The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-14 00:00:00

ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY.

Yesterday the first grand fete of the season took place in
the Royal Botanic Society's garden's, in Regent's Park,
end was specially honoured by the attendance of their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The exhibition of flowers was exceedingly good; the
plants being large and well grown. The azaleas and roses
were specially good, dazzling the eye with their beauty,
and filling the air with their delightful fragrance. Among
the azaleas we noticed a fine white, Louise von Baden; and
among the latter some of extraordinary beauty and colour,
and astonishing size, many being fully six inches in dia-
meter—General Jacquelin and Lord Raglan among the
dark ones, and Charles Lawson, the Countess Mole, and
Coupe de Hebe, conspicuous alike for their size and their
delicate tints. Pelargoniums, calceolarias, cinerarias, pan•
skis, and tulips, were in profusion, and there were a few re-
markably fine fuchsias. There were also a fine collection of
those curiosities as well as beauties of nature, the orchi-
dact m, which appeared in numerous varieties ; while a host
of rare and new plants contributed to maks the range of
marquees one mass of sparkling beauty Amongst the most
conspicuous of he novelties was the Napoleona Imperialis,
from the garden of the Duke of Northumberland.
On Tuesday evening the council of the Royal Botanic
Society received an intimation that their Royal Highnesses
would honour the gardens with an early visit. Preparations
had accordingly been made for the reception of the distin-
guished guests. _ _

Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales, attended by Lord Alfred Hervey and Lady
Macclesfield, arrived at eleven o'clock at the grand en-
trance, where they were received by the Earl Delawarr
(the president), the Marquis of Bristol, the Bishop of
Oxford, the Bishop of Winchester, Sir Robert Peel,
M.P., and the Right Hon Mr. Hutt, M.P. (vice presi-
dents), and the following members of the council :—Mr.
J. Anderson, Mr. R. Bentley, Mr. t otfield, bI,P , General
Buckley, M.P., Hon. Mr. Calthorpe, M.P., Mr. C. Deane,
Mr. W. Fox, Mr. Freshfield, Colonel Hanmer, Mr. Hey.
wood, the Venerable Archdeacon Jones, Mr. Majoribanks,
Sir R. Murchison, Sir W, Stirling, Lord Tredegar, Mr. C.
R. Turner, Mr H. Wedgewood, together with the officers
of the society, Mr. Sowerby, the secretary, and Mr. Marnock,
the curator.

On entering the grounds the Countess of Delawarr had
the honour of presenting her Royal Highness with a
splendid bouquet, which was graciously received. The
Royal party then proceeded over the delightful grounds of
the society, and then inspected the plants and flowers in the
conservatory and marquees, with which all were pleased,
and her Royal Highness especially delighted. The Royal
visit extended over a period of an hour.
At two o'clock the grounds were opened to the members of
the society and their friends. The gardens, refreshed by
the recent genial showers, presented a most agreeable aspect;
but there was an occasional spattering of rain, and the
temperature was somewhat close, aad the seats about the
grounds consequently lacked their usual summer occu.
pants, most of the visitors, who were tolerably numerous,
preferring a continuance of their perambulations among
the floral beauties under cover, A goodly number, how-
ever, promenaded about the gardens, listening to the
delicious music of the bands of the let and 2d Lite Guards
and the Royal Horse Guards Blue.

MR. LUMLEY'S BENEFIT AT DRURY-LANE
THEATRE.—The three great performances an-
nounced for the benefit of Mr. Lumley, and in which Mdme
Piccolomini and Signor Giuglini make their appearance,
will take place on the 25th inet„ the 3d and Bth of June,
the opera fixed for the representation of the 25th is " La
fraviata," The operas selected for the other two represen-
tations are it is said "Don Giovanni," and "La Figlia de
Reggimento," with other entertainments,
LANDSEER'S LIONS FOR THE NELSON COLUMN.
—Landseer once made a model in clay of a large
dog in the studio of Sir Francis Chantrey, the great sculptor
placing
all the appliances of his art at his command. In the
hzto Monument
use his had
materials,
present day the BaronMarochetti has followed thantrey's
el::rat 1 !e IsTelsoi
le.
Learning that the task of modelling the lions
mt
omoi
ct tceudp tyo Lh
iasn da ss es e
invitedhe i
s-
tan a, and to work in his studio.
And we believe that
Landseer's
well-known facility in handlingthe xi 11 iv-
e
tools, added to his perfect kn
more than justified the dee' ed-e
of
his
ownart,has
• 161011 of thosa who committed to
him tlaa ialpQrtaan task.