The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-05 00:00:00

FOR THE WEEK ENDING

SATURDAY, JULY 5.

Visitors Mill flock in tens of thousands to the doors
of the Exhibition, and still the commissioners clutch

their daily three thousand pounds. Each succeeding
week, however, an observer may mark the advance
of time by a change of the classes who wander under
Mr. l'axton's glass roof. Now country visitors, with
their sunburnt faces and heavy provision-baskets, ap-
pear to make up the majority of the daily crowds. A
few weeks back, Londoners were the chief occupants
of the scene. Schools of all kinds, and bodies of police,
have also been among the thousands during the week
now closing ; and if the merry laughter and the ex-
cited gesticulations of the childrea, who will grow
up to tell of their day's wonder to their astonished
offspring—if these episodes have any charm to
people of a sympathetic temperament, they may
find them at every turn on a " shilling day."
The scene is not without its amusing phases too.
It is amusing to notice the pleased air with which
the Chinaman in the transept discovers that he is an
object of intense curiosity—it is amusing to watch
the amazed air with which sallow Frenchmen con-
template the performances upon bread and meat
of our rustic visitors—it is amusing to hear the
thousand names given to the Koh-i-Noor—it is
amusing to listen to the criticisms on the statuary—
it is amusing to hear the replies of the police to
thousands of eager inquirers asking the most difficult
and puzzling questions. The speculations, too, as
to the stability and ultimate fate of the building, are
terribly perplexing. A pompous gentleman, planted in
the centre of the transept, has heard upon undoubted
authority that there are five and twenty thousand
broken panes of glass in the roof; a timid little man
has every reason to believe that the foundations are
unsound ; an off-hand young man, with an incipient
moustache, has a very moderate opinion of the affair
altogether, and as one of the frequenters of the park,
will do his utmost to have the building all carted
away before Christmas; a man of decided opinions
gives the building four months to stand. The great
voice of the people, however, appears to support the
proposition of converting the Glass Palace into a
covered promenade, amid statuary and flowers.
Even now, when strangers are to be met in every
street of London, in every tavern, and in every box
of every theatre, no accounts have reached us of
those extravagant perplexities arising from insuffi-
cient accommodation, which have been predicted in
fiction and farce. Turks, Egyptians, Chinamen, and
Yankees, do not yet share one common bedroom;
the coal cellars of all respectable houses still contain
nothing but coal ; eggs continue to be less dear than
traffics • and it is quite possible to secure a cab with-
out bespeaking: it overnight. Certainly ladies have
been compelled to appear in the patents of Hansom,
and females have been descried by the observant on
the tops of omnibuses; but these signs hardly war-
runt the farce at the Princess's, or Cruickshank's
elaborate etchings. la the same way most news-
paper editors appear to have arrived at the conclu-
sion that their sheet need be in one language only,
as heretofore; and that an edition in Hindostanee
would be, at least, a hazardous speculation.
A contemplated event in connexion with the Exhi-
bition is to be a public banquet, at which the
British exhibitors intend to entertain their principal
foreign rivals. Here the great merchants of Lyons
and London, of Lille and Courtrai, Manchester and
Sheffield, the representatives of the Sevres manufac-
tory and our own Potteries, are to sit side by side in
the capacities of hosts and guests. Already the names
of many eminent men give importance to the occa-
sion, and it is probable that, as a graceful compli-
ment to foreign commerce, Prince Albert will be
asked to preside.