The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-03 00:00:00

"CIRCULATION" OF THE VISITORS.

After the royal party had left the Crystal Palace,
the visitors were to "circulate." The manner in
which this operation was performed was curious.
From the east and the west, from the north and the
south, all pressed forward to the intersection of the
nave and transept, so that that large central space
soon lxrame as densely packed as can be well con-
ceived; and, for a time, rendered "circulation"
nearly as possible as walking about at some of
Jullit;n's "promenade" concerts. Gradually, how-
ever, the company found this clustering the re-
verse of an ugreeable amusement, and a great
number of the nobility, hulks, and gentlemen
residing in town, and who were doubtless some-
what fatigued with the lengthened proceedings, left
the building. To others, however, including those
' who had come up from the country merely to attend
the opening (and this appears to have been a very
large class). the time seemed to be too valuable to
waste, and they commenced the work of inspection
at once. Nothing could be more amusing than to'
see the bewilderment which the extent of the Exhi-
bition evidently caused the bulk of those present;
for, instead of going into the dilteTent stalls, tiny
1 contented themselves with walking due cast or west
and back again. The splendid crystal fountain ap-
peared to ice n great attraction, us did also the Queen's
retiring mom; but the "1' " was perhaps, after all,
the Koh-i-noor. The sculpture, too, and none more
than the Austrian, seemed much admired. The
foreign side, however, king in rather an unfinished
state, was not so much visited as the English portion
of the building, where the gorgeous display of jewel-
lery, gold and silversmith's work, watches and
clocks, the medimval court, the upholstery, the glass
and china, an ingenious envelope machine of It He-
larue's ; a very clever machine, by Chamberlain,
for voting by ballot ; models of the Liverpool Docks,
and of a suspension-bridge over the Oneiper, by
Vignolcs, found a great number of admirers. Of
course there arc multitudes of other things equally
deserving of notice, and the general opinion seemed
to be that the person mud be a very unreasonable
one whose wildest ideas are not more than realised
by the Crystal Palace and its contents.

CONTENTS OF TIIE GLASS PALACE.

THE FINE ARTS.

Few sights can be accounted fairer or more striking
than that of the Crystal Palace when illumined by
the rays of the morning still, diffusing its light
throughout the brilliantly decorated facades, or glis-
tening on the swelling ribs of the transept as of old
on the armour of knighthood. The prospect is al-
most too dazzling to the sight, and both a change
and relief are sought beneath the sobered light, and
in the Miley vistas of the interior of the building.
Beneath the vanishing perspectives of the azure
vault are arrayed a vast host of sculptured forms, a
perfect army or avalanche of heroes, in marble, in
stone, and in metal. Their forms stand forth
prominently front the gorgeous hues and varied
objects which surround them. The whole is blinded
in one vast harmony, over which the lilac colouring
of the girders has albeit a predominating influence.
Mr. Owen Jones deserves no less credit for the ad-
mirable way in which his principal views have been
curried out, than tier the tact displayed in abandon-
ing the more objectionable features of his scheme.
The partial reduction of the yellows is gratefully ac-
knowledged, and thought the same can scarcely be
said of the virulent reds, with which the under parts
of tin. girders are mapped out, still we notice with
satisfaction that the nature of the structure itself has
in no slight measure served to counteract the noxious
introduction of red into shadowy beams. All will
acknowledge with pleasure that the most has evi-
dently been made of the intricate iron tracery of
the spanning roof, as well as the fretwork of the gal-
leries; and a seemingly satisfactory solution found of
the system to be adopted in decking out limited sur-
faces and spare forms : this is especially noticeable
where the sun, unimpeded by the linen covering,
sheds its own quaint chequer-work of light and shade
on the traceries of the iron palace.