Editing British Museum (section)

===Indolence and energy (1778–1800)===
[[File:Entrance ticket to the British Museum, London March 3, 1790.jpg|thumb|left|Entrance ticket to the British Museum, London 3 March 1790]]
From 1778, a display of objects from the [[Pacific Ocean|South Sea]]s brought back from the round-the-world voyages of Captain [[James Cook]] and the travels of other explorers fascinated visitors with a glimpse of previously unknown lands. The bequest of a collection of books, [[engraved gem]]s, coins, prints and drawings by [[Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode]] in 1800 did much to raise the museum's reputation; but Montagu House became increasingly crowded and decrepit and it was apparent that it would be unable to cope with further expansion.<ref>BMCE1/5, 1175 (13 May 1820). Minutes of General Meeting of the Trustees, 1754–63. Wilson, David M. (2002). ''The British Museum: A History'', p. 78.</ref>

The museum's first notable addition towards its collection of antiquities, since its foundation, was by Sir [[William Hamilton (diplomat)|William Hamilton]] (1730–1803), British Ambassador to [[Naples]], who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artefacts to the museum in 1784 together with a number of other antiquities and natural history specimens. A list of donations to the museum, dated 31 January 1784, refers to the Hamilton bequest of a "Colossal Foot of an [[Apollo]] in Marble". It was one of two antiquities of Hamilton's collection drawn for him by Francesco Progenie, a pupil of [[Pietro Fabris]], who also contributed a number of drawings of Mount Vesuvius sent by Hamilton to the [[Royal Society]] in London.