stones, from the earliest times of which any notices can be arrived at down to the present day.
The
notion of embellishing my pages with representations of the materials
treated of therein, as vivified by antique genius, in the form of
engraved gems, has been highly approved of by persons of taste. In the
present edition I have inserted an almost entirely new and larger
series, in the execution of which Mr. E. B. Utting has in many
instances surpassed even his former excellent reproductions of Glyptic
work. They are also now so arranged as to illustrate in some measure
the subject of the articles which they decorate.
These
contributions towards the completeness of my scheme—as large as
untoward circumstances permit—these advances towards my idea of a
perfect work—an idea that always recedes before me as fresh materials
pour in from all quarters, and new sources of knowledge continually
open forth—will, as I trust, render the present edition more
instructive and entertaining to the reader, as well as more deserving
of the praises bestowed upon its predecessor.
C. W. KING.
Trinity College, March, 1867.
