The present volume of the Imperial Series of Archaeological Reports is, in the main, the work of the late Mr. Edmund W. Smith, in whose name it is published; but it is due to the memory of that archaeologist to state that the manuscript, which be left behind him, was little more than a rough preliminary draft, and that the revision of it, which his untimely death prevented, him from carrying out, has bad to be left to other hands.

Mr. W. H. Nicholls, who charged himself with the work of this revision, has made it his aim throughout to preserve the arrangement of the materials designed by the author, and, in other respects, to alter them as little as possible, He has, however, been careful to correct any manifest errors in the original, and has introduced into it, moreover, such changes and additions as his own investigations into the history and architecture of this famous edifice proved to be necessary. It is singularly unfortunate that, having done so much Mr. Nicholls should have been unable, owing to his retirement from the Archaeological Department, to see the proofs of this volume through the press. That task has devolved upon Dr. Horovitz and myself, and we must accept the responsibility for any blemishes that may have crept in while the work has been in the printer's hands.