y amounts to 15,000 of all kinds. Some of these
collections have been published, such as the first collection of Sir
William Hamilton, explained by d'Hancarville; the second by Tischbein.
Several works have also been published, giving detailed accounts of
painted vases in general.

[Illustration: FOUND AT HILDESHEIM.]

We have mentioned before the luxurious custom, common amongst the
Romans after the conquest of Greece and Asia, of having their utensils
of the table, and even of the kitchen, made of solid silver. Valuable
plate was of common occurrence in the houses of the rich. According to
Pliny, common soldiers had the handles of their swords and their belts
studded with silver; the baths of women were covered with the same
valuable material, which was even used for the common implements of
kitchen and scullery. Large manufactories of silver utensils were
started, in which each part of the work was assigned to a special
artificer; here the orders of the silver-merchants were executed.
Amongst the special workmen of these manufactories were the modelers,
founders, turners or polishers, chiselers, the workmen who attached
the bas-reliefs to the surface of the vessel, and the gilders. Many
valuable vessels have been recovered in the present century; others
(for instance, several hundred silver vessels found near the old
Falerii) have tracelessly disappeared. Amongst the discoveries which
happily have escaped the hands of the melter, we mention the treasure
of more than one hundred silver vessels, weighing together about 50
pounds, found by Berney in Normandy (1830). According to their
inscriptions, these vessels belonged to the treasury of a temple of
Mercury; they are at present in the late imperial library at Paris. In
the south of Russia the excavations carried on in 1831, 1862, and
1863, amongst the graves of the kings of the Bosphoric empire, have
yielded an astonishing number of gold and silver vessels and ornaments
belonging to the third century of our era. At Pompeii fourteen silver
vases were discovered in 1835; at Caere (1836) a number of silver vases
(now in the Museo Gregoriano) were found in a grave. One of the most
interesting discoveries was made near Hildesheim, 7th October, 1868,
consisting of seventy-four eating and drinking vessels, mostly well
preserved; not to speak of numerous fragments which seem to prove that
only part of the original treasure has been recovered; the weight of
all the vesse