The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-06-17 00:00:00

THE GREAT EXHIBITION.

There are several changes in the interior, completed or
contemplated, which deserve notice. The first of these is
that the gigantic American eagle which overshadowed
with its wings the east entrance of the building has been
entirely eclipsed by Messrs. Gray and Davidson's organ,
which has been recently removed there. The king of
birds, after a vain effort to cover the emptiness of the
Yankee compartment, appears to be shrinking abashed
behind the melodious shelter afforded to it, and our cou-
sins really have reason to congratulate themselves that
their eagle at last shews some traces of modesty and diffi-
dence. Anotherpoint of interest relates to the Koh-i-noor.
After all the work which has been made about that cele-
brated diamond our readers will be rather surprised to
hear that many people find a difficulty in bringing them-
selves to believe, from its external appearance, that it is
anything but a piece of common glass. Amid all the ad-
ventures that have befallen it, there is, perhaps, none
more odd than that its genuineness should now be doubted.
Yet so it is. The fact is, that the " Mountain of Light"
has been shockingly ill-used in the cutting, And that when
placed in the open light of day, without any arrangements
to draw forth its brilliancy, it does not sparkle and gleam
like other jewels of the kind. To obviate this disadvan-
tage, and demonstrate to the world that the Koh-i-Noor
is a veritable diamond, it is to be surrounded with a ca-
nopy or tent, the interior of which is to be lighted with
gas, and the idea is that this will develope its beauties as a
gem of the purest water, with a certainty and splendour
which undoubtedly are not attained at present.
A remarkable feature of Thursday s experience in the
interior of the Exhibition was the appearalce there, at an
early hour, of nearly 800 agricultural labourers and coun-
try folk, from the neighbourhood of Godstone, in Surrey,
headed by the clergymen of the parishes to which they
respectively belonged, and organised for the occasion into
companies like a regiment of militia. They paid ls. 6d.
each towards the expenses of the trip, the rest bring
defrayed by the gentry of the neighbourhood ; and, not-
withstanding the state of the weather, they were conveyed
to the Exhibition and back again to their own homes in a
very expeditious manner, and with the utmost :are for
their comfort. The railway station was reached by wag-
gons, and from London-bridge terminus to Westminster
they were brought up by steamer. Thence, after seeing
Westminster-hall, they proceeded on foot and in march-
ing order to the Crystal Palace, and, having spent several
hours there in exploring the wonders of art and industry,
at four o'clock they took their departure, returning as
they came. The men wore their smartest smockfrocks,
the women their best Sunday dresses, and more perfect
specimens of rustic attire, rustic faces, and rustic manners,
could hardly be produced from any part of England. The
town portion of the assemblage gathered round them as
they mustered before departing in the transept, with looks
full of curiosity, not unmingled with a species of half
pitying interest ; and many were the questions put to
them as to what they thought of the Exhibition ? what
they were most struck by ? whether they understood what
they had seen ? and if they would like to come again ?
After some little marshalling they left the Exhibition in
close order, moving three abreast—an affecting array of
young and old, male and female, in which each observer
might read with his own eyes the evidences of a laborious
life, little relieved by intelligence or education, but simple,
unpretending, and not unaccompanied by domestic virtue
and happiness.
On Friday the price of admission was half-a-crown, and
£2,206 ss. was the amount taken at the doors, the num-
ber of visitors being 24,520.
The Duke of Devonshire has sent to the Crystal Palace
a very remarkable contribution in the shape of a hawk,
which is executed with great spirit, and studded all over
with precious stones. This object will no doubt attract
great attention, and will probably be placed in the nave,
near the department of Holland. His Grace has also for-
warded a magnificent snake-chain of silver filligree work,
the design of which is singularly chaste and beautiful.
We understand that measures are to be at once adopted
for allowing the humbler classes easy access to the model
cottages of the Prince Consort. The narrowness of the
staircase renders it necessary to limit the number of visi-
tors at a time, but no great practical difficulty is likely to
arise from this.

The ex-Queen of the French, accompanied by the
Duchess of Orleans and several other members of the late
King's family, visited the Exhibition on Friday, and were
chiefly occupied in examining the industrial products of
the country which they so lately ruled. It was an affect-
ing sight to withess the respectful sympathy of manner
with which they were received. M. Salandrouze, with
head uncovered, conducted them through the collection,
and the Frenchmen present paid all suitable homage to
the illustrious visitors. Our countrymen and women
were hardly so polite, their curiosity collecting them in a
dense mass round the strangers.
On Saturday morning the Queen and Prince Albert re-
sumed their examination of the interior and their personal
interviews with exhibitors. Their first visit was paid to
the Koh-i-noor, which is now surrounded within a tent,
lighted in a particular manner by gas. It was confidently
expected that this experiment to develope the lustre of the
diatr4ond would be attended with complete success,
but the result still remains unsatisfactory. The Norwich
shawls, lace, and poplins, which are arranged in the south
galleries of the transept, next attracted the attention of
the Royal party, and Her Majesty was pleased to make
several purchases here.
Business in London is still at a stand-still. During
Whitsun-week even the streets were not more crowded
than usual, nor was attendance at the Crystal Palace
larger than it was previously. The theatres and other
places of public amusement say they never saw so dull a
season. Batty, who must have been at enormous expense
in the erection and fitting up of his Hippodrome at Ken-
sington, is said to be losing some two or three hundred
pounds a week.

Lord Stanley, at the annual dinner of the Merchant
Tailors' Company, London, on Wednesday last, in a bril-
liant speech, testified to the success of the Great Exhi-
bition.

Up to.the present time there are among 'the articles
found in the Exhibition and deposited with the police, 75
parasols and 175 silk handkerchiefs, which have not been
claimed. A silver watch and two or three purses, with
money enclosed therein, are also included in the unclaimed
list. .

Mr. Ruskin, in one of the appendices to his recently.
published " Stories of Venice," thus justly criticises and
condemns the Great Glass Building in Hyde Park :
" All art which is worth its room in this world, all art which
is not a piece of blundering refuse, is art which proceeds from
an individual mind, working through instruments which assist,
but do not supersede the muscular action of the human hand,
upon the materials which most tenderly receive, and most se-
curely retain, the impressions of such human labour. And the
value of every work of art is exactly in the ratio of the quan-
tity of humanity which has been put into it, and legibly ex-
pressed upon it for ever :—First, of thought and moral purpose;
secondly, of technical skill ; thirdly, of bodily industry. The
quantity of bodily industry which the Crystal Palace expresses
is very great. So far it is good. The quantity of thought it
expresses is, I suppose, a single thought of Mr. Paxton's, pro-
bably not a bit brighter than thousands of thoughts which pass
through his active and intelligent brain every hour—that it
was possible to build a greenhouse larger than any greenhouse
was built before. This thought and some very ordinary
algebra, are as much as all that glass can represent of human
intellect. But one poor half-pennyworth of bread to all this
intolerable deal of sack.' Alas I
The earth bath bubbles as the water hath :
And this is of them.' "