The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-24 00:00:00

CREIVORNE BAL MASQUE.
The public gardens of the metropolis, now that the
flowers. find the sunshine are about to leave them, are
palmy. forth their autumnal al,tractions in the shape
of gaily-lighted salons, tempting suppers, and in-
spiriting music—crowned and completed by all the
fun and revelry of bal masques. These al fresco en-
tertainments have of lute sears become more popular,
and we seeoccasional hid cations that the English
public are beginning to appreciate and enter more
fully into their spirit. The great defect, up to the
present time, has been that no attempt beyond the
assumption of a particular costume is made to per-
sonify the character ; and the frequenters of the
Vauxhall bal masques are content to substitute boiste-
rous merriment and anise for the more refined and
subtle play of wit and humour that we meet in the
continental assembly. Such at least was the leading
characteristic of the bal there of Wednesday night,
although the gay thrcng appeared to enjoy themselves
amazingly, and kept up the dancing with much
animation. Cremorne displayed its rival at-
tractions last night, and presented a scene of
unusual brilliancy from the myriads of coloured
lamps, devices, and illuminations, whi▪
ch con-
verted a rather dull and foggy night into
an extremely gay and animated scene of festivity
and amusement. There was a numerous corps of
masters of the ceremonies, by whom the votaries of
Terpsichore were marshalled and arranged on the
circular platform which surrounded the Pavi▪ lion, and
in the Theatre, which was decorated as a ball-room
for the occasion. The costumes were numerous,
varied, and in many instances well sustained, and
there was the usual admixture of soldiers and sailors,
Ethiopian serenaders, ballet and flower girls, Greeks,
Turks, debardeurs, sportsmen, jockeys and clowns,
with a liberal sprinkling of costumes d'occasion, mean-
ing anything or nothing, and more fanciful and
effective than significant or intelligible. We must do
the enterprising lessee the justice to say that, often
as it has been our duty to notice entertainments of
this sort in and about the metropolis, we have never
seen more order or propriety observed amongst a gay
and animated crowd of some thousands than at the
bal masque ala Venetienne of last night. The musical
arrangements were under the direction of the cele-
brated Bosisio; and the refreshments, to which at an
advanced hour of the night the visitors appeared well
disposed to do the most ample justice, were supplied
with a profusion and liberality which left nothing to
be desired. The novel entertainment of last night was
for the benefit of Mr. Simpson, and must have proved
a bumper.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.

Gold is such a stern necessity of life that we are
not surprised it should still be the favourite subject
forJ itihe chemical lecture, under the able direction of
-Pepper, E:q WII--n we look at the various
machines display-ed. to illustrate this interesting dis-
efooruwrsae,shwi•negare struck with the homely term " cradle,"
gold ;
just as if (and we know it will be
so eventually) this humble apparatus wasent nursing the
u
huge colonies of
wah Australias to strong and noble man-
hood. Besides
a t,asnian.
ing cradles, there are various
useful machines exhibit
factured by Richardsond ; also
,
with its whole equipage,
marked attention to the various ThJudd-street, New-road,
public appear to pay
methods of discrimi-
nating gold from other metals, ass
simple and striking, and just aseruliikt-r
the
ay experiments some day
b e
ciugaiiitits specially, in
as useful to all persons as to
case they should doubt the
trinket or ornament which they have purchased, any
gold
lecturer concluded by recommending the daesteed. The
tion of the specific gravity as an easy mode of rmlina-
'sting tha value of nuggets, and referred to the clu-
in his book on the subject, illustrating, however,uthes
fact at his lecture by two enormous nuggets from
Messrs. Hunt and Roskill ; one associated with
quartz contained 25 ounces of gold, worth 41. ls.
per ounce, hence valued at more than 1001. ; the
other, the "King of Nuggets," the same that was
shown to her Mijesty, weighing 27 lbs. 6 cz. 15 dwts.
of pure gold, and valued at about 1,300/. The audi-
ence crowded round afterwards to see the nuggets and
machines, delighted with the evening's instruction.