But the Lady Chapel of Worksop Priory is actually being restored. So, though much more might be said, the case ends here, save for the thought that with better guidance different conclusions would have been reached.
The promoters of the scheme, having so far determined to make use of the ruin, might have asked the advice of a selected group representative of our best men—a group which should include within it one real authority versed in the building methods of the same period as that of the ruin, an acknowledged authority on modern architecture, a representative both of the Society of Antiquaries and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. To these one would add a local architect or builder conversant with the local conditions and material.
To such an advisory board would be committed the task of choosing an architect, whose plans would be submitted for approval before being recommended to the promoters.
The scheme may seem to savour too much of the ideal which has no part in actual life, yet it is worth consideration, for from it, one might say almost inevitably, good work must result.
As a matter of fact the Committee does comprise within itself the qualities of such an advisory board, but the above suggestion is made for those who may prefer, for one reason or another, to ask advice elsewhere.
THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND
The work of this Society has two main branches: the first is the excavation of Egypt's buried treasures and the publication of careful records of the finds; the second is the preservation and translation of the inscriptions, including papyri found in the course of excavation. The Society has already published hundreds of papyri, the most important being included in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri edited by Professors Grenfell and Hunt.
In a lecture given at the rooms of the Royal Society, Burlington House, on Friday, February 20th, on "The Historical Value of Greek Papyri," Mr. H. Idris Bell, a member of the staff of the British Museum, gave a scholarly review of the work already done in the publication of papyri, both in this and in other countries, and laid stress on the necessity for further work in this direction. He pointed out that, although this country was holding its own in the matter of publication of fresh material, it was falling behind other countries in the work of comparing and computing results and the tabulation of the information thus obtained.
The lecturer said papyri help to correct the false perspective in which we see history. We tend to see it as a succession of dramatic events and of great personalities, and economic processes attain a precision and clearness which is not obvious to contemporaries. But this is not our attitude towards our own time, and documents show us that it was not that of our predecessors. Great events of history occur but seldom, and when they do they are recorded from the purely personal point of view. The historian cannot chronicle minor interests, but the papyri serve as the "acid test" of the objectivity of his narrative, and for this reason it is well that the student should supplement his reading of history by some study of documents, and for no department of ancient history have we a body of documentary evidence comparable to the papyri.
Papyri make us acquainted with the ordinary man, his style of living, his domestic relations, and his family life; it thus becomes possible to study the popular psychology of Græco-Roman Egypt, and so, by analogy, to some extent, the Græco-Roman world.