The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-09-20
C0"e.po"denec Jaae C6urier-Joumai.

brief, terminating tomorrow, this will
probably be my final communication
from the great wilderness. shall leave
the city only because can't take il with
me, my negotiations for the purchase of
1t having signally failed. Our party has
Just returned from visit to the British
Nluseum and the "Zoo." The difference
between the two places, in one respece.
Is that the former has stuffed It's wild an.
lmals once for all, while the latter stuffs
theirs every day. Even Barnum could
see that the running expenses of the
former are the least. The chief attrac.
ton i'm the British Museum is its library
1t probably contains every book worth
storage-room, and, in addition to there,
II serves rs tomb for the literary rub.
D'sh OF The past in manuscripts which
sleep in dust and mold. The building il
of a gloomy architecture (if there is not
such an order there should bel and dingy
as are all the public buildings in Lon.
don. In the pcdimcnt of the center
building there is group of statuary, and
the cmblems of the various crafts Of This
party have been touched up with gold.
which only brings uut the dirt in dis.
graceful relief 1t is the effect of gold
hat-bands on the bnttcred head pieces of
I. group of ragged beggars. In sculpture
tnere Is great; Ideal Of and from tho an.
tiTue, and as Il matter of course we find
those Ubiquitous busts Of the Roman En-.
pcrors. One large room is devoted 10 the
Elgln marbles, the windfalls from the
Iarthenon, carefully picked up by that
skinfiint Scotsman, Lord Elgin, an act
which brought forth Byron's tremendous
satire, "rhe Curse Of Minerva" II il n
much l-battercd and dilapidated lot, beth
men and horses mostly short of n,.cs.
They are supposed to represent ne
'palmy days" of Greek sculpture. but II
the horses arc faithful copies, the horse
of that day was totally different from
the modern horse, and went over the
ground with homeless legs and an abso-
lutte deficiency of muscle. Ncithcr Dan
Swigcrt nor McGrath would have ven.
tnred len cents in u pool on these uuud.
rupeds: The Egyptian room shows n
collection of bcs'ial horrors. The British
Museum, however, is grand institution,
ni'i can supply any iiiiii, wr!ia:ovo. :nay
TIC lis intellectual cravings, with air ex-
i'austless supply Of scientific and arcl,po-
logical crutches. 1t takes n long time
even to skim this enormous institution.
ana the result begets, as everything else
does IN London, an appetite for lunch or
uinncr. We went to the Horse Shoe
Tavern, built on the site OF an old tavern
ol that name, and there found something
American i'll the restaurant i'm the form
OF gliding and fresco work, "a Ia Del.
nlonico's," and with prices hopefully
growing towards those of the latter place.
Here attempted joke upon the highly
respectable young clergyman who waited
i'pIn i.;9 a::1 signally failed. 1t was
something like this:
bring mo slice Of unicorn
BEG pardon, SIR"
iinimer unierdonc, cuukci with n
dash of port wine, and soupcon Of rcd
pepper"
it," '" VIZ ave
Very we'll bring me some SOUP first
and bottle of Chablis."
Twenty times did that clcrically.
dressed individual express his regrets
that the house was out of unicorn. He
seemed to think il was misfortune
almost amounting to disgrace. This
anImai, however, ia abundant in London.
ana can be found over great many shop
doors engaged in violent struggle with
the British lion fer stake OF five shil
Nngs-ons crown. e enc fgr-es "
restaurant bill from the price fist, he will
DO agreeably surprised to find that math-
enaics is not an exact science under the
protessorship of the waiter. It VIM be
seen rom the little mem. furnished that
you have forgotten to allow Tor the price
oi bread, of butter, of mustard and salt,
II the waiter don't foIget the sg.ss .wo
items, and that there is little charge of
one shilling for attendance, which does
not relieve the guest from giving the wait.
er sixpence, probably for non-attend-
ance just at the moment one wants one.
This charge of attendance" is the Con-
tinental Service" under new name,
and it has become so fashionable that
even the lodging-house keepers have
adopted 1t. It will probably get over
TO America in another year.
Among the pictures to be seen in Lon
don those in the French exhibition are
remarkable :or originality es treatment.
and for evidences of the continuous ed.
vencement of tho art. 1 was shown
picture four by six inches, containing ak
or eight full length figures, the faces of
which "efe moi larger than u pea. Seen
through q large magnifying glass, they
come out with tremendous force, showing
touches broad, vigorous and mastery,
IKE those in the best life-sige heads Of
the late Charles Elliott. The proprietor
OF the gallery allowed this picture to me
as one of the coming exhibition and not
yet placed in view. He said he thought
ne had risked nothing in paying i've
hundred pounds for it. -
The National gallery, q very large
building in Trafalgar Square, dingy Of
exterior, Of course,i contains twenty.odd
rooms full of pictures, mostly Of "old
masters" upon which That conscientious
tar, Nelson. standing upon q column in
the square, consistently turned his hack.
This gallery is one of the very few free
exhibitions in London. Even the at
tendants who check umbrellas and canes
illustrate the beatitudes by expecting
nothing, aud ara probably the most op,
pressed men In England Through tie
twenty and odd rooms the visitor wan
ders in continued astonishment and dis,
gust. 1t is. n collection. of old, hony
saints. apostles and holy families, defying
art, but stubbornly upholding their
claims to vorship, as. If the imposition
had not long since been discovered. The
worst .vagrants of the lot wander about
with brass rings, floating above their
heads in defiance of gravitation. Othcrs
have brass dinner-plates fastened TO the
hack nF thair afnila Many nf thet,,
however, never attained the rank OF
corporal in the army of the 'tOld Mas
tefs," Tintoretto, ono of the greatest of
the Venetiens, paints the birth Of the
Savionr as having occurred In q palace.
With an OK locking approvingly on The
three Kings in shoulder eloaia aud trunk