The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-05 00:00:00

THE INIERNATIONLL EXHIBITION.

On Saturday there was a very largo attendance of
visitors, and during the whole time the building re-
mained open the number of season. ticket holders
who passed in at the various doors was estimated at
not less than 12,000. No accurate return, however,
was issued by the authorities, for the register turn-
stiles appear to be scarcely yet in working order,
and either give no returns at all, or numbers known
to be utterly at variance with the truth, Many also
pass in at entrances at which there are no turnstiles
whatever, so that until all the doors are protected with
efficient machines of this kind the daily number of
visitors can at best only be guessed at. At two of the
turnstiles under the western dome on Saturday the
commissionaires in charge made every person who
entered sign his or her name and address in full,
and the adoption of this precaution caused such a
check to rapid entry that visitors avoided these
two turnstiles, and passed through those on
either side of them. where, singularly enough,
they were not required to sign anything. There
are, of course, certain exceptional cases likely to
occur where the name and address may fairly be
asked, though what purpose they are likely to serve
when got we are at a loss to imagine; but, if insisted
on as a general rule for all visitors, it will become a
preposterous nuisance, against which the Com-
missioners may be sure the public will certainly pro-
, test.

One of the earliest visitors was the Crown Prince
of Prussia, who, having first inspected the Austrian
court and some portion of the Zollverein which had
escaped his royal highness's notice on his previous
visit, intimated to Mr. Nottage, the principal mana-
ger of the London Stereoscopic Company, his wish
to have photographic portraits taken of himself and
some of the Prussian commissioners, His royal
highness was first taken alone, seated on the throne,
and afterwards as one of a group with the commis-
sioners, and both pictures were taken, notwith-
standing the dulness of the day, with great celerity
and capital effect. Shortly after his royal high-
ness had left, another illustrious stranger, namely,
Prince Oscar of Sweden, also presented himself to
the camera, and his royal highness was taken in the
same way—namely, first alone and seated on the
throne, and then as one of a group of three or four
of the Swedish commissioners, The company had
on the previous night completed their views of the
opening, taken by express order of the Queen, which
were at once forwarded by cabinet messenger to her
Majesty at Balmoral:
_ _

At a very short interval from the opening of the
doors, the general visitors began to pour in in such
numbers as to surprise any one who remembered
that they must be either season ticketholders or
persons who had paid a guinea for the day's admis-
sion. There were, in fact, people everywhere ; and
when we say "everywhere," in the Exhibition, it
may be imagined that we contemplate a very con-
siderable space. Dropping first into the " colonies"
in the desultory manner which, as yet, is the gene-
ral practice amongst the visitors, who will not,
most probably, settle down for some time to an
orderly inspection, we were surprised to find New
South Wales, although with its resources as yet
only half developed, densely colonised. A group
of ladies surrounded a painting by a Sydney ar-
tist, a Miss lionsidas, and were in raptures with
its bright colour and irreproachable neatness of
execution. However, as its merits as a work of
art will be treated in another department of
the paper, we shall pass on to another admir-
ing group—ethnologists of the rougher sex, who
at ere equally intent on some photographic por-
traits of the aborigines, some preparing for war,
others evidently making attitudes for the manipu-
lator, and a third group dancing the national
" Corrobery." It was a wonderful instance of the
value of the new art. Here were, almost alive,
people living 15,000 miles away, and to know all
about whom must be of immense importance and
interest to every Englishman. Then there was the
group of Llamas, which may become more profit-
able to Australia than all its gold mines ; cotton of
the much-prized " Sea Island" staple, precious
woods, and coals, and last, though not least, the
gold. The auriferous column, which is to represent
one ten years' hard digging and washing, has not
yet been set up, but it will be in a few days, and the
court will be doubly attractive with its Lions d' Or.
Bons vivans looked wistfully at the bottles of Ca-
tawba wine, and observed on the absurdity of
showing people a vintage without allowing them to
taste it. In the absence of the experimentuni crucis
they decided, off-hand, that it could not possibly
be equal to Sillery nousseux. But the policeman,
one of the new X's, the creation of the Exhibition
year, says •' Move on ;" so we pass through a world
of splendid furniture, of which we beg to call at-
tention to a very novel gilt screen, containing a
most ingenious arrangement of stuffed humming-
birds, the production of some Sheffield artist, who,
but for the Exhibition, could probably never have
made his bow to the great world ; and rest for a
moment at the lonian Islands, where we should
advise the general visitor to pause. In that sunny
region of the Grecian Archipelago, which, how-
ever, looked rather dull on Saturday last, a bright
intelligent young Greek, and a dignified and sen•
tentious old one, combine to give you, in excellent
English, full information about the gold embroi-
dery with which their case is filled, from neat
tobacco pouches up to the really gorgeous mitre
of the septinsular archimandrite. Here are also
Byzantine paintings, executed last year, but ex-
actly in the same styles as those of the times of the
Comneni pipes of ineffable suggestiveness, and all
sorts of modern Attic bric•a-brac. Here will be
found a case the size of a small drawing-room, con-
taining a brilliant group, ladies and cavaliers, in the
picturesque national costume. You see the whole
thing at a glance, and conclude that human vanity
is the same everywhere, and that crinoline is uni-
vertal. To Japan and China is but a step, and be
sure you go as fast as possible past that vestibule
leading into the Horticultural Gardens, for the east
wind comes in cutting like a razor, so as to make
you almost fancy it makes Durham's fine Shakespear
monument shiver like yourself. Everyone had
made for Japan, with a vague notion that it formed
part of the recently-arrived embassy, but so far it
was not pronounced as coming up to expectation.
Great things however are promised. China was
close at hand, but it could be "done" in a few
minutes, for we had,long been familiar with its rari-
ties in Fenchurch-street, and in its immediate neigh-
bourhood, Russia. How the visitors rushed to where

they saw this name printed over a court. They
remembered the gates of malachite, the caskets of
jasper, and the diamond sprigs of 1851 ; but Russia
now takes a different line. She shows her gaudy
pocket hankerchiefs which you buy for forty kopeck
each in the market at Moscow, under the walls of
the Kremlin her malachite in the lump, and her
blankets which on Saturday, at least, had a grateful
effect on the eye. Not without substantial, albeit
somewhat barbaric splendour, is however her pre-
sent show. At the back is a tall picture of her pa-
tron saint Nicholas. Nobody looked at it at first,
but when the attendant stated it was one of those
extraordinary mosaic paintings in which the Rus-
sians delight, and the British policeman added that
its weight was seven tons, there was quite a fever
of anxiety to examine it. The great point of curi-
osity seemed to be its alleged weight, and several
gentlemen booked bets on the spot to be decided by
an appeal to the Russian commission. Even, how-

ever, if it should be short a few pounds. we advise
people to look at this picture. It is a beautiful

MAY 5, 1862.

specimen of a beautiful art, and the face em-
bodies with wonderful truth the Russian idea of
holiness of expression in the countenance. Then
there is in the glass case, the " Golden Bible,"
from the Izaak church, valued at £4,000, printed
in the old Sclavonic, which even the patriarch
Philaret himself finds it almost impossible to read,
and bound in precious metal, studded all over with
turquoise and diamonds and Siberian amethysts.
Beside it lies a Greek cross, said to be worth double
the money in the market, but of inestimable worth
to the curious ecclesiologist. Norway contrasted
humbly, with her peasant bride and bridegroom,
and her bottles of cod liver oil ; and Holland ap-
pealed to the passers by with her beams and scales,
emblems of the national love of honesty and justice.
In the nave we found that the comparative
merits of the Koh-i-noor and the " Star of the
South," had already risen into a party question
The partisans of the former said it was of the
purest water, but the exhibitor of the latter affirmed
that his gem had the most fire, adding, the truly
British proof of excellence, that it was worth a
million. He did not say whether florins or pounds
sterling, and hence we imagine that some misun-
derstanding has arisen. The " Star of the South"
is certainly a wonderful brilliant, but it has a yel-
low tinge, whilst the sparkle of the Koh-i•noor is
purely prismatic. The star weighs 125 carats, and
has been for six years in the possession of the great
house of Costar of Amsterdam, the cutters of the
Koh-i-noor. There is much to be said on both
sides, and the debate may go on harmlessly until
October next. Going a little further on, we found
that there was something in the candle trophy
after all, for we ascertained thatit had been erected
by the house of Brandon of Amsterdam, which can
afford to export the best stearine candles, equal to
spermacetti in appearance, to London, and thence
put them on board, free of all charge, for Austra-
lia, at the rate of 11s. 6d, the dozen pounds of 16
oz., a fact which, knowing as we do that a con-
siderably worse quality costs is. Bd. the lb. with
us, we commend to the wives and mothers of Eng-
land. The French show consisted on Saturday
principally of Frenchmen in various stages of ex-
citement. There were a few ladies, who looked on
anxiously as the cases were opened, and the rich
velvets, grenadines, and mousselaines de soie, were
being opened and hung up. Our gallant neighbours
with all their national politeness seemed to con-
sider their company as rather in the way ; and per-
haps it would be better to postpone further inspec-
tion of this court until its contents have been pro-
perly arranged. The gold and silver and precious
stones, in the English court, we found in the full
tide of success. It was impossible to get near
either Garrard, or Hunt and Roskell, or Hancock,
so attractive were their wares found by the com-
pany. We noticed a distinguished member of the
clerical profession lost in admiration of the Shaks-
pere Vase, a triumph of Monti's art, which Mr.
Hancock has had made at a cost of £6,000, espe-
cially for the Exhibition. It is in oxydized silver,
a beautifnl adaptation of the metal, which we have
to thank the French goldsmiths for introducing
amongst us, and will amply repay a careful inspec-
tion. In this court will also be found some speci-
mens of the new metal, aluminium, so celebrated for
its lightness. It is said to be very valuable, but in
appearance it strongly resembles pewter.
It will be hardly necessary to say that the series
of ship models sent by the Admiralty was a centre
of attraction. Everyone's thoughts now run on
Merrimacs and Monitors, and the best means of
resisting them. Let them go to Mr. Piercy, the
the intelligent expounder of nautical mysteries,
and their minds will soon be set at ease. He will
show them the queenly Northumberland, of 6,500
tons, plated :all over with 41-inch plates, and,
unlike the Warrior, invulnerable both at stem
and stern. In juxtaposition to her, the last tri-
umph of the shipwright, stands the quaint old
" Great Harry," a dreadful sea king in its day,
and, in the same range and in progressive series all
our great ships from the time of Mr. Penn, the
master shipwright of the Merry Monarch, down to
the present time. There are cupola ships, and
rams, and double screws, and amongst other things
a -very beautiful model of the Victoria and Albert
yacht, constructed by Mr. Piercy himself, and as
accurate as a photograph. And why should we
not be interested in everything that relates to our
ships, and foster everything that tends to their im-
provement ? Putting war out of the question, we
lost 60 war ships and 11,000 men in nine years,
solely because we were content with iron fastening;
for from the moment the use of copper bolts was
discovered, all danger of " the pitchy seams" being
"rent" in the storm disappeared.
Towards the end of the day the two picture gal-
leries became inconveniently crowded, but all we
have left ourselves space to say of either is that the
English one had comparatively a clear atmosphere,
but that the French suffered under what the Aus-
tralians call a regular " brickfielder," which made
the place unbearable beyond a few minutes. A
suggestive commissionaire was of opinion, that a
few watering pots well charged would have laid
the dust. Let us hope that this simple idea may
some time or other, be adopted by the managment.