Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/393

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ITALY.
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have been carefully preserved. Even more interesting than these are the beautiful bronze statues both large and small which have been found in the burned towns. Six dancing girls with eyes of enamel adorned the Theatre of Herculaneum. A colossal figure of Antonio, wife of Drasus the younger, and a fine bust of Scipio Africanus are among the historic figures. Mercury in repose is one of the most exquisite statues in the Museum, while a sleeping Fawn, a dancing Fawn and a drunken Fawn are among the gems of the collection. A group of Bacchus and Ampelus was found in the house of Pansa in Pompeii, while a statue of Apollo holding a lyre is one of the best in the room.

Still more interesting than these remarkable bronze figures of antiquity are the industrial bronze things preserved in this collection. No branch of industry seems to be unrepresented. Pots and pans and cooking utensils, lamps of various designs and patterns, scales and weights and balances, sacred vessels and sacrificial vases, carpenters' tools and agricultural instruments, armours and toilet requisites, surgical and musical instruments, all the various arts and industries of a busy and civilized past are exhibited before the eyes of the antiquarian, the historian and the general student. Passing from room to room the visitor examines with curiosity the curious colored glass which was in use in olden times, and the finer rock crystal beautifully cut and engraved for the use of the wealthier people, and the beautifully worked gold and silver trinkets and ornaments which graced the fair foreheads and rounded arms and necks