hip. Some exquisite specimens from
Pompeii are preserved here.

Turning now to the walls of this apartment, we find glass-cases filled
with vases in terra cotta and eastern alabaster. On some of these are
royal names, gilt and coloured; that of Cheops, the builder of the
great Pyramid, occurs on one. Another of these vessels, or the neck
part of one, is covered with cement, and sealed with three cartouches,
besides having four others painted on it. This, it is thought, may
have contained the precious Theban wine, sealed with the royal signet.
There are many other things taken from the tombs which our space
forbids us to dwell upon; such as idols and figures, papyri and
phylacteries, paint-pots and colours, workman's tools, stone and
wooden pillows or head-rests, and sandals; a patera with pomegranates,
another with barley, the seven-eared wheat of Scripture, bread and
grapes, besides other fruits and dainties which were supplied to the
dead when deposited in the Theban tombs. On a tablet here we find the
name of that Amenophis or Phamenoph, who is celebrated as the Memnon
of the Greeks. We also find bricks as made by the Israelites, and
stamped probably in accordance with the regulations of the revenue
department of old Egypt. There are preserved in this and the adjoining
apartments some beautiful ancient manuscripts, and an exceedingly
valuable collection of books on antiquities, to which the visitor has
access.

We now ascend to the upper rooms, where in one is a collection of
armour, and in the other, the 'Majolica' Room, specimens of pottery,
as revived in Europe in the fifteenth century by Luca Della Rubbia,
who was born in 1388. He discovered the art of glazing earthenware. In
the former of these rooms, all sorts of weapons and defensive
apparatus are met with--modern, mediaeval, and antique; some are highly
finished, others very rude. In the Majolica Room, there is much matter
for study, and those will fail to appreciate the value of the
collection who have not learned something of the history of the ware.
Here is exhibited a Madonna and Child, of about the year 1420, by
Rubbia himself. It was given to Mr Mayer by the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
when the medal of Roscoe was struck and presented. There are five
plates, made after the patterns of the Moors, about the middle of that
century, at Pessaro, near the Po; and four with portraits, marked
'Majolica Amatorii.' We find several other specimens, shewing the most