The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-05-13 00:00:00

'it) itrfonhn Crartspnbent,
fW• deem it right to state that ws do not at all timee
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The month of May is inseparably associated with
the opening of exhibitions of arts and industry. The
Ist of May, 1851, witnessed the inauguration of what
has since been known in history as "The Great
Exhibition ;" the International Exhibition of 1862
was thrown open on the same date; this was also the
case with the series of annual exhibitions started at
South Kensington in 1871; the Philadelphia Exhibi-
tion has now been added to the list, and again there is
t-h-73 ro-an exhibition of Scientific apoaratus, which
will be for the inspection of the public at South Ken-
sington after the 15;11 instant. On Mondays, Tues-
days, and Saturdays, people will be admitted free of
charge from ten in the morning until ten at night;
for the remaining days of the week, from ten to six,
there will be an entrance fee of sixpence. It is not
generally known that industrial exhibitions originated
with the French. Expositions, as our neighbours
call them, were organized and opened at Paris, at
various times between 1798 and 1867. The last
exceeded all its predecessors in extent and brilliancy,
o and amongst the guests whom the late Emperor
\l•apoleon then received in his capital were the
; Czar of Russ* the King of Prussia, and Count
n Bismarck. The two latter were iu Paris again
n less than four years afterwards, on a very
diffe-
"rent errand. The triumphal entry of the German
▪ army into Paris on the let of March, 1871,
after a four months' siege, and when the pride of
• the splendid city had been humbled in the dust,
• i an incident which is ' never referred to in the
I-French capital save with expressions of mortification,
1-,
and indicative of a thirst for vengeance. "Wait till
si
L we enter Berlin! " a Frenchman will tell you if you
a.. mention the subject to him, and he says so in a tone
which seems to suggest that the eagles and the colours
• taken from the French would not be the only spoils of
war which the victorious army would carry off from
the Prussian capital.
- The addition of the Temeraire to the British navy,
following so soon after the launch of the Indexible, show
.that those who are responsible for the strength of the
fleet are now enabled to rejoice in a very considerable
increase in the power of that arm. Unlike the old
• three-deekers, each ironclad now appears to differ from
• others. The Inflexible is not at all similar to the Devasta-
et iion, nor does the Temeraire resemble either. In fact
rehe is a contrast to all existing ironclads in possessing
• what is called a " barbette " battery, or a number of
Jk guns exposed upon the upper deck, without any pro-
tection of encased armour. This system has long been
adopted in the French navy, but up to the construc-
tion of this newest of our ironclads was not looked
• upon favourably by our own Admiralty. The weight
' of iron required for the protection of the battery would
be enormous, as may be judged from the fact that in
order to shield two 25-ton guns, the weight of six
other pairs of such guns is necessary. Thus the advan-
tages of turret protection were gained at the expense
of armament. The Temeraire therefore carries her
thunder in full sight, and commanding the whole
horizon; and by suppressing the vast iron shields for
the protection of the guns, the vessel is lighter and
more easy to handle, thus being enabled to turn quickly
in a small circle. The great importance of speedy
manceuvreing will be at once understood by all who
have any idea whatever of the tactics employed in
naval warfare.
G. There are far more agreeable ways of spending a
spring afternoon than in taking a tour through one of
our public buildings under the guidance of some one
b 1
who knows every cranny of the place, is thoroughly
, well read in its history, and has the gift of dilating
a pleasantly upon the main points of interest associated
.P with it. Unless a stranger can gather some ideas of a
comprehensive character from the objects upon which
he gazes, he might as well be wandering in a country
a lane as treading the aisles of Westminster Abbey. To
it inch time-honoured structures as the Abbey and the
1. Tower of London visits are often paid by numerous
bodies, sometimes by working men, at others of
1. philosophers or scientists. The Dean of Westminster is
.never better pleased than when conducting through the
Cathedral of which he has the care, a body of mechanics
-aor artisans. Learned in every point connected with
the history of the Abbey, one gathers more in an
hour from such a man than could be obtained
in a lifetime if he had to depend upon his own
a sources of information. The uninitiated would pass a
a- statue or an archway without seeing in it anything to
attract especial attention; the Dean of Westminster
•,would literally found a sermon upon a stone, and
would hang a brief and lucid narrative thereon in such
a way that his hearers, humble though their education
might have been, are at once charmetl and interested.
"Will the Dean go round with us ?" is asked anxi-
ously by many an intelligent workman forming one
of a group who have arranged to be admitted to the
Abbey on special days. The reason is that he is known
to be a man or immense reading, of infinite patience,
and of unvarying courtesy. In a gathering of 30 or 40
working men are some who ask curious questions, but
whatever may be their purport they are always readily
answered. Another building frequently visited in the
same way is the Tower. The London and Middlesex
Archmological Society have just held their annual
meeting there, and on a fine May afternoon you might
have seen about 400 ladies and gentlemen, divided into
sections, being conducted over every part of the grim
old fortress, and listening to descriptions of the varied
scenes which its walls have looked down upon. The
Thames flows past its foundations just as it did cen-
turies ago, but reflected upon the surface of the stream
are now innumerable shadows which tell of the exist-
ence of a mighty city and of a vast population.
What changes it has witnessed 7 Constructed origin-
ally to overawe the citizens of London, it has seemed
to stand for ages silently watching the progress and
development of the place. See it on a summer even-
ing, and you are irresistibly reminded of the lines—
"The embattled towers—the donjon keep
The place where captives used to weep,
The flanking walls that round it sweep,
In yellow lustre shine."

They shine, however, not upon an abject and captive
people, but upon a community whose wealth and
enterprise are known even to the uttermost parts of
the Fe%

From the middle of May to the end of June might
be described as the beet part of the London season.
Amongst the upper classes all who intend to be in
town are there then, and in the highest ranks levdam,
courts, and drawing rooms follow in quick succession.
Much interest will be felt in the resumption by the
Prince of Wales of the levdes at St. James's Palace,
and the two which are announced for the 15th and
22nd instant are certain to he numerously attended.
When July has set in, the metropolis often becomes
too hot for large numbers who, having the means of
spending their time by the sea-side do not hesitate to
prefer the saline breezes of the Channel to the gaiety
which then forms the characteristic of fashionable life
In the capital. Garden-parties by day, balls, dinners,
receptions, and "at homes" by night then make up
the round of existence in the ranks of the Upper Ten
Thousand, and although in the early spring the quiet
of the country is often looked upon as dull by those
who are leaving it for London, it is returned to with a
keen sense of relief after a few months of what is
known as "life" in London.
The Levant Herald has informed us that during the
autumn Mr. Gladstone will visit the plains of Troy,
for the purpose of inspecting the scene of the dis-
coveries of Dr. Schliemann. Even to one who has not
translated Homer, there would be something of great
interest in visiting the spot pointed out as the site of
a city founded by Scamander 2,500 years before the
Christian era. Every schoolboy in familar with the
history of the ten years' siege of Troy by the Greeks,
who resented very deeply the carrying off of Helen by
Alexander Paris, son of Priam, Troy's king, and with
the story of the Trojan horse introduced by artifice
into the beleagured city, and thus led to its capture.
Nearly 3,000 years have elapsed since the destruction
of Troy, and its exact site is still a question of dis-
pute. Centuries after ths burning of Troy, however,
Asia Minor wal the centre of life, wealth, energy, and
civilization. Troy had totally disappeared, but even
afcer the flight of more than a thousand years we
are told in the Book of Revelations how the Apostle
John was commanded to write to the angels—meaning
the ministers—of the "Seven Churches whic'i are in
Asia." These seven churches were the centres of
populous and flourishing cities—Ephesus and Smyrna,
pergamos and Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and
Laodicea. Where are those cities now? Smyrna, it
is true, is yet the seat of commerce in the Levant; and
Pergamos, with an altered name, is a place of some
importance. But what of Ephesus and of Thyatira,
of Sardis, once the capital of the kingdom of Croe.,us,
of Philadelphia, and Laodicea? They are the mere
shadows of their former selves, ghastly phantoms whose
very existence brings them into more wretched con-
trast with their former life and splendour. Their con-
dition is easily accounted for. An old and true saying
tells us that wherever the hoofs of a Turkish horse are
found, no grass grows, the meaning conveyed being
that the rule of the Alussulman is a blighting curse
which crushes out every spark of vicality from the
people subject to its yoke. It was the unhappy lot of
most of the cities of Asia Minor to be taken by
the Turks and sacked by Tamerlane ; and such
places as Sardis and Thyatira are now miser-
able villages, not indeed desolate in the sense of
the plains -of' Babylorr -and of Nineveh, but
bowed to the ground by Ottoman misrule, quite as
suggestive of ruin and decay as though the scream of
the cormorant were the only sound to be heard within
their uninhabited walls, and the melancholy wail of
the
bittern alone roused the echoes of their deserted
streets and fallen palaces.