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ANTIQUE STATUES. 15 I
he saw on the pedestal only a very fine drapery, and ris-
ing from this, a few iron pins. The statue was formed of
two blocks, and Jorgos had carried one block—the upper
part of the statue’s body—to his cabin, where d’Urville
found it, by the side of his wife’s distaff. Jorgos had
taken this action as a measure of prudence, for he felt
at least as unhappy as Mr. Brest, and was in constant
fear, night and day, lest some one should steal, or out of
spite harm his treasure. D’Urville saw at once that the
work was of great value. It was in his opinion a Venus
victrix, of peculiar and incomparable beauty. He
sketched the statue, drew up a written account of the
discovery, and copied an inscription that was on a mar-
ble tablet over the entrance to the niche. When la
Chcvrctte landed at Constantinople, he delivered the ac-
count and the drawing to the Marquis de Riviere, and
described the beauty of the statue in such glowing terms,
that the ambassador charged his secretary, count de Mar-
cellus, to set sail at once with the man-of-war VEstafette
to Melos, to assure the right of France to the newly-dis-
covered masterpiece of Hellenic sculpture.
During this time, Mr. Brest was in despair. He had,
to be sure, succeeded in making an agreement with the
municipal council that the statue should not be sold or
taken away from the island, until he had had answer from
his chief, the consul general at Smyrna. But this agree-
ment did not balance the alarming fact that a speculator
on the statue had landed at Melos—a speculator who
was not sent out by England or the Bavarian crown
prince, but acted for himself, and on his own account :
a fellow with money in his purse, and a consummately
smooth, crafty and bold fellow, besides, known through-
out the Grecian archipelago as a dangerous man to have
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