The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-15 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Juno 13.
It has often been a matter of regret that Dublin,
notwithstanding its rank as the second city in the
United Kingdom, with its increasing population
and wealth, has not contained any institution in
which the citizens might meet for the enjoyment
of rational amusement blended with instruction.
It has no gardens or place of public assembly,
no central point of attraction and interest to all
classes, where they could meet, attend concerts,
hear lectures, &c. The only buildings available for
such purposes are the Rotunda, which is inconve-
niently situated—far at the north side of the city,
from which the tide of fashion has long receded ;

and the Metropolitan-hail, a smaller building, let by
a company, chiefly for religious objects, and used
on Sunday as a place of religious worship. Tease
buildings, being private property, are let at a high
rate, and they are wholly inadequate to meet the
wants of the city, even if their situation were more
central. But at the south side of the Liffey, in which
direction the city is rapidly increasing, and where the
enterprising and progressive portion of the commu-
nity are, for the .most part, located, there is no
large hall or place of meeting whatever avail-
able for the public. The exhibitions of various kinds
in the house of the Royal Dublin Society, the con-
certs of musical societies, and the reunions of dif-
ferent bodies, which have been rather frequent of
late, have created a very widely-felt want for such
an institution as a permanent exhibition building
and a winter garden. To supply this want a com-
pany was recently formed, and a piece of ground,
south of Stephen's-green, called the Coburg-gardens,
and the Hutchinson estate, which became the
property of Mr. Benjamin Lee Guinness, has been
purchased, walled in, and partly laid out for a win-
ter garden. Yesterday the Lord-Lieutenant, in the
presence of many of the chief men of the city, and
a large concourse of spectators, laid the first stone
of the buildings. They will comprise a winter
garden, where horticultural exhibitions and prome-
nades may be held, a concert-hall suitable for the
production of the works of the great masters with
an effect hitherto unattainable in this city, a
smaller concert-hall adapted for the musical so-
cieties of Dublin, a gallery for the exhibition
and sale of pictures, a department for the dis-
play of manufactures and useful arts, a polytech-
nic museum and theatre for lectures on popular
subjects, the whole to be placed in the midst of
ornamental pleasure grounds, in which the skill of
the landscape gardener will be displayed. The com-
pany has been founded on sound commercial prin-
ciples, and the address to the Lord-Lieutenant, read
by Mr. Parkinson, the secretary, stated that the
capital had been subscribed in a short time by up-
wards of 600 shareholders, including, among per-
sons of every rank, the Duke of Leinster, who fills
the office of chairman, Mr. Guinness, vice-chairman,
who gave the greater portion of the land on the most
advantageous terms, and Mr. Dargan, whose mas-
ter mind is the mainspring of progress in Dublin
and its vicinity. The address concluded by stating
that it was a subject of much congratulation that
the building was to be commenced by a nobleman
who has always given a helping hand to institu-
tions calculated to advance the social condition of
the people of Ireland, and has in this instance given
a marked proof of interest by becoming a share-
holder in the company. Lord Carlisle replied to
the address in the following terms :—"
you I have come to the discharge of my allotted
part of the ceremony of this day with spLsc-tal plea-
sure.as
one
I feel this in two capacities. my
cannot can assure
In
fail to
of your brother shareholders,
innfauagauurantdioenr_,
witness with interest an.rdnuhnio
under such auspicioustmin
addition to other ad-
taking which, trust,
moment, I will allude, will
vantages to which, :tea
i
prove highly remunerative.
f ts country, I cor-
Nhe.xt, as the chief
governor for the time being o
sympathise with the higher and more die-
interested motives motives which have presided over the
whole progress of the design. I rejoice sincerely
that among the multiplied instances of the increas-
ing enterprise and improving taste of this commit-
tee,should wieh
apart rise
for
among the number of ecclesiastical, collegiate,
on
nuenviecry sideipal,anodr commercial
us,one spot structures
be
set which
bringing rational and refined entertainment within
sththeekreaoc of
fh b
lamall
l ecslse assmest,isaenmdenetd.di nlgt two i ei
npduebel
di c,
be the best, though we do not wish it
to be the only reward of the friends and patrons
of this enterprise, when they shall be enabled to see
large numbers of their fellow citizens, with their
wives and families, issuing perhaps from humble
homes, and closing the labours of the counter and
'the factory in the unrebuked enjoyment of the
beauties of nature and the treasures of art. The list
which your address presents of the varied attrac•
tions which are to be gathered in this favoured spot
portrays an enchantedscene where Flora is to girdle
el
;the shrine of every Grace and every Muse. I