The Express.
London, England, 1855-08-29 00:00:00

TEE CRYSTAL PALACE.

The magnificent and picturesque grounds of the
, Palace spewed to greater advantage than yea-
, terday, when they were filled with an immense
, somber of members of the Society of For* eters. It
la true that on five-shilling days or ou grand file
days, the visitors have repreeented more exclusively
the aristocratic section of English life. We have
nes richer dresses `racing the gardens, and listened
to language more fastidious than that which floated
about the atmosphere yesterday, bat we have never
in the whole course of our visits to the Palace been
, in the centre of such unmistakable enjoyment. The
building and the grounds seems d made for the people,
and the people seemed born for the building and the
grounds. You sew them by hundreds reclining om
the green turf between the thwer beds, and you
could not but recognise that not until now had
you ever seen the garden, in their full perfec-
tion. It was impassible not to recognise yester-
day
the appropriateness of the term the " People's
Palace," which has been applied to the house
and grated. at Sydenham. The gardens are indeed
marvellously beautiful, as they lie before you with
all their tints burning brightly under the in-
taglios of a summer or an autumnal sun, bet the
beauty its solemn, almost melancholy, without a
large &dud:tare of human life. You long for the
crowds of guests that smelt to be present at so glo-
rious • banquet. Yesterday the stream of life flowed
through the palace and the grounds triumphantly
and tumultuously. Some twenty or thirty thousand
visitors filled the naves, transepts, and galleries of the
one, and the walks of the other. All were bent on en-
joyment. You were in the midst of a holiday in the
true sense of the word. The directors of the Palace,
with a due appreciation of what was due to so large
a number of visitors coming from all parts of England,
added a few more sources of enjoyment to the usual
attractions. The magnificent fountains by Monti, at
the north end of the nave, played for the first time
before the public. The effect produced by columns
of water thrown up and gracefully falling back
again into the basiss was superb. If we were dis-
posed to cavil, we might object to the body of water
as being too small ; but it is not impossible that a
larger stream might have taken away from the beauty
of the sculpture. Some of the smaller fountains in
the courts were also set in motion. One of the great
&Maeda:edits* fete was an archery meeting, which
took pleas in a portion of the grounds
beyond the north end of the Palace. The
spot was admirably adapted for the purpose.
The ground sloped down on two sides, and at each
end of the valley the targets were placed. The slopes
were covered with spectaton; and as our friends the
Foresters glided about in dresses which stags tradi-
tions affirm to be the veritable costume in which
Robin Hood and his merry men shot bucks in Sher-
wood Forest, the imagination had little difficulty in
transporting us back to the field of Ashby de la Zouch,
graced with the promo, of Lockaley and his
worthies, and the old woodsman whose " grandeire
drew a good bow at the battle of Hastings." The
day was the very finest of the whole season, and we
did not hear of a single accident to mar the complete-
ness of the delight which the fit., afforded to all
parties. We were never so much struck se yesterday
with the vast effect which the Crystal Palace might
have upon the education of the people. So large an
assemblage of beauties, both of nature and art, were
before collected together in one spun; and if
the facilities of transit were increased, the Crystal
Palace Company would have the satisfaction of feeling
that they had conferred one of the greatest boons on
the country, while at the same time they would have
nothing to regret with regard to the consequences
of their pecuniary investment.