544 MERGE TO GYRENE.

alluded to ; and suggested that one of them in all probability was a resemblance of one of the Ptolemies ; the head of the statue is wanting, and we fear it has been knocked off at some period by the Arabs of the place, for the chance of disposing of it at Tripoly or Bengazi ; a fate which has befallen many a beautiful example of Grecian art, now lying in the city and the neighbourhood of Cyrene. It is possible, however, that it might be found in the course of excavation, although we did not ourselves succeed in discovering it in the parts where we dug for it about the statue. We remember to have been very anxious upon the occasion, and fancied that we should know a head of any of the Lagides, meet with it wherever we might. It was from the decorations carved upon the armour, as we have stated in another place, that we imagined this statue to be the portrait of a Ptolemy ; and it is well known that the eagle and the head of J upiter Ammon are usually borne on the coins of that family. If it had been possible, we should have brought home what remains of this statue (which is merely the trunk), as well as several other very excellent examples of Grecian sculpture in its neighbourhood ; and we. are convinced, that excavation judiciously employed in the central and eastern parts of Cyrene, would bring to light many beautiful specimens of art, now covered only with the soil and vegetation which have been allowed to accumulate for ages about them. There have been several public buildings of importance immediately without the walls inclosing the theatre, of which plans might perhaps be satisfactorily made, if excavation were employed for the purpose ; and it is very probable that inscriptions might at the same time be found, which would help to