E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Marbles.
The Arunde’lian Marbles. Some thirty-seven statues and 128 busts with inscriptions, collected by W. Petty, in the reign of James I., in the island of Paros, and purchased of him by Lord Arundel, who gave them to the University of Oxford in 1627.
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The Elgin marbles. A collection of basso-relievos and fragments of statuary from the Parthenon of Athens (built by Phid’ias), collected by Thomas, Lord Elgin, during his mission to the Ottoman Porte in 1802. They were purchased from him by the British Government, in 1816, for £35,000, and are now in the British Museum. (The gin of “Elgin” is like the -gin of “begin.”)
