The collection of Greek vases formed in Italy by the second Marquess of Northampton is the richest private collection in Great Britain and one of the richest in the world. A good many of the finest pieces are tolerably well known. One or two of them were drawn for Gerhard while they were still in the Roman market; and were published by him in his Auserlesene Vasenbilder. A brief notice of the collection was communicated to Gerhard by Birch and published in the Archäologische Zeitung for 1846: in 1863 Conze visited Castle Ashby and contributed some observations to the same periodical; but the notes which Furtwängler took in 1881 are much fuller and much more valuable. In 1888 a selection of the vases was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club and described by Froehner in the catalogue of the exhibition: Froehner's descriptions have zest, and the illustrations, though not numerous, are good. In 1903 a different selection formed portion of another exhibition organised by the same Society, and found place in the illustrated catalogue issued in 1904. In 1903, two important fragments were published by Hartwig in his Meisterschalen.

The question of the classification of the red-figured vases of Magna Graecia is still highly controversial. So is the question of the foremost seat of the industry, and of the development of the fabric or fabrics. A good deal is being done at the moment in various quarters towards straightening out the problem, but divergence of opinion on essential points is still wide. This article does not attempt to give another complete classification, nor is it intended primarily to resuscitate admiration for works of art wilfully neglected, to cry shame on those who hurry through museum rooms of South Italian exhibits to reach the Attic. It suggests, however, that there might be a pause in these rooms if examples of the best South Italian work were always there. But not infrequently the best have been put among the Attic. Many too are in comparatively inaccessible places and are unpublished. There are several good ones in England that are little known, being in private collections or unexpected museums. Some of these I am publishing, as well as one or two of those that in their museums are thought to be Attic. I am also describing briefly the different groups to which these vases belong, in an attempt to lay down new lines on which the subject may be approached.

Because there exists no complete survey or accurate record of the important ruin of Roman date commonly known as the Stoa of Hadrian, it has seemed worth while to make a detailed examination and conjectural reconstruction of the remains in order to settle, if possible, the still disputed question of identity and, with the aid of relevant literary material, to throw further light on the purpose and history of the structure.

The ruin in question lies in the lower part of the modern town at the foot of the northern slope of the Acropolis and slightly to the north of the Roman Agora and the Gateway of Athena Archegetis. Between the streets of Ares and Aeolus lofty walls, in part preserved, enclose on three sides a rectangular space, half of which has been excavated, revealing the foundations of an internal colonnade or stoa and various rooms, while the remainder is occupied by roads, houses, shops, barracks and a military prison. The wall on the fourth or southern side is unexcavated, but it is evident from the disposition of those now visible that the building was symmetrical about an axis running approximately east and west. The only entrance to the enclosure was in the west wall, which was of marble and decorated with columns of the Corinthian order. Of this façade only the northern half and one column of the entrance portico are now visible. On the north, east, and doubtless on the south, the area was enclosed by blank, rusticated walls of limestone.

This article continues my catalogue of the objects from Lord Savile's excavations at Lanuvium, of which the first instalment appeared in these Papers (Vol. VII. pp. 63–91), and completes my task as far as concerns the contents of the Museum at Leeds. As it has been decided not to attempt to include here the numerous small objects of lesser importance from the site, which are in the British Museum, but are not yet included in any volume of the Catalogue, the contents of this, the final, instalment consist of the following:—(1) the remainder of the objects in all materials in the Museum at Leeds; (2) such objects in the British Museum as have been published already, either by the discoverer in Archaeologia, or in the various volumes of the Catalogue concerned. It will be seen that by far the most important and extensive part of the latter consists of the objects of terracotta. The republication of these, in extenso, is necessary for the proper understanding of the Leeds pieces, and enables the whole of this material to be presented simultaneously.