al idlers, with a multitude beside (and a miserably raw, rainy,
chilly day they had of it, with very poor racing), yet I should say that
the attendance at the Exhibition was greater than ever before. Certainly
not less than fifty thousand shillings, or $12,000, can have been taken.
For hours, the Grand Avenue, which is nearly or quite half a mile long
and at least thirty feet wide, was so filled with the moving mass that
no vacant spaces could be seen from any position commanding an extensive
prospect, though small ones were occasionally discoverable while
threading the mazes of the throng. The visiters were constantly turning
off into one or another department according to their several tastes;
but their places were as constantly supplied either by new-comers or by
those who, having completed their examinations in one department, were
hastening to another, or looking for one especially attractive. Turn
into whatever corner you might, there were clusters of deeply interested
gazers, intent on making the most of their day and their shilling, while
in the quieter nooks from 1 to 3 o'clock might be seen families or
parties eating the lunch which, with a prophetic foresight of the
miserable quality and exorbitant price of the viands served to you in
the spacious Refreshment Saloons, they had wisely brought from home. But
these saloons were also crowded from an early to a late hour, as they
are almost every day, and I presume the concern which paid a high price
for the exclusive privilege of ministering to the physical appetites
within the Crystal Palace will make a fortune by it, though the
interdiction of Wines and Liquors must prove a serious drawback. It must
try the patience of some of the visiters to do without their beer or ale
from morning to night; and if you leave the building on any pretext,
your shilling is gone. Every actual need of the day is provided for
inside, even to the washing of face and hands (price 2d.). But Night
falls, and the gigantic hive is deserted and closed, leaving its fairy
halls, its infinite wealth, its wondrous achievements, whether of Nature
or of Art, to darkness and silence. Of course, a watch is kept, and,
under pressing and peculiar circumstances, work has been permitted; but
the treasures here collected must be guarded with scrupulous vigilance.
If a fire should consume the Crystal Palace, the inevitable loss must
exceed One Hundred Millions of Dollars, even supposing that a few of the