The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-09 00:00:00

Manufacturer. 228, Piccadilly.

THE hest TROUSERS for gentlemen to wear
are those made by ELSTOB, of 60, New Bond-street.
They are neither so low in price as to necessitate their being
carelessly put together, nor so dear as to gain only the
wealthy as purchasers. "In media via tutissimus ibis."
ELSTOB'S TROUSERS, TWENTY-ONE SHILLINGS
PER PAIR.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, Gray's-inn-road
in the immediate vicinity of the Great Northern Rail.
way Terminus, at Ring's-cross.
Patron—The QUEEN.
President—The Duke of BUCCLEUCII, K.G.
Treasurer—Edward Masterman, Esq.

of free
This was the first hospital to Introduce the principle
and instant admission to the destitute sick, withoiitmality of governors' letters. It is entirely devoted to four-
tution in its most pitiable forth—viz., that which is °Red" --
pcnied by sickness and disease, and is now of sufficient
magnitude that, with adequate support, it may be rendered
capable of admitting into its wards a very large proportion of
the casual sick of this great metropolis. It requires but the
funds in order to have 500 beds available for the reception of
these the most wretched of our fellow-creatures. Moreover,
it gratuitously aflords medical advice and a
medicine to more,
on the average, than 3,000 out-patients .
The Weekly Board feel it their imperative duty to make an
EARNEST APPEAL to the public for continued suppcitt,
to enable them to admit and relieve the distressing cases that
daily present themselves.
Contributions are received by the Treasurer, Edward
Macerman, Esq. Nicholas-lane; also by Messrs. Coats and
; Drummond and Co. ; Ferries and Co. ; Ransom and
___o;; Prescott, Grote, and Co.; Smith, Payne, and Co.: Glyn
and
Itt9t.h;eJnonoeopsitLaolyd and Co. ; Barclay and Co. ; Denison
; W .Iliams, Deacon, and Co. ; Overend, Gurney, and
Co. , 'Nisbet and Co. ; Messrs. J. Barned and Co., Liverpool
and ,
STANFORD S. SMITH, Secretary.

At 6 precisely the doors were opened for the
admission of visitors, and as in these cases of
high State and splendid ceremonial the first
guests always tread on the skirts of the last
carpenter, there was no exception to the
rule on this occasion. Daylight glared fully
in upon the decorations, dimming the gas to mere
yellow spots upon the walls; there was more than
a trace of ladders here and there, with certain dull,
rough, jarring sounds, which led one shrewdly to
suspect that sawing was going on, with an intermit-
tent hammering now and then. But this was all.
The hurry and confusion of the last half hour had
given place to a stately, gorgeous calm, and
the rich interior of the City palace seemed as if the
hand of decorator or upholsterer had never done
more than keep it in order with reverent touch for
ages past. The centre space was railed off with
silken ropes at either end, as if for dancing, but it
was soon evident that little dancing could be done
that night, for with the instant of the opening of
the doors the visitors began to arrive. Faster and
faster they came with every minute, till the thin
line widened to a broad stream as they kept pour-

ing in—" lords, ladies, captains, councillors, and
priests," visitors of all ranks and in all dresses—
corporate, civil, academic, official, naval, military,
or Court suits.

Mr. Truscott, in Court dress, was earliest at his
post at the entrance, bland, smiling, and trying to
" make believe" that he had not been up for the last
week, and that the great brunt of all the prepara-
tions had not fallen, in their responsibility at leilst,
on him. With him was Mr. Kearns and the Alder-
men and members of the Common Council who were
to act as stewards, and who each and all sere
armed with solemn-looking wands of office, enriched
at the top with the city arms in silver, surmounted
with the Prince's plume and crown. Ushered with
care and courtesy by the stewards, the visitors were
passed quickly into the hall and other buildings,
where, it is almost needless to say, they found ample
to occupy their attention and admiration till the
great State business of the evening began. With
scarcely a single exception, one expression of sur-
prise and delight broke from the lips of all on first
entering the great central chamber of the City
Guilds—so perfectly becoming the grand aspect
which the hall should wear, but never yet has

worn till yesterday. With all its decorations, how-
ever, which made it such a festive-looking hall, it
required no great amount of architectural or anti•
quarian knowledge to see that the structure was
never intended, when it was built, as the great
Hall of all the Guilds of London. Partly
a college, partly a chapel, now half repaired,
now half burnt down, it has been everything and
anything by turns, but, for the last 400 years at
least, always the civic Hall of London and centre
of municipal justice. Its quaint perpendicular
architecture has undergone some changes, but few
improvements, though enough has always remained

of its ancient beauty to make it capable of a stately

appearance when the features of its construction
were properly considered. Unfortunately, in all
previous Royal entertainments until now this has

not been done. The curious carved panelling of
the walls has been hidden by mirrors and drape-
ries, and the cheap tinsellings and worn stock pro-
.

perties of a Lord Mayor's Show have been struck
anywhere about its walls in hideous disarray. Such
a style of decoration might have been followed on
this occasion, and so added another to the long list
of costly failures in matters of taste which have
distinguished these municipal festivities, had not
an entirely new Entertainment Committee been
chosen, with Mr. Truscott for its most able head
and chairman, and with an equally able vice-chair-
man in Mr. Kearns. Their first step was to ascer-
tain how many people they could comfortably ac-
commodate before they issued their invitations, a
proceeding which was in itself a perfect defiance of
previous rules and customs; their next, to disregard
the former rules of city architects and officials, and
give the whole place up to one really competent
decorator, Mr. Crace, that he might make it worthy
of the great occasion and the honoured guests to

meet there. How well and completely this was
done is now known ; but the decorations. and im-
provements are worth a description by themselves.
First, then, to secure most ample accommodation
both for receiving the visitors, for dancing, and
for supper, a temporary reception-hall, large
enough to cover all Guildhall-yard, and two
stories in height, was built from the designs of Mr.
Allen. The basement storey of this structure,
which is about 120 feet long by 45 feet wido, is
divided by clusters of handsome and massive Gothic
columns into a number of bays or compartments.
Two passages along this hall, one on each side, were
set apart for the general visitors, the centre avenue,
enclosed by ropes of purple silk, was reserved for
the royal visitors alone. All the decorations of this
room were of a light cream or stone colour, relieved
with gold. The ceiling was a pale blue, dotted with
golden stars, while the groining of the arches which

sprang from the groups of columns was just suffi-
ciently relieved in colour to mark their graceful
sweep, and give an appearance of lightness to what
was a framework of the strongest and most solid
kind. Handsome stars of gas suspended from this
ceiling gave a brilliant light, showing off to perfec-
tion the decorations of the hall, which were relieved
and heightened to the utmost by the dark, rich
groundwork of the crimson and black carpet. The
side paths wero draped with crimson and white, and
the side bays forming the walls were alternately
filled in with mirrors draped with crimson velvet,
and the superb tapestry pictures lent for the occa-
sion by Mr. Attenbotough. Anything more exqui-
site than the design, colour, and execution of these
needlework cartoons it is difficult to imagine. The
effect of these noble pictures relieved the glitter of
the mirrors, which on every side seemed to repro-
duce the scene in an endless perspective of brilli-
ancyand colour,which was almost indescribable from
its everchanging features yet constant beauty.
From this noble reception-hall the visitors
passed under the richly-carved pointed arched roof,
which led to the hall itself, and which had been re-
lieved in gold and colours by Mr. Grace with such
admirable taste that, while the main features of the
architecture were brought prominently forward
with the best effect, the decorations themselves were
kept so subdued as to appear the natural accom-
paniments of the quaint old stone-work, and as
if they were contemporaneous with the walls them-
selves. They harmonised, in fact, not less with the
architecture than the age of the building. The Hall
itself was, of course, the great centre where the
splendour of the scene was made to culminate; and
really the old building did present an aspect worthy
of the greatness of the City and the fete. It is very
difficult to describe the aspect of any ball room, and
especially so to describe this, with all its richness
and its colours, its masses of flowers and heavy
silken draperies, and above all the effect of the as-
semblage of distinguished visitors which thronged
its floor, and made such a glorious mass of varied
tints as quite subdued the decorated walls above,
lofty and brilliant es they were. It was a wonder-
ful scene, where beauty of form and beauty of tint
and design were pushed to their highest excellence;
where the eye ranged from cool green banks of
feathery ferns and rich exotics to the bright tone of
the stained glass windows lit from behind, and so on
down the storied walls, dimmed with the sombre
heraldry of bygone time, to the rich throne on the
dais. On every side there was something to admire,
though all was in such perfect keeping that it was
not easy to distinguish whit. On every side there
was a distinct sensation of improvement, yet with-
out much evidence of change. It only looked as if
the interior had been finished, not altered ; and it
would be difficult to give higher praise than this to
decorative skill. The flat unsightly panelled roof
was no more to be seen, bu*, in its stead rose from
the coloured cornice above the columns a fine series
of oaken-looking carved ribs or principals, with their
quatrefoils filled in with City shields, and giving
support to the• great baskets of ferns and
flowers- in which the chandeliers were concealed,
through not quite so artistically as could have
been desired. This old baronial-looking roof is
what the building ought to have en promanence,
and what it really did have till the great
fire of London destroyed it, with the chapel attached
to the hall. The curious carved work of the walls
was brought out last night with tints of gold and
sombre colours ; and heraldic shields, bearing the
arms of all the Lord Mayors of London who have
held the office, filled the painted panels, going back
in chronological order to a date too remote to men-
tion. At the east end, on a raised dais, covered with
a rich carpet, stood the throne for the Prince and
Princess. It was of crimson velvet and gold, backed
by a "a cloth of estate" bearing the arms of the
Prince and Princess, shown on a noble tapestry, re-
produced from one made for the Prince's great an-
cestor Henry VIII. Above it rose the Prince's
coronet and feathers, the latter nine feet long, and
executed in the finest spun glass, like drooping sil-
ver. Beneath the velvet canopy were placed two
chairs of state, to find the like of which one might
ransack Wardour-street in vain, richly iecorated in
rockaasr
appearance, hard and un-
easy ; in fact,crystals,Gothic, even to the minutest
vng of
their
strictly angular
legs
and
arms. They seemed and
carving
o in
were
troth,thl.
the only
uncomfortable seats in all
that The windows just above this
were filled with rich tapestry adornments, while
behind the throne, on either side along the walls,
were, in
n splendid hal
were the arms of all the sovereigns, English or Con-
tinental, whom the City have entertained ; and
the number and splendour of these showed the

extent to which the Corporation have carried their
hospitality from the oldest times. At the west end
was the orchestra, built up with mirrors and crim-
son draperies, with figures in brilliant armour

standing in the niches, and the colossal statues
of the quaint old Danish demigods Gog and
Magog glaring grimly down into it. Above, from
the walls, hung the banners of the Companies, and
half-way up the gilded columns were trophies of
flags and shields beautifully grouped. The rich
line of gold and colours here was most appro-
priately broken by the:gilded gallery over the south
entrance, which was filled with soft banks of palms
and ferns, beautifully grouped here, as everywhere
else, by Mr. Scott, the brother to the Chamberlain.
The stained glass windows at the east end were lit
from behind, and shone with a quiet rich light that
was exceedingly fine, and which was set off to the
utmost by lines of minute gas jets round the arched
cornices of the windows, twinkling like little
diamonds. At the west end only part of the
1 window was illuminated, and the rest left in dark-
ness that the tones of the fine old stained windows
might not interfere with the gaudy and most un-
sightly glitter of a huge glass star lit from behind
with gas—a tawdry street ornament which the city
authorities had insisted on Mr. Crace bringing in
somehow, and which even his skill failed to intro-
duce with any mitigation of its vulgar effect. It
was the only fault committed in the Hall, but it
was a most conspicuous one. The proper place for
this common shop illumination was the Guildhall-
yard ; its position in the interior of the Hall itself
was a most unfortunate mistake ; and this opinion
seemed to be shared by everybody present. Wisely
unwisely,°
w
sayhdiieffihcutlhtetocity has honoured de-
parted heroes were on this occasion not swaddled
which, the marble
allegories
up in cloths to hide their cold disfigurement of the
walls, but stood forth in all the bright relief afforded
by crimson draperies as a background. All that can
be said is that they gained nothing by preferring
their claim to notice, for there is none which rises
much above the level of the New-road style of
sculpture. The only merit they possess belongs to
their inscriptions—Chatham's having been written
by Burke, Pitt's by Canning, and Nelson's by
Sheridan.
Such, then, as we have recapitulated, were the
changes which were made in the Hall, such the de-
tails of the ornamentation which went to make up
so brilliant an effect. But one would need to write
in form and colour to convey an adequate impres-
sion of what the effect really was, even if it were
possible to convey it by description at all. Soon
after the first visitors had arrived the Lord Mayor
in his state robes, and accompanied by the Lady
Mayoress, entered the Hall, when all rose to re-
ceive them. They remained, horever, only a few
minstes, talking with Miss Coutts, and then re-
turned at once to the hall of reception to receive
their guests, who were now arriving in what might
almost be called a continuous crowd. The titles of
the highest officers of State, o! the most distin-
guished members of either house, of almost all the
foreign Ambassadors were called in rapid succession
' as carriage after carriage set down, and their occu-
pants pressed forward to make their bow to the
Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, and then passed
onward to the ballroom.
Long before the arrival of their Royal High-