NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12775, 27 January 1905, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

..EXCAVATING, A 11TJRIK1) ClTi'. . . PvKCENTLy Professor Waldstein delivered; an important; ; lecture -at v the Royal: Academy;- London, regarding .a.: projected; international enterprise at -Herculaneum, it being intended ;as soon as funds permit to start fresh excavations at this historic spot. On August 24, 79 a.».', or considerably more- than 1800 rears ago, the towns of Pompeii and ■■; Herculaneum were buried after an eruption of Vesuvius. We know the details , of- this; appalling disaster 1 : from Pliny's vivid ; description. :■ The ; cloud, shaped like a pine tree; the broad sheets of flame, all the'moie brilliant from the blackness of the night; tlie blazing, and empty villas; the shocks of earthquake ; and the fatal lain, of ashes are all familiar to us. Nor are we ignorant of the ruined Pompeii, from which we have been able to reconstruct a 'blurred picture of ', the life of a middle-class commercial town. But Herculaneum still remains buried and unknown, a wealthy, cultured city,, arrested at the highest point of its development. That it still holds the greatest treasures of Greek art and \ literature there can be little doubt, for the inhabitants of Herciilaiietim belonged to die great families of. Home. Here the: Fabii," the JJulbi, the famous Agrippina, and Lucius C'alpuniuis ; Piso, the father-in-law of the mighty Ctesar, had their villas. Wealthy and, cultivated, they collected works of art: and gathered together in their libraries the- : priceless masterpieces of Greek and Roman literature. And all that they acquired with care and intelligence still remains unharmed and untouched. Ou this point the geologists are agreed. At Pompeii there was little of value to .find, not merely because the inhabitants -of this townwere not connoisseurs, but because the most'..of the paltry documents ami [indifferent-sculpture which existed There were burnt up by hot ashes and pumice '.stones. But Herculaneum, lying lower than Pompeii, , escaped- the burning deluge, and was neither consumed by fire nor covered by lava. It was merely buried beneath a stream of mud and ashes, which speedily'hardened anil preserved intact the treasures which. the city contained. Beneath this shelter wood was not burnt, marble was not calcined, glass was- not molten; and. best of all, papyri were not effaced;. And to make this opinion good we need not rely merely upon the geologists. The one villa, said to be that of Piso, which .was excavated; in 1750-60 yielded a finer collection of works of art in marble and bronze than the whole of Greece has disclosed, if we except the great masterpieces found at Olympia, Delphi, and Athens. What enterprise* then, could be better worth undertaking than the excavation of Herculaneum? For once geologists and antiquaries "ore in perfect agreement. While the men of science assure us that the villas of Rome's wealthiest citizens are still intact, the archaeologists have little doubt as to what they will find there. Already King Edward has given Dr. Waldstein encouragement. The King of Italy not only permits the site to be excavated, but has shown a keen, interest in the project. France, Germany, Austria, and the United! Stales are all ready to play their part, and nothing is lacking save the money, which is always forthcoming in the cause of science. THE REVIVAL MOVEMENT IN* WALES. The remarkable- religious movement now on foot in Wales has brought' the whole subject'; of revivals-before the public.- On all 'hands the questions are-being asked (says ' a London paper): "What attitude are religious people to take to such manifestations'?" and " Arc the results likely to be permanent?'' This remarkable movement is by no means unusual. Indeed, it would seem;, that'revivals return with a kind of ■ periodicity. In Wales,, at least, they appear to observe a cycle of ■- 50 years, There was one in 1750, another in 1800, a third in 1859, and now a fourth in 1904. The most remarkable of these was the first. The central figure of it was Daniel Rowlands, of Llangeitho,, a minister of the Established Church least, in. the outset. Wherever he preached the churches were crowded to suffocation. The effect of his sermons was terrific, and the impression produced on his hearers was one of awe and distress. It is said that under deep conviction numbers of people lay down on the ground in the churchyards, and it was i not easy for a person to pass by without j stumbling against them. But these move- j ments are not confined to the Celts or I Wales or Cornwall; Scotland has been repeatedly swept by them as by a prairie fire. About'the middle of the 17th century there ,was a remarkable revival at Kirk of Shotts, during a sermon by Mr. John Livingstone, chaplain to the Countess of Wilton. It was computed that 500 persons were converted in that service, and many were stricken 'to -hue ground. In, |1830 Dundee, Perth, audi the Tay-side were swept by a similar and widespread awakening, during which cries for mercy broke into the course of the sermons, and strong men in the prime of life, fell to the ground in uncontrollable ' emotion. In the 17th century a* great revival broke out in Germany, which originated in the teaching of Behnien, Arndt, and Muller, and was largely promoted by the well-known ! Franebe, who, with his colleagues, did so much in the cause of religion at Halle. It was a great blessing to the nation as a set-off against ' the cold orthodoxy that reigned within the Lutheran Church, while scepticism and infidelity were rife without. The errors and extravagances that marked its inception did not permanently lessen its influence. for good, and passed away as the froth on the surface of a- mighty river. In 1740 one of the greatest revivals of modern, times broke out at Northampton, in New England, U.S.a...under the ministry of the Rev. Jonathan Edward"?, who wrote a book on what he witnessed during that wonderful period. Its pages contain much that is very pertinent to the phenomena occurring before our eyes in Wales to-day. It, is the deliberate opinion of Mr. Lecky that the career of the elder Pitt, and the splendid victories by land and sea that were won during his Ministry, must yield' 'in real importance to that religious revolution which began in England by the preaching of Wesley and Whitfield. But Methodism owed its very exmLence to similar scenes to those that*are taking place at this hornin the ririncioality. These fact* will serve to show, and they might, be vastly multiplied, that Revivalism is as widespread as .Christianity.