Re-creative

"The hiſtorian only collects the matter of the day, and hands it to poſterity; but the antiquarian brings his treaſures from remote ages, and preſents them to this: he examines forgotten repoſitories, calls things back into exiſtence, which are paſt; counteracts the efforts of time, and of death; poſſeſſes ſomething like a re-creative power; collects the duſt of departed matter, moulds it into its preſtine ſtate, exhibits the figure to view, and ſtamps it with a kind of immortality."