stars, and all the recorded benefits of heaven and
earth."
EMERSON.




CHAPTER I.

THE VALUE OF ARCHÆOLOGY.


The archæologist whose business it is to bring to light by pick and
spade the relics of bygone ages, is often accused of devoting his
energies to work which is of no material profit to mankind at the
present day. Archæology is an unapplied science, and, apart from its
connection with what is called culture, the critic is inclined to judge
it as a pleasant and worthless amusement. There is nothing, the critic
tells us, of pertinent value to be learned from the Past which will be
of use to the ordinary person of the present time; and, though the
archæologist can offer acceptable information to the painter, to the
theologian, to the philologist, and indeed to most of the followers of
the arts and sciences, he has nothing to give to the ordinary layman.

In some directions the imputation is unanswerable; and when the
interests of modern times clash with those of the past, as, for example,
in Egypt where a beneficial reservoir has destroyed the remains of early
days, there can be no question that the recording of the threatened
information and the minimising of the destruction, is all that the
value of the archæologist's work entitles him to ask for. The critic,