The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-10 00:00:00

PROGRESS OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

The Crystal Palace, which promises to be the first
rather than the eighth wonder of the world, is ra-
pidly, though noiselessly, approaching that degree of
completion at which we shall be able fully to judge
of the general effect which will be produced on all
beholders on the day of its second and far more mag-
nificent opening. The gardens, terraces, lakes,
islands, woods, and waterfall, which are to surround
the Palace, have already attained that point of ad-
vancement which enables Its to judge of their effect,
singly and in combination, with a tenth and fulness
which even the excellently coloured designs of Sir J.
PAXTON fail to convey. Painting and engraving can
but poorly represent that element of magnitude
upon which so much depends in cases like the
present. The building itself is still less
capable of pictorial representation. No one
who has not seen the new Palace in its
now very forward state, can have any idea of its
vast superiority over the original edifice in Hyde
Park. The old building was all that it professed to
be—namely, the most magnificent temporary shed
ever raised. Although it enabled one to judge pretty
well of what might be don. under other circum-
stances with similar materials, its low proportions
and flat roof were ruinous to real grandeur of archi-
tectural effect ; and the vast area covered seemed to
render the comparatively insignificant attitude of the
building quite irremediable in any future modifica-
tion of it. This apparent impossibility has, however,
been overcome. A very steep hill, 200 feet high,
forms the basement of the new edifice, which
is itself totally transformed in effect by
its additional story, its arched recesses at
the end of the traneepte, its arched roofs, and various
other changes, all of which have been studied scien-
tifically and chosen with the broadest artistic taste.
From most points of view, the glittering pile rises
from luxuriant masses of foliage, which clothe the hill
and leave the altitude of the Palace undetermined to
the eye; and where this effect is not obtained by woods,
an even more complete effect of additional altitude is
conferred by that superb approach of stone terraces
which covers the hill-side, and renders it an integral
portion of the edifice. The building, as it now
stands, is so entirely novel and unprecedented in the
impression which it produces, that criticism
has not yet found words to describe it.
The phraseology which we employ concerning other
modes of architecture will not apply to this. The
sources of pleasure which we find in other architec-
tures are quite different from those which we dis-
cover in this. So remarkably is this the case, that
the natural feeling of a connoisseur in regarding it
for the first time must be doubt as to the " legiti-
macy" of a delight so entirely unaccounted for by
the ordinary canons of architectural criticism.

But it is the interior that now begins to impress
us with the full importance of the work going on
at Sydenham. The galleries of sculpture are already
oflerge growth, and infinitely various and valuable con-
tents; the Pompeian House has received its decorations
by.a hand not inferior to that of the ancient fresco
piun'ers ; Greek, Egyptian, Arabic, Roman, Ninevite
and Gothic architecture already stands represented
with a reality and accuracy hitherto unapproached.
Other departments of the work are in a state of in-
telligible
advaaee ; and the Exhibition, as it now
stands, is so fine as to make it. more than ever de-
sirable that no delay should arise in its completion.
Much of its commercial success will depend on its
punctual opening in May, 1864 ; and every friend of
the project must sincerely hope there may bo no
delay beyond that period.
In contemplating this splendid result of a purely
mercantile speculation, the mind must travel tar be-
yond the ideas of the probable returns to the share-
holders, and the immense amount of pleasure to be
daily derived from the Palace and its conttnts by the
hard-working people of the metropolis and the
country at large. Every one feels that the opening
of the new " Great Exhibition " will be a memorable
epoch in the history of popular culture ; that it will be
an experiment which, if successful—and it can
scarcely be otherwise—will be repeated in every me-
tropolis, and probably in every great provincial city,
in the civilised world; and that it will be no mean
honour for the people of England to have set this
first great example of how to eater for a nation's
amusement iu a great, a national, and a truly worthy
way. It was high time, indeed, that such an expe-
riment should be set on foot. The Theatre—never

other than a questionable and a very expensive com-
bination of instruction and amusement—is practi-
cally no more ; one by one the observances of feasts
and festivals by merry-makings and fairs have died
out. There is a more than: puritanic dearth of
amusement, for the dearth is not one of
principle, but it arises from mere incapacity
to derive delight from the old sources. The gin-
shop reaps from a certain class the probt of this indif-
ference and joylessness; and this apathy, with its too
often resultant profligacy, are too deeply rooted in
the mental habit of thousands for removal by other
than somewhat startling means. Rome, when she
had reached our height and excess of civilisation,
met the popular cry for some rousing excitement by
shows of men and beasts destroying and devouring
etch other. In Spain at the present day bull-fights
and ecclesiastical spectacles are provided to answer
the same end; &mutes and revolutions often co the
business in France; and the quid noel of
pseudo-philosophy, works a like purpose for
the morbidly thoughtful' and inactive Germans.
England alone has no broadly recognised solace for the
ennui of perpetual work. The gin-shop affords to a
portion of the labouring people a remedy as partial
as it is mischievous; DICKENS, TIIACKERAY, and
Mrs. STOWE, have a wide but not an universal sphere
of beneficial action; political agitation requires the
copia verborum—" the gift of the gab." which is not
every man's ; Literary Societies and Mechanics Insti-
tutes too often sink into ineffectual dilietantisms. We
have nothing at all to compare with gladiatorial
shows, bull-fights, French revolutions, and German
philosophy in the way of a palliative of popular
ennui. Let us hope that the desideratum is about
to be supplied, to London at least, in an effectual,
wholesome, and permanent way by the noble work
which is going on at Sydenham.