[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—I have looked through
back issues so far available but cannot see that you have put to your readers, nor have your correspondents pointed out, that the _Marbles, if returned, can never be replaced in situ. Since they were made, Athens has become a manufacturing city and those portions of frieze remaining have deteriorated. The damage is progressive—it is more marked in the last four years than in the preceding six.
They are a world possession, and if they must be a museum piece, surely they should be in a museum where most of the world can see them ; and, of all such, surely in the one of the country which saved them from being cracked up for building or the lime kiln. If the museum pieces are to be returned, why not start with those which were collectors'
pieces from the beginni y, the Venus de Milo.— Greystones, King's Stan souse, Glos.
[We 'cannot see any vall why a museum for lions=
the Elgin Marbles could not be built in the Acropoli replicas to be preserved at the British Museum. To return the Elgin Marbles to Greece would be a magnificent gesture -and'We hope this country will one day perform that gesture.a- ED. Spectator.] .
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