Note 63 — Chapter II · A GROUP OF CLASSICAL ARCHÆOLOGISTS AND EXPLORERS.

One of the metopes from the south side of the Parthenon, removed by the Count de Choiseul, during his embassy at the eve of the Revolution, was captured by an English ship when on its way to France, and had been purchased by Lord Elgin at a Custom House sale in London. By him it was returned to Choiseul, with a liberality too rare in such matters. When this metope came, after Choiseul’s death, to be sold at Paris, by auction, the Trustees of the British Museum sent a commission for its purchase. The commissioner went so far as to offer a thousand pounds, but was overbidden by the French Government.