The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-08 00:00:00

mended. The owner of the bazaar could not go on
for ever pulling down a wall here and another
- there, adding a half-score feet in this direction and
a half-score in that. It had expanded and expanded
until it could do so no further without spontaneous
combustion. After a second day it was a veritable
" chamber of horrors." People wondered that they
could pass through its crowded and confused mazes
and escape suffocation or being crushed to death ;
and as to the unfortunate cattle, panting on the
verge of apoplexy, we shall never know what they
felt. Their sufferings were, however, such that the
occasions were not rare when the butcher's knife
did its merciful work of terminating their career,
and the vacant pen was left to tell the sad story.
The club had now attained the position of a wealthy
corporation, but of course it could not be expected
that they should devote their funds to the construc-
tion of a more suitable building, to be used for but
ten days or a fortnight in the year. In this emer-
gency a few enterprising gentlemen, amongst whom
were the late Mr. Jonas Webb, Mr. Joseph Shuttle-
worth, Lord Berners, Mr. S. Clayden, Mr. Druce,
Mr. Sidney, and notably Mr. Oiblett, the well-
known cattle salesman, stepped in, and started the
project of a joint-stock company for erecting an
agricultural hall capacious enough to contain the
largest number of animals that is ever likely to be
brought upon one spot under the auspices of the
club, and at the same time accommodate the public
in a comfortable manner, whilst it presented such
architectural features as should render it both worthy
the high character and standing of the club and an
ornament to the metropolis. The project took. Ca-
pital was forthcoming. A. plan was judiciously
selected, and a structure reared that fully meets all
these requisites. The Smithfield Club has entered
into possession ; Royalty has already honoured it
with a visit; and :this morning its doors will be
thrown open for the exhibition of as magnificent a
collection ofstock as the world ever witnessed.
The new hall, which is henceforward to be yearly
the temporary abode of the club is situated on
what was once the site of a range of cattle lairs; its
western façade fronting the Liverpool-road, and its
eastern Islington-green, nearly opposite the newly-
erected fountain and statue of Sir Hugh Myddelton.
The western front is the principal entrance. It is
Italian in design, with two graceful and lofty
square towers, and the materials used in its con-
struction are Bath bricks faced with red bricks—
and the effect is decidedly elegant and pleasing. On
the interior the main hall is 389 feet in length by
217 in width, whilst the span of the central portion
of the glass roof is 125 feet and its height 76, from
the basement to the middle of the arc. The hall is
surrounded by galleries, erected on iron girders,
supported by iron columns, 36 feet in width, and
approached by five sets of double staircases each
ten feet wide. In the great hall the cattle and sheep
are disposed ; steam engines and other implements
of two tons height and upwards are arranged
beneath the galleries; and the lighter class of im-
plements and the stands of seeds, roots, &c. in the
galleries. A minor hall, or " annex," 100 feet
square, at the eastern end is set apart exclusively
for pigs ; and the magnitude of the building may
be judged of by the fact that it covers about three
acres of ground ; that upwards of a thousand tons
of iron have been used in its various parts; that the
roofing contains nine miles of iron sash bar, an acre:
of glass, two acres of slating ; and that the gal-
leries alone are considerably over one acre in ex-
tent. To ventilation and drainage all necessary
attention has been paid, the towers being con-
structed with a view to secure perfection in regard
to the former point; and as respects the latter, the
iron pillars which support the central portions of
the fabric form draining tubes from roof to base,
and the drainage appliances beneath. A reservoir
capable of containing 5,000 gallons of water has
also been erected, with which hydrants are con-
nected in various 'parts of the building, so that in
case of fire, or other requirement, they can be im-
mediately made available.
There is one defect however, and the sooner it is
remedied the better. We allude to the dark mono-
tonous colour which has been adopted for the
pillars, girders, and ironwork of the galleries and
roof, and which, seen by gaslight, produces an im-
preesioa most illusory, but the very reverse of
areeable. UnfortunLtely, too, the effect does not
wear off after remaining in the hall for some time ;
thus the noble
whole exhibition
of the building and the
labour under a disadvantage from
which they
w
would be exempt were lighter and more
pleasing colours
predominant. This is a drawback,
and a serious mae,atthe same time it is easy of
correction before
another
show comes round. The
avenues for the public, fio
red with a fine gravel,
are so spacious and
convenient as to leave nothing
;
to be desired on that head the arrangements of
the beasts in their stalls and the and sheep,
in
their respective pens, convey an u pigs
unwonted idea of
comfort; and persons with limited time and op-
portunities at their disposal will be glad to learn
the show, notwithstanding its dimensions
,c the time
that ions,
" done" with ease in two-thirds
same process in the wretched,
may
by the
occupied
of annexes in Baker-street.
The
-
satisfaction of knowing that
• hey
ventilated series
sweet atmosphere--that is, have thelodditi o 1
they are breathing
well-aired and pleasantly
sweet for London--in a
warmed building.
The show this year is the large
itst that the club
does not reach
have ever yet held ; but lity
in qua
Compared with last year
beyond a fair average.
419 as against 349.
the entries of every kind are
is that the
One of the characteristics of the show
better sorts of animals are more numerous than
usual, and consequently there are fewer of an infe-
rior description. Another feature is that, in the
cattle classes, the prizes are appropriated for the