The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-22 00:00:00

Crystal Palace Flower Show.

Very extensive preparations are being made for
the great show of flowers and fruit to-morrow, the
arrangements for which present several novel fea-
tures. Large tent-like awnings are suspended over
the plants the whole length of the Palace, which,
while protecting the flowers from the glare of the
sun, do not interfere with the light and airy effect
of the general view in the centre transept and naves.
The music for the day will be given on the great
orchestra, the band of the Coldstream Guards being
specially engaged for the occasion, in addition to
the band of the company. The exhibition itself,
both for variety and extent, is expected to sur-
pass all others of a like kind. Stove and green-
house plants are well represented; some very good
collections of fine foliaged and variegated leaved
plants will also be shown. The orchids are nume-
rous, and comprise many exceedingly rare
varieties. In azaleas the show will be unusually
brilliant, this class exceeding in number and dimen-
sions the entries on any previous occasions,, Several
fine collections of those delicate and beautiful
plants the Cape Heaths will be shown. Some of
the chief exhibitors and growers of the rose have
sent their best specimens both in pots and cut
flowers—of these there will be a remarkably fine
display. The entries for pelargoniums include the
choicest kinds, comprising many specimens of un-
usually large dimensions. New and rare plants_
calceolat ias, tall cacti, ferns, cut flowers, and a large
miscellaneous class, will cumplete this charming ex-
hibition. The entries for fruit include a large col-
lection of pines, grapes, melons, and various others
from the principal growers, in greater number and
finer condition than is usual at this period of the
year. A special announcement has been issued by
the directors that the doors of the Palace 'will not
be opened to the season ticket holders and the public
until one o'clock, in place of twelve as previously
advertised.

DEATH OF SIR CULLING EARDLEY.—We regret
to learn that Sir Culling Eardley died yesterday
morning at his seat, Bedwell Park, in the 58th year of his
age. He had been in a declining state of health for some
time past, and the melancholy resul ' we believe was not
unexpected by his friends. Sir Culling was married in
1832 to lliss Carr, the daughter of a Northumberland
squire; and he is succeeded by his son, now Sir Eardley
Gideon Culling Eardley.
THE LATE LORD HATHERTON.—We understand
that a meeting of the magistracy of Staffordshire
will shortly be convened, to take into consideration the
most suitable mode of recognising the public worth and
long services of the late respected Lord Lieutenant of the
county, and of perpetuating the memory of him with the
inhabitants of the county which he so long and faithfully
represented in Parliament.
RECRUITING IN IRELAND FOR THE FEDERAL
ARMY.—The Cork Examiner of Wednesday con-
tains correspondence from :various parts of that county,
which leaves scarcely any doubt that recruiting for the
Northern army is attempted to be carried on on an extensive
scale in the country. It appears that Mitchelatown and
Charleville were visited on Saturday, and Fermoy at the
end of last week, by several Americ to gentlemen of military
aspect, who publicly, from the hotel doors and elsewhere,
offered to give a passage to any number of young men
willing to accept it to New York, for 3d. each, with the
certainty of continuous and remunerative work when they
arrived there. The police were present on several of these
occasions, which obviously discommoded the strangers;
but as there was nothing illegal in the proposition made, no
proceedings could be taken in the matter. Several hundred
young men await the sailing of the early Inman and other
steamers, who, beyond a doubt, have engaged to go to Ame-
rica on the terms offered by the American agents.

A DINNER IN AN OLD MANOR-HOUSE, AS DE-
SCRIBED BY MR. LONGMAN IN BIS LECTURES ON
TILE HISTORY OF ENGLAND.—" Let us imagine ourselves
in one of them, as lookers on, and that we see a lord sitting
down to dinner with his guests and his vassals. All are ga •
thered together in the hall. At the upper end, on the dais,
where the ground is somewhat raised and boarded over, sit
the lord and his chief guests. They are protected by a
covering, which, as our host is a great man, is made of silk.
Below, in ' the marsh,' sit the vassals, farm servants, and
others. The door, which has lately been widened to let in
carts' more easily, is closed, to keep out the wind, a dim
light is let in through the canvas windows, and the marsh'
is made tolerably dry and clean by litter and rushes. Fish
in plenty is served up; eels and pike, and even whale,
grampus, porpoise, and sea wolves,' may be had. There
is plenty of beef, and plenty of mutton, but it is
nearly all salted; and the bread is rather black, Vege-
tables are plentiful enough; there are no potatoes, but
there are peas, beans, onions, garlic, and leeks, pot
herbs and sweet herbs. There is fruit enough,
though not equal to what we now have, There are pears,
and particularly one sort, grown by the monks of Warden
in Bedfordshire, which are made into Wardon pies. There
are apples, particularly of the sort called " costard." These
cost is. per 100, or about 12s. of our money. Peaches and
cherries, and mulberries too, are not wanting. If we sup-
pose the entertainment to bo given in London, the garden
of the Earl of Lincoln, in Holborn, would be ready to fur-
nish a good supply, for the fruit out of it was sold for above
£lOO of our money in one year alone. There is plenty of
claret, or clairets—so called because the wine was sweetened
with honey, and afterwards strained till it became clear—
from our possessions in Gascony, and some sort of sherry
Isom Spain, for those who sit on the dais, and beer and cider
enough for those who sit in the marsh.' Bat the beer is
made of a mixture of barley, wheat, and oats, without hops,
which have not yet been found out.' The insipidity of the
beer is taken off by spices. There is wine too made from
English vineyards, but it must be sour stuff and fit only for
the marsh.' Nobody but the King has glass to drink out
of, and he has none to spare for h s friends; but he has
cups made of cocoanuts, of gourds, of buffalo horns, and of
beautiful agates for his principal guests. The wooden
bowl, the earthern jug, and the 1, athern jack serve well
are prettyenough arm, orthegreat bulk of the assemblage. The tables
for their legs are well stuck into the mud
flow. Now that the guests are seated, and ready for their
repast, up comes the meat on a spit, served round by the
servants, and each man cues off a Lit with his knife, and
pips into his wooden bowl or on his trencher. Most of the
people have wooden sppoons, but nobody has a fork. The
pitchers and jugs are made of earthenware, but the plates
or dishes are all of wood."
EXTRAORDINARY LONGEVITY.—The obituary of
the Times of the 20th inst. contains some rare in-
stances of very advanced age, as among others the deaths
of five gentlemen and three ladies arc recorded whose united
ages amounted to 686 years, giving an average of 83 years
and nine mon Es to each, the youngest being a male aged
79 years, and the eldest, of the opposite sex, being 95 years
of age.
AUNT SALLY ON THE WAR.—One of the New
York Herald correspondents has discovered, near
Rapidan, a veritable Aunt Sally, a slave woman 9O years
old, who has lived all those }ears on the same plantation,
and remembers the war of the Revolution. He asked her
which was the worse war, and her response was, "This be
worse war, I reckon, masse, for everybody is killing every-
body,"