The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

THE NEW CI2YSTAL PALACE.

Yesterday the members of the e Soc.l tY of Arts, the re-
presentatives of the Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics'
Institutions in union with that body, and many of the
mayors invited to the recent hospitalities of the Mansion-
house, went down to Sydenham to visit the works and
grounds of the Crystal Palace Company,a wise
liberality of arrangement the director's of By
that company
have associated themselves with the movement atpr
taking place an favour of_ a more vs-pal:sive system
le
education ; and it may be regarded as a guarantee of the
objects which the New Curate' Palace is to. serve that
the company are thus early enlieting the favour and sup-
port of the most powerful non-political organisations of
the country. More than 1,000 persons went down to
Sydenham yesterday, and the excitement and pleasure
visible in every face furnished fair indications of what
the public delight will be when the new Palace and its
grounds are rendered accessible to all. The undertaking
of the company is only an enlarged application of the
same self-supporting principle upon which the . growing
intelligence of the people now manifestly rests fui sup-
port ; and it seems difficult to set bounds to what may
be accomplished iii this material age (with mechanical
facilities so abundant) by such an agency.
In order that it may be understood what:•iss .being ac-
complished at Sydenham on_a strict commercial basis, it
seems only necessary to describe, as far as the limits of
description go, what was seen during the visit of yester-
day. -
.The visitors were receives' at the entrance by Mr.
Laing, the chairman of the company, Mr. Owen Jones,
Mr. Digby Wyatt, and other ehief 'officers. They first
proceeded to view the plans and drawings of the building
'and park, which, for magnitude and splendour of con-
ception, far- transcend not only the original, but any-
thing that has ever been attempted in the shape of a per-
manent structure dedicated to purposes of the kind. If
the old building was a miracle of mechanical facility, the
present one is shown, by these plans of Sir Joseph Pax-
ton's, to be still more surprising in that respect, while its
commanding site, its enormous proportions finely diver-
sified, and its details of internal and external embellish-
ment give enlarged impressions of the spirit in which it
is being carried out. W hatever may be attempted or
realised elsewhere, it is quite certain, looking at the
drawings of what the whole will be when completed,
that in no other country, and in no other city of the
civilised world, could such a structure be raised by such
resources and dedicated to such objects. Nothing short
of a population like that of London could justify the
undertaking ; and, looking at it as a commercial
speculation, it seems impossible, too highly to applaud
the magnificence of a general design which has evi-
dently been framed to compel success.
Having carefully examined the drawings which were
to help them to a conception of what the whole would
be when completed, the visitors passed into courts and
galleries, wherein a crowd of bearded artists labour in-
tently to prepare the illustrations of architecture and
sculpture gathered from every school, and setting forth
in connected series the entire history of art. Of course
these objects are seen to a great disadvantage at pre-
sent, without arrangement, and the smallest details of
the workshop in progress under one's eye. Sphinxes
submitting in solemn pomp to the paintbrush, equestrian
statues showing the jointings of the cast, Egyptian dei-
ties unceremoniously fashioned in open day by the mo-
deller, and busts of the mighty dead lying in the most
undignified positions,—these, and a thousand other evi-
dences of unpreparedness, told the visitors that they were
behind the scenes, and not entitled to be critics. They
had to draw upon their fancy for a just conception of
what the whole would be when completed--when the
monumental records of civilisation, traced from the banks
of the Nile through Greece and Rome and the Lower
Empire, are seen transmitted to modern times, and ex-
panding with the development of nations into schools
and styles, each of which, compared with the other and
with the types of excellence from which they all spring,
will no doubt afford to the sculptors and architects of
this country opportunities of observation such as have
never been equalled. It is rather a remarkable consi-
deration, in connection with this part of the undertaking
at Sydenham, that the least artistic people of Europe
are, by their commercial enterprise and their zeal for
popular instruction, able to form a gallery more com-
prehensive, and therefore more effectual in giving to the
public taste a true and healthy direction than any
foreign Government has been able to bring together.
We are bringing the mechanical facilities which we pos-
sess to bear upon a great scale in rendering accessible to
the humblest classes not the chief works of a particular
school, but the choicest examples of all. Through the
unavoidable confusion of objects yesterday these consi-
derations rose plainly on the mind, Looking down from
the galleries, the different courts into which the whole
collection is to be distributed suggest the historical ar-
rangement which they wilt finally assume. These courts
are now rapidly growing into shiape, and that for
Egyptian art is already drawing towards it models
of temples, reproductions of rock-hewn images, and
pillars indented with hieroglyphics. Six lions—
grouped on either side—guard the entrance of this
department from the nave, and, within a colossal form,
newly modelled, by theJtaliau sculptei Monti, indicates
what the style of- interttal decoration -will be. The de-
signs and drawings of the manner in which the different
courts are to be fitted up were exhibited yesterday to the
visitors both by Mr. Owen Jones and Mr. Digby Wyatt;
the splendid collection made by these gentlemen abroad,
so far as it has been unpacked, was also examined with
interest. It would serve no purpose, at the present
time, to notice with much specialty the extraordinary
works now uncovered. But the Mayors and the repre-
sentatives of Institutions will, no doubt, carry back
with them to the country a lively remembrance of them.
Victories distributing their laurels, Vcnuses and Graces
and Eves, by the greatest masters, the chef-d'ecurres of
the most celebrated sculptors, the busts of the most cele-
brated men, friezes and tombs and relieves, and monu-
mental effigies, equestrian statues, casts from the life,
copies of the finest objects in all the greatest European
galleries—such things are not to be seen, even in the
most confused and disordered manner, without leaving a
strong impression on the mind.
Leaving the galleries and courts in which the labours
connected with the fine artdepartment are prosecuted,
the visitors passed into the nave of the building,
and there realised the magnitude of its proportions
—so difficult to convey a just conception of in
any other way. Since we last noticed its progress it
has been advanced many stages towards completion,
but so vast is the amount of work comprised in it that
the nearer it approaches to being finished the more over-
whelming seems the quantity of labour still to be gat
through. Now the weather permits Mr. Henderson to
put forth his entire strength, and, with the able assist-
ance of Mr. Cochrane, he does wonderi; and does them
well to. The western is half more forward than the
eastern, and the arched roof is up as far as the centre
transept. At the other end, also, a good number of the
semicircular ribs are in their places. A large propwtion,
not only of the flooring, but of the glazing, and evn the
painting, is finished, and owing to the simultaneous way
in which the work is done it is more advanced than it
appears to be. It is also efficiently done, one great proof
of this being that there is no leakage from the roof, while
the whole details of construction preserve the same fairy-
likelightness of character which formed the charm of the old
building. Nothing seems to have been left undone to render
the structure as permanent as need be. Standing on the crest
of the hill, of enormous height and transparent in every
part, one would fancy, looking at it from withou4 that the
first storm would sweep it entirely from its site ; but it
is probably stronger than any of our cathedrals, to the
architectural effect of which, with its transepts and
towers, it bears some analogy. No structure in the
world, however, comes within many degrees of it in point
of grandeur, either externally or internally. One only
requires to go and look at it to be convinced of that.
While the simplicity and magnitude of its proportions
are carefully preserved, sufficient variety is secured in
every part of the design to avoid that sense of monotony
which the constant repetition of parts in the old build-
ing tended to create. The noble elevation of the site,
added to the effect of the lofty semicircular roof, brings
the vast length more within the range of the eye, and
when the wings and side towers, which have hardly yet
been touched, are up, there now remains not a doubt
that this Palace of Crystal will not only reflect credit on
the company to which it belongs, and on those who de-
signed and constructed it, but be worthy of the people
to whose use it is mainly dedicated, and, without ex-
aggeration, forms one of the wonders of the world.
The park, with its terraces and fountains, its avenues,
slopes, and parterres, did not escape yesterday the curi-
osity and admiration of the visitors. Sir Joseph Paxton,
and the contractors under him, have brought this part
of the work into a very forward state. It is no matter
of difficulty now to conceive what the grounds will be
when complete, but mere description can convey no ade-
quate idea of it. On one bank now in process of forma-
tion 200,000 spectators can sit, and all have a perfect
view of a display of fountains more than four times that
of Versailles on grand days, could it be seen put to-
gether. This single illustration will -give, perhaps, a
clearer conception of the scale on which the park is laid
out than a multiplicity of details. If more is wanted to
astonish, the materials for doing so will be found in those
monstrous forms belonging to elder worlds which Mr.
Waterhouse Hawkins is preparing. The Icthyosaurus,
the Iguanadon, and the other gigantic tenants of this
planet before man's introduction upon the scene, will
surely fill full the attractions of the New Palace.
Placed upon the geological formations in which their
bones are found imbedded, and throwing some light,
however faint, upon the earliest and sublimest pages in
the History of Creation, these embodiments of the re-
searches of such men as Owen and Cuvier form a remark-
able feature in the general plan of this great enterprise
for the instruction and amusement of the people.

PROBABLE PRODUCE OF WHEAT NEXT HARVEST.—The
following calculation has been furnished by a party who
has been half a century in the trade :—Average esti-
mated produce of wheat in the United Kingdom,
23,750,000; estimated produce in 1853, owing to the
short quantity planted, and being spring sown instead
of autumn, 15,000,000 ; 8,750,000, to which add average
icuartoefrsw,
hbeeagancodnthsi-
e
last
import of breadstuffs, since 1849, 1,177,757 ; quantity
required between harvests of 1853. awl 1854 of bread-
stuffs, 16,927,757 quarters. A. full crop of potatoes may
i d reduceere consi-
dered 4 equal
notthisc
::
at o five threeraillon million
quarters quarters, o
or
iderea
to
have
produced one-14414