us this tendency towards the use of an inferior and more economical article has not been so much felt owing to a variety of causes the principal of which is no doubt the greater comfort and prosperity of our working classes as no certain exist on which a correct estimate can be formed of the value of th different branches of the manufacture or of their amount we have taken the trouble to collect the following particulars which though not from official sources may be relied upon as tolerably a � the great exhibition annual yards of silk flush at an coat of j per yard jl the above amount of will make hats worth at i yards of silk at an of per yard this amount will make hats worth at yards of cotton french and german at per yard be out of the quantity worth at at u and hare s imported france and germany these materials are used for the bodies of and the making of and soft about of these latter de of hats are made in at an average of tbey will make amount of other goods used by a bands to the greater part of are imported men s silk st quality men s silk hats d quality men s silk hats d quality men s or soft hats men s and boys caps total in the manufacture of the above there are employed one half of them are men and the remainder the consumption of straw hats to about � j of which are imported the average is each hat the capital invested in the trade in country is little short of one of the most singular features of the competition induced by hke the present is the struggle to new ideas from common place materials or by a high sounding to impart importance to objects that would fail to the attention in the manufacture of this latter eats fi an character the extremes to which it is carried while it also serves to for the lack of interest from that of material and style to which it has heen reduced hy the absurd of taste if therefore we occasionally fall into a train of reflections suggested hy the grotesque images presented lo our minds the must take it in good part if our impressions do not always with the which he seeks to produce selecting rather with a view to the gratification of the whim of the moment than with reference to the quality of the articles exhibited let us commence our task by an of that small case belonging to of the narrow compass of that glass are contained objects whose features are familiar to our recollection and names that occupy a large space in the annals of our e might incline to the belief that in the choice of his models are worthy french intended at once to the country of his birth and flatter the political tastes of the country of his were it not for the association with them of one of the great historic titles of � a name too dear to the english aristocracy k hats only possessed a share of the of their owners we cannot help thinking how strangely uncomfortable these would feel in such close to each other but let us proceed with our examination in that f of rabbit s and which in the comer were conceived vast designs and ambitious hopes which ended in the overthrow of a and the ruin of the republic that succeeded it many a time have we seen that remarkable in the energy of passionate to stir the hearts of the masses that thronged the hotel de or to into the elements that were and foaming in the bosom of the national assembly every of that hat brought down with it either the thundering of the or the tumultuous murmurs of the of or imperial pretensions and yet in its inclination modest brim and trim compliance with the prevailing of the day we recognize rather the harmless of the � � the great exhibition f n than the re energy and fat ice of the in the unusual width oi the crown however the observer will detect that large which would the conclusions to which these appear might otherwise lead as you that hat jou would do well to reflect upon the of human and the and s of all things its owner is now an e il and a like the oi the monarch whom he to e that directed the foreign of france and stretched the vigorous aim oi her power to the oi the earth e ther to protect her or lo her rights cannot now e en to the title of a french or look to a last resting place beneath that maternal sod which to virtues and our faults ou lock upon the hat of i in appropriate lu with this and towering in the ty of its hangs that and whose appearance n the streets of re j hopes and among the and served as a to the bold in the audacity ot its style we can read at a glance the character of that celebrated who con to create an um in of the ot police and to frighten the wits out of the the high crown of the empire with the broad oval deeply brim of the d epoch exaggerated to alarming proportions its first aspect one with astonishment succeeded by feelings of respect and admiration for the hardy spirit which had the genius to conceive and the courage to wear such an unique of felt we can readily conceive the enthusiasm with which this glorious creation was said to have been regarded by his from the effect which it had upon ourselves it was a somewhat to that which must have experienced on beholding the head of his first or that of liis winged bull we no 