|Lord Elgin branded, in England, as a Robber.| The buried marbles were raised, at the cost of two more years of labour, and after an expenditure, in the long effort, of nearly five thousand pounds, in addition to the original loss of the ship. Then a storm of another sort had to be faced in its turn. A burst of anger, classical and poetical, declared the ambassador to be, not a benefactor, but a thief. The gale blew upon him from many points. The author of the Classical Tour through Italy declared that Lord Elgin’s ‘rapacity is a crime against all ages and all generations; depriving the Past of the trophies of their genius and the title-deeds of their fame, the Present of the strongest inducements to exertion.’ |Eustace, Classical Tour, p. 269.| The author of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage declared that, for all time, the spoiler’s name (the glorious name of Bruce)—
Byron, Curse of Minerva, § 7.
‘Link’d with the fool’s who fired th’ Ephesian dome—
Vengeance shall follow far beyond the tomb.
Erostratus and Elgin e’er shall shine
In many a branding page and burning line!
Alike condemn’d for aye to stand accurs’d—
Perchance the second viler than the first.
So let him stand, through ages yet unborn,
Fix’d statue on the pedestal of scorn!’