On the North Side, I have found the other half of the head of the great horse. The bronze bit, in perfect preservation, was still in his mouth! The nostrils are distended, much in the manner of those in the horse’s head from the Car of Night in the Elgin-Room, so that these two heads, the works of successive schools, will be an interesting subject of comparison. Besides this, I have found a face broken off from a colossal male head. I think this belongs to the figure in the chariot. It seems to be an ideal portrait, not unlike that of Alexander the Great on the coins of Lysimachus. It represents a man, perhaps Mausolus himself, in the prime of life, slightly bearded. It is in very fine condition, and is, altogether, the finest head I have ever seen, particularly interesting, because it seems to form the connecting link between the schools of Scopas and that of Lysippus. I have still got a good deal of ground to dig on the North Side, but the proprietors are very obstinate.
Yours ever sincerely,
C. T. Newton.”
On the 17th of January, 1861, Mr. Newton was appointed Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities, then organized as a separate Department of the Museum. From that time to now he has been constantly occupied, with a success so well known that it is unnecessary to refer to it. In the enlargement and enriching of his Department, partly by the direction of excavations on classical soil—memorably those at Ephesus, which resulted in the discovery of the Temple of Diana—and partly by the purchase of celebrated collections of antiquities. Chief among his transactions of the latter kind was the purchase of the collection of the Duke de Blacas in 1866, which, as public opinion testified at the time, was a most important gain to the National Museum. The acquisition was not effected without difficulties, as may be seen from the following letter:—
“Hôtel des Deux Mondes, Paris,
November 25th, 1866.
“My dear Panizzi,
Jones tells me that after the meeting of the Trustees on Friday, Mr. D’Israeli had an interview with you about the Blacas purchase. I write, therefore, to thank you for having backed my recommendation, which I am quite sure you must have done strongly, or otherwise the Government would not have come to a decision so rapidly. I never was more astonished than when I received authority to treat on Sunday morning last. While we were signing the contract poor DeWitte was at the Grand’Messe. ‘If I had only known,’ he said to me afterwards, ‘two hours sooner what you were about, I would have telegraphed to the Emperor at Compiègne[Compiègne].’ The French are greatly disgusted. From all I can learn, they meant to offer about £40,000, and keep the matter dragging on till they had found out our last offer. I am very much pleased at the result, because I know how greatly the value of our Museum, as a whole, will be increased by this purchase, which supplies exactly what we were most deficient in.
There will, I have no doubt, be a great outcry in England about the largeness of the sum; but I am perfectly ready to bear the brunt of all that. The public will find out in time what a prize they have got. I hear that Mérimée was very anxious that it should be secured for the Louvre. He was on the Commission, but was obliged to go South. Perhaps you may be writing to him; I should like very much to hear what he has to say about the purchase. There is no one who has done more to defend my purchases than he has, up to this date, so I hope he will now. I am going to see the collection of M. Thiers to-morrow morning, and shall be curious to hear what he says.
Yours ever sincerely,