The Sun.
London, England, 1827-08-02 00:00:00

THE COLISEUM, REGENT'S-PARK.

This very novel and interesting undertaking,
which has alreally occupied the projector, and a
'host of artists employed upon it, more than four
years, is now rapidly advancing towards comple-
tion, and is expected to be opened to the public
in the course of the next spring. The scale of
cost upon, which all its details have preceded, is
unparalleled in England ; in fact, we know of no
enterprise in the way of public exhibition in Eu-
rope, that, in splendour, and expense, at all ap-
proaches it. The Panorama alone which is to be
first exhibited—London, as seen from the top
of St. Paul's—in point of extent, is forty times
larger than the panoramas ordinarily produced.
ft_shows not merely every principal street in the
city, and every public edifice, but some section
or portion of every house, unless of those which
are so completely concealed by higher buildings
round as to be accessible to nothing short of
a directly vertical view ; and beyond' this, in
the back ground of the picture, extends a
prospect of the whole country surrounding the
metropolis ; embracing all the leading objects, in
some directions, to an extent exceeding thirty
miles. This picture has been the chief cause of
the length of time which has already been oc-
cupied in the undertaking. From its great ex-
tent, and the vast number of objects contained
in it, added to the mathematical precision with
which it was necessary to the inventor's purpose
that every point should be executed, it has been
found necessary absolutely to educate most of the
artists who are employed., The architectural
painters, of skill or eminence, accustomed to
paint in oil colour, are not numerous ; and of
these many became speedily_ disheartened by the
great magnitude and slaw progresi of the work,
joined to the troublesome accuracy, both of de-
sign and colouring, necessary to its performance;
while others, of considerable talent as landscape
and scene painters, have been found (from the
different character of the works to which they
were accustomed) incompetent to the task.—
some idea may be formed of the scale upon
which the design proceeds, from the fact that one
single building represented—the New Post
()fee—contains near 300 square feet of paint-
ing ; and the whole executed with such exactness
that not a frieze, or even the plinth of a column;
is omitted. The mode in which the Panorama
is to be presented to the spectator, is convenient
and ingenious. As the building is of great
height (more than a hundred and fifty feet) and
different views, at different stages, are given, it
would be a work of considerable labour to ascend
a staircase from bottom to top. To avoid the neces-
sity for this exertion, the room in which the
spectators are placed to see the picture, .is raised;
by one effort, visitors and all; from the level
of the foundation of the structure to the first
platform or gallery, a height exceeding that of
tall four-storied houses, equal to those •of
Grosvenor-square or Portland-place. The ma-
chinery which performs this elevation is infallible;
but very simple. The power employed is that
of water ; so contrived as to, proportion it:
strength to the number of persons—few or many
—who may be in the chamber at the time when
it is to be raised : each individual that enters;
adding, involuntarily, as he passes through the
door, a force to the raising power, equivalent tc
his own weight. At a given signal, the apart-
ment then rises : the panorama 'being all the
while invisible to the 'spectator ; until, At length,
-arriving at the first platform, he seems to stand
on what is called the " iron gallery of St. Pad:.
Cathedral ;" with the great dome, the turrets, and
all those parts of the church which are. visible
from such a position, immediately below him ;
and the city of London, with its various great
features, the river, the bridges, squares, the
suburbs, &c., spreading on all sides, and in every
direction around ! This is a view, which (look-
ing to the accuracy with which its details are
painted) will not be merely highly interesting
both to Englishmen and to foreigners, but -is
also a view which there are no means from
any other point, of obtaining ; for the prospect
from the cathedral itself is always dimmed
and obscured by the smoke and vapour that
hangs ' over the city, except at those very
early hours- (shortly after day-break) in the
morning, when access cannot be obtained to
it. The great size of the picture, added to the
number of objects contained in it, gives it in•
deed the effect rather of a model, on a gigantic
scale, than of a panorama : and the first impres-
sion that strikes the spectator is, how little he
knows of the great outline of the city in which
perhaps he habitually resides ! From this first
stage, however, the visiter proceeds by a spiral
staircase to a second gallery, placed about thirty
feet above the first, the ascent to which is so
managed, that he appears to be mounting by a
scaffolding erected round the lantern of the ca-
thedral, and he actually passes round the real
" ball" and " cross," removed at the time of the
late repairs from the top of the building,—two
relics which, among many other strange and va-
luable memoranda, Mr. Homer has preserved.
At this stage, a second view of the picture is
given ; and still higher up, if we recollect right,
there is a third ; and from thence, winding still
higher, the stranger suddenly emerges in an ex-
tensive gallery, built round the exterior of the
summit of the building ; where it is no longer a
piCture which is before him, but a living pano-
rama of the whole west and north ends of Lon-
don ; with the Regent's-park, the whole of the
new improvements, &c., immediately-under him;
and the hills of Highgate and Hampstead, one
way, and St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey,
the other, in the distance ; this feature alone
forming an exhibition which thousands of per-
sons in the metropolis would be content to pay
a consideration to see.

Very interesting and elaborate, however,
all this appears, it is by no means upon his pa-
norama alone that Mr. Horner has relied for
success ; and, in fact, he has surrounded it with
so many curious adjuncts, that the attention rum
some chance to be distracted from the principai
feature. The ground contained within the wall-
ed enclosure round the Coliseum, a space of es•
sentially not more than four acres, has been con.
verted by some very peculiar and ingenious cir-
cumstances in the way of arrangement, into
landscape and ornamental garden, of apparently
very considerable extent. By a combination ol
real objects, with optical contrivances and illu-
sions, and by raising lofty embankments in some
situations, and excavating the ground to a grew
depth in others, an appearance (and in some
measure a reality) of extent is produced, which,
within the superficial compass, would seem to. be
scarcely possible. High sloping banks, runninc
to a depth far below the natural level, are divided
into terraces, and clothed with exotic plants and
flowers of the most choice and costly description.
Tall trees are so managed as to take their root
from a height even with the top of the walls that
surround the building ; so as at once to inclose
the garden from view and to shut out all exter-
ternal objects. In one quarter of a winding ane,

artificial valley, the spectator, finds himself sud-
denly entering a spacious and splendid conserva-
tory ; the upper part of which, rising into a dome
of glass, is covered with trees and foliage, filled
with every variety of scarce and beautiful foreign
birds; while, in the centre, a fountain plays, sin -
rounded with beds of flowers, within which some
fanciful and emblematic machinery is to be exhis
bited. In another place, conducted through a
subterraneous passage, laid out as a series of
grottoes or caverns, and • enriched with shells;
rock coral, sea-tree, and variety of marine and
geological specimens, he arrives before a Swiss
cottage, built in the most correct as well as pic-
turesque style, and completely furnished within,
after the fashion of the country. Beyond which
a cascade falls over rocks from an actual height
exceeding 50 feet ; the apparent descent (from
the manner in which the view is arranged) being
very largely greater.
These works, however, which are now nearly
completed, are only those originally devised by
. Mr. Horner ; and it gives us great pleasure to
state, that circumstances have enabled him to ex-
tend the plan upon which he set out; A piece
of ground, fourteen acres in extent, has been ob.:
tabled in front of the Coliseum, which will be
connected by an under-ground avenue with the
gardens within ,the walls of the building : and
laid but as an ornamental shrubbery, with foun-
tains, aviaries, temples, &c., upon the same plan
with those already described. The whole exhi-
bition, excepting only the picture, will be occa-
, siotsally opened at night; and on these occasions
the fancy garden will by splendidly illuminated ;
and music given, of a novel and highly delightful
description, produced from an instrinnent which
will not be last among the curious and entertain-
Hong novelties with which the exhibition will
abound. A variety of other interesting features,
and many which the exhibition presents even in its
unfinished state, we must be content to pass with=
out referring to. The flowers, plants, ores, arid
various natural curiosities, employed iu the course
of the decoration, are not merely of a showy,
but of a really rare and recherche character.—
The Panorama is so managed, that the light
upon it, as the spectator gazes, is constantly
changing ; and these varieties are not confined
to any given list, but go on multiplying ad ins
finitum. A refectory is constructed near the
top of the building, which will be supplied by-
the aid of a little machinery, with ices, &c.,
brought up from the cool cellars below the level
of the foundation ; and the most entire attention
is to be paid to the style and quality ofthe re-.
freshments provided,—a circumstance, in our
places of entertainment in general, very heinously
neglected. Beyond this, some means will be
adopted to show the power of an echo within the
,building, which is of extraordinary force : re
peating the voice more than twenty times. rn
the night exhibitions, a light as strong as that of
day will be thrown. upon the gardens, &c.i
without a single lamp or candle being visible
the intention is, that the light shall proceed from
the beds of flowers, so as to be invisible them-
selves, while they illuminate every object rosind.
And in order to be as independent as possible
in his evening exhibitions of all uncertainty of.
weather, the projector intends to construct above.
the building—a moon of his own ! This last
proposition might, under some circumstances,
appear a little staggering; but, judging from that
which is already done, if it svers " an atmosphere
and a sun," instead of a moon, we should feel
bound 'to be perfectly confident of its being aca
complished.
This notice has already extended itself to such
length, that we must defer making any comment
upon the building itself ; except to observe that,
both as to correct taste, and solidity of execu-
tion, it appears throughout to do high credit to
the architect. All 'the interior points of warm-
ing and ventilation have been attended to with
great ingenuity and judgment ; and one feature
of the exterior—the great entrance-door under
the portico—will be, when it is finished, one of
the handsomest objects of the kind that ever
was produced. Besides this, several striking
circumstances will be introduced in the arrange-.
went of the piece of ground in front of the
edifice ; and hopes are entertained of a distinct
entrance into the Park being granted, for the-
purpose of making a handsome approach to it.
ft may be as well here to notice a report that
is understood to have gone forth in some di-,
sections, that this production was the device of
various artists, and that the money ' was' fur-
nished by capitalists, who had felt some doubt
about advancing the requisite funds as it pro-
ceeded. No part of this story, we believe, has
any foundation in truth ; the entire control of
the undertaking has devolved upon Mr. Hor-
ner, with whom also all the various circumstances
of the design have originated ; and the length of
time occupied has been merely occasioned by his
fixed determination to have the work executed
throughout with the same accuracy and, excel-
lence with which it was commenced. To have
completed a building only, however, of ouch ex-
tent and solidity as the Coliseum, very rapidly,
under any circumstances, would hardly have been
possible. In conclusion, we are but doing
scanty justice to Mr. Homer when we say, that
in those parts which are already completed of his
undertaking, he has exhibited the possession of
such faculties and such resources as fall to the
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great as the outlay has been in its construction,
we havep not a question that the expense will be'
largely and rapidly repaid.

ACT Or BRUTALITY.--Between five and
six o'clock yesterday evening, as some children
were playing on the foot-pavement in Shoe-lane,
close to the wooden partition which separates
the space intended for the new market, one of
the stone-masons working within the enclosure
wantonly struck a fine boy about 12 years of age,
with his mallet, through a hole at the bottom of
the boards, upon the allele, and the blow caused
mat
itaiitic:
without
edidat h-t, itotiel,
humattpstuhtcoe
the poor boy instantly to fall to the ground.
Some of the neighbours immediately carried the
lad to the house of his parents, in Richard's-
buildings, opposite. The agony and cries of the
t h et r
the
e( fa
blow,r 1 n aa
add dI
made
preg-
nancy) to go into strong hysterics, from which
she was with considerable difficulty recovered.
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poor
man
oiselaryws,wbaogodoriuvkydl
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boy
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walk, and a gentleman present recommended that
he should he taken to St. Bartholomew's Hos-
pital; where the, extent of the• injury would be
ascertained, and proper remedies applied.