and majestic sphinxes. Next he passed on to the ruins of
Nineveh, and its mystic mounds. Here he was with Layard for a time,
dreaming of the ancient Assyrians and their winged bulls. Hence he
passed into the Lycian room, and saw something of the strange remains
of the Xanthus of old; and then, probably, he went home to dream of
these great marvels of the times gone by. But he came again; and this
time hovered throughout the day amid the ruins of the arts of ancient
Greece. And now he has examined these; and he may leave the national
museum, assured that he has some useful knowledge of the curiosities
which scientific men have gathered from the remote parts of the world,
for the benefit of the learned resident in England.

The tens of thousands who flock to the museum in holiday times prove
its attractions; and it is with the hope that these attractions may be
enhanced by the help of a methodical and homely guide, chattering to
the visitor various bits and scraps of pertinent information as he
passes from one object to another, that these four visits have been
presented to the public. They do not pretend to be scientific books,
but simply companions of the hour, that urge little points of
information while the mind is particularly impressible; and showing
the kind of interest that attaches to objects which, for the want of a
timely word, the visitor would have passed unnoticed.

Many objects which are curiosities to the scientific man, but which
could not in any way interest the casual visitor, have been passed by
without hesitation.

Our main object has been to give the visitor clear impressions of the
different departments or classes into which the national collection
naturally divides itself, by guiding his eye consecutively to those
objects which bear relation to each other. It was necessary, to make
ourselves attractive as guides, to eschew all learned and stiff
formalities; to class matters easily as we found them; and to sustain
the visitor's interest throughout his four journeys. The monotony of a
formal catalogue is repulsive to visitors chiefly bent upon enjoying a
few hours amusement; therefore we chose to direct the eye to objects,
and at once to interest the visitor in them, by shortly explaining
their points of interest. The success which this endeavour met
elsewhere has encouraged us to perform the present task; and we hope
shortly to be at the elbow of visitors to other interesting buildings
and exhibi