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shown antiquaries how well that country can rewarda diligent search. Montfaucon, Caylus, and, recently,JVlillin, have followed in his steps. In the officialreports of the institute, accounts have frequentlybeen given of the discovery of old cities and build-ings ; for example, of those at Famars, where vaseshave been found with several thousand pieces ofmoney, and tw'o bathing-rooms with painted walls.

In Hungary, the excavations at Sabaria, and inGermany, those on the Rhine, those near Alzey, andthose at Brisgau and in several other places, arehighly important. Spain appears to have takenno steps to decide whether its soil contains treasures.The Mosaic work at Italica was discovered by accident.Pietro della Valle was one of the earliest travellerswho made excavations for curiosities in Egypt. Inthese latter times, no stranger goes there without anaxe and spade. Syria has been less explored. AtPersepolis and Tadmor the ruins have been oftenerdescribed than explored. The tombs at Ilium wereopened by count Choiseul-Gouffier, at the same timethat Hamilton was examining those of Magna Graecia.The later travellers in Greece, Nointel, Spon, andWheeler, appear to have been unable to obtain anything beyond drawings. Of late years, the Turkshave allowed regular excavations to be made in theneighbourhood of ruined editices. The most im-portant discovery made there was that of thejEginetan statues of the Panhellenic Jupiter, and somespecimens of architecture from Phigalia. Compara-tively few specimens of ancient art have been foundin Sicily. Baron Giudica, indeed, caused a wholetown (Acre) to be excavated ; but only a few utensilsrewarded his search. While Greece, Italy, AsiaMinor, and Egypt, and even distant India, have beenexplored by travellers devoted to the arts, the peopleof the north of Europe have not been satisfied withwaiting till accident should discover to them theremains of ancient times. In the Netherlands, awooden bridge, evidently the work of the Romans,was discovered in a marsh; at Salzburg, the oldJuvaviuin ; at Bonn and at Neuwied, some monu-ments of Roman pow'er. Even the old town ofWinfried was not neglected, and the pagan monu-ments in Silesia were examined. The late em-peror Alexander caused the remains of past ages,all along the Black Sea, and in Taurida, to beexamined by the antiquarian Von Kohler, and thosewhich could not be removed to be exactly measuredand described. Thus, both north and south are makingsimilar exertions. Among the late excavations of greatinterest are those on the estate of the prince ofCanino, where Etruscan vases were found in 1830,apparently of very remote antiquity. (See Ethukia.)Very recently excavations have been made on thesite of the ancient Prestum, which have led to thediscovery of a vast temple, with sculptures of thegreatest interest. They are particularly described inthe Paris Journal des Debats, of July 5, 1830.

Excellency. A title first given to the Lombardkings, and afterwards assumed by several emperors ofthe West; for instance, Charlemagne, Conrad I.,Frederick I., &c. It was afterwards transferred tothe inferior princes, especially in Italy, until theyalso gave it up, after pope Urban VIII., in 1030, hadbestowed the title of Eminence on the cardinals.The princes now assumed that of Highness ; the morereadily because some ambassadors cf the first rankat Rome had already adopted the title. Since thatLitekatuke.— Vol. I.

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time, the title of Excellency has, by general use,become a title of office or service, in no case heredi-tary, or transferable from one member of a family toanother, but always belonging to the office, and onlyborne, on the European continent, by ministers inactual service, by the highest court and military dig-nitaries, and by ambassadors and plenipotentiaries.Foreign ministers are addressed by the title of YourExcellency, by way of courtesy, even if they have norank which entitles them to this distinction; butcharges d’affaires never receive this title. Governorsof English colonies are also called Excellency. Inthe United States of America, the governor of Mas-sachusetts is the only one who has the title of Excel-lency by a constitutional provision. The presidentof the United States is sometimes spoken of in foreignpapers as His Excellency the President. We haveseen that the title was first given to emperors ; at pre-sent the lower classes in Italy call every foreigner,with a whole coat, “ Eccellenza.”

Exchequer. An ancient court of record, estab-lished by William the Conqueror, and intended prin-cipally to order the revenues of the crown, and torecover the king’s debts and duties. The court con-sists of two divisions, viz., the receipt of the exche-quer, which manages the royal revenue ; and the judi-cial, which is subdivided into a court of equity, and acourt of common law.

Excommunication. The exclusion of a personfrom a society, the depriving him of its fellowship.Some kind of excommunication has existed whereversocieties have existed—secular, spiritual, literary, &c.The Jews practised excommunication, viz., an exclu-sion from communion in the benefits of religious wor-ship with the people. In the early Christian church,excommunication was exercised by the whole com-munity, and the power of expelling unworthy mem-bers must have been highly necessary in so delicatea situation as that in which the first Christians wereplaced. By degrees the right of excommunicationbecame confined to the bishops ; and, both in theGreek and Roman catholic churches, the subject ofexcommunication became more and more distinctlysettled by treaties and decrees. A person excom-municated from the Roman catholic church is put outof the communion of the faithful; viz., he cannot hearmass, partake in the Lord’s Supper, or attend publicprayers, &c. ; no person is allowed to have any com-munication with him except in case of necessity.(Political relations, for instance, may allow such com-munication ; as F’rancis I. of France always trans-acted business with the excommunicated Henry VIII.of England.) Since the time of pope Gregory IX.,there have been two kinds of excommunication in theRoman church—the greater and the less. The formerexcludes the person from all communion with thefaithful, and from the privilege of Christian burial.Subjects were absolved from allegiance to their so-vereign who lay under the greater excommunication,nay, were forbidden to obey him. But, in moremodern times, many catholic ecclesiastical writershave maintained that, as an excommunicated privateperson is not prohibited by civil governments frommanaging his w orldly affairs, so the excommunicationof a prince ought not to have any influence onmatters of political administration. Besides, thespirit of the age is such as not to allow an excommu-nication to have the same influence on the relationsbetween princes and people, as in the middle ages.

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