinions which has come down to us. In it, as in so many other cases, he strikes a chord which goes straight to the hearts of his fellow-countrymen. It is only too clear that these monuments are rapidly disappearing; that they are destroyed for the slightest, the most paltry, the most trivial of reasons; that they might be preserved at a very small expense, and by the application of principles sanctioned over and over again by Parliament. These ancient monuments are the unwritten history of our country in times long gone by; some of them are connected with important events in our annals; the origin of others is lost in the remote past. In the name of all those who love and reverence the past and the memory of our ancestors, we ask the House of Commons, by passing this bill, to affirm the principle that the preservation of these monuments is a national duty, and that they ought not to be allowed to perish. In the last volume of the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries,' Mr. Playne relates the result of an attempt to see the Long Stone, a fine monolith described in the last century by Rudder in his History of Gloucestershire. On inquiring of a farm labourer the way, the man replied, 'Ah, sir, you be too late.' It had just been blown up with gunpowder, broken to pieces, and thrown away because it cumbered the ground. Every year, indeed, some of these monuments are destroyed. If then we are to take any steps for their preservation, let us do so before it is too late.' 1 Proc. Soc. Ant. 1876, p. 502. II. SCOTLAND. The Bass of Inverury The pillar and stone at Newton-in-the- County Aberdeenshire. The circular walled structures called Berwickshire 'Edin's Hall,' on Cockburn Law. Parish Inverurie. Rhynie. The British walled settlement enclosing huts, at IIarefaulds, in Lauderdale. The Dun of Dornadilla The sculptured stone called Suenos Stone, near Forres. The cross slab, with inscription, in the churchyard of St. Vigeans. The British forts, on the hills, called 'The Black and White Catherthuns.' A group of remains and pillars, on a Inverness.. The Pictish towers at Glenelg The cairns, with chambers and galleries Kirkcudbrightpartially dilapidated. The Catstane, an inscribed pillar. The Ring of Brogar and other stone pillars, at Stennis in Orkney, and the neighbouring pillars. The chambered mound of Maeshowe Menmuir. Croy and Dalcross. Glenelg. Kirkliston. Firth and Stennis. The inscribed slab standing on the road- Wigtonshire side leading from Wigton to Whithorn, and about a mile from Whithorn. Two stones, with incised crosses, on a mound in a field at Laggangairn. The pillars at Kirkmadrine. Stoneykirk. III. IRELAND. The earthen enclosure and mounds Armagh called the Navan Fort, Creveroe, The remains of Rathmore of Moy- Antrim . Donegore linny. Upper Antrim. and the King's Stables. Stone monuments and groups of Donegal sepulchral cists in Glen Maulin. The earthen enclosure and cromlech called the Giant's Ring, near Ballylessan. The earthen fort at Downpatrick (Dunkeltair). The earthen fort near Moira . Louth Castletown Upper Dundalk. Cong The earthen mound at Greenmount The earthworks on the Hill of Tara The tumuli on the hills called Slieve The cairn at Heapstown Sepulchral remains at Carrowmore. The cairn called Miscaun Mave or Knocknarea. Kilmoremoy. Tyrawly. Monknewton Kilmaine. Upper Slane. Skreen. Upper Kells. Lune. Sligo. Kilmacallan Tirerrill. |
