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LONDON : 
 
 JAMES S. VIRTUE, CITY ROAD, AND IVY LANE. 
 SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 THE SYDENHAM 
 
 CRYSTAL PALACE 
 
 EXP 0 S I T 0 R. 
 
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 WITH 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS ON STEEL AND WOOD. 
 
LONDON, VIRTUE 
 
 Vr. C . MARSHALL. A.Jft.A . 
 
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 THE 
 
 CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 INTHODU CTIOX. 
 
 HE international exhibition of the products of 
 Art and Industry, which was held in the 
 Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, in 1851, produced 
 a permanent impression on the public mind. 
 It had afforded gratification and instruction to 
 millions ; and although government had pledged 
 itself to take down the building at a specified date, a very 
 strong and general feeling was expressed against its demo- 
 lition. Before the magnificent structure had been raised, 
 various opinions had been entertained as to the most eligible 
 site, and the selection of Hyde Park had been vigorously 
 resisted by the owners of property in its neighbourhood. 
 Under these circumstances, after the choice of locality had been 
 finally settled, it was distinctly understood that the edifice should 
 be removed when its temporary purpose had been served. Such a 
 pledge having been given, its retention would have been a flagrant 
 breach of faith. Nevertheless, many effoi'ts were made to preserve 
 the fabric ; and some proposed to convert it into a winter garden. 
 A variety of schemes were propounded, all tending to convert it into 
 a national structure. The last struggle was made by Mr. Hey wood, 
 in the House of Commons, on the 29th April, 1852, when the 
 government declined the responsibility of purchasing and up- 
 holding the building; and, on a division, Mr. Heywood’s motion 
 was lost by a very decided majority. 
 
 The aid of Parliament being thus rendered hopeless, private 
 enterprise alone — which has effected so many wonders in this 
 country — could rescue the edifice from destruction. The site, indeed, 
 was lost for ever ; but the materials might be removed to another 
 locality. This idea presented itself to Mr. Leech, of the firm of 
 Johnston, Farqihir, and Leech, solicitors; and he resolved to 
 organise a company and raise the funds necessary to complete his 
 project. In this he completely succeeded; and, on the 24th of 
 May, 1852, the Crystal Palace, as it stood, was purchased from 
 Messrs. Fox and Henderson, by whom it had been built. As asso- 
 ciated with this magnificent scheme, the names of the original 
 purchasers deserve to be here recorded. They were Mr. T. N. 
 Farquhar, Mr. Francis Fuller, Mr. llobert Gill, Mr. Harman G rise- 
 wood, Mr. Joseph Leech, Mr. J. C. Morice, Mr. Scott llussell, Mi-. 
 Leo Schuster, and Mr. Samuel Laing. The price paid by these 
 gentlemen to Messrs. Fox and Henderson for the Palace was 
 £75,000 ; and those eminent contractors agreed to take it down* 
 and remove it, and construct a new edifice for £120,000. These 
 arrangements being matured, the Crystal Palace Company was 
 formed, with an original capital of £500,000, divided into 100,000 
 shares of £5 each. 
 
 The next proceeding was the choice of a locality. Space might 
 have been obtained in London, or in its immediate suburbs for a 
 mere building, but the directors of the undertaking had more 
 enlarged and wiser views. They determined to surround the new 
 Palace with a spacious garden, ornamented with terraces, fountains, 
 
 
2 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 statues, and sheets of water; and devote a portion of it to the 
 figures of the extinct animals which geology has discovered. To 
 effect these objects, a considerable area of ground was requisite ; and 
 to give the best effect to the whole construction, it was desirable that 
 the Palace should be built on a commanding eminence, surrounded 
 by rural scenery. In the choice of a site, a rapid and inexpensive 
 access from London was indispensable. After mature deliberation, 
 Penge Park, Sydenham, was selected, as uniting in itself all the 
 advantages and facilities for carrying into execution this vast and 
 noble design. The property belonged to Mr. Schuster. It contained 
 171 acres ; and the purchase, arranged by arbitration, was fixed at 
 £86,661. In addition, 178 acres were bought for £81,000 : a portion 
 of which was afterwards resold by the Company at a profit of 
 £50,000. On the 28th of January, 1853, a charter was granted to 
 the Company by the Earl of Derby’s administration — thus confer- 
 ring on the enterprise the character of a National Institution. 
 
 While the building was erecting, Mr. Owen Jones and Mr. Digby 
 Wyatt, to whom the superintendence of the Fine Art Department 
 had been entrusted, were sent on a mission to the continent, to 
 obtain models of the principal works of Art in Europe. The Earl 
 of Malmesbury, at that time Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
 gave those gentlemen recommendatory letters to the English ambas- 
 sadors resident at the various Courts to which they were accredited, 
 expressive of the interest felt by our government in the success of 
 their labours. With the exception of Rome, Padua, and Vienna, 
 every aid was afforded to the travellers; but at the three cities 
 mentioned they met with a narrow-minded refusal. In one district 
 in England this discourtesy was imitated — the churchwardens of 
 Beverley Minster, in Yorkshire, not permitting a copy to be taken 
 of the Percy Shrine. The jealousy or envy of foreigners may admit 
 of some excuse, however small ; but that any body of Englishmen 
 should be tainted by so illiberal a spirit as that manifested by the 
 churchwardens of Beverley Minster would be incredible, were not 
 the fact too disgracefully notorious. 
 
 Sir Joseph Paxton, the most celebrated horticulturist of the day, 
 was appointed to superintend the gardens and collect plants to be 
 placed in the interior of the Palace. He obtained the beautiful 
 stock of palms which belonged to the Messrs. Loddigcs of Hackney, 
 and some splendid orange-trees from the conservatory of Versailles. 
 The various courts contained in the building were formed and 
 decorated under the eye of taste and judgment; gentlemen being 
 appointed most eminent for their knowledge in each department, 
 and for their skill in the art of reconstruction. Workmen from 
 almost every continental nation were employed, and laboured 
 together with remarkable unanimity. As many as 6400 men were 
 engaged during the progress of this gigantic undertaking. 
 
 The Crystal Palace is built upon a basement story, which is to 
 be appropriated to machinery in motion. By this arrangement a 
 considerable elevation is gained, as in Somerset House compared 
 with the New Houses of Parliament on the river frontage, and 
 imparts to the whole structure a most commanding appearance. 
 Above this basement floor the building consists of a grand central 
 nave, two side aisles, two main galleries, three transepts, and two 
 wings. With the exception of a portion at the north front, 
 panelled with wood, the whole is built of iron and glass. As the 
 dimensions given in Mr. Phillips’s Guide Booh are official, they are 
 transferred to these columns, and to ensure perfect accuracy are 
 given in his own words: “ The whole length of the main building 
 is 1608 feet, and the wings 574 feet each, making a length of 2756 
 feet, which, with the 720 feet in the colonnade leading from the 
 railway-station to the wings, gives a total length of 3476 feet ; or 
 nearly three quarters of a mile of ground covered with a transparent 
 roof of glass. The length of the Hyde Park building was 1848 
 feet, so that, including the wings and colonnade, the present struc- 
 ture is larger than its predecessor by 1628 feet; the area of the 
 groundfloor, including the wings, amounts to the astonishing quan- 
 tity of 598,396 superficial feet ; and the area of gallery flooring of 
 building and wings to 245,260 superficial feet, altogether 843,656 
 superficial feet. In cubic contents the Palace of Sydenham exceeds 
 its predecessor by nearly one half. The width of the nave, or main 
 avenue, is 72 feet, which is also the width of the north and south 
 transepts ; and the height of all three from the floor to the springing 
 or base of the arch is 68 feet ; the height from the flooring to the 
 crown or top of the arch being 104 feet— just the height of the 
 transept at the old building. The length of the north and south 
 
 transepts is 336 feet respectively. The length of the central 
 transept is 384 feet; its width 120; its height from the floor to 
 the top of the louvre, or ventilator, 168 feet ; from the floor to the 
 springing of the arch 108 feet ; and from the garden front to the 
 top of the louvre 208 feet — or six feet higher than the Monument. 
 The glass employed in the roof is l-13th of an inch in thickness (21 
 oz. per foot). The total weight of iron used in the main building 
 and wings amounts to 9041 tons, 17 cwts., 1 quarter. The super- 
 ficial quantity of glass used is 25 acres ; and if the panes were 
 laid side by side, they would extend to a distance of 48 miles ; if 
 end to end, to the almost incredible length of 242 miles.” 
 
 The first column of the Sydenham Palace was raised on the 5th 
 August, 1852; and the building was opened to the public, in a 
 yet unfinished state, on the 10th June, 1854, under the cheering 
 auspices of Royalty. This happy event it is our duty to comme- 
 morate in this introductory chapter. The day was most favourable, 
 the sun bright and warm, and an hour before the opening all the 
 approaches were crowded by anxious and excited visitors. Under 
 a canopy suspended from the roof of the central transept stood the 
 chair of state, prepared for her Majesty, and ere she arrived the 
 whole length of the nave and the first gallery were densely 
 crowded, except the dais reserved for the queen and her royal 
 guests. Behind the dais rose an amphitheatre appropriated to 
 three bands, several eminent vocalists, and a volunteer chorus of 
 1800 singers. Miss Clara Novello was the solo singer at this 
 inaugural ceremony. The Lords and Commons occupied amphi- 
 theatres in the galleries. Several Indian princes, arrayed in the full 
 splendour of oriental costume, were present. A host of mayors and 
 aldermen, headed by the Lord Mayors of London, Dublin, and York, 
 were ranged on the floor of the transept, in the imposing dignity 
 of official robes and civic fur. As the clock struck three, the arrival 
 of Her Majesty was announced amidst repeated peals of loyal 
 cheering, which rang joyously and exultingly through the crystal 
 arches. Her Majesty took her seat on the raised dais, accompanied 
 by the young King of Portugal and his brother the Duke of Oporto, 
 the Duchess of Kent, and the Princess Royal, and the Princess 
 Alice on her right hand, while his Royal Highness Prince Albert, 
 the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Duchess of Cambridge, and 
 the Princess Mary of Cambridge were on her left. Behind this 
 august circle stood the Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, the Earl of Breadalbane, the Marquis of Abercorn, the Ladies in 
 Waiting, Equerries, and other official personages. As soon as the 
 illustrious party had taken their seats, the army of singers, accom- 
 panied by the three bands, executed the national anthem, “ God 
 Save the Queen,” in a style of excellence that drew delicious tears 
 from many an eye. This performance fully proved that the 
 building was admirably constructed for musical purposes, as the 
 sweet and swelling strains were distinctly heard in all directions. 
 
 When the music ceased, Mr. Laing, chairman of the Company, 
 ascended the dais, and read the following address from a parchment 
 roll : — 
 
 “ May it please your Majesty to accept the assurance of our de- 
 voted loyalty and attachment to your throne and person, and of our 
 gratitude for the kind condescension with which your Majesty has 
 consented to honour with your presence the ceremony of this day. 
 
 “ Among the many memorable events of your Majesty’s happy 
 reign, the Great Exhibition of 1851 occupied a prominent place. 
 The idea, for which the nineteenth century was indebted to your 
 illustrious Consort Prince Albert, of an exhibition open to the 
 products of all industries and of all nations, marked of itself an era 
 in the annals of civilisation. It marked the disappearance of old 
 commercial jealousies and international prejudices before the com- 
 bining influences of modern science and the liberal spirit of modern 
 legislation. 
 
 “ The realisation of this idea was worthy of its conception. An 
 entirely novel order of architecture, producing, by means of unri- 
 valled mechanical ingenuity, the most marvellous and beautiful 
 effects, sprang into existence to provide a building. In this building 
 a collection of the choicest products of all that the human intellect 
 contrives and the human hand executes, was exhibited during a 
 period of six months, for the instruction and delight of assembled 
 millions. 
 
 “ The conduct of those millions was of itself one of the most 
 remarkable features of this great event. The perfect order and 
 decorum which prevailed, the enlightened interest and ready 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 3 
 
 appreciation which were displayed, afforded the most conclusive 
 refutation of the prejudice which regarded the industrious masses 
 of our English nation with mistrust, and represented them as 
 rude, destitute of refinement, insensible to the humanising influences 
 of Art, and incapable of rational and enlightened refinement. 
 
 “ The Great Exhibition of 1851 afforded a conclusive proof, by the 
 enlightened interest and ready appreciation which were displayed, 
 that the people of England were prepared to receive instruction 
 when it was afforded to them, and to embrace whatever oppor- 
 tunities were given for the cultivation of taste and for the develop- 
 ment of the instinctive love of the beautiful. 
 
 “ The establishment of this fact, and the recognition of the 
 civilising influences so widely exerted by the Great Exhibition, led 
 to a general feeling, when its removal from Hyde Park became 
 necessary, that some' attempt should be made to perpetuate those 
 influences in a more permanent form in another locality. 
 
 “ This undertaking, the inauguration of which your Majesty this 
 day honours with your presence, originated in this feeling. Private 
 enterprise, appealed to in the interests of civilisation, supplied the 
 funds. The men whose names had acquired European celebrity in 
 connection with the Crystal Palace of 1851, placed their services at 
 the disposal of the directors in their respective departments. The 
 enlightened patronage of Royalty, and the sympathy and the 
 support of public opinion, the generous eo-operation of distinguished 
 men in science and art, urged on the undertaking and impressed it 
 with a national character. The liberality of foreign governments 
 threw open every museum, and afforded facilities never before known 
 for acquiring a complete series of the finest works of ancient and 
 modern art. 
 
 “ Thus aided and encouraged, the original idea expanded into 
 wider dimensions. It was resolved to attempt the creation of a 
 Palace and Park which should at once be a fitting ornament of the 
 greatest metropolis of the civilised world, an unrivalled school of 
 art and instrument of instruction, and a monument worthy of the 
 age and of the British empire. 
 
 “ It was hoped to prove that the spirit of a free people can not 
 only create wealth, extend commerce and colonies, and take the 
 lead in every department of moral and material progress, but can 
 at the same time rival the proudest works of absolute monarchs, 
 lavishing the resources of nations in the decoration of a favourite 
 residence or the embellishment of a chosen capital. 
 
 “ With these views the Directors embraced three leading objects 
 in their undertaking — amusement and recreation, instruction, and 
 commercial utility. 
 
 “ The first object was sought to be attained by the creation of a 
 New Crystal Palace, far exceeding the original structure of 1851 in 
 dimensions and in architectural effect, of a terraced garden and 
 park on a scale of magnificence worthy of the palace, and of a 
 system of fountains and waterworks exceeding anything which the 
 world has yet witnessed. 
 
 “ The educational object embraces a complete historical illus- 
 tration of the arts of sculpture and architecture from the earliest 
 works of Egypt and Assyria down to modern times, comprising 
 casts of every celebrated statue in the world, and restorations of 
 some of its most remarkable monuments. 
 
 “In science, geology, ethnology, zoology, and botany, receive 
 appropriate illustrations — the principle of which has been to 
 combine scientific accuracy with popular effect ; and in its ultimate 
 development the Directors are bold enough to look forward to the 
 Crystal Palace of 1854 becoming an illustrated encyclopedia of this 
 great and varied universe, where every art and every science may 
 find a place, and where every visitor may find something to interest, 
 and be taught through the medium of the eye to receive impressions 
 kindling a desire for knowledge, and awakening instincts of the 
 beautiful. 
 
 “ Combined with art and science, industry receives its due 
 interpretation. The Industrial Exhibition is based on principles of 
 commercial utility, taught by the experience of the Great Exhi- 
 bition of 1851. The advantage to national interests of a place 
 where the best products of different industries and localities could 
 be seen and appreciated, was no less manifest than the importance 
 to individual producers of such an unrivalled means of publicity, and 
 the conveniences to buyers and sellers of such a world’s fair for the 
 exhibition and inspection of goods, and the transaction of mutual 
 business. 
 
 “ The Crystal Palace of 1854 will perpetuate those advantages 
 under regulations suited to the permanent character of the Industrial 
 Exhibition. As in 1851, the doors will be thrown open freely for 
 the products of all nations'; and the presence of so many distin- 
 guished representatives of foreign governments on this occasion, 
 affords a gratifying proof that enlightened men throughout the 
 world are alive to the advantages of such common centres of 
 friendly union, both to the arts of industry and to the highest 
 interests of peace and civilisation. 
 
 “ Such, may it please your Majesty, is a brief outline of the 
 objects which the promoters of this undertaking have proposed to 
 realise. It will be apparent that the comprehensiveness of the plan 
 precludes the idea of absolute completeness. The colossal scale 
 of the proposed system of waterworks makes another year 
 requisite to insure their proper display. The industrial department 
 being of a permanent character cannot, as in the case of a temporary 
 exhibition, be finished by a given day. The plants and flowers, 
 which will form such a main feature of attraction, require time for 
 their growth. The educational scheme is purposely traced so as to 
 leave room for future development. 
 
 “ Under these circumstances, the Directors have considered it 
 their duty to throw the Palace and Park open to the public as soon 
 as they are sufficiently completed to enable a fair judgment to be 
 formed how far the undertalcing deserves success, and how far it has 
 achieved it. 
 
 “ Your Majesty has heard the statement of the motives in which 
 this enterprise originated, and of the principles on which it has 
 been conducted; it rests with your Majesty now to judge whether 
 the performance equals the promise, and whether the Palace and 
 Park, with their varied contents which surround us, are worthy to 
 be considered — what the Directors, whose organ I am, would think 
 their highest praise — a legitimate offspring of the Great Exhibition 
 of 1851, and an appropriate development of one of the noblest ideas 
 of modern civilisation.” 
 
 To this address her Majesty made the following gracious reply : — 
 
 “ I receive with much pleasure the loyal and dutiful address 
 which you have presented to me upon the present occasion. 
 
 “ It is a source of the highest satisfaction to myself and to the 
 Prince my Consort to find that the great Exhibition of 1851, which 
 was so happily inaugurated under our auspices, suggested the idea 
 of this magnificent undertaking, which has produced so noble a 
 monument of the genius, science, and enterprise of my subjects. 
 
 “ It is my earnest wish and hope that the bright anticipations 
 which have been formed as to its future destiny may, under the 
 blessing of Divine Providence, be completely realised; and that this 
 wonderful structure, and the treasures of art and knowledge which 
 it contains may long continue to elevate and instruct, as well as to 
 delight and amuse, the minds of all classes of my people.” 
 
 Gold medals commemorative of the opening, struck by Messrs. 
 J. 11. Pinches and Co., were then presented to her Majesty by 
 Mr. Fuller, the Managing Director ; after which Mr. Laing pre- 
 sented the leading gentlemen, who had superintended the various 
 departments, to the Queen, who graciously accepted the various 
 Hand-books. A procession was then formed of the Directors, 
 Contractors, and other functionaries. To them succeeded Mr. 
 Fuller, Mr. Laing, and Sir Joseph Paxton ; her Majesty and the 
 royal cortege immediatelj" followed, making a tour of the building 
 and inspecting the courts. This ceremonial being concluded, her 
 Majesty resumed her seat on the dais, and the procession clustered 
 round her temporary throne. The Hundredth Psalm was sung 
 with impressive solemnity, when the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 standing forward at the left of the throne, offered up the following 
 prayer : — 
 
 “ Almighty and everlasting God ! who dost govern all things 
 both in heaven and earth, incline thy ear, we entreat thee, to thy 
 people which call upon thee, and graciously receive our prayers ! 
 Without thee nothing is strong, nothing is holy. ‘ Except the Lord 
 build the house, their labour is but lost who build it.’ And now 
 we entreat thee to bless the work which we have accomplished in 
 this place, and to render it the means of promoting thy glory. 
 May those who admire the wonders of nature which are here dis- 
 played, be taught to perceive in those the vigour of that creative 
 wisdom by which all things fulfil the purposes which they are 
 designed to serve; enable those who survey the wonders of art and 
 
4 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 industry which surround them, to remember that it is by thee that 
 knowledge is increased, and science made to minister to the benefit 
 and comfort of mankind; for the spirit of man is from thee, and the 
 inspiration of the Almighty givetli him understanding ; therefore, 
 * Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be all the 
 praise.’ While we contemplate the remains of former ages and the 
 monuments of ancient greatness, enable us to profit by the examples 
 they afford of the instability of earthly things, and ever to bear in 
 mind that according to thy providence nations flourish or decay ; 
 that thou hast but to give the word, and the richest may become 
 poor, and the proudest be levelled into dust. Therefore, 0 Lord, we 
 entreat thee so to regulate the thoughts of our hearts that they may 
 not be lifted up that we forget the Lord our God, as if our power or 
 the might of our hands had gotten us this wealth. It comcth 
 of thine hand, and is all thine own ; both riches and honour come 
 of thee, and thou rcignest over all, and in thy hand it is to make 
 
 great and give strength to all. Now, therefore, O Lord, we thank 
 thee and praise thy glorious name, and beseech thee to grant that 
 the many blessings vouchsafed to our nation may dispose our hearts 
 to serve thee more faithfully, and in all that we undertake to seek 
 thy honour and glory. Above all teach us so to use the earthly 
 blessings thou givest us richly to enjoy, that they may not withdraw 
 our affections from those heavenly things that thou hast prepared 
 for those that love and serve thee, through the merits and media- 
 tion of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose prevailing words 
 and name we further call on thee.” 
 
 The Archbishop concluded the religious ceremony with the 
 Lord s Prayer. The “ Hallelujah ” chorus was performed bv the 
 orchestra with overpowering effect ; when the Marquis of Bread- 
 albane, as Lord Chamberlain, declared the Palace open bj' her 
 Majesty’s command. The national anthem then resounded from the 
 1800 musicians, and the inauguration of the building was complete. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 Ix the Address delivered by Mr. Laing, the purposes to which 
 the magnificent building is dedicated are comprehensively stated, 
 they are emphatically of a national character, and every subject of 
 these realms is personally interested in the success of the under- 
 taking. Both within and without the walls of the Palace the 
 student finds materials for meditation. He may trace history up 
 to its remote sources in the restored ruins of buried empires, and 
 penetrate the obscure recesses of the earliest traditions. The old 
 kingdoms of Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt, display their wondrous 
 monuments to his astonished gaze; and his mind is even led back to 
 the plains of Shinar, the Dispersion of Mankind, and the Confusion j 
 of longues. Piety is warmed, and faith strengthened, by the con- I 
 firmatory evidence of the truth of Scripture discovered in the j 
 cuneiform writings stamped on the bricks and cylinders of Nineveh, 
 Babylon, and Persepolis. Even the casual observer, who merely 
 seeks to gratify the eye, must be devoid of all finer feelings if lie 
 is unawed by the contemplation of these solemn memorials of the 
 past; and it is difficult to believe that any who witness them can J 
 ever shake off the impression they are so calculated to produce, i 
 On the contrary, the veil once raised they will be disposed to j 
 extend their inquiries, and enlarge their sphere of knowledge by 
 reading and criticism; and this is one of the educational forms ' 
 under which the utility of the Crystal Palace may be demonstrated ; 
 for had not these objects been palpably represented to the senses, 
 they would have remained unknown to the millions who have 
 neither the leisure nor the opportunity to peruse historical and 
 
 * These figures are at the north end of the Palace ; we shall refer to them 
 wiicn we treat of Ethnology. 
 
 [ scientific works, and who want a friendly guide to conduct them to 
 the portals of the temple of knowledge. That guide they will find 
 in the various courts contained in the interior of the building. 
 
 If the Assyrian and Egyptian courts carry us back to the most 
 remote antiquity, illustrating their curious architecture, their 
 gigantic sculptures, their long-forgotten alphabets, and their inge- 
 nious hieroglyphics — and if they humble our pride in teaching us 
 that thousands of years ago nations existed who executed colossal 
 works which modern science and mechanism might fail to accom- 
 plish, the Greek and Roman sculpture courts teach us how much 
 we have yet to learn in the highest departments of Art, by exhi- 
 biting to us models of grace and symmetry, beautiful in their 
 conception, and unapproached in the delicacy and completeness of 
 their execution. These courts constitute a real school of Art, 
 not only for those who may handle the chisel professionally, but for 
 all classes. There can be no doubt that the itinerant vendors of 
 images have done much, humble though their calling be, to improve 
 the artistic taste of the people ; how much more then may bo 
 reasonably expected from these groups of classified figures, selected 
 with the finest judgment, and arranged with consummate skill? 
 That the national taste has been highly purified during the last 
 thirty years is proved by the vast demand for illustrated books, and 
 the high favour now accorded to Parian statuettes. This culture 
 extends much further than might be supposed on a superficial 
 reflection: it enters into domestic life, into the humblest household; 
 and, however unperceived in its silent operation, promotes neatness, 
 cleanliness, and self-respect, — for it is one of the blessings of Art to 
 be diffusive, and variously to influence wherever it penetrates. It 
 acts somewhat like the love of flowers'; and who has not observed 
 that the interiors of those cottages are the most tidy to which a 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 small garden is attached? In this sense we may consider the 
 sculptures of the Crystal Palace as educational of the better feelings 
 of the millions. 
 
 The Alhambra Court is unique in its kind, introducing the 
 visitor to the genius of the Moors or Morescoes, long dominant in 
 the most beautiful portions of Spain, and by whom this magnificent 
 structure was raised. It is remarkable for the minuteness of its 
 elaboration and the brilliancy of its colouring, but of course only 
 represents a portion of the original. The parts reproduced are the 
 “ Court of Lions,” the “ Hall of Justice,” and the “ Hall of the 
 Abcncerrages.” Here, too, while the eye is delighted, the mind is 
 instructed. This once mighty race, skilled to an eminent degree 
 in architecture, learned in the exact sciences, and of chivalrous 
 valour, has been swept away — a memorable instance of the insta- 
 bility of human greatness ! While we contemplate this scene, and 
 think of the conquest of Granada, in which city the Alhambra 
 stood, it is painful to remember that the first use that Ferdinand 
 and Isabella made of their victory was to establish the Inquisition. 
 It avenged the expulsion of the Moors. 
 
 The design of the Pompeian Court is to make us acquainted with 
 what is most remarkable in the discovered remains of Pompeii and 
 Herculaneum, buried beneath the eruption of Vesuvius, in the year 
 79 of our era. It represents a dwelling-house divided into its 
 separate apartments. Little did any of its inhabitants foresee that 
 savage Britain would one day commemorate the existence of their 
 city, and their domestic habits, within a few miles of the banks of 
 the Thames ! 
 
 The Byzantine and Romanesque Court is one of the most attractive 
 in the building ; for the structures it represents are not mere 
 reproductions, but many of them are fac-similes of existing edi- 
 fices in Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, and our own country. 
 The first epoch of Byzantine architecture is coeval with the con- 
 version of Constantine to Christianity, in the early part of the 
 fourth century. When he transferred the seat of government from 
 Rome to Bvzantium (the modern Constantinople), he remodelled 
 the old architecture, introducing the figure of the cross as the 
 characteristic of the new system. The date is about the year 330. 
 But modifications in course of time were introduced, producing a 
 mixture of the Greek, Roman, and Turkish styles. 
 
 The Renaissance Court introduces us to the style which succeeded 
 the Gothic, about the beginning of the fifteenth century ; while the 
 Italian Court conveys to us the change, sometimes called “ Mo- 
 dernised Roman,” which ruled from the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century. The German, English, French, and Italian Mediaeval 
 Courts, explain by their titles the epoch to which they refer. 
 
 Departments are assigned to Ethnology, Zoology, and Botany, 
 and these are so arranged as to group together, in classified order, 
 the men, animals, and plants, found under different climates. Here 
 may be seen figures of the Zulu Kaffirs, the Bosjesmen, the Earth- 
 men, the Danikils of Eastern Africa, the Hindoos and Malays, the 
 Laplanders, the Mongolians, and other varieties of the human race. 
 Distributed around them are the animals inhabiting the countries 
 in which they live. In the gardens are the “ Geological Islands,” 
 showing the strata of the earth, with figures of the gigantic crea- 
 tures which once inhabited this globe. 
 
 In this rapid glance at the treasures of Art and Science contained 
 within the Crystal Palace, nothing more has been attempted than 
 to trace an outline of the contents, as it is intended to illustrate 
 each court, historically and pictorially, in full, in our future I 
 pages. It must be borne in mind that the original design of the ! 
 directors of the Company is far from being completed, though it is 
 wonderful how much has been effected in the short space of two ! 
 years. One of the peculiar merits of this grand Temple of Intellect I 
 consists in its expansive capabilities, and no doubt it will keep ! 
 pace with the progress of discovery and the requirements of the 1 
 age. In no unfriendly spirit, we would point out what we consider 
 a deficiency — it is the absence of an East Indian Court. With an 
 oriental empire extending from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas 
 hundreds of thousands of our countrymen are intimately associated, 
 and that empire possesses a remote antiquity as well as Assyria 
 and Egypt; nor are its monuments less interesting. Every facility 
 exists for ornamenting such a court, and there is abundance of space 
 devoted to very inferior objects. As an argument in favour of this 
 proposition, the following extracts are taken from Dr. Buist’s Notes 
 on India- — 
 
 “The elaborate stone carving of Central India, Rnjpootana, and 
 Goozerat ; the embossed and enriched silver work of Cutch and 
 Agra ; the microscopic paintings of Delhi and Lahore ; the carvings 
 in sandal-wood, and the filligree of Trichinopoly ; the inlaid work 
 of Mooltan and Bombay, are up to this hour the marvels of the 
 world. The hills of Western India, over the space of five thousand 
 square miles, are penetrated by hundreds of caves, approaching in 
 size, in richness, and beauty of architectural decoration, the finest 
 cathedrals in Europe. These have been hewn out, in absence of 
 the aid of gunpowder, and fashioned, without natural adjunct or 
 addition of masonry, into their present form, covered with I'ich and 
 elaborate sculptures by the hand of man. The caves are grouped 
 together, so as to furnish places of worship, halls of instruction, 
 and domiciles for the professors and their pupils, exactly on the 
 plan of the universities which came into existence in Europe two 
 thousand years after those of India were forgotten ; indicating an 
 amount of civilisation and a demand for knowledge in the East 
 twenty-four centuries ago, such as scarcely exists in these regions 
 in modern times. On passing down to a later age, there is the 
 huge mountain of Aboo, 5000 feet high, covered and surmounted 
 by one vast mass of temples, constructed from the seventh century 
 of our era down to the present date. The ruined city of Beejapor 
 contained sixteen hundred mosques. The hills of Paulitana arc 
 literally crusted over with temples of the finest Arabesque, cut in 
 the hardest stone. The dome of the Mausoleum of Ibrahim Adil 
 Shah is a third larger than that of St. Paul’s ; the mosque to which 
 it belongs is 450 feet in length, and 150 in brtjadth ; while the Taj- 
 Mahal of Agra, the monument erected by the Emperor Jehangeer 
 over his wife, ‘ the light of the harem,’ built of the purest white 
 marble, and inlaid with the richest mosaic, stands unrivalled among 
 the mausoleums of the world. The ruins of desolate cities point to 
 the greatness of the empire before Europeans sought its shores as 
 traders, and seized its soil as conquerors. Gour, the former capital 
 of Bengal, covers an area of seventeen square miles, and once 
 boasted of a population of above a million of inhabitants. Beejapor, 
 while flourishing, contained nearly a million of inhabited houses, 
 occupied by more than three millions of people. Rajmahal, the 
 city of a hundred kings, is now a miserable village inhabited by a 
 few paper-makers.” 
 
6 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Surely then the architecture and sculpture of India are entitled 
 to a court, where some of its monuments might he restored. On 
 industrial and commercial grounds it has also powerful claims to 
 this distinction. Since the Great Exhibition of 1851, “ the carving 
 of its woodwork, the patterns, colours, and texture of its carpets, 
 shawls, and scarfs, admired for centuries, have been sent forth as 
 patterns for the most skilled artificers in Europe to imitate.” The 
 looms of Dacca decorated the noblest beauties of the court of 
 Augustus Caesar; and so fine were the muslins that they were 
 known as “running water,” and “nightly dew,” because, when 
 wet, they were scarcely distinguishable from either. The Wootz 
 steel is still so excellent, as to be used mainly for surgical instru- 
 ments in England. Now India is not only remarkable for its 
 antiquity, but for its existing products ; and as a British possession 
 it is invested with the liveliest interest. We could not spare 
 any of the courts now constructed, but we are sure that one 
 devoted to ancient and modern India would be a most acceptable 
 addition. 
 
 The Crystal Palace has not yet responded to the commercial 
 expectations of the proprietary. The original capital of £500,000 
 has been increased to £1,000,000, and £300,000 more is wanting to 
 complete the building and grounds. There must therefore have 
 been a great error in judgment in framing the original estimates. 
 The £5 shares rose to £9, but since have receded below par. 
 
 However, the attractiveness of the Palace ought not to be tested by 
 the past, the fountains and gardens being yet in a very unfinished 
 state. If capital be available, the institution is capable of inde- 
 finite improvement from year to year. However, it may be doubted 
 whether it will ever become popular in the comprehensive sense of 
 that term ; the eye of the millions may be astonished, perhaps 
 pleased, at the magnificence of the courts, but few among them will 
 comprehend their details. To appreciate many of those courts 
 requires an amount of learning — nay, of profound erudition — which 
 is very rare even among the upper classes of society, and which the 
 working classes, from want of means and leisure, can never hope to 
 attain. Even the most learned among us are still disputing about 
 ancient dynasties and ancient races ; nor do they agree about the 
 chronology of empires that have disappeared. These matters are, 
 and will remain, mysteries to the millions; and when the first 
 emotions of wonder are satisfied by a view of the monuments of 
 antiquity, they will cease to be attractive, because they will not be 
 understood. To the bulk of the population, the great and perma- 
 nent charm will be the Park, its gardens, lakes, and fountains, the 
 noble terraces, and the splendid prospect which presents itself in 
 every direction. As a Temple of Science and Art, the Crystal 
 Palace deserves to be regarded as a national undertaking; as a 
 commercial speculation, it is very doubtful whether it will realise 
 the expectations of its projectors. 
 
 FINE ARTS’ COURTS. 
 
 THE ASSYRIAN COURT. 
 
 The origin of nations is buried in obscurity, and it has been a 
 favourite recreation with men of learning to investigate their rise, 
 progress, and fall. Assyria and Babylonia, Chaldaea and Egypt, 
 Ethiopia and Persia, have exhausted the erudition and ingenuity of 
 modern inquirers. Various systems of chronology have been con- 
 structed. Speculation has busied itself in determining the sites of 
 ancient cities. Laborious efforts have been made to classify the 
 dynasties who ruled in the early abodes of the human race. If 
 perfect success has not rewarded these researches, the cause of 
 failure must be sought for in the difficulty of the task, for Germany, 
 France, and England, have devoted the energies of their most 
 gifted intellects to solve the complicated problem. The earliest 
 records of the primitive generations of the earth are contained in 
 the Bible, but these are scanty. Herodotus, the father of history, 
 did not visit Assyria till about two centuries after the destruction of 
 Nineveh. Of the writings of the Chaldman, Berosus, nothing but 
 a fragment remains ; and the work of the physician, Ctesias, 
 founded on Babylonian annals, is in a great degree deemed apo- 
 cryphal. Much knowledge, however, has been transmitted to us 
 from Greece and Rome, and of these materials the best use has 
 been made by the scholars of modern Europe, who have subjected 
 the whole to a minute criticism, in which they have been aided by 
 the discoveries and observations of more recent travellers. Bricks, 
 slabs, and cylinders, inscribed with certain characters, had long 
 been familiar to scholars as monuments of Assyria, Babylonia, and 
 Persia, and were suspected to contain hidden secrets ; but the dif- 
 ficulty was to interpret those characters. These remains of anti- 
 quity were fairly presumed to belong to the countries in which 
 they were found ; and, could they be dccyphered, it was confidently 
 hoped that they would throw an historical light on the people by 
 whom they had evidently been prepared. It is an old remark, 
 and one apparently of universal application, that when great 
 emergencies arise men are found equal to the crisis. It has been 
 so politically, socially, mechanically, at memorable epochs; and 
 the present age has produced scholars who have conquered the 
 obscure forms both of the hieroglyphics of Egypt, and of the arrow- 
 headed or cuneiform characters of Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia. 
 As the strata of the earth, like to the leaves of a book, have 
 revealed its chronology to geologists, so have the inscriptions on 
 bricks, slabs, and cylinders, disclosed to Grotefend and Lassen, 
 
 Dr. Hincks and Colonel Rawlinson, the long-concealed enigmas of 
 Nineveh, and Babylon, and Persepolis. 
 
 There are some sceptics who absolutely deny the accuracy of the 
 cuneiform readings, while many others, less hostile, yield a re- 
 luctant assent to their authenticity, simply because the feat appears 
 to them impossible. The writer of an article in the Quarterly 
 Review for March, 1847, says, “ The more, in truth, we consider 
 the marvellous character of this discovery, the more we feel some 
 mistrust and misgiving returning to our minds. It is no less,' in 
 the first place, than the creation of a regular alphabet of nearly 
 forty letters out of what appears, at first sight, confused and un- 
 meaning lines and angles ; and secondly, the creation of a language 
 out of the words formed by this alphabet ; and yet so completely 
 does the case seem to be made out that we are not in the least 
 disposed to retract, or even to suspend, our adhesion to Professor 
 Lassen or Colonel Rawlinson.” A little reflection will indeed dispel 
 the first impulses to incredulity. What is our own alphabet but a 
 succession of lines straight, curved, and circular ? In the K and Y we 
 have even the very wedges which compose the cuneiform characters. 
 To a person who cannot read, our alphabet appears an enigma, or 
 an absurdity. However, as in the instruction to be derived from the 
 Assyrian Court, and from a study of the books of Mr. Layard and 
 Mr. Fergusson, much depends on the faith reposed in the genuine 
 interpretation of the inscriptions, we will endeavour in a familiar 
 form, to shake, if not wholly to remove, the doubts that may remain 
 on the minds of our readers, by placing before them the following 
 well-known riddle : — 
 
 “ Three parts of a cross and a circle complete ; 
 
 Two semicircles a perpendicular meet; 
 
 Next a triangle that stands on two feet ; 
 
 Two semicircles and a circle complete.” 
 
 Now the riddle as here announced is one of mathematical figures, 
 and the solution requires that they should represent certain letters 
 in the English language ; and, in truth, they make up the word 
 “ tobacco.” So it is with the cuneiform characters. They too are 
 alphabetical signs, and when the value of each is known, the 
 interpretation is easy, and the problem is solved. Of course it was 
 difficult at first, and so is a riddle ; but learning, ingenuity, and 
 perseverance, have triumphed over all difficulties. 
 
 Professor Grotefend, of Gottingen, was the first scholar who 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 7 
 
 studied this intricate subject, and the result of his earliest inves- 
 tigations was published in 1805. A more ample account of his 
 method of procedure was given to the worlc^ in 1825. From an 
 investigation of the cuneiform writing on the walls of Persepolis, 
 he arrived at the two following translations : — “ Darius, the great 
 king, the king of kings, the king of nations, the son of H ystapscs, 
 the Achcemcnian. It is he who has executed this sculpture.” The 
 other reads : — “ Xerxes, the great king, the king of kings, the son 
 of Darius, the Acheemenian.” On the continent, this method of 
 interpretation was ably followed up by M. Bournouf, learned in 
 the Zend language, and by Professor Lassen, of Bonn, intimately 
 versed in Sanscrit and the more ancient languages of Persia, who 
 nearly completed the system. 
 
 While these discoveries were being made in Europe, Major, now 
 Colonel Rawlinson, who held an official appointment in Persia, 
 without being aware of the researches of Professor Grotefend, 
 copied and decyphered the two inscriptions at Hamadan, on which 
 the professor had experimented, and arrived at the same interpre- 
 tation, — a remarkable proof of the correctness of the analysis carried 
 on in different parts of the globe by two independent investigators, 
 who had no communication with each other. Colonel Rawlinson 
 next copied and decyphered the four hundred lines of the Behistan 
 inscription, and completed an alphabet which only varied in one 
 character from the alphabet composed by Professor Lassen. The 
 course of Colonel Rawlinson’s studies is fully explained in the tenth 
 volume of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 
 
 “ The epithets of cuneiform, cuueatic, wedge-shaped, and arrow- 
 headed, tete-a-clou (nail-headed) in French, and keilforming in 
 German, have been variously assigned to it, because its component 
 parts resemble either a wedge, the barb of an arrow, or a nail, ac- 
 cording to the fancy of the describer. It is not improbable, however, 
 that the original or primitive elements of the letters were merely 
 simple lines, the wedge or arrow-head being a subsequent improve- 
 ment or embellishment.” Mr. Layard, from whose admirable work 
 this passage is quoted, observes, in another passage, “ The cunei- 
 form, however, appears to have been the character in general use in 
 Assyria and Babylonia, and at various periods in Persia, Media, 
 and Armenia. It was not the same in all these countries; the 
 element was the wedge, but the combination of wedges, to form 
 a letter, differed. The cuneiform has been divided into three 
 branches ; the Assyrian or Babylonian, the Persian, and a third, 
 which has been named, probably with little regard to accuracy, the 
 Median. To one of these three divisions may be referred all the 
 forms of arrow-headed writing with which we are acquainted ; and 
 the three together occur in the trilingual inscriptions containing 
 the records of the Persian monarchs of the Acheemenian dynasty. 
 These inscriptions are, it is well known, repeated three times on 
 monuments of this period, in parallel columns or tablets, in a distinct 
 variety of the arrow-headed character ; and, as it may be presumed, 
 in a different language.” * 
 
 Various races dwelt in the valley of the Euphrates from the earliest 
 known periods, sometimes victors, sometimes vanquished. This 
 mixed population were divided into three conspicuous classes, the 
 Chaldasan and Arab, Scythians and Tartars, Medes and Persians. 
 Their languages and dialects differed ; hence arose the necessity of 
 trilingual inscriptions, to which Mr. Layard refers, to commemorate 
 events. On this point Colonel Rawlinson observes, that even now 
 if a governor of Baghdad wishes to make himself intelligible to 
 his subjects, he must issue his edict in three languages, the Persian, 
 Turkish, and Arabic ; and so it was in the days of Darius. Mr. 
 Fergusson, who constructed the Assyrian Court in the Crystal 
 Palace, and who is profoundly versed in Oriental architecture, 
 confirms and illustrates this view of the subject in his instructive 
 work on Nineveh and Persepolis. “ When the history of Meso- 
 potamia,” writes Mr. Fergusson, “first opens to us, we find the 
 Semitic family, under the name of Chaldaeans and Arabs, holding 
 supreme rule in that country. But the Medes and Persians were 
 there also ; so too, it appears, were the Scyths ; but as neither of 
 them had ruled at that period, we know little of them, and the 
 language of the dominant class is the only one used. In the middle 
 ages of this history, when Persia held supreme sway over these 
 lands, the three races seem to have been considered as nearly 
 equally independent, — at least, all the inscriptions of this period are 
 
 * Xineveh and its Remains, p. 167, vol. ii. 
 
 trilingual. One written in Persian is addressed to the Indo-Ger- 
 manic races ; one in Assyrian, perhaps more properly called Baby- 
 lonian, as the language had, with the capital, taken that form 
 before the extinction of the empire, was addressed to the Semitic 
 races ; the third, which, only partially decyphered as yet, is 
 understood to be a Tartar tongue, was addressed to the Scythians.” 
 
 What the primeval language was has excited much discussion, 
 but that such a language existed we know from the first verse of 
 Genesis xi. : “ And the whole earth was of one language and of 
 one speech.” From the same authority we learn, that the Confusion 
 of Tongues followed the attempt to build the Tower of Babel. As 
 it is impossible to suppose that any race of men would have 
 attempted to build a structure which should reach to heaven, as 
 the text of Genesis states, some commentators have supposed that 
 the real offence committed was a premature attempt at centrali- 
 sation, in consequence of which the multitudes assembled in the 
 Plain of Shinar were dispersed, it being the will of God that the 
 whole earth should be populated. It has been remarked that the 
 descendants of Shem, who went into Clmldma, had no part in erect- 
 ing the tower, and therefore were permitted to retain the primeval 
 language which Noah had preserved, and transmitted to Shem and 
 his sons. Mr. Vaux cites the following opinion of Bishop Patrick; 
 that Nimrod’s settlement at Babel was not till after the Dispersion, 
 and that as the builders of Babel were descendants of Ham, and the 
 children of Shem were not guilty of the offence, so the latter were 
 not involved in the punishment, and therefore retained unchanged 
 the primeval tongue, which, from the family of Heber, obtained in 
 after times the name of Hebrew. Dr. Hales, collecting the opinions 
 of Sir William Jones from his various writings, considers that there 
 were three primeval languages, the Arabic, the Sanscrit, and the 
 Sclavonic, and that from these various dialects were formed. The 
 Assyrians, Arabs, and Jews, according to these authorities, used a 
 language derived from the Arabic or Chaldee, while from the 
 Sanscrit spring the Greek, Latin, and Celtic dialects, and blended 
 with another idiom, the Persian Armenian and the old Egyptian 
 or Ethiopic. Now the trilingual inscriptions in cuneiform cha- 
 racters belong to the princes of Persia, and as Persian is a living 
 language, though not identical with that which obtained under the 
 Achtemenian dynasty, nevertheless there is such a degree of resem- 
 blance that scholars have had facilities in interpreting the Persian 
 column, which they have not enjoyed in regard to the Assyrian 
 and Babylonian columns. Mr. Layard is of opinion that the 
 primitive Babylonian “ is the most intricate variety of the cunei- 
 form yet discovered.” 
 
 The historical uses of this wonderful discovery are most im- 
 portant. Already they have corroborated in various instances the 
 truth of Scripture, and thrown a new light on the habits and 
 exploits of the people inhabiting the banks of the Euphrates and 
 Tigris ; and, as the study of these apparently mystic characters is 
 more extensively prosecuted, the sphere of our knowledge will be 
 increased, and none can predict its limits. As a specimen of what 
 has already been effected, we subjoin a few passages in the history 
 of Darius, translated by Colonel Rawlinson from the rock in- 
 scriptions at Behistan. 
 
 “ I am Darius the king, the great king, the king of kings, the 
 king of Persia, the king of the (dependent) provinces, the son of 
 Hystapses, the grandson of Arsames, the Achmmenian. Says 
 Darius the king, My father was Hystapses ; the father of Hys- 
 tapses was Arsames ; the father of Arsames was Ariyaramr.es ; 
 the father of Ariyaramnes was Teispes ; the father of Teispes was 
 Achcemenes. Says Darius the king, There have been eight of my 
 race who have been kings before me ; I am the ninth. For a veiy 
 long time we have been kings. Says Darius the king, By the 
 grace of Ormazd I am king ; Ormazd has granted to me the 
 empire. Says Darius the king, These are the countries which 
 have fallen into my hands, by the grace of Ormazd I have become 
 king of them, Persia, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt ; 
 those which are of the sea, Sparta and Ionia ; Armenia, Cappadocia, 
 Parthia, Zarangia, Asia, Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, the Sac®, 
 the Sattagydes, Arachosia, and the Mecians, the total amount 
 being twenty-three countries.” 
 
 In this curious passage, the error of Herodotus, who makes 
 Darius an elective king, owing his throne to the neighing of his 
 horse, is corrected. We see in it the piety of the Persian monarch, 
 who attributes his power to Ormazd, or to the Almighty. Ilis 
 
8 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 pedigree is minutely traced, and we recognise him as the undisputed 
 ruler of the Asiatic -world. We know from other sources that about 
 the year 606 B.C. Nineveh was captured and destroyed by Cyaxares, 
 King of Persia and Media, aided by Nabopolassar, King of Babylon ; 
 and that Babylon succumbed to the aims of Cyrus the Great, when 
 the whole of these once mighty empires fell under the sceptre of 
 the Persian kings, as confirmed in the rock inscriptions of Behistan. 
 The latest period of Assyrian history connected with these inquiries 
 is the Achaemenian, extending from the accession of Cyrus, B.c. 560, 
 to the death of Alexander, B.C. 323. Immediately preceding this 
 is the Median period, from Arbaces, B.c. 821, to Cyrus, B.c. 560. 
 The next is called the Lower Assyrian period, from Ninus, B.C. 1341, 
 
 thick, were constructed of sun-dried bricks ; while the alabaster, cut 
 into slabs, was used as panelling. On each brick was inscribed the 
 name, title, and descent of the king who undertook the work. 
 Since the method of interpreting the cuneiform writing has been 
 discovered, these inscriptions clearly prove to whose reigns the 
 different structures are to be attributed. Winged bulls and lions of 
 colossal size guarded the entrances, and these animals had human 
 heads. These lions are about ten feet and a half square, beautifully 
 executed ; and the vigour displayed in the body and limbs, the 
 muscles and bones, shows that the Assyrian sculptors had a correct 
 knowledge of anatomy. Expanded wings spring from the chest ; the 
 head is bearded, covered with a conical cap, smooth on the top, 
 
 FRONT OF TUB ASSYRIAN COURT. 
 
 to Arbaces, B.C. 821. Beyond -this we have the older Assy- 
 rian empire, from Nimrod, about B.c. 2200, to Ninus, B.c. 1341. 
 According to Mr. Fergusson, the old or north-west palace at 
 Nimroud represents the age of Nimrod ; the palaces of Khorsabad 
 and Kouyunjik, that of Ninus and his successors ; the south-west 
 palace at Nimroud, the age of the Arbacidoe ; while the palace at 
 Persepolis belongs wholly to the Achaemenian age — a history of Art 
 extending through two thousand years. 
 
 A variety of circumstances determine the early architecture of a 
 country, and modify it as civilisation progresses. The nature of 
 the materials within reach is the first consideration, and next, 
 probably, the quality of the tools by which those materials may be 
 fashioned. Much also depends on the level or mountainous cha- 
 racter of the land. The principal settlements of the Assyrians 
 were located on the flat alluvial plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, 
 “ unbroken by a single eminence until they approach the foot of the 
 Armenian hills.” Granite and marble were wanting, but the 
 tenacity of the soil, when mixed with straw, was well adapted to 
 the manufacture of bricks, which soon hardened when exposed to 
 the action of the sun. Such bricks, accordingly, formed the build- 
 ing materials of the Assyrians, who raised their palaces and temples 
 on elevated platforms, to give them a more imposing character, and 
 a commanding prospect over the surrounding plains. In these 
 regions, however, a coarse kind of alabaster abounded, not difficult 
 to work, and it was used for sculptured slabs. We learn from Mr. 
 Layard that the walls of the chambers, from five to fifteen feet 
 
 and an ear-ring is suspended from l he ear. The bulls are rather 
 larger than the lions, but they have neither the human ear nor ear- 
 ring ; nor have they bands round the loins, which the lions have. 
 That these animals were religious symbols there can be no doubt, 
 but what they were specially designed to indicate may be open 
 to much dispute. “They” (the Assyrians), says Mr. Layard, 
 « could find no better type of intellect and knowledge than the 
 head of man ; of strength, than the body of the lion ; of rapidity, 
 than the wings of the bird.” This is an ingenious solution, if these 
 animals were intended to be symbols of the Supreme Being. There 
 is no doubt that the early religion of the Assyrians was Sabeism, 
 or astro-theology — that is, the worship of the sun, the planets, the 
 signs of the zodiac, and the extra-zodiacal constellations. Now, 
 the four cardinal points, marking the equinoxes and the solstices, 
 were special objects of veneration ; and in earlier times Taurus 
 occupied the vernal equinox, and Leo the summer solstice, which 
 may be the reason why these two animals make so prominent a 
 figure in the Assyrian palaces and temples. The wings may denote 
 the rapidity of the sun’s annual passage through the twelve signs ; 
 and the band or circle round the lion may refer to the circuit of 
 the solar year, when its commencement was dated from Leo. 
 
 There are also in the Assyrian Court figures of winged men who 
 attend upon the king, and these are described as priests or deities. 
 At Passargadre, the ancient palace of Cyrus the Great, is a pier 15 
 feet in height, on which is sculptured the figure of a man with four 
 wings, and on his back a strange, symbolical group of almost purely 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Egyptian design, over which is the usual inscription, “ I am Cyrus 
 the king, the Achamienian.” Referring to this sculpture, and 
 observing that where the winged bulls are not used it is either the 
 hawk-headed Ormazd, or figures with four wings, which form the 
 jambs of the portals, Mr. Fergusson asks “ whether the winged, 
 kingly figures at Nineveh should not be considered as the embodi- 
 ment of the souls of departed kings, attendant on their successors 
 on earth?” and then re- 
 marking that the “ Passar- 
 gadean sculpture is evi- 
 dently a literal translation 
 of the Assyrian ones, and, 
 either being explained, the 
 other becomes intelligible,” 
 states — “ My own impres- 
 sion is, that they represent 
 deceased kings.” * 
 
 The chambers in the 
 Assyrian palaces were 
 narrow in proportion to 
 their length. The most 
 elaborately ornamented 
 hall at Nimroud was only 
 35 feet broad, though its 
 length exceeded 160 feet. 
 
 This narrowness is adduced 
 as evidence that the art of 
 constructing roofs requir- 
 ing other support than that 
 afforded by side walls was 
 unknown, at least in the 
 earliest buildings. Remains 
 of beams, however, have 
 
 been discovered; but being _ 
 
 On this point, Mr. Layard observes, “ that the only trees within 
 
 of wood they have crumbled away. 
 
 the limits of Assyria sufficiently large to furnish beams to span 
 a room 30 to 40 feet wide, are the palm and the poplar; their 
 trunks still form the roofs of houses in Mesopotamia. Both 
 
 * Nineveh and Persepolis, p. 354. 
 
 easily decay, and will not bear exposure; it is not surprising 
 therefore, that beams made of them should have entirely dis’ 
 appeared after the lapse of 2500 years.” The principle of the 
 arch was known to the Assyrians ; but there are no remains of 
 windows, so that daylight could only have entered from the roof. 
 Drains were used, and appear beneath almost every chamber in the 
 older palace of Nimroud. According to Mr. Layard, “ these were 
 
 connected with the floor 
 by a circular pipe of baked 
 clay, leading from a hole 
 generally cut through one 
 of the pavement slabs in a 
 corner of the room. They 
 joined one large drain, 
 running under the great 
 hall, and from thence into 
 the river, which originally 
 flowed at the foot of the 
 mound.” 
 
 When Mr. Layard pub- 
 lished Nineveh and its Re- 
 mains, he was of opinion 
 that the Assyrians did not 
 use the column except of 
 wood, because lie had dis- 
 covered no remains of 
 shafts or capitals, and con- 
 cluded that its use could 
 not be distinctly referred 
 to any period prior to the 
 Greek occupation ; never- 
 ' ncll. theless, he gave a drawing 
 
 , . # of a fishing pavilion, found 
 
 on a oas-rclief in the sculptures of Khorsabad, the facade of which 
 is embellished by two columns, which he recognises as the pro- 
 totype of the Ionic. However, all doubt is now removed on this 
 point ; for since Mr. Layard’s volumes were written, Mr. Hormuzd 
 Rassan, who is now superintending the excavations at Nineveh, 
 has discovered a sculpture representing a palace, in which the 
 column is introduced resting upon winged bulls and lions. In the 
 restoration of the Assyrian Court in the Crystal Palace, Mr. Fer- 
 gusson has introduced the column, but not from any remains of 
 Assyrian architecture. He has copied the palaces of Persepolis 
 and Susa, and with excellent judgment; for it is known that when 
 the Persians had established their rule, they adopted Assyrian 
 arts and civilisation, and followed their method of constructing 
 temples and palaces. ° 
 
 All the ancient writers describe the walls of Assyrian and Baby- 
 lonian cities as of extraordinary height and thickness, the materials 
 being sun-dried bricks. This massiveness was evidently designed 
 as a defence against hostile attack. In the time of Sardanapalus 
 Nineveh sustained a siege of three years against the combined 
 armies of Persia and Babylonia; and Cyaxares only captured it after 
 the river had overflowed its bed, and carried away part of the wall. 
 Its walls are said to have occupied the labour of 140,000 men during 
 eight years. According to Xenophon, the walls of Mepsila were 
 50 feet high, and as many broad. Josephus states that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar built three walls round the interior and three round the 
 exterior of Babylon. These ancient cities were not like those of 
 modern Europe, for within their circuit were cultivated fields, suffi- 
 ciently ample to supply the inhabitants with food. Works of this 
 magnitude and strength appear almost fabulous; but it was not in 
 the east alone that such marvels were created ; and as comparisons 
 are interesting and instructive, we may be excused a slight devia- 
 tion from our immediate subject by referring to the Peruvian 
 tortress of Cuzco. It is thus described by Mr. Prescott :—*• The 
 fortress, the walls, and the galleries were all built of stone • the 
 huge b ocks of which were not laid in regular courses, but so 
 disposed that the small ones might fill up the interstices between 
 the great. They formed a sort of rustic work, being rough-hewn 
 except towards the edges, which were finely wrought; and though 
 no cement was used, the several blocks were adjusted with so much 
 neatness, and united so closely, that it was impossible to introduce 
 even the blade of a knife between them. Many of these stones 
 were ot vast size, some of them being fully 38 feet long by 18 
 
10 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 broad, and 6 feet thick. We are filled with astonishment when we 
 consider that these enormous masses were hewn from their native 
 bed, and fashioned into shape by a people ignorant of the use of 
 iron ; that they were brought from quarries from four to fifteen 
 leagues distant, without the aid of beasts of burden; were trans- 
 ported across rivers and ravines, raised to their elevated position on 
 the sierra, and finally adjusted there with the nicest accuracy, 
 without the knowledge of tools and machinery familiar to Europeans. 
 
 . Twenty thousand men are said to have been employed in this great 
 structure, and fifty years were consumed in the building.” * We have 
 quoted this passage to show that massiveness and grandeur of build- 
 ing were not confined to the people dwelling in the valley of the Tigris 
 and Euphrates, on the banks of the Nile, or in India ; and though 
 we readily bestow our admiration on the colossal lions and bulls of 
 Assyria, carved out of grey limestone, let it be remembered that the 
 Peruvians gave higher proof of their consummate skill. “ Among 
 the remains of the monuments of Cannar,” says Mr. Prescott, “ may 
 be seen movable rings in the muzZles of all animals, all nicely 
 sculptured of one entire block of granite.” This is the more asto- 
 nishing, as they did not know the use of iron. The tools they used 
 were of stone, but more frequently of copper mixed with tin. With 
 these they hewed porphyry and granite, even emeralds. This 
 composition of metals, which imparted the temper of steel, has 
 never been discovered by civilised Europeans. 
 
 Sculptured in alabaster, on the walls of the Assyrian palaces, were 
 representations of battles and sieges, of the chase of lions and 
 bulls, and of the ceremonials of religion. Royal processions exhi- 
 bited the king sometimes on foot, sometimes in a chariot, now 
 hunting, now receiving prisoners. The flooring of alabaster slabs 
 recorded the titles, genealogy, and achievements of the monarch. 
 In this manner the chronicles of the empire were preserved ; and it 
 appears that these magnificent structures were not only palaces but 
 temples. The sculptures were painted in gorgeous colours, for the 
 people understood the art of extracting dyes from vegetables ; nor 
 is it wonderful, in the lapse of time, if such colours have disappeared. 
 M. Flandin detected traces of yellow ochre on the bas-reliefs of 
 Khorsabad ; and in that palace M. Botta observed paint on the 
 draperies, on the flowers carried by the winged figures, on the 
 harness of the horses, on the chariots, and the trees. Flames from 
 burning houses and the glare of torches were coloured red. Accord- 
 ing to Mr. Layard the bright blue of the Assyrian monuments 
 appears to have been a purer oxide of copper, resembling an ore of 
 that mineral found in an ancient mine of Kurdistan. 
 
 Among the most remarkable monuments exhumed at Nimroud 
 are the winged figures, having a human body and the head of an 
 eagle. Sometimes two of them appear on the same sculpture, a 
 sacred tree being interposed between them. Each figure holds in one 
 
 hand a pine cone, and in the other a square utensil, resembling a 
 small basket. The eagle has always been recognised in all the old 
 mvthologies as a bird consecrated to the Supreme Being ; and, among 
 the Sabelsts, especially to the sun, because it was supposed to gaze 
 at the sun in its most effulgent blaze with unshrinking eye. Among 
 the Persians it was sacred to Ormazd, to whom Darius attributes 
 his re°-al glory in the inscriptions of Behistan. The pine cone, on 
 account of its inflammability, was the emblem of fire, which they 
 
 * Conquest of Peru, vol. i. p. 17, 4th Edition. 
 
 worshipped. No doubt the square basket was symbolical, but of 
 what is very uncertain. The tree was a sacred sign, and may be 
 traced to the most remote antiquity. It is found in all religions, 
 however diverse. Why hesitate to refer it to the tree of the Garden 
 of Eden ? Surely a knowledge of it was handed by tradition from 
 Noah to his descendants ; perhaps many difficulties would be 
 removed by assuming (and there is nothing but common sense in 
 the assumption) that Noah and his sons were acquainted with the 
 true religion transmitted to them from Adam, and taught it to their 
 successors ; and that this religion was one, pure and undivided at 
 the time of the Dispersion of Mankind, and the Confusion of 
 Tongues ; afterwards it became corrupted, the unity of the divine 
 nature being broken down into polytheism, and disfigured by 
 mythological fables ; nevertheless, under whatever veil disguised, 
 all the great outlines of primitive religion may be traced in the 
 legends of antiquity, of which we shall furnish proof when we 
 describe the Egyptian Court. 
 
 The figure of a man strangling a lion, which he holds in his 
 arms, is evidently the Assyrian Hercules ; and we recognise him 
 as the prototype of the Greek Hercules, one of whoso twelve labours 
 was the destruction of the lion of Nemma. The claws of the 
 Assyrian lion are seen grasping the limbs of the giant, who lashes 
 it with the. serpent-headed scourge. 
 
 The figures of men holding in their ai-ms the ibex or mountain- 
 goat, most probably have reference to the zodiacal signs Aries or 
 Capricornus ; and those with monkeys on their backs appear to be- 
 long to some foreign country conquered by the Assyrians. The 
 winged figure in a circle, with a bow in his hand, seen over the 
 head of the king in battle, seems to indicate the tutelary genius of 
 the empire ; while the eagle-headed man is supposed to be the god 
 Nisroch, in whose temple Sennacherib was slain ; and this expla- 
 nation or conjecture is the more feasible as in certain Eastern 
 languages “Nisr” signifies an eagle. 
 
 The bas-relief we have engraved represents the siege of a city. 
 In the centre is the battering-ram, which the besieged are endea- 
 vouring to neutralize by seizing it with chains lowered from the 
 walls, while the besiegers strive to keep it in its place with 
 hooks. Bows and arrows are the principal weapons used by both 
 parties. A large shield protects the warriors, as that of Ajax 
 protected Teuccr at the siege of Troy. At the left are seen soldiers 
 undermining the fortifications. Men wounded or slain are falling 
 from the ramparts, on which stand women wringing their hair. 
 
 The monuments of Assyria, both painted and sculptured, evince, 
 as Mr. Layard observes, “ a knowledge of design, and even of com- 
 position, indicating an advanced state of civilisation ; ” and he adds, 
 
 “ it is very remarkable that the most ancient ruins show this know- 
 ledge in the greatest perfection attained by the Assyrians.” He 
 particularly notes the bas-relief of the lion-hunt, in the British 
 Museum, as a good illustration of the earliest school of Assyrian Art, 
 which “ far exceeds the sculptures of Kliorsabad, ICouyunjik, and 
 the later palaces of Nimroud in the vigour of the treatment, the 
 elegance of the forms, and in what the French aptly term monve- 
 ment.” This decline in art was not peculiar to Assyria, being 
 equally observable in Egypt and Persia, Greece and Rome ; and it 
 is difficult to account for retrogression where we should expect 
 progress. It has been suggested that in the earliest age of a nation 
 the artists faithfully copied nature, while their successors copied 
 the models transmitted to them ; but this rather evades than solves 
 the problem, for it may fairly be presumed that the first efforts in 
 art were not perfect, but that time was necessary for successive 
 improvement. Others imagine that before Ninus founded the 
 Assyrian Empire, the arts may have flourished under some other 
 people whose name has perished, and that their models were 
 imitated by the earliest Assyrian school. Scholars deeply versed 
 in chronology may fix upon some initial starting point as the 
 commencement of authentic history, but the actual and positive 
 beginning must always be open to controversy ; for who can affirm 
 where tradition terminates and recorded annals commence? More- 
 over, considering the extraordinary discoveries made by M. Botta 
 and Mr. Layard, which have disclosed the works of buried gene- 
 rations, have we not the strongest reason to hope that their 
 successors may discover other monuments, which will throw a blaze 
 of light on what is now doubtful or obscure ? 
 
 Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his excellent work on ancient Egypt, 
 has some remarks on this subject which deserve every attention. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 11 
 
 interpretation is taken. Secondly, though no clue is afforded as to 
 the subsequent history of this first Assyrian prince, it is quite clear 
 that his name has been thus prominently mentioned because he 
 advanced people of the time ; and so general seems to have been ! was, at the time in which he lived, above all others a remarkable 
 the fashion of their ornaments, that even the Nineveh marbles person, and one whose great deeds fitted him for peculiar selection ; 
 present the winged globe, and other well-known Egyptian emblems, I not impossibly, for some such reason as Sir Walter Raleigh has 
 
 “ Egypt,” he observes, “ was long the dominant nation, and the 
 intercourse established at a very remote period with other countries, 
 through commerce or war, carried abroad the taste of this the most 
 
 BAS-RELIEF REPRESENTING THE SIEGE OF A CITY. 
 
 as established elements of Assyrian decorative art. This fact would 
 suffice to disprove the early date of the marbles hitherto discovered, 
 which are in fact of a period comparatively modern in the history 
 of Egypt ; and recent discoveries have fully justified the opinion I 
 ventured to express when they were first brought to this country : 
 1st, that they are not of archaic style, and that original Assyrian 
 Art is still to be looked for ; 2nd, that they give evidence of the 
 decadence not the rise of art ; and 3rd, that they have borrowed 
 much from Egypt, long the dominant country in power and art, 
 and will be found to date within 1000 b.c. This, however, is far 
 from lessening their importance ; for the periods they chiefly illus- 
 trate — those of Shalmaneser and Sennacherib, so closely connected 
 with Hebrew history, give an interest to them which the oldest 
 monuments of Assyria would fail to possess.” 
 
 HISTORICAL REMARKS. 
 
 The recent discoveries, considered in a strictly historical point of 
 view, are of the deepest importance to a Christian people, as they 
 illustrate and confirm the accounts recorded in Scripture ; and we 
 may reasonably expect that, as the researches are continued, many 
 difficulties still remaining will disappear. We propose, therefore, 
 rapidly to trace the outlines of the great catastrophes which 
 subverted the ancient kingdoms once flourishing in the valleys of 
 the Tigris and Euphrates ; and this plan of historical treatment 
 will be observed, in a greater or less degree, as we examine the 
 various courts of the Crystal Palace. 
 
 We learn from Genesis x. that Nimrod, described as a “ mighty 
 hunter before the Lord,” was the founder of the cities of Babel, 
 Erech, Accad, and Cain eh, in the land of Shinar; and the verses 
 immediately following state, that “ Out of that land went forth 
 Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 
 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah.” Many commentators 
 object to this reading, contending that it was Nimrod himself who 
 went forth to Asshur, meaning Assyria, and there built Nineveh. 
 In this sense he was the founder of four Babylonish and four 
 Assyrian cities. Others, interpreting Asshur as the name of a man, 
 and not of a country, regard him as one of the lieutenants of 
 Nimrod. Some biblical critics have denounced Nimrod as a rebel 
 against God, accusing him of being the chief promoter of the 
 Tower of Babel ; to which it is answered that, were this true, his 
 name would have been Mmrd, or Mamred, which signifies to 
 “rebel,” and not Nmrd, or Nem-Red, which means “he whose 
 royal actions correspond to the good odour of his fame.” As a 
 “ mighty hunter,” he has also been considered “ as a great landed 
 proprietor,” and, in this sense, king of the cities he founded. On 
 these points Mr. Vaux makes the following interesting remarks : — 
 
 “ In the first place, it is evident that the oldest citigs in these 
 countries were Babel, Erech, Accad, and Kaleh, in that part which 
 was afterwards called Babylonia ; and Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, 
 and Resen, in Assyria Proper; of the first four no founder is 
 mentioned, while the building of the remaining four is attributed 
 either to Nimrod himself or to his lieutenant, according to which 
 
 given, that Nimrod was the first to abolish the simple system of 
 paternity or eldership, and to lay the earliest foundations of inde- 
 pendent sovereign rule. Whoever he was, it is evident that he was 
 no common man ; and the names of the cities attributed to him prove, 
 as we shall subsequently show, that his power must have been very 
 great. It is not therefore strange that many attempts should have 
 been made to identify Nimrod with some of the heroes of classical 
 antiquity, and that it should have been supposed by some that ho 
 is the same as the Greek, Ninus ; by others, as Belus (the Greek 
 form of Baal or Lord). In the traditions of his own country he is 
 considered to be the same as Orion ; and the Assyrians associated 
 him with the hare and the dog in that constellation, preserving 
 thereby a curious record of the mighty hunter of the Scripture 
 narrative. Mr. Cullimorc, in his work on Babylonian Cylinders, 
 has engraved one in which divinities are represented standing 
 on a dog, behind which are eight stars. Mr. Selden mentions 
 that, in the constellation of Orion, Nimrod is known under the 
 appellation of A1 Ivabir (the mighty) ; and Bochart has imagined, 
 not without some reason, that the story of the Indian Bacchus 
 is a classical tradition of the conquests of Nimrod and his suc- 
 cessors.” * 
 
 It is impossible to fix a date to the origin of Nineveh, as it must 
 have been founded in the ante-historic period, and, at first, could not 
 have been ipore than a village or hamlet. Mr. Layard, judging from 
 the very opposite character of the sculptures and sacred symbols 
 discovered in the ruins, has come to the conclusion that there must 
 have been two distinct epochs in Assyrian history, at which the 
 country was inhabited by different races. Some chronologists 
 have fixed the epoch of Nimrod at 2300 or 2200 B.c., and that of 
 Ninus at 1311 and 1230 B.C. ; but in these dates there is of course 
 more of speculation than authenticity. It is, however, clearly 
 ascertained that the site of Nineveh was- on the Tigris, near the 
 delta formed where the Zab flows into the river. The same dark- 
 ness which hangs over the origin of Nineveh enshrouds that of 
 Babylon ; nor have all the resources of modern erudition deter- 
 mined even its site. This complete extiuction accords with the 
 prophecy of Isaiah xiii.: “It shall never be inhabited, neither 
 shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation : neither shall 
 the Arabian pitch tent there ; neither shall the shepherds make 
 their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; 
 and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures ; and owls 
 shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.” This melancholy 
 end is also foretold by Jeremiah li., who says: “And they shall 
 not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations ; 
 but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord.” At different 
 periods Nineveh and Babylon had the ascendant, and the supre- 
 macy of the one was based on the subjugation pf the other. 
 
 From the time of Amraphel, King of Shinar, mentioned in Ge- 
 nesis xiv., a period of about a thousand years elapses, of which no 
 records exist. Then appears Pul, King of Assyria, who invaded 
 
 * Nineveh aud Persepolis, p. 7. By "W. S. W. Yaux. 
 
12 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Judrna in the reign of Menahem, about 770 B.c. “And Pul the 
 King of Assyria came against the land ; and Menahem gave Pul a 
 thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to con- 
 firm the kingdom in his hand. And Menahem exacted the money 
 of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty 
 shekels of silver, to give to the King of Assyria. So the King of 
 Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.” (2 Kings xv. 
 19, 20.) In the same chapter (ver. 29) it is further stated, that 
 Tiglath Pileser, King of Assyria, invaded Israel during the reign 
 of Pekah, and having subdued many districts, which are enume- 
 rated, carried the inhabitants captive to Assyria. This Assyrian 
 king again appears when invited by Ahaz, King' of Israel : “ And 
 Tilgath Pilneser, King of Assyria, came unto him, and distressed 
 him, but strengthened him not.” (2 Chronicles xxviii. 20.) 
 
 Shalmaneser, the Sargon of Isaiah, succeeded Tiglath Pileser, 
 and was himself succeeded by Sennacherib, curious descriptions of 
 whose history have been discovered by Colonel Rawlinson, a speci- 
 men of which we transfer to these pages, because it illustrates the 
 manner in which the old monuments corroborate the Bible. We 
 learn from 2 Kings xviii., that Sennacherib “came up against 
 all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.” He demanded and 
 received from King Hezekiah three hundred talents of silver and 
 thirty talents of gold. The inscriptions referred to give the fol- 
 lowing version of this transaction in the words of Sennacherib : — 
 “Because Hezekiah, King of Judaaa, did not submit to my yoke, 
 forty-six of his strong-fenced cities, and innumerable smaller towns 
 which depended on him, I took and plundered ; but I left to him 
 Jerusalem, his capital city, and some of the inferior towns around 
 it. The cities which I had taken and plundered I detained from 
 the government of Hezekiah, and distributed between the Kings of 
 Ashdod, Ascalon, Ekron, and Gaza; and having thus invaded the 
 territory of those chiefs, I imposed on them a corresponding tribute 
 over that to which they had been formerly subjected ; and because 
 Hezekiah still refused to pay me homage, I attacked and carried 
 off the whole population, fixed and nomadc, which dwelt round 
 Jerusalem, with thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of 
 silver, the accumulated wealth of the nobles of Hezekiah’s court, 
 and of their daughters, with the officers of his palace, men slaves 
 and women slaves. I returned to Nineveh, and I accounted this 
 spoil for the tribute which he refused to pay me.” There is a 
 difference in the weight of the silver, but in all other points the 
 inscriptions and the Bible agree. 
 
 The ambition of Sennacherib coveted supreme rule over J udma, 
 and he prepared a large army for its invasion ; but Hezekiah refused 
 to submit, having faith in the protection of God. The Assyrian 
 
 king sent him a blaspheming letter, in which he scoffed at such 
 protection ; and then we are told “ it came to pass that night that 
 the Angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the oamp of the 
 Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand, and when they 
 arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.” 
 Sennacherib then returned to Nineveh, and was slain, though not 
 immediately, by two of his sons, ■while he was worshipping in the 
 Temple of Nisroch. The murderers escaped into Armenia, and 
 Esarbaddon, his son, reigned in his stead. It was at this period 
 that the Babylonians, Modes, and other tributary nations, asserted 
 their independence. Esarbaddon did not recover Babylon till the 
 thirtieth year of his reign, but the Medes were never again brought 
 under his yoke. His grandson, Nabuchodonosor, after the resources 
 of the Assyrian empire had been recruited, marched into Media, 
 and gained a complete victory over Arphaxad, otherwise called 
 Phraortes, the Median king who was slain at the battle of Bhages. 
 After his triumph, he feasted at Nineveh for one hundred and 
 twenty days, and invaded Judcea, and his general Holofernes sus- 
 tained a signal defeat. Assyria never recovered that disaster. 
 Nabopolassar threw off the yoke and assumed regal power at Ba- 
 bylon ; and in the year 606 B.c. he united his army with that of 
 Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, and the allies captured and de- 
 stroyed Nineveh. Thus terminated the Assyrian empire. 
 
 In the sixth chapter of Mr. Layard’s work on Nineveh and 
 Babylon, the readers will find some highly interesting details of 
 the wars of Sennacherib, recorded in the cuneiform inscriptions 
 decyphered by the learned and ingenious I)r. Hincks. The 
 inscriptions begin with the name and titles of Sennacherib, who 
 styles himself “ the subduer of kings from the upper sea of the 
 setting sun (the Mediterranean) to the lower sea of the rising sun 
 (the Persian Gulf).” His various campaigns are narrated from year 
 to year. These discoveries identify him with the king who built 
 Kouyunjik. “Had the name stood alone,” observes Mr. Layard, 
 “ we might reasonably have questioned the correctness of the 
 reasoning, especially as the sign and monograms with which it 
 is written are admitted to have no phonetic power ; but when 
 characters whose alphabetic values have been determined from 
 a perfectly distinct source, such as the Babylonian column of the 
 trilingual inscriptions, furnish us with the names in the records 
 attributed to Sennacherib, written almost, identically as in the 
 Hebrew version of the Bible, such as Hezekiel, Jerusalem, Judah, 
 Sidon, and others, and all occurring in one and the same paragraph, 
 their reading moreover confirmed by synchronisms, and illustrated 
 by sculptured representations of the events, the identification must 
 be considered as complete.” 
 
 MOVING THE BULL. 
 

PAINTED BY W.H. BARTLETT. ENGRAVED BY CHARLES COUSER . 
 
* 
 
 
 ^TTJT? PRVCTAT DAT A np PVnncixmATi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ijn i • * 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 y*u ‘m hi 'he 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN COURT. 
 
 The primitive history of Egypt is recorded on its monuments. 
 In comparatively recent times its hieroglyphics have been de- 
 ciphered, and its religious emblems interpreted. The names of 
 the builders of the pyramids have been discovered ; but it is 
 evident that the country must have been inhabited, and a regu- 
 lar form of govern- 
 ment established, 
 before those gigan- 
 tic structures could 
 have been erected. 
 
 Of that ante-histo- 
 rical epoch, of which 
 not even the vague- 
 ness of tradition re- 
 mains, nothing is 
 known. Manetho, 
 an Egyptian priest 
 who wrote in the 
 third century B.c., 
 drew up from Egyp- 
 tian authorities a 
 catalogue of kings 
 who reigned over 
 his country, and ar- 
 ranged them in 
 thirty dynasties. 
 
 Modern researches 
 have, in a great 
 degree, confirmed 
 the fidelity of his 
 narrative, the names 
 of those kings hav- 
 ing been traced on 
 monuments now 
 preserved in the 
 British Museum. It 
 is still, however, an 
 open question whe- 
 ther those dynasties 
 were partly contem- 
 poraneous or suc- 
 cessive : some kings 
 ruling at Thebes, 
 others at Memphis 
 — a circumstance 
 very important in 
 settling a point of 
 chronology. The 
 celebrated Herodo 
 tus has transmitted 
 to posterity many 
 instructive facts 
 relating to Egypt, 
 which he visited ; 
 and considerable in- 
 formation has been 
 handed down to us 
 by Diodorus Sicu- 
 lus. Other Greek 
 authors, as well 
 as Roman authors, 
 have largely contri- 
 buted to our stock of 
 knowledge. Modern 
 Egyptologists have 
 thrown a flood of 
 light over these inquiries. Dr. Young and Champollion have 
 extracted the secrets of the hieroglyphics; while Sir Gai’dner 
 Wilkinson has unfolded to view almost a living panorama of the old 
 inhabitants of the valley of the Nile. The great work of Deuon, 
 and the JLgyptuica of Hamilton, rich in descriptions of the temples 
 and obelisks, are replete with profound erudition; while Belzoni’s 
 
 COLOSSAL no CUES OF UAME8KS. 
 
 narrative of discoveries within the pyramids and tombs, constitutes 
 a storehouse of research and learning. The most eminent scholars, 
 however, still differ on points of chronology. Bbckh fixes the date 
 of Menes, the first king of Egypt, in the year 5702 B.c. The 
 Chevalier Bunsen adopts the less remote date of 3643 b.c. ; Lepsius, 
 
 Professor of Egyp- 
 tian Antiquities at 
 Berlin, prefers that 
 of 3892 b.c. ; while 
 Mr. Fergusson pro- 
 poses that of 3096 
 B.c., as the year in 
 which Menes found- 
 ed the Egyptian 
 monarchy. There 
 is an elaborate mi- 
 nuteness in these 
 calculations, even 
 down to units ; but 
 the variations be- 
 tween them are so 
 marked, that it 
 would be dangerous 
 to accept any one of 
 them as authentic. 
 We may, therefore, 
 dismiss these anti- 
 quarian specula- 
 tions, and be satis- 
 fied with knowing 
 that the Egyptians 
 were of Asiatic ori- 
 gin, and of Arab or 
 Semitic race, and 
 are presumed to 
 have advanced to 
 the valley of the 
 Nile, as conquer- 
 ors, through Lower 
 Egypt southwards. 
 
 The following 
 summary of the 
 chronology and his- 
 tory of Egypt is 
 taken from the work 
 of Sir Gardner Wil- 
 kinson. 
 
 “ The Egyptians 
 seem at first to have 
 had a hierarchical 
 form of government, 
 which lasted a long 
 time, until Menes 
 was chosen king, 
 probably between 
 2000 and 3000 years 
 before our era. 
 Menes was of This, 
 in Upper Egypt ; 
 and at his death or 
 that of his son, tlio 
 country was divided 
 into the southern 
 and northern king- 
 doms, a Thinite and 
 a Memphite dynasty 
 ruling at the same time. Other independent kingdoms or munici- 
 palities also started up, and reigned contemporaneously in different 
 parts of Egypt. The Memphite kings of the third and fourth, who 
 built the pyramids, and Ositarsen I., the leader of the twelfth 
 or second Theban dynasty, were the most noted among them. The 
 latter was the original Sesostris ; but his exploits having been, many 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 generations afterwards, eclipsed by those of Rameses the Great, they 
 were transferred, together with the name of Sesostris, to the 
 later and more glorious conqueror; and Rameses II. became the 
 traditional Sesostris of Egyptian history. Ositarsen, who seems to 
 have ruled all Egypt as lord paramount, ascended the throne about 
 2080 B.C. ; but the contemporaneous kingdoms continued till a new 
 one arose, which led to the subjugation of the country, and to the 
 expulsion of the native princes from Lower, and apparently for a 
 time from Upper Egypt also, when they were obliged to take refuge 
 in Ethiopia. This dominion of the shepherd kings lasted upwards 
 of five centuries. At length, about 1530 B.C., Amasis, the leader of 
 the eighteenth dynasty, having united in his own hands the 
 previously divided power of the kingdom, drove the shepherds out 
 of the country, and Egypt was henceforth governed by one king, 
 having the title of ‘ Lord of the Upper and Lower country.’ Towards 
 the latter end of this dynasty, some ‘ stranger kings ’ obtained the 
 sceptre, probably by right of marriage with the royal family of 
 Egypt (a plea on which the Ethiopian princes and others obtained 
 the crown at different times), and Egypt again groaned under a 
 hateful tyranny. They even introduced very heretical changes 
 into the religion; they expelled the favourite god, Amun, from the 
 Pantheon, and introduced a sun-worship unknown in Egypt. This 
 rule was not of very long duration ; and having been expelled, their 
 monuments and every record of them was purposely defaced. The 
 kings of the eighteenth dynasty had extended the dominions of 
 Egypt far into Asia and the interior of Africa, as the sculptures of 
 Thotmes, the Amunophs, and others show ; both Sethos and his son 
 Rameses II., of the nineteenth dynasty, who reigned from 1370 to 
 1270 B.C., advanced them still further. The conquests of the 
 Egyptians had been pushed into Mesopotamia as early as the days 
 of Thotmes III., about 1445 B.C.; the strong fortress of Carche- 
 mish remained in their hands nearly all the time till the reign 
 of Necho ; and whenever the Egyptians boasted in after ages of 
 the power of their country, they referred, to the glorious era of 
 the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. Rameses III., of the 
 twentieth dynasty, also carried his victorious ax-ms into Asia and 
 Africa about a century after his namesake, enforcing the tributes 
 levied by Thotmes III. and his successors from many countries that 
 formed part of the Assyrian empire. But little was done by the kings 
 who followed him until the time of Sheshouk (Shishak), who pillaged 
 the Temple of Jerusalem, and laid Judea under tribute 971 B.C. The 
 power of the Pharaohs was on the decline ; and Assyria, becoming 
 the dominant kingdom, threatened to wrest from Egypt all the pos- 
 sessions she had obtained during a long course of conquest. Tir- 
 haka (Tehralc), who with the Sabacos composed the twenty-fifth 
 Ethiopian dynasty, checked the advance of the Assyrians, and 
 forcing Sennacherib to retire from Judea, restored the influence of 
 Egypt in Syria. The Saite kings of the twenty-sixth dynasty 
 continued to maintain it, though with doubtful success, until the 
 reign of Necho, when it was entirely lost ; for soon after Necho had 
 defeated and killed Josiah, King of Judah, the King of Babylon 
 smote his army in Carchemish, and took from the Eg} r ptians all that 
 pertained to the King of Egypt from the boundary torrent on the 
 Syrian confines under the river Euphrates. No permanent conquests 
 of any extent were henceforth made out of his land by the Egyptian 
 king ; and though Apries sent an expedition against Cyprus, 
 defeated the Syrians by sea, besieged and took Gaza and Sidon, and 
 recovered much of the influence in Syria which had been taken 
 from Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, these were only temporary 
 successes ; the prestige of Egyptian power had vanished ; it had 
 been found necessary to employ Greek mercenaries in the army ; 
 and in the reign of Amasis another still greater power than Assyria 
 or Babylon arose, to threaten and complete the destruction of 
 Egypt. In the reign of his son Psammenitus, 525 B.C., Cambyses 
 invaded the country, and Egypt submitted to the arms of Persia. 
 Several attempts were made by the Egyptians to recover their lost 
 liberty; and, at length, the Persian garrison having been over- 
 powered, and the troops sent to reconquer the country having been 
 defeated, the native kings were once more established 414 B.C. 
 These formed the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth 
 dynasties ; but the last of the Pharaohs, Nectanebo II., was 
 defeated by Ochus, or Artaxerxes III., 340 B.C., and Egypt again 
 fell beneath the yoke of Persia. Eight years after this Alexander 
 the Great liberated it from the Persians, and Ptolemy and his 
 successors once more erected it into an independent kingdom, 
 
 though governed by a foreign dynasty, which lasted until it became 
 a province of the Roman empire.” 
 
 Of all the nations of antiquity Egypt is the most remarkable for 
 the permanent influence it has exercised on human intellect and 
 human progress. Frederick Schlegel considers that the peculiar 
 bearing and ruling element of the Egyptian mind was its scientific 
 profundity.* It sought to penetrate into the depths and mysteries 
 of nature, even into their most hidden abyss. The necessities of 
 its geographical position compelled it to study the exact sciences. 
 The annual inundation of the Nile, by removing boundaries and 
 giving rise to litigious disputes, led to the study of mensuration ; 
 and as the supply of food depended on the height to which the 
 waters rose, Nilometers were invented, and yearly registers of the 
 flood were kept to serve as the statistics of comparative dates. 
 Their monuments attest their astronomical knowledge. In medicine 
 they were learned, and the art of embalming the dead is peculiarly 
 Egyptian. Their power of cutting and transporting to very great 
 distances enormous blocks of granite, still astonishes modern 
 engineers. If they were deficient in agricultural implements, it 
 was because the soil needed little culture. In ship-building they 
 made little progress, for they held the sea in religious abhorrence. 
 However, in all the natural sciences they were the teachors of the 
 Greeks ; and Pvthagoras and other eminent scholars studied in 
 their schools. From them Plato derived the rudiments and outlines 
 of his most sublime speculations. They established the doctrine 
 of the immortality of the soul and of a future life. Their laws 
 of debtor and creditor have excited the admiration of modern 
 jurisconsults. Such was their intellectual superiority that the 
 highest praise bestowed on the legislator of the Jews was, that 
 Moses was “versed in all the science of the Egyptians;” and 
 many of his precepts which related to subsistence, diet, and 
 health, were dex-ived from those who had taught him dux-ing the 
 captivity. 
 
 The key to the mysteries of Egypt is their religious system, 
 which was Sabeism or astro-theology. In common with every other 
 invention, it arrived at maturity by slow gradations ; it had its 
 infancy, its manhood, and its old age. In its primitive character it 
 was a rude system of astronomy made subservient to the purposes of 
 agriculture, and the earliest calendars were mere manuals of hus- 
 bandry, and perhaps also of nxeteox-ology. The astronomer was a 
 sage, and also an astrologer, and, in process of time, became a priest. 
 The religious sentiment is implaixted in man ; it is part and pax-cel of 
 humanity, inseparable from its nature and essential to its existence. 
 It is an indestructible principle. Man has never felt himself inde- 
 pendent of the external and invisible world ; he has never fancied 
 his own unaided powers sufficient to secure his happiness: on the 
 contrary, he has always been conscious of his inability to seeux-e 
 pleasui-e or avert pain, and has never ceased to entertain a feeling, 
 however vague, crude, or indistinct, of his eixtire dependance on some 
 unknown and superior intelligence. Now it is this consciousness of 
 individual weakness, common to universal humanity, that creates 
 the i-eligious sentiment ; and as this consciousness lias always 
 existed, and ever must exist, so long as man preserves his px-esent 
 nature, religion may be said to be indestructible in its essence, how- 
 ever it may vary in its development. The cosmogonies and thco- 
 gonics of heathenism— the sacred fables and mythologies, dogmas, 
 mysteries, and ceremonies, were certainly the inventions of the 
 priesthood; and they adapted them to the people among whom 
 they ministered. But sacerdotal corporations never created the 
 religious sentiment ; it was the religious sentiment that brought 
 those corporations into existence. 
 
 It may be impossible to fix at any specific date the origin of the 
 priestly institutions of Egypt. In the earliest stage of society, 
 when men were hunters or fishers, they may not have existed ; 
 pei-haps we may imagine faint traces of them in the next, or shep- 
 herd state ; but there is a high probability that they were not later 
 than the agricultural era, when the stellar observations of the shep- 
 herds began to be recorded. Sabeism, or astro-theology, is among 
 all the vax-ieties of heathenism the most natux-al to man, who, 
 unaided by revelation, must necessarily have formed his ideas of 
 religion on some system of materialism, before he could realise in his 
 mind ideas of spiritualism. Now, there is no object in nature so 
 calculated to excite astonishment, admiration, and reverential awe, 
 
 ► Philosophy of History, p. 166. Bohn’s Edition. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 15 
 
 as the magnificent spectacle of the star-spangled heavens, producing, 
 on the one hand, the most exalted notion of the Creator and 
 Governor of the universe, and on the other, the most humiliating 
 conviction of human insignificance. This contrast must have forced 
 itself on the minds of men in all countries; and the obvious conclu- 
 sions drawn from it must have precisely accorded with the religious 
 sentiment. Hence, astronomy became a sacred as well as a physical 
 science, and formed the chief study of the ancient priesthood. Then 
 it was taught that the destinies of individuals and of nations de- 
 pended on the stars. Heroic worship transferred the benefactors of 
 mankind into the constellations whose names they still bear. Gods 
 and goddesses were enthroned in the celestial sphere. Animals, 
 vegetables, and minerals, were intimately connected with the signs 
 of the zodiac, the luminaries without its belt, and the planets. 
 Such was the scope, character, and object of ancient heathenism : a 
 system originally based on astronomy, disfigured in its progress by 
 astrology, teaching its doctrines in the form of solar, lunar, and 
 stellar allegories, and maintaining its discipline by mysteries and 
 initiations, descriptive and explanatory of the physical government 
 of the universe. 
 
 As scientific knowledge increased, and the priesthood became 
 more speculative, new dogmas were invented. Then the theory of 
 the active and passive causes of nature was taught ; a belief in the 
 existence of two rival deities was inculcated ; the celestial hierarchy 
 was equally distributed under the banners of the two competitors; 
 one'being attached to the principle of light and good, the other to 
 the principle of darkness and evil. Such were the Osiris and 
 Typhon of Egypt. The influences attributed to the four elements — 
 fire, air, water, and earth — were respectively arranged as allies or 
 opponents of the two belligerent powers; birds, beasts, fishes, 
 insects, were invested with similar antagonistic functions; in 
 short, all animate and inanimate nature was allegorised, and the 
 various phenomena of nature embodied and personified in astro- 
 theological fables. The doctrine of mere materialism succumbed 
 under the growing intelligence of mankind ; the globe became a 
 huge animal endowed with vitality : it next received a universal 
 intelligence : at last the philosophy of Egypt triumphed, and 
 established a belief in the doctrine of a universal soul, pre-existent, 
 immortal, and accountable in a future state. 
 
 The extent of Egypt was limited, compared with the celebrity it 
 acquired. According to Sir Gardner Wilkinson, it chiefly consisted 
 of the narrow slip of land between the Mediterranean and the first 
 cataract — about seven degrees and a half of latitude. “ For,” says 
 that accomplished writer, “ with the exception of the northern part 
 about the Delta, the average width of the valley of the Nile between 
 the eastern and western hills is only about seven miles, and that of 
 the cultivable land scarcely more than five and a half — being in the 
 widest part ten and three quarters, and in the narrowest two miles, 
 including the river ; and that portion between Edfou and Asouan, 
 at the first cataract, is still narrower, barely having room for any 
 soil, so that those sixty miles do not enter into the general average. 
 The extent of square miles of the northernmost district, between the 
 pyramids and the sea, is considerable ; and that of the Delta alone, ' 
 which forms a portion of it, may be estimated at 1976 square miles ; 
 for though it is very narrow about its apex at the junction of the 
 modern Rosetta and Damietta branches, it gradually widens on 
 approaching the coast, where the base of this somewhat irregular ! 
 triangle is eighty-one miles. And as much irrigated land stretches 
 on either side east and west of the two branches, the northern district, 
 with the intermediate Delta included, will be found to contain about 
 4500 square miles, or double the whole arable land of Egypt, which 
 may be computed at 2255 square miles, exclusive of the Fyoom, a 
 small province consisting of about 340. The limits of Egypt were 
 the Mediterranean to the north, and Syene or the cataracts to the 
 south ; and the cultivated land east and west of the Nile contained 
 within this space, or between the latitude 31° 37" and 24° 3", was 
 all that constituted the original territory of the Pharaohs ; though 
 the Mareotis, the Oases, the Nitriotis, and even part of Lybia, 
 were attached to their dominions, and considered part of their 
 country.” 
 
 The builded area on this small surface, as stated by the ancient 
 historians, is scarcely credible. According to Herodotus, twenty 
 thousand populous cities existed in Egypt during the reign of 
 Amasis; while Diodorus computes the number at thirty thousand 
 under Ptolemy Lagus, which still remained when he wrote, about 
 
 forty-four years before our era. The population, when most numer- 
 ous, is generally computed at seven millions ; but in the time of 
 Diodorus, it had declined to three millions. 
 
 Egypt was divided into JVo/ues or Prefectures , the total of which, 
 in the time of Sesostris, amounted to thirty-six; they were after- 
 wards increased to fifty-three. In the principal city of each nome, 
 some animal was specially consecrated ; for though, with rare ex- 
 ceptions, the sacred animals received a general adoration through- 
 out the whole country, yet they were treated with particular reve- 
 rence in those places in which they held the rank of a tutelary 
 guardian. Thus, Apis, the luni-solar bull, had his temple at 
 Memphis; Mnevis, the solar bull, at Heliopolis; the lion, at Leon- 
 topolis ; the wolf, at Lycopolis; the dog, at Cynopolis; the goat, at 
 Mendes; the crocodile, at Ombos; the fishes, at Oxyrinthus ; the 
 eagle, at Philse ; the hawk, at Tentyra ; the serpent, at Epidaurus ; 
 the ram, at Thebes and Sais. 
 
 The characteristics of Egyptian architecture were simplicity, 
 massiveness, and solidity. They built for all time. Believing as 
 they did in the immortality and transmigration of the soul, and also 
 that they might again return to their country when restored to a 
 new existence, they might, as some writers have suggested, have 
 rendered their structures durable in the hope that they would 
 revisit them after a long interval of time. The size of the blocks 
 they used fill us with astonishment ; and modern architects and 
 engineers would perhaps hesitate to undertake works which the 
 Egyptians executed. The granite quarries of Syene were upwards 
 of 130 miles from Thebes, or five times as much from Memphis; 
 and the monoliths of that matex-ial erected in the Delta were con- 
 veyed more than eight hundred miles. “ It would seem,” says Mr. 
 Hamilton, “ as if our modern mineralogists had mistaken the precise 
 character of the stone to which Pliny (1. xxxvi. c. 8) had applied 
 the term * Syenites.’ Syenite is now said to be a species of granite 
 made up of quartz, felspar, and hornblende, with or without mica 
 aggregated in different proportions, and supposed to be posterior to 
 granite. Whereas it is plain that the Roman naturalist intended 
 to designate by this term the common red granite found in abun- 
 dance about Syene, and of which the different obelisks then in 
 Rome and Egypt had been formed. The peculiar colour appears 
 likewise to be ascertained, by his saying that it was formerly 
 called Pyrrohopcecilon ; and we know of no large obelisks of grey 
 granite. Syenites, therefore, might be assumed as the genuine 
 and classical term of the purest granite.” When Mr. Hamilton 
 visited Egypt, about the beginning of the present, century, he found 
 blocks on which the marks of chisels and drills might plainly be 
 seen, as well as of wedges. The ground was covered with pieces 
 of granite, unfinished obelisks, columns, sarcophagi, &c. ; and one 
 half-finished obelisk, between seventy and eighty feet long, and ten 
 feet wide. From all the quarries roads led by regular slopes to the 
 great plain, from which the blocks were transported to the river. 
 The obelisks were monoliths, that is, formed of a single stone. That 
 of Karnak is the largest in Egypt; and its weight is computed 
 at about 300 tons. It is still standing; but was far surpassed 
 by the granite colossus of Rameses II., which when entire 
 weighed, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson, 887 tons; while the 
 stupendous monolith in the temple of Latona, at Buto, which, ac- 
 cording to Herodotus, took 2000 men during three years to move 
 to its place from Elephantine, weighed at least 5000 tons. 
 
 The pyramids are supposed to be the most ancient structures in 
 Egypt; and ancient authors pretty well agree that they were 
 erected to contain the remains of two brothers, Cheops and Cephren, 
 kings of Egypt. They are surrounded by other smaller pyramids 
 and burial-places; and many mummy-pits have been discovered. 
 
 It is difficult, however, to believe that any one of them, especially 
 the largest, should have been commenced and finished in a single 
 reign. The second pyramid of Gizeh is smaller both in the base 
 and in the elevation than the first. According to Herodotus, there 
 is a difference of forty feet in the height ; and according to Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, a difference of seventy feet in the bases of the two. 
 The three smaller pyramids, according to Diodorus, contained the 
 bodies of the wives of Chemmis, Cephren, and Mycerinus. Pliny 
 states that 336,000 men were employed in the erection of the great 
 pyramid during twenty years ; Colonel Vyse estimates the existing 
 masonry at 6,316,000 tons; he discovered in the inscriptions the 
 name of Shufu, which learned men agree to be identical with Suphis- 
 or Cheops, the builder. 
 
16 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 M. Nouet, in his Report to the French Institute of Cairo, gives 
 the following dimensions of the great pyramid : — 
 
 Fr. ft. in. 
 
 Length 716 3 
 
 Diagonal of the base 1013 0 
 
 Length of the edge in its present state 636 1 
 
 Do. when entire 676 8 
 
 Length of the platform on the top 42 8 
 
 Height of the pyramid in its present state .... 421 8 
 
 Do. when entire 448 6 
 
 Length of the inclined side 574 1 
 
 Angle which the edge forms with the diagonal .... 41° 42' 20" 
 Angle which the edge forms with the base 58° 2' 20" 
 
 inclination of the sides towards the plane of the horizon . 51° 23' 46" 
 
 According to Sir Gardner Wilkinson, the total length of each face 
 of the great pyramid when entire was from 754 to 755 feet, which 
 would be exactly 440 cubits ; but he cautiously observes, “ neither 
 this, nor the courts of the temples, the statues, and other monu- 
 ments, can be depended upon for the exact length of the Egyptian 
 measure.” 
 
 Belzoni gives the following measurement of the second pyramid : — 
 
 Eng. ft. 
 
 The basis 684 
 
 Apotome, or central line down the front, from the top to the basis 568 
 
 Perpendicular 456 
 
 Coating from the top to the place where it ends 140 
 
 PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE TO THE EGYPTIAN COURT. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton gives the following measurements of the interior: — 
 
 Eng ft. in. 
 
 Length of the chamber where the sarcophagus is . . 34 9 
 
 Breadth of do 17 4 
 
 Height 22 0 
 
 Length of the lower chamber 20 0 
 
 Breadth of do 17 0 
 
 Height of do 15 0 
 
 Length of the sarcophagus 7 6 
 
 Breadth of do 3 6 
 
 Height of do 3 6 
 
 Thickness of the sides 0 6 
 
 I Belzoni observes that not a single hieroglyphic was found in a 
 these enormous masses ; but that in one of the mausoleums, whic i 
 stands on the west 3ide of the first pyramid, he saw some hiero- 
 glyphics and figures reversed in one of the blocks which formed 
 that mausoleum, as if they were to be hidden from view. “It cei- 
 tainly must be concluded,” observes this intelligent traveller, “ that 
 this stone had been employed in a building which was adorned 
 with hieroglyphics, and consequently proves that they were known 
 previous to the erection of these mausoleums, though they were 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 17 
 
 •without any of these ornaments and inscriptions. This being the 
 case, it may be supposed that the people who built the pyramids 
 were of the same way of thinking as those who built the mauso- 
 leums ; consequently, nothing can be inferred respecting the age of 
 the pyramids from the circumstance of their not having any hiero- 
 glyphics.” 
 
 Dupuis, in his Origene de tows les Cultes, has a long dissertation 
 on the pyramids, which he regards as solar gnomons ; and others 
 have supposed that they were built for astronomical purposes. 
 Another opinion favours the hypothesis, that they were intended 
 for religious ceremonies. Bclzoni, alluding to these theories, says, 
 “ I will agree with others thus far, that the Egyptians, in erecting- 
 these enormous masses, did not foil to make their sides due north 
 and south, and consequently, as they are square, due east and west, 
 iheir inclination, too, is such as to give light to the north side at 
 the time of the solstice. But even all this does not prove in the 
 least that they were erected for astronomical purposes ; though 
 it is to be observed that the Egyptians connected astronomy 
 with their religious ceremonies, as we found various zodiacs, not 
 only among the temples, but in their tombs also.” 
 
 monies. They were the first to maintain the immortality of the 
 soul; that after the death of the body, the soul always entered into 
 that of some other animal; and when it had transmigrated through 
 beasts, birds, fishes, and indeed all things living on the earth, in 
 the air, and in the water, it again entered that of a man ; this cir- 
 cuit being accomplished in thi’ee thousand years. But the Egyp- 
 tians also believed in the pre-existence of the soul ; — that it was 
 born in heaven, and would ultimately return to its primeval abode 
 under the form of Osiris. These doctrines spread to Greece and 
 Home; and are presented to us in a purified and philosophic form 
 by the great thinkers of those countries. “The soul,” says Scipio 
 to his son, “ has always existed, and will continue to exist, through- 
 out all eternity. It must exercise itself in the practice of the virtues, 
 if it desires an easy return to its native home. The actions and 
 thoughts which ought chiefly to occupy it, are those which concern 
 our country. It will succeed the more readily in its wishes, if, 
 from the present moment, in which it is imprisoned in the gaol of 
 the body, it escapes from this confinement by meditating on the 
 superior beings, and effects, os it were, a divorce from the animal 
 senses, and soars above them. This is the price which the sou! 
 
 There is an Egyptian tradition on the Deluge, connecting that 
 event with the pyramids, which Mr. Hamilton received from Elfi 
 Bey, at Schirment Eluah. This bey had devoted nearly all the 
 leisure time of his life to the topic of magic and astronomy, or rather 
 astrology, which he assiduously studied in what he called his “ Book 
 of Science.” According to this book, the great pyramid of Gizeh 
 was built by Hermus, a king of Egypt, who had predicted the 
 Deluge, and who was at once a king, a physician, and a prophet. 
 When the rains had begun, he shut himself up in the pyramid with 
 his wife and family; but the waters rushed in through the wall,, 
 and destroyed them all. On which Mr. Hamilton remarks, that 
 “it must indeed be allowed that some of the Arab fables regarding 
 the early times of Egypt, are at least as probable, and as connected, 
 as those recorded in the Grecian or Roman authors ; and that the 
 pyramids were built to avoid the calamities of a deluge, is as likely 
 as that they were granaries.” 
 
 It is now a received opinion that the pyramids were sepulchral 
 buildings. I he burial of the dead, and the embalming of bodies I 
 was, among the Egyptians, one of the most solemn and sacred cere- 
 
 must pay for its regeneration. As to those who are the slaves of 
 their passions, prone to indulge in voluptuousness and the gratifi- 
 cation of mere corporal pleasures, and who set at naught the sacred 
 laws of religion and the duties they owe to their fellow-citizens, 
 their souls, when separated from their bodies, will continue here 
 below in the visible regions of the earth, where they will be mixed 
 up with the grosser matter; nor will they return to the heavens 
 till after having been purified, during a long course of ages, by the 
 various ordeals through which they will have to pass.” * 
 
 Human intellect was believed to be an emanation from the divine 
 intelligence, communicated to every man as he evinced capacity for 
 its reception, in the same way as air is breathed by all who have 
 the power of respiration: Human intellect was of the same quality 
 as the governing soul of the universe, and all men had a greater or 
 less degree of the divine essence; for all souls formed part of the 
 | same spiritual element, as all the different seas, rivers, and lakes, 
 formed part of the element of water. “ The elements,” says Pfoclus, 
 
 * Cicero, Somn. Scip. c. 9. 
 
18 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 in his Commentary on the Timceus of Plato, “ which enter into the 
 composition of our bodies, are part and parcel of those which are in 
 masses in the universe. It would be extraordinary that all our evil 
 properties should be found in the external world, and that our 
 nobler and diviner properties should not be found there also ; 
 and still more extraordinary would it be, that there should be a 
 universal elementary matter, and not a universal soul.” 
 
 The unity of action, and the tendency of all the component parts 
 of nature towards one common centre of motion, which preserves 
 the harmony of the whole, led those philosophers who regarded the 
 “ Great Whole ” as Deity, to admit the unity of God. They con- 
 sidered the universe as a grand effect, and consequently referred its 
 existence to a grand cause; and as they perceived unity in the 
 effect, they attributed unity to the cause. “ All things,” says 
 the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, “ are connected together by a 
 sacred chain, and there is not one link in it which is not allied 
 to the whole chain ; for all things have been so blended together as 
 to form a perfect whole, on which the symmetry of the universe 
 depends. There is but one world, and it comprehends everything ; 
 one God endued with ubiquity ; one eternal matter ; and one law, 
 which is the reason common to all intelligent creatures.” 
 
 The same philosophical idea may be recognised in the Georgies, 
 where the poet, desiring to account for the industrious sagacity of 
 bees, declares, “ that they possess a portion of the etherial essence, 
 which constitutes the divine substance called the soul of the universe ; 
 that the divinity penetrates all parts of the world — the earth, the 
 sea, and the vast heavens ; that men, sheep, oxen, wild beasts, in 
 short, everything which is born and lives, derives from this immense 
 soul the spirit by which it is animated ; that at the death of every 
 animal, the portion of the divine essence returns back to the prin- 
 ciple and source of life, which dwells in the lofty firmament.” * 
 Virgil pursues the same philosophical idea in the sixth book of 
 the JEneid, when Anchises passes in review before iEneas the dis- 
 embodied souls of those great men who were to adorn and dignify 
 the Roman empire. To give an air of probability to the fiction, 
 Anchises explains the Pythagorean doctrine on the pre-existence of 
 souls (which Pythagoras had learned from the Egyptians), their 
 union with the body in this life, and the destiny which awaits them 
 after the dissolution of their material tenement. “ You must know, 
 my son,” says Anchises, “ that the heavens, the earth, the sea, the 
 brilliant orb of the moon, and all the stars, are animated by an 
 eternal principle of life, which perpetuates their existence; that 
 there is a grand intelligent soul diffused throughout all parts of the 
 vast body of the universe, which, mixing itself up with everything, 
 agitates it by an eternal movement. The soul is the source of life 
 in men, in flocks and herds, in birds, and in the monsters which 
 breathe in the ocean. The vital force which animates them is an 
 emanation from the eternal fire, shining brilliantly in the heavens, 
 and which, held captive in the gross matter of which bodies are 
 formed, can only develop itself as different mortal organisations, 
 which blunt its edge and deaden its activity, allow it to do.” 
 
 These doctrines are of Egyptian origin. The famous Eleusinian 
 Mysteries of Ceres were copied from the Mysteries of Isis. The 
 prototype of both the Roman and the Romish purgatory is to be 
 traced to the banks of the Nile, though differently fashioned in its 
 details when transferred to the banks of the Tiber. 
 
 Sir Gardner Wilkinson observes that Diodorus has shown that the 
 fables of the Acherusian Lake, of Hecate, of Cerberus, of Charon, 
 and of the Styx, owed their origin to Egyptian ceremonies. Of 
 Charon, it may be observed, that both his name and character are 
 taken from Horus, who had the peculiar office of steersman in the 
 sacred boats of Egypt; and the piece of money given him for 
 ferrying the dead across the Styx, appears to have been borrowed 
 from the gold and silver plate put into the mouths of the dead by 
 the Egyptians ; for though they did not intend it as a reward to • 
 the boatman, but rather as a passport to show the virtuous character 
 of the deceased, it was of equal importance in obtaining for him 
 admittance into the regions of the blessed. The Egyptian custom 
 of depositing cakes in the tombs, probably led to the Greek notion 
 of sending a cake to Cerberus, which was placed in the mouth of 
 the deceased ; and it was by means of a similar one, drugged with 
 soporiferous herbs, and given to the monster at a hungry hour, that 
 iEneas and the Sybil obtained an entrance into the lower regions. 
 
 * Georg, lib. 4. v. 220, et seq. 
 
 Embalming the dead was one of the most solemn of Egyptian 
 practices ; and of this curious usage the ancients have transmitted 
 to us minute particulars. “ In Egypt,” says Herodotus, “ certain 
 persons are appointed by law to exercise this art as their peculiar 
 business ; and when a dead body is brought to them, they produce 
 bodies of mummies in wood, imitated in painting ; the most elabo- 
 rate of which are said to be of him (Osiris), whose name I do not 
 think it right to mention on this occasion. The second which they 
 show is simpler and less costly ; and the third is the cheapest. 
 Having exhibited them all, they inquire of the persons who have 
 applied which mode they wish to be adopted; and this being 
 settled, and the price agreed upon, the parties retire, leaving the 
 body with the embalmers. In preparing it, according to the first 
 method, they commence by extracting the brain through the nostrils 
 by a curved iron probe, partly cleansing the head by these means, 
 and partly by pouring in certain drugs ; then making an incision 
 in the side with a sharp Ethiopian stone, they draw out the intes- 
 tines through the aperture. Having cleansed and washed them 
 with palm-oil, they cover them with pounded aromatics ; and after 
 filling the cavity with powder of pure myrrh, cassia, and other 
 fragrant substances (frankincense excepted), they sew it up again. 
 This being done, they salt the body, keeping it in natron during 
 seventy days, to which period they are strictly confined. When 
 the seventy days are over, they wash the body, and wrap it up 
 entirely in bands of fine linen, smeared on the inner side with gum, 
 which the Egyptians generally use instead of glue. The relations 
 then take away the body, and have a wooden case made in the form 
 of a man, in which they deposit it ; and when fastened up, they 
 keep it in a room in their house, placing it upright against the wall. 
 This is the most costly mode of embalming. For those who choose 
 the middle mode, on account of the expense, they prepare the body 
 in the following manner : — They fill syringes with oil of cedar, and 
 inject this into the abdomen, without making any incision or 
 removing the bowels ; and taking care that the liquid shall not 
 escape, they keep the body in salt during the specified number of 
 days. The cedar-oil is then taken out; and such is its strength, 
 that it brings away with it the bowels and all the inside, in a state 
 of dissolution. The natron also dissolves the flesh, so that nothing 
 remains but the skin and bones. This process being over, they 
 restore the body without any further operation. The third kind of 
 embalming is only adopted for the poor. In this they merely cleanse 
 the body by an ejection of syrmcea, and salt it during twenty days, 
 after which it is returned to the friends who brought it. The bodies 
 of women of quality are not embalmed directly after their death ; 
 and it is customary for the family to keep them three or four days 
 before they are subject to that process.” 
 
 Diodorus gives nearly the same account, though he mentions 
 some particulars not recorded by Herodotus. “The funerals of 
 the Egyptians,” he says, “ are conducted upon three different 
 scales, — the most expensive, the more moderate, and the humblest. 
 The first is said to cost a talent of silver (about £250 sterling) ; the 
 second 22 minse (or £60 sterling) ; the third is extremely cheap. 
 The persons who embalm the bodies are artists who have learned 
 this secret from their ancestors. They present to the friends of 
 the deceased who apply to them an estimate of the funeral expenses, 
 and ask them in what manner they wish it to be performed ; which 
 being agreed upon, they deliver the body to the proper persons 
 appointed to that office. First, one who is denominated the scribe, 
 marks upon the left side of the body, as it lies on the ground, the 
 extent of the incision; then another, who is called the dissector, cuts 
 open as much of the flesh as the law permits with an Ethiopian 
 flint stone, and immediately runs away, pursued by those who are 
 present, throwing stones at him amidst bitter execrations, as if to 
 cast upon him all the odium of the necessary act : for they look 
 upon every one who has offered violence to, or inflicted a wound 
 or any other injury upon a human body, to be hateful ; but the 
 embalmers, on the contrary, are held in the greatest consideration 
 and respect, being the associates of the priests, and permitted free 
 access to the temples as sacred persons. As soon as they get 
 together to embalm the body thus prepared for them, one intro- 
 duces his hand through the aperture into the abdomen, and takes 
 everything out except the kidneys and heart. Another cleanses 
 each of the viscera with palm-wine and aromatic substances. 
 Lastly, having applied oil of cedar and other things to the whole 
 body for upwards of thirty days, they add myrrh, cinnamon, and 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 19 
 
 those drugs which have not only the power of refreshing the body 
 for a length of time, but of imparting to it a fragrant odour. It is 
 then restored to the friends of the deceased ; and so perfectly are 
 all the members preserved, that even the hairs, and eyelids, and 
 eyebrows remain undisturbed, and the whole appearance of the 
 person is so undisturbed that every feature may be recognised. 
 The Egyptians, therefore, who sometimes keep the bodies of their 
 ancestors in magnificent apartments, set apart for the purpose, have 
 an opportunity of contemplating the faces of those who died many 
 generations before them ; and the height and figure of their bodies 
 being distinguishable, as well as the character of their countenance, 
 they enjoy a wonderful gratification in the society of those they 
 see before them.” 
 
 Belzoni, having personally inspected the tombs of Egypt, differs 
 in many points from these two high authorities, and considers that 
 Herodotus was not well informed by the priests. Belzoni never 
 saw a single mummy erect, but all lying regularly in horizontal 
 rows. He considers that the mummies of the poorer classes were 
 dried in the sun, not having detected the slightest trace of gum on 
 any of them. In the tombs or caves which received the bodies of 
 the poor, our traveller found the mummies of animals intermixed 
 with human bodies ; and he enumerates bulls, cows, sheep, monkeys, 
 foxes, bats, crocodiles, and fishes. One tomb that he opened was 
 filled entirely with cats. Of the bull, the calf, and the sheep, there 
 is no part but the head, which is covered with linen, the horns 
 projecting out of the cloth. The birds are squeezed together, and 
 lose their shape, except the ibis, which is found like a fowl ready 
 to be cooked, and bound round with linen. Now such animals, 
 according to Belzoni, are not to be found in the tombs of the 
 higher class of people. 
 
 We shall here offer some remarks on the embalming and burial 
 of these animals. It has been remarked that the religion of Egypt 
 was strongly tinctured with astro-theology, or the adoration of the 
 stars ; the stars of the zodiac, as well as those without its belt, 
 were compared to animals from some fancied similitude, and the 
 ancient error is recognised in modern nomenclature. The sheep or 
 ram is the celestial Aries which marked the vernal equinox, as the 
 bull or Taurus did at an earlier date, the change of place being 
 due to the precession of the equinox. When Osiris, or the sun, 
 entered these signs, he announced the opening of the spring; and 
 when the Egyptians desired to represent that season on their 
 temples, Osiris was painted with the head and horns either of a 
 ram or of a bull. But now it may be asked, How did it happen that 
 one of the tombs was full of the mummies of cats — the cat has no 
 place among the constellations ? This is true ; but other reasons 
 may be assigned for its consecration. It was specially consecrated 
 to Isis and to Diana, both representatives of the moon, as the fables 
 attest, — and the favourite metamorphosis of those deities was into a 
 cat. The various forms assumed by the pupil of the cat’s eye, some- 
 times round, sometimes oval, sometimes of an oblong figure, appeared 
 to be a counterpart of the different phases of the moon ; on account of 
 which fanciful resemblance, the animal was dedicated to Isis. But 
 another circumstance recommended it to the agriculturist of Egypt : 
 it is a known destroyer of rats and mice, which commit havoc in 
 granaries; the cat therefore was consecrated to Osiris, the good 
 principle, as rats and mice were to Typhon, the bad principle. The 
 ibis, another sacred animal, had no type in the heavens. This bird 
 resembled the common stork in figure, but had a beautiful plumage. 
 Juvenal, who appears to have been ignorant of the fundamental 
 principles of Sabeism, speaks contemptuously of the mad Egyptians, 
 who worshipped the crocodile and the ibis, full of black serpents. j 
 
 “ Crocodilon adorat 
 
 Pars ha,‘C, et saturam nigris serpentibus ibim.”* 
 
 The consecration of this bird, far from being an evidence of 
 madness or ignorance, is a striking proof of the ingenuity of the 
 Egyptian priesthood. The ibis was a bird of prey, living on vermin 
 ot all descriptions, but particularly on certain winged snakes, which | 
 flew from Ethiopia into Egypt at the time, of harvest, destroying 
 the corn. These pestiferous snakes or serpents were, according to i 
 the system of “ Dualism,” classed among the agents of Typhon, and ! 
 as the ibis was their deadly enemy, that bird was regarded as an 
 agent of Osiris, created expressly to exterminate them. Belzoni 
 
 * Sat. xv. v. 2, 3. 
 
 also mentions the crocodile as found in a mummy state. He 
 describes it “ as left in its own shape, and after being well bound 
 round with linen, the eyes and mouth are painted on this covering.” 
 The crocodile and hippopotamus were both symbols of Typhon, he 
 having disguised himself in their forms to escape the pursuit of 
 Orus, the son of Osiris. The consecration of these animals, being 
 as they were representatives of the evil principle, appears at first 
 sight to involve inconsistency and contradiction ; for it may be 
 naturally asked, Did the Egyptians venerate both good and evil ? 
 In explaining this apparent difficulty, it is to be observed that 
 though the Serapis of Egypt, in common with the Pluto of Greece 
 and ltome, was honoured with religious worship, yet the motives 
 to their adoration were very different from those which prompted 
 the worship of Osiris and Jupiter. The principle of good was held 
 sacred from gratitude, from hope, from a lively sense of past favours, 
 and from an expectation of future benefits ; the principle of evil, 
 on the contrary, was only reverenced from fear, from a sense of past 
 unhappiness, and from the apprehension of future calamities. This 
 is the broad line of distinction. In the special case of the crocodile, 
 several i-easons have been assigned for classing it among the sacred 
 animals. It was a symbol of fresh potable water, particularly of 
 the water of the Nile, whose banks were crowded with that amphi- 
 bious animal. In the old hieroglyphic system, the two eyes of the 
 crocodile signified the rising sun and a star, and the tail denoted 
 the darkness of night. The spots on its skin indicated the starry 
 heavens ; and, having no tongue, the crocodile was in this respect 
 a symbol of deity, who has no need of that organ to make known 
 his will. This animal was the tutelary genius of Ombos, where it 
 was specially adored, the people of which nome detested the inha- 
 bitants of Teutyra, who had consecrated in their nome the hawk, 
 the bird of Osiris, and the supposed enemy of the crocodile — the bird 
 being the symbol of fire, because, in common with the eagle, it can 
 fix its unflinching gaze on the sun, while the amphibious animal 
 was the symbol of water. On this point Mr. Hamilton observes, in 
 his Egyptiaca , that “ the vicinity of Ombos, on both sides of the 
 Nile, is low and marshy. In the bed of the river, which there 
 divides itself into two branches, are a number of low islands, some 
 not overflowed, but consisting of barren sand. The crocodile does 
 not remain long in the water, but likes to bask in the sun, stretched 
 out on the sand beach. They are timid, and only become furious 
 from hunger. They were fed by the Ombites to keep them tranquil, 
 as they were two numerous to be extirpated. Their worship was 
 due to their harmlessuess ; they were embalmed, and then- 
 mummies deposited in catacombs. Some suppose that they were 
 consecrated as emblematic of the evil principle, whom the people 
 wished to conciliate, as the Yezedis do to this date.” 
 
 Belzoni does not subscribe to the three modes of embalming 
 mentioned by Herodotus and Diodorus, but thinks that they all 
 admit of further distinction. He found mummies in cases, and 
 some without cases. Those in cases have no papyri. “ It appears to 
 me,” he observes, « that such people as could afford it would have a 
 case to be buried in, on which the history of their lives was painted ; 
 and those who could not afford a case, were contented to have their 
 lives written on papyri, rolled up, and placed above their knees.” 
 The cases were generally made of Egyptian sycamore, the most 
 plentiful wood in the country. The mummies of priests were 
 distinctive. “ The bandages are stripes of red and white linen 
 intermixed, covering the whole body, and forming a curious effect 
 from the two colours. The arms and legs are not enclosed in the 
 same envelope with the body, as in the common mode, but are 
 bandaged separately, even the fingers and the toes being preserved 
 distinct. They have sandals of painted leather on their feet, and 
 bracelets on their arms and wrists. They are always found with 
 the arms across the breast, but not pressing it ; but though the 
 body is bound with such a quantity of linen, the shape of the person 
 is carefully preserved in every limb. The cases in which mummies 
 of this sort are found are somewhat better executed, and I have 
 seen one that had the eyes and eyebrows of enamel, beautifully 
 executed in imitation of nature.” This passage is extracted from 
 Belzoni (p. 171), who also observes that Egyptian linen manu- 
 factures were equal to our own ; many of their garments were 
 quite transparent, and among the folding of the mummies, he 
 observed some cloth quite as fine as our common muslin, very 
 strong, and of an even texture. 
 
 Connected with Egyptian burial is the Egyptian law of 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 war or peace ; and, independently of the injustice of subjecting 
 any one to the momentary caprice of his creditor, the safety of 
 the country might be endangered through the avarice of a few 
 interested individuals. Asychis passed a law, by which it was 
 pronounced illegal for any one to borrow money without giving in 
 pledge the body of his father or the tomb of his ancestors ; and, if 
 he failed to redeem so sacred a pledge, he was considered infamous, 
 and at his death the celebration of the usual funeral obsequies was 
 denied to him, and he could not enjoy the right of burial either in 
 the tomb, or in any place of sepulture ; nor could he inter his 
 children, or any of his family, as long as the debt was unpaid, the 
 creditor being actually put in possession of the family tomb. The 
 debtor and creditor law of Bocchoris was borrowed by Solon from 
 the Egyptian code, and existed at Athens ; and was, as Diodorus 
 says, much more consistent with justice and common sense than 
 that which allowed the creditor to seize the person, while it forbad 
 him to take the ploughs and other instruments of husbandry. “ For 
 if,” continues the historian, “ it is unjust thus to deprive men 
 of the means of subsistence and of providing for their families, 
 
 found mummies erect in the catacombs, for when placed in that 
 position, Diodorus expressly states that they were kept in a new 
 apartment added to the house of the family; and as to debtors, we 
 may presume from the religious habits of the people that sooner or 
 later their bodies were redeemed ; but if there were exceptions, 
 then they could not be found in the tombs, since they never could 
 have received the rites of sepulture. 
 
 We now revert to the doctrine of purgatory, to which we have 
 already alluded. To judge rightly of those who lived three thou- 
 sand years ago, we should endeavour by a strong effort of mental 
 volition to shake off our prejudices, and strive to think as they 
 thought. What appears ridiculous to us, appeared wise to them ; 
 and we must estimate them by their own standard, not by ours. 
 Thev distinguished between the material and the spiritual man. 
 Virtue resided in the soul of the universe, a portion of which soul 
 every man possessed, and during life it dwelt in an earthly 
 habitation — the physical body, composed of matter. This union of 
 soul and body was a state of trial to the soul, which was liable to 
 be corrupted by its contact with matter. According to these 
 
 debtor and creditor— a subject curious in itself, but still more 
 curious in its results,— for it is really the remote, though by many 
 unsuspected foundation of purgatory, as we shall endeavour to 
 establish. It was a stringent law among the Phoenicians that 
 fraudulent debtors should be denied the rights of sepulture, and 
 they held that the unburied could never enter the regions of 
 the* blessed without a long and painful purification. Whether 
 the Egyptians adopted this creed from the Phoenicians, the 
 most mercantile nation of antiquity, or whether they imparted 
 it to them, or whether each nation contrived it independently of 
 the other, must remain doubtful ; but this is certain, that the object 
 of the law was to make men honest during life from the dread of 
 future punishment. Sir Gardner Wilkinson has so well described 
 this code that we transfer his version to our pages. 
 
 “ Bocchoris,” says that writer, “ who reigned in Egypt about the 
 year 800 B.C., and was surnamed the Wise, passed a law that no 
 contract should be binding unless reduced into writing. The 
 person of the debtor could not be seized, but his goods might ; for 
 the person of every citizen was looked upon as the property of the 
 state, and might be required for some public service connected with 
 
 how much more unreasonable must it be to imprison those by whom 
 the implements were used ? ” 
 
 As to the denial of burial under the law of debtor and creditor, 
 Diodorus observes that “ some who were not possessors of catacombs 
 constructed a new apartment for the purpose in their own house, 
 and set the coffin upright against the firmest of the walls ; and the 
 same was done with the bodies of those who had been debarred the 
 rites of burial on account of an accusation brought against them, 
 or in consequence of debts they or their sons had contracted. These 
 last, however, if their children’s children happened to be pros- 
 perous, were released from the impediments of their creditors, and 
 at length received the ceremony of a magnificent burial. It was, 
 indeed, most solemnly established in Egypt that parents and 
 ancestors should have a more marked token of respect paid them 
 by their families after they had been transferred to their ever- 
 lasting habitations. Hence originated the custom of depositing the 
 bodies of their deceased parents as pledges for the payment of 
 borrowed money ; those who failed to redeem those pledges being 
 subject to the heaviest disgrace, and deprived of burial after tbeir 
 death.” This explanation seems to account for Belzoni not having 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 21 
 
 view, the earth was not the native country of the soul, but the 
 place of its exile. It was born in the heavens, and as it never lost 
 entire consciousness of its original dignity, it was supposed always 
 to meditate on its lost birthright. The degradation of the soul 
 I while united with the body was metaphorically called “ the loss of 
 its wings.” It lost them, or rather the use of them, by allowing 
 them to be clogged with the viscosity of matter ; but as soon as 
 this encumbrance was removed, the soul was enabled to wing its 
 flight back to its native heaven. 
 
 If the soul, at the moment physical life was extinct, were com- 
 pletely disengaged from the corruptions of matter, the dead person 
 immediately entered Elysium ; if, on the contrary, the soul was 
 totally degraded by matter, the deceased was instantly consigned to 
 Tartarus. Now, at death, the vast majority were neither absolutely 
 pure or impure, and therefore were neither in a condition to be 
 united to the principle of light, nor did they merit to be consigned 
 to the principle of darkness. However, in these circumstances 
 divine justice must be satisfied; consequently, it was essential that 
 the vast majority, after death, should undergo some sort of purifi- 
 cation. Such was the foundation of the ancient doctrine of purga- 
 
 Sucb, then, was the principle of this dogma. Wo proceed to the 
 refusal of burial. When ./Eneas arrives at the banks of the Styx, 
 he recognises his old pilot, Palinurus, who, having been hurled into 
 the sea by a violent squall, swam to the coast of Italy, where he 
 was murdered by the natives. In consequence of not having been 
 buried, he was doomed to wander for a period of a hundred years 
 on the margin of the river. Palinurus implores .Eneas to search 
 for his body, and give it the holy rites of sepulture, that his 
 penance might cease. Beseeching Eneas by the memory of his 
 father, and by the affection he bore to his only son — the most 
 powerful appeals he could make to the feelings and sympathies of 
 his late chieftain — the pilot exclaims : — 
 
 “ Eripe me his, invicte, malis ; et tu mihi terram 
 
 Injice, namque potes 
 
 Da dextram miscro, et tecum me tolle per undas 
 Sedibus ut saltern placidis in morte quicseam.” 
 
 The prayer of Palinurus was for burial. “ Throw,” he says, “ over 
 my body a little earth, that I may repose tranquilly in the grave.” 
 To wander on the Styx for a hundred years was to be in purgatory j 
 and it is here remarkable that the punishment he was enduring 
 
 THE HAMSEION, THEBES. 
 
 tory, two thousand years probably, or certainly one thousand years, 
 before it was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 In the old system, purification from sin in this assumed inter- 
 mediate state of existence was effected by three processes. Fire, 
 water, and air purify matter ; and as vice was held to be matter, or 
 of the nature of matter, those three elements were employed to 
 effect that lustration of the body, without which none but the per- 
 fectly pure could enter into Elysium. The ancient purgatory was 
 accordingly divided into three departments. “ For slight offences, 
 the body of the delinquent was opened, and swung backwards and 
 forwards in air; the second class of criminals were plunged into 
 water; and the most deep-rooted impurities were eradicated by 
 fire.” This ancient dogma is expressly mentioned by Virgil. We 
 subjoin the original translated in the previous sentence. 
 
 “ Ergo exercentur pcenis ; veterumque malorum 
 Supplicia expendunt; alia) panduntur inanes 
 Suspensas at ventos ; aliis sub gurgite vasto 
 Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni.”* 
 
 was not inflicted for any crime that lie had himself committed, but 
 for the omission of a ceremony, over which lie had no control, 
 Such a sentence was as cruel as unjust, and it is only to be 
 explained by referring to the original law of Phoenicia and Egypt, 
 which refused burial to the dishonest debtor. Ill process of time 
 this particular law was forgotten, but tradition handed down its 
 substance, and it was applied indiscriminately by succeeding gene- 
 rations, who were ignorant of its original and limited design. 
 
 It has already been shown in the extract from Diodorus that the 
 Greeks derived the materials for constructing their fables on the 
 shades below from the Egyptians ; and also from the Egyptians 
 they, and the Romans after them, received their notion of purga- 
 tory. Thus, Plato contended that no soul could be completely 
 purified until it had undergone three distinct incorporations with 
 matter; an opinion, according to Beausobre, adopted by the Jews.* 
 The dogma of transmigration was another form of purgatory; and it 
 was almost universally recognised in the eastern world. Among 
 
 iEneid. lib. G. v. 739, et seq. 
 
 * Hiat. du Manicheisme, t. 2. p. 495. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 22 
 
 the Brahmins it influenced, more or less, every transaction in life. 
 “ Deprived as we are,” says Schlcgel, “ of the old books and original 
 writings of the Egyptians, we are unable perfectly to comprehend 
 and seize their peculiar ideas on this subject, and state them with 
 the same assurance as we can those of the Indians, whose ancient 
 writings we now possess in such abundance, and which in all main 
 points perfectly agree with the accounts of the ancient classics. 
 But we are left to infer the ideas of the Egyptians on the metem- 
 psychosis only from their singular treatment of the dead and the 
 bodies of the deceased ; from that sepulchral art (if I may use the 
 expression) which with them acquired a dignity and importance, 
 and was carried to a pitch of refinement, such as we find among no 
 other people; from that careful and costly consecration of the 
 corpse, which we still regard with wonder and astonishment in 
 their mummies and other monuments. That all their solemn pre- 
 parations, and the religious rites which accompanied them, that the 
 inscriptions on the tombs and mummies had all a religious meaning 
 and object, and were intimately connected with the doctrine of 
 the transmigration of souls, can admit of no doubt ; though it is a 
 matter of greater difficulty to ascertain with precision the peculiar 
 ideas they were meant to express. Did the Egyptians believe that 
 the soul did not separate immediately from the body which it had 
 ceased to animate, but only on the entire decay and putrefaction of 
 the corpse ? or did they wish by their art of embalment to preserve 
 the body from decay, in order to deliver the soul from the dreaded 
 transmigration ? The Egyptian treatment of the dead would cer- 
 tainly seem to imply a belief that, for some time at least after 
 death, there existed a certain connexion between the soul and body. 
 Yet we cannot adopt this supposition to an unqualified extent, as 
 it would be in contradiction with those symbolical representations 
 that so frequently occur in Egyptian Art ; and in which the soul 
 immediately after death is represented as summoned before the 
 judgment-seat of God, severely accused by the hostile demon, but 
 
 defended by the friendly and guardian spirit, who employs every 
 resource to procure the deliverance and acquittal of the soul. Or 
 did the Egyptians think that by all these rites, and by so many 
 magical expedients, they would keep off the malevolent fiend 
 from the soul, and obtain for it the succour of good and friendly 
 divinities ? ” 
 
 The pyramids have suggested these general remarks on the 
 religious institutions of the Egyptians ; and if an adverse criticism 
 complains that they have been carried to too great a length, the 
 answer is, that the Crystal Palace is not a mere panorama, but a 
 school of instruction. The feelings of wonder and admiration may 
 be excited by a simple contemplation of the restored buildings of 
 antiquity, but much more is desired than the mere gratification of 
 the eye. A student should know the inner life of a people who 
 have left behind them such wondrous monuments, and that know- 
 ledge is not to be gleaned from a mere survey of its architecture ; 
 for though there may be “sermons in stones,” the mind requires a 
 certain preparation before the teaching can be appreciated. We 
 pass on to some of the most memorable 
 
 MONUMENTS OF EGYPT. 
 
 The Egyptian Court of the Crystal Palace is approached from 
 the nave by an avenue of lions, cast from a pair known as Lord 
 Prudhoe’s Lions, which that nobleman (the present Duke of Nor- 
 thumberland) brought from Egypt. The originals are in the British 
 Museum. The facade of the Court towards the nave is a reproduc- 
 tion of a portico of the Ptolemaic era ; and here it may be well to 
 observe that the monuments represented in the Crystal Palace arc 
 selections, as space was wanting to give any single one entire, and 
 the object has been to convey an idea of the state of Egyptian Art 
 in the Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, and Itoman periods. On the frieze 
 above the columns at the entrance is the following liiei'oglyphic 
 inscription : — 
 
 lady most gracious, the chiefs, architects, sculptors, and painters, erected this palace and gardens, 
 
 IV lli 
 
 with a thousand columns, 
 
 IV 111 IV fli 1i 
 
 a thousand decorations, a thousand statues of chiefs and ladies, 
 
 IVlii iv* 
 
 a thousand trees, a thousand flowers, 
 
 a thousand birds and beasts, a thousand fountains, 
 
 and a thousand vases. The architects, and painters, and sculptors, built this palace as a 
 
 im * a 
 
 for the instruction of the men and women of all countries, 
 
 In cartouches or rings between the frieze, are the names of her 
 Majesty and Prince Albert, also in hieroglyphic characters. 
 
 The capitals and columns of this facade are imitated from a 
 variety of Egyptian monuments, and their arrangement from the 
 
 til ft ff* 
 
 © 0 
 
 regions, and districts. May it be prosperous.” 
 
 portico of the Temple of Edfu, the finest structure now existing of 
 the age of the Ptolemies. According to Belzoni, the propylceon, 
 or entrance to the Temple of Edfu, is the largest in Egypt. On 
 the side wall of the pronaos is the figure of Harpocrates, seated on 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 a full-blown lotus, liis finger on his lips, exactly as he is represented 
 in the minor temple at Tentyra. What is worthy of note at Edfu 
 is the figure of a unicorn on the west side of the wall ; and Belzoni 
 observes that the figures of beasts are very rare on these monu- 
 ments. The elephant is only to be seen at the entrance to the 
 Temple of Isis, at Phil® ; the horse, as a hieroglyphic, is on the 
 northern exterior wall at Medinet Aboo ; and the eamelcopard, on 
 the wall of the sekos, or interior of the Memnonium, and on the 
 back of the temple at Ermentis. At Edfu the figure of Typlion is 
 placed on the capitals, in the same manner as are the heads of Isis 
 at Tentyra. 
 
 Tiie Temple of Aboo-Simbel.*— This represents the facade of 
 a temple, excavated from the solid rock, in Nubia. It was first 
 discovered by Burckhardt buried in the sand, and afterwards un- 
 covered by Belzoni, Mr. Beechey, and Captains Irby and Mangles. 
 It is situated under a rock about a hundred feet above the Nile, 
 facing the south-east by east, and about one and a half day’s 
 journey from the second cataract in Nubia, or Wady Haifa. Ac- 
 cording to Belzoni, it is the finest and most extensive excavation 
 in Nubia, except the tomb in Beban cl Malook; and we transfer 
 his description of it to our 
 pages : — “ We entered at 
 first into a large pronaos, 
 fifty-six feetlong and fifty- 
 two wide, supported by 
 two rows of square pillars, 
 in a line from the front 
 door to the door of the 
 sekos. Each pillar has a 
 figure, not unlike those 
 at Medinet Aboo, finely 
 executed, and very little 
 injured by time. The tops 
 of their turbans reach the 
 ceiling, which is about 
 thirty feet high ; the pil- 
 lars are five feet and a half 
 square. Both these and 
 the walls are covered with 
 beautiful hieroglyphics, 
 the style of which is some- 
 what superior, or at least 
 bolder than that of any 
 others in Egypt, not only 
 in the workmanship, but 
 also in the subjects. They 
 exhibit battles, storming 
 of castles, triumphs over 
 the Ethiopians, sacrifices, 
 
 &c. In some places is to 
 be seen the same hero as 
 at Medinet Aboo, but in a 
 different posture. Some 
 of the columns are much 
 injured by the close and 
 heated atmosphere, the temperature of which was so hot that the 
 thermometer must have risen to 130°. The second hall is about 
 twenty-two feet high, thirty-seven wide, and twenty-five and a half 
 long. It contains four pillars about four feet square; and the 
 walls of this also are covered with fine hieroglyphics in pretty 
 good preservation. Beyond this is a shorter chamber, thirty-seven 
 feet wide, in which is the entrance into the sanctuary. At each 
 end of this chamber is a door, leading into smaller chambers, in 
 the same direction with the sanctuary, each eight feet by seven. 
 The sanctuary is twenty-three feet and a half long, and twelve feet 
 wide. It contains a pedestal in the centre, and at the end four 
 colossal sitting figures, the heads of which arc in good preservation, 
 not having been injured by violence. On the right side of this 
 great hall, entering into the temple, are two doors, at a short 
 distance from each other, which lead into long separate rooms ; the 
 first thirty-eight feet ten inches in length, and eleven feet five 
 inches wide, the other forty-eight feet seven inches by thirteen 
 feet three. At the end of the first are- several unfinished hiero- 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 20. 
 
 glyphics, of which some, though merely sketched, give fine ideas of 
 their manner of drawing. At the lateral corners of the entrance 
 into the second chamber from the great hall is a door, each of which 
 leads into a small chamber, twenty-two feet six inches long, and 
 ten feet wide. Each of these rooms has two doors, leading into two 
 other chambers, forty-three feet in length, and ten feet eleven inches 
 wide. There arc two benches in them, apparently to sit on. The 
 most remarkable subjects in this temple are: — 1st. a group of 
 captive Ethiopians, in the western corner of the great hall; 2nd. 
 the hero killing a man with his spear, another lying slain under 
 his feet, on the same western wall ; 3rd. the storming of a castle, 
 in the western corner from the front door. The outside of this 
 temple is magnificent. It is a hundred and seventeen feet wide, 
 and eighty-six feet high ; the height from the top of the cornice to 
 the top of the door being sixty-six feet six inches, and the height 
 of the door twenty feet. There are four enormous sitting colossi, 
 the largest in Egypt or Nubia, except the great Sphinx at the 
 pyramids, to which they approach in the proportion of nearly two- 
 thirds. From the shoulder to the elbow they measure fifteen feet 
 six inches ; the ears three feet six inches ; the face seven feet ; the 
 
 beard five feet six inches ; 
 across the shoulders twen- 
 ty-five feet four inches ; 
 their height is about fifty- 
 one feet, not including the 
 caps, which are about 
 fourteen feet. There are 
 only two of these colossi 
 in sight, one is still buried 
 under the sand, and the 
 other, which is near the 
 door, is half fallen down, 
 and buried also. On the 
 top of the door is a colossal 
 figure of Osiris, twenty 
 feet high, with two colossal 
 hieroglyphic figures, one 
 on each side, looking to- 
 wards it. On the top of 
 the temple is a cornice 
 with hieroglyphics, a torus 
 and frieze under it. The 
 cornice is six feet wide, 
 the frieze is four feet. 
 Above the cornice is a row 
 of sitting monkeys, eight 
 feet high, and six across 
 the shoulders. They are 
 twenty-one in number. 
 This temple Yvas nearly 
 two-thirds buried under 
 the sand, of which we 
 removed thirty-one feet 
 before we came to the 
 upper part of the door. . . . 
 
 I must not omit to mention that, in the temple, we found two lions 
 with hawks’ heads, the body as large as life, a small sitting figure, 
 and some copperAvork belonging to the doors.” 
 
 The hero killing a warrior witli his spear, another lying slain 
 under his feet, is represented in our engraving. 
 
 Another attractive object in the Egyptian Court is The Ram- 
 SEION,* at Thebes. According to the learned Mr. Birch, this is a 
 hybrid Greek form for the Egyptian Ei-En-Ramos, the abode of 
 Ramses, or Rameses the Great, the second of that name, w’ho is 
 supposed to be the Sesostris of the Greeks. It has been called the 
 Memnonium by some writers, and by Hecatacus, the tomb of Osy- 
 mandyas. The French savans, who accompanied the army to Egypt 
 under Buonaparte, call the temple that stands between Medinet 
 Aboo and El-Ebek, the Memnonium ; and as the identity of this 
 famous monument, and still more famous statue called Memnon,has 
 been much disputed, we shall here collect the learning on the 
 subject. 
 
 Pausanias gives the following account: — “The colossus of the 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 21. 
 

 24 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Egyptians, which is in Egyptian Thebes, on the other side of the 
 Nile, is a sitting vocal statue ; the vulgar call it Meranon, whom 
 they relate to have emigrated from Ethiopia into Egypt, and as far 
 as Susa. But the Thebans say that it is not Memnon, but the 
 statue of Phamenoph their countryman. Some assured me that it 
 was the statue of Sesostris, which was hewn in twain by Cambyses ; 
 and the upper part from the head to the waist has been thrown 
 down. The remainder is seated, and utters a sound every day at 
 sunrise, like that of the bursting of the string of a harp or lyre.” 
 
 it must have required more labour to convey such a mass of 
 granite from Assouan to Thebes, than to transport the obelisk, 
 commonly known under the appellation of Pompey’s Pillar, to 
 Alexandria.” 
 
 Between these conflicting statements we have not the presumption 
 to decide whether this monument should be called the Ramseion or 
 the Memnonium. On entering the outer court, as represented at 
 the Crystal Palace, the wall to the left is copied from a remarkable 
 scene taken from the temple of Medinet Aboo. The king Rameses 
 
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 M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 AFRICAN PRISONERS CONQUERED 1IY RAMESES. 
 
 Strabo says, “ There w’ere two colossal statues, each of one stone, 
 and near each other, on the opposite side of the river where was 
 the Memnonium ; of one of these the upper part was broken off, 
 and said to have been caused by an earthquake ; and that from the 
 part which remained on the throne, or base, a sound issued every 
 day, resembling that of a slight blow.” This exactly accords 
 with the verse in J uvenal, — 
 
 “ Dimidio magiese resonant ubi Memnone chorda).” 
 
 Mr. Hamilton states that, “ The two statues in question are but 
 fifty-four feet asunder; they face the same point of the compass; 
 they are very similar in size, character, and proportions; one of 
 them, that to the south, is certainly of a single block of stone, and 
 the northernmost has been evidently broken off at the waist ; and 
 while the lower part is a monolith, the body, arms, and head are 
 constructed of several horizontal layers of stones, apparently of a 
 different kind from the legs and arms.” He quotes Tzetzes, who 
 says it was of a mixed red or spotted stone; which Mr. Hamilton 
 confirms from his personal observations, saying, that in some places 
 it is quite red, in others resembling the breccia, or pudding-stone, 
 with pebbles of various colours. 
 
 The statue of Memnon is broken off at the waist. The face is 
 entirely obliterated. The fall carried away the whole of the wall 
 of the temple which stood within its reach. The two other colossal 
 statues, called the Memnon by some writers, are in the plain about 
 half-way between the desert and the river. Denon, and other French 
 writers, consider the fallen colossus at the temple they call the 
 Memnonium, the statue of Memnon. Bishop Pococke considers the 
 true Memnon to be the northernmost one of the two last mentioned, 
 in which judgment Mr. Hamilton concurs. The pi-oportions of the 
 colossus are these : the height of the leg and foot is eighteen feet 
 five inches, the length of the little finger four feet five inches ; 
 it measui'es six feet ten inches over the foot, and sixty-two to sixty- 
 three feet round the shoulders. 
 
 Belzoni gives the following account : “ It (the Memnonium) 
 stands elevated above the plain, which is annually inundated by 
 the Nile. The water reaches quite to the propylscon ; and, though 
 this is considerably lower than the temple, I beg leave to observe 
 that it may be considered one of the proofs that the bed of the Nile 
 lias risen considerably higher since the Memnonium was erected ; 
 for it is not to be supposed that the Egyptians built the propylmon, 
 which is the entrance to the temple, so low as not to be able to 
 enter it when the water was at its height. The groups of columns 
 of that temple, and the views of the numerous tombs excavated in 
 the high rock behind it, present a strange appearance to the eye. 
 On my appi’oaclxing these ruins, I was sux-prised at the sight of the 
 great colossus of Memnon, or Sesostris, or Osymandyas, or Pha- 
 menoph, or perhaps some other king of Egypt ; for such are the 
 various opinions of its origin, and so many names have been given 
 to it, that at last it has no name at all. I can but say that it must 
 have been one of the most venerated statues of the Egyptians ; for 
 
 there appeal’s in all the pomp of a conquei'or, and the token of his 
 victory is displayed in the amputated hands of the slain, counted 
 by a scribe or registrar. There are rows of prisonex’s, bound 
 together with a cox’d round their necks, very much in the style of 
 the sculptures of Darius at Behistan. A battle is vividly depicted 
 in this Court. Soldiers are seen scaling the walls of a fortified 
 city. Rameses is conspicuous in the fight in his war-chariot, which 
 crushes fallen warriors. These scenes closely resemble those of a 
 similar chai’acter depicted in the Assyrian Court. 
 
 Another striking object is the Gkeat Hall of Karnac, the side 
 columns of which are reproduced in a style of sui’passing magni- 
 ficence. Pococke and Denon have given accurate plans of this 
 temple, and the latter, in speaking of its wonderful and varied 
 beauties, says, “ One is fatigued with describing, one is wearied 
 with reading, one is startled at the mere thought of such a concep- 
 tion ; it is difficult to believe, even after having seen them, in the 
 x’eal existence of so many structures united on one and the same 
 point, in their vast dimensions, and in the indomitable perse- 
 vei’ance which their building requii’ed, and in the incalculable cost 
 of so much sumptuousness.” 
 
 Karnac is about a mile and a half lower down the river than 
 Luxor, but they were ox’iginally connected by an avenue of gigantic 
 sphinxes. These avenues were very wide, being proportionate to 
 the immense dimensions of Thebes, when that city had a hundred 
 gates, from each of which two hundred ai’med chariots issued to 
 battle. These gates were from 100 to 400 feet in length, 80 in 
 height, and 40 in width. Karnac, otherwise called Diospolis, was 
 the grand Temple of Jupiter, as its name implies. There Osiris was 
 represented with the horns of Jupiter Ammon. According to Mr. 
 Hamilton, the temple has twelve principal entrances, each of which 
 is composed of several propyla and colossal gateways, besides other 
 buildings attached to them. In front of the body of the temple 
 was a great court, at the sides of which were two rows of 
 colonnades of thirty columns, and through the middle of which were 
 two rows of columns of fifty feet high, consisting first of a pro- 
 digious hall or portico, whose roof was sustained by 134 columns, 
 some of which were thirty-six feet in circumference and others 
 thirty-four ; then four beautiful obelisks, marking the entrance to 
 the adytum, near which the monarch is represented embraced by 
 the arms of Isis. The adytum consisted of three apartments entirely 
 of granite. The principal room, which was in the centre, was 
 twenty feet long, sixteen wide, and thirteen high. Ihree blocks of 
 granite formed the ceiling, which was painted with clusters of stars 
 on a blue ground. Beyond this were other porticoes and galleries, 
 continued to another propylon at a distance of 2000 feet from that 
 of the western extremity of the temple. Diodorus says that this 
 temple was thirteen stadii in circumference, and forty-five cubits 
 high ; while the walls were twenty-four feet thick, and he adds that 
 the ornaments which embellished it cox’responded to that extent. 
 Eight stadii equal a mile; the cubit was about one foot and a half. 
 This is the building which Diodorus describes as the most wonderful 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 find the most ancient of the four temples at Thebes, remarkable for 
 their size and beauty. 
 
 The Temple of Luxor, connected with that of Karnac by an 
 avenue of sphinxes, as already observed, very nearly marks the 
 southern extremity of the walls of Thebes on the eastern bank of the 
 river. It has been called a palace, a temple, and a tomb. In 
 approaching this temple from the north, following the description of 
 Mr. Hamilton, the first object is a magnificent propylon, or gateway, 
 which is 200 feet in length, and the top of it fifty-seven feet above the 
 present level of the soil. In front of the entrance are the two most 
 perfect obelisks in the world, each of a single block of red granite from 
 the quarries of Elephantine. They are between seven and eight feet 
 square at the base, and above eighty feet high ; many of the hiero- 
 glyphic figures with which they are covered are an inch and three 
 quarters deep, cut with the greatest nicety and precision. Between 
 these obelisks and the propylon are two colossal statues also of red 
 granite ; from the difference of the dresses it is presumed that the 
 one was a male, the other a female figure; they were nearly of equal 
 size; though buried in the ground to the chest, they still* measure 
 twenty-one and twenty feet from thence to the top of the mitres. The 
 attention of the traveller is soon drawn from these masses to the 
 sculptures which cover the eastern wing of the north part of the 
 propylon, on which is a very animated description of a remarkable 
 
 might have done credit to the genius of a Michael Angelo or of a 
 Julio ltomano.” 
 
 In speaking of these stupendous monuments of Thebes, Belzoni 
 states that “it is impossible to imagine the scene displayed without 
 seeing it.” As he stood on these ancient sites, “ it appeared to me,” 
 he observes, “like entering a city of giants, who, after a long 
 conflict, were all destroyed, leaving the ruins of their various 
 temples as the only proofs of their former existence.” The impres- 
 sion produced on his mind by contemplating Karnac is thus 
 eloquently portrayed : “ How can I describe my sensations at that 
 moment ! I seemed alone in the midst of all that is most sacred in 
 the world ; a forest of enormous columns, covered all round with 
 beautiful figures and various ornaments, from the top to the 
 bottom ; the graceful shape of the lotus, which forms their capitals, 
 and is so well proportioned to the columns that it gives to the view 
 the most pleasing effect ; the gates, the walls, the pedestals, and 
 the architraves, also adorned in every part with symbolical figures 
 in basso-relievo and intaglio, representing battles, processions, 
 triumphs, feasts, offerings, and sacrifices, all relating no doubt to 
 the ancient history of the country ; the sanctuary, wholly formed 
 of fine red granite, with the various obelisks standing before it, 
 proclaiming to the distant passenger, ‘ Here is the Seat of Holiness.’ 
 
 I The high portals seen at a distance from the openings to this vast 
 
 ISLE OF FHIL.E. 
 
 event in the campaigns of some Osymandyas or Sesostris. The 
 disposition of the figures and the execution of the whole picture 
 are equally admirable, and far surpass all ideas that have been 
 formed of the state of the arts in Egypt at the era to which they 
 have been attributed. The moment chosen for the representation of 
 the battle is that when the troops of the enemy are driven back 
 upon their fortress, and the Egyptians, in the full career of their 
 victory, will soon be masters of the citadel. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton then minutely describes the battle scene, but at 
 too great length to be transferred to our pages, and to abridge it 
 would be mutilation. It is sufficient here to say that life and spirit 
 pervade every part. Of the horses he speaks in terms of unqualified 
 praise, whether they are rushing to the charge, fresh and uninjured, 
 or fainting from loss of blood, or rearing and plunging in excess of 
 torture. The fury of the conquerors is depicted in their counten- 
 ances. The vanquished pray for mercy on their knees ; others in 
 the flight cast behind a look of anxious entreaty; their limbs, 
 their hands, their eyes, sufficiently declare their fears. In con- 
 cluding his description of this animated scene, Mr. Hamilton 
 observes, “ I here saw the original of many of Homer’s battles, the 
 portrait of some of the historical narratives of Herodotus, and one 
 of the principal groundworks of the descriptions of Diodorus ; but, 
 to complete the gratification, we felt that had the artist been better 
 acquainted with the rules and use of perspective, the performance 
 
 labyrinth of edifices, the various groups of ruins of the other 
 temples within sight, these altogether had such an effect upon my 
 soul as to separate me in imagination from the rest of mortals, 
 exalt me on high over all, and cause me to forget entirely the 
 trifles and follies of life.” 
 
 The Temple of Tentyra is the first Egyptian temple the 
 traveller sees on ascending the Nile. It was dedicated to Isis, and 
 is unsurpassed in the beauty of its architecture, sculpture, and 
 paintings. Denon considered it the sanctuary of the arts and 
 sciences of Europe. The front face of the goddess appears on each 
 side of the square capitals. Various figures are sculptured on the 
 portico, interspersed with vases, lotus flowers, little boats, and 
 sphinxes. Portions of this temple appear to have been devoted to 
 sacrifice, as men are seen stamping on men, the bodies of others are 
 icpresented as at the point of death, some are stretched on a bier, 
 others are embalmed. Here also is seen the young Harpocrates, 
 son of Osiris and Isis, seated on a full-blown lotus, one finger 
 pressed against his lips, as representing the god of Silence. This 
 temple is famous for the celebrated zodiac painted on the ceiling, 
 enclosed by two long female figures, which extend along its whole 
 length. This zodiac is copied in the great work of Denon, and has 
 been elaborately commented upon by Visconti and De Lalande ; the 
 latter being of opinion, from the double appearance of the sign 
 Cancer, that this zodiac was composed at the time when the summer 
 
 H 
 
26 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 solstice was in the middle of that sign, which he states to have 
 taken place 1200 years before the Christian era. Belzoni, however, 
 ascribes this temple to the first Ptolemy, observing “that it is 
 not improbable that he who laid the foundation of the Alexandrian 
 Library instituted the philosophical society of the Museum, and 
 studied to render himself beloved by the people, might erect such 
 an edifice to convince the Egyptians of his superiority of mind over 
 the ancient kings of Egypt, even in religious devotion.’’ This 
 hypothesis has, however, little weight when the character of the 
 zodiac is considered. 
 
 The priests of Egypt were well versed in astronomy, and perfectly 
 understood the precession of the equinoxes. They knew that the 
 effect of that precession was to displace one entire sign of the zodiac 
 in a period of 2160 years. They also constructed what is termed 
 the Sothiac Period, which they fixed in the year 1322 before our 
 era, which is said to have taken place in the reign of Menophres, 
 who lived about the beginning of the nineteenth dynasty. The 
 religious year of Egypt, called Sothiac, from Sothis or Sirius, 
 whose heliacal rising indicated the arrival of the sun in Leo, was 
 dated from the summer solstice. At the time this was established, 
 the Egyptians counted exactly 365 days in the year, without any 
 intercalation ; consequently, at the end of every four years, there 
 was one entire day short to make up four complete revolutions of 
 the sun. At the end of 120 years there was a deficiency of one 
 entire month ; that is to say, the sun had not performed 120 
 complete revolutions by a deficit of thirty days. The commence- 
 ment of the one hundred and twenty-first year, therefore, could no 
 longer correspond with the summer solstice. Since then in a period 
 of 120 years the beginning of the religious year was thrown back 
 one entire month, in twelve times that period it must have been 
 thrown hack one entire year ; in other w’ords, the sun would only 
 have made 1459 revolutions, though the Egyptians calculated as 
 though he had made 1460 revolutions. Consequently, it was not 
 before the expiration of 1461 years of 365 days in duration that the 
 sun had exactly accomplished 1460 complete revolutions. It is 
 easy to see that the omission of the quarters of the day caused 
 this difference. Now this grand period of 1461 years, each of 365 
 days, which brought hack the commencement of the sacred year 
 to the solstitian point, marked by the heliacal rising of Sirius or 
 Sothis, was called by the Egyptians the Sothiac Period. From 
 the date of this period the ancient Sabeists fixed the commence- 
 ment of their sacred year, the beginning of all created things, and 
 the natal hour of the w r orld, over the birth of which Sirius was 
 supposed to have presided. 
 
 All the eastern nations framed what are called “periods of 
 restitution,” to which the philosophers have referred. None of 
 those can he called the “grand year” unless it be that which esta- 
 blishes in every possible respect the position of every one of the 
 celestial bodies in the very same points from which they are 
 assumed to have started ;* for these periods of restitution necessarily 
 imply a beginning, at which the solar, planetary, and sidereal revo- 
 lution commenced, and the time consumed in bringing hack all the 
 planets and stars to that assumed initial point, constituted the great 
 year. Now as the precession of the equinoxes on the one hand, and 
 the varied movement of each of the planets, on the other hand, 
 change at every instant the position of the heavens relatively to the 
 earth, there can he no great period of restitution hut that which 
 harmonizes all these movements, and causes their termination to 
 coincide once or oftener with the assumed point of departure. The 
 ancients fixed the great revolution of the heavens at 36,000 years, 
 allowing one degree for each 100 years of movement, and they called 
 it the “ period of the eight movements or of the “ precession,” 
 because the equinoctial colure was then brought back to Aries. 
 Therefore, every great year, whether more or less than 36,000 years, 
 without being a multiple of it, could not be the grand period of 
 restitution ; for the restitution of the celestial appearances must, by 
 the hypothesis, be complete, and a variation in any single one 
 would be fatal to the unity and entirety of the system. The 
 Chaldaic period, preserved by Berosus, exactly answers the con- 
 ditions of the problem, and it is the only one transmitted by ancient 
 writers that does so. The duration of the Chaldaic period is 432,000, 
 which is a multiple of 36,000 years, containing it twelve times 
 
 * “ Est pneterea annus quem Aristotclcs maximum, potius quam magnum, 
 appellat, quem solis, lunre, vagarumque quinque stcllarum orbes, conficiunt, 
 cum ad idem siguum ubi quondam simul fuerint, una referentur.’ 
 
 Cexsokixus. I)c Die Natali, c. IS. 
 
 without a remainder. This is the great month of which Virgil 
 speaks in his fourth eclogue, for it is really a twelfth part of the 
 great year : “ Incipient magni procedere menses.” 
 
 At a very early period the Egyptian year was lunar, and its 
 duration only 354 days. This primitive annual reckoning was 
 measured by the course of the moon, and was composed of twelve 
 lunar months of twenty-nine and a half days each, or of twelve 
 months of twenty-nine and thirty days alternatively. On this basis, 
 six months of twenty-nine days each, giving 174 days, and six 
 months of thirty days each, giving 180 days, the sum would equal 
 354 days. It must have been soon observed that the. sun did not 
 complete his annual revolution so soon as the moon. It was at first 
 supposed that the difference in time amounted to six days. By 
 adding them to a lunar year, the ancient solar year contained 
 exactly 360 days. The zodiac was then divided into 360 degrees, 
 and the duodecimal division into signs established, the sun being 
 presumed to traverse exactly one degree per day, one entire sign 
 per month, and consequently the whole circle in 360 days. After a 
 considerable time, the error of this calculation was discovered ; for 
 it was observed that, at the end of 360 days, the sun had not really 
 travelled through the entire zodiac. It thus became necessary to 
 lengthen the duration of the year, that it might correspond with 
 the solar revolution, and accordingly five more days were added, 
 making 365 days, the vulgar solar year. The Egyptians called 
 these additional days by the names of Osiris, Aroueris, Typhon, 
 Isis, and Nepthe. 
 
 Plutarch, in his treatise upon Osiris and Isis, has a cui-ious 
 mythological account of this extension of the year. lie states that 
 a secret connection between Rhcea and Saturn being discovered by 
 the sun, who threatened that she should not be delivered of any 
 child in any month or year, Mercury, who was also in love with 
 Rhrea, having won from the moon at play, with dice or counters, 
 the twentieth part of each of her annual illuminations, composed 
 the Epagoraenes, or five superadded days, on each of which days 
 the five great deities of Europe were successively born of llhcea. 
 These were Osiris, Aroueris, also called Apollo or the elder Horus, 
 Typhon, Isis, and Nepthe. To this last was also given the names 
 of Teleute, Aphrodite, and Nike. Plutarch further says that the 
 sun was the father of Osiris and Aroueris, Mercury of Isis, and 
 Saturn of Typhon and Nepthe. 
 
 The zodiac of Tentyra and the remarks of De Lalande have led us 
 into these astronomical topics, nor are they irrelevant to our mode 
 of treating the subject, for astronomy is the true key to the monu- 
 ments of Egypt. Their gods took their attributes from the seasons, 
 and their mythology, however disguised, may be detected in Persia, 
 Greece, and Rome. Thus, when the Persians commenced their year 
 at the vernal equinox, Mithra, their chief divinity, was represented 
 riding on a bull, the symbol of the zodiacal sign of spring at an 
 early period ; but when the precession had brought forward Aries 
 to the solstitial colure, then Mithra assumed the attributes of the 
 Ram. The worship of the sun was universal throughout the East. 
 He is the Adonis of Phoenicia, the Osiris of Egypt, the Mithra of 
 the Persians, the Atys of Lydia, the Bacchus of the Arabians, the 
 Ammon of Lybia, the Belus of Chaldcea, the Apollo of the Greeks 
 and Romans. The moon received a worship as extensive as the 
 sun. She is Isis, Diana, Trivia, Passinuntia, Hecate. The con- 
 flicting dominion of light and darkness was shared equally by the 
 sun and moon, and when he became the Jupiter Autumnalis, 
 she became the Juno Infernalis ; when he became Pluto, she 
 became Proserpine. It is in this sense that we are to understand 
 the reply of the oracle at Claros, over which Apollo presided, 
 when he answered the interrogatory as to his nature in these 
 words : “ I am Jupiter Ammon in spring, and the Black Pluto in 
 winter.” 
 
 The Serapion and Pompey’s Pillar. — This temple and 
 column are not illustrated in the Crystal Palace, but as they are 
 among the most famous of the antiquities of Egypt, some account 
 of them falls within our plan. The celebrated pillar associated with 
 the name of the great rival of Julius Ceesar has led to much contro- 
 versy, and it is now certain that it has no reference to Pompey. It 
 is true that that illustrious Roman restored Ptolemy Auletes to the 
 throne of Egypt, and that the son of Ptolemy Auletes murdered the 
 friend and benefactor of his family. It is also true that Csesar wept 
 at the sad termination of the career of his competitor, but there is 
 not a shadow of evidence to prove that any of these three person- 
 ages erected a monument to Pompey. Mr. Edward Wortley Mon- 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 tague published a statement in the Philosophical T)-ansactions, 
 vol.lvii., p. 43S, in "which he attributed the building of the column 
 to Vespasian, because he found at its base a medal of that emperor; 
 but it "was well known at Alexandria that he was hoaxed, the 
 medal having been deposited merely for the purpose of deluding 
 the credulous traveller. Pdre Sicard, a French missionary, who 
 died of the plague in Egypt, suspected that this column was erected 
 by Ptolemy Evergetes, but assigns no reason for his conjecture ; 
 which was, however, adopted by Brotier, the learned editor of 
 Tacitus. Sicard says, that with the exception of eight or ten 
 unconnected letters, the inscriptions were obliterated. M. I)e 
 Maillet, appointed French Consul-General in Egypt in 1G92, notices 
 the pillar, but says that he could not decipher the Greek writing 
 upon it on account of the varied colour of the marbles. The Danish 
 traveller Norden examined it in 1738, and says, “I will only 
 remark that as this colossus is of the Corinthian order, its erection 
 seems due to the age of the Ptolemies." In 1761 Niebuhr visited 
 it, and observes that “ it appeared not to be the intention of the 
 Greek architect to immortalize his name by inscribing it on the 
 column, or that he did not know the art of carving upon stone so 
 well as the Egyptians did; for had the Greeks cut as deeply as the 
 Egyptians did on their obelisks, the inscription would not now be 
 illegible.” The learned Michaelis calls the column after the 
 name of the Emperor Severus, on the authority of Abulfeda’s 
 Geography of Egypt. 
 
 These several opinions have been critically examined by Dr. 
 White, Professor of Arabic in the University of Oxford, at the close 
 of the last century, and by him refuted. The Arabic expression 
 “ Amud Issawari,” by which Pompey’s Pillar was distinguished in 
 the middle-ages, is translated by Dr. White, “The Column of the 
 Pillars,” and he declares that it has no other signification.* This 
 erudite scholar observes that to an English ear this phrase will 
 appear rather tautologous. Our language affords no correspondent 
 term, no word equally extensive and comprehensive with “Amud,” 
 which includes both the round and the square pillar, and may be 
 applied to a Grecian column or a square obelisk. At the time when 
 the Arabic language first prevailed in Egypt, there were only two 
 extraordinary objects of this kind remaining at Alexandria, — Cleo- 
 patra’s Needle and Pompey’s Pillar ; and the inhabitants appear to 
 have distinguished them by their local situation, calling the one 
 “Amud el Bahri,” “ The Column of the Sea;” and the other “Amud 
 Issawari,” “ The Column of the Pillai-s.” The ruins of Persepolis 
 are to this day called, in the language of Persia, “ Ckehel Minar,” 
 
 “ The Forty Pillars.” 
 
 Dr. White then proceeds to notice the Alexandrian Temple of 
 Serapis, of which Ruffinus, who wrote about the end of the fourth 
 century, has left a complete and most interesting description. Its 
 extensive quadrangles, the spacious windows, the vast and magni- 
 ficent style of the building, together with the gigantic statue of the 
 deity, filled his mind with ideas of grandeur and immensity, which 
 has induced some sceptical writers to charge him with exaggera- 
 tion. But his accuracy is attested by Ammianus Marcellinus, who 
 declares that after the Capitol of Rome, the world possessed no 
 building comparable to the Serapiun. The image for the reception 
 of which this superb temple was raised, was introduced into Egypt 
 from the Euxine Sea by the first Ptolemy. Tacitus has minutely 
 recorded the history of this event, stating that the removal of the 
 statue to Alexandria was accompanied with miraculous circum- 
 stances ; and that a temple suitable to the dignity of the city was 
 erected in the suburb called Rhacotis, where a chapel dedicated to 
 Serapis and Isis had formerly stood. From various circumstances 
 it may be inferred that Ptolemy Soter designed and commenced 
 the Serapiun, which Ptolemy Philadelphus completed in the 
 following reign. 
 
 The Arabic writers affirm that the column, popularly called 
 Pompey’s Pillar, stood at the northern angle of a great building of 
 uncertain antiquity, and that 400 of the pillars of that building 
 were standing round it, and with which it was thus connected; 
 hence it received its popular name of Amud Issawari, or the 
 “ Column of the Pillars.” Here also was the famous library which 
 Amrou destroyed by the command of the Caliph Omar ; and Dr. 
 White has shown that that library formed part of the Serapiun. 
 Whence it is fairly to be inferred that the column stood within its 
 precincts. 
 
 * Egyptiaca, part I., p. 31. Edit. 1801. 
 
 Pliny distinctly states that Ptolemy Philadelphus raised an 
 obelisk of eighty cubits, as a pledge of his affectionate regard to 
 the memory of his wife, Arsinoe. This monarch was also cele- 
 brated for his piety towards his parents, and as he wished to display 
 to his Egyptian subjects the architecture of his own country in its 
 utmost magnificence, he constructed the column, not in honour of 
 Pompey, but in honour of his father, who was the founder of the 
 Ptolomcean dynasty, and who built the Temple of Serapis, in front 
 of which his son placed the column, surmounted by his father’s 
 statue; hence it was called the “Column of the Pillars.” Such is 
 the theory of the ingenious and learned Dr. White, and they who 
 desire to see at length the mass of varied erudition by which ho 
 maintains his hypothesis, are referred to his instructive volume 
 already quoted. 
 
 The general reader cannot fail to be gratified by our placing 
 before him the vivid description which Gibbon has given of tho 
 Serapiun. “ In this wide and varied prospect of devastation, the 
 spectator may distinguish the ruins of the Temple of Serapis at 
 Alexandria. Serapis does not appear to have been one of the 
 native gods, or monsters, who sprang from the fruitful soil of 
 superstitious Egypt. The first of the Ptolemies had been com- 
 manded, by a dream, to import the mysterious stranger from the 
 coast of Pontus, where he had been long adored by the inhabitants 
 of Sinope ; but his attributes and his reign were so imperfectly 
 understood, that it became a subject of dispute whether he repre- 
 sented the bright orb of day, or the gloomy monarch of the subter- 
 ranean regions. The Egyptians, who were obstinately devoted to 
 the religion of their fathers, refused to admit this foreign deity 
 within the walls of their cities. But the obsequious priests, who 
 were seduced by the liberality of the Ptolemies, submitted without 
 resistance to the power of the king of Pontus ; an honourable and 
 domestic genealogy was provided ; and this fortunate usurper was 
 introduced into the throne and bed of Osiris, the husband of Isis, 
 and the celestial monarch of Egypt. Alexandria, which claimed 
 his peculiar protection, gloried in the name of the city of Serapis. 
 His temple, which rivalled the pride and magnificence of the 
 Capitol, was erected on the spacious summit of an artificial mount, 
 raised one hundred steps above the level of the adjacent parts of the 
 city, and the interior cavity was strongly supported by arches, and 
 distributed into vaults and subterraneous apartments. The conse- 
 crated buildings were surrounded by a quadrangular portico ; the 
 stately halls, the exquisite statues, displayed the triumph of the 
 arts ; and the treasures of ancient learning were preserved in the 
 famous Alexandrian Library, which had arisen with new splendour 
 from its ashes. After the edicts of Theodosius had severely 
 prohibited the sacrifices of the pagans, they were still tolerated in 
 the city and Temple of Serapis ; and this singular indulgence was 
 imprudently ascribed to the superstitious terrors of the Christians 
 themselves ; as if they had feared to abolish those ancient rites, 
 which could alone secure the inundations of the Nile, the harvest 
 of Egypt, and the subsistence of Constantinople.” 
 
 This superb temple was destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of 
 Theophilus, who filled the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria, 
 the votaries of Serapis offering a bold resistance, although in 
 a decided minority. The archbishop pointed out to his flock tho 
 frauds of the priests in the use they made of the loadstone, and 
 their secret contrivances for introducing a living actor into tho 
 hollow statue. “An intrepid soldier,” says Gibbon, “ animated by 
 zeal, and armed with a weighty battleaxe, ascended the ladder ; 
 and even the Christian multitude expected, with some anxiety, tho 
 event of the combat. He aimed a vigorous stroke against tho 
 cheek of Serapis ; the cheek fell to the ground ; the thunder was 
 still silent, and both the heavens and the earth continued to 
 preserve their accustomed order and tranquillity. The victorious 
 soldier repeated his blows ; the huge idol was overthrown, and 
 broken in pieces; and the limbs of Serapis were ignominiously 
 dragged through the streets of Alexandria ; his mangled corpse 
 was burnt in the amphitheatre, amidst the shouts of the populace ; 
 and many persons attributed their conversion to this discovery of 
 the impotence of their tutelar deity.” 
 
 Another beautiful monument represented in the Crystal Palaco 
 is the Portico of the Temple of Isis, in the island of Phil®. 
 This island is about 1000 feet in its greatest length, while its 
 greatest breadth is 400. It was here that the Egyptians collected 
 all that was most picturesque and beautiful in their architecture. 
 
 | Here was displayed, in the most attractive forms, the finest 
 

 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 imitations of the palm-branch and the lotus. The sculptured 
 ceilings, columns, and walls, were painted in the most vivid colours. 
 It was in temples of this description that the Egyptian priests 
 lavished their treasures, and that the Jews first learned to make 
 the likeness of every thing that was in heaven and on earth, or in 
 the waters under the earth ; that they learned to bow down and 
 worship their gods of silver and their gods of gold. It was this 
 worship that made all the people, at the command of Aaron, tear 
 the earrings from their wives, their sons, and their daughters, with 
 which he was to make the golden calf. PHIL.E* was held in 
 peculiar veneration, it being a popular belief that it was the 
 burial-place of Osiris; but this honour was contended for by 
 Abvdus, Memphis, Busiris, and Teph Osiris. Belzoni refers the 
 Isiac temple at Phil® to the time of the Ptolemies, and the 
 style of the hieroglyphics satisfied him that it belongs to the last 
 era of the Egyptian nation. The style of the columns is much 
 lighter than in the more ancient monuments of Egypt; some of 
 the inner apartments have served as places of worship both to 
 Greeks and Romans. On the keystones of the middle arch Belzoni 
 B aw the word “ sanctum ” thrice repeated, and there are other 
 palpable marks of the whole temple having been fitted up for 
 
 artists produced the most vivid and animated representations, 
 quite justifying the glowing descriptions we have quoted from 
 Mr. Hamilton, and of which we furnish a specimen in the military 
 career of Rameses the Great. 
 
 The influence of Egypt on civilization has been extensive and 
 permanent ; and if we desire to trace backwards the progress of 
 the human mind, we must specially study its antiquities and 
 institutions. Egypt taught the early sages of Greece, and there 
 Pythagoras learned the true physical system of the heavens, so long 
 misunderstood from his death till the age of Copernicus and Newton. 
 To this Virgil expressly alludes : — 
 
 “Vidit et etherio mundum torquerier axe, 
 
 Et septem eternis sonitum dare Vocibus aurcs.” 
 
 We of course smile at “ the music of the spheres,” and the divine 
 harmony produced by the movement of the planets, inaudible to 
 human ears on account of the distance ; but it is certain that 
 Pythagoras knew that the planets revolved round the sun. The 
 knowledge imparted by Egypt enlightened early Greece, and was 
 transmitted to Rome. All the mythology of those countries may 
 be traced to the same source. Modern Europe still places its 
 
 UAMESES II. BESIEGING A CASTLE. B.C. 1170. 
 
 Christian devotion. The whole island is covered with ruins, which 
 Belzoni considers the most superb he ever beheld grouped together 
 on so small a space of ground. 
 
 The religion of Egypt, so long as it was maintained in its purity, 
 prevented improvement in sculpture; for it was not permitted to 
 introduce any material innovations in the treatment of the human 
 figure, and indeed all subjects relating to religion retained the 
 primitive conventional style. “ A god in the latest temple,” says 
 Sir Gardner Wilkinson, “ was of the same form as when represented 
 on monuments of the earliest date ; and king Menes would have 
 recognised Amun or Osiris in a Ptolemaic or Roman sanctuary.” 
 Egyptian bass-relief appears to have been in its origin a mere copy 
 of painting, its predecessor. The first attempt to represent the 
 figures of gods, sacred emblems, or other subjects, consisted in 
 drawing or painting simple outlines of them on a flat surface, the 
 details being afterwards put in with colour. They were afterwards 
 traced on stone with a tool, and the intermediate space between the 
 figures being then cut away, the once level surface assumed the 
 appearance of a bass-relief. Such was the character of all bass-i'eliefs 
 on Egyptian monuments. In battle scenes, however, the Egyptian 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 25. 
 
 obelisks in its capital cities. The connection between Etruria and 
 Egypt is certain, and the artizans of the former country constructed 
 the primitive monuments of Rome. The learned authoress, Mrs 
 Gray, in her instructive volume, A Tour to the Sepulchres of Etruria , 
 says, “ In the Egyptian Museum of Florence we saw a small china 
 vase, which we thought had just been removed from a drawing- 
 room chimney-piece, but which Professor Rosselini assured us he had 
 himself taken from one of the tombs of the ancient Pharaohs, which 
 bore all the marks of never having been previously opened. On 
 one side there is a blue flower, and on the other a Chinese character, 
 which was thus translated by Mr. Davis, the distinguished Chinese 
 scholar, ‘ The flower opens, and to a new year ; ’ and was pronounced 
 to be in no way different from the modern writing of the celestial 
 empire. In the same museum I saw a Scythian war-chariot, which 
 had been taken by Rosselini from the Egyptian tomb of one who 
 was probably a bold captain in the army of Rameses the Great, and 
 who had brought it home as a trophy of distant Asiatic victory. 
 Among our Etruscan scarabei there is one of large size and great 
 beauty from China, formed of rock of emerald, and of which the 
 intaglio is a grove of lotus, wherein stand the divinities Isis and 
 Horus, represented in the best Egyptian style, and we narrowly 
 missed acquiring another, which was of still more uncommon value, 
 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 29 
 
 as on it, by the side of a female warrior destroying a prostrate foe, 
 there was a royal cartouche filled with hieroglyphics. I mention 
 these precious gems as a strong link of evidence connecting Egypt 
 with Etruria, for there can be no doubt, from the shape, that the 
 stones are Etruscan, while the intaglios are as assuredly Egyptian.” 
 
 In 1817 the Signor Carnevali, a gentleman of Albano, discovered 
 several sepulchral urns and cinerary vases, when turning up some 
 of his land to form a plantation. This led to a minute investigation 
 by the Italian antiquaries, and a Report was drawn up by Alex- 
 ander Visconti. It is known that at some remote though undated 
 period, but presumed to be prior to the foundation of Alba Longa 
 by Ascanius, the son of ./Eneas, the Alban Mount, being volcanic, 
 was thrown down, and a lake formed on its site. Antiquaries 
 have fixed this convulsion of nature in the year 1176 before the 
 Christian era. Mr. Hobhouse, now Lord Broughton, in alluding to 
 the discovery of Signor Carnevali, makes the following remarks : — 
 
 “ It is premised that the peperine under which the Tomasetti 
 Vase, and (by induction) all the vases were laid, was originally a 
 volcanic substance thrown up at the great convulsion, and gradually 
 formed into stone. These burials then did not take place after, but 
 before the present surface was formed ; therefore they belong to a 
 people who lived in Alba before the lake was formed and the crater 
 was extinct; these people Visconti calls aborigines. With this 
 foundation the Roman antiquary endeavours to show that the 
 burials may have belonged to a people even of the extreme 
 antiquity requisite for such a supposition.” * 
 
 Among these exhumed remains was a little balsamic vase called 
 “Lecytus;” vessels called “ Animatoria,” with funnels for the 
 exhalation of perfumed smoke ; a vase called “ Calefactorium a 
 buckle used to fasten the cloth which enclosed the ashes of the 
 dead ; a vase for lustral water ; four vases supposed to hold wine, 
 oil, milk, &c. ; a vase with a spout, three dishes, and a bowl with 
 two handles, a lamp, the oscilla, or little clay figure, and a writing 
 stylus, with the obliterating instrument attached. 
 
 It is evident that these utensils and implements must have been 
 made by a race of people very much more advanced in civilization 
 than the rude subjects of King Evander, who is supposed to have 
 settled on the Palatine Hill sixty years before the Trojan war, and 
 who is said to have introduced the letters, music, manners, and 
 
 * Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Chil e Harold. By John Cam 
 Hobhouse. 
 
 some of the arts of Greece. According to the Roman writers, the 
 early Greek inhabitants of Latium came from Achaia, and were 
 afterwards joined by colonists from Argos; but it cannot with any 
 degree of fairness be contended that they fashioned the gems and 
 vases which bear evidence of Egyptian manufacture, as shown by 
 Mrs. Gray, who wrote many years after Mr. Hobhouse, when much 
 more extensive discoveries had been made than when he published 
 his volume in 1818. He mentions a theory suggested to him by an 
 English antiquary, who presumes that the figures which Visconti 
 thought might be letters or whole words, betray a Runic or Scan- 
 dinavian origin, being cruciform in shape, and resembling the 
 hammer of Thor. Mr. Hobhouse refers to some medals and amulets 
 contained in the Museum of the Royal Academy of Copenhagen, 
 and observes that “ the similarity between these Runic hammer- 
 crosses and the marks on the vases at Alba Longa is so great that 
 one might be tempted to maintain their identity;” but, he adds, 
 there is perhaps some connection between both and the crux ansata 
 of the Egyptian monuments. In the present state of our know- 
 ledge of Etrurian antiquities, there can be no doubt that its 
 inhabitants had a very intimate intercourse with the land of Osiris 
 and Isis. 
 
 Tlius the land of the Pharaohs, from a very early period, is 
 intimately connected with ancient Italy, and probably poured into 
 its primitive •wilderness its civilization and its arts, and Etruria 
 gave its religion and its science to the city of Romulus. At a later 
 date Egypt received her kings from the descendants of one of the 
 successful generals of Alexander, and became the pupil after having 
 been the teacher of Greece. Then she fell under the dominion of 
 Rome, and the capital of the Ctcsars was ornamented with her 
 antique monuments. Modern cities are proud at being embellished 
 with her obelisks, which many consider to be older even than her 
 pyramids. By such structures the remote past is connected with 
 the present ; and could the cotemporaries of Cheops or Rameses rise 
 from their graves, they would behold in a land of which they had 
 never heard, and within the walls of a temple composed of the most 
 brittle materials, a faithful representation of their habits and customs, 
 of their gigantic monuments, of their curious devices, of their ruder 
 ignorance, and of their cultured intelligence. In these pictorial 
 and artistic reproductions of the days of old, we may study the 
 vicissitudes of empires and the instability of greatness, and, warned 
 by experience, cultivate that virtue which imparts strength, and 
 practise that piety which ensures protection. 
 
 i i 
 
30 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA COURT. 
 
 Before approaching the epoch of those Arabian Moors, or 
 Saracens, who overthrew the Gothic empire established in Spain, 
 founded the kingdom of Cordova, and built the gorgeous palace of 
 Alhambra, we propose, in a rapid retrospect, to sketch the state 
 of the Iberian peninsula from the earliest period of its history to 
 the era of the Mahometan conquest. 
 
 SPAIN UNDER THE CARTHAGINIANS AND ROMANS. 
 
 Spain occupies the most western portion of southern Europe; 
 encircled by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, it 
 forms with Portugal a peninsula whose circumference is nearly 
 G30 leagues. This beautiful region received different names from 
 the historians of antiquity. The Greeks called the portion with 
 which they were acquainted Iberia ; the Latins knew it as Hesperia. 
 The name of Spain appears to have been of Carthaginian origin. 
 The Pyrenean mountains, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean, 
 have ever formed its natural limits. Augustus divided it into three 
 provinces — Lusitania, Bcetica, andTarraconensis. “ The kingdom of 
 Portugal,” as Gibbon has remarked, “ now fills the place of the 
 warlike country of the Lusitanians ; and the loss sustained by the 
 former on the side of the east, is compensated by an accession of 
 territory towards the north. 
 
 The empires of Granada and 
 Andalusia correspond with those 
 of Bcetica. The remainder of 
 Spain — Galicia and the Astu- 
 rias, Biscay and Navarre, Leon 
 and the two Castiles, Murcia, 
 
 Yalentia, Catalonia and Ara- 
 gon, all contributed to form the 
 third and most considerable 
 of the Homan governments, 
 which, from the name of its 
 capital, Avas styled the province 
 of Tarragona. Of the native 
 barbarians, the Ceitiberians were 
 the most powerful, as the Can- 
 tabrians and Asturians formed 
 the most obstinate. Confident 
 in the strength of their moun- 
 tains, they were the last who 
 submitted to the arms of Rome, 
 and the first who threw off the 
 yoke of the Arabs.” 
 
 Among other cities, the Phoe- 
 nicians founded Cadiz and Me- 
 dina Sidonia, which name recalls 
 that of Sidon, so famous for its 
 commerce and wealth. Those 
 pacific conquerors introduced 
 their arts, their language, and 
 their religion into Bcetica, and 
 coasting the Mediterranean, landed in Granada, Murcia, and 
 Yalentia; they advanced to the Pyrenees; and worked the gold and 
 silver mines which are said to have been so productive that the 
 Phoenicians left behind them all their utensils of lead and iron, 
 having replaced them with precious metal. 
 
 This prodigious success attracted the competition of the Greeks ; 
 and the Rhodians, Samians, and Phocmans, in succession, founded 
 colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean. Carthage, commercial 
 and warlike, next extended her trade to the opulent peninsula ; she 
 began with building factories, religious temples followed, and the 
 sacred edifices were soon converted into fortresses. About the year 
 ”87 before our era, Hamilcar Barca, the famous Cai’thaginian, 
 founded Barcelona, and the name of that city still perpetuates his 
 fame. His brother, Asdrubal, built Carthagena, and married a 
 Spanish lady. It was under his instruction that Hannibal learnt 
 the art of Avar, and as he went to the country when only nine years 
 of age, he was almost considered a native. 
 
 The people of Greek origin, such as those of Saguntum and 
 Ampurias, Avho inhabited the coasts of Catalonia and the kingdom 
 of Valentia, alarmed at the rapid aggrandisement of their poAverful 
 neighbours, invoked and obtained the Roman alliance. The Punic 
 
 Avars then folloAved, aud Carthage Avas destroyed by her more 
 fortunate rival. During this contest occurred the memorable sieges 
 of Saguntum and Numantia. Hannibal invested the former town, 
 which, after a valorous resistance of eight months, yielded only 
 to famine ; and “Fames Saguntina” passed into a proverb. In the 
 heroic defence the Avomen rivalled the men in courage and forti- 
 tude, aud Avhen they saw their fathers, husbands, and sons, suc- 
 cumb under the last assault, they killed their children with their 
 OAvn hands, and rushed into the flames which consumed their 
 unfortunate city. 
 
 On the downfall of Carthage Spain was ruled by Roman pretors, 
 who enriched themselves by plundering the people. Insurrection 
 broke out, and what is called the Lusitanian Avar commenced, about 
 the year 160 before our era. The inhabitants were ruthlessly 
 massacred by the Romans, and even those who threw aAvay their 
 weapons on the faith of a capitulation Avere mercilessly butchered. 
 Then arose an avenger in the person of Viriatus, originally a 
 shepherd, then a brigand, aftenvards a soldier. He soon obtained 
 a complete ascendancy, and inspired his folloAvers with his 
 undaunted spirit. The commencement of the Lusitanian Avar is 
 variously narrated by different historians. According to some, after 
 the massacre perpetrated by Lu- 
 cullus at Pan/.a, Viriatus, already 
 distinguished for his bravery 
 and talents, assembled a body of 
 his friends under the Avails of 
 that town, and standing in the 
 midst of the ruins, while the 
 vultures were pouncing doAvn on 
 the unburied dead, and the in- 
 dignant mourners were x - ecog- 
 nising the remains of a father, a 
 brother, or a friend, the Lusita- 
 nian hero caught sight of the 
 corpse of one of his daughters, 
 Avhose youth and sex had 
 afforded no protection against the 
 furies of a murdering soldiery. 
 With tears in his eyes he raised 
 the body of his child, and plac- 
 ing his hand upon her Avounds, 
 devoted her barbarous assas- 
 sins to the infernal gods ; and 
 SAvore to avenge her in streams 
 of Roman blood. Thousands of 
 A r oices responded to his own, 
 every SAVord was raised on high, 
 and to complete this tragic 
 ceremony a prisoner of eques- 
 trian rank was immolated on 
 the spot. Viriatus and his prin- 
 cipal comrades plunged their 
 hands into the quivering entrails of their victim, and repeated the 
 terrible formula of condemnation. 
 
 In many battles the Roman legions were completely defeated, and 
 the fame of Viriatus struck terror into the senate. Unable to 
 conquer him in the field, the Romans put a price upon his head, 
 corrupting three of his lieutenants, who stabbed him mortally 
 while sleeping in his tent. During this war a part of Celtiberia 
 had joined in the rex'olt, and Numantia, a city in alliance with the 
 Romans, had afforded shelter to some Celtiberian fugitives. This 
 act of humanity was construed into the crime of rebellion, and the 
 city Avas besieged. The Numantians defeated several armies, 
 though they were themseh’es only eight thousand strong ; at length 
 they were conquered by immensely superior forces, but scarcely one 
 of the brave defenders survived to grace the triumph of the victor. 
 Then Spain Avas subjugated, if we except the northern districts, 
 where the poverty of the inhabitants and the almost inaccessible 
 passes of the mountains secured their independence. 
 
 After an uninterrupted peace of about forty years, Sertorius, one 
 of the most illustrious victims of the proscriptions which accom- 
 panied the civil war between Marius and Sylla, endeavoured to 
 rouse once more the martial spirit and ancient pride of Spain, 
 
 TOWER OF COMARES. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 31 
 
 and turn them to his own advantage. He exhorted the people 
 to throw off the hateful yoke which the avarice of the Roman 
 proconsuls had rendered insupportable. Two victories gave him 
 the command of Spain, and he became a formidable rival to 
 Rome. He established a government founded on the principles 
 of the republic, to which the people readily assented, having 
 been for so many years habituated to the customs of their con- 
 querors. Sertorius established a senate, tribunes of the people, 
 cediles and questors ; an army was disciplined. The inhabitants 
 were contented with their institutions, and obeyed a ruler whom 
 they believed to be inspired and protected by the gods. The 
 White Faicn of Sertorius became famous in Spain. Rome was 
 alarmed. The famous Pompey struggled in vain against the genius 
 of the Spanish liberator: and the dagger which had murdered 
 Viriatus was placed in the hands of Perpenna, one of the lieu- 
 tenants of Sertorius, and that miscreant assassinated his chief. 
 Perpenna formed a party of his own, and aspired to the supreme 
 rule ; but, beaten by Pompey, he was decapitated as the punishment 
 of his double treachery. 
 
 When the triumvirate was foi-med between Crassus, Cresar, and 
 Pompey, the government of Spain fell to the lot of the conqueror 
 of Perpenna; and when civil war broke out among these three 
 ambitious tyrants, Afranius Varro and Petreius, lieutenants of 
 Pompey, ruled in liis name. They defeated Caesar at the battle of 
 Merida, but were afterwards compelled to surrender at discretion 
 in the engagement fought between Lerida and Mequinenza. The 
 victory of Pharsalia left Ccesar without a rival, but he was again 
 called to Spain, where the sons of Pompey had raised a powerful 
 army ; but they were completely routed at the battle of Munda, a 
 town then existing in the neighbourhood of the modern Malaga. 
 
 In the second triumvirate Lepidus obtained Spain. When 
 Augustus became emperor, he imposed on the country a perpetual 
 tribute, and introduced the territorial division of Tarraconensis, 
 Lusitania, and Boctica, already mentioned. With that refinement 
 of political hypocrisy for which lie was famous, he pretended onty 
 to rule personally over the two first provinces, leaving the last, 
 which was the most opulent, to the administration of a servile 
 senate, who accepted the semblance of power as a boon, when the 
 reality was in the hands of the usurper. Then were heard the last 
 sighs of the old Spanish liberty, which were stifled by the legions 
 of Agrippa. 
 
 This first epoch of Spanish history is glorious and heroic, for its 
 people fought for freedom ; and if it sunk beneath the sword of Rome, 
 it must be recorded to its honour that it only fell before such men 
 as the Scipios, Pompey, and Caesar. The struggle lasted during two 
 hundred years, and the result might have been doubtful had not 
 one part of Spain turned its arms against the other. Internal 
 division was its ruin. Sertorius said to them, “ If you are united 
 you will be invincible, but local pride prevents your union.” 
 
 SPAIN UNDER THE GOTHS. 
 
 A long peace of about four hundred years succeeded the catas- 
 trophes we have described, during which Spain was happy and 
 flourishing. The administration of Augustus was mild, and the 
 grateful people raised monuments to his fame, and many cities 
 added Augusta to their ancient name. Thus Saragossa, in earlier 
 time called Salduba, received the new appellation of Cacsara 
 Augusta ; Merida was called Emorita Augusta ; Braga, in Lusi- 
 tania, the modern Portugal, took the same addition. Spain became 
 wholly Roman in its feelings, arts, and habits ; and in the enjoy- 
 ment of tranquillity consoled itself for the loss of freedom. She 
 considered herself rather the ally than the subject of Rome ; and 
 not without some show of reason, as the emperors Trajan, Hadrian, 
 Marcus Aurelius, Maximus, and Theodosius, were born in Spain. 
 She also had this inestimable advantage— the tribute due to the 
 imperial treasury was fixed, and she was relieved from the arbitrary 
 taxes formerly levied by the rapacity of the proconsuls. 
 
 In the year 123 of our era, the Emperor Hadrian, who was a great 
 administrator, and saw the impolicy of centralisation, and of 
 blending countries differing in climate and products to a universal 
 rule of government, modified the territorial divisions introduced by 
 Augustus. He separated Lusitania into three provinces— Galicia, 
 Carthagena, and Mauritania. This last did not indeed belong to 
 the peninsula, but to Africa; another was formed of the Balearic 
 Isles. In revising Roman legislation in Spain, Hadrian made a 
 special point to conserve intact all local usages, and thus con- 
 
 solidated his power, which any rude innovation would assuredly 
 have weakened. 
 
 When Constantine transferred the seat of government to Byzan- 
 tium, the forms of administration were changed throughout the 
 whole of the Roman empire. The west was divided into two 
 prefectures, of which one included Gaul, Britain, Spain, and the 
 Balearic province. Spain was governed by consular legates, and by 
 a vicar or lieutenant, under the authority of a prefect, who usually 
 resided in Gaul. Industrious men quitted Italy and established 
 themselves in the opulent peninsula, where they founded towns, 
 many of which still exist; and the whole country is still covered 
 with magnificent ruins, attesting the splendour of the monuments 
 by which it was embellished under the rule of the emperors. 
 
 Under the feeble reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, sons of the 
 first Theodosius, commenced the irruptions of the barbarians of the 
 north, which prepared the fall of the old empire. At that period 
 the Goths, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Alani, invited by tho 
 ambitious rivalry of Stilicho and Rufinus, penetrated the ’frontier 
 in all directions. If they came at the call of others, they remained 
 to satiate their own cupidity, or promote their own policy. The 
 greater part of Europe became the patrimony of these half-savage 
 invaders. The formidable Alarie, king of the Goths, approached 
 the walls of Rome, whose degenerate citizens, enervated by luxury, 
 could offer no resistance to the fierce tribes of Germany and 
 Scythia. “ He condescended,” says Gibbon, “ to fix the ransom 
 which he would accept as the price of his retreat from the walls of 
 Rome — all the gold and silver in the city, whether it were the 
 property of the state or of individuals, all the rich and precious 
 moveables, and all the slaves who could prove their title to tho 
 name of barbarians. The ministers of the senate presumed to ask, 
 in a modest and suppliant tone, ‘ If such, O king, are your demands, 
 what do you intend to leave us?’ ‘Your lives. n replied the 
 haughty conqueror. They trembled and retired.” 
 
 Alarie received a powerful reinforcement of Goths and Huns, 
 at the head of whom was Adolphus, the brother of his wife, who 
 became his successor. He sacked Rome, and met a premature death 
 after a short illness. His burial was so remarkable that we insert the 
 account of it as described by Gibbon. “ By the labour of a captive 
 multitude they (the Goths) forcibly diverted the course of the Busen- 
 tinus, a small river that washes the walls of Conscntia. The royal 
 sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils and trophies of Rome, 
 was constructed in the vacant bed ; the waters were then restored 
 to their natural channel, and the sacred spot where the remains of 
 Alarie had been deposited was for ever concealed by the inhuman 
 massacre of the prisoners who had been employed to execute the 
 work.” 
 
 Adolphus married Placidia, daughter of the great Theodosius and 
 sister of Honorius, and peace was thus restored between the Goths 
 and Romans. M liile these events were passing, the mercenaries 
 who guarded the Pyrenees invited the Suevi, the Vandals, and the 
 Alani, to invade Spain. 
 
 “ The irruption of these nations,” says Mariana, “was followed 
 by the most dreadful calamities, as the barbarians exercised their 
 indiscriminate cruelty on the fortunes of the Romans and the 
 Spaniards, and ravaged with equal fury the cities and the open 
 country. The progress of famine reduced the miserable inhabitants 
 to feed on the flesh of their fellow-creatures; and even the wild 
 beasts, who multiplied without control in the desert, were exas- 
 perated by the taste of blood and the impatience of hunger boldly to 
 attack and devour their human prey. Pestilence soon appeared— the 
 inseparable companion of famine ; a large proportion of the people 
 was swept away, and the groans of the dying excited only the envy 
 of their surviving friends. At length the barbarians, satiated with 
 carnage and rapine, and afflicted by the contagious evils which 
 they themselves had introduced, fixed their permanent seats in the 
 depopulated country. The ancient Galicia, whose limits included 
 the kingdom of old Castile, was divided between the Suevi and the 
 Vandals, the Alani were scattered over the provinces of Carthagena 
 and Lusitania, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean ; and 
 the fruitful territory of Bcctica was allotted to the Silingi, another 
 branch of the Vandalic nation. After regulating this partition, the 
 conquerors contracted with their new subjects some l'eciprocal 
 engagements of protection and obedience ; the lands were again 
 cultivated, and the towns and villages were again occupied by a 
 captive people. The greatest part of the Spaniards was even 
 disposed to prefer this new condition of poverty and barbarism to 
 
32 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 tlic severe oppression of the Roman government ; yet there were 
 many who still asserted their native freedom, and who refused, 
 more especially in the 
 mountains of Galicia, to 
 submit to the barbarian 
 yoke.” 
 
 Adolphus undertook to 
 expel these barbarians, 
 crossed the Pyrenees, and 
 entered Barcelona, in the 
 palace of which city he was 
 assassinated. The succes- 
 sion to the Gothic throne in 
 the royal house of Balti, 
 from which Alaric sprung, 
 was destroyed by the usur- 
 pation of Singeric, at whose 
 death the free choice, of the 
 nation bestowed the sceptre 
 on Wallia, who entered the 
 service of the empire — and 
 conquered the Suevi, Alani. 
 and Vandals — as the ally of 
 Honorius, emperor of the 
 West. He died in the year 
 419, when the Vandals 
 again entered Spain, mas- 
 sacred the Roman garri- 
 sons, and under their king, 
 
 Gunderic, seized Cartha- 
 gena and Seville. Then it 
 was that the beautiful 
 country bordering the 
 coast, and hitherto called 
 Boetica, took the name of 
 Vandalusia, afterwards cor- 
 rupted into Andalusia. 
 
 Theodoric, a son of Ala- 
 ric, succeeded Wallia, and 
 allied himself with the 
 Romans. He was slain in 
 the great battle against k.viu^.nce to m 
 
 Attila, whom history has 
 
 styled the “ Scourge of God,” in the plains of Chalons, in Cham- 
 pagne, when the Goths elected his son Torismond their king, who 
 was assassinated by his brothers. The history of those Gothic 
 princes presents only 
 a continued scene of 
 cruelty and murder 
 till we come to Euric, 
 king of the Visigoths, 
 who passed the Pyre- 
 nees at the head of 
 a numerous army, 
 seized the cities of 
 Saragossa and Pam- 
 peluna, the Tarra- 
 gonese province, and 
 permitted the Suevi 
 to hold the kingdom 
 of Galicia under the 
 Gothic monarchy of 
 Spain. Euric ob- 
 tained possession of 
 the whole peninsula 
 in the year 471. He 
 extended his con- 
 quests into Gaul, and 
 died at Arles in 483. 
 
 This king had mur- 
 dered his brother to 
 obtain the throne, but 
 
 he ruled with wis- mArim 02 
 
 dom and equity. He 
 
 pacified Spain, and compiled into a code the scattered laws of the 
 Goths, specially known in Aragon under the name of “ Fuero 
 
 Jugo.” Euric had received from Odoacer, who had extinguished 
 the western empire, the sovereignty of all the Roman conquests 
 
 beyond the Alps, as far as 
 the Rhine and the ocean ; 
 and Gibbon remarks that 
 “France may ascribe her 
 greatness to the premature 
 death of the Gothic king at 
 a time when his son Alaric 
 was an helpless infant, and 
 his adversary Clovis an am- 
 bitious and valiant youth.” 
 Clovis slew Alaric in per- 
 sonal combat, in a battle 
 that took place about ten 
 miles from Poitiers, when 
 the Visigoths surrendered 
 to him the greatest part 
 of their Gallic possessions, 
 but retained Spain. They 
 were compelled to abandon 
 their Arian heresy, and 
 Recared became the first 
 Catholic king. From his 
 reign to that of Roderick, 
 the last sovereign of the 
 Gothic monarchy, the 
 annals of the country are 
 only remarkable for royal 
 assassinations and foreign 
 aggression, though it must 
 be added that Sisebut, a 
 Gothic king who reigned 
 in the beginning of the 
 seventh century, perse- 
 cuted the Hebrews settled 
 in the country with the 
 most unrelenting cruelty. 
 
 “Ninety thousand Jews 
 were compelled to receive 
 the sacrament of baptism ; 
 the fortunes of the obsti- 
 nate infidels were confis- 
 I cated; their bodies were tortured, and it seems doubtful whether 
 they were permitted to abandon their native country. The excessive 
 zeal of the Catholic king was moderated even by the clergy of 
 
 Spain, who solemnly 
 pronounced an in- 
 consistent sentence : 
 that the sacrament 
 shoul d not be forcibly 
 imposed, but that the 
 Jews who had been 
 baptized should bo 
 constrained, for the 
 honour of the church , 
 to persevere in the 
 external practice of 
 a religion which they 
 disbelieved and de- 
 tested. Their fre- 
 quent relapses pro- 
 voked one of the 
 successors of Sisebut 
 to banish the whole 
 nation from his do- 
 minions ; and a coun- 
 cil of Toledo pu- 
 blished a decree that 
 every Gothic king 
 should swear to 
 maintain this salu- 
 tary edict. But as the 
 tyrants w'ere unwil- 
 I ling to dismiss the victims whom they delighted to torture, or to 
 I deprive themselves of the industrious slaves over whom they 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 33 
 
 might exercise a lucrative oppression, the Jews still continued 
 in Spain, under the weight of the civil and ecclesiastical laws, 
 which in the same country have been faithfully transcribed in 
 the code of the Inquisition. The Gothic kings and bishops at 
 length discovered that injuries will produce hatred, and that hatred 
 will find the opportunity of revenge. A nation, the secret or 
 professed enemies of Christianity, still multiplied in servitude and 
 distress; and the intrigues of the Jews promoted the rapid success 
 of the Arabian conquerors.” * 
 
 SPAIN UNDER THE MOORS. 
 
 The beautiful peninsula which had passed under the rule of the 
 Carthaginians, Romans, Goths and Visigoths, now received a 
 new master from the descendants of Mahomet. The Arabian 
 Moors, better known by the appellation of Saracens, who had 
 pushed their conquests up to the Pillars of Hercules, had long 
 coveted with greedy eyes the fertile fields of Spain. During the 
 reign of the Gothic king Recessuinthus, who ascended the throne in 
 the year 652 of our era, they had ravaged the coasts of Andalusia ; 
 and under his successor, "Wamba, they equipped a maritime expe- 
 
 reinforcements, and his army amounted to seventeen thousand 
 fighting men. Roderick awoke from the voluptuous lethargy in 
 which he was indulging, and summoned the dukes and counts of 
 the Gothic monarchy to repel the invaders. The royal forces 
 amounted to nearly one hundred thousand men. A decisive battle 
 was fought at Xcves de la Frontera, in the neighbourhood of Cadiz, 
 in which the Moors achieved a complete victory. Roderick fled. - 
 and was drowned in attempting to cross the Guadalquiver. Count 
 Julian then addressed the victorious Saracen in the following 
 terms : — “ The king of the Goths is slain, their princes are fled 
 before you, the army is routed, the nation is astonished. Secure 
 with sufficient detachments the cities of Boctica, and without delay 
 march to the royal city of Toledo, and allow not the distracted 
 Christians either time or tranquillity for the election of a new 
 monarch.” (Gibbon.) Tarik followed this advice ; and excepting 
 the sterile districts of the Asturias, Cantabria, and Navarre, the 
 whole country submitted to his arms. 
 
 Musa, who governed Africa for the Caliph Walid, envious of the 
 fame of Tarik, crossed over to Spain, and subjugated those towns 
 which had dared to rise against their conquerors. Leaving the 
 
 dition on a large scale, evidently with the design of effecting a 
 permanent conquest; but Wamba defeated them, and brought 
 triumphantly into the ports of Spain two hundred and seventy 
 Saracen vessels. In the reign of Roderick, the last of the Gothic 
 kings, the invasion of the Moors was successful, owing to the 
 traitorous co-operation of the native chiefs. Musa, the Saracen 
 general, had been defeated by Count Julian in his attempt to cap- 
 ture Ceuta, but shortly afterwards he was invited by that nobleman 
 to aid in the dethronement of Roderick. Historians have differed 
 as to the cause of this disloyalty. The severe criticism of modern 
 writers has rejected the story of the violation of Count Julian’s 
 daughter by Roderick, and found in the ambition of a subject, too 
 powerful to submit to a feeble master, sufficient reason for his 
 treachery. Others explain the event by referring to the pretensions 
 of the sons of Witiza, and the influence of their uncle Oppas 
 archbishop of Toledo and Seville. 
 
 In the year 710, Musa dispatched Tarik with five thousand 
 veterans, and that experienced soldier landed at Gibraltar, a corrup- 
 tion of Gebel el Tarik , so called after his name. He soon received 
 
 * Gibbon, chap, xxxvii. 
 
 government of Spain to his son, Abdelaziz, he returned in triumph 
 to Africa ; but both he and Tarik experienced the ingratitude of 
 the caliph. His son Abdelaziz was murdered in the mosque of the 
 palace of Cordova, by the direct order of the caliph, on the ground 
 that he had married Egilona, the widow of Roderick, and through 
 her aspired to the honours of royalty. The head of Abdelaziz w°as 
 presented to Musa, and the old warrior died of a broken heart at 
 Mecca. Tarik was publicly flogged for a whole day in the sun 
 before the palace gate of Damascus, but his life was spared, and he 
 was allowed to mingle with the slaves. 
 
 Ayoub, the uncle and assassin of Abdelaziz, succeeded his nephew, 
 and he was followed by Alahor, the first who led an army across 
 the Pyrenees, not so much from ambition as from prudence, for the 
 restless rapacity of the Moors demanded a field for their avarice or 
 their valour. The banners of Mahomet floated over that portion 
 of Gaul which was known to the Romans as the first and second 
 Narbonnese. In a second expedition they lost a sanguinary battle 
 under the walls of Toulouse, which they had seized and held since 
 their first irruption. They again appeared under the viceroy 
 Abderame, and pitched their camp not far from Tours, in the 
 plains immortalized by their defeat. It was there that Charles 
 
 K 
 
34 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Martel, or the Hammer, an illegitimate son of the elder Pepin, 
 acquired his right to the throne of France by saving the French 
 monarchy. Without his skill and valour France might have become 
 a Mahometan country, and Spain for ever remained subject to the 
 rule of the Crescent ; for had the Saracens established themselves 
 in the Yisigothic dominions of Gaul, the Pyrenees would have 
 become a fortress common to both divisions of the same people, and 
 a protection to all who professed the religion of Islam. Referring 
 to the triumph of Martel, Gibbon indulges in a still more disastrous 
 speculation. “ A victorious line of march,” he says, “ had been 
 prolonged above a thousand miles — from the rock of Gibraltar to 
 the banks of the Loire ; the repetition of an equal space would have 
 carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the highlands 
 of Scotland ; the Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or 
 Euphrates, and the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a 
 naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the inter- 
 pretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of 
 Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people 
 the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.” 
 
 This desperate battle was doubtful in its issue during the first 
 six days, but in the seventh Abderame was slain, and the Moslems 
 retired to their camp ; in the fury of their rage the various tribes 
 turned their arms against each other, and completed their own 
 disaster. The victory of the Franks was complete ; the enemy 
 never resumed the conquest of Gaul, though in a third irruption 
 they seized the town of Arles, which they held for a short time ; 
 but eventually they were driven over the Pyrenees, which they 
 never again crossed. Indeed, their policy underwent a complete 
 change after this memorable defeat; for fearing that the enterprising 
 spirit of the Franks would invade Spain, the second Abderame 
 concluded a treaty of alliance with Pepin, king of France. 
 
 Ancient Spain, fashioned or curbed to submission under the 
 successive yoke of the Romans and Goths, soon again lost what 
 little remained of its antique character, and adopted the manners 
 of its Moorish masters. Numerous tribes of the Arabian nation 
 arrived to share in the fruits of the conquest, and their immigra- 
 tion renewed the native population, nearly exterminated by the 
 ravages of war. The women who survived their husbands, and 
 their daughters, were married to the conquerors; and the descend- 
 ants of the mixed race were trained from the cradle in the doctrines 
 of Mahomet. “ A province is assimilated to the victorious state by 
 the introduction of strangers, and the imitative spirit of the natives ; 
 and Spain, which had been successively tinctured with Punic, and 
 Roman, and Gothic blood, imbibed, in a few generations, the name 
 and manners of the Arabs. The first conquerors, and the twenty 
 successive lieutenants of the caliphs, were attended by a numerous 
 train of civil and military followers, who preferred a distant fortune 
 to a narrow home ; the private and public interest was promoted 
 by the establishment of faithful colonies ; and the cities of Spain 
 were proud to commemorate the tribe or country of their eastern 
 progenitors. The victorious though motley bands of Tarik and 
 Musa asserted, by the name of Spaniards, their original claim of 
 conquest ; yet they allowed their brethren of Egypt to share their 
 establishments of Murcia and Lisbon. The royal legion of Damas- 
 cus was planted at Cordova; that of Emesa at Seville; that of 
 Kinnisrin, or Chalcis, at Jaen ; that of Palestine at Algezire and 
 Medina Sidonia. The natives of Yemen and Persia were scattered 
 around Toledo and the inland country; and the fertile seats of 
 Granada were bestowed on ten thousand horsemen of Syria and 
 Irak — the children of the purest and most noble of the Arabian 
 tribes. A spirit of emulation, sometimes beneficial, more frequently 
 dangerous, was nourished by these hereditary factions, len years 
 after the conquest, a map of the province was presented to the 
 caliph — the seas, the rivers, and the harbours, the inhabitants and 
 cities, the climate, the soil, and the mineral productions of the 
 earth. In the space of two centuries, the gifts of nature were 
 improved by the agriculture, the manufactures, and the commerce 
 of an industi’ious people; and the effects of their diligence have 
 been magnified by the idleness of their fancy. The first of the 
 Ommiades who reigned in Spain solicited the support of the 
 Christians ; and, in his edict of peace and protection, he contents 
 himself with a modest imposition of ten thousand ounces of gold, 
 ten thousand pounds of silver, ten thousand horses, as many mules, 
 one thousand cuirasses, with an equal number of helmets and 
 lances. The most powerful of his successors derived from the 
 same kingdom the annual tribute of twelve millions and forty-five 
 
 thousand dinars or pieces of gold — about six millions of sterling 
 money ; a sum which, in the tenth century, most probably 
 surpassed the united revenues of the Christian monarchs. His 
 royal seat of Cordova contained six hundred mosques, nine hundred 
 baths, and two hundred thousand houses ; he gave laws to eighty 
 cities of the first, to three hundred of the second and third order; 
 and the fertile banks of the Guadalquiver were adorned with twelve 
 thousand villages and hamlets. The Arabs might exaggerate the 
 truth, but they created and they describe the most prosperous era 
 of the riches, the cultivation, and the populousness of Spain.” * 
 
 Whilst the secure possession of the beautiful peninsula had 
 altered the simplicity or rudeness of primitive manners, and 
 softened down the ferocity of the Moors, the rival ambitions of 
 the Abassides and Ommiades of the East kindled a flame whose 
 flying sparks lighted up another conflagration on the banks of the 
 Guadalquiver. A proscribed scion of the house of Ommiades, escap- 
 ing from the vengeance of his Asiatic enemies, reached Spain, and 
 there found a party who pitied his sufferings, and were prepared to 
 vindicate his pretensions to royalty. The white flag, which was 
 the distinguishing banner of the Ommiades, floated once more over 
 the Mussulman cohorts, faithful to the posterity of Mahomet ; and 
 Abdehrahman established the throne of Cordova, and was the father 
 of the Ommiades of Spain, who reigned above two hundred and 
 fifty years from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees. 
 
 From this epoch may be dated the prosperity, grandeur, and 
 magnificence of the Moorish sovereigns, the descriptions of which, 
 without being exaggerated, appear to wear the character of 
 oriental fable. The imaginative arts, and even the exact sciences, 
 followed in the train of increasing wealth ; and historians have 
 traced the source of this prodigious opulence, which the treasures 
 of no prince in Europe at that time approached, to the inexhaustible 
 fertility of the Spanish soil, cultivated by the Moors with a skilful- 
 ness and industry beyond all praise. Without doubt, they were 
 the ablest agriculturists in the world. Never, since their time, have 
 the plains of the Guadalquiver been so fertile. In the palaces 
 of the Moorish caliphs, who had made themselves independent of 
 the caliphs of Damascus, gold and silver were lavished on orna- 
 ments of luxury, while the European princes could only aspire to 
 decorations of the base metals. Twelve thousand knights, armed 
 with scimitars having golden handles, and clothed in the most 
 splendid pageantry of war, attended the caliph on all public pro- 
 cessions. The most magnificent edifices arose at their several 
 capitals— in Granada, Seville, Murcia, and Cordova, though their 
 ruins now only remain. “ Three miles from Cordova, in honour of 
 his favourite sultana, the third and greatest of the Abdehramans 
 constructed the city, palace, and gardens of Zehra. Twenty-five 
 years, and above three millions sterling, were employed by the 
 founder: his liberal taste invited the artists of Constantinople, the 
 most skilful sculptors and architects of the age ; and the buildings 
 were sustained or adorned by twelve hundred columns of Spanish 
 and African, of Greek and Italian marble. The hall of audience 
 was incrusted with gold and pearls, and a great basin in the centre 
 was surrounded with the curious and costly figures of birds and 
 quadrupeds. In a lofty pavilion of the gardens, one of these basins 
 and fountains, so delightful in a sultry climate, was replenished, 
 not with water, but with the purest quicksilver. The seraglio of 
 Abdehraman, his wives, concubines, and black eunuchs, amounted 
 to six thousand three hundred persons ; and he was attended to the 
 field by a guard of twelve thousand horse, whose belts and scimitars 
 were studded with gold.” f 
 
 This magnificent caliph left behind him an authentic memorial, 
 found in his closet, which is a most instructive admonition to those 
 who pursue the empty vanities of life : — “ I have now reigned above 
 fifty years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by 
 my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honours, 
 power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly 
 blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situa- 
 tion I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine hap- 
 piness which have fallen to my lot— they amount to fourteen. O 
 man ! place not thy confidence in this present world !”J 
 
 The splendour and riches of Moorish Spain only commenced with 
 the independence of the caliphate of Cordova. While the Moorish 
 viceroys were dependant on the viceroys of Africa, who in turn 
 were dependant on the caliph of Damascus, Saracen Spain was a 
 
 * Gibbon, chap. li. t Ibid., chap. lii. t Ibid - 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 35 
 
 scene of devastation and misery : the fields -were deserted ; there 
 •was no trade in the towns ; the harbours were naked of vessels. 
 In fact, the viceroys, aware of the precarious tenure by which they 
 held their offices, pillaged in all directions, and the tribute or tax 
 depended on their personal rapacity ; thus both the victors and the 
 vanquished suffered. But injustice ceased under the reign of the 
 second Abderame, who concluded the treaty of peace with Pepin. 
 If it be asked how he reduced a political chaos into political order, 
 the answer of all the historians, unanimous on the point, is that he 
 devoted himself entirely to the duties of royalty. It is true that he 
 indulged in pleasure, and was fond of magnificent display, but his 
 virtue eclipsed his weaknesses. He felt the necessity of peace to 
 ameliorate the condition of his people ; and commenced his reform- 
 ing career by abstaining from foreign conquest. Besides his nego- 
 tiation with Pepin, he made a long truce with Don Aurelio, king of 
 Asturias, the descendant and successor of the Gothic prince, Pelayo, 
 who, having escaped the slaughter of Xeres de la Frontera, had 
 taken refuge in the mountains, whose poverty and ruggedness 
 afforded him and his scanty band of followers a secure asylum 
 against the Moslem scimitar. 
 
 Abderame granted to his Christian subjects the most absolute 
 toleration ; and if, in obedience to the law of the prophet, he 
 endeavoured to increase the number of the faithful, he only sought 
 their conversion by the gentle persuasions of kind treatment and 
 liberal gifts. He encouraged marriages between the Moslems and 
 the Christians, and enriched apostates from the Cross. It is true 
 that many members of the Spanish church remained steadfast to 
 their creed, and some even had the boldness to preach resistance; 
 but proselytism advanced with rapid strides, and the Koran, gilded 
 with gold, was accepted by a large majority of the people. What 
 most contributed to the destruction of Christianity was the temporal 
 policy of this adroit prince, who never allowed vacant bishoprics to 
 be filled up ; and prelates, deprived of revenues, soon disappeared. 
 Soon there was but one people ; and that people, relieved from the 
 horrors of civil war, turned its activity to trade. An active com- 
 merce with Greece and Asia Minor attracted the fleets of Byzantium 
 into Spanish harbours, and furnished abundant markets for their 
 rich products. 
 
 Politeness of manners and a refined elegance soon pervaded all 
 ranks ; and the rude warriors of Tarik and Musa would not have 
 recognised their descendants. What is especially remarkable, 
 women had shaken off the austere and saddening usages of the 
 East, and risen from slaves to the dignity of queens, and their soft 
 influence civilised the ferocity of man. An art of pleasing was 
 called into existence. The favour of the fair sex was no longer to 
 be won by ruffian violence, but by heroic feats of arms ; and the 
 field of Mars became the vestibule to the temple of the Loves and 
 Graces. It may perhaps be asked whether the earliest traditions 
 of chivalry were derived from the barbarians of the North, or flowed 
 down to us from Asia with those Arabs who, on quitting Africa, 
 were also barbarians ? It is a point of controvex-sy not yet settled, 
 nor do we presume to solve the delicate and difficult problem. 
 
 . Arabian literature also penetrated into Moorish Spain. Every 
 branch of history was cultivated; and so varied were the studies of 
 this people, that Sismondi notices Ben-Zaid of Cordova, and Aboul 
 Monder of Valencia, who wrote serious histories of celebrated 
 horses, while Alasneco recorded the lives of camels who had risen 
 to distinction. Mohammed-Aba-Abdallah of Granada compiled a 
 dictionary of the sciences from various Arabian works, while Aver- 
 rhoes of Cordova was the great commentator on Aristotle. The 
 natural sciences were pursued with uncommon ardour. Aben-Al- 
 Beithar of Malaga was the author of three volumes, one on the 
 virtues of plants, another on mineralogy and metallurgy, and the 
 third on animals ; all superior to anything hitherto published on 
 those subjects. The Arabian code of agriculture was admirable — 
 teaching the art of tillage, the growth of plants, and the rearing of 
 animals. The invention of paper, introduced at Samarcand, a.d. 
 649, was soon carried to Moorish Spain ; and the town of Satina, 
 in Valencia, now called San Philippo, was renowned for its beauti- 
 ful manufacture. They were acquainted with gunpowder one 
 hundred years before it has been traced by European historians, for 
 the Moors frequently employed it in their wars in Spain during 
 the thirteenth century ; and in the eleventh centuiy they were 
 acquainted with the compass. The glowing warmth of the litera- 
 ture of the Arabs permeates the songs of the Troubadours, Trou veres, 
 and Provencal poets: and as Sismondi remarks — “All the Italian 
 
 poets have mentioned them with respect, and all the literary his- 
 torians of that country have recognised thc-ir powerful influence. 
 The Spaniards have paid them less homage. Sanchez, Father 
 Sarruiento, Andres, and the Marquis of Santillana, have illustrated 
 their history, and shown the connexion of the Proven£al poetry 
 with that of the Arabians and of all the romance nations.” In fact, 
 when the monarchy of the Ommiades gave way in Spain, it was 
 succeeded by a variety of petty Moorish sovereignties ; and, in 
 the meantime, many Christian principalities, or small states, had 
 achieved their independence. To all these little courts men versed 
 in arts and letters repaired — as to Granada, Seville, Cordova, Toledo, 
 Valencia, and Saragossa; and when they were out of favour with 
 the Moorish princes, they found a reception with the Christian. 
 To these they carried the tales and fictions of the Arabians, and thus 
 their literature was diffused, and took root ; and in this manner the 
 romance writers received the legendary style of the Moors. 
 
 The Arabian Moors, however, with all their valour, learning, and 
 refinement, only founded on the soil of Spain a transitory dominion. 
 The extinction of the caliphate of the Ommiades of Cordova, was 
 the commencement of their downfall; they became weakened at 
 once by their divisions and intestine feuds, for they did not com- 
 prehend the strength to be derived from a federative union. AVo 
 shall rapidly sketch the rise and progress of the growing Chris- 
 tian monarchy. Its beginnings were weak, its vicissitudes fre- 
 quent and painful ; but from its first move towards restoration, it 
 was surrounded by circumstances which guaranteed its ultimate 
 success. 
 
 The kingdom of the Asturias, which had sheltered Pelayo and 
 his companions, was the first to emerge from obscurity and appear 
 on the political scene. Narrowed at first within the territorial 
 limits of Oviedo and its dependencies, it expanded, in less than a 
 centm-y to the provinces of Galicia and Leon, thus including a large 
 part of ancient Celtiberia. This first progress was the work of 
 Alphonso the Catholic, who died in 757, leaving the crown to Froila, 
 who was assassinated after a few years. The reign of this prince 
 is remarkable for the attempts he made to induce the clergy to give 
 up their concubines. The old historians indeed call them wives — 
 sks inuffercs, but the canons of the church bound them to celibacy. 
 The only prince of this line who deserves historical notice, among 
 many who flourished during the last half of the eighth century, 
 was Alphonso II., surnamed the Chaste and the Victorious. He 
 acquired the first of these titles by refusing to the caliph of Cor- 
 dova the infamous tribute of one hundred Christian girls ; he was 
 indebted for the second to some considerable advantages he had 
 gained over the Saracens, with whom he had long been on friendly 
 terms. His reign is famous for the loves of his sister Chimenc and 
 Don Sancho Diaz, whose son, the celebrated Bernard de Carpio, is 
 the well-known hero of the romance writers. However, some 
 sceptics have denied the existence of Chimene, and treated her as 
 a myth. During Ills rule the tomb of the famous St. James of Com- 
 postella was discovered, and Roland triumphed at the battle of 
 Roncesvalles. At this epoch Navarre became a kingdom; its first 
 sovereign was Garcia Ximenez, who died in 880. Formerly it had 
 formed part of Aquitaine, and the counts of Gascony ruled it as 
 vassals of the children of Louis le Debonnaire. At the same period 
 the countship of Barcelona was formed, being a concession from 
 the kings of France, as Navarre had been a dismemberment of the 
 territories of the French monarchy. 
 
 At the commencement of the tenth century, the kingdom of Leon 
 and Asturias, which had been greatly extended under several 
 warlike princes, was menaced by the Moslems, who had invaded 
 Navarre. A century of defeats had not discouraged the Moors, 
 whose armies were constantly reinforced by fresh levies from Africa. 
 Having captured several towns, they encountered and completely 
 routed the Christians at Junquera. In this battle the bishops of 
 Tyre and Salamanca, who fought on the side of Ordogno II., king 
 of Navarre, were taken prisoners. The conquerors pursued their 
 victory, passed the mountains, and pushed on to the walls of 
 Toulouse ; but, during this imprudent expedition, Ordogno rallied 
 his troops, and ravaged the Moorish territory up to the very walls 
 of Cordova. The Navarrese also surprised the enemy, defeated them 
 most signally, carried off a large booty, and recovered gradually all 
 the towns they had lost. 
 
 Some years afterwards Abderame III., at the head of an army 
 numbering one hundred and fifty thousand men, penetrated to tho 
 centre of Castile, destroying all the towns on his route. So great 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 was the consternation, that the Christians despaired of repulsing 
 Buch formidable foes by mere human prowess; and Ramiro II., 
 kin» of Leon, went on a pious visit to the tomb of St. James of 
 Compostella, and vowed to pay him a tribute of wheat if he obtained 
 a victory. He then united his arms to those of the king of Navarre 
 and of the counts of Castile, and defeated the Moslems at Simancas, 
 near the confluence of the Piuserga and the Douro, on the 6th of 
 August, in the year 938. 
 
 Shortly after this triumph the counts of Castile, who were vassals 
 of the king of Leon, revolted, and aimed at establishing an inde- 
 pendent kingdom; but Ordogno II. strangled them. Under his 
 successor, Alphonso IV., the people of Castile, irritated at this 
 murder, shook off the yoke, and elected a chief ; but some historians 
 state that they founded a republic, at the head of which they 
 placed -two judges, one civil, the other military. This form of 
 government, if it ever existed, was ephemeral: the children of 
 the strangled counts still lived; they were set at liberty, and a 
 reconciliation was effected by the marriage of Donna Urraqua with 
 the son of Ordogno, then a child. It was during the minority of 
 this child, who became Ramiro III., that the famous constable of 
 Castile, Ferdinand Gonzalez, father of Urraqua, by frequent victories 
 over the Moors, won the love and confidence of the people, and ren- 
 dered himself independent. At the end of the tenth century, Castile 
 was established as a kingdom, and took rank with those of Leon 
 and Navarre. From this period the political aggregations of Spain 
 acquired a certain degree of solidity. 
 
 reigns at Toledo, Valencia, Orihuela, and Saragossa; so that, in fact, 
 all the principal towns of the divided monarchy became the capitals 
 of petty kingdoms ; hence the multiplicity of states in Spain, and 
 the multitude of titles which the kings of Spain preserve to the 
 present day. 
 
 Ferdinand I. of Castile, in concert with his brother, the king of 
 Navarre, made war on the king of Leon and Asturias, defeated and 
 slew him, and incorporated his dominions with Castile; and thus 
 one Christian kingdom disappears from the page of history. Then 
 terminated the second race of Gothic kings, descended from Pelayo 
 and Alphonso the Catholic, who had reigned over the Asturias for 
 three centuries, and steadily attempted to deliver Spain from the 
 Moslem yoke ; but during that long period they only recovered one 
 half of what the Moors had conquered in three years. These still 
 retained considerable provinces, stretching along the coast of the 
 Mediterranean from the Pyrenees to Gibraltar, and skirting the 
 Atlantic from Tarifa Point to the mouth of the Tagus, and beyond 
 that river to the Douro. Along this immense line they held 
 important places. Toledo and a part of New Castile was still in 
 their possession, and Barcelona obeyed a Saracen emir. This long 
 chain of coast secured to them nearly the whole commerce of the 
 peninsula. The African immigration continued to repair the losses 
 of war. The Christian princes had not the same resources ; and 
 this circumstance enhances our admiration of their constancy and 
 valour. Ferdinand I., celebrated in the annals of Castile, possessed 
 warlike talents, but was stained with vice. By the foulest treachery 
 
 It was at this period that a circumstance occurred which shows 
 in a strong light the chivalrous honour which prevailed both among 
 the Moors and Spaniards: Sancho, brother to Ordogno III., being 
 afflicted with dropsy, went to Cordova, and placed himself under 
 the treatment of the Moorish physicians, who enjoyed a high repu- 
 tation. 
 
 At the end of the tenth century, Almansor, a Moorish general, 
 threatened to exterminate all the Christian kingdoms of Spain, 
 which had gradually struggled into existence. He invaded the 
 kingdom of Leon, and only left a single tower standing in the 
 capital, as a memorial that it had once existed and had perished. 
 The Christian princes saw their peril, and wisely united all their 
 forces ; and, at the end of a fierce battle, which lasted from morning 
 till night, Almansor was defeated. He was truly a great man. 
 He was liberal to the Christians, and many, attracted by his fame, 
 ranged themselves under his banner. In the administration of 
 justice, he made no distinction between the Jew, the Christian, 
 or the Mahometan. Many, indeed, of these Moslem princes were 
 endowed with the noblest qualities, and the most eminent talents ; 
 and even the Catholic writers, though prejudiced against them on 
 account of their religion, accord to them this praise. 
 
 Between the years 1030 and 1050, the beautiful kingdom of 
 Cordova was dismembered by the intestine feuds of the Moslems. 
 At this epoch commences the decline of Mahometan prosperity 
 in Spain, founded, as we have seen, towards the middle of the 
 eighth century, by Abderame I. After some yeax-s of anarchy, 
 the throne of Cordova devolved on the strongest or most adroit 
 of the various competitors • and the others made themselves sove- 
 
 he assassinated his brother, the king of Navarre, and his brother- 
 in-law, the king of Leon ; but as he distinguished himself by his 
 Catholic zeal, and rendered the Moorish king of Toledo his tribu- 
 tary, the church has honoured him as a saint. On the eve of his 
 death, he prostrated himself before the relics of St. Isidore, and 
 prayed with fervour: “Then,” says his Jesuit biographer, “he 
 expired tranquilly in the arms of several bishops, and crowned 
 his military laurels with celestial palms.” This prince, however, 
 although a murderer through ambition, enacted several useful laws ; 
 and, among others, prohibited the clergy from bearing arms. In 
 his reign flouinslied the famous Don Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, cele- 
 brated under the name of the Cid by native and foreign poets. At 
 the death of Ferdinand, in 1064, he divided his dominions among 
 his three sons, and civil war immediately followed. One of these, 
 Sancho, called the Strong, stripped his brothers of all their share ; 
 and even despoiled his sisters of their inheritance. 
 
 We may here pause and survey the state of Spain at this epoch. 
 The Christian princes had four principal kingdoms — Leon, Castile, 
 Aragon, and Navarre. All were weakened by constant divisions 
 and internecine wars. No regular rule of succession to vacant 
 thrones was established ; while the feudal barons were constantly 
 invading the territories of each other. The principle of legitimacy 
 was determined by strong hand or assassination. Such a state of 
 things reduced the people to misery. The laws were in many 
 respects good, but their goodness prevented their execution. This 
 anarchy was favourable to the Moors, who never dreaded any 
 united attack; and to this circumstance, more than to any other, 
 must be ascribed their prolonged rule. At the period at which we 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 37 
 
 have arrived in this narrative, that is to say, at about the close of the 
 eleventh century, the Moorish dynasty of the Alraoravides arose in 
 Spain. That warlike tribe, having recently quitted the deserts of 
 Africa, brought with them into the peninsula all their primitive 
 ferocity and that hatred of the Christian name, which had been 
 greatly modified among the descendants of the first invaders. 
 These new tribes seized Seville, Murcia, and advanced to the 
 Tagus; they vanquished the Christian armies at Toledo in a 
 sanguinary battle, called “the battle of the Seven Counts," for there 
 perished seven counts of Castile, as well as the son of King Al- 
 phonso A 7 !., a mere youth. A surviving brother, Alplionso VII., 
 in 1126, undertook an expedition against the Moors, and ravaged 
 Andalusia. The king of Aragon also attacked the infidels in 
 Catalonia, where he was killed. It was during the reign of 
 Alphonso VII. that the military order of the Knights of Calatrava 
 was instituted. Its founders were two monks, w T ho had worn the 
 cuirass before they assumed the frock. They belonged to the order 
 of St. Bernard ; and offered to defend Calatrava, threatened by the 
 Moors, on condition of receiving the feudal lordship of the town. 
 To this the king consented; and the two leaders equipped an army 
 of twenty thousand men, most of whom were monks, and effectively 
 resisted the Mahometans. Their example was followed ; and it 
 gave rise to most of the military orders of Spain. Then were 
 established the Knights of Alcantara and the Knights of St. James; 
 the special duties of the latter being to protect pious pilgrims 
 visiting the shrine of St. James of Compostella, whose miracles 
 had already created a lucrative traffic. 
 
 Ferdinand died, and his brother Sancho took the command of the 
 Christian army. He became so popular, that he was elected regent 
 during his father’s absence ; who, on his return from his useless 
 journey, was abandoned by his subjects. The Moorish invasion 
 had then ceased ; and Alphonso took the extraordinary step of 
 soliciting the aid of the king of Morocco to expel his son from 
 the authority he had usurped. This appeal was successful : the 
 Moorish king crossed the straits with an army, to succour the 
 Christian sovereign, whom he is said to have addressed in the fol- 
 lowing terms : — “ I assist you because you are unfortunate, and the 
 only object of the alliance I now contract with you is to vindicate 
 the common cause of all kings, and of all fathers.” The annals of 
 Christian monarchies have never recorded more noble and exalted 
 sentiments. But Alphonso did not recover his dominions. The 
 people adhered firmly to his rebellious son : the unfortunate monarch 
 implored the assistance of France, which was refused, and the Pope 
 only excommunicated his enemies, who did not yield to the thunders 
 of the Vatican. Alphonso died an exile from his throne. 
 
 From this period to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the 
 Christian and Moorish history is not marked by any signal events, 
 it being only a repetition of alternate reverses and successes. One 
 of the chief incidents was an attempt by Alphonso XI. to recapture 
 Gibraltar, which had been given up to the Moors by a disloyal 
 governor. His army was thinned by a pestilence, to which he fell 
 a victim. The reign of Peter the Cruel, so far as it relates to the 
 infidels, is only remarkable for the usurpation of the throne of 
 Granada by Mahomet Lagus, who assassinated J oussouf, the legiti- 
 
 One of the most fatal blows struck at the Moorish power was at 
 the famous battle of Tolosa, where they were so completely defeated 
 by Alphonso IX., king of Castile, that for many years their courage 
 was paralysed; but on disturbances arising after his death, they 
 renewed their incursions, and took many places they had lost. 
 Then it was that a sense of common interest united Castile, Aragon, 
 and Navarre, against the infidels, who themselves became divided 
 by the jealousies of their own princes and emirs; so that when 
 Ferdinand III. became king both of Leon and Castile, the territories 
 of the Mahometans were limited to a part of Andalusia, the kingdom 
 of Granada, and the provinces of Murcia and Valencia. The Moors 
 had also lost their early enthusiasm or fanaticism, were weakened 
 by intestine discussions, and corrupted by opulence and sloth ; while 
 the military orders had inspired the Spaniards with that spirit of 
 chivalry, inflamed by religious feelings, which afterwards rendered 
 them invincible. The Moors were soon driven out of Cordova, Jaen, 
 and Seville ; and after a reign of nearly three centuries, the brilliant 
 kingdom of the caliphs of the West was almost confined to the 
 territory under the walls of Granada. The petty king of Murcia 
 became the vassal of Ferdinand III., surnamed the Saint, for 
 burning heretics and invading the Holy Land, where he died. 
 
 The Moors, however, were far from subdued. When Alphonso 
 the Wise undertook a journey to France, there to meet the Pope, 
 from whom he hoped to obtain the title of king of the Romans, 
 and ascend the throne of the empire, the king of Granada invaded 
 Castile, aided by the king of Morocco. The Spanish knights, under 
 Ferdinand, the king’s eldest son, made a brave resistance; but 
 
 mate king. Mahomet the Red dethroned Lagus, and seized the 
 sceptre. Fearing Peter the Cruel, he formed an alliance with the 
 king of Aragon ; but this was quickly dissolved, and Peter under- 
 took the restoration of Lagus. Then Mahomet the Red impru- 
 dently resolved on personally visiting the king of Castile, accom- 
 panied by a small retinue, sumptuously accoutred, and taking with 
 him precious stones of great value. Peter received him graciously, 
 and pretended to negociate with him ; then caused him to be 
 dragged from the table at which he was seated, loaded him with 
 chains, and exhibited him mounted on an ass in the streets of Se- 
 ville. The unfortunate Moor and his thirty-seven attendants were 
 put to death, Mahomet Lagus ascended the throne, and became 
 tributary to Castile. 
 
 Henry III., son of John I., who died in 1390, had the courage or 
 the rashness to attempt to reign at the early age of fifteen ; and was 
 the first sovereign who seriously contemplated the complete expul- 
 sion of the Moors from Spain. At his death the Castilians desired 
 to break through the ordinary rules of succession, and pass over the 
 claim of Don John II., yet a minor, as they dreaded the rivalry of the 
 nobles under a regency. They offered the crown to his uncle Ferdi- 
 nand, who refused it; but he was elected king of Aragon by the 
 Cortes of that kingdom ; and after his marriage with Isabella, queen 
 of Castile, he expelled the infidels from Spain. 
 
 From this rapid sketch of the history of the peninsula under the 
 Romans, Goths, and Mahometans, we pass to those civil wars which 
 terminated in the expulsion of Boabdil, the last king of the Moors, 
 connecting with that narrative a description of the Alhambra. 
 
 L 
 
38 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 The Spanish and Moorish chronicles of Granada are so contra- 
 dictory, so mixed up with fable, and so highly-coloured and distorted 
 by party spirit and national prejudice, that it is extremely difficult 
 to reconcile conflicting statements ; and this difficulty increases when 
 we arrive at the civil wars, the quarrels between the Zcgries and 
 Abencerrages, and have to treat of those events which facilitated 
 the conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella. There is a volume entitled 
 Las Guerras Civiles, translated from the Arabic of Abenhanim, a 
 native of Granada, by Gines Perez di Hita of Murcia, which is full 
 of minute details of the civil war. This translation was completed, 
 published, and printed at Alcala, in 1601, and dedicated to Don 
 John of Aragon. Gines Perez affirms that the Arabic original 
 which he translated was in the possession of Don Manuel Ponce de 
 Leon, Lord of Baylen. From the Spanish it was again translated 
 into English by Mr. Rodd, who expressed his perfect faith in its 
 authenticity. This volume contains a very detailed account of the 
 massacre of the Abencerrages in the Hall of Lions, in the Alhambra ; 
 and fixes the murder on Boabdil, pronounced innocent by Wash- 
 ington Irving after a careful investigation. From this book, Las 
 Guerras Civiles, we take the following account of the foundation 
 of the city of Granada and of the Alhambra : — 
 
 “ The illustrious and renowned city of Granada was founded by 
 a very fair lady, the daughter or niece of King Hispan. It was 
 originally built in a delightful spacious plain, at the foot of the 
 Sierra Elvira, near the village of Albolete (in Arabic, Albolut), 
 about two leagues from its present situation, receiving the name of 
 Hiberia from the infanta, its foundress. 
 
 “ After a few years the inhabitants, not being altogether pleased 
 with the spot, removed to the neighbourhood of Sierra Nevada, and 
 built the present city between the two rivers Genii and Darro, 
 formed by the melting of the snow on the mountains. In the 
 sands of the Darro is found gold, and in the Genii, silver (as the 
 Moorish author relates) ; and this is no fable, as Gines Perez adds 
 that he has repeatedly seen both gold and silver collected out of 
 these rivers. In this latter situation was this famous city refounded, 
 upon three hills, as it appears at the present day ; and upon each 
 of these hills a castle was erected ; the first called the Red Tower, 
 fronting the Genii and the Vega, or the plain (a plain twenty-four 
 miles in length, and twelve in breadth, watered by two small 
 streams, the Veito and the Monachil, extending from the skirts of 
 the Sierra Nevada to the fountain of Pines, and onward to a great 
 wood, called the Wood of Rome), and the quarter of the city imme- 
 diately round the Red Tower, which is extremely populous, is called 
 Antequerela. The second castle, or fortress, stands upon an adjoin- 
 ing hill, rather higher than the former, and is called the Alhambra; 
 this being a place of considerable strength, was chosen for the 
 residence of the kings of Granada. The other castle, or fort, stands 
 upon a third hill, named the Albaycin, where also the town is very 
 full of inhabitants. Between the Albaycin and the Alhambra flows 
 the Darro, whose banks are beautifully adorned with trees. 
 
 “This city was not like the former called Hiberia, but Granada; 
 from the circumstance of a very beautiful damsel, called Granata, 
 being found in a cave near the Darro, and from whom, by the 
 corruption of a letter, the city took its new appellation. Others, 
 with equal probability, suppose that the vast number of houses 
 lying close together, like the kernels of a pomegranate, gave origin 
 to the name. 
 
 “ It was King Muley-liascem who adorned Granada with so 
 many noble works. He built the most superb edifices with his 
 great wealth ; he ornamented and finally completed the Alhambra 
 in a very costly style ; built also the Tower of Comares* and the 
 Hall of Lions, f which takes its name from a spacious basin in 
 the middle of it, guarded by twelve large' alabaster lions, very 
 curiously sculptured. The whole saloon is paved with fine tiles, after 
 the Moorish fashion. Muley-hascem also dammed up the waters of 
 the Alhambra, and made the famous reservoir within it; built the 
 Tower of the Bell, whence the whole city and the Vega may be seen 
 at a view ; he also planted a large grove close beneath the royal 
 apartments of the Alhambra, or rather a park, which he well 
 stocked with deer and rabbits, and which continue to this very 
 day. He caused the Alixares to be covered over with blue and gold 
 — a work of so costly a nature that the artificer who undertook it 
 gained a hundred doubloons every day. He built also a pleasure- 
 house on the Hill of the Sun, or (as it is now called) of St. Helene, 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 30. Ibid., p. 32. 
 
 and another for his poultry. He had, moreover, a delightful garden 
 on the banks of the Darro ; it contained all manner of fruits, beau- 
 tiful alabaster fountains, seats, and walks, planted with myrtles. 
 There also Muley-hascem built a noble palace, with many saloons, 
 balconies, and windows superbly gilt ; and in the principal saloon 
 he placed the portraits of all the Moorish kings of Granada to his 
 time, finished by the most eminent hands ; and in a second apart- 
 ment, all the battles of the Moors and Christians, most admirably 
 executed. In short, the palaces and public buildings of Granada 
 were so strong and sumptuous, that most of them (and indeed all 
 that have not been expressly demolished) remain entire to this very 
 day.” 
 
 Mr. Swinburne gives the following account of this celebrated 
 edifice : — 
 
 “ I confess,” says that intelligent traveller, “ I was struck with 
 amazement, as I stept over the threshold, to find myself on a 
 sudden transported into a species of fairyland. The first place 
 you enter is the court called the communa, or del mesucar, that is, 
 the common baths ; an oblong square, with a deep basin of clear 
 water in the middle ; two flights of marble steps leading down to 
 the bottom ; on each side a parterre of flowers and a row of orange- 
 trees. Round the court runs a peristyle, paved with marble ; the 
 arches bear upon very slight pillars, in proportions and style 
 different from all the regular orders of architecture. The ceilings 
 and walls are incrustrated with fretwork in stucco, so minute and 
 intricate that the most patient draughtsman would find it difficult 
 to follow it, unless he made himself master of the general plan. 
 In every division are Arabic sentences of different lengths, most of 
 them expressive of the following meanings : — “ There is no con- 
 queror but God;” or, “Obedience and honour to our lord Abou- 
 abdoulah.” The ceilings are gilt or painted ; and time has caused 
 but little diminution in the freshness of their colours, though con- 
 stantly exposed to the air. The lower part of the walls is mosaic, 
 disposed in fantastic knots and festoons. The porches at the ends 
 are more like grotto-woi’k. than anything else to which they can be 
 compared. That on the right hand opens into an octagon vault, and 
 forms a perfect whispering-gallery, meant to be a communication 
 between the offices of the houses. 
 
 “ Opposite to the door of the communa through which you enter, 
 is another leading into the quarto de los leones, or apartment of the 
 lions ;’ which is an oblong court, one hundred feet in length and 
 fifty in breadth, environed with a colonnade seven feet broad on 
 the sides and ten at the end. Two porticoes, or cabinets, about 
 fifteen feet square, project into the court at the two extremities. 
 The square is paved with coloured tiles ; the colonnade with white 
 marble. The walls are covered five feet up from the ground with 
 blue and yellow tiles, disposed chequerwise. Above and below is 
 a border of small escutcheons, enamelled blue and gold, with an 
 Arabic motto on a bend, signifying, ‘ No conqueror but God.’ The 
 columns that support the roof and gallery are of white marble, very 
 slender, and fantastically adorned. They are nine feet high, in- 
 cluding base and capital, and eight inches and a half in diameter. 
 They are very irregularly placed ; sometimes singly, at others in 
 groups of three, but more frequently two together. The width of 
 the horse-shoe arches above them is four feet two inches for the 
 large ones, and three for the smaller. The ceiling of the portico is 
 finished in a much finer and more complicated manner than that of 
 the communa, and the stucco laid on the walls with inimitable 
 delicacy ; in the ceiling it is so artfully frosted and handled, as to 
 exceed belief. The capitals are of various designs, though each 
 design is repeated several times in the circumference of the court, 
 but not the least attention has been paid to placing them regularly 
 or opposite to each other. Not the smallest representation of 
 animal life can be discovered amidst the varieties of foliages, gro- 
 tesques, and strange ornaments. About each arch is a large square 
 of arabesques, surrounded with a rim of characters that are gene- 
 rally quotations from the Koran. Over the pillars is another square 
 of delightful filigree-work. Higher up is a wooden rim, or kind of 
 cornice, as much enriched with carving as the stucco that covers 
 the part underneath. Over this projects a roof of red tiles, the 
 only thing that disfigures this beautiful square. This ugly covering 
 is modern, put on by order of Mr. Wall, the late prime-minister, 
 who a few years ago gave the Alhambra a thorough repair. In 
 Moorish times the building was covered with large painted and 
 glazed tiles, of which some few are still to be seen. In the centre 
 of the court are twelve ill-made lions muzzled, their foreparts 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 39 
 
 smooth, their hindparts rough, which bear upon their backs an 
 enormous basin, out of which a lesser rises. While the pipes were 
 kept in good order a great volume of water was thrown up, that, 
 falling down into the basins, passed through the beasts, and issued 
 out of their mouths into a large reservoir, where it communicated 
 by channels with {he jets d’eaux in the apartments. This fountain 
 is of white marble, embellished with many festoons and Arabic 
 distiches, thus translated : — 
 
 “ ‘ Seest thou not how the water flows copiously Like the Nile ?’ 
 
 “ 4 This resembles a sea washing over its shores, threatening shipwreck to 
 the mariner.’ 
 
 “ 4 This water runs abundantly to give drink to the lions.’ 
 
 44 4 Terrible as the lion is our king in the day of battle.’ 
 
 “ 4 The Nile gives glory to the king, and the lofty mountains proclaim it.’ 
 
 “ 4 This garden is fertile in delights ; God takes care that no noxious animal 
 shall approach it.’ 
 
 “ 4 The fair princess that walks in this garden, covered with pearls, augments 
 its beauty so much, that thou may’st doubt whether it be a fountain that flows, 
 or the tears of her admirers.’ 
 
 “ Passing along the colonnade, and keeping on the south side, 
 you come to a circular room, used by the men as a place for drinking 
 coffee and sorbets in. A fountain in the middle refreshed the 
 apartment in summer. The form of this hall, the elegance of its 
 cupola, the cheerful distribution of light from above, and the 
 exquisite manner in which the stucco is designed, painted, and 
 finished, exceed all powers of description. Everything in it inspires 
 the most pleasing, voluptuous ideas ; yet in this sweet retreat they 
 pretend that Abouabdoulah assembled the Abencerrages, and caused 
 their heads to be struck off into the fountain. Continuing your 
 walk round, you are next brought to a couple of rooms at the head 
 of the court, which are supposed to have been tribunals or audience 
 chambers. 
 
 “ Opposite to the Sala de los Abencerrages is the entrance into 
 the Torre de las dos Hermanns, or the ‘Tower of the Two Sisters 
 so named from two very beautiful pieces of marble laid in the 
 pavement. This gate exceeds all the rest in profusion of orna- 
 ments and in beauty of prospect, which it affords through a range 
 of apartments, where a multitude of arches terminate in a large 
 window open to the country. In a gleam of sunshine, the variety 
 of tints and lights thrown upon this enfilade are uncommonly 
 rich. The first hall is the concert-room, where the women sat; the 
 musicians played above in four balconies. In the middle is a jet 
 d'eau. The marble pavement is equal to the finest existing, for the 
 size of the slabs and evenness of the colour. The two sisters, which 
 give name to the room, are slabs that measure fifteen feet by seven 
 and a half, without flaw or stain. The walls, up to a certain height, 
 are mosaic : and above are divided into very neat compartments of 
 stucco, all of one design, which is also followed in many of the 
 adjacent halls and galleries. The ceiling is a fretted cove. To 
 preserve this vaulted roof, as well as some of the other principal 
 cupolas, the outward walls of the towers are raised ten feet above 
 the top of the dome, and support another roof over all, by which 
 means no damage can ever be caused by wet weather or excessive 
 heat and cold. From this hall you pass round the little myrtle- 
 garden of Lindaraxa into an additional building, made to the east 
 end by Charles V. The rooms are small and low. His dear motto, 
 ‘ Plus outre,' appears on every beam. This leads to a little tower, 
 projecting from the line of the north wall, called El Tocador, or 
 the 4 Dressing-room of the Sultana.’ It is a small square cabinet, in 
 the middle of an open gallery, from which it receives light by a 
 door and three windows. The look-out is charming. In one corner 
 is a large marble slab, drilled full of holes, through which the 
 smoke of perfumes ascended from furnaces below ; and here, it is 
 presumed, the Moorish queen was wont to sit to fumigate and 
 sweeten her person. The emperor caused this pretty room to be 
 painted with representations of his wars and a great variety of 
 grotesques, which appear to be copies, or at least imitations, of 
 those in the loggie of the Vatican. From hence you go through a 
 long passage to the Hall of Ambassadors, which is magnificently 
 decorated with innumerable varieties of mosaics, and the mottoes of 
 all the kings of Granada. This long narrow antechamber opens 
 into the communa on the left hand, and on the right into the great 
 audience-hall in the Tower of Comares ; a noble apartment, thirty- 
 six feet square, thirty-six high up to the cornice, and eighteen from 
 thence to the centre of the cupola. The walls on three sides are 
 fifteen feet thick, on the other nine ; the lower range of windows 
 thirteen feet high. The whole wall is inlaid with mosaic of many 
 
 colours, disposed in intricate knots, stars, and other figures. In 
 every part various Arabic sentences are repeated. 
 
 “ The most remarkable room below is the king’s bedchamber, 
 which communicated, by means of a gallery, with the upper story. 
 The beds were placed in two alcoves, upon a raised pavement of 
 blue and white tiles ; but as it was repaired by Philip V., who 
 passed some time here, it cannot be said how it may have been in 
 former times. A fountain played in the middle, to refresh the 
 apartment in hot weather. Behind the alcoves are small doors, 
 that conduct you to the royal baths. These consist of one small 
 closet with marble cisterns for washing children, two rooms for 
 grown-up persons, and vaults for boilers and furnaces, that supplied 
 the baths with water and the stoves with vapours. The troughs 
 are formed of large slabs of white marble ; the walls are beautified 
 with partycoloured earthenware ; light is admitted by holes in 
 the coved ceiling. Adjoining is a whispering-gallery and a kind 
 of labyrinth, said to have been made for the diversion of the women 
 and children. One of the passages of communication is fenced off 
 with a strong iron grate, and called 4 the Prison of the Sultana,’ 
 but it seems more probable that it was put up to prevent anybody 
 from climbing into the women’s apartments. 
 
 “ Under the council-room is a long slip called 4 the King’s Study ;’ 
 and adjoining to it are several vaults, said to be the place of burial 
 of the royal family. In the year 1754, four sepulchres were opened ; 
 but, as they contained nothing but bones and ashes, were imme- 
 diately closed again. 
 
 “ This description of the Alhambra may be finished by observing 
 how admirably every thing was planned and calculated for rendering 
 this palace the most voluptuous of all retirements; what plentiful 
 supplies of water were brought to refresh it in the hot months 
 of summer ! what a free circulation of air was contrived by the 
 judicious disposition of doors and windows ! what shady gardens of 
 aromatic trees ! what noble views over the beautiful hills and fertile 
 plains ! No wonder the Moors regretted Granada ; no wonder they 
 still offer up prayers to God every Friday for the recovery of this 
 city, which they esteem a terrestrial paradise.” 
 
 Mr. Washington Irving, a comparatively recent visitor to the 
 Alhambra, has collected some of the romantic fables connected 
 with this building, and described many points of detail which 
 have been overlooked by earlier writers. “ The great vestibule, 
 or Porch of the Gate, is formed by an immense Arabian arch, 
 of the horse-shoe form, which springs to half the height of the 
 tower. On the keystone of this arch is engraved a gigantic hand. 
 Within this vestibule, on the keystone of the portal, is sculptured, 
 in like manner, a gigantic key. Those who pretend to some know- 
 ledge of Mahometan symbols, affirm that the hand is the emblem 
 of doctrines, and the key, of faith ; the latter, they add, was em- 
 blazoned on the standard of the Moslems when they subdued 
 Andalusia, in opposition to the Christian emblem of the cross. 
 The interior of the Moorish palace is paved with white marble, 
 and decorated at each end with light Moorish peristyles; it is 
 called the Court of the Alberca. In the centre was an immense 
 basin, or fishpond, one hundred and fifty feet in length by thirty in 
 breadth, stocked with golden fish, and bordered by hedges of roses. 
 At the upper end of this court rose the great Tower of Comares. 
 From the lower end we passed through a Moorish archway into 
 the renowned Court of Lions. There is no part of the edifice that 
 gives a more complete idea of its original beauty and magnificence 
 than this, for none has suffered so little from the ravages of time. 
 In the centre stands the fountain famous in song and story. The 
 alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops ; and the twelve lions 
 which support them cast forth their crystal streams as in the days 
 of Boabdil. The court is laid out in flower-beds, and surrounded 
 by light Arabian arcades of open filigree-work, supported by 
 slender pillars of white marble. The architecture, like all other 
 parts of the palace, is characterised by elegance rather than 
 grandeur, bespeaking a delicate and graceful taste, and a dis- 
 position to indolent enjoyment. When one looks upon the fairy 
 tracery of the peristyle and the apparently frigid fretwork of the 
 walls, it is difficult to believe that so much has survived the weai 
 and tear of centuries. On one side of the court, a portal, richly 
 adorned, opens into a lofty hall, paved with white marble, and 
 called the ‘ Hall of the Two Sisters.’ A cupola, or lantern, admits 
 a tempered light from above, and a free circulation of air. The 
 lower part of the walls is encrusted with beautiful Moorish tiles, 
 on some of which are emblazoned the escutcheons of the Moorish 
 
40 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 
 raonarchs ; the upper part is faced •with the fine stucco-work 
 invented at Damascus, consisting of large plates, cast in moulds 
 and artfully joined, so as to have the appearance of having been 
 laboriously sculptured by the hand into light relievos and fanciful 
 arabesques, intermingled with texts of the Koran, and poetical 
 inscriptions in Arabian and Cufic characters. These decorations 
 of the walls and cupolas are richly gilded, and the interstices 
 pencilled with lapis-lazuli and other brilliant and enduring 
 colours. The opposite side of the Court of Lions is the Hall of 
 the Abencerrages, so called from the gallant cavaliers of that 
 illustrious line, who were here perfidiously massacred. The Tower 
 of Comares, so called from the name of the Arabian architect, is of 
 massive strength and of lofty height, domineering over the rest of 
 the edifice, and overhanging the steep hill-side, which descends 
 abruptly to the banks of the Darro. A Moorish archway admitted 
 us into a vast and lofty hall, which occupies the grand audience- 
 chamber of the Moslem monarchs. It still bears the traces of 
 magnificence. The walls are richly stuccoed and covered with 
 arabesques ; the vaulted ceiling of cedar- wood, almost lost in 
 obscurity from its height, still gleams with rich gilding and 
 the brilliant tints of the Arabian pencil. On three sides of the 
 saloon are deep windows, cut through the immense thickness of the 
 walls, the balconies of which look down upon the verdant valley 
 of the Darro, and command 
 
 a distant prospect of the - - 
 
 distant Vega.” — ‘ — :T-. -- 
 
 When the crowns of Cas- 
 tile and Aragon were uni- 
 ted by the marriage of 
 Isabella and Ferdinand, 
 
 Spain acquired the strength 
 of political unity ; and 
 during their reign appeared 
 the greatest of Spanish 
 statesmen, the famous Cis- 
 neros, Cardinal Ximenes. 
 
 Under these circumstances, 
 the fall of Granada and 
 the extirpation of Moorish 
 power were almost certain, 
 especially as the two sove- 
 reigns, the minister, and 
 all the chivalrous nobility, 
 were resolved on the ex- 
 pulsion of the infidels ; but 
 there can he no doubt that 
 the victory of the Chris- 
 tian princes was greatly 
 aided by internal dissen- 
 sions among the Moslems. 
 
 Indeed, many of their most 
 illustrious families, dis- 
 gusted by the horrors and 
 
 cruelties of civil war, had been baptised into the Christian faith, 
 and fought in the ranks of Ferdinand and Isabella in the last 
 campaigns. Of these domestic quarrels the chief cause was the 
 massacre of the Abencerrages, one of the oldest and most celebrated 
 of the Moorish nobility, who traced their lineage to the kings of 
 Morocco, and whose ancestors came into Spain at the time of the 
 conquest under Musa. This massacre is generally attributed to 
 Boabdil, the last king of Granada, who has found an advocate in 
 Mr. Washington Irving, by whom he is acquitted of that foul 
 murder. “ I have examined,” says that writer, “ all the authentic 
 chronicles and letters written by Spanish authors contemporary with 
 Boabdil, some of whom were in the confidence of the Catholic sove- 
 reigns, and actually present in the camp throughout the war. I have 
 examined all the Arabian authorities I could get access to, through 
 the medium of translation, and can find nothing to justify these 
 dark and hateful accusations.” According to this writer, the guilty 
 perpetrator of this assassination was Aben-Hassan, called generallv 
 by the Moorish historians, Muley-hascem, who was the father of 
 Boabdil, and who suspected the Abencerrages of being engaged in 
 a conspiracy to dispossess him of his throne. “ Aben Hassan,” he 
 continues, “ in his advanced age, married a beautiful Christian 
 captive of noble descent, who took the Moorish name of Zorayda, 
 by whom he had two sons. She was of an ambitious spirit, and 
 
 
 ■ r 
 
 OS 
 
 anxious that her children should succeed to the crown. For this 
 purpose she worked upon the suspicious temper of the king, 
 inflaming him with jealousies of his children by his other wives 
 and concubines, whom she accused of plotting against his throne 
 and life. Some of them were slain by their ferocious father. Aixa 
 la Horra, the virtuous mother of Boabdil, who had once been his 
 cherished favourite, became likewise the subject of his suspicion. 
 He confined her and her sou in the Tower of Comares, and would 
 have sacrificed Boabdil to his fury, but that his tender mother 
 lowered him from the tower in the night by means of the scarfs of 
 herself and her attendants, and thus enabled him to escape to 
 Guadix. 
 
 If this account be the true one, Boabdil was the persecuted, not 
 the persecutor ; it was his mother, not his wife, who was imprisoned. 
 But the Moorish and Spanish historians give a very different version 
 of these transactions, which we proceed to relate. 
 
 In Las Guerras Civiles, to which we have referred, Abdallah, 
 brother of King Muley-hascem, or Aben-Hassan, as Mr. Irving 
 calls him, makes a speech to the citizens of Granada, during one of 
 the disturbances which were so frequent just before the conquest 
 by Ferdinand and Isabella. In consequence of the quarrels between 
 the father and son, this Abdallah had been created regent by a 
 i large body of the discontented party, though his rule was not 
 
 obeyed by all. He thus ad- 
 dressed the people : — “ You 
 who have objected to my 
 government, without inves- 
 tigating the reasons of my 
 conduct, to you I address 
 myself : you well know 
 that my nephew has been 
 raised to the throne in the 
 lifetime of King Muley- 
 hascem, my brother, for 
 no other reason than be- 
 cause the old king, his 
 father, had beheaded four 
 Abencerrages, who were 
 justly deemed deserving of 
 death ; for this you with- 
 drew your allegiance from 
 the old king, and appointed 
 Boabdil his son to be your 
 king and to reign over you ; 
 this son, by the advice of 
 some of you here assembled, 
 has most wrongfully put to 
 death six-and-thirty Aben- 
 cerrages, and wickedly ac- 
 cused his queen. For these 
 deeds of death, and unjust 
 proceedings, you can no 
 longer retain your former 
 affection for him, but must consider him undeserving henceforth to 
 wear the crown.” 
 
 This statement fixes the execution of the Abencerrages on both 
 father and son, but at different dates and for different reasons. The 
 act of Muley-hascem is justified, for the Abencerrages appear to have 
 been traitors to him, although he was deposed for their punishment; 
 but the act of Boabdil is stigmatised as unjust. According to Las 
 Guerras Civiles, a jealousy arose between the two powerful houses 
 of the Zegries and the Abencerrages ; and the former accused one 
 of the latter with adultery with Boabdil’s wife, and also with a 
 desire to seize the government. Boabdil credited these false charges, 
 but dared not openly take vengeance ; he hit on the following cruel 
 stratagem : — Surrounding himself by several of the Zegries, he 
 summoned the Abencerrages, one by one, to the Alhambra, and as 
 they entered, the executioner struck off their heads. When thirty- 
 six had been massacred, a young page, who had seen his master 
 murdered, made his escape, and met others of the devoted tribe who 
 were on the way to obey the summons of the king. Thus warned, 
 they saved their lives, and, quitting Granada, took refuge at the 
 court of Ferdinand and Isabella, became Christians, and served 
 those sovereigns faithfully and valiantly in the conquest. Nor is 
 this the only charge which the historians bring against Boabdil. 
 He had a sister, named Morayma, who had married Abin Hamet, one 
 
 COURT OF THE FISHPOND. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
of the Abencei’rages, and one of the victims of the king’s anger. She 
 was now a widow with two children, the eldest five, the youngest 
 three years of age. She presented herself before her brother with 
 her children, imploring his clemency, for she feared that they would 
 share the fate of their father. He assailed her with bitter re- 
 proaches ; and far from respecting her maternal feelings, told her 
 that she had better cast the infamous branches, sprung from so 
 vile a trunk, into the consuming fire. u This,” he continued “ would 
 have been a sister’s office ; but since you have not done it, I will 
 myself discharge the duty.” So saying, he seized the eldest of the 
 boys, plunged his poinard into his heart, and threw the body on 
 the ground ; he then caught up the other boy, and, at one blow, 
 severed his head from his body, severely wounding the mother, who 
 attempted to save her child. “ Now,” cried the king, “ both root 
 and branch are fallen.” His rage was not yet satisfied ; rushing 
 on his sister, he also stretched her dead at his feet. “ Now go,” 
 cried he, “ attend thy husband, since thou so well didst love him.” 
 The murder of the Abencerrages, whether committed by the 
 father or the son, was one of the principal causes of the downfall 
 of Granada, as it divided the strength of the Moors by civil wars. 
 Boabdil had been taken prisoner in a fray at Loxa, but the astute 
 Ferdinand gave him his liberty, that his presence in the capital 
 might keep alive those feuds which were the best allies of Spain. 
 The wisdom of this policy was justified by the result; the Spanish 
 king gained his end, and acquired the reputation of magnanimity for 
 releasing his captive. Granada made a brave but useless resist- 
 ance. When the city surrendered, Boabdil presented the keys of 
 
 the city to Ferdinand and Isabella on a cushion, and the conquerors 
 entered it in triumph on the 6th of January, 1492. They offered 
 the Moorish king a residence and a revenue in Murcia; but he 
 retired to Barbary, where he was slain for surrendering his kingdom. 
 The spot on which he stood when he took his farewell look at 
 Granada is still called “ The Hill of Tears.” Close to it is a rock, 
 which bears the name of “ The last Sigh of the Moor ; ” and here, 
 tradition records, his mother uttered her memorable reproach to 
 her son — “ You do well to weep as a woman for what you could 
 not defend as a man ! ” 
 
 The conquest of Granada and the expulsion of the Moors, soon 
 followed by the banishment of the Jews, however gratifying they 
 may have proved to the religious feelings of the Catholic sovereigns 
 and of their subjects, added nothing to the wealth or grandeur of 
 Spain. No race of agriculturists succeeded comparable with the 
 Moors ; industry declined, and the fertile Vega exhibited a lazy or 
 unskilful culture. The Inquisition was established, to extirpate by 
 tortures whatever portion of Mahometanism the sword had spared ; 
 fanatical zeal then sought new victims in the unhappy disciples of 
 Moses ; and the successors of Torquemada and Ximenes, emulous 
 of the degrading fhme of their predecessors, wreaked their furies 
 on suspected Spaniards when Moors and Hebrews had been extir- 
 minated. The poetical complaints of Virgil on the decay of Italian 
 agriculture, may be applied to Spain since the expulsion of the 
 Moors, even down to our own times : — 
 
 “ Non ullus aratro 
 
 Dignus honor, squnlent abductis arva colonis.” 
 
 THE ROMAN COURT. 
 
 The Roman, Pompeian, and Italian Courts, separate and distinct 
 within the walls of the Crystal Palace, are intimately connected 
 together in their historical and artistic relations. They are com- 
 ponent parts of the same series or group, illustrating the life of 
 the same people at different eras. The city of Romulus cannot be 
 severed from the city of the Popes ; and what remains of Hercu- 
 laneum and Pompeii must for ever be associated with the age of 
 the Cmsars. Generations pass away, but their monuments survive : 
 modern Rome still retains 
 some of the noblest structures 
 of antiquity in their original 
 form; and it is known that 
 Christian churches have been 
 built from the materials of 
 pagan temples. The most 
 beautiful specimens of sculp- 
 ture which now adorn exist- 
 ing museums or galleries 
 once embellished the ther- 
 ma or baths of the emperors ; 
 we may still judge of the 
 magnificent utility of the 
 sewers and aqueducts of 
 the olden time from the 
 fragments yet visible ; and 
 in every region of the seven 
 hills the classical scholar 
 traces the giant footsteps of 
 the ancient mistress of the 
 world. It is from this point 
 
 of view that we shall treat this division of our subject, regarding 
 ancient and modern Italy as a whole, however diversified in its 
 aspects at the various periods of its rise and progress, fall and 
 restoration. 
 
 The early inclosures of Rome are thus described by Canina, a 
 modern architect, who has devoted many years to a careful investi- 
 gation of this curious and interesting subject : — 
 
 “ The original city which Romulus founded, or others before him, 
 according to many opinions was built on the Palatine Mount only ; 
 and Romulus determined its limit by a furrow which he ploughed 
 round the hill, following the Etruscan rites. This furrow was 
 commenced, according to the description of Tacitus, from the Forum 
 
 Boarium,* where there was placed a bull of bronze, in memorial of 
 this animal having been at that time subject to the plough; and 
 there was enclosed in the interior of the circumference the grand 
 altar of Hercules. Thence Romulus, placing stones at certain 
 distances on the side of the Palatine Hill, approached to the altar 
 of Consus, which stood near to the great circus, and then passed by 
 the old Curia to the temple of the household gods, and to the 
 Forum Romanum. In this manner was inclosed the square Rome 
 {Roma Quadrata), so called 
 by the ancients from the 
 figure presented by the space 
 round the hill ; and from this 
 operation originated the po- 
 moerium, by which the limits 
 of towns were determined in 
 subsequent times. In the 
 fortification of this circle, 
 with walls and towers in 
 order to give Rome security 
 from the arms of the Sabines 
 (as Dionysius has written), 
 three gates are principally 
 noticed by Pliny to have 
 been made ; the names of two 
 only are accurately known — 
 one called Mugonia, and the 
 other Romana or Romanula. 
 The first was placed where 
 Romulus began the furrow 
 to describe the circle round 
 his city, and the second in the centre of the eastern side of the hill. 
 By the agreement made after the Sabine war between Romulus and 
 Titus Tatius, to Rome squared and to the Tarpeian Hill (which was 
 united to the city) was added part of the other two hills — one called 
 theQuirinal, and the other theCelian. This last hill Romulus held 
 with the Palatine ; and the Quirinal with the Tarpeian were 
 assigned to Titus Tatius. Numa Pompilius amplified the circuit 
 of the walls by inclosing that part of the Quirinal which had been 
 occupied by Tatius, and by those who with him were united to the 
 Roman people. The Celian Hill, inhabited from the time of 
 
42 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Romulus, was surrounded with walls by Tullus Hostilius, successor 
 to Nuraa, when, after having destroyed Alba, he conducted the 
 Albans to inhabit his own city ; and, in order that the hill might 
 be more quickly inhabited, Tullus erected there his palace, and 
 made it his residence. Dionysius and Livy narrate that under the 
 reign of Ancus Martius, the Aventine was united to the city ; and 
 being encompassed by walls and ditches, was inhabited by people 
 transported from Tellente, Politorium, and other cities then subdued. 
 Under the same Ancus Martius, they girt the walls with that part 
 of the Janiculum which looks towards the Aventine, thereby to 
 establish a fortification of defence for those who navigated the 
 river, against the Etruscans, and this was united to the city by 
 means of the Sublician bridge. All these inclosures being evidently 
 built with little solidity, and in a coarse manner, as stated by Dio- 
 nysius, Tarquinius Priscus was led to undertake their reconstruction 
 with large stones cut in a regular form ; but the execution of this 
 work was suspended — first, by a war he had with the Sabines, and, 
 secondly, by his death. This was the last enlargement of the city; 
 and thus, by adding to the five hills— the Palatine, Capitoline, Aven- 
 tine, Celian, and Quirinal — the two others, namely, the Viminal and 
 
 Pomauium indicated the line, traced by the plough, on which the 
 wall was built. Some derive it from pone mcenia or pone muros, 
 place the walls ; it is commonly understood to have been a certain 
 space about the walls of a city or town, as well within as without, 
 in which it was not lawful to plough, dwell, or build. No person 
 was allowed to extend the pomoerium, unless he had extended the 
 limits of the empire. Aulus Gellius states that the most ancient 
 pomoerium, instituted by Romulus, was terminated at the foot of 
 Mount Palatine ; but that pomoerium was extended at different 
 times as the republic increased, and at length included many and 
 lofty hills. He had a right to extend the pomoerium who had 
 extended the territories of the Romans by taking land from the 
 enemy. “ Wherefore,” continues Gellius, “ it has been, and continues 
 to be a subject of inquiry why, out of the seven hills of the city, as 
 there are six within the pomoerium, the Aventine Hill alone, which 
 is neither far distant nor unfrequented, should be without the 
 boundary of the pomoerium ? For neither did King Servius Tullius, 
 nor Sylla, who had the privilege of extending the pomoerium, nor 
 afterwards Julius Ccesar, when he afterwards enlarged it, include 
 this hill within the expressed limits. Messala has assigned some 
 
 Esquiline, the city itself was composed of these seven hills, not 
 including, however, in that number the part of the Janiculum 
 inclosed by Ancus Martius, which in the early age of Rome was 
 considered but as a simple fortress.” 
 
 We learn from Strabo that Servius added the Esquiline and 
 Viminal, but as an easy opening was still left to the incursions of 
 an enemy, that king excavated a deep fosse, and raised a bank six 
 stadia in length, building on its summit, inside the ditch, a wall 
 with towers, which included the space lying between the Porta 
 Collina and the Porta Esquilina ; in the centre of the bank there 
 was a third gate called the Viminal, of the same name as the hill 
 on which it stood. In this manner were disposed the fortifications 
 round the city, which was without any defence. Dionysius fixes 
 the measurement of this fosse at about one hundred feet broad and 
 thirtv feet deep, and he says that a wall was erected on its bank, 
 supported by a high, large platform, so that it could be neither 
 shaken by the battering-ram, nor be destroyed by mining under the 
 foundation ; this spot was about seven stadia in length.* 
 
 * The stadium was about the eighth of a mile. 
 
 probable reasons for this, one of which, in preference to the rest, 
 he himself approves, namely, that when Remus upon that hill 
 consulted the auspices on his intention of building the city, he found 
 the flight of birds unpropitious, and was less fortunate in his omen 
 than Romulus. Therefore, says Messala, all those who extended 
 the pomoerium excluded that hill, as if it were frequented by ill- 
 omened birds. But I must not pass over something which I lately 
 met with concerning the Aventine Hill in the commentary of Elis, 
 an old grammarian, in which it is recorded that, as we said before, 
 it was formerly excluded from the pomoerium, but it was afterwards, 
 upon the authority of Claudius Ccesar, received into the boundaries, 
 and considered as intrapomoerium.” 
 
 “ The seven hills of Rome,” says Gibbon, “ had been surrounded 
 by the successors of Romulus with an ancient wall of more than 
 thirteen miles. The vast enclosure may seem disproportionate to 
 the strength and number of the infant state. But it was necessary 
 to secure an ample extent of pasture and arable land against the 
 frequent and sudden incursions of the tribes of Latium, the per- 
 petual enemies of the republic. With the progress of human great- 
 I ness, the city and its inhabitants gradually increased, filled up the 
 

 43 
 
 
 
 
 i .«i . . Jaritie* remarked b\ the «*m • In Mrs. t«rn in her . ru«:' 
 
 *>• jirovothatit - i .• ?h bit’ •• '■ M 11 '• 
 
 i • tu.nl for from. Etruria, . ith * ‘ * 
 
 *• -l s > ition to the Roman ju. en 
 ’i • . xpiatiou bj- opposite ivligiot he;, r-.ali; 
 
 1 this statue to be removed to a U . r pla< th* 
 i opposing shade r he buildii* 'v 
 
 j never shine upon if. hit > n. * 
 
 :w done so, they were acc d n: rough 
 
 -c»a. «t having confess d their pi dy* 
 
 •< statue v. placed in a lofty pos jn. ; 
 
 i. -• only indebted toEtm- i - fbi •* p 
 • . I uueny her fir*< kings and r tin ?im ■■ * 
 
 v • it is of tufo, an ' . oru . ...• n: layeia of w,- n- 
 
 •ng atom )t;ng their aide*, and the next 
 
 f lh* • , .jjios discovt ■ it.1780. I 
 
 tjfev V v.: the th«piti. . 'sm-'i.ti :i. '1 as exiati.. j- 
 
 ; •• mi 'toco v .... . .Uy < ■ ‘.led '■ » ■ o 
 
 ‘ 
 
 ' • tv 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 43 
 
 vacant space, pierced through the useless walls, covered the field of 
 Mars, and, on every side, followed the public highways in long and 
 beautiful suburbs. The extent of the new walls erected by Aure- 
 lian, and finished in the reign of Probus, was magnified by popular 
 estimation to near fifty, but is reduced by accurate measurement to 
 about twenty-one miles. It was a great but melancholy labour, since 
 the defence of the capital betrayed the decline of the monarchy. 
 The Romans of a more prosperous age, who trusted to the arms of 
 the legions the safety of the frontier camps, were very far from 
 entertaining a suspicion that it would ever become necessary to 
 fortify the seat of empire against the inroads of the barbarians.” The 
 great historian adds in a note, il To confirm our idea, we may observe 
 that for a long time Mount Ccelius was a grove of oaks, and Mount 
 Viminal was overrun with osiers; that, in the fourth century, the \ 
 Aventine was a vacant and solitary retirement ; that, till the time j 
 of Augustus, the Esquiline was an unwholesome burying-ground ; ' 
 and that the numerous irregularities remarked by the ancients in I 
 the Quirinal, sufficiently prove that it was not covered with buildings. 
 Of the seven hills, the Capitoline and Palatine only, with the ad- ' 
 jacent valleys, were the primitive habitations of the Roman people.” 
 
 Rome traced themselves to a foreign stock. Thus Tiberius Ctesar, 
 successor to Augustus, sprang from the patrician family of the 
 Claudii, who came originally from Negilli, a town of the Sabines, 
 and removed thence to Rome soon after the building of the city, 
 with a great body of their dependents, under Titus Tatius, who 
 reigned jointly with Romulus ; and Suetonius, in his life of Tiberius, 
 says, “ among other cognomina, they assumed that of Nero, which 
 in the Sabine language signifies strong and valiant.” * This term 
 of Nerio, Nerienes, and Nero, for thus it is variously written, Aulus 
 Gcllius thinks the Sabines borrowed from the Greeks, who called the 
 sinews and ligaments of the limbs, vtvpa, whence the Latin nervos. 
 Nero therefore signifies warlike power and strength, and a certain 
 martial dignity. Plautus, in his play of Truculentus (Anglice, 
 “ The Churl,”) calls Neriene, the wife of Mars — 
 
 “ Mars peregre adveniens salutat Nerienem uxorem suam.” 
 
 Mrs. Gray, in her instructive and interesting Visit to the Sepul- 
 chres of Etruria, states that the “ Etruscan remains (at Rome) are 
 a portion of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, close to the Palazzo 
 Caffarelli, and very near the rooms of the Arch ecological Society ; the 
 
 It is well known that Romulus took from Ceere, in Etruria, his 
 religion, rites, and especially the institution of the Vestal Virgins. 
 To a much later period the Romans consulted the Etruscan sooth- 
 sayers, having faith in their superior wisdom. On this matter we 
 learn from Aulus Gellius that “ the statue in the Comitium of 
 Rome of Horatius Codes, a most valiant man, was struck by 
 lightning, on account of which expiation was to be made, and 
 soothsayers were sent for from Etruria, who, with an unfriendly 
 and hostile disposition to the Roman people, endeavoured to 
 counteract this expiation by opposite religious rites. They malig- 
 nantly advised this statue to be removed to a lower place, that the 
 sun, from the opposing shade of the buildings everywhere sur- 
 rounding it, might never shine upon it, which, when they had 
 persuaded to have done so, they were accused and brought before 
 the people, and having confessed their perfidy, were put to death. 
 Afterwards this statue was placed in a lofty position, in the area of 
 the Temple of Vulcan.” 
 
 Early Rome was not only indebted to Etruria for its religion, but 
 for its arts, and among her first kings and teachers in the science of 
 government were foreigners, while the most illustrious families of 
 
 Tabularium, overlooking the Forum ; the Mamertine Prison ; the 
 Agger of Servius Tullius, in the gardens of Villa Negroni; the wall 
 of Servius Tullius, now much decayed, under the Church of Santa 
 j Balbrina, on the right hand of the exit at the Porta Capena (the 
 ; wall is of tufo, and constructed with alternate layers of square and 
 j oblong stones, the one row presenting their sides, and the next 
 i row their ends) ; a portion of the same wall adjoining the gardens of 
 i Sallust; and the tomb of the Scipios, discovered A. D. 1780. Besides 
 these, there are walls of unknown antiquity beneath the Coliseum, 
 the Circus Maximus, the Cloaca Maxima, and, to close all, the 
 Bronze Wolf of the Capitol, which is mentioned as existing in the 
 year of Rome 457, and as having been cast by Etruscan workmen.” f 
 The Capitol was anciently both a fortress and a sanctuary. The 
 hill on which it stood was originally called Mons Tarpeius, but it 
 was changed to Capitolinus, because, in digging the foundations, the 
 head of a man was there discovered — “a capite hominis ihi reperto 
 dum foderunt fundamental This hill was the great seat of empire, 
 
 * “ Inter cognomina autem et Neronis assumpsit, quo significatur lingua. 
 Sabinorum fortis et strenuus.” — Suetonius. l)e Tibcrio. 
 
 1 f See Engraving of the Bronze Wolf, p. 41. 
 
44 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 and was respected both by the conquering Gauls and the victorious 
 Porsena. Romulus began the great work of its magnificent deco- 
 ration by erecting on it the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius, in which 
 the Spolia Opima were deposited. These were the most honoured 
 of all spoils, for they were taken from the king or chief of the enemy 
 on the field of battle, when slain in single combat by a Roman 
 general, an event only thrice commemorated. Romulus achieved 
 this exploit by slaying Acron, king of the Creninenses ; Cornelius 
 Cossus slew Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, A.u. 318 ; and M. 
 Claudius Marcellus slew Virodamarus, king of the Gauls, A.U. 330. 
 The Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was commenced by the Tarquins, 
 but it is doubtful whether they completed it ; it is however certain 
 that it was not dedicated till after the expulsion of the kings, when 
 that honour devolved on the consul, Horatius Fulvillus. It was 
 burnt down during the civil wars between Marius and Sylla, the 
 latter of whom commenced its reconstruction, but did not consecx - ate 
 it, which duty devolved on Quintus Catulus. Varro states that he 
 well remembered what Quintus Catulus said on this occasion — that 
 he wanted to depress the area of the Capitol, that the flight of steps 
 to the temple might be proportioned to the magnitude of the 
 building, but that he was unable to accomplish this, as the favissa 
 prevented him. We learn this from Aulus Gellius, who describes 
 the favissa as cellars or caverns which were underground, beneath 
 the area, where the images were anciently deposited, with various 
 other things from amongst the sacred offerings. In the same letter 
 lie confesses himself unable to determine why they were called 
 favissa, but affirms that Q. Valerius Soranus was accustomed to 
 say that what we in Greek called treasures, the old Latins called 
 Jlavissa , because they did not there deposit brass and silver in the 
 mass, but mono}' cast ( Jlata ) and stamped. It may be conjectured, 
 therefore, that the second letter was taken from this word, and that 
 certain cells and caves, which the wardens of the Capitol used as 
 depositories for ancient things belonging to religion, were thence 
 called favissa. The learned Mr. Beloe, in a note on this passage of 
 Gellius, thinks that the derivation of the word from Jlavissa is 
 far-fetched and absurd ; it seems more natural, he adds, to derive it 
 from favio, an old Latin word for fodio. It does not appear that 
 the Romans had any cellars for domestic uses beneath their houses. 
 There were wine holes made in the earth, in which they deposited 
 their wine in vessels. 
 
 In the contest between Vitellius and Vespasian, the Capitol was 
 again destroyed, and with it some of the most valuable records of 
 the empire, — a loss irreparable and most unfortunate, not only to the 
 Romans but to posterity. This occurred a.d. 69. Vespasian, when 
 he became emperor, determined to reconstruct it, and Suetonius 
 says that “ he was the foremost to put his hand to clearing the 
 ground of the rubbish, and removed some of it upon his own 
 shoulder;’' the same historian adds that he undertook to restore the 
 three thousand tables of brass which had been melted in the flames, 
 and searched in all quarters for copies of the ancient records, in 
 which were contained the decrees of the senate almost from the 
 building of the city ; but his success seems to have been altogether 
 incommensurate with his zeal. Another great fire happened at 
 Rome in the second year of the reign of Titus, who immediately 
 succeeded his father, Vespasian, on the throne. This fire consumed 
 a large portion of the city, and among other structures the Temple 
 of Jupiter in the Capitol, rebuilt with the utmost magnificence 
 by Domitian, who succeeded Titus. On the gilding alone he 
 expended 12,000 talents, above two millions and a half sterling. 
 Immense sums had been formerly lavished on this temple. Augustus 
 at one time placed in it 2000 pounds weight of gold, besides precious 
 stones of immense value ; and Sylla removed to it from Athens, out 
 of the Temple of Jupiter Olympius, brazen thresholds and pillars. 
 The roof was gilt ; the interior was adorned with gilded shields, 
 and with others of solid silver. In reference to the prodigal 
 decorations of Domitian it was observed that he was, like Midas, 
 desirous of turning everything into gold. It was remarked by 
 Tacitus that its want of height detracted from the magnificence of 
 its appearance. Statues were placed in the Capitol of each of the 
 seven kings of Rome, to which an eighth was added in honour of 
 Brutus, who expelled royalty. The statue of Julius Ccesar was 
 afterwards raised near them. A hundred steps, supported by a 
 hundred pillars, formed the ascent to this superb edifice, while, in 
 modest contrast, stood near to it for ages the straw-roofed palace of 
 Romulus, which still existed in the reign of Augustus Ctesar, for it 
 is mentioned by Vitruvius, who lived at that period. Of all this 
 
 gorgeous magnificence nothing now remains but the solid foundation, 
 the “ Capitoli immobile Saxum.” 
 
 Among the earliest works of Rome were the cloaca, or sewers, the 
 aqueducts, and roads, all useful and solid, and which are in most 
 countries the evidences of advanced civilisation, rather than the 
 efforts of rising states. The Cloaca Maxima was commenced by 
 Tarquinius Priscus, and completed by Tarquinius Superbus. It was 
 constructed of arched galleries, carried under the city in every 
 direction, and drained the waters from the low grounds into the 
 Tiber. They were built with a view to perpetuity, and of a 
 massiveness to resist all casualties ; and after a lapse of three thou- 
 sand years they still serve the purposes for which they were origin- 
 ally erected. In speaking of this gigantic undertaking, Livy 
 remarks that “ Tarquin made the great subterranean cloaca to carry 
 off the filth of the city, a work so vast that even the magnificence 
 of the present age* has not been able to equal it and he adds, 
 “ that. Tarquin sent for artists from all parts of Etruria for this and 
 his other public works.” Pliny, who records its repair in the reign 
 of Augustus, says that “ this greatest of all works ” — opus omnium 
 maximum — “ continued as strong as when first built by Tarquin.” 
 
 Their convenience and strength excited the admiration of the 
 Gothic king, Theodoric, who reigned over Italy from a.d. 493 to 
 a.d. 526, and so impressed was he with their utility that he under- 
 took their repair. In a letter which he wrote to his minister, Cassio- 
 dorus, he says, “ the care of the Roman city is a subject to which 
 our thoughts are ever awake. For what is there which it behoves 
 us to provide for more worthy than the keeping of a city which it is 
 evident contains the ornaments of our republic? Therefore let your 
 illustrious highness know that we have appointed a notable person 
 on account of its splendid cloaca, which are productive of so much 
 astonishment to beholders, that they may well be said to surpass 
 the wonders of other cities. There thou mayest see flowing rivers 
 enclosed, as it were, in hollow mountains. There thou mayest see 
 the rapid waters navigated by vessels, not without some anxiety lest 
 they should suffer shipwreck in the precipitate torrent. Hence, O 
 matchless Rome, it may be inferred what greatness is in thee! 
 For what city may dare to contend with thy lofty superstructures, 
 when even thy lowest recesses can find no parallel ?" At its outlet 
 into the Tiber, the Cloaca Maxima is said to have measured thirteen 
 English feet in height, and as many in breadth ; while the arched 
 galleries under the city leading to it were thirty feet in height, 
 and sixteen feet in breadth ; boats and loaded carts passed through 
 without inconvenience. How so stupendous a work could have been 
 executed, and its cost defrayed at the early period of Tarquin, — only 
 one hundred and fifty years from the foundation of the city, — has 
 surprised historians and embarrassed statesmen. England, now in 
 the plenitude of power, abounding in wealth, and excelling all 
 nations in mechanical aptitude and engineering resources, is unable 
 or unwilling to execute what Rome accomplished in its infancy; 
 either her rulers are less wise than the Tarquins, or her workmen 
 less skilful than the Etruscans ; and, to the disgrace of our boasted 
 civilisation, we are compelled to enlarge and multiply our cemeteries 
 because we refuse to construct a sufficient cloaca. 
 
 During the first four centuries and a half after the building of 
 Rome, the Tiber and the natural springs supplied the inhabitants 
 of Rome with water. In the year of the city 441, Appius Claudius 
 Ctecus, being censor, constructed the first aqueduct, which conveyed 
 a stream of water from a distance of eleven miles, its course being 
 chiefly underground. Thirty years afterwards the spoils of Pyrrhus 
 defrayed the cost of another structure of the same kind, bringing 
 the water of the river Anio from the neighbourhood of Tivoli. 
 Quintus Martius Rex, being censor, a hundred and twenty-five 
 years before Christ, built another aqueduct, called from his name 
 the Martian. To this were added subsequently two channels, the 
 Aqua Tepula and the Aqua Julia. This last was supplied by 
 Agrippa in the reign of Augustus, and that emperor conveyed 
 another stream from Alzium for the use of the Naumachia, or show 
 of naval combats. Caligula commenced one, which his successor 
 Claudius completed. Claudius, we are told by Suetonius, “ brought 
 to the city the cool and plentiful springs of the Claudian waters, one 
 of which is called Caeruleus, and the other Curtius and Albudinus, 
 as likewise the river of the New Anio, in a stone canal, and distri- 
 buted them into many magnificent reservoirs. The canal from the 
 Fucine Lake was undertaken as much for the sake of profit as for 
 
 * Livy flourished in the reign of Augustus. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 45 
 
 the honour of the enterprise ; for there were parties who offered to 
 drain it at their own expense, on condition of their having a grant 
 of the land laid dry. With great difficulty he completed a canal, 
 three miles in length, partly by cutting through, and partly by 
 tunnelling a mountain, — thirty thousand men being constantly em- 
 ployed in the work for eleven years.” The Claudian was the most 
 perfect of all the Roman aqueducts. One of its two rivulets, whose 
 course was forty miles, was carried on arches for three miles, and 
 the other for twelve miles ; then they passed underground, but when 
 they had approached within six miles of the city, the two streams 
 united, and, for the rest of the way, were again carried upon arches. 
 In the time of the republic, these works were placed under the 
 superintendence of the cediles and censors ; but Augustus, impressed 
 with their utility and importance, appointed special officers, styled 
 curatores aquarurn, who were responsible for their management, 
 and Claudius placed at their orders seven hundred workmen to 
 attend to needful repairs. Under the Emperor Nerva, the architect 
 Frontinus was appointed as managing director of all the aqueducts, 
 and compared with them he pronounced the Pyramids as idle 
 structures — pyramidas ntiosas ; he enumerates nine, but later 
 authors raise the number to fifteen and even twenty. They were 
 ruined in the sixth century. Frontinus says that under the Emperor 
 Nerva, nine of the aqueducts emptied their waters into the city 
 through 13,594 pipes, each pipe of one inch diameter; and Yignere 
 states that in every twenty-four hours Rome received no less than 
 500,000 hogsheads of water by means of her aqueducts. On these 
 structures Pliny remarks, “ If we consider the quantities of water 
 brought into the city for the use of the public, for baths, for fish- 
 ponds. for private houses, for artificial lakes, for gardens in the 
 neighbourhood of the city, for villas ; if wc look at the works which 
 have been constructed for forming a regular channel for the waters — 
 arches raised up, mountains pierced with tunnels, and valleys filled 
 up to a level, it must be acknowledged that there is nothing in the 
 world more wonderful.” 
 
 The munificence of the Roman emperors extended the blessing of 
 pure and abundant water to the provinces. Athens was indebted 
 to the Emperor Hadrian for a superb aqueduct ; and the aqueduct of 
 Segovia, in Spain, was built by Trajan, and it is said to be the best 
 preserved of all the Roman works. There still remain one hundred 
 and fifty -nine arcades, wholly consisting of stones, commonly large, 
 and joined without mortar. These arcades, with the edifice, are 
 102 feet high ; there are two ranges of arcades, one above the other. 
 There is also an aqueduct at Metz, which crosses the Moselle, there 
 a very broad stream, which furnished water for a naval fight. 
 We may here, by way of comparison, mention the aqueduct which 
 Louis XIV. built near Maintenon, in France, for carrying the river 
 Bure to Versailles, which was 7000 fathoms in length, above 2560 
 feet in height, and had two hundred and forty-two arcades.* 
 
 Rome was indebted for her first highroads to the same Appius 
 Claudius who built the first aqueduct. In the Roman Forum, near 
 the Temple of Saturn, Augustus raised a column, called the Millia- 
 rium Aureum, or Golden Milestone, on which were inscribed the 
 distances to the great cities of Italy. From this central terminus, 
 or point of departure, the roads were carried in straight lines, in 
 defiance of all obstructions, either by hewing through the solid 
 rock, or raising them on arches. They were not paved, but flagged ; 
 the vast blocks of two, three, and even five feet square not being 
 shaped, but fitted to each other in their original form. Speaking of 
 the intercommunication between the different parts of the immense 
 empire, Gibbon says, “ All these cities were connected with each 
 other and with the capital by the public highways, which, issuing 
 from the Forum of Rome, traversed Italy, pervaded the provinces, 
 and were terminated only by the frontiers of the empire. If we 
 carefully trace the distance from the wall of Antoninus to Rome, 
 and from thence to Jerusalem, it will be found that the great chain 
 of communication from the north-west to the south-east point of the 
 empire, was drawn out to the length of four thousand and eighty 
 Roman miles. The public roads were accurately divided by mile- 
 stones, and ran in a direct line from one city to another, with very 
 little respect for the obstacles either of nature or landed property. 
 Mountains were perforated, and bold arches thrown over the 
 broadest and most rapid streams. The middle part of the road was 
 raised into a terrace, which commanded the adjacent country, 
 consisted of several strata of sand, gravel, and cement, and was 
 
 * Encyclopedia Londinensis : Article — Aqueducts. 
 
 paved with large stones, or, in some places, near the capital, with 
 granite. Such was the solid construction of the Roman highways, 
 whose firmness has not entirely yielded to the efforts of fifteen 
 centuries. They united the subjects of the most distant provinces 
 by an easy and familiar intercourse ; but their primary object had 
 been to facilitate the marches of the legions, nor was any country 
 considered as completely subdued till it had been rendered, in all its 
 parts, pervious to the arms and authority of the conqueror. The 
 advantage of receiving the earliest intelligence, and of conveying 
 their orders with celerity, induced the emperors to establish 
 throughout their extensive dominions the regular institution of 
 posts. Houses were everywhere erected at the distance of five or 
 six miles, each of them was constantly provided with fleet horses, 
 and by the help of these relays, it was easy to travel a hundred 
 miles in a day along the Roman roads.” As an example of rapid 
 travelling in the later periods of the empire, Gibbon adds in a 
 note to the passage just quoted that, “ In the time of Theodosius, 
 Csesarius, a magistrate of high rank, went post from Antioch to 
 Constantinople. He began his journey at night, was in Cappadocia 
 (165 miles from Antioch) the ensuing evening, and arrived at 
 Constantinople the sixth day about noon. The whole distance was 
 725 Roman, or 665 English miles.” 
 
 Associated with the Roman roads were the Roman cemeteries. 
 One of the laws of the Twelve Tables forbade the burning or burial 
 of any body within the walls of the city : Hominem mortuum in 
 urbe ne sepelito, tieve urito. This was the general rule, and it was 
 deviated from only to confer a special mark of honour on an individual 
 or a family. Thus, Publicola was buried on the Palatine Hill, and 
 his descendants enjoyed the same right, though they never exercised 
 it. Fabricius also was buried within the walls; and it would 
 appear that the vestal virgins who died spotless received the same 
 honourable sepulture. Trajan was the first emperor buried within 
 the walls. The body of Julius Csesar was burnt, and his obsequies, 
 described by Suetonius, were remarkable. A pile was erected in the 
 Campus Martius, near the tomb of his daughter Julia; before the 
 Rostra was placed a gilded tabernacle, modelled after the Temple 
 of Venus Genitrix ; within this was an ivory bed, covered with 
 purple and cloth of gold ; at the head was a trophy, with the 
 blood-stained robe he wore when slain. Those who had filled, and 
 at the time were filling, the highest offices in the state, carried the 
 bier from the Rostra to the Forum. While those present were 
 debating whether the body should be burnt in the sanctuary of the 
 Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, or in Pompey’s Senate House, two 
 men, with swords by their sides and spears in their hands, set fire 
 to the bier with lighted torches : the throng around immediately 
 heaped on it dry faggots, the tribunals and benches of the adjoining 
 courts, and whatever else came to hand. Then the musicians and 
 players stripped off the dresses they wore on the occasion, and threw 
 them into the flames. The legionaries, also, of his veteran bands 
 cast in their armour, which they had put on in honour of his 
 funeral. The ladies threw their ornaments into the flames, and the 
 mantles of their children ; and the Jews, whose nation had received 
 many benefits from Caesar, testified their gratitude to his memory 
 by congregating on the spot for many consecutive nights. The body 
 of Augustus was carried upon the shoulders of senators to the Campus 
 Martius, and there burnt ; and the relics, gathered up by the most 
 eminent persons of the equestrian order, barefooted, were deposited 
 in the mausoleum which he had built for the imperial family between 
 the Flaminian road and the Tiber. This magnificent monument 
 was of white marble, rising in tiers to a great height, surrounded by 
 a dome, on which stood a statue of Augustus. Marcellus was the 
 first person whose remains were deposited in this superb structure. 
 He was the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus. When Virgil 
 recited the JEneid before this lady and her imperial brother, and 
 came to the words, “ Tu Marcellus eris ,” she fainted ; and afterwards, 
 as a testimony of her maternal affection and of her admiration of the 
 poet, ordered him to be paid a gratuity for every line relating to 
 the subject, which amounted to about two thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 Roman sepulchres were square, circular, and pyramidal, having 
 only one entrance. The urns and sarcophagi were placed in the 
 vault, the statues of the dead in a chamber above, called the 
 parentalia. One of the most remarkable of these monuments which 
 has survived destruction is the tomb of Cecilia Metella, daughter of 
 Quintus Metellus Creticus, and wife of the famous Crassus, cele- 
 brated for his wealth and avarice; and who, being defeated and 
 made prisoner by the Parthians, was put to death by molten gold 
 
 N 
 
46 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 poured down his throat. Pope Paul III. opened the tomb, 
 when the beautiful marble sarcophagus of the deceased was dis- 
 covered, and transferred to the Palazzo Farnese. This tomb was 
 a circular edifice, so constructed as to cause an echo, and at the 
 funeral the plaintive wailings of the mourners were heard seven or 
 eight times in succession. Many, however, consider this statement 
 as a poetical fiction. Another remarkable monument is the pyra- 
 midal tomb of Caius Cestius, which stood on a basis 90 feet square, 
 and rose to the height of 120 feet. It was formed of large blocks 
 of white marble. He lived in the age of Julius and Augustus 
 Caesar, and must have been extremely rich ; the inscription shows 
 that he held the priestly office, being one of the epulones. The 
 priestly officers were three Jlamens, one of Jupiter, one of Mars, 
 and one of Quirinus. There were six vestal virgins, fifteen 
 augurs, fifteen keepers of the sacred or Sybilline books, and seven 
 epulones , who prepared the tables of the gods, conducted the solemn 
 processions, and regulated the ceremonies of the annual festivals. 
 The college of pontiffs, or high-priests, consisted of fifteen function- 
 aides ; and there were sacred trumpeters, whose presence was neces- 
 sary at every supplication and triumph. The tombs placed on the 
 sides of the roads added magnificence and solemnity to all the 
 approaches to the city, and whoever went from or returned to it, 
 was reminded of his ancestors, and the patriotism of the humblest 
 was constantly kindled by being reminded of the glories of his 
 illustrious countrymen. 
 
 hurled into the ditch on the heads of the besiegers.” * When the 
 ditch of St. Angelo was cleared, under Urban VIII., the workmen 
 found the Sleeping Faun of the Barberini Palace; but a leg, a 
 thigh, and the right arm, had been broken from the beautiful 
 statue. The best description of the Moles Hadriani is in Procopius. 
 This faun is attributed to Praxiteles. 
 
 As the object of the Crystal Palace is to instruct as well as to 
 amuse, it may be permitted, in a work of this description, to compare 
 the mausoleums of Augustus and Hadrian with other monuments 
 of a similar character. The word mausoleum is derived from 
 Mausolus, a king of Caria, to whom his widow Artemisia erected 
 a monument, ranked among the seven wonders of the world. The 
 dimensions, as given by Pliny, were sixty-three feet in length, 
 somewhat less in breadth, and in height about forty; its whole 
 circumference about four hundred and eleven feet, and it was sur- 
 rounded by thirty-six columns. On the mausoleum rose a pyramid 
 of the same elevation as the mausoleum itself. It was built by four 
 different architects. Scopas erected the side which faced the east, 
 Timotheus built the south, Leochares the west, and Bruxis the north. 
 Pithis raised the pyramid ; aud the top was adorned by a quadriga, 
 or chariot drawn by four horses. All these monuments, however, 
 are by some considered to have been surpassed by the Taj -Mahal of 
 Agra — erected by the Emperor Jehanger over his wife, “ the light 
 of the harem ” — built of the purest white marble, and inlaid with 
 the richest mosaic. 
 
 The mausoleum of Augustus, to which we have alluded, was 
 raised on lofty arches of white stone, and at the entrance of the 
 vault were two Egyptian obelisks ; it was surrounded by beautiful 
 groves, intersected by walks, and a hanging garden, planted with 
 evergreen shrubs.* The Emperor Hadrian determined to surpass 
 this magnificent structure, and built the Moles Hadriani, on a quad- 
 rangular platform of solid stone. It was a lofty circular edifice, 
 surrounded by twenty-four pillars of white marble tinged with 
 purple ; the inner wall was decorated with Ionic pilasters, and a 
 cone of brass surmounted a majestic dome. Four statues occupied 
 the four corners of the platform, and twenty-four adorned the portico. 
 The whole fabric was cased with marble ; and it was one of the 
 most magnificent ornaments of antiquity. During the Gothic war, 
 this mausoleum, now called the Castle of St. Angelo, was turned 
 into a fortress by the celebrated Belisarius. “ He drew a chain 
 across the Tiber, the arches of the aqueducts were made impervious, 
 and the Mole or Sepulchre of Hadrian was converted, for the first 
 time, to the uses of a citadel. That venerable structure, which 
 contained the ashes of the Antonines, was a circular turret rising 
 from a quadrangular basis ; it was covered with the white marble 
 of Paros, and decorated with the statues of gods and heroes ; and 
 the lovers of the arts must read with a sigh that the works of 
 Praxiteles, or Lysippus, were torn from their lofty pedestals, and 
 
 We now pass to the theatres. While the republic existed in its 
 simple or severe austerity, the only places in which public games 
 were performed were the circuses, which were dedicated to the 
 gods ; but in the year of Rome 389, stage plays were first introduced 
 in temporary theatres, to deter the thoughts of the people from a 
 pestilence. The actors, as well as the early architects and masons, 
 came from Etruria, but they do not deserve to be classed higher than 
 pantomimists ; for they are described as “ dancing gracefully in the 
 Etruscan manner.” The first theatres were indeed mere movable 
 erections, tents or booths, frequently covered in with boughs of 
 trees ; but even before they became fixed and solid structures, they 
 were truly magnificent, and constructed in a style that fills us with 
 admiration. Two instances may be mentioned, as noticed by Pliny. 
 M. Scaurus, when aedile, built a temporary theatre, adorned with 
 three hundred and sixty columns of marble and three thousand 
 bronze statues, which he had taken from the temples of Sicyon. 
 It contained eighty thousand spectators. The lower range of pillars 
 were thirty-eight feet in the shaft, and such was their weight, that 
 Scaurus was obliged to give security for the reparation of the cloaca, 
 if damaged by their conveyance. The other was semicircular, and 
 held two distinct audiences for plays at the same time. “ It was a 
 wooden edifice,” says Eustace, “ erected by Curio, for the celebration 
 of funeral games in honour of his father ; and was so contrived as 
 
 See description in the 5th book of Strabo. 
 
 Gibbon. 
 
it’..- 
 

 
 
 
 V -p. . ,nl IH 'p-.'nod ‘.wb, 
 
 r •piiagv of the r .r..w - di a - 
 
 c ' • • T '.iUv.o Farruw 1 . i i. ■ h m . 
 
 oo* u ructed £u j to 'iuae an deb* : the 
 
 bags ■ tb- rrunfrur v «efe ’ • . - .'t o. or 
 
 '■ ion. Mse.;% however, oon»id< i • ■ . 
 
 tiui>. Another rema ibte mOSuia - . . iiyra- 
 
 i'.-tiuH C rhich sto-.vi on j hr* -•» At : ...t ■••. 
 
 " o l] • : bf 12 f ' foot. It • is *■■■?>■■ . U : . , 
 
 rlii'.i- tacrhU*. TIo lived ia the tgo of Jv • .ami Avjp • ua 
 C ar, .oust hgve been extremely -h ■ in&criptiOr •>?« 
 M he held the priestly 'oflpv, be. v : the 1 ■. 
 
 $■ lift' V.-..-S e Uuw ■ <»«• • ;• it Jupitt r 
 
 •.ltd out* of Q; bW'i ... vestal 
 
 ligw 1 
 
 •*</• v- • ■hJ^OL* 
 
 • ettppl. r. kJCktj . 
 
 Approaches ■■ et •» .^tcret r, 
 
 v • 'faMl ; V. died by .•!%• reminded v.f th jjor; . s of h>s 
 
 'it'h.df t>t. A .gelo ’Pt.t cleared, unchi . VUJ. r. -.vor'i u:ea 
 bund ithe Sleeping of the Rdr.-rtfr : . I’atace; but <(f, a 
 '. ; Lfh, and the right arjft, I. 'Wvw ! •• * v bbaatiifal 
 
 ^ ...me. The 1-^.t dcsc. iptierv of thd Moles Hiuln .. ; • u Vivwpiufv 
 . s ftiuu h. attributed to Vmritc-kt . 
 
 '■.* the obj..’’t of the Crystal Palr.c i;>L . ■ ; v il u» to 
 ' .Ut uiy be pevmittcii, in:. work> ,J '■ d.acriptidft f to w 
 imiu^oleiiuis M Angus \\ir and Mairih;. ink bother i n 
 
 king iif \ riajtc vfchju hi* blow Art -j.** u •; • .><( 
 i aiv-i inktjd amon.,' the seven vmtd* . < .1 tbd -vo.-M. 
 
 L:r. risi« ■:■? PIm y.-vve f oxty •• IV-ec ; long h 
 
 • ' •: :tx '■ : ' !H ignt ti ' ■!, t :*‘ .. '.1. 
 
 ‘eaboat! "■ .- 4 ant’, eltv*-, iiot.Tiut! i'., - -ui 
 
 ihi is?*-' Ir .. *.-* i'..- 
 
 > itb aittd : 
 
 All ■ : i* V • .. 
 
 ’ 
 
 :-f ;bf ha- n" ..ui) r ; - ■ , ' i 1 • • 'a; 4 
 
 rie - i 
 
 
 et 4 ’> i trg a us vouch. 
 
 •U2-. • of Aug ntu to • which wc h*i s.-uded, w.-: , W iow pc. to tl-.o (heat: •- Vliilt he its 
 
 rebes of i:t-, aad eiUi.ince of ih- * :np. « - aiwtc. H'y. t mMjIv . .. • hi pebTe ga : . * 
 
 • '• o I. •< , ’ian thflia . *.tae i :;r "ded by autifu • ^ero perfi • 17- re the 1 which v*.,;. . < c-r*. to <h- 
 
 ‘"•i l. walks, and hrtugir gura> n, p!&> led wit) g< ; uv: toe year of Homo {agup. .y •• i\r- . ooddoed 
 
 The i 1 . 1 r adriftj 1 drt, rrained to surpna in ■ theatres > 3 • <ugl .- • . • • • . ... » •• 
 
 ■■ r -« dt . . dl xstein, af'.d 1 ■ . Tj-c: sir:-* ■ •. '•!•- 
 
 ' . inui. -tic 4***. '■ oer -itanuu ckcupiet bboth.*. frequi-' in • .- - >.gh--: ' </■ 
 
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 orb-- : end it >va» 000 of th'- • w.v ; lijkupt, an<l . Ktyk . . d- * wit..; 
 
 . otuoj l)uring the Gothio 1 in iuma? a insrance^uuv * Pliny. 
 
 . w-** cal. d ' od StAi yfelo, yu tur.n d j ' . Tt*ftu:-> sddik, bu h*/ . d with 
 
 u. 
 
 >* adv injj".r>i<ftu bi- • .s. which d l-‘ • . . .-•'•jrojj. 
 
 mo hist 1 It 1 *ntaine<l c%btythi > p:!»an» 
 
 -.Moil j wi -••• . ' s ■* ••••• 0-: 
 
 Ally .« was ob!i;.* ... • Il JciHk-4, 
 
 . - if damaged jby j • u«r, i d 
 
 :1 •- -t-ld tw*- «7.v.-. I • - •• .. • “.Itv/u/f. 
 
 .el.- * : : ' •••- 1*0 1-»! * u- c vbtatii»a 
 
■k.r, 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 47 
 
 to form, according to the nature of the exhibition, either a theatre 
 or an amphitheatre. In the morning the semicircles were placed 
 back to back, so that the declamations, music, and plaudits of the 
 one did not reach the other; in the afternoon they were rolled 
 round face to face, and the circle was completed. It is to be 
 observed that these changes were performed without displacing the 
 spectators, who seem to have trusted themselves without scruple to 
 the strength of the machinery and to the judgment of the architect.” 
 
 The first permanent theatx-e built of solid materials was that of 
 Pompey, which he erected in his third consulship ; but, powerful as 
 he then was, he was obliged to evade the strict law and conciliate 
 the censor, by declaring that he only intended to convene the people 
 to worship at the Temple of Venus Victrix, which he also raised in 
 it. Pompey, in fact, erected a theatre and temple in the same 
 building, and the ascent to the temple formed the steps to the 
 theatre. Aulus Gellius states that “ the unusual epithet of Victrix , 
 applied to Venus, is thus explained by Varro: — ‘She is so called, 
 non quod vincere velit, not from her wish to conquer, sed quod vin- 
 cere et vinciri velit, but because she wishes to bind others and to 
 be bound herself.’ ” 
 
 At the dedication of this theatre and temple a critical question 
 arose on a point of grammar, which it is interesting to notice. 
 As already stated, this event took place in Pompey’s third consul- 
 ship, and it was doubtful whether he might commemorate the fact 
 by inscribing the word tertio or tertium. The words of Varro, in 
 
 a sort of drama, on the model of the Greeks, and was followed by 
 Ennius. The style of both was rough and inharmonious. At a 
 later period flourished in dramatic writing Nrevius and Pacuvius, 
 who are highly praised by Quintilian, and Plautus and Terence. 
 Some have attributed to Plautus the authorship of a hundred and 
 twenty plays ; but Lucius ^Elius, a man of great knowledge and learn- 
 ing, reduces them to twenty-five, though Plautus certainly retouched 
 and polished many others, infused into them his peculiar style, 
 and thus almost made them his own. He made money, but lost it 
 by unlucky speculations ; and Varro states that his Saturio (“ The 
 Glutton ”) and his Addictus (“ The Man Adjudged ”), were written by 
 him in a bakehouse, after his mercantile misfortunes, which seem 
 to have happened to him in some of the provinces, for these two 
 plays were composed after he had returned to Rome and hired 
 himself to a baker, under whom he turned a hand-mill. Publius 
 Terentius Afer, a native of Carthage, was a slave, belonging to the 
 senator, Terentius Lucanus, who gave him an excellent education, 
 and also his liberty when he arrived at manhood. He is supposed 
 to have been drowned about the year 560. He enjoyed the friend- 
 ship of Lrelius and Scipio Africanus. His Eunuchus met with 
 such success that it was acted twice on the same day, and, as 
 Suetonius states, earned more money than any comedy had ever 
 earned before. He puts the receipts at eight thousand sesterces, 
 or £80 of our money ; “ besides which a certain sum accrued to 
 the author for the title,” which may mean for the purchase of the 
 
 his Rudiments, are these : — “ It is one thing to become prator quarto, 
 and another to become preetor quartum. Quarto marks the situa- 
 tion, quantum the time. Ennius has therefore with propriety 
 written, * Quintus pater quartum consul fuit.’ ” Pompey hesitated 
 which word to use, and consulted Cicero. Tero Tullius, the freed- 
 man of Cicero, gives the following account : — “ When Pompey was 
 about to consecrate the Temple of Victory, the entrance to which 
 was to serve as a theatre, and to enrol in it, as in the theatre, his 
 name and titles, it was a subject of debate whether it should be 
 written Consul Tertio or Tertium ; which Pompey, with anxious 
 inquiry, referred to the most eminently learned men of the state, 
 when they were of different opinions, and some proposed tertio and 
 others tertium. Pompey requested Cicero to give orders that it 
 should be written according to his opinion ; but Cicero, fearing to 
 sit in judgment on men of approved learning, lest by censuring 
 their opinions he might be thought to censure the men themselves, 
 advised Pompey to use neither tertio or tertium, but to write it tert. ; 
 so that though the word was incomplete, the fact was told, and the 
 ambiguous usage of a word avoided.” 
 
 Aulus Gellius fixed upon the year 510 from the building of the 
 city, in the consulate of Claudius Cento, the son of Appius Ccecus 
 and Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus, as the period when the regular, 
 or what we call the legitimate drama, was introduced into Rome 
 by Lucius Livius, who, being born of Greek parents, had the 
 cognomen of Andronicus. He formed the Fesceunine verses into 
 
 copyright. Terence translated some of the plays of Menander, 
 and adapted them to the Roman stage. He died young, in his 
 thirty-fifth year. 
 
 The Romans had not that taste for the high class of drama which 
 distinguished the Greeks. They preferred gorgeous processions, 
 melodramatic displays, the combats of animals, and the feats of 
 pugilists. The audience frequently interrupted the performance 
 by calling for the shows of gladiators, or wild beasts, as Horace 
 remarks — 
 
 “ Media inter carmina poscunt 
 Aut ursum aut pugiles ; his natn plebecula guadet.” 
 
 Terence complains that the public attention was called away from 
 his play, Hecyra (“ The Mother-in-law”), at its first representation, 
 by the rival exhibition of a rope-dancer. 
 
 Though regular theatres were not legally sanctioned during the 
 republic, iEsopus and Roscius flourished during the prohibition ; 
 and the former appeared at the opening of Pompey’s theatre, but 
 his enfeebled powers would not allow him to go through his part. 
 Both these actors enjoyed the friendship of Cicero, who made a 
 famous oration in favour of the latter. In Greece actors were 
 highly honoured, because the drama itself was highly esteemed; 
 and in that country they were even employed in affairs of state and 
 sent on foreign embassies. Thus, in a solemn embassy sent from 
 Athens to Philip of Macedon, there were players, and that monarch 
 bestowed on them particular marks of attention. Excepting iEsopus 
 
48 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 and Roscius, Aulus Gellius says that they were held in a very low 
 light at Rome. JEschines, the Athenian orator, was originally a 
 player ; and he did not lose caste by having followed that calling, 
 although bitterly insulted for it by Demosthenes, who frequently 
 called him “ a low actor.” Here is a specimen of that abuse in which 
 Demosthenes indulged : — “ A fellow that from the first never did 
 anything good or worthy of a free man ; a mere tragic ape, a rustic 
 .Enomaus.” Addressing Eschines, he made this coarse comparison : 
 “You danced, I furnished the entertainment; you were an actor, 
 I a spectator ; you were hissed off, I was among the hissers.” Thus 
 Demosthenes lowered his personal dignity by vulgar and mean 
 revilings. 
 
 The actors at Rome covered the whole head with a mask, and 
 wore false hair behind their heads. The features on the mask were 
 hideously enlarged and distorted ; as the theatres were much larger 
 than ours, the distance of the spectators rendei-ed this necessary. 
 In the comedies, when the chorus went off the stage, they were 
 succeeded by a class of inferior actors, who diverted the audience 
 for some time with apish postures and antic dances. They were 
 not masked, but had their faces smeared over with soot, and dressed 
 themselves in lamb-skins. They wore gaxdands of ivy, and cax-ried 
 baskets full of herbs and flowers in honour of Bacchus. They 
 always acted barefooted, and were thence called Planipes.* The 
 parts of women were 
 perfox-med by men, a 
 custom which prevailed 
 in the earlier periods of 
 the English stage. 
 
 “ The interior of Pom- 
 pey ’s theatre was con- 
 structed in the following 
 manner: — From the or- 
 chestra — in which the 
 emperor, the consuls, 
 and the senatox-s sat — 
 the ff radii, or rows of 
 seats, arose gradually in 
 the same semicircular 
 line, one above the other - , 
 to the top, but were 
 divided by two precinc- 
 tiones ; one in which 
 the equestrian order 
 sat, and another which 
 was common to the ple- 
 beians, and above which 
 there was only one cir- 
 cle of seats, supposed 
 to be intended for the 
 women. The seats from 
 top to bottom were ver- 
 tically cut by narrow 
 staircases, and every division between them was called a cuneus, 
 from its wedge-like form. A straight line divided the orchestra 
 from the stage. The scena, which, unlike our scenes, was usually 
 fixed, was magnificently adorned with all the conjoined em- 
 bellishments of ai’chitectxire, statuary, and painting. In front 
 of it was the j^osceniutn, where the actors appeared, which was 
 terminated by two grand semicircular recesses on each side of the 
 central one. In front of the proscenium was the pulpitum, where 
 the actoi-s performed. The postscenium, or covered porticoes, usually 
 occupied by the actors when not on the stage, received the spectators 
 when surprised by x’ain, during which the perfoxunances were 
 necessarily suspended ; for the ancient theatres were almost always 
 open, and the spectators were only sheltered from the sun by a 
 movable awning, which did not extend over the stage. Beyond 
 the postscenium were beautiful walks and magnificent colonnades, 
 adorned with statues and paintings, which formed a fashionable 
 promenade of the Romans.” + 
 
 Julius Csesar intended to have built a theatre to have surpassed 
 in magnificence that of Pompey, and the locality he chose was near 
 the Tarpeian Mount, but death anticipated this project. Augustus 
 carried the design into execution by raising the theatre of Marcellus, 
 
 * Kexxnet’s Antiquities. 
 
 f Rome in the Nineteenth Century. Constable. 4th Edition, 1826. 
 
 so called after his nephew. It was dedicated by the slaughter of 
 hundreds of wild beasts ; this also was done to emulate the munifi- 
 cence of Pompey, who, on opening his theatre, slaughtered five 
 hundred lions, and exhibited a battle between elephants and armed 
 men. 
 
 From the theatres we pass on to the forums, or, more correctly, 
 the fora of ancient Rome. These were of two kinds, and there 
 were several of both. The Fora Venalia were public markets, as 
 the Forum Boarium , the Cattle-market ; the Forum Piscatorium, 
 the Fish-market; the Forum Olitorium, the Herb-market. The 
 Fora Civilia were used for the transaction of national affairs, and 
 the investigation and decision of lawsuits. Of these republican 
 Rome had but one, and there stood the Rostra, from which the 
 orators harangued ; and there were held the comitia, or assemblies 
 of the people. This forum was the scene of the curia, or senate- 
 house, and of the basilica, or courts of justice. This imposing and 
 splendid locality was bordered with the temples of religion, lined 
 with the statues of the most illustrious men, and terminated by 
 triumphal arches. Each succeeding age added to its magnificence ; 
 and it was the heart and centre of the empire, the seat of piety 
 and patriotism, of wisdom and power. It stood between the Palatine 
 and Capitoline Hills ; and here the li religio loci," the awe-inspiring 
 influence of locality, prompted some of the noblest addresses which 
 
 were ever offered to the 
 gods, or ever awakened 
 the impulses of nation- 
 ality. Here Manlius 
 appealed to the Capitol, 
 saved by his valour, be- 
 fore he was hurled from 
 the Tarpeian Rock. 
 Here Caius Gracchus 
 asked if he could find a 
 sanctuary on pavement 
 still reeking with his 
 brother’s blood. Here 
 Scipio, repelling the foul 
 charges brought against 
 him, invited the people 
 to accompany him to 
 the Temple of Jupiter, 
 and thank the gods for 
 his defeat of Hannibal. 
 Here Virginius immo- 
 lated his daughter, to 
 save her from a tyrant’s 
 lust; and here Curtius 
 leaped into the yawn- 
 ing abyss. Here were 
 deposited the spoils 
 which the Horatii won 
 from the Curiatii ; here- 
 stood the Rostral Column, so called from the beaks of ships, which 
 commemorated the naval triumph of the Consul Duilius over the 
 Carthaginians, the first victory the Romans gained at sea ; and here 
 were erected the statue of Horatius Cocles and the equestrian statue 
 of Clelia ; — 
 
 “ And in yon field below 
 A thousand years of silenced factions sleep. 
 
 The Forum, where the immortal accents glow, 
 
 And still the eloquent air breathes — burns with Cicero.” 
 
 In the course of time the original Forum proved insufficient for 
 the multiplied transactions of business, and the various wants of an 
 increasing population. The length commonly assigned to it was 
 from 600 to 650 feet, the breadth varying from 110 to 180. Vitru- 
 vius, however, says it was oblong, being one third longer than it was 
 broad. Julius Ccesar, when a candidate for his second consulship, 
 endeavoured to win public favour by various acts of liberality, among 
 which he determined to build a second forum for civil purposes. 
 The first could not be enlarged without clearing away time-hallowed 
 edifices, by which it was closely surrounded ; and this demolition 
 would have rudely shocked popular prejudices. We learn from 
 Suetonius that the bare site on which Julius erected his new forum 
 cost him the enormous sum of more than a hundred million of 
 sesterces, or about £800,000 of our money. It stood near the old 
 Forum, behind the Temple of Romulus and Remus, and was one of 
 
 SITE OF THE FORUM. 
 

 
 
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THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 49 
 
 the fora civilia , being strictly applied to lawsuits and business. 
 Caesar built this forum when he constructed the Temple of Venus 
 Genitrix, he pretending to trace his descent on the paternal side 
 
 from Venus. “During his qusestorship,” says Suetonius, “he pro- 
 nounced funeral orations from the rostra, according to custom, 
 in praise of his aunt Julia, 
 and his wife Cornelia. In 
 the panegyric on his aunt, 
 he gives the following ac- 
 count of his own and his 
 father’s genealogy on both 
 sides: — “My aunt Julia 
 derived her descent, by the 
 mother, from a race of 
 kings, and by her father, 
 from the immortal gods. 
 
 For the Marcii Reges, her 
 brother’s family, deduce 
 their pedigree from Ancus 
 Marcius; and the Julii, her 
 father’s, from Venus, of 
 which stock we are a 
 branch. We therefore 
 unite in our descent the 
 sacred majesty of kings, 
 the chiefest. among men, 
 and the divine majesty of 
 gods, to whom kings are 
 subject.” Before this tem- 
 ple of Venus Genitrix, 
 which Ceesar dedicated to 
 that goddess as his an- 
 cestress, he placed a statue 
 of his famous horse, of 
 which Suetonius gives the following curious account : — “ He rode a 
 very remarkable horse, with feet almost like those of a man, the hoofs 
 being divided in such a manner as to have some resemblance to toes. 
 This horse he had bred himself; and the soothsayers having in- 
 terpreted these circumstances into an omen that its owner would 
 be master of the world, he brought him up with particular care, and 
 broke him in himself, as the horse would suffer no one else to mount 
 him. A statue of this horse was afterwards erected by Ctesar’s 
 order before the Temple of Venus Genitrix.” 
 
 Augustus Caesar followed the example of his uncle, and built a 
 third forum, in which he dedicated a temple to Mars Ultor, the 
 Avenging Mars, in fulfilment of a vow he had made at the battle 
 of Philippi. In this forum he decreed that the judges should be 
 chosen by lot. The design of the Temple of Mars was to commemorate 
 his triumph over Brutus and Cassius, and the other conspirators 
 who had murdered Julius ; and to do honour to his memory, 
 Augustus commanded that the senate should always assemble there 
 when they met to deliberate on wars and triumphs; that thence 
 should be dispatched all those who were sent into the provinces in 
 the command of armies; and that in it those who returned vic- 
 torious from the wars should lodge the trophies of their success. 
 Augustus constructed, or persuaded his friends to construct, a very 
 large number of the most splendid edifices. On a single occasion 
 he deposited in the cell of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus sixteen 
 
 thousand pounds weight of gold, with jewels and plate valued at fifty 
 millions of sesterces, or £400,000 ; and when he consecrated the 
 Temple of the Palatine Apollo, he melted down all the silver statues 
 which had been erected in his honour, and converted the whole 
 into tripods. To this temple he added porticoes, and a library of Latin 
 and Greek authors. Some idea may be formed of its magnificence, 
 by stating that the portico was surrounded by the statues of the 
 fifty daughters of Danaus, and opposite to them were their husbands 
 on horseback. Here the Carvicn Secularc of Horace was recited. 
 Within our space it is impossible to mention the various improve- 
 ments and additions which this emperor effected in Rome. Sueto- 
 nius says that he boasted of having “ found it of brick, but left it 
 of marble.” His forum was surrounded by semicircular walls, to 
 which were attached porticoes, containing the statues of all the 
 Latin and Roman kings, and of the heroes and dictators of the 
 republic, beginning with iEneas and ending with himself. 
 
 The career of this fortunate usurper is too remarkable to be dis- 
 missed without some allusion to his personal history. As his uncle 
 Julius pretended to trace his family to Venus, so Augustus claimed 
 to be the son of Apollo. His mother Atia had attended a religious 
 solemnity in honour of Apollo at midnight; when the rest of the 
 matrons had returned home, she fell asleep in the temple, when a 
 serpent immediately crept to her, and soon afterwards withdrew. 
 
 When she awoke there 
 appeared imprinted on her 
 person the mark of a ser- 
 pent, which was never ef- 
 faced ; and, in consequence 
 of which, she never fre- 
 quented the public baths. 
 Atia dreamed, before her 
 delivery, that her bowels 
 stretched to the stars, and 
 expanded through the 
 whole circuit of heaven 
 and earth. His father, Oc- 
 tavius, also dreamed that 
 a sunbeam issued from his 
 wife’s womb.* 
 
 In ancient times serpen- 
 tine paternities were deem- 
 ed highly honourable. The 
 following story is related 
 by Aulus Gellius: — “The 
 mother of Scipio Africa- 
 nus was for a long time 
 supposed to be barren ; 
 sleeping alone in her own 
 apartment, an immense ser- 
 pent was seen to repose 
 near her, but a great noise 
 being made by those who 
 saw it, the reptile glided away, and could not be found. This was 
 related by her husband, Publius Scipio, to the augurs, who, after 
 performing sacrifice, replied that he would have children. Not 
 many days after the appearance of this serpent, the woman began 
 to feel the usual symptoms of conception. In the tenth month she 
 brought forth, and that Publius Scipio Africanus was born who 
 conquered Hannibal, the Carthaginian, in Africa, in the second 
 Punic war. It is not impertinent to add,” continues Gellius, “ that 
 the writers whom I have mentioned (C. Oppius and Julius Hyginus) 
 have recorded that this Scipio Africanus did very frequently, at the 
 latter part of the night, before break of day, go to the Capitol, and 
 command the Chapel of Jove (the interior or more sacred part, the 
 cello) to be opened ; and that he would there remain a long time 
 alone, as if consulting with Jupiter concerning the republic. The 
 porters of the temple were greatly astonished that on his coming to 
 the Capitol alone, and at that time, the dogs, who were always 
 furious to other people, neither molested him nor barked at him.” 
 Alexander the Great also wished it to be believed that he was 
 the son of Jupiter Ammon, who had visited his mother in the form 
 of a serpent. He addressed a letter to her in these words : — “ King 
 Alexander, son of Jupiter Ammon, sends health to his mother 
 
 * These circumstances are narrated by Suetonius ; and he adds many other 
 marvels on the birth and childhood of Augustus. 
 
 LNTKKIOK VIEW OF THE FUKUM. 
 
 0 
 

 ■ ul 
 
 ri 
 
 Olympias.” She wittily answered, “ I beseech you, my son, he at 
 peace ; do not summon me to a court of judicature, nor accuse me 
 before Juno ; for she will surely inflict on me a grievous punishment, 
 when she finds it confessed in your letters that I am her husband’s 
 mistress.” 
 
 Augustus Caesar was a despot. He has been extravagantly praised 
 because he succeeded. Had he failed in his attempt to enslave his 
 country, he would have been as much execrated as Catiline. He 
 patronised literature, and enriched poets, who paid him back in the 
 most fulsome adulation; and Horace, anticipating his apotheosis, 
 styled him a god while he was a living mortal — “ Prccsens Augustus 
 Divus habehitur ; ” and in another passage he writes, “ Jurandasque 
 tuum per nomen ponimus aras .” A regular custom was introduced, 
 that on the decease of any emperor who had neither lived nor died 
 like a tyrant, the senate, by a solemn decree, should include him in 
 the number of the gods ; and the ceremonies of his apotheosis were 
 blended with those of his funeral. But idolatry does not hallow 
 a tyrant, and the richest gilding does not conceal the hideousness of 
 arbitrary power. Suetonius strongly insinuates that Augustus caused 
 the assassination of Hirtius and Pansa, that he might have the 
 armies under his own control ; and quotes Aquilius Niger, who 
 avers that he killed Hirtius with his own hands. He leads the 
 reader to believe that Glyco, the surgeon, caused the death of Pansa 
 by poisoning his wound, at the instigation of Augustus. Of his 
 cruelty he leaves no doubt. An illustrious senator prayed that he 
 might not be left unburied after being put to death, and the answer 
 was, “ That will he in the power of the birds.” “ Two others, father 
 and son, who begged for their lives, he ordered to cast lots which 
 of them should live, or settle it between themselves by the sword, 
 and was a spectator of both their deaths; for the father offering 
 his life to save his son, and being accordingly executed, the son 
 likewise killed himself on the spot.” As he was one day making 
 an harangue, he observed Pinarius, a Roman knight, taking notes 
 of his speech, and ordered him on the spot to be stabbed as a spy. 
 Quintus Gallius, the preetor, went to compliment him with a double 
 tablet under his cloak : the tyrant, evidently conscious of his 
 own guilt, suspected the tablet was a sword, and in his terror 
 and rage ordered Gallius to be put to death, and, with his own 
 hands, plucked out his eyes. He dragged the two sons of Mark 
 Antony and Fulvia from the statue of Julius Cmsar, to which they 
 clung praying for life, and murdered them, as he did Ctesario, the 
 son of Cleopatra and Julius ; and in that spirit of meanness, which 
 delights to kick the dead lion, he sent the head of Brutus to be cast 
 at the feet of Cmsar’s statue, though he imbrued his hands in the 
 blood of Cresar’s child. Let not then the love of art screen this for- 
 tunate usurper from the execration due to crime. 
 
 Of his boasted family and serpentarian descent a few words may 
 be added. Mark Antony says that his great grandfather, on the 
 paternal side, was a freedman of the territory of Thurium, and by 
 trade a ropemalcer ; while his grandfather was a usurer. On the 
 mother’s side, his defeated rival avers that his great grandfather 
 was of African descent ; and at one time kept a perfumer’s shop, 
 and at another a bakehouse, in Aricia. And Cassius of Parma, in 
 a letter, taxes Augustus with being the son not only of a baker, but 
 of a usurious baker. These are his words : — “ Thou art a lump of 
 thy mother’s meal, which a money-changer of Nerulum, taking from 
 the newest bakehouse of Aricia, kneaded into some shape, with his 
 hands all discoloured by the fingering of money.” * It is a vulgar 
 pi'ejudice which praises or blames a man for his origin, for which 
 he is not responsible ; the architect of his own greatness, not the 
 possessor of transmitted honours, stands before the world truly 
 eminent, and the humbler his birth, the higher his merit; there 
 is a starting point in the longest genealogy, and that point is 
 obscurity. Julius and Augustus are not remembered because 
 they feigned to be sprung from Venus and Apollo, but because 
 the victories at Pharsalia and Actium made them masters of the 
 world. 
 
 Other forums were built by succeeding emperors, both as orna- 
 ments to the city and as necessary additions to those already exist- 
 ing, when new facilities for the transaction of business were required. 
 The forum, which bore the name of the Emperor Nerva, was com- 
 menced by Domitian, continued by Nerva, and finished by Trajan, 
 who placed in it a temple, which he dedicated to Nerva, for all the 
 Ccesars became gods after death. In allusion to this practice of 
 
 1 All these details we have taken from Suetonius. 
 
 deification, Vespasian, when he was sick, used humorously to say 
 that “He felt himself beginning to become a god.” 
 
 The Forum of Trajan was built by Apollodorus, a celebrated 
 Greek architect, whom Hadrian put to death for an adverse criticism 
 on his Temple of Venus at Rome. Here stood the famous triumphal 
 Column of Trajan,* and the valuable library called the Biblotheca 
 Ulpia, "which was afterwards removed to the baths of Diocletian. 
 This forum contained the admired equestrian statue of Trajan. When 
 Constantius visited Rome, Hormisdas, a fugitive prince of Persia, 
 who accompanied the emperor, knowing that his imperial master 
 wished to remove the equestrian statue to Constantinople, observed, 
 “ before he had such a horse, he must build such a stable,” f meaning 
 Trajan’s Forum. The Column of Trajan was formed of thirty-eight 
 blocks of white marble ; and its height of one hundred and ten feet 
 denoted the elevation of the hill that had been cut away. On it 
 were sculptured two thousand five hundred human figures, each on 
 an average two feet high. It described the Dacian wars of the 
 emperor; and was a complete representation of the standards, 
 military costume, evolutions, and warlike paraphernalia of the 
 Romans. In the precincts of the Forum of Trajan were certain 
 statues gilt on every side, representing horses and trophies, and 
 under them was written “ex munubiis.” This expression had a 
 doubtful meaning even in the time of Aulus Gellius, who narrates a 
 conversation that took place on the true interpretation of the words. 
 One of those present said that ex manubiis meant ex preedd, and that 
 the manubice were the spoils, quee manu sunt captee , which are taken 
 by the hand. But preeda , plunder, means one thing, as we learn 
 from old writers, and manubice another ; for prada means the 
 substance itself of the thing taken, and munubice is the money 
 collected by the quaestor from the sale of the plunder. “ There- 
 fore,” said Favorinus, “ this inscription which you are examining, 
 ex manubiis, demonstrates not the spoils themselves, for none of 
 those things were taken by Trajan from his enemies, but shows 
 that these ornaments were fabricated and provided from the tnanubice 
 or money arising from the sale of the spoils.” It may here be 
 observed that, in the time of the republic, manubice was used to 
 signify that portion of the spoils assigned to the commander-in- 
 chief of a victorious army, which he applied to the service of the 
 state, or to religious uses ; in this manner the earlier public edifices 
 were constructed, for it is plain that no private fortunes could have 
 defrayed the cost. 
 
 The Ulpian Library of Trajan, the library which Augustus 
 attached to the Temple of the Palatine Apollo, and others, are 
 sufficient proofs that the emperors were not afraid of the diffusion 
 of knowledge. Libraries, indeed, were very common among the 
 ancients. Pisistratus, the tyrant, is said to have been the first who 
 collected books of the liberal sciences at Athens for public use. 
 Afterwards the Athenians themselves, with great care and pains, 
 increased the number; but all this collection of books, Xerxes, 
 when he took possession of Athens, and burned the whole city, 
 except the citadel, seized and carried away to Persia; but King 
 Seleucus, who was called Nicanor, many years afterwards sent them 
 back to Athens. A prodigious number of books were, in succeeding 
 times, collected by the Ptolemies in Egypt, to the amount of nearly 
 seven hundred thousand volumes ; but in the first Alexandrine war 
 the whole library, during the plunder of the city, was destroyed by 
 fire, not by any concerted design, but accidentally, by the auxiliary 
 soldiers. 
 
 In Greece were several famous libraries. Clearchus, who was a 
 follower of Plato, founded a magnificent one in Heraclea. There 
 was one in the island of Cnidos. The books of Athens were 
 removed by Sylla to Rome. The public libraries of the Romans 
 were filled with books, not of miscellaneous literature, but were 
 rather political and sacred collections, consisting of what regarded 
 their laws and the ceremonies of religion. The Egyptian Library 
 was begun by Ptolemy Philadelphus. It is worth relating of this 
 prince that when the Athenians were in great distress from a famine, 
 he refused to furnish them with provisions till they first presented 
 him with the original works of their three celebrated tragedians. 
 This library was accidentally burned by Ctesar’s soldiers, but it was 
 afterwards restored by Antony, who gave it to Cleopatra.J 
 
 Among the conspicuous ornaments of Rome were arches. The 
 Arch of Claudius Drusus Nero, erected in the Appian Way, was 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 52. + Gibbon. 
 
 J Eeloe’s notes, in his translation of the Attic Nights of Aulus Gcllins. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 51 
 
 decreed to him for his military services. He commanded in the 
 Rhcetian and German wars. 
 
 “ Drusum gerentem bella sub Alpibus 
 Yidere Ehceti.” 
 
 He was the first of all the Roman generals who navigated the 
 Northern Ocean, dug some prodigious trenches beyond the Rhine, 
 and sailed up the Meuse and the Waal. He died in Germany, not 
 without suspicion of having been poisoned ; and though the son, 
 father, and brother of an emperor, he never rose beyond the rank 
 of a private citizen. His mother, Livia, was married to Augustus 
 when she was pregnant, and three months afterwards gave birth to 
 Rrusus, who was nevertheless presumed to be the son of Augustus. 
 This Drusus was the brother of the Emperor Tiberius, and father of 
 the Emperor Claudius and of the famous Germanicus. 
 
 The Arch of Tiberius was erected to celebrate the recovery of the 
 standards of Yarus, which Germanicus recovered. This Germanicus 
 was the father of Caligula ; he died at Antioch in the thirty-fourth 
 year of his age, and Tiberius is suspected of having ordered 
 him to be poisoned. “For besides the livid spots,” says Sueto- 
 nius, “ which appeared all over his body, and a foaming at the 
 mouth, when his body was burnt the heart was found entire among 
 the bones ; its nature being such, as it is supposed, that when tainted 
 by poison it is indestructible by fire.” This was a vulgar error, 
 which passed as a current idea when Suetonius wrote, which was 
 in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. It is recorded by Ammianus 
 Marcellinus that Germanicus, when in Egypt, visited the conse- 
 crated bull Apis, that animal delivering oracles at Memphis; and 
 they who consulted it judged whether the answer was favourable 
 or unfavourable by its acceptance or refusal of food presented 
 by the applicants. The offering of Germanicus was refused, and 
 shortly afterwards he died. There are some other similar anecdotes 
 about Apis, which may here be mentioned. It was consulted by 
 Eudoxus, the famous astronomer, when a very young man ; the 
 animal licked his mantle, from which gracious reception his future 
 fame was predicted. Alexander the Great offered homage to 
 Apis. Augustus Ceesar went to see it, so did Vespasian ; and 
 their examples were followed by Hadrian and Septimus Severus. 
 Titus wore a diadem at Memphis at the consecration of the ox Apis. 
 
 The Arch of Titus* was built to commemorate the joint triumph 
 of himself and of his father Vespasian, after the capture and sack of 
 Jerusalem. It was constructed after their deaths by the senate and 
 people of Rome. It consisted of four stories, and was adorned with 
 eight marble columns. The interior was decorated with two bas- 
 reliefs, representing Titus in his triumphal car, conducted by the 
 genius of Rome, and crowned by the hand of victory. On its walls 
 were represented the tables of the shewbread, the seven-branched 
 golden candlesticks, the silver trumpets, and sculptured figures of 
 the captive Jews. 
 
 The Arch of Constantine was erected at Rome after he had 
 vanquished Maxell tius, his rival for supreme power. The arch 
 was constructed to commemorate his triumph. Such was the 
 decline of the arts at that period that no sculptor could be found 
 to adorn the monument, and the Arch of Trajan f was despoiled to 
 flatter the vanity of the conqueror. No attention was paid to the 
 violent anachronism which confounded time and place, circumstances 
 and characters. The Parthian captives appeared prostrate at the 
 feet of a prince who had never crossed the Euphrates ; and Con- 
 stantine appropriated to himself the trophies of Trajan. 
 
 The small arch dedicated to Septimus Severus, to Julia his wife, 
 and to their son Caracalla, was erected at the cost of the silversmiths 
 and merchants who carried on their business in the Forum Boarium, 
 as proved by an inscription carved on its front. 
 
 Rome was embellished by several Egyptian obelisks. Augustus 
 placed one in the Circus Maximus. It was one hundred and six- 
 teen feet in height, including the basis, serving as a gnomon to a 
 large solar clock, executed by the mathematician Manilius, who 
 added a gilt ball to the summit. In this clock the length of the 
 days and nights was determined by means of large bronze lines 
 enchased in a stone stratum, which also marked the hours to the 
 sixth hour, and the lengthening and shortening of the days. 
 
 The two obelisks that stood at the entrance of the Mausoleum of 
 Augustus were brought to Rome by Claudius. Another stood in 
 the gardens of Sallust, and two small ones were placed in front of 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 56. + See Engraving, p. 53. 
 
 the Temple of Isis and Serapis, but it is uncertain by whom these 
 were transported from Egypt. 
 
 That which Suetonius calls the “ Great Obelisk,” was conveyed 
 to Ostia, the harbour of the Tiber, by Claudius, who sank the vessel 
 with which it was freighted in that port to strengthen its founda- 
 tions. This ship, a marvel in those days, is described by Pliny. 
 A fir-tree of prodigious size, whose girth it required four men with 
 extended arms to embrace, was used in the construction of this 
 vessel. It required 120,000 bushels of len tiles for its ballast; and 
 the length of it nearly equalled all the left side of the Port of Ostia. 
 This obelisk was placed by Caligula in the circus which he erected. 
 It originally stood at Heliopolis, having been dedicated to the sun 
 by Phero, son of Rameses II., the Sesostris of Herodotus, in grati- 
 tude of his recovery from blindness. 
 
 The largest of all the obelisks was transported by Constantius, 
 and placed in the spina of the Circus Maximus. It had been 
 designed by Constantine for the embellishment of Constantinople ; 
 and, as Gibbon states, after being removed by his order from the 
 pedestal where it stood before the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, 
 was floated down the Nile to Alexandria. The death of Constan- 
 tine suspended the execution of his purpose, and this obelisk was 
 
 conveyed by his son to the ancient capital of the empire. A vessel 
 of uncommon strength and capaciousness was provided to convey 
 this enormous weight of granite, at least one hundred and fifteen 
 feet in length, from the banks of the Nile to those of the Tiber. 
 The Obelisk of Constantius was landed about three miles from the 
 city, and elevated by the efforts of art and science in the great 
 circus of Rome. 
 
 The next subject which invites attention is the Circus Maximus. 
 It has already been observed that theatres were not permitted in the 
 times of the republic, and the only public games allowed were those 
 of the circus. They are supposed to have been borrowed from the 
 Etruscans. Romulus instituted games in honour of Neptune, which 
 the Sabines attended ; and these were celebrated on the site where 
 the Circus Maximus was afterwards built by Tarquinius Priscus, 
 which was afterwards enlarged by additional rows of seats. Ac- 
 cording to Catina, it stood in the valley between the Aventine and 
 the Palatine Hills. Of this circus he gives the following account : 
 — “ It is related by Dionysius Halicarnassus that Tarquinius Priscus 
 gave a pei’manent form to the circus called Maximus, in the 
 valley situated between the Palatine and the Aventine, being the 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 first to construct covered seats around, as the people were before 
 obliged to view the games standing on benches, supported by 
 wooden poles; he also divided the ground into thirty districts, 
 assigning one to each curia, in order that the people should be 
 regularly placed, so as to have a distinct view of the games. This 
 circus was subsequently formed into a structure, so large that it was 
 considered as one of the remarkable objects of the city. The length 
 of this circus, according to Dionysius, was three stadia and a half 
 (the stadium an eighth of a mile), the breadth four plectri (400 feet), 
 and a deep ditch, ten feet broad, surrounded the two longer and 
 one of the lesser sides. Behind the ditch, called the euripus, there 
 were three tiers of porticoes ; the two larger sides, as in all the other 
 circi, were united at one extremity by a smaller side, having the 
 form of a semicircle ; and 
 the larger sides consisted 
 of a single portico of three 
 rows, embracing eight 
 stadia, capable of contain- 
 ing 150,000 persons. On 
 the smaller side were the 
 starting points, where the 
 horses were let loose at 
 the same moment. With- 
 out the circus there was 
 another portico of a single 
 tier, which contained the 
 shops, and over these there 
 were various habitations. 
 
 In each of the shops were 
 entrances and steps, used 
 as a passage to view the 
 games. As to this de- 
 scription of Dionysius, the 
 matters which relate to- 
 the dimensions and the 
 number of spectators are 
 stated differently by Pliny, 
 and are not considered 
 to be exact. Dionysius 
 states that the number 
 that could be contained 
 within the Circus Maxi- 
 mus was 150,000, Pliny 
 260,000, Victor 380,000, 
 the Notitice 485,000. The 
 disparities must be attri- 
 buted to the different ad- 
 ditions made to the circus, 
 principally by the empe- 
 rors, as deduced from the 
 various statements of an- 
 cient writers.” 
 
 The games of the circus 
 were dedicated to the gods ; 
 and altars and temples 
 were appropriately built 
 round all the circi. The 
 games were various : cha- 
 riot and foot races, fights 
 of gladiators, wrestling, 
 boxing with the cestus, 
 leaping, and, indeed, all thajan’s 
 
 kinds of athletic sports. 
 
 The games were exhibited in honour of the gods, at the expense of 
 the jediles, many of whom were ruined. Julius Caesar surrounded 
 the Circus Maximus with a canal, sixteen feet in breadth, where the 
 Naumachia, or naval games, were celebrated ; and there Augustus 
 exposed to the public thirty-six crocodiles, after his triumphant 
 return from Egypt. That emperor made youths of the highest 
 rank compete in the chariot and foot races, and in the combats 
 with wild beasts. According to Suetonius, his favourite spectacle 
 was the Trojan game, acted by a select number of boys, in parties 
 differing in age and station ; thinking that it was a practice both 
 excellent in itself, and sanctioned by ancient usage, that the spirit 
 of the young should be displayed in such exercises. To prevent 
 confusion, Augustus assigned seats to people of different ranks. The 
 
 soldiery were separated from the people ; married plebeians had 
 their particular benches. Women were not allowed to see the 
 combats of gladiators, except from the upper part of the theatre ; 
 and they were excluded from wrestling matches. The Emperor 
 Claudius embellished the Circus Maximus with marble barriers and 
 gilded goals, which before his time were of wood and stone ; and 
 he assigned distinct places to the senators, who had formerly taken 
 their seats promiscuously with the people. He made the praetorian 
 knights, with their tribunes, and even the prefect at the head of 
 them, encounter wild beasts from Africa. In the reign of Nero, 
 senators, and even aged matrons, performed parts in the games of 
 the circus. That emperor had exhibited races in which each chariot 
 was drawn by four camels. A distinguished Roman knight, so 
 
 Suetonius affirms, descend- 
 ed on the stage by a rope, 
 mounted on an elephant. 
 Nero drove chariots him- 
 self, competing for the 
 prize, and sang in the 
 theatre like an ordinary 
 actor. “In these contests 
 he adhered so strictly to 
 the rules, that he never 
 durst spit, nor wipe the 
 sweat from his forehead in 
 any other way than with 
 his sleeve.” The Emperor 
 Probus caused a large 
 number of trees to be dug 
 up by the roots, which 
 were transplanted into the 
 middle of the circus. “The 
 spacious and shady forest 
 was immediately filled 
 with a thousand ostriches, 
 a thousand stags, a thou- 
 sand fallow deer, and a 
 thousand wild boars; and 
 all this variety of game was 
 abandoned to the riotous 
 impetuosity of the multi- 
 tude. The tragedy of the 
 succeeding day consisted 
 in the massacre of one 
 hundred lions, an equal 
 number of lionesses, two 
 hundred leopards, and 
 three hundred bears. The 
 collection prepared by the 
 younger Gordian for his 
 triumph, and which his 
 successor exhibited in the 
 secular games, was less re- 
 markable for the number 
 than the singularity of the 
 animals. Twenty zebras 
 displayed their elegant 
 forms and variegated beau- 
 ty to the eyes of the Ro- 
 man people. Ten elks and 
 as many cameleopards, the 
 loftiest and most harmless 
 creatures that wander over 
 the plains of Sarmatia and Ethiopia, were contrasted with thirty 
 African hyenas and ten Indian tigers, the most implacable savages 
 of the torrid zone. The unoffending strength with which nature 
 has endowed the greater quadrupeds was admired in the rhinoceros, 
 the hippopotamus of the Nile, and a majestic troop of thirty two 
 elephants. While the population gazed with stupid wonder on the 
 splendid show, the naturalist might indeed observe the figure and 
 properties of so many different species, transported from every part 
 of the ancient world into the amphitheatre of Rome. But this 
 accidental benefit which science might derive from folly, is surely 
 insufficient to justify such a wanton abuse of the public riches. There 
 occurs, however, a single instance in the first Punic war, in which 
 the senate wisely connected this amusement of the multitude with 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 53 
 
 the interests of the state. A considerable number of elephants, 
 taken in the defeat of the Carthaginian army, were driven through 
 the circus by a few slaves, armed only with blunt javelins. The 
 useful spectacle served to impress the Roman soldier with a just 
 contempt for those unwieldy animals, and he no longer dreaded 
 to encounter them in the ranks of war.” * 
 
 In every circus was a buried altar, dedicated to the god Consus, 
 who is supposed to be the same as the equestrian Neptune ; some 
 consider him to have been the god of Counsels or Secrecy, who 
 inspired Romulus with the project of carrying off the Sabine 
 women. The altar of Consus was placed in a dark spot, covered 
 over with earth ; and was only opened when the preparatory sacri- 
 fices were to be offered, to teach the people that counsels ought to 
 be hidden, and never divulged. 
 
 There were several smaller cirri. That of Flaminius, who was 
 killed at the battle of Thrasymenus ; the Agonalis, where games 
 were celebrated in honour of Janus, supposed to have been instituted 
 by Numa ; that of Flora, in which nude females competed in the 
 
 once recognised his benefactor, fawned upon him, and licked his 
 hand. The whole audience were astonished; and Tiberius gave the 
 slave his freedom. He afterwards exhibited the lion, led by a string, 
 at the shows in Rome, and thus derived a comfortable subsistence. 
 There is a similar story in the Gesta Homanorum, preserved by 
 Warton, who considers it an oriental apologue on Gratitude. 
 It is thus narrated in the Gesta : — “ A knight in hunting meets 
 a lion, from whose foot he extracts a thorn. Afterwards he 
 becomes an outlaw, and, being seized by the king, is condemned 
 by him to be thrown into a deep pit, to be devoured by a hungry 
 lion. The lion fawns on the knight, whom it perceives to be the 
 same that drew the thorn from its paw. ‘Then,’ said the king, 
 ‘ I 'will learn forbearance from the beast. As the lion has spared 
 your life when it was in its power to take it, I therefore grant 
 you a free pardon. Depart; and henceforward be admonished to 
 lead a virtuous life.’ ” 
 
 Similar in design to the cirri were the amphitheatres, of which 
 the most magnificent was the Flavian, commenced by Vespasian 
 
 race, a practice suppressed out of respect to the virtue of Cato the 
 Censor, and where, Suetonius asserts, Galba “ presented the new 
 spectacle of elephants walking upon ropes.” The Circus of Sallust 
 may also be mentioned, and that of Nero, commenced by Caligula. 
 There it was that Nero tortured the Christians to death, nailing 
 them alive to crosses, exposing them to be devoured by furious dogs, 
 or wrapping them in combustible garments, which were set fire to 
 by torches to illuminate the darkness of night. 
 
 The Circus Maximus was the scene of the pathetic story of 
 Androcles and the Lion, related by Aulus Gellius, who took the 
 facts from Appion, an eye-witness of the scene. It occurred in 
 the time of Tiberius. Androcles, a fugitive slave, sought refuge 
 in a cave, into which a lion entered, holding up one of its paws, 
 wounded by a sharp thorn. This he removed ; the grateful lion 
 brought him food daily. At length he quitted the den of the 
 friendly beast, and, some years after their extraordinary meeting, 
 they encountered each other in the Circus Maximus. The lion at 
 
 and finished by Titus. This structure is popularly known as the 
 Coliseum,* frequently written Colosseum. It was built on the 
 | ground formerly occupied by the Domus Aurea, the Golden House 
 of Nero, which Vespasian pulled down, as too vast and splendid for 
 a mortal. This gorgeous palace of Nero extended from the Palatine 
 to the Esquiline Hill ; and we shall avail ourselves of its descrip- 
 I tion by Suetonius. The porch was so high that there stood in it a 
 colossal statue of Nero a hundred and twenty feet in height ; and 
 the space included in the builded area was so ample that it had 
 triple porticoes a mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded 
 with buildings, which had the appearance of a city. Within its 
 area were corn-fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, containing a 
 vast number of animals of various kinds, both wild and tame. In 
 other parts it was entirely overlaid with gold, and adorned with 
 jewels and mother-of-pearl. The supper-rooms were vaulted; and 
 compartments of the ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to 
 revolve and scatter flowers, while they contained pipes which 
 
 Gibbon. 
 
 See Engraving, p. 55. 
 
54 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 poured down unguents upon the guests. The chief banqueting-room 
 ■was circular, and revolved perpetually, night and day, in imitation 
 of the celestial bodies. The baths were supplied with water from 
 the sea and the Albula. Upon the dedication of this magnificent 
 house, after it was finished, all Nero said in approval of it was, 
 “that he had now a dwelling fit for a man.” He commenced 
 making a pond for the reception of all the hot streams from Bairn, 
 which he designed to have continued from Misenum to the Aver- 
 nian Lake, in a conduit enclosed in galleries ; and also a canal from 
 Avernum to Ostia, that ships might pass from one to the other 
 without a sea voyage. The length of the proposed canal was one 
 hundred and sixty miles ; and it was intended to be of breadth 
 sufficient to permit ships with five banks of oars to pass each other. 
 For the execution of these designs Nero ordered all prisoners, in 
 every part of the empire, to be brought to Italy ; and that even 
 those who were convicted of the most heinous crimes, in lieu of any 
 other sentence, should be condemned to work at them. He was 
 encouraged to all this wild and enormous profusion, not only by the 
 great revenue of the empire, but by the sudden hopes given him of 
 an immense hidden treasure, which Queen Dido, upon her flight 
 from Tyre, had brought with her to Africa. This a Roman knight 
 pretended to assure him, upon good grounds, was still hid there in 
 some deep caverns, and might with a little labour be recovered. 
 
 It is a vulgar regret that the palaces of England are vastly inferior 
 to those of the ancients, and are even surpassed by those of modern 
 sovereigns on the continent of Europe ; but it should be remembered 
 that the vigilance of representative government, and the wise jea- 
 lousy of constitutional freedom, are the best securities against the 
 wasteful expenditure of ostentatious pride. That country is to be 
 envied where the homes of the millions are decent and comfortable, 
 for these attest the equality of a modest competency ; and it is on 
 the distribution, not on the concentration of wealth, that national 
 happiness depends. We admire the Romans for constructing their 
 useful aqueducts, conducing as they did to the benefit of all, but 
 the palaces of the Crnsars were merely monuments of selfishness, 
 tyranny, and withering taxation. We have seen by whose labour 
 the Golden House of Nero was constructed ; and we know that the 
 building of St. Peter’s, at Rome, in a great part defrayed by the sale 
 of indulgences, led to the Reformation, and the bloody wars and 
 persecutions which ensued; nor has any philosophic historian 
 denied that one of the remote provocatives to the French Revo- 
 lution, whose volcanic heavings have not yet subsided, was the 
 colossal and gorgeous fabric of Versailles. Let us then in England 
 be warned not to peril our political institutions by an insane indul- 
 gence in Titanic architecture ; and let us cease to envy those people 
 who boast of palaces erected by the extortions of despotism. 
 
 Having noticed the Golden House of Nero, it may be interesting, 
 before we describe the Flavian Amphitheatre, reared by the captive 
 Jews whom Vespasian and Titus carried to Rome, to refer to the 
 Palace of Diocletian, at Salona. It covered an extent of ground 
 consisting of between nine and ten acres. The form was quadran- 
 gular, flanked with sixteen towers. Two of the sides were near 
 six hundred, and the two others near seven hundred feet in length. 
 The whole was constructed of a beautiful freestone, extracted from 
 the neighbouring quarries of Trau, or Tragutium, and very little 
 inferior to marble itself. Four streets, intercepting each other at 
 right angles, divided the several parts of this great edifice, and the 
 approach to the principal apartment was from a very stately en- 
 trance, which is still denominated the Golden Gate. The approach 
 was terminated by a peristylium of granite columns, on one side of 
 which we discover the square Temple of Aesculapius, and on the 
 other the octagon Temple of Jupiter. The range of principal apart- 
 ments was protected towards the south-west by a portico 517 feet 
 long. This was built in the decline of the empire, and but a 
 few years before the government was transferred to Byzantium by 
 Constantine— a striking proof that palatial architecture is no evi- 
 dence of the strength or stability of kingdoms. 
 
 The Flavian Amphitheatre is thus described by Gibbon : — “ It 
 was a building of an elliptic figure, 564 feet in length, and 467 in 
 breadth, founded on fourscore arches, and rising with four suc- 
 cessive orders of architecture to the height of 140 feet. The out- 
 side of the edifice was encx-usted with marble, and decorated with 
 statues. The slopes of the vast concave which formed the inside 
 were filled and surrounded with sixty or eighty rows of seats of 
 marble, covered with cushions, and capable of receiving with ease 
 above fourscox-e thousands of spectators. Sixty-four vomitories 
 
 (for by that name the doors were very aptly designated) poured 
 forth the immense multitude ; and the entrances, passages, and 
 staircases, were contrived with such exquisite skill, that each 
 person, whether of the senatorial, the equestrian, or the plebeian 
 order, arrived at his destined place without trouble or confusion. 
 Nothing was omitted which in any respect could be subservient to 
 the convenience or pleasure of the spectators. They were protected 
 from the sun and rain by an ample canopy, occasionally drawn over 
 their heads. The air was continually refreshed by the playing of 
 fountains, and profusely impregnated by the grateful smell of 
 aromatics. In the centre of the edifice, the arena, or stage, was 
 strewed w T ith the finest sand, and successively assumed the most 
 different forms. At one moment it seemed to rise out of the earth 
 like the garden of the Hesperides, and was afterwards broken into 
 the rocks and caverns of Thrace. The subterranean pipes conveyed 
 an inexhaustible supply of watex’, and what had just before ap- 
 peared a level plain might be suddenly converted into a wide lake, 
 covered with armed vessels, and replenished with the monsters of 
 the deep. In the decoration of these scenes the Roman emperors 
 displayed their wealth and liberality ; and we read on various 
 occasions that the whole foundation of the amphitheatre consisted 
 either of silver, or of gold, or of amber. The poet who describes 
 the games of Carinus, in the character of a shepherd, attracted to 
 the capital by the fame of their magnificence, affirms that the nets 
 designed as a defence against the wild beasts were of gold wire ; 
 that the porticoes were gilded, and the belt or circle, which divided 
 the several ranks of spectators from each other, was studded with a 
 precious Mosaic of beautiful stones.” 
 
 In the amphitheatre were exhibited many of the games which 
 before its erection had been celebrated in the Circus Maximus. 
 When Titus dedicated this building, he exhibited a naval fight and 
 a coixibat of gladiators ; and in one day, as Suetonius attests, 
 brought into it five thousand wild beasts of all kinds. We learn 
 from Pliny, that gladiators were first publicly exhibited at Rome 
 by two brothers called Bruti, at the funeral of their father, in the 
 year of the city 490, and for some time these combats were confined 
 to such occasions ; but they were highly popular with the Romans, 
 and the magistrates introduced thexxi at the Saturnalia and the 
 festivals of Minerva. The life of a defeated gladiator depended on 
 a cruel and capricious audieixce ;* and if they turned down the 
 thumb, the unfortunate victim was butchered on the spot. When 
 Constantine embraced Christianity, this barbarous sport, as it was 
 called, was prohibited ; but it continued, in defiance of authority, 
 till the reign of Plonorius, when Telemachus, an Asiatic monk, 
 rushed into the ai’ena to separate the combatants. The infuxdated 
 multitude crushed him to death with stones ; but his martyrdom 
 put an end to the festivities of mixrder. It is well observed by 
 Gibbon, “ that no church has been raised, nor shrine dedicated, to 
 the only martyr who died in the cause of humanity.” 
 
 The amusements of the circus and the amphitheatre, sometimes 
 innocent, too frequently barbarous, strangely though strongly 
 illustrate the feelings and inner life of the people ; and when they 
 tamely submitted to tyrants, they deemed themselves amply com- 
 pensated by bread and the Circensian games. The first exhibition 
 of wild beasts took place in the year of Rome 502, when one hun- 
 dred and forty-two elephants taken in Sicily were produced. In 
 661, Sylla displayed one hundred lions. When Pompey opened 
 his theatre, he exhibited seventeen elephants, six hundred lions, 
 which were killed in the coux'se of five days, and four hundred and 
 ten panthers. Mark Antony is said to have yoked to his carriage 
 four rhinoceroses, which had been tamed. Julius Cfesar produced 
 the first cameleopard. The keeping and feeding these beasts 
 was a heavy expense; and Suetonius avex’s that, “when flesh 
 was only to be had at a high price, for feeding his wild beasts 
 reserved for the spectacles, Caligula ordered that criminals should 
 be given to them to be devoured.” Commodus, another imperial 
 monster, appeared to think that skill in archery was the highest 
 accomplishment of a sovereign. This diademed ruffian had been 
 told that Hercules had immortalised himself by slaying the Nemrnan 
 lion and the wild boar of Erymanthus ; and Commodus aspired to 
 emulate that hero, not by attacking wild beasts in their native 
 forests, but in an arena, where he was safe from danger. But it 
 must be confessed that he became a proficient in the use of his 
 weapon. “ Whether he aimed at the head or the heart, the wound 
 was alike certain and mortal. With axrows, whose point was 
 shaped into the form of a crescent, Commodus intercepted the 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 55 
 
 rapid career, and cut asunder the long bony neck of the ostrich. A 
 panther was let loose, and the archer waited till he had leaped 
 upon a trembling malefactor : in the same instant the shaft flew, 
 the beast dropped dead, and the man remained unhurt. The dens 
 of the amphitheatre disgorged at once a hundred lions ; a hundred 
 darts from the unerring hand of Commodus laid them dead as they 
 ran raging round the arena. Neither the huge bulk of the ele- 
 phant, nor the scaly hide of the rhinoceros, could defend them from 
 his stroke. Ethiopia and India yielded their most extraordinary 
 productions, and several animals were slain in the amphitheatre, 
 which had been seen only in the representations of art, or perhaps 
 of fancy. In all the exhibitions, the securest precautions were 
 used to protect the person of the Homan Hercules from the desperate 
 spring of any savage beast which might possibly disregard the 
 dignity of the emperor and the sanctity of the god.” * Commodus 
 even entered the lists as a gladiator ; hut out of tender regard to his 
 own person, and to prevent the contingency of a wound or loss of 
 life, his antagonists were only allowed the use of leaden weapons. 
 As a gladiator he fought no less than one hundred and thirty- 
 five times. It may here be added, that Commodus was not the 
 only emperor who spent 
 much of his time in acquir- 
 ing perfection in the vul- 
 gar science of archery. He 
 had a rival in the Em- 
 peror Domitian. “ Many 
 persons,” says Suetonius, 
 
 “ have seen him often kill 
 a hundred wild animals, of 
 various kinds, at his Alban 
 retreat, and fix his arrows 
 in their heads with such 
 dexterity, that he could in 
 two shots plant them like a 
 pair of horns in each. He 
 would sometimes direct his 
 arrows against the hand of 
 a boy standing at a dis- 
 tance, and expanded as a 
 mark, with such precision, 
 that they all passed between 
 the boy’s fingers without 
 hurting him.” 
 
 The scenic decorations of 
 modem theatres are fre- 
 quently beautiful and won- 
 derful, but they are tame 
 when compared with the 
 exhibitions of the Roman 
 stage. When Titus dedi- 
 cated the Flavian Amphi- 
 theatre, he not only exhi- 
 bited five thousand wild 
 beasts, as already mention- 
 ed, but astonished the spec- 
 tators by a faithful repre- 
 sentation of the rocks and forests in which they were born and roved. 
 Occasionally the whole arena suddenly disappeared, and from the 
 chasm sprung up dense woods and abrupt precipices, over which the 
 beasts bounded and roared ; and condemned malefactors, lifted up 
 from the abyss, were quickly thrown down to be devoured by the 
 savage brutes for the gratification of an equally brutal audience. 
 But there was excessive luxury at these spectacles. Showers of 
 perfumes were not only diffused over all the seats, but poured down 
 the steps of the theatre, through pipes which led from the centre of 
 the arena to the summit of the amphitheatre. This took place at 
 the celebration of games by Hadrian in honour of Titus. 
 
 Among the most splendid and colossal structures of Rome were 
 the Thermte, or Baths. The gigantic aqueducts, already described, 
 furnished an ample and unfailing supply of water. It was under 
 Augustus that these establishments assumed an appearance of 
 vastness and grandeur, that emperor having been cured of a disease 
 of the liver by his physician, Antonius Musa, who recommended 
 cold bathing when warm had failed.-}- Pliny reckons eight hun- 
 
 dred thcrmce. To these edifices gymnasia and libraries were 
 attached, where men of learning used to read their works to their 
 friends. Suetonius says that Augustus composed almost entirely a 
 book of epigrams while in the bath. The thermce were decorated 
 with pillars, statues, and paintings. 
 
 The most splendid baths bear the names of Titus, Domitian, 
 Caracalla, and Diocletian. “ The baths of Antoninus Caracalla, 
 which were open at stated hours for the indiscriminate sex-vice of 
 the senators and the people, contained about sixteen hundi-ed seats 
 of marble, and more than thi-ee thousand were reckoned in the 
 halls of Diocletian. The walls of the lofty apartments were covered 
 with curious mosaics, that imitated the art of the pencil in the 
 elegance of design and the variety of colours. The Egyptian 
 granite was beautifully encnisted with the precious green marble 
 of Numidia ; the perpetual stream of hot water was poured into 
 the capacious basins through so many wide mouths of bright and 
 massive silver ; and the meanest Roman could purchase with a 
 small copper coin the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and 
 luxury which might excite the envy of the kings of Asia. From 
 these stately palaces issued a swai-m of dirty and ragged plebeians, 
 without shoes and without 
 a mantle, who loitered away 
 whole days in the streets or 
 forum, to hear news and 
 hold disputes ; who dissipat- 
 ed in extravagant gaming 
 the miserable pittance of 
 their wives and daughters, 
 and spent the hours of the 
 night in obscure taverns and 
 brothels, in the indulgence 
 of gross and vulgar sensual- 
 ity.” * The money paid for 
 admission was the quarter 
 of an as, which was equiva- 
 lent to about half a farthing. 
 The length of the Baths of 
 Caracalla was 1840 feet, its 
 breadth 1476; and at each 
 end was a temple — one de- 
 dicated to Apollo, the other 
 to ^Bsculapius, as the tute- 
 lary gods of an edifice con- 
 secrated to the impi-ovement 
 of the mind and the health 
 of the body. In the centre 
 was a swimming school. 
 An odeum, or musical the- 
 atre, was attached, and out- 
 side the edifice were walks 
 shaded with trees. In the 
 ruins of these baths were 
 found the Flora, the Cally- 
 pigian Venus, the Fai-nese 
 Hercules, and the Toro 
 Farnese. 
 
 The Baths of Titus were inferior in size to those of Caracalla, 
 but surpassed them in the beauty of decoration, as the arts had 
 sensibly declined in the reign of Caracalla. The Baths of Titus 
 contained seven halls or vaulted rooms, each one hundred feet 
 in length by fifteen in breadth and twenty in height. These con- 
 tained the reservoirs to supply the baths, and occasionally the 
 Flavian Amphitheatre with water for the naval engagements. It 
 was in the ruins of these thermce that the statue of the Laocoon was 
 discovered, in the popedom of Leo X. ; and Pliny states that it 
 stood there in his time. Here also were paintings of the Faun, 
 the Nymph, the Bacchante, the Mercuiy, and the Loves and Graces 
 which Raphael studied. Here also was found the “ Nozze Aldo- 
 brandini,” so called from the Aldobrandini Gallery, to which it 
 belonged. It is supposed to represent the marriage of Peleus and 
 Thetis. The study of this painting is said to have formed the taste 
 of Poussin. 
 
 Temples were numerous in Rome, and the Pantheon, built by 
 Agrippa, now a Christian church, is one of the most remarkable ; 
 
 FLAVIAN AMPHITUEATKE. 
 
 Gibbon. 
 
 + Suetonius, in vitd Augusti. Sect, lxxxi. 
 
 Gibbon. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 56 
 
 but before it was despoiled it must have been most magnificent. 
 The title of this building would imply that it was dedicated to all 
 the gods ; * but the express words of Pliny invalidate that conclu- 
 
 sion, for he states that it was dedicated to Jove the Avenger : 
 “ Pantheon Jovi TJltori ab Agrippa factum .” It was adorned with 
 the spoils of Egypt gathered after the battle of Actium, and among 
 the statues was a Venus adorned 
 with eai'rings made of a split 
 pearl, the twin-sister of that 
 which Cleopatra dissolved and 
 drank at her banquet with 
 Mark Antony. It was valued 
 at £80,729 of our money. For 
 such an act alone this woman 
 deserved dethronement. 
 
 Vespasian’s Temple of Peace 
 was erected A.D. 71, on the con- 
 clusion of his wars with the 
 Germans and Jews, and was the 
 largest in Rome. In it he and 
 his son Titus deposited the holy 
 instruments of the Jewish reli- 
 gion — the gold table and the 
 gold candlestick with seven 
 branches. At the end of four cen- 
 turies they were seized by Gen- 
 seric, the Vandal, when he sacked 
 Rome, and by him transferred to 
 Carthage. When Belisarius con- 
 quered Africa, the vessels of the 
 Jewish temple were recovered, 
 and deposited by the Emperor 
 Justinian in the Christian 
 church of Jerusalem. The Tem- 
 ple of Peace stood near the 
 Roman Forum. 
 
 A Temple to Piety was erected 
 in the Forum Olitorium by 
 Acilius Glabrio, the Duumvir, 
 to commemorate the victory of 
 his father over Antiochus, at 
 Thermopylce, and a gold statue of Glabrio was placed in it. An- 
 other temple of the same name was built by order of the Roman 
 senate, in honour of the Roman daughter who saved the life of 
 her father, condemned to perish by hunger, by nurturing him 
 from her bosom. This occurred in the prisons of the Decem- 
 viri, which stood in the ancient Forum Olitorium: they were 
 destroyed, and this temple was erected on their site. Pliny 
 states that the daughter suckled her mother, instead of her 
 father. The Roman may, in tradition, have been confounded 
 with the Grecian daughter, who also saved her father’s life in the 
 same manner. 
 
 The Temple of Venus Eryeina stood in the circus and gardens of 
 Sallust, and to this the Roman women went annually in procession, 
 
 * Dio says that the Pantheon of Agrippa had its name because, from the 
 roundness of its figure (QoXoudtg ’ov), it resembles heaven, the abode of the 
 gods. 
 
 bearing gifts and offering supplications. It was in this temple 
 that many suppose Julius Caesar formed a cabinet of natural 
 history. 
 
 The Septizonium of Severus was a remarkable edifice, built in the 
 form of a pyramid, and consisted of seven porticoes or temples, 
 supported by pillars of the finest marbles, rising above one another, 
 and towering to a great elevation. It survived the incursions and 
 plunder of the barbarians, but was despoiled by Pope Sixtus V. A 
 further account of the antiquities of Rome, and of their conversion 
 and spoliation, will be more appropriately considered when we 
 treat of the Renaissance and Italian Courts ; but we cannot dismiss 
 our present subject without some general remarks on the wealth 
 of the Romans, and on the internal causes of the ruin of the 
 empire. 
 
 The sums expended by the Romans in architecture must have 
 been prodigious ; but their vast wealth was not derived from com- 
 merce, but from conquest, and the tributes they imposed on the 
 vanquished. From the conquest of Syracuse and Carthage, Mace- 
 donia and Asia, they acquired enormous riches; and the treasures 
 of Perseus alone amounted to two millions sterling. After the 
 subjugation of that prince, the people were relieved from taxes, 
 and the superfluous mass of gold and silver was deposited in the 
 Temple of Saturn, which contained the public treasury. Augustus 
 kept a regular balance-sheet of income and expenditure, which he 
 bequeathed to the senate, but it has not come down to posterity. 
 
 It is, however, known from other 
 sources that the tributes of Asia, 
 levied after the conquests of 
 Pompey, yielded four millions 
 and a half of our money. The 
 revenue of Egypt was two mil- 
 lions and a half under the last 
 of the Ptolemies, and at a later 
 date largely increased. Gaul is 
 presumed to have contributed 
 as much as Egypt. After the 
 destruction of Carthage, im- 
 mense sums were drawn from 
 Africa ; and under Nero, six 
 Romans were ascertained to 
 have been in possession of half 
 of the land of that country; 
 and it was discovered in his 
 reign that Marullus Epirus and 
 Crispus Vibius had each ac- 
 quired two millions and a half. 
 Spain was a mine of wealth. 
 “Mention is made of a mine 
 near Carthagena, which yielded 
 every day twenty-five thousand 
 drachms of silver, or about three 
 hundred thousand pounds a- 
 year. Twenty thousand pounds 
 weight of gold was annually 
 received from the provinces of 
 Asturia, Galicia, and Lusita- 
 nia.” Gibbon, who quotes this 
 yield from Spain on the autho- 
 rity of Strabo and Pliny, comes 
 to the conclusion that the ge- 
 neral revenue of the Roman provinces could seldom amount to 
 less than fifteen or twenty millions of our money, which was ample 
 for the moderate government instituted by Augustus. However, 
 this emperor revived taxation, imposing excise, and an assessment 
 on real and personal property. 
 
 The accumulation of colossal fortunes by plunder, subsequently 
 augmented by the most extortionate usury, commenced with the 
 usurpation of Sylla, under whom Crassus realised five millions 
 sterling. Lentulus, the augur, was worth upwards of three 
 millions. Claudius Isodorus, although he had lost a great part of 
 his fortune in the civil war, left by his will 4116 slaves, 3600 yoke 
 of oxen, 257,000 of other cattle, and in ready money nearly half a 
 million. Augustus received by the testaments of his friends more 
 than thirty-two millions. The debts of Milo amounted to upwards of 
 £560,000. Julius C*sar, before he enjoyed any office, owed a quarter 
 of a million. When he set out to take the command of Spain, he 
 
 ARCH OP TITUS. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 57 
 
 says himself that he was two millions worse than nothing-. Crassus 
 once bailed him to the extent of £871,500. At the beginning of 
 the civil war he purchased the friendship of Curio by a bribe of 
 £480,000, and of the Consul Plancus with £280,000. Antony, on 
 the ides of March, when Csesar was killed, owed £320,000, which 
 he paid before the kalends of April ; and squandered of the public 
 money £5,650,000. Apicius wasted on luxurious living £484,000 ; 
 and being at length obliged to investigate his affairs, found that on 
 payment of his debts there only remained to him £80,000; con- 
 sidering this sum a close approximation to beggary, he ended his 
 days by poison. Pliny says that in his time Lollia Paulina wore, 
 in full dress, jewels to the value of £32,000, quadrigies sestertium ; 
 or, as others read the passage, quadringenties sestertium, the jewels 
 must have been- worth ten times that amount, or £320,000. Julius 
 Ctesar presented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl 
 worth £48,000. Caligula 
 laid out on a supper 
 £80,000; and the ordinary 
 expense of Lucullus for a 
 supper in the Hall of 
 Apollo was £1600, and 
 that too when he only 
 entertained two guests. 
 
 The fishpond of C. Herius 
 was sold for £32,000 ; and 
 the fish of Lucullus for 
 the same sum. The villa 
 of M. Scaurus being burnt 
 by the malice of his slaves, 
 he estimated his loss at 
 £800,000.* 
 
 Pompey distributed be- 
 tween three and four mil- 
 lions among his troops ; 
 and it was ascertained, 
 in the reign of Augustus, 
 that four hundred slaves 
 were contained in a single 
 palace. The same number 
 of four hundred belonged 
 to an estate which an 
 African widow, of a very 
 private condition, resigned 
 to her son, while she re- 
 served to herself a much 
 larger shave of the pro- 
 perty. 
 
 This excessive wealth in 
 the hands of a few ac- 
 counts for the architectural 
 embellishments of Rome. 
 
 We have already shown 
 the nature of the manubiee, 
 and how the general ap- 
 propriated the proceeds 
 during the republic. When 
 the empire was establish- 
 ed, wealth concentrated 
 itself in the hands of the 
 Csesars and their favour- 
 ites. Augustus, for in- 
 stance, built the portico and basilica of Lucius and Caius, the 
 porticoes of Livia and Octavia, and the Theatre of Marcellus. His 
 friends emulated his example : thus Marcus Philippus raised the 
 Temple of Hercules and the Muses ; Lucius Cornificius, the Temple 
 of Diana; Asinius Pollio, the Court of Freedom ; Munatius Plancus, 
 a temple to Saturn ; Cornelius Balbus, a theatre ; Statilius Taurus, 
 an amphitheatre; Marcus Agrippa, the noble portico of the Pan- 
 theon, if not the Pantheon itself, and more than one hundred foun- 
 tains, ornamented with marble columns and statues. No modern 
 fortunes could meet such expenditure, even if modern were equal 
 to Roman patriotism ; for he who now builds a small church, or 
 
 * These estimates are taken from Adam's Roman Antiquities, who cites 
 authorities in each case, and gives in pounds, shillings, ana pence, what we 
 have expressed in round numbers. 
 
 adorns one with a painted window, is lauded as a most munificent 
 patron. 
 
 At a later period, in the reigns of Nerva and Hadrian, flourished 
 the illustrious family of Herod, whose wealth and liberality ought 
 not here to be passed over unnoticed. The younger Herod resided 
 at Athens, where, at his own cost, he built a stadium entirely of 
 white marble, six hundred feet in height, capable of admitting the 
 whole body of the people, and finished in four years, while Herod 
 was president of the Athenian games. To the memory of his wife, 
 Regilla, he dedicated a theatre, scarcely to be paralleled in the 
 empire ; no wood except cedar, very curiously carved, was employed 
 in any part of the building. The Odeum designed by Pericles for 
 musical performances and the rehearsal of new tragedies had been 
 a trophy of the victory of the arts over barbaric greatness, as the 
 timbers employed in the construction consisted chiefly of the masts 
 
 of the Persian vessels. 
 Notwithstanding the re- 
 pairs bestowed on that 
 ancient edifice by a king 
 of Cappadocia, it had again 
 fallen into decay. Herod 
 restored its ancient beauty 
 and magnificence. Nor 
 was the liberality of that 
 illustrious citizen confined 
 to the walls of Athens. 
 The most splendid orna- 
 ments bestowed on the 
 Temple of Neptune in the 
 isthmus, a theatre at Co- 
 rinth, a stadium at Delphi, 
 a bath at Thermopylae, 
 and an aqueduct at Ca- 
 nusium, in Italy, were in- 
 sufficient to exhaust his 
 treasures. The people of 
 Epirus, Thessaly, Eubcea, 
 Bcetia, and Peloponnesus, 
 experienced his favours ; 
 and many inscriptions of 
 the cities of Greece and 
 Asia gratefully style He- 
 rodes Atticus their patron 
 and benefactor.* 
 
 "While external splen- 
 dour gratified the pride 
 of the degenerate Romans, 
 and the games of the cir- 
 cus and the amphitheatre 
 deluded them into a for- 
 getfulness of their ancient 
 freedom, the cankerworm 
 was gnawing at the vitals 
 of the empire. “ During 
 the entire ages of Trajan 
 and the Antonines, a suc- 
 cession of virtuous and 
 philosophic emperors fol- 
 lowed each other; the 
 world was at peace; the 
 laws were wise and well 
 administered ; riches seemed to increase ; each succeeding genera- 
 tion raised palaces more splendid, monuments and public edifices 
 more sumptuous than the preceding ; the senatorial families found 
 their revenues increase ; the treasury levied greater imposts. But 
 it is not on the mass of wealth, it is on its distribution, that the 
 prosperity of states depends; increasing opulence continued to meet 
 the eye, but man became more miserable ; the rural population, 
 formerly active, robust, and energetic, were succeeded by a foreign 
 race, while the inhabitants of towns sank in vice and idleness, and 
 perished in want amidst the riches they had themselves created.”f 
 This internal decay of Rome may be referred to three principal 
 causes : excessive usury, the concentration of large landed estates 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
 + Sismondi. Italian Republics. 
 
 Q 
 
 LAOCOON. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 in few hands, and the existence of the Praetorian Guards, who put 
 up the empire to auction. 
 
 By the laws of the Twelve Tables, the interest of money was 
 limited to one per cent. As population multiplied itself, and mer- 
 cantile transactions were increased, the supply of legal tender money 
 bearing no proportionate augmentation, legal interest rose to twelve 
 per cent, towards the end of the republic, and under the first em- 
 perors ; but this limitation was eluded by the arts and unprincipled 
 extortion of usurers. It was quickly doubled; and, in Cicero’s 
 oration against Verres, it is put down at 48 per cent., while Horace 
 mentions a case when 60 per cent, was exacted. This indeed was 
 the rate received by Marcus Brutus, when proconsul of Sicily. 
 Such a system could not be otherwise than fatal to productive 
 industry; and it caused, in a great degree, those results which 
 Sismondi has described. The immense wealth accumulated by 
 Claudius Isodorus, to whose case we have referred, was the effect of 
 usury, as Pliny expressly affirms — “ Ftenus hoc fecit, et nummus 
 percussus .” Usury did this, and coined money. Lucan points out 
 
 the same evil as the precursor of the civil war, which he commemo- 
 rates in the Pharsalia , — 
 
 “ Hinc, usura vorax, rapidumque in tempora f conus, 
 
 Hinc, concussa tides, et multis utile beilum.” 
 
 The accumulation of colossal fortunes by usury was accompanied 
 by what Pliny calls latifundia, or large farms, which he declares 
 proved the ruin of Italian agriculture. In the early times of the 
 republic no citizen had more ground than he could cultivate with 
 his own hands. Romulus allotted to each only two acres ; and after 
 the expulsion of the kings, the limit did not exceed seven, which 
 continued for a long time to be the usual portion assigned to even 
 the most illustrious of the Romans, — for Cincinnatus, Curius Denta- 
 tus, Fabricius, and Regulus, had no more. But when cupidity and 
 the love of ostentation had expelled those primitive virtues which 
 were the real foundations of Roman greatness, pride and avarice 
 disdained these small allotments. Nor were men satisfied with one 
 estate, even of large dimensions; they required many, scattered 
 over various parts of the country. Pliny himself had four villas, 
 and his mother-in-law as many. Cicero had at least six ; and as 
 none of these were numbered among the most opulent of their 
 time, it is evident that persons of large fortune possessed a greater 
 number. Immense usurpations of land took place during the civil 
 wars; and we may judge of their extent by the single fact of 
 
 Augustus having given the whole territory of Cremona, and no 
 small portion of the neighbouring districts, to his veterans. Anto- 
 nius, Cicero’s colleague, besides his estates in Italy, was proprietor 
 of the whole island of Cephalonia, and erected in it a new city at 
 his own expense. In the time of Nero it was ascertained that six 
 Romans were in possession of one half of Africa. The celebrated 
 Tiburtine villa of Hadrian, with its appurtenance^ occupied a space 
 seven miles in circumference. It was in the ruins of this villa that 
 the statue of Antinous, the favourite of Hadrian, and most remark- 
 able for his beauty, was discovered. He was drowned while bath- 
 ing in the Nile, in a.d. 122. 
 
 Probus, the chief of the Anician family, held immense estates, 
 which were scattered over the wide extent of the Roman world. 
 The marbles of the Anician Palace were used as a proverbial 
 expression of opulence and grandeur; and the nobles and senators 
 of Rome aspired, in due gradation, to imitate that illustrious family. 
 The accurate description of the city, which was composed in the 
 Theodosian age, enumerates one thousand seven hundred and eighty 
 houses, the residence of wealthy and honourable citizens. Many 
 of these stately mansions might almost excuse the exaggeration of 
 the poet — that Rome contained a multitude of palaces, and that each 
 palace was equal to a city, since it included within its own precincts 
 everything which could be subservient either to use or luxury — 
 markets, hippodromes, temples, fountains, baths, porticoes, shady 
 groves, and artificial aviaries. The historian Olympiodorus, after 
 
 BUST OF ANTINOUS. 
 
 describing the state of Rome when it was besieged by the Goths, 
 continues to observe that several of the richest senators received 
 from their estates an annual income of four thousand pounds of gold, 
 above £160,000 sterling, without computing the stated provision of 
 corn and wine, which, had they been sold, might have equalled in 
 value one third of the money. Compared to this immoderate wealth, 
 an ordinary revenue of a thousand or fifteen hundred pounds of 
 gold might be considered as no more than adequate to the dignity 
 of the senatorian rank, which required many expenses of a public 
 and ostentatious kind. Several examples are recorded in the age 
 of Honorius of vain and popular nobles who celebrated the year of 
 their prretorship by a festival which lasted seven days, and cost 
 above £100,000 sterling. The estates of the Roman senators, 
 which so far exceeded the proportion of modern wealth, were not 
 confined to the limits of Italy. Their possessions extended far 
 beyond the Ionian and iEgean seas, to the most distant provinces ; 
 the city of Nicopolis, which Augustus had founded as an eternal 
 monument of the Actian victory, was the property of the devout 
 Paula ; and it is observed by Seneca, that the rivers which had 
 divided hostile nations now flowed through the lands of private 
 citizens.* 
 
 Even in the time of Augustus the rural population showed 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 59 
 
 evident symptoms of decay, and concubinage was encouraged to 
 arrest the depopulation of the country. Pertinax granted an 
 immunity from taxes to those who would occupy the desert lands 
 of Italy, to the cultivators of the distant provinces, and the allied 
 kings. Aurelian did the same. Probus was obliged to transport 
 from Germany men and oxen to cultivate Gaul. Maximian and 
 Constantius transported the Franks and Germans from Picardy and 
 Hainault into Italy ; but the depopulation in the towns and country 
 still continued. The people surrendered themselves in the fields 
 to despair, as beasts of burthen. The arable land was turned into 
 pasture. In districts where so many and industrious citizens were 
 to be seen in former times, alike ready to defend or cultivate their 
 small estates, slaves only were to be found. Large tracts were 
 devoted to hunting which had once been subjected to the plough. 
 Rome depended for its subsistence on the harvests which its fleets 
 brought from Sicily, Africa, and Egypt. It became impossible 
 to recruit the legions with native Romans; and even in the 
 time of Marcus Aurelius, when he waged war against the Quadi 
 and Marcomanni, that emperor was obliged to strengthen his 
 armies with slaves and robbers. Thus men decayed as wealth 
 accumulated, and the empire fell when the rapacity of the privi- 
 leged classes had reduced the once free citizens to beggary and 
 bondage. 
 
 The establishment of the Prsetorian Guard, instituted to defend 
 despotism, finally reduced the emperors to a state of military 
 vassalage. This force was first enrolled by Augustus to maintain 
 his usurped dominions ; but that dextrous tyrant, fearing to alarm 
 the people, only kept three cohorts in Rome, quartering the others 
 in the neighbouring towns, so as to be readily summoned in the 
 event of any disturbance. These troops had double pay and exclu- 
 sive indulgences; their number appears originally to have varied 
 from nine to ten thousand, but at a later period, under Vitellius, it 
 rose to sixteen thousand. Augustus, in his long reign, had habituated 
 the Romans to servitude ; and his successor, Tiberius, emboldened 
 by their growing degeneracy and baseness, assembled the whole 
 body of the prcetorians in the capital, and assigned them a per- 
 manent and fortified camp. From reign to reign their pride and 
 insolence increased. At length they murdered the Emperor Per- 
 tinax, appeared on the ramparts of the camp, and, with a loud voice, 
 proclaimed that the Roman world was to be disposed of to the best 
 bidder at public auction. They had already received bribes in the 
 name of donations. The first who descended to this mean and 
 impolitic method of corruption was the Emperor Claudius, who 
 gave them £120 per man. Hadrian complained that the promotion 
 of a Cmsar had cost him two millions and a half sterling. Marcus 
 Antoninus, with his colleague, Lucius Verus, paid the prcetorians 
 £160 per man. On the murder of Pertinax, Didius Julianus 
 purchased the throne by a payment of £200 sterling per soldier ; 
 while Septimus Severus promised the Pannonian army, which he 
 commanded at the death of Pertinax, £400 each after he had 
 acquired the empire. 
 
 Usury, the monopoly of land, and military despotism, appear then 
 to have been the three principal causes of the internal decay of 
 Rome. Ruined within, it became powerless to resist attacks from 
 without, and fell before the successive invasions of the Goths, Huns, 
 Vandals, and other barbarians. In what order these irruptions 
 destroyed the monuments, and other causes which subverted the 
 edifices and temples, will be more appropriately narrated in the 
 section of this work which is devoted to the Renaissance and 
 Italian Courts ; which will also contain an account of the archi- 
 tectural and artistic restoration of New Rome under the reign of 
 the Popes. 
 
 This historical retrospect of kingly, republican, and imperial 
 Rome, is of course not addressed to that happily diminishing class 
 who regard the Crystal Palace as merely a gilded toyshop, where 
 they can feast the eye with novelty, and enjoy the sensations of a 
 lively but fugitive excitement. The Crystal Palace is a temple of 
 knowledge and a school of study ; and its monuments are the expo- 
 nents of the inner life of the people by whom they were constructed. 
 There is no greater proof of vulgar ignorance, than admiration of 
 products and indifference to producers ; while it is an equally 
 assured mark of intelligence when men begin to inquire what cir- 
 cumstances created peculiar styles of architecture, or gave rise to 
 peculiar forms of sculptui'e, — for this involves the motives of the 
 artificers, and the mind of the investigator is elevated from insen- 
 tient matter to sentient man. Religion is the real founder of 
 
 architecture, sculpture, and painting; the styles vary because the 
 religions vary, and those variations are the result of education, or 
 of feelings modified by education. The Greeks excelled all other 
 nations in every department of art, because they excelled them all 
 in the culture of the intellect; and, as Mr. Owen Jones has remarked, 
 “ conceiving God in the image of man, they made men like gods.” 
 Mr. Jones continues thus: — “Greek art under the Romans became 
 still more material, and lost the refinement which had redeemed it 
 with the Greeks. Having attained an almost boundless power over 
 the earth, the Romans set themselves up as gods, and neglected the 
 traditional duties of their forefathers. The real religion of the 
 Romans, or bond of union, which held all men moving sympatheti- 
 cally round one centre, was glory, conquest, luxury; hence the 
 monuments which the Romans have handed down to us as the true 
 chronicles of their times, are the Coliseum, the baths, the theatres, 
 and the triumphal arches ; these only can lay claim to any origi- 
 nality of invention.” If then the claims of the Romans to origi- 
 nality are so limited, in what light are we to consider the long list 
 of objects which in the Crystal Palace ai’e associated with the 
 Roman Court ? They were not sculptors. "VVe have seen that they 
 were indebted to the Etruscans for their earliest monuments. At 
 a later period, while they were conquering Greece, they plundered 
 that country of its statues to embellish their own capital ; and, after 
 the conquest, resident Greeks devoted their chisels to the services 
 of their new masters. Rome not only contained the Egyptian 
 obelisks which we have described, but in the reign of the Emperor 
 Hadrian many statues were formed in imitation of those of Egypt, 
 to decorate the canopus in his magnificent villa at Tivoli ; but 
 Winckelman has pointed out that these copies may be easily 
 recognised, because they are not covered with hieroglyphics. The 
 Roman Court, therefore, contains no works of art wrought by 
 Roman hands. 
 
 The Roman Court externally to the nave presents three arches 
 of the Tuscan order, which is the earliest style of columnar architec- 
 ture found in Italy. This facade is taken from the lowest range of 
 columns on the outside of the Coliseum, at Rome, which we have 
 engraved under the more appropriate title of the Flavian Amphi- 
 theatre. This is a faithful representation, as the original building 
 still exists, though in a mutilated form ; but the Model of the 
 Forum of Rome,* which we have also engraved, is but a reproduc- 
 tion, since the ancient Forum has long ceased to exist, and the 
 pictorial restoration is not be deemed exact, but only an approxi- 
 mation to accuracy. 
 
 One of the finest pieces of sculpture in the Roman Court is that 
 called the Toro Farnese, describing the story of Dirce tied to a bull, 
 but deriving its modern name from the circumstance of its having 
 formerly been placed in the Farnese collection. It was discovered 
 in the baths of Caracalla, and is the work of two sculptors of 
 Rhodes, Apollonius and Tauriscus, and carved out of one block 
 of marble. The legend is that Lycus, king of Thebes, having 
 divorced his wife Antiope, espoused Dirce, who persecuted Antiope. 
 Amphion and Zethus, sons of Antiope by Jupiter, in vengeance 
 tied Dirce to a bull, which dragged her about till she perished. 
 The infliction of this punishment is vigorously described : the 
 bull manifests impatience of restraint, while the prostrate victim 
 implores mercy in vain. The countenances of the sons are marked 
 by strong expression, while their attitudes are full of vigour and 
 grace. The account in Pausanias is more copious. Amphion and 
 Zethus collected an army, invaded Thebes, vanquished Lycus in 
 battle, and took possession of his kingdom; and joining the lower 
 city with Cadmea, called the whole country Thebes, on account of 
 their alliance with the nymph Thebe, the daughter of Prometheus. 
 Dirce honoured Bacchus above all the divinities ; and when she 
 suffered that dire punishment from Amphion and Zethus, Bacchus 
 was indignant with Antiope, and afflicted her with madness. From 
 this malady she was freed by Phocus, the grandson of Sisyphus, who 
 married her. 
 
 We have engraved the Laocoon of the Vatican, f though the speci- 
 men in the Roman Court, taken from the gallery of the Duke 
 d’Aremberg, at Brussels, only represents the head of the father. 
 Laocoon, a Trojan, urged the people not to admit the Grecian 
 horse within the walls of the city. Minerva dispatched two 
 serpents through the sea, which, on reaching the shore, entwined 
 themselves round the bodies of Laocoon and his sons, and crushed 
 
 * See Engraving, pp. 46, 47. t See Engraving, p. 57. 
 
60 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 them to death in the coil of their folds. This group was found 
 in the ruins of the palace of Titus, during the reign of Leo X., where 
 Pliny says it stood in his time. It was discovered by Felici de 
 Fradis, celebrated in a Latin poem by Sadoleto. It has been 
 remarked as a curious fact that in the Laocoon, as in the Apollo 
 Belvedere, the feet are of unequal length, purposely so executed 
 to aid the perspective. We learn from Pliny that the figure of 
 Laocoon himself was the work of Agesander the Rhodian, and that 
 his reputed sons, Athenodorus and Polidorus, carved the children. 
 In the time of Pliny the whole group was considered to be formed 
 of a single block (ex uno lapide eutn et liberos ), but it is now known 
 that the children were executed separately, and afterwards joined 
 to the principal figure. A more dreadful tragedy was never sculp- 
 tured. The blood curdles when the mind realises the facts. 
 Horror presides over a scene of torturing death from which escape 
 is hopeless. Physical and moral agony are depicted in the coun- 
 tenance of the father, who appears conscious of his inability to 
 rescue his boys who cling to him for succour. The horrible 
 reptiles are breaking every bone. 
 
 “ The distorted face,” says an elo- 
 quent writer, “ the rolling eye, 
 the ghastly features, the bristling 
 hair, the racked and working mus- 
 cles, the starting sinews and dis- 
 tended limbs of Laocoon, give us 
 the picture of human nature in its 
 last stage of horror and suffering.” 
 
 To the unspeakable sublimity of 
 the figure of Laocoon himself 
 every tongue pays homage; in its 
 perfection keen-eyed criticism has 
 never espied a fault; but it is 
 generally and truly said that the 
 children are not formed like na- 
 ture. The poetical description in 
 the JEncid, and the execution of 
 the statue, are such perfect coun- 
 terparts of each other, that it 
 would appear almost certain that 
 either the poet copied the sculptor, 
 or the sculptor realised the concep- 
 tion of the poet. 
 
 The Apollo Belvedere is believed 
 by the learned Visconti to be the 
 Apollo Alexicacos, or Deliverer 
 from Evil, the work of the Greek 
 sculptor Calamis. Pausanias, how- 
 ever, says that Calamis “ painted 
 an Apollo whom they call Alexi- 
 cacos ;” and adds, that “ this name 
 was given to the god because, 
 as the Delphic oracle proclaimed 
 would be the case, he caused a 
 pestilence to cease which raged in 
 the time of the Peloponnesian war.” * The learaed Mr. Taylor, 
 in a note on this passage, says, “ Apollo Alexicacos, or the Dis- 
 perser of Evil, through the divinity Paean, whom he contains in 
 his essence, as is evident from the following lines in the beautiful 
 hymn of Proclus to the sun : — 
 
 “ ‘ From thy bland dance, repelling deadly ill, 
 
 Salubrious Ptean blossoms into light, 
 
 Health far diffusing, and th’ extended world 
 With streams of harmony innoxious fills.’ ” 
 
 The Apollo Belvedere was found near Antium, in the ruins of 
 a Roman villa, supposed to have originally belonged to Nero. 
 Winckelman ascribed it to the age of Alexander the Great; but 
 later critics affirm that it is made of Italian, not of Greek marble, 
 and variously refer it to the age of Nero or the age of Hadrian. 
 Under this view it is presumed to be a copy from some great 
 work of the Alexandrian epoch, — pi'obably a bronze statue, an 
 opinion founded on the peculiarly thin folds of the clilaniys. It 
 is called Belvedere because it is placed in the Belvedere of the 
 Vatican. The expression of the countenance of this statue is one 
 of intellectual power, and a calm consciousness that the power is 
 
 * Pausanias. Attics, chap. iii. 
 
 irresistible. The dilated nostril and curved lip indicate disdain, 
 and a transient indignation. The fatal arrow, carrying death to 
 the Pythian serpent, has just darted from the bow of Apollo. 
 Vigour appears in every muscle, but there is no indication of the 
 rudeness of mere physical force characteristic of a Hercules. In 
 the Apollo all is grace and elegance, and criticism has pronounced 
 this statue faultless. It has been suggested that Milton had this 
 divine form in view in his description of Adam : — 
 
 “ His fair large front, and eye sublime, declared 
 Absolute rule ; and hvacinthine locks 
 Round from his parted forehead manly hung 
 Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad.” 
 
 The head of Olympian Jupiter, placed in the Vatican, was found 
 at Otriculum, during the excavations carried on by Pius VI. It is 
 considered the finest and largest head of this divinity that is known, 
 and is supposed to be a copy from Phidias.* It is of Italian marble. 
 We learn from Pausanias that the Elians dedicated a temple to 
 Jupiter Olympius, in which his statue xvas consecrated. The name 
 of the sculptor was carved at the 
 foot of the god : “ Phidias the 
 Athenian, the son of Charmidas, 
 made me.” “The temple,” writes 
 Pausanias, “ is built after the Doric 
 manner, and the inclosure is a cir- 
 cle of pillars. It is built, too, of 
 partis, a stone which that country 
 produces. With respect to its alti- 
 tude, from the bottom area to the 
 eagles which sustain the roof there 
 is a distance of sixty-eight feet ; 
 its breadth is ninety-five feet, and 
 its length two hundred and thirty. 
 The god sits on a throne of ivory 
 and gold, and is adorned with a 
 crown on his head, made in imi- 
 tation of a branch of the wild olive- 
 tree. In his right hand he holds 
 a victory, which is also made of 
 ivory and gold. His left hand 
 wields a sceptre of beautiful work- 
 manship, in the composition of 
 which all metals are blended to- 
 gether. The bird which sits on 
 his sceptre is an eagle. The san- 
 dals of the god and his robes are 
 of gold ; and in the latter of these 
 various animals, and of flowers the 
 lily, are represented. The throne 
 itself is variegated with gold and 
 precious stones, with ebony and 
 ivory ; and is adorned with the 
 pictures of animals, and with sta- 
 MbNANDEK. tues.” f With all these splendid 
 
 accessories, it is easy to believe 
 that Phidias would bestow all his art on the head of the statue. 
 Mr. Scharf well observes, “Benignity, serenity, power, and majesty, 
 seem all united in this magnificent head. What then must have 
 been the glory of the entire statue, of which this only formed a 
 part?” A description of the temple will find a more appropriate 
 place in the section of this work which will describe the Greek 
 Court. 
 
 The JEgina marbles, purchased by the king of Bavaria, and now 
 in the Glyptothek, at Munich, were discovered in 1811 by Mr. 
 Cockerell, the eminent architect, and three other gentlemen. They 
 were disjointed fragments, which the celebrated sculptor, Thor- 
 walsden, restored at Rome. They are supposed to have belonged 
 to the Temple of Jupiter Panellenius, erected by Abacus, as men- 
 tioned by Pausanias,! out of gratitude to that god, who caused rain 
 to fall in Greece, after a long drought, at the prayer of iEacus, who 
 was selected by the Delphic oracle to offer up supplication to J upiter. 
 A copy of these marbles is placed at the extreme north end of the 
 nave in the Crystal Palace, but it must be remembered that they are 
 
 * Numbered 337 in Roman Court Catalogue. 
 
 + Pausanias. Prior Eliacs, c. x. and xi. 
 
 J Corinthiaca, c. xxix. 
 
but parts of a whole, and can only be fairly criticised in that light. 
 The fragment that has been preserved represents the combat for 
 the body of Patroclus, slain at the siege of Troy by Hector. “ In 
 point of art the iEgina school stands between the Etruscan and 
 Grecian schools. The JEgina and Etruscan marbles resemble each 
 other in the style of the drapery and the treatment of the hair. 
 The iEgina marbles are remarkable for varied display of the human 
 figure and strong muscular delineation, anatomical precision and 
 close imitation of life in the attitudes.” * 
 
 We have given two engravings of Antinous,+ the favourite of the 
 Emperor Hadrian, the one larger than life, the other a bust. In 
 the former he holds a caduceus, from which circumstance he is 
 supposed to appear as the representative of Mercury. The arrange- 
 ment of the hair is peculiar. In the bust the expression of the 
 countenance is sad, and the eyes and face are downcast. The 
 Antinous was discovered in the ruins of Hadrian’s villa. 
 
 The Meleager of the Vatican (No. 293 in the Catalogue) is a very 
 spirited figure, discovered in the sixteenth century. This hero of 
 antiquity is celebrated for killing the boar of Calydon, which had 
 long devastated the country. The statue originally held a spear. 
 At its right side is a dog, at the left a boar’s head. Pausanias 
 says that the spear of Meleager was dedicated in the Temple of 
 Apollo, and that the pipes of Marsyas were also placed there ;{ and 
 that Poly gnotus painted his picture “ in the building beyond the 
 fountain Cassotis, in Phocsea, which the Delphians called Lesche, 
 because men used formerly to discuss serious and trifling affairs 
 in it. Homer, in the abusive speech of Melantho to Ulysses, 
 evinces that there were many such places in every part of 
 Greece : — 
 
 “ ‘ Hence to the Lesche, from the midnight air, 
 
 Or some black forge, the vagrant’s haunt, repair.’ ” 
 
 It was in the building referred to that Polygnotus executed his 
 great historical work, called the Subversion of Troy , in which the 
 artist places the figure of Meleager above that of Oilean Ajax, at 
 whom he is gazing. This picture, fully described by Pausanias, is 
 also mentioned in one of the elegies of Simonides : — 
 
 “ The artist Polygnotus, for his sire 
 Who claims Aglaophon, in Thesus bom, 
 
 Painted the captured town of Troy.” § 
 
 The two grand colossal groups of a young man and a horse, 
 known as the Castor and Pollux of Monte Cavallo, were discovered 
 
 . J* v?, ome 111 the Nineteenth Century. Anonymous. Edinburgh : Constable 
 4th Edition. 
 
 f See Engravings, p. 58. 
 
 1 Corinthiacs, c. vii. 
 
 { Phocics, c. xxv. and xxxi. 
 
 in the ruins of the baths of Constantine. The names of Phidias and 
 Praxiteles are inscribed on these statues, but this is not conclusive 
 evidence of genuineness, as the trick of counterfeiting such inscrip- 
 tions has been long since detected ; as, for instance, in the case of 
 the Venus de Medicis, which is marked with the name of Clcomenes. 
 Some antiquarians have insisted on identifying these s.tatues with 
 Alexander and Bucephalus. Flaxman considers them the work of 
 Phidias and Praxiteles, because in the frieze of the Parthenon there 
 is a young hero governing a horse, which bears a strong resemblance 
 to those groups ; but the anonymous author whom we have quoted, 
 in noticing the ^Egina marbles, observes that “ any one who has 
 studied the undoubted works of Phidias in the Elgin marbles, or 
 felt the beauties of the masterpieces of Praxiteles, even in the 
 ancient copies, will not subscribe to this opinion. No original work 
 of Praxiteles, if we except that of Monte Cavallo, is extant; but 
 the ancient copies of his ‘ Cupid bending the Bow,’ his ‘ Faun.’ 
 and a few more, enable us to conceive their wonderful perfection.” 
 
 We engrave the sitting figure of the Greek comic poet Menander,* 
 discovered in a circular hall on the Viminal Hill at Rome, supposed 
 to have belonged to the baths of Olympias. There is great firm- 
 ness and decision of character in the eyes and mouth. The face is 
 beardless. The left hand rests on the back of the chair. The dress 
 is skilfully disposed. Pausanias states that “in the theatre of 
 Athens there are many images of obscure tragic and comic poets, 
 for except Menander there is not any celebrated comic poet.” f It 
 is supposed that the statue now in the Vatican may have originally 
 been placed in this theatre. Pausanias farther observes that 
 Menander, the son of Diophites, was buried (where are the tombs 
 of the most noted men) on the line where Themistocles built the 
 walls after the expulsion of the Medes, and which were thrown 
 down during the dominion of the Thirty Tyrants. 
 
 It would be easy to enlarge this list, but the specimens given are 
 sufficient to illustrate the sculpture of the Roman Court; and we 
 shall return to this branch of our subject when we treat of the 
 Greek Court, for it is inconvenient, if not unwise, to separate 
 statues from the temples in which they were originally consecrated; 
 for however ably a critic may estimate the merits of a figure stand- 
 ing by itself, full justice is not done to the conceptions of the 
 sculptor unless the figure is surrounded by all its accessories, 
 whether historical, mythological, or poetic. For this reason we 
 desire to postpone further remarks till we have the opportunity of 
 describing the religious edifices of Greece, and of commenting on 
 the paintings, architecture, and sculpture of her highly-gifted sons, 
 and on the spirit which animated them in executing their mar- 
 vellous productions. 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 60. 
 
 + Attics, c. xxi. 
 
 
 
 
 jp 
 
62 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE COURT. 
 
 The Rome of the Caesars is separated from the Rome of the 
 popes by a dreary interval of many centuries. Viewed as a whole 
 it is a disastrous period, in which barbarism triumphed over civili- 
 sation : the ancient mistress of the world succumbed to the prowess 
 of foreign invaders. Alaric, Genseric, Attila, Theodoric, Ricimer, 
 Vitiges, Totila, Luitprand ; the Goths, the Vandals, the Huns, the 
 Visigoths, the Lombards; all these historic names of fearful import — 
 all these warlike nations, whose footsteps are tracked in blood, 
 played their part in despoiling and destroying the city of Romulus 
 and Augustus. At a later date, what the barbarians spared the 
 Christians ruined : their early zeal overthrew pagan temples and 
 broke pagan statues, sanctuaries of heathenism and the emblems 
 of idolatry. In the civil wars of the middle ages, the more 
 solid structures — which had resisted the decay of time, and defied 
 or escaped the arm of violence — were converted into fortresses, 
 garrisoned by the rival nobles, by the German Cresars, by Robert 
 Guiscard and the Normans, by the adherents of the popes, by the 
 chiefs of the Guelph and Ghibelline factions. Thus the Orsini, in the 
 eleventh and twelfth centuries, occupied the Mole of Hadrian and 
 the Theatre of Pompey; the Colonna, the Mausoleum of Augustus, 
 and the baths of Constantine. The Conti were in the Quirinal. 
 The Frangipani had the Coliseum, the Septizonium of Severus, and 
 the Janus of the Forum Boarium. The Savelli held the Tomb of 
 Cecilia Metella; and the Corsi fortified the Capitol. The Pantheon 
 received a papal garrison. The Tomb of Hadrian withstood many 
 sieges ; and, in the vicissitudes of fortune, received many names — 
 such as the Prison or House of Theodoric, the Rocca, the Castello di 
 Crescentio, and, finally, that of the Castle of St. Angelo, which it 
 retains to this day. It was the most important of all the fortresses ; 
 and, in the year 1382, Pope Boniface IX. was advised to fortify it 
 according to the most approved rules of military art, if he wished 
 to retain permanent dominion over Rome. He followed that advice ; 
 and, by so doing, firmly established the papal throne. At a still 
 later date, in 1527, the troops of Charles V. of Spain, commanded 
 by the Constable of Bourbon, sacked Rome, when the churches and 
 palaces were pillaged, nor was respect paid even to the chambers 
 of the Vatican or the frescoes of Raffaello. 
 
 In the description given in this work of the Roman Court, some 
 account was given of the progress of architectural and artistic 
 embellishments in ancient Rome ; it is now proposed, as introduc- 
 tory to our description of the Renaissance and Italian Courts (which 
 are separate sections of one and the same subject), to point out 
 briefly but substantially the more prominent causes of the ruin of 
 the ancient monuments. 
 
 During the republic and the empire many of the most ancient 
 structures were impaired by time, and not restored. Horace re- 
 proaches his countrymen for neglecting the mouldering fanes of the 
 gods ; and speaks of the overflowing of the Tiber, which had thrown 
 down the old Temple of Vesta, and the monuments of the kings. 
 Similar inundations have been frequently recorded, and fire also 
 was an active instrument of destruction. That of Nero, and its 
 devastating effects, are thus described by Suetonius : — “ Somebody 
 in conversation saying, — 
 
 * When I am dead, let fire destroy the world : ’ 
 
 ‘ Nay,’ said he, ‘let it be while I am living.’ And he acted accord- 
 ingly ; for pretending to be disgusted with the old buildings, and 
 the narrow and winding streets, he set the city on fire, so openly that 
 many of consular rank caught his own household servants on their 
 property with tow and torches in their hands, but durst not meddle 
 with them. There being near his Golden House some granaries, 
 the site of which he exceedingly coveted, they were battered as if 
 with machines of war, and set on fire, the walls being built of stone. 
 During six days and seven nights this terrible devastation con- 
 tinued, the people being obliged to flee to the tombs and monuments 
 for lodging and shelter. Meanwhile, a vast number of stately 
 buildings — the houses of generals celebrated in former times, and 
 even then still decorated with the spoils of war — were laid in ashes ; 
 as well as the temples of the gods, which had been vowed and 
 dedicated by the kings of Rome, and afterwards in the Punic and 
 Gallic wars ; in short, everything that was remarkable and worthy 
 to be seen which time had spared.” 
 
 This destructive fire occurred in the end of July or the beginning 
 
 of August, in the year 64 of our era, or, reckoning from the building 
 of the city, in the year 816. It is true that succeeding emperors 
 repaired much of this damage, and, notably in the age of Trajan 
 and the Antonines, many new and magnificent buildings were 
 erected, but it was impossible to recover the consumed monuments 
 of antiquity: it was a new Rome that arose on the ruins of the 
 old, just as in our times the Rome of the popes has little in common 
 with the Rome of the Ctesars. 
 
 Gibbon, in describing the state of Rome under the reign of 
 Honorius, when the Gothic army of Alaric blockaded the city, 
 offers the following remarks to determine its populousness : — 
 
 1 . “ When the capital of the empire was besieged by the Goths, 
 the circuit of the walls was accurately measured by Ammonius, 
 the mathematician, who found it equal to twenty-one miles. It 
 should not be forgotten that the form of the city was almost that 
 of a circle, the geometrical figure of which is known to contain the 
 largest space within any given circumference. 2. The architect 
 Vitruvius, who flourished in the Augustan age, and whose evidence 
 on this occasion has peculiar weight and authority, observes, that 
 the innumerable habitations of the Roman people would have spread 
 themselves far beyond the narrow limits of the city; and that the 
 want of ground, which was probably contracted on every side by 
 gardens and villas, suggested the common though inconvenient 
 practice of raising the houses to a considerable height in the air. 
 But the loftiness of these buildings, which often consisted of hasty 
 work and insufficient materials, was the cause of frequent and fatal 
 accidents : and it was repeatedly enacted by Augustus, as well as 
 by Nero, that the height of private residences, within the walls of 
 Rome, should not exceed the measure of seventy feet from the 
 ground. 3. Juvenal laments, as it should seem from his own 
 experience, the hardships of the poorer citizens, to whom he ad- 
 dresses the salutary advice of emigrating, without delay, from the 
 smoke of Rome, since they might purchase, in the little towns of 
 Italy, a cheerful commodious dwelling, at the same price which they 
 annually paid for a dark and miserable lodging. House-rent was, 
 therefore, immoderately dear; the rich acquired, at an enormous 
 expense, the ground, which they covered with palaces and gardens, 
 but the body of the Roman people was crowded into a narrow space; 
 and the different floors and apartments of the same house were 
 divided, as is still the custom of Paris and other cities, among 
 several families of plebeians. 4. The total number of houses in the 
 fourteen regions of the city is accurately stated in the description 
 of Rome, composed under the reign of Theodosius, and they amount 
 to 48,382. The two classes of domus and of insults, into which they 
 are divided, include all the habitations of the capital, of every rank 
 and condition, from the marble palace of the Anicii, with a nume- 
 rous establishment of freed-men and slaves, to the lofty and narrow 
 lodging-house, where the poet Codrus and his wife were permitted to 
 hire a wretched garret immediately under the tiles. If we adopt 
 the same . average, which, under similar circumstances has been 
 found applicable to Paris, and indifferently allow about twenty-five 
 persons for each house, of every degree, we may fairly estimate 
 the inhabitants of Rome at 1,200,000, — a number which cannot be 
 thought excessive for the capital of a mighty empire, though it 
 exceeds the populousness of the greatest cities of modern Europe.” 
 
 Such then is the description of Rome when first assaulted by 
 the barbarians ; and it is from this epoch that we must date the 
 destruction of its architectural and artistic beauties by the hands of 
 foreign foes. It may be observed, however, that the concluding 
 remarks of the great historian of the Decline and Fall are no longer 
 true, since modern London contains more than twice the population 
 of Rome under the reign of Honorius. 
 
 Pope, in his poetical epistle to Addison, enumerates on a very 
 extensive scale the several causes which destroyed the ancient 
 city and its splendid edifices : — 
 
 “ Some felt the silent stroke of mouldering age, 
 
 Some hostile fury, some religious rage : 
 
 Barbarian blindness, Christian zeal conspire, 
 
 And Papal piety, and Gothic fire.” 
 
 The inquisitive reader is not satisfied with so general a statement, 
 but desires to know, with some approach to exactitude, the special 
 operation of each of the causes assigned. Gibbon is not inclined to 
 follow the general opinion, which accuses the barbarian invaders of 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 63 
 
 excessive devastation, remarking that the Goths evacuated Rome on 
 the sixth, and the Yandals on the fifteenth day; in justification of 
 this view he appeals to the monuments which Theodoric heheld and 
 admired, which must have been spared by Alaric and Genseric ; and 
 describes the resentment of Totila as “momentary.” “From these 
 innocent barbarians,” he says, “ the reproach may he transferred to the 
 Catholics of Rome,” who certainly did destroy many of the temples 
 and statues; but Gibbon allowed his prejudices to cloud his judg- 
 ment when he characterises the barbarians as innocent. Mr. Hob- 
 house has investigated this subject laboriously, and summed up the 
 evidence with impartiality and judgment. He arrives at conclusions 
 very different from those of the great historian. 
 
 “ Pope Gelasius, in a letter to the senator Andromachus, A.D. 496, 
 has the words, ‘ when Alaric overturned the city.’ Procopius con- 
 fines the fire to the quarter near the Salernian gate, but adds that 
 the Goths l’avaged the whole city. The despoiling edifices of their 
 ornaments, many of which have been connected with their structure, 
 cannot fail to hasten their decay. Marcellinus mentions that a part 
 of Rome was burnt; and delays the departure of the barbarians to 
 the sixth day. Cassiodorus, a much earlier and better authority in 
 every respect than the three last writers, assures us that many of 
 the wonders of Rome were burnt. Olympiodorus talks only of the 
 infinite quantity of wealth which Alaric carried away ; but we may 
 collect from him also how great was the disaster, when he tells us 
 that on the repeopling of the city 14,000 persons returned in one 
 day. The injury done by Genseric (a.d. 455) was not so great as 
 that of the Goths; and Da Barga dispatches his invasions in a few 
 sentences. Jornandes, however, applies the expression devastation to 
 his entry. All the writers are of accord that the Vandals, in their 
 fourteen days residence, emptied Rome of her wealth ; and as we are 
 informed of the robbery of half the tiles of the Temple of G'apitoline 
 Jupiter, and of the Palace of the Caesars, it is reasonable to suppose 
 that the precious metals were extracted and torn down from all the 
 structures, public and private, — a violence which, without the use of 
 fire or engines, must have loosened many of the compact masses, and 
 been totally destructive of smaller edifices. An ecclesiastical historian , 
 twice mentions that Genseric set fire to Rome, but the silence ! 
 of other writers has discredited his authority. The sack of Rome 
 by Ricimer (a.d. 472) is generally overlooked by the apologists of 
 the early invaders ; but it should not be forgotten that the bar- | 
 barians, Arians, and infidels, were indulged by the Patrician in the 
 plunder of all but two regions of the city. Considerable stress has 
 been laid on the grandeur of the structures which still remained, 
 after the above calamities, to be admired by Theodoric, hut the 
 praise of what is left does not include proof that little has been 
 lost; were it so, Rome would appear to have not suffered much 
 even in the middle ages, when her fragments were the wonder of 
 the pilgrims of every nation. It must besides he remarked that the 
 larger monuments — the Forum of Trajan, the Circus Maximus, 
 the Coliseum, the Capitol, the Theatre of Pompey, the Palace of the 
 Ciesars — are those particularly recorded by the minister of the 
 Gothic monarch, and of those the two latter were in want of 
 repair. A palace partly in ruins on the Pincian Hill, marbles and 
 square blocks everywhere lying prostrate, the desertion and decay 
 of many houses, must, partially at least, he attributed to the fire of 
 Alaric, the spoliation of the Vandals, and the sack of Ricimer. To 
 Vitiges, who came down on Rome like a raging lion, must be ascribed 
 the destruction of the aqueducts, which rendered useless the immense 
 thermce ; and as these appear never to have been frequented after- 
 wards, their dilapidation must be partially, but only partially, 
 attributed to the Goths. Vitiges burnt everything without the 
 walls, and commenced the desolation of the Campagna. Totila is 
 known to have burnt a third part of the walls ; and although he 
 desisted from his meditated destruction of every monument, the 
 extent of the injury inflicted by that conqueror may have been 
 greater than is usually supposed. Procopius affirms that he did 
 burn ‘ not a small portion of the city,’ especially beyond the Tiber. 
 An author of the Chronicles records a fire, and the total abandon- 
 ment of the city for more than forty days ; and it must be mentioned 
 that there is no certain trace of the Palace of the Crnsars having 
 survived the irruption of Totila. It must have been at his second 
 entrance that this monarch ‘lived with the Romans as a father 
 with his children,’ and not at the first, as might be thought from 
 the annals of Italy. In the five captures of Rome, from 536 to 552, 
 in which she was both attacked and defended by barbarians, it is 
 impossible hut that many of the architectural ornaments of the city 
 
 must have been partially destroyed or partially injured ; and the 
 particular mention made by Procopius of the care taken by Narses 
 to restore the capital is an evidence of the previous injury. With 
 Totila the dilapidation of Rome by the barbarians is generally 
 allowed to terminate.” * 
 
 We have now to consider the injuries inflicted by the religious 
 zeal of the Christians, which were of two distinct kinds, and were 
 perpetrated at two distinct epochs. The first are to be referred to 
 their detestation of paganism, which prompted them to destroy 
 temples and statues ; the second arose from the desire of several 
 of the popes to build a new city, for which purpose they used as 
 materials what remained of the old city. 
 
 The primitive Christians, descended from Jews, detested graven 
 images, and regarded with horror the statues of the heathen 
 gods and goddesses, and also the splendid buildings in which they 
 were enshrined. After the conversion of Constantine, fanaticism 
 or excessive piety impelled them to mutilate or annihilate the 
 memorials of pagan antiquity. To these noble objects of art Con- 
 stantine himself had shown no respect, although he had been born 
 in the faith of the deities of Olympus. He authorised the sale of 
 statues, now stigmatised idols, in Greece. It is known that he 
 plundered the Arch of Trajan to decorate with its spoils the one 
 that bears his own name. This act of desecration powerfully 
 influenced the public opinion of his era, and the people did not 
 hesitate to imitate the example of their emperor, and naturally 
 ceased to respect what he had insulted ; and though the temples 
 were not closed by imperial authority till the edict of Honorius 
 was promulgated in the year 399, yet long before that date the 
 ancient structures had lost their sanctity, and the work of devasta- 
 tion had been extensive. “The golden Capitol has lost all its 
 splendour,” writes St. Jerome; “the temples of Rome are covered 
 with dust and cobwebs ; the very city is moved from its foundations ; 
 and the overflowing people rush before the half torn up shrines to 
 the tombs of the martyrs.” In the year 426, Theodosius the Younger 
 positively commanded the destruction of the pagan temples, on 
 which Cardinal Baronius observes, “ As soon as this long-desired 
 permission to break the idols was obtained from the Christian prince, 
 the just zeal of the Christian people broke out at last in the throw- 
 ing down and breaking of the pagan gods. It is incredible with 
 what animosity the faithful at Rome leapt on the idols.” As the 
 scene on which the Christian martyrs were delivered up to wild 
 beasts, the Circus Maximus was held in special abomination ; and 
 Mr. Hobhouse considers that Gregory the Great was very active in 
 its destruction. 
 
 Had this pious spirit of destructiveness continued to rage with 
 the fierceness described by Baronius, not a vestige of antiquity 
 would have escaped the hand of violence, excepting those produc- 
 tions of art which were protected by the ruins in which they were 
 concealed, or those massive structures whose solidity constituted 
 their defence ; but a change came over public opinion when the 
 revival of paganism was deemed impossible. During the persecu- 
 tion of the early emperors, the Christians performed the ceremonies 
 and mysteries of their religion in the obscurity of the catacombs ; 
 and, at a later date, the worship of martyrs arose from out those 
 dreary regions. Pilgrims visited those gloomy abodes, which 
 warmed their piety, inspired fortitude, and imparted consolation ; 
 and it was their highest pleasure to carry to their distant homes 
 some memorial of those who had sacrificed their lives for the sake 
 of conscience, and, as demand stimulates production, relics multi- 
 plied. The basilicee of the heathens, once ruthlessly defaced and 
 demolished, were now converted into Christian churches, after 
 the bricks or marble had undergone an orthodox purification. 
 “ There is something very suggestive in this,” observes Ranke. 
 “ The apsis of the basilica contained an augusteum , the images of 
 those very Caesars to whom divine honours had been paid. To their 
 places succeeded, as we see in so many basilicre to this day, the 
 images of Christ and his apostles ; instead of the world’s masters, 
 who were themselves regarded as gods, appeared the Son of God 
 clothed in the nature of man. The local deities faded away. On 
 every highway, on the mountain cliffs, and in the passes through the 
 ravines, on the housetops and on the mosaics of the floors, were seen 
 the emblems of the cross. The victory was complete and decisive.”! 
 
 According to Gibbon, “ the use, and even worship, of images was 
 
 * Illustrations of Childe Harold. By John Cam Hobhouse. 
 + Ranke’s History of the Popes. 
 
64 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 firmly established before the end of the sixth century.” This 
 worship, however, was denied to have any resemblance to that of 
 paganism ; and a distinction was attempted to be drawn between 
 the literal and symbolical adoration of statues and paintings. The 
 former alone was pronounced idolatrous ; the latter was declared to 
 be not only innocent but holy. This subtlety, however, clumsily 
 disguised a return to the old superstition. The Emperor Julian, 
 surnamed the Apostate, in one of his replies to the early Christian 
 polemics, at a time when their religion was purely spiritual, has 
 left on record the sentiments of the heathen world on the subject of 
 idol worship. 
 
 “The statues of the gods,” says Julian, “the sacred fire kept 
 burning in their honour, and, in general, all symbols of this nature, 
 have been consecrated 
 by our ancestors as 
 signs of the presence 
 of the gods ; not that 
 we worship them 
 literally, but that, 
 through their aid, we 
 may have a more 
 sensible idea of the 
 existence of the celes- 
 tial deities. The gods, 
 being spiritual and 
 incorporeal, have pre- 
 sented to our view 
 substantial images of 
 themselves in those 
 heavenly bodies which 
 are eternally circulat- 
 ing in the firmament. 
 
 Now, as we cannot 
 pay an iin?nedi<itev>or- 
 ship to the first order 
 of deities, who in 
 truth do not require 
 our homage, we have 
 established a third 
 order of gods on the 
 earth in images and 
 statues ; and the reve- 
 rence paid to these 
 symbols conciliates 
 the favour, and en- 
 sures the protection, 
 of the first order of 
 deities. For, as they 
 who honour the sta- 
 tues of princes pro- 
 cure their patronage 
 and regard, although 
 this homage in no 
 respect increases the 
 happiness of the 
 prince, so, in like 
 manner, we worship 
 the images of the 
 gods, who, though 
 not benefited by our 
 adoration, neverthe- 
 less reward our pious 
 gratitude by their fa- 
 vours. It is among 
 the proofs of a truly religious mind to render to the deities all the 
 homage in its power ; for, although it neither adds to their glory 
 or happiness, it is still the duty of the creature to adore the Creator. 
 We ought not only to sing hymns in their praise, but to honour them 
 with the works of our hands, with images and statues, which mode of 
 adoration has for three thousand years been a distinguishing feature 
 in all the religions of antiquity.” Julian then discusses the particular 
 point of idol worship. “ We are not so blind or ignorant,” says the 
 emperor, “ as to regard as gods the manufactured productions of 
 our own hands; neither do we consider our images and statues as 
 mere pieces of wood and stone, nor as actual deities. No one views 
 the statues of our princes as simple pieces of wood, stone, or bronze, 
 
 nor as real sovereigns, but as the representatives of individuals 
 whose memory we cherish. Whoever loves his king, is pleased with 
 possessing his statue or his picture ; the father who loves his son, 
 the son who loves his father, are both gratified at beholding that 
 which recalls the features of the original. For a similar reason, he 
 who reverences the gods contemplates with satisfaction their statues 
 and images, adoring with pious awe those invisible beings, whose 
 eyes are always fixed upon his conduct. These images, formed by 
 our hands, may be destroyed ; but those which the first order of 
 deities have created, as visible representatives of themselves (i.e. the 
 celestial bodies), are incorruptible and indestructible.” * 
 
 These extracts from Julian’s defence of paganism clearly show 
 the sense in which the ancients interpreted idolatry, and that the 
 
 worship they paid to 
 graven images was 
 not literal but sym- 
 bolical ; whence it 
 follows that when 
 the popes introduced 
 what they styled 
 a purified system, 
 they actually adopted 
 the practices of the 
 very heathenism they 
 condemned. This 
 view of the subject 
 may be confirmed by 
 a reference to the 
 great polemical work 
 of Bossuet. “ To set 
 up images,” says that 
 celebrated writer, “ is 
 to make more pal- 
 pable the mysteries 
 and examples which 
 sanctify us. This in- 
 stitution may be mis- 
 understood in three 
 ways by the ignorant. 
 They may imagine 
 that the divine nature 
 is really represented ; 
 or, that it is contained 
 in images ; or, images 
 may be supposed to 
 be filled with certain 
 virtues, on account of 
 which they are hon- 
 oured. These are 
 three varieties of 
 idolatry. ' But the 
 Council of Trent has 
 rejected these errors 
 in precise terms, so 
 that it is not per- 
 mitted to attribute to 
 one image more vir- 
 tue than to another, 
 unless indeed in me- 
 mory of some miracle, 
 or on account of some 
 pious history, calcu- 
 lated to excite feelings 
 of devotion. Luther 
 
 FACADE OF THE RENAISSANCE COURT. 
 
 himself, and the Lutherans, will prove that the worship of images 
 thus purified does not fall within the prohibition of the decalogue ; 
 and the adoration paid to them is nothing more than a sensible out- 
 ward testimony of a pious recollection which they excite. The 
 simple and natural effect of the silent homage attached to these 
 holy representations becomes doubly useful, because it falls within 
 the comprehension of all mankind.” t 
 
 There is no substantial difference between Julian the Apostate, 
 and Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux; but there was the greatest possible 
 
 ■* Jul. Imp. Fragment'd, pp. 537, 540. 
 t Histoire des Variations, t. ii. p. 641. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 65 
 
 difference between the Western and Eastern Churches; and the 
 Emperor Leo, the Isaurian, became the formidable antagonist of 
 the popes. If the latter protected the statues and temples against 
 iconoclastic zeal, the ultimate result of their policy brought down 
 new devastations on Rome, for which reason we have dwelt on 
 the revival of this form of idolatry, and must note its historical 
 consequences. 
 
 Leo III., surnamed the Isaurian, on ascending the imperial throne 
 of Constantinople, determined on suppressing the growing worship 
 of idols. His first measure was cautious and moderate ; for he only 
 ordered the images to be removed from the sanctuaries and altars, 
 and placed in the higher parts of the churches, where they were still 
 visible. In this procedure he seems to have thought that distance 
 might damp the superstitious earnestness of the devotees, and pi-e- 
 pare them for a more decided blow. He next forbade the exhibi- 
 tion or use of all religious pictures ; and over such as were painted 
 on the walls he passed an effacing coat of plaster, while the statues 
 of Christ, the virgins, and the saints, were demolished. His son. 
 
 deprived the Byzantine emperors of the revenues and dominion 
 of Italy. 
 
 It was at this period that the Lombards, under their king, Luit- 
 prand, and afterwards under his successor, Astolphus, threatened 
 Rome, and compelled it to pay a capitation tax in the form of a 
 tribute. From this subjection and danger it was rescued by Pepin, 
 King of France, and his successor Charlemagne, at the earnest 
 entreaties of the pope, Stephen III. ; and, as Gibbon has remarked, 
 “ the mutual obligations of the popes and the Carlovingian family 
 form the important links of ancient and modern, of civil and eccle- 
 siastical, history.” 
 
 Charles Martel, the founder of this line, saved Christendom from 
 the imminent danger of Mahometan conquest; and his son, Pepin the 
 Younger, expelled the Lombards from the papal territory in Italy, 
 and from the exarchate. Nor did he restore the exarchate to the 
 emperors of the East, to whom it belonged : on being called upon to 
 do so, he answered, that “he had not taken the field for a man, but 
 solely out of his veneration for St. Peter, to the end that he might 
 
 Constantine, convened in the immediate neighbourhood of Constan- 
 tinople a synod of three hundred and thirty-eight bishops ; and, 
 after a discussion which lasted six months, they unanimously signed 
 a decree, which in substance affirmed the following propositions : — 
 That all visible symbols of Christ, except in the Eucharist, were 
 either blasphemous or heretical ; that image-worship was a corrup- 
 tion of Christianity, and a renewal of paganism ; that all such 
 monuments of idolatry should be broken or erased ; and that those 
 who should refuse to deliver up the objects of their private 
 superstition, were guilty of disobeying the authority of the 
 Church and the emperor. Rebellion followed this decree ; but, 
 after a brief struggle, it was effectually suppressed. It was 
 otherwise in the Western Church, where the attempt to enforce 
 iconoclastic principles was successfully resisted; and the pope 
 triumphed where the patriarch of the East had unwillingly 
 succumbed. Then occurred the separation between the two 
 churches ; and papal authority, strengthened by external aid, 
 
 obtain forgiveness for his sins.” He caused the keys of the conquered 
 towns to be laid on St. Peter’s altar. This, says Ranke, was the 
 foundation of the whole temporal dominion of the popes. 
 
 Charlemagne followed up the policy of his father, Pepin, all 
 whose acts in favour of the papacy he confirmed on visiting Rome, 
 when he kissed the steps of St. Peter’s Church as he ascended to the 
 altar and on Christmas-day, in the year 800, he was crowned by 
 the pope Emperor of the West. Thus a Frank sovereign succeeded 
 the Caesars, and exercised supreme authority in the territories 
 which the Carlovingian princes had conferred on the pope ; and the 
 complete temporal dependence of the pontiff is placed beyond doubt 
 by the fact that Lothaire, nephew of Charlemagne, appointed his 
 own judges, and annulled confiscations made by the pope. This is 
 stated on the authority of Ranke. The pope, however, became 
 supreme lord of the hierarchy in the Roman west, and a member of 
 the Frankish empire. The Greek emperors had long since despoiled 
 him of his eastern diocese. Ranke, in a note, quotes part of a letter 
 
 s 
 
66 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 written by Nicholas I., in which that pontiff bewails the loss of the 
 patriarchal power of the holy see in ancient and modern Epirus, 
 Illyria, Macedonia, Thessaly, Achma, Dacia, Dardania; and the 
 loss of the patrimony in Calabria and Sicily. He couples this letter 
 with one from Hadrian I. to Charlemagne, from which it appears 
 that this loss arose out of the iconoclastic controversy. 
 
 At the date of Charlemagne’s era all the Western churches, 
 including the Lombard, recognised the pope as their spiritual 
 chief. When the Frankish Empire was prostrated, the German 
 Empire acquired undisputed ascendancy. But disputes again arose, 
 and gave rise to the celebrated factions of the Guelphs and Ghibel- 
 lines, the former espousing the cause of the popedom, the latter 
 upholding the pretensions of the empire. This state of things is 
 clearly shown in a brief compass by Ranke. 
 
 “ The popedom,” says that historian, “ was bound to the German 
 emperors by the strictest ties, as it had been to the Roman emperors, 
 and to the successors of Charlemagne. True, indeed, the popes 
 had exercised acts of sovereign authority over the imperial sceptre 
 before it passed definitively to the Germans, and while it was yet in 
 weak and wavering hands. But when the vigorous princes of 
 Germany had achieved the conquest of that dignity, they became, if 
 not admittedly, at least in fact, what the Carlovingian race had 
 been, the liege lords of the popedom. Otho the Great shielded with 
 a powerful hand the pope whom he had seated on the pontifical 
 chair ; his sons followed his example. The fact that the Roman 
 factions did once make head, and seize on or resign that dignity as 
 their family interests fluctuated, and purchase or traffic it away, did 
 but more clearly indicate the necessity of some higher intervention. 
 It was well known how vigorously this was executed by Henry III. 
 His synod at Sutri deposed the intruders upon the popedom. No 
 sooner had he put the patrician ring on his finger, and received the 
 imperial crown, than he declared of his own good pleasure the indi- 
 vidual who was to mount the Papal Chair. Four successive German 
 popes were nominated by him. Upon the occasion of a vacancy in 
 the highest station of the church, the delegates from Rome presented 
 themselves at the imperial court, exactly as the envoys from other 
 bishoprics, to receive the announcement of a succession to the 
 dignity. In this position of things, it was VP matter of personal 
 interest to the emperor that the papacy should wear an imposing 
 aspect in the eyes of the world. Henry III. promoted the reforma- 
 tion, which was undertaken by the popes appointed by himself ; the 
 augmentation of their power in no wise moved him to jealousy. 
 That Leo IX. held a synod at Rheims in defiance of the king of 
 France, instituted and deposed French bishops, and received the 
 solemn admission of the principle that the pope is the sole primate 
 of the universal church, might perfectly suit the emperor’s purpose, 
 so long as he himself had the disposal of the popedom. All this 
 contributed to uphold that paramount majesty which he claimed 
 over all Europe. What the archbishop of Bremen effected for him 
 in the north, the pope obtained for him amongst the other powers 
 
 of Christendom The pope was now confessedly a spiritual 
 
 prince, and also exercised considerable political influence. Under 
 a feeble line of German sovereigns, and a vigorous succession of 
 bold pontiffs, the spiritual authority might have become wholly 
 independent; this was the danger to be apprehended, and it hap- 
 pened. Gregory VII. caused a resolution to be passed in one of his 
 ecclesiastical assemblies to this effect : — That in the future no 
 spiritual appointment should ever be disposed of by a secular 
 patron. This was of a nature to overthrow the constitution of 
 the empire in its very essence. It took place during the minority 
 of Henry IV., when the empire was convulsed. The pope insisted 
 that Germany was an electoral empire, which pleased the princely 
 electors ; and, as the doctrine suited their political ambition, they 
 connived at Gregory casting off the imperial yoke.” 
 
 The popes, however, did not consolidate their independence till 
 after protracted and desperate struggles, in which many of them 
 were outraged and some slain. During the wars of the middle ages 
 between the Church and the empire, Rome itself was the scene of 
 many combats, which pi-oved more destructive to the city and the 
 ancient monuments than all the earlier incursions of the barbarians. 
 However, when the papal authority became firmly established, new 
 buildings arose; and the arts of construction were stimulated by a 
 discovery of the writings of Vitruvius. Pope Nicholas V., elected 
 in 1447, was one of the most zealous of the renovators ; but he pro- 
 secuted his plans by despoiling old edifices. Sixtus IV., in 1480, 
 proposed almost a total reconstruction of the city ; and this date has 
 
 been fixed upon as the epoch of the final destruction of every 
 portion of the old city which might have been confounded with the 
 Rome of the middle ages. 
 
 The word “ Renaissance ” is a compendious term, denoting the 
 new birth or revival of the efforts of human intellect in literature, 
 art, and science. It is a point of departure in the career of civili- 
 sation, though it is impossible to fix definitely the exact period when 
 the onward movement commenced. Nor is it true that all the lights 
 of knowledge were extinguished in the downfall of the Western 
 Empire. The south of Italy was never sunk so low in barbarism 
 as the north. At Naples, for example, the refinements imparted 
 by Greece were never wholly effaced ; and Grecian vases and medals 
 were always before the eyes of Neapolitan artists.- At Sienna, 
 according to Theodore Ducas, painters exercised their art in the 
 twelfth century. That traveller mentions a picture of Guido, a 
 Siennese, in the Church of St. Dominico, dated in the year 1221 ; 
 and refers to Simon Memmi of Sienna, who flourished at the close 
 of the thirteenth and first half of the fourteenth century, who 
 painted Petrarch and Laura, and is celebrated by that amatory poet 
 in two sonnets. At Bologna the study of the Roman laws had 
 never been suspended; and it is a popular error to suppose that a 
 discovery of the Pandects, at the capture of Amalfi by the Pisans, 
 in the year 1137, revived the study of Roman jurisprudence, for it 
 had never been forgotten. “Prior to that date,” observes Ducas, 
 “Irnerius, a German by birth, but a Constantinopolitan by educa- 
 tion, read at Bologna lectures on the Pandects ; and, contemporary 
 with him was Gratian, who, in the same city, reduced the canon 
 law into method. At Bologna the influence of Roman intellect 
 was never effaced.” 
 
 Even in the tenth century, the instructions and writings of the 
 Arabian doctors and philosophers were sensibly felt in those parts 
 of Spain and Italy where they had founded schools. The Arabians 
 derived a knowledge of physic from the Greeks, and they prosecuted 
 the study of it with ardour, if not always with judgment. It is 
 certain that we owe to them most of our spices and aromatics — as 
 nutmegs, cloves, and mace. Most of the gentler purgatives were 
 unknown to the Greeks, and first introduced by the Arabs — as 
 manna, senna, rhubarb, tamarinds, and cassia; and it is generally 
 admitted that the Arabian physicians were the first who discovered 
 the nature of the smallpox and the measles. Beneventum and 
 Sicily were so often occupied by the Saracens, that oriental literature 
 and customs insensibly blended themselves with the Italian mind. 
 A college of medicine arose at Salernum, for which the Emperor 
 Frederick II. formed several regulations, which became the model 
 of several similar institutions established in other countries. Theo- 
 dore Ducas has given an interesting account of some of the rules. 
 As the practice of physic was considered a part of Christian charity, 
 medical practitioners were forbidden to take fees from the poor. 
 They were obliged to visit their patients twice a day, if they lived 
 within the walls of the physician’s town. The sick man might 
 disturb his doctor once in the night ; and all the three visits were 
 to be compensated by a fee of twenty pence. Physicians were not 
 allowed to keep a shop, or to agree with an apothecary for the price 
 of medicines. Dniggists were obliged to have attestations of merit 
 from the faculty, and to swear that they would prepare medicines 
 according to the Pharmacopoeia of the Salernitan school. The price 
 of medicines was also regulated. The apothecary and druggist of 
 every town were under the inspection of superiors appointed by the 
 Salernitan College. That college stood high in name during four 
 centuries ; but, finally, its fame was eclipsed by those of Paris and 
 Bologna. Frederick II. of Sicily, who thus promoted medicine 
 at Salernum, became emperor in 1218, and was an early promoter 
 of literature and science, and may be considered one of the most 
 enlightened pioneers of the revival. 
 
 The zeal of the Roman emperors for the Christian religion was 
 measured by their persecution of the pagan philosophy. We have 
 seen that they destroyed the statues and temples of heathenism. 
 Ignorant and vindictive monks wreaked their vengeance on the 
 books that contained the old mythology. Libraries were despoiled 
 or burnt. In the year 529, Justinian closed the schools of Athens, 
 where Plato and Aristotle were taught. The successors of Justinian 
 destroyed the literary institution of Edessa, because that university 
 of the eastern parts of the empire had received some heretical cor- 
 ruptions. Even the historical writings and the lyrical poetry of 
 the ancients perished by the mandate of monkish authority; and 
 the laity were commanded to read the “ divine poems” of St. Gregory 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 67 
 
 Nazianzen, instead of the amatory effusions of the Grecian muse. A 
 council, held at Carthage, forbade bishops from reading classical 
 authors; and, observes Ducas, Jerome, whose authority was not 
 inferior to that of any council, censured the young clergy for 
 studying comedies and Virgil, to the neglect of the prophets and 
 evangelists. Orthodox education consisted in reading the church 
 service and singing the church music. The ancient hymns are 
 traced to the fourth century, and were probably imitated from the 
 temple-worship of the heathens. The fathers paid great attention 
 to the culture of church music ; and a prescribed form of singing 
 is believed to have been first organised at Antioch, for in that 
 city is recorded the earliest establishment of monks devoted to the 
 practice of perpetual psalmody, in imitation of the perpetual sacred 
 fires of antiquity. According to Ducas, Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, 
 in the fourth century, borrowed his melodies from Antioch, and 
 introduced them into his episcopal city, which was the first place 
 in the West wherein psalms and hymns were sung after the 
 oriental form. The service performed in this manner was known 
 by the name of the “ Ambrosian Chant.” Gregory the Great, two 
 hundred and thirty years after the time of Ambrose, reformed the 
 chant. In the seventh century the first organ ever known was set 
 up at Rome. Pope Vitalian will always be remembered as the 
 pontiff who effected this great improvement in church music. The 
 instrument was blown by bellows, and played with keys, and was 
 much more serviceable than the hydraulicon, or water-engine. 
 Both instruments were of Grecian origin. The wind organ had 
 been used in the churches of Constantinople so early as the days of 
 J ulian the Apostate. The first ever known in France was presented 
 by the Emperor Constantine Copronymus VI. to King Pepin.* 
 
 In this dark — but not wholly dark — epoch, which preceded the 
 Renaissance, or Revival, in the enlarged and just sense of the term, 
 we have already alluded to the practice of medicine. In fact, the 
 healing art, in some form or other, must always have been, as it 
 must always continue to be, a necessity ; and, in the most ignorant 
 age, its rudiments can never have been lost or overlooked. In the 
 decline and fall of the Western Empire, the monks were the surgeons 
 and physicians ; and they considered it a part of their sacerdotal 
 duty to cure the sick, although they were unversed in the science 
 of medicine or anatomy. Prayers, the relics of saints and martyrs, 
 processions, holy water, and holy oil, were the remedies on which 
 they chiefly relied ; and they invoked the saints to cicatrize wounds 
 and reduce fractures. Astrology was a component of their pharma- 
 copoeia, or an appendix to it ; and the stars and planets were con- 
 sulted before the curative herbs were prescribed. On this supersti- 
 tious system the wiser Arabians largely innovated, for they had made 
 some progress in botany and chemistry. Surgery was in the lowest 
 condition, as a mistaken respect for the dead repudiated dissection, 
 and even deemed it an act of impiety ; hence there was no anato- 
 mical knowledge. This prejudice, however, was at length overcome. 
 In the year 1315, Mondini di Lazzi, professor of medicine at Bologna, 
 publicly dissected two human subjects, and wrote a description of 
 the operation. He is the restorer of anatomy, which the sculptors 
 and painters minutely studied at a later date ; and he deserves to 
 be honoured as one of the pioneers of the civilising movement. 
 Surgical knowledge having now advanced, the clergy were for- 
 bidden to visit hospitals in a medical capacity ; but a papal decree 
 impaired the utility of this wise enactment of the Council of Vienna, 
 held in 1312, as it ordered that no practitioner should visit a patient 
 twice without sending for a priest to take care of the salvation of 
 the patient’s soul. If a patient died under a surgical operation, the 
 surgeon was subjected to heavy penalties, so that in difficult cases 
 few dared to use the knife, or venture beyond the application of 
 plaisters and unguents; thus an anxiety for the soul, most laudable 
 in itself, frequently killed the body. 
 
 In the middle ages books were extremely rare. In the seventh 
 century many provinces did not possess a single volume. Denina, 
 Professor of Literature and the Belles-Lettres at the Royal College 
 of Turin, has recorded some curious facts on this subject. He says 
 that the library of the pope was insufficient for the personal study 
 of the pontiff. St. Amand, Bishop of Maestricht, wrote to Pope 
 Martin to lend him some for his edification. Lupus, Abbot of 
 Ferieres, in Gatinois, requested Pope Benedict II. to lend him 
 Cicero’s treatise, De Oratore, and one of the volumes of Quintilian, 
 for which purpose he sent two of his monks to Rome. Books were 
 
 * Travels of Theodore Ducas. 
 
 so scarce in Spain in the time of Gennadius of Astorga, that Denina, 
 quoting Fleury for his authority, asserts, that in the commencement 
 of the tenth century several monasteries established among them- 
 selves what would be called a “ Book Society,” borrowing from and 
 lending to each other : and he mentions among others the Bible, 
 the Reflections of St. Gregory on Job, and the Letters of St. Jerome. 
 At length an ardent desire arose among a few enlightened men to 
 ascertain the literary contents of the cloister, and save the remnants 
 of ancient learning from destruction. In this effort the zeal of the 
 celebrated Boccacio was conspicuous. He collected, with the 
 greatest care, several Greek and Latin manuscripts, and copied 
 such as he could not purchase. In a journey to Mount Cassius, 
 generally considered to be rich in manuscripts, he was surprised 
 and grieved to find the library exiled from the monastery into an 
 adjoining barn, which was accessible only by a ladder. In many 
 books he opened the writing had been effaced by damp. The monks 
 told him that it was their practice to erase an ancient writing, and 
 compose on it psalters and legends, which they sold to women when 
 they wanted money. The monkish practice of erasure was caused 
 bv the excessive scarcity of writing materials. The fabrication of 
 parchment greatly declined after the conquest of that country by 
 the Saracens ; and it was not till the fourteenth century that the 
 Arabic art of making paper out of linen was generally cultivated in 
 Europe. After the twelfth century, however, the treasures of 
 antiquity were no longer confined to the treacherous custody of the 
 monks, who, about that period, ceased to be the librarians of 
 Europe. Manuscripts were thenceforth copied in universities, and 
 their transcription became a regular department of trade. Printing 
 belongs to a later date in the progress of the revival of learning and 
 art. 
 
 In respect to painting, sculpture, and architecture, the Renais- 
 sance is usually divided into three periods. The first is the prepa- 
 ratory epoch, or thirteenth and fourteenth centuries— the age of 
 Cimabue and Giotto, as artists ; of Nicolo, Giovanni, and Andrea 
 Pisano, as sculptors ; of Arnolfo di Lupo and Andrea Orgagna, as 
 architects. Of these, however, some practised the three departments 
 of art, as did others, their contemporaries. During this epoch the 
 earliest attempts were made not only to revive the antique style, but 
 also to imitate nature; and, if the works then executed were 
 imperfect, they nevertheless furnished models to which a later 
 school adhered and greatly improved. The next epoch is that of 
 the fifteenth century, in which very considerable progress was 
 made. Among its celebrities, as painters, were Paolo Uccello, 
 Massacio, and Dominico Ghirlandajo; as sculptors, Jacopo della 
 Quercia, Luca della Robbia, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Donatello ; as 
 architects, Brunelleschi, Michelozzi, and Leon Batista Alberti. The 
 third period, in which art was carried to perfection, is illustrated 
 by the names of Leonardi da Vinci, Raffaello d’Urbino, and Michael 
 Angelo. 
 
 In treating of the Renaissance Court in the Crystal Palace, we 
 must confine our remarks to the two first of these epochs ; the third 
 belongs to the Italian Court. We propose to give some biographical 
 sketches of the painters, sculptors, and architects of the two first 
 periods, pointing out the successive improvements they effected, 
 and describing the specimens of their age now exhibited in the 
 palace at Sydenham. Before entering into details, it is proper to 
 observe that after the downfall of the Western Empire the division 
 of Italy into many independent principalities was highly favourable 
 to the nourishment and expansion of Italian intellect. An active 
 competition for fame arose, and every city had a Mcecenas sovereign 
 —generous rivals in the restoration of literature and art. Hence 
 were established the famous schools of Rome. Florence, Milan, Pisa, 
 Bologna, Parma, Ferrara, Mantua, and Venice. 
 
 Cimabue, a native of Florence, born fn the year 1240, and who 
 lived till the year 1302, is considered the restorer of painting, so 
 that his name creates an epoch in art. He studied under the Greek 
 teachers of his day, whose works were rude, full of hard lines and 
 sharp angles. This bad style he discarded, and proved himself an 
 original genius in his fresco-paintings at the Hospital of the Por- 
 cellana, at Florence, where all the figures were of the size of life, 
 and happy imitations of nature. The draperies and other accessories 
 were free and flexible — a marked deviation from the rigidity that 
 prevailed before Cimabue’s time. For dry formality he substi- 
 tuted life and movement, and had the merit of striking into a new 
 path. He was the pioneer of pictorial improvement, and this 
 constitutes his glory. — Giotto, the son of a peasant, was born within 
 
68 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 the territory of Florence in the year 1276, and died in 1336. When | 
 a lad, he tended sheep. Cimabue observed him, when engaged in 
 this occupation, drawing on a stone the figures of those animals, 
 and was so struck with the rude efforts of his untaught genius, that 
 he took the boy to his house, and became his instructor. Under 
 such tuition he rapidly improved. Giotto diligently studied the 
 antique, and is considered the father of the graceful style of 
 painting. Vasari calls him the disciple of nature rather than of 
 other masters. The same writer describes his thirty-two frescoes 
 of the life and acts of St. Francis as worthy of all praise, both in 
 design and execution. As an example of his fine imagination, 
 special attention is drawn to the third compartment of that histo- 
 rical and allegorical work which exhibits “ Poverty walking bare- 
 foot among thorns ; a dog follows her barking, and a boy throws 
 stones at her, while a second gathers the thorns about her, and 
 presses them against her legs with a stick. This Poverty is here 
 seen to be espoused by St. Francis, while Christ is holding her hand ; 
 and Hope, not without significance, is present, together with 
 Charity.” Another of his great works was the History of Job, in 
 six frescoes, painted on the walls of the Campo Santo of Pisa ; and 
 he is associated with the greatest poet of modern Italy, having 
 painted the portrait of Dante. Michael Angelo highly valued the 
 painting of the Death of the Virgin, observing that nothing could 
 approach more nearly to life, and such praise from such a judge is 
 the highest that can be bestowed. Giotto also worked in mosaic. 
 
 In this style is the picture known as the “ Navicella,” describing the 
 Apostles navigating their boat through a tempestuous sea, which 
 Vasari highly extols, declaring that “ the spectator could almost 
 believe himself to be looking at a real sail,” though it was made of 
 glass. In mosaic, Giotto had been preceded by Andrea Tafi and 
 Gaddo Gaddi ; but he improved greatly on the productions of those 
 masters. 
 
 Margaritone of Arezzo, who belongs to this earliest epoch, made 
 some mechanical improvements in the preparation of wood for 
 painting, which deserves a passing notice as one of the movements 
 then progi'essing. “ It was his custom,” says Vasari, “ to cover the 
 whole surface with canvas, which he secured by means of a strong 
 glue, made from the boiled shreds of parchment; over this canvas 
 he next applied a layer of gypsum, as may be seen in his pictures, 
 as well as in those of others ; on the gypsum, which was mixed 
 with the glue above described, he thus formed diadems and other 
 works in relief. He was also the inventor of grounding in bol- 
 armoniac, whereon he laid leaf-gold, which he discovered the means 
 of fixing and burnishing.” Margaritone was an architect as well 
 as a painter, having given designs for the palace of the governors 
 of Ancona, in the year 1270. — Stefano Fiorentino was a pupil of 
 Giotto, and surpassed his master. He corrected former errors in 
 perspective, and greatly improved that branch of art. He was 
 the first to pay a careful attention to foreshortening, possessed 
 very happy powers of invention, and excelled in harmonious 
 colouring. 
 
 The earliest architect of this epoch was Arnolfo di Lupo, who 
 was born in 1232, and died in 1310. He effected for architecture 
 what Cimabue had done for painting. He erected the Church of 
 Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence, on which, at a later date, 
 Brunelleschi piled up his celebrated cupola ; and as it perfectly 
 well supported that enormous weight, which Arnolfo never had 
 supposed would have been placed upon it, this fact shows the 
 judgment with which the foundations of the original building 
 were constructed. It may be interesting to transcribe the measure- 
 ments of this noble fabric as given by Vasari, considering it to be 
 one of the earliest efforts of the Renaissance period. Its length 
 from the door to the chapel of San Zenobio is 260 braccia, and the 
 breadth across the transepts 166, that of the nave and side aisles 
 66 ; the height of the central nave is 72 braccia, that of the side 
 aisles 48 ; the external circumference 1280 braccia ; the height of 
 the cupola, from the pavement to the base of the lantern, 154 
 braccia ; the lantern is 36 braccia high, exclusive of the ball, which 
 is 4 braccia, and the cross 8, making the whole height of the 
 cupola, from the ground to the top of the cross, 202 braccia. The 
 braccia of Florence is 1 foot 11 inches English measure. 
 
 Niccola and Giovanni Pisano, natives of Pisa, were both sculptors 
 and architects. The former was born somewhere between 1205 
 and 1207, and died in 1278; the date of the birth of the latter is 
 not fixed, but his death took place in 1320. Pisa was one of the 
 earliest of the Italian republics that achieved commercial greatness, 
 
 and their fleets had brought from Greece many marbles, statues, 
 and sarcophagi, executed by the ancient masters. Pisa founded its 
 great church in the year 1016. It was built by Buschetti, generally 
 supposed to be a Greek of Dulichium. In its construction he used 
 some of the fragments of the old Grecian architecture which had 
 been brought home by the Pisan navigators, which he ingeniously 
 united with other materials. In 1063, the spoils which the Pisans 
 brought from Sicily enabled them to add to the magnificence of 
 their* cathedral. They deposited in the bell-tower various capitals 
 and fragments, which they brought from Greece and Sicily. Among 
 these was an admirable sculpture of Meleager and the Calydonian 
 Boar. These fine models Niccola diligently studied, and thus 
 improved his taste and judgment. His most admired architectural 
 work was the Campanile of San Niccola, at Pisa, celebrated for its 
 spiral staircase, which Vasari informs us was afterwards imitated 
 by Bramante in Rome, in the Belvedere of Julius II., and by 
 Antonio di San Gallo, at Ovietto, for Pope Clement VII. Niccola 
 worked in many towns of Italy, in all of which he left proofs of 
 his genius. On the basement in the west front of the Cathedral 
 of Ovietto there is a series of bas-reliefs, the work of Niccola 
 Pisano and his school, representing subjects of the Old and New 
 Testaments, from the Creation to the Last Judgment, with separate 
 figures of the prophets. The different subjects are contained 
 in a running foliage, making the most rich and beautiful deco- 
 ration to the four basements formed by the three doors in that 
 part of the church. The figures are each about twenty-two inches 
 high, very carefully finished in statuary marble. There is in 
 many of them a beautiful simplicity of sentiment ; and in those of 
 the Last Judgment, and in the other bas-reliefs that immediately 
 relate to it, there are various striking instances of passion and 
 
 terror. . , 
 
 Giovanni or John Pisano surpassed his father, and executed 
 many figures in ivory. He deviated from his predecessors’ rigid 
 imitation of antiquity, in giving a more waving line to his figures, 
 and broader and less determined folds to his draperies, like the 
 paintings and designs of Giotto. There is a general grace and 
 delicacy in the character of his figures, of which the bronze 
 statues of a Madonna and Angels in the cathedrals of Ovietto and 
 Florence are examples ; and there is so strong a resemblance 
 between the styles of these statues and those of Queen Eleanor at 
 Northampton and Waltham, on her crosses, as affords reason to 
 believe they were produced by one of John Pisano s ablest scholars, 
 if not from some statue or model by himself, nor is it here that 
 the resemblance ceases — for this style is to be traced in most of 
 the sculptures of Europe, from this time to the reign of Henry VII. 
 Among his pupils were Agostino and Agnolo of Siena, who improved 
 on his style, and were highly recommended by the painter Giotto to 
 the patrons of art. They were skilled in civil engineering, and 
 extended their fame by confining the Po to its bed, after that river 
 had broken its banks and caused a fearful inundation a work at 
 that time highly esteemed. They had many eminent pupils, who 
 powerfully aided the progress of art. In this group may be classed 
 Andrea Pisano, who brought an accurate taste and a fine judgment 
 to bear on the study of the relics of antiquity collected in the 
 Campo Santo of Pisa. He executed many sculptures for the 
 Church of Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence i among otherB a 
 statue of Pope Boniface VIII., in marble, and the statues of 
 St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Stephen, 
 and St. Lawrence ; he completed one of the doors of the Church 
 of San Giovanni, at Florence, after a design prepared by Giotto. 
 It was of bronze, and recorded the life of St. John the Baptist, 
 in which Andrea was assisted by his son Nino. This work afforded 
 some hints to Lorenzo Ghiberti, who, at a later date, executed the 
 magnificent door represented in the Crystal Palace. Nino Pisano 
 achieved great fame by a whole-length figure of the Virgin offering 
 a rose to her son, which is full of grace and tenderness. “ The 
 whole work is so beautiful,” says Vasari, “ that one may truly affirm 
 that Nino has deprived the stone of its hardness, and imparted to 
 it the lustre, polish, and vitality of flesh.” Andrea Pisano died in 
 the year 1345. Andrea Orgagna was one of his celebrated pupils, 
 who displayed his talents in the threefold character of painter, 
 sculptor, and architect. 
 
 We need not extend this list of some of the principal masters 
 who flourished in the earlier or preparatory period of the Re- 
 naissance epoch. Beyond doubt they were surpassed by their 
 successors, but they had the high merit of returning to the antique 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 G9 
 
 style, and also of studying in the school of nature. It is a captious, 
 a shallow, and an unworthy criticism, which dwells on faults that 
 belong rather to the age in which they lived than to the masters 
 themselves ; they were men of creative minds, and depended mainly 
 on their own mental resources. 
 
 In the second period of the Renaissance — that is, in the fifteenth 
 century — the first name of authority that presents itself in the 
 order of time is that of Jacopo della Quercia, who was born in 1374, 
 and died in 1438. He was a sculptor of Siena, and is celebrated 
 for the invention of a new style of modelling in that art. When 
 only nineteen years of 
 age he was commis- 
 sioned to execute an 
 equestrian statue of a 
 Sienese general. Ac- 
 cording to Vasari, he 
 formed the body and 
 skeleton of the horse 
 from pieces of wood 
 and small planks, 
 which were after- 
 wards swathed and 
 wrapped with hay, 
 tow, and hemp, being 
 well bound and se- 
 cured with ropes. 
 
 The whole was then 
 covered with clay 
 mixed with a cement 
 formed of paste, glue, 
 and the shearings of 
 woollen cloth. By 
 this process the ap- 
 pearance of massive- 
 ness and solidity was 
 gained, but when the 
 materials were dried, 
 they were very light, 
 and being whitened, 
 had the appearance of 
 marble. The advan- 
 tage of models of this 
 description over those 
 formed of mere clay 
 consisted in their se- 
 curity against crack- 
 ing; and as a me- 
 chanical contrivance, 
 this improvement de- 
 serves to be here 
 mentioned. The ear- 
 liest works of this 
 sculptor were exe- 
 cuted for the cities of 
 Siena and Lucca ; and 
 he may be considered 
 the leading master of 
 the second period of 
 the Renaissance, as 
 with him the improve- 
 ment on the first 
 period commenced. 
 
 Among his finest pro- 
 ductions were two ta- 
 bles carved out of the 
 wood of the lime-tree, on which, with the most delicate minuteness 
 and fidelity, he represented the hair and beards of the figures repre- 
 sented on them, and they were deemed marvels of skill. They were 
 placed in the Cathedral of Siena. In the same city he executed the 
 fountain of the Piazza, and, on account of the excessive beauty of the 
 decorations, his fellow-citizens called him Jacopo della Fonte. At 
 Bologna he executed the marble door of the Church of San Petronio, 
 which occupied him during twelve years, the whole of the foliage 
 being the work of his own hands. The altar tomb of Flavia di 
 Caretto, wife of Paolo Guinigi, Lord of Lucca, a copy of which is 
 in the Crystal Palace, was executed by Jacopo della Quercia. The 
 
 figures of the boys in marble at the basement, suppox’ting a garland, 
 are praised by Vasari as seeming to be rather of flesh than of stone. 
 On the sarcophagus was the figure of the lady buried within, and 
 at her feet is a dog in full relief — the dog being the ancient emblem 
 of fidelity ; and it was placed on her tomb as the symbol of her 
 attachment to her husband. 
 
 Luca della Robbia, of Florence, was born in 1440, and died in 
 1481. He commenced his artistic career by learning the art of a 
 goldsmith, which he soon abandoned for the study of sculpture, 
 working in bronze and marble. His profits from this pursuit do 
 
 not appear to have 
 been commensurate 
 with, his wishes, and 
 seeking to discover 
 more economical ma- 
 terials, he revived the 
 art of glazing terra- 
 cotta, which was 
 known to the an- 
 cients ; but the prac- 
 tice of it was so far 
 abandoned, and the 
 knowledge of it so 
 very imperfect, that 
 Luca deserves to be 
 called among the 
 moderns, not only the 
 restorer but the in- 
 ventor of this beauti- 
 ful department of Art. 
 We learn from his 
 biographer that after 
 many experiments 
 “ he covered his clay 
 figures with a coating 
 of glaze, formed from 
 the mixture of tin, 
 litharge, antimony, 
 and other minerals, 
 prepared by fire in 
 a furnace, and per- 
 fectly succeeded.” 
 By this new process 
 he acquired great 
 wealth, receiving so 
 many orders that his 
 works were not only 
 scattered over Italy, 
 but extensively de- 
 manded in France 
 and Spain. Of this 
 artist’s productions 
 the Crystal Palace 
 contains a specimen 
 in alto-relievo of the 
 choristers singing, in 
 different attitudes, in 
 the cathedral at Flo- 
 rence, remarkable for 
 the skill with which 
 the inflation of the 
 throats of the perfor- 
 mers is represented. 
 
 , Florence. Filippo Brunelle- 
 
 selii, born in 1377, 
 and who died in 1446, may be regarded as the reviver of ancient 
 architecture. Originally a goldsmith and watchmaker, he afterwards 
 studied sculpture under Donato, — more generally named Donatello, 
 — and was the first among the modex-ns who classified the five orders 
 of the ancients, and devoted himself earnestly to studying the anti- 
 quities of Rome. The work by which he is immortalised, is the cupola 
 of the cathedral or church of Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence, 
 which structure was raised, in 1298, by Arnolfo di Lupo, as already 
 narrated. This cupola was octagonal, and greatly admired by 
 Michael Angelo. “Its ai'chitecture,” says Theodore Ducas, “ is rather 
 Roman than Gx-ecian or Gothic. It has arches, which the Grecian 
 
 T 
 
70 
 
 the crystal palace expositor. 
 
 style had not ; and it has none of the fretted roofs and spiral form 
 that distinguish the Gothic. It is a building of simple, unosten- 
 tatious strength ; and it would have an appearance of perfect 
 grandeur, were the form of the dome circular and not octagonal.” 
 It exceeds the cupola of the Vatican, both in height and circum- 
 ference, by four braccia; and although supported by eight ribs 
 only, which render it much lighter than that of the Vatican, which 
 has sixteen flanking buttresses, it is nevertheless more solid and 
 firm. Thus it has never required to be supported by circling hoops 
 of iron, nor has it demanded the labour of the many engineers who 
 have printed volumes of controversies on the subject.* Vasari says 
 of Brunelleschi that he had so completely mastered the science of 
 architecture, that he became capable of entirely reconstructing 
 the city in his imagination, and of beholding Home as she had 
 been before she was ruined. Cosmo di Medici, the generous and 
 enlightened patron of Brunelleschi, in a letter addressed by him to 
 Pope Eugenius IV., speaking of the merits of this extraordinary 
 architect, °said—“ Holy father, I send you a person whose genius is 
 so great that if Providence were to give him a chaos to arrange, 
 he would execute the task.” The skill displayed in this mag- 
 nificent cupola was commemorated in the following inscription : 
 
 “ Tal sopra sasso sasso 
 Di giro in giro eternamente io strussi 
 
 Che cosi, passo passo 
 Alto girando, al ciel mi ricondussi.” 
 
 As stone on stone I raised, as course on course 
 
 For evermore T piled; so tend my steps, 
 
 Pace following pace, to my blest home in heaven. 
 
 Lorenzo Ghiberti was born in 1381, and died in 1455; and, in 
 common with most of the great masters of his age, passed his early 
 youth in acquiring the art of the goldsmith. He sculptured in 
 bronze, gold, and silver. The two brazen gates he executed in the 
 baptistry of St. John’s, at Florence, are prodigies of genius, and have 
 never been surpassed. The one represents the history of the Old 
 Testament ; the other, the principal acts of our Saviour’s life. 
 Besides the beauty of the historical subjects in the panels, the 
 architraves and friezes of those gates are of exquisite design, con- 
 taining flowers, fruits, plants, and animals, so perfect that they 
 seem to have been cast from nature. Ghiberti had the soul of a 
 poet ; and, in vividness of imagination, refined taste, and unerring 
 judgment, these masterpieces of sculpture may fairly challenge 
 comparison with the Homeric shield of Achilles. When the Floren- 
 tine authorities and the guild of merchants determined on con- 
 structing the two gates, which were to be similar to those which 
 Andrea Pisano had executed for the first door, all the artists in 
 Italy were publicly invited to the competition, and many foreign 
 artists presented themselves to the syndics of the guild. Seven 
 were selected — three Florentines and four Tuscans; each received a 
 sum of money in advance, and was required, within a year, to 
 produce a model in bronze as a specimen of his skill, all to be of the 
 same size, which was that of one of the compartments in the first 
 door. The subject chosen was the sacrifice of Isaac by his father 
 Abraham. “ This story,” says Vasari, “ comprised landscape, with 
 human figures, nude and clothed, as well as those of animals ; the 
 foremost of these figures was to be in full-relief, the second in half- 
 relief, and the third in half-relief.” The competitors with Ghiberti 
 were the most eminent masters of the day : they were Filippo Brunel- 
 leschi, Donatello, and Lorenzo di Bartoluccio, who were Florentines ; 
 with Jacopo della Quercia, of Siena, Nicolo d’Arrezzo, his disciple, 
 Francesco di Valdambrina, and Simone di Colle, called Simon of the 
 Bronzes. The model of Ghiberti was selected ; and to the honour 
 of Brunelleschi and Donatello, both those eminent masters confessed 
 themselves fairly vanquished in the contest. They declared that 
 envy alone could deprive him of the preference. His biographer 
 says of this model— “ The whole work was admirably designed, and 
 very finely composed ; the figures graceful, elegant, and in beautiful 
 attitudes ; and all was finished with so much care, and to such per- 
 fection, that the work seemed not to have been cast and polished 
 with instruments of iron, but looked rather as though they had been 
 blown with the breath.” In the Crystal Palace is a copy of the 
 gatef which records the Old Testament narrative, and without 
 affirming that it is the finest specimen contained within its walls, 
 it may with truth be said that this object alone will amply repay a 
 
 visit to Sydenham. Any abridged description of this marvel of 
 genius would be mutilation ; we shall therefore transfer to our 
 pages the criticism of Vasari, who has delineated the whole with 
 the enthusiasm of an artist. 
 
 “ The folds of this door are adorned with stories from the Old 
 T- ;tament. The first presents the creation of Adam, and Eve, his 
 wife, whose figures exhibit the perfection of beauty ; and here we 
 perceive that Lorenzo has had it at heart to give them the most 
 exquisite forms that he could devise, intending to show that as our 
 first parents came from the hand of God, the most beautiful of all 
 the creatures that had been made, so in his work they were designed 
 to surpass all the others that he had ever produced in any of his 
 works — without doubt a most worthy consideration. In the same 
 picture are seen our first parents eating the apple, and also at the 
 j moment when they are driven out of Paradise : and here the atti- 
 tudes of the figures express the first effects of their sin — they are 
 made aware of their nakedness, which they seek to conceal. We 
 finally see them receive their punishment, being compelled by the 
 angel to depart from Paradise. 
 
 “ In the second compartment are Adam and Eve, with their two 
 little children, Cain and Abel. These last are also shown when 
 Abel is offering the best of his flock in sacrifice, while Cain presents 
 the less worthy oblation. The expression of the latter displays his 
 envy of his brother — that of Abel makes manifest the love he bears 
 to God. One part of this picture is of singular beauty, it exhibits 
 Cain ploughing the earth with a pair of oxen, whose labour, and 
 the efforts they make beneath the yoke, are so admirably exhibited 
 that they seem alive, and in positive motion. The same may be 
 said of the figure of Abel, who is keeping his flocks : he is then 
 slain by his brother, and here the movements of Cain are full of 
 violence, his expression is that of pitiless cruelty, as he strikes his 
 brother with his club, while the bronze itself has been made to 
 exhibit the languor of death in the most beautiful form of Abel. 
 In the distance, moreover, and executed in basso-relievo, is seen the 
 Almighty Father, demanding from Cain what he has done with his 
 brother. Each of the compartments comprise four stories. In the 
 third Lorenzo represents the patriarch Noah issuing from the ark 
 with his wife, his sons, his daughters, and the wives of his sons, 
 together with all the animals, those of the air as well as of the 
 earth : all these creatures are finished with such perfection of 
 excellence, each in its kind, that it is not possible for art more 
 i effectually to imitate nature. The open ark is seen in the extreme 
 distance, with the desolation caused by the Deluge ; this part is in 
 perspective, and in the lowest relief ( bassissimo-relievo), the whole 
 being treated with the utmost delicacy : the figures of Noah and 
 his sons could not possibly be more full of life, as they offer their 
 sacrifice to God, while the rainbow, the sign of peace between God 
 and Noah, is seen in the heavens. But much the most admirable 
 of all is the scene where Noah has planted the vine, and having 
 drunk of the fruit thereof has become inebriated, and is exposed to 
 the derision of Ham, his son. And of a truth no sleeping figure 
 could be more exactly imitated, the utter abandonment of the 
 intoxicated limbs is finely rendered, the love and consideration 
 exhibited by the other sons of Noah are equally well expressed, 
 and the attitudes of the latter are beautiful. The vine, the cask, 
 with all the requisites of the vintage, are moreover exhibited ; but 
 all are treated with so much judgment that they do not impede 
 the action of the story, but on the contrary, increase its force and 
 give it most appropriate ornament. For the fourth story of this 
 compartment Lorenzo has chosen the appearance of the three angels 
 in the valley of Mamre, and the intended sacrifice of Isaac. These 
 figures have a close resemblance to each other; the holy patriarch 
 is seen in the act of adoration before his celestial visitors, his hands 
 are folded, and the expression of his countenance is most life-like and 
 appropriate. The servants with the ass, who are represented as 
 awaiting Abraham at the foot of the mountain, whither he has 
 gone to make the sacrifice of his son, are equally excellent. Isaac 
 stands naked on the altar, while the father, with upraised arm, 
 is in the act of proving his obedience, when he is prevented by 
 the angel, who arrests his arm with one hand, while he points 
 with the other to the animal which he is to offer in sacrifice, and 
 thus delivers Isaac from death. This story is of a truth exceedingly 
 beautiful ; and among other matters worthy of observation, is the 
 great difference between the delicate limbs of Isaac and those of 
 the more robust servants, insomuch that there does not seem to 
 have been a touch given which had not been calculated with 
 
 * Note in Bohn’s Edition of Vasari, vol. i. p. 448. 
 + See Engraving, p. 69. 
 
the nicest exactitude and the most perfect knowledge of art. In the 
 difficult matter of representing the buildings, Lorenzo appears to 
 have surpassed himself in this work. The birth of Isaac’s sons. Esau 
 and Jacob, with the chase of the former, at the desire of his father, 
 form the subjects of the fifth story. Jacob, conducted by Rebecca, 
 is offering the prepared kid, the skin of which his mother has 
 wrapped around his throat, while Isaac stretches out his hands 
 towards him, and bestows the benediction : all these things are 
 admirably represented. There are, besides, many beautifhl dogs in 
 this picture; and the figures of Isaac, of Jacob, and of Rebecca, 
 exhibit precisely the effect produced in actual life. 
 
 “ Animated and exalted by the study of his art, its difficulties 
 became daily more familiar to the master, and presented less 
 formidable obstacles to his efforts, insomuch that he was constantly 
 emboldened to new enterprises. His sixth compartment represents 
 Joseph cast by his brethren into the well, and also his deliverance 
 therefrom by the merchants, by whom he is presented to Pharaoh ; 
 the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream is likewise exhibited, with 
 the precautions taken to provide for the years of famine, and the 
 honours rendered to Joseph by Pharaoh. Then follows the 
 patriarch Jacob dispatching his sons into Egypt for the purpose of 
 buying corn, where, being recognised by Joseph, he causes them to 
 return to their father. In this story, Lorenzo displayed his mastery 
 over the difficulties of perspective in a circular temple, which is 
 one of the objects ; there are, besides, various figures differently 
 occupied in loading corn and meal, with asses, which are also most 
 naturally represented. The feast given by Joseph to his brethren, 
 the concealment of the gold cup in the sack of Benjamin, its 
 discovery, with the return of the travellers to Joseph, who makes 
 himself known to and embraces his brethren — all ‘these things are 
 here shown ; and this story, for the varied passions and affections 
 portrayed in it, as well as for the many rich accessories, is con- 
 sidered to be the most remarkable, difficult, and beautiful of the 
 whole work. 
 
 “ But Lorenzo was, of a truth, endowed with so fine a genius, and 
 possessed so peculiar a grace in the execution of the figures here 
 described, that when his mind became occupied in the composition 
 of a beautiful story, he could not well do otherwise than produce 
 exquisite forms; and this we may infer from the seventh compart- 
 ment, which represents Mount Sinai, with Moses on the summit, 
 receiving the laws from God, and kneeling in adoration, with the 
 appropriate expression of reverence; midway up the mountain is 
 Joshua, who is awaiting the return of Moses, and the assembled 
 people are gathered at the foot of the Mount, terrified by the 
 thunders, lightnings, and earthquakes, and exhibiting an infinite 
 variety of attitude, all represented with the utmost truth and 
 nature. The master has also shown great love and diligence in the 
 eighth compartment, wherein he has portrayed Joshua proceeding 
 against Jericho, and causirtg the river Jordan to flow backwards. 
 He has here represented twelve tents, for the twelve tribes, all full 
 of highly animated figures ; and still more beautiful are some others, 
 in basso-relievo, who are proceeding with the ark around the walls 
 of the aforesaid city, when those walls are overthrown at the sound 
 of the trumpets, and Jericho is taken by the Hebrews. In this 
 picture the relief of the landscape is gradually lowered, so that 
 the distance is increased with great judgment, and the true 
 proportions of the first figures to the mountains, with those of the 
 mountains to the city, and of the city to the distant country, are 
 observed with infinite care — the degrees of relief being regulated 
 with the nicest judgment, and the whole work conducted to the 
 utmost perfection : the experience of the master, and his power in 
 his art, increasing from day to day. In the ninth picture he has 
 represented the giant Goliath, with David, in a proud yet child-like 
 attitude, who cuts off the Philistine’s head, when the army of God 
 destroys that of the pagan. Here the artist has represented horses, 
 chariots, and all the other accessories appertaining to war. In 
 another part is seen David returning with the head of Goliath in 
 his hand, and x’eceived by the people, who meet him with songs 
 and the sound of instruments, all portrayed with perfect truth, and 
 full of animation. There now remained for Lorenzo to put forth 
 all his strength for the tenth and last picture, where the Queen of 
 Sheba, with a splendid retinue, pays her visit to King Solomon. 
 Here there is a building drawn in perspective, and exceedingly fine, 
 with a variety of figures similar to those in the previous stories. 
 Nor less carefully and perfectly executed are the decorations of the 
 architraves, and the framework surrounding these doors, among 
 
 which are fruits and festoons of foliage finished with the accustomed 
 excellence of the master.” 
 
 In this work, whether taken in detail or considered as a whole, 
 we have proof of the wonders that may be accomplished by the 
 fertile invention and practised ability of the sculptor, whether in 
 full-relief, half- relief, or in the low and lowest relief; the effect he 
 may produce in the composition of his work by the disposition of 
 his figures, and by variety of attitude in male and female forms ; 
 the rich effects to be derived from the judicious introduction of 
 buildings, and due attention to the laws of perspective ; with 
 the grace that results from each according to their appropriate 
 expression to either sex, and to the different ages, as we see done 
 in this work, where in the old we admire gravity, and in the young 
 their beauty and graceful lightness. Wherefore it may be truly 
 affirmed that this gate is in all respects perfect, and is the most 
 admirable production that has ever been seen in the world, whether 
 ancient or modern. The justice of the praises bestowed on Lorenzo 
 may be inferred from the words of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, 
 who, standing to look at these doors, and being asked what he 
 thought of them, and whether they were beautiful, replied in 
 these words : — “ They are so beautiful, that they might fittingly 
 stand at the gates of Paradise ” — a truly appropriate tribute, and 
 offered by him who could well judge of the work. Well, indeed, 
 might Lorenzo complete his undertaking successfully, for he 
 laboured with a patience and industry more than extreme, and 
 beyond the power of words to express. 
 
 Ghiberti was only twenty years of age when he commenced the 
 first door, and on the two he expended forty years of labour. His 
 industry never wearied, for he executed many other works, all of 
 surpassing excellence in design, and most exquisitely finished. He 
 could turn his hand with facility to every department of his art. 
 He painted beautifully on glass. Giovanni, son of Cosmo de Medici, 
 ordered him to surround a large cornelian — in which the flaying of 
 Marsyas by Apollo was represented in intaglio — with a gold orna- 
 ment ; and this commission Ghiberti executed with so much skill, 
 that the ornament rivalled the engraving on the stone itself, which 
 was perfect. The golden mitre which he made for Pope Eugenius, 
 in 1438, was the theme of universal admiration. To this extra- 
 ordinary man may be applied the epitaph that Dr. Johnson wrote 
 on Goldsmith — “He adorned everything he touched;” and no pro- 
 duction of the sixteenth century, so highly and justly praised 
 for its prodigies in Art, cast his transcendent merits into the 
 shade. 
 
 The Florentine sculptor, Donato, or Donatello, is another of the 
 leading celebrities of this epoch. He was born in 1386, and died 
 in 1468. His works were very numerous. He, Ghiberti, and Bru- 
 nelleschi, formed the illustrious triumvirate of the second Renais- 
 sance period: his figures are remarkable for freedom of movement 
 and energy of expression ; and he is considered the first, in order of 
 date, who distinguished himself as a consummate master of basso- 
 relievo in historical compositions. For the Church of Santa Maria 
 del Fiore, at Florence, he executed those figures in the decorative 
 parts of the organ loft, of which Vasari observes, that a spectator look- 
 ing at them “ almost believes them really to live and move.” He pro- 
 duced the statue of St. Peter, which stood in the Or San Michele, 
 which building was completed at the expense of the guilds, or civic 
 trades, of Florence. These institutions were generous patrons of 
 art : his figure of St. George in his armour, reproduced in the 
 Crystal Palace, was executed for the guild of armourers. Vasari 
 declares that it excelled every modern figure. “ Life,” he observes, 
 
 “ seems to move wdthin that stone.” In the Crystal Palace is a copy 
 of his bronze “ David,” * which originally stood in the Medici Palace. 
 It is nude, and of the size of life. The Hebrew warrior has his 
 raised foot pressing on the head of Goliath ; in his right hand he 
 holds the sword of the slain giant, and in the left a stone. The 
 expression of the face is thoughtful rather than triumphant, indi- 
 cating that the conqueror was conscious to whom the victory was 
 due. The picturesque cap and flowing hair are very graceful. 
 Donatello executed another “David ” in marble, in which the warrior 
 holds in his hand the sling from which he discharged the stone that 
 slew the Philistine. The Renaissance Court also contains a figure 
 of St. John the Baptist," by this artist, originally executed in wood 
 with great study and care, and which he gave to the Church of the 
 Friars Minor, at Florence : it is in the side next to the central tran- 
 
 

 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 sept. In the interior of the Court 
 is a Virgin and Child, which 
 Donatello executed for Cosmo 
 di Medici, and displays to ad- 
 vantage the soft and pure style 
 of the master. This we have 
 also engraved. The statues of 
 Donatello adorned Florence and 
 Padua. He is considered the 
 precursor to Michael Angelo, 
 in that imposing solemnity of 
 effect which the latter carried 
 to perfection. 
 
 To the list of architects of 
 this period we must add the 
 name of Leon Batista Alberti, 
 born in 1404, and who died in 
 1472. He is distinguished as 
 the first in the Renaissance 
 period who wrote a book on 
 architecture, even before the 
 work of Vitruvius was disco- 
 vered, which is to this day a 
 text-book for the student. Al- 
 berti was the principal adviser 
 of Pope Nicolas V., in the 
 various and important improve- 
 ments which that pontiff ef- 
 fected in Rome. He designed 
 the Church of San Francesco, 
 at Rimini, one of the finest 
 ornaments of Italy, at the desire 
 of Sigismondo Malatesta. 
 
 Among the painters of the 
 second epoch, Paolo Ucello is 
 celebrated for the improve- 
 ments he introduced in the 
 study and practice of perspective, 
 in 1479. Vasari awards but faint praise to his drawing and his 
 painting; but confesses that his “ figures really seem standing on 
 
 the plane whereon they are 
 placed,” and that he showed 
 by fixed rules how the figures, 
 in order manifestly to draw 
 back or retire, must gradually 
 be diminished, of which method 
 earlier artists were ignorant. 
 “ He also discovered the method 
 of turning the arches, and of 
 cross -vaulting the ceilings; 
 taught how floors are to be 
 foreshortened by the conver- 
 gence of the beams; showed 
 liow the artist must proceed 
 to represent columns bending 
 round the sharp corners of a 
 building, so that when drawn 
 in perspective they efface the 
 angle, and cause it to seem 
 level.” The methods that 
 Ucello adopted were eminently 
 serviceable to those who follow- 
 ed him ; and in that department 
 of Art to which he devoted 
 himself, he must be considered 
 one of the most useful pioneers 
 of progress. 
 
 Massaceio was born in 1102, 
 and died in 1428. His real 
 name was Tomaso de San 
 Giovanni, but, on account of 
 his carelessness in dress and 
 manner, he was called Mas- 
 saccio. He united all the ex- 
 cellences of his predecessors. 
 From a study of the works of 
 virgin and child. Ghiberti and Donatello he de- 
 
 He was born in 1396, and died rived his knowledge of the general principles of imitative art ; 
 
 from Brunelleschi he learned perspective. At Rome he polished 
 his style of design by a careful contemplation of the ancient 
 
 marbles. Theodore Ducas has pronounced the fol- 
 lowing criticism on his works : “ The air of his heads 
 is quite in the style which Raffaello afterwards per- 
 fected. His countenances have much expression ; 
 there nature shines in all her grace, animation, and 
 variety ; his draperies, disdaining the dry minutise 
 of his time, appear in few and natural folds ; his 
 colouring is true, varied, and harmonious. He is 
 looked upon as the earliest modern painter who 
 made the parts of his picture subordinate to the 
 general principle of the whole. He was a man of 
 real genius; his mind was full of ideas, whether 
 created or adopted ; he selected the beauties of other 
 artists, and, too judicious to fall into a blind admira- 
 tion of the antique, he improved as well as imitated. 
 His works formed the school of the best Florentine 
 painters, and the degree of approximation to his 
 excellence was the measure of reputation. It has 
 been shown that Raffaello himself learnt much from 
 the works of Massaceio ; and Michael Angelo, when 
 a young man, studied his frescoes in the Church of 
 the Carmelites, at Florence.” In the foreshortening 
 of his figures, and in the treatment of the nude 
 form, Massaceio exceeded all former artists. Vasari 
 speaks in admiration of the coved ceiling, painted 
 in perspective, and divided into square compart- 
 ments, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, in 
 Florence, executed by Massaceio, where “ the fore- 
 shortening is managed with so much ability, and 
 the whole is so judiciously treated, that the surface 
 has all the appearance of being perforated.” Before 
 his time, the figures of men and women were so 
 painted as to appear standing on the points of their 
 feet; Massaceio planted them firmly on the plane 
 they occupy, and before Ucello developed his method. 
 In his picture representing St. Peter administering 
 

 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 . 
 
 . .!> (1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 '3 
 
 the rite of baptism, the figure of a naked youth, shivering with cold, 
 was deemed a masterpiece, and is said to have created a new epoch 
 in art. It was painted in the Branacci Palace, with many other 
 scriptural subjects, and Vasari enumerates a long list of artists 
 who went to study those admirable productions. This highly 
 talented man died in the flower of his age, being only twenty- 
 six years old. Some enthusiastic friend wrote the following 
 epitaph on his tomb, in the Church of the Carmine, where he lies 
 buried : — 
 
 “ If any seek the marble, or my name, 
 
 This church shall be the marble, and the name 
 Yon oratory holds it. Nature envied 
 My pencil’s power, as Art required and loved it, 
 
 Thence was it that I died.” 
 
 Another may be here recorded, as containing a just appreciation of 
 his highly-gifted genius : — 
 
 “ I painted, and my pictures were as life ; 
 
 Spirit and movement to my forms I gave, — 
 
 I gave them soul and being. He who taught 
 All others — Michael Angelo — I taught : 
 
 He deigned to learn of me.” . 
 
 states that when making drawings from the various antiquities 
 of Rome, he never used rule or compass, but depended on his 
 eye alone. “ He drew the Coliseum in this manner, placing a 
 figure standing upright in the drawing, by measuring which 
 all the proportions of all the building will be found ; this was 
 tried by the masters after Domenico’s death, and found to he 
 rigidly correct.” He executed an Annunciation in mosaic, in 
 which style he excelled, and to which he was warmly attached ; 
 for he was wont to say “ that painting was design, but that the 
 true painting for eternity was mosaic. The works of this master 
 were numerous, and among his pupils was the illustrious Michael 
 Angelo. 
 
 Andrea Yerrochio, born at Florence in 1432, and who died in 
 1488, was possessed of such versatile talents, and of such untiring 
 industry, that he was eminent in painting, sculpture, and archi- 
 tecture. He was also an excellent geometrician, and very skilful 
 in the figures of animals, in garlands of flowers, and in all those 
 tasteful decorations of fancy which were usually wrought by gold- 
 smiths. In the Renaissance Court, in the side next to the central 
 transept, is a copy of one of Verrochio’s most beautiful productions. 
 It is the figure of a bronze Cupid strangling a fish, originally 
 placed on a fountain at the Villa of Caveggi, belonging to Lorenzo 
 di Medici. He executed a similar design, 
 only changing the Cupid for a boy, which 
 Vasari says “ is a truly admirable figure.” 
 His erudite and judicious translator, Mrs. 
 Jonathan Foster, observes, “ It is impos- 
 sible to imagine anything more life-like 
 than the expression and action of the 
 boy, as he presses the struggling creature, 
 from whose nostrils water is gushing, to 
 his breast.” Verrochio was a pupil of 
 the celebrated Donatello; and among his 
 disciples were Pietro Perugino, and the 
 wonderful Leonardo da Vinci. 
 
 Pietro Perugino was born in 1446, and 
 died in 1524. His family name was 
 Vanucci, but whether from having been 
 in Perugia, or sent to it at an early age, 
 he was called Perugino. He struggled 
 to fame and fortune from the depths of 
 poverty, and against all the disadvan- 
 tages which poverty entails ; and has the 
 high honour of being the instructor of the 
 famous Raflaello d’Urbino, who worked 
 with him during many years. In the 
 Crystal Palace are several reproductions 
 from one of his greatest works, the Plall 
 of Audience in the Exchange of Perugia. 
 There Perugino decorated the ceilings 
 with the seven planets, united with the 
 twelve signs of the Zodiac. Fanciful de- 
 corations of this character may be traced 
 to a very remote date ; but they were 
 rather astrological than astronomical, 
 arising out of the curious conceit that the planets had what were 
 called their thrones, exaltations, and houses, in the zodiacal con- 
 stellations. The ceiling of the Hall of Audience had several 
 compartments. On the wall opposite to the entrance door was 
 depicted the Birth and Transfiguration of Christ; and on panel, St. 
 John and the other saints. On the side walls of this building were 
 represented Greeks, Romans, and Jews — as Leonidas and Socrates, 
 Trajan and Numa Pompilius, Isaiah and Daniel. Then came the 
 Sybils, and representations of the priests and priestesses of the old 
 Lybian and Delphic oracles. A severe taste may condemn such an 
 incongruous mixture, and, moreover, such characters are not in 
 their right place on the walls of a commercial exchange ; never- 
 theless, this historical tableau is deemed admirable as a work of art. 
 An Italian critic has declared that “ The Hall of the Exchange is to 
 the fame of Pietro Perugino, as are the Stanze of the Vaticau to that 
 of Raffaello.” 
 
 In that side of the Renaissance Court which is nearest the central 
 transept, is a reproduction of the marble doorway from the Doria 
 Palace, at Genoa, the work of Perino del Yaga. This artist was born 
 in 1500, and died in 1547. Vasari considers him to have been “ One 
 of the most extensively endowed and versatile painters of the age. 
 
 U 
 
 Oil colours in paintings were known in very early times, but the 
 period fixed upon when they were commonly used is in the 
 fifteenth century. As to the precise date, 
 the historians of art differ. Giovanni Van 
 Eyck, otherwise called John of Bruges, 
 was a chemist as well as a painter, and 
 anxious to retain colours in their original 
 lightness, he experimented with linseed- 
 oil, and was successful. Before this dis- 
 covery, the only mode of colouring was 
 in distemper. When Antonello of Messina 
 heard of it, he went to Flanders, where 
 Van Eyck taught him the new method. 
 
 With this knowledge Antonello repaired 
 to Venice, and communicated the secret 
 to Domenico Veneziano, who imparted it 
 to Andrea del Castagno, when he estab- 
 lished himself in Florence. Andrea, 
 envious and ungrateful, and desirous of 
 monopolizing the- new process, basely 
 assassinated his friend. He was not sus- 
 pected of the crime during his life, but 
 on his death-bed conscience extorted a 
 confession. 
 
 Alesso Baldovinetti, born in 1422, and 
 who died in 1499, executed a Nativity of 
 Christ in the Church of the Annunziata, 
 in Florence, “In which,” says Vasari, “each 
 separate straw on the roof of a cabin 
 figured therein may he counted, and 
 every knot in those straws may be dis- 
 tinguished.” This is the earliest and most 
 beautiful specimen of extreme minuteness. 
 
 This master also excelled in mosaic. 
 
 Fra Filippo Lippi, a Carmelite monk, 
 was born in Florence in 1412, and died in 1469. He was an ad- 
 mirable painter, and is here noticed because he made his figures 
 larger than life ; for though some of the earliest masters had 
 adopted the same method, yet none before him had succeeded in 
 imparting to it grandeur of style. In this respect Lippi was the 
 teacher of future artists. 
 
 Domenico Ghirlandajo, whom Theodore Ducas designates the last 
 of the masters of the old Florentine school, was born in 1449, and 
 died in 1498. The same writer says that he used colours to ex- 
 press those parts of his subject which the art of the goldsmith or of 
 the embosser was generally called upon to describe, and that he was 
 one of the earliest painters who threw passion and mind into his 
 portraits. Ducas pretends that he was called Ghirlandajo from his 
 favourite practice of adorning the heads of women and children 
 with garlands ; but this seems to be an error, as his father’s name 
 was Tomaso del Ghirlandajo, because he sold garlands, or was 
 the son of a man that sold garlands. Vasari, however, says that he 
 was a goldsmith. Domenico is considered to be the first artist who 
 painted a figure wearing spectacles. He had an eye so accurate 
 that he is said to have drawn the likenesses of all who passed by his 
 workshop, in which the resemblance was perfect. His biographer 
 
76 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 of John’s head to Herodias by his daughter. There are others of 
 an historical character, one of the most remarkable of which recounts 
 the more memorable events in the life of St. Ambrose, Bishop of 
 Milan. He is seen in infancy, lying in his cradle, when bees settle 
 on his face and enter his mouth, without doing him any injury — a 
 presage of his eloquence, as in the case of Plato, of whom the same 
 story is told. In another panel he receives episcopal consecration. 
 His courage is shown in the fifth panel, where he forbids the 
 entrance of the Emperor Theo- 
 dosius into the Temple, whom 
 he had publicly anathematised. 
 
 We next see the same emperor 
 doing penance to the bishop, 
 denoting the ascendancy of 
 spiritual over temporal power. 
 
 In the central panels, Gale- 
 azzo himself appears laying 
 the foundation stone of the 
 Certosa, which the primate of 
 Milan sprinkles with holy 
 water. The ceremonials at- 
 tending the event are described 
 in the next panel, in which 
 appears the model of the build- 
 ing carried by a body of la- 
 bourers, escorted by a caval- 
 cade. The architect points 
 to the spot where it is to be 
 deposited. Our engraving is 
 one selected from these various 
 groups : the lower compart- 
 ment is devoted to piety, sym- 
 bolised by the Virgin and 
 Child ; the upper represents a 
 battle scene — a charge of ca- 
 valry, and the assault on a 
 fortress. 
 
 The object of those who con- 
 structed and arranged the Re- 
 naissance Court has evidently 
 been to collect within it as 
 many reproductions as possible 
 of varied style, and in this they 
 have succeeded ; but it may 
 fairly be objected that this plan 
 necessarily reduces those re- 
 productions to a fragmentary 
 character. We can form a 
 clear judgment of Ghiberti’s 
 wondrous door, for it presents 
 itself to us as a whole, but we 
 have not any complete notion 
 of the Certosa of Pavia, which 
 is exhibited in detached por- 
 tions. We derive unmixed 
 satisfaction from contemplat- 
 ing entire statues, but when 
 columns and pilasters are 
 brought before us, separated 
 from the buildings to which 
 they belong, however attrac- 
 tive they may be in them- 
 selves, they give us no idea 
 of the relation in which they 
 stand to the structure of which 
 they form a part : “ ex pede 
 Iierculem,” is indeed an old 
 rule, but it is nothing more 
 than an alternative, and we 
 
 desire the presence of the whole figure. However, the con- 
 structors of the Renaissance Court had to struggle against an 
 unconquerable difficulty — want of space ; and they deserve every 
 praise for what they have accomplished within so limited an area. 
 
 The Renaissance period in England is illustrated by the Eliza- 
 bethan Court, of which the facades and arcades are taken from the 
 exterior of Holland House, Kensington, erected in 1607. The 
 
 Elizabethan style is peculiarly English, distinctive and charac- 
 teristic, and harmonizes most beautifully with our rural scenery. 
 As specimens of this form of architecture we may refer to the 
 tombs of Henry VII., Queen Elizabeth, and Mary, Queen of Scot- 
 land, in Westminster Abbey ; among private residences, to Longleat 
 House, Wollaton Hall, and Audley End. This style has been ably 
 described by a recent writer with clearness and fulness : — 
 
 “ The peculiar system which has obtained the generic title of 
 Elizabethan prevailed during 
 part of the reign of the house 
 of Tudor, which gave its name 
 to the edifices preceding, and 
 intimately connecting with 
 Gothic art those called after 
 the virgin queen. This latter 
 was exclusively used in secular 
 edifices ; it is a very mixed 
 style, presenting a combina- 
 tion of Roman, Gothic, and 
 Tudor details, fused together 
 with much skill and great pic- 
 turesqueness of general effect. 
 The plans, the main outlines, 
 and the mode of decoration 
 adopted — its very irregularity, 
 rendered it alike suitable to the 
 lowly cottage and the stately 
 baronial hall. The proportions 
 of the Roman orders were set 
 aside ; a new series, combining 
 portions of the old with all 
 manner of fantastic devices, 
 were invented, and were more 
 generally used as decorative ac- 
 cessories than as means of sup- 
 port. Columns were grouped 
 together, placed one above an- 
 other to the exhaustion of the 
 orders, and sometimes twisted 
 into peculiar forms, covered 
 with bands, arabesques, and 
 other decorations. These were 
 usually elevated on panelled 
 pedestals, the entablatures con- 
 tinually broken, and the mould 
 ings so confused, that the dis 
 tinctions between architraves 
 frieze, and cornice, are fre- 
 quently lost in the richness of 
 the total mass. Pediments of 
 every conceivable shape were 
 introduced ; the dormers are 
 exceedingly picturesque, and 
 niches were occasionally used. 
 The porches and doorways are 
 curiously carved ; no tracery 
 is visible in the windows, but 
 mullions are retained, and the 
 bays and oriels are very effec- 
 tive features. Gables, also, of 
 convex and concave curves, and 
 differing from one another in 
 the same front, were in con- 
 stant requisition, together with 
 elaborate stone parapets, some- 
 times solid, but. usually pierced 
 in scrolls and curves of capri- 
 cious shapes, and decorated 
 with rich finials, balls, obelisks, 
 and statues, pinnacles, angle turrets, and glittering vanes, all of 
 endlessly diversified design ; and, above all, crowning the edifice, 
 rose the picturesque lines of the roofs, and the richly clustered 
 chimney shafts. The * trim gardens,’ so precisely laid out, with 
 their lordly terraces, their bowers, and trellis walks, their broad 
 flights of steps, and fanciful balustrades, the rarely absent bowl- 
 ing-green, and the bright profusion of shrubs, trees, and flowers, 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 77 
 
 admirably harmonised with the generally predominant red colour 
 of the mansion they surrounded. Similar characteristics prevailed 
 within. The hall is usually a very extensive apartment, with 
 implements and trophies of the chase hung upon the walls. Capa- 
 cious staircases, the balustrades of which are wonderfully varied 
 in design, lead to the upper floors ; and the rooms are usually 
 wainscoted, the ceilings richly panelled, and the chimney-pieces 
 very large and elaborate. Although simplicity is entirely banished 
 from Elizabethan architecture, and it can never rank very high, 
 there is such an air of old-fashioned dignity and quaint mag- 
 nificence, such a fantastic irregularity and gorgeous picturesque- 
 ness of general effect, that, what with their merits and their 
 historical associations, these playful associations will probably 
 ever continue to be favourites in the land.” * 
 
 On entering the Elizabethan Court from the gallery, we behold 
 a copy of the monument of Sir John Cheney, the original of which 
 stands in Salisbury Cathedral. He w r as a brave knight in the 
 
 who died in 1522. Patronized in his youth by Lorenzo di Medici 
 the Magnificent, in whose celebrated gardens he studied the fine 
 models of antiquity, with Michael Angelo and other young men 
 who afterwards became famous, he soon displayed a most envious 
 spirit and irritable temper. In a moment of anger and jealousy 
 he struck Michael Angelo with such violence on the nose with his 
 clenched fist, that, as he himself says, he felt “ the bones and 
 cartilage craunch under his hand as if they had been thin biscuit.” 
 Lorenzo wa3 indignant at this outrage, and Torrigiano was com- 
 pelled to flee from Florence. He afterwards served with distinction 
 as a soldier, and then went to England, where his gains were large 
 as a sculptor. His principal work in this country is the bronze 
 monument of King Hemy VII. and of his queen, in the chapel in 
 Westminster Abbey, called after the name of that monarch. 
 Torrigiano died in Spain, in the dungeons of the Inquisition. 
 
 In the Court of Christian Art, adjoining the great central transept, 
 and which is an appendage to the Renaissance Court, is a fine 
 
 wars of the Roses, and distinguished himself in the decisive battle 
 at Bosworth, where he fought on the side of the Lancastrians. His 
 statue is in alabaster, and represents the old warrior in complete 
 armour, decorated with the Garter and the Lancastrian Collar. 
 
 In a recumbent posture lies the marble effigy of the unfortunate 
 Mary, Queen of Scotland, erected by the piety of James I. to the 
 memory of his persecuted mother. Her monument is in West- 
 minster Abbey. The face is a portrait. Near to her is the impe- 
 rious Elizabeth, who brought her to the block. This figure is also 
 in marble, and the countenance denotes that the artist intended 
 to represent her at an advanced period of life. The well-known 
 costume of the period, seen on all her paintings and prints, is 
 well preserved by the stiff bodice and the ample frill. Lions 
 support her feet. The sceptre in one hand, the globe in another, 
 proclaim her regal dignity. On the following page wfe have en- 
 graved these two figures, with a bust of Shakspere at their feet. 
 
 The tombs of Henry VII. and of the Countess of Richmond are 
 the work of the Italian sculptor Torrigiano, born in 1470, and 
 
 * A Popular Account of Styles of Architecture. By Edward L. Tarbuck. 
 
 equestrian statue of Erasmo da Narni, generally known by the 
 name of Gattamelata. He was a famous captain of those Italian 
 mercenaries called condottieri , who sold their swords to the best 
 bidder, without regard to the justice of the cause in which they 
 were engaged. Gattamelata served the Venetian Republic ; and 
 the Signoria of Venice erected this monument to his honour. It 
 was executed by Donatello, who took for his model the celebrated 
 statue of the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, which stands in 
 the middle of the piazza of the Capitol. The horse on which the 
 emperor is seated was of bronze, and so excellent that Michael 
 Angelo, on first seeing it, exclaimed, “Go on, then!” Some have 
 pronounced this statue the masterpiece of Donatello, and, indeed, 
 the anatomy is perfect. With the exception of the head and arms, 
 Gattamelata is fully armed ; not so the horse, which only has an 
 ornamented saddle and girth. The head of the rider is a copy from 
 life. He is clothed in Milan mail ; and his armour and that of his 
 horse are still preserved in the arsenal of Venice. 
 
 This section of the Renaissance Court is not so complete as the 
 directors intended. They were desirous of obtaining from Padua 
 the series of bronzes, executed by Donatello, in the Church of 
 
 x 
 
 PARADE OP THE ELIZABETHAN COUKT. 
 
78 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 St. Antonio, in that city, but the ecclesiastical authorities refused 
 their permission. It is only an act of justice to Cardinal Wiseman 
 to state that he used his influence to promote the wishes of the 
 Directors, but failed to remove the illiberal and narrow-minded 
 obstinacy he had to encounter. Whether this resistance to diffusing 
 a knowledge of the treasures of art was inspired by a love of mono- 
 poly, an envious jealousy, or the hatred of an heretical people, does 
 not appear, for no reasons seem to have been assigned ; but it cer- 
 tainly does not redound to the credit of Padua. However, with 
 this diminution of what might have been added to its treasures, the 
 Renaissance Court is one of the most attractive and instructive 
 departments in the Crystal Palace, and repeated visits will not 
 diminish its interest so long as the gates of Ghiberti remain. 
 
 Of late years, a certain class of critics have pronounced withering 
 censures on the Renaissance style. These writers travel from “ Dan 
 to Beersheba, and find it all barren.” Whether the violent and 
 unqualified vituperation in which those gentleman have indulged 
 has arisen from capriciousness, affectation, or a morbid love of 
 eccentricity, it were waste of time to inquire ; but there can be no 
 doubt that it manifests an utter want both of fairness and judgment 
 to pronounce indiscriminate condemnation on the productions of a 
 whole epoch. Each style should be judged by its own standard. 
 In obedience to the law of progress, man advances from bad to better, 
 and those who come latest into the field have models on which to 
 improve themselves, which their predecessors did not possess. It is 
 wise to compare styles with styles, and note the characteristics of 
 each; but it is wrong to oppose styles to styles for the paltry pur- 
 pose of instituting invidious comparisons. Granting that Michael 
 Angelo was the prince of sculptors, are we to deny all merit to 
 
 Donatello ? What estimate should we form of that man’s intellect 
 who refused to a Telford the title of a civil engineer, because his 
 admirable earthroads, smooth as a bowling-green, are inferior to the 
 railroads constructed by a Stephenson ? 
 
 “ What to observe and how to observe,” in the Renaissance Court, 
 may admit of a few hints. The Renaissance and the Italian Courts, 
 having been studied separately, should then be compared together 
 as parts of one connected whole, by which method a comprehensive 
 view will be taken of the rise, the advancement, and the perfection 
 of art. We shall thus trace its progress step by step — its struggles, 
 failures, and final triumph — and attain to critical knowledge. It 
 should be remembered that the earliest artists of the Renaissance 
 did not possess those antique models which proved of such inesti- 
 mable value to their successors. In apportioning merit, justice 
 requires that we should weigh the means by which the end is 
 attained. Where the means are ample, we are entitled to expect 
 large results ; where they are small, we ought to be satisfied with 
 minor performances. The history of art is a continuity. Some dig 
 the foundations ; others build the walls ; a third generation construct 
 the roofs and superstructure ; and praise is due to all who well 
 perform their share of the work. We should not forget the 
 pioneers, who fell and clear the forest, while we admire the archi- 
 tect who, at a later date, rears up palatial edifices. To each his 
 due : let us remember Cimabue and Giotto, while we are lavish- 
 ing our praises on Da Vinci and Raffaello; and let each epoch 
 be tested by its opportunities and capabilities. This method of 
 arriving at sound conclusions is the only one that impartial 
 justice will sanction, whatever the cant of criticism may aver to 
 the contrary. 
 

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THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 79 
 
 THE ITALI 
 
 The sixteenth century is one of the most strongly marked epochs 
 in the history of European civilisation. It not only perfected what 
 the preceding age had left incomplete, but achieved new conquests 
 in art, science, and learning. It is the era of the Reformation, 
 which, by establishing the right of private judgment, secured 
 religious freedom, and prepared the way for political liberty. 
 Printing gave wings to knowledge ; and successful navigators, 
 discovering a new world, extended the sphere of industry, adven- 
 ture, and colonisation. Ancient literature was diligently cultivated, 
 and its profound study invigorated the human intellect. Erudite 
 Greeks, who had fled from the tyranny of the Mahometans after 
 the capture of Constantinople, found a hospitable refuge in Italy, 
 and there unfolded the treasures of ancient wisdom. Manuscripts 
 were sought after with increased ardour; and the liberality of the 
 popes conferred wealth and honours on those who exhumed a buried 
 statue, or rescued an old book from the dust and damp of the 
 monasteries. It is true that this intellectual movement had com- 
 menced at an earlier date, with which the names of Petrarch, Dante, 
 and Boccacio, are associated : and their illustrious works will ever 
 consecrate the epoch in which they flourished. But while every 
 merit is due to the age of Cosmo and Lorenzo di Medici, the patrons 
 of the early Renaissance, and of those gifted men whose rising 
 genius they trained and fostered, it must be acknowledged that 
 matured excellence belongs to the sixteenth century. This, how- 
 ever, is not to be understood in a rigidly chronological sense, for it 
 is not possible to draw a line to which objections may not be raised. 
 Mr. Roscoe says that, “ The most illustrious period of the arts is 
 that which commences with the return of Michael Angelo from 
 Rome to Florence, about the year 1500, and terminates with the 
 death of Leo X., in 1521. Within this period, almost all the great 
 works in painting, in sculpture, and in architecture, which have 
 been the admiration of future ages, were produced. Under the 
 successive but uninterrupted patronage of Julius II. and Leo X. the 
 talents of the great artists then living were united in one simul- 
 taneous effort, and their rival productions may be considered as a 
 joint tribute to the munificence of their patrons and the glory of 
 the age.” This criticism appears to us far too narrow' and exclusive ; 
 the quarter of a century selected may rather be taken as the middle 
 period of a term characterised by an intellectual and artistic move- 
 ment which has left an indelible impression; and in estimating its 
 civilising and elevating influences we cannot sever literature from 
 art, as the mythological and historical subjects illustrated by the 
 sculptors and painters show how powerfully they were influenced 
 by the advancement of learning. Printing, therefore, forms a pro- 
 minent feature in the annals of the Renaissance. 
 
 Milan and Venice contend for priority in introducing the typo- 
 graphic art into Italy. Theodore Ducas inclines to the opinion that 
 the Germans, Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, who joined 
 some of their countrymen in the monastery of Subiaco, in the Cam- 
 pagna di Roma, are entitled to the credit of carrying the new inven- 
 tion beyond the Alps; and their first book, a Donatus, issued from the 
 Subiaco press in 1465. The two Germans then repaired to the house 
 of Petrus de Maximis, in Rome. Printing-presses soon multiplied, 
 and were established in every Italian city. Paolo Manuzio, or, as 
 he is generally called Aldus, an admirable scholar and critic, estab- 
 lished himself as a printer at Venice, and devoted his attention to 
 the Greek and Roman classics. He took up his abode in Venice in the 
 year 1488, and his first books were published in 1494. They were 
 Musceus’ poem of Hero and Leander, in Greek and Latin, and the 
 Greek Grammar of Lascaris. Aldus formed a philological society 
 at his house, which was frequented by most of the literati of Venice, 
 among whom was the celebrated Erasmus. Aldus paid liberally 
 for old manuscripts, and employed agents to search after literary 
 treasures all over Italy. He was the first editor who collected and 
 published the whole of the works of Aristotle in Greek, in five 
 volumes folio; and the first, also, who conceived the idea of a Poly- 
 glot Bible, but he never advanced beyond his prospectus sheet. 
 He was a great improver of types ; and it is said that a manuscript 
 of Petrarch’s gave him the notion of the character that is generally 
 called the Aldine, or Italic. An edition of Virgil, in the year 1501, 
 was the earliest specimen of the new mode. In 1502, the senate of 
 Venice secured to him the exclusive privilege of using this invention. 
 In order to distinguish his books, Aldus decorated the first or last 
 
 AN COURT. 
 
 page, and sometimes both, with an anchor, having a dolphin coiled 
 round it. The solidity of the anchor denoted prudence ; the 
 dolphin was the ancient symbol of swiftness, for it was believed 
 that the rapidity of its motion through water exceeded that of an}’ 
 other aquatic animal. The two symbols were taken from an ancient 
 medal struck in honour of Titus Vespasian. 
 
 The first complete edition of a Greek classic ever printed, issued 
 from a Florentine press in the year 1488. It was Homer, in two 
 volumes folio. Demetrius Chalcondyles was the editor, Demetrius 
 of Crete the printer; while Bernardo and Neri di Nerli, two noble 
 Florentines, defrayed the cost of publication. Florence was, 
 perhaps, the first city in Italy that printed without foreign aid. 
 Her earliest printer was a uative of the place ; his name Bernardo 
 Cennini, originally a goldsmith. He and his son cut the punches 
 and cast the types, with which he printed a folio edition of Virgil, 
 in 1471. This happened during the rule of Lorenzo di Medici. 
 Under Cosmo di Medici, manuscripts had been eagerly gathered, 
 and libraries formed. Niccolo Niccoli, a private citizen of Florence, 
 had collected some eight hundred volumes of Greek, Roman, and 
 oriental writers; and Theodore Ducas considers him the father of 
 verbal criticism. He ruined his fortune in gratifying his literary 
 tastes, and died insolvent. Cosmo paid his debts, and took posses- 
 sion of his books, which he deposited in the Dominican monastery 
 of San Marco, at Florence, for public use. 
 
 Zacaria Caliergus printed several Greek authors at Venice, be- 
 tween 1499 and 1513, and afterwards became director of the press 
 at Rome, established at the expense of Agostino Chigi ; and there 
 Caliergus published editions of Pindar and Theocritus, the first 
 Greek books printed at Rome. The first Arabic printing-press in 
 Europe was set up at Fano, under the auspices of Pope Julius II. ; 
 the earliest book printed from it bears date in the year 1514. 
 
 “ Those periods of time,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his History of 
 Lorenzo di Medici, “ which have been most favourable to the pro- 
 gress of letters and science, have generally been distinguished by 
 an equal proficiency in the arts. The productions of Roman 
 sculpture in its best ages bear nearly the same proportion to those 
 of the Greeks, as the imitative labours of the Roman authors bear 
 to the original works of their great prototypes. During the long 
 ages of ignorance that succeeded the fall of the Western Empire, 
 letters and the fine arts underwent an equal degradation ; and it 
 would be as difficult to point out a literary work of those times 
 which is entitled to approbation, as it would be to produce a statue 
 or a picture. When these studies began to revive, a Guido da 
 Sienna, a Cimabue, rivalled a Guitone d’ Arezzo, or a Piero della 
 Vigne. The crude buds that had escaped the severity of so long 
 a winter soon began to swell, and Giotto, Buflalmacco, and Gaddi, 
 were the contemporaries of Dante, Boccacio, and Petrarca.” 
 
 In connection with the progress of literature in the sixteenth 
 century, we may mention the famous Vatican Library. We learn 
 from Aulus Gellius that, in the age of Imperial Rome, the word 
 “Vatican” was applied to the hill and to the deity who presided 
 over it, from the “ vaticinia," or prophecies there uttered by the 
 power or inspiration of the god; but Marcus Varro, continues 
 Gellius, in his book on “ Divine Things ,” gives another reason for 
 this name. “ As Aius,” says he, “ was called a deity, and an altar 
 was built to his honour in the lowest part of the new road, because 
 in that place a voice from heaven was heard, so this deity was 
 called Vaticanus, because he presided over the principles of the 
 human voice; for infants, as soon as they are born, make the sound 
 which forms the first syllable in Vaticanus, and are therefore said 
 vagire, to cry, which word expresses the noise which an infant first 
 makes.” Cicero and Livy both state that this voice warned the 
 Romans that the Gauls were about to assault the city, for which 
 reason an altar or temple was raised to Aius. 
 
 A library had always been attached to the Papacy from the 
 earliest periods. The primitive contents were the Old and New 
 Testaments, the Acts of the Martyrs, and the Decrees of Councils. 
 Seven notaries were appointed to take care of the collection. Pope 
 St. Hilary erected near the Lateran two libraries, in which the 
 most important works were preserved. Calixtus III. augmented 
 them with the books of the library, called Augusta, which were 
 obtained from Constantinople. When the papal chair was re* 
 moved to Avignon, the books were taken also, and remained there 
 
80 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 till the pontificate of Martin V., when the greater part were brought 
 back ; and Nicholas V., elected in 1447, placed them in the Vatican, 
 where the Pope had now fixed his residence. That pontiff largely 
 increased the collection, for he directed his legates and nuncios, 
 wherever the influence of the Roman See was dominant, to add 
 to the literary treasures of Rome. His immediate successors were 
 not men of learning, and literature was neglected ; but Sixtus IV., 
 elected in 1480, pursued with zeal the ideas of Nicholas, and pur- 
 chased books in all quarters ; he built the Vatican Library for their 
 reception, and placed in it the manuscripts which, before his reign, 
 had been kept in the Lateran Palace ; he also nominated a curator, 
 and gave free access to the public. Julius II. and Leo X. annually 
 appropriated large sums to augmenting the collection. Urban VIII. 
 added to it the library of the Elector Palatine ; Alexander VII., 
 that of the Duke of Urbino; Alexander VIII., that of the Queen 
 of Sweden; and Clement XI. placed in it many Arabic, Armenian, 
 and Syriac manuscripts, as well as Bibles in those languages. In 
 this splendid edifice are portraits of those who have been librarians, 
 and of the ten Sybils, attributed to Marco da Faenza, On the walls 
 are painted several of the general councils of the Church, and repre- 
 sentations of the most celebrated libraries that have existed in 
 various parts of the world : such as that instituted by Moses, and 
 restored by Esdras, in which were kept the Books of the Law, of 
 the Prophets, of the Judges, and the Acts of the Kings; that of 
 Pisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, transferred by Xerxes to Persia, 
 and restored by Seleucus to the same city; that of Ptolemy Phila- 
 delphia, King of Egypt, enlarged by Demetrius Phalareus ; that of 
 Augustus, in which were preserved the Sybilline Books ; and the 
 much renowned library of Trajan. On the pilasters are represented 
 the first inventors of languages, among whom are Adam, the first 
 master of the sciences and of the Hebrew letters ; Abraham, the in- 
 ventor of the Syriac and Chaldman ; Esdras restoring and increas- 
 ing the Hebrew alphabet ; Isis and Memnon rediscovering the 
 Egyptian characters; Palamedes and Simonides increasing the 
 number of the letters ; Hercules, author of the Phrygian letters ; 
 Phineas, author of the Phoenician ; Carmenta, mother of Evander, 
 inventress of the Latin ; St. John Chrysostom, who invented the Ar- 
 menian characters; and St. Jerome, who invented the Illyrian. In 
 the spaces between the arches and the windows are many scenes 
 from the papal reign of Sixtus V., who enlarged the library after 
 the designs of the architect Fontana : as — the coronation of that 
 Pope ; his taking possession of the pontificate ; erecting the four 
 large obelisks; rebuilding the Lateran Palace; raising the statue 
 of St. Peter on the Trajan Column, and that of St. Paul on the 
 Antonine Column. The books and manuscripts are remarkable for 
 their number and rarity. In the collection is a Bible in Greek, 
 written in the sixth century ; one in Hebrew, of an extraordinary 
 size, which once belonged to the Duke of Urbino, for which the 
 Jews in Venice would have given its weight in gold; a Greek 
 manuscript of the Acts of the Apostles, admirably written in gold 
 letters, a present from Carlotta, Queen of Cyprus, to Innocent VIII. ; 
 a Virgil, written in square letters before the fifth century, with 
 miniatures of the dresses of the Trojans and Latins ; a Terence of 
 the same antiquity, written in similar characters ; and another 
 Terence of the ninth century, with figures and masks, such as were 
 used in olden times. The Vatican Library, the Vatican Palace, and 
 the Vatican Basilica, or St. Peter’s, with the Museum Pio-Clemen- 
 tinum, are intimately associated with the rise and progress of the 
 arts and literature, and in a pictorial and sculpturesque sense belong 
 to the Italian Court; — as these buildings attest the fame of painters, 
 architects, and statuaries, and contain their noblest productions, 
 with the choicest specimens of gems, cameos, medals, intaglios, and 
 other ingenious engravings on precious stones. Of these works 
 of skill, the Crystal Palace, from want of space, only contains a 
 few specimens, which afford but a glimpse of the history of the 
 epoch in which the arts were carried to the highest perfection; 
 aud a book of this character would fail in its object were it con- 
 fined to a mere description of the actual contents of the Italian 
 Court. 
 
 The popes not only encouraged literature, but vied with each other 
 in widening the streets of Rome, searching for antiquities, and em- 
 bellishing the city by architectural improvements. The Rome of 
 the middle ages, during the absence of the Popes at Avignon, had 
 sunk into decay; and when Pope Eugenius IV. returned to it in the 
 year 1443, it had become a city of herdsmen. The hills had been 
 abandoned, and the plains bordering on the Tiber alone contained 
 
 the dwellings of man. There was no pavement in the streets, 
 through which cattle wandered about as though they were mea- 
 dows. The lower grounds had become undrained marshes, where 
 wild ducks congregated. The Capitol was known as the Goat’s 
 Hill, and the Forum Romanum had received the appellation of 
 the Cow’s Field. Pope Nicholas V. was the first great restorer 
 of the city. Julius II., a soldier rather than a priest, and who 
 ascended the Papal throne in the year 1503, proved himself a most 
 energetic and enlightened reformer. “ He,” says Ranke, “ did not 
 rest satisfied with the projects of St. Peter’s Church, which rose 
 majestically under his direction ; he also restored the Palace of the 
 Vatican, and erected the Loggie, a work of consummate beauty of 
 conception. His cousins, the Riari, and his treasurer, Agostino 
 Chigi, rivalled each other in the beauty of the houses they con- 
 structed; that of Chigi, the Farnesina, admirable for the perfection 
 of its plan, and decorated by the matchless hand of Raffaello, is 
 unquestionably the superior. On the northern side of the river, 
 posterity is indebted to Julius II. for the completion of the Can- 
 cellaria with its cortile, executed in those pure and harmonious 
 proportions which render it the most beautiful court in existence. 
 His cardinals and barons imitated his example.” In architecture 
 this is the epoch of Bramante, Michael Angelo, and their illustrious 
 contemporaries ; and also of the great painters and sculptors who 
 embellished the interiors of their magnificent structures, monuments 
 of whose genius are collected in the Italian Court, which will 
 hereafter be specially described. 
 
 Leo X. commissioned Raffaello to frame a report on the antiquities 
 of Rome, which is so full of historical and artistic interest, aud so 
 characteristic of the spirit of the age, that we shall cull some ex- 
 tracts from this curious production. After lauding the grandeur 
 and magnificence of ancient Rome, and lamenting the devastation 
 committed by the barbarians, the great painter exclaims — “ But 
 why should we complain of the Goths, the Vandals, or other per- 
 fidious enemies, whilst they who ought, like lathers and guardians, 
 to have protected the defenceless remains of Rome, have themselves 
 contributed towards their destruction ? How many have there 
 been, who, having enjoyed the same office as your Holiness, but not 
 the same knowledge, nor the same greatness of mind, nor that 
 clemency in which you resemble the Deity,— how many have there 
 been, who have employed themselves in the demolition of ancient 
 temples, statues, arches, and other glorious works? How many 
 who have allowed these edifices to be undermined, for the sole 
 purpose of obtaining the j)ozzolana from their foundations; in con- 
 sequence of which they have fallen into ruins ! What materials 
 for building have been formed from statues and other antique 
 sculptures ? Insomuch, that I might venture to assert that the new 
 Rome which we now see, as large as it may appear, so beautiful 
 aud so ornamented with palaces, churches, and other buildings, is 
 wholly composed of the remains of ancient marble. Nor can I 
 reflect without sorrow, that ever since I have been in Rome, which 
 is not yet eleven years, so many beautiful monuments have been 
 destroyed ; as the obelisk that stood in the Alexandrian road, the 
 unfortunate arch, and so many columns and temples, chiefly de- 
 molished by M. Bartolommeo della Rovere. It ought not, therefore, 
 Holy Father, to be the last object of your attention, to take care 
 that the little which now remains of this the ancient mother of 
 Italian glory and magnificence, be not, by means of the ignorant 
 and the malicious, wholly extirpated and destroyed, but may be 
 preserved as a testimony of the worth and excellence of those 
 divine minds, by whose example we of the present day are incited 
 to great and laudable undertakings.” On the death of his uncle, 
 Bramante, Raffaello was appointed papal architect. Leo acted 
 on his advice, and a penalty was imposed on all persons who, 
 having discovered an ancient edifice, did not report it within three 
 days to Raffaello. This measure saved many beautiful objects from 
 destruction. Heavy fines were attached to the defacement of in- 
 scriptions. It had been, and in spite of the new laws, it continued 
 to be the practice to burn marble statues to obtain lime for the new 
 buildings ; and to such an extent was this practice carried, after 
 Leo’s death, that, in the year 1534, Paul III. issued a bull which 
 made such acts capital offences, but the bull was not respected. At 
 a later period the Farnese, the Mattei, the Borghese, and the 
 Barberini families, searched for and collected statues and inscribed 
 marbles, to adorn their museums. Several of the Popes themselves 
 used the materials of the old buildings in constructing new edifices. 
 Paul II. used the stones of the Coliseum to build a palace. Paul III. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 81 
 
 and his nephews also plundered the Flavian Amphitheatre. 
 Sixtus V. carried away the remains of the Septizonium of Severus 
 for the service of St. Peter’s. Urban VIII. removed the bronze 
 beams from the portico of the Pantheon, which weighed more than 
 fifty-five millions of pounds, and also attacked the base of the tomb 
 of Cecilia Metella. He was one of the Barberini family, and gave 
 a share of the spoil to his nephew to embellish the Barberini Palace, 
 and this gave rise to the pasquinade, — 
 
 “ Quod non fecerunt barbari Roma:, fecerunt Barberini.” 
 
 Leo X. died in 1521, and notwithstanding the acts of plunder to 
 which we have referred, from that date, with more or less energy, 
 the impulse imparted to the improvement of the city by Julius II. 
 was continued to the pontificate of Sixtus V., who assumed the 
 tiara in 1585, and it was that pontiff who placed the cupola on St. 
 Peter’s. Under him Rome was nearly doubled in size, but this 
 admirer of art paid no respect to the works of pagan antiquity. 
 He completely demolished the Septizonium of Severus, which had i 
 
 sculptors, and architects of the period, and mark the difference 
 between them and their predecessors who flourished in the earlier 
 epoch of the Renaissance. The style of painting in most parts of 
 Italy at the commencement of the sixteenth century is thus cha- 
 racterised by Theodore Ducas, an observant and intelligent traveller, 
 and the contemporary of many of the illustrious men of that age. 
 “ I only repeat,” says he, “ the judgment of the most skilful virtuosi, 
 in saying that the masters of the old school of painting had attained 
 to great excellence. Men imitated from nature rather than from 
 each other. There was a speaking vivacity of countenance that 
 admitted of very little improvement; but ideal beauty of form, 
 roundness and freedom of design, variety in composition, and pro- 
 priety both in colour and aerial perspective, yet were wanting.” 
 Vasari, in the introduction to the third part of his Biographies, 
 considers that in the five distinctive properties or characteristics of 
 rule, order, proportion, design, and manner, the masters of painting, 
 sculpture, and architecture, who flourished in the second epoch of 
 the Renaissance, far exceeded their predecessors, but fell short of 
 
 FACADE OF THE 
 
 survived the ravages of so many centuries; and, had he lived, the 
 tomb of Cecilia Metella would have shared the same fate. With 
 the one hand he destroyed, with the other he built. His desire 
 was to leave Rome at his death purely Christian, by removing 
 every vestige of heathenism. Ranke affirms that he could not 
 endure the sight of the Laocoon and the Apollo Belvedere, and 
 that he threatened to pull down the Capitol unless the statues of 
 ancient Rome were removed. Jupiter Tonans and Apollo were in 
 fact removed, and Minerva only remained by surrendering a spear 
 held in her hand, for which an enormous cross was substituted. 
 Sixtus V. raised the statue of St. Peter on the summit of the 
 column of Trajan, and that of St. Paul on the summit of the 
 column of Antoninus. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, not only Rome, but all the principal 
 cities of Italy, sought to rival each other in the artistic movement, 
 which also crossed the mountains, and penetrated other countries 
 of Europe. In the Italian Court beautiful specimens of this im- 
 provement are collected with taste and judgment; but to appreciate 
 them rightly we must make ourselves acquainted with the painters, 
 
 that perfection to which their successors attained. In his judgment 
 they were defective in the following points : — they wanted freedom 
 in the Rule, variety of invention in the Order, rectitude of judg- 
 ment in the Proportion, judicious treatment in the Design, and 
 grace in Manner. In depicting the muscles, he says, “ they were 
 deficient in that graceful facility which holds the medium between 
 suffering them to be seen and not displaying them, which is appa- 
 rent in the life.” They failed in giving lightness and softness to 
 form, particularly to the forms of women and children. Variety 
 and beauty were wanting in the vestments. They did not achieve 
 “a certain delicacy of finish, and that ultimate charm of perfection 
 in the feet, hands, hair, and beard, which alone can satisfy the cul- 
 tivated judgment and the refined taste of the master in art. Had 
 these masters attained to that minuteness of finish which constitutes 
 the perfection and bloom of art, they would also have displayed 
 power and boldness in their works, when the result would have 
 been a lightness, beauty, and grace, which are not to bo found.” 
 Vasari, of course, admits that they laboured under many disadvan- 
 tages, not having those models to which their successors had access 
 
 Y 
 
 ITALIAN COUET. 
 
82 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 enumerating the Laocoon, the Hercules, the Belvedere, and others, 
 
 “ in which softness and power are alike visible ; which display 
 roundness and fulness justly restrained ; and which, reproducing 
 the most perfect beauty of nature, with attitudes and movements 
 wholly free from distortion, but turning or bending gracefully in 
 certain parts, exhibit everywhere the flexibility and ease of nature, 
 with the most attractive grace.” 
 
 First in the order of date of this new school, scarcely inferior to 
 any in painting and sculpture, and immeasurably superior to all 
 in the wonderful variety of his attainments, stands Leonardo da 
 Yinci, born in 1452, and who died in 1519. Possessing an intellect 
 clear, subtle, comprehensive, and profound, he would have excelled 
 in any pursuit to which he might have directed his colossal genius. 
 He was a poet and a musician ; and, in a land of song, yielded to 
 few, if to any, as an improvisatore. His mathematical knowledge 
 was of a very high order, and in the art of civil and militai-y 
 engineering he had no equal among his contemporaries. He 
 was the first who suggested the formation of a canal from Pisa to 
 Florence, which was executed two centuries afterwards by Vincentio 
 Viviani, a disciple of Galileo. Vasari enumerates many of his 
 inventions : he made designs for mills and fulling machines — showed 
 how mountains might be removed or tunnelled — applied levers, 
 cranes, and screws, to the raising of weights — and pointed out the 
 means by which harbours might be deepened, cleansed, and kept in 
 a constant state of efficiency. Leonax-do was master of the most 
 intricate problems of astronomy then known ; and, having dissected 
 several bodies with his own hand, he published a volume of anato- 
 mical drawings. “ In this book,” says his biographei', “ he set forth 
 the entire structure, arrangement, and disposition of the bones, to 
 which he afterwards added all the names in their due order, and 
 next supplied the muscles, of which the first are affixed to the 
 bones ; the second give the power of cohesion, or holding firmly ; 
 and the third impart that of motion. Of each separate part he 
 wrote an explanation.” For the amusement of Leo X. he made 
 certain hollow figures of animals with wax, which he filled with 
 air, and when he blew into them they flew about. By putting 
 quicksilver into the skins of lizards, flayed for the purpose, and 
 fixing wings upon them, he caused these reptiles to walk, and the 
 wings to flap. He wrote a work on the anatomy of the horse ; and, 
 in a letter written by him to the Duke of Milan, in 1483, when he 
 was little more than thirty years of age, he displayed his know- 
 ledge of military engineering. He offered to construct portable 
 bridges, fireproof, and to burn those of the enemy ; to manufacture 
 bombs; to drain ditches, and supply fascines and scaling-ladders; 
 to destroy fortresses where they could not be bombarded ; to break 
 the ranks of an army by propelling against them covered and inde- 
 structible waggons ; to make cannon on a new principle, applicable 
 both on land and at sea; and also powders and vapours for the 
 destruction of the enemy. These details will be interesting to those 
 who understand that great epochs are the creations of great men, on 
 which they stamp the impress of their genius. The Crystal Palace is 
 a register of such epochs, illustrating them by monuments of science 
 and art, and then tracing the progress of intelligence from era to 
 era in different countries. In this resides the utility of the instruc- 
 tion it affords ; and it would be a trivial and almost barren task to 
 describe the treasures of a temple as a mere catalogue, and omit all 
 mention of those by whom the treasures were called into existence. 
 The Crystal Palace itself forms an epoch in architecture; and 
 posterity will read with interest whatever relates to its projector 
 and his coadjutors. We, too, in our time, when studying the past, 
 derive gratification from obtaining an insight into the career of 
 those illustrious men who brought the third epoch of the Renais- 
 sance to perfection. 
 
 In more special reference to the artistic object of this work, 
 Leonardo da Vinci is to be considered as a painter. When a pupil 
 of Andrea Verrochio, he introduced the figure of an angel into a 
 picture, representing St. John baptising Christ, which his master 
 was executing ; and it was so excellent that Verrochio never more 
 touched colours, confessing himself surpassed by a youth. All 
 Leonardo’s works were masterpieces, though a general preference 
 has been given to his “ Last Supper,” in which all the figures are 
 marked by distinct characteristics ; the several apostles displaying, 
 each according to his peculiar feelings, the emotions of anxiety, 
 affection, anger, grief, terror, and surprise, as they are unable to 
 comprehend or interpret the predicted betrayal of their divine 
 master. This magnificent px-oduction, painted for the Dominican 
 
 monks of Santa Maria della Grazie, at Milan, on the walls of their 
 refectory, is now in a very ruined condition,— an irreparable loss 
 to art. Francis I. wished to remove it to Paris, but failed in the 
 attempt. Having filled Italy with his fame, and ruled supreme in 
 art, he at length found a rival in the growing talents of Michael 
 Angelo, and retired to France. whei - e he died in the sixty-seventh 
 year of his age, having enjoyed the personal friendship of the 
 French monarch, who held him in the highest honour and esteem. 
 
 Two of the greatest and most familiar names connected with the 
 arts of design in the sixteenth centux-y are those of Raffaello and 
 Michael Angelo. Several specimens of their skill are exhibited in 
 the Italian Court, but, before we notice them, we shall briefly sketch 
 the biographies of these illustrious rivals. 
 
 Raffaello Sanzio, a native of Ui’bino, was born in 1483. Among 
 his earliest works he executed the cartoons for the libi'ary of the 
 ducal palace at Siena, which he completed in 1504, at which period 
 he went to Florence; and from that date, up to the year 1508, he 
 was engaged in the practice of his art, sometimes at Florence, 
 sometimes at Urbino. He was the nephew of the famous architect 
 Bramante,* by whose influence he obtained a commission to paint 
 the chambei's of the Vatican Palace, which compelled him to take 
 up his residence at Rome. His pi - oductions in that capital were in 
 a hall of the Vatican called the Camera della Signatura. On the 
 roof he l’epi’esented Theology, Philosophy, Poeti'y, and Jurispi'u- 
 dence, each by an appropriate emblem. The first fresco depicted 
 the controversy on the true intei’pretation of the sacrament; in the 
 second, Tribonian presents the Code to the Emperor Justinian, and 
 Pope Gregory IX. delivers the Decretals to a member of the Con- 
 sistory ; Parnassus, with Apollo seated in the midst of the Muses, 
 occupies the third ; while the fourth is devoted to the famous school 
 of philosophy at Athens. Roscoe observes that it is an error to 
 designate the first of these frescoes as “ the Dispute on the Sacra- 
 ments ;” but he does not point out where the error consists, and we 
 have retained the popular reading. “ The scene comprehends both 
 earth and heaven ; the veil of the empyreum is withdrawn ; the 
 eternal Father is visible ; his radiance illumines the heavens ; the 
 cherubim and seraphim surround him at an awful distance; with 
 the one hand he sustains the earth, with the other he blesses it. t 
 Such a representation accorded with the spirit of the age, and it 
 was imitated by many other painter's ; and the same audacity or 
 want of judgment had been displayed in the earlier periods of the 
 Renaissance. In our days any pictorial representation of the 
 Deity would be unequivocally condemned. 
 
 In 1511, at the request of Agostino Chigi, the famous Sienese 
 merchant, who had been treasurer to Julius II., Raffaello painted 
 the prophet Isaiah, in the Church of St. Agostino, and adorned the 
 Chigi Chapel, in the Church of La Madonna della Pace, with 
 frescoes of the four sybils. For the tapestry- weavers of Flanders 
 he executed twelve cartoons of the Acts of the Apostles. By the 
 order of Leo X., he embellished the Vatican with the liberation of 
 St. Peter from prison, the departure of Attila from Rome, and 
 the burning of part of Rome in the time of St. Leo, who arrests the 
 spreading of the flames by the sign of the Cross. This last scene 
 is considered one of the most remarkable of his frescoes. The finest 
 group is that of a young man bearing his father on his shoulders. 
 Theodore Ducas says that Raffaello “ painted these two figures in 
 order to convince those who admired Michael Angelo exclusively, 
 that he, as well as that master, possessed a complete knowledge of 
 anatomy.” Leo X. wished him to paint the history of Constantine, 
 but he only lived to execute the two figures of Justice and Mercy. 
 His oil-painting of « Christ on Mount Thabor,” otherwise called the 
 “ Transfiguration,” was his last performance, and is pronounced the 
 perfection of art. The merits of this extraordinary man are uni- 
 versally recognised. Ducas says of him, “In propriety of design, 
 elegance of fancy, and enchanting grace, Raffaello is the first 
 painter in the world. In colouring he has not the freshness nor the 
 vivacity of Titian, nor the breadth of light and shade of Correggio. 
 In the sublime, in philosophical abstraction of character, he was 
 surpassed by Michael Angelo ; but as the painter of the passions 
 he acknowledges no superior.” M. Guizot, in his Essay on the Fine 
 Arts, pronounces the following criticism on the great master : — “ In 
 the thirty-seven years of his short life, Raffaello travex'sed a distance 
 equal to that which usually lies between separate epochs of art. 
 
 * This relationship has been denied by some recent writers, 
 t Roscoe’s Life of Leo X., vol. ii. p. 325. Bohn’s Edition. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 83 
 
 He gained his earliest triumphs when he equalled Perugino ; his 
 latest is, that he has hitherto remained unequalled, even by the 
 greatest of his successors. Others had, before him, laid the founda- 
 tion of the glory of painting ; but its full blaze was concentrated on 
 him. Whether he was assisted by the intercourse and advice of 
 Leonardo da Vinci, or whether — as is affirmed by Vasari, though 
 denied by most other critics — he profited by the study of the works 
 of Michael Angelo, in either case, he gained the advantage which 
 a man of genius will always gain from truth, according to the 
 saying of Moliere — ‘ Je prends mon bien partout ou je le trouve .’ 
 Vasari says of Raffaello, that he was ‘ molto eccellentc in imitare with 
 a rare power of imitation ; but, indeed, there was nothing about 
 him which was not entirely his own, excepting, perhaps, the faults 
 of his early manner, which were planted in him unconsciously by 
 his education, not derived from himself. His was a mind endowed 
 with the rare good fortune, the portion only of the few, of being, 
 in regard to his art, in perfect harmony with the age in which he 
 lived; rich in the power of acquisition, at a time when the germs 
 of all things were bursting into life with an incredible vigour ; pre- 
 eminent in the faculty of discrimination, at a time when there was 
 no need but to choose ; at once the swiftest in the race in which the 
 spirits of men were then hurrying on, and the most steadfast and 
 unswerving in that illustrious career in which success was certain, 
 if only errors were avoided.” 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds has drawn the following parallel between 
 Raffaello and Michael Angelo. “ If,” he observes, “ we put these 
 great artists in a light of comparison with each other, Raffaello has 
 more taste and fancy, Michael Angelo more genius and imagination. 
 The one excelled in beauty, the other in energy. Michael Angelo 
 has more of the practical in operation ; his ideas are vast and 
 sublime ; his people are a superior order of beings ; there is nothing 
 about them, nothing in the air of their actions or their attitudes, 
 or the style and cast of their limbs or features, that puts us in mind 
 of their belonging to our species. Raffaello’s imagination is not so 
 elevated ; his figures are not so much disjointed from our diminutive 
 race of beings, though his ideas are chaste, noble, and of great 
 conformity to their subjects. Michael Angelo’s works have a strong, 
 peculiar, and mai’ked character; they seem to proceed from his own 
 mind entirely ; and that mind so rich and abundant, that he never 
 needed, and seemed to disdain, to look abroad for foreign help ; 
 Raffaello’s materials are generally borrowed, though the noble 
 structure is his own. The excellency of this extraordinary man 
 lay in the propriety, beauty, and majesty of his characters; his 
 judicious contrivance of composition, correctness of drawing, purity 
 of taste, and the skilful accommodation of other men’s conceptions 
 to his own purposes.” 
 
 The arcades of the Italian Court, in the Crystal Palace, are copies 
 of Raffaello’s decorations of the Loggie of the Vatican. The Loggie 
 are the galleries which were intended to unite the detached parts 
 of that immense fabric. They were commenced by Bramante, who 
 left them unfinished. That famous architect was born in 1444, and 
 died in 1514. He was a native of Urbino, and his earliest study 
 was the Duomo of Milan. He enjoyed the patronage of both Pope 
 Alexander VI. and of Julius II. The art of architecture was greatly 
 enriched by his inventions ; among other impi’ovements he intro- 
 duced the method of vaulting with gypsum, and that of preparing 
 stucco, nor did he spare any labour in perfecting the minutest 
 details. The praise of Michael Angelo puts the crown on his fame. 
 In a letter to a friend that illustrious man says, “ Bramante was 
 equal to any architect who has appeared from the time of the 
 ancients to our own.” The first stone of St. Peter’s was laid by him, 
 not after an obscure and confused plan, but in accordance with a 
 design which was clear, comprehensive, and luminous. On his 
 death, Leo X. commissioned Raffaello to complete the Loggie, and 
 embellish them with appropriate ornaments in painting, carving, 
 and stucco. “ This afforded the artist an opportunity of displaying 
 his knowledge of the antique, and his skill in imitating the ancient 
 grotesque and Arabic monuments, specimens of which then began 
 to be discovered, as well in Italy as in other places, and which were 
 collected from all parts at considerable expense by Raffaello, who 
 also employed artists in various parts of Italy, and even- in Greece 
 and Turkey, to furnish him with drawings of whatever remains of 
 antiquity might appear deserving of notice.” * It is not to be sup- 
 posed that he executed this gigantic work entirely with his own 
 
 * Roscoe’s Leo the Tenth. 
 
 hand. It was indeed chiefly executed from his drawings by his 
 pupils and assistants, and he gave the finishing touches. These 
 paintings in the Loggie have frequently been engraved, in fifty-two 
 pieces, and are known by the name of the “ Bible of Raffaello.” As 
 specimens of the style of mural decoration which became popular 
 throughout Italy, they are deserving of special study, independently 
 of their intrinsic merits. 
 
 We take the following description of the Loggie from Kugler : — 
 “ The I.oggie are open galleries built round three sides of the Court 
 of St. Damascus (the older portion of the Vatican Palace). They 
 were begun by Bramante under Julius H., and completed by 
 Raffaello under Leo X. They consist of three stories; the two 
 lower formed by vaulted arcades, the upper by an elegant colonnade. 
 The first arcade of the middle story was decorated with paintings 
 and stuccoes under Raffaello’s direction ; it leads to the Stanze, so 
 that one master-work here succeeds to another. If we consider the 
 harmonious combination of architecture, modelling, and painting, 
 displayed in these Loggie — all the production of one mind — there is 
 no place in Rome which gives so high an idea of the cultivated taste 
 and feeling for beauty which existed in the age of Leo X. The 
 walls round the windows on the inner side of the Loggie are orna- 
 mented with festoons of flowers and fruits of great beauty and 
 delicate style. The other paintings which adorn the walls, alter- 
 nately with small stuccoes, represent animals of various kinds, but 
 consist principally in the so-called Arabesque or grotesque ornaments. 
 The lightest and most agreeable play of fancy guides the eye, by 
 graceful changes, from one subject to another. It is the embodying 
 of a fabulous poetry, which connects the strangest forms of fancy 
 with those of vivid reality. The stuccoes consist of various architec- 
 tural ornaments, and an almost innumerable multitude of reliefs, 
 of small busts, single figures, and groups which principally represent 
 mythological subjects ; they exhibit a spirited imitation of the 
 antique style, and in some cases of actually existing monuments.” * 
 
 The ten tapestries by Raffaello, which were intended to adorn the 
 Sistine Chapel, represent scenes in the lives of the Apostles. He 
 furnished the cartoons in distemper colours, seven of which are in 
 Hampton Court. The tapestries are kept in the Vatican. They were 
 worked from the cartoons at Arras, in Flanders, and hence were 
 called “ Arazzi.” They formed two series. The first contained the 
 following subjects : — 1. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. 2. The 
 Delivery of the Keys to Peter. 3. The Healing of the Lame Man. 
 4. The Death of Ananias. 5. The Stoning of Stephen. In the second 
 series are: — 1. The Conversion of St. Paul. 2. The Punishment 
 of the Sorcerer Ely mas. 3. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 4. The 
 Preaching of Paul at Lystra. 5. Paul in the Prison of Philippi. 
 Raffaello executed another series of tapestries, twelve in number, 
 representing subjects taken from the life of Christ, among the finest 
 of which is the Adoration of the Kings. 
 
 The vaulted ceiling of the Italian Court nearest the Central Tran- 
 sept is a reproduction of the ceiling in the Camera della Signatura, 
 to which we have already referred. Another work of Raffaello’s, 
 exhibited at the Crystal Palace, is the statue of Jonahf being 
 swallowed by the Whale. The execution of this statue, which was 
 to have been accompanied by others, was undertaken at the desire 
 of Agostino Chigi, who intended it for a decoration to his own 
 sepulchral monument, which he desired to have prepared during his 
 life. This, with other figures, was for a long time supposed to have 
 proceeded from the chisel of the sculptor Lorenzetto, it being 
 believed that Raffaello only furnished the models. The tomb was 
 never completed, owing to the death of the great master and his 
 patron. The Jonah alone was finished ; the sculpture of which, as 
 well as the model, is claimed for Raffaello by Passavant. It has 
 excited the unbounded admiration both of Italians and foreigners, 
 and any adverse criticism may here be considered as misplaced. 
 However, we will venture to observe that when in the water Jonah 
 could not have placed himself in the erect position in which he is 
 here represented. The placid state of the muscles seems to indicate 
 that he is neither resisting danger nor enduring pain, for the muscles 
 are neither in a state of tension nor contraction. The figure of the 
 prophet is, without doubt, most beautiful ; but it appears to us that 
 no spectator can delude himself into the belief that he is witnessing 
 a real action. 
 
 We shall now refer to three of the most celebrated pupils of 
 
 * Kugler’s Hand-Book of Painting. Edited by Sir Charles Eastlake, p. 39. 
 + See Engraving, page 84. 
 
84 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Raffaello. These -were Giulio Romano, Perino del Vaga, and Gian- 
 francesco Penni. 
 
 Giulio Pippi, surnaraed Romano, was born in 1492, and died in 
 1546. After the designs of his illustrious master, he executed in 
 the papal Loggie the Creation of Adam and Eve, the Building of 
 Noah’s Ark, the Discovery of Moses in the Bulrushes, and the Story 
 of Joseph. After Raffaello’s death, Giulio finished several subjects 
 which the former had designed for the Hall of Constantine, the 
 principal of which is the Battle between Constantine and Maxentius 
 at the Ponte Molle, near Rome. The moment represented is the 
 crisis of victory. Giulio left Rome after the loss of his preceptor, 
 and repaired to Mantua, and embellished the Palace of the T, so 
 called because the ground-plan of the building resembled that letter. 
 There he painted the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche in presence of 
 all the Olympian deities. This magnificent work displayed a happy 
 union of the most brilliant fancy and accurate judgment. He 
 depicts the sufferings of Psyche inflicted by the anger of Venus. 
 Mercury is seen arranging the nuptial banquet, while Psyche takes 
 a bath, attended by the Loves ; the Graces prepare the toilet-tables, 
 while the Bacchantes sound musical instruments. Silenus is repre- 
 sented on his ass, upheld by satyrs, and 
 Bacchus with two tigers at his feet; 
 on one side of the nuptial tables is a 
 camel, and on the other an elephant. 
 
 Phoebus appears in the distance on 
 his chariot, while the zephyrs recline 
 on the clouds. In another apartment 
 is the story of Dcedalus and Icarus, 
 with a series of subjects descriptive of 
 the twelve months of the year, the 
 principal group of which presents 
 Jupiter launching his thunder against 
 the rebellious Titans. This scene is 
 most vividly portrayed. All the gods 
 and goddesses, seized with terror, take 
 to flight in their cars. Neptune and 
 his dolphins, Minerva and the nine 
 Muses; Bacchus and Silenus, with 
 the satyrs and nymphs ; Vulcan with 
 his hammer; Briareus, covered with 
 immense masses of rock ; Pluto in his 
 chariot, accompanied by the furies — 
 all are crowded into this vast and 
 wonderful composition ; but there is 
 no confusion, the whole being admi- 
 rably distributed. Vasari pronounces 
 a glowing eulogium on this produc- 
 tion. It shows, in his judgment, that 
 Giulio was “ gifted with the richest 
 powers of invention, and the most 
 varied resources in art.” The vases, 
 goblets, and cups, of the most fantastic 
 and varied forms, depicting the mar- 
 riage of Psyche, “ appear to be of 
 veritable silver and gold.” In the story of Deedalus, the face of 
 Icarus is pale as that of a corpse, and the whole composition is so 
 admirably worked out, that it appears to be reality itself. The 
 effect of the solar heat, as it melts the waxen wings of the unhappy 
 youth, is almost rendered palpable to sight — the kindling fire is seen 
 to give out smoke, one almost hears the crackling of the flames. 
 The idolaters of Raffaello insist that the style and execution of Giulio 
 degenerated after his master’s death, when he painted without 
 restraint, and according to his own taste and fancy ; but others, more 
 impartial, maintain that while the pupil was inferior to the teacher 
 in grace, he sui-passed him in majesty. Giulio’s style was grand 
 and flowing, and his attitudes in particular were derived from the 
 loftiest conceptions of dignity. He had a fine imagination, most 
 fertile in resources, and a facility of execution which threw an equal 
 charm over the beautiful and the sublime. 
 
 Pierino Buonaccorsi, called Perino del Vaga, was born in 1500, 
 and died in 1547. In the Loggie, the subjects he painted from the 
 designs of Raffaello were the histories of Joshua, of Moses, and 
 David. After the sack of Rome, he went to Genoa, and there 
 decorated the Doria Palace in a style similar to that of Giulio 
 Romano, at Mantua. He also is said by some of the critics to have 
 degenerated after his master’s death. A beautiful picture by his 
 
 hand, in the Louvre, represents the Muses and the Pierides con- 
 tending in rival songs on Parnassus ; and a portrait of Cardinal 
 Pole, now in the collection of Earl Spencer, at Althorp, is an 
 admired performance. 
 
 Giovanni Francesco Penni was a pupil of Raffaello’s. He was 
 surnamed “ II Fattore.” He worked at the Loggie, and painted the 
 histories of Abraham and Lot, and the history of Isaac. He excelled 
 equally in landscape, architectural structures, and in figures. He 
 was proficient in oil, in fresco, and in tempera. Raffaello derived 
 great advantage from him in his tapestries, and in the ceiling of 
 Chigi’s Palace, now called the Farnesina. In conjunction with 
 Giulio Romano, he painted the Assumption of the Virgin, at Monte- 
 luci, near Perugia. He finally settled in Naples, where he died. 
 
 In the works at the Vatican Loggie, Raffaello and his pupils 
 were greatly assisted by Giovanni da Udine, born in 1487, and 
 who died in 1561 or 1564. In his peculiar department this artist 
 was unrivalled ; and he is the acknowledged reviver of the stucco 
 of the ancients — an art which had been lost, so that in one sense 
 he deserved to be called an inventor. At the time he flourished, 
 active researches were made in the ruins of the Palace of Titus, 
 wherein subterranean chambers had 
 been discovered, decorated all over 
 with minute grottesche, figures, stories 
 and ornaments, all in low relief. They 
 were termed grottesche because they 
 were found in these grottoes or sub- 
 terranean vaults. Giovanni studied 
 them with great care, and determined 
 to discover the materials out of which 
 the stucco was formed. After various 
 experiments, in which he failed, he at 
 length mixed white marble, reduced 
 to an impalpable powder, with lime 
 extracted from white travertine, and 
 his success was complete. He com- 
 municated the result to Raffaello, who 
 at once appreciated its value, and de- 
 termined on decorating the Loggie 
 with this new quality of stucco, which 
 task he entrusted to Giovanni da 
 Udine, whose wonderful skill enabled 
 him to surpass all the antiques found 
 in the Coliseum and the Baths of 
 Diocletian. Of his productions Vasari 
 speaks in the following animated 
 terms : — 
 
 “ Where, in the works of any other 
 master, will you find birds more truly 
 natural, so to speak, or which come 
 nearer to the truth, whether as re- 
 gards the colouring, softness of the 
 plumage, or other praiseworthy quali- 
 ties, than do those of the friezes and 
 pilasters of the Loggie now in ques- 
 tion, where they are to be seen of evei’y kind, and in all in- 
 stances truthful and life-like? Where indeed can we see them 
 of equal merit? We have them exhibited, too, in variety as 
 rich as that of nature herself, some represented in one manner, 
 some in another, but all of varied kinds ; many of these exquisite 
 birds, for example, are perched on ears of corn and sheaves of 
 maize, buckwheat, millet, and grain of all sorts ; but not of grain 
 only, they are seen among fruits and berries also, of such kinds as 
 the earth has always produced for the sustenance of birds. As 
 much may be affirmed of the fish, and every other manner of water- 
 animal and marine monster which Giovanni represented in the 
 same place. What, indeed, can I say of the innumerable varieties 
 in fruits and flowers, which are here depicted in every possible 
 manner and without end, displaying too, as they do, every tint of 
 colour and change of form which nature has imparted to them at 
 every season of the year, and in all the regions of the world ? 
 What again of the infinite assemblage of musical instruments which 
 are also here represented in the most natural fashion ? In a word, 
 it may be truly asserted, without offence to other artists, that for a 
 work of this kind the paintings here in question are the most 
 beautiful, the most extraordinary, and the most admirable that have 
 ever been seen by mortal eye.” 
 
 JONAH, BY KAFFAELLO. 
 
• YSTAI> PAL. r: KXl'O TOR 
 
 *' ?arnaratd Homan was born in H and ■ -.1 n 
 
 I the d "'.-M of his illustrious master, j:.- • : 
 
 . Lo of Adam and Eve, th>' 
 
 A rijifaello’s death, GiuJio finished »v ' 
 
 . . . hart do m :•! for the Hall of i 
 
 at the I'onte Molle, n-.nv Rome. The moment 
 crisis of victory. Gialio left Home nit r the : • i 
 
 a bath, attended by th ' 
 his ebariut, while the zephyrs recline 
 
 
 hand, in th . Louvre, represents the Maw* and the Pi. -ide -on 
 
 Polo, no in th.; collection of Earl 8p<m . ., at Altborp, is an 
 ad -i ired : ' rformance. 
 
 » '■ iov&nni Francesoo Pcnni was n pupil of Raflaello’s. He v ;• 
 med “ E Fa*‘: .** tic worked ai the Loggio.nnd j;:.inb d ! 
 
 was j ■ ffeient in oil, in fresco, and in tempera. Raffaello derived 
 
 i • • ■ io and h. pupils 
 
 ,v (edged reviv. 'he stncco 
 
 and ornaments, all in low relief. They 
 were termed grattnche because they 
 
 to discover the materials out of which 
 the stncco was formed. After various 
 
 extracted from White travertine^ and 
 his success was complete. He coni- 
 
 icrpsr and *hc who!- > om^Mtio 
 it melts the w r. vridg> of the unhappy I rch th: 
 1 h- he crackling of the flamea. ' birds, t <- ■ 
 -h, " hen he painted without only, they 
 
 VA \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •' v 
 
 ; 
 
 
 • ro? It? a word, 
 
 tion arc the most 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 85 
 
 It falls not within the scope of this publication minutely to 
 describe the Vatican Palace, but as it is intimately connected with 
 the artistic glories of the epoch now under review and contains 
 those exquisite productions of Raffaello and his pupils, to which we 
 have referred, a brief account of its history may not be here mis- 
 placed. Some antiquarians are of opinion that it stands on the site 
 of the Aurea Domus of Nero, of which we gave some account when 
 describing the Homan Court, and they tell us that the ground was 
 given by Constantine the Great to the Pope St. Sylvester. Other 
 authorities maintain that the Vatican Palace was founded by Pope 
 Symmachus about the year 1500, and enlarged and repaired by his 
 successors ; it is, however, 
 certain that Eugenius 
 III., about the year 1145, 
 rebuilt the edifice from 
 the foundation with con- 
 siderable magnificence. 
 
 Nicholas III. added new 
 buildings ; and Boniface 
 IX., who adorned the 
 whole with marble, paint- 
 ings, and statues, decreed 
 that in all future time the 
 palace should be the pa- 
 pal residence. What is 
 called the Casino di Bel- 
 vedere, was erected on the 
 last point of the Vatican 
 Hill by Nicholas V. It 
 affords a fine prospect of 
 the country towards the 
 north, and hence it is 
 called “Belvedere.” Sub- 
 sequently enlargements 
 were made by Innocent 
 VIII. and Alexander VI. 
 
 The Vatican Palace, ac- 
 cording to the measure- 
 ment of Mr. Eustace, co- 
 vers a space of 1200 feet 
 in length, and 1000 in 
 bx^eadth, and its elevation 
 is proportionate. Mr. Sal- 
 mon, the antiquary, states 
 that it contains “ twenty- 
 two court-yards, twenty 
 noble staircases, twelve 
 majestic halls, two large 
 and eight small chapels, 
 and about 11,500 rooms, 
 as may be seen from its 
 model, preserved in the 
 Casino of Pius IV.” The 
 principal architects of its 
 enlarged dimensions were 
 Bramante, Raffaello, San 
 Gallo, Ligorio, Fontana, 
 
 Maderno, Ferrabosco, and 
 Bernini. 
 
 Michael Angelo Buo- 
 narotti, sculptor, painter, 
 and architect, was born 
 in 1474, and died in 1563. 
 
 At the early age of four- 
 teen, lie was placed as a pupil with Domenico Ghirlandftjo, who 
 taught him the rudiments of drawing and painting. The master 
 quickly appreciated the wonderful talents of his disciple, and, asto- 
 nished at one of his youthful performances, exclaimed aloud, “ This 
 hoy knows more than I do !” He introduced Michael Angelo to Lo- 
 renzo the Magnificent, who accepted him as a student in those famous 
 gardens where the princely merchant had deposited his fine collec- 
 tion of statues and other remains of antiquity. There his first pn 
 
 MOSES, BY »U 
 
 duction was the imitation of the head of an old Faun, from the antique. 
 “ The nQse of the original,” says Vasari, “ was much injured ; the 
 mouth was represented laughing ; and this, Michael Angelo, who 
 had never before touched the chisel or marble, did in fact copy in 
 
 such a manner that the Magnifico was utterly amazed. Lorenzo, 
 furthermore, perceived that the youth had departed to a certain 
 extent from the original, having opened the mouth according to 
 his own fancy, so that the tongue and the teeth were in view ; he 
 then remarked in a jesting manner to the boy, * Thou shouldst have 
 remembered that old folks never retain all their teeth, some of them 
 are always wanting.’ Michael Angelo, who loved that Signor as 
 much as he respected him, believed in his simplicity that Lorenzo 
 had spoken in earnest, and no sooner saw his back turned than he 
 broke out a tooth, filling the gum in such sort as to make it seem 
 that the tootli had dropped out, and then waited impatiently for 
 
 the return of the Signor. 
 When the latter saw what 
 was done, he was much 
 amazed, and often laugh- 
 ed at the circumstance 
 with his friends, to whom 
 he related it as a marvel, 
 resolving meanwhile to 
 assist Michael Angelo, 
 and put him forward.” 
 
 He was only fifteen 
 years of uge when he ex- 
 ecuted the Faun. An- 
 other of his earliest ef- 
 forts was a basso-relievo 
 of the “Battle of Her- 
 cules with the Centaurs,” 
 which was admired as 
 the production of an ex- 
 perienced master, not of 
 a youthful student. His 
 “ Sleeping Cupid,” in 
 marble, the size of life, 
 rivalled the fine produc- 
 tions of antiquity; and 
 with it a curious anecdote 
 is connected. A friend of 
 Michael Angelo’s, named 
 Baldassare del Milanese, 
 said to him, “lam certain 
 that, if you bury this 
 statue for a time, and 
 then send it to Rome so 
 treated, that it may look 
 old, you may get much 
 more for it than could be 
 obtained here.” This was 
 done ; the freshness of 
 the marble disappeared, 
 and the Sleeping Cupid 
 was sold by Baldassare 
 to the Cardinal San Gior- 
 gio as an antique : no 
 fraud, however, was in- 
 tended ; then, as now, 
 idle prejudices prevailed 
 in favour of what is old, 
 and against what is new ; 
 and the object of the in- 
 nocent deception was to 
 combat those prejudices, 
 chael angelo. and test the skill of the 
 
 modern sculptor against 
 the small criticisms of foppish connoisseurs. However, when the 
 cardinal ascertained that what he had purchased as an antique had 
 been recently produced at Florence, he insisted on repayment; and 
 the statue then passed into the hands of the Duke Valentino, who 
 made a present of it to the Duchess of Mantua. The merit of the 
 statue, which was perfect in all points, was then recognised, and the 
 cardinal became an object of ridicule for his ignorance of true art. 
 Nevertheless, he appreciated the genius of Michael Angelo, brought 
 him from Florence to Rome, and engaged him in his service for 
 nearly a year. 
 
 In the Crystal Palace may be seen the famous “Pieta” of this 
 unrivalled sculptor, which represents a dead Christ in the lap of 
 
86 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Milan. 
 
 Adjoining the Great Transept stands the celebrated statue of 
 “ Moses,” which alone would immortalise the fame of Buonarotti. 
 It was originally intended for one of the chief ornaments of the 
 tomb of Pope Julius II., which Michael Angelo was commissioned 
 to execute during the life of that pontiff, but the tomb was never 
 finished. The figure is seated in an attitude of solemn and imposing 
 dignity. The great legislator of the Hebrews rests his right arm on 
 the Tables of the Law, the fingers of the hand being fully displayed ; 
 the whole of his left arm is bare, and the hand holds back the full 
 and flowing beard. With wondrous skill each separate hair is 
 distinct, as though, to use the expression of Vasari, “ the chisel had 
 become a pencil.” The face is expressive of the most sublime 
 beauty, yet awful in its grandeur. The anatomical development of 
 the muscles and nerves is perfect. The whole effect is heightened 
 by Moses being arrayed in the most appropriate vestments, and the 
 draperies are exquisite in their foldings. In the noise and crowd 
 of the Crystal Palace, the spectator can hardly do justice to this 
 magnificent work of art ; it should be seen amid the silence of a 
 cathedral, with all those accessories of holy influence which a 
 cathedral presents to the mind of contemplative man. 
 
 “And who is he, that shaped in sculptured stone. 
 
 Sits giant-like ? stern monument of art 
 Unparallel'd, whilst language seems to start 
 From his prompt lips, and we his precepts own. 
 
 ’Tis Moses; by his beard's thick honours known, 
 
 And the twin beams that from his temples dart. 
 
 ’Tis Moses ; seated on the mount apart, 
 
 Whilst yet the Godhead o’er his features shone. 
 
 Such once he looked, when ocean’s sounding wave 
 Suspended hung, and such amidst the storm, 
 
 When o’er his foes the refluent waters roar’d. 
 
 An idol calf his followers did engrave, 
 
 But had they raised this awe-commanding form, 
 
 Then had they with less guilt their work adored.” * 
 
 In reference to this statue, Vasari declares that “ the Jews are to be 
 seen every Saturday, on their Sabbath, hurrying like a flock of 
 swallows, men and women, to visit and worship the figure, not as a 
 work of the human hand, but as something divine.” Cancellieri 
 and Bottari deny the truth of this statement, because Jews do not 
 enter the Roman churches.f But the case is stated as exceptional, 
 and as an act of homage to the genius of Michael Angelo. It is 
 perfectly natural that the Hebrews should have desired to see the 
 statue of their lawgiver, and the church may have allowed them 
 access to contemplate a work of art which was the pride of Rome. 
 What ought to be decisive, is the attestation of Vasari himself. He 
 lived at the time, was the disciple and friend of Michael Angelo, and 
 his scrupulous fidelity as an historian has never been impeached. 
 
 The “ David,” with a sling in his hand, is one of the most remark- 
 able productions of this gifted sculptor, and it is the more worthy 
 of notice on account of the peculiar fate of the block of marble from 
 which it was wrought. Simone da Fiesole had attempted to carve a 
 colossal figure out of it, and failed, and it was put aside in the House 
 of Works, at Florence. Piero Soderini, Gonfaloniere of that city, 
 offered it to Leonardo da Vinci, that this opprobrium of art might 
 be converted into an ornament of the city ; but that most eminent 
 man declined the difficult task, as Simone had mutilated the 
 
 * Translated from the Italian of Giovambattista Zappi, by William Roscoe. 
 
 t Bohn’s Edition of Vasari, vol. v. p. 249. 
 
 material. He alleged, indeed, that no work worthy of art could 
 be completed out of it unless the defects were supplied with addi- 
 tional pieces of marble. A similar offer had been made to Andrea 
 Contucci, the famous sculptor, who had acquired a great reputation 
 in Spain and Italy, better known by the name of Andrea Sansovino, 
 so called from his birthplace, Monte Sansovino, near Arezzo, where 
 Pope Julius III. was born. He also declined the offer of Soderini. 
 It was then proposed to Michael Angelo, who remeasured the block, 
 and undertook the work, perhaps prompted by a noble spirit Oi 
 emulation, and the glory of conquering difficulties which had 
 appalled Da Vinci and Contucci. He allowed some traces of 
 Simone’s clumsy chisel to remain, but succeeded to perfection, and 
 his enthusiastic biographer declares that “ it was all but a miracle 
 that Michael Angelo performed when he thus resuscitated one that 
 was dead.” He affirms that it surpassed all the statues of Greece 
 and Rome. “ Neither the Marforio of Rome,” he says, “ the Tiber 
 and the Nile, in the Belvedere, nor the Giants of Monte Cavallo, can 
 be compared to it. Never since has there been produced so fine an 
 attitude, so perfect a grace, such beauty of head, feet, and hands; 
 nor is so much harmony and admirable art to be found in any 
 other work.” 
 
 The bronze statue of Julius II. is another of the masterpieces 
 of this prince of sculptors. It was erected in front of the Church 
 of St. Petronio, at Bologna, which city that warlike pontiff had 
 just subjected by force of arms. It skilfully expresses the 
 haughty pride and fierce character of the original. The coun- 
 tenance indicates firmness of mind, and the attitude is grand and 
 majestic. All the details are exquisitely finished, and the drapery 
 has been highly praised for the boldness and ease of the folds. The 
 right arm is extended, displaying considerable energy. This the 
 pontiff observed, and asked Michael Angelo whether he intended to 
 represent him as dispensing his curse or his blessing. The prudent 
 artist replied that his idea was to represent his holiness in the act 
 of admonishing the citizens of Bologna to behave themselves 
 discreetly ; and he then asked whether he should not put a book 
 in his hand. “No,” replied Julius, “I know little of letters, and 
 have small book learning; I am a soldier at heart, put a sword in 
 my hand.” 
 
 Between the columns of the side of the Italian Court, parallel to, 
 but furthest from the Nave, is a colossal upright figure of “ Christ 
 bearing his Cross,” by Michael Angelo. It would seem, however, 
 from the statement of Vasari, that he only furnished the design, for 
 the biographer says, “ about this time Michael Angelo sent his 
 disciple, Pietro Urbano of Pistoja, to Rome, there to execute a 
 figure of Christ with the Cross, which is indeed a most admirable 
 performance ; it was afterwards erected beside the principal chapel 
 in the Minerva, by M. Antonio Melli.” The Minerva means the 
 Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, and takes its name from 
 being built on the ruins of the Temple of Minerva, erected by 
 Pompey the Great, in gratitude for the numerous victories he had 
 gained in the ten preceding years. Pope Zacharias gave it and a 
 small convent to some nuns who came from Greece, who were after- 
 wards transferred to another building in the Campus Martius. 
 About the year 1370, the chapel was given to the Dominican friars, 
 who, with the assistance of several benefactoi-s, built on the old 
 site the noble Gothic church which now remains. It contains many 
 splendid works of art, among which are the monuments of Leo X. 
 and Clement VII., in the choir, by Bandinelli ; the statue of Leo, by 
 Raphael di Monte Lupo, and that of Clement, by Baccio Bigio. The 
 celebrated statue of “ Christ,” by Michael Angelo, was originally 
 placed on one side of the pilaster of the high altar, while at the 
 other stood the statue of the “ Virgin,” by Siciliano. 
 
 Near the “ Pieta,” in the Italian Court, is the “ Slave,” by Michael 
 Angelo, originally designed by the sculptor to form one of the 
 ornaments of the tomb of Julius II. It is now in the Louvre. This 
 statue is finely executed. One arm is thrown over the head ; the 
 hand of the other rests on the chest, just under the band drawn 
 across the upper part of the body — the symbol of lost freedom. The 
 anatomy is strongly marked. The expression of the countenance 
 is sad and dispirited. 
 
 The Italian Court contains copies of the two famous tombs erected 
 in honour of the Medici family — that of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, 
 brother of Leo X., and that of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino. The 
 fio-ures of both princes are admirable. Lorenzo is thoughtful and 
 reflective, and the Italians call the statue “ II Pensiero.” Giuliano 
 is represented as haughty of aspect. Both are clothed in 
 
 the Virgin. Criticism has pronounced this group faultless. Vasari, 
 though enthusiastic in his praises of Michael Angelo, whose inti- 
 mate and devoted friend he was, does not exaggerate when he says 
 that “the body of the dead Christ exhibits the very perfection of 
 research in every muscle, vein, and nerve, nor could any corpse 
 more completely resemble the dead than does this. There is, 
 besides, a most exquisite expression in the countenance, and the 
 limbs are affixed to the trunk in a manner that is truly perfect; 
 the veins and pulses are, moreover, indicated with so much exacti- 
 tude that one cannot but marvel how the hand of the artist should 
 in a short time have produced such a work, or how a stone, which 
 just before was without form or shape, should all at once display 
 such perfection as nature can but rarely produce in the flesh.” The 
 draperies are admirable, and the group is most strongly marked by 
 delicacy, elegance, and force. This is the only one of his works on 
 which Michael Angelo carved his name. It appears on the cincture 
 which girdles the robe of the Virgin. He took this step in 
 consequence of strangers from Lombardy declaring that it was the 
 work of Christofero Solari of Milan, called “ The Hunchback of 
 
CUPID AND PSYCHE 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 87 
 
 light disappears in the pre- 
 sence of darkness. At the pe- 
 riod when these tombs were 
 executed, many verses in Latin 
 and Italian were written in 
 their praise. Vasari has pre- 
 served the following, by Bat- 
 tista Strozzi, and the reply of 
 Michael Angelo : — 
 
 The Night that here thou seest, 
 in graceful quiet 
 
 Thus sleeping, by an angel’s hand 
 was carved 
 
 In this pure stone; but sleeping, 
 still she lives. 
 
 Awake her if thou doubtest, and 
 she ’ll Bpeak.” 
 
 The great sculptor, speaking 
 in the name of Night, thus an- 
 swered : — 
 
 “ Happy am I to sleep, and still 
 more blest 
 
 To be of stone, while grief ana 
 shame endure ; 
 
 To see, nor feel, is now my utmost 
 hope. 
 
 Wherefore speak softly, and awake 
 me not.” 
 
 We have now to consider 
 Michael Angelo as a painter. 
 It has already been stated 
 that the great Leonardo da 
 Vinci recognised in him, while 
 yet a very young man, a for- 
 midable rival. In fact, Michael 
 Angelo’s cartoon of the “War 
 of Pisa” — preferred to the 
 
 armour, and are placed above 
 the sarcophagus. Beneath, on 
 the pediments, are four re- 
 clining statues, two to each. 
 
 Under the tomb of Lorenzo 
 are “Dawn” and “Twilight,” 
 and under that of Giuliano, 
 
 “ Day ” and “ Night.” These, 
 of course, are allegorical of 
 life and death. Messrs. Wyatt 
 and Waring, in commenting 
 on these tombs, observe, “ We 
 think that in order justly 
 to appreciate this monument 
 and its companion, they should 
 be regarded only as expres- 
 sions of sentiment or embodi- 
 ments of some thought; and 
 as such, they rank certainly 
 among the most remark- 
 able productions of the kind 
 which the great author of 
 them has produced.” These 
 critics consider the unfinished 
 head of the “Twilight" as 
 “grandly mysterious;” but 
 they do not think that the 
 “Dawn” or “Aurora” is obvi- 
 ously related to the subject, 
 though a “ figure of great 
 power.” The “Aurora” is a 
 nude figure, whose attitude 
 shows that she has hastily risen 
 from her bed, her eyes still 
 
 heavy with slumber; and, as Vasari remarks, thus awakening, ■ work of Da Vinci, the “ Battle of the Standard” — has been the theme 
 she finds the prince dead. In this view, Aurora eloquently ac- 1 of universal admiration. The Florentine soldiers, while bathing in 
 counts for her presence at the tomb. The statue of “Night” is the Arno, hear the enemy attacking the camp. All hurry to the 
 most appropriate, symbolizing the physical death of nature, as j shore, to array themselves for combat. This conception of the 
 
 subject gave full scope to the wonderful genius of the 
 artist, and the whole scene is full of varied and ani- 
 mated life. Those who have reached the bank are 
 putting on their armour, others are swimming lustily 
 to join their comrades; some are clambering up the 
 sides of the river. Some are mounting their horses. 
 
 Other groups have their clothes in their hands ; they 
 stand, they kneel, they stoop forward, they grasp 
 their weapons; all is action, excitement, fire. All 
 the critics who have commentated on this cartoon 
 have followed Vasari in bestowing special praise on 
 the figure of an old man, “who, to shelter himself 
 from the heat, has wreathed a garland of ivy round 
 his head, and, seated on the earth, is labouring to draw 
 on his stockings, but is impeded by the humidity of 
 his limbs. Hearing the sound of the drums and the 
 cries of the soldiers, he is struggling violently to put 
 one of the stockings on, the actions of the muscles 
 and the distortion evince the zeal of his efforts, and 
 prove him to be toiling all over, even to the points 
 of his feet.” This cartoon stamped the reputation of 
 Michael Angelo as a painter; and when Julius II. 
 resolved on decorating the chapel erected by his 
 uncle, Sixtus IV., with a series of paintings on sacred 
 subjects, he confided the work to that great artist. 
 
 Within the short space of twenty months he adorned 
 the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel with fresco-paint- 
 ings of marvellous beauty ; and the best critics, 
 estimating the extent of the undertaking, and the 
 excellence of the performance, consider that its com- 
 pletion would have occupied the whole life of an or- 
 dinary artist. It must not, however, be understood 
 that his sole hand was engaged in the Capella 
 Sistina, as he invited several painters to assist him in 
 the mechanical part of his art, but they worked entirely 
 under his directions. At length he dismissed them 
 all, finding them inadequate, and finished the work 
 alone, even grinding and preparing his own colours. 
 
 CHRIST, BY MICHAEL ANGELO. 
 
 SLAVE, BY MICHAEL ANGELO. 
 
 
88 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is divided into compartments, 
 all of which are filled up with subjects taken from sacred history ; 
 and on the walls are the sublime figures of the prophets and the 
 terrific representations of the sibyls. In the centre of the ceiling 
 is the history of the world, from the Creation to the Deluge. With 
 a daring hand, Michael Angelo has attempted to depict what even 
 his transcendent genius ought not to have attempted : he has 
 introduced the Supreme Being separating light from darkness, 
 creating the sun and moon, and dividing earth from water. The 
 creation of Adam and Eve, the temptation by the serpent and the 
 fall, the sacrifice of Cain and Abel, and the inebriation of Noah, 
 are among the most conspicuous narratives represented by the 
 great master. This work he executed during the pontificate of 
 Julius II. ; and, under that of Clement VII., he painted his master- 
 piece, “The Last Judgment,” also in the Sistine Chapel, behind 
 the altar. As a work of art, this magnificent production, both in 
 its conception and treatment, is unrivalled ; and, on account of its 
 unapproachable excellence, it has been termed “ the admiration and 
 reproach of future artists.” It was completed under the pontifi- 
 cate of Paul III. Alessandro Guido wrote a sonnet on it, thus 
 translated by Mr. Roscoe : — 
 
 “ I see the awful judgment-day unfold, 
 
 Tuscan Apelles, pictured by thy hand. 
 
 When such strong tints of ire and rage expand, 
 
 That my heart shudders and my blood runs 
 cold. 
 
 Down towards th’ infernal gulf in tumult 
 roll’d, 
 
 I see the sinful crew ; and fear-struck stand ; 
 
 Check’d in those vain pursuits I once had 
 
 plann’d, 
 
 Whilst timely dread restrain’d transgression 
 bold. 
 
 I see the happier train, who far apart 
 
 From danger move, and joyful take their 
 place, 
 
 Amidst the cloudless regions of the blest. 
 
 0 wondrous effort of the painter’s art ! 
 
 Where colours are God's ministers of grace, 
 
 That with new ardours fire my glowing breast.” 
 
 In architecture, the fame of Michael 
 Angelo is identified with the noble Ba- 
 silica of St. Peter’s. The site of the original 
 building is supposed to have been the 
 Circus of Nero, where the primitive 
 Christians were burnt, crucified, and 
 devoured by wild beasts. Tradition re- 
 ports that their mangled remains were 
 collected by the pious hands of their 
 co-religionists, and buried under the Va- 
 tican Hill, in what has been called the 
 Vatican Cemetery ; and here St. Peter is 
 presumed to have been buried. In honour- 
 able memory of these early martyrs, Con- 
 stantine the Great, on his conversion to 
 Christianity, demolished the circus, and, 
 at the request of St. Sylvester, Bishop of 
 Rome, erected the first basilica. His zeal 
 prompted him to work at the foundations, 
 and he carried away on his shoulders 
 twelve baskets of earth in honour of the 
 twelve Apostles. The walls of the circus were employed in the 
 construction of the basilica ; marble was procured from several 
 of the ancient structures, and one hundred columns adorned the 
 new edifice. On the 18th of November, in the year 324, it was 
 consecrated by St. Sylvester. Succeeding popes, emperors, and 
 kings embellished and enriched it; and, had its constantly accu- 
 mulating treasures escaped the hand of rapine, it would have 
 exceeded in riches even the opulent temples of antiquity ; but it 
 shared in the frequent desolations of the city. Mr. Salmon, the 
 antiquary, has mentioned several of the costly gifts it received, 
 and the names of the donors. In the year 460, St. Hilarius gave 
 to it two gold vases set with jewels, fifteen pounds weight each, 
 ten chalices, and twenty-four lamps of silver ; St. Simplicius gave 
 twelve more, and a vase of gold weighing sixteen pounds ; Sim- 
 macus twenty more, and twenty-two arches of silver, each weigh- 
 ing twenty pounds. Hormisdas had a silver beam made, of 
 1400 pounds weight, to sustain the lamps that burned night 
 and day before the tombs of the Apostles. Pelagius II. adorned 
 the tomb with silver, and St. Gregory added a canopy with silver 
 
 columns, each weighing 180 pounds. Honorius I. had the silver 
 doors made, of 975 pounds weight, and covered the roof with 
 sheets of gilt metal taken from the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus 
 Adrian I. had a lamp made, in form of a cross, with 1360 branches, 
 that were lighted four times in a year, and adorned the confessional 
 or tomb with 1328 pounds of gold. Leo built a tower then un- 
 equalled; but after this basilica was stripped of its treasures by 
 foreign enemies, Leo IV. had new doors made, with -some basso- 
 relievos in silver. Nicholas III. adorned it with mosaic- work ; 
 and Giotto executed many works for its embellishment. In the 
 course of time, after various disasters, the original basilica was 
 falling into ruins, and under the pontificate of Nicholas V., about 
 the year 1450, it was perceived that the walls were giving way 
 That pope entertained the design of taking down the old church, 
 and even began operations for replacing it by a modern structure, 
 but nothing effective was accomplished. At length, after the old 
 basilica had existed during 1200 years, Pope Julius II., in 1506, 
 resolved on erecting the new St. Peter’s, without doubt the noblest 
 temple in the world; and on the 18th of April, 1508, the foun- 
 dation-stone of one of the vast pillars that support the dome was 
 laid by Julius in person, with imposing 
 pomp and ceremony. The first architect 
 was Bramante, who, on his death, was 
 succeeded by his illustrious nephew, Raf- 
 faello Sanzio, of Urbino, who was fol- 
 lowed by Baldassare Peruzzi. The sack 
 of Rome by the Duke of Boui’bon, under 
 Pope Clement VII., interrupted the work 
 Under Paul III. it was carried on by 
 San Gallo, and then by Michael Angelo. 
 In 1564, the continuation of the structure 
 was entrusted to Vignola. In 1573, Gi- 
 acomo dell Porta and Domenico Fontana, 
 under the pontificate of Sixtus V., raised 
 up the wonderful cupola from the model 
 left by Michael Angelo, a little largei 
 than that of the Pantheon ; and to com- 
 plete the small cupola, added a ball of 
 metal that supports the cross, — the con- 
 cavity of which ball, Mr. Salmon asserts, 
 contains commodiously thirty-two per- 
 sons sitting. Nearly three centuries 
 elapsed, and thirty-five pontiffs reigned, 
 from the commencement to the com- 
 pletion of this stupendous fabric. The 
 cost has been computed at twelve millions 
 sterling. 
 
 It was in 1546, on the death of An- 
 tonio San Gallo, that Pope Paul III. ap- 
 pointed Michael Angelo superintendent 
 of the fabric of St. Peter’s ; but the great 
 architect made it a condition that he 
 would receive no pay or other reward for 
 time or labour. He felt it a religious 
 duty to dedicate his genius to the magni- 
 ficent temple which piety was erecting to 
 the Supreme Being, from whom his genius 
 | was derived. He rejected a plan prepared by San Gallo, and 
 made a new and original design. The four principal piers con- 
 I structed by Bramante he discovered to be too weak, and strength- 
 ened them. Two spiral staircases, which he modelled, were of 
 such easy ascent, and so slightly inclined, that the asses used in 
 carrying the materials to the summit of the building could mount 
 aud descend them, while men rode up on horseback to the plat- 
 form of the arches. The curious reader is referred to Vasari for 
 copious details of Michael Angelo’s architectural contributions to 
 St. Peter’s, and also for an account of his skill in erecting St. 
 Lorenzo, at Florence, the fortifications of that city, and his various 
 plans in military engineering. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that few of his works undertaken in man- 
 hood were ever completed, those entirely finished being the pro- 
 ductions of his youth. “Such, for example,” says Vasari, “A\ere 
 the Bacchus, the Pieta of the Madonna dell Febbre, the colossal 
 statue at Florence (the David), and the Christ of the Minerva, 
 which are finished to such perfection that a single grain could not 
 be taken from them without injury ; while the statues of the Dukes 
 
 VIRGIN ANT) CHILD, I5Y MICHAEL ANGELO. 
 

 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 89 
 
 Giuliano and Lorenzo,* with those of Night, Aaron, Moses, and the 
 two figures belonging to the latter, altogether not amounting to 
 eleven statues, have still remained incomplete. The same may be 
 said of many others ; nay, Michael Angelo would often remark that 
 if he were really compelled to satisfy himself in the works to be 
 produced, he should give little or nothing to public view. And the 
 reason of this is obvious: he had proceeded to such an extent of 
 knowledge in art, that the very slightest error could not exist in 
 any figure without his immediate discovery thereof; but having 
 seen such after the work had been given to view, he would never 
 attempt to correct it, and would commence some other production, 
 believing that the like failure would not happen again ; this then 
 was, as he often declared, the cause wherefore the number of 
 pictures and statues finished by his hand was so small.” 
 
 It was the good fortune of this illustrious man to be estimated 
 during his life at his proper vaiue, for his contemporaries recognised 
 
 dependents. The poor enjoyed his bounty; and he made it a rule 
 to give dowries to poor girls. He lived a life of honour, and no 
 vice sullied his fair fame. 
 
 The next illustrations of art in the Italian Court to which we 
 shall refer, are taken from the works of the Florentine sculptor, 
 Jacopo Sansovino. He was descended from the Tatti family, 
 originally of Lucca, but who established themselves at Florence in 
 the year 1300. At an early age, Jacopo became the pupil of the 
 celebrated Andrea Contucci, of Monte Sansovino, a place near 
 Arezzo, between whom there grew up and strengthened so warm 
 an attachment, that they were regarded as father and son ; hence 
 Jacopo dropped the name of Tatti, and took that of Sansovino. 
 Giuliano da Sail Gallo, struck by the early genius of Jacopo, took 
 him to Rome ; and under this patron, who was one of the architects 
 of Julius II., the young man studied the statues in the Belvedere. 
 He was also encouraged by the famous Bramante, for whom he 
 
 VESTIBULE OP THE ITALIAN COURT. 
 
 his exalted genius. Too many have only been appreciated after 
 death, and posthumous honours have been paid to those who wanted 
 bread while they were benefiting society. Michael Angelo enjoyed 
 the favour of seven succeeding popes — Julius II., Leo X., Cle- 
 ment VII., Paul III., Julius III., Paul IV., and Pius IV. Rival 
 sovereigns competed to give him a princely home— Solyman, Sultan 
 of Turkey, Francis, King of France, the Emperor Charles V., the 
 Seignory of Venice, and Duke Cosmo di Medici of Florence. 
 
 Ihe character of Michael Angelo was singularly dignified and 
 independent, in an age when the power of princes was unlimited ; | 
 and he even had the courage to brave the resentment of the fiferce 
 Julius H. He was free from envy and avarice. Rising merit 
 found in him a generous patron ; and he provided liberally for his 
 
 * This is a mistake : these two statues are finished, as are the allegorical 
 V 313) WhlCh accompany them C® ee note in John’s edition of Vasari, vol. v. 
 
 modelled figures in wax, from which bronze casts were taken. 
 These he executed in competition with other artists, and Raffaello 
 pronounced them the best. Ill health compelled him to quit Rome 
 for Florence, where he distinguished himself by his marble “Venus 
 reclining on a Shell,” and the “Boy wdth a Swan.” He is particu- 
 larly famed for his draperies, on the folds and edges of which he 
 bestowed the most elaborate finish. But his great reputation rests 
 on the works he executed at Venice, to which city he repaired after 
 the sack of Rome by the Duke of Bourbon. Here he constructed 
 | the beautiful Library opposite the Ducal Palace, and the Delfino, 
 and Moro, and G'omaro Palaces ; and the Zecca, or Mint, which is a 
 masterpiece in architecture. To him Venice was also indebted for 
 the beautiful Loggia, of the Corinthian order, erected round the 
 Campanile of St. Mark’s. 
 
 In the Italian Court are seen copies from this grand edifice, 
 I representing the open worked panels from the bronze doors of the 
 
90 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Loggia. The Loggia is richly decorated with columns, and four 
 bronze figures stand in niches; in addition to these are -various 
 figures and stories in basso-relievo by the hand of Jacopo. The 
 Loggia forms a basement to the Campanile, or Bell Tower, 
 which itself is 292 feet high. The figures are female, and alle- 
 gorical. That of War rests on a shield, helmeted ; that of Peace 
 holds the caduceus of Mercury. The angles are ornamented with 
 the winged lions of St. Mark. The bronze door of St. Mark's is 
 said to have occupied Sansovino for nearly thirty years. In one 
 panel is depicted the entombment of Christ, in the other the resur- 
 rection. The bronze statues which ornament the niches of the 
 facade of the Italian Court are also by Jacopo Sansovino. The 
 fa$adc itself is copied from the Farnese Palace, at Home, which 
 Pope Paul III. commenced when he was a cardinal, from a design of 
 San Gallo; and it was finished by Cardinal Alexander Farnese, 
 from a design by Michael Angelo, except the southern portion, 
 which is by Giacomo dell Porta. The stones used for building it 
 were taken from the Flavian Amphitheatre and the Theatre of 
 Marcellus. The chief entrance to this noble palace was adorned 
 with twelve columns of Egyptian granite, and with the same 
 number of Travertine stone columns, forming a grand division 
 in ten niches, and four doorways. The quadrangle is surrounded 
 with double porticoes, designed by Michael Angelo. The Farnese 
 family drew from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla and the 
 Flavian Amphitheatre many masterpieces of ancient sculpture, 
 statues, relievos, and coloured marbles, to decorate their palatial 
 residence — such as the Hercules and the Toro Farnese, otherwise 
 called the Dirce, which has been described in the Roman Court. 
 
 The Library of St. Mark, at Venice, is a noble monument to the 
 fame of Jacopo Sansovino, and has served as a model for the Carlton 
 New Club House, in Pall Mall. The Venetian authorities ordered 
 its construction, regardless of expense, and thus gave free scope to 
 the genius of the architect, who responded to the generosity of his 
 munificent patrons by producing a marvel of beauty. Sansovino 
 used the Doric and Corinthian orders, with fine carvings, columns, 
 capitals, cornices, half-length figures, and other decorations ; but 
 the stucco-work, which formed compartments for paintings, was 
 executed by Alessandro Vittoria of Trent, a pupil of Sansovino, who 
 excelled in marble portraits. Over the parts thus divided, Battista 
 Franco of Venice painted minute grotteschine, and in the larger 
 spaces a considerable number of figures in fresco. He also deco- 
 rated the ceiling of the vestibule to the staircase. 
 
 The Zecca, or Mint of Venice, was considered, at the time it was 
 built, the most perfect treasury in the world, being constructed 
 entirely of iron and stone, to the complete exclusion of the least 
 particle of wood. It was, of course, fireproof. Sansovino revolu- 
 tionized the architectural style of Venice, which, before his time, 
 had been marked by a tame uniformity. He not only added to the 
 beauty of the city, but greatly improved its sanitary condition by 
 several ingenious contrivances, especially in the markets, largely in- 
 creasing the tolls, without pressure on the dealers or their customers. 
 Vasari thus sums up his merits as a sculptor : — “ The judges of art 
 affirm that, although yielding on the whole to Michael Angelo, yet 
 Sansovino was the superior of that artist in some points. In his 
 draperies, in his children, and in the expression which he gave to 
 his women, for example, Jacopo has no equal. The draperies, 
 indeed, by his hand are most delicately beautiful ; finely folded, 
 they preserve to perfection the distinction between the nude and 
 the draped portions of the form. His children are soft flexible 
 figures, with none of the muscular development proper only to 
 adults ; the little round legs and arms are truly of flesh, and in 
 nowise different from those of nature itself. The faces of his women 
 are sweet and lovely ; so graceful, withal, that none can be more so, 
 as may be seen in certain figures of the Madonna, in those of Venus, 
 and in others by his hand.” 
 
 In the third period of the Renaissance the beautiful art of 
 engraving on cameos and precious stones, which, the Greeks had 
 carried to perfection, was restored to the highest excellence by 
 Italian genius. This art had been lost on the destruction of imperial 
 Rome, but in its ruins many fine specimens were discovered, and 
 some feeble attempts had been made to revive the practice by imi- 
 tating the recovered gems in the reigns of Pope Martin V. and Pope 
 Paul III. When treating of the Renaissance Court, we noticed the 
 progress made in this department of art at Florence, under the 
 patronage of Lorenzo di Medici, by Giovanni delle Corniuole and 
 Domenico de’ Camei. During the pontificate of Leo X., Pier Maria 
 
 da Pescia and Michelino successfully copied some of the finest 
 cameos of. antiquity ; and, at a later date, Giovanni da Castil, a 
 native of Bologna, Valerio Vicentino, and Matteo del Nassaro 
 cai'ried this, branch of art to perfection. 
 
 Among the admirable works of the first of these artists, was an 
 intaglio on crystal, describing the Battle of the Rampart, and a 
 cameo, on which he executed the Rape of the Sabines. For Pope 
 Clement VII., he engraved the four Evangelists on four round 
 crystals. He made a portrait of the Emperor Charles V. in steel. 
 He wrought with as much facility as beauty, aud designed and 
 engraved a great number of subjects, scriptural, mythological, and 
 historical. He died in 1 555. 
 
 Valerio Vicentino enjoyed the liberal patronage of Pope Cle- 
 ment VII., and all the goldsmiths in Florence competed for his 
 productions, which they forwarded to all parts of Europe. His 
 medals of the twelve Ceesars, his crystal crosses and caskets, and 
 his varied engravings on all kinds of stones, have been pro- 
 nounced marvels of art. 
 
 Matteo del Nassaro was hardly inferior to either of his great 
 contemporaries. His Deposition from the Cross, executed on a 
 piece of green jasper, marked with, red spots, has been highly 
 praised ; he cleverly contrived that the wounds should appear on 
 the parts where the stone was so spotted. The head of Dejanira, on 
 a chalcedony, has been warmly eulogised by his biographer. The 
 work was in full relief, and the head wrapped in the skin of the 
 lion ; in the stone there was a vein of a red colour, and there the 
 artist made the skin turn over at the junction of the body with 
 the head, and the skin was represented with so much exactitude, 
 that the spectator imagined himself to behold it newly torn from 
 the animal. Of another mark in the stone he availed himself for 
 the delineation of the hair, and selected the white parts for the 
 face and breast. 
 
 These engravers on precious stones were followed by Luigi 
 Anichini, a native of Ferrara, who established himself in Venice ; 
 and by Alessandro Cesati, called Grechetto, on account of his 
 always writing his name in Greek characters on his works. Of 
 this latter, Michael Angelo entertained so high an admiration, that 
 on seeing one of his medals, representing the portrait of Paul III., 
 with the reverse exhibiting Alexander the Great doing homage to 
 the high priest of Jerusalem, the great sculptor exclaimed, “ The 
 hour for the death of art has arrived, since a better work cannot 
 be executed.” 
 
 The most skilful of the engravers was Benvenuto Cellini ; not 
 only was he eminent in cutting precious stones, but scarcely excelled 
 by any of his contemporaries in casting in bronze, and sculpturing 
 marble statues. His statues of Perseus and Ganymede, copies of 
 which are exhibited in the Italian Court, are monuments of his fame, 
 to which we shall presently return. In his curious and instructive 
 autobiography, he states that the peasants of Lombardy used to 
 seek employment in the vineyards surrounding Rome at a particular 
 season of the year, and, in digging the ground, frequently disco- 
 vered ancient medals, agates, cornelians, and cameos ; finding also 
 precious stones, such as emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and rubies. 
 These diffused a taste for the art of engraving, and Cellini says that 
 the purchases he made from the peasants procured him the friend- 
 ship of most of the cardinals to whom he sold them. He selects 
 for special commendation many of those antiques. One was a 
 dolphin’s head, about the size of a large bean ; another, a most 
 beautiful topaz, on which was carved the head of Minerva. A 
 cameo representing Hercules binding a triple-headed Cerberus, 
 was so admirable that Michael Angelo declared that he had never 
 seen anything that surpassed it. By a careful study of such models, 
 the engravers of the sixteenth century soon rivalled the Greeks in 
 skill, and Cellini himself perhaps surpassed them. He was em- 
 ployed by Pope Clement VII., by Francis I. of France, and Cosmo 
 di Medici, Duke of Florence. In his youth he excelled in medals, 
 and in engraving on precious stones. During the pontificate of 
 Clement VII. he was employed at the Roman Mint, and his coins 
 were the finest ever struck. A button that he made for the ponti- 
 fical robe, with a diamond fixed upon it, and encircled by figures 
 of children, was deemed a perfect gem ; as also a golden chalice, 
 the cup of which was carved with figures representing the theo- 
 logical virtues. Francis I. treated him with the most munificent 
 liberality. For that monarch he made a silver Jupiter, standing 
 on a bronze base, enriched with various ornaments, the most 
 conspicuous of which, in basso-relievo, were on one side the Rape 
 
90 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 ' Hand in nfchc*: addition to tl. vario 
 
 : 2l«:. • hi . The figures ar ’em - .-i 
 
 it of War rest* on a shield, Vloietcd; thm . ! . 
 
 ■•••’ lucms of Mercury. io angles are ornam* wi 
 
 re occupied Sansovino for Dearly thirty . 
 
 welvu column* >• 1 
 . 
 
 U Jr 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 . v. c 
 
 beattO ji; . es of ancic • uig’uru. 
 
 
 L> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r i i the W‘ ■ f,r ns?' v 
 . • tb< comph '• •' i 
 
 -• d. It wan, 'of oonr*" . tin oof. . \ • 
 
 .. uniform • i _ . d 
 
 da ‘cscio nail Michelino successfully copied -omc of the f 
 :a. ..-os oi. . tiquit;. ; and, at a later date, Giovanni - • w , 
 native of Bologna* Valerio Vicentino, and N tattoo uul .". * 
 
 can : ed this. branch of art -to perfection. 
 
 ■Aro'./i the admiral) ‘ of the fu of : v rtU' \va 
 
 taglio on crystal, describing the Battle of th*. J bun part, and a 
 
 merit MI, he engraved the fou" Evangelist* on foil r k*ut»- : 
 
 I?, wrought- with as much facility as beauty, and designed ar. 
 engraved a great number of subjects, scriptural, mythological, er; 
 
 i - (I:-- lib.- patronag- i . C . - 
 
 ■ ■ . ri * 1 .. ’ i 1 i cad of Dtjaniva, on 
 
 fit .. in , f n. >i : i-c ■ : v-d.i of a red colour, and there the 
 
 inti • made (lie ....in turn o>t s ■ ' junction of the body with 
 
 i . ” ind the skin v .: rc-n r. -c r.t • ; t.t mud: exactitude, 
 
 th:.; t. -rteet 'nr imagined himself to behold it newly torn from 
 the i\. anal. 1 -mother toark in the stoi e he availed nimsolf i'o- 
 
 * ur.d lu-ist. 
 
 • stoi ; followed by Luigi 
 
 • , > d himself in Venice j 
 
 • na. on his works. Of 
 ved, sinci a botti-i .nnot, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . the -dii ’ whole to Michael .,c e et 
 
 - ■ tr-o • .!« I- orenuto Cell'll) ' not 
 
 “culptnring 
 
 - 
 
 autob. raphy, V ttat tl ho peasants of Lombardy used to 
 
 vci -! t agates, correlians, end cam : finding also 
 
 pn .ns 'one?, auch us •: meralds, sapphires, diamonds, and rubies. 
 Tl.ene.ilif' a baste for the i of engraving-, and Cellini says that 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i of Minerva. A 
 ; ' -b Cerberus, 
 
 * aad !br tbeponti- 
 . a golden chalice, 
 
 ver Jupiter, standing 
 ornaments, the .no*t 
 on one hide the Hop 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 91 
 
 of Ganymede, and, on the other, Leda with the Swan. Cellini 
 also designed the palace gate at Fontainbleau and the fountain. 
 F or the Luke Cosmo of Florence he executed in metal the “Perseus,” 
 which is his masterpiece. The hero is represented cutting off the 
 head of Medusa. It was placed in the Piazza, at Florence, on a 
 line with the “Judith” of Donatello, and when first exhibited in 
 public, excited universal admiration. It is indeed an exquisite and 
 extraordinary performance. The “ Ganymede ” is not an original 
 statue, but a restored statue. It was sent from Palestrina to the 
 Duke Cosmo, who asked Cellini’s judgment on its value. The 
 sculptor praised it highly, and, as it was in a very mutilated con- 
 dition, undertook to restore the head, arms, and feet, and make an 
 eagle for it. Such is the history of the Ganymede. Cellini’s 
 “ Christ upon the Cross ” is also a noble testimonial to his skill. 
 It was a Christ crucified of the whitest marble upon a cross of the 
 blackest, and as large as life. He intended to give it to the 
 Church of the Nunziata, and under it constructed his own tomb. The 
 Duke Cosmo, however, bought it, and placed it in the Pitti Palace, 
 in 1565. It was afterwards sent as a present to Philip II. of 
 Spain, who set it up in the Church of the Escurial, as an ornament 
 to the choir. Cellini’s career was marked by extraordinary ad- 
 ventures, and Horace Walpole pronounced his 'autobiography more 
 amusing than any romance. He was cruelly imprisoned in the 
 Castle of St. Angelo, from which he made a wonderful escape. 
 When the Duke of Bourbon assaulted Rome, Cellini had charge of 
 a portion of the artillery, which he served with skill and courage. 
 He fired the shot which killed the Prince of Orange, and claims 
 also the honour of killing the Duke of Bourbon. 
 
 In the interior of the Italian Court will be observed a bas-relief 
 by Baccio Bandinelli, taken from the choir of Florence Cathedral. 
 It represents an Apostle. In the cathedral all the Apostles and 
 figures of the virtues are represented. The expression of the heads 
 is fine. This sculptor was born in 1487, and died in 1559. He 
 was among the most eminent of his day, but his character was 
 debased by envy. He was meanly jealous of Michael Angelo and 
 Cellini, and hated them with bitterness. He restored the arm of 
 the antique “ Laocoon,” and also executed a copy of that celebrated 
 statue. Another of his great works was “ The Martyrdom of San 
 Lorenzo,” who was roasted to death, and which so pleased Pope 
 Clement "VII. that he ordered Marcantonio of Bologna, to engrave 
 it on copper. The masterpiece of Bandinelli was his “ Hercules 
 and Cacus.” The head of Cacus is compressed between two stones ; 
 Hercules presses it firmly with one knee, while he keeps his oppo- 
 nent down with his left arm, using- immense force, and retaining 
 his antagonist in an attitude of which the painful agony is 
 lendered manifest; the legs are violently drawn up by the extre- 
 mity of pain, and by the weight of Hercules, which bears on his 
 struggling enemy with a violence that causes every muscle in the 
 frame of Cacus to appear strained to bursting. The figure of 
 Hercules, bent down, is seen with his head brought near his foe ; 
 grinding his teeth, which are firmly pressed together, he raises 
 his right arm, and, fiercely dealing Cacus a second blow, is about 
 to dash his skull to pieces with his club. Lucretia Salviati, 
 sister of Leo X., commissioned Bandinelli to erect the monument 
 of that pontiff, from a model which he had made in the pon- 
 tificate of Clement VII., and which he completed in the Church 
 S. Maria Sopra Minerva. 
 
 Engraving in copper was carried to a high state of excellence 
 in this last period of the Revival. “ The art of engraving,” says 
 Algarotti, “ is contemporaneous with, and has like beneficial effects 
 with that of painting. Every painter should have in his studio 
 a collection of the prints of the best engravers, from which he 
 may learn the progress and history of his art, and gain acquaintance 
 with the characteristics of the various styles which have from 
 time to time been most in favour. The chief of the Roman school, 
 himself, did not disdain to study carefully the engravings of Albert 
 Purer, or to make as complete a collection as possible of drawings 
 from the antique statues and reliefs.” 
 
 An engraving,” says M. Guizot, “ is by no means a copy in the 
 strict sense of the word, because the engraver has rtot the same 
 means at command as the sculptor and painter, and therefore 
 cannot produce the same effects ; it has been called a translation, a 
 comparison which appears to me much more exact, although it 
 it, not approved by some who are good judges; for the engraver 
 does in fact speak a different tongue from the painter, since he 
 addresses the eye in a different manner; like other translators, he 
 
 is bound to adhere scrupulously to the forms and style of his 
 original, and, indeed, he has the advantage over them, that his 
 version is more literal than any verbal one. To carry on this 
 comparison to its limits, we may say that the engraver bavin", 
 like all translators, the disadvantage of not being able to render the 
 spirit and magic of his original, must do all he can to preserve its 
 character. And this, while it is that which he must seek to do, 
 is also within his power ; his means of effecting it are drawing, 
 and contrast of light and shade.” * 
 
 Whether the art of engraving on copper originated in Italy or 
 in Germany seems doubtful. Vasari claims the invention for his 
 countrymen, and attributes it to Maso di Finiguerra, about the 
 year 1460. He was followed by Baccio Baldini, at Florence, and 
 Andrea Mantegna, at Rome. Martin Schon cultivated the art 
 with great success at Antwerp. He was followed by the celebrated 
 Albert Durer, who also excelled in woodcuts. Of him Raffaello 
 said, “ Of a truth this man would have excelled us all, if he hod 
 had the masterpieces of art constantly before his eyes as we have.” 
 Lucas of Leyden was one of his contemporaries, and arrived at 
 great eminence; while, in Italy, Marcantonio Raimondi diligently 
 studied the method of Durer, and so accurately copied that master’s 
 Life and Passion of Christ, in thirty-six plates, that it passed 
 off as an original. Marcantonio engraved many of the paintings 
 of Raffaello, as the Judgment of Paris, the Slaughter of the 
 Innocents, the Rape of Helen, and the Galatea; and, after Raf- 
 faello’s death, ho engraved many of the works of Giulio Romano. 
 Ugo da Carpi was famous at this epoch, using two blocks or plates; 
 one of these he used in the manner of a copper-plate for etching 
 in the shadows, while he gave the tint or colour with the other. 
 Succeeding in this manner, he experimented with three blocks. 
 
 “ With the first,” says Vasari, “he made the shadow; from the 
 second, which was of a somewhat paler hue, he obtained the 
 middle tint; and the third, being etched, supplied the brightest 
 colour of the picture, and gave the lights of the white paper.” 
 Vasari also describes the method of Antonio of Trent ; he engraving 
 ■\iith the aid of uqua-fortis, first covering the copper-plate with a 
 coat of wax, varnish, or oil, and then designing the subject to be 
 engraved with a sharply pointed instrument ; this cut through the 
 wax, varnish, or oil, as the case might have been, when the aqua- 
 fortis being poured over all, corroded the copper in such sort that 
 the strokes of the drawing remained hollowed; after this pro- 
 cess it was easy to take impressions. 
 
 Returning to the exterior of the Italian Court, we notice a statue 
 of the V irgin, by Pietro Lombardo, the Venetian sculptor, taken 
 from the Church of the Frari, at Venice. In her right hand she 
 holds a small asp, and her feet are furnished with antique symbols. 
 This sculptor executed the monuments of the Doges Pietro and 
 Giovanni Mocenigo, and the beautiful tomb of Cardinal Zeno. 
 
 Opposite to this statue is the “Bacchus” of Jacopo Sansovino, 
 which he executed for Giovanni Bartolini, at Florence. It is a 
 youthful figure, of the size of life, and the sculptor took for his 
 model one of his disciples, named Pippo del Fabbro, or the “Black- 
 smith’s Joe,” whom he kept standing naked the greater part of the 
 day. This Pippo, in the judgment of Vasari, would have become 
 an able artist, had his life been prolonged, but constant exposure to 
 the cold in a state of nudity prematurely destroyed his health ; for 
 as his master was indefatigable in his labours, the youth was 
 constantly unclothed. The Bacchus is a masterpiece. There 
 was this peculiarity in it— one arm being fully detached and raised 
 in the air, while a tazza, cut from the same piece of marble, is held 
 aloft in the hand, or, rather, so delicate and subtle is the work of 
 the fingers, whereon it is so lightly poised, that they scarcely 
 appear to touch it.f 
 
 To the right of Sansovino’s Bacchus is a “Triton,” taken from 
 a fountain in the gardens of the Doria Palace, at Genoa, executed 
 by Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli. His father was a small 
 farmer. As the bent of the boy’s genius soon showed itself, he was 
 sent to carve stone in the quarries of Fiesole, and then placed under 
 the instruction of the sculptor, Andrea of Fiesole. When quite a 
 youth, Montorsoli had the courage to offer his services to Michael 
 Angelo, by whom they were encouragingly accepted. The great 
 master at once recognised his talents, and paid him the salary of a 
 man. At this period of his life, Montorsoli worked at the buildings 
 
 * The Fine Arts : their Nature and Relation. By M. Guizot, p 44 
 t Vasan. ’ r 
 
92 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 cf the sacristy and library of San Lorenzo, at Florence, -which were 
 discontinued in the year 1527, when the plague broke out. He then 
 entered the hermitage of Camaldoli, but, unable to conform to the 
 austere discipline there enforced, he quitted that retreat, sought an 
 asylum in the Jesuit’s convent at Florence, soon left it, and assumed 
 the monastic habit among the Servite monks, in the year 1530. 
 Michael Angelo, being at Home, in the service of Pope Clement VII., 
 who had ordered the works of San Lorenzo to be continued after 
 the cessation of the plague, remembered Montorsoli, but as he was 
 now a monk, it was difficult to obtain his services. It required the 
 interference of the pope, whom the general of Montorsoli’s order 
 could not disobey, though he consented with an ill will. This 
 circumstance is here mentioned as showing the power of the 
 monastic institutions at that period. The young monk had apart- 
 ments assigned to him at Home, and there he restored the left arm 
 
 marble columns and pavements, and profuse embellishments in 
 precious stones. At Genoa, he constructed a fish-pond in front of 
 the Doria Palace, where he placed the Triton, a copy of which is 
 in the Italian Court. At Messina, he erected a fountain on the 
 | Piazza, on a very grand scale, ornamented with river gods — as the 
 Nile, the Tiber, the Ebro ; Pegasus, the stamp of whose hoof on 
 the ground produced the Fount of Castaly ; Arethusa turned into a 
 fountain ; Jason traversing the Euxine, in search of the golden fleece; 
 Europa carried across the Bosphorus by Jupiter Tauriform ; Diana 
 surprised in the bath, and turning Actceon into a stag for looking 
 at her nude person, and other old fables of a similar character, are 
 i represented at this fountain. There also are seen, in another com- 
 | partment, Scylla and Charybdis ; and on the summit is' a figure of 
 | Orion, the mythological founder of Messina. Comparisons may be 
 I odious, but they are sometimes instructive, and we have alluded to the 
 
 TOMB OF GIULIANO DI MEDICI. 
 
 of the “Apollo,” and the right arm of the “Laocoon.” He won the 
 personal favour of the pope by executing a capital likeness of him 
 in marble. Shortly afterwards, he accompanied Michael Angelo to 
 Florence, whom he assisted in completing the statues of the dukes 
 Lorenzo and Giuliano, in the famous monuments we have described. 
 He then sculptured the figure of Duke Alessandro in armour, com- 
 mending himself to the protection of the Madonna. These works 
 accomplished, he went into the service of the King of France, but 
 soon quitted that kingdom. For the Neapolitans he built the tomb 
 of Sannazzaro, the poet, which was highly admired. He was next 
 invited to Genoa, to complete the statue of Pi’ince Doria, which 
 Baccio Bandinelli had commenced, but left unfinished ; and the 
 Signoria of that city commissioned him to construct a sepulchral 
 monument for that prince, to be placed in the Church of St. Matthew ; 
 he also decorated that church with rare magnificence, introducing 
 
 details of the fountain, executed in a small town, to show what taste 
 and munificence opulent London has displayed in Irafalgar Square. 
 
 There are circumstances connected with the life of Montorsoli, 
 irrespective of his profession of architect and sculptor, which deserve 
 notice, as they serve to throw light on the spirit and practice of the 
 Roman Church in the age in which he lived. His biographer states 
 that the artist monk, on returning to Rome from Genoa, purchased 
 for himself the dignity of a knighthood of San Pietro, and com- 
 missioned his nephew to buy for him the knighthood of the Lily, 
 to which last purpose he appropriated one thousand crowns ; and the 
 Grand Master of Rhodes offered him a knighthood in Malta, if he 
 would reside in that island, which he declined. In the year 1557, 
 during the pontificate of Paul IV., all who had left their monasteries 
 were compelled to return to them under severe penalties, and, of 
 course, Montorsoli was included in that decree. Accordingly, be 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 93 
 
 resumed the habit of his order; but the papal edict does not appear 
 to have been very rigidly enforced, for we soon find him at Bologna 
 directing the construction of the high altar in the Church of the 
 Servites, to which religious order he belonged. He then obtained 
 a dispensation from his brethren to erect in the chapter-house of 
 the Nunziata — which he had previously adorned with stucco figures 
 of Moses and St. Paul — a beautiful sepulchre, destined for his own 
 tomb, and for such other persons professing the arts of design, — 
 painters, sculptors, and architects, — who were unprovided with a 
 burial-place of their own. He bequeathed his property to the 
 monks on the condition that, at certain festivals, they should perform 
 mass for the good of the souls of those interred in the chapter-house. 
 Montorsoli died in 1563. 
 
 The Cathedral of Pisa, in which John of Bologna executed his 
 bronze doors, is rich in artistic productions. It contains some of 
 the best pictures of Domenico Beccafumi : as that of Moses, who, 
 i having found the people offering sacrifice to the golden calf, throws 
 I down the tables of the law and breaks them ; another, also taken 
 from the history of Moses, represents the Hebrew legislator at the 
 i moment when the earth opens to swallow up a part of the people, 
 
 | in which the nude figures are lying dead. He also painted the four 
 evangelists in this cathedral. It was also enriched by the chisel 
 of Tribolo, who there sculptured an angel for Stagio of Pietra, a 
 famous master, then employed by the wardens on two columns, with 
 marble capitals, very richly executed, above which several angels 
 were placed. That of Tribolo was admirable. A graceful move- 
 
 TOMB OF LORENZO T)I MEDICI. 
 
 In the Italian Court are two specimens of the skill of John of 
 Bologna, a native of Douay, in Flanders, but named Bologna on 
 account of a celebrated fountain he erected in that city. The speci- 
 mens are a bronze statue of “ Mercury,” and a bronze “ Door at the 
 Cathedral of Pisa.” The Mercury is in the act of flight, the 
 whole figure resting on the point of the foot. Vasari says that it 
 was sent to the Emperor Maximilian, but this is contradicted by 
 his English translator in the notes. It has been supposed by some 
 that the Mercury which, for so long a time, adorned the fountain 
 of the Villa Medici, and is now in the Florentine Gallery, was a 
 replica, but no doubt it is the original work. At Bologna, this 
 sculptor also executed a “Victory with a Captive,” which was 
 erroneously attributed to Vincentio Danti. It stands in the hall of 
 the Palazzo Vecchio, at Bologna. The model is in the court of the 
 Florentine Gallery. 
 
 ment is given to the figure ; the texture of the draperies is almost 
 transparent, and they are folded round the body with the ease of 
 nature. Perhaps the bronze doors are the most beautiful objects in 
 the building, on which are represented several incidents in the life 
 of Christ. He is there seen bound and shown to the Jews; he bears 
 his cross ; he is crucified ; in another compartment, the Saviour is 
 brought bound before the high-priest ; in the second, he is crowned 
 with thorns ; in the third, he is scourged. The whole is treated in 
 a masterly style; the grouping is judicious, the action spirited. 
 
 We have mentioned the Pieta by Michael Angelo, and now 
 refer to that of Bernini.* The positions are very different. In the 
 former, the dead Christ rests on the knees of the Virgin mother, one 
 arm encircles his back and supports his head, the other, placed under 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 96. 
 
 B B 
 
94 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 the knee, raises the leg. In the treatment by Bernini, the Virgin 
 is standing, one hand presses the head of Christ, which falls on his 
 shoulder, the other is extended over the body, ■which it does not 
 touch. In both, the expression in the countenance of the Madonna 
 is fraught with profound grief. Michael Angelo, prior in date, of 
 course had the choice of attitude, and he has selected the most 
 i appropriate ; nevertheless, Bernini, not a copyist, but a rival, has 
 some advantage in the erect figure of the Virgin, that of Michael 
 Angelo being seated. 
 
 Bernini was born in 1589, therefore by birth he belongs to the 
 sixteenth century, but, as an artist, to the seventeenth. He achieved 
 great success as a painter, a statuary, and an architect. Nature 
 had been bountiful to him in many of the gifts of genius, but he 
 failed in judgment, or perhaps the impetuosity of his mind dis- 
 dained the rules of art and the severity of criticism. He worked 
 with great facility, but seemed to forget that labour is the price to 
 I be paid for excellence in every department of industry, be it intel- 
 lectual or mechanical; hence ho was more brilliant than profound. 
 It was unfortunate for him that he excited admiration while yet a 
 i little boy, for he executed the head of a child, in marble, when only 
 eight years of age. For this he was caressed and spoilt. He was 
 not eighteen years of age when he produced the “Apollo and 
 Daphne,” which is a masterpiece of grace and execution ; and in 
 his old age he used to say that he had but slightly improved on 
 that performance. As an architect, he was employed on the Basilica 
 of St. Peter’s. Among his numerous works were — the Barberini 
 Palace, the Belfry of St. Peter’s, the Model of the Monument 
 of the Countess Matilda, and the Monument of Pope Urban VIII., 
 and the Great Staircase between St. Peter’s and the Vatican. By 
 the order of Pope Alexander VII., he designed a plan for beautifying 
 the Piazza di San Pieti'o ; after which the celebrated colonnade 
 was built, which, with its entablature, balustrade, and statues, is 
 seventy feet high. In this work he indulged his fancy, disdained 
 precedents, and invented a new composite, which a discriminating 
 criticism has justly condemned as incongruous. It has been well 
 remarked by Eustace, “surely, the pure Doric of the Parthenon, 
 the Ionic of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, and the Corinthian of 
 the Pantheon, might have been adopted with more propriety and 
 effect, than a fanciful combination of irregular Doric pillars and an 
 Ionic entablature.” Bernini’s reputation was not confined to Rome, 
 Cardinal Mazarin offered him a salary of twelve thousand crowns if 
 he would reside at Paris, which he declined ; but, in his sixty-eighth 
 year, he accepted an invitation from Louis XIV. His reception at 
 Versailles was most gracious and flattering ; but his stay was short. 
 In his seventieth year he executed the tomb of Pope Alexander VII., 
 a very fine performance. He died at the age of eighty-two. 
 
 In describing the Renaissance Court we spoke of Torrigiano, 
 and narrated the principal incidents in his life. The central 
 statue in the gallery of the Italian Court is the “ St. Jerome” of that 
 artist, considered his masterpiece. It was executed for a monastery 
 belonging to the monks of St. Girolamo, near Seville, in Spain. 
 The head is finely expressive, and the anatomy of the whole figure 
 has been highly praised. The extreme emaciation, however 
 characteristic of the saint, and however creditable to the skill of 
 the sculptor, is repulsive, or, at least, it excites no pleasurable 
 emotion in the spectator. 
 
 About the exterior of the Italian Court and Vestibule, a variety 
 of busts have been grouped, giving the likenesses of the leading men 
 of the epoch, who contributed to the improvement of art, and these 
 require a passing notice. As we have already spoken of Michael 
 Angelo, we may pass from his portrait sculpture to that of Palladio. 
 This celebrated architect was born at Vicenza, in 1518. His 
 | earliest studies were devoted to sculpture, but after he had visited 
 Rome, stored his mind with the precepts of Vitruvius, and ex- 
 amined the ancient monuments, he commenced the profession in 
 which he achieved an enduring fame. There is an intellectual 
 character in his designs, which stamps them with marked charac- 
 teristics. He greatly embellished his native city, completing the 
 town-hall, and building the Olympic Theatre — a classical edifice, 
 modelled after the ruins and descriptions of the ancient theatres of 
 Italy. At Venice he constructed the churches of San Giorgio 
 Maggiore and II Redemptore, remarkable for harmony of propor- 
 tions and simplicity of decoration. He is noted for the peculiar 
 taste with which he arranged pyramidical forms, but is blamed 
 for overloading his doors and windows with architectural orna- 
 ment. But, with slight imperfections, his style was majestic and 
 
 chaste, and Algarotti calls him the Raffaello of architecture. He 
 published an esteemed work on Roman antiquities, and died in 1580. 
 
 The two next busts are those of Raffaello and of Sir Christopher 
 "YVren, the boast of English architecture. Of the great Roman 
 painter mention has already been made. The father of Wren, of 
 Danish extraction, was Dean of Windsor, and the son was educated 
 at Oxford, where he made great progress in the most abstract 
 branches of science. In 1657, he became Professor of Astronomy at 
 Gresham College ; and after the restoration of Charles II., he was 
 appointed Savilian Professor at Oxford. He was knighted in 1674, 
 an honour of more dignity than at present. In 1680, he was raised 
 to the honourable office of President of the Royal Society, and in 
 1685, entered parliament as member for Plympton. He communi- 
 cated many scientific papers to Mr. Wallis, the eminent mathe- 
 matician. He lived to the advanced age of ninety, respected for 
 his private virtues, and admired for his extraordinary genius. After 
 the Great Fire of London, he proposed a plan for rebuilding the 
 metropolis, which posterity has regretted was not carried into 
 effect. He is known throughout the world as the architect of St. 
 Paul’s Cathedral, under whose dome his mortal remains repose. 
 
 The busts on the left, as the spectator looks towards the Nave, 
 are those of Charles I. of England, and Cardinal Richelieu. The 
 reign and death of the English king are too well known to require 
 any details. He took a wrong view of the prerogative, was 
 insincere, and formed a false estimate of the spirit of his age. The 
 bust is attributed to Le Sueur, who erected the Charing Cross 
 statue. 
 
 Armand Jean DuPlessis, Cardinal Richelieu, was born in 1585, 
 and when twenty-two years of age obtained the bishopric of 
 Lu<;on. He was a man of subtle and intriguing charactei’, and 
 had no moral scruples as to the means he adopted to carry out his 
 end. He wielded despotic power, and ruled through the agency 
 of spies. His vengeance was merciless, and his cruelty appalled 
 the boldest. He humbled the nobility without elevating the 
 middle class, and rendered royalty despotic. An enemy to religious, 
 as well as to civil liberty, he persuaded Louis XIII. to depart from 
 the generous policy of Henry IV., and wreaked vengeance on all 
 who dissented from the Church of Rome. He attacked Rochelle, 
 the stronghold of the Protestants, commanding in person the 
 besieging army ; erected an immense mole, which enabled him to 
 intercept all supplies from England, and finally reduced it by 
 famine. Such was his influence over the king, that he prevailed 
 upon him even to banish the queen-mother from the court, and he 
 brought the head of the illustrious Duke of Montmorency to the 
 block. In fact, it was he who, after annihilating the once for- 
 midable authority of the great vassals of the crown, prepared that 
 absolute monarchy and that suppression of the states-general, which 
 made Louis XIV. the irresponsible autocrat. His foreign policy 
 was as vigorous as his domestic. To humble the house of Austria 
 he assisted the King of Sweden, though a Protestant, in the Thirty 
 Years’ War ; and abandoned him in the full career of victory, lest 
 he might become too powerful. In 1659, he waged war against 
 Spain, from which country he wrested Catalonia and Roussillon ; 
 and assisted Portugal to separate itself from Spain, and place its 
 crown on the head of the Duke of Braganza. Moralists must con- 
 demn his policy, yet it may be confessed that he raised France, 
 as one of the European powers, to the summit of grandeur, and 
 made her the arbiter of the continent. 
 
 The next bust is that of the celebrated English architect, Inigo 
 Jones, born in 1572. He early distinguished himself in landscape 
 painting, and thus gained the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke, 
 who enabled him to complete his artistic education by travelling 
 over Italy and some other parts of Europe. While at Venice, 
 where his genius was highly appreciated, he received an invitation 
 from Christian IV., King of Denmark, to become his royal architect, 
 which appointment he accepted. The Princess Anne, sister of that 
 king, had married King James I. of England, and when Christian 
 visited her in 1606, Jones accompanied him, intending to remain 
 in his own country. He became the queen’s architect. He paid, 
 however, a second visit to Italy ; and on his return became sur- 
 veyor-general of his majesty’s works, and in 1620 was nominated one 
 of the commissioners for repairing St. Paul’s Cathedral. King 
 Charles I. retained him in his office. After the execution of that 
 monarch, he was cited before the House of Peers, on the complaint 
 of the parishioners of St. Gregory’s, in London, for injuries done 
 to that church in repairing St. Paul’s. Being a Royalist and a 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 95 
 
 Romanist, lie had small chance of obtaining justice at that eventful 
 pei’iod. In his defence he incurred heavy expenses, and was fined 
 £545 for his imputed delinquency. These losses he never recovered, 
 though, after the Restoration, Charles II. gave him back his appoint- 
 ments, hut they were no longer lucrative, nor did he long survive. 
 His great architectural works were the Banqueting House, White- 
 hall, the ceiling of which was painted by Rubens; the new 
 buildings in front of what were the gardens of Somerset House, and 
 the Church and Piazza of Covent Garden, the latter incomplete to 
 this day. He laid out Lincolu’s-Inn-Fields, and built the garden 
 front of Wilton House, the seat of the Earl of Pembroke ; the 
 Queen’s House, at Greenwich ; the Grange, in Hampshire, the seat 
 of the Earl of Northington ; Cashiobury, in Hertfordshire, and 
 Gunnersbury, near Brentford. The style of Inigo Jones was 
 founded on that of Palladio. 
 
 The next bust is that of Cardinal Mazarin, an Italian by birth, 
 but educated at the Academy of Alcala, in Spain. On his return 
 to his native country, he studied jurisprudence. In 1634, he was 
 sent by the pope as nuncio to Paris ; and so won the esteem of 
 Cardinal Richelieu, that that minister, on his dying bed, recom- 
 mended Louis XIII. to nominate the foreigner as his successor. 
 The king did so, but soon followed Richelieu to the grave. Anne 
 of Austria was appointed regent during the minority of Louis XIV., 
 and the crafty Mazarin fully ingratiated himself into her favour, 
 and ruled France in her name. During the civil war called the 
 “ Fronde,” he was driven from Paris, but returned in triumph when 
 it was crushed, and death alone deprived him of his undisputed 
 supremacy. 
 
 The last of these busts is from the statue of Santa Susanna, 
 deemed the masterpiece of Fiammingo, from the Church of Santa 
 Maria di Loretto, at Rome. 
 
 The Vestibule to the Italian Court is formed on the model of the 
 Casa Taverna of Milan, painted in fresco by Bernardino Luini. 
 He was a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci ; and Kugler is of opinion 
 that his merits have not been sufficiently appreciated. Milan is 
 rich in the works of this master. Many of his easel pictures are in 
 the Ambrosian Library, and the Brera ; and some of the later works 
 of Da Vinci have been attributed to him — as the half-length figure 
 of the infant Baptist playing with the Lamb, in the Ambrosian 
 Gallery, at Milan, and the picture of Herodias, in the tribune of the 
 Uflfizj, at Florence. Ivugler, speaking of Luini, says — “It is true 
 he never rises to the greatness and freedom of Leonardo, but he has 
 a never-failing tenderness and purity, a cheerfulness and sincerity, 
 a grace and feeling, which give an elevated pleasure to the spec- 
 tator in contemplating his pictures. That spell of beauty and 
 nobleness, which so exclusively characterises the more important 
 works of the Raphaelesque period, has here impelled a painter of 
 comparatively inferior talent to works which may often rank with 
 the highest which we know.” After referring to some of the 
 paintings of Da Vinci, which have been erroneously attributed to 
 Luini, the same critic proceeds thus : — “ The difference between his 
 hand and that of the great master, is seen in the immeasurable 
 inferiority of his execution, especially in his modelling, and also in 
 a greater universality of expression, which, compared with Leo- 
 nardo’s type, displays a close study of the Raphaelesque ideal. 
 Luini’s colouring is fresh, even in his frescoes ; while, on the other 
 hand, he does not seem to have understood the secret of harmonious 
 composition.” The Monastero Maggiore contains numerous works 
 by Luini, of which Kugler makes honourable mention. “ Here,” 
 says he, “ we have the most beautiful figures of female saints, 
 admirable heads of Christ, and lovely infant angels. From the dado, 
 painted in brown chiaro-oscuro, to the roof the walls are covered 
 with masterly frescoes, and the spectator can scarcely gaze his fill 
 in this lavish display of fancy. On the wall, above the entrance to 
 the choir, is a large composition, representing the Crucifixion, con- 
 taining about one hundred and forty figures ; among which a 
 group around the fainting figure of the Virgin, the fine form of 
 t lie Centurion, those of the soldiers dividing the garments, and the 
 Magdalen kneeling in ecstasy, are particularly remarkable. The 
 painter, however, has attained the highest perfection in his figure of 
 St. John, whose action and expression are full of the loftiest inspi- 
 ration and faith.” The painting in our National Gallery, of “ Christ 
 disputing with the Doctors,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, is 
 believed to be a production of Luini’s. 
 
 The ceiling above the gallery in the Italian Court is by the 
 famous Bolognese artist, Sebastiano Serlio. It is taken from the 
 
 Biblioteca Antica of Venice, constructed by Sansovino. Serlio was 
 a pupil of Baldassare Peruzzi, who made a profound and extensive 
 study of the antiquities of Rome, but more particularly of those 
 relating to architecture. It was from the researches of Baldassare 
 that Serlio obtained most of his materials for the third book of the 
 Architecture , and for the fourth book of the Antiquities of Rome , 
 with their admeasurements. In these works the results of Bal- 
 dassare’s studies were inserted in the margin. Serlio was em- 
 ployed by Francis 1. at Fontainbleau and the Louvre, and died at 
 the former place in 1568. 
 
 Among the various schools of Italy which flourished during the 
 third period of the Renaissance epoch, that of Venice was remark- 
 able for its excellence of colour in painting. “ It was chiefly this 
 quality,” says Kugler, “ which gives the stamp of perfection to their 
 productions ; with admirable mastery they give the warmth of life 
 to the colour of the flesh, imitate the splendour and brilliancy of 
 different materials, and, if we may venture to say so, relieve light 
 on light; but this technical skill is in them the expression of a 
 characteristic and elevated conception ; it is the enjoyment of life 
 and of its splendour, which speaks in all the nobler productions of 
 this school. And although this general theme would appear to 
 restrict imitation to familiar objects and circumstances, yet they 
 knew how to penetrate life in all its aspects and all its depths ; and, 
 on the other hand, to treat the grandest themes. For the rest, it 
 is to be remarked, that the Venetians, on the whole, painted very 
 little in fresco, but chiefly in oil, in which method they executed 
 pictures of the largest dimensions. The reason is evident ; as the 
 nature of oil-painting is much more favourable to their peculiar 
 object than the severer method of fresco.” 
 
 Sir Charles Eastlake, who edited the English translation of 
 Kugler, referring to the expression “ relieve light on light,” says, 
 
 “ It is no hyperbole ; it describes, in point of fact, the mode of 
 laying on the colours peculiar to the masters of the Venetian school, 
 which was the result of a close observation of the effect of colour 
 and light upon the eye itself.” Sir Charles then quotes an elabo- 
 rate criticism from Von Quandt’s translation of Lanzi’s History of 
 Painting in Italy, which we transfer to our pages, on account of its 
 very minute and discriminating character: — “Every part of a 
 healthy form, on which the light of the sun directly falls, is of that 
 glowing, reddish, yellowish colour which most delights the eye, 
 and which it most eagerly seeks in a picture. Thus it is that the 
 portions thus lighted, and thus coloured, are also the most con- 
 spicuous. Other parts, which, lying obliquely, do not receive the 
 rays of the sun upon them, are lighted by the reflection from other 
 objects at a greater or less distance from them, or by the light with 
 which the atmosphere is pervaded. These reflections cast upon the 
 object on which they fall something of the colour of the objects from 
 which they are derived. Being therefore of a bluish tint when 
 derived merely from the open air, they impart this same bluish tint i 
 to the object they light ; and when this happens to be the tender 
 surface of the human body, itself of a reddish colour, a light greyish 
 green tint results. This colour, being duller, is less conspicuous to 
 the eye, and thus the portions so lighted recede apparently from 
 sight, and take the effect of half-shadows, though really almost as 
 light as the lightest parts.” 
 
 Among the great masters of the Venetian school who adopted 
 this style of colouring was Giorgio Barbarelli of Castel Franco, 
 generally called Giorgione, on account of the loftiness of his stature. 
 
 He was a pupil of Giovanni Bellini, who first introduced oil-painting 
 into Venice ; but his style was constrained, and wanted that free- 
 dom of handling in which Giorgione excelled. Giorgione was born 
 in 1478, and died in 1511. He imitated and almost equalled the 
 style of Leonardo da Vinci, remarkable for its softness where objects 
 were thrown into powerful relief by the extreme darkness of the 
 shadows. His colouring was distinguished for its freshness and 
 animation ; and his countenances had the appearance of reality 
 rather than of art. It is narrated of this master that he undertook 
 to execute a single figure in painting in such a manner as to show 
 the front, back, and profiles of both sides at one and the same time, 
 which apparently impossible task he executed in the following 
 manner : — He painted a nude figure, with its back turned to the 
 spectator ; at the feet of the figure was a limpid stream, whereon 
 the reflection of the front was painted with the utmost exactitude ; 
 on one side was a highly-burnished corslet, of which the figure had ' 
 divested itself, and wherein the left side was reflected perfectly, 
 every part being clearly apparent ; on the other side was a mirror, 
 
96 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 on ■which the right profile of the nude form was also exhibited. 
 The object of Giorgione was to show that painting is capable of 
 presenting more at one view than is practicable in sculpture. He 
 died at the early age of thirty-three; had his life been extended, 
 the best critics are of opinion that he might have disputed the palm 
 of excellence even with Titian. Among his works, his masterpiece 
 is considered to be the picture in which St. Mark, St. Nicholas, and 
 St. George, embark in a small boat to encounter a ship filled with 
 demons, who threaten the destruction of Venice. Among his best 
 imitators was Sebastian del Piombo, famous for his portraits. 
 
 The brightest ornament of the Venetian school was Titian, of the 
 Vecelli family. He was born at Cadore, on the borders of Friuli, 
 in the year 1477, and died of the plague in 1576, being then in the 
 ninety-ninth year of his age. He was the inventor of brilliancy 
 and lightness of hue ; and is the earliest artist who gave real cha- 
 racter to landscape. His backgrounds were remarkable for their 
 superior beauty. He studied under John Bellini in his youth, as 
 Giorgione had done, and copied the free style of the latter, instead 
 of the harder productions of his master. Among his earlier works 
 are the “ Bacchus," and “ Ariadne,” now in our National Gallery. 
 Titian was the favourite ar- 
 tist of Charles V. of Spain, 
 whose portrait he painted 
 several times, as well as 
 that of his son Philip. 
 
 The greatest personages 
 deemed it an honour to 
 be portrayed by this re- 
 markable man — as Fran- 
 cis I., of France, Alfonso 
 Sforza, Duke of Milan, the 
 great generals, Marquis 
 Pescara and Antonio de 
 Leyra. At a matured 
 period of his life, Titian 
 changed his style in large 
 works intended to be seen 
 at a distance. His earliest 
 efforts were finished with 
 scrupulous care and deli- 
 cacy, so that they were 
 equally effective whether 
 the eye of the spectator 
 was close to them or re- 
 moved ; but his later pro- 
 ductions, on a large scale, 
 were executed with bold 
 strokes and dashes. “ This 
 mode of his,” says Vasari, 
 
 “ imitated by artists who 
 have thought to show 
 proof of facility, has given t 
 
 occasion to many wretched [j 
 
 pictures, which probably 
 comes from the fact, that 
 whereas many believe the 
 works of Titian, done in the manner above described, to have 
 been executed without labour, that is not the truth, and 
 those persons have been deceived ; indeed it is well known 
 that Titian went over them many times — nay, so frequently, 
 that the labour bestowed on them is most obvious. And this 
 method of proceeding is a judicious, beautiful, and admirable one, 
 since it causes the paintings so treated to appear living, they 
 being executed with profound art, while that art is nevertheless con- 
 cealed.” Among this class of paintings, executed by the command of 
 Queen Maria of Spain, were — Prometheus bound, with the Vulture 
 gnawing his Liver, and Sisyphus rolling the Stone in Hell ; Venus 
 abandoned by Adonis ; Andromeda chained to the Rock, with 
 Perseus delivering her from the marine Monster; Diana bathing 
 with her Nymphs, and turning Actmon into a Stag; Europa carried 
 across the Bosphorus by Jupiter Tauriform : all these, ordered by 
 the royal family of Spain, were so painted as to be seen from a 
 distance. In the nude female form the colouring of Titian is 
 magical. Kugler institutes an interesting comparison between this 
 artist and Correggio. “ Correggio,” he says, “ seeks animation and 
 excitement; Titian reposes in quiet dignity. Correggio appears to 
 
 call his figures into life only to make them the organs of particular 
 emotions ; Titian gives them, first and foremost, the grandeur of mere 
 conscious existence. Correggio, in the warmth of his passion, has 
 hardly patience to proceed to the development of fine forms, and 
 therefore carries with him a modern air ; Titian always builds on 
 the unmovable foundations of necessary and general beauty. Finally, 
 Correggio’s chiaro-oscuro is something conditional and accidental — 
 a phenomenon on the surface of objects; Titian’s colouring is the 
 expression of life itself.” Titian had few scholars, but many imita- 
 tors. Some critics consider that his genius influenced the school of 
 the Caracci, and determined the landscape style of Poussin and 
 Claude Lorraine. As a portrait-painter he has never been surpassed 
 — perhaps never equalled. 
 
 Paris Bordone was another of the Venetian celebrities. For a 
 short time he was a pupil of Titian, but that master took little 
 pleasure in teaching. Bordone, therefore, sought rather to imitate 
 the style of Giorgione, many of whose works he copied. In the 
 Loggia of the Piazza, at Vicenza, Paris executed the “ Story of 
 Noah and his Sons,” near to the spot where Titian had painted 
 “The Judgment of Solomon;” both of these works have perished, 
 
 but the critics of the 
 period declared that they 
 were of equal merit. Ve- 
 nice was his established 
 home, and in that city his 
 chief works were pro- 
 duced, one of the most ad- 
 mired being, the “ Fish- 
 erman presenting St. 
 Mark’s ring to the Sig- 
 noria of Venice.” Bordone 
 visited France in 1538, and 
 there painted many of the 
 ladies of the court of 
 Francis I. For the King 
 of Poland, he executed a 
 picture of “Jupiter” and 
 a “Nymph.” At Augs- 
 burg, he decoi’ated the 
 Fugger Palace; and, at 
 Milan, contributed a beau- 
 tiful picture to the Church 
 of San Celso. One of his 
 most exquisite pictures 
 was a sleeping Venus 
 and Cupid, guarded by a 
 servant, which was or- 
 dered by the Duchess of 
 Savoy. This artist led a 
 simple and upright life, 
 and was much admired 
 by his contemporaries. 
 His colouring was deli- 
 cate and rosy, but Kugler 
 thinks that it sometimes 
 borders on effeminacy. 
 
 To the Venetian school belongs Jacopo Robust!, better known by 
 the name of Tintoretto — “ the little dyer,” so called from his father’s 
 trade, which was that of a dyer. He was a pupil of Titian’s, but 
 continued with him only for a short period. According to some 
 accounts, he was dismissed for inattention or disobedience; others 
 assert that the preceptor was jealous of his pupil. Tintoretto aimed 
 high in his art ; and, as a proof that he had formed an exalted 
 opinion of his own abilities, he posted on the wall of his workshop, 
 “ The design of Michael Angelo, and the colouring of Titian.” The 
 great fault of Tintoretto was rapidity of execution, in which he 
 prided himself, not considering that patient labour is the price 
 that must be paid for all excellence ; the consequence is, that while 
 parts of his works are admirable, few are perfect in the whole of 
 artistic arrangement. 
 
 Paolo Cagliari, born at Verona, and therefore called Paul Vero- 
 nese, studied and painted at Venice, and is classed with that 
 school. His “ Marriage at Cana, in Galilee,” now in the Louvre, is 
 his masterpiece. It is thirty feet wide by twenty feet high. It 
 contains one hundred and twenty figures; the guests are supposed 
 to be almost entirely contemporary portraits: Among the musiciaus 
 
 PIETA, BY BERN Us’ X. 
 

 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALxiCE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 are Paolo Veronese himself playing the violincello, Tintoretto a 
 similar instrument, and Titian the contra-bass. For this most 
 magnificent picture, Theodore Ducas says that the artist only 
 received ninety ducats. Paolo Veronese delighted in festive sub- 
 jects, in which he displayed magnificent halls, gorgeous costume, 
 und the precious metals in cups and vases; Kugler says of him, 
 “ Never had the pomp of colour been so exalted, so glorified, as 
 in his works; his paintings are like full concerts of enchanting 
 music.” 
 
 The two great masters of the school of Parma were Correggio 
 and Parmigiano. The baptismal name of the former was Antonio 
 Allegri; but, as he was born at the town of Correggio, in 1494, 
 when he had established 
 his fame, he dropped his 
 family name, and took that 
 of his birthplace, as was 
 the custom of the age in 
 which he flourished. He 
 died at the early age of 
 forty. This artist excelled 
 in hai-mony of colours. 
 
 His style is distinguished 
 by a continually undulating 
 line, sweetly melting into 
 the groundwork of the pic- 
 ture. No painter surpassed 
 him in foreshortening; but 
 what distinguishes his co- 
 louring from that of any 
 of his illustrious contem- 
 poraries is a mild, central 
 light, which gradually dis- 
 appears in the surrounding 
 lucid demi-tints, and in the 
 strongly and splendidly re- 
 flected shades. Correggio 
 is pre-eminent in what is 
 styled chiaro-oscuro, or that 
 peculiar play of light and 
 shade which spreads such 
 an harmonious repose over 
 his works. He has been 
 styled the anatomist of 
 light and shade in endless 
 gradation. He was able 
 “ to give the greatest bril- 
 liancy without dazzling, 
 the deepest shade without 
 offending the eye by black- 
 ness. The relation of co- 
 lours is observed with the 
 same masterly skill, so that 
 each appears in itself sub- 
 dued, yet powerful in re- 
 lation to others.” His 
 frescoes adorned the cu- 
 polas of the Cathedral of 
 Parma, and the Church of 
 San Giovanni, in that city. 
 
 He executed many easel 
 pictures, of which the most 
 beautiful, and which he 
 frequently repeated, is the 
 “ Marriage of St. Cathe- 
 rine.” 
 
 Francesco Mazzuoli, called Parmigiano, from his birthplace, at 
 Parma, was born in 1503, and died in 1540. His taste was formed 
 from a study of the productions of Correggio. That great master 
 taught him the blandishments of colour, and the magic of chiaro- 
 oscuro ; afterwards, he went to Mantua and Rome, to contemplate 
 the style of Giulio Romano and Raffaello. His peculiar excellence 
 is grace. One of his best works is “Moses breaking the Tables,” 
 of which it has been said that the spirit of Raffaello transmigrated 
 into Parmigiano. Adam and the Sybils form part of the same 
 composition, and are only, if at all, inferior to the figure of 
 Moses. Unfortunately for this artist, avarice prompted him to 
 
 study alchemy, and what he acquired by painting he lost in the 
 imaginary pursuit of gold. He constructed a laboratory, the heat 
 and gases of which ruined his constitution. A curious anecdote is 
 related of his complete abstraction when painting. During the 
 siege of Rome, in 1527, he was pursuing his labours, when a party 
 of soldiers, intent on pillage, entered his studio, but they were so 
 awed into admiration and respect that they retired without doin<' 
 him any injury. 
 
 The school of Ferrara did not abound in artists, but it produced 
 two of high merit. These were the brothers Dosso Dossi, and 
 Giovanni Batista Dossi, so called from a village named Dosso, near 
 Ferrara, where they were born. In landscapes, Giovanni Batista 
 was scarcely inferior to Ti- 
 
 MUSES BREAKING THE TABLES, BY PARMIGIANO. 
 
 tian. The two brothers 
 were employed by Ariosto 
 to paint his portrait, and 
 illustrate the Orlando Fu- 
 rioso. The best works of 
 Dosso Dossi were “ St. John 
 at Patmos,” in the Church 
 of Lateranensi, at Ferrara ; 
 and his “ Christ among the 
 Doctors,” which he intended 
 to have placed in a church 
 at Facnza. Ducas says of 
 him, “ He could paint Holy 
 Families with the grace of 
 Raffaello, the colouring of 
 Titian, and the chiaro-oscuro 
 of Correggio. He retains 
 more of the antique than 
 those masters; but his com- 
 position, his draperies, and 
 his various and harmonious 
 colouring are his own.” In 
 the judgment of Ivuglex-, 
 their works display a Ve- 
 netian influence in the style 
 of Giorgione, as well as the 
 fundamental style of the 
 Ferrara school. 
 
 Art reached perfection in 
 the time of Raffaello and 
 Michael Angelo, though the 
 latter lived long enough to 
 witness its decline. Artists 
 committed the mistake of 
 fancying that highly-fin- 
 ished productions could be 
 executed without labour, 
 and they vied with each 
 other in covering large sur- 
 faces of canvas with ra- 
 pidity. “ They paint,” says 
 Vasari, “ six pictures in a 
 year, while the earlier mas- 
 ters took six years to one 
 picture.” With this hasti- 
 ness, a corrupt taste was 
 gradually introduced. “No 
 one remembered,” Kugler 
 remarks, “ that the foun- 
 dation of all artistic great- 
 ness depended on the mys- 
 terious harmony between 
 the personality of the painter and his subject. The external signs 
 of the great masters, their effect and manner, were the objects 
 of imitation ; first with due modesty, and then with gradually 
 increasing boldness, till they led to the grossest exaggerations. 
 That which was overlooked was certainly that which was least 
 susceptible of imitation, viz., the deep poetic intention, the noble 
 and harmonious conception, and that arrangement which was 
 dictated by the highest laws. Many of the painters in question 
 would, fifty years earlier, have done great things ; now they fell 
 into repulsive mannerism, because no longer supported by those 
 principles of harmony and beauty which, at tile beginning of the 
 
 C C 
 
98 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 sixteenth century, had inspired even mediocre talent to truly great 
 works. Where immediate truth of nature was required, — as, for 
 instance, in portraits,— great excellence was, however, displayed.” 
 After the Mannerists came the Eclectic schools, which were 
 followed by the Naturalisti. The chief of the Eclectic schools was 
 founded by the Carracci, at Bologna, Ludovico, and his two nephews, 
 Agostino and Annibale Carracci. They proposed to themselves the 
 study of nature and the imitation of the great masters. Agostino 
 embodied the principles of his academy in a sonnet, which may be 
 thus translated : — “ Let him who wishes to be a good painter 
 acquire the design of Rome, Venetian action and Venetian manage- 
 ment of shade, the dignified colouring of Lombardy (that is, of 
 Leonardo da Vinci), the terrible manner of Michael Angelo, Titian’s 
 truth and nature, the sovereign purity of Correggio’s style, and the 
 
 just symmetry of Raffaello, the decorum and well-grounded study of 
 Tibaldi, the invention of the learned Primaticcio, and a little of 
 Parmigiano’s grace ; but without so much study and weary labour, 
 let him apply himself to imitate the works which our Niccolo (dell’ 
 Abbate) left us here.” Among the most eminent pupils of the 
 Carracci school were Domenichino, Albani, and Guido. 
 
 The Naturalisti prided themselves on their direct imitation of 
 nature. The chief master of this school was Caravaggio, and his 
 most eminent pupil was Giuseppe Ribera, a Spaniard by birth, and 
 generally known by the name of Spagnoletto. He also founded a 
 school, and was the teacher of the famous Salvator Rosa. It is 
 foreign to our plan to offer any criticism on these later artists, who 
 have not contributed anything to the Italian Court ; but, in a work 
 of this description, their existence ought to be recognised. 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 The Pompeian is the least attractive of the Fine-Art Courts 
 within the Crystal Palace. There is an air of nakedness about it, 
 scarcely relieved by the few paintings on the walls, so that it barely 
 admits of pictorial illustration ; and, as the story of Pompeii has 
 been frequently narrated, both by English and continental writers, 
 and all the documents recording its melancholy fate been diligently 
 sifted, we do not pretend to infuse much novelty into these pages. 
 
 That district of Italy which contains the buried cities of Hercu- 
 laneum and Pompeii was comprised between the mountains of 
 Samnium and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The most distinguishing geo- 
 graphical feature was the Gulf of Cumte, included between Cape 
 Misenum and the promontory of Minerva, and called from its 
 shape Crater, or the Cup. It is now known as the Bay of Naples, 
 at the bottom of which stood Pompeii, thirteen miles from Naples, 
 and five from Vesuvius. From the marks of igneous action on the 
 shores, the ground skirting them was called, Campi Phlegrm, or 
 Burnt Fields, though we have no record of an eruption of Vesuvius 
 prior to that which occurred on the 16th of February, a.D. 63, 
 throwing down a considerable part of Pompeii, and materially 
 injuring Herculaneum. But the visible action of fire is very 
 strong, if not conclusive, evidence that volcanic agency must have 
 visited the districts at some remote period, of which no tradition 
 remains. Ancient fable attempts to account for these appearances, 
 by describing the Campi Phlegrcei as the scene of the battle between 
 the gods and the giants, when the latter were destroyed by the 
 thunderbolts of Jupiter : then the earth was scorched by fire. 
 Here also was Lake Avernus, the opening to the infernal regions, 
 whose mephitic exhalations proved fatal to every bird flying over 
 its waters. This portion of Campania, however, had its beauties as 
 well as its terrors ; and if Homer has thrown an awful horror over 
 the whole coast, Virgil has painted it as the locality of the Elysian 
 Fields. Poetry, indeed, has embellished the whole region with 
 enchanting fictions. It is also immortalised as the favourite resi- 
 dence of the most illustrious of the Romans. Marius had a villa on 
 the height of Misenum, of which Luculius afterwards became the 
 proprietor. Here Cicero and Hortensius, rival orators, held philo- 
 sophic intercourse ; and Caesar and Pompey, when suspending 
 their struggles for the mastery of the world, sought relaxation on 
 those delightful shores. Bairn was frequented by Augustus, and 
 his great ministers, Maecenas and Agrippa ; and there the emperor, 
 free from the cares of state, received Virgil and Horace as his 
 guests. 
 
 Prior to the two eruptions of A.D. 63 and A.D. 79, Vesuvius pre- 
 sented a very different aspect from that which we now behold. 
 After describing the surrounding territory, Strabo says — “ Above 
 these places rises Vesuvius, well-cultivated, and inhabited all round, 
 except its top, which is for the most part level, and entirely barren, 
 ashy to the view, displaying cavernous hollows in cineritious rocks, 
 which look as if they had been eaten in the fire, so that we may 
 suppose this spot to have been a volcano formerly, with burning 
 craters, now extinguished for want of fuel.” The summit is no longer 
 level, but conical, the cone standing within a circular volcanic 
 ridge. “ A volcano, properly so called, exists only where a perma- 
 nent connection is established between the interior of the earth 
 and the atmosphere, and the reacting of the interior on the surface 
 
 then continues during long periods of time. It may be interrupted 
 for centui’ies, as in the case of Vesuvius (Fisove), and then manifest 
 itself with renewed activity. In the time of Nero, men were dis- 
 posed to rank Etna among the volcanic mountains which were 
 gradually becoming extinct; and, subsequently, ASlian even main- 
 tained that mariners could no longer see the sinking summit of the 
 mountain from so great a distance at sea. Where these evidences — 
 these old scaffoldings of eruption, I might almost say — still exist, the 
 volcano rises from a crater of elevation, while a high rocky wall 
 surrounds, like an amphitheatre, the isolated conical mount, and 
 forms around it a kind of casing of highly-elevated strata.”* In 
 this manner the present configuration of Vesuvius has been formed; 
 but it may be said to have two summits — the cone, and, separated 
 from it by a deep valley, a ridge called Monte Somma. The dis- 
 tance between these two summits, in a straight line, is nearly 2000 
 feet; that of Somma is truncated. The valley between them is 
 filled with calcined stones, cinders, and ashes ; hence, as Mr. Eustace 
 remarks, it is conjectured that it is part of the interior of the moun- 
 tain, as the ridge that borders it, or the Monte Somma, is the 
 remnant of the exterior, or original surface, so much celebrated for 
 its beauty and fertility, before the eruption in A.D. 79. 
 
 It was in the reign of the Emperor Titus Vespasian that the 
 eruption took place, accompanied by an earthquake, which over- 
 whelmed Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabifle. Dion Cassius, who 
 wrote more than a century after the catastrophe, states that the 
 burning ashes were carried to Africa, Syria, and Egypt, filling the 
 air above Rome, and shadowing the sun. From that time eruptions 
 appear to have been intermittent. They are recorded in the fifth 
 and sixth centuries. Procopius, in his history of the Gothic War, 
 describes the mountain as emitting rivers of fire, and projecting 
 ashes to Africa and Byzantium. This was the result of the com- 
 pound action of an earthquake and a volcano. “ The activity of an 
 igneous mountain, however terrific and picturesque the spectacle 
 may be which it presents to our contemplation, is always limited 
 to a very small space. It is far otherwise with earthquakes, which, 
 although scarcely perceptible to the eye, nevertheless simultaneously 
 propagate their waves to a distance of many thousand miles. The 
 great earthquake which destroyed the city of Lisbon, on the 1st oi 
 November, 1755, and whose effects were so admirably investigated 
 by the distinguished philosopher Emanuel Kant, was felt in the 
 Alps, on the coast of Sweden, in the Antilles, Antigua, Barbadoes, 
 and Martinique ; in the great Canadian lakes, in Thuringia, in the 
 flat country of Northern Germany, and in the small inland lakes on 
 the shores of the Baltic. Remote springs were interrupted at their 
 fl ow — a phenomenon attending earthquakes which had been noticed 
 amongst the ancients by Demetrius, the Callatian. The hot springs 
 of Toplitz dried up, and returned, inundating everything around, 
 and having their waters coloured with iron ochre. In Cadiz, the 
 sea rose to an elevation of sixty-four feet; whilst in the Antilles, 
 where the tide usually rises only from twenty-six to twenty-eight 
 inches, it suddenly rose above twenty feet, the water being of an 
 inky blackness. It has been computed that, on the 1st of Novem- 
 ber, 1755, a portion of the earth’s surface, four times greater than 
 
 * Humboldt’s Cosmos, vol. i. p. 224. Holm's Edition. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 99 
 
 that of Europe, was simultaneously shaken.”* Dr. Daubeny con- 
 siders that the Cadiz earthquake pervaded an area of 700,000 miles, 
 or the twelfth part of the circumference of the globe. The dreadful 
 shock lasted only five minutes. A large part of the population 
 were in the churches, for it was the feast of All Saints ; and 30,000 
 perished hy the fall of those edifices. We may, therefore, easily 
 credit the statements of Dion and Procopius. 
 
 The eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79, is minutely recorded by an 
 eye-witness, in all respects qualified to hand down to posterity a 
 vivid and faithful narrative of that solemn event. This highly- 
 interesting narrative is contained in two letters of Pliny the 
 Younger to Tacitus ; and to condense so precious a memorial of 
 antiquity would be worse than mutilation. The first letter relates 
 to the death of Pliny’s uncle, the writer on natural history. 
 
 “ Your request that I would send you an account of my uncle’s 
 death, in order to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, 
 deserves my acknowledgments ; for, if this accident shall be cele- 
 brated by your pen, the glory of it, I am well assured, will be 
 rendered for ever illustrious. And notwithstanding he perished 
 by a misfortune, which, as it involved at the same time a most 
 beautiful country in ruins, and destroyed so many populous cities, 
 seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance ; notwithstand- 
 ing he has himself composed many and lasting works ; yet I am 
 persuaded the mentioning of him in your immortal works will 
 greatly contribute to eternise his name. Happy I esteem those to 
 be whom Providence has distinguished with the abilities either of 
 doing such actions as are worthy of being related, or of relating 
 them in a manner worthy of being read; but doubly happy 
 are they who are blessed with both these uncommon talents ; in 
 the number of which my uncle, as his own writings and your 
 history will evidently prove, may justly be ranked. It is with 
 extreme willingness, therefore, I execute your commands; and 
 should, indeed, have claimed the task, if you had not enjoined it. 
 He was at that time, with the fleet under his command, at Misenum. 
 On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother 
 desired him to observe a cloud, which appeared of a very unusual 
 size and shape. He had just returned from taking the benefit of 
 the sun, and, after bathing himself in cold water, and taking a 
 slight repast, was retired to his study. He immediately arose, and 
 went out upon an eminence, from whence he might more distinctly 
 view this very uncommon appearance. It was not at that distance 
 discernible from what mountain this cloud issued ; but it was found 
 afterwards to ascend from Mount Vesuvius. I cannot give a more 
 exact description of its figure than by resembling it to that of a 
 pine-tree, for it shot up a great height in the form of a trunk, which 
 extended itself at the top into a sort of branches, occasioned, I 
 imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force 
 of which decreased as it advanced upwards; or the cloud itself, 
 being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in this 
 manner; it appeared sometimes bright, and sometimes dark and 
 spotted, as it was more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. 
 This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle’s philosophical 
 curiosity to take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to 
 be got ready, and gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to 
 attend him. I rather chose to continue my studies, for, as it hap- 
 pened, he had given me an employment of that kind. As he was 
 coming out of the house, he received a note from Rectina, the wife 
 of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger 
 which threatened her ; for her villa being situated at the foot of 
 Mount Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea: she 
 earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He 
 accordingly changed his first design ; and what he began with a 
 philosophical, he pursued with an heroical turn of mind. He ordered 
 the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board, with an inten- 
 tion of assisting not only Rectina, but several others ; for the villas 
 stand extremely thick upon that beautiful coast. When hastening 
 to the place from whence others fled with the utmost terror, he 
 steered his direct course to the point of danger, and with so much 
 calmness and presence of mind, as to be able to make and dictate 
 his observations upon the motion and figure of that dreadful scene. 
 He was now so nigh the mountain that the cinders, which grew 
 thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, 
 together with pumicestones, and black pieces of burning rock : they 
 
 * Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. i. p. 206. Bohn's Edition. 
 
 were likewise in danger, not only of being aground by the sudden 
 retreat of the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled 
 down from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he 
 stopped to consider whether he should return back again, to which 
 the pilot advising him— ‘ Fortune,’ said he, ‘befriends the brave; 
 carry me to Pomponianus.’ Pomponianus was then at Stabim, 
 separated by a gulf which the sea, after several insensible windings, 
 forms upon the shore. He had already sent his baggage on board ; 
 for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet being 
 within the view of it, and, indeed, extremely near, if it should in 
 the least increase, he was determined to put to sea as soon as the 
 wind should change. It was favourable, however, for carrying my 
 uncle to Pomponianus, whom he found in the greatest consternation. 
 He embraced him with tenderness, encouraging and exhorting him 
 to keep up his spirits, and the more to dissipate his fears, he ordered, 
 with an air of unconcern, the baths to be got ready; when, after 
 having bathed, he sat down to supper with great cheerfulness, or 
 at least (what is equally heroic) with all the appearance of it. In 
 the meanwhile, the eruption from Mount Vesuvius flamed out in 
 several places with much violence, which the darkness of the night 
 contributed to render still more visible and dreadful. But my 
 uncle, in order to soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him 
 j it was only the burning of the villages, which the country people had 
 , abandoned to the flames. After this he retired to rest, and it is 
 j most certain he was so little discomposed as to fall into a deep 
 sleep ; for being pretty fat, and breathing hard, those who attended 
 without actually heard him snore. The court which led to his 
 j apartment being now almost filled with stones and ashes, if he had 
 continued there any time longer, it would have been impossible for 
 him to have made his way out : it was thought proper, therefore, 
 to awaken him. He got up, and went to Pomponianus and the rest 
 of his company, who were not unconcerned enough to think of 
 going to bed. They consulted together whether it would be most 
 prudent to trust to the houses, which now shook from side to side 
 with frequent and violent concussions, or fly to the open fields, where 
 the calcined stones and cinders, though light indeed, yet fell in 
 large showers, and threatened destruction. In this distress, they 
 resolved for the fields, as the less dangerous of the two — a resolution 
 which, while the rest of the company were hurried into by their 
 fears, my uncle embraced upon cool and deliberate consideration. 
 They went out then, having pillows tied upon their heads with 
 napkins ; and this was their whole defence against the storm of 
 stones that fell around them. It wus now day everywhere else, but 
 there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the most obscure night, 
 which, however, was in some degree dissipated by torches and other 
 lights of various kinds. They thought proper to go down farther 
 upon the shore, to observe if they might safely put out to sea ; but 
 they found the waves still run extremely high and boisterous. 
 There my uncle, having drunk a draught or two of cold water, 
 i threw himself down upon a cloth which was spread for him, when 
 immediately the flames, and a strong smell of sulphur, which was 
 the forerunner of them, dispersed the rest of the company, and 
 obliged him to rise. He raised himself up with the assistance of 
 two of his servants, and instantly fell dawn dead, suffocated, as I 
 conjecture, by some gross and noxious vapour, having always had 
 weak lungs, and being frequently subject to a difficulty of breathing. 
 As soon as it was light again, which was not till the third day after 
 this melancholy accident, his body was found entire, and without 
 any marks of violence upon it, exactly in the same posture that he 
 fell, and looking more like a man asleep than dead. During all 
 this time my mother and I, who were at Misenum — But as this has 
 no connection with your history, so your inquiry went no farther 
 than concerning my uncle’s death, with that, therefore, I will put 
 an end to my letter. Suffer me only to add, that I have faithfully 
 related to you what I was either an eye-witness of myself, or 
 received immediately after the accident happened, and before there 
 was time to vary the truth. You will choose out of this narrative 
 such circumstances as shall be most suitable to your purpose ; for 
 there is a great difference between what is proper for a letter and 
 a history, between writing to a friend and writing to the public. 
 Farewell ! ” 
 
 The second letter describes the position and feelings of the writer 
 himself during the catastrophe. 
 
 “ The letter which, in compliance with your request, I wrote to 
 you concerning the death of my uncle, has raised, it seems, your 
 
100 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 curiosity to know what terrors and dangers attended me while I 
 continued at Misenum ; for there, I think, the account in my former 
 broke off. 
 
 “ 1 Though my shocked soul recoils, my tongue shall tell.’ 
 
 My uncle having left us, I pursued the studies which prevented 
 my going with him till it was time to bathe. After which I went 
 to supper, and from thence to bed, where my sleep was greatly 
 broken and disturbed. There had been, for many days before, some 
 shocks of an earthquake, which the less surprised us, as they are 
 extremely frequent in Campania; but they were so particularly 
 violent that night, that they not only shook everything about us, 
 but seemed, indeed, to threaten total destruction. My mother flew 
 to mv chamber, where she found me rising, in order to awaken her. 
 We went out into a small court belonging to the house, which 
 separated the sea from the buildings. As I was at that time 
 but eighteen years of age, I know not whether I should call my 
 behaviour, in this dangerous juncture, courage or rashness; but I 
 took up Livy, and amused myself with turning over that author, 
 
 even by supporting them with large stones. The sea seemed to 
 roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks by the con- 
 vulsive motion of the earth. It is certain, at least, the shore was 
 considerably enlarged ; and several sea animals were left upon it. 
 On the other side, a black and dreadful cloud, bursting with an 
 igneous serpentine vapour, darted out a long train of fire, resem- 
 bling flashes of lightning, but much larger. Upon this our Spanish 
 friend, whom I mentioned above, addressing himself to my mother 
 and me with great warmth and earnestness, ‘ If your brother and 
 your uncle,’ said he, ‘ is safe, he certainly wishes you may be so too; 
 but if he perished, it was his desire, no doubt, that you might both 
 survive him ; why, therefore, do you delay your escape a moment? ’ 
 We could never think of our own safety, we said, while we were 
 uncertain of his. Hereupon our friend left us, and withdrew from 
 the danger with the utmost precipitation. Soon afterwards the 
 cloud seemed to descend, and cover the whole ocean; as indeed it 
 entirely hid the island of Capreee and the promontory of Misenum. 
 My mother strongly conjured me to make my escape at any rate, 
 
 EXTERIOR OF THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 and even making extracts from him, as if all about me had been in 
 full security. While we were in this posture, a friend of my uncle’s, 
 who was just come from Spain to pay him a visit, joined us ; and 
 observing me sitting by my mother with a book in my hand, greatly 
 condemned her calmness, at the same time that he reproved me for 
 my careless security. Nevertheless, I still went on with my author. 
 Though it was now morning, the light was exceedingly faint and 
 languid ; the buildings all around us tottered, and, though we stood 
 upon open ground, yet, as the place was narrow and confined, there 
 was no remaining there without certain and great danger : we 
 therefore resolved to quit the town. The people followed us in the 
 utmost consternation, and, as to a mind distracted with terror every 
 suggestion seems more prudent than its own, pressed in great 
 crowds about us in our way out. Being got at a convenient 
 distance from the houses, we stood still, in the midst of a most 
 dangerous and dreadful scene. The chariots which we had ordered 
 to be drawn out were so agitated backwards and forwards, though 
 upon the most level ground, that we could not keep them steady, 
 
 which, as I was young, I might easily do ; as for herself, she said, 
 her age and corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort impossible. 
 However, she would willingly meet death, if she could have the 
 satisfaction of seeing that she was not the occasion of mine. But I 
 absolutely refused to leave her; and taking her by the hand, I led 
 her on. She complied with great reluctance, and not without many 
 reproaches to herself for retarding my flight. The ashes now began 
 to fall upon us, though in no great quantity. I turned my head, 
 and observed behind us a thick smoke, which came rolling after us 
 like a torrent. I proposed, while we had yet any light, to turn out 
 of the high road, lest she should be pressed to death in the dark by 
 the crowd that followed us. We had scarce stepped out of the path 
 when darkness overspread us, not like that of a cloudy night, or 
 when there is no moon, but of a room when it is shut up, and all 
 the lights extinct. Nothing then was to be heard but the shrieks 
 of women, the screams of children, and the cries of men ; some 
 calling for their children, others for their parents, others for their 
 husbands, and only distinguishing each other by their voices; one 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 101 
 
 
 lamenting his own fate, another that of his family : some wishing 
 to die from the very fear of dying ; some lifting their hands to the 
 gods; but the greater part imagining that the last and eternal 
 night was come, which was to destroy the gods and the world 
 together. Among these were some who augmented the real terrors 
 by imaginary ones, and made the frighted multitude falsely believe 
 that Misenum was actually in flames. At length a glimmering 
 light appeared, which we imagined to be rather the forerunner of 
 an approaching burst of flames, as in truth it was, than the return 
 of day. However, the fire fell at a distance from us ; then again 
 we were immersed in thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes 
 rained upon us, which we were obliged every now and then to 
 shake off, otherwise we should have been crushed and buried in the 
 heap. I might boast that, during all this scene of horror, not a 
 sigh or expression of fear escaped from me, had not my support 
 been founded in that miserable, though strong consolation, that all 
 mankind were involved in the same calamity, and that I imagined 
 I was perishing with the world itself! At last this dreadful dark- 
 
 The ashes from volcanoes, which sometimes darken the air for 
 hours and days together, and produce great injury to the vineyards 
 and the olive groves, by adhering to the leaves, indicate by their 
 columnar ascent, impelled by vapours, the termination of every 
 great earthquake. This, says Humboldt, is the magnificent pheno- 
 menon which Pliny the Younger, in his celebrated letter to Cor- 
 nelius Tacitus, compares, in the case of Vesuvius, to the form of a 
 lofty and thickly-branched foliaceous pine. 
 
 This eruption did not throw out lava, but mud, cinders, scoriae, 
 and sand ; and the effect on Herculaneum was very different from 
 that produced on Pompeii. On the former city fell a torrent of 
 mud, accompanied by steam, which, on cooling, hardened and 
 formed a solid crust. According to Dr. Daubeny, “ true volcanoes 
 generate sulphuretted hydrogen and muriatic acid, upheave tracts 
 of land, and emit streams of melted feldspathic materials ; salses, 
 on the contrary, disengage little else but carburetted hydrogen, 
 together with bitumen, and other products of the distillation of 
 coal, and pour forth no other torrents except of mud, or argillaceous 
 
 INTEKIOK OF THE POMPEIAN COUKT. 
 
 ness was dissipated by degrees, like a cloud of smoke; the real day 
 returned, and even the sun appeared, though very faintly, and as 
 when an eclipse is coming on. Every object that presented itself 
 to our eyes (which were extremely weakened) seemed changed, 
 being covered over with white ashes, as with a deep snow. We 
 returned to Misenum, where we refreshed ourselves as well as we 
 could, and passed an anxious night between hope and fear — though, 
 indeed, with a much larger share of the latter ; for the earthquake 
 still continued, while several enthusiastic people ran up and down, 
 heightening their own and their friends’ calamities by terrible pre- 
 dictions. However, my mother and I, notwithstanding the danger 
 we had passed, and that which still threatened us, had no thoughts 
 of leaving the place till we should receive some account from my 
 uncle. 
 
 “And now you will read this narrative without any view of 
 inserting it in your history, of which it is by no means worthy ; 
 and indeed you must impute it to your own request if it shall 
 deserve the trouble of a letter. Farewell ! ” 
 
 materials mixed up with water. Herculaneum being immediately 
 under Vesuvius, felt the shock of the salses, or mud volcano, which 
 appears to have been spent before the explosion reached Pompeii, 
 the latter city being buried under a covering of merely unconsoli- 
 dated ashes.” 
 
 The first stream of lava of which we have any authentic account 
 broke out in the year 1036. Several followed, at longer or shorter 
 dates; but those of 1776 and 1777 are the most remarkable, and 
 have been minutely described by Sir William Hamilton, in his 
 magnificent work, the Campi JPhlegrai. During his observations 
 of the explosions, he states that a fountain of fire burst forth to 
 three times the height of Vesuvius, which, according to the mea- 
 surement of Humboldt, rises 3874 feet above the level of the sea. 
 The latest eruption of any importance took place in 1822. 
 
 After the engulfing of the Campanian cities, Neapolis, the 
 modern Naples, arose to undisputed pre-eminence ; and Portici and 
 Resina were built on the lava of Herculaneum, the buried city 
 being seventy feet below the surface. History had too faithfully 
 
 D D 
 
102 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 preserved the fact of the Vesuvian eruption, and of its destructive 
 consequences, to allow the catastrophe to escape the speculations of 
 antiquarians ; and the result of some excavations, in the year 1689, 
 had been communicated to the French Academy of the Sciences. In 
 1706, the Prince D’Elbeuf, descended from the famous Guises of 
 the house of Lorraine, who played so memorable a part in the reli- 
 gious wars of France, visited Naples, and, in 1711, built a marine 
 villa at Portici for his own i-esidence. During his sojourn there, a 
 peasant, sinking a well in his garden, at Resina, found several 
 fragments of marble, which excited the curiosity of the prince, who 
 purchased the ground, and, commencing a series of excavations, 
 soon discovered various statues, pillars, and even a whole temple of 
 the finest marble, adorned with statues. The Neapolitan govern- 
 ment, prompted by jealousy or ignorance, then interfered, compel- 
 ling the prince to desist from his interesting labours ; and further 
 explorations were suspended for nearly thirty yeai’s. The govern- 
 ment became purchasers of the site round which the well had been 
 sunk, on which the king of Naples built a palace, thus rendering 
 future explorations more difficult. It is said that the Prince D’El- 
 beuf had in his service a Frenchman, who possessed the art of 
 making a durable stucco out of pulverised marble, for which purpose 
 the buried marble was sought after ; but it is most probable that 
 he merely imitated the process invented by Giovanni da Udine, 
 which we have explained in our account of the Italian Court. 
 
 It was in 1736 that King Charles III. of Naples built the palace 
 at Portici. Excavations were renewed near the now famous well, 
 and fresh treasures were discovered, satisfying scientific men that 
 the subject of their researches was Herculaneum. A buried theatre 
 was unearthed ; the seats and steps were distinctly marked. A fine 
 basilica next rewarded an industrious curiosity, containing the 
 equestrian statues of the Balbi, and the famous pictures of Hercules 
 and Telephus, Theseus and the Minotaur ; bronze statues of Nero 
 and Germanicus, and one of Vespasian, nine feet high. Unfortu- 
 nately no systematic plan of working was adopted, by which the 
 entire city might have been thrown open, and continuously ex- 
 amined ; on the contrary, too many were actuated by a spirit of 
 plunder, more eager to possess themselves of some choice relics than 
 to preserve the whole fabric. Even the marble was torn from the 
 temples, as though the place were sacked by a hostile army ; and 
 when as many valuables had been removed as were supposed to be 
 recoverable, the plundered streets were filled up with rubbish. It 
 is, however, to be remembered that Portici and Resina had been 
 built on the site of Herculaneum, as well as the palace, and excava- 
 tions, injudiciously conducted, might have sapped the foundations 
 of those cities. 
 
 The most interesting treasures of Herculaneum were the manu- 
 scripts, and the learned hoped for the restoration of the lost Decades 
 of Livy, and other regretted writings of Greece and Rome. The 
 number collected was three hundred and seventy-seven, the great 
 majority being in Greek, and but few in Latin ; they chiefly con- 
 sisted of treatises relating to the philosophy of Epicurus. But the 
 recovery of lost literature was a very minor object with the 
 explorers, eager to collect statues and paintings, bronzes and 
 gems ; though it may fairly be presumed, considering the opulence 
 of Herculaneum, and the leisure enjoyed by the higher class of its 
 inhabitants, that more ample libraries would have rewarded a 
 more vigorous research. It should be recorded to the honour of 
 King George IV., that, when Prince of Wales, he undertook the 
 expense of deciphering the manuscripts, and selected for that 
 arduous task the Rev. W. Hayter, a clergyman of the Church of 
 England, who for some years superintended the unfolding of the 
 rolls of papyri— a most delicate operation considering the fragility 
 of the material. While we may regret that so little has been 
 added to our stores of knowledge by these laborious processes, it 
 must be borne in mind that it would probably have exhausted a 
 century or more to have unfolded and deciphered the manuscripts, 
 as they were fast crumbling to dust, and, without a manipulation 
 most careful and most tedious, they would have been destroyed by 
 the mere action of the hand. 
 
 The first discoveries at Pompeii were made in the beginning of 
 1749: a ploughman turned up a statue of brass in a field. Exca- 
 vations followed, and an apartment was opened decorated with the 
 figures of sixteen dancing females, brightly coloured, two centaurs 
 and figures, bands of arabesques forming panels, with cupids in 
 the midst, and twelve fauns dancing in a row, all on a black 
 ground. One of the most interesting discoveries brought to light 
 
 was the long avenue of sepulchral monuments, lining both sides of 
 the highway almost up to the very gates of the city, adorned with 
 columns and pyramids, marble busts and statues. Some of these 
 monuments are square, others are circular. That called Nevoleja 
 Tiches is one of the most magnificent, and has been described by 
 Eustace. It consists of a large oblong marble basis, raised two 
 steps above a larger one of the same figure, and said to be of 
 volcanic lava, which is certainly erroneous, since, as already stated, 
 no lava fell on Pompeii so as to encase it even with a coating ; and 
 prior to A.D. 79, there had been no eruption of Vesuvius discharging 
 lava; and we can hardly believe that this material would have 
 been imported from Etna or elsewhere. The front, back, lateral 
 sides, and cornice, are decorated with noble ornaments, ending in 
 branches of winding foliages. In the frieze of the upper basis is 
 placed the bust of Nevoleja. Underneath the epitaph is a sacrifice 
 represented in basso-relievo, with eighteen personages in two 
 groups. Two boys in the middle place the sacred offering on the 
 altar. On the side facing the door is the bisellium, an honorific 
 seat for two persons to sit upon ; and on that facing the north is 
 carved in marble a bark with one mast, and a yard hoisted up, on 
 which is bent a square sail. A man, with short cut hair, and a 
 tunic that scarcely reaches to his knees, sits at the helm. Two 
 lads, naked, clinging to the yard, seem to furl the sail, whilst two 
 others are climbing up the stays, and a man with short garments, 
 standing upright, collects the ropes together — an emblem this of 
 human life. The bark, without oars, is ornamented at the stern 
 with the bust of Minerva, and at the prow with that of a goose, its 
 long neck stretched out. The walls of the inclosure are topped 
 with little pyramids. The door which leads into it is low, so also 
 is that which communicates with the columbarium. This is a 
 small chamber, about six feet square, in which are two rows of 
 niches, five in the upper, and six in the lower row, close to the 
 ground. In these niches were placed the cinerary urns, and with 
 each of them a lamp of burnt clay. 
 
 In the private and public buildings many pictures were found, 
 chiefly descriptive of mythology, and some were very beautiful. 
 
 We have engraved some scenes from the combats of the gladiators. 
 In the equestrian fight both parties are armed and accouti’ed alike, 
 with lance, round buckler, and vizored helmet. Their arms are 
 protected with mail, and they wear short cloaks. The legs are 
 bare, but one of them has on a shoe, laced up to the lower part of 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 103 
 
 the calf, and he is levelling his raised lance at his opponent, who 
 is on the defensive. Above these, on the left, is a gladiator on foot, 
 with helmet and buckler, but unarmed ; next to him is one wearing 
 the subligaculum, or short apron ; he wears greaves' from the hips 
 to the knees. To the right of these are four other figures. One is 
 wounded in the leg, thigh, and left arm, from which blood is 
 flowing. He is a secutor, who has been entangled in the net of the 
 retiarius ; and the secutor, attached to this retiarius, has his hand 
 on the head of the wounded man, whom he dispatches with a 
 sword held in his left hand. In the distance is another retiarius, 
 distinguishable by his trident, with which he can remove the net 
 from his entangled foe. He is hurrying forward, as he must now 
 fight the conqueror. 
 
 We need not enter into lengthened details of the fora, the baths, 
 the theatres, or amphitheatres, as they were modelled on similar 
 buildings at Rome, which have been descxubed in the Roman Court. 
 Several edifices have received particular names, more fanciful 
 than distinctive, and in these some valuable paintings were dis- 
 covered. One of these has been variously called the House of the 
 Tragic Poet, and the House of the Homeric Paintings. Among the 
 pictures therein found were the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis ; 
 the Parting of Achilles and Briseis (see p. 104) ; the Departure 
 of Chryseis from Agamemnon ; the Battle of the Amazons and 
 Greeks ; the Fall of Icarus ; Venus Anadyomene ; the Sacxdfice of 
 Iphegenia ; Leda and Tyndareus ; Theseus and Ariadne. In the 
 Pompeiana of Sir William Gell, these pictures have been engraved, i 
 Referring to the second in the preceding list, he goes to the ex- | 
 treme length of say- 
 ing that, “ when first 
 discovered, the co- 
 lours were fresh, and 
 the flesh particularly 
 had the transpa- 
 rency of Titian ; ” 
 a very remarkable 
 statement, consider- 
 ing that the picture 
 had been buried some 
 seventeen hundred 
 years, for it was not 
 recovered till the 
 year 1824. The House 
 of the Quseslor, other- 
 wise called the House 
 of the Dioscuri, sons 
 of Jupiter and Leda, 
 was thrown open to 
 view in 1829. It re- 
 ceives its second ap- 
 pellation from statues 
 of Castor and Pollux found in the vestibule ; its first title is very 
 fanciful, the only foundation for it being the discovery of two largo 
 chests, which some antiquarian, more ingenious than logical, de- 
 cided must have contained public monies, they being of beautiful 
 workmanship; but there is no evidence that a qusestor ever resided 
 at Pompeii. This building contained a painting of Jupiter, seated 
 on his throne, and crowned by Victory ; Fortune, holding a rudder; 
 Bacchus with the Thyrsus ; Ceres ; Apollo and his Lyre ; Perseus 
 delivering Andromeda from the Sea Monster ; Jupiter and Europa; 
 Diana visiting Endymion; the Quarrel between Agamemnon and 
 Achilles; Minerva interposing to appease the wrath of the latter; 
 Ulysses discovering Achilles, clothed as a woman, at the Court of 
 Lycomedes ; and the Return of Ulysses to Ithaca. The House of 
 Sallust was one of the most elegant and spacious that rewarded 
 the researches of the excavators. It has also been called the 
 House of Actceon, on account of a painting representing that famous 
 sportsman torn by his own hounds, and Diana coming from the 
 bath or river in a state of nudity. Here was found a marble 
 pedestal, on which a bronze stag was placed, having on its back a 
 young Hercules of exquisite beauty. The best paintings repre- 
 sented the Rape of Europa, the Fall of Helle into the Pontic Sea, 
 called from her the Hellespont, and Phryxus crossing it on the 
 back of the Aries Chrysovellus. The pavement was formed of the 
 richest and rarest African marbles, while the ceiling was decorated 
 with a picture of Mars and Venus, attended by a Cupid. The 
 House of Queen Caroline was discovered in 1813 ; it is now called 
 
 the House of Adonis. In 1831 the House of Meleager was un- 
 earthed, which has received the various appellations of Apollo, Isis, 
 and the Nereids. In 1827 the House of the Female Musiciau was 
 opened, which is also known as the House of the Triumphant 
 Bacchus. That of Pansa, partly opened in 1811, and fully in 1814, 
 is the most complete, and in it skeletons were found ; while that of 
 the Faun, in 1831, is famous for a splendid mosaic, representing 
 Alexander and Darius at the Battle of Issus. 
 
 The lovers of literature and genius once fondly hoped that they 
 had recognised the dwelling of Cicero; but the majority of anti- 
 quarians have decided to the contrary, though the evidence is strong 
 in its favour. Eustace quotes the following passage from the 
 Academical Questions : — “Ego Catuli Cumanam ex hoc loco regi- 
 onem video; Pompejanura non cerno, neque quidquam interjectum 
 est, quod obstet, sed intendi longius acies non potest. 0 prceclarum 
 prospectum! Puteolos videmus, et familiarem nostrum Asianum 
 fortasse in portico Neptuni ambulantem non videmus.” From 
 Baulis, then, argues Eustace, the farthest part of the continent of 
 Bairn facing Mount Misenum, he could see on the west the country- 
 seat of Catullus, at Cuuuc, and, on the north-east, Pozzuoli. Now, 
 it is evident, in examining the situation of Pompeii, that from this 
 hill, and from nowhere else, he could enjoy such a prospect, and 
 here is to be placed his house. Such is the reasoning of Eustace; 
 we think it right to present it to our readers, but it does not fall 
 within our province to enter at any length on a speculative contro- 
 versy. 
 
 We have given an engraving of the gladiatorial combats ; we now 
 
 introduce one of the 
 fights between men 
 and beasts. The up- 
 per male figure on 
 the left hand is wea- 
 ponless. His attitude 
 is one of active move- 
 ment and vigilance, 
 for he belonged to 
 that class whose de- 
 fence depended on 
 personal agility; and 
 it was his duty to en- 
 rage the wild beasts 
 in the arena, fre- 
 quently sluggish, but 
 not to kill them. 
 Above him is a wild 
 boar, not, at first 
 view, in a very fitting 
 position ; but it must 
 be remembered that 
 the man would have 
 to skip and bound before the beast — now nearing it, now receding, 
 always in apparent, never in real danger. Next to him, to the 
 right, is ahull atfull speed, with a javelin passed completely through 
 his body; and still further to the right, a hound fixing on the hind 
 quarters of a boar. Returning to the left, and under portion of this 
 bas-relief, is a man with a spear extended over the back of a bull, 
 round whose body a broad girth is passed. In front of the bull is a 
 panther, with a collar round his neck, to which is attached a cord, 
 fastened to the girth of the bull; in front of the panther is a man, 
 with a lance, in act to strike. This tethering of the animals dimi- 
 nished their powers of attack ; and the men appear to belong to 
 the class called Bestiarii , who were trained to their duty, and 
 perhaps are here represented as practising some of the lessons of 
 their professions, not intending to slay, but to goad and worry their 
 opponents. 
 
 The country residences or villas of the Romans, imitated at 
 Pompeii, were very different in their arrangements from those in 
 modern Europe. In describing them, we will first present a general 
 view taken from Pliny’s description of his villa at Laurentium. 
 “My villa,” says that writer, “is large enough to afford a con- 
 venient though not sumptuous reception for my friends. The part 
 which first presents itself is the atrium (court-yard), plain, but not 
 mean; then the portico , in form of the letter O, which surrounds a 
 small but pleasant area; this is an excellent retreat in bad weather, 
 being sheltered by glazed windows [lapis specular is), but more by 
 the projection of the roof. Beyond the portico is a pleasant caece- 
 
104 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 dium (open court), passing "which is a handsome triclinium (dining- 
 room), which advances upon the shore, so that it is gently washed 
 by the waves when the south-west wind blows. On every side are 
 folding doors, or windows, as large, so that from the sides and the 
 front you enjoy a prospect, as it were, of three seas, and backwards 
 are seen the cavsedium, the portico, and the area ; again, the portico 
 and atrium are terminated by woods and distant mountains. On 
 the left of the triclinium, but. not so forward, is a large cubiculum 
 (chamber, or apartment), and then a smaller one, where one window 
 admits the rising, and the other the setting, sun. From hence you 
 view the sea rather more distant, but more securely. This cubicu- 
 lum and triclinium, by their projections, form an angle, which not 
 only retains but augments the heat of the sun’s rays. Here is my 
 hybernaculum (winter room), and the gymnasium (room for exer- 
 cise) for my family, which is never incommoded by any winds, but 
 such as bring cloudy weather, and destroy the otherwise serene 
 situation of the place. Adjoining to this angle is a cubiculum of a 
 curved or round form, the windows of which admit the sun through- 
 out its whole course. In the walls are inserted library frescoes, fur- 
 nished with books, more 
 for amusement than study ; 
 close to this is the dormi- 
 torium (sleeping apart- 
 ments), separated by a 
 space having a covering 
 of woodwork, which col- 
 lects and distributes the 
 vapour of the room in 
 salubrious temperaments. 
 
 The remainder of this wing 
 is allotted to my servants 
 and slaves, yet is gene- 
 rally sufficiently neat for 
 visitors. On the right 
 side of the triclinium is a 
 most elegant cubiculum, 
 with another large cubicu- 
 lum, or moderate ccenalis 
 (common eating or supper 
 room), which receives light 
 both from the sun and 
 the sea; after this is a 
 cubiculum with a procce- 
 ton (servants’ room), for 
 height a summer, but for 
 shelter a winter apart- 
 ment, being screened from 
 all winds ; a wall separates 
 another cubiculum with a 
 procoeton. There you en- 
 ter the spacious and ex- 
 tensive cella frigidaria of 
 the baths, against the 
 walls of which two pro- 
 jecting captisteria afford 
 sufficient space to swim 
 in ; near to this is the 
 unctuarium (for anointing the body), and two other rooms, more 
 elegant than sumptuous. Skilfully contrived, adjoins the callida 
 piscina (warm bath), where those who swim enjoy a view of the 
 sea. Not far distant is the spharisterium (tennis court), of a cir- 
 cular form, which enjoys the warmest rays of the declining sun. 
 Here arises a turris (pavilion, or summer-house).” 
 
 The chief distribution of a Roman house was into the vestibu- 
 lum, the atrium, and the ca vadium. The vestibule was an open 
 space before the door, where the patricians heard the petitions of 
 their clients or dependents. Next to it was the atrium, or large 
 hall, into which the sleeping rooms and domestic offices looked. 
 Beyond this was the cavsedium, or open court, generally surrounded 
 by a covered portico, into which the eating rooms, the baths, the 
 library, and all the principal rooms of the family opened ; in the 
 centre there was usually a fountain. In the country and small 
 towns the houses usually consisted of only one story ; in Rome they 
 consisted of several stories, and Augustus passed a law enacting 
 that no house should exceed seventy feet in height. In many there 
 was no roof. Glass windows were not of ancient date, as Seneca 
 
 speaks of the art of glazing as a luxury in his days. They had 
 fire-places, as Horace attests — “Dissolve frigus, ligna super foco, 
 large deponens.” But this w T as not the case at Pompeii, because 
 the warmth of the climate in Magna Grcecia did not require arti- 
 ficial heat. Before glass was known, the lapis specularis was used. 
 It separated into thin plates or lamina, and seems to have been a 
 species of mica or talc. Pliny says it chiefly came from Spain. 
 According to Dr. Adams the houses of the ancient Romans had only 
 openings ( foramina ) in the walls to admit of light, covered with 
 two folding leaves ( bifores valves) of wood, and sometimes only a 
 curtain, hence said to be joined when shut; sometimes by a net 
 ( fenestra reticulata). The lapis specularis for windows was first 
 introduced under the early emperors, but its use was confined to 
 the most opulent patricians for a long period. At .first, it was 
 brought from Spain ; afterwards, from Cyprus, Cappadocia, Sicily, 
 and Africa. Paper, linen, cloth, and horn, were used for windows; 
 hence, in reference to this last material, corneum specular. But the 
 Romans used glass for mirrors ( specula ) before they used it for 
 windows. 
 
 On the structure and 
 arrangement of Roman 
 houses there is a curious 
 passage in Aulus Gellius. 
 “ I have observed,” says 
 that writer, “ that some, 
 even learned men, thought 
 the vestibulum was the first 
 part of the house, which 
 is commonly called atrium. 
 Csecilius Gallus, in his 
 book upon the meaning of 
 words used in the civil 
 law, says, ‘ that the ves- 
 tibule is not either in the 
 house, nor is it a part of 
 the house, but is a vacant 
 space before the gate of 
 the house, through which 
 there is an open way and 
 access to the house ; while 
 on the right and left, be- 
 tween the gate and the 
 house, which are united, to 
 this way a space is left ; 
 and the gate itself is di- 
 vided from this way by 
 an area. Formerly, they 
 who built large houses left 
 a space before the gate, 
 that there might be a 
 vacancy between the road 
 and the house. Persons 
 who came to wait upon 
 the master of the house 
 stopped here before they 
 were admitted, and thus 
 neither stood in the street 
 nor were they actually in the house.’ Thus from this pompous 
 waiting place, this ( stabulatio ) room to stand upon, they were called 
 vestibula, great spaces, as I said before, left before the doors of the 
 house for persons to wait in before they were admitted.” 
 
 Anciently, the kitchen was in the atrium, and the family supped 
 there. It contained pictures, statues, plate, and ancestral images. 
 Here it was that patrons gave the sportula to their needy dependents. 
 The sportula was a small portion of meat in a small basket ; but 
 it sometimes consisted of money, generally twenty-five asses, about 
 one shilling and seven pence of our money. This kind of poor-rate 
 was established by Nero, and suppressed by Domitian. At a late 
 period of Roman history, when pride and luxury had superseded 
 the simple and severe virtues of antiquity, the atrium was divided 
 into several compartments, separated by hangings or curtains ; and 
 visitors, according to rank or friendship, were received into the 
 more or less select apartments. Around the hearth in the atrium 
 the lares were placed. They were waxen images, clothed with the 
 skin of a dog, and on festivals were m>wned with garlands. The 
 lares represented the manes, or departed members of the family, 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 105 
 
 and the skin of the dog was used for a covering, that animal being 
 the symbol of fidelity. In the innermost recesses of the house, or 
 penetralia, th e penates were worshipped ; these were of divine origin, 
 as the lares were of human. The impluvium or compluviutn was 
 an open space in the centre of the house, which admitted light, and 
 into which the rain fell. According to Vitruvius, it was not to be 
 more than the third nor less than the fourth part of the atrium. The 
 slave who had the charge of the atrium was called atriensis, and he 
 exercised authority over all his fellow-slaves. The dormitories 
 were of two kinds, either for sleeping by night or reposing by day. 
 When any of the family desired to bask in the sun, they retired 
 to the solarium. According to Dr. Adams, the Romans did not 
 appear to have known the use of chimneys. They burnt wood 
 steeped in the lees of oil, which contrivance diminished smoke. 
 They used portable pans to carry hot embers to warm their apart- 
 ments, and in the time of Seneca they made use of tubes for the 
 same purpose. Their houses were covered with tiles ( tegulve ), some 
 of which were two feet broad. When war was declared against 
 Antony, the senators were taxed at four oboli, or ten ases, for every 
 tile on their houses, 
 whether their own 
 property or hired. 
 
 The roofs were ge- 
 nerally of an an- 
 gular form, the 
 highest point being 
 called fastiyium. 
 
 A round roof was 
 called tholus. The 
 walls of the Roman 
 houses were not 
 wainscoted, but 
 stuccoed, and they 
 did not use wood 
 for their floors, but 
 small pieces of 
 marble ( crustce ) of 
 different kinds and 
 colours, curiously 
 joined together, or 
 as mosaic. These 
 were called pa- 
 vimenta sectilia. 
 
 They also em- 
 ployed small peb- 
 bles dyed with dif- 
 ferent colours; this 
 flooring was known 
 as calculi or tes- 
 sera;. The ceilings 
 were often adorned 
 with ivory, fretted 
 or formed into 
 raised work and 
 hollows, laqueata 
 tecta. Laquearia 
 from Incus , lacunaria from lacuna, the hollow interstice between 
 the beams. Ceilings were frequently gilt or painted; but these 
 appear to have been the luxuries of the rich, for Horace describes 
 his house in much more modest terms : — 
 
 “ Non ebur neque aureum 
 In mea renidet domo lacunar. 
 
 Non trabes Hymettifc 
 Ultima recisas Africi.” 
 
 The houses of Pompeii were not numbered, as in our streets and 
 squares, but they bore distinctive inscriptions ; and the same rule 
 was observed in the temples, basilicas, dwelling-places of the 
 magistrates, in warehouses, and in shops. Even on the postsce- 
 nium of the theatre, the names of the actors and authors were 
 inscribed. At the entrance to houses dogs were generally chained, 
 and, in conspicuous letters, strangers were warned not to come 
 within their reach : “ Cave Canem ,, — beware of the do". 
 
 Many articles of female ornament were discovered, as bracelets 
 of gold, earrings, necklaces, chains, and rings set with precious 
 stones ; nor were the toilets deficient in those contrivances which 
 
 disguise the ravages of time and conceal the decay of beauty, for 
 curious investigators have detected false teeth, false eyebrows, 
 wigs, and rouge. We engrave a specimen of mirrors and a pin-box.* 
 Two theatres were discovered at Pompeii, one devoted to the 
 tragic, the other to the comic muse; on the east of the city stood 
 a splendid amphitheatre, where the gladiatorial shows were exhi- 
 bited. It was elliptical in figure, and of vast and noble proportions; 
 the diametrical length from north to south, or from one of its grand 
 entrances to another, was, according to the measurement of Eustace, 
 253 feet in the area, and 515 in the uppermost part of it ; and side- 
 ways, from east to west, 133 feet in the lower, and 395 feet in the 
 upper part. It is admirable for its solidity, elegance, and stateliness. 
 
 As specimens of Pompeian bassi-relievi, we have grouped together 
 different subjects. The lower engraving, at the left hand, repre- 
 sents a warrior in his biga, or two-horse chariot. His slave leads 
 the animals, which are spiritedly executed, and the figure of the 
 slave is full of activity. To the right is a skeleton on a heap of 
 stones, over which a young woman, in a stooping attitude, lets fall 
 a funereal fillet. The dress of the female is very distinctive, and this 
 
 costume is said to 
 be still preserved in 
 secluded districts 
 in the neighbour- 
 hood of Pompeii. 
 Immediately above 
 the biga is the re- 
 presentation of a 
 sacrifice. The vic- 
 tim is a bull, led 
 by a man who is 
 to immolate it ; he 
 carries the sacri- 
 ficial axe, and be- 
 hind the bull is his 
 attendant. In the 
 centre is the altar, 
 by which stands 
 the sacrificer , his 
 head encircledwith 
 a wreath, and 
 wearing a flowing 
 robe. In his hand 
 he holds a small 
 vessel, from which 
 he is about to 
 sprinkle the vic- 
 tim. Behind him 
 is a boy, carrying 
 a vase and a plate 
 in either hand. An- 
 other figure sounds 
 the double flute, 
 and is followed by 
 lictors bearing the 
 fasces. On the 
 highest part of 
 this engraving the bassi-relievi represent the dedication of a tomb. 
 On the left hand are the magistrates ; on the right the family to 
 whom the tomb belongs ; in the centre is a low altar, on which 
 a youth deposits some offering, token, or memorial. 
 
 The walls of Pompeii which remain, prove that the lower and 
 upper parts were built at different periods, the former imitating 
 the ancient Etruscan style, where the stones were placed irregu- 
 larly, and united by thick deposits of mortar ; while the upper 
 layers resemble the regular masonry of the Greeks. The solidity 
 of the foundations denotes a period when wars were frequent, and 
 the strength of fortifications was deemed a material consideration : 
 in the more peaceful times which succeeded the usurpation of 
 Augustus Caesar, a lighter style of architecture was adopted, 
 intended more for ornament than defence. We engrave a repre- 
 sentation of the towers used in war, which, though contemptible 
 when compared with the resources of modern engineering, were 
 truly formidable at the time they were in use. The Greeks called 
 these engines helepoleis, or city-takers. They were of gigantic 
 
 * See Engraving on next page. 
 
 E E 
 
106 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 size, for Vitruvius directs that the smallest of them should he 
 not less than ninety feet high, and twenty-five feet broad; the 
 top to he one fifth smaller, and to contain ten stories each, with 
 
 almost swear the mason was only gone to his dinner, and about to 
 come back immediately to smooth the roughness.” Reflections 
 such as these will ever invest Pompeii with an awful solemnity ; 
 
 POMPEIAN TOWERS. 
 
 windows. The largest was 180 feet high, and thirty-four broad, 
 containing twenty stories. 
 
 According to Mr. George Scharf, Jun., “the general result of 
 the Pompeian excavations, up to the present time, may be thus 
 summed up: three forums, nine temples, one basilica, a chalci- 
 dicum, three piazze, an amphitheatre, two theatres, a prison, 
 double baths, nearly one hundred houses and shops, several villas, 
 town walls, six gates, and twelve tombs.” Those who desire minute 
 particulars of all the discoveries hitherto made, may consult the 
 great work of M. Mazois, the Pompciana of Sir William Gell, and 
 Mr. Donaldson’s Pompeii. There is also a periodical work, the 
 Museo Borlonico, replete with curious information. Further 
 researches may disentomb more memorials of antiquity : but even 
 should this not be the case, Pompeii will always possess a melan- 
 choly interest, not only for the classical traveller, but for every 
 one who meditates on the instability of human greatness. In other 
 lands we see the mouldering ruins of gradual decay, but on the 
 Campanian shore we witness the mementoes of a sudden catastrophe. 
 Death smote a whole population at a single blow, no sufficient 
 warning allowing time for escape. Rich and poor, young and old, 
 the strong and the feeble, met a common fate. The sentinel was 
 seized at his post, the miser over his money-bags, the workman in 
 the midst of his toil. “ I noticed,” says M. Simond, “ a striking 
 memorial of this mighty interruption in the forum opposite to the 
 Temple of Jupiter. A new altar of white marble, exquisitely 
 beautiful, and apparently just out of the hands of the sculptor, 
 had been erected there ; an enclosure w r as building all around ; the 
 mortar, just dashed against the side of the wall, was but half 
 spread out ; you saw the long sliding stroke of the trowel about to 
 return and obliterate its own track — but it never did return ; the 
 hand of the workman was suddenly arrested, and, after the lapse 
 of 1800 years, the whole looks so fresh and new that you would 
 
 MIRRORS AND PIN-BOX. 
 
 and he who only gazes with curiosity and admiration on its 
 recovered treasures, can never appreciate the moral lesson which 
 its catastrophe is so well calculated to teach. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 107 
 
 THE GREEK COURT. 
 
 The origin of Grecian architecture is involved in obscurity, and 
 various opinions are entertained as to the type from which their 
 first temples sprang. In the judgment of many, the earliest 
 structures were of timber, and the circular form of columns is 
 supposed to be an imitation of the rounded shape of trees ; for it is 
 argued, that had the primitive edifices been of stone the pillars 
 would have been square. On the other hand, it is contended that tile 
 oldest buildings in Greece, yet discovered, display the charac- 
 teristic massiveness of those of Egypt, from which country it is 
 thence inferred that they were copied. Mr. Wilkins is, however, 
 of opinion that the Greeks were indebted to the architects of 
 Palestine, and points out the striking resemblance between the 
 Temple of Jerusalem and that of Pocstum. Without offering any 
 decided opinion on these conflicting theories, it is certain that the 
 most ancient specimens of architecture— known as Cyclopean— were 
 of rude workmanship, and are found in Greece, Italy, and Asia 
 Minor. Their date has not been ascertained, but fable has attri- 
 buted them *o a race of giants, whose name they bear, it beinc 
 supposed that ordinary men could not have brought into juxta- 
 position stones of such size and weight as may be seen in the 
 treasury of Atreus, at Mycenm, or the walls of Tiryns, in the 
 Plain of Argos. So far as learned research has hitherto gone, 
 authentic knowledge of Greek architecture can only be traced back 
 to about six or seven centuries B.c. j from that period to the age of 
 Alexander and his successors, we recognise the most brilliant period 
 of artistic history, or from about the sixth to the third or fourth 
 centuries b.c. 
 
 It falls not within our province to examine the various traditions 
 which refer to the early population of Greece, or repeat what has 
 been written of the Pelasgi and the Hellenes, the Dorians, 
 Ionians, and iEolians. In reference to art, a modern writer has 
 ably portrayed its leading features during the Homeric age, and 
 we transfer his description to our pages. “ Statuary was but. little 
 known, sculpture in marble not at all; for, besides the statue of 
 Athene, at Troy, mention is only made of figures holding lights in 
 the palace of Alcinous, and dogs at the gates, executed in gold and 
 silver, the work of Hephaestus. It is probable, therefore, that 
 such statues as did exist were wrought and graven in metal. No 
 traces, also, are to be found of the existence of painting. Colour 
 was only used to decorate the productions of the inferior arts. 
 Wools of different dyes were woven in patterns, or used with gold 
 and silver threads in embroidering, and the figure-heads of ships 
 and ivory horse trappings were stained in crimson and purple. 
 In fact, epic poetry itself created and developed those faculties 
 which afterwards produced the higher arts of sculpture and paint- 
 ing., Poetry did not borrow from art, but art from poetry. The 
 poet’s fancy conceived ideal forms, and embodied them in graphic 
 and picturesque language ; the artist realised these descriptions, 
 and presented their results in a form to be apprehended by the 
 external senses. Even in the lower mechanical arts it is scarcely 
 possible that anything existed completely corresponding with the 
 Homeric descriptions ; they were founded in fact, and, doubtless, 
 accurate enough, not to strike his hearers as unnatural impossi- 
 bilities, but they had not their exact counterparts. Even modern 
 genius, with all the appliances of modern Art, cannot realise the 
 endless varieties of the Homeric shield. It must not, therefore, 
 be supposed that ancient plastic art could execute in all its fulness 
 "hat the rich and vivid fancy of Homer could imagine. Never- 
 theless, it may be repeated, Art flourished, and its productions 
 were both ingenious and beautiful. However much the descrip- 
 tions may have surpassed the reality, the poet’s eye, as well as that 
 of his hearers, must have been accustomed to splendour and mag- 
 nificence, or else he could neither have described, nor they 
 understood, the palaces of Priam and Odysseus, or the house and 
 gardens of Alcinous, with all their rich architecture and luxurious 
 furniture. It may be assumed, therefore, that the works of the 
 famed Sidonian looms, said to have been imported to Troy by 
 Paris, were well known to the Greeks ; that furniture had some of 
 the elegance of Odysseus’ bed, of the tripods described in the Iliad, 
 and of the ivory work spoken of in the Odyssey. Armour was 
 richly ornamented like that of Agamemnon and Ulysses ; and 
 articles of dress, both male and female, embroidered with tasteful 
 designs, like that of Odysseus, and that presented by Antinous to 
 
 Penelope. Nor were the useful arts less understood than the 
 ornamental. Their lands were skilfully and industriously culti- 
 vated. They ploughed with mules and oxen, and, like the Israelites, 
 used oxen to tread out the corn. The grain was ground in hand- 
 mills by women, as it was in Palestine in our Saviour’s days, or 
 pounded with a pestle and mortar. Polyphemus made cheese, and 
 separated the curd from the whey by means of the acid juice of 
 figs. They melted metals in furnaces, and increased the heat with 
 bellows. They fished with net and line, although fish were not 
 esteemed as an article of food. Their tools, used by the ship- 
 wright, the wheelright, and the carpenter, comprise all the common 
 tools now in use, except the saw ; and, lastly, the probability is 
 that the art of writing, which had been long practised bv the most 
 civilised nations of the East, was also to the Greeks not entirely 
 unknown. Their cities were strongly fortified, for in architecture, 
 or at least in masonry, they had made great advances.” * 
 
 In priority of date Dcedalus is considered the earliest of Greek 
 sculptors. He is supposed to have been a descendant of Erecttheus, 
 King of Athens, and to have flourished some fourteen hundred years 
 before the Christian era, though some writers reduce the period to 
 one thousand years. Homer, while praising the excellence of the 
 figures worked by Vulcan on the shield of Achilles, compares 
 them to other figures sculptured by Dcedalus for Ariadne. Pausa- 
 nias ascribes many statues to this artist which existed when he 
 wrote, that is in the second century of the Christian era. Accord- 
 ing to Diodorus Siculus, Dcedalus was the first sculptor who gave 
 e yes to his figures, and represented the limbs and arms correctly 
 and distinctly. Before his time, the same historian tells us, that 
 artists made the eyes of their figures closed, the arms and hands 
 hanging close to their sides. Dcedalus murdered his nephew Talos, 
 of whose skill he was jealous. For this foul deed he was con- 
 demned to death by the Areopagus. A fugitive to Crete, he there 
 found favour with King Minos, for whom he built the labyrinth, 
 but forfeited the esteem of his protector by aiding, through his art,' 
 the criminal passion of Pasiphae. Forced again to seek shelter in 
 another country, he fled with his son Icarus, who was drowned in 
 the sea which bears his name. Hence the fable of this youth soaring 
 on waxen pinions, melted by the sun. Dcedalus found a home in Sicily. 
 
 Labyrinth, in its primitive sense, means any perplexed and 
 twisted place. As architectural structures, antiquity records four 
 celebrated labyrinths : one in Egypt, a second in Crete, a third at 
 Lemnos, and a fourth, erected by Porsenna, in Etruria. That of 
 Lemnos is highly praised by Pliny. It is said that Dcedalus 
 visited Egypt to examine the Egyptian labyrinth, and took it as a 
 model for the one he constructed in Crete. Herodotus speaks of 
 the Egyptian labyrinth in the following terms “ The temples of 
 Ephesus and Samos may justly claim admiration, and the Pyramids 
 may be compared to many of the magnificent structures of Greece, 
 but even these are inferior to the labyrinth. It is composed of 
 twelve courts, all of which are covered ; their entrances are opposite 
 to each other, six to the north and six to the south ; one wall 
 encloses the whole. The apartments are of two kinds. There are 
 fifteen hundred above the surface of the ground, and as many 
 beneath, in all three thousand. Of the former, I speak from my 
 own knowledge and observation ; of the latter, from the information 
 I received. The Egyptians who had the care of the subterranean 
 apartments would not suffer me to see them, and the reason they 
 alleged was, that in these were preserved the sacred crocodiles and 
 the bodies of the kings who constructed the labyrinth ; of these, 
 therefore, I presume not to speak, but the upper apartments I 
 myself examined, and I pronounce them amongst the greatest 
 efforts of human industry and Art. The almost infinite number of 
 winding passages through the different courts excited my warmest 
 admiration. From spacious halls, I passed through smaller apart- 
 ments, and from them again to large and magnificent courts, 
 almost without end. The ceilings and walls are all of marble, 
 the loftier richly adorned with the finest sculpture ; around each 
 court are pillars of the whitest and most polished marble; at 
 the points where the labyrinth terminates stands a pyramid 160 
 cubits high, having large figures of animals engraved on its 
 outside, and the entrance to it is by a subterraneous path.” 
 
 * Browne's History of Greek Classical Literature, vol. i. p. US, el seq. 
 
108 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 In connection with the colossal scale on which the labyrinth was 
 built we may observe that the ancients entertained ideas of 
 vastness and magnitude in architecture far surpassing those of the 
 moderns. It is recorded by Plutarch that Stesicrates proposed to 
 Alexander the Great to convert Mount Athos into a statue of that 
 prince. This would have been in circumference no less than 120 
 miles, in height ten miles. The left arm of Alexander was to have 
 formed the base of a city capable of containing ten thousand inhabi- 
 tants ; the right was to have held an urn, from which a river was 
 to empty itself into the sea. 
 
 Hephmstus followed Dmdalus, or may have been his contempo- 
 rary ; but some writers deny that he was an individual, and con- 
 tend that Hephcestus was a mere name, applied generally to workers 
 in metal. Smelis, or Scemlis, a native of iEgina, who built the 
 Temple of Juno, in Samos, and her statue, is next in date. Hero- 
 
 have my affairs sometimes flattering, and sometimes perverse ; I 
 would wish to pass through life with the alternate experience of 
 good and evil, rather than with uninterrupted good fortune. I do 
 not remember to have heard of any man remarkable for a constant 
 succession of prosperous events whose end has not been calamitous. 
 If, therefore, you value my counsel, you will provide this remedy 
 against the excess of your prosperity. Examine well what thing 
 it is that you deem of the highest consequence to your happiness, 
 and the loss of which would most afflict you. When you shall 
 have ascertained this, banish it from you, so that there may be 
 no possibility of its return; if after this your good fortune should 
 still continue without diminution or change, you will do well to 
 repeat the remedy I propose.” . 
 
 Polycrates, having a high opinion of the sagacity of Amasis, and 
 appreciating the sincerity of his friendship, determined to follow 
 
 FACADE OF THE GREEK COURT. 
 
 dotus calls Theodorus of Samos the first statuary' on record. The 
 following mention is made of him by Pliny: — “Theodorus, who 
 constructed the labyrinth of Samos, made a cast of himself in brass, 
 which, independently of its being a perfect likeness, was an extra- 
 ordinary effort of genius. He had in his right hand a file ; with 
 three fingers of his left he held a carriage drawn by four horses : 
 the carriage, the horses, and the driver, were so minute, that the 
 whole was covered by the wings of a fly.” It was this Theodorus 
 who engraved the famous signet-ring of Polycrates, the tyrant of 
 Samos, on which Herodotus has recorded the following amusing 
 narrative. Amasis, King of Egypt, wrote thus to Polycrates 
 “The success of a friend and an ally fills me with particular 
 satisfaction; but as I know the invidiousness of fortune, your 
 extraordinary prosperity excites my apprehensions. If I might 
 determine for myself, and for those whom I regard, I would rather 
 
 his advice. What he valued most of all his treasures was the 
 signet-seal made for him by Theodorus the Samian, the son of 
 Telecles, which, Herodotus says, was an emerald set in gold. 
 Polycrates carried this into the open sea, and, in the presence 
 of his attendants, threw it into deep water. Returning to the 
 shore, he regretted his loss. In the course of a few day's a fisher- 
 man caught a fish of such size and beauty that he deemed it a 
 proper present for his prince. He went, therefore, to the palace, 
 and demanded an audience, and presented the fish to Polycrates. 
 This fish, on being opened, contained in its stomach the signet-ring 
 which had been cast into the sea. To this story the learned 
 Mr. Beloe has appended the following note : — “ Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus says that it (the precious stone) represented a lyre. Pliny 
 says it was a sardonyx, and that in his time there existed one in 
 the Temple of Concord, the gift of Augustus, affirmed to be that of 
 

 
 w»t reraemheq to i-.y© beard of any man rvmufaM# |!m» a <>■. 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 s- v ,y Tl dor * -virv 
 ■ .<•, . ibt 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 109 
 
 Polycrates. Solinus also asserts that it was a sardonyx ; but 
 Herodotus expressly tells us that it was an emerald. At that 
 period the art of engraving precious stones must have been in its 
 infancy, which might probably enhance the value of the ring to 
 Polycrates. It is a little remarkable that the moderns have never 
 been able to equal the ancients in the exquisite delicacy and beauty 
 of their performances on precious stones. Perhaps it may not be 
 too much to add that we never attained to the perfection with 
 which they executed all works in miniature. Pliny says that 
 Cicero once saw the Iliad of Homer written so very finely, that it 
 might have been contained * in nuce ’ — in a nutshell. Aulus Gellius 
 mentions a pigeon made of wood, which imitated the motions of a 
 living bird; and ASIian speaks of an artist who wrote a distich in 
 letters of gold, which he enclosed in the rind of a grain of corn.” 
 
 In conjunction with Theodoras of Samos, Rhoecus, the architect, 
 invented the art of making moulds with clay ; they were also the 
 first who made casts in brass, of which they formed statues. Pau- 
 sanias says, that upon a pedestal above the altar of Diana, called 
 
 The destruction of Athens by the Persians proved fatal to many 
 of the oldest monuments of art, and, among these, to a temple 
 called Hecatompedon. Under the administration of Pericles, this 
 injury was repaired by building the Parthenon, dedicated to 
 Minerva, the divine patroness of Athens. On this famous struc- 
 ture the greatest talent was employed. Ictinus and Callicrates 
 were the architects ; Alcamenes and Phidias the sculptors. Modern 
 critics and antiquarians, however, have decided that the entire 
 structure was designed by Phidias, and that the other artists 
 worked out his plans under his immediate superintendence. The 
 account which Pausanias gives of this superb edifice is very 
 meagre, but his authority is so high that we must transcribe his 
 brief description : — “ But in that temple, which they call the Par- 
 thenon, and in that part of the tortoise which they call aquilcc, 
 there are statues pertaining to the nativity of Minerva ; and in the 
 hinder part there is a representation of the contest between Nep- 
 tune and Minerva about Attica. The statue of the goddess is 
 formed from ivory and gold, and the image of a sphinx is placed 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE GllEEK COURT. 
 
 protothronia, there is a statue by Rhcecus ; and he tells us that tne 
 “ Ephesians call it Night,” probably an allusion to the moon when 
 below the visible horizon. 
 
 Diposnus and Scyllis are supposed to be the first sculptors who 
 worked on marble. Some are of opinion, says Pausanias, that 
 Diedalus married a daughter of Gortynis, by whom he had Dipoenus 
 and Scyllis. The same writer states that at Cleonie, a city of no 
 great magnitude, on the road from Corinth to Argos, there was a 
 temple dedicated to Minerva, and that the statue of the goddess was 
 made by them. They had several pupils, who attained to eminence, 
 amongst whom Pausanias mentions the Lacedaemonian Dontas, 
 who wrought the offerings for the treasury founded by the Mega- 
 renses at Olympia ; the Lacedaemonian Doryclidas, who sculptured 
 the statue of Themis, which stood in the Temple of Juno, at Elis ; 
 the Lacedaemonian Theocles, who executed the Hesperides, five in 
 number, at the same place ; and Tectaeus and Angelion, who taught 
 the art to Callon yEginetes, who made the statue of Apollo for 
 the Delians. 
 
 on the cone of her helmet. But when I describe the Boeotian affairs, 
 I shall relate the particulars concerning the sphinx. On each side 
 of her helmet, too, there are griffins ; and these griffins are said by 
 Aristeas the Proconnesian, in his verses, to have fought for the sake 
 of gold with the Arimaspi, who dwell above the Isedones. The 
 gold, indeed, which the griffins guard, the poet says, was sent from 
 the eai-th ; but the Arimaspi had each of them but one eye from 
 their birth. He adds that the griffins are like lions, but that they 
 have the wings and beak of an eagle. And thus much concerning 
 griffins : but the statue of Minerva is erect, with a garment reach- 
 ing to her feet. There is a head of Medusa, fashioned from ivory, 
 in her breast, and a Victory of about four cubits in length. In her 
 hand she holds a spear ; a shield lies at her feet ; and near her 
 spear there is a dragon, which may perhaps be Ericthonius ; and at 
 the base of the statue the generation of Pandora is represented. 
 Hesiod, indeed, and other poets, assert that Pandora was the first 
 woman, and that the race of women had not any existence prior to 
 Pandora. In this I remember to have seen only one statue of the 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 110 
 
 Emperor Hadrian ; and in the entrance to the temple a statue of 
 Iphicrates, who exhibited many and admirable works. Beyond the 
 temple there is a brazen Apollo, which they report was made by 
 Phidias ; but they call the statue Parnopius, because the god once 
 banished from this country locusts, which greatly injured the 
 land.” 
 
 As the Sphinx to which Pausanias alludes is very different from 
 the sphinx of Egypt, we shall give the substance of what the his- 
 torian says in the Pceotics. On proceeding from the plain of 
 Tenerus, in Bceotia, where stood the Temple of the Cabiri, the 
 traveller arrives at a mountain, which was the home of the Sphinx, 
 from whence she rushed to destroy those who could not solve her 
 riddles. Another account was, that she was a pirate, pillaging 
 vessels at sea, till CEdipus destroyed her by an army which he led 
 from Corinth to the mountain. “ It is also said,” writes Pausanias, 
 “ that she was the bastard daughter of Laius, and that her father 
 taught her the oracle which was given to Cadmus at Delphi, 
 through his kindness towards her. Prior to the Theban kings, 
 indeed, no one was acquainted with the meaning of the oracle, and 
 these in succession unfolded it to each other. As often, therefore, as 
 any dispute arose about the kingdom, the neighbouring princes came 
 to consult Sphinx. Laius, indeed, had sons by his mistresses ; but 
 they say that the meaning of the oracle given by the Pythian 
 deity was only known to Epicaste, and the children which Laius 
 had by her. They add that the brothers were circumvented by 
 the sophisms of Sphinx ; and that upon her inquiring whether, if 
 they were the sons of Laius, they knew the oracle given to Cadmus, 
 if they answered in the negative, she condemned them to death, as 
 not being entitled by their birth to the kingdom. Lastly, it is said 
 that the interpretation of the oracle was given to CEdipus in a 
 dream, who was by this means enabled to solve the riddle of 
 Sphinx.” 
 
 The curious leader may ask, Why was the image of a sphinx 
 placed on the cone of the helmet of Minerva? The Egyptians 
 placed a sphinx in the vestibule of the temples of Isis; and 
 Minerva is one of her forms in the Gieek mythology. The learned 
 Mr. Taylor, called the Platonist, in his notes appended to his trans- 
 lation of Pausanias, says that by the sphinx the ancients intended 
 to represent “ Phantasy,” which Aristotle terms “passive intellect.” 
 Mr. Taylor proceeds thus : — “By the sphinx having the body of a 
 dog, the discriminating power of the phantasy is implied ; for a dog, 
 as we have shown before, is the image of the discriminating power 
 of the soul. By her having the tail of a dragon and the claws of 
 a lion, the communication of the phantasy with desire and anger is 
 signified. Her wings are images of the elevating powers which 
 the phantasy naturally possesses; for it is re-elevated, in conjunc- 
 tion with the returning soul, to the region everywhere resplendent 
 with light. But the riddles of the sphinx are images of the obscure 
 and intricate nature of the phantasy. He, therefore, who is unable 
 to solve the riddles of the sphinx — i. e. who cannot comprehend the 
 dark and perplexed nature of the phantasy — will be drawn into her 
 embraces, and torn to pieces ; i. e. the phantasy in such a one will 
 subject to its power the rational life, cause its indivisible energies 
 to become divisible, and thus destroy as much as possible its very 
 essence. But he who, like CEdipus, is able to solve the enigmas of 
 the sphinx, or, in other words, to comprehend the dark essence of 
 his phantasy, will, by illuminating its obscurity with the light 
 of intellect, cause it, by becoming lucid throughout, to be no longer 
 
 what it was before But opinion may be called the vestibule of 
 
 the rational soul, and the rational soul is, as it were, the temple of 
 that intellectual illumination which proceeds from Minerva. The 
 divine soul is suspended from the deity of Minerva, and which may 
 be called her temple.” 
 
 We may be assured that the fables of antiquity had an occult 
 religious meaning, though we may not in all cases be enabled to 
 discover their true interpretation. The architects, sculptors, and 
 painters of olden times reproduced these fables and traditions in 
 their buildings, statues, and pictures ; and the emblems and symbols 
 they connected with them spoke a language which their contempo- 
 raries understood. The learned and critical Winckelman, in his 
 History of Art, observes, “ that the form of each goddess is so uni- 
 formly sui generis as to lead one to suppose that all the Greek 
 artists modelled their designs by some law or standard, which all 
 of them scrupulously observed. The figure and expression of 
 Diana, Venus, Juno, Pallas, and others, belong specially to each 
 goddess, and would be out of place and keeping if transferred to 
 
 them indiscriminately.” But though Winckelman saw the fact 
 with the eye of an artist, he does not appear to have known the 
 reason for this variety of treatment, which really proceeded from 
 the religious spirit of antiquity, ever anxious to adapt the symbol 
 to the celestial type, the more powerfully to arrest attention, and 
 convey specific ideas to the people. Thus the expression of Juno 
 was majestically proud. Minerva displays the calm serenity of 
 philosophic meditation engaged in lofty speculations. Venus 
 beams with a brilliant softness, languishing yet exciting — an image 
 of amiable loveliness. Ceres presents the attraction of rustic beauty, 
 healthful and jocund, but less delicate and polished than Venus. 
 Diana, braced by exercise, fearless of danger, and habituated to the 
 toil of the chase, exhibits a more robust and masculine style of 
 beauty. Vesta is represented as a matronly housewife, attending 
 to her domestic affairs by her fireside. 
 
 To return to the Parthenon as a building. When Sir George 
 Wheler and Dr. Spon visited Athens, in 1676, this temple was 
 entire, and Sir George published the following description of it : — 
 
 “ The Parthenon, or great Temple of Minerva, is situated about 
 the middle of the citadel, aud consists altogether of admirable white 
 marble. The plane of it is above twice as long as it is broad, 
 being 217 feet nine inches long, and ninety-eight feet six inches 
 broad. It has an ascent every way of five degrees, or steps, which 
 seem to be so contrived as to serve as a basis to the portico, which 
 is supported by channelled pillars of the Doric order, erected round 
 about them, without any other bases. These pillars are forty-six 
 in number, being eight to the front and as many behind, and 
 seventeen on each side, counting the four corners twice over to be 
 deducted. They are forty-two feet high, and seventeen feet and a 
 half about. The distance from pillar to pillar is seven feet four 
 inches. The portico beareth up a front and frieze round about the 
 temple, charged with historical figures of admirable beauty and 
 work. The figures of the front, which the aucients call the eagle 
 (i aquilce ), appear, though from that height, of the natural bigness, 
 being in entire relievo, and wonderfully well carved. Pausanias 
 saith no more of them than that they concern the birth of the 
 goddess Minerva. There is a figure that stands in the centre of it, 
 having its right arm broken, which probably held the thunder. Its 
 legs straddle at some distance from each other, where without doubt 
 was placed the eagle; for the beard, and the majesty which the 
 sculptor has expressed in the countenance, do sufficiently show it 
 to have been made for Jupiter. At his right hand is another figure, 
 covered halfway up the legs, in a posture as coming towards Jupiter, 
 which, perhaps, was a Victory, leading the horses of the triumphant 
 chariot of Minerva, which follows it. The horses are made with 
 such great art, that the sculptor seems to have outdone himself by 
 giving them a more than seeming life, such a vigour is expressed 
 in each posture of their prancing and stamping, natural to generous 
 horses. Minerva is next represented in the chariot, rather as the 
 goddess of learning than of war, without helmet, buckler, or a 
 Medusa’s head on her breast. Next behind her is another figure of 
 a woman with her head broken off; who it was is uncertain. But 
 my companion made me observe the two next figures, sitting in the 
 corner, to be of the Emperor Hadrian and his empress Sabina. At 
 the left hand of Jupiter are five or six other figures ; my companion 
 taketh them to be an assembly of the gods, where Jupiter intro- 
 duceth Minerva, and owneth her for his daughter. The postic, or 
 hind front, was adorned with figures, expressing Minerva’s contest 
 with Neptune about naming the city of Athens, but now all of them 
 are fallen down, one part of a sea-horse excepted. The architrave 
 is also charged with a basso-relievo at several distances, divided 
 into squares of two or three feet broad, and three or four feet high. 
 Within the portico on high, and on the outside of the cells of the 
 temple itself, is another border of basso-relievo around about it, 
 or at least on the north and south sides, which, without doubt, 
 is as ancient as the temple, and of admirable work, but not so high 
 a relievo as the other. Thereon are represented sacrifices, pro- 
 cessions, and other ceremonies of the heathen worship. The cella 
 of the temple without is 158 feet long, and broad sixty-seven feet. 
 Before you enter into the body of the temple from the front is the 
 pronaos, whose roof is sustained by six channelled pillars of the 
 same order and bigness as those of the portico, and contains near the 
 third part of the cella — to wit, forty-four feet of the length. We 
 observed, in place of one of the pillars, a great pile of stone and 
 lime, of most rude work, which, they told us, the Kislar Aga had 
 ordered to be so done to help to support the roof, because he could 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Ill 
 
 never find a stone big enough to supply the place of the old pillar 
 broken down, although he had spent 2000 crowns to do it. From the 
 pronaos we entered the temple by a long door in the middle of the 
 front. But my companion and I were not so much struck by the 
 obscurity of it as M. Guilliter, because the observations we had made 
 on other heathen temples did make it no new thing to us. When the 
 Christians consecrated it to serve God in, they let in the light at 
 the east end, which is all it yet hath ; and not only that, but made 
 a semicircle for the holy place, according to their rites, which the 
 'lurks have not yet much altered. This was separated from the 
 rest by jasper pillars, two of which on each side still remain. 
 Within this chancel is a canopy, sustained by four porphyry pillars, 
 with beautiful white marble chapters of the Corinthian order; but 
 the holy table under it is removed. Beyond the canopy are two or 
 three degrees, or steps, one above another in a semicircle, where the 
 bishops and presbyters used to sit in time of communion, upon 
 certain solemn days. The bishop sat in a marble chair above the 
 rest, which yet remaineth above the degrees against the window. 
 On both sides, and towards the door is a kind of gallery, made with 
 two ranks of pillars, twenty-two below and twenty-three above ; 
 the odd pillar is over the arch of the entrance which was left for 
 the passage. They showed us the place where two orange-trees of 
 marble formerly stood, which, being taken thence to be carried to 
 Constantinople, the vessel miscarried with them. The roof over the 
 altar and choir, added to the temple by the Greeks, hatli the picture 
 of the holy virgin on it, of mosaic work, left yet by the Turks.” * 
 Phidias afterwards left Athens ; and at Olympia, a town in the 
 territory of the Eleans, where those people had dedicated a temple to 
 Jupiter out of the spoils they had taken from the Pisreans, and other 
 neighbouring people, Phidias made a statue of the god. If Pau- 
 sanias furnishes but scanty evidence about the Parthenon, he is 
 very copious respecting the Olympian temple which was built by 
 Libon, a native of the place. It was Doric in style, and enclosed by 
 a circle of pillars. The material used was the stone of Parus, which 
 the country produced. From the bottom area to the eagles which 
 sustained the roof, the height was sixty-eight feet; its breadth 
 ninety-five feet; and its length 230. The roof did not consist of 
 tiles, but of marble from the Pentelican quarries, cut in the 
 shape of tiles — an invention ascribed to the son of Byzas, descended 
 from Latona. At the extremity of the roof of the temple, a brazen 
 kettle hung from each side, and in the middle of the roof was a 
 golden Victory; beneath it a golden shield, in which the head of 
 the Gorgon Medusa was sculptured. An inscription on the shield 
 proved that it was a joint votive offering from the Athenians, 
 Argives, Ionians, and Spartans. Twenty-one golden shields fixed 
 to the zone which girded the pillars were afterwards dedicated 
 by the Roman consul Mummius, after he captured Corinth. The 
 sculptures of an historical character were numerous and beautiful. 
 On the right hand of the statue which we shall presently describe 
 was a statue of yEnomaus, with a helmet on his head, and near to 
 him his wife Sterope. Myrtilus, the charioteer of yEnomaus, is 
 seated on the chariot before the horses, which are four in number. 
 Two grooms are in attendance. On the left hand of the statue of 
 J upiter is Hippodamia, together with the charioteer of Pelops. On 
 the top of the temple, the rivers Cladeus and Alpheus were repre- 
 sented. Pausanias states that whatever the front part of the 
 summit contains is the work of Pcconius, who was born at Mende, 
 a town of Thrace ; but all that is in the back part was the work of 
 Alcamenes. Within the summit were the Lapithce, fighting with 
 the Centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous. In another part Theseus 
 is seen revenging himself on the centaurs with an axe ; and there 
 were two centaurs, one of whom carries away a virgin, and the 
 other a boy in the flower of his youth. “ It appears to me,” 
 observes Pausanias, “ that Alcamenes made these, having learnt, 
 from the poems of Homer, that Pirithous was the son of Jupiter, 
 and knowing that Theseus was the fourth descendant from Pelops. 
 
 In this temple, too, many of the labours of Hercules were repre- 
 sented ; above the doors was the hunting of the Erymanthian 
 boar ; the actions of Hercules against Geryon, and the same hero 
 about to take upon himself the burden of Atlas in supporting the 
 globe. Above the back of the doors he was represented taking 
 away the girdle of the Amazon, and this was accompanied by the 
 stories of the stag and Gnossian bull, the Lerncean hydra, the 
 Stymphalian birds, and the Nemcean lion. Within the temple were 
 
 * Sec Engraving of the Model of the Parthenon, page 112 
 
 pillars sustaining porches at a considerable height from the ground, 
 through which a passage led to the statue of Jupiter.” 
 
 Ihe god sat on a throne of ivory and gold, and is adorned with a 
 crown on his head, made in imitation of a branch of the wild 
 olive-tree. In his right hand he held a Victory, also made of ivory 
 and gold, and a crown was on its head. His left hand wielded a 
 sceptre of beautiful workmanship, in the composition of which all 
 metals were blended together. The bird which sat on the sceptre 
 was an eagle. The sandals of the god and his robe were of gold, 
 and in the latter of these various animals and the lily were repre- 
 sented. The throne itself was variegated with gold and precious 
 stones, with ebony and ivory, and adorned with pictures and 
 sculptures of animals. It contained four Victories, each of which 
 was represented dancing at the foot of the throne. Two other 
 Victories were at the extremities of the feet of the god ; there also 
 was the Theban youth, in the act of being forced away by sphinxes, 
 and under the sphinxes Apollo and Diana piercing with their 
 arrows the children of Niobe. A variety of historical paintings 
 embellished this scene, which Pausanias says were executed by 
 
 Pantenus, the brother of Phidias, who also painted for the 
 Athenians, in their porch, the battle of Marathon. This superb 
 statue of Olympian Jove was made by Phidias, as the inscription 
 at the foot of the god testified : “ Phidias the Athenian, the son of 
 Charmidas, made me.” 
 
 For the higher parts of the throne, above the head of the statue, 
 Phidias also made on one side three Graces, and on the other as 
 many Hours. In the base, under the feet of Jupiter, called the 
 Thranion, or support of the feet, there were golden lions, and a 
 representation of the battle of Theseus against the Amazons. In 
 the other base, which supports the throne itself, appeared a golden 
 statue of Apollo ascending his chariot, Jupiter and Juno, attended 
 by one of the Graces ; after which follow Hermes, and then Vesta ; 
 then follows Love, receiving Venus rising out of the sea, and the 
 goddess of persuasion crowning her. Next appear Apollo, Diana, 
 Minerva, and Hercules. Near the end of the base are Amphitrite 
 and Neptune, and the moon driving a horse. Such is the account 
 of this temple transmitted by Pausanias, who described what he 
 saw, not what he had heard, and we have almost textually copied 
 the original, because every dependence may be placed on its fidelity. 
 Surely nothing can be more magnificent than this description of 
 ancient artistic skill, in invention, copiousness, variety, pomp of 
 
112 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 grouping and combination, appropriateness in history, mythology, 
 and tradition, perfect finish in all details, comprehensiveness of 
 design, and elaborateness in execution. That Phidias prided 
 himself on this work may be inferred from the fact that when his | 
 labours were completed, he offered up a prayer to Jupiter, entreating 
 him to signify whether the work was acceptable to his supreme 
 majesty. No sooner was prayer ended than the pavement of the 
 temple was struck with lightning, a proof that the ruler of Olympus 
 was satisfied. The pavement in front of the statue was covered 
 with black, not with white marble. “ This black pavement,” says 
 Pausanias, “ is circularly enclosed with a fountain of Parian marble, 
 which is the repository of oil. For the statue of Jupiter is rubbed 
 over with oil, in order to prevent the ivory from suffering any 
 injury through the marshy nature of the grove. On the contrary, 
 in the tower of the Athenians, water and not oil is found to be 
 useful to the statue of Minerva, who is called the Virgin. For as 
 the tower is in a very squalid condition, through its great height, 
 the statue, which is made of ivory, requires to be sprinkled over 
 with water. But when I was in Epidaurus, and inquired why 
 neither water nor oil was used for cleaning the statue of ACscula- 
 pius, I was informed by those about the temple that the statue of 
 the god, and the throne on which it stands, are placed over a well.” 
 
 Saturn and vanquished the Titans. In other traditions it is 
 asserted that Apollo once outran Mercury in the course, and van- 
 quished Mars in boxing ; and that on this account the music of the 
 | Pythian pipe was introduced into the dance of the quinquertium — 
 the verses sung to the pipe being sacred to Apollo, he having 
 carried away the first prize in the Olympic games. Originally 
 there was only one judge, or president, who awarded the prizes ; 
 then two were appointed; afterwards nine, called hellanodicai. 
 Three of these presided over the course with horses; the same 
 number over the quinquertium ; the rest over the other games. A 
 tenth judge was next added; finally, in the 103rd Olympiad, the 
 Eleans were divided into twelve tribes, and one judge of the games 
 was appointed out of each tribe. At length the Eleans lost part of 
 their territory in battle against the Ai'cadians, when they were 
 divided into eight tribes, and, in consequence, the hellanodicai 
 were reduced to the same number. However, in the 108th Olym- 
 piad, they were again raised to ten, and that state of things con- 
 tinued to the time of Pausanias, from whom the preceding account 
 has been derived. 
 
 The Olympic games being one of the most sacred institutions of 
 Greece, every pains were taken to give them the most august 
 character. The judges even consulted foreigners to suggest im- 
 
 MODEL OF THE PARTHENON. 
 
 These are curious details, for which the general reader, indeed, may 
 care little, but they are interesting to the antiquarian. 
 
 The art of the sculptor was most powerfully encouraged in 
 Greece by the Olympic games, for, as we shall presently observe, the 
 statues of the victors were carved by the most eminent statuaries. 
 According to the traditions of Elis, Saturn first obtained the govern- 
 ment of heaven ; and those men who were called the golden race, 
 raised a temple to him in Olympia. Afterwards, when Jupiter 
 was born, his mother, Rhea, committed him to the care of the 
 Dactyli Idcei, who were also called the Curetes : they came from 
 Ida, a mountain in Crete, their names being Hercules, Poeoneus, 
 Epimedes, Iasius, and Idas. Hercules, the eldest of them, proposed 
 the contest of the race to his brothers, and crowned the conqueror 
 with the leaves of the wild olive-tree. The traditions add that the 
 Curetes had a great quantity of these leaves, because their beds 
 were composed of them ; and this tree, they affirm, was brought by 
 Hercules from the Hyperboreans to Greece. The glory, therefore, 
 of having first established the Olympic games is given to the 
 Idrean Hercules, who gave them the name of Olympic. On this 
 account they were celebrated every fifth year, because the brothers 
 were five in number. But there are other traditions; some affirm 
 that Jupiter wrestled with Saturn for dominion in this place ; 
 others that Jupiter instituted the games after having dethroned 
 
 provements. Herodotus [Euterpe) tells us that during the reign of 
 Necos ambassadors arrived in Egypt from the Eleans : — “ This people 
 boasted that the establishment of the Olympic games possessed 
 every excellence, and was not sui’passed even by the Egyptians 
 themselves, though they were deemed the wisest of mankind. On 
 their arrival they explained the motive of their journey, in con- 
 sequence of which the prince called a meeting of the most learned 
 of his subjects, at which the Eleans described the regulations they 
 had established, and then asked if the Egyptians could recommend 
 any improvement. After some deliberation the Egyptians inquired 
 whether the fellow-citizens of the Eleans were permitted to contend 
 in those games. They were informed in reply that all the Greeks, 
 without any distinction, were permitted to contend. The Egyptians 
 observed that this must of course lead to injustice, for it was 
 impossible not to favour their fellow-citizens in preference to 
 strangers. If, therefore, the object of their voyage to Egypt was 
 to render their regulations perfect, th^y should only suffer strangers 
 to contend in their games, and particularly exclude the Eleans.” 
 That advice was not followed ; but, with rare exceptions, the 
 strictest impartiality prevailed. When the Greeks became subject 
 to the Romans, some of the great men of Rome occasionally wrote 
 to the judges in behalf of some of the competitors, but the judges 
 made it a point never to open such letters till after the prizes had 
 
I 
 
 
 
 HYSTAL 
 
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 PART OF THE WEST FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON 
 
 AS RESTORED BY M« JOHN HENNING. 
 
 ENGRAVED BY THE LATE A.R. FREEBAIRN 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 113 
 
 been decided. The decisions might be appealed from, and the 
 judges might be accused before the senate at Olympia, who some- 
 times set aside their award. Those who were elected hellanodicai 
 were compelled to reside during six months, successively, in a 
 building appropriated to their sole use, at Olympia, named Hellano- 
 diceeon, in order to instruct 
 themselves previously to en- 
 tering on their duties. 
 
 The most celebrated of the 
 athletes who contended in 
 these games was Milo of 
 Crotona, whose statue was 
 made by Dameas the Cro- 
 tonian. He was six times 
 victorious in wrestling in 
 the Olympic games : his 
 strength was prodigious. 
 
 He is said to have carried 
 his own statue to Altis ; and 
 to have held a pomegranate 
 so fast in his hand, that it 
 could neither be forced from 
 him by another person, nor 
 could he himself dismiss it 
 from his grasp. Such is the 
 account given by Pausanias. 
 
 Milo would bind his fore- 
 head with a fillet or a crown, 
 and, compressing his lips 
 and holding his breath, 
 would so fill the veins of his 
 head with blood, that he 
 would burst the cord or 
 fillet through the strength 
 of his veins. It is also re- 
 corded of this pancratiast, 
 or wrestler, that having let 
 fall against his side that part 
 of the arm which reaches 
 from the shoulder to the el- 
 bow, he would extend the 
 other part, which reaches 
 from the elbow to the fingers, with his thumb turned upwards, and [ 
 his fingers placed close together: when his hand was in this position, | 
 no one, by the greatest exertions, could separate his little finger ! 
 from the rest. Larcher relates the following anecdote of that 
 
 a young bull, four years old, upon his shoulders some distance, 
 killed it, divided it into portions, and ate the whole of it himself 
 in the course of one day. Milo met a cruel death. Happening on 
 the borders of Crotonia to meet with a withered oak, into which 
 wedges had been driven in order to separate the wood, he endea- 
 voui'ed, through confidence 
 in his strength, to tear the 
 oak asunder. The wedges 
 giving way, Milo was caught 
 by the closing parts, and, 
 in that defenceless state, 
 was torn in pieces by the 
 wolves, which abounded in 
 the neighbourhood. Such 
 was his miserable fate. 1 1 is 
 doubtful at what period he 
 lived, but Aulus Gellius says 
 he was crowned victor in the 
 games in the 50th Olympiad. 
 
 Phidias.— At Altis, where 
 the statues of the victors 
 were ranged, Phidias made 
 a remarkable one of a boy 
 whose head was bound 
 with a fillet, and Pausanias 
 says of it, “We do not 
 know of any other person 
 whose image was made by 
 Phidias ” — that is, taken 
 from the life. This great 
 sculptor executed in ivory 
 and gold a statue of the 
 Celestial Venus, in a temple 
 dedicated to her at Elis. 
 This statue stood with one 
 of its feet on a tortoise. 
 Near this place there was 
 also a brazen statue of Venus, 
 which stood on a fountain, 
 
 within a grove ; but this 
 
 was not the work of Phi- 
 dias, but of Scopas. It 
 stood on a brazen goat, and was known as “ Venus the Popular.” 
 In the town of Elis there was a temple sacred to Minerva; 
 and her statue of ivory and gold was made by Phidias. There was 
 a cock on the helmet of the goddess, because that bird is always 
 
 BUST OF M1XEKVA. 
 
 extraordinary man, on the authority of Athenseus. Another famous 
 wrestler, named Titormus, disputed with Milo which could the 
 sooner devour an entire ox : incredible as it may seem, Milo carried 
 
 ready to fight. At Pellene, in Achaia, Phidias made another statue 
 of Minerva, in ivory and gold : and this appears to have been one 
 of his earliest productions, for Pausanias says that thePelleni affirm 
 
114 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 that Phidias made it “before he made that for the Athenians, 
 which is in their tower, or that which is among the Platceenses.” 
 lie adds, “ the Pelleni assert that the adytum of Minerva extends 
 to the profundities of the earth ; that this adytum is under the 
 basis of the statue ; and that a moist vapour ascends from the 
 adytum, which is very serviceable to the ivory of the statue.” The 
 statue this sculptor made for the Platmenses was called “ Minerva 
 Arcia,” or the Martial, and placed in her temple, which was built 
 with the spoils given to the Plahcenses by the Athenians, after the 
 battle of Marathon. The statue of the goddess was made of wood, 
 and gilt, except the face and the extremities of the hands and feet. 
 That which Phidias made for the Athenians was erect, a garment 
 reaching to her feet. A head of Medusa, fashioned from ivory, 
 was on her breast, and a Victory, four cubits in length. Iu her 
 hand she held a spear, a shield was at her feet, and near the spear 
 was a dragon ; and the generation of Pandora was represented on 
 the base of the statue. This statue was brazen. He also made 
 another statue of Minerva, which was called “ Minerva Lemnia,” 
 because it was dedicated by the Lemnians. Pausanias says, “ it 
 deserves to be inspected above all the works of Phidias.” As an 
 example of one of the forms under which this goddess was repre- 
 sented in sculpture, we have engraved her bust from a copy in the 
 Greek Court.* 
 
 Beyond the temple which contained the Minerva Lemnia stood 
 a brazen Apollo, by Phidias. It was known as the “ Apollo Par- 
 nopius,” so called because he banished locusts from the land. The 
 last statue of Phidias to which -we shall refer is that of Nemesis, in 
 her temple at Rhamnus, which was about sixty stadii distant from 
 Marathon. When the Persian invaders reached Marathon, they 
 brought with them Parian marble, for the purpose of erecting a 
 trophy, for they were confident of success. Out of that very stone 
 Phidias made the statue which was dedicated to Nemesis, who, it 
 was believed, had powerfully aided in the defeat of the barbarians. 
 On the head of the goddess was a crown adorned with stags, and 
 small images of Victory. In her left hand she held the branch of 
 an ash-tree, and in her right a cup, in which the figures of Ethio- 
 pians were carved. This statue was without wings ; but among the 
 Srnyrneans, who possessed the most holy images of Nemesis, they 
 all had wings. “ The Greeks report,” observes Pausanias, “ that 
 Nemesis was the mother of Helen, but that Leda was her nurse ; 
 for all the Greeks are unanimous in asserting that Jupiter, not Tyn- 
 dareus, was her father. Phidias, being well acquainted with these 
 particulars, represented Helen led by Leda to Nemesis. He added 
 also Tyudareus and his sons, and a man whom they called Hippea 
 standing by a horse. Agamemnon, too, Menelaus, and Pyrrhus, 
 the son of Achilles, are present, which last, first of all, espoused 
 Hermione, the daughter of Helen ; but Orestes is not introduced, 
 on account of his impious conduct to his mother, though Hermione 
 never deserted him, but even bore him a son.” 
 
 Scopas. — Scopas, one of the most famous of the ancient statuaries, 
 erected an ivory figure of Venus, in her temple at Megara, which 
 was called “ Praxis,” and, in the same place, a Love, an Imeros, and 
 a Pothos. In the gymnasium, near the forum of Sicyonia, a stone 
 statue of Hercules ; at Argos, a statue of Hecate, placed in her 
 temple; at Elis, a brazen statue of Venus, standing on a brazen 
 goat, already noticed ; at Gortys, a city of Arcadia, a statue of 
 Aesculapius, without a beard, of Pentelican marble ; and one of 
 llygeia. He built for the Tegeatce a temple, dedicated to Minerva, 
 on the site of an old one built by Aleus, but destroyed by fire ; and, 
 when Pausanias wrote, he tell us that it surpassed all the temples 
 in Peloponnesus, both in its construction and magnitude. He thus 
 describes it : — 
 
 “ The first ornament of this temple is a triple series of columns, 
 the first of which are of the Doric order, the second of the Corin- 
 thian, and the third without the temple are of the Ionic order. The 
 architect of this temple is said to have been the Parian, Scopas, 
 who made statues for many parts of ancient Greece about Ionia and 
 Caria. On the front part of the roof the hunting of the Calydonian 
 boar is represented. The boar occupies the middle part; and on 
 one side Atalanta, Meleager, Theseus, Telamon, Peleus, Pollux, and 
 Iolaus, who was the companion of Hercules in most of his labours, 
 stand ; and, besides these, the sons of Theseus, and the brothers of 
 Althea, Prothous, and Cometes ; but, on the other side, Ancrnus is 
 represented wounded, and lifting his axe, and Epochus supporting 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 113. 
 
 him. Near him stand Castor, Amphiaraus, the son of Oicles, and 
 Hippothous, the son of Cercyon, the grandson of Agamcles, and the 
 great-grandson of Stymphalus. The last person that is represented 
 is Pirithous. But in the back part of the roof, the single combat 
 of Telephus and Achilles in the plains of Caicus is represented.” 
 When Augustus Caesar conquered Antony and his allies, he 
 carried away the ancient statue of “Minerva Alea,” and the teeth of 
 the Calydonian boar, and placed the Minerva in the entrance of the 
 forum which he built, and which bore his name. It was entirely 
 made of ivory, and was the work of Endius. The “ Minerva Alea” 
 which existed at Tegea in the time of Pausanias, was brought from 
 a town of the Manthurienses, who worshipped the goddess Hippia, 
 but nevertheless the Greeks called it “ Minerva Alea.” On one side 
 of the statue stood Aesculapius, on the other Hygeia, both of which 
 were of Pentelican stone, and the work of Scopas. Pausanias says 
 that in his time was exhibited the skin of the Calydonian boar, 
 rotten through length of time, and entirely bare of bristles ; and such 
 of the fetters as had been spared by time with which the Lacedm- 
 monian captives were bound while they dug the plain of Tegea 
 The sacred bed of Minerva also remained. 
 
 Praxiteles. — On advancing from the Pirreus to the gates of 
 Athens, the road was lined with the tombs of celebrated men. On 
 one of those tombs Praxiteles sculptured the statue of a soldier 
 standing by his horse, but the name of the warrior is unknown. 
 On entering the city was a temple dedicated to Ceres, in which the 
 statue of the goddess herself, of her daughter Proserpine, and of 
 Iacchus holding a torch were contained. In the time of Pausanias, 
 an inscription on the wall, in Attic letters, signified that all these 
 were the work of Praxiteles. At Megara he executed a statue of 
 “ Diana the Saviour,” so called from the following circumstance : after 
 the army of Mardonius, the general of Xerxes, King of Persia, had 
 invaded the Megaric land, his soldiers were desirous of returning 
 to Thebes, where Mardonius himself was stationed ; but the goddess 
 Diana caused them to begin their march by night, and, in conse- 
 quence of their losing their way, they bent their course to the 
 mountainous part of the country, and thinking that their enemies 
 were near them, shot their arrows at the neighbouring rock, which 
 emitted a sound like that of groaning, but they, supposing that the 
 noise was occasioned by the groans of wounded men, did not desist 
 from shooting till their quivers were exhausted ; but as soon as it 
 was day, the armed Megarenses attacking the disarmed Persians, 
 slew a great part of them, and, in memorial of this victory, made an 
 image of “ Diana the Saviour.” 
 
 In the Temple of Bacchus at Megara, near the image of that god, 
 Praxiteles executed a Satyr in Pai'ian marble ; and in a temple of 
 Venus, next to that of Bacchus, a statue of the goddess of Persuasion, 
 and another called the “ Consolatrix.” In an adjoining temple 
 dedicated to Fortune, he made a figure of that, fickle goddess. Also 
 at Megara, in the Temple of Apollo Tutelaris, he sculptured Apollo, 
 Latona, and Diana. At Elis he executed a Mercury in stone, 
 carrying an infant Bacohus; and also a full-grown Bacchus, dedi- 
 cated to that god. The Eleans worshipped Bacchus above all the 
 divinities, and asserted that he was always present at that festival 
 of theirs which they called Thyirn. On this temple of Bacchus 
 Pausanias relates an amusing story of superstition. “ In this temple 
 the priests bring three empty kettles ; citizens and strangers, if 
 they should happen to be at Elis, being at the same time present. 
 But afterwards the priests and others, to whom the care of the 
 temple is committed, seal the doors. The next day they enter the 
 temple, and though their seals have not been broken, they find 
 the kettles filled with wine.” 
 
 At Mantinea Praxiteles sculptured Latona and her children; at 
 Platrea he made a statue of Juno, called “ Teleia” or the Perfect, and 
 one of Rhcea presenting Saturn with a stone wrapped in swaddling 
 clothes, instead of the child of which she had been delivered. Both 
 these were of Pentelican marble. For the Ihebans he carved many 
 of the labours of Hercules in a temple which they had dedicated to 
 that demigod, under the name of “ Hercules Promachos,” or the De- 
 fender. Praxiteles carved the labours in the roof of this temple, omit- 
 ting the birds called Stymphalides, and the purification of the Elean 
 land ; instead of these he represented the wrestling of Hercules with 
 Antmus. To Phoctea he contributed a statue of Aesculapius, and to 
 Anticyra one of Diana. Her temple was erected on a lofty rock, 
 forming part of a mountain two stadii from Anticyra, and in that 
 temple her statue was placed. She held a torch in her right hand, 
 and a quiver depended from her shoulders. A hound stood at her 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 115 
 
 left side. The height of the statue exceeded that of any woman, 
 though not colossal. For the Thespians lie made a statue of Venus 
 and one of Phryne, the rich courtesan. At Delphi he made another 
 statue of Phryne, of gold, which she herself dedicated, and a statue 
 of Love. But what he most prided himself on was his Satyr, which 
 stood at the Pry taneum, at Athens, and with this an amusing anec- 
 dote is connected. Phryne, with whom he was in love, once asked 
 him which was the most beautiful of his works i this lie refused to 
 tell, but offered all his productions. Phryne, determined to gratify 
 her curiosity, had recourse to stratagem. She desired her servant 
 to go to Praxiteles and inform him that his workshop was oil fire 
 and that a great part of his works were already destroyed, and the 
 rest in imminent danger. On this information, Praxiteles hastily 
 left his apartment, and declared that his affliction would be but 
 trifling if the flames had spared his Satyr and Love. Phryne, on 
 hearing this, bade him be of good courage, for no calamity had 
 befallen him, confessing that she had contrived the stratagem to 
 compel him to confess which was the most beautiful of his works, 
 the statue of Love was made of Pentelican stone. It was first 
 moved out the place where it was originally deposited by Caius 
 Omsar Caligula. It was afterwards sent baek to the Thespians bv 
 the Emperor Claudius, and again brought to Home by Nero, where 
 it was destroyed by fire. 
 
 As we have mentioned Phryne, we may allude to the still more 
 celebrated Aspasia,* a courtesan of Miletus, who settled at Athens 
 bhe was of admirable beauty, yet her wit and eloquence were stili 
 more remarkable, and won for her extraordinary reputation among 
 all ranks in the republic. Her judgment was acute, her knowledge 
 varied, and people of the first distinction of both sexes frequented 
 her house as a school of instruction ; even Socrates listened to her 
 fascinating conversation, and she so captivated the celebrated 
 Pericles that, notwithstanding her infamous life, he married her. 
 
 OLYCLETUS.— Polycletus, the Argive, was a famous statuary at 
 Alyceme, where stood a temple dedicated to Juno, and built by the 
 Argive architect Eupolemus. Polycletus formed a statue of the god- 
 dess, seated on a throne of great magnitude, of ivory and gold. She 
 had a crown on her head, on which the Graces and Hours were repre- 
 sented ; m one hand she held a pomegranate, in the other a sceptre. 
 
 A cuckoo was perched on the sceptre, the reason being that Jupiter, 
 bang enamoured with Juno when a virgin, changed himself into 
 that bird, and Juno chased it in sport. The sculpture above the 
 columns of this temple recorded the birth of Jupiter, the battle of 
 the Gods and Giants, and the destruction of Troy Before the 
 entrance were statues of the women who had been priestesses of 
 Juna On the left hand of the vestibule were ancient statues of 
 the Graces, and on the right hand the bed of Juno. 
 
 ^ ^ ol y clelus sculptured a statue of “Jupiter Milichius,” 
 
 or the Mild, from white stone. Pausanins assigns the followin'- 
 reason for its dedication. The Lacedaemonians having undertaken 
 a war against the Argives, did not cease their hostilities till Philip 
 the son of Amyntas, compelled them to rest satisfied with the 
 ancient boundaries of their kingdom. In former times, indeed, the 
 Lacedtemonians did not meditate any conquests beyond Pelopon- 
 nesus, but they were always taking away something from the domi- 
 nion of the Argives , or else the Argives, when the Lacedemonians 
 were engaged in wars beyond their own boundaries, pressed on the 
 Lacedtemonians. Both, therefore, having arrived at the extremity 
 ot hatred, the Argives thought proper to retain a thousand choseii 
 men, appointing the Argive, Bryas, for their general. This man, 
 among many injuries that he committed towards the people, seized 
 on a virgin as she was going to be married, and then laid the blame 
 ot her capture on her attendants. The virgin, however, on the 
 same night, blinded Bryas when he was asleep, and being seized as 
 soon as it was day, she fled in a suppliant posture to the people, 
 who would not suffer her to be punished by the thousand men. 
 
 In consequence of this a battle ensuing, the people were victors, 
 who, giving way to their wrath, did not leave one of their adver- 
 saries alive. But, afterwards, expiations of civil blood took place, 
 and a statue of jtfild J upiter was dedicated. 
 
 On Mount Lycone, near Tegea, in Arcadia, in the Temple of 
 Diana Orthia, Polycletus carved that goddess, and Latona and 
 Diana, out of white stone. At Epidaurus he proved his skill as an 
 architect in constructing a theatre within a temple; and, in alludin'- 
 to it, Pausanias exclaims, “What artist will take upon him to con- 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 113. 
 
 tend with Polycletus?” At Amyclse, in the territory of the 
 Lacedaemonians, he made the Venus which was called the “ Venus 
 with Amyclceus.” Amyclse was famous for its tripods. Ten, the 
 most ancient, were taken by the Lacedaemonians in the war which 
 they waged against the Messenians. Under the first tripod the 
 Venus stood ; under the second that of Diana ; under the third 
 Proserpine. These three were larger than the ten taken from the 
 Messenians, and were dedicated in honour of the great victory at 
 iEgospotamos. At Megalopolis, Polycletus made a statue of 
 Bacchus, which stood in the Temple of Jupiter Philius, or the 
 Guardian of Friendship. This statue wore buskins instead of 
 shoes ; in one hand was a cup, in the other a thyrsus, and perched 
 on the thyrsus was an eagle, rarely connected with Bacchus. 
 
 Myron. — This Athenian sculptor executed a brazen statue of a 
 boy named Lycius, holding a laver in his hand, and a “ Perseus 
 destroying Medusa,” both placed in the tower of Athens. At vEgina 
 lie made a wooden statue of Hecate, whose mysteries the vEginetae 
 celebrated every year, for they reverenced her above all the other 
 divinities. He also made an upright statue of Bacchus, which was 
 dedicated by Sylla, who took it from the Orchomenian Minyce; 
 
 “ an( l this,” says Pausanias, “ is what the Greeks call venerating 
 a divine nature with foreign fumigations.” The master-piece of 
 Myron was his Erecttheus, at Athens. Myron sculptured many of 
 the victors in the Olympic games ; among others Lycinus, who 
 brought colts to Olympia, but not approving them, trained horses 
 and won the prize ; and Timanthes, whose death is worthy of notice. 
 After he had withdrawn from athletic exercises on account of age, 
 he used every day to bend a large bow for the purpose of making 
 trial of his strength. Happening, however, to take a journey, he 
 omitted this exercise during his absence from home, and on his 
 return attempted to bend his bow as usual; finding that his 
 strength had failed him, he raised a funeral pile, and threw himself 
 into the fire. 
 
 Calamis. — This statuary executed a beardless .Esculapius of 
 ivory and gold, which was placed in his temple at Sicyonia. Li 
 one of his hands he held a sceptre, and in the other the fruit of a 
 pine-tree. The brazen boys at Olympia extending their right 
 hands in the attitude of prayer to Jupiter were his work, and also 
 a statue without wings, in imitation of an ancient one at Athens, 
 called “ Apteros;” a statue of Ammon in his temple at Thebes ; a 
 Iriton in the Temple of Bacchus at Tanagra, of Parian stone, of 
 which Pausanias narrates the following story. The Tanagrian 
 women, who were first initiated into the orgies of Bacchus, went 
 down to the sea for the sake of purification. While they were 
 swimming in it, they were assaulted by Triton ; and on their 
 imploring Bacchus to defend them, the god heard their prayer, 
 attacked and vanquished Triton. There is another report, which 
 is not so venerable, but more probable. It is this: whatever cattle 
 were driven to the sea were seized and carried away by Triton, 
 who used likewise to seize all small vessels, till the Tanagrians 
 placed on the shore bowls of wine ; for Triton, allured by the 
 fragrance, found and drank the wine, was overpowered by sleep, 
 and fell headlong from a steep part of the coast on to the beach. 
 
 A Tanagrian then cut off his head with an axe, and that is the 
 reason why his statue was headless. The following is the 
 description of a triton. The hair of the head resembles the pai’sley 
 which grows in marshes, both in its colour, and in the perfect 
 similitude of one hair to another, so that you cannot distinguish 
 any difference between them. The rest of the body is rough with 
 small scales, and is of the same hardness as the skin of a fish. 
 They have the gills of a fish under their ears. Their nostrils are 
 those of'a man, but their teeth are broader than those of the human 
 species, and like the teeth of a wild beast; their eyes are azure, and 
 their hands, fingers, and nails, are of the same form with the upper 
 shells of shell-fish. They have fins under the breast and belly, like 
 those of the dolphin, instead of feet. 
 
 At Tanagra there were two temples dedicated to Mercury, one of 
 which was called the Temple of Criophoros, which means the 
 “ Bearer of the Ram,” and the other of Promachos, or the Defender. 
 The former of these was thus denominated because Mercury dis- 
 persed a pestilence raging at Tanagra by carrying a ram round the 
 walls. To commemorate that event Calamis made here a statue 
 carrying a ram on his shoulders. At the festival of Mercury the 
 most beautiful of the Tanagreean youth carried a ram on his 
 shoulders round the walls. He was called Promachos because he 
 aided the Tanagrsoans when they were invaded by the Eretrienses, 
 
116 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 from Euboea, armed with a currycomb, with which he put the 
 enemy to flight. 
 
 Glaucus. — Glaucus, the Chian sculptor, is worthy of notice as the 
 first among the Greeks who discovered the art of soldering iron. He 
 made the iron basis of the bowl of Alyattes, the Lydian king, who 
 presented the famous bowl to Apollo preserved at Delphi. In that 
 basis there were neither clasps nor nails, but only solder. Its form 
 was that of a tower, and rose from an acute bottom to a broad top. 
 It was begirt with transverse zones of iron like the steps in a 
 ladder. Straight and ductile laminse of iron were bent in their 
 extremities outwards, and formed the seat of the bowl. The centre 
 or navel was formed of a white stone, to represent the middle point 
 
 strenuously held, that, notwithstanding the leaping and struggling 
 of the ox to get free, the animal only escaped with the loss of its 
 hoof. Polydamas was able to stop a chariot when it was driven 
 along rapidly by a charioteer, merely seizing it behind with one of 
 his hands. His fame spread to Persia, and Darius Nothus invited 
 him to Susa. On arriving there, he slew three of the soldiers of 
 that picked band who were called Immortals, though they attacked 
 him simultaneously. All these exploits were recorded on the base 
 of his statue at Olympia or in the inscriptions. His death arose 
 from too much confidence in his strength. Entering a cavern to 
 sleep during the heat of the day with some of his companions, 
 some fissures were seen at the top : this indicating danger, the 
 
 FRIEZE 01-’ THE PARTHENON. 
 
 of the earth. At Olympia, Glaucus made several statues, Amph trite, 
 Neptune, and Vesta. 
 
 Lysippus. — Lysippus, the Sicyonian, was one of the most eminent 
 artists of his day. In the forum of Corinth he made a brazen Jupiter, 
 
 friends left, but Polydamas was determined to stay, and extended 
 his hands to support the sinking roof. His efforts were vain, and 
 he was buried in the ruins of the mountain. Lysippus also made 
 the statue of Jupiter Nemeus, at Nemea, of brass, near to a temple 
 
 FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON. 
 
 and in the Temple of Apollo Lycceus, a brazen Hercules, which stood 
 near the forum. At Elis, a statue of Pyrrhus, who was victorious 
 in the horse race. On that occasion he was judge of the games, 
 but from that time the Eleans made a law that no judge of the 
 games should be at the same 
 time a competitor. The 
 statue of Chilon was also 
 made by Lysippus. This 
 man was twice victorious in 
 wrestling in the Olympic 
 games, once at Delphi, four 
 times in the Isthmian, and 
 thrice in the Nemman games. 
 
 He died in battle, and was 
 buried by the Achaians as a 
 mark of honour. All these 
 particulars were inscribed 
 on the base of his statue at 
 Olympia. Lysippus also 
 made the statue of Poly- 
 damas, a man of gigantic stature, whose adventures, narrated by 
 Pausanias, are very curious, for he acquired renown not only as a 
 wrestler, but in other efforts of strength. 
 
 The mountainous part of Thrace, within the river Nestus, which 
 flowed through the country of the Abderites, was infested with 
 wild beasts. The camels which carried the provisions of the army 
 of Xerxes suffered greatly through the attacks of lions, which 
 often wandered into that part of the country that encircles Mount 
 Athos. In this mountain Polydamas, perfectly unarmed, slew a 
 large and strong lion, eager to emulate the exploits of Hercules. 
 On another occasion he met a herd of oxen, and seized the largest 
 and fiercest ox among them by one of its hind feet : this he so 
 
 of Fortune, to which Palamedes dedicated the dice which lie had 
 invented. 
 
 Alcamenes. — This artist, in the judgment of Pausanias, was 
 only inferior to Phidias. When Mardonius, the Persian general, 
 burnt the Temple of Juno, 
 at Athens, the statue of the 
 goddess escaped injury. It 
 was the work of Alcamenes. 
 He also made a statue of 
 Mars, in the temple of that 
 god, at Athens ; and, accord- 
 ing to Pausanias, one of 
 Hecate for the Athenians, 
 with three bodies joined in 
 one, which the Athenians 
 call Epipyrgidia, and which 
 stood near the Temple of 
 winged Victory. This triple 
 form symbolised the moon 
 under three aspects, as Diana 
 in the sky, as Trivia on earth, as Hecate below the horizon. At the 
 Temple of Jupiter Olympius, at Elis, Alcamenes executed all the 
 work at the back part of that building, already described when 
 mentioning the works of Phidias. At Mantinea the same artist 
 made a statue of JEsculapius, in the Temple of Hercules Promachos, 
 and at Thebes, two colossal statues of Minerva and Hercules in 
 Pentelican stone. 
 
 Having now noticed the most celebrated sculptors who flourished 
 from the time of Pericles to that of Alexander the Great, or from 
 ! the epoch of Phidias to the epoch which terminates with Praxiteles, 
 
 I we turn to the sculptured decorations of the Parthenon. These 
 | represent the ceremonies observed at the festival of Minerva, the 
 


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THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 117 
 
 Panatheanic procession, and some of the leading historical facts or 
 traditions connected with the exploits of the ancient or fabulous 
 heroes of Athens. Ingenious and learned men have attempted an 
 accurate interpretation of these sculptures, but, imperfect and muti- 
 lated as they are, so much is left to conjecture, that anything 
 approaching to a complete enumeration is impossible ; so that 
 what one critic advances as true, his successor denies. We know 
 this festival was celebrated once in five years, and every free-born 
 inhabitant of Attica had a right to attend the ceremony. The 
 reigning archon and a priestess presided, and the most solemn act 
 was a presentation of a new veil to cover the statue of the tutelary 
 
 Among the most interesting remains of Greek art discovered in 
 1823 by Messrs. Angell and Harris, two English architects, are 
 the Selinuntine marbles. Selinus, a city in Sicily, was founded by 
 the Megarenses about 750 B.c. It stood near mount Etna, and 
 rose to such prosperity that it yielded in opulence and power to 
 none of the Sicilian cities, except Syracuse and Agrigentum. But 
 towards the end of the fifth century b.c., it was destroyed by the 
 Carthaginians, to whom it then became subject. By the conquerors it 
 was partially restored, and existed for a century and a half longer, 
 at the end of which period it was ruined in the wars between the 
 Carthaginians and Romans, and its ruins have strewed the site on 
 
 SCULPTURE OP THE PARTHENON. 
 
 SCULPTURE OF THE PARTHENON. 
 
 shrine of Minerva ; the vests, however, of the Libyan Minerva are 
 made of skin, and the fringe hanging from the cegis is not com- 
 posed of serpents, but of leather ; in every other respect the dress 
 is the same ; it appears by the very name, that the robe of the 
 statues of Minerva was borrowed from Libya. The women of this 
 country wear below their garments goat-skins, with the hair 
 fringed and stained of a red colour, from which part of the dress 
 the word cegis of the Greeks is unquestionably derived. I am 
 also inclined to believe that the loud cries which are uttered in the 
 temples of that goddess, have the same origin ; the Libyan women 
 do this veiy much, but not disagreeably.” 
 
 SCULPTURE OF THE PARTHENON. 
 
 whose face, feet, and hands were made of ivory; and that in the 
 treasury of the Metapontines, which was next to that of the 
 Selinuntii, there was a statue of Endymion, all the parts of which, 
 except the drapery, were made of ivory. He states that he is 
 ignorant of the cause of the destruction of the Metapontines, and 
 that in his time nothing remained but a theatre and the enclosure 
 of the walls. Messrs. Angell and Harris discovered the ruins of 
 six temples. Mr. Angell observes, “ for the gradual erection of 
 the temples we have a period of about two hundred and forty-five 
 years; and assuming, not without strong grounds, the central 
 temple on the western hill to have been the first erected after the 
 
 goddess. It may be well to observe that there were the greater and 
 lesser Panathencea. The latter originated with Theseus, and were 
 celebrated every year in the month Hecatombeon. In the former 
 old men, selected for their good appearance, carried branches 
 of olives. Races were held with torches, both horse and foot races ; 
 there was also a trial of skill in music. The conqueror in any of 
 these games was rewarded with a vessel of oil, for the olive was 
 the gilt of Minerva. Boys danced in armour. The sacred vest, 
 carried in the procession, was born by persons of all ages. Hero- 
 dotus says {Melpomene, clxxxix.): — “From the Libyans the Greeks 
 borrowed the vest and the cegis with which they decorate the 
 
 which it was erected for twenty-two centuries. There have been 
 various interpretations of the Selinuntine sculptures by modern 
 critics, but Pausanias states that before the Carthaginians drove 
 the Selinuntii from their residence in Sicily they had dedicated 
 a treasury to Olympian Jupiter, in which there was a Bacchus, 
 
 ii II 
 
118 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 foundation of the colony, established by concurring testimony 
 about the 32nd Olympiad, or six hundred and fifty years B.c. ; 
 we may safely place its sculptures at more than half a century 
 prior to the assigned date of the Theseium.” 
 
 Sicily, once one of the most flourishing of the Greek colonies, 
 was adorned with the most magnificent temples. When Brydone 
 visited the island, in 1770, he observed, near the ruins of the ancient 
 city of Agvigentum, four temples, one of which, dedicated to Con- 
 cord, was entire, not one column having fallen. Next to it was a 
 temple sacred to Venus, of which one half was in a good state of 
 preservation. The third temple was that of Hercules, altogether in 
 ruins. It was here that the famous statue of the demi-god stood, 
 celebrated by Cicero, and which the people of Agrigentum defended 
 with so much bravery against Verres, who attempted to seize it. 
 There was likewise in this temple a famous painting of Xeuxis. 
 It represented Hercules in his cradle killing the two serpents. 
 Alcmena and Amphitryon, having just entered the apartment, were 
 painted with every mark of astonishment and terror. Pliny says 
 that Xeuxis regarded this painting as invaluable, and therefore 
 never could be induced to put a price upon it. He made a present 
 of it to the people of Agrigentum, to be placed in the Temple of 
 Hercules. 
 
 The fourth temple was dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, supposed 
 by Sicilian authors to have been the largest heathen temple in the 
 world. It is said to have stood till the year 1100, but is now a 
 perfect ruin. The remains of some smaller temples exist, as those 
 of Vulcan, Proserpine, Castor, and Pollux, and a very remarkable 
 one of Juno, enriched by one of the most famous pictures of anti- 
 quity. Xeuxis was determined to paint a model of human per- 
 fection, and prevailed on all the finest women of Agrigentum to 
 appear naked before him. Of these he chose five, and moulding 
 all their beauties into one, composed his picture of the goddess. It 
 was considered his masterpiece, but was burnt when the Cartha- 
 ginians captured Agrigentum. 
 
 The ruins of the Temple of ^Esculapius were to be seen when 
 Brydone visited the island. It was celebrated for a statue of 
 Apollo which it contained, which was taken from the Agrigentines 
 at the same time that the Temple of Juno was destroyed. After 
 the conquest of Carthage, it was restored by Scipio to Agrigentum. 
 Some of the Sicilian antiquaries affirm that it was afterwards 
 taken to Rome, and that it is in reality the statue known as the 
 Apollo Belvedere.* Pausanias says, “ The Sicilian nations are as 
 follow : — The Sicani, Siculi, and Phrygians, the two first of which 
 came thither from Italy', but the Phrygians from Scamander and 
 Troy. The Phoenicians and Libyans, joining in one common mili- 
 tary expedition, came into the island and founded colonies of Car- 
 thaginians. And such are the barbarous nations which inhabit 
 Sicily;” but of the Greeks, the Dorienses, and Ionians, the Pho- 
 censes, and no great part of those that bear an Attic name, Mr. 
 Brydone gives a much more interesting account. “ Most of the 
 Sicilian authors,” says that learned traveller, “ agree in deriving 
 the origin of the Sicilians from Ham, or, as they call him, Cham, the 
 son of Noah, who they pretend is the same as Saturn. They tell 
 you that he built a great city, which, from him, was called Cami- 
 sena. This same Cham they tell you was a very great scoundrel, 
 and that Esemus, which signified infamous , was added to his name 
 only to denote his character. Fazzello says he married his own 
 sister, who was called Rheea; that Ceres was the fruit of this 
 marriage ; that she did not inherit the vices of her father, but 
 reigned over Sicily with great wisdom and moderation; that she 
 taught her subjects the method of making bread and wine, the 
 materials of which the island produced spontaneously and in 
 abundance. Her daughter Proserpine was of equal beauty and 
 virtue as herself. Orius, King of Epirus, demanded her in mar- 
 riage, and, on a refusal, carried her off by force. This gave rise to 
 the fable of the rape of Proserpine by Pluto, Orius being of a morose 
 and gloomy disposition. Ceres, before the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity, was the favourite deity of the Sicilians. She chose her 
 seat of empire in the centre of the island, on the top of a high hill 
 called Enna, where she founded the city of that name. Milton 
 alludes to this tradition — 
 
 ‘ Not that fair field 
 
 Of Euna, where Proserpine, gathering flowers, 
 
 Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis 
 
 Was gathered.’ 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 120. 
 
 Cicero gives a particular account of this place. He says, from its 
 situation in the centre of the island, it was called * Umbilicus 
 Sicilim,’ and describes it as one of the most beautiful and fertile 
 spots on the earth. The Temple of Ceres, at Enna, was renowned 
 all over the heathen world, and attracted numerous pilgrims.” 
 
 That huge cavern cut out of the solid rock in the form of the 
 human ear, and called the “ Ear of Dionysius,” at Syracuse, was 
 one of the most remarkable monuments of Sicilian art. The perpen- 
 dicular of it measured 80, and the length 250 feet. The cavern was 
 so contrived that every sound made in it was collected into one 
 point, as into a focus, which was called the Tympanum ; exactly 
 opposite to it Dionysius had made a small hole, which communicated 
 with a little apartment where he used to conceal himself. To this 
 hole he applied his ear, and is said to have heard distinctly every 
 word that was spoken in the cavern below. The work was no 
 sooner completed and found to answer the purpose for which it was 
 designed, than the tyrant put to death all the workmen employed 
 in its construction. He then confined in it all whom he suspected 
 of being hostile to his government, and by over-hearing their con- 
 versation judged of their guilt or innocence. The holes in the rock 
 to which the prisoners were chained, and even the lead and iron in 
 several of them, were seen by Mr. Brydone about the year 1770. 
 
 The fountain of Arethusa is one of the curiosities of Sicily. It 
 was sacred to Diana, who had a magnificent temple in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Arethusa, a huntress, was enamoured of the hunter 
 Alpheus, but from caprice refused to marry him, and fled, as 
 Pausanias says, to an island called Ortygia, near Syracuse, where 
 she was changed into a fountain, and Alpheus into a river. 
 Pausanias continues thus : — “ There is no reason why we should 
 disbelieve that this river, passing through the sea, is mingled with 
 the fountain at Syracuse, since this is asserted by the Delphic 
 Apollo ; for when the god ordered Arcliias the Corinthian to 
 establish a colony in Syi’acuse, he thus speaks, ‘ a certain island 
 called Ortygia is situated in the dark sea above Trinacria, where 
 the mouth of Alpheus pours its streams, and mingles itself with 
 the fountains of Arethusa, which sends forth refreshing gales.’” 
 The ancient historians, philosophers, and poets, believed that a 
 golden cup won at the Olympic games, and which was thrown into 
 the Grecian Arethusa, was soon afterwards cast up by the Sicilian 
 one; and that after the gi'eat sacrifices at Olympia, the blood of 
 which fell into that river, the fountain of Arethusa rose for 
 several days tinged with blood. The myth is that the nymph 
 Arethusa was transformed into a river by Diana, who conducted 
 her by subterranean passages from Greece to Sicily to avoid the 
 pursuit of Alpheus, who was also changed into a river. 
 
 The figure in the Crystal Palace called the “ Scythian Grinder,” 
 has also been named the Remouleur, and Arrotino. It represents a 
 man kneeling and whetting a knife. It is an admirable statue, and 
 the attitude and expression denote a suspension of labour, and act of 
 listening. Some antiquarians have supposed that it represents a slave 
 overhearing the conspiracy of Catiline ; others, the conspiracy of 
 the sons of Brutus. The artist is unknown. The general opinion, 
 however, is, that the man is sharpening his knife to flay Marsj r as, 
 who had been vanquished by Apollo in a musical contest. The 
 fable relates that Marsyas challenged Apollo to a trial of skill, that 
 he was defeated, and that Apollo flayed him alive for his presump- 
 tion, or ordered him to be flayed ; and Herodotus says that his skin 
 was suspended in the forum of the city of Celtense [Polyhymnia, 
 c. xxvii.) The punishment of Marsyas is an allegory. Before the 
 invention of the lyre, the flute was the first of all musical instru- 
 ments; after the introduction of the lyre the flute fell into dis- 
 repute, and nothing was to be gained by excelling on it. Pausanias 
 describing one of the pictures of Polygnotus, in Phocis, says that 
 in one of the temples at Delphi was a picture which contained, 
 amongst other figures, Marsyas sitting upon a rock, and the youth 
 Olympus by him, who seems to be learning to play on the flute. 
 Among the Phrygians who inhabited Celsenm was a tradition that 
 the river which ran through their country was once this very 
 Marsyas: that he invented that melody of the pipe which the 
 Greeks call Metroos, or harmony sacred to the mother of the gods, 
 and that he assisted them when they were attacked by the Gauls, 
 both by means of the water of the river Marsyas, and the melody 
 of his pipes. 
 
 From the statues of learned men in the Greek Court, we engrave 
 the head of Aristotle. His writings are too well known to require 
 any comment, but the cause of his suicide may be briefly stated. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 119 
 
 The very narrow strait which runs between Bceotia and Eubcea 
 was called Euripus, where the sea was said by the ancients 
 to ebb and flow seven times in a day. Aristotle endeavoured to 
 solve this problem and explain the phenomena, but failed, and 
 through vexation put himself to death. 
 
 BUST OF ARISTOTLE. 
 
 The Choragic monument of Lysicrates, at Athens, was a cylin- 
 drical building about seven feet in diameter, with a circular range 
 of columns supporting an entablature. As this kind of monument 
 is connected with theatres and the drama, we shall make a few 
 remarks on those subjects. The primitive drama was legendary, 
 narrating fables connected with the birth and adventures of Dio- 
 nysus. The reciter of these narratives was habited in goat-skins, 
 probably representing a satyr, one of the constant attendants of 
 Dionysus. Hence this kind of exhibition was called Tragode, for 
 the Greek word for tragedy is goat-ode ; while comedy, on a similar 
 principle, was called the ode of the revellers. In a later period 
 all honour was not paid to Dionysus ; other gods and heroes, and 
 their adventures, were brought upon the stage. In the age of 
 Thespis satyrs were banished from the theatre. The performer 
 wore a mask and an appropriate costume. Thespis made many 
 other improvements, and is properly considered the inventor of the 
 dramatic form of tragedy. No changes were made from the time 
 of Thespis to the time of Phrynichus, who flourished B.c. 511, and 
 it was he who broke through the old rule, which confined the drama 
 to the exploits of Dionysus. Suidas says that Phrynichus wrote 
 ten tragedies, and to him is ascribed the introduction of female 
 characters. Herodotus informs us that “ on seeing the capture of 
 Miletus represented in a dramatic piece by Phrynichus, the whole 
 audience burst into tears. The poet, for thus reminding them of 
 their domestic calamities, was fined a thousand drachma?, and the 
 piece was forbidden to be repeated.” 
 
 In the year b.c. 523, Choerilus perfected and refined the satiric 
 drama. Some, however, contend that Pratinas completed what 
 Chcerilus only commenced. The first dramatic contest of ASschylus, 
 in which he contended against Choerilus and Pratinas took place 
 B.c. 499. iEchylus was born B.c. 525, and fought at Marathon. 
 He is said to have composed seventy tragedies in forty-four years, 
 of which only seven have descended to us. He says that when he 
 was a boy he once fell asleep in a field, where he was watching 
 some grapes, and that Bacchus appeared to him in a dream, and 
 exhorted him to write tragedies. Pausanias says that he was the 
 first who represented the Furies with snakes in their hair, for 
 neither the statues of these goddesses nor any other of the sub- 
 terranean deities are in the least dreadful in their appearance. 
 Being exiled, he took refuge at the court of Hiero of Syracuse, and 
 in the sixty-ninth year of his age was killed by an eagle letting fall 
 a tortoise on his bald head; an oracle had foretold that he would 
 die by a stroke from heaven, and the prediction was fulfilled in 
 the singular manner related. 
 
 The date of the birth of Sophocles is usually fixed B.C. 495, thirty 
 years subsequent to that of ^Eschylus. He was the son of Sophilus, 
 
 a smith, or sword-cutler. On exhibiting his play, called Tripto- 
 lemus , now lost, he competed against yEschylus, and was victorious 
 at the age of twenty-seven. After a silence of twenty-seven rears, 
 he produced Antigone, the most beautiful of all his dramas" He 
 wrote one hundred and thirteen plays, but only seven remain. 
 
 Euripides was born B.c. 480, on the same day that the battle 
 of Salamis was fought. In early life he was a painter. The 
 number of his dramas is variously stated at seventy-five and 
 ninety-two, of which only eighteen survive. He died at. seventy- 
 five years of age. Theopompus says that the mother of Euripides 
 gained a livelihood by selling vegetables, and that his father, when 
 Euripides was born, was told by the Chaldeans that his child would 
 be conqueror in the public games. The father, interpreting the 
 boy’s fate literally, thought he might make him a wrestler. In 
 the Eleusinean and Thesean games he was victorious. Having 
 strengthened his body, he applied himself to the culture of his 
 mind, and studied under Anaxagoras the physician, Prodicus the 
 rhetorician, while Socrates instructed him in moral philosophy. 
 At eighteen years of age he began to write tragedy. Philochorus 
 relates that in the island of Salamis was a wild gloomy cave, 
 wherein Euripides often laboured at his dramas. He is said to 
 have held all women in particular abhorrence, either from a natural 
 dislike to their company, or because he had at the same time two 
 wives, men Euripides was in Macedonia with King Archelaus, 
 that monarch admitted him to his intimacy; but, returning one 
 night from visiting the king, he was torn by dogs set on him 
 by a rival, and died of his wounds. The Macedonians treated his 
 memory and his tomb with great respect, proud that so eminent a 
 poet had been buried in their country ; so that when ambassadors 
 were sent to them by the Athenians, requesting that his bones 
 might be sent back to Athens, his native land, the Macedonians 
 unanimously persisted in denying the request. Such is the account 
 given by Aulus Gellius, but Suidas denies its truth, and asserts, on 
 the authority of Philochorus, that the mother of Euripides was of 
 a very noble family. Valerius Maximus so far contradicts Suidas 
 | as to affirm that the tale of the low descent of Euripides was 
 believed by almost all learned men. The incident of the poet’s 
 death is related by Suidas : his assailant was some courtier, who 
 suspected that he had done him ill offices with the king, their 
 common master. Writers, however, are by no means agreed as to 
 the manner of his death. Some simply say that he died in Mace- 
 donia, others that he was torn in pieces by women. The Athenians, 
 not being able to recover his bones, erected a statue to his honour. 
 In the Crystal Palace are statues of the three great dramatists — 
 iEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides. 
 
 It was the custom for wealthy individuals to give gratuitously 
 musical and theatrical entertainments ; he who did so was called 
 choragns, and the monuments erected to commemorate his liberality 
 were called choragia. Some have called the monument raised in 
 honour of Lysicrates the "Lantern of Demosthenes;” but the 
 inscription on the frieze not only contains the name of Lysicrates, 
 but designates him as clioragus. 
 
 Another remarkable object in the Greek Court is the bas-relief 
 representing the “ Battle of the Amazons.” This event is com- 
 memorated on the four sides of a sarcophagus. It is said to have 
 been brought from Lacedceinon by Don John of Austria, natural 
 son of Charles V., after his signal victory over the Turks, at 
 Lepanto. Speaking of the Sauromatrc, who were also called Sar- 
 matce, or Sarmatians, Herodotus ( Melpomene , c. cx.), gives the 
 following account of the Amazons : — “ In a contest which the Greeks 
 had with the Amazons, whom the Scythians call Oiorpata, or, as it 
 may be interpreted, men-slayers (for oior signifies a man, and patu, 
 to kill), they obtained a victory over them at Thermodon. On their 
 return, as many Amazons as they were enabled to make captive 
 they distributed in three vessels ; these, when they were out at sea, 
 rose against their conquerors, and put them all to death ; but as 
 they were totally ignorant of navigation, and knew nothing at all 
 of the management of either helms, sails, or oars, they were obliged 
 to resign themselves to the winds and the tide, which carried them 
 to Chremnes, near the Palus Mccotis, a place inhabited by the free 
 Scythians. The Amazons here disembarked, and advanced towards 
 the part which was inhabited ; and meeting with a stud of horses 
 on their route, they immediately seized them, and, mounted on 
 these, proceeded to plunder the Scythians. The Scythians were 
 unable to explain what had happened, being neither acquainted 
 with the language, dress, nor the country of the invaders. Under 
 
120 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 the impression that they were a body of men nearly of the same 
 age as themselves, they offered them battle. The result was that, 
 having taken some prisoners, they discovered them to be women.” 
 The Scythians then adopted a pacific stratagem, which resulted in 
 the marriage of the two sexes ; but the Scythians did not return to 
 their country, for, in the words of Herodotus, the Amazons addressed 
 them in the following terms : — “ ‘ We cannot associate with your 
 females, whose manners are so different from our own ; we are 
 expert in the use of the javelin and the bow, and accustomed to 
 ride on horseback, but we are ignorant of all feminine employments ; 
 your women are very differently accomplished — instructed in female 
 arts, they pass their time in their waggons, and despise the chase 
 with all similar exercises ; we cannot therefore live with them. If 
 you really desire to retain us as your wives, and to behave your- 
 selves honestly towards us, return to your parents, dispose of your 
 property, and afterwards come 
 back to us, and we will live 
 together at a distance from your 
 other connexions.’ The young 
 men approved of this advice; 
 they accordingly took their share 
 of the property which belonged 
 to them, and returned to the 
 Amazons, by whom they were 
 thus addressed : — 1 Our resi- 
 dence here causes us much terror 
 and uneasiness ; we have not 
 only deprived you of your pa- 
 rents, but have greatly w’asted 
 your country. As you think us 
 worthy of being your wives, let 
 us leave this place, and dwell 
 beyond the Tanais.’ With this 
 the young Scythians complied, 
 and, having passed the Tanais, 
 marched forward a three days’ 
 journey towards the east, and 
 three more, from the Palus Mce- 
 otis, towards the north. Here 
 they fixed themselves, and now 
 remain.” 
 
 This fancied community of 
 women has given rise to much 
 curious speculation. Penthesilea 
 and Camilla are well known to 
 the readers of Homer and Virtjil 
 as famous female warriors ; and, 
 indeed, among barbarous tribes 
 women constantly fought by the 
 side of their husbands ; but that 
 an exclusive community could 
 ever have existed is almost im- 
 possible. Justin describes the 
 Amazons as a colony of exiled 
 Scythians, established on the 
 coast of the Euxine, in Cappa- 
 docia, near the river Thermodon ; 
 and as they were very trouble- 
 some, a force was 6ent against 
 
 them, by which all the men 
 were massacred. This accounts 
 for a community of widows and spinsters ; but, as Major Rennell asks, 
 in his geographical work on Herodotus, how could it be perpetuated? 
 However, in another passage (Calliope), Herodotus makes the 
 Athenian deputies state, when demanding to lead one of the right 
 wings of the Grecian army that fought at Platcea against the 
 rival pretensions of the Tegeans, who had claimed that post of 
 honour, that their ancestors had repulsed the Amazons, who had 
 advanced from the river Thermodon to invade Attica. The learned 
 Bryant says, in his mythology, that the Amazons killed every man 
 with whom they had connection. 
 
 The “ Marriage of Peleus and Thetis ” is described on a marble 
 sarcophagus. Fable relates that Jupiter was enamoured of the 
 sea-goddess Thetis, but an oracle having declared that she would 
 be the mother of a son greater than his father, he desisted from his 
 suit. It was thereupon determined that she should marry a mortal, 
 
 and Peleus was selected. From this union sprang Achilles. This 
 story is connected with another, involving the fall of Troy. All the 
 immortals were invited to this marriage excepting Eris, the goddess 
 of Strife, who, irritated at her exclusion, threw a golden apple 
 among the guests, with an inscription on it, directing it to be given 
 to the most beautiful person in the company. Juno, Minerva, and 
 Venus each claimed the prize ; and Paris, one of the sons of Priam, 
 who was then tending sheep on Mount Ida, was appointed umpire 
 by Jupiter. Mercury conducted the three goddesses to the shepherd 
 prince, each of whom offered him a bribe in their desire to 
 possess the golden apple: — Juno offered him a mighty kingdom ; 
 Minerva wisdom ; and Venus the most beautiful woman in the 
 world for his wife. He awarded the prize to Venus, and sub- 
 sequently carried off Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. 
 These are the principal subjects delineated on the sarcophagus ; but 
 in addition to them are figures 
 of the four seasons — Winter, 
 Spring, Summer, and Autumn. 
 
 The “ Perseus and Andro- 
 meda” is in alto-relievo, and 
 illustrates another of the beauti- 
 ful fictions of antiquity. An- 
 dromeda was the daughter of 
 Cepheus and Cassiopmia; and 
 her mother boasted that she 
 surpassed the Nereids in beauty. 
 Neptune, indignant at this insult 
 offered to the fair sex of his 
 watery dominions, devastated 
 the country by a huge marine 
 monster ; and the oracle de- 
 clared that the offence of the 
 mother could only be expiated 
 by surrendering the daughter 
 to this brute. She was ac- 
 cordingly chained to a rock, 
 but Perseus, the son of Jupiter 
 and Danae, slew the monster, 
 and married Andromeda. It 
 had been foretold that Da- 
 nae’s son would kill his grand- 
 father, Acrisius, who locked 
 his daughter up in a brazen 
 tower, into which Jupiter de- 
 scended in the form of a 
 golden showei*. This fable is 
 the subject of Horace’s well- 
 known ode.* The prediction of 
 the oracle was confirmed in a 
 singular manner: — Perseus in- 
 vented the quoit, and was fond 
 of displaying his skill with it 
 on every occasion. He went to 
 Larissa, and there indulging in 
 this amusement, accidentally 
 killed his grandfather, “ whose 
 evil demon,” says Pausanias, 
 “ brought him just then unper- 
 ceived in his way.” 
 
 The characters of alphabeti- 
 cal writing underwent many 
 changes in Greece, and the antiquarian derives great assistance 
 from this fact in determining the age of a monument. Pausanias 
 alludes to an old style of writing preserved on the chest of 
 Cypselus, which his posterity dedicated in Olympia. He says the 
 inscriptions on the chest “ are for the most part written in ancient 
 characters ; and of these characters some are straight, but others 
 are in that shape which the Greeks called boustropheclon, from the 
 bending of oxen when ploughing; but they are bent as follow — 
 from the end of one verse another follows in a retrograde order, 
 just as in the course of the repeated stadium. There are, likewise, 
 other inscriptions on the same chest, which are written in winding 
 characters, difficult to be understood.” At the Louvre, in Paris, is 
 an ancient sculpture taken from a temple at ASgina, on which are 
 
 * “ Inclusam Danaen turris ahenea,” &c. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 121 
 
 inscribed the names of Agamemnon, Talthybius, and Epeus, written 
 in a somewhat circular form, which style leads to an approximate 
 period for their antiquity. 
 
 What is called the Alginetan age runs from 490 to 466 b.c. 
 “The Alginette,” writes Pausanias, “inhabit that island which 
 is opposite to Epidauria. They report that this island was not 
 at first immediately inhabited, but that while it was yet a soli- 
 tary place, JEgina, the daughter of Asopus, was brought into 
 it by Jupiter, and that it was denominated from her, as prior to 
 this it was called ALnone. As soon, however, as ASacus ai'rived 
 at years of maturity, he l'equested Jupiter to furnish the island 
 with inhabitants ; and Jupiter, in compliance with his request, 
 caused men to rise out of the earth, in order to people the 
 island.” Such is the fabulous origin of Algina. While ASacus 
 lived, Greece was afflicted with a dryness in the soil, arising from j 
 
 of Panhellenian Jupiter was a temple of Aphma, who was the same 
 as the Dictymne of the Cretans. The temple of Panhellenian 
 Jupiter is supposed to have been dedicated by zEacus. In zEgina 
 were also the statues of Auxesia and Lamia, to which Pausanias 
 offered sacrifice ; and he says that the form of sacrifice was the 
 same as at Eleusis. The fact is that Auxesia and Lamia were 
 identical with Ceres and Proserpine, reverenced at the Eleusinian 
 mysteries. Herodotus calls them Damia and Auxesia, goddesses 
 who imparted fertility to the soil. These statues once belonged to 
 the Epidaurians, and were formed of the wood of the garden olive, 
 which they had obtained from the Athenians, but when the 
 zEginetce conquered the Epidaurians, they removed those statues to 
 a place called (Ea, in the centre of their territory. 
 
 Pausanias expressly declares that “ the mountain Panhellenius 
 I contains nothing, except the Temple of Jupiter, which is worthy of 
 
 TEMPLE OF MINERVA, iEGINA. 
 
 excessive heat, which destroyed all vegetation. The oracle at 
 Delphi was consulted, and the Pythian directed that Jupiter would 
 be propitiated through the intercession of Abacus. In consequence, 
 all the cities of Greece sent deputies to zEacus, imploring him to 
 act as mediator, who sacrificed and prayed to Panhellenian Jupiter, 
 and rain immediately fell. To commemorate this event, the statues 
 of the ambassadors were erected in the most conspicuous part of the 
 city, in an inclosure called the ASaceum, which Pausanias describes 
 as a square built of white stone. 
 
 It has already been observed that the deity most reverenced by 
 the ASginetm was Hecate, whose mysteries, were celebrated every 
 year. Pausanias also mentions temples dedicated to Apollo, to 
 Diana, and to Bacchus. In the first was a naked wooden statue of 
 the god, but those of Bacchus and Diana were clothed. The Bacchus 
 had a beard. The statue of Asculapius is also mentioned, which 
 was of stone, in a sitting posture. On the road leading to the hill 
 
 i description;” but in 1811, an important discovery was made by 
 Mr. Cockerell, at ASgina, who met there, during an artistic tour, 
 Baron Haller and other German gentlemen, well versed in the 
 productions of antiquity. They investigated the ruins of Panhel- 
 lenium, and lighted on the Temple of Minerva, the remains of which 
 we have engraved. It may here be observed that the Selinuntine 
 sculptures, to which we have already referred, relate to the metopes 
 only, while the Alginetan relate to the pediments only. Eleven 
 figures form a group in the pediment at the west end of the Temple 
 of Minerva ; at the eastern end, only five sculptured figures were 
 found. These are supposed by some critics to represent two periods 
 in a contest between the Greeks and Trojans for the body of 
 Fatroclus, slain by Hector. The figure of Minerva dominates over 
 all. Other critics refer these groups to other historical events, but 
 it is unprofitable to multiply conjectures where every hypothesis 
 may be rendered more or less plausible. 
 
 71 
 
122 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 THE MEDIAEVAL COURT. 
 
 The early Christians, fearful of persecution, worshipped in the 
 old quarries or catacombs of Rome, where also they buried their 
 dead. In later times, they built churches over these places, which 
 were deemed sacred, as containing the ashes of saints and martyrs. 
 These subterranean vaults in process of time became chapels, and 
 church architecture, from these circumstances, embraced as one of 
 its distinguishing features what are known as “ crypts.” 
 
 Constantine founded several churches at Rome, Byzantium, and 
 other places, which were constructed on the model of the Roman 
 basilica, of which there were nineteen at Rome, used as courts of 
 justice or exchanges for merchants. In the fifth century, the Roman 
 style of building was imitated in Gaul. Gregory of Tours relates ^ 
 that, in the reign of Childeric, Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours, built a j 
 new church over the tomb of St. Martin, having pulled down the 
 old one, which was small and unworthy of the dignity of the saint. | 
 It was 155 feet in length, 60 in breadth, and 45 in height. In the j 
 whole edifice there were fifty-two windows, 120 columns, and eight 
 doors, three in the sanctuary, and five in the body of the church. 
 
 The next historical epoch ranges from Clovis to Charlemagne. 
 Clovis founded the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul (now St. Gene- 
 vieve) without the walls of Paris, which he began to build A.D. ; 
 507 ; the church and abbey of St. Peter, at Chartres ; that of 
 St. Mesmin, at Orleans, and some others of inferior size. His son 
 Childebert built, in the neighbourhood of Paris, the church and 
 abbey of St. Vincent, afterwards called St. Germain des Pres ; while 
 his brother Clotaire began the Church of St. Medard, at Soissons, 
 which was finished by his son Sigebert. The churches of this 
 period in France, though small in size, were solid in construction, 
 and continued to exhibit the form of the Roman churches of the age 
 of Constantine and his more immediate successors. Their charac- 
 teristic features are thus described by the Rev. G. 1). Whittington, in 
 his Historical Survey of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of France : — 
 
 “ Their shape was oblong, with a semicircular termination at the 
 western extremity; and occasionally, but rarely, it assumed the 
 figure of a cross. The roof was supported by internal porticoes of 
 stone and marble columns, and externally covered with lead, or, in 
 some instances with gilt tiles. The sanctuary and the coved ceiling 
 of the apsis were encrusted with marble and mosaic-work, and a 
 similar decoration was sometimes given to the western front. The 
 walls were not unfrequently embellished, and the sculptures relieved 
 by painting; the windows, which were often glazed, were narrow 
 and round-headed, like those of the contemporary churches of Italy ; 
 and the pediment of the western front was generally perforated 
 with a circular aperture or simple ornament, which was afterwards 
 expanded into the beautiful rose windows so much admired in the 
 cathedrals of later times.” 
 
 It is doubted whether professed architects existed in those times. 
 Abbots frequently drew a plan, and the clergy executed the mosaics, 
 carving, smelting, and painting. Felibien, who wrote a biogra- 
 phical and critical work on the most celebrated architects, says that 
 “ in France at this period there were no artists superior to common 
 masons, who knew little more than to mix the mortar and prepare 
 the materials.” During the seventh century, architecture continued 
 to improve. Under Clotaire II., in the year 613, the divided sove- 
 reignties of France were again united, the result of which was 
 internal tranquillity favourable to the arts. This was the epoch at 
 which St. Eloy rose into notice. In the reigns of Dagobert and 
 Clovis II., he had pursued the calling of a goldsmith and architect, 
 but Clotaire III., made him bishop of Noyon. St. Eloy understood 
 the arts of construction very well for the age in which he lived, 
 planning several churches, nunneries, and monasteries ; but he is 
 chiefly celebrated for the magnificent shrines of gold, silver, and 
 precious stones which he created after receiving the mitre. The 
 shrines most noted are those of St. Denis, at Paris, and of 
 St. Martin, of Tours. He died in the year 663. The Church of 
 St. Denis was built by Dagobert. 
 
 The Abbey-Church, or Cathedral of St. Denis, which subsequently 
 became the burial-place of the Bourbon kings of France, was com- 
 menced by Pepin, and completed by his son Charlemagne in 775. 
 It is thus described by the Rev. Mr. Whittington : — “ It is built in 
 a strong, but heavy manner, and with great neatness of execution ; 
 a capital, however, of one of the columns should be noticed, as it 
 
 affords an illustration of the architecture of the times. This piece of 
 sculpture exhibits the section of a church in which a priest, assisted 
 by some others, is performing his devotions before an altar, which 
 is covered with cloth. It is divided by a range of columns which 
 support round arches. The artist has contrived in the same piece 
 to show the west front of the building, which is flanked by two 
 towers a little higher than the church, full of small round-headed 
 windows, like the Lombard towers of Rome, and finished, like them, 
 with low roofs. The space between the towers is occupied by 
 another window in the same style, but of larger dimensions. The 
 great entrance of the present Church of St. Denis, which is round- 
 arched, and of high antiquity, is also asserted to be a remnant of 
 the structure of Pepin and Charlemagne.” 
 
 The next epoch in French Mediaeval art ranges from Charlemagne 
 to Robert the Pious. “ If Charlemagne,” says Gibbon, “ had fixed 
 in Italy the seat of the western empire, his genius would have 
 aspired to restore, rather than violate, the works of the Ciesars ; but 
 as policy confined the French monarch to the forests of Germany, 
 his taste could be gratified only by destruction, and the new palace 
 and church of Aix-la-Chapelle were decorated with the marbles of 
 Ravenna and Rome. It was from the church generally called 
 ‘ Capella’ that the town received the name of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 The halls of his palace were decorated with the most costly orna- 
 ments, and marble basins were formed to receive the hot springs in 
 which the emperor delighted to bathe.” The works of Charlemagne 
 excelled in taste and beauty all those constructed by preceding 
 French monarchs ; and it is probable that he employed Italian artists 
 to imitate, so far as they were able, the monuments of Rome, 
 although Roman architecture had fallen into the lowest state ot 
 degradation since the fourth century; nor did it begin to revive till 
 the eleventh century, when Greek artists from Constantinople visited 
 the commercial towns in the north of Italy. The churches, there- 
 fore, of the age of Chai’lemagne were examples of barbarous 
 deformity. In them beautiful columns supported diminutive arches; 
 uncouth paintings rather disfigured than embellished the walls. 
 Pillars of different proportions were sometimes placed in the same 
 line ; the narrow windows only admitted a glimmering light; the 
 pavements were uneven ; the timbers of the roof were left without 
 ceiling or ornament. Still there was improvement, and an example 
 of the growing taste for the antique is found in the tomb of Charle- 
 magne, which is ornamented with an alto-relievo of the Rape of 
 Proserpine, copied from a pagan sarcophagus. 
 
 Among the memorable works of Charlemagne was a bridge of 
 500 paces, which he built across the Rhine at Mayence. His palaces 
 at Ingelheim, near Mayence, and at Nimeguen, on the Waal, were, 
 at the time, deemed magnificent structures. He formed the gigantic 
 project of opening a communication between the Ocean and the 
 Black Sea by uniting the Danube and the Rhine. 
 
 It was during the reign of his son Louis that Ebo, Bishop of 
 Rheims, began to rebuild his cathedral, which had become dila- 
 pidated, in which he was assisted by Rumalde, the king’s architect. 
 At the end of his reign, and under his successors of the Carlovingian 
 race, the advancement of the arts was checked by the incursions of 
 the Normans, who destroyed the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen, 
 and the Cathedral of Chartres ; demolished St. Genevieve, at Paris ; 
 ruined St.Martin, at Tours; pillaged theAbbey of Mount St. Michael, 
 and fired, on several occasions, the Abbey of St. Germain des Pres. 
 
 The buildings of the ninth and tenth centuries were imitated 
 from those of Charlemagne. In the tenth century a general belief 
 prevailed that the term of a thousand years mentioned in the 
 Apocalypse had arrived, and that the world would shortly be 
 destroyed. In consequence of this belief new buildings were not 
 commenced, and the old fell into decay for want of repair. The 
 only exception was the Abbey of Clugny, built about the year 910 
 by Berno, Abbot of Balme, with the assistance of William, Duke of 
 Acquitaine and Auvergne. Felibien gives its dimensions. Its 
 length was 620 feet, it had two transepts, the upper 200 feet, the 
 latter 120 feet long. The tomb of St. Hugo, and the painting of 
 the apsis, a work of the twelfth century, but designed with great 
 spirit and freedom, are remains of antiquity particularly worthy of 
 attention. 
 
 After this dread of the earth’s destruction had passed away, 
 

THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 123 
 
 ecclesiastical structures rose in great numbers, and church archi- 
 tecture was warmly patronised by Robert the Pious. Through his 
 aid, St. Germain des Pres was rebuilt, and St. Genevieve restored. 
 In the eleventh century, Fulbert rebuilt the Cathedral of Chartres, 
 assisted by Canute, King of England, and Richard, Duke of Nor- 
 mandy. Felibien gives the dimensions of the Cathedral of Chartres. 
 The length was 420 feet, and the height 10S ; the nave 48 feet 
 wide, with aisles of 184 feet wide, and 42 feet high; on each side 
 of the choir the aisles were double, and the transept, 210 feet long, 
 contained aisles, which seems to have been the first instance of this 
 magnificent arrangement in France. There were seven chapels in 
 the chevet, and the crypts and lower church were built with great 
 art and regularity. St. Remi, at Rheims, was consecrated in 1049, 
 and the cathedral at Seez, in 1050. 
 
 The French style of architecture in the eleventh century was 
 modelled on that of preceding centuries, though the constructions 
 were on a larger scale and more solid. With some few exceptions, the 
 oldest buildings now existing in France are to be traced to this era, 
 as St. Germain des Pres, St. Benigne, at Dijon, the cathedral at 
 Chartres, La Charite sur Loire, and Clugny. The Abbey-Church of 
 St. Stephen, raised by William the Conqueror, at Caen, and that of 
 the Holy Trinity, founded in the same city by his queen Matilda, 
 are the principal examples on the continent of that peculiar manner 
 of building which was introduced into England by the Norman 
 prelates at the end of the eleventh century. 
 
 The Crusades now commenced, and were followed by a change in 
 the arms, dress, and architecture of every nation in Europe. 
 
 In the course of the twelfth century, the pointed arch began to 
 show itself in the edifices of France and the neighbouring countries. 
 Among the earliest instances of this new style in France we may 
 notice the works of Suger, Abbot of St. Denis, which were begun in 
 1137. About the same period was laid the foundation of the church 
 and monastery of the Knights Templars, at Paris. 
 
 In the same centuiy Maurice de Sully, Bishop of Paris, was 
 engaged in constructing the eastern part of the Cathedral of Notre 
 Dame, a work which was carried on with great spirit by his 
 successors, though not completed till two centuries had elapsed. 
 The church and monastery of St. Genevieve were repaired and com- 
 pleted between 1177 and 1192. It has been stated that in the 
 twelfth century French architecture underwent a complete change ; 
 during that period it exhibited three distinct characters; at the 
 beginning of the century the old Lombard mode was in practice ; 
 towards the middle this became mixed with the new fashion of the 
 pointed arch, and before the end, the ancient heavy manner was 
 everywhere discontinued, and the new, airy, unmixed Gothic uni- 
 versally adopted. 
 
 It was in the thirteenth century that the ecclesiastical archi- 
 tecture of France reached the highest point of excellence to which 
 it attained during the middle ages. The most sumptuous churches 
 which now adorn the French cities were constructed in that period. 
 Among these, the cathedral at Rheims began to display the graceful 
 lightness of the new style ; the Church of St. Nicaise, in the same 
 city, was commenced ; at Lyons, the body of the cathedral was 
 completed ; the Cathedral of Amiens, the pride and boast of Gothic 
 architecture, was reared by Robert de Lusarches, Thomas de 
 Cormont, and his son Regnault — while the works of Notre Dame, at 
 Paris, were carried on by Jean de Chelles; Pierre de Montereau 
 was then employed in beautifying the chapel and refectory of 
 St. Germain des Pres. Eudes de Montereau, among other works, 
 built the Church of Notre Dame, at Paris, remarkable for the bold- 
 ness with which the vaulting of the ceiling is pitched. The height 
 of the roof from the pavement is ninety-six feet. The number of 
 ecclesiastical edifices raised in France during the reign of St. Louis 
 exceeded all former or subsequent example. 
 
 The abbots of the Cistercian order, who rebuilt the Church of 
 Notre Dame des Dunes, in Flanders, must be reckoned among the 
 architects of the thirteenth century. The foundations were laid in 
 1214 by Pierre, the seventh abbot of the convent, and the work was 
 continued by its successors till its completion in 1264. The whole 
 of this edifice was erected by the monks themselves, assisted by the 
 lay brothers and servants, amounting in all to more than eighty 
 persons; and this fact deserves to be noticed as a curious instance 
 of the arts being generally studied and practised in a monastery at 
 so late a period. 
 
 Robert de Coucy completed the Church of St. Nicaise, and the 
 cathedral at Rheims. The cathedral at Strasburg was finished in 
 
 1275, from the designs of Erwin de Steinbach. Two years after- 
 wards the same architect began to raise the tower which, after his 
 death in 1306, was carried on by John Hilts of Cologne, and 
 completed in 1449 by an architect of Suabia, whose name is 
 unknown. 
 
 The Gothic style ceased in France during the fourteenth century. 
 In the two following centuries, France was devastated by the wars 
 which the English carried into the heart of the country, and by the 
 divisions and factions of the French nobility. However, in the 
 earlier part of the fourteenth century, and before the invasion by 
 Edward III. of England, the Church of St. Ouen, at Rome, justly 
 celebrated for the delicacy with which the ornamental parts are 
 executed, was begun to be rebuilt by the abbot, Jean Marc 
 D’Argent, in 1318. The Cathedral of Bourges was erected in its 
 present form in 1324, by Bishop William de Brousse. The collegiate 
 church of St. Sepulchre was begun in 1326. At the beginning of 
 the century, Jean Ravy was employed for twenty-six years at the 
 Cathedral of Notre Dame, at Paris, completing what Jean de Chelles 
 had left unfinished, or, perhaps, enlarging his design. The chapels 
 on the north side of the nave are supposed to have been erected 
 about this time. 
 
 Charles Y. completed the Chateau of Vincennes, founded by 
 Philip Augustus in 1185. The great tower was begun by Philip de 
 Valois in 1361, and carried by King John to the third story. 
 Charles V. also built the Chateau of St. Germain en Laye, and 
 founded the royal library of France, placing in it 120 volumes, in 
 one of the towers of the Louvre, then called the “ Tour de la 
 Librairie.” His successor, Charles VI., built the Abbey of Bonport 
 about the year 1387. 
 
 The architecture of France in the fourteenth century differed 
 in many of its features from that of the thirteenth. The latter 
 style was not immediately disused ; several alterations of character, 
 however, gradually appeared, particularly with regard to the 
 mullion-work of the heads of the windows, which in the thirteenth 
 century were ornamented with six foils or roses, generally three in 
 each window; in the fourteenth they were branched forth into the 
 form of leaves, and the compartments of the round windows at the 
 ends of churches assumed the same fanciful appearance. In some 
 places we may also observe a richer decoration given to the vaulting 
 of roofs. Similar alterations took place about the same time in Eng- 
 land, where, from more fortunate circumstances, they were carried 
 to a higher state of magnificence and perfection. In the fifteenth 
 century, we may also notice some specimens of tracery in sepulchral 
 monuments and chapels. In the chapel of Charles de Bourbon, 
 Archbishop of Lyons, in the cathedral of that city, is a beautiful 
 instance of this sort, and one of the latest works in the Gothic taste 
 which were produced in France. Charles de Bourbon died in 1478. 
 
 We have now arrived at an epoch when Medievalism began to 
 be superseded by what is called the “ Renaissance.” The transition 
 is thus described by Mr. Whittington, who has been our principal 
 guide in the preceding historic narrative : — “ The time had now 
 arrived when this beautiful species of architecture, which had been 
 successfully cultivated for the space of three centuries, and which has 
 left fabrics that are still the boast and wonder of the principal cities 
 of Europe, was no longer to be practised ; a new era in the arts was 
 arising in Italy ; the Gothic manner in painting, sculpture, and 
 building began to disappear, and a taste for imitating the works of 
 antiquity was universally diffused. The Italian artists, struck with 
 the noble remains by which they were surrounded, had for some 
 time laboured to throw off the fantastic style of the middle ages ; 
 Gothic architecture, from various causes, had been practised among 
 them with less effect than in other parts of Europe, and they were 
 possessed of better models to excite and assist them in restoring the 
 taste of ancient Rome. Brunelleschi was the first who endeavoured 
 to reform his countrymen in this respect ; and the great minds 
 which were devoted to the arts in the fifteenth century, produced a 
 total revolution in all their branches. Painting and sculpture soon 
 arrived at excellence ; but although the Gothic mode of building 
 was laid aside, the style by which it was succeeded had little or no 
 pretensions to classical beauty. Its chief and characteristic beauties 
 consisted in earnest imitations of the arabesque designs with which 
 Raphael had adorned the galleries of the Vatican — an idea which 
 he had derived from the frescoes in the baths of Liviu and Titus. 
 The richness and variety of these fanciful decorations were well 
 suited to the eyes of those who had been too much accustomed to 
 a profusion of ornament to relish at once a purer and more simple 
 
124 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 taste. The political influence which at that time connected France 
 and Italy facilitated the transmission of these innovations, and the 
 reign of Louis XII. was marked by the total abandonment of the 
 Gothic manner, and the adoption of the new, which at the begin- 
 ning of the sixteenth century was successfully practised by a 
 numerous and able school of French artists.” 
 
 French students were now sent to Rome to make themselves 
 masters of the new style, among the earliest and most eminent of 
 whom were Jean Texier of Chartres, Frangois Marchand of 
 Orleans, Frangois Gentil of Troyes, and Jean Juste. These were 
 indebted to the munificence of the Cardinal D’Amboise, and after- 
 wards employed by that minister in ornamenting his palace. The 
 Chateau Gaillon exhibits the most perfect example of the taste 
 which prevailed at that time. 
 
 superstition of the age, were afraid that St. Vincent would work 
 some miracle to their discomfiture, and granted peace on condition 
 of their receiving the holy shirt of St. Vincent. With this rich 
 spoil Childebert returned in triumph to Paris, and he also displayed 
 as a trophy a large cross which he had taken at Toledo. Soon after 
 his arrival, St. Germain, Bishop of Paris, persuaded him to build 
 a church in honour of those sacred emblems. The site was chosen 
 in a meadow on the banks of the Seine ; the structure was com- 
 menced in the year 557, and finished in the following year. It was 
 called St. Germain after the name of the bishop, and Des Pres from 
 the meadow in which it was erected. However, it was not till after 
 the death of the bishop that the church took his name, as it was 
 originally called the “ Holy Cross,” or the Church of St. Vincent and 
 the Holy Cross. 
 
 FRENCH MEDI. 
 
 After this general sketch of French Medieval art, we shall give ] 
 a brief historical view of its principal specimens of ecclesiastical ! 
 architecture, commencing with — 
 
 The Abbey-Church of St. Germain des Pres. — In the sixth 
 century, Childebert declared war against Theudis, king of the 
 Visigoths, and invested Saragossa. The inhabitants, reduced to 
 the last extremity, were nevertheless unwilling to surrender; but 
 aware that they could not offer a protracted resistance, they made a 
 solemn procession round the walls, carrying the holy shirt of St. 
 Vincent, who had been one of their countrymen. A peasant, who 
 had attempted to escape from the beleagured town, was seized and 
 taken into the presence of the French prince ; he explained the 
 nature and object of the procession which had been witnessed from 
 the camp of the besiegers. The French leaders, infected with the 
 
 :jeval court. 
 
 i This edifice is described in terms of considerable magnificence by 
 the old writers. The cruciform shape was adopted in honour of the 
 cross of Toledo ; the fabric was sustained by large marble columns, 
 the ceiling was gilt, the walls were painted on a gold ground, the 
 pavement was composed of rich mosaic, and the roof externally 
 covered with gold ; in consequence of this profuse splendour it was 
 called St. Germain le Dore. Considering the state of society when 
 this edifice was built, a pardonable scepticism may fairly consider 
 the description as surcharged with exaggeration, the more so as it 
 was written two centuries after the church had been twice fired by 
 the Normans. The marble pillars were probably of stone, the gold 
 we may suspect was gilt bronze, and the ceiling, as was common at 
 that time, was most likely composed of naked timbers, which had 
 received some polish. Lead may have been used, and as it was then 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 125 
 
 scarce and dear, some ornamentation with that material may have 
 acquired for the church the title of “Dore.” 
 
 In the year 990, the Abbot Morard pulled it down, on account of 
 its dilapidated condition, and rebuilt it from the foundations, leaving 
 the main structure nearly as it is at present. He died in 1014, but 
 the new church was not dedicated till 1063, when that ceremony 
 was performed by Pope Alexander III., who had taken refuge in 
 France. A new refectory was commenced by Abbot Simon, in 1236, 
 and in 1244 the grand Chapel of the Virgin was undertaken. These 
 exquisite specimens of Gothic architecture were built from the 
 designs of Pierre de Montereau, and are remarkable examples of 
 his extraordinary taste and skill. In 1555, the high altar, dedicated 
 by Pope Alexander III., was destroyed to erect another in the style 
 of the sixteenth century. In 1646, the building had fallen into 
 dilapidation ; many parts of the ceiling were broken and the pave- 
 ment had sunk. The restoration of the church was consequently 
 undertaken : the nave was for the first time vaulted with stone, 
 and the vaulting of the transept renewed ; the pillars were orna- 
 mented with composite capitals, and some of the windows enlarged. 
 
 occurs in the crypt of St. Denis, in the choir of the Church of La 
 Charite sur Loire, and at the east end of Canterbury Cathedral, 
 built between 1180 and 1185, “ Where,” says Mr. Gostling, “the 
 arches are some circular, others mitred ; for the distances between 
 the pillars thus diminishing gradually as we go eastward, the 
 arches, being all of the same height, are mitred (that is pointed) 
 to comply with this fancy, so that the angles of the eastern ones 
 are very acute.” 
 
 The Cathedral of Notre Dame was the work of several cen- 
 turies, but was principally erected at the close of the twelfth and 
 during the thirteenth century. Its foundation, however, was laid by 
 Childebert, in the year 522, who dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin. 
 The earliest structure was ruined by the Normans. The foundation 
 of the present cathedral, in the year 1010, is referred to King Robert 
 the Pious, but it was neglected after his death. In 1165 it was 
 greatly extended by Maurice de Sully, Archbishop of Paris, who 
 is considered the principal author of the present edifice. Pierre 
 de Nemours, who died in 1220, is supposed to have finished the 
 nave and west front, and his successors of the thirteenth century 
 
 ENGLISH MED LEV AL COURT. 
 
 The original character of the edifice, however, underwent but little 
 change, and it still presents a striking and curious exhibition of the 
 architecture of France at the beginning of the eleventh century. 
 The western tower is thought by many French antiquarians to be 
 part of the edifice of Childebert ; others refer it to the age of Pepin 
 and Charlemagne. The portal of this tower is decorated with 
 statues, but their date is disputed, some believing them to represent 
 Childebert and his family. They are very uncouth. The interior 
 is low and gloomy. The Rev. G. D. Whittington remarks — “ Here 
 columns support a series of round arches, except in the semicircular 
 arcade at the eastern end of the church, where they are pointed in 
 consequence of the arrangement of the pillars, which being placed 
 in the bow nearer each other than where the colonnade proceeds in 
 a straight direction, the arches rising from them, when brought to 
 an equal height with those of a round shape, become necessarily 
 pointed ; and this is among a number of instances where the 
 pointed arch was used from accident or necessity before it had be- 
 come an object of taste.” He adds that the same circumstance 
 
 completed the necessary addition of the transepts ; that to the 
 south was begun in 1257. Such are the principal eras of this great 
 work, but the building of chapels was continued during the greater 
 part of the fourteenth century. This structure is particularly heavy 
 from the plainness and thickness of the buttresses, and principally 
 from the want of relief and finish in the towers. The interior is 
 heavy from the mixture of styles. The body of the cathedral is 
 divided into five aisles by four ranges of Lombard columns ; these 
 columns are for the most part of gross and clumsy proportions, and 
 the Gothic work in general is without ornament or beauty; its 
 size, therefore, is the principal source of magnificence of which it 
 can boast. It has a peculiar attraction in its three marigold win- 
 dows, and painted glass. The Crystal Palace contains a series of 
 sculptures illustrating the “ Life of Christ,” taken from the choir ; 
 four medallions from the Chapel of St. Stephen, in the cathedral, 
 above which is the figure of the Proto-Martyr, and twelve seated 
 figures from the same chapel. There is also a fine series of scrip- 
 tural subjects, displaying the style of early Gothic art. 
 
 k K 
 
126 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 The Abbey of St. Genevieve was built ou a small island of 
 the Seine, where the ancient Celts had founded a town, and where 
 now stands the centre of Paris. This island, called “L’Isle de la 
 Cite,” still retains the metropolitan church and the Palace of 
 Justice, which was the ancient residence of the Counts of Paris. 
 Here many of the Roman emperors fixed their winter quarters, 
 particularly Julian. After his conversion, Clovis brought his 
 treasures to Paris, and there fixed his residence. He built a palace 
 in the southern suburb of the city, and near to it a church in 
 honour of St. Peter and St. Paul, where he was interred. His 
 epitaph states that he engaged in this pious work at the entreaty 
 ot his wife, Clotilda, and of Madame Sancte Genevieve, whose 
 legend abounds in miracles. Her history, however, is deemed a 
 monkish fable, and her name supposed to be a corruption of Janua 
 Nova. The original structure was partially burnt by the Normans. 
 It was repaired by Robert the Pious, in the eleventh century. This 
 monument is valuable as exhibiting the exact shape of the early 
 French churches, and as affording a specimen of the narrow lancet 
 window, which is very rare in France. 
 
 St. Denis. — St. Dionysius or Denis, has been considered the 
 first preacher of the Gospel to the Gauls, and to have terminated 
 his career by martyrdom. His persecutors ordered that his body, 
 and the bodies of his two associates, Rusticus and Eleutherius, 
 should be thrown into the Seine. The persons who were to carry 
 this command into effect were invited to the house of a woman 
 named Catalla, who offered them refreshment, and while they were 
 partaking of it, she desired her servants to carry off the bodies, and 
 bury them in a field six miles distant from Paris. This was done. 
 Catalla then sowed the field with wheat to conceal the place of 
 sepulchre, and when the persecution ceased, she erected a monu- 
 ment over their remains. Then miracles were wrought on the spot, 
 and in a short time a church was dedicated to the principal martyr. 
 These events are referred to the middle of the third century. 
 
 The original structure soon disappeared, and Dagobert erected a 
 new one on a grander scale. Dagobert’s biographer, a monk of 
 St. Denis, who wrote 150 years after that king’s death, says that 
 the new edifice had marble columns, and that the pavement was 
 of the same material. The interior he describes as brilliant with 
 gold, jewels, and precious stones, especially the shrine executed by 
 St. Eloy. In the succeeding century the church of Dagobert was 
 taken down, and replaced by a more magnificent structure, com- 
 menced by Pepin, and completed by his son Charlemagne, by whom 
 it was consecrated. It shared the fate of many other ecclesiastical 
 edifices, being plundered by the Normans. In 1122, the celebrated 
 Suger was elected Abbot, and when Louis VII. departed for the 
 the Holy Land, he was nominated Regent of France. He greatly 
 added to the cathedral, and was favoured in his plans by the dis- 
 covery of a fine quarry of stone at Pontoise, while he obtained 
 timber for the roof from the forest of Chevreuse, he himself select- 
 ing and marking the trees. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren observes, “ The Church of St. Denis is 
 externally a lofty and striking fabric when seen from the east, the 
 north, or south sides ; the height of the windows, the delicacy of 
 the sculpture, and what has been quaintly termed the ‘ flutter of 
 arch buttresses and abundance of busy work,’ produce an effect 
 of confused richness and varied light and shade, which forms one of 
 the greatest triumphs of this style of architecture. The west front, 
 however, is deficient in majesty and decoration. The chief portal 
 is arched semicircularly and adorned with sculpture, but the walls 
 above it are thinly ornamented with ranges of alternate round and 
 pointed ai’ches, in half relief, on little pillars similar to those of 
 Purbeck stone, so frequent in our churches. The height of the 
 towers is unequal, which materially affects the beauty of the fabric; 
 they are crowned with slate spires, and perforated with round- 
 headed windows.” 
 
 St. Denis contains examples of three eras of French Gothic 
 architecture. The first exhibits the oldest specimen of ornamental 
 building remaining in France. The lower church beneath the 
 chapel of St. Denis is with good reason decided to have been part 
 of the ancient fabric erected by Pepin and Charlemagne in the 
 eighth century. The rudeness of the architecture, and the effigies 
 of those monarchs sculptured on the capital of one of the columns, 
 seem to leave no doubt on the subject. The great gate is said to 
 be of the time of Charlemagne, and perhaps the mere masonry may 
 be of that antiquity; but there can be no doubt that the decorations 
 and statuary were added afterwards, in the twelfth and thirteenth 
 
 centuries. The chapels of the Chevet, and some part of the eastern 
 arcade of the church, are remains of the works of Suger, to whom 
 also must be attributed the western front. The pavement and the 
 painted glass of the east end are of the same date. The columns 
 erected by Suger are in the Lombard style, but the pointed arch 
 occurs in every part of his work, which was all executed before 
 the middle of the twelfth century, while it is certain that the 
 Church of St. Denis was finished in the year 1144. “ These dates,” 
 observes the Rev. G. D. Whittington, “ lead to the conclusion that 
 the French preceded the English in the use of the pointed arch. 
 All authorities concur in fixing the reign of Henry II. (that is after 
 the year 1154) as the earliest era of the introduction into England 
 of the mixed style of round and pointed arches.. The first work 
 in which the pointed arch decidedly occurs in this country (for the 
 dubious instances of St. Cross, built in 1132 — 1136, cannot be ad- 
 mitted by any one who wishes to proceed on sure grounds), are the 
 vaults of Archbishop Roger at York, begun in 1171 ; the vestibule 
 of the Temple Church, built in 1184; the great western tower of 
 Ely, finished in 1189 ; the choir at Canterbury, carried on between 
 1175 and 1180 ; and the two western towers of Durham, which are 
 almost exactly in the same style as Suger’s front of St. Denis, 
 erected in 1233.” 
 
 The Cathedral of Rheims has long been celebrated as the 
 most beautiful of all the ecclesiastical edifices of France. The founda- 
 tions of the earliest structure were laid in the year 818, by Arch- 
 bishop Ebo, to whom King Louis I. granted the walls and gates of 
 the city for materials ; but it was not completed till 847, when 
 Charles the Bald granted Archbishop Nicomar various privileges. 
 The first cathedral was consecrated in the year 862. It was burnt 
 in 1210, with the exception of the crypt. The new building was 
 completed in 1241, but the tower next to the archbishop’s palace 
 was not added till the year 1430. It is the most beautiful and per- 
 fect piece of Gothic architecture in the world. It is thus minutely 
 described by the Rev. G. D. Whittington : — 
 
 “ Viewing it laterally, the lightness and grace of the windows, 
 the number, richness, and finish of the buttresses, the admirable 
 taste of the open work, the nice disposure of ornament, and the 
 uniformity of the whole, form a mass of consistent beauty and 
 grandeur which is as inimitable as it is unrivalled. The stately 
 plainness of the tower, and the decoration, without heaviness, of 
 the upper parts, are well worthy of admiration ; but it is the west 
 front which has long been the boast of France, and which is the 
 perfection of its style. Its general proportions are excellent, and 
 the richness and delicacy of its ornamentation cannot be surpassed. 
 That these praises may not be thought extravagant and unfounded, 
 
 I will point out distinctly its beauties and the causes of its superi- 
 ority. The diminishing or pyramidal form is in itself more graceful, 
 and it is certainly more congenial to the Gothic style, than the 
 square fronts of our cathedrals. It has the advantage which is 
 possessed by some of ours, of having no mixture or confusion of 
 design ; but here how nobly have the invention and taste of the 
 architect been displayed. He has surpassed every other front in 
 richness, at the same time that he has excelled them in lightness ; 
 he has judiciously placed all his heavy magnificence below, and has 
 gradually lightened and relieved his ornaments as they rise to the 
 summit; the eye is delighted without being confused; everything 
 partakes of the pyramidal and spiral form, and the architecture is 
 preserved as delicate and as light as possible, as a contrast and 
 relief to the sculpture. One of the chief and distinct excellences 
 of this facade, and that which renders it superior to all in this 
 country, is the admirable magnificence of the portal, and its just 
 proportion to the rest of the building. The great entrance to a 
 cathedral should be always worthy of the structure to which it leads; 
 and this circumstance seems never to have influenced the English 
 architects, who have expended their chief care in the construction 
 of a magnificent west window, beneath which invariably a mean 
 and disproportionate door presents itself. We have not a single 
 door worthy of our churches, and in this respect the French 
 churches, with their ample portals, and marigold windows, have 
 externally a decided advantage. The Gothic portal in England, 
 which is most in proportion to the height of the building above it, 
 is that of the north transept of Westminster Abbey, which is, as 
 to its whole plan, very much in the French style. The name of 
 the original architect is lost, but the completion of the cathedral 
 and its decorations, the pinnacles finished with figures, flowers, 
 and crosses, and the fleur-de-lis spread along the roof, are attributed 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 127 
 
 to John de Coucy, who is known to have superintended the work 
 during the latter part of the thirteenth century.” 
 
 The Cathedral of Rheims is peculiarly rich in what has been hap- 
 pily called “ mural flora? for a list has been made of carved fruits 
 and flowers, embracing twenty varieties ; among those most fre- 
 quently repeated are the vine, the ivy, laurel, oak, and ranunculus. 
 The Crystal Palace contains fine specimens of statuary from this 
 cathedral, especially from the portal, and figures of angels from 
 the Last Judgment. 
 
 The Abbey of St. Nicaise, at Rheims, is supposed to have 
 been originally founded in the fourth century. That building fell 
 into complete decay, and a new one was built on the old site in 
 1056. That also perished, and the present structure was raised in 
 the year 1216. It was called after St. Nicaise, an Archbishop of 
 Rheims, who was decapitated in the ancient abbey in the fifth 
 century. Robert de Coucy was the architect, or rather he finished 
 the building, and the choir, the transept, and the surrounding 
 chapels, are due to him. This abbey is not remarkable for its size, 
 but it is well proportioned, and admired for the lightness and 
 elegance of its proportions. Its beauty arises from perforation and 
 relief, more than from sculpture or ornament. It has a magnificent 
 marigold window. In comparing St. Nicaise with churches built at 
 the same period in England, we find that the French preceded us in 
 the higher styles of Gothic architecture. In the plans of the French 
 architect, Hugh Libergier, which appeared in 1229, may be seen 
 windows and perforations having the same width and mullions as 
 those afterwards used in England, for the first time at Westminster 
 Abbey ; we also find a profusion of arch buttresses, and a delicacy 
 of finish unknown to us at that period; western towers, of which 
 we have no contemporary instance, and a marigold window which, 
 for magnificence, we could not equal for nearly half a century after- 
 wards. 
 
 Tns Cathedral of Amiens. — The present edifice was com- 
 menced in the year 1220, under the auspices of Bishop Evrard, by 
 the famous architect Robert de Lusarches, and completed in 1288 
 by Bertrand D’Abbeville, excepting the towers, which were noj; 
 erected till the fourteenth century. 
 
 The Cathedral of Salisbury was commenced in 1220, and com- 
 pleted in 1258 ; so that the dates of Amiens and Salisbury nearly 
 coincide. The Rev. G. D. Whittington has selected them to illus- 
 trate the progress and character of Gothic architecture in France 
 and England ; and we transfer his minute and masterly criticism 
 to our pages. 
 
 “ The chief characteristics of the thirteenth century with us, 
 were the highly pointed arch struck from two centres and in- 
 cluding an equilateral triangle from the imposts to the crown of 
 the arch, the lancet-shaped window, and, to use the words of one of 
 the most useful writers on the subject (Mr. Bentham, in his 
 History of Ely), ‘ Purbeck pillars, very slender and round, 
 encompassed by marble shafts a little detached,’ and a profusion 
 of little columns of the same stone in the ornamental parts of the 
 building. All these particularities are to be observed in Amiens 
 Cathedral ; the arches of the aisles are like those of Salisbury and 
 Westminster ; the pillars are according to Mr. Bentham’s descrip- 
 tion ; the west part is covered with innumerable small columns ; 
 and the lancet-shaped arch, though not adopted in the windows, 
 is to be seen with admirable effect crowning the semicircular 
 colonnade at the east end of the choir. The vaulting too is like 
 that of Salisbury, high pitched between arches and cross springers 
 only, without any further decorations. The dissimilarities come 
 next to be discovered, and these are so numerous in plan, pro- 
 portion, and ornament, that they may be said to constitute the 
 general character of the building. 1st. The disposition of the 
 church with the aisles to its transepts, its double transepts on each 
 side of the choir, together with its beautiful semicircular colonnade 
 at the end of it, will be allowed to be material dissimilarities; and, 
 from the number of columns it pi’esents at every point of view, an 
 infinitely richer effect is produced than within any of our churches 
 of the same date. 2ndly. The proportions of the whole cathedral, 
 particularly its surprising loftiness, the height of the pillars to the 
 arches, and many other details, will be also found exceedingly dis- 
 similar, if we compare them with the English edifices of the same 
 period. 3dly. In the ornamental part, however, (he chief differ- 
 ence exists; the west front, which has a portal of just and mag- 
 nificent proportions, exhibits the most gorgeous display of statuary ; 
 armies of saints, prophets, martyrs, and angels, line the doorways, 
 
 crowd the walls, and swarm round all the pinnacles ; nothing can 
 be more rich, and nothing, both in design and effect, can be more 
 different from Salisbury. If it be found that the latter has the 
 advantage in point of lightness, it should still be remembered that 
 not lightness, but richness, was the principal object in this part of 
 the building. The next dissimilarity that I shall point out regards 
 the bowes, or arch buttresses, which it was our custom, in the early 
 part of the thirteenth century, to conceal in the roofs of the side 
 aisles, as may be seen at Salisbury, Lincoln, the small transept at 
 York, at the east end of Canterbury, in the twelfth century, and in 
 other instances. The profusion of these at Amiens is very striking, 
 and the manner in which they are managed and relieved by orna- 
 mental perforations deserves great admiration; but the chief differ- 
 ence between Amiens Cathedral and its contemporary buildings in 
 England consists in the size, dimensions, and magnificence of its 
 windows. The long, narrow, sharp-pointed window, generally 
 decorated on the inside and outside with small marble shafts, is 
 employed all over Salisbury Cathedral ; these are often combined 
 together, surmounted by a rose, and persons fond of tracing the 
 progression of Gothic architecture, are eager to point out, in these 
 combinations, the outline of the more spacious and magnificent 
 windows which were not adopted in the English churches till half 
 a century afterwards ; but we find at Amiens, in the plan of Robert 
 de Lusarches, in the year 1220, windows of a width and stateliness 
 which were never surpassed in this country. Amiens Cathedral 
 consists of two tiers of these magnificent windows ; those of the 
 nave are divided by three perpendicular mullions, surmounted by 
 the same number of roses. Those to the east of the transepts have 
 five mullions and three roses, and are crowned by a pediment 
 ornamented with a trefoil ; three most noble and circular marigold 
 windows, full of stained glass, enrich the transepts and west front 
 of the edifice ; so completely light is this cathedral, and so artfully 
 and delicately is it constructed, that, except in its west front, hardly 
 any wall is visible throughout the whole building; it is all window. 
 Between those of the lower story, room only is left to insert a narrow 
 buttress, which rises up into a pinnacle, and branches out irto 
 bowes above ; these meet the building just under the vaulting of 
 the roof, and are received on the small slip of stonework which 
 divides the upper windows. Internally, there is no range of open 
 arcades between the arcades of the nave and the upper tiers of 
 windows, which is found in all our cathedrals.” 
 
 La Sainte Chapelle was built by Pierre de Montereau, who 
 died in 1266. He was the favourite artist of St. Louis. At 
 that time, the principal residence of the French monarch was in 
 the Islet of the City of Paris, where he administered justice to his 
 subjects, and which afterwards became the seat of the parliament 
 of Paris. The ancient palace of the counts of Paris had been 
 repaired or rebuilt about the year 1003 by Robert the Pious; 
 who, at the same time, erected a chapel within it, dedicated to 
 St. Nicholas. In the year 1154, Louis Le Jeune repaired it; but 
 it is to St. Louis that France owes its magnificent reconstruction, 
 which commenced in 1245. He was induced to undertake this 
 pious work at the entreaty of Baudoin or Baldwin, son of John de 
 Brienne, King of Jerusalem, who was endeavouring to raise troops 
 in Italy and France for the defence of Cbnstantinople, captured in 
 1204 by the French and Venetians, but then besieged by the Greeks 
 both by sea and land. Baudoin, fearing that the Greeks would 
 recover the city, urged St. Louis to erect a sanctuary for the 
 “ Crown of Thorns,” then preserved at Jerusalem, and which he 
 promised to give to the French monarch rather than allow it to 
 fall into the hands of the schismatic Greeks. Louis consented, and 
 built La Sainte Chapelle, and though it did not cover a large space 
 of ground, it was remarkable for boldness, richness, and grace. The 
 Chapel of the Virgin, at St. Germain des Pres, is nearly the same in 
 design, and but little inferior in beauty. They are both evidence 
 that France was very superior to England in the thirteenth century 
 in the decorative and tasteful style of Gothic architecture. 
 
 Tacitus, in his Life of Agricola , praises that Roman general, 
 while governor of England, for introducing among the semi- 
 barbarian Britons a taste for building, encouraging them to erect 
 temples, courts, and market-places. He thus induced them to 
 abandon their roaming and unsettled life, and to prefer tranquillity 
 to war. Agricola ruled about A.D. 80, and from his time till the 
 middle of the fourth century, architecture was cultivated ; but when 
 the Romans abandoned the island, apd the devastations of the 
 Saxons commenced, nearly all public and private buildings were 
 
128 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 involved in one common ruin. This destruction lasted during the 
 wars of the heptarchy, and only terminated when Egbert became 
 sole king. The first known patrons of building on a grand scale 
 were Wilfrid, Bishop of York, and afterwards of Hexham, and 
 Benedict Biscop, founder of the Abbey of Weremouth. The latter 
 obtained glass from France, till his time unknown in England. 
 The Saxons adopted a massive style, which some have called the 
 Saxon-Gothic; the Normans introduced a light and airy style, 
 which has been termed Norman-Gothic; on this fbrm of archi- 
 
 inflamed their piety, they struck out a new species of architecture, 
 unknown to Greece and Rome, upon original principles and ideas 
 much nobler than what had given birth even to classical magni- 
 ficence. For this northern people, having been accustomed during 
 the gloom of paganism to worship the deity in groves (a practice 
 common to all nations), when their new religion required covered 
 edifices, they ingeniously projected to make them resemble groves 
 as nearly as the distance of architecture would permit, at once 
 indulging their old prejudices, and providing for their present 
 
 CLOISTERS LOOKING TOWARDS PRINCE ARTHUR'S DOOR. 
 
 tecture Bishop Warburton has pronounced the following cri- 
 ticism : — 
 
 ‘ Gur Gothic ancestors had juster and manlier notions of magni- 
 ficence. on Greek and Roman ideas, than those mimics of taste who 
 profess to study only classic elegance ; and because the thing does 
 honour to the genius of these barbarians, I shall endeavour to 
 explain it. All our ancient churches are called without distinction 
 Gothic. They are of two sorts ; the one built in the Saxon times, 
 the other in the Norman. When the Goths had conquered Roms, 
 and the genial warmth of religion had ripened their wits and 
 
 conveniences by a cool receptacle in a sultry climate. With what 
 skill and success they executed the project appears from hence, 
 that no attentive observer ever viewed a regular avenue of well- 
 grown trees intermixing their branches overhead, but it presently 
 put him in mind of the long vista through the Gothic cathedral, 
 or ever entered one of the larger and more elegant edifices of 
 this kind, but it presented to his imagination an avenue of trees, 
 and this is what may be truly called the Gothic style of building. 
 Under this idea of so extraordinary a species of architecture all 
 the irregular transgressions against art, all the monstrous offences 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 129 
 
 against nature disappear; everything has its reason, everything is 
 in order, and an harmonious whole arises from the studious appli- 
 cation of means proper and proportionate to the end. For could the 
 arches be otherwise than pointed when the workmen were to imitate 
 that curve which branches of two opposite trees make by their inser- 
 tion with one another? or could the columns be otherwise than 
 split into distinct shafts when they were to represent the stems of 
 a clump of trees growing close together? On the same principles 
 they formed the spreading ramification of the stonework in the 
 windows, and the stained glass in the interstices ; the one to repre- 
 sent the branches, the other the leaves, of an opening grove, and 
 both concurred to preserve that gloomy light which inspires 
 religious reverence and awe. Lastly, we see their studied aversion 
 to apparent solidity in these stupendous masses, deemed so absurd 
 by men accustomed to the apparent, as well as real strength of 
 Grecian architecture. Had it only been a wanton exercise of the 
 artist’s skill to show he could give real strength without the 
 appearance of any, we might indeed admire his superior science, 
 but we must needs condemn his ill judgment. But when one 
 considers that this surprising lightness was necessary to complete 
 the execution of his idea of a sylvan place of worship, one cannot 
 sufficiently admire the ingenuity of the contrivance. This, too, 
 will account for the contrary qualities in what we called the Saxon 
 architecture. The first places of Christian worship were sepulchres 
 and subterranean caverns, low and heavy from necessity. When 
 Christianity became the religion of the state, and sumptuous 
 temples began to be erected, they yet, in regard to the first, pious 
 ages, preserved the massive style, made still more venerable by the 
 Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where this style was followed.” 
 
 The Pointed style in England has been divided into epochs. The 
 first, styled Early English, includes the entire thirteenth century. 
 The second is called the Decorated, and chiefly characterises the 
 fourteenth century. The Perpendicular belongs to the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth. As examples of the first style may be mentioned 
 the west front of the Cathedral of Wells, Lincoln Cathedral, Salis- 
 bury choir and its Chapter-house, and the front of the northern 
 transept of Westminster Abbey. As examples of the second, we 
 may quote the west front of Exeter Cathedral, though the towers 
 are semi-Norman ; the octagon of Ely Cathedral, front of Henry the 
 Fifth’s chantry, Westminster, and York Minster. King’s College 
 Chapel, Cambridge, is a magnificent specimen of the third style. 
 
 Winchester Cathedral, erected in 1093, though the west end was 
 rebuilt by William of Wykeham in the thirteenth century, affords a 
 very singular instance of both the Saxon and Norman styles. “ The 
 aisle,” says Bishop Lowth, “was originally of the Saxon architecture, 
 with round pillars, much stronger than the Doric and Tuscan, with 
 round-headed arches and windows, and plain vAlls without but- 
 tresses. Wykeham’s design was to rebuild the whole of it in the 
 Norman style, but perceiving the foundation to be precarious — on 
 low, moist, and loose ground — he determined to leave the old Saxon 
 pillars standing, and cased them round with new work, imitating in 
 some degree the clustered pillar and pointed arch of the Normans. 
 These circumstances, in which stability and security were very wisely 
 in the first place consulted, have been attended, however, with some 
 inconvenience, as it seems owing to them that this building has 
 been censured for want of that lightness and freedom and that 
 elegance of proportion which might have been expected from 
 Wykeham’s known taste in architecture, and from the style and 
 manner of his other works in this kind, of which we have evident 
 examples in the chapels of both his colleges, especially in the 
 western part of that of New College, in Ojfford, which is remark- 
 ably beautiful. However, with all its defects, there is no fabric 
 of its kind in England; after those of York and Lincoln, which 
 excels this part of the Cathedral-Church of Winchester in great- 
 ness, stateliness, and majesty.” Other genuine remains of the 
 old Saxon style may be seen in the Cathedral-Church of Ely, in 
 Chepstow Priory, in the conventual Church of Rumsey, in Canter- 
 bury and Gloucester Cathedrals, and in most of our ancient churches 
 throughout the kingdom. 
 
 It is presumed that when the Romans evacuated Britain, the 
 Saxons introduced the Gothic style, which prevailed till the end 
 of the fifteenth century. Of this architecture there are two styles, 
 the one short, round, massive in the column, resembling the trunk 
 of the most sturdy oak, and plainly intended to secure strength and 
 durability. It wa9 also distinguished by its semicircular, round, or 
 horse-shoe arch, and plain thick walls, without buttresses. The 
 
 other style is characterised by its slender columns, or cluster of 
 columns combined in one, resembling a number of slender trunks 
 of trees, united or tied together, decorated with a pointed arch, a 
 profusion of ornaments, buttresses, and pinnacles. This improved 
 style was introduced under the Norman government, when science 
 and the arts began to revive. In the very year of the conquest, 
 William and his queen Matilda had displayed their piety, and the 
 architects their taste, in founding in Caen the two abbey-churches, 
 one called Aux Homines , and the other Aux Femmes. The Con- 
 queror intended to be buried in the former, which was consecrated 
 by Archbishop Lanfranc, the first abbot, in 1077. The latter was 
 designed as a nunnery for noble ladies. The Norman architects 
 not only brought their skill to England, but their material, for the 
 quarries of Caen furnished stone, abundantly used in this country 
 during the middle ages, as in the instances of old London bridge, 
 Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, and AVinchester and Canterbury 
 Cathedrals. 
 
 Winchester is the longest cathedral in England; it has no 
 towers to the western front ; there are aisles at the north and 
 south ends of the transept, a very peculiar arrangement. This 
 cathedral and that of Wells are remarkable for their sculptures. 
 Those contained in the former are supposed to have been ordered, 
 in the judgment of Mr. Cockerell, by the famous Bishop Grosstete, 
 author of some allegorical religious works. The whole series com- 
 prises thirty compartments. The west front of Wells Cathedral is 
 covered with statues of kings and bishops of the diocese, combined 
 with scriptural subjects. At Lincoln are two statues of seated 
 kings, there erected by the treasurer, Welbourne, about the year 
 1377. 
 
 Rochester Cathedral has a double transept, but no aisles to either; 
 the Chapter-house runs parallel to the choir, and is entered by a 
 vestibule from the eastern transept ; the Lady Chapel adjoins the 
 west wall of the south wing of the greater transept ; the cloisters 
 are eastward of the choir. In the English Mediaeval Court is a 
 beautiful example of the late Decorated style, from the Chapter- 
 house of Rochester Cathedral, said to have been erected by John de 
 Shepey, bishop, about the year 1352. It is thus described by 
 Mr. Digby Wyatt : — “ The two lowest figures on each side represent 
 the Church, symbolised by a prelate in full pontificals, supporting 
 a church with one arm, and armed with a pastoral staff, the crook 
 of the true shepherd. The Synagogue is typified by a female, 
 blinded by a bandage over her eyes, with a fallen crown, a broken 
 staff, and the tables of the old law reversed. The four figures above 
 them, seated before lecterns and holding scrolls, may possibly 
 represent the evangelists, but they are without the usual symbols, 
 and are generally supposed to be Gundulph, Ernulph, Laurence de 
 St. Martin, and Hamo de Hethe — the two first being celebrated, 
 the one as the founder and first bishop of the cathedral, the other 
 as the compiler of the Registrum Roffense. The other two were 
 bishops in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Hethe being 
 the immediate predecessor of John de Shepey, by whom the door- 
 way was built. Above them, on each side, are angels or youths 
 with wings, half hidden in flames, who appear to cry out to a soul, 
 represented by a small human figure in glory, beneath a centre 
 canopy. It has been suggested that these may signify human 
 beings in purgatory, and the central figure be intended for Christ 
 risen from the dead. The numerous grotesque and fanciful heads 
 of the inner hollow moulding, the demons’ heads contained in 
 quatrefoils beneath the Church and the Synagogue, and the foliage 
 running in and out of circles on the external angle are exceedingly 
 curious.” 
 
 The arrangements adopted in the construction of the Mediaeval 
 Court admirably present the greatest possible diversity of styles 
 in architecture in the smallest space ; but the plan is attended with 
 this disadvantage, that everything is fragmentary, and nothing is 
 complete. Thus, the entrance of the fa$ade of the English Mediaeval 
 Court is decorated on one side by figures taken from Westminster 
 Abbey, and on the other by figures taken from Wells Cathedral, 
 while the doorway is copied from the west front of Tintern Abbey, 
 and the rest of the facade taken from Guisborough Abbey. In the 
 elevation in the interior are grouped together a monument to 
 Prince Arthur, a screen from Winchester, figures from the tomb of 
 Aymer de Valence, at Westminster, a canopy from Beverley, knights 
 from Lincoln, figures from Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, Westminster, 
 John of Gaunt’s canopy, monument to Bishop Alcock, a niche from 
 York, and figure of a Virgin, a statue of King Ethelred from Wells 
 
 L L 
 
130 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Cathedral, the second David crowned, the first and last of the 
 Lincoln angels, the Angel of the Sun and Moon, and a statue from 
 Wells of Birinus the Missionary. The elevation of the side of the 
 Court opposite the entrance from the Nave is composed of a canopy 
 of the Virgin, from York ; figures from Armagh Cathedral, sup- 
 porting Winchester altar-screen arches ; the sitting kings from 
 Lincoln, already mentioned; niches from Southwell Minster; 
 Hawton Sepulchre; arcades from Ely Chapter-house; figure of an 
 archbishop, forming one of the finials to Archbishop Greenfield’s 
 Monument, in York Minster ; Corbels from Wells Cathedral ; niches 
 from Beverley; Rochester Chapter-house door; tomb of Humphrey 
 de Bohun, from Hereford Cathedral ; and Mary Magdalen from 
 Westminster niche. The elevation of the interior of the English 
 Mediaeval Court, towards the Central Transept, shows a pedestal 
 from Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, with figure of Mary Magdalen, 
 from Oxford ; a niche from Beverley, with an Annunciation from 
 
 placed above the tomb of Sir Thomas Daubeny, who died in 1500, 
 having been Governor of Calais. He received the Order of the 
 Garter from Henry VII. One of the most beautiful of the tombs, 
 and indeed one of the most interesting monuments in England, is 
 that of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, taken from the 
 Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, and formed of Purbeck marble, but 
 the effigy of the earl is of brass, gilt. He was born in 1381, and 
 was the pride of the chivalry of his age, the recognised champion 
 of the queen, the conqueror of Owen Glendower of Wales — by some 
 stigmatised as a rebel, by others exalted as a patriot, but who lost 
 his standard to Beauchamp. Beauchamp fought at the battle of 
 Shrewsbury, visited Palestine, was received honourably at Jeru- 
 salem, and on his retuim displayed his knightly accomplishments in 
 many tournaments at various courts in Europe. At the coronation of 
 Henry V. he was made High Steward of England and Governor of 
 England. The Commons appointed him guardian to Henry VI. 
 
 Wells, underneath; Lincoln door, with Hashingfield Cross; the 
 monument of Bishop Bubwith, from Wells Cathedral. As a beau- 
 tiful specimen of pictorial art, we have engraved a view of the 
 Cloisters,* looking towards Prince Arthur’s door. These need no 
 description; and it is only necessary to observe that in the cloisters 
 attached to cathedrals and monasteries, distinguished churchmen 
 were frequently buried, and it was deemed a mark of honour and 
 respect. 
 
 In the gallery of the Mediceval Court are many interesting tombs 
 of the illustrious dead, which enable the spectator to form a very 
 fair judgment of the style of Medkeval sculpture. One from 
 El f°rd Church, Staffordshire, presumed to be that of Sir Thomas 
 Arderne and his wife Matilda, both in alabaster and recumbent, are 
 well worthy of minute inspection, especially in the details, which 
 show the costume of the period. The effigies of King Richard II. 
 and of his queen, Anne of Bohemia, from Westminster Abbey, are 
 
 * See Engraving, p. 128. 
 
 On the death of the Duke of Bedford, he was appointed his 
 successor as Lieutenant-General of France, and within a few years 
 after obtaining this high position, died at Rouen in 1449. 
 
 Bishop Beckington’s monument is an admired example of the 
 Perpendicular style : it is taken from Wells Cathedral. Canterbury 
 Cathedral contributes the tombs of King Henry IV. and his queen, 
 Joan of Navarre. This king was son of John of Gaunt. On his 
 father’s death, he became Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Derby; 
 on the death of Richard II., who had banished him, he became 
 king of England. The tombs have an upper row of panels or 
 compartments, filled in with figures of kings and angels, copied 
 from the stalls of Lincoln Cathedral, while the lower range are 
 from St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster, specimens of the De- 
 corated style. 
 
 In the gallery may also be noticed the monument of Archbishop 
 Conrad, of Weinsburg, from Mayence Cathedral, who died in 1396. 
 The face is excellent, and all the details are rich to magnificence. 
 From the Wells statues, there is a statue of Christ crowning the 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 131 
 
 =n 
 
 Virgin ; in liis hands he carries the worldly ensigns of a globe and 
 a sceptre, indicative rather of temporal power than of spiritual 
 supremacy. Wells also furnishes the statues of King Ina and 
 Queen Ethelburga. He founded the Conventual Church of Wells 
 and restored Glastonbury Abbey, and flourished in the eighth 
 century. One of the most beautiful monuments in this division of 
 the Mediteval Court is the tomb of the Black Prince, son of 
 Edward III., whose heroic career is too well known to require any 
 description. We have engraved his monument from Canterbury 
 Cathedral. The recumbent figure of the hero is appropriately clad 
 in complete armour, and is formed of brass. A jewelled coronet 
 encircles his helmet ; his hands are piously raised in prayer. The 
 accessories to the tomb commemorate his martial achievements. 
 The crest of three ostrich feathers, and the motto “ Ich Dien” (I 
 serve), recall the battle of Cressy, where the king of Bohemia was 
 slain. The shields in the compartments of the monument represent 
 the heraldic arms of France and England, and an inscription re- 
 minds the observer of the mutability of human greatness, and the 
 emptiness of mere worldly triumph. 
 
 We now pass to the German Mediaeval Court, rich in various 
 illustrations of German art taken from Munich, Nuremberg, the 
 Cathedral of Ulm, Langen, near Darmstadt, Mayence, Cologne, 
 Augsburg, and Prague. The elevation of the wall of this compart- 
 
 the Cross.” In this church are several productions of Veit Stoss, a 
 native of Cracow, but who passed the longer period of his life in 
 Nuremberg, as the head-quarters of German art. He was a carver 
 in wood. A crucifix and figures of the Virgin and of St. John, over 
 the high-altar, are among his artistic contributions to St. Sebald’s. 
 Peter Vischer and his five sons, sculptors and casters in bronze, 
 were employed during thirteen years in executing the shrine of 
 St. Sebaldus — a miniature Gothic chapel, round which, in niches 
 are grouped the figures of the twelve apostles, and above them, but 
 of more diminutive size, are the fathers of the Church. The chapel 
 is of bronze, supported on pillars, beneath which are deposited 
 the remains of the saint in a chest of oak. It is deemed a master- 
 piece. 
 
 The Rose Wreath and Cross, of Veit Stoss, from the Church of 
 St. Lawrence, at Nuremberg, is reproduced in the German Me- 
 diaeval Court. The city is divided by a small stream called the 
 Pegnitz. On the northern bank stands St. Sebald’s, on the southern 
 the Church of St. Lawrence. It was founded in 1274, and is the 
 largest and finest ecclesiastical structure in Nuremberg. The 
 western portal, surmounted by a magnificent rose window, is 
 remarkable for its rich decorations. Nuremberg was famous for 
 painting in glass, and this art is displayed to great advantage in 
 St. Lawrence’s. Here Adam Krafft constructed the elegant and 
 
 CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS. 
 
 ment, looking towards the Byzantine Court, exhibits the doorway 
 of the monastery at Denkendorf, in Wirtemberg. On the right is a 
 panel, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, who kneels at the 
 feet of God the Father and of God the Son ; a virgin and child ; an 
 episcopal monument from Munich ; a great door from the Frauen- 
 kirche of Nuremberg ; statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, from 
 the church of Langen, in Darmstadt, and various other subjects in 
 panel from the New Testament ; itinerant Jongleurs from the Town- 
 Hall of Munich, and different specimens of German Gothic orna- 
 ment, principally from Cologne Cathedral. 
 
 The free and imperial city of Nuremberg held a high position in 
 Germany during the middle ages, and reached the zenith of 
 prosperity during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries : there the 
 German emperors resided, and there diets were held. It was one 
 of the centres of manufactures, and a famous mart of trade. Opulent 
 merchants encouraged the fine arts, and cherished the genius of 
 Albert Durer, Peter Vischer, Adam Krafft, Veit Stoss, and of other 
 celebrities. Its government was aristocratic, in some respects 
 resembling that of Venice. One of the most beautiful structures in 
 Nuremberg is the fine Gothic church dedicated to St. Sebaldus. 
 In this building Adam Krafft displayed his talents as a sculptor, 
 where he executed a representation of the Last Supper. In this 
 work he departed from the usual practice, as the table is circular. 
 As a specimen of his style, we have engraved his “ Christ bearing 
 
 delicate repository for the sacred wafer, celebrated for the minute 
 delicacy of the carving ; and here also Veit Stoss executed in wood 
 the Salutation of the Virgin by the Angel. 
 
 In the Town-Hall are fine specimens of the oil-painting of Albert 
 Durer, particularly the “ Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian,” 
 and it may here be remarked that the house of the artist is still 
 preserved, and occupied by a society of artists, as is also the dwelling 
 of Hans Sachs, the satirical cobbler, who composed a vast number of 
 minor poems attacking the Roman Catholics at the commencement 
 of the Reformation. 
 
 To the Cathedral of Ulm, Adam Krafft contributed a “ Sacraments- 
 hauschen,” similar to that at St. Lawrence’s, at Nuremberg, but 
 loftier — that at the latter place being 64 feet high, and at the former 
 90 feet. The Minster at Ulm is a very fine specimen of Gothic 
 architecture, commenced in 1377, and finished in 1488, entirely at 
 the expense of the citizens. The chief portal is much admired, 
 consisting of three pointed arches, recessed within pillars. The 
 tower is 377 feet high, though had the original plan of the architect 
 been carried out, the elevation would have been 491 feet, or rather 
 higher than the spire of Strasburg, which is 474 feet above the 
 pavement. However, the body of Ulm Minster exceeds in dimen- 
 sions those of Strasburg and St. Stephen’s, at Vienna, being 485 feet 
 long, 200 wide, and 144 feet high. It has five aisles, and several 
 windows in the choir are of richly painted glass. 
 
 
 1 
 
132 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Although Strasburg now belongs to France, having been attacked 
 and retained by Louis XIV., in 1581, in time of peace, it was 
 before that date an imperial city of the German empire, and there- 
 fore falls within this department of the Sydenham Palace Expositor. 
 Its cathedral was designed by Erwin of Steinbacb, who died in 
 1318, when the work was only half finished. The tower, com- 
 menced in 1277, was completed in 1439. It contains a circular 
 window of the extraordinary diameter of 48 feet. This building 
 has been the theme of universal eulogium. Mr. Hope eulogises 
 “ the gigantic mass, over the solid part of which is thrown a 
 netting of detached arcades and pillars, which, notwithstanding 
 their delicacy, from the hardness and excellent preservation of the 
 stone, are so true and sharp as to look like a veil of the finest cast 
 iron.” Mr. Whewell, in a similar strain, observes that “ The 
 building looks as though it were placed behind a rich open screen, 
 or in a case of woven stone. The effect of the combination is very 
 gorgeous, but with a sacrifice of distinctness from the multiplicity 
 and intersections of the lines.” 
 
 The Cathedral of St. Stephen, at Vienna, is another noble speci- 
 men of German Art in the mediaeval age, completed in 1480. Its 
 length is 350 feet, and its greatest breadth 220. Some rich tracery 
 decorates the exterior. The general view of the interior has been 
 pronounced gloomy ; but different critics view objects with different 
 eyes. The pillars are no doubt very massive, but rich sculpture 
 and painted rose windows afford relief and light. It contains a 
 splendid monument of the Emperor Frederick III. in marble. The 
 style of architecture is florid Gothic ; but the roof does not accord 
 with that style, being covered with glazed tiles of various colours, 
 laid in mosaic patterns, representing on a gigantic scale the imperial 
 eagle of Austria. Of course this roof is modern. The original struc- 
 ture was commenced by Duke Henry H in 1144, the architect 
 
 SHRINE IN ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 being Octavian Falkner of Cracow, and was consecrated by Reim- 
 bert, Bishop of Passau, in 1147 ; but it was Rudolph IV. who laid 
 the foundation of its present grandeur, in 1359, by ordering the 
 construction of two great towers, which he entrusted to an obscure 
 
 but talented mason, named Wenzla, but he only lived to carry the 
 southern tower to two-thirds of its intended height. It is 465 feet 
 high, and was finished in 1433. The foundation of the second 
 tower was laid in 1450, but the work was stopped in 1516. Accord- 
 ing to Mr. Edward P. Thompson, “The building is in the form of a 
 Latin cross, measuring in length 395, and in width 145 feet at the 
 chancel, and 224 at the naves ; the former being 164, and the latter 
 188 feet high. The old records state that 2900 balks of timber 
 were used in the construction of the roof alone. Of the five doors, 
 that at the northern extremity, which is flanked by two octangular 
 towers 204 feet high, is the most remarkable. It is styled the giant 
 door, and is a masterpiece of the old Gothic style. The interior, 
 divided by two rows of elegant Gothic columns, richly carved and 
 decorated, consists, besides the chancel, of six chapels, two sacristies, 
 four choirs, three oratories, and forty altars. There are many 
 objects of interest within the walls, among which are the vaults in 
 which the former sovereigns of Austria are interred; the monu- 
 ment of Duke Rudolph and his wife (the daughter of the Emperor 
 Charles IV.), and the sarcophagus of the Emperor Frederick III. 
 This last elaborate work was executed by the celebrated Nicolas 
 Lerch of Strasburg, who finished the cover in the lifetime of the 
 emperor ; but the whole, containing two hundred figures, was not 
 completed till the year 1513, at the cost of 40,000 ducats. There 
 are also the monuments of the Field-marshal Prince Eugene of 
 Savoy, and of the Cardinal-archbishop the Count of Kolloritsch.” 
 
 To the illustrations of the Sydenham Palace the Cathedral of Augs- 
 burg contributes a large figure of the Virgin, taken from the central 
 pier of the principal doorway, but it is in no respect remarkable. This 
 cathedral is an irregular building, having brass doors to an orna- 
 mental portal, and covered with bas-reliefs in the Byzantine style. 
 Augsburg is not very conspicuous for works of art, or rare anti- 
 quities, though formerly the outer walls of the houses were covered 
 with frescoes of scriptural subjects and legends of saints, but it is, 
 and ever will remain, celebrated as the city in which was pro- 
 claimed the famous declaration of the Protestants known as the 
 “ Confession of Augsburg,” presented to the Emperor Charles V., in 
 1530. Here also resided the princely merchant Antony, Count 
 Fugger, whose family received so many patents of nobility, that in 
 its various branches it numbered forty- seven counts and countesses 
 of the empire, the original ancestor being a simple weaver, named 
 Conrad Fugger. This family supplied immense sums of money to 
 the Emperors Maximilian and Charles V., and enjoyed the rare 
 privilege of coining money. Augsburg gave to the arts Hans 
 Holbein the elder, whose son, the well-known painter, lived and 
 died in England. 
 
 The Fools, or Mummers, over the entrance to the Nave, are taken 
 from the Town-Hall at Munich. They were strolling-players, 
 descendants of the itinerant Jongleurs, much esteemed in the 
 eleventh and twelfth centuries; but their successors degenerated 
 into mere mountebanks. The figures in the Sydenham Palace are 
 remarkable for their fantastic attitudes, and the variety of expres- 
 sion thrown into their countenances. One of them represents a 
 negro. As one of the seats of art, Munich was by no means 
 remarkable in earlier times, though it is now the worthy rival of 
 the most famous capitals in Europe, owing to the taste, energy, and 
 liberality of Louis, King of Bavaria; but it does not fall within 
 the scope of this work to notice his meritorious labours. 
 
 Mayence Cathedral contributes the monument of Archbishop 
 Peter von Aspett, round which are grouped smaller figures of the 
 Emperor Henry VII., King John of Bohemia, and Louis of Bavaria, 
 who were all crowned by that archbishop. From the same cathe- 
 dral is taken the monument of Archbishop Siegfrid von Epstein ; 
 and Prague furnishes the equestrian statue of St. George, which 
 stands in the cathedral square of that city. 
 
 The elevation of the French and Italian Mediaeval Court towards 
 the English Mediaeval Court is composed of Bishop West’s doorway, 
 arches from the choir of Notre Dame, and canopies from Chartres 
 Cathedral. In this compartment are fine specimens of the styles oi 
 Nino and Giovanni Pisano, and of Andrea Orcagna, the Italian 
 artists of whom mention has been made in our description of the 
 Renaissance Court. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 J33 
 
 THE BYZANTINE COURT. 
 
 The interval which elapsed between the decline of Roman archi- ' 
 tecture, and the introduction of Pointed architecture, is always 
 treated as a transition period — during which various styles arose in 
 different countries, known as the Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombard, 
 Saracenic, Moorish, and Mohammedan. The history of Byzantine 
 art is usually divided into three epochs: — the first dates from the 
 time of Constantine, and closes in the middle of the sixth century ; 
 the second ranges from the reign of Justinian to the eleventh cen- 
 tury, to which period most of the existing Byzantine monuments 
 belong — those of the former period have perished with rare excep- 
 tions ; the third commences with the eleventh century, and termi- 
 nates with the final conquest of Greece by the Turks in the fifteenth. 
 
 The Emperor Constantine, at his conversion to Christianity, ruled 
 both the east and west, but fixed his imperial residence at Byzantium, 
 in the year 328 — there founding what may be termed a new city, called 
 after him, Constantinople. There was established that new empire, 
 variously st}’led by historians the Eastern, the Greek, the Lower, I 
 the Byzantine, and the Constantinopolitan Empire. Many circum- 
 
 ' a school of leai-ning, a circus, two theatres, eight public and one 
 hundred and fifty-three private baths, fifty-two porticoes, five 
 granaries, eight aqueducts, or reservoirs of water, four spacious 
 halls for the meetings of the senate, or courts of justice, fourteen 
 churches, fourteen palaces, and four thousand three hundred and 
 eighty-eight houses, which, for their size or beauty, deserved to be 
 distinguished from the multitude of plebeian institutions.” 
 
 In the teaching of Christianity, at Rome and at Constantinople, 
 some doctrinal differences existed, from which arose two churches — 
 the one called the Latin, the other the Greek Church. The symbol 
 of both was the sign of the cross; but it differed in form when 
 placed over ecclesiastical buildings, and became a distinctive feature 
 in the architecture of the two churches. The Latin cross was com- 
 posed of four unequal arms ; the four arms of the Greek cross were 
 all equal. At Rome, in circular or domed edifices, the dome rested 
 ou circular walls ; the Byzantine cupola was supported on pillars. 
 Another characteristic feature in the Byzantine style was the art of 
 I vaulting — that is, the mode of covering a building with a concave 
 
 FACADE OF THE BYZANTINE COUKT. 
 
 stances appeared to have operated on the mind of Constantine when 
 he resolved on quitting Rome, and building his new capital on the 
 shores of the Bosphorus. “ During the late operations of the war 
 against Licinius,” observes Mr. Gibbon, “he had sufficient opportu- 
 nity to contemplate, both as a soldier and as a statesman, the 
 incomparable position of Byzantium, and to observe how strongly 
 it was guarded by nature against a hostile attack, while it was 
 accessible on every side to the benefits of commercial enterprise.” 
 The ambition of founding a city to perpetuate the glory of his own 
 name must have powerfully influenced his decision, and he might 
 have desired to remove himself from the banks of the Tiber, where 
 paganism had a vast majority of secret yet earnest friends. His 
 choice being made, he lavished the wealth his power commanded on 
 adorning the new city ; and it is recorded that he appropriated 
 £2,500,000 for the construction of the walls, the porticoes, and the 
 temples. Greece and Asia were despoiled of their most valuable 
 ornaments; and the historian relates that a “particular description, 
 composed about a century after its foundation, enumerates a capitol, 
 
 instead of a flat ceiling. The Byzantine architects placed in front 
 of their churches a square court, having an open space, surrounded 
 by a colonnade, the colonnade having a domed instead of a flat roof. 
 “ Arches rising over arches, and cupolas over cupolas,” says Mr. Hope, 
 “ we may say that all which in the temples of Athens had been 
 straight, and angular, and square, in the churches of Constantinople 
 became curved and rounded, concave within, and convex without ; 
 so that after the Romans had begun by depriving the architecture 
 of the prior Greeks of consistency, the Christian Greeks themselves 
 obliterated every mark of the architecture of their heathen ancestors 
 still retained by the Romans, and made the ancient Grecian archi- 
 tecture owe its final annihilation to the same nation to whom it had 
 been indebted for its first birth.” 
 
 Constantine built a cathedral at Constantinople, to which was 
 given the name Sancta Sophia , or Hoty Wisdom, which was 
 destroyed by fire in the year 404, and rebuilt by Theodosius. It 
 underwent the same fate a second time. The temple or cathedral 
 which now stands at Constantinople, though turned into a mosque 
 
 M M 
 
13 Jj 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 for Mohammedan uses, was constructed by the Emperor Justinian. 
 It is the finest existing specimen of Byzantine architecture, and the 
 following description of it is by the masterly hand of Gibbon : — 
 “The principal church, which was dedicated by the founder of 
 Constantinople to St. Sophia, or the Eternal Wisdom, had been 
 twice destroyed by fire — after the exile of John Chrysostom, and 
 during the nika of the blue and green factions. No sooner did the 
 i umult subside, than the Christian populace deplored their sacri- 
 legious rashness; but they might have rejoiced in the calamity, had 
 they foreseen the glory of the new temple, which, at the end of forty 
 days, was strenuously undertaken by the piety of Justinian. The 
 ruins were cleared away; a more spacious plan was described, and, 
 as it required the consent of some proprietors of ground, they 
 obtained the most exorbitant terms from the eager desires and 
 timorous conscience of the monarch. Anthemius formed the design ; 
 and his genius directed the hands of ten thousand workmen, whose 
 payment in pieces of fine silver was never delayed beyond the 
 evening. The emperor himself, clad in a linen tunic, surveyed each 
 day their rapid progress, and encouraged their diligence by his 
 familiarity, his zeal, and his rewards. The new Cathedral of 
 St. Sophia was consecrated by the patriarch, five years eleven 
 months and ten days from the first foundation; and in the midst of 
 the solemn festival, Justinian exclaimed, with devout vanity, ‘Glory 
 be to God, who hath thought me worthy to accomplish so great a 
 work : I have vanquished thee, O Solomon !’ But the pride of the 
 Roman Solomon, before twenty years had elapsed, was humbled by 
 an earthquake, which overthrew the eastern part of the dome. 
 Its splendour was again restored by the perseverance of the same 
 prince; and, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, Justinian cele- 
 brated the second dedication of a temple, which remains, after 
 twelve centuries, a stately monument of his fame. The architecture 
 of St. Sophia, which is now converted into the principal mosque, 
 has been imitated by the Turkish sultans ; and that venerable pile 
 continues to excite the fond admiration of the Greeks, and the more 
 rational curiosity of European travellers. The eye of the spectator 
 is disappointed by an irregular prospect of half domes and shelving 
 roofs ; the western front, the principal approach, is destitute of 
 simplicity and magnificence ; and the scale of dimensions has been 
 much surpassed by many of the Latin cathedrals. But the architect 
 who first erected an aerial cupola is entitled to the praise of bold 
 design and skilful execution. The dome of St. Sophia, illuminated 
 by four and twenty windows, is formed with so small a curve, that 
 the depth is equal to one sixth of the diameter; the measure of that 
 diameter is 115 feet, and a lofty centre, where the crescent has 
 supplanted the cross, rises to the perpendicular height of 180 feet 
 above the pavement. The circle which encompasses the dome 
 reposes lightly on four strong arches, and their weight is firmly 
 supported by four massy pillars, whose strength is assisted on the 
 northern and southern sides by four columns of Egyptian granite. 
 A Greek cross, inscribed in a quadrangle, represents the form of the 
 edifice ; the exact breadth is 2-13 feet, and 269 may be assigned for 
 the extreme length from the sanctuary in the east to the nine 
 western doors which open in the vestibule, and from thence into 
 the narthex, or exterior portico. That portico was the humble 
 station of the penitents. The nave or body of the church was 
 filled by the congregation of the faithful ; but the two sexes were 
 prudently distinguished, and the upper and lower galleries were 
 allotted for the more private devotion of the women. Beyond the 
 northern and southern piles a balustrade, terminated on either side 
 by the thrones of the emperor and patriarch, divided the nave from 
 the choir; and the space, as far as the steps of the altar, was 
 occupied by the clergy and singers. The altar itself, a name which 
 insensibly became familiar to G'hristian ears, was placed in the 
 eastern recess, artificially built in the form of a demi-cylinder ; and 
 this sanctuary communicated by several doors with a sacristy, the 
 vestry, the baptistry, and the contiguous buildings, subservient 
 either to the pomp of worship, or the private use of the ecclesiastical 
 ministers. The memory of past calamities inspired Justinian with 
 a wise resolution, that no wood, except for the doors, should be 
 admitted into the new edifice; and the choice of the materials was 
 applied to the strength, the lightness, or the splendour of the 
 respective parts. The solid piles, which sustained the cupola, were 
 composed of huge blocks of freestone, hewn into squares and 
 triangles, fortified by circles of iron, and firmly cemented by the 
 infusion of lead and quicklime; but the weight of the cupola was 
 diminished bv the levity of its substance, which consists either of 
 
 pumice-stone, that floats in water, or of bricks from the island of 
 Rhodes, five times less ponderous than the ordinary sort. The 
 whole frame of the edifice was constructed of brick, but those base 
 materials were concealed by a crust of marble ; and the inside of 
 St. Sophia, the cupola, the two larger, and the six smaller semi- 
 domes, the walls, the hundred columns, and the pavement, delight 
 even the eyes of barbarians with a rich and variegated picture. A 
 poet who beheld the primitive lustre of St. Sophia, enumerates the 
 colours, the shades, and the spots of ten or twelve marbles, jaspars, 
 and porphyries, which nature had profusely diversified, and which 
 were blended and contrasted as it were by a skilful painter. The 
 triumph of Christ was adorned with the last spoils of paganism ; but 
 the greater part of these costly stones was extracted from the quarries 
 of Asia Minor, the isles and continent of Greece, Egypt, Africa, and 
 Gaul. Eight columns of porphyry, which Aurelian had placed in 
 the Temple of the Sun, were offered by the piety of a Roman matron ; 
 eight others of green marble were presented by the ambitious zeal 
 of the magistrates of Ephesus ; both are admirable for their size 
 and beauty ; but every order of architecture disclaims their fan- 
 tastic capitals. A variety of ornaments and figures was curiously 
 expi’essed in mosaic; and the images of Christ, of the Virgin, of 
 saints, and of angels, which have been defaced by Turkish fana- 
 ticism, were dangerously exposed to the superstition of the Greeks. 
 According to the sanctity of each object, the precious metals were 
 distributed in thin leaves or in solid masses. The balustrade of the 
 choir, the capitals of the pillars, the ornaments of the doors and 
 galleries, were of gilt bronze ; the spectator was dazzled by the 
 glittering aspect of the cupola; the sanctuary contained 40,000 
 pounds weight of silver, and the holy vases and vestments of the 
 altar were of the purest gold, enriched with inestimable gems. 
 Before the structure of the church had risen two cubits above the 
 ground, £45,200 were already consumed, and the whole expense 
 amounted to £320,000 ; each reader, according to the measure of his 
 belief, may estimate their value either in gold or silver ; but the 
 sum of a million sterling is the result of the lowest computation.” 
 
 In our description of the Renaissance Court we noticed at some 
 length the famous cupola erected by Brunelleschi over the Church 
 of Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence; but, great as were his 
 merits, he has no title to the invention of the art of their con- 
 struction, which is due to Anthemius and Isodorus, the architects 
 of Justinian. It is from their epoch that we must date the origin 
 of the cupola resting upon the four pillars of a square, which square 
 is gradually formed into a circle by pendentines, or those parts in 
 the angles between the arches of the nave which spring from a 
 I point, and gradually advance in a concave direction to receive the 
 circular entablature of the cupola — an idea suggested by the figure 
 of the cross represented in the plans of all Christian churches. 
 St. Sophia, in whole or in part, has influenced the structure of 
 churches in all parts of Europe. The Venetians took it for their 
 model in building St. Mark, at Venice, in the year 973, and the 
 Pisans in planning their cathedral. 
 
 The various stones and marbles used in the construction of 
 St. Sophia have been diligently recorded. The Carystian was pale 
 with iron veins ; the Phrygian was of two sorts, both of a rosy hue, 
 but the one had a white, the other a purple shade, with silver 
 flowers; the porphyry of Egypt, with small stars; the green marble 
 of Laconia ; the Carian from Mount Iassis, with oblique veins, white 
 and red; the Lydian, pale, with a red flower; the African or Mauri- 
 tanian, of a gold or saffron hue ; the Celtic, black with white veins; 
 the Bosphoric, white with black edges; the Proconnesian, which 
 formed the pavement. 
 
 At the conquest of Constantinople, St. Sophia was turned into a 
 Turkish mosque, the crosses removed, and the images and mosaics 
 taken from the walls, which were restored to a state of naked 
 simplicity. The imam preached in it, and Mohammed II. uttered 
 thanksgiving to the prophet for his victory. “ In the new character 
 of a mosque,” says Gibbon, “ the Cathedral of St. Sophia was 
 endowed with an ample revenue, crowned with lofty minarets, and 
 surrounded with groves and fountains for the devotion and refresh- 
 ment of the Moslems. The same model was imitated in th ejami, or 
 roval mosques; and the first of these was built by Mohammed him- 
 self on the ruins of the Church of the Holy Apostles, and the tombs 
 of the Greek emperors.” 
 
 The Mohammedan conqueror acted in a spirit of liberality and 
 tolerance to the followers of the Greek Church which did him high 
 honour, and palliated in some degree other enormities which he 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 135 
 
 committed. When Constantinople was taken by assault, the 
 patriarch was dead, no successor having been appointed during the 
 siege. The sultan ordered a new election, in which he commanded 
 that all the usual forms and ceremonies of the Byzantine Church 
 should be scrupulously observed. Accordingly, the clergy and 
 laity were convened, and conferred the patriarchate on George 
 Scholarius, otherwise called Gcnadius, with the same rights that 
 had been used from the foundation of the Byzantine Empire. The 
 patriarchs had received their investiture from the emperors ; Genadius 
 received his from the hands of the sultan, who invited him to a 
 sumptuous banquet, and honoured him by a magnificent reception. 
 When he was about to depart, the sultan delivered into his hands 
 the jewelled crozier, symbol of his ecclesiastical office, and said, 
 “ Be thou patriarch, and may heaven protect you ! Rely upon my 
 friendship in all circumstances, and enjoy all the rights and all the 
 privileges enjoyed by your predecessors.” The churches of Con- 
 stantinople were equally divided between the Christians and 
 Mohammedans, and the limits assigned to the classes distinctly 
 marked. In this manner, in the year 1453, the Greek Church at 
 Constantinople was placed under the immediate protection of the 
 sultans. But the equitable arrangements made by Mohammed II. 
 were infringed by his grandson, Selim. 
 
 Byzantine architecture penetrated into Russia at an early period. 
 Igor, the son of Rourik, who founded the Russian empire, pursued 
 the policy of his guardian, Oleg, in making war against the Greeks, 
 who, in the year 904, arrived under the walls of Constantinople with 
 
 80.000 combatants. Leo the Philosopher, who then reigned, pur- 
 chased peace at a high cost from these ferocious invaders. The 
 more formidable expedition of Igor is said to have been composed of 
 
 10.000 barks, each containing 40 men, so that his army must have 
 consisted of 400,000 combatants. His atrocities were most inhuman 
 — Christian priests being his favourite victims. His widow, Olga, 
 was of a gentle temper. She took the reins of government at his 
 death, as mother of his infant son, and travelled to Constantinople, 
 to be initiated into the precepts and mysteries of Christianity; and, 
 on embracing that faith, took the name of Helena. However, the 
 conversion of this princess did not confirm the triumph of Chris- 
 tianity in her dominions, as her example was not followed by her 
 son, Sviatoslof, or the nobles. On the death of Sviatoslof, his 
 children divided among them the dominions of their father, and 
 then made war on each other. Jaropalk assassinated Oleg, and 
 Vladimir murdered Jaropalk. This surviving son united in his own 
 hand the different countries subjected by his father. It is this 
 Vladimir who is styled the Great in the history of Russia, and also 
 the Saint, because he is the first sovereign of that empire who 
 adopted and solidly established the Christian faith in his kingdom — 
 an enterprise in which his grandmother, Olga, failed. 
 
 There are three distinct epochs in the history of the Russo-Greek 
 Church : — 1st. It was ruled by the patriarchs of Constantinople, who 
 nominated the metropolitans of Kief, Vladimir, and Moscow. 2nd. 
 In 1589 the metropolitan was nominated by the czar, but he 
 remained perfectly independent of temporal power. 3rd. In 1723, 
 the czar, Peter the Great, became supreme head of church and state. 
 It was in the first epoch that Byzantine architecture dominated. 
 In the second, it was combined with other styles. In the third, the 
 Italian was introduced. 
 
 The city of Kief, or Kiev, is one of the most ancient cradles of 
 Russian sovereignty, contains the oldest church in the kingdom, 
 called St. Sophia, and though it is not, as some have erroneously 
 asserted, built strictly after the model of Justinian’s cathedral, at 
 Constantinople, yet no doubts can exist as to its having been 
 constructed bv Greek architects, as it bears on the interior many 
 traces of Byzantine architecture. Mr. James, when travelling in 
 Russia, was forcibly struck with the oriental features of many of 
 the buildings, and on the subject generally refers to the discourses 
 of Sir "William Jones, published in the Asiatic ^Researches . As 
 connecting the primitive Russians with the Hindus, he observes 
 that, at the remains of the monastic establishment of the Tartars, at 
 Semipalatnaia, in the province of Tobolsk, the chief books discovered 
 were in the Mongolese and Tangout languages. It is very certain 
 that they who wrote the books influenced the style of architecture, 
 and hence the mixture of the Hindoo with the Byzantine. The 
 Gostinnoi T)vor, or square market-place, seen in every town of old 
 Russia, is constructed with double arcades, one above the other, as 
 in an eastern bazaar; the thick baluster column, the pagoda fashion 
 of the old steeples, the fa 9 ades adorned with painted and glazed 
 
 tiles, the bulging form of the cupola, and its situation in the centre 
 of the building, surrounded by four smaller ones — all peculiarities 
 common throughout the Mohammedan countries of the East, will 
 sufficiently prove from what quarter this people must have drawn 
 their ideas of architecture. 
 
 “ It might be urged," says Mr. James, “ that these fashions were 
 introduced by the Tartars during their invasion, but it appears, 
 from examples now existing, that this was not the first time they 
 borrowed from the eastern nations. The older churches of Russia 
 afford so many points of resemblance to the sculpture and buildings 
 of the Hindus, that we can scarce entertain a doubt of their having 
 acquired their taste from that people. Nor can this be held extra- 
 ordinary ; we know that the only places in the adjoining districts 
 of Tartary where science and letters were cultivated were settlements 
 of the Hindus, who supplied the hordes with all the learning and 
 ingenuity of which we can discover any traces. The Tartar remains 
 at Bolga, as well as those at Kasan, are built in the Hindoo style; 
 there are also many buildings in the Kremlin, at Moscow, and a 
 chinch in the southern quarter of the Semlianigorod, with many 
 others, where certain similarities may be traced. Again, the 
 pagoda fashion of the old wooden churches throughout the empire, 
 and the baluster-shaped columns which are often to be met with, 
 are striking examples of this style. "When treating of this subject, 
 it is impossible to avoid remarking that certain points of resem- 
 blance between this style and that of the European pointed archi- 
 tecture are to be observed here, as well as in that of Hindostan, as 
 exhibited by Mr. Daniell ; we trace it in the high pointed, gable- 
 headed windows, in the contrasted arch, in the long slender shafts 
 of pillars in relief, in the broad astragals that intersect their length, 
 and in the minutiae of their ornamental carved work; and one can 
 imagine we see, though in a different stage of perfection, the same 
 taste in building which has since made so great progress in Europe. 
 Perhaps it will hereafter appear that the same eastern or primitive 
 style, which we trace under similar features in the oldest monuments 
 of the world, at Persepolis, in Egypt, and Hindostan, was in fact 
 the prototype of the two chief prevalent styles of the present day, 
 of both the Grecian and the pointed architecture, since we may 
 discover in its lineaments strong features, not only of the one, but 
 of the other.” * 
 
 The decorations which prevailed in the Byzantine churches, 
 images, and paintings, prior to the reign of the iconoclastic emperors, 
 were not permitted to the same extent by the Russo-Greek Church. 
 This Church docs indeed recognise prayer to the saints, and the 
 efficacy of their intercession ; but, with special exemptions, it forbids 
 graven images. Paintings, however, of the Virgin Mary, copied 
 from the original by St. Luke, which tradition declares to be 
 genuine, and the ancient image of Christ imprinted on the hand- 
 kerchief of Sancta Veronica, which the Greek Church pronounces 
 to be the true representative of the Saviour, “not produced by the 
 hand of man,” are orthodox objects of adoration. On this subject 
 the difference between the Greok and Latin Church is clearly 
 defined, as the former only admits those paintings which it believes 
 to be of holy or miraculous origin, rejecting all known to be pro- 
 ductions of human art. In 1G99, the Czar Alexis announced by 
 ukase that “the sacred images of God were, according to the tradi- 
 tion of the holy fathers, under the inspiration of God, and they were 
 accepted according to the invariable usages of the holy Greek 
 Church.” This early strictness has been relaxed, excepting in the 
 churches of the Staroverzi, where none but old images are allowed. 
 In 1G74, the Patriarch Joachim severely denounced all innovations, 
 and interdicted “printing the countenances of the saints on paper, 
 and the sale of such as were imported from Germany,” observing 
 “ that many make these images in a perverse fashion ; the Lutherans 
 and Calvinists represent them with the features of persons now 
 living in their own country, and in German costume, instead of 
 representing them according to the antique models which exist in 
 the orthodox churches.” Kosegarten states that the village of 
 Kholui, in the government of Vladimir, is especially devoted to the 
 manufacture of orthodox images, which is the exclusive occupation 
 of its 900 inhabitants; and Haxthausen observes that these arti- 
 ficers possess approved models of the separate parts of the human 
 countenance — as the eyes, nose, mouth, chin — so that if an image is 
 
 * Journal of a Tour in Germany, Sweden, Russia, and Poland, during the 
 years 1813 and 1814. By J. T. James, student of Christ Church, Oxford. 
 London: John Murray. 
 
136 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 accidentally injured, the defaced or broken part is readily restored. 
 These images, he says, are sold all over Russia, and even beyond its 
 hmits, in oriental and Sclavonic countries, and may be seen in the 
 hands of the Croats on the military frontiers of Austria. As they 
 are considered sacred, they are said not to be sold ns merchandise, 
 but exchanged. These religious feelings account for the difference 
 in the interiors of the Russian and Byzantine churches. 
 
 After the fall of Constantinople, Italian architects were employed 
 in Russia, or natives who adopted the Italian style, or engrafted 
 it on that of the Byzantine. As a specimen of this mixed style, we 
 may refer to the Cathedral or Church of the Holy Virgin of Casan, 
 at St. Petersburg. The name of the architect was Woronitchki, a 
 slave, the property of Count Strogonoff, brought up under the 
 patronage of his master in the Imperial Academy, where his 
 remarkable talents were soon perceived and appreciated. The 
 cathedral cost 15,000,000 rubles, and fifteen years elapsed before 
 it was completed. It is described by Mr. James. The plan is laid in 
 the form of a cross, with a cupola in the centre ; each arm of the 
 cross terminates with a Corinthian portico, and that in front is 
 received into a grand semicircular colonnade, four columns in depth ; 
 the area of the crescent was intended to have been ornamented 
 with the statues of St. Peter and Paul, raised on gigantic blocks of 
 solid granite, ten or twelve feet high ; one of them, however, was 
 unfortunately sunk in crossing the Neva, and this part of the 
 design remained unfinished. In point of architecture, the compo- 
 sition of the building is not quite harmonious throughout ; and the 
 dome is so contracted in its dimensions, us to give, in some points of 
 view, an air of insignificance to the whole. The approach to it is 
 noble in effect ; in each line, as the eye is directed, it is met by a 
 forest of lofty columns, which form, at every step, combinations of 
 the most classical variety. The interior is magnificent. The 
 coiumns of the aisles are of purple granite, highly polished ; their 
 capitals of brass and gold. Rich paintings line the walls ; and a 
 dim, mysterious gloom pervades the whole fabric. 
 
 Byzantine architecture penetrated into Italy — particularly into 
 Ravenna and Venice. After the great victory of Pollen tia, gained 
 by Stilicho over Alaric and the Goths, the Emperor Honorius, 
 fearing another invasion of the barbarians, determined to secure his 
 person from seizure, and selected Ravenna, on the coast of the 
 Adriatic, where Augustus had constructed a spacious harbour. 
 Under Justinian, Ravenna was raised to the dignity of an exarchate ; 
 and the first exarch was Narses, the successful general of the eastern 
 emperor. Rome was then degraded to the second rank among 
 Italian cities, the exarch extending jurisdiction over it. It was 
 under these altered circumstances that Greek architects from Con- 
 stantinople enriched Ravenna with buildings in the Byzantine 
 style ; and as infant Venice was placed under the exarchs, there 
 also the same style of architecture prevailed. At Ravenna, Justinian 
 built the Church of San Vitale, after the model of Sancta Sophia, but 
 with some variations. It is circular without, octagonal within, 
 contains small arches on pillars within larger arches, and its walls 
 are coated with mosaic. 
 
 San Marco, or St. Mark’s, at Venice, is also built on Byzantine 
 designs. Of this famed edifice, Mr. Gaily Knight gives the follow- 
 ing desci-iption : — “ The plan of St. Mark’s, like that of Sancta 
 Sophia, is a great cross, with the addition of spacious porticoes. 
 The centre of the building is covered with a dome; and over the 
 centre of each of the arms of the cross rises a smaller cupola. All 
 the remaining parts of the building are covered with vaults, in con- 
 structing which the Greeks had become expert, and which are much 
 to be preferred to the wooden roofs of the old basilicas. Colonnades 
 and round arches separate the nave from the aisles in each of the 
 four compartments, and support galleries above. The capitals of 
 the pillars are of exquisite foliage in some cases, as if blown about 
 by the winds, and are free from the imagery which at that time 
 abounded in other churches of Italy. It is computed that in the 
 decoration of this building, without and within, about 500 pillars 
 are employed. The pillars are all of marble, and were chiefly 
 brought from Greece and other parts of the Levant. While 
 St. Mark’s was building, every vessel that cleared out of Venice for 
 the East was obliged to bring back pillars or marbles for the work 
 in which the republic took so general an interest. The defect of 
 the interior of St. Mark’s is, that it is not sufficiently light. The 
 windows are few in proportion to the size of the building. Rich, 
 therefore, as the interior is, it is gloomy to a fault, in spite of the 
 brilliant rays of a southern sun.” Over the central portal of the 
 
 vestibule stand the celebrated bronze horses taken from the Hippo- 
 drome of Constantinople in the fourth Crusade, being part of the 
 share of plunder acquired by the Venetians. Two rows of columns 
 in the fa5ade, deeply engraven with Armenian and Syriac inscrip- 
 tions, show that they have been taken from other buildings. By- 
 zantine architecture was also introduced into Milan, for on the 
 site where the existing cathedral or duomo stands, Queen Theodo- 
 linda, daughter of Garibold, King of the Bavarians, and wife of 
 Antharis, King of the Lombards, erected, in 595, a church in honour 
 of John the Baptist. 
 
 Mohammedan and Moorish architecture is also strongly associated 
 with the Byzantine style, which travelled into Asia Minor, Armenia, 
 and the Caucasian provinces ; while among the Sclavonic, Arab, 
 and Greek races, it was the primary element in art. It is probable 
 that, before the time of Mohammed, the Arabians imitated the 
 architecture of ancient Egypt. The Kaaba, at Mecca, which con- 
 tains the tomb of the prophet, is the only relic of the earliest style; 
 and it has been so frequently changed or modified, that it is difficult 
 to distinguish the oldest from subsequent portions. The Kaaba was 
 so called from its form, the word signifying square. The Turkish 
 traditions pretend that the original edifice was constructed by 
 Abraham and Ishmael; while some give the honour to Seth, who 
 used stone and clay. After the Deluge, these later authorities state 
 that Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt the Temple on its first site. It is 
 thus described in Ockley’s History of the Saracens : — “ The Kaaba, 
 which has been several times rebuilt or repaired, is a square stone 
 building, the length whereof, from north to south, is twenty-four 
 cubits, the breadth, from east to west, twenty-three, and the height 
 twenty -seven cubits. The door, which is on the east side of the 
 threshold, rises four cubits above the ground, so that, there being no 
 steps adjoining to it, they who come to worship may touch the 
 threshold with their foreheads, or kiss it (there are movable steps 
 to be used when the building is to be cleaned, or the lamps lighted). 
 The black stone, which the Mohammedans hold in great reverence, 
 and believe to be one of the stones of Paradise, which fell down with 
 Adam from heaven, is a small stone set in silver, and fixed in the 
 south-east corner of the Kaaba, about four feet from the ground. It 
 is said to be white within, but to have been turned black on the 
 outside by the sins of the people, or more probably by the kisses of 
 the pilgrims. Upon the ground, on the north side of the Kaaba, 
 there is a stone called the Sepulchre of Ishmael. There is also 
 another stone, called the Station of Abraham, which they say, being 
 used by him for a scaffold, rose higher with him as the walls of the 
 building rose ; and that, after he had done building, he stood upon 
 it and prayed, and left on it the prints of his feet. Round three 
 sides of the Kaaba, and at no great distance from it, stands a row 
 of pillars, which are joined at the bottom by a low balustrade, and 
 at the top by bars of silver. Without this enclosure are buildings 
 used for oratories by the different sects of Mohammedans; there 
 also is the treasury, and a small edifice raised over the sacred well, 
 Zemzem. All these buildings are enclosed at a considerable distance 
 by a magnificent colonnade, surmounted with small cupolas, and at 
 the four corners there are as many steeples adorned like cupolas, 
 with gilded spires and crescents ; between the pillars of both enclo- 
 sures hang a number of lamps, which are constantly lighted up at 
 night. The Kaaba is supported by pillars of aloe-wood, between 
 which hang silver lamps, and a spout of gold carries off the rain- 
 water from the roof. The walls on the outside are hung with a rich 
 covering of black damask, adorned with a band of gold, which is 
 changed every year at the expense of the Turkish emperor. The 
 Kaaba is properly the temple ; but the whole territory of Mecca is 
 held sacred, and distinguished by small turrets, some at seven, and 
 others at ten miles distance from the city. Within these precincts it 
 is not lawful to attack an enemy, or even hunt or fowl.” 
 
 Before Persia received the law and the religion of its Mohamme- 
 dan conquerors, it is supposed to have imparted some of its archi- 
 tectural style to the Byzantine buildings ; but after the conquest it 
 took the model of its mosques from Constantinople. In the descrip- 
 tion of the Alhambra we have seen the relations between the 
 Moorish and Byzantine styles. The same striking features are 
 recognised at Bagdad and Cairo, at Mecca and Jerusalem, at the 
 latter of which places the Caliph Omar built his splendid mosque on 
 the site of the ancient temple, and at Cordova, in Spain. The 
 Moguls carried the religion of Mohammed into India, and with it 
 the form of architecture used in the sacred edifices. On this subject 
 Mr. Hope has made the following remarks : — “ While in some of 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 137 
 
 the various and distant countries here named we observe, previous 
 to the adoption of Islamisra, the slightest approach to those inven- 
 tions, the pride and the stay of architecture — the arch and the 
 cupola— in all of them alike, in the very first settling in them of 
 Mohammedans, we see these noble features immediately appearing, 
 from the application of Greek skill, in the full maturity of form they 
 had attained among themselves. Indeed, in every Moslem dominion 
 which continued to flourish during a sufficient period, we even see 
 the arch and the vault keep pace in their further developments and 
 changes with those which they experienced at the fountain head — 
 as the pointed, the depressed, the scolloped, nay, the horse-shoe arch, 
 successively, gained favour at Constantinople and the rest of the 
 Greek Empire; and thence also in the cities of Italy, connected 
 with that empire by trade or by vassalage, each successively pre- 
 vailed. In like manner, in the various regions under Mohammedan 
 rule, and throughout India, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, and Spain; 
 at Agra, at Ispahan, at Damascus, at Cairo, at Tripoli, at Tunis, at 
 Fez, and at Granada ; in mosques and in medrasses, in palaces and in 
 pavilions, in bazaars and in bridges, in the Sepulchre of Mohammed, 
 
 and the Oder, when first mentioned in history ; but in the reign of 
 Justinian they passed the Danube as the allies of that emperor. 
 After a contest of thirty years, they extirpated the Gepidte, a nation 
 of warriors. Alboin, the youthful prince of the Lombards, then 
 turning his eyes to the Po and the Tiber, determined to effect con- 
 quests in Italy, in which bold attempt he succeeded ; and from his 
 followers the fertile district of the Milanese, and the adjoining ter- 
 ritory took the name of Lombardy. Alboin fixed his royal residence 
 not at Milan, but at Pavia, which became the capital of his new 
 kingdom ; and during a period of two hundred years, Italy was 
 unequally divided between his successors and the exarchs of 
 Ravenna. “From Pavia, the royal seat,” says Gibbon, “ the (Lom- 
 bard) kingdom was extended to the east, the north, and the west, 
 as far as the confines of the Avars, the Bavarians, and the Franks 
 of Austrasia and Burgundy. In the language of modern geography, 
 it is now represented by the terra Jirma of the Venetian republic, 
 Tyrol, the Milanese, Piedmont, the coast of Genoa, Mantua, Parma, 
 and Modena, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and a large portion of 
 the ecclesiastical state from Perugia to the Adriatic.” Under Desi- 
 
 LXTLRIOU OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 at Mecca, a3 in the Tomb of the Holy Virgin, at Jerusalem, or the 
 Hall of Saladin, at Cairo, we already find the arch, not only with 
 the double curve, forming the ogive sharpness in the centre, but the 
 low-spreading at the sides, which we consider, in the north of 
 Europe, as the last modification of the Pointed style. This ogive 
 arch seems even early to have become, and lately to have remained, 
 with the Mohammedans of India, a favourite almost exclusive. In 
 Spain, on the other hand, the horse-shoe arch became the universal 
 favourite, was employed in all the later Moorish buildings, and from 
 these again became imitated, still later, by the Christians in their 
 n eighbourhood.” 
 
 The Lombard style of architecture was mixed, combining the 
 Latin basilica, the Byzantine cupola, and the round and polygonal 
 forms. Crypts were added to their churches. The Lombards 
 derived their taste in building rather from Constantinople than 
 Rome ; and, indeed, it was natural that their artists should have felt 
 the influence of the neighbouring monuments of Ravenna, when 
 their princes had established their government in the country. 
 The people called Lombards, a corrupt abbreviation of Longobards , 
 so called from the length of their beards, dwelt between the Elbe 
 
 | derius, the last of the Lombard princes, the kingdom surrendered 
 I to the victorious arms of Charlemagne, in the year 774. 
 
 The earliest buildings attributed to the Lombards in Italy are 
 the Churches of San Frediano and San Michele, both at Lucca, and 
 of San Michele and San Pietro Cielo d’Oro, both at Pavia, built in 
 the seventh and eighth centuries. Many old edifices have been so 
 modified in the course of time, the primitive portions removed 
 and new portions substituted, that the original character of the 
 architecture can only be detected in details. Thus, in the cathedral 
 at Lucca, the lower arches of the nave are Lombard, the upper 
 portions Gothic. San Michele was founded by Teutprandus and 
 Gumpranda, his wife, in 11G4, but the fine fa 9 ade belongs to the 
 date of 1188. San Frediano is more in the style of the old basilicas 
 than in that of the Lombards. At Lucca, the Churches of San Sal- 
 vatore, Santa Maria Forisportam (that is, Santa Maria beyond the 
 i gate), and San Pietro Somaldi, are Lombard ; so also is San 
 Christoforo, but its fa 9 ade shows the transition from the Lombard 
 to the Italian-Gothic. The Cathedral of Pavia is built on a Lombard 
 foundation ; and the original structure of that at Turin was built 
 by Agiluph, King of the Lombards, about the year 600 — 602. 
 
 N N 
 
138 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Remains of this style, more or less mixed with the Byzantine, are 
 scattered over a large portion of Italy ; but limited space prevents 
 our multiplication of examples. 
 
 “ The new features,” says Mr. Gaily Knight, “by which what is 
 called Lombard architecture is distinguished, are additional orna- 
 ments, both external and internal. This difference is seen externally 
 in the slender compound piers or buttresses, which are carried up 
 the front of churches, from the ground to the eaves ; in the small 
 arcades of the open galleries, which follow the shape of the gable, 
 or crown the semicircular apse ; in the multiplication of the sinkings 
 and mouldings of the portals: and in the crowd of imagery with 
 which these mouldings are enriched. Internally, the difference 
 appears in the frequent substitution of compound piers for single 
 pillars ; in the dissimilarity of the capitals ; and in the profusion of 
 images, often grotesque, with which the capitals of pillars or piers 
 were now for the first time adorned. Christian symbols had been 
 admitted into churches at an earlier period, but till the seventh 
 century they had been admitted with a sparing hand ; and amongst 
 the variety of figures which were now introduced, there are a few 
 which appear to have emanated from the mythology of the north. 
 It need hardly be added that, in the seventh century, the rules and 
 proportions which had been so exactly observed in classical times 
 were altogether neglected. The height of the piers no longer bore 
 any reference to their hulk ; the piers and pillars of Lombard build- 
 ings are short and stunted. Ancient rules were departed from in 
 other respects. Pedestals and architraves were omitted ; the pillar 
 or pier rested on a simple base, and the arch sprang direct from the 
 capital.” 
 
 The imagery alluded to in this extract was fantastic, and appa- 
 rently incongruous, but had a concealed symbolical meaning. There 
 were mixed together the representations of men, beasts, birds, 
 fishes, and fruits : as the four beasts of the Apocalypse ; Daniel, 
 David, and Goliath; Theseus and the minotaur; the peacock, the 
 goat, the deer; the vine; dragons, serpents, eagles, and dogs. 
 
 In the year 800, Charlemagne, conqueror of the kingdom of 
 Lombardy, was crowned Emperor of the West by Pope Leo III. ; 
 and in his buildings on the banks of the Rhine introduced the 
 Lombard and Byzantine styles; while his Cathedral of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle was modelled after the Church of San Vitale, at Ravenna, 
 constructed by Constantinopolitan architects in the reign of Jus- 
 tinian. Aix-la-Chapelle subsequently furnished the model for the 
 cathedral at Cologne, which was in turn imitated at Worms, Spires, 
 and Mayence. At Augsburg, the cathedral is covered with rude 
 bas-reliefs in the Byzantine style, in which sacred and heathen 
 subjects are blended after the Lombard fashion. At St. Stephen’s, 
 at Vienna, in the more ancient portions of the fabric, the remains 
 perhaps of the primitive church, the Byzantine character may be 
 detected. 
 
 Lastly, in chronological order, come the Normans, who impressed 
 on Lombard forms and Byzantine details, mingled with Saracenic 
 features, an architectural character peculiar to themselves during 
 their occupation of Sicily. The various fortunes of this heroic race 
 present a lively picture of the chivalry of romance. Under Hasting 
 and other chiefs they frequently devastated France, from the Loire 
 up to Paris, till at length, under Rollo, they obtained from Charles 
 the Simple possession of Neustria, the name of which they changed 
 into Normandy. Other expeditions of piratical Normans were 
 directed against the broken and exposed provinces of the Greeks, 
 Lombards, and Saracens, and one division established themselves at 
 A versa, in Italy. Before this period the Arabs had conquered 
 Sicily, wresting it from the empire of Constantinople, and the 
 emperor was eager for its recovery. He made overtures to the 
 Norman adventurers, who entered his service, and, chiefly by their 
 valour, the followers of Mohammed were expelled. But the 
 ungrateful emperor withheld the promised reward. William of 
 Hauteville and his followers were indignant at this baseness ; their 
 countrymen established at Aversa shared their indignation : uniting 
 their forces, they seized the province of Apulia, from which a vain 
 attempt was made to expel them, for in a sanguinary battle they 
 completely routed the Asiatics. This victory consolidated the 
 Norman power in Italy, and fresh adventurers from their native 
 country flocked to their camp, allured by the love of fame or the 
 hope of plunder. 
 
 Tancred of Hauteville, in Lower Normandy, in the diocese of 
 Coutances, was the father of twelve valiant sons, by two marriages. 
 Ten of them, eager for glory and fortune, joined the Apulian 
 
 encampment. Robert, afterwards named Guiscard, on account of 
 his political sagacity, the eldest of the seven sons born of the second 
 marriage, after twenty years passed in the performance of heroic 
 deeds, became Duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily. His youngest 
 brother, Roger, highly distinguished himself against the Moslems 
 in Sicily, and ultimately became king of that fertile island. Bohe- 
 mond, son of Guiscard, carried terror to the gates of Constantinople. 
 The Greeks compared the father and son to the caterpillar and the 
 locust — “ the last of whom devours what has escaped the teeth of the 
 former.” The Norman occupation of Sicily, and of that portion of 
 Italy which corresponds with the limits of the present kingdom of 
 Naples, and the frequent intercourse, hostile or friendly, of the 
 Norman chiefs with the Greek emperors, tended to impress on their 
 architecture a mixture of Mohammedan and Byzantine style. In 
 Sicily there may be observed in their buildings a style Saracenic 
 in the arches, Roman in the pillars and capitals, Byzantine in the 
 cupolas and mosaics, and Norman in the enrichment. According 
 to Mr. Gaily Knight, in the Norman-Sicilian style, the architects 
 used their familiar billet moulding, dog-tooth moulding, and zigzag 
 moulding, and introduced .grotesque heads among the foliage of 
 capitals, or under the eaves. It is presumed that Norman pi elates, 
 who went from Normandy to Sicily, supplied these ornaments. The 
 Capella Palatina, at Palermo, was built by King Roger, in the year 
 1132, on which he employed Normans, Saracens, and Greeks, and 
 it exhibits the three styles peculiar to those different people. The 
 form is Latin, the cupola Byzantine, the roof Saracenic. 
 
 Some few remarks may here be offered on the Romanesque, or 
 early Christian architecture, which originated at Rome in its 
 declining days, and partook of the general debasement of the age. 
 It spread to other portions of western Europe, and prevailed during 
 eight or nine centuries. Its basis was that of the basilica, a building 
 originally appropriated both to the administration of justice and the 
 exchanges of merchants, hut which, in the time of Constantine, was 
 adapted to religious uses. This style of structure marks a transition 
 period, vainly attempting to imitate the past, and wanting invention 
 to create anything excellent of its own. It was modified by local 
 circumstances, and received various names. In central Italy and 
 Germany it was called Romanesque ; in north Italy, Lombard ; in 
 the East, Byzantine ; and in England, France, and adjacent coun- 
 tries, Saxon and Norman. A modern writer, Mr. Tarbuck, describes 
 it in the following terms : — “ There is in it a general squareness and 
 massiveness of effect ; the arches are round, and of the horse-shoe 
 form, usually springing directly from columns, with incongruous 
 capitals and bases, often designed with a total disregard to propor- 
 tion, and sometimes so far perverted from their true object as to be 
 carried on brackets. They are round and polygonal on plan, and 
 are applied in all situations — in the naves, and to doors and windows. 
 Broad, flat, and pilaster-like buttresses are frequently used ; and 
 rude and primitive coarseness is generally characteristic of the 
 sculptured decorations. The coup d'ceil is altogether gloomy, heavy, 
 and formal, with an almost total deficiency of elegance, grace, and 
 lightness ; although efforts would seem to have been made to 
 counteract this result by means of frescoes and mosaics, stiff and 
 hard in the extreme.” 
 
 The Byzantine and Romanesque are links between the Classic 
 and Gothic styles, and indeed in all varieties of architecture certain 
 relations may be detected, one form sliding into another. “ Thus,” 
 as Messrs. Wyatt and Waring well observe, “ the most superficial 
 examination cannot but reveal to the student how Roman archi- 
 tecture — itself an offspring of Greece — was gradually transformed 
 by successive changes into the Byzantine style, which in its turn 
 varying with the course of ages, and undergoing modifications 
 according to the means, the disposition, and necessities of the people 
 who adopted it, resolved itself into two remarkable phases, in the 
 Lombard and Norman styles ; from which again sprung, os a 
 necessary consequence, when we consider the climate, character, and 
 creed of those artists who shaped its progress, and that which must 
 be regarded as one of the most magnificent proofs of man’s power 
 over dull matter which time has bequeathed to us — the Pointed 
 system of architecture. Thus then we perceive that in architecture, 
 as in all other works of creation, there is no gap ; and were our 
 means of gaining a knowledge of all the architectural works ever 
 produced but microscopic, we should doubtless be enabled to supply 
 the series of links wanting to connect all styles; and hence the very 
 apparent opposition existing between one ancient system — the 
 Roman — and another — the Gothic — only renders more interesting 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 139 
 
 the Byzantine style, which, with its offshoots, served to connect the I 
 
 two In such associations of idea, the Romanesque monuments 
 
 yield in interest to none. The}- are vestiges of an age singularly 
 troubled and romantic, and are tinged, as it were, with the light of 
 two suns — on one side by the setting sun of an old world, on the 
 other by the earliest gleams of a new day dawning on a new people 
 and a new life. Fiction itself could desire nothing more strange 
 than the incidents which many of these monuments witnessed.” 
 
 In the period under review, that is, from the decline of Art in 
 Rome to the Renaissance, another modified style arose in the form 
 of round churches, of which class seven existed in England ; of 
 these three have perished, viz., Temple-Bruer, and Aislabey, both 
 in Lincolnshire, and the Old Temple, in Holborn. Those that sur- 
 vive are the Temple Church, London, on which the Benchers of the 
 Inn have bestowed the liberal sum of £50.000 in restoration ; St. 
 Sepulchre's, at Northampton ; the Church of Little Maplested, 
 dedicated to St. John of Jerusalem ; and the Church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre at Cambridge, which the Cambridge Camden Society 
 intended to re-construct, at least, so fur as necessary repairs were 
 needed, in all its pristine features. They expended upon it a con- 
 siderable sum, but were not allowed to complete the work they had 
 commenced, so as to preserve the antique style. Men smitten with 
 the ambition of being improvers, and emulous of the fame of touch- 
 ing up, arc too apt to fall into incongruities, substituting their own 
 ideas for those of a remote generation. In this manner epochs are 
 confounded, and the lessons of primitive architecture cease to be 
 instructive. These round churches belong to the epoch of the 
 Crusades, and the cost of their erection was chiefly paid by the 
 piety of the Knights Templars and Hospitallers. They found the 
 models at Jerusalem. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, 
 pulled down a Temple of Venus, erected over the site of the Holy 
 Sepulchre, which paganism had erected to conceal the spot where 
 stood the tomb of the Saviour, in the vain hope of obliterating 
 the memory of that solemn event; but the Holy Sepulchre was 
 found undestroyed, and over it Helena and her son erected the 
 Church of the Resurrection, in the circular form. It was destroyed 
 by fire when Chosroes the Second sacked Jerusalem. His grand- 
 father, Nushirvan, had meditated the conquest of the Holy City; 
 the Magi insisted on its destruction ; and the fuiious bigotry of the 
 Jews offered Chosroes an army of twenty-six thousand men. The 
 capital of Judea was taken by assault, and committed to the devour- 
 ing element. “The Sepulchre of Christ,” says Gibbon, “and the 
 stately churches of Helena and Constantine, were consumed, or at 
 least damaged, by the flames; the devout offerings of three hundred 
 years were rifled in one sacrilegious day ; the patriarch Zachariah, 
 and the true cross, were transported into Persia ; and the massacre 
 of ninety thousand Christians is imputed to the Jews and Arabs 
 who swelled the disorder of the Persian march.” 
 
 The Church of the Resurrection was rebuilt in the reign of Con- 
 stantine Monomachus, and it is fair to presume that the original 
 style was closely, if not exactly, imitated, being in the circular form, 
 surrounding the Sepulchre. It was this style that the Christian 
 pilgrims and Crusaders followed in the round churches of England. 
 Their piety was sincere, of which the hardships they incurred 
 furnish incontestable proof. The historian, David Hume, in speak- 
 ing of the Crusades, describes them “ as lasting monuments of human 
 folly,” but that profound philosopher appears to have overlooked 
 their civilising results. All western Europe, at that period, was a 
 prey to baronial brigandage ; the castles of the nobles were fortresses 
 from which they sallied forth to plunder the industrious cultivators 
 of the soil ; neither age nor sex escaped their brutalities, and even 
 the sanctuaries of religion were frequently polluted by their rude 
 and profane hands. It was, therefore, an act of deep policy on 
 the part of the Church to find a new field on which these ruffians 
 could indulge their warlike spirit, and with that view, as much as 
 from devotional feelings, they poured Europe into Asia. During 
 their absence the land was tilled, and the burghers of towns carried 
 on their industry in peace. Then movable property began to ac- 
 cumulate, and with its growth a sense of personal independence 
 manifested itself, which, in due season, extinguished serfdom. In 
 this sense, the Crusades form an important epoch in the history of 
 civilisation. 
 
 We have engraved the round church of the Holy Sepulchre, at 
 Cambridge,* which, from a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, 
 
 j appears to have been consecrated in the year 1101. As the order 
 of the Knights Templars did not obtain landed possessions in Eng- 
 land prior to 1134, it could not have been built by them ; but there 
 can be no doubt that it owed its construction to some person or 
 persons connected with the Crusades. It is thus described, as re- 
 cently restored, by an anonymous writer in a modern publication : — 
 “ The ancient and round portion of this church consists of an outer 
 circular wall, with a rich Norman door-way, opening into an aisle, 
 which embraces a central round, resting on eight circular piers, and 
 finished above with a clerestory, surrounded by an arcade, pierced 
 with eight lights, and finished with a conical roof. The piers are 
 low and massive, without bases, and with capitals of varied designs. 
 The arches are all circular, and some of them adorned with the 
 zigzag moulding, so characteristic of the Norman style. To this 
 part of the church is added a chancel, and two aisles, of perpendicular 
 character, with an octangular bell-turret at the north-west angle of 
 the north aisle ; and thus the present church consists of a circular 
 nave and aisle, with the chancel and its north and south aisle, and 
 bell-turret, extending eastward from the round. In the interior the 
 effect is greatly heightened by the introduction of rich painted glass, 
 and an appropriate style of furniture and decoration throughout. 
 The round is, of course, the part of most interest, and here the 
 windows bear, many of them, reference to the historj' of the Church. 
 One represents the Resurrection, with an obvious allusion to the 
 Church of the Resurrection, after which, as we have stated, this 
 church is designed. Another is of the venerable Bede, the great 
 historian of our early Church, who is said (but on the authority of a 
 tradition which will not bear minute canvassing) to have resided 
 for a time between the site of St. Sepulchre, and that of St. John’s 
 College ; and who happens to be the only person who has handed 
 down to these times a description of the round churches existing 
 in his day. Another window represents St. Etheldrida, whose his- 
 tory is connected with Ely, in which diocese the church is situated. 
 The east window of the chancel, which appears to great advantage 
 on immediately entering the church, is of beautiful painted glass, 
 representing the crucifixion, with the figures of the ever blessed 
 Virgin, and the beloved Apostle, as they are associated with the 
 cross of Christ in mediaeval art, on the authority of the Holy Gospel.” 
 
 Around the exterior of the Byzantine Court are several figures 
 which are interesting as exhibiting specimens of the art of statuary 
 and of military costume belonging to the thirteenth century. The 
 armorial bearings of some indicate the persons represented. Among 
 them are supposed to be two members of the ancient family of 
 Dc Iloos. The first figure, carved out of Roach Abbey stone, in 
 Yorkshire, and clad in chain mail, belongs to that family. Next to 
 it is an effigy of a knight crusader, in Purbeck marble, clad in ring 
 mail. This is supposed to be Lord De Roos of Fursan, who died in 
 1227, but the identity is clouded b} r some doubts. Then follows 
 William Mareschal, the elder, Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1219. 
 His effigy is of Sussex marble. Next appears the reputed effigy 
 of Geoffrey de Magnaville, Earl of Essex, in Sussex marble. All 
 these are on the left as the spectator faces the Court. The 
 first on the right side is said to be the effigy of Gilbert Mare- 
 schal, Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1241. It is of Reigate 
 stone. Next it, and of the same material, is that of his brother 
 William, who died in 1231. The heraldic evidence of these figures, 
 belonging to the Pembroke family, is the appearance of a lion 
 rampant. Beyond them are the effigies of two knights, in Purbeck 
 stone, whose names are unknown. Of these eight statues, six are 
 cross-legged; whence it has been assumed that they represent 
 crusaders ; but this attitude is not decisive proof of the persons 
 commemorated having fought in the Holy Land. All these figures 
 have been cast from those now in the Temple Church, Strand. 
 Some betray vestiges of colour, in others it is not discoverable. 
 
 The arcaded facade of the Byzantine Court is taken from the 
 cloisters of an ancient church at Cologne, called St. Mary in Capitolo, 
 founded by the wife of Pepin L’Heristal, though the cloisters were 
 not built till the tenth century, by Archbishop Bruno. When 
 Cologne was occupied by the Romans, they built there a capitol, and 
 on its site the church was erected — hence its name. It combines 
 the Roman basilica and the Byzantine temple, and its design has 
 been generally imitated in the Rhenish provinces. Several portraits 
 . are ranged above the piers of this facade as illustrations of Byzan- 
 , tine art, among which are Charles the Bald, King of France, and his 
 lather Louis, called LeDebonnaire; Judith, sister of Charles the Bald, 
 was mother of our Alfred the Great, having married Ethelwulf. 
 
 See Engraving on the following page. 
 
140 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR 
 
 Justinian and his wife, the Empress Theodora, are here depicted, 
 from the mosaics preserved at San Vitale, in Ravenna. Justinian 
 ascended the throne of Constantinople about fifty years after the fall 
 of the western empire, at which date the Goths and Vandals had 
 respectively established their rule in Europe and Africa. Both those 
 warlike nations he completely subdued through the skill and valour 
 of his celebrated generals, Belisarius and Narses. We have fully 
 described his magnificent structure of St. Sophia, and the historian 
 Procopius may be referred to for ampler details of his other contri- 
 butions to architecture. He multiplied the fortifications of Europe 
 and Asia ; and from Belgrade to the Euxine, from the conflux of 
 the Saone to the mouth of the Danube, a chain of about fourscore 
 fortified places was extended along the banks of the great river. 
 A strong fortress defended Trajan’s Bridge. He re-peopled the 
 solitude of ancient cities; and though he suppressed the schools of 
 Athens, and abolished the consulship at Rome, he knew how to 
 
 the streets to the palace, became the concubine, and afterwards the 
 wife of Justinian. But this remarkable woman, steeped as she had 
 been in vice, had a martial spirit and the sou! of a hero. During a 
 sedition, when the courage of the emperor deserted him, and he was 
 preparing to flee from his capital, Theodora exclaimed in the midst 
 of the timid and vacillating council, which even the great Belisarius 
 attended, “ If flight were the only means of safety, I should disdain 
 to flee. Death is the condition of our birth ; but they who have 
 reigned should never survive the loss of dignity and dominion. I 
 implore heaven that I may never be seen, not a day, without, my 
 diadem and purple; that I may no longer behold the light when 
 I cease to be saluted with the name of queen. If you resolve, O 
 Caesar! to flee, you have treasures ; behold the sea, you have ships : 
 but tremble lest the desire of life should expose you to wretched 
 exile and ignominious death. For my own part, I adhere to the 
 maxim of antiquity, that the throne is a glorious sepulchre.” By 
 
 ROUND CHURCH OF THE 8EPULCHRE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 select and reward men of genius. He patronised the profound juris- 
 consult Olvmpius, and the erudite and discriminating Tribonian ; 
 the learned physicians, Dioscorus and Alexander ; the grammarian 
 Metrodorus; and Anthemius, the mathematician and architect. The 
 name of this emperor will ever be associated with the Code, the 
 Pandects, and the Institutes. It is true that he acted with base 
 ingratitude to Belisarius, but it is not true that he deprived that 
 general of his eyes, or compelled him to beg his bread. Gibbon 
 has shown that “ give a penny to Belisarius ” is a fiction of modern 
 times. Justinian died eight months after his famous and persecuted 
 officer, having lived eighty-three years, and reigned thirty-eight. 
 
 The empress Theodora, and her two sisters Comito and Anastasia, 
 all remarkable for their beauty, were public courtesans of the 
 commonest class in early life, selling their venal charms to the 
 promiscuous crowd of purchasers, and exhibiting their nude persons 
 on the theatre of Constantinople. Theodora at length passed from 
 
 this spirited speech she inspired her husband with fortitude, and 
 quelled the sedition. 
 
 The last figure on the right is that of Nicephorus Botoniates, one 
 of the generals of Michael Ducas, Emperor of Constantinople, who, 
 for a short period, usurped the empire. It has been selected as 
 illustrating in a high degree the richness of Byzantine costume. 
 Michael Ducas was odious to his subjects ; he received the surname 
 of Sarapinaces, which, says Gibbon, “ denotes the reproach which 
 he shared with an avaricious minister, who enhanced the price and 
 diminished the measure of wheat.” Against him two of his generals 
 revolted, Nicephorus Bryennius and Nicephorous Botoniates. Bry- 
 ennius led his troops against Constantinople, and allowed them to 
 burn and pillage one of the suburbs. This lax discipline caused his 
 ruin ; for “ the people who would have hailed the rebel, rejected 
 and repulsed the incendiary of their country.” Botoniates, more 
 prudent, pursued a protective and wiser policy, and by the united 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 141 
 
 voice of the patriarch, the synod, and the senate, he was raised to 
 the imperial dignity — Michael T)ucas, tamely surrendering the 
 insignia of royalty, and receiving in return the monastic habit and 
 the title of Archbishop of Ephesus. The reign of Botoniates was 
 short. He had been faithfully served by Alexius Comnenus, 
 although a relative of the line of Ducas, but he felt that his 
 dethronement was just. Alexius, by valour and conduct, suppressed 
 three rebellions, and his warlike career gained for him the esteem 
 and confidence of the troops ; but he x’efused to march against a 
 fourth rebel, who had married his sister. His former services were 
 now forgotten, and fearing to forfeit his liberty or his life, he raised 
 the standax-d of revolt, and proved successful. Alexius ascended 
 the throne, and Botoniates was immured in a monastery. 
 
 On the return side of the Byzantine Court is an allegorical figure 
 of Night, a Virgin and Child, and a figui*e of Hay, none of which 
 are very remarkable for artistic conception or execution. 
 
 The visitor will now enter the cloisters, where he will behold 
 specimens of ornamental sculpture peculiar to Constantinople and 
 Venice, but chiefly taken from the Cathedral of St. Mark’s, in the 
 latter city. Among these are the statue of St. George slaying the 
 Dragon, and of St. Theodore, who was the patron saint of Venice 
 till he was superseded by St. Mark. To the honour of St. Theodore, 
 known on earth by the name of Tyro, a young Syrian soldier who 
 suffei'ed martyrdom during the i*eign of Maximin, a.d. 235, Narses, 
 the famous general of Justinian, the rival in military fame of Beli- 
 sarius, and conqueror of the Vandalic kingdom in Africa, erected 
 a chapel in Venice. Hei*e are Gei-man Romanesque columns, and 
 an effigy of Richard Cocur-de-lion, from Rouen, discovered in 1838, 
 in the cathedral of the capital of Normandy ; but as it greatly 
 varies from the recumbent figure of this monarch at Fontevrault, it 
 is not considered to bear a faithful resemblance to the original. 
 Beneath his effigy is an altar frontal, having in the centre the figure 
 of Jesus, and in the spandrels symbols of the four evangelists. 
 Such symbols were common in the Romanesque period, and the 
 practice may be traced among the heathens to a veiy remote 
 antiquity. It is dominant in the Egyptian system, and wherever 
 Sabeism or astrotheology prevailed ; so that in early Christian 
 churches the usage was undoubtedly copied from pagan precedents. 
 In the representation before us the eagle is attributed to St. John, 
 the angel to St. Matthew, the lion to St. Mark, and the ox to 
 St. Luke. 
 
 On entering the interior of the Byzantine Court, the first door on 
 the left, as the visitor advances from the cloister arcade, is taken from 
 the Church of Kilpeck, in Herefordshire, built in 1134. This church 
 is remarkable for its symbolism. In fact, when the art of printing was 
 unknown, and few even among the highest, except the clergy, could 
 write or read, sculptured or carved appeals to the eye were the best 
 means of awakening piety and impressing historical facts. Of the 
 emblematical character of the Church of Kilpeck, Mr. Lewis has 
 given some ingenious illustrations and solutions which are too inter- 
 esting to be here omitted ; moreover, in a most forcible manner they 
 express the spirit of the age, and therefore are eminently instructive; 
 and, as has been frequently remarked in the course of this work, the 
 Sydenham Palace has higher objects to promote than mere fugitive 
 amusement. “ The beautiful and highly intelligent design of the 
 Duor and the Way contains the leading features of the Old and 
 New Testaments most skilfully arranged. The open part, or 
 entrance, is the long upright beam or body. The open space above, 
 which contains the tree, is the short beam or head ; and the two 
 horizontal portions, one on each side, and which are filled with 
 crosses, are the arms. Viewing these parts when taken together, 
 we have the cross. On further contemplation of this religious work, 
 we find that the Alpha and Omega are contained therein, and that 
 the trees of life and knowledge, of good and evil, are there designed 
 most appropriately. The tree of life is placed in the head of the 
 cross, over the entrance, and the tree of knowledge on the columns 
 on each side of the piers. The tree of life is divided into three 
 principal parts, symbolical of the Trinity, the centre or head, and 
 two arms, preserving the cross form in the design. The head is 
 divided in the same manner into three parts, a head and two 
 branches; the branches are represented as the fruit arising out of 
 the head, producing again the cross form. The two branches of the 
 first division are divided into eight parts, seven of which represent 
 foliage, in allusion to the beginning (Gen. chap, i.) of the number 
 seven, and the one fruit. In this arrangement of the tree of life, the 
 designer makes it to contain in the head the Trinity, and in the two 
 
 branches the natural and spiritual world, the Alpha and Omega. 
 The stem of the tree is made to proceed from a foundation of light, 
 which the angular forms at the base of the tree are designed to 
 convey.” This beautiful and ingenious description shows that taste 
 and invention flourished, however exceptionally, in what have been 
 too indiscriminately termed the dark ages. The designer of Kilpeck 
 had in him the poetic element, a rich fancy, and a fine judgment. 
 Medisevalism has indeed been ridiculously praised, and most 
 absurdly undervalued. Illustrations such as those referred to, teach 
 us to avoid both extremes, and enable us to arrive at a rational 
 criticism. 
 
 The next illustrations are from Romsey Abbey, being specimens 
 of grotesque sculpture, frequently mixed up with religious subjects 
 during the Romanesque period. These are followed by early sculp- 
 ture from Chichester Cathedral, representing the raising of Lazarus. 
 In the figure of the Saviour “ the eyes appear to have been drilled 
 to receive jewels or enamel, a very usual custom in the Byzantine 
 school.” The large doorway which follows is copied from the 
 Cathedral of Mayence, on the Rhine, while the bronze doors which 
 it encloses are from the Cathedral of Augsburg. In the course of 
 this work we have had to describe on more than one occasion the 
 theological subjects represented on the panelling of doors, particu- 
 larly the truly magnificent work of Ghiberti, which alone well 
 repays an excursion to the Sydenham Palace; therefore, we need 
 here only indicate the carvings taken from Augsburg, as the repe- 
 tition of the same theme becomes tedious. These depict the creation 
 of Adam and Eve, Samson slaying the Philistines and the lion, the 
 rod of Moses turned into a serpent, that of Aaron which brought 
 forth buds, and the miracle of his rod swallowing up the other rods, 
 Joshua commanding the sun and moon to stand still, and Elijah fed 
 by ravens. Such at least are the probable interpretations of the 
 panels, though some are so obscure as to baffle any attempt at 
 solution. 
 
 The central arcade of the Court is taken from the cloisters of 
 St. John Lateran, at Rome, one of the earliest of the basilicas con- 
 verted to Christian uses. It is remarkable for its mosaics. On the 
 right are the bronze doors from Hildersheim Cathedral, in northern 
 Germany, which, though executed before those of Augsburg, arc 
 considered superior in finish ; but the subjects in the panels are of 
 the same theological character, and with this difference, that the 
 Augsburg doors only illustrate passages from the Old Testament, 
 while those of Hildersheim include both the Old and the New. 
 There are sixteen panels. The subjects of the first eight arc — the 
 creation of Adam, the presentation of Eve to Adam, the guilty 
 pair eating the forbidden fruit, the conciousness of their guilt and 
 the covering of their nakedness, their expulsion from Paradise, 
 Adam tilling the ground, and Eve nursing a new-born baby, the 
 offering of Cain and Abel, and the death of Abel. In the second 
 row of panels is the Annunciation, the birth of Christ, the offerings 
 of the Three Kings, the presentation of Christ at the Temple, 
 Christ brought to the judgment by Roman soldiers, Christ nailed 
 to the cross, the visit of the Marys to the tomb of the Saviour, 
 Christ Triumphant, holding in one hand the Cross of Victory, with 
 the other pointing to Sin prostrated. This Cross of Victory is known 
 as the consecrated banner, or Lobarum " of Constantine — “an 
 obscure though celebrated name,” says Gibbon, “ which has been 
 vainly derived from almost all the languages of the world.” He 
 describes it as a long pike intersected by a transversal beam. The 
 silken veil which hung down from the beam was curiously 
 enwrought with the images of the reigning monarch and his chil- 
 dren. The summit of the pike supported a crown of gold, which 
 inclosed the mysterious monogram, at once expressive of the figure 
 of the Cross and the initial letters of the name of Christ. There is 
 still extant a medal of the Emperor Constantius where the standard 
 of the Labarum is accompanied by the memorable words, “ By this 
 sign thou shalt conquer.” 
 
 Gelnhausen, in southern Germany, furnishes the arcade above 
 the cloister of St. John Lateran, executed in the Lombard style, 
 marked by grotesque figures, wild animals, and abundant foliage. 
 The pelican is here conspicuous. It symbolised the sacrifice of 
 Christ for the salvation of the world, as this bird, according to old 
 tradition, fed her young from the blood of her own breast. The lion 
 seizing tlie limb of a man is the lion seeking whom he may devour. 
 The doorway of Shobden Church, in Herefordshire, now pulled 
 down, is next represented as restored. It is decorated in the alle- 
 gorical fashion already described, as at Kilpeck. Before this door- 
 
 o o 
 
142 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 way is the monumental effigy of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, from 
 the Cathedral ; and then follows the prior’s entrance to Ely Cathe- 
 dral, supposed to belong the latter half of the twelfth century. 
 Here, again, the figures of animals are introduced, and, what is 
 more remarkable, that of a mermaid. On some of the details, as in 
 the leaves cut in low relief, the Byzantine character is strongly 
 impressed. Symbolism, the characteristic of the age, predominates. 
 In the absence of theatres and newspapers, which among the 
 moderns reflect the spirit of passing times and events, it was 
 natural that the minds of the mediaeval artists should take that 
 direction, and hence the admixture of the sacred and profane in 
 
 sustained a sceptre, as indicated by marks on the breast. The 
 mantle was fastened by a fibula , or brooch, on the right shoulder, 
 its original colour having been a deep reddish chocolate. The 
 dalmatica , or long tunic, was crimson, starred with gold. The boots 
 green, with gold spurs, were fastened by red leather straps. The 
 gloves had jewels on the centre of the back of the hand, a mark 
 of royal or ecclesiastical dignity. The crown, which Matthew Paris 
 describes as of gold or gilt, was broken off ; but the drawing of it, 
 taken by Montfau 9 on previously to the Revolution, shows that it 
 had leaves like those on the crown of Richard I. 
 
 The Fontevrault effigies include— Henry II. ; Richard 1. ; Queen 
 
 TOMB OF RICHAUD COX K-DE- LION, AT FONTEVRAULT. 
 
 their illustrations. The mediaeval calendars of husbandry exhibit 
 the same feelings ; and in the borders of the great painted window, at 
 Notre Dame de Paris, may be seen an allegory of the months — as 
 February warming his feet by the fire, June mowing grass, and 
 October brewing his beer. After the Ely doors follow specimens 
 of Venetian sculpture — one representing the baptism of Christ by 
 St. John. As a mark of the simplicity of the age, the Virgin mother 
 is here depicted after plain household life, with a spindle in her 
 hand. Peacocks are introduced, their ample tails bound in a circle, 
 to symbolise infinity and eternity, the circle neither having a begin- 
 ning nor an end. The next illustrations are from the Abbey of 
 Moissac, in Languedoc; while the fountain in the centre of the 
 
 Berengaria, from the Cathedral of Mans ; King John, from the 
 Cathedral of Worcester; Eleanor of Guienne; and Isabella of 
 Angouleme. In mediaeval times, the practice of burial was different 
 from the present, the body, heart, and viscera being frequently 
 deposited in different localities ; hence different monumental statues 
 were raised over the dead. 
 
 The visitor now passes to the gallery of the Byzantine Court, the 
 entrance to which is formed by the chancel arch of the Tuam Cathe- 
 dral, county of Galway. This church appears to have been built 
 between 1120 and 1150. The piers inside the gallery are from the 
 Church of Rathain, near Tullamore, in the King’s County. The 
 rise and progress of building in Ireland may be traced back to a 
 
 r LA NTA GENET PRINCES, AT FONTEVRAULT. 
 
 court is from the Abbey of Heisterbec, near the “ castled crag of 
 Rrachenfels,” which “ frowns o'er the broad and winding Rhine.” 
 We then come to the Fontevrault effigies, the abbey of which 
 name, purchased by Henry II. of that name, and King of England, 
 became the royal burial-place of many of the princes of the Planta- 
 genet line. The recumbent statue of Richard I., Coeur-de-lion, has 
 the most historic interest, on account of his warlike deeds and 
 chivalrous character as a crusader ; but the particulars of his life 
 are too well known to require any narration. The statue of his 
 father, King Henry II., was discovered by Mr. Stothard, and his 
 description of it cannot fail to be acceptable to the reader. The 
 right hand, on which was the great ring, was broken, but originally 
 
 remote date ; but to what race the primitive inhabitants belonged is 
 a vexed question among antiquarians. It may be presumed that 
 the Phoenicians were acquainted with Ireland ; and it is said they 
 gave it the name of Ierne, changed into Erin. Then Spaniards 
 settled there, who derived their knowledge of the country from 
 Phoenician navigators. The Irish annalists assert that they were 
 led by a chief named Milesius, and his followers called the island 
 Hibernia, resembling Iberia, the ancient name of Spain. Then suc- 
 ceeded some Belgic races, whom the Irish have named Gaels and 
 Firbolgs. Christianity, in a pure apostolic form, existed there in 
 the sixth century ; and its self-governed Church was independent 
 of Rome. At that epoch it was more learned and civilised than any 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 113 
 
 other country in Europe. The architectural antiquities of the 
 country of the oldest class consist of cairns, or tombs, cromlechs, or 
 altars, and raths, called moats or military fortresses. The cairns 
 were heaped piles of small stones, pyramidical in form, marking the 
 graves of the dead, in the rudest style. The cromlechs are supposed 
 to have been ancient altars. They were composed of large stones. 
 The dimensions of one stone in a cromlech, found in a field between 
 Waterford and Tramore, as given in the Rev. Mr. Ryland’s History 
 of Waterford, are twenty-one feet long, eighteen broad, and from 
 one foot to three feet thick. Some etymologists derive the word 
 from Crorn, God, and leac, a flat stone. Many of these cromlechs, 
 like our Christian churches, lie directly east and west. 
 
 The tumulus, called a rath or moat, is common in Ireland. Some 
 of these had caverns hollowed underneath, and vaulted with stone. 
 In Dr. Ledwich’s Antiquities will be found the following interesting 
 description of one of these raths : — “ About the year 1699, a 
 Mr. Campbell, who resided in the village of New Grange, observing 
 stones under the green sod, carried much of them away to repair a 
 road ; and proceeding in this work, he at length arrived at a broad 
 flat stone, that covered the mouth of the gallery. At the entrance, 
 this gallery is three feet wide, and two feet high ; at twelve feet 
 from the entrance it is but two feet two inches wide. The length 
 of the gallery from its mouth to the beginning of the dome is sixty- 
 two feet ; from thence to the upper part of the dome eleven feet six 
 inches; the whole length seventy-three feet six inches. The dome 
 or cave within the long gallery gives the exact figure of a cross ; 
 length between the arms of the cross twenty feet. The dome forms 
 an octagon twenty feet high, with an area of about seventeen feet. 
 It is composed of long flat stones, the upper projecting a little below 
 the lower, and closed in and capped with a flat flag. There are two 
 oval rock basins in the cave, one in each arm of the cross. On first 
 entering the dome, not far from the centre, a pillar was found, 
 and two skeletons on each side, not far from the pillar. In the 
 recesses were three hollow stone basins, two and three feet in 
 diameter.” 
 
 Specimens of the military rath, or fortress, still remain — one the 
 Staig Fort, in Kerry, the other on the summit of a mountain on the 
 eastern shore of Lough Swilly. The date of these caverned and 
 military raths are not known, but may fairly be referred to a high 
 antiquity. Church building belongs to a more recent period. Bede 
 mentions a church, built by Finianus, an Irishman, for the episcopal 
 see on Lindisfarne, of spliced oak, thatched with reeds. About the 
 eighth century stone was used. Cormac’s Chapel, now in ruins, on 
 the rock of Cashel — the remains of Glendalough, in the county of 
 Wicklow — the Abbey of Knockmoy, in the county of Galway— and 
 the old Church of Ardmore, in the county of Waterford, are fine 
 examples of what were the excellences of Irish ecclesiastical archi- 
 tecture. It is certain that, at least, prior to the year 1170, the Irish 
 clergy understood and practised sculpture, painting, carving in 
 wood and metals, and used them for the embellishment of their 
 churches. Ireland was also celebrated at an early period for its 
 skill in illuminated missals and psalters, music, and even for its 
 schools. It sent out many eminent missionaries to foreign countries. 
 
 In the gallery may be seen specimens of Irish crosses, and crosses 
 from the Isle of Man, the latter ranging in date from the tenth to 
 the latter part of the thirteenth century, when the island was 
 possessed by the Danes and Norwegians. 
 
 We have now completed a survey of all the Fine Arts’ Courts, 
 giving to each such an amoun t of pictorial illustration as denotes their 
 distinctive characteristics. This survey ranges over rather more than 
 three thousand years, and embraces a great variety of nationalities. 
 The space to which it is confined precluded all aim at completeness, 
 and an attempt has only been made to sketch an outline — to indi- 
 cate a subject in general terms, and not to exhaust the details. A 
 cursory visit to the Sydenham Palace excites wonder, and the 
 mind is overwhelmed by the magnitude of the objects exhibited 
 within its crystal walls. To form a just appreciation of its real 
 merits, every one feels that he ought to prepare himself by a course 
 of historical and antiquarian study. He stands in the presence 
 of a vast panorama of extinct life, of vanished institutions, of habits 
 and usages long since passed away, of decayed forms of polytheism, 
 and of superseded arts. It is from the reproduced memorials of the 
 past that he desires to penetrate into the inner life of those by 
 whom those monuments were constructed, to institute comparison, 
 
 to pry into hidden secrets, and recall into existence the buried 
 generations of distant centuries. In this busy age few have suf- 
 ficient command of leisure to prosecute such varied and difficult 
 researches— and to supply, in however humble a degree, a guide to 
 the student formed the design of this publication. 
 
 In an early page of this work, we recommended, if not a separate 
 Indian Court, at least some collection of Indian antiquities, and such 
 an addition has since been made, and it would be desirable if those 
 of China were included ; indeed, the Sydenham Palace should be 
 made an emporium of all that is curious and interesting, derived 
 from all countries, ancient and modern, and thus its attractiveness 
 and usefulness would annually increase. Among the Indians, the 
 imaginative faculty was most active, and hence the mysticism 
 which prevailed. In gigantic works of architecture they have never 
 been excelled; and in the delicate art of weaving they have 
 surpassed all nations. In temples, hewn out of solid rocks, their 
 ingenuity and perseverance are most remarkable, as in the monu- 
 mental edifices at Ellora, and in the islands of Salsette and Ele- 
 phant- Their philosophy was profound, though rashly speculative 
 in many particulars ; their poems, rich in fancy and beautiful in 
 language ; and though their chronology was fabulous, they made 
 great progress in astronomy ; their mythic, traditional, and meta- 
 physical writings have engaged the criticism of the most learned 
 of European scholars, 
 
 I he Egyptian Court in the Crystal Palace is magnificently 
 illustrated. From Egypt, ample streams of knowledge flowed into 
 Greece, and Moses himself “ was versed in all the science of the 
 Egyptians,” but he derived intellectual and moral treasures from 
 a higher source. “ All that appeared to Moses,” observes Schlegel, 
 “truly sound and excellent in Egyptian customs and science, or 
 serviceable to his purpose, he adopted and used with choice and 
 circumspection ; but all that was incompatible with his designs, 
 and which he knew to be corrupt, he strenuously rejected, or he 
 gave to it a totally different application, and established a higher 
 principle in its room.” But the great German philosopher adds, 
 
 “ Many of the Mosaic precepts, indeed, especially such as have a 
 reference to external life, to subsistence, diet, and health, and 
 which are in part, at least, founded on reasons of climate, arc 
 entirely conformable to Egyptian usages, and are found to have 
 been practised among that people ; for these ancient lawgivers and 
 founders of Asiatic codes did not scruple to give even medical 
 precepts in their codes of moral legislation, that embraced the 
 minutest circumstances of life.” 
 
 The light of Egypt shone on the darkness of early Greece. The 
 intellectual character of Egypt was profoundly scientific. In the 
 natural sciences, in mathematics, in medicine, the priests of Osiris 
 and Isis were pre eminent. Their religion was astro-theological, 
 and their architecture was made to speak the language of astro- 
 nomy in symbolising the attributes of the gods. The Isiac 
 mysteries preceded those of Eleusis. Here was the birth-place 
 of hieroglyphics. Egyptian sages were the teachers of Pythagoras 
 and Plato, and from them Herodotus stored his mind with the 
 fabulous, the traditional, and the true. Byron, addressing the 
 stars, calls them “ the poetry of heaven,” but in Egypt each par- 
 ticular star, and each configuration or congeries of stars, became 
 the basis of a stellar poem. From these the Greeks largely borrowed, 
 and the ingenious Dupuis has shown that the twelve labours of 
 Hercules form an Egyptian solar fable, descriptive of the passage of 
 the sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac. 
 
 Greece, in the early periods of its history, comprehended Pelopon- 
 nesus, Greece Proper, Epirus, Thessalia, and Macedonia ; but, 
 when subjected to the rule of the Romans, it was divided into two 
 provinces, Achaia and Macedonia — the former containing the first 
 and second of the ancient divisions, and the latter the other three. 
 The Greeks were of various extractions, many tribes having emi- 
 grated from their native homes. The Pelasgi were the aborigines, 
 and the presumed builders of those gigantic walls and constructions 
 known as Cyclopean. At a later date, Greece excelled in archi- 
 tecture, sculpture, and painting ; and, in despair of eclipsing its 
 fame, modern Europe has been its imitator. In all varieties of 
 poetry and prose, and in a searching philosophy, though specu- 
 lative, and frequently unsound, Greece has been the teacher of 
 posterity. In valour, in fortitude, in patriotism, her sons have 
 never been excelled ; and none can estimate all the results to civi- 
 lisation which flowed from the Macedonian march through Persia 
 to the Indus. 
 
144 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Greece fell by tlie Roman sword, but by her arts she conquered 
 the conqueror : — 
 
 “ Grtecia capta ferum victorem cepits et artcs 
 Intulit agresti Latio.” 
 
 The Etruscans first taught the Romans the arts of construction ; in 
 which, indeed, they never made any great progress by native talent — 
 for Rome was essentially a school of war, and ever prone to foreign 
 conquest and territorial extension. They plundered Greece of its 
 most beautiful statues, the masterpieces of an earlier age, and 
 transported from Egypt its magnificent obelisks. By them the 
 Temple of Jerusalem was despoiled of its treasures. In this manner 
 Rome was embellished, and by the works of Greek artists, who 
 sought and found remunerative occupation in the mighty capital. 
 The Romans could appreciate foreign genius, and their poets took 
 the Greeks for their models, and profoundly studied their philosophy 
 as recommended by Horace: — 
 
 “ Vos exemplaria Graca 
 
 Nocturml versate mauu, versate diuma.” 
 
 But if the Romans were not eminent in the arts, they were unsur- 
 passed in jurisprudence, and their maxims are still quoted in our 
 courts. Their civil law pervaded all the relations of private life ; 
 but it was strict to severity — for their jurists insisted that justice 
 should be done, though chaos came again. However, with respect 
 to the arts, Rome still remains the city of the w'orld, both on 
 account of its antique treasures, which have escaped the ravages of 
 time, and the beautiful works erected at and after the period of the 
 Renaissance. 
 
 As Rome declined, the world declined ; when it fell, civilisation 
 fell, and barbarism prevailed. But between the decline and fall 
 was a long and interesting interval. Constantine founded a new 
 empire in the East, and there the arts found a new home, and 
 architecture displayed a new style, from which sprang numerous 
 branches and varieties. We have referred at length to the great 
 architectural triumph of Justinian in the building of St. Sophia, 
 and shown that this Byzantine model was imitated at Ravenna and 
 Venice, and that its spirit modified the constructions over a large 
 part of Italy. We have traced its influence among Mohammedan 
 conquerors, who introduced many of its fundamental features into 
 Spain, as at the mosque of Cordova and at the Alhambra, while the 
 Normans planted that Eastern style in Sicily. It spread to Asia 
 Minor, Armenia, and the Caucasian provinces, and still dominates 
 at Moscow. The Sclavonic, Arab, and Greek races felt the 
 influence of Constantinople, not only commercially, but artistically ; 
 and it has been observed of the triumphs of the Byzantine masters, 
 that none who have contemplated them can “have failed to be over- 
 come by deep emotion at their majesty and richness, the largeness 
 of their well-arranged masses, the depth of their mysterious 
 shadows, and the brilliant effects of their burnished lights. There 
 is a religious solemnity about them, which produces a consonant 
 effect upon the spirit — and by no works of man’s hands are the 
 chords of his heart tuned to sentiments of devotion at once more 
 profound and more exalted.’’ 
 
 Returning to Rome, we have seen the debased condition to which 
 art was reduced in that capital at the era of Constantine. Taste 
 and genius had departed from the imperial city. None could build 
 a triumphal arch; and to celebrate his own triumph, Constantine 
 had to plunder or adapt one of the arches constructed by Trajan. 
 The sculptures executed in his reign were beneath mediocrity. 
 
 Subterranean chapels, or crypts, in which the bones of martyrs 
 reposed, were then regarded with reverence, and over them 
 Christian temples were raised. Church architecture adopted the 
 basilica. Then followed the diversified style, known as the Roman- 
 esque, of which the Lombard is regarded as the earliest deve- 
 lopment, which penetrated far and wide, leaving its monuments in 
 Italy, France, and Germany. In those constructions, strength was 
 more attended to than beauty. Many buildings took a round or 
 octagonal form. Arcaded galleries were introduced, and in the 
 German Romanesque, the interiors were marked by plain massive 
 piers, instead of columns. In England the Romanesque was heavy, 
 and in it may be noticed, as a remarkable feature, the absence 
 of vaulting in the nave, in the place of which a wooden roof was 
 substituted. 
 
 We have passed through the epoch of mediaeval art, rich in its 
 cathedrals, in the beautiful pointed arch, and in the magnificent 
 rose windows. Of this so-called Gothic style there are two species : 
 the one plain and robust, resembling the simplicity of the Tuscan ; 
 the other light, airy, and ornamental, approaching the decorated 
 manner of the Corinthian or Composite. The former exclusively 
 aimed at solidity and durability — its short, round, and massive 
 column being fashioned after the trunk of the sturdy oak ; its arch 
 was semi-circular, round, or in the shape of a horse-shoe, while its 
 plain thick walls were without buttresses. This style belongs to 
 the Saxon era. It was improved upon after the Norman conquest, 
 when science and the arts begun to revive. Then was introduced 
 the thin or slender column, and clusters of such columns resembling 
 trunks of trees united or tied together, decorated with a pointed 
 arch, a profusion of ornaments, buttresses, and pinnacles. There 
 have been critics, bestowing their exclusive admiration on Greek 
 architecture, who denounce the Gothic structures as destitute of 
 taste, order, or uniformity; but they are in a small and unenvied 
 minority. There is a solemnity and grandeur about our cathedrals 
 which impress the mind with awe, and act most powerfully on the 
 religious sentiment. 
 
 It may be noticed that the Gothic architects introduced the spire 
 on churches as typical of the immortality of the soul. The Egyptians 
 always built pyramids over their cemeteries, and it is from the 
 pyramid that the spire is copied. In the ground-plan the figure of 
 the cross was observed to denote a Christian temple, and the spire, 
 mounting upwards as flame does, denoted that the soul of the true 
 believer, after separation from the body, ascended to heaven. 
 
 The Renaissance succeeded to the Mediaeval style, when the 
 artistic antiquities of Greece and Rome became the subjects of 
 ardent study. Renaissance, or Revival, is a compendious term, 
 including the progress of painting, sculpture, and architecture, in 
 the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. The 
 first is the preparatory, the second the advancing, the third the 
 perfected epoch. Cimabue is the pioneer of this age of restoration. 
 He imitated nature, and abandoned the formalism of the Greek 
 teachers of the day. His example was followed by his contem- 
 poraries ; the next generation improved on their models, and 
 Massacio was the chief of the second period. In the last, the cele- 
 brated triumvirate, Leonardo da Vinci, Ruffaello d’Urbino, and 
 Michael Angelo Buonarotti, ruled supreme, and have never been 
 excelled. From their epoch art declined, and new schools were 
 started which abandoned the pure and severe style observed by 
 their predecessors. 
 
THE INDUSTRIAL COURTS 
 
 USEFUL ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND MACHINERY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In a recent visit to the Crystal Palace our attention was attracted 
 by a collection of minerals, and one of the first specimens which 
 we took up was a piece of a hard granular stone called corundum. 
 This rough-looking pebble awakened a world of associations : — of 
 men widely separated by space, yet mutually dependent on each 
 other for subsistence; of men who are probably ignorant of each 
 other’s existence ; of different climes, races, religions, complexion, 
 language. The Greek of Naxos, or the Turk of Gumnuchdagh, 
 finds the parent rock of this refractory stone projecting from the 
 earth, or situated a little below its surface ; he raises it by a rude 
 species of mining — separates it by the hammer, often assisted 
 previously by heat, into smaller masses — transports it on the backs 
 of horses or camels to the seaport, whence it is brought to England — 
 and then, after undergoing a laborious process of stamping and 
 
 more impressive. A collection such as may be expected in a Trade 
 Museum or a Crystal Palace, of raw materials, manufactures, tools, 
 and machinery, if properly arranged and described, must necessarily 
 form an instructive exponent of the wealth of the country to which 
 it belongs — its internal and external resources, its points of strength 
 as well as of weakness ; it must furnish instruction to all — to the 
 artist and the artisan, to the manufacturer and the consumer, to 
 the producer and to him who loves to contemplate production. It 
 must teach us, if viewed aright, that progress and prosperity depend 
 as much on commerce as on internal riches, and that all the members 
 of the great human family may promote each other’s happiness and 
 their Maker’s glory, by spreading the blessings of civilisation, by 
 exchanging the natural or manufactured products of their respective 
 countries, and, when they come to know each other better, by 
 exchanging their thoughts, their aspirations, their books — the less- 
 
 Fig. 1 . — WROUGHT- IRON BALCONY. 
 
 crushing, it is separated into powders of varying degrees of fineness 
 by sifting; and some of these, by being suspended in water for 
 varying lengths of time, are reduced to still greater tenuity — the 
 powder that remains the longest suspended being the finest. These 
 powders are used for various processes in which abrasion, smoothing, 
 and polishing, are required, especially in the manufacture of plate- 
 glass, for which there is so large a demand from so many quarters. 
 And this beautiful material, the product of such apparently worth- 
 less articles as sea-sand, and an alkali obtained from common salt, 
 or sea-weed, employs thousands upon thousands of individuals in its 
 direct manufacture, to say nothing of the subsidiary trades — the 
 merchants, the clerks, the ships, the sailors, the capital, the enter- 
 prise set in motion by this industry. 
 
 Let us take another specimen : here is a lump of antimony : it was 
 probably brought into its present state by a native of Hindostan : 
 it is a somewhat rare metal, scarcely ever talked of in common life, 
 as iron, or brass, or gold is; — and yet were it not for this obscure 
 metal the progress of knowledge would long ago have been arrested, 
 since the multiplication of printers’ type by the comparatively cheap 
 and simple process of casting would have been impossible ; for it is 
 the rare property of antimony to expand in cooling, and thus, by 
 filling up the mould, to give sharp impressions, such as could only 
 be otherwise obtained by the costly process of chasing or carving 
 each letter separately by hand. 
 
 Thus, if we view them rightly, all the productions of nature are 
 full of interest and instruction : the productions of art may be even 
 
 informed submitting to be taught, the wise and the good desiring to 
 teach, and to cany out the divine mission of the Gospel, “ Peace on 
 earth, goodwill towards men.” If the rulers of the earth would 
 allow their subjects to hold free intercourse with each other, civili- 
 sation and its accompanying blessings would move more quickly, 
 war and discord more slowly. 
 
 We are called upon to speak of the industrial features of the 
 Crystal Palace. We should have been better pleased had they 
 been more prominent; but, such as they are, they will enable us to 
 write a few chapters suggestive, we hope, of profitable reflections 
 to the thoughtful reader. The Useful Arts ought to occupy a lofty 
 position in a country which gave birth to a Smeaton and a Brindley, 
 an Arkwright, a Telford, and a Watt; and the literature of the 
 Useful Arts ought to be a worthy record of the wealth, the glory, 
 and the intellect of such a counti'y : we fear, however, that, as a 
 people, we do not estimate very highly such things as Trade Museums 
 and technological treatises: they do not thrive in our land. The 
 reason probably is, that a free people, accustomed to do everything 
 for themselves, are engaged in earnest working efforts each for his 
 own peculiar good, and succeeding in that, the result is an aggregate 
 of prosperity, of national wealth, of public good, the result of private 
 interest. The people have no time for what they call theory ; they 
 cannot see how a Trade Museum will enable Manchester to produce 
 more cotton, or how a technological treatise will cause South Wales 
 to smelt more copper or iron. In Paris, the Conservatoire des Arts et 
 Metiers excites admiration by its extent, completeness, and logical 
 
 P P 
 
146 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 arrangements ; while its extensive library contains thousands of me- 
 moirs and hundreds of volumes on the Useful Arts, which are perfect 
 models of research and style. Such results can be produced in France, 
 where the government centralises everything, and thinks it necessary 
 to look after and manage everything for the manufacturer — to in- 
 struct him in his trade, and to provide first-rate teaching for his 
 people in much that they are concerned to know. And yet, in spite 
 of all these advantages, France is not more prosperous, more intelli- 
 gent, more happy, wise, or prudent than England. Why is this ? 
 The answer is manifold ; but we will, at least, attempt to give it. 
 
 The visitor to the Great Exhibition of 1851 could not have failed 
 to be struck with the vast amount of raw material displayed by 
 Great Britain (alas ! that those specimens once collected should ever 
 again have been dispersed !), greatly exceeding in variety and abun- 
 dance the collection of any other country — with a plentiful supply 
 of the ores of iron, copper, tin, lead, stone for erecting furnaces, 
 and coal for feeding them ; thus showing that we have within our 
 grasp the materials for machinery, the means of constructing it and 
 working it, superior to any other nation in the world. The steam- 
 engine performs the work set for it with untiring zeal — and thus the 
 various branches of manufacture which are in any way dependent 
 on each other, no longer wandering far and wide in search of 
 waterfalls to turn their machinery, can collect together in a single 
 town, and like the various members of a body corporate, carry out 
 each its appointed functions, independently of the other members, 
 and yet contribute something to the welfare of the whole. If we had 
 to send to distant parts of the world for our coal, our iron, our build- 
 ing-stone, and such like bulky necessaries, it would have been impos- 
 sible for us to have multiplied steam-engines and machines for pro- 
 ducing machinery, which contribute so much to our national wealth. 
 
 There is, however, another cause which has contributed power- 
 fully to our prosperity, and that is our insular position. Surrounded 
 on all sides by the sea, we are enabled to communicate with all the 
 nations of the earth in the readiest and cheapest manner. Com- 
 merce thus becomes natural and easy to us; we can visit and be 
 visited by all nations, and not be necessarily effected by their 
 quarrels and dissensions ; and if we quarrel among ourselves, it is a 
 blessed thing that a stranger, an armed peacemaker, has not the 
 power to cross our frontier, and settle our disputes. We have had 
 internal quarrels enough : — First, the ruled contended with the 
 rulers for liberty of speech and action, and they shed their hearts’ 
 blood in securing to themselves and to us, their children, the right 
 to worship God according to the dictates of conscience ; and with 
 this precious privilege came another almost as precious — liberty of 
 discussion — liberty of the press — blessings which we have so long 
 enjoyed, and know how to use on the whole with moderation. 
 Secondly, our forefathers contended against that abominable system 
 of monopolies, which placed in the hands of a privileged few the sole 
 right of selling and disposing of certain articles of use or necessity. 
 Ever since the year 1624 industry has, with few and trifling excep- 
 tions, been left quite free — every man has been allowed to choose 
 his own occupation, and to carry his wares or his talents to the 
 market of his own choosing. Thirdly, the struggle has been going 
 on, and is even now continued, between the manufacturer and the 
 excise officer, of late years with great success : some of our most 
 important articles of manufacture have been freed from duty, and 
 from incessant visits of inspection, more oppressive even than monies 
 paid for duty. In fact, progress has been made in free trade ; pro- 
 tection and prohibition are becoming obsolete terms; other nations 
 are beginning to see the absurdity of interference between men 
 who would freely exchange their respective commodities. If an 
 Englishman, with a piece of cloth in his possession, meets a 
 foreigner who has a sack of corn for sale, why should they not be 
 allowed to exchange their respective commodities if they are so dis- 
 posed ? The fact is, that when nations, from whatever cause — from 
 the encroachments or ambition of a single ruler, from conflicting 
 interests or disputed possession — become jealous of each other, they 
 try to do without each other, and thus erect rival manufactures, for 
 which the soil, climate, or capabilities of the people may be ill- 
 fitted ; and when failure comes as the natural consequence, they 
 attempt to bolster up the sickly thing by laws and prohibitions, and 
 duties and custom-house officers. They search every man’s box, 
 and every woman’s basket, to see whether the offending thing — the 
 little bit of soap, the paper of tea, or the roll of tobacco — dares to 
 intrude itself on the soil which did not produce or manufacture it. 
 And this state of things going on for hundreds of years, men come 
 
 to think that such institutions are just and reasonable, because they 
 are very old : if you talk of abolishing them, they regard you as a 
 person dangerous to the state — they look upon you with horror, and 
 groan over the degeneracy of the times. 
 
 The causes of our success, then, as a nation, are to be found in the 
 abundance of raw materials for machinery and manufactures which 
 we possess — in our insular position, our free institutions, the honesty 
 of purpose, industry, enterprise, and resolute will of our country- 
 men in general. There are other causes which, under the Divine 
 sanction and blessing, have contributed to the greatness of this 
 country, which will readily suggest themselves to the reader. 
 
 We were speaking of the scant success of Exhibitions of Useful 
 Arts, and of treatises thereon. Doubtless the people who are 
 actively engaged in doing their work effectually and well, and 
 prospering therein, care but little to employ their leisure in reading 
 about it, or hearing lectures about it. Men enjoy their newspaper 
 or their novel, the social meeting or the concert. When the day’s 
 work is over they do not much care to be instructed. Hence 
 mechanics’ institutions fail ; or if they succeed, it is often on account 
 of the amusing lecture or the amusing library. We fear that it is 
 too late to begin to teach the working man — his child is a more 
 promising subject ; and, knowing this, we shall be judged harshly 
 or kindly by the next generation for our efforts in this. 
 
 But if our technological teaching is not very successful, our 
 scientific teaching promises to be more so. The Useful Arts have 
 no other basis than science. A man may be skilful in business, in 
 accounts, in the organisation of a factory — but he cannot succeed 
 unless he is willing to allow science to watch his proceedings, 
 and to correct and amend them from time to time. This truth 
 is now being well understood even among our agriculturists, 
 who from their isolation do not experience that intellectual fric- 
 tion to which manufacturers, crowding together and competing 
 together in a town, are exposed. They now admit that a process, 
 even though transmitted to them by their forefathers, is not neces- 
 sarily the best; they admit the value of the steam-engine, of 
 improved machinery, and of chemical analysis; and it is now 
 refreshing to hear a small farmer in a remote rural district talk 
 learnedly of superphosphate of lime. 
 
 All the processes of the Useful Arts rest upon mechanical or 
 chemical principles. It is not meant by this that the Useful Arts 
 are the result of the profound appreciation of scientific principles ; 
 on the contrary, technology existed long before science was known. 
 Man was acquainted in the earliest times with the potency of fire, 
 and employed it to smelt metallic ores, to prepare his food, and for 
 innumerable other purposes. He could raise stone from the quarry 
 without any very exact appreciation of the properties of the lever : 
 in short, by repeated trials and repeated failures, he succeeded in 
 inventing those sets of processes which belong to trades, or arts and 
 mysteries, as they were called. As the art of tanning leather was 
 not of much interest to the brewer of beer, since the tanner and the 
 brewer lived by an interchange of commodities, each artisan in 
 process of time appropriated to himself the peculiar processes of his 
 own trade, and taught them only to his apprentices, so that, being 
 unknown to the community at large, they constituted his art and 
 mystery. Thus these processes continued to be practised for thou- 
 sands of years, forming as they did a series of facts for a later 
 science to generalise — just as the collection of animals, plants, and 
 minerals, formed the facts for those systems of zoology, botany, and 
 mineralogy, &c., which have proved such powerful aids to the respec- 
 tive branches of knowledge to which they belong. It was necessary 
 to ascertain the facts and verify them before they could be reduced 
 to principles; but when, by a careful study of the properties of 
 matter, and the various conditions under which it exists, principles 
 were once discovered, new facts could be found, old processes varied 
 and improved, and time, labour, and material be economised. As 
 mechanical science, from the simpler conditions on which it rests, 
 arrived much earlier at perfection — that is, the arrangement of facts 
 known as their induction or generalisation was more easily made in 
 the case of the mechanical than the chemical sciences — so mechanical 
 arts were in a high state of development, while the chemical, if 
 existing at all, had not been brought under the domain of science. 
 It was, however, a grand step towards improvement when it was 
 generally admitted that air and water, heat and light, act according 
 to the same laws in all the arts ; that an art or mystery had no 
 independent existence, but that the mystery, when held as such, was 
 generally some principle of nature badly understood, and that tech- 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 147 
 
 nology could only move securely when under the guidance of science. 
 When science was once allowed to shed light upon art it was found 
 that, with a knowledge of principles, a man does not work blindly or 
 rashly ; that he is not exposed to costly and ridiculous failures ; 
 that he can often predict what will happen under certain given 
 conditions, or he can perform an experiment on the small scale 
 which will inform him as to the nature of the results to be expected 
 on the large. In fact, whenever induction is complete for any large 
 sets of phenomena, the science or subdivision of human knowledge 
 so called, proceeds deductively — foretells what will happen when 
 the conditions are known : this is the peculiar province of science — 
 a high intellectual faculty to which the Useful Arts can lay no 
 claim. The most exact description of an art or trade is like a chart 
 m the hands of a navigator who has no compass by which to steer. 
 Let Science shed intelligence on the chart, and the sailor not only 
 obtains his compass to guide him through known regions, but high 
 above him a bright Pharos, illuminating the known, and piercing 
 even into the distant regions of the unknown. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the arrangements of a technological 
 museum must be guided by a profound knowledge of applied 
 science ; and that a technological treatise, to be of any value, must 
 be based on scientific principles. In the few chapters which we 
 propose to devote to the Industrial Courts of the Crystal Palace, an 
 attempt will be made to bring out the chief facts or principles on 
 which each division or subdivision of industry rests, leaving the 
 intelligent reader either to work up to the subject or to pursue it 
 further. At the present day, when scientific books of greater or less 
 value are in the hands of every one, it is not to be supposed that a 
 
 THE RAW PRODI 
 
 In the above remarks we have attributed no small share of the 
 success of Great Britain and Ireland as a great commercial nation 
 to their vast natural stores of raw materials. No institution 
 which professes to illustrate the Useful Arts of this country can 
 be complete without an abundant display of such natural re- 
 sources. It is, therefore, with great satisfaction that we find 
 that in the north wing of the palace a collection is being made, 
 under the competent superintendence of Professor Wilson, bearing 
 the generic name of Raw Produce; the object being to show what 
 are the natural resources of the British Islands, of her colonies, and 
 other countries — to illustrate the natural history of various useful 
 products, and the means by which they are converted to the use of 
 man. The object of the collection is stated to be twofold — first, to 
 display raw produce from the animal, vegetable, and mineral king- 
 doms of nature ; and, secondly, to trace such produce, by means of 
 specimens, through the various processes by which a crude material 
 becomes converted into a finished article of manufacture. 
 
 And here we must take leave to make an exception to the term 
 “ raw produce ” as applied to this collection. If finished products 
 are to be exhibited, deeply interesting and impressive as they are, 
 by the side of the raw material, the collection ceases to be one of 
 raw produce, but really becomes one of manufactures. The lump 
 of auriferous quartz contained in one of the cases is a raw product ; 
 but the leaf of gold, 250,000th of an inch in thickness, the last 
 member of a long series of very instructive specimens contained in 
 the same case, is a highly artistic, finished product. Again, the 
 collection of tortoise-shells, horns, &c., used in the manufacture of 
 ladies’ combs, admirably illustrates the raw produce of this branch 
 of industry ; but when in juxtaposition therewith we find a variety 
 of specimens showing the mutations to which that useful article 
 tortoise-shell is subjected, before it is fit to support woman’s beautiful 
 tresses, the collection becomes eminently illustrative of manufactures. 
 The same remark may apply to the collection of cork barks used by 
 the corkmaker, and to the varieties of finished corks which accom- 
 pany it, and so on of many others. The collection, however, in its 
 present imperfect state, is valuable, and promises to supply at, we 
 hope, no very distant period, such a trade museum as might have 
 been formed on the breaking up of the Great Exhibition of 1851. 
 
 It is intended to group the contents of this collection under three 
 principal divisions — viz., I. The Soil. II. The Produce of the Soil. 
 III. The Economic and Technical Uses to which such Produce is 
 applicable. w Under the first head will be included various agricul- 
 tural soils, and the manures best adapted to their cultivation : here, 
 also, we find squared specimens of building-stones, slabs of slate, 
 
 few short chapters on applied science can be unintelligible to the 
 general reader’. 
 
 In the original design of the Crystal Palace there was an earnest 
 intention to give to the Useful Arts a prominent place worthy of 
 themselves, and of their position in the Great Exhibition of 1851. 
 With this view a number of courts were laid out for the exhi- 
 bition of certain goods, or the productions of certain industrial 
 localities. These Industrial Courts have been constructed from 
 the designs of eminent architects and artists, and they consist 
 of— 1. The Court for Musical Instruments, designed by Mr. John 
 Thomas. 2. The Court for Printed Fabrics, designed by Sir Charles 
 Barry. 3. The Court for Woollen and Mixed Fabrics, designed by 
 Professor Semper. 4. The Stationery Court, from the designs 
 of Mr. Crace. 5. The Birmingham Court, designed by Mr. Tite. 
 6. The Sheffield Court, by Mr. Stokes. In the vicinity of these 
 courts, in the south nave, there are also displays of furniture, 
 carpets, and hardware, pottery, porcelain, and glass, soap and 
 candles; while in the south-west gallery perfumery, chemicals, 
 leather, and india-rubber, invite attention. There are philosophical 
 instruments in the west gallery; china and glass in the north 
 gallery, together with displays of electro-plated and other glittering 
 goods; and not far from them are the good things with which 
 Mr. Gunter delights the palates of his customers ; while other 
 ministers to appetite display their varied goods under the head of 
 Substances used as Food. Clothing being as necessary as food, an 
 important display thereof is made in the south gallery ; while on 
 the basement floor our mechanical engineers make a goodly display of 
 machinery in motion. 
 
 E COLLECTION. 
 
 the various clays used in brickmaking, the sand used in glass, a case 
 of specimens from Cheshire, illustrating the manufacture of common 
 salt; while on one side of the entrance to the gallery is a noble 
 specimen of rock-salt, in the form of a polygonal column, from 
 Northwich. The Patent Alkali Works have a collection of illustra- 
 tive specimens : we have mica in the rock, and as prepared for use 
 (a curious and valuable substance, showing nature’s skill in glass- 
 making) ; then there are hydraulic cements, a progressive series of 
 specimens from the porcelain works of Staffordshire, encaustic tiles, 
 which add so much to the beauty of our new churches, and remind 
 one pleasantly of the skill, enterprise, and munificence of their chief 
 manufacturer, Mr. Minton. Specimens of coal, the pabulum vita 
 of our manufactures, are numerous — accompanied by some of those 
 marvellous stereotypes of ferns, gigantic canes, and tropical plants, 
 which bewilder the geologist in his attempt to account for their 
 production in our cold northern regions. Next we find an interest- 
 ing sulphur group, showing the various states in which that invalu- 
 able element occurs in the market or in the laboratory ; then we 
 pass from bright yellow to brilliant white — to an instructive series 
 which illustrates the manufacture of white-lead by the Dutch 
 method. The connoisseur in smoking may fondly gaze on a choice 
 collection of meerschaum bowls, and examine at leisure the crude 
 specimens of these curious silicates of magnesia, and form his own 
 theory as to the origin of the term meerschaum, ecume de mer , or 
 sea-foam, given to these solid-looking masses. The artist may study 
 at leisure various collections of colours ; and the economic minera- 
 logist may find employment in examining the various ores and speci- 
 mens of the useful metals. The first thing that arrests the eye on 
 entering the gallery is an unusually fine specimen of red haematite from 
 Ulverstone, only equalled by a glorious specimen of black haematite, 
 in another part of the gallery, from the Cleator Mines, near White- 
 haven, in Cumberland. Next to this is a column of the recentlv 
 discovered carboniferous ore from the neighbourhood of Middlebro*’, 
 which two or three years ago lighted up numerous blast-furnaces 
 with unexampled rapidity; and the specimen before us justifies the 
 enthusiasm, for it is a column from the upper lias formation, eight feet 
 in height; and this is said to be only half the thickness of the deposit : 
 the ore is said to contain about 30 per cent, of metal. Next we 
 come to specimens of the celebrated black-band ironstone, so valuable 
 for containing bitumen sufficient to roast the ore when it has once 
 been lighted, and thus save the fuel formerly expended on that 
 necessary operation. While among the iron ores, we looked about 
 half hoping to meet with Mr. Blackwell’s magnificent collection, the 
 pride of the raw produce department of the Great Exhibition of 
 
]48 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 1851. With the abundant space at command, and the known 
 liberality of mine-owners, we see no reason why collections should 
 not be made on a scale equally vast and comprehensive. This is 
 what a Trade Museum ought to be : it should resemble a perfect 
 book of reference, never disappointing the referee, but telling him 
 the very thing he wonts to know exactly at the time he requires to 
 know it. Such a collection, it is true, belongs rather to the Govern- 
 ment than to a Company, and the want of such an institution, which 
 is now being keenly felt, will, we trust, hasten on the steps which 
 are already being made for its accomplishment. The Burra-Burra 
 mine has its magnificent specimens of copper malachite, rivalling 
 that of Russia ; and the American Mining Company has contributed 
 some good specimens of copper ores : the ores of lead are well illus- 
 trated ; chrome and its magnificent salts, tin, mercury and gold, 
 zinc, and the method of rolling it. Such are some of the specimens 
 in the first grand division : and in the second division the specimens 
 illustrative of the produce of the soil consist of vegetable substances, 
 or direct produce and animal substances, or secondary produce ; and 
 these again are subdivided into substances used as food, whether of 
 vegetable or animal origin, and substances used in the arts, 
 whether of vegetable or animal origin ; and these again are classed 
 
 dant illustration of hemp and flax — the finest linen and the coarsest 
 rope, showing the two extremes of the manufacture ; nor is the 
 cotton-tree forgotten, a moderately large collection of specimens, 
 showing how various is the colour, texture, and staple of this much- 
 sought-for product, varying as it does in commercial value between 
 five-pence and upwards of fifteen-pence per pound ; and again we 
 have an instructive collection of woods, showing by various sections, 
 modes of working and polishing, the properties of various kinds of 
 timber, many of which were unknown even by name when first 
 introduced to Hyde Park in 1851 : then again we have a variety of 
 dye-woods and plants, madder, fustic, and indigo, and fabrics dyed 
 therewith in various stages ; gums, perfumes, and artificial essences 
 — that curious discovery in modern chemistry by which a fetid oil, 
 obtained during the rectification of brandy and whiskey, yields— by 
 distillation with that powerful mineral acid, the sulphuric, in com- 
 pany with a salt, the acetate of potash— that delicate essence which 
 so closely resembles the taste of the jargonel pear; so successfully 
 too are the greengage, the apricot, the black-currant, the mulberry 
 and pineapple imitated, that one manufacturer speaks with a sort of 
 contempt of pineries and orchards, fruits, gardens, and the richly- 
 laden dessert table. A collection of the roots used in medicine may 
 
 2.— RAW PRODUCE COURT. 
 
 as home and foreign products. The third grand division is 
 also subdivided into articles used as food and those used in the arts — 
 the home and the foreign produce being distinguished, and a separa- 
 tion being made as far as possible between the chemical and the 
 mechanical manufactures. 
 
 In our rapid coup d'ceil we may notice a fine collection of wools, 
 in some cases with the wool worked and partly manufactured ; 
 alpaca tops, combed, hair and bristles ; a collection of commercial 
 feathers, including the skin of the emu, with its curious feathers, 
 like a mass of delicate sea-weed. The marvels of the silkworm are 
 strikingly displayed in one case, while close by is the tiny cochineal, 
 showing how important small things become when it is to the 
 interest of man to foster and multiply them. The coral, the ivory, 
 the mother-of-pearl, and the tortoise-shell, find their exponents here ; 
 the tanning of leather, and the astringents used in the process, 
 serve to connect the animal and the vegetable kingdoms — and the 
 latter kingdom pours out for our instruction much of its marvellous 
 riches. Here we have a noble collection of wheat, there an abun- 
 
 well excite a qualm, but there is abundance of quinine at hand to 
 allay it. Calcutta sends a collection of rattans and other canes ; 
 various kinds of straw-plait exhibit the dexterity of nimble fingers, 
 while the wheat straws, best adapted to the purpose, are also exhi- 
 bited. Tobacco is shown in various forms — the leaf, the manu- 
 factured article, and the cigar; and one manufacturer has perpe- 
 trated the ingenious fancy of converting one large leaf of tobacco 
 into nineteen cigars, nine on each side and one in the middle, 
 leaving them attached to the fibres, and reminding one of the 
 schoolboy’s puzzle of writing your name without leaving off. The 
 acids produced by the destructive distillation of wood, and their 
 application to the manufacture of sugar-of-lead, is the last group 
 that we propose to notice in this somewhat desultory ramble through 
 a department of the Crystal Palace to which we wish good speed 
 and success. In the course of the few chapters which we are about 
 to devote to the Useful Arts, we shall have to return to the Raw 
 Produce Department as the starting-point for the finished manu- 
 factures which occupy other parts of the building. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 149 
 
 THE SHEFFIELD COURT. 
 
 The Sheffield Court is from the design of Mr. G. H. Stokes, 
 the effect of which, from the admixture of styles, is striking without 
 being inharmonious. The materials used in the construction are 
 iron and plate-glass; the panels on the outer walls are of the latter 
 substance within gilt mouldings, and the pilasters and the frieze over 
 the large panels are of the same brilliant material. An arcade of 
 iron columns above is elaborately ornamental. On entering the 
 Court from the nave, the interior decorations resemble the exterior, 
 except that the large lower panels are filled with red cloth, which 
 serves to make more conspicuous the articles exhibited : the frieze 
 or space above the columns is to be appropriately occupied with 
 paintings illustrative of the Sheffield manufactures. 
 
 Commencing our rapid glance with the case which bears the 
 name of ltodgers, so well known throughout the world for excellent 
 cutlery, our first glance transports us in imagination to the woods 
 and wilds of an infant country, where man depends on himself, and 
 not on a community — makes his own law, and enforces it by his own 
 
 tortoise-shell, and various metals, common and noble. The next case, 
 the exponent of J. Noel and Sons, contains knives and cases of the 
 same, arranged in the neatest fashion for very particular people. 
 There are also razors in pairs, and in sets of seven — one for every 
 day in the week, with the day neatly etched on the back of each 
 blade, a contrivance which we should think as fidgetty as it is 
 undesirable, especially to persons with strong beards ; for when 
 once a razor is in good order, it should be used from day to day, 
 until it requires setting, a second razor should then be used in a 
 similar manner. Here gentlemen may indulge in every variety of 
 dandyism in the form of dressing-cases, ladies may puzzle themselves 
 in choosing from the immense variety in the patterns of scissors; and 
 both ladies and gentlemen, mindful of future picnics, may provide 
 themselves with neat leathern cases, containing knife, fork, spoon, 
 &c. The next case, that of Stephen Martin, is rather unfavourable 
 to the theory of wearing one’s own beard, for here is a formidable 
 display of razors, dressing-cases, and strops dressed by the cele- 
 
 resolute will. Here we see the formidable bowie-knife, and the 
 Californian knife, a knife-pistol called a self-protector, where, in 
 the absence of powder and shot, a sharp blade maybe projected for- 
 ward by a spring; here we see also the more peaceful contrivances, 
 such as a knife, fork, spoon, and corkscrew, all folding up into the 
 moderate compass of a common rough two-bladed knife ; then again 
 we have a single handle supplied with a variety of movable blades, 
 a saw, a hook, and things indispensable to a man who is required 
 to be jack-of-all-trades ; then again we have a tin case which serves 
 as a drinking cup, and also as a cover to another case, containing 
 knife and fork, spoon, and things wanted at dinner-time. In 
 addition to these useful contrivances, there are various choice 
 specimens of cutlery and steel blades, decorated with gold, etched, 
 and otherwise adorned. The next case, belonging to John Walters 
 and Co., is great in table-knives and forks, dessert-knives in 
 gold and silver, or what appear to be such, carving-knives, bread- 
 knives, and knives distinguished by their variety of handles, such 
 as ivory and bone, agate and mother-of-pearl, carved wood, horn, 
 
 brated “emerald powder.” Respecting the “magic” of strops, how- 
 ever, we are a little sceptical, and even incline to the notion that 
 anything more than an exceedingly moderate amount of stropping is 
 injurious to a fine edge. The strop should be hard, and moderately 
 dressed, or the edge of the razor is liable to turn round. Almost any 
 very fine powder will do for the dressing, such as fine emery, crocus, 
 specular iron ore, black lead, or the charcoal of wheat straw. A razor 
 should be stropped immediately after use, while it is warm, and yields 
 more readily to those minute molecular changes on which its keen 
 edge depends. The next case illustrates a curious and important 
 branch of trade, namely, that of music-smith, or the man who forges 
 the iron and steel parts of musical instruments. Mr. Greaves exhibits 
 tuning-forks, keys, &c. t and also what he calls iEolian mutes for 
 violins — these are little clasps of metal which grasp the bridge of a 
 violin, and prevent it from transmitting freely the vibrations of the 
 strings to the resonant mass of air within the instrument, giving it 
 a dull, muffled sound, so greatly to be preferred when the instru- 
 ment is in the hands of a learner instead of a master. Messrs. Moss 
 
 Q Q 
 
150 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 and Gamble exhibit a great variety of files, and some beautiful 
 specimens of that admirable material, cast-steel, in the form of bars ; 
 also what is called extra cast-steel, for piston rods and stone- 
 hammers ; the same, “ mild-centred,” for taps and calico-rollers. 
 Messrs. Cutts, Chesterman and Company, exhibit surveyors’ chains, 
 hand-drills, braces, graduated scales, vices, a roasting-jack, and a 
 “ cattle gauge,” for ascertaining by measure, according to directions, 
 the weight of any member of the bovine family. Mr. Turton 
 occupies all one side of the Court with a goodly display of cast-steel 
 in ingots, and manufactured into many useful articles, such as 
 springs, axe-heads, plane-irons, chisels, gouges, awls, and punches ; 
 large spiral springs, and 
 a large flat spring plate, 
 beautifully etched with 
 the maker’s name and 
 qualifications; files and 
 rasps, one of the latter 
 containing nine thou- 
 sand teeth on one side ; 
 also fleshing-kuives and 
 curriers’ knives, the lat- 
 ter, called the beam-knife, having its fine edge turned over by 
 means of a steel tool, and preserved as a wire edge by means of a 
 steel wire frequently drawn along it, by which contrivance the 
 currier is enabled to take off the finest shavings from the skins. 
 Mr. Jowett’s case exhibits rasps, files, and steel bars; Butterly, 
 Hobson and Co., by their scythes 
 and sickles, remind us of hay- 
 time and harvest ; Mr. Cocker 
 has a goodly display of needles, 
 with the beautiful wire prepared 
 for their manufacture, also a 
 variety of gills and heckles for 
 dividing flax ; Marsden Brothers 
 are great authorities on the sub- 
 ject of shears, awls, and drills, 
 they have also chisels and axes, 
 a goodly display of skates, with 
 improved methods of attaching 
 them to the feet, doubtless very 
 pleasant substitutes for the old 
 constricting straps — but why a 
 gentleman’s toes should be adorn- 
 ed with a couple of bright, silver- 
 looking swans is not for us to 
 determine. The idea appears to 
 have been derived from the skate 
 in the Exhibition of 1851, by Mr. 
 Loy of London (Fig. 4). Cocker 
 and Brothers exhibit various 
 tools, circular saws, needles, gills, 
 and other useful contrivances, to- 
 gether with wire-drawing plates 
 and wordles. Thomas Wilkin- 
 son and Sons exhibit a variety 
 of shears, dressing-cases, strops, 
 razors, scissors with elaborate 
 handles — one of which is in the 
 form of a long-billed bird, its 
 blades being formed by the bill; 
 here we have also the Victoria 
 scissors, in which the royal arms 
 are introduced into the handle, 
 reminding us of the Cavendish scissors, shown in Fig. 5, in which 
 the arms, supporters, crest, and motto, are made to do duty. Mr. 
 Wilkinson has also scissors with the Crystal Palace etched on the 
 blades. Parkin and Marshall exhibit table cutlery and sharpeners, 
 nut-crackers, edge-tools, saws, &c. Parker and Thompson exhibit 
 joiners’ tools and circular saws. Johnson and Co. have files, among 
 which is a silversmith’s rubber, the broadest ever cut with a con- 
 tinuous tooth. We pass on next to the cases which stand out in 
 the room ; and we are glad to find by the flourishing cases of Dixon 
 and Son that the ingenious art of manufacturing goods in Bri- 
 tannia metal has not been annihilated by electro-metallurgy. Mr. 
 Onions of Birmingham exhibits those useful articles, bellows, in 
 great variety — from the huge bellows of the smith’s forge to the 
 
 tiny drawing-room or library bellows. These useful articles are 
 doubtless as efficient in action as they are ugly in form, and, like 
 many other useful articles, should be kept out of sight as much as 
 possible; but when we see an attempt made in what are called 
 fancy belloios, to raise ugliness into competition with beauty, we 
 must protest, not only against groups of flowers, Windsor Castle, 
 Abbotsford, Stoke, Stratford-on-Avon, &c., occupying such posi- 
 tions, but in such an impracticable material as mother-of-pearl. 
 The side of an old tower, however illuminated, never produces 
 iridescence ; the moon, the sky, the smooth-flowing river, do not 
 display these flaring, lustrous, inharmonious tints ; why should we, 
 
 then, attempt to be more 
 beautiful than nature, 
 more gaudy, more im- 
 possible P and all this 
 labour and ingenuity 
 bestowed on the adorn- 
 ment of a pair of bel- 
 lows ! The last case that 
 we have to notice in the 
 Sheffield Court is Mr. 
 Horsefall’s, in which music- wire, wire springs, centre punches, &c., 
 are exhibited. 
 
 MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL. 
 
 In order to account satisfactorily for the production of the various 
 useful articles contained in the Sheffield Court, we must return to 
 the collection of Raw Materials, and just glance at the iron ores. 
 There are probably few of our readers who do not remember 
 Mr. Blackwell’s splendid collection of iron ores in the Hyde Park 
 building, consisting of nearly 500 specimens, all of which were the 
 produce of the United Kingdom, thus placing in a most striking 
 light the iron-making resources of this country. Now the mode of 
 smelting or working these ores, the kind of fuel employed, and the 
 subsequent treatment, furnish 
 iron in one of the three states 
 in which it is used in the arts 
 — viz., crude, or cast-iron , steel, 
 and wrought- iron. In order to 
 produce steel, foreign iron is in 
 request ; and to produce differ- 
 ent qualities of iron a mixture 
 of different ores is required. The 
 chief ores of iron are the mag- 
 netic, so called from its action 
 on the magnetic needle : it is 
 a very pure ore, furnishing most 
 of the Swedish iron: it contains in 100 parts 71*78 of iron, and 
 28-22 of oxygen ; and being smelted with wood charcoal, furnishes 
 a pure iron, free from the sulphur and other impurities which lessen 
 the value of iron smelted with common coal. Red iron ore, called 
 heematite, from the Greek, in allusion to its blood-red colour, of 
 which there are several varieties, occurs in Cornwall, at Ulverstone, 
 in Lancashire, and other places, in reniform, i.e. kidney-shaped 
 masses, Fig. 6. This ore, smelted 
 with charcoal, yields a very pure 
 iron. Iron pyrites, or sulphuret of 
 iron, contains 45*74 per cent, of 
 iron, and 56*26 of sulphur: it is 
 called pyrites from a Greek word 
 for fire, from the circumstance of 
 its striking fire with steel. It oc- 
 curs in small cubical crystals, Fig. 7, 
 in veins, in slate rocks and coal- 
 fields, and in globular concretions 
 in indurated chalk and clay ; it also 
 accompanies the ores of the other metals : it is used rather as 
 a source of sulphur than of iron, as in the manufacture of alum 
 and sulphuric acid. The ore from which the great bulk of the 
 iron manufacture in this country is produced is the carbonate, 
 which consists, when pure, of 01-37 per cent, of protoxide of iron, 
 and 38-63 of carbonic acid : there are many varieties of this ore, 
 one of which, sparry iron, is represented in Fig. 8. In England 
 vast deposits of carbonate of iron occur in the coal formation, gene- 
 rally imbedded in schistous clay, whence the ore obtains its most 
 common name of day ironstone. It occurs in regularly connected 
 
 Fig. 4. — SKATE. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 151 
 
 strata or bands, and in strata of detaclied stone, from the size of a 
 small bullet to lumps of several hundred pounds weight. The black- 
 band, or carbonaceous ironstone, contains a quantity of carbonaceous 
 matter, which greatly assists in 
 the reduction of the ore. The 
 most important iron-making 
 district in Great Britain, and, 
 indeed, in the world, is South 
 Wales : its coal-field extends 
 over an area of upwards of 
 800 miles, and it is remarkable 
 for the varied character of its 
 numerous beds of coal, and 
 its measures of ironstone and 
 black-band. Shropshire con- 
 tains a highly important iron- 
 making district. The Dudley division of the South Staffordshire and 
 Worcester coal-field is celebrated for its ten-yard, or thick coal : it 
 also contains some valuable ironstones, and ranks as the second iron- 
 making district in the kingdom as to the quantity of iron produced, 
 while its manufacture of wrought-iron raises it above Scotland or 
 Wales. Vast quantities of ironstone are raised in North Stafford- 
 shire, and sent to South Staffordshire and North Wales, where the 
 coal is more abundant. The north and south districts of Yorkshire 
 also produce good iron. In Derbyshire the beds of ironstone are 
 often so thick as to be workable by open-work or bell-pits. The iron 
 works of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham, are increasing 
 in importance. In Lancashire and West Cumberland not much 
 iron is produced ; but the superior ore of the Ulverstone and Furness 
 districts, containing from 60 to 65 per cent, of iron, is extensively 
 raised for shipment to other districts. The iron produced in small 
 quantity in the Ulverstone districts is smelted with charcoal, and 
 is of very superior quality. The Forest of Dean is rich in ores, 
 which are to a great extent raised for shipment, and furnish the 
 iron used in the manufacture of tin plates. Other parts of the 
 United Kingdom are opening up large masses of iron ores, in 
 consequence of the facilities of transport afforded by our rail- 
 roads ; while old iron districts, such as the green sand of Sussex, 
 which, in consequence of the exhaustion of our forests, have long 
 ceased to furnish iron ores, may again be called upon to yield 
 supplies. 
 
 The first operation in the smelting of iron is a preparatory one — 
 namely, roasting, for the purpose of expelling water and carbonic 
 acid, and producing a porous condition favourable to smelting. The 
 coal is usually roasted in wedge-shaped heaps, formed by alternate 
 layers of coal and ironstone, covered with small coal. The heap is 
 lighted at the windward end, and the fire creeps slowly along, gra- 
 
 Fig. 9. — BOASTING. IRON ORE IN KILN 
 
 dually igniting the whole. In the course of a month the coals 
 are all burnt out, and the pile is sufficiently cool for removal. 
 The ore is also roasted in kilns, as shown in Fig. 9. The black- 
 band ironstone contains bitumen, which, when once ignited, 
 serves for the roasting of the ore, and constitutes one of its valuable 
 properties. 
 
 Much of the coal used in reducing the ore is previously coked 
 in large heaps, as shown in Fig. 10, built so as to leave sufficient 
 draught for the combustion, the flue-holes at the bottom of each 
 heap terminating in vertical shafts in the centre. When the vola- 
 tile matter of the coal is burnt off, the heaps are covered up with 
 
 the dust and ashes of former burnings, and the whole is left to cool. 
 In Staffordshire every ton of cast-iron requires, including the roast- 
 ing, from 3* to 4 tons of coal. In Wales, where the coal produces a 
 larger per centage of coke, the cost of fuel is about 3 tons of coal to 
 1 ton of iron. 
 
 Supposing the roasted ore to consist only of oxide of iron, it would 
 be sufficient to reduce it to the metallic state to raise it to a red heat, 
 and pass over it a stream of hydrogen gas. The hydrogen would 
 
 Fig. 10. COKE HEAPS. 
 
 unite with the oxygen of the oxide, and pass off in the draught in 
 the form of vapour of wa'ter, leaving pure metallic iron behind. A 
 stream of carbonic oxide would answer the same purpose, the flame 
 of which would deprive the iron of its oxygen, and become converted 
 into the uninflammable carbonic acid. It happens, however, that the 
 ore is so intimately mixed with stony matters, such as clay or quartz, 
 and other impurities, that when the iron is fused, its particles 
 cannot combine or weld together, but remain entangled with the 
 clay or quartz, which are infusible at the ordinary heat of a blast- 
 furnace. In order to separate the iron from these substances, they 
 must be made fusible. If the ore be very rich, it may be heated in 
 contact with charcoal or carbon, when one portion of the oxide of 
 iron, combining with the silica and the clay, forms a double silicate 
 of alumina and protoxide of iron, which is very fusible, while 
 another portion of the iron is reduced, the whole forming a spongy 
 mass, which, being taken out of the furnace, and submitted to the 
 blows of a heavy hammer, the slag is expelled, and the particles of 
 metallic iron weld together. This method is adopted in the 
 Pyrenees, in Corsica, and some parts of Spain, where wood for 
 making charcoal is tolerably abundant; but it is a wasteful and 
 expensive method, although the quality of iron yielded is excellent. 
 If the ores are of poor quality, the silicate of alumina must be made 
 fusible by a cheaper base than the oxide of iron, for which purpose 
 lime is employed ; but as the double silicate of alumina and lime 
 is much less fusible than the double silicate of alumina and iron, 
 as obtained in the former process, a very high temperature — such as 
 is afforded by the blast-furnace — must be employed, in which case 
 the iron combines with carbon, and forms crude, or cast-iron, which 
 is found in a state of fusion below the fused silicate or slag. Such 
 is the English method by which nearly all the iron at present 
 manufactured is produced. 
 
 The blast-furnace consists of two truncated cones AB (Fig. 11), 
 united at their bases. The upper part, called the cone or body, is 
 formed by an interior lining or shirt of fire-bricks ii ; 1 1 is another 
 lining of fire-bricks, with an intervening space, filled up with broken 
 scoria or sand. The outer wall is of masonry or brick, bound by 
 stout iron bands, connected by long vertical bars, furnished also with 
 small channels to allow the escape of moisture. At the top of the 
 furnace is the throat or tunncl-liole G ; and above this the chimney 
 F, through openings in which the charge of fuel, roasted ore, and 
 limestone flux, is poured. The lower cone B, called the boshes, 
 terminating in the hearth E, which is nearly quadrangular in form. 
 The bottom of the furnace is formed of fire-stone, supported by 
 masonry, in which are various channels n, for the escape of 
 moisture: the foundations are traversed by two vaults vv, which 
 intersect each other just below the vertical axis of the furnace. 
 Three of the sides of the hearth E, are continued down to the 
 bottom of the furnace; the fourth side D, is carried down to a 
 
1 
 
 form, secured on its outer side by a piece of cast-iron, called the 
 dam-plate. The part of the furnace below the tymp is called the 
 crucible ; and in it is collected the fused metal, reduced by the ope- 
 ration of the furnace. The three continuous faces of the hearth 
 
 U 
 
 are perforated a little above the level of the tymp with holes oo, for 
 receiving the nozzles of the tuyeres which convey the blast from the 
 blowing-machine to the furnace. The vaulted galleries ll, in 
 Fig. 11, corresponding to KK in Fig. 12, allow the men to pass from 
 one tuyere to the other without loss of time. Fig. 1 2 is a horizontal 
 section of the furnace at the 
 height of the tuyeres t, show- 
 ing their arrangement, and that 
 of the pipes G, which connect 
 them with the blowing-ma- 
 chine. The tuyeres are conical 
 tubes of cast iron, kept cool 
 by a current of cold water, 
 which circulates over them by the arrangement shown in Fig. 13, 
 in which the upper pipe conveys a supply of cold water into the 
 hollow space around the tuyere, where, after circulating in the 
 direction of the arrows, it is heated and discharged by the lower 
 
 Fig. 13.— TOTERE. 
 
 this action an empty space is left above the piston, and the 
 valve v, yielding to the atmospheric pressure, opens, and admits air 
 above the piston ; the valve v" now cannot open, since it is hung so 
 as to open only into the vessel A. When the piston, having arrived 
 at the bottom of the cylinder, begins to ascend again, the air above 
 it becomes condensed, and passes through v"' into B, while v' becomes 
 closed ; at the same time fresh air rushes in below the piston, v" open- 
 ing while v remains closed. The air in B is impelled through o to the 
 pipes G G, Fig. 12, for supplying the tuyeres. The quantity of air 
 impelled into a blast-furnace by one of these blowing-machines is 
 something enormous. Some of the large Welsh furnaces consume 
 on an average 3600 cubic feet of air per minute, or about nine tons 
 weight of air per hour. These large blowing-engines are now being 
 replaced by small high-pressure engines, moving with considerable 
 velocity, and doing as much work as their gigantic rivals. 
 
 The vast quantities of cold air injected into the furnace lead to a 
 more than usually wasteful expenditure of fuel, since the air itself 
 requires to be raised to a high temperature in order to be useful in 
 maintaining combustion. Now it has been found that if, before 
 injecting the air into the furnace, it be raised to a temperature of 
 600°, a much greater heat can be obtained in the furnace with the 
 same charge of fuel, or the same temperature may be maintained 
 with a diminished charge of fuel. By thus raising the heat of the 
 furnace, certain substances, infusible in the cold blast-furnace, 
 become fusible in the hot, uncoked coal can be used, either alone 
 or mixed with coke, less limestone flux is required, and ores 
 formerly unfitted for the manufacture of foundry iron can be 
 smelted. 
 
 The dimensions of the blast-furnace vary with the kind of ore to 
 be smelted from 30 ft. to 60 ft. In a large furnace the crucible 
 is about 6a ft. high, and 2z ft. square at the top ; the boshes 8 ft. 
 high, and 12 ft. in diameter at the top. Some of the largest furnaces 
 in South Wales have a diameter at the boshes, or widest part, of 
 from 15 to 18 ft., and contain at least 150 tons of ignited materials 
 constantly burning day and night — Sundays and week-days, summer 
 and winter — lighting up the atmosphere for miles around with a 
 lurid glare, depriving day of its beauty, and night of its repose, 
 covering the face of the earth with coke heaps and roasting heaps 
 or kilns, with waste products, or with the rubbish of the mine. 
 The blast-furnace is, indeed, the central object to which everything 
 ministers ; and there is a certain grandeur about it, in spite of its 
 inherent ugliness, arising from its vastness and its enormous powers 
 of digestion. It is fed hour after hour, or oftener, with ton after 
 ton of its appointed food ; and twice, if not thrice, in the twenty- 
 four hours it belches forth ton after ton of molten iron, which comes 
 rolling on like a river in its strength, lighting up the gloomy shed 
 with innumerable colours, and radiating an insupportable heat. 
 Nor is the discharge of the slag the least impressive of the periodical 
 displays made by this fiery monster. Referring to Fig. 11, it will 
 be seen that from the dam-stone and dam-plate d, an inclined plane 
 of brickwork proceeds, down which the slag flows, and congeals in 
 fantastic shapes and beautiful crystalline forms. The hourly meal 
 for a furnace of average size is 400 lbs. of coke, 336 lbs. of clay iron- 
 stone, 100 lbs. of limestone. The charge is thrown in at the top. In 
 a hilly district, such as that of Colebrook Dale, the furnaces are 
 erected at the side of a hill, on the summit of which the charge is 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 153 
 
 combustion. About the middle of the boshes the heat is greatly 
 diminished in intensity, since the oxygen, now converted into car- 
 bonic acid, and the niti'ogen of the blast, escaping upwards towards 
 the chimney, impart much of their heat to the fuel and mineral at 
 the lower part of the cone. The carbonic acid, coming in contact 
 with the heated fuel, becomes converted into carbonic oxide, with a 
 great expansion of volume, and consequently a large absorption of 
 heat. As the carbonic acid encounters the oxide of iron, it robs it of 
 
 already referred to. It has been proposed to employ the highly- 
 heated gases which escape from the throat of the furnace for the 
 purpose of heating the blast by which it is supplied, and also for 
 the purposes of puddling, &c. The plan has been adopted to a 
 certain extent, and the iron resulting therefrom has been called 
 gas-iron. At the lower part of the boshes, where the temperature 
 is very high, the lime of the flux and the ash of the fuel combine 
 with the silica to form the various double silicates which constitute 
 the slag. At this point the iron exposed in a slightly oxidising 
 atmosphere to a very high temperature in the presence of carbon, a 
 portion of that substance combines with the metal, and converts it 
 into cast-iron. The iron and the carbon also reduce a portion of 
 the silica, the silicium combining with the iron, and the oxygen 
 of the silica with the carbon. When in this state the charge arrives 
 at the upper part of the hearth, the intense heat produced by the 
 action of the blast upon the remaining portion of the fuel com- 
 pletely fuses both the iron and the silicates, and they pour down 
 into the crucible beneath, where the fused products arrange them- 
 selves in the order of their density, the iron at the bottom, and the 
 silicates above, protecting it from further oxidation. The silicates 
 or slag occupy five or six times the space of the molten iron, so that 
 as it rises to the level of the dam-plate it overflows, passes down 
 
 Fig. 17. — iron vase, by the collbrook dale company. 
 the inclined plane to the ground, and when cold is broken up by 
 means of iron levers and removed. At some works the slag is made 
 to flow into iron waggons, whereby it is moulded into large blocks. 
 In the course of about eight or twelve hours the furnace is tapped, 
 and the liquid iron is drawn off, for which purpose a plug of clay, 
 which closes a hole in the bottom of the crucible, is pierced with 
 a long bar, certain channels having been previously prepared 
 in the sand which composes the floor of the workshop for its 
 reception. These channels mould the metal into semi-cylindrical 
 bars, called pigs, united by one of larger dimensions, called a soiv, 
 the moulds being so arranged as to make the points of connection 
 thin, so that the pigs may be easily broken off from the sow when 
 the casting is cold. It is necessary to keep the blast-furnace con- 
 stantly at work ; for if it were once allowed to cool down, this huge 
 and costly piece of apparatus would be ruined. 
 
 Six different kinds of pig-iron are found in the market ; the first 
 three, named Nos. 1, 2, and 3, are considered as foundry metal. 
 They contain various amounts of carbon, No. 1 having the largest 
 proportion — the effect of which is to furnish a soft iron, very fluid 
 when melted, and hence valuable for small and ornamental cast- 
 ings ; it also yields readily to the chisel. No. 2 contains less car- 
 bon, and is harder and stronger than No. 1, and is used for parts of 
 machinery which require strength and durability. No. 3, or dark 
 
 it R 
 
 prepared, and tossed into the furnace-mouth, as shown in Fig. 15. 
 Near Dudley the charge is moved up an inclined plain by steam- 
 power, or some other mechanical lift. The charge gradually de- 
 scends until it reaches the upper part of the boshes. In the cone 
 C, Fig. 11, the heat is not very great : near the boshes it is consider- 
 able, and in the hearth at its maximum ; for it is here that the 
 oxygen of the blast encounters the fuel, and produces the most vivid 
 
 Fig. 15. — MOUTHS OF BLAST -FURNACES. 
 
 Fig. 16. — CAST-IRON OPEN PANEL FOB BALUSTRADE, BY MESSRS. KINNARD. 
 
 ox yg en , reduces it to metallic iron, and becomes again converted 
 into carbonic acid. The burning of the limestone also furnishes 
 carbonic acid, while the dry distillation of the fuel in the upper part 
 of the cone furnishes hydrogen and carburetled hydrogen. The 
 moisture, too, which enters by the tuyeres is decomposed, and in- 
 creases the quantity of carbonic oxide and hydrogen ; so that, in 
 addition to the uninflammable nitrogen and carbonic acid which 
 escape by the chimney, there is a vast amount of inflammable 
 I gaseous matter, which furnishes the great body of flame and smoke 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 154 
 
 grey iron, contains still less carbon, and may be used either for the 
 forge or the foundry. It is employed in heavy castings, such as 
 tram-plates, shafts, wheels, cylinders of steam-engines, &c. The 
 next quality is called bright iron, from its lighter colour and 
 brighter lustre than the foregoing ; it is used for large castings. 
 A fifth variety is mottled iron, so called from its mottled grey and 
 white fracture. It is too thick and brittle for the foundry, and its 
 use is confined to the forge. The last variety is white iron, from its 
 silvery white colour. It is too brittle for casting, and contains less 
 carbon than any other variety of pig-iron. 
 
 The cast or pig-iron contains several impurities which render it 
 brittle and incapable of being wrought into shape by the hammer. 
 The impurities are chiefly carbon and silicium, with small portions 
 of sulphur and phosphorus. The two former are got rid of by 
 exposing the pig-iron to the oxidising influence of a blast of air 
 under a high temperature, whereby the iron is converted into oxide, 
 which forms first on the surface, and gradually penetrates into the 
 
 Fig. 18.— GARDEN VASE FROM THE I RON -FOUNDRY OF M. DUCEL, OF PARIS. 
 
 mass. The carbon of the iron reduces the oxide first formed, pro- 
 ducing metallic iron and carbonic oxide gas. The silicium of the 
 iron is similarly converted into silicic acid, which forms with a 
 portion of the iron a fusible silicate of iron. When at length the 
 whole of the iron is converted into a spongy mass of malleable iron 
 and fusible slag, it is subjected to the blows of a heavy hammer, by 
 which the silicates are pressed out. The sulphur and phosphorus are 
 got rid of with greater difficulty ; indeed, it is better to remove them 
 previous to the smelting by carefully roasting the ore. But good 
 iron can never be produced from ores which contain much of 
 either of these two substances. The furnace employed for refining 
 pig-iron is called a fining -furnace, or the refinery, in which the 
 metal is melted and exposed to the blast of numerous tuyeres, after 
 which it is allowed to accumulate in the crucible, and is then run 
 off into a flat mould. It has now lost a good deal of its carbon and 
 most of the silicium ; it is hard and brittle, and its surface is covered 
 with small blisters. It is now called fine metal ; it is broken into 
 
 fragments, and the decarbonisation is completed in the puddling- 
 furnace, shown in section and plan, Figs. 19, 20, 21, in which the 
 hearth A, is of cast-iron covered with a layer of 
 slag. It is heated by a fire at F, from which it is 
 separated by a bridge b, and the draught is de- 
 termined through the furnace by means of a chim- 
 ney from 30 to 50 ft. high, furnished with a 
 damper at the top, which can be raised or depressed 
 by means of a chain and lever. The charge of 
 fine metal is piled up on the hearth until it- 
 nearly touches 
 the dome; a por 
 tion of rich slag 
 and iron scales 
 is added, the 
 doors are closed, 
 and the fire is 
 allowed to play, 
 upon the metal 
 
 Fig. 19. — VERTICAL SECTION OF PUDDLING-FURNACE. which in abOUt 
 
 half-an-hour begins to melt and occupy the bottom of the 
 hearth. The puddlcr then removes a small iron plate from the 
 hole in the door D, passes in an iron rod, and stirs up the molten 
 metal, so as to expose fresh surfaces to the oxidising influences of 
 the draught. When the charge is reduced to a uniform pasty 
 mass, the fire is lowered by gradually closing the damper ; the 
 metal, from the escape of carbonic oxide, appears to be boiling, and 
 
 Fig. 20. — PLAN OF PUDDLING-FURNACE. 
 
 the gas burns at the surface with its usual blue flame. In this 
 state the metal is kept in constant agitation by means of an iron 
 paddle, until at length it loses its consistency and becomes sandy, 
 or, as the workman calls it, dry. When carbonic oxide ceases to 
 be evolved, and the metal has become uniformly granular, the heat 
 is increased until the sandy particles begin to agglutinate. A 
 portion of the slag is run off down B, and allowed to escape by a 
 floss hole at h ; the man then proceeds to ball up, or to form the iron 
 into balls, by attaching a small portion of the metal to the end of 
 his paddle, and rolling it round, when other portions of the metal 
 
 Fig. 21. — PUDDLING-FURNACES. 
 
 weld on to it. 'When he has formed a ball of 60 or 70 lbs. weight, 
 he detaches it from the paddle, and proceeds to form a second ball. 
 When the whole of the charge has been balled, it is moved to the 
 hottest part of the furnace, and the heat is increased so as to weld 
 the particles together. Each ball is then lifted out of the furnace 
 by means of heavy tongs, and conveyed to the shingling hammer, 
 which presses out the slag and consolidates the metal. The 
 operation of puddling occupies about two and a half hours. 
 The shingling hammer (Fig. 22), is of cast-iron, about 10 feet 
 long, and the helve weighs from 3£- to 4 tons. The axis a, 
 rests on heavy blocks, secured by strong bolts passing through 
 courses of wooden beams into a foundation of masonry. The head 
 n, is of wrought-iron faced with steel, and weighs from 7 to 8 
 cwt. The pane of the hammer^, as well as that of the anvil, is 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 155 
 
 formed into a series of grooves in order to nip the ball better. The 
 face of the anvil is supported on a block of iron i, of about 4 tons 
 weight. The head is raised by the cams c, fixed in the collar B, 
 
 Fig. 22 — SHINGLING -HAMMER. 
 
 attached to a powerful shaft S, which is turned by steam or water 
 power, regulated by a heavy fly-wheel which moves in the direction 
 of the arrow. The hammer makes from 75 to 100 blows per 
 minute, and when it is desired to suspend its operations, the rod^' 
 is pulled, which brings the prop p into a vertical position, so as to 
 free the hammer from the cams. Instead of the hammer, a squeezer, 
 consisting of a powerful pair of iron jaws, has been proposed. 
 Nasmyth’s steam-hammer has also been applied. 
 
 When the slag has been pressed out of the bloom by a few blows 
 of the shingling-hammer, it is passed between rollers, rr' (Fig. 23), 
 which serve to compress and weld the parts together, squeeze out 
 the last portions of slag, and to draw out the iron bars. The 
 rolls are mounted in pairs in a massive iron frame uu, connected 
 by heavy couplings d e, the distance between the rolls being regu- 
 lated by screws s s ; motion is imparted to the rolls by means of 
 strong toothed wheels GG. Below the frame is a water channel, for 
 the reception of the scale which falls from the surface of the hot iron 
 
 reverberatory furnace, which is similar to the puddling-furnace, only 
 the grate is larger. When the fagots are at the proper welding 
 heat they are taken out one at a time, and passed rapidly through 
 the finishing grooves of the section required. Sheet-iron is made 
 by passing the metal between smooth-faced rollers, which are 
 gradually screwed nearer together until the required thickness is 
 attained. Some sheet-iron exhibited at the Breslau Exhibition, in 
 1852, was only about l-250th of an inch in thickness. An album 
 was exhibited of this leaf-iron, in which the iron pages turned as 
 flexibly as those of paper — indeed it was proposed to print on it for 
 the tropics, in order to make books secure from the ravages of the 
 w'hite ant. 
 
 By fagoting and rolling out the iron in the manner indicated, the 
 crystalline character of cast-iron becomes exchanged for the fibrous 
 texture of wrought-iron. In rolling flat bars the layers of the pile 
 are kept horizontal, in order that the fibres may be straight and 
 parallel. A good blacksmith always attends to the direction of 
 the fibre, for by so doing he increases the strength and toughness 
 of his forged goods. 
 
 Bar-iron is known in the market as common iron , best iron, best- 
 best or chain-cable iron. Particular kinds of iron are manufactured 
 for special purposes, such as for gun-barrels, recognised as stub-iron, 
 stub-tioist, wire-twist, Damascus-twist, stub-Damascus, and many 
 other kinds. Stub-iron is formed from old horse-shoe nails, called 
 stubs — a form of iron which has attained to many excellent qualities 
 by being repeatedly worked. Stubs are packed closely together, 
 bound with an iron hoop into a ball, raised to a welding heat, and 
 drawn out into bars, which are used for locks, furniture, and 
 breechings of the best guns, and to some extent for barrels. Nails 
 are imported in large quantities for this manufacture ; they are 
 polished in a rapidly revolving drum, sifted from dust, sorted, mixed 
 with fragments of steel, fagoted, and converted into a bloom as 
 before, which is drawn out under a tilt-hammer into bars of the 
 proper size to pass through the rollers, which further reduce it to 
 rods of the required size. A very tough iron is thus produced. 
 Stub-barrels are also made from scrap-iron, a name given to the 
 
 Fig. 23. — bolls. 
 
 while passing through the rolls; and the rolls are kept cool by 
 a stream of water playing upon them from a pipe t. Two sets of 
 rolls are usually employed, the one called roughing rolls, which 
 prepare the iron for the finishing rolls ; each roller has a series of 
 from 5 to 7 regularly decreasing grooves of an elliptical form; 
 the first three or four grooves of the roughing rolls are notched, to 
 enable the iron to pass through without slipping, and on a level 
 with the bottom of the notches on the lower roll is an iron apron, 
 for supporting the balls or masses of iron. 
 
 The iron thus prepared is hard and brittle, and subject to flaws. 
 Railway bars are formed in this way, by passing the bloom of 
 puddled iron through grooved rollers of the section of the intended 
 bar. A better quality of bar-iron is prepared by cutting up the 
 bars from the roughing rolls by means 
 of the shears, Fig. 24, consisting of 
 two jaws with cutting edges a b of 
 hardened steel, the upper blade moving 
 on a stout pin p, attached by a lever 
 p R to a rod R m, which is connected 
 with the moving power. Bars of iron 
 an inch or more in thickness are cut 
 through with these shears with as 
 much apparent ease as one may cut a 
 piece of card with a pair of scissors. 
 A number of short lengths of iron are 
 piled or fagoted together, and a num- 
 ber of fagots are arranged a short distance apart on the hearth of a 
 
 cuttings and punchings of sheet-iron, worn-out articles in iron, and 
 the waste cuttings of various manufactures. They are sorted for 
 the various qualities of iron, known as icire-twist, Damascus-twist, 
 stub-tivist, charcoal-iron, threepenny-skelp-iron, twopenny or Wed- 
 nesbury-skelp, sham- dam-skelp, & c. Scrap is cut into small pieces, 
 so as to cross and interweave the fibres, and increase the tenacity. 
 The steel which is puddled in with the iron readily unites with it, 
 and it improves the beauty and variegation of the twist. For 
 twisted barrels, the iron is drawn out into ribbons, and these are 
 wound w'hile redhot, and twisted spirally round an iron rod 
 (Fig. 25), raised to a welding heat, 
 and struck or jumped on the ground 
 so as to unite the edges, the welding 
 being completed by hammering on Fi 9 - 25 * 
 
 the anvil. Wire-twist and Damascus-iron are obtained by welding 
 alternate laminm of iron and steel, or iron of two qualities, and 
 drawing the compound bar into ribbons. 
 
 Bar-iron is subject to two defects, which give it the name of red- 
 short and cold-short. In the one case, it cracks when bent or punched 
 at a red heat, although tenacious when cold ; while cold-short-iron 
 is weak and brittle when cold, but can be worked without difficulty 
 when hot. A minute portion of sulphur is said to be the cause of 
 the red-short property of wrought-iron, while phosphorus is said 
 to make iron cold-short. 
 
 Manufactured iron is never free from carbon and other sub- 
 stances, but the carbon appears to be only mechanically mixed with 
 the metal : the chemical union of less than one half per cent, of 
 
156 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 carbon develops those remarkable properties which distinguish 
 steel from iron, making it so hard that it will cut and file iron with 
 ease, enabling it to scratch the hardest glass, and strike sparks with 
 siliceous stones. Steel is denser than iron ; it has a finer grain ; a 
 brighter and whiter lustre when polished ; is more elastic; retains 
 magnetism more permanently, and does not rust so readily. When 
 heated in contact with the air, it assumes various tints which serve 
 as useful guides to the manufacturer ; and it possesses the invaluable 
 property of being hardened and tempered to any degree required in 
 the arts. 
 
 The iron used in the manufacture of steel is that which has been 
 smelted with charcoal. It is imported from Sweden and Russia, 
 from Madras, and it is also manufactured in small quantities at 
 Ulverstone. The foreign iron is imported in bars impressed with 
 certain distinguishing marks. The most celebrated Swedish iron is 
 © <d. CO fr° m tk® Dannemora Mine, the ore of which 
 
 V affords a white crystalline brittle cast-iron ; it 
 iT is converted into malleable iron by heating it 
 
 Fig. 20 . in a bed of charcoal, and hammering it out 
 
 into bars. This iron is known in England by the name of Oregrund 
 iron, from the name of the Swedish port at which it is shipped. It 
 is known by the marks hoop L, from the letter L being inclosed 
 in a hoop; the GL, and the double-bullet. Other varieties of Swedish 
 iron are known by the marks C and crown, D and crown; the 
 SteinbucJc, and the w and crowns. All these marks are shown in 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 Steel is manufactured in England by the process of cementation. 
 The cementing furnace, shown in section Fig. 27, resembles a glass- 
 
 longer fibrous, but granular or crystalline. The colour of the 
 fracture is white like frosted silver, and the crystals are large in 
 proportion to the amount of carbon absorbed. In this condition 
 fhe steel is generally unfit for forging until it has been condensed 
 and made uniform, which is the object of the process of shearing, or 
 
 Ftg. 27. — SECTION OF cementing fcenace. 
 
 house, and consists of a cone or hood, 30 or 40 feet high, which 
 serves to shelter the furnace, and to carry off the smoke of the 
 fuel. The furnace contains two chests or ti’oughs C C, made of fire- 
 tiles or fire-stone bricks, and capable of holding from 8 to 12 tons of 
 bar-iron. The troughs are heated by means of the fire F, the heat 
 being distributed round the troughs by means of holes in the 
 flues o o. At M is an opening by which the workman enters the 
 furnace to charge the troughs. The preparation of the charcoal, or 
 cement, as it is called, varies with different steel converters. The 
 dust of charcoal made from hard wood is preferred, soot is sometimes 
 employed, as also a small proportion of ashes and common salt. 
 The cement is sifted into the troughs to the depth of two inches, the 
 bars are put in upon their narrow edges, with the space of about 
 half an inch between every two bars ; powdered charcoal to the 
 depth of an inch is then sifted in, and a second set of bars is made 
 to fit into the interstices of the first ; in this way the troughs are 
 filled to within 6 inches of the top. The filling is then completed 
 with old cement-powder, and this is covered with damp sand or 
 fire-tile, in order thoroughly to exclude the air. The furnace is 
 then closed up, and the fire is lighted and urged for a few days, 
 until the proper cementing temperature is attained; and this is kept 
 up for several days, until the iron has absorbed sufficient carbon to 
 produce the kind of steel required. For some purposes the bars are 
 exposed to two or three successive cementations, and are then said 
 to be twice or thrice converted. In the centre of each trough is a 
 small hole called a tasting-hole, corresponding with a small iron 
 door in the outer brickwork, by which the man can draw out a 
 bar, and watch the progress of the cementation, which is judged 
 of by the surface of the bar being covered with blisters, whence 
 the name of blistered steel. When the transmutation is complete, 
 the fire is extinguished, and the furnace is left to cool for a week. 
 
 The steel thus produced presents some remarkable differences 
 from the bar-iron. It is covered with blisters; its texture is no 
 
 Fig. 28. — TILT-HAMMER. 
 
 making shear-steel, so called from its having been originally 
 employed in the manufacture of shears for cutting off the wool 
 from sheep. The operation is performed by means of a tilt-hammer, 
 Fig. 28, in which the cogs of a wheel c, are made to act on the 
 tail t of the hammer h, pressing it down, and so raising the head 
 of the hammer; thus producing a rapid succession of blows on the 
 anvil h, varying from 150 to 360 strokes per minute. The steel bar 
 is broken into lengths of about 18 inches, and four or more of these 
 are bound into a fagot by means of a ring, an iron pole being used 
 for a handle, as shown in -■ - 
 
 Fig. 29. The fagot is raised fggj yn^ = ^ =i' 
 to a welding heat, and sand is Fig. 29. 
 
 sprinkled over it, which, combining with the small portion of oxide 
 of iron which forms on the surface, produces a fusible slag, which pro- 
 tects the metal from wasting or burning away. The heated fagot 
 is first subjected to the action of a forge-hammer, which unites the 
 fragments. The rod thus formed being again heated, is subject to 
 the rapid blows of the tilt-hammer by a workman who is seated in 
 a kind of swing, where, by the motion of his foot on the floor, he 
 can shift his position with ease and rapidity. The rod soon ceases 
 to be redhot ; but the rapid blows of the hammer revive the redness, 
 and it is remarkable to see it ignite under the action of the strokes. 
 In this way a rude steel rod becomes stretched and formed into an 
 even, smooth, sharp-edged prism, fit to be forged with the hammer 
 into shears, edge-tools, and cutting instruments. The steel increases 
 in value with the amount of tilting, so that a tilted bar is again 
 made up into a fagot, and elongated as before. The terms double 
 shear, single shear, and half shear, serve to express the amount of 
 labour bestowed on the metal. 
 
 Steel is produced in greatest perfection by the operation of 
 casting, in which case the bars of blistered steel are broken into 
 fragments, melted in crucibles, and cast into ingots. The crucibles 
 are made chiefly of Stourbridge clay, mixed with Stannington clay, 
 a small quantity of coke-dust, and fragments of old pots. The whole 
 being mixed with water, and worked up, is kneaded on the floor 
 during five or six hours by the naked feet of men, who keep inces- 
 santly trampling upon it with a shuffling kind of motion, folding 
 it and treading it out over and over again. The crucibles are about 
 2 ft. in height, and of the 
 shape shown in section 
 in Fig. 30 . They are 
 formed in a cylindrical 
 mould of cast-iron a a\ 
 
 Fig. 31, open at the two i 
 ends, and inserted into a i 
 block of cast-iron b b', 
 with a supporting rod for 
 the inner mould c, which 
 is a block of hard wood, 
 
 A 
 
 supported at top by the cover e e. The surface of c, and the inner 
 surface of a, are smeared with oil, the kneaded clay is then put into 
 a, and the central plug c is forced down by hand as far as it will go 
 (see Fig. 31) : it is then driven in by means of a hammer, until the 
 lower end of the axis enters the sole in the hole b. The central 
 plug c is then pulled out, and the hole in the centre stopped up. 
 The outer mould is then lifted upon a block of wood mounted upon 
 
Fig. 33. 
 
 a stout iron rod, Fig. 32, and the outer mould a a is carefully 
 removed. The clay-pot is now finished by hand, and is pressed 
 slightly inwards at the top ; it is furnished with a cover of clay, 
 and a cylindrical block for it to rest on. It is 
 next removed to a heated vault to dry, and is 
 afterwards annealed at a red heat. The steel is 
 melted in an ordinary wind furnace, heated by 
 dense well-made coke, and capable of holding two 
 ' crucibles, so that it is usual to have a row of these 
 furnaces side by side. The crucibles are lined with 
 a plaster made of road-dust, called ganister. The 
 charge of steel for each crucible is about 30 lbs., 
 with a small portion of black oxide of manganese, 
 or powdered charcoal. The charge is given to each 
 crucible by means of a long funnel of iron plate 
 (Fig. 33), let down into the fire through a trap-door 
 over each furnace ; an iron rod is inserted in the 
 funnel, in order to prevent the charge from falling 
 at once into the crucible, and fracturing it. The 
 pots after each charge are well covered in, and the furnace is kept 
 well supplied with fuel. In about four hours the steel is suffi- 
 ciently fluid for casting; but during this time the ingot moulds 
 are prepared. Each mould consists of two parts, fitting accurately 
 together, and held b}’ iron clamps, Fig. 34, placed in a shallow pit 
 in the floor of the casting-house. Before putting the halves together, 
 the interior is smoked at a pitch fire, to prevent the liquid steel 
 from adhering to or melting the mould. Prior to drawing the cru- 
 cibles the man puts on sacking leggings and a coarse apron, which 
 he saturates with water to prevent them from taking fire while he 
 is standing over the ardent furnace. Throwing open the trap-door 
 of one of the furnaces, and striding across the opening, he thrusts 
 down a pair of tongs with 
 concave jaws, and grasping 
 the crucible, raises it to the 
 floor of the casting-house, 
 where a second man removes 
 the cover, and a third grasps 
 ^ the crucible with tongs held 
 horizontally, and pours the 
 contents into the mould. The 
 metal flows as liquid as water, 
 and with a gurgling sound. 
 The very high temperature 
 Fig. 34. of the molten steel is evident 
 
 by the white heat, slightly tinged with blue. As the stream is 
 falling, minute portions of it are seized by the oxygen of the air, 
 and burn with brilliant scintillations. When the mould becomes full 
 the end of the ingot even takes fire, and burns like a firework, but 
 the combustion is stopped by the insertion of a solid plug. The 
 ingot immediately solidifies, and is removed from the mould. 
 Fig. 35 shows the interior of a casting-house, drawing the crucibles, 
 
 and casting. The second man who attends the casting is furnished 
 with a pair of tongs for removing portions of cinder or slag from 
 the surface of the metal. Fig. 36 shows the interior of the casting- 
 house, and of the air vault below it, with a couple of crucibles in the 
 furnace ; a portion of the tall chimney which produces so powerful 
 
 a draught is also shown in section ; on the shelves of the casting- 
 house green crucibles are arranged for the purpose of drying. 
 
 Cast-steel is denser and harder than tilted-steel, but requires care 
 
 Fl'J. 30. — CAbTlNC-UOUSE AND A1U VAULT. 
 
 in the forging, on account of its brittleness a little above a cherry- 
 red heat. Two surfaces of cast-steel may be welded together by inter- 
 posing a thin film of borax : cast-steel may also be united to a 
 polished surface of iron by placing it in the mould into which the 
 steel is poured : the two metals can then be rolled and worked 
 together into rods adapted for forging. Fig. 37 shows the operation 
 
 of rolling steel. The rolls used for steel give it chiefly a round, 
 half-round, or triangular section ; but the tilt-hammer is greatly 
 preferred. 
 
 In the manufacture of that large and miscellaneous collection of 
 articles included under the term cutlery, steel alone should be 
 employed — at least, as far as respects the working parts of each 
 instrument. Unfortunately, the love of cheapness has led to the 
 use of pig-iron in the manufacture of knives, forks, razors, &c., the 
 effect of which is to lower the high character of this country for its 
 cutlery which it has hitherto maintained abroad. The conscientious 
 manufacturer, however, uses common steel, or shear, or cast-steel. 
 Shear-steel is plastic and tough, and is used chiefly for making 
 edge-tools, which require great tenacity without much hardness — 
 such as table-knives, scythes, plane-irons, &c. Articles which 
 require a very fine polish — such as razors, scissors, penknives, &c. — 
 ought to be of cast-steel in the cutting parts, the rest of the tool 
 being made of iron. 
 
 In the forging of small works two men are usually employed — 
 the fireman , who manages the work in the fire and on the anvil, 
 and the hammer-man, whose instrument is a sledge of from 10 to 
 14 lbs. weight, in the use of which he is directed by the fireman, who 
 is furnished with a small hammer of from 2 to 4 lbs. weight. The 
 hearth is raised about ft. from the ground, and is built hollow, 
 with an arch beneath 
 for the ashpit. The 
 anvil weighs from 2 to Fi ff- 38 - 
 
 4 cwt. Small works are commonly forged from the end of a bar, 
 called the porter : when the bar is too short to be held by the hand, 
 
or when the work has been cut off to he finished, it is held by flat- 
 bit tongs, Fig. 38, or crook-bit tongs, Fig. 39, or common smith’s 
 
 Fig. 39 . Fig. 40 . 
 
 tongs, Fig. 40. The cutler is also furnished with chisels, punches, 
 and swages, or striking tools, known also as top and 
 bottom tools, for moulding or fashioning the work. 
 ► The bottom tool usually fits into the square hole of 
 the anvil by a tang, and the fireman placing the 
 work upon it, and the top or rod tool above it, 
 
 . . - . | the hammer-man strikes the two together with his 
 
 —^-1 sledge, when the redhot metal fills the cavities of 
 
 Fig. 4i. j.j ie mou i^ thus formed. The top tools are usually 
 held by hazel rods, twisted like a rope, and held as in the figure 
 (Fig. 41), which shows the position of the chisel cutting off the 
 finished object from the bar. 
 
 Most cases of forging may be comprehended under the two pro- 
 cesses of drawing down or reduction, and jumping or upsetting, 
 thickening and shortening : there is also a third 
 process, known as building up or welding : in some 
 cases all these methods are combined. A bar is 
 reduced in thickness by the flat face of a hammer 
 falling level on the work, as in Fig. 42, or for pro- 
 ducing taper pieces, making it fall obliquely, as in 
 Fig. 43. In forging a table-knife the blade is first 
 produced at the end of a bar of shear-steel, and is 
 then cut off : it is next welded to the extremity of 
 a rod of iron about half an inch square, and a por- 
 tion of this is cut off, sufficient to form the bolstei’, 
 or shoulder, and the tang — a couple of swage tools 
 being used for forming the shoulder. The blade 
 is next heated a second time, and finished or 
 smithed on the anvil : the maker’s name is stamped 
 upon it, and it is hardened by being raised to a red heat, and 
 plunged into cold water : having been tempered to a blue colour, it 
 is ready for the grinder. 
 
 Fig. 42 . 
 
 The effect of hardening is to make the metal brittle; the 
 effect of tempering is to diminish the brittleness — and this 
 is accomplished by again heating the article cautiously, and 
 arresting it when the proper degree of hardness is attained. 
 This is ascertained by the colour of a film of oxide, or a combination 
 of carbon with oxygen on the surface of the metal, at temperatures 
 not less than 430°. Where elasticity is required, as in springs for 
 watches, gun-locks, &c., the steel is cooled or tempered as soon as it 
 has assumed a fine blue. When a keen edge is required, as in 
 razors, the edge is brought to a fine straw-colour, while the back is 
 blue; for penknives the colour is a dark straw yellow; for chisels 
 and shears for cutting iron the same colour, only darker ; for axes 
 and plane-irons a brown yellow ; purple for swords and watch- 
 springs, dark blue for small fine saws, and a paler blue for large 
 saws. 
 
 Scissors vary as much as any other article in price and quality, 
 from 3 id. per dozen pair up to £10 10s. the single pair. The best 
 scissors are of cast-steel, hardened in the blades, shanks, and bows: 
 shear-steel scissors are the most common, and these have the blades 
 only hardened. Shot scissors have steel blades 
 and iron bows and shanks ; large scissors, 
 such as tailors’ shears, are of this kind. The 
 cheapest description of scissors are made of 
 common cast-iron ; while the most costly have 
 their shanks and bows of gold, silver, &c. 
 
 Figs. 44 and 45 are specimens of scissors by 
 Mr. Thornhill, in the Italian style of orna- 
 mentation. Fig. 46 is a specimen manufac- 
 tured by Mr. G. Wilkinson, of Sheffield, for the 
 Indian Steel Company, showing much delicacy 
 and elegance of design. The resources of 
 Sheffield in this branch of Industrial Art may 
 be judged of by the fact that a visitor to one 
 manufactory alone was offered the means of 
 examining 7000 executed designs. 
 
 In forging a pair of common steel scissors a 
 single blade is formed at the end of a small 
 bar of flat steel, and is then cut off, together 
 with a portion of the metal sufficient to form 
 the shank and the bow. A hole is punched 
 through the projecting lump of metal for ad- 
 mitting the point of a small anvil or beck-iron, 
 on which the bow is worked out with a 
 hammer : there is a shallow groove in the 
 beck-iron for moulding the inside of the bows. 
 
 After being lighted or softened in the fire, the 
 shape of the shank and the bow is improved 
 by the file, the joint is squared, and the hole 
 is bored and fitted for the rivet. The blades 
 are now ground ; the bows and ornamental 
 works are smooth-filed, and burnished with Fi a - 4G - 
 
 fine emery and oil. As the blades are forged chiefly by eye, 
 without reference to their being in pairs, they are now sorted into 
 pairs, screwed together, and made to “ walk and talk ” well. The 
 screw which unites the two blades consists of three parts of different 
 diameters — namely, the head, the neck, and the thread •• that part 
 of the blade which receives the head of the screw is called the shelf 
 or Ucitter-bit. The blades being put together, they are bound 
 round with iron wire, the rivet is removed, and they are hardened. 
 After this the blades are ground, and are again put together, and 
 made to work properly. They are then rubbed up with fine emery 
 and oil, the shanks are ground, and the whole glazed and polished. 
 When put together again the edges are whetted, and the parts 
 requiring it are fine-burnished with polished steel tools. 
 
 The blades of scissors are not made quite flat on their faces, but 
 are sloped, each two or three degrees from the plane in which they 
 move, so that their edges alone come into contact. This may be seen 
 by holding up a pair of well-made scissors edgewise against the 
 light, when it will be found that when shut the blades are not close 
 together, except at the points and near the screws. The form 
 
 adopted resembles that shown in Fig. 47, the dotted line showing 
 the direction of the blade if fiat. Close behind the screw-pin is a 
 small triangular elevation, called the riding part, one for each 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 159 
 
 blade : when the scissors are open to the full extent, the points 
 only of the riding part come into contact; but as the blades are 
 closed, the riding parts rub against each other, and tilt the blades 
 beyond the central line of the instrument, by which means the 
 edges of the blades are kept in contact throughout the length of the 
 cut. If it were not for this contrivance the substance to be cut 
 would fold down between the blades, especially if it were very thin ; 
 but when the edges are made to meet, each blade serves to support 
 the material for the other to cut. 
 
 The grinding and polishing of cutlery is usually carried on at 
 Sheffield in buildings called wheels or mills, each separate room 
 being called a hull, and containing six troughs, with a grindstone 
 and a polisher in each, steam power being employed to give motion 
 to the stones. The stones vary in quality and size from 6 to 24 
 inches in diameter : they are fixed upon square iron spindles. The 
 large stones are used for saws, fenders, &c., and the small ones for 
 razors and general articles of cutlery. Saws, scythes, and edge-tools, 
 are ground on a wet stone, for which purpose water is kept in the 
 trough in which the stone runs. Numerous small articles — such as 
 razors, scissors, penknives, forks, needles, &c. — are ground on a dry 
 stone, which is more expeditious than wet grinding; but it is very 
 injurious to the health of the workmen, in consequence of the fine 
 particles of stone and metal filling the atmosphere, entering the 
 lungs, and producing disease and death at an early age. By a 
 proper system of ventilation, however, the evil may be remedied. 
 Below each stone is a funnel connected with a central shaft, con- 
 taining a revolving fan, which causes a strong current of air to flow 
 down the mouth of each funnel, which hurries away the gritty and 
 metallic particles as soon as they are produced, leaving the atmo- 
 sphere of the place free from any perceptible dust. 
 
 In the manufacture of edge-tools grinding is an important process. 
 The size of the stone determines the amount of concavity to be 
 given to certain instruments, such as razors : a stone 4 inches in 
 diameter gives the blade a corresponding concavity — namely, a 
 curve of 2 inches radius, which curve will evidently produce a 
 keener edge than can be given from a 6, 8, or 12-inch stone, since 
 the smaller the diameter the more convex is the stone, and the more 
 concave the blade which is ground upon it. The proportion between 
 the width of the blade and the thickness of the back is such that 
 when the blade is laid flat on the hone, so that the edge and back 
 both touch it, an angle is obtained varying from about 17° 
 to 20°. In the following figures the angle shown by the dotted 
 line is 18°, and the concavity on each side of the razor is 
 shown within this angle. The chief use of thus hollowing out the 
 sides is to avoid the necessity of sharpening the whole side of the 
 wedge formed by the dotted lines, for it would evidently be more 
 difficult to wear down the fiat sides indicated by the dotted lines 
 than the small portion thereof which is left; and if it were 
 attempted, the edge would probably be rounded instead of flat. 
 Fig. 48 shows the curve produced by grinding transversely on a 
 
 Fig. 48. Fig. -19. Fig. 50. 
 
 wheel of 12 inches, and Fig. 49 on a wheel of 4 inches, which give 
 the two extremes of curvature. Fig. 50 is formed by grinding the 
 blade lengthways on the stone, so that it may become nicked in, 
 and produce any degree of thinness required. When this razor is 
 used on a strong beard considerable vibration is experienced, whence 
 the Sheffield cutlers term it the rattler. The half-rattler is formed 
 
 
 
 by nicking in the blade at about half its width. After the grinding 
 of cutlery it is lapped, glazed, and polished on wheels called laps. 
 The cutler’s lap consists of a wooden cylindrical centre with a metal 
 rim — an alloy of one part tin with four or five of lead bein<> 
 usually preferred. The surface is turned with a number of fine 
 grooves for holding the dressing or head of emery and oil, and it is 
 fined with fine emery, and friction with a piece of felt and a smooth 
 flint, or a steel blade. A white colour is produced on steel by means 
 of a coarse lap, and a heavy pressure of the work upon it ; a black 
 polish is produced with a fine lap and light pressure, gradually 
 drawing the work from one end to the other. Wooden wheels, 
 called glazcrs, are so arranged in six or eight pieces that the end 
 grain of the wood may form the face. They are made of mahogany, 
 walnut, oak, crab-tree, and birch, and are fed with emery cake. 
 There are also polishing wheels of wood, covered with leather, and 
 dressed with crocus. 
 
 The handles and hafts of the various articles of cutlery include 
 a wide range of substances, the most common being elephant and 
 walrus-ivory, German and Indian stag-horn, buffalo and cow-horn, 
 tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl, cocoa-wood, snake-wood, and other 
 woods; stamped gold and silver, agate, &c., are also used. For 
 common knives and forks a flat piece of iron is con- 
 tinued from the blade, upon which flat pieces of bone 
 ivory, or wood, are attached for the handle. A 
 good method of securing a handle is to drill a hole 
 completely through its length, to insert the prong, 
 and rivet it at the opposite end — this is called through- 
 fang. The usual method is to secure the prong in the 
 handle by means of melted resin mixed with fine ashes 
 or whiting, but such a handle readily becomes loose by 
 contact with hot water. Balance handles are made by 
 dropping in a piece of lead before the tang is inserted, 
 so that the handle being heavier than the blade, and the 
 latter being furnished with a projecting shoulder, it does 
 not come in contact with the tablecloth when laid down. 
 
 Messrs. Rodgers, of Sheffield, have contrived a method of 
 fixing the blade in the handle which appears to be very 
 effectual. It will be seen by Fig. 51 that, in addition to 
 the hole for the reception of the tang, a slight recess is 
 cut out on one side, into which the end of a small spring, 
 secured to the tang, falls, and acting like a ratchet Fig. si. 
 detent, effectually secures the handle to the blade. 
 
 The consumption of ivory at Sheffield is very large. It is cut up 
 by means of a circular saw; the heat excited by the friction pro- 
 ducing a strong ammoniacal odour. This reminds us that Sheffield 
 is also the seat of the saw manufacture, and very interesting it is to 
 follow the operations by which this important cutting instrument is 
 produced. The qualities which distinguish a good saw are uniform 
 thickness in the blade, and such perfect elasticity that on bending 
 it into a bow it will return to a straight line on removing the 
 pressure. These qualities, and those which constitute the excel- 
 lence of cutting instruments in general, can be insured by employing 
 the metal prepared from cast-steel. Indeed, it is scarcely possible 
 to over-estimate the good effects of the method of preparing steel 
 by casting ; and among them not the least is the certainty with 
 which the manufacturer can repeat his results, and produce from 
 year to year identity in the excellence of his wares, thus main- 
 taining the high character of his town all over the world. It is, 
 however, to be deplored that competition, love of cheapness, refrac- 
 tory workmen, and other causes, tempt the Sheffield manufacturer 
 to produce inferior descriptions of goods, the effect of which must 
 be to make it anything but a compliment should some future 
 Chaucer say of one of his characters — 
 
 “A Shefeld thwytel* bare he iu his hose.” 
 
 A saw-blade is cut out of a sheet of steel formed by rolling an ingot 
 of the cast metal. The shears used for the purpose are firmly 
 mounted, as shown in Fig. 52, the upper blade being raised and 
 depressed with a long lever. The edges of the pieces are ground 
 true, and the teeth are cut out by means of a punch at a fly-press, 
 Fig. 53, which is a common form of press for cutting out works in 
 metal. It consists of a body B, formed of a massive piece of iron, 
 attached to a bed or base B'. The screw is of coarse pitch, with a 
 double or triple square thread, the rise of which is about 1 to 6 
 
 * A case-knife or whittle, used for cutting food, &c. 
 
 
160 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 called the peg-tooth or the fleam-tooth, and is very common. This, 
 as well as b, is used for cross-cutting saws, or those which cut across 
 the fibre. The gullet-tooth f is also used for cutting timber across. 
 It is called gullet from the large hollow, or gullet, cut away in front 
 of each tooth in continuation of the face — an arrangement by which 
 the saw is less disposed to choke than in the case of an angular 
 notch. The tooth most generally used is c, and is known as the 
 or dinary -pitch, or hand-saw-tooth. It is much used by cabinet- 
 makers and joiners, and also for circular-saws for fine work. In 
 some cases, instead of the acute angular notch continued to an 
 internal angle, the form shown at e is adopted for some kinds of 
 mill-saws. The various forms of the blade, and the methods of 
 mounting saws, are exceedingly numerous, and do not come within 
 our present object, which, has chiefly to do with the manufacture of 
 the blade. 
 
 After the cutting of the teeth, the wire-edges left by the punch 
 are filed down, and the teeth are sharpened. The next process is 
 hardening, for which purpose the saws are heated in long furnaces, 
 and quenched in a bath of oil, in which tallow, suet, bees’- wax, resin, 
 pitch, and some other substances have been melted. The saws are 
 now very hard and brittle, and require to be tempered, for which 
 purpose each blade is heated over a coke fire until the grease 
 adhering to it from the bath ignites ; this is called blazing off. 
 Next comes the planishing or smithing, in which the saw is well 
 hammered on an anvil of polished steel, for the purpose of equalising 
 the internal texture. The blade is now ground at the wheel or 
 grindstone, Fig. 55. The grinding is wet, and the saw is applied 
 
 Fig. 53. — CUTTING l'KESS. 
 
 of saws, but rather for punching out blanks from metal sheets, as in 
 button-making, in which case the punch is attached to a square bar 
 or follower, which fits into an aperture at the bottom of the screw. 
 The bed or bottom die d is held in its place by four screws s ; 
 while a projecting piece p, called the puller-off, is used to detach 
 the sheet of metal from the punch after every blow. In cutting 
 out the teeth of a saw-blade, the distance between them is accurately 
 regulated by means of a steel gauge by the side of the punch, so that 
 by shifting the blade one tooth forward after the cutting of a tooth, 
 the gauge falls into the space between two teeth. In cutting the teeth 
 of long saws, the ends of the blade are supported by swing rests, 
 suspended from the ceiling by cords. The forms of teeth are very 
 various, the most simple being those produced by means of an 
 equilateral triangular file, making angular notches in the edge of the 
 blade, as shown at b, Fig. 54. In this case the teeth are said to have 
 
 'yAAAAj A/WV 
 Aw A; 
 
 Fig. 54. 
 
 an upright pitch, although in fact there is no pitch at all; in d the 
 teeth are said to be fiat, or to have considerable pitch. Between 
 these two extremes the inclination or pitch varies greatly. In 
 general the angles of the points of the teeth are acute in proportion 
 to the softness of the material to be sawed. In the above figure, a is 
 
 inches in every revolution. It moves in a nut n of gun-metal, 
 and is worked by means of an iron lever attached to the square 
 head of the screw. The lever has a cast-iron ball at each end ; the 
 
 Fig. 52. — CUTTING OUT THE BLADES. 
 
 lever and balls forming what is called the fly/; a handle descends 
 from the lever to the level of the punch, so that the operator may 
 work the press with his right hand, and feed it or manage his work 
 with the left. The above press is not arranged for cutting the teeth 
 
 to the stone chiefly crossways, so as to reduce the thickness of the 
 metal from the teeth towards the back ; the blade is applied to the 
 grindstone by means of a board, as shown in the figure. After the 
 grinding, the saw is again planished to restore its flatness ; its 
 elasticity is imparted to it partly by this process, and partly by 
 heating it over a coke fire until a faint straw colour appears on its 
 surface. It is again passed lightly over the grindstone in the 
 direction of its length to remove the marks of the hammer, after 
 which it is smoothed on a hard smooth stone. Then comes the 
 polishing on a block or glazer ; and it is once more planished or 
 blocked, as it is now called, the anvil being a block of hard wood. 
 The saw is now taken in hand by women, who clean off, as it is 
 called, by means of coarse 
 emery rubbed on with a 
 cork, so as to produce an 
 even white level tint. 
 
 Lastly the teeth have to 
 be set, that is, the teeth 
 are bent alternately a 
 little on one side, so as to 
 form an acute angle with 
 the surface of the saw, to 
 prevent them from becom- 
 ing choked up with saw- 
 dust, and also to give 
 breadth for the working of 
 the saw. In setting a saw the teeth are placed upon the rounded 
 edge of a small anvil or stake, Fig. 56, and the saw-maker strikes 
 every alternate tooth with a small hammer, so as to bend it round 
 the curve. Half the teeth being thus slightly bent, the saw is 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 161 
 
 turned over, and the intermediate teeth are similarly treated. The 
 operation is performed with great rapidity and dexterity, always ex- 
 citing the surprise of the uuinitiated, who, were they to attempt the 
 operation, would certainly break off the teeth instead of setting 
 them. Hence when amateurs wish to set their own saws, they 
 provide themselves with saiv-set pliers , by which the operation may 
 be as effectually, although much more slowly, performed as by the 
 hammer of the saw-maker. 
 
 We have written above “ lastly the teeth have to be set;” there 
 are, however, several other operations before the saw is finished. 
 In general we do not sufficiently consider the large number of appa- 
 rently insignificant processes which are necessary to the perfection 
 of articles in common use ; and we may be sure that if an article 
 attracts by extraordinary cheapness, it is either made of inferior 
 material, or some of the finishing processes which impart excellence 
 to it have been omitted. After the setting, the saw is placed in a 
 vice between slips of wood or clamps of sheet-lead, and the teeth 
 are filed up sharp, the usual unpleasant screeching noise being 
 greatly lessened by thus securing the blade. The saw is again 
 tempered, and the thin film of oxide is washed off with very dilute 
 muriatic acid. A beech-wood handle is next fitted on, and this is 
 worked up with files and rasps, and polished with a whale-fin and a 
 bone burnisher. The back plate when required is also fitted ; this 
 is a piece of iron folded together so as to form a groove, and it 
 clasps the back of the saw like a spring, and keeps the blade 
 perfectly straight. 
 
 Sheffield is a great place for files. The production of this useful 
 tool involves a number of curious processes, and shows an amount 
 of manual dexterity which is not excelled in any other department 
 of mechanical art. The file itself, too, is so variable in size, in form, 
 and in character of tooth, as rather to resemble a natural than an 
 artificial production. Indeed, in treating on this subject we are 
 almost tempted to write a monograph, after the fashion of natu- 
 ralists, giving first a description of the type of our lima or file, 
 then arranging or grouping it into families, and going into details 
 respecting individual species. Thus files may be distinguished as 
 taper , blunt , or parallel, the first kind being the most numerous ; 
 they taper in length, and terminate nearly in a point. Blunt 
 files are parallel, or nearly so, but both kinds are somewhat arched 
 or convex towards the middle. Those files which have an equal 
 section throughout are called parallel, but even in these it is not 
 uncommon to make them slightly fuller in the middle. Files may 
 vary in length from f of an inch to 2 or 3 ft. Files are again dis- 
 tinguished as Sheffield-made and Lancashire-made — "Warrington in 
 Lancashire being the seat of the latter, which consist of the finer 
 varieties, such as are used by watch and clock-makers, mathematical 
 instrument-makers, &c. Files may also differ in the form and 
 size of their teeth. When these are produced by two series of 
 straight chisel cuts, crossing each other so as to raise on the surface 
 an immense number of points, the file is said to be double-cut ; but 
 if the teeth consist of ridges produced across the file by one series 
 of straight chisel cuts, the file is single-cut, but in such cases it is 
 technically called a Jloat — the word file always being referred to 
 double-cutting. When the teeth are formed by dotting the surface 
 of the steel with an elevation and a corresponding depression, pro- 
 duced by a pointed chisel or punch, we have neither a float nor a 
 file, but a rasp. Floats and rasps are commonly used for abrading 
 woods and soft materials: double-cut files are employed for metals 
 and for general purposes. Then again, double-cut files are dis- 
 tinguished according to the fineness of the teeth, as rough, middle- 
 cut , bastard, second-cut, smooth, superfine. This is a Lancashire 
 arrangement; the Sheffield classification consists of rough, bastard, 
 second-cut, smooth, dead-smooth. In a Lancashire superfine cut 
 file, 4 inches long, a rough-cut contains 56 cuts to the inch, a 
 bastard 76, a smooth 112, and the superfine 216. Floats 
 and rasps are distinguished as coarse and fine. In most files 
 the central line is straight, but in some few, as in the rifflers 
 used by sculptors and carvers, it is curvilinear. Files that 
 are used for making a set-off or shoulder, or for filing out 
 rectangular corners, have one or more of their edges left uncut 
 or safe, as they are called. With respect to the forms of 
 files, they may all be derived from the square, the circle, or the tri- 
 angle, as shown in Figs. 57, 58, 59, and they often derive their 
 names from their sections, such as square, round, and half-round. 
 Other files are named from the uses to which they are applied, as 
 8aio-files, slitting, warding, and cotter files. Taper files or taper-fiat 
 
 files are in very common use among smiths and mechanics ; they 
 are rectangular in section, as in No. 2, but considerably rounded 
 on their edges, and somewhat also in their thickness, and are hence 
 
 2 3 1, 
 
 13 n t.r / 6 
 
 CA> 
 
 Fig. 58. — sections derived from the circle. 
 
 Fig. 59.— sections derived from the triangle. 
 
 said to be bellied. Hand or fiat files, on the contrary, are nearly 
 parallel in width, and nearly flat; they are commonly used for flat 
 surfaces. Cotter files are narrower than hand files, and nearly 
 flat on the sides and edges ; they are used for filing grooves for the 
 cotters — keys or wedges — used in fixing wheels on their shafts. 
 Taper cotter or entering files taper in width and thickness. Pillar 
 files, Section No. 3, are thinner than hand files, and are used for 
 lighter work ; they have usually one safe edge. Half-round files, 
 Section No. 11, may vary from the fourth to the twelfth part of the 
 circle, the former being called full half-round, and the latter fiat 
 half-round files ; the convex surface is used for hollow work, and 
 the flat side for general purposes. Triangular or three-square files, 
 No. 17, are used for internal angles, for clearing out square corners, 
 and for sharpening saws. Cross files, crossing files, and double 
 half-rounds, No. 12, have circular faces of different curvatures, and 
 are used for filing out the crosses or arms of small wheels in clock- 
 work, &c. j Round files, No. 9, are usually taper, and are employed 
 for enlarging round holes ; when small and taper they are named 
 rat-tail files ; when small and parallel they are called joint files, 
 from their use in filing the hollows in the joints of snuffboxes, &c. 
 Square files are mostly taper, and sometimes have one safe edge ; 
 they are used for small apertures. Equalling files, No. 4, are 
 parallel in thickness, and usually so in width. In locksmiths’ tcard 
 files the two broad surfaces are left safe. Knife files, No. 19, are 
 used in cutting narrow notches, in bevelling or chamfering the 
 sides of nai'row grooves, and in making an entry for saws and 
 larger files. Slitting or feather-edged files have two thin edges, as 
 in Section 20. Pubbers are strong heavy files used for brightening 
 the surface of work ; square or triangular, as No. 1 and No. 17, or 
 with one side rounded, such as would be formed by the juncture of 
 Nos. 2 and 10, which are termed half -thick. 
 
 The small files used in "watch-making are numerous, such a3 
 verge and pivot files, Section No. 2 ; pottance files, No. 3 ; clock- 
 pinion and endless-screw files, No. 4 ; French-pivot and shouldering 
 files, No. 5 and 6 ; nicking and piercing files, No. 11; oval-dial files, 
 No. 13 ; balance-wheel or swing-wheel files, No. 14. Such forms, 
 when of large size, are also used in other departments of Art. 
 No. 7 is a flat file with hollow edges, used as a nail file for the 
 .dressing-case. No. 15 is a swaged file for finishing brass mould- 
 ings. No. 16 is Sir John Kobinson’s curvilinear file. No. 18 
 is a cant file for the insides of spanners for six or eight-canted bolts 
 and nuts. No. 21 is used in finishing small grooves and key-ways ; 
 it is also named a valve file. No. 23 is a double or chequering file, 
 used by cutlers, gun-makers, &c. Its use is similar to that of the 
 comb-cutter’s saw or stadda, as it is called, Fig. 60, which consists 
 of two saw-plates ground away on the edge, as at a or b, as thin 
 as the notches in the comb; and the plates being fixed in two 
 grooves of a stock, separated by a strip of metal called a languid, l, 
 
 T T 
 
162 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 
 of the thickness of the teeth required in the comb c. For every 
 tooth cut a notch in advance is made, so that the action of cutting 
 out one tooth scores out a place for the saw for the next adjacent 
 tooth ; and thus the teeth of combs are cut with so much regularity. 
 
 the whole length of the file has been thus cut, or the first course , 
 as it is called, has been completed, that face is finished, if the file is 
 intended to be single-cut; but if, as is generally the case, the file 
 is intended to be double-cut, the man alters the position of his 
 
 Ratchet bars for air-pumps are cut by a similar contrivance. 
 No. 24 is a double file, formed by fixing two flat files in a wooden 
 stock, and is used for bringing black-lead pencils to a fine conical 
 point. 
 
 Good highly converted steel must be used for forging files : the 
 metal must not be too soft, or the file itself would be worn instead 
 of the surface operated on ; nor must it be too hard, or the teeth 
 will be brittle and chip off at every stroke. Smiths’ rubbers are 
 forged square from the bars of steel as they leave the converting 
 furnace ; smaller files are forged from bars or rods, tilted or rolled 
 as nearly as possible to the sections required ; files of the best 
 quality are made from cast-steel. In forging, the striker has a 
 large double-handed hammer, with a broad face at either end ; but 
 the maker’s hammer is smaller and single-handed, somewhat 
 conical in shape, the face being formed by the wider end. Three- 
 square and half-round files are forged in grooved bosses, or dies 
 fixed in the anvil. The end of the rod of steel is raised to a blood- 
 red heat, and hammered so as to fill the die, the maker holding the 
 
 Fig. 61.— FoaGiNG files. 
 
 die, and the striker dealing powerful blows upon the heated metal. 
 The blank being thus forged to the proper length, a tang is drawn 
 out, and the maker’s mark or monogram is stamped on it. Blanks 
 for round files are formed in a slightly conical swage ; blanks for 
 flat and square files are formed by hammering. After the forging, 
 the blanks are annealed or lighted , to make the metal sufficiently 
 soft for cutting the teeth ; the surfaces are then brought into form 
 and cleaned by stripping or grinding — the one being done by 
 means of a hard file, and the other, for larger files, on a grindstone. 
 In a few cases the blanks are planed in the planing-machine. 
 
 The teeth are cut by means of a chisel held in the left hand at 
 an angle of about 55° with the central line of the file, as at a a, 
 Fig. 62, and inclining about 12° or 14° from the perpendicular, as 
 in Fig. 63. The blow upon the chisel drives the latter a short way 
 into the steel, and throws up a small ridge or burr. The man slides 
 the chisel away from him until he meets this burr, which serves as 
 a guide to the next blow. In this way the teeth are cut with 
 great rapidity and precision, from 60 to 80 cuts being made in one 
 minute, care being taken to make the blows of equal force. When 
 
 Fig. 62. Fig. 63. 
 
 chisel by placing it only from 5° to 10° from the central line, as 
 at b b, Fig. 62 ; and he proceeds with the second course, taking 
 care to strike with less force, so as scarcely to reach the bottom of 
 the first cuts. In taper files the teeth are made somewhat finer 
 towards the point, to prevent the blank from being weakened or 
 broken by so much hammering. In cutting rasps a punch is 
 used, with which the workman hops over the interval between 
 every two teeth with great rapidity, the directions of the teeth 
 being made to vary according to the purpose to which the rasp is 
 to be applied. Cabinet rasps, wood rasps, and farriers’ rasps, are 
 cut in lines, which slope from left to right ; boot and shoe last- 
 makers’ rasps slope the reverse way ; gun-stockers’ and saddle-tree 
 makers’ rasps are cut in circular lines, the chief point being to 
 make each tooth occupy a position intermediate between the two 
 above it — for if the teeth followed each other in right lines, they 
 would plough up the work instead of reducing and smoothing 
 its surface. 
 
 Fig. 64 shows the file-cutters’ bench, with the method of securing 
 the file by means of a strap passing over each end of the file and 
 
 Fig. 04. — CUTTING THE TEETH. 
 
 under the feet of the workmen, after the manner of stirrups — the 
 file resting meanwhile on the anvil in a bed of lead and tin, which 
 preserves the finished work from injury. The hammer weighs 
 from one to six pounds, according to the size of the file; it is 
 conical in shape, with a handle near the smaller end of the trun- 
 cated cone. The round and curved surfaces of files are cut with a 
 straight-edged chisel, as in the case of flat files, many rows of short 
 cuts being made from top to bottom of the file, which cuts, uniting 
 together at their extremities, form a complete series of lines round 
 the cylinder or half cylinder. In fine round files, from 10 to 20 
 rows of cuts are required to cover the surface with teeth ; and as 
 there may be upwards of 100 teeth within the space of an inch, 
 many thousand blows are required before a fine file can be supplied 
 with teeth. In some double-cut gullet-tooth saw files, Sect. No. 10, 
 Fig. 58, as many as 23 courses of cuts may be required for the 
 convex face, and only 2 courses for the flat one. Attempts have 
 been made to cut files by machinery, but not with much success — 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 163 
 
 maohine-made files not having the bite of hand-cut files, which has 
 been accounted for by supposing the human wrist to accommodate 
 itself to the peculiar angle best adapted to the required cut, and to 
 accommodate the blow to those variations which occur in the quality 
 of the metal. 
 
 In the Great Exhibition of 1851, a remarkable specimen of file- 
 cutting was exhibited, forming as it did one of those show speci- 
 mens which artisans so much delight in, and which often, at the 
 same time, exhibit exquisite workmanship and much bad taste : 
 thus we may often see a cutler’s shop-window made conspicuous by 
 a gigantic razor, or a carving-knife and fork which remind one 
 of a dinner-table in Brobdignag ; or admiration is sought for at 
 the other extreme — scissors being made so small that a multitude 
 may be encased in a cherry-stone — so small indeed that their utility 
 would not be recognised in Lilliput j not that we object to show 
 specimens, only we wish to insist upon the abolition of monstrosities 
 and littlenesses, and claim for the intelligent artist beauty of 
 design, the best workmanship, and utility. We do not admire mere 
 tours de force or tours de main; a landscape etched on the blade of 
 a razor, or the Crystal Palace represented in file-cuts on a bar of 
 steel, however difficult in execution, must always be offensive in 
 effect, and therefore to be avoided. The Sheffield Great Exhibition 
 file was 54 inches in length, 3f inches in breadth, and f of an inch 
 in thickness; its weight about 28 pounds. It was double-tanged, 
 and on the two faces of one tang were cut the national arms, and 
 the Cutlers’ Hall, with the town motto, “ Pour parvenir a bonne 
 foy.” The two faces of the other tang represented Atlas support- 
 ing the globe, his feet resting on two lions couchant, beneath 
 which were the Sheffield arms, surrounded with horns of plenty : 
 also the cutlers’ arms, with suitable emblems. On the mould- 
 ing was cut, “ Designed and executed by Hiram Younge, a mem- 
 ber of the Sheffield file trade.” On one face of the blade of 
 the file the Crystal Palace was represented, and on the other face 
 the Sheffield Infirmary. There were also groups representing the 
 forging of files, the grinding, the cutting, hardening, and scouring. 
 It is but fair to state that this kind of skill is held in such estima- 
 tion, that Mr. Younge was sent for by a file-making establishment 
 in Saxony, to execute a file with the Palace of Potsdam and other 
 places upon it. Mr. Younge executed the work at Magdeburg, 
 and was rewarded with a gold medal. We are informed that Mr. 
 Younge never had any instruction as an artist — an assertion which 
 we are quite ready to believe, for we doubt not that contact with 
 artistic minds would have conferred upon him an amount of taste 
 which would have rendered these abortions impossible to him. 
 While on this subject, we may remark that this elaborate and 
 difficult file was excelled in elaboration and difficulty by a specimen 
 in the Danish department, in which was a file of circular section, 
 the teeth representing, in a spiral passing several times round the 
 file, the maker’s name, the date, wreaths of flowers, &c. After 
 being called upon to admire this file, and having, as you think, 
 sufficiently admired it, heigh presto! the exhibitor pulls out a 
 second file from the interior of the first, as elaborately ornamented 
 as before. You admire, and think there is an end. No such 
 thing ; the second file contains a third ; the third contains a fourth ; 
 the fourth contains a fifth ; and so on until you come to a ninth file, 
 which contains a tenth, about the size of a small sewing needle. 
 Weary with admiring, we depart as quickly as we can, deploring 
 that so much ingenuity should have been thus misapplied. Life 
 is not long enough for such things, when we consider how much 
 truth and beauty there is in the world to be studied and mastered, 
 and how much real earnest work a man has in cultivating himself. 
 
 The next process in the manufacture of files is the hardening, 
 except for those descriptions which are used on ivory, wood, and 
 other soft substances which admit of being sharpened up with a 
 hand file. Before being hardened the files are immersed in a com- 
 position of beer-grounds, yeast, salt, and roasted cow’s hoof — the 
 object of which is to protect the teeth of the file from the direct 
 action of the fire and the oxidising and decarbonising influence of 
 the air. One use of the salt is to furnish a rough index of the 
 temperature, since it shows by its fusion that the hardening heat 
 has been attained. When the files have been raised to a red heat 
 they are taken out, straightened by percussion or bending between 
 a couple of iron bars, returned to the fire, and when the salt fuses, 
 taken out and plunged into cold water, many precautions being 
 necessary to prevent or to correct warping. The tang is tempered 
 by being immersed in molten lead, for if it were left as hard as the I 
 
 file it would be liable to snap off. The files are finished by being 
 scrubbed with sand and water or coke-dust and water, then put 
 into lime-water to remove the salt. They are next dried at a fire, 
 
 rubbed over with olive oil containing turpentine, and lastly are 
 tested by being struck against a piece of steel, and the steel is also 
 drawn along the teeth ; the vibratory sensations thus produced 
 determine the quality of the file. 
 
 So much for files. The two large cases which form such con- 
 spicuous objects in the Sheffield Court (see Fig. 3) contain some 
 glittering specimens of Sheffield ware, or plated goods, which bear 
 the same relation to solid silver that a veneered piece of furniture 
 does to solid mahogany. In the manufacture of plated goods an 
 alloy of copper and brass is cast into an ingot about 1| inch thick, 
 3 inches broad, and 18 inches long. The face of the ingot is 
 smoothed with a file on one side for single plating, on both sides 
 for double-plating. A plate of silver equal in weight to about 
 l-24th or l-30th that of the copper, and for double plating from 
 1-1 2th to l-15th, is attached to the ingot by means of iron wire, 
 and a little borax is brushed in at the edges. The ingot is now 
 put in the plating furnace, and carefully watched until the silver 
 is drawn into contact with the copper ; the moment this takes 
 place the ingot is removed, for if left longer the silver would 
 become alloyed with the copper, and the plating be spoiled. The 
 ingot is now cleaned and rolled out into sheets, the silver spreading 
 and perfectly covering the copper in the process. After several 
 annealings between the rollings, pickling in hot dilute sulphuric 
 acid, and scouring with fine sand, the sheets of metal are ready 
 for the formation of innumerable articles by raising with the 
 hammer, by spinning in the lathe, by stamping , chasing, See. 
 
 The plated copper wire used for making toast-racks, bread- 
 baskets, &c., is formed by first converting the silver foil into a 
 long hollow tube, and inserting a redhot copper rod into it, when 
 the edges of the silver are united by the pressure of a steel bur- 
 nisher. The copper rod is then removed, the silver tube is cleaned 
 inside, and is next made to fit exactly upon the copper rod which 
 is to be covered. The compound rod is then raised to a red heat, 
 and the two metals are made to unite by means of a steel burnisher. 
 The compound rod is now ready to be drawn into wire of the 
 required form and fineness. 
 
 The art of raising works in metal by means of a hammer consists 
 in the skilful application of circles of blows upon a sheet of metal, 
 and this must be of such a size and thickness as to be sufficient 
 exactly for the formation of the article without any excess of 
 metal to be cut off, or deficiency to be supplied, and the blows 
 must be so managed that the finished work shall be of uniform 
 thickness. Thus, a hollow ball 6 inches in diameter is composed 
 of two circular pieces of copper each 7Hnches in diameter; the 
 circumference of the disk measures 22h inches, and this becomes 
 contracted to 18 inches, or the circumference of the ball, while the 
 original diameter of the disk, 7£ inches, has become extended to 9 
 inches, or the girth of the hemisphere. The ball at the top of St. 
 Paul’s Cathedral was raised in two pieces only. The metal was 
 first thinned and partly formed under a tilt-hammer, next sunk in 
 a concave bed, and raised with hammers not much larger than 
 usual; the two parts were rivetted together in their place, the 
 joint being concealed by the ornamental band. Sugar-pans, stills, 
 &c., often present fine examples of the copper-smith’s art. 
 

 
 164 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 Circular works in thin metal and comparatively small in size are 
 formed rapidly on a lathe by the process of spinning or burnishing 
 to form. For example, the body of a Britannia metal tea-pot may 
 thus be spun from a disk of metal. This disk d d, Fig. 66, is 
 
 P 
 
 Fig. 72, struck in a third die, Fig. 73, and burnished on a third 
 chuck, Fig. 74, during which the metal passes through the forms 
 H I J K L, Fig. 75; the work being annealed from time to time. 
 
 
 | ? I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fig. 66. 
 
 held between two flat surfaces of wood m to, by means of the fixed 
 centre screw s of the lathe ; m is a mould or chuck of the form of 
 the lower part of the tea-pot. On causing in, d d, and tv to revolve, 
 the burnisher b, which rests against a pin in the lathe rest, is 
 applied near the centre of the metal disk, while a wooden rod r 
 supports the edge on the opposite side. In this way the metal 
 becomes rapidly bent or swaged into the forms 2, 3, 4, successively, 
 and is made to fit close against the curved face of the block m. A 
 p cylindrical block c, Fig. 67, of the 
 diameter of the intended aperture 
 \ or mouth of the tea-pot is next 
 J made to take the place of the 
 
 J block m ; by means of a bur- 
 
 nisher and a hooked stick h, the 
 metal is gradually forced inwards 
 as at 5, 6, 7, and the edge curled, 
 as at 8, for stiffening the mouth of the finished vessel 9. In some 
 cases the mould in is made up of a number of pieces, like a boot- 
 tree, so as to be of the exact shape of the vessel to be turned. The 
 operation of spinning is pleasing and expeditious, and reminds one of 
 the manipulation of the potter, as Mr. Holtzapffel remarks in his 
 excellent work on Mechanical Manipulation, to which we are in- 
 debted for Figs. 66, 67, and a few other illustrations. 
 
 The jelly-moulds, and suchlike works, where the raising is con- 
 siderable, are produced by the hammer; but works in less relief, 
 and which are required in considerable numbers, are formed by 
 means of dies : the raising, however, must be very gradual, or the 
 metal will be cut and rent. Thus, thimbles are raised at five or 
 six blows between as many pairs of conical dies. In some cases 
 stamping and spinning are alternated; in the vertical sections 
 marked A to G, Fig. 69, we have the several forms which are given 
 to the sheet of metal a a, Fig. 68, by 
 em P lo y in g a die such as is shown in the 
 IHfti figure with a second point of bearing at 
 
 §11 bb ; the top die being so shaped as to 
 ■gcMKaJH bear upon the disk only as far as b b, and 
 not over the sloping sides. Having been 
 Fig. 68. thus stamped by successive forces until 
 
 Fluted works are raised nearly as cylinders with bottoms to the 
 shape of L, and the flutes are gradually formed by means of two or 
 more pair of dies or forces, Fig. 76. In producing such a form as 
 N the flutes are first shallow, and the die is 
 a little bell-mouthed ; in the second pair the 
 flutes are of the full depth ; and when the 
 \ object is finished it is often held fast in the 
 die, but is immediately released by the con- 
 trivance shown in Fig. 
 77, in which the die is 
 perforated, and a centre 
 ram, raised by a lever 
 L, lifts the work. 
 
 Various ornamental 
 details, such as es- 
 cutcheons, concave and 
 convex flutes, may be 
 added after the work 
 Ftg ‘ 76, has been formed by 
 
 one of the above processes. If swage tools cannot be employed, 
 
 Fig. 77. Fig. 78. 
 
 the parts may be snarled-up by means of a snarling iron s, Fig. 79; 
 one end of which is at- 
 tached to a vice v, while 
 the other end e is turned 
 up so as to reach any part 
 of the interior of a vessel. 
 
 The work is held firmly in 
 the two hands, with the 
 part intended to be set-out 
 exactly over the end e, 
 while the iron, being struck 
 
 Fig. 79. 
 
 with a hammer by an assistant, vibrates rapidly, and throws out 
 the metal in the form of the end of the tool. 
 
 The snarling-up being complete, the vessel 
 is filled with a composition of pitch and 
 brick-dust, which serves as an internal 
 support, and being put on a sand-bag s, 
 
 Fig. 80, the snarled-up portions may be 
 corrected on the outside by means of appro- 
 priate punches or chasing tools t. Fig. so. 
 
 We have now finished our survey of the Sheffield Court. The 
 reader will perceive from the above details that the products of 
 that great manufacturing centre, Hallamshire,* are of a varied and 
 interesting kind. There are many subsidiary trades which we 
 have not noticed; the staple productions of the place relating to 
 iron, and steel, and plated goods. These are exhibited in the 
 Crystal Palace in their finished state — no attempt being made to 
 illustrate the progress of manufacture by the exhibition of speci- 
 
 * The district in which Sheffield is situated is so called. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 165 
 
 Fig. 87. 
 
 with charcoal, and the first core is carefully rammed into the 
 nook, and pared down to the new line of division. The wet 
 
 mens in various states between the raw product and the finished 
 article ; nor are there any of the workmen’s tools, models of furnaces, 
 workshop interiors, melting-pots, drawings, and contrivances which 
 throw so much light on manufacture, and constitute the value of a 
 museum. The Sheffield Court is nothing more than a bazaar for 
 the exhibition of Sheffield goods. We must, therefore, hope to 
 find in the “Itaw Produce Department,” as it is called, that pro- 
 gressive series which would have added so much value to the 
 collections in the Sheffield Court. 
 
 In noticing the manufacture of iron we have given some engrav- 
 ings illustrative of the iron-founder’s art. There are in the Crystal 
 Palace many beautiful specimens of iron castings, or of copies 
 thereof in plaster; so that it will be neither uninteresting nor 
 inappropriate to conclude this chapter with a few details respecting 
 casting and founding. 
 
 The valuable property of fusibility admits of many of the metals 
 being reduced to a fluid state, and being poured into moulds of a 
 previously-determined form, so that on again resuming the solid 
 state they retain the form thus impressed 
 upon them. 
 
 In making a casting the first thing 
 generally is to make a pattern in wood 
 of the intended object. The pattern- 
 maker is a very skilful workman, and 
 is constantly required to exercise much 
 thought and judgment. Iron castings 
 contract in cooling nearly 1 per cent of 
 their length, so that it is necessary to 
 make the patterns larger than the in- 
 tended castings; for which purpose mea- 
 surements are made by a contraction- 
 rule, in which each foot is made Jth of 
 an inch longer than ordinary standard 
 measure. Castings are usually made in 
 sand, which is supported by shallow 
 iron frames called flasks. Thus, in Fig. 
 
 82 the bottom 4, 5, rammed full of sand, 
 is resting on a flat board 6; the model 
 of the flat bar shown in the figure is 
 placed on the surface of the sand, and 
 that of the round bar is imbedded half 
 way in it. The mould is then dusted 
 with dry parting-sand or powdered brick- 
 dust, to prevent the separate portions of 
 the damp sand in the two halves of the 
 flask from adhering together. The top 
 part of the flask 2, 3, is shown empty 
 in the figure ; it is attached to 4, 5, by 
 means of pins, which fit into correspond- 
 ing holes. Part 2, 3, is rammed full 
 of sand and covered with a top board. 
 
 The sand receives the impression of the 
 patterns. Part 2, 3, is then lifted off, 
 the patterns are removed, and channels 
 for the escape of air are scooped out 
 from the ends of the cavities left by the 
 patterns to the hollows or pouring holes 
 at the end of the flask. The parts are then replaced and fixed, as 
 shown in Fig. 83. The flask is then placed nearly erect, and the 
 metal is poured in from a crucible or an iron pot lined with loam. 
 
 moulds or cores must be used to intercept the metal at those 
 parts. For example, in Figs. S4, 85, 86, the upper figures repre- 
 sent sections of the three casting patterns, and the lower figure the 
 Fig. *4. Fig. 85. Fig. 8G. 
 
 hg. 81. STOVE, BY MES8B3. BUUEUTSON, CABS, AND STEEL. 
 
 two halves of the mould; the top half being shaded with vertical 
 lines, the bottom with horizontal, and the cores with oblique lines, 
 while the white open spaces show the hollows which are to be 
 filled up by the fluid metal. When the cavity extends through 
 the model, and exactly represents that which is required in the 
 casting, the work is said to deliver its own core ; when the hole 
 extends only partly through, as in Fig. 
 85, the whole of the pattern is filled 
 with a plug of soft brick ; the core is 
 made long enough to project about as 
 much as its own diameter, and the 
 work is moulded as if it were to be 
 cast with a solid pin instead of a hole. 
 The core is then extracted, and put into 
 the hollow which it has made in the 
 sand. Patterns for iron-work are mostly 
 made with prints instead of holes, as in 
 Fig. 86 — that is, round or square pieces 
 are placed where the holes are required, 
 and the founder is furnished with holes 
 for forming cores of corresponding dia- 
 meters and sections, and in lengths of 
 from 2 to 12 inches, short pieces of which 
 are cut off as required. In moulding 
 patterns which are undercut false cores 
 are used, as in Fig. 87. Many works re- 
 quire core-boxes, as, for instance, in 
 Fig. 88, where c d represent the two 
 halves of a core-box used for the casting 
 of a stop-cock; a is the core after its 
 removal from the part c. In b, the model 
 or pattern, the shaded parts represent 
 the projections or core-prmts, which im- 
 print within the mould the places where 
 the extremities of the mould a are sup- 
 ported when placed therein. 
 
 In casting busts, animals, foliated or- 
 naments, &c., the moulds are often di- 
 vided into many parts. For the human 
 figure and for quadrupeds, the four 
 limbs and the trunks require at least 
 three parts each, and often more. The 
 mould is produced piecemeal, and each 
 piece is made to embrace so much of the 
 figure as in no part to require any core 
 to overhang the line in which it is to be withdrawn. The side 
 of the mould where the figure is partly embedded is dusted 
 
 For Hrge castings, however, the metal is generally poured in hori- 
 zontally through a hole in the top. 
 
 If the objects to be east contain one or more holes, internal 
 
 sand core is next divided, and the second core is made and 
 dusted, when the moulder proceeds with his third core ; the rela- 
 
 te U 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 3 06 
 
 
 tive positions of the cores being maintained by notches made at 
 proper places. Wires or broken needles are often thrust through 
 the cores so as to connect them together. The parts of the mould 
 are dried in an oven, so as to get rid of all moisture, otherwise the 
 fluid metal would convert it into steam and destroy the work, or 
 lead to accident. To prevent the metal from adhering to the 
 mould, the face is smoked over a cork fire. If a bust is to be cast 
 hollow from a solid model, the figure is first moulded, and then the 
 core is produced. For this purpose a large space, nearly equal in 
 length and bulk to the bust, is cut away in the sand for fixing the 
 core in the mould, or for the balance, as it is called. The entire 
 hollow, both for the bust and balance, is now filled with a com- 
 position of plaster of Paris and sand. The mould is next taken to 
 pieces to extract the core, which is thoroughly dried, or annealed, 
 as it is called. In this process it shrinks considerably, but, if 
 necessary, it is pared away to leave room for the thickness of the 
 metal. The mould is now faced, dried, and smoked, and the 
 whole is put together for pouring, for which purpose it is inverted 
 and filled from below. Equestrian figures, &c., are sometimes cast 
 in several pieces, which are joined together by solder, screws, 
 or wires. 
 
 It is often desirable to get rid of the expense of patterns, as in 
 casting so simple a form as a steam cylinder, for which purpose the 
 process of turning or loam-moulding is adopted. The inner part 
 of the loam-mould retains the name of core in small works, and it 
 is called the noioel in large ones, while the outer part is the case 
 or cope. Each part is built on an iron loam-plate, as shown in 
 Fig. 89, or some other contrivance for removing it. On this plate 
 
 is fixed a vertical axis a, which supports a templet b b, at the 
 distance of the radius of the cylinder. An inner cylinder of brick- 
 work is then built up, and this is plastered with soft loam, which 
 is scraped into the cylindrical form by moving the radius-board round 
 on its axis. It is now dried, covered with a black wash of charcoal- 
 dust, which serves as a parting; and now the templet c c, Fig. 90, 
 cut exactly to the external form of the cylinder, is attached to the 
 axis at the distance of the core required for the thickness of the 
 metal. More loam is thrown on to form that thickness ; and this 
 being smoothed, the templet and spindle are dismounted, and the 
 thickness, represented white in the figures, is dried and black- 
 washed. The ring for the outer case or cope is next laid down, its 
 position being denoted by fixed studs or marks, and the brickwork, 
 Fig. 91, is built up and worked accurately to the turned thickness. 
 The new work on the cope being dried, is lifted off by means of a crane 
 and a cross-beam with four chains, Fig. 92, the lower plate having 
 
 are then repaired, black-washed, and dried, and are put together in 
 a pit sunk in the floor of the foundry. The top edges of the mould 
 are covered with a loam-cake, as at d, Fig. 91, for the entry of the 
 metal and the escape of the air. 
 
 The large cylinders of Cornish pumping-engines, 95 inches in 
 bore, and the blowing cylinders of blast-furnaces, Fig. 14, 105 
 inches bore, are made without using the thickness; the case or cope 
 being built up in the pit, and turned inside with a radius-bar, 
 while the core is erected on a plate on the floor, and turned outside 
 to a gauge, and when dried is lowered into the other by a crane. 
 The core is strengthened by iron bars, to enable it to resist the 
 pressure of the fluid metal ; and the outer cylinder is surrounded 
 by iron rings, piled one on the other, and made tight by ramming 
 in sand, with stays proceeding from the rings to the side of the 
 pit. Large pans and other circular works are moulded with 
 circular templets ; the cores of water-pipes are turned upon an iron 
 tube pierced with holes, placed across tressels, and turned round 
 by a winch handle. A shaper-board or scraper is fixed parallel 
 with the axis of the tube; the latter is wound round with hay- 
 bands covered with loam, turned, dried, and black-washed ; the 
 thickness is now laid on and black-washed, after which the tube 
 to be cast is moulded in sand. The thickness is removed from the 
 core, and the core is inserted in the mould, and everything made 
 ready for casting. 
 
 Loam-moulding is also used for many works in brass. Large 
 bells are turned by means of wooden templets edged with metal, 
 and shaped to the inner and outer contour of the core in thickness. 
 In some ornamental works wax is employed for the thickness, and 
 this is melted out before pouring the metal. Brass guns are also 
 moulded in loam, and in these, as in bells, the inscription and 
 ornaments are either impressed within the cope, or they are 
 moulded in wax and fixed on the clay thickness before making 
 the cope. 
 
 In melting the iron for casting, a blast or cupola-furnace is used. 
 It is a cast-iron cylinder mounted on a pedestal of brick-work, and 
 is lined with road-drift and other bad heat-conductors. It is open 
 ^ at the top for the escape of flame, &c., and for the admission of the 
 | charge of pig-iron, waste or old metal, coke for fuel, and lime for 
 flux — the latter being sometimes in the form of chalk or oyster- 
 shells. The back of the furnace has holes, one above the other, for 
 the blast; and as the fluid metal collects at the bottom of the 
 furnace, the blast-pipe is removed to a higher hole, and the lower 
 one is stopped with sand. In front is an aperture by which the 
 melted metal is drawn off. It is made large enough to allow the 
 fuel, slag, &c., to be rapidly raked out at the end of the operation ; 
 but at other times it is closed by a guard-plate, in the centre of 
 which is a tapping-hole, which is closed during the melting with 
 sand. For large castings, a number of these cupolas are worked 
 side by side. 
 
 The moulds being properly prepared, and the metal sufficiently 
 fluid, the tapping-hole is opened, and the fluid metal is received 
 
 l'l'J. *J3. — POUBING. 
 
 in ladles, or, for large works, is made to flow along channels which 
 lead directly to the moulds. One man can carry from 50 to 
 70 lbs. in a hand-ladle. From three to five men can carry from 2 to 
 
 four cars by which it may be lifted. The loam which forms the 
 thickness is for the most part dragged off, and the fragments that 
 remain of it are picked out of the cope ; the two parts of the mould 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 167 
 
 4 cwt. in a double hand-ladle or slianh ; while larger quantities, 
 from 3 to 6 tons, are conveyed by means of the crane-ladle, Fig. 93. 
 All the ladles are coated over with loam and black-washed. The 
 hand-ladle has a handle 3 or 4 ft. long, with a crutch or cross-piece 
 at the end. The shank has a single handle on one side, and a 
 handle with two branches on the other, to give power in the 
 tilting. The crane-ladle has also long handles with forked branches, 
 and this is generally managed by two men at the ladle, two at the 
 crane, and one to skim the dross from the lip. When the cast-iron 
 is first drawn from the cupola, it scintillates very beautifully, and 
 as the temperature declines the sparks become intermittent, after 
 which the surface appears to be covered with innumerable wire- 
 worms darting about with rapid motions, an effect which is most 
 evident in the softest iron. The casting of a large work, whether 
 in iron, brass, or bronze, is a grand and impressive sight. 
 
 When the casting is complete, the means adopted to give 
 strength to the mould to enable it to resist the pressure of the 
 fluid metal must be removed from the inner surface, to allow the 
 solid cylinder to shrink in cooling; and even in small castings of 
 hollow objects it is desirable to break down the cores. When the 
 castings are taken out of the mould, the loose sand is scraped off 
 with iron shovels, wire brushes, &c., and the seams are smoothed 
 
 off with chisels and files. The hard sand crust is sometimes 
 removed by pickling in dilute sulphuric acid. 
 
 Berlin is celebrated for the fineness of its iron-castings, the 
 excellence of which is said to be due to the quality of the iron and 
 the care bestowed on the moulds, these being formed of a very fine 
 sand mixed with a little clay. The iron is made from a bog-iron 
 ore, and the sand is a kind of tripoli, also containing iron. The 
 manufactui’e of the black iron trinkets, or Berlin ware, as they are 
 called, originated in the struggle between Prussia and France 
 under Napoleon. The countiy, impoverished by war, was enabled 
 to continue the struggle by the patriotism of the people — the men 
 becoming soldiers, and the women sacrificing their jewels and 
 trinkets to the common cause. Those who sent these valuable 
 articles to the royal treasury received in return ornaments in cast- 
 iron, which bore the inscription, Ich (jab Gold um Eisen — “I gave 
 gold for iron.” Some idea may be formed of the delicacy of these iron 
 trinkets from the fact that in some cases a pound weight is made up 
 of 10,000 separate castings. The price increases with the fineness ; 
 and supposing the price of the iron to be 6s. per cwt., the value 
 of the material is increased 1100 times in the coarser articles, 
 and 9827 times in the finest. The foundry at Berlin is open to 
 visitors. 
 
 
 ! 
 
 Fig. 94. — IRON SIIIF.LD — CAST BT M. FALLOISE, OF LIEGE. 
 
168 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 THE BIRMINGHAM COURT. 
 
 A MUSEUM illustrative of the trade of Birmingham would be of 
 great extent, interest, and importance; and even should this trade 
 be represented by a bazaar (for the Industrial Courts of the Crystal 
 Palace do not claim a higher character), the collection would be 
 varied and interesting. At the time we write, however, the 
 Birmingham Court is but a poor exponent of the trade of that 
 busy town, whose wares are to be met with in almost every 
 portion of the world, as much among the uncivilised as the polished 
 and refined. We think it is Mungo Park who speaks so touch- 
 ingly of that gush of home-feelings and recollections when, in 
 mid Africa, he saw in the black man’s hut some common article 
 with the magic word “Birmingham” impressed upon it. And 
 this is what we desire all our travellers to see — their own un- 
 wearied energy reflected by the enterprise of their countrymen; 
 the scientific, assisted by the commercial genius, opening up new 
 portions of the earth ; and industry, following on the track, and 
 diffusing comfort and increased intelligence around. For we 
 
 most prominent of which may be represented by guns, electro- 
 plated goods, brass-founding, and the innumerable articles made 
 of that useful metal — such as hinges, bolts, bell-cranks, pulleys, 
 castors, stuir-rods, desk-rails, ventilators, curtain-poles, rings, &c. 
 Birmingham is also great in buttons, whether of gold, silver, 
 brass-gilt, papier mache, mother-of-pearl, or what is now more 
 common than any of the above, covered buttons. And who has not 
 heard of the steel-pens of Birmingham, produced in such marvellous 
 quantities, and at so cheap a rate — to say nothing of that aristo- 
 cratic variety of pens made of gold, palladium, gold and silver, and 
 silver-pointed with native alloys of iridium and osmium? It is 
 to Birmingham also that ladies owe the production of those tiny 
 articles, pins; these are made in such profusion that one house 
 alone works up annually upwards of 150 tons weight of metal 
 into pins, sufficient to supply about 100 pins, half an inch long, to 
 each inhabitant of the globe, and which, if placed in a straight 
 line, would extend to a length of 787,500 miles, or upwards of 
 
 
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 HBSa ' 
 
 
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 Iplllte 
 
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 iilllli 
 
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 1 : / 
 
 
 Fig. 95. — interior of the Birmingham court. 
 
 may be quite sure that the savage does not use the Sheffield knife, 
 or the Birmingham spoon, without having given something of his 
 own in return — some palm-oil, some elephants’ teeth, some gold- 
 dust, or other raw produce : and thus he is stimulated to native 
 industry — the great antagonist of the slave-trade, and, once 
 industrious, he is on the high-road to civilisation. Hence it is 
 that we regard with great interest such collections as the Indus- 
 trial Courts profess to bring together. They have a higher value 
 than mere amusement; they can do more than excite the won- 
 dering stare of the crowd : they can serve not only to illustrate 
 the properties of things, and man’s high ingenuity in convert- 
 ing them to his use, but also as links to connect man with his 
 fellow-man in some distant part of the globe, and make the 
 workshop of Birmingham flourishing, because the black man’s 
 hut under the African palm-tree also holds a happy, prosperous 
 family. 
 
 Birmingham is celebrated for a variety of manufactures, the 
 
 thirty times round the earth, or more than three times the distance 
 of the moon from the earth. Some of the villages in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Birmingham furnish needles, in quantities almost as 
 surprising as those of pins. Some of the Birmingham factories 
 produce nothing but nails; others turn out only screws. The 
 introduction of railways has called into existence many new trades 
 in connection with railway carriages, some of the metal-work for 
 which, such as wheels, axles, &c., is furnished by Birmingham. 
 Here also are produced that large and fanciful variety of lamps 
 and chandeliers, and as a consequence thereof, one or two branches 
 of the glass trade are located here — such as the production of glass 
 drops, by pressing in moulds, and those more massive forms so 
 familiar to our readers in Mr. Osier’s celebrated crystal fountain. 
 In connection with glass, we are reminded of Messrs. Chance’s 
 extensive glass-house, near Birmingham, which produced the 
 material which gives the Crystal Palace its distinctive name, and 
 the no less extensive alkali-works of the same eminent firm; 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 1G9 
 
 while we are reminded of public obligations due to their neigh- 
 bours, the no less eminent firm of Fox and Henderson. But to 
 return to Birmingham, which is scarcely 
 more than a pleasant walk from the birth- 
 places of the Crystal Palace, we see that 
 the trade is now extended to railway 
 lamps; we have also bronze castings, small 
 bells, stamped works, iron tubes, axes, 
 hatchets, and garden tools, grates and 
 stoves, gas-cooking apparatus, cooking and 
 other utensils covered with a glass enamel, 
 smith’s bellows and portable forge, har- 
 poons and spears for the whale-fishery : 
 locks belong rather to the neighbourhood 
 of Wolverhampton, but some are produced 
 in Birmingham. Birmingham is inge- 
 nious in metal- work; witness her delicate 
 filagree wares, various descriptions of wire- 
 gauze, &c. This town has also, of late 
 years, attained an eminence in papier 
 mache works, and the art of japanning. * 
 
 The Birmingham Court at the Crystal 
 Palace, from the designs of Mr. Tite, 
 illustrates the use of iron in ornamental 
 architecture. The fi^ade of the Court is 
 a restoration of English ornamental iron 
 enclosures of the seventeenth century, 
 closely resembling the Louis Quatorze 
 style of France. Such enclosures were 
 made of wrought and hammered iron : the 
 present work is of cast-iron, the art of 
 casting being scarcely known at the time 
 referred to. The pilasters are of slate 
 enamelled in imitation of marble, sur- 
 mounted by iron capitals. The interior 
 of the Court is panelled in the style of 
 the same period, and decorated by Mr. 
 
 Sang with emblem- 
 atical paintings and 
 appropriate orna- 
 ments in encaustic. 
 
 The Court contains 
 specimens by Sutton 
 and Ashe of iron and 
 steel, round iron, 
 square and flat bars, 
 angle iron, T-iron, 
 boiler and ship plates, 
 rivet iron, &c. The 
 Birmingham Patent 
 Iron and Brass Tube 
 Company has a dis- 
 play of enamelled 
 pipes, locomotive and 
 marine boiler tubes. 
 
 The case of W. R. 
 
 Lloyd shows how 
 widely the tentacula 
 of commerce extend. 
 
 Specimens of lignum 
 vitoe, Bombay ebony, 
 and pearl shell, king 
 wood, ivory, and 
 South Sea buffalo 
 shell, show to what 
 distant regions Bir- 
 mingham sends for 
 some of her orna- 
 mental wares; while 
 her peculiar province 
 in the working of 
 various metals is at 
 the same time illus- 
 trated by such speci- 
 
 Fig. 9G. — CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN, BY MESSRS. OSLER, BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 mens as Chilian copper, Spanish copper, bismuth, Austrian nickel- 
 speiss, German refined nickel, Spanish cobalt ore, South American 
 nickel ore, Scotch nickel, Chilian antimony, 
 and Jamaica cobalt. Warden and Co. 
 exhibit nuts and screws ; Mr. Onions is 
 here again with his bellows, of which he 
 exhibits a gigantic pair, together with 
 galvanised iron-work, nails, &c. Mr. Chubb 
 has a goodly display of locks and safes ; 
 for, although lie is known to the public 
 as the owner of an attractive shop in St. 
 Paul’s Churchyard, it is not so well known 
 that his works are in the neighbourhood 
 of Birmingham. Mr. Bissell has also a 
 display of locks; Cope and Son dazzle with 
 their electro silver works; and W. Parker 
 shows what Birmingham can do for the 
 gratification of the fair sex in the way 
 of silver and giit bracelets, bindings, mas- 
 sive ornaments, and jewellery, brooches, 
 studs, and pins. Mr. Wilkinson has a 
 beautiful stand of nickel silver, and electro- 
 plated ware ; Lloyd and Summerfield dis- 
 play their patent crystal window and 
 other glass, lamp and gas shades, coloured 
 window-glass. There is also a glass fern- 
 case, and a goodly display of artistic 
 bronzes by Mr. Zimmerman, among which 
 we noticed a set of bronze chessmen on 
 a board of black and white marble, the 
 distinction between the men being in 
 the comparatively red tint of one-half, 
 and the whiter tints of the other, showing 
 in the one case an excess of copper, 
 and in the other an excess of tin, in the 
 bronze. The design of the figures remind 
 one somewhat of Flaxman’s, although 
 essentially distinct 
 therefrom. They are 
 for ornament only, 
 since every chess- 
 player of any skill in 
 the game prefers a 
 common turned set of 
 box and ebony. 
 
 In the centre of 
 the Birmingham 
 Court is a bronze 
 statue of Boadicea, 
 invoking the Britons 
 to avenge the loss of 
 their liberty and the 
 wrongs of her chil- 
 dren. Its size is full- 
 length, and we learn 
 from an inscription on 
 the pedestal that it 
 was copied by Messrs. 
 Elkington, Mason, and 
 Co., from the original 
 marble belonging to 
 Sir S. Morton Peto, 
 Bart. : sculptor, John 
 Thomas. If this sta- 
 tue be the result of 
 electrotyping, as we 
 suppose it to be, from 
 its being the work 
 of Messrs. Elkington, 
 the great electro- 
 typists of Birming- 
 ham, it must be re- 
 garded as a triumph 
 in the art. 
 
 * £ enera l hardware trade of Birmingham may be represented by the | 
 classification adopted by the Jury of the Great Exhibition, in their Eepo'rt on j 
 
 the objects included in Class XXII, which objects, considered with reference 
 to material, range themselves mostly under the heads of: — 1. Brass mauu- 
 
 X X 
 
170 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 In the passages behind the Birmingham Court are a number of 
 stalls exhibiting Birmingham wares, although not produced in 
 Birmingham : thus we have brass-castings, sluice-cocks, water- 
 meters, and loose valve-cocks, & c. ; iron vases, open-work for 
 palisades, pillars of iron, with Corinthian, Ionic, and Doric capi- 
 tals, iron tubes, cisterns and tanks for houses and ships, tanks for 
 tallow or cotton waste, or for water, oil, &c., corrugated galvanised 
 iron, galvanised tinned iron tiles and window frames, gas appa- 
 ratus and bell-pulls, vesta lamps, pumps, garden-engines, and 
 knife-cleaners, wrought-iron vessels, coated inside and out with 
 glass, wire ropes, and bachelors’ kettles, defiance locks (a bold 
 term in these days of scientific lock-picking), medals, and hand- 
 bells, and noiseless sausage-making machines, which cut the meat 
 and fill the skin at the same time. 
 
 Descending now from generals to particulars, let us first give a 
 few particulars respecting the gun trade of Birmingham. The 
 manufacture of small-arms for war and for the chase is carried on 
 at Birmingham to such an extent that only two European rivals 
 can compete with her. Liege, which is the Birmingham of Belgium, 
 produces a large quantity of small-arms, and furnishes other nations, 
 especially Russia, therewith. France is said to be more advanced 
 than any other nation in this manufacture. St. Etienne is the town 
 chiefly employed in the manufacture of muskets ; but the best arms 
 are produced at Paris, where “ are combined all the perfection that 
 could be desired for precision of firing with beauty of ornament; 
 the ornaments are very often designed by the best artists, and 
 are executed with remarkable delicacy.” * The introduction of 
 machinery for the production of small-arms by Colonel Colt, of the 
 United States of America, and the adoption of that or of similar 
 machinery by the British government, will doubtless have consi- 
 derable effect on the future destiny of the small-arms manufacture. 
 
 The common hand-gun has undergone several changes according 
 to the method of discharging it. It was first fired by the application 
 by hand of a lighted match to the touch-hole. This was improved 
 by the invention of the match-lock — a contrivance suggested by the 
 trigger of the cross-bow, for conveying with certainty and rapidity 
 the burning match to the pan ; such was the arquebus or harquebus. 
 The match-lock was superseded by the wheel-lock, a small 
 apparatus for exciting sparks of fire by the friction of a furrowed 
 wheel of steel against a piece of native sulphuret of iron, hence 
 called 2 >yi'itcs, or Jire-stone. In the reign of Elizabeth the Jlint-lock 
 was introduced, and this continued in use until the invention of 
 the modern percussion-lock. Much difficulty, however, was expe- 
 rienced in the application of this lock on account of the difficulty 
 of selecting a proper fulminating powder for the percussion-cup, the 
 combustion of ordinary fulminating mercury being so rapid as to 
 
 facture. 2. Copper, tin, zinc, pewter, and general brazier}'; 3. Iron-work; 
 4. Steel manufactures. 
 
 Under the head of brass manufactures may be included : — Cabinet and 
 general brass foundry: consisting of hinges, fastenings, escutcheons, bell-pulls, 
 brass foundry used in ships, knockers, door-springs, castors, &c. Plumber’s 
 brass foundry : cocks, valves, pumps, water-closets, &c. Stamped brass : 
 cornices, curtain-bands, finger-plates, &c. Gas fittings, brackets, chandeliers, 
 illars, gas-burners and consumer’s metal, &c. Tubing, plain and ornamental, 
 letallic bedsteads. Chandeliers, lamps, and candelabra, for oil, candles, or 
 camphine, and lamp-chains. Railway and carriage brass foundry, and signal 
 lamps, &c., and lanterns. Bronze figures, busts, and chimney ornaments. Bells: 
 house, church, ship, table, &c., and alarums. Candlesticks : table and bed- 
 room. Monumental brasses, and ecclesiastical brass- work. Copper-plates for 
 engravers. Miscellaneous : including pins, rails, wire-gauze, birdcages, 
 hooks and eyes, wire-baskets, and ropes. 
 
 Works in copper, &c., include : — Kettles, coal-skuttles, coppers, saucepans, 
 steamers, pi ate- warmers, &c. Bronzed tea and coffee-urns, kettles, &c. 
 Tubing: copper, tin, lead, &c. Pewter, German silver, and Britannia metal 
 teapots, basins, dishes, spoons, ladles, inkstands, &c. Coffin furniture, plates, 
 escutcheons, &c. Zinc articles generally. 
 
 In iron there are : — Stoves, grates, fenders, and fire-irons ; kitchen ranges, 
 cooking apparatus, smokejacks. Warming apparatus for halls and rooms, 
 ships, &c., either by water, coal, coke, wood, charcoal or gas. Shower, 
 vapour, air, and warm-water baths. Ventilators : metallic and otherwise. 
 Pipes and gutters, &c. Locks and hinges. General ironmongery. Ice 
 machines. Knife-cleaning machines. Letter-copying machines and presses. 
 Sadler’s ironmongery. Hollow-ware, cast and wrought, tinned and enamelled. 
 Spades, shovels, pickaxes, hoes, rakes, garden-rollers, &c. Nails : cut, cast, 
 and wrought. Screws and railway bolts, &c. Iron safes, cash-boxes, fire- 
 roof, and others. Horseshoes. Gates, railings, hurdles, and stable-fittings, 
 tangles, washing-machines, &c. Iron bedsteads, garden-seats, &c. Cast- 
 ings in iron. 
 
 In steel we find : — Tools and heavy steel toys. Hammers, vices, &c. 
 Steel ornaments, light fancy steel toys, brooches, buckles, &c. Steel pens, 
 and metallic pens of other kinds. Needles, fish-hooks, and fishing-tackle. 
 
 In addition to the above list, there are a number of articles of mixed 
 materials, such as buttons, metallic, Florentine, pearl, bone, &c., and 
 other productions coming under the usual denomination of hardware. 
 
 * Jury Report of the Exhibition of 1851. 
 
 scatter the gunpowder without igniting it. It was found, however, 
 that by lowering the fulminating mercury with pulverine, or meal- 
 gunpowder, the desired effect was produced. At the present time 
 percussion-caps for muskets are filled with a mixture of equal parts 
 of fulminating mercury and chlorate of potash fixed by a varnish.* 
 
 The new method of firing a gun led to a new form of breeching. 
 The old form consisted of a solid lump of iron, screwed into the 
 barrel close to one end, and the touch-hole was drilled through the 
 side of the barrel above it. With such a form, however, the gun 
 fired but slowly, and a portion of the gunpowder was blown out 
 without being ignited. In 1787, an 
 improved form of breeching was intro- 
 duced by Nock (Fig. 97), which caused 
 the powder to be ignited in the centre, 
 and much improved the strength and 
 regularity of shooting. On the intro- 
 duction of the percussion-cap, this form 
 of breeching was improved by Mr, 
 
 Wilkinson, Fig. 98. The locks of guns Fi 9- 97. 
 
 have also passed through a variety of changes ; indeed, there is no 
 part of the gun that has not been subject to repeated improve- 
 ments; and these parts are sufficiently numerous, as will be seen 
 from an enumeration of the trades concerned in 
 the production of a best-finished gun. They 
 are: — 1. the barrel-forger; 2. the lock and 
 furniture forger ; 3. the barrel borer and filer ; 
 
 4. the lock filer; 5. the furniture filer; G. tho 
 ribber and breecher; 7. the stocker; 8. the 
 screwer-together ; 9. the detonator; 10. the 
 maker-off; 11. the stripper and finisher; 
 
 12. the lock finisher; 13. the polisher and Fig. 98 . 
 
 hardener; 14. the engraver; 15. the browner; 16. the stock 
 polisher. 
 
 A musket or common barrel was formerly forged out of a skelp 
 of iron about 3 ft. long and 4 inches wide, thicker and broader at 
 one end than at the other ; and being hammered to the proper 
 dimensions, it was folded into a cylindrical form until the edges 
 overlapped, and these were then welded together. In consequence, 
 however, of strikes among workmen this method was superseded 
 by the introduction of machinery, in which a bar of iron about one 
 foot long, being turned into the form of a cylinder with overlapping 
 edges, was raised to a welding-heat, and a triblet or cylinder of 
 iron being placed in it, it was passed quickly through a pair of 
 rollers, which completed the welding, and it was elongated to the 
 proper length by a similar rolling at a lower temperature. The 
 method of making barrels for fowling-pieces by twisting has already 
 been noticed with reference to the Sheffield Court. 
 
 Supposing the forging to be complete, the barrel requires to be 
 bored true, for which purpose a long square bit attached to a rod 
 is made to revolve rapidly, while the barrel is pressed forwards by 
 means of a crooked lever, held at one end by the workman, while he 
 passes the other along a series of pegs driven into the top edge of 
 the trough or bench on which the barrel is placed, by which means 
 the barrel is forced up against the boring-bit, which is kept cool by 
 water flowing over the barrel. The outside of the barrel is ground 
 on broad grindstones. After smoothing the barrel and filing the 
 muzzle, the work for common guns is finished. The best barrels, 
 however, are first set straight, then attached to a carriage which is 
 drawn gradually forwards along a level surface against the boring- 
 bit, which is fixed in the axis of a revolving fly-wheel. In this 
 way the barrel is bored completely through, the outside is turned 
 in a lathe, and being made correct in every part, it is tapped or 
 screwed at the breech end, and the plug is fitted. It is next proved, 
 according to a scale fixed by law, with a charge of powder propor- 
 tioned to the weight of a leaden ball that fits the bore. The gun- 
 makers of Birmingham are incorporated into a company, with 
 wardens and a proof-master, who are authorised to stamp on the 
 guns proved by them the royal arms, with the letters B. P. V., i.e. 
 Birmingham Proof Viewed. The barrels of guns intended for the 
 public service are proved at a separate establishment, maintained 
 by the government. In the latter case the barrels are proved sepa- 
 rately, but in the former as many as 129 may be fired at once by 
 means of a train. They are arranged in frames in a low shed, which 
 
 * Cap9 used for firing cannon are charged with two parts chlorate of potash, 
 two of native sulphuret of antimony, and one of powdered glass. Caps made 
 of fulminating mercury and collodion bronzed over are being tried. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 171 
 
 V! 
 
 is lined with sheet-iron, containing iron frames for the reception of 
 the barrels ; the bullets being received against a dead wall in a 
 
 mass of sand. Fig. 99 
 shows the appearance of 
 some gun-barrels burst in 
 proving. 
 
 The barrel is next false- 
 breeched, ribbed, stocked, 
 and screwed together. It 
 is then bored for shoot- 
 ing, and smoothed out- 
 side. Double barrels have 
 a flat struck along the 
 inner side of each before 
 laying them together; 
 the breech end for about 
 four inches is braized or 
 
 
 Fig. 99.-- qon-babuels bubst IN ] 
 
 hard-soldered, and the remainder of the length is soft-soldered, 
 
 and the upper and under ribs are soldered on. The lock and 
 the ban-el being jointed to each other if required, the stocker 
 lets them into the wood. The sere wer- together lets in all the 
 furniture, and puts in all the screws. The gun is detonated by 
 another man, who fits the cock, and finishes the external part of the 
 breeching. After smoothing and 
 boi-ing for shooting, the wood- 
 work is smoothed and finished, 
 making off and chequering, as it 
 is called. The work then passes 
 to a man called the skipper and 
 finisher , who takes the whole to 
 pieces, and corrects trifling defects. 
 
 The barrel, being engraved, goes 
 in to brown, which operation 
 consists in producing successive 
 coatings of rust on the surface, 
 and brushing them off as they 
 arise with a steel wire scratch- 
 brush, until the required colour is 
 attained. The rust is raised by a 
 mixture of nitric ether, alcohol, 
 sulphate of copper, muriated tinc- 
 ture of iron, and tincture of gum 
 benzoin. During the browning, 
 which takes about a week, the 
 lock and furniture are polished, 
 engraved, blued, and hardened, 
 and the stock is oiled and polished. 
 
 The hardening is performed by 
 burying the parts in animal char- 
 coal, keeping them at a red heat 
 for an hour or so, and then quench- 
 
 Fi'j. 100. — colt's bevolv 
 
 ing in water. The whole of the parts now return to the finisher, 
 who completes the gun. 
 
 Walnut is the toughest and best wood for the stocks of guns, but 
 maple and ash are also used for sporting guns. The stocks are 
 coloured with linseed oil and alkanet root, and the best guns are 
 
 Fig. 101.— ORNAMENTAL GUN-STOCK. 
 
 Colt’s revolving pistols, will serve lo illustrate the kind of orna- 
 mental work not unusual on fire-arms. Occasionally we meet with 
 such elaborate specimens of ornamentation as Fig. 101, which repre- 
 sents a fowling-piece designed by M. lieistcr, and manufactured by 
 M. Claudin, of Paris. The stock is most elaborately carved; in the 
 
 polished and varnished with shell-lac in spirits of wine. Machinery 
 for stocking guns has been adopted with considerable success. 
 
 The preceding figure (Fig. 100), which represents one of Colonel 
 
172 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 but-end are introduced dogs, a wolf, serpents, mingled with oak 
 leaves, a sort of running pattern of similar devices being ingeniously 
 carried along the whole length of the stock. 
 
 There is a great deal of iron and steel-work executed at 
 Birmingham, some of which we will briefly notice, before pro- 
 ceeding to works in other metals. In the case of steel pens, the 
 steel used for the purpose is rolled into thin sheets at Sheffield. 
 These sheets are cut into slips 3 ft. long by 4 inches broad; they 
 are annealed and cleaned in dilute sulphuric acid, when the metal 
 is reduced to the required thickness by rolling. Blanks or flats are 
 cut from these strips by means of a fly-press, noticed at p. 160, care 
 being taken that the fibres of the steel run in the direction of the 
 length of the pen. By means of another bed and punch the hole 
 which terminates the slit is pierced, and any superfluous metal 
 which is likely to injure the elasticity of the pen is removed. The 
 blanks being annealed, the maker’s name, &c., is stamped on each. 
 The blanks, which are still flat pieces of steel, are next passed 
 through a press, which makes each piece concave for nibbed pens, 
 and forms the barrel for barrel pens. Pens are hardened by being 
 enclosed in an iron box raised to a red heat, and quenched in oil. 
 The adhering oil being removed by agitation in a tin plate barrel, 
 they are tempered and put into a revolving cylinder with sand, 
 which makes them quite bright. The nib is ground on a small 
 emery wheel, and it is not till these varied operations have been 
 completed that the slit is formed; this is done with a chisel or 
 wedge with a flat side fixed to the bed of a press, while the de- 
 scending screw has a corresponding chisel. The pens are next 
 coloured brown or blue by placing them in a revolving metal 
 cylinder over a charcoal stove until the film of oxide of the desired 
 colour is formed. The pens are lastly immersed in a solution of lac 
 in naphtha, which imparts brilliancy ; they are then dried off by 
 heat, counted, and made up into boxes. It is stated that 
 Mr. Gillott, of Birmingham, employs upwards of 500 persons in 
 this manufacture, of which number four-fifths are females ; skilled 
 workmen being employed to repair and set the tools. The annual 
 production of this house is said to exceed 150,000,000 pens. 
 
 While on the subject of pens, we may mention that these useful 
 articles have been made of horn, tortoise, and other shells, and even 
 of glass. Nibs have also been formed of precious stones, such as 
 small pieces of diamond, ruby, &c., embedded by pressure into horn 
 and tortoise-shell nibs, softened by heat. Thin pieces of gold or 
 other metal have also been attached to tortoise-shell, and in 
 Mr. Doughty’s pens the nibs consisted of rubies set in fine gold ; 
 such pens were very durable, and produced a writing of uniform 
 character; to prevent injury to the points, the inkstand was lined 
 with indian-rubber. Dr. Wollaston formed pens with two flat slips 
 of gold placed angularly side by side, and tipped with rhodium. 
 Messrs. Wiley, of Birmingham, formed pens of the indestructible 
 metals already referred to. 
 
 Equal in importance with the above manufacture is that of 
 needles, which is carried on in certain villages not far from 
 Birmingham, such as Redditch, Feckenham, Beoley, Studley, 
 Coughton, Alcester, Astwood Bank, Crabb’s Cross, &c., all of which 
 i lie near together. As in the case of pens, Sheffield supplies the 
 raw material, which consists of soft, clean steel wire, in coils of 
 various sizes and weights. The ends of a number of wires of equal 
 size being collected together, lengths, each equal to the production 
 of two needles, are cut off by means of shears. In this way a 
 number of pieces are collected sufficient for making from 30,000 to 
 60,000 needles. The pieces as cut from the coils all partake of the 
 curve of the coil, and are straightened by several thousand of them 
 being placed within a couple of broad rings, heated to redness, and 
 rubbed backwards and forwards by means of a smooth file, as shown 
 in Fig. 102. The friction of the wires against each other and 
 against the file quickly straightens them. The wires are next 
 pointed at the ends upon small grit stones, the workman dex- 
 trously pointing a number of ends at once, holding them in his 
 left hand, and rotating them by means of his right, so as to form 
 a perfect cone or point. The contact of the wires with the stone 
 produces a stream of spai'ks, and a quantity of metallic and stone- 
 dust, which would be as fatal to the workman as the dust produced 
 in the grinding of cutlery once was, as already noticed, were it not 
 that the same system of ventilation is now generally adopted by the 
 needle-grinders, as at Sheffield. The wire pointed at each end, 
 sufficient, as we have said, for two needles, is stamped in the centre 
 for the eyes. The lower die is supported on a block of stone, and 
 
 the upper die is contained in a hammer of about 12 lbs. weight, 
 which can be raised by pressing a lever with the foot. The work- 
 man, with a number of blanks in his hand, drops them one at a 
 time upon the iron bed, pushes it up against a piece of metal which 
 
 Fig. 102 . 
 
 acts as a gauge, raises the hammer with his foot, and lets it fall 
 with a smart blow. The two raised faces of the die produce two oppo- 
 site indentations on the wire, bulging out a portion of its substance. 
 The hole for the eye is not pierced through at this operation, or 
 there would be danger of tearing the metal ; the groove is formed, 
 and an indentation for the eye, the 
 latter being now pierced by means of a 
 couple of steel points or cutters, which 
 are brought down upon the blanks, as 
 shown in Fig. 103. This eyeing, as 
 it is called, is performed by a boy, 
 who has a number of wires in his 
 hand, spread out like a fan, and placing 
 them one at a time in a notch in 
 the iron bed of the press, brings down 
 the points by means of a lever, thus 
 punching out the eyes, then raising 
 the points the wire is slipped off from them by means of three pro- 
 jecting pieces of metal, shown in the figure. The next operation 
 is to remove the bur produced on each side of the eye in the pro- 
 cess of stamping, shown at Nos. 2 and 3 of Fig. 104. This is 
 1 -- 
 
 done by threading a number of the wires upon thin wires run 
 through each line of eyes, as shown in Fig. 105. Ihe burs are then 
 easily removed by means of a flat file, 
 after which the needles are separated 
 by bending them backwards and for- 
 wards between the two spits, thus pro- 
 ducing two separate rows of needles, 
 each row spitted on a wire. The points 
 of each row are next grasped in a sort 
 of hand vice, Fig. 106, and the heads 
 being placed on a small anvil, are filed 
 into shape. The needles are now said 
 to be headed, or made: and the pro- 
 cesses hitherto noticed form what is called soft-work , or soft pro- 
 cesses, from the wire being in a soft state. The finishing processes 
 form what is called bright-worJc, preparatory to which the needles 
 are straightened by a woman called the 
 soft-straightener, who rolls them on a 
 flat steel plate with the convex face of a 
 curved smooth file. They are next 
 hardened by being raised to a red heat, 
 and suddenly cooled in cold water or jty. 106 . 
 
 oil. This renders them too hard and 
 
 brittle for use; they are therefore tendered by being heated on 
 a hot iron plate, with constant stirring, for about five minutes, 
 until a blue film forms upon them, when they are instantly 
 removed. The needles are now examined separately, and straight- 
 
 Fig. 101 . 
 
 Fig. 105 . 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 173 
 
 ened by tapping each needle with a small hammer on an anvil; this 
 is called hard or hammer straightening. Next comes the scouring 
 or cleaning, for which purpose the needles are made up in bundles 
 of 40,000 or 50,000 in a piece of stout canvas, showed open and 
 rolled up in Fig. 107. In roll- 
 ing up the canvas, emery, oil, 
 and soft soap are sprinkled on 
 the needles. A couple of such 
 rows are placed under a scouring- 
 machine, Fig. 108, consisting of 
 weighted slabs or rubbers, which 
 roll the bundles backwards and 
 forwards for 50 or 60 hours, an amount of friction which imparts that 
 smooth bright surface, so necessary to the slender little implement to 
 enable it to pierce the various materials on which it may be employed. 
 After about eight hours’ rubbing, the rolls are unpacked, the needles 
 
 Fig. 108 
 
 washed in soap and water, and the rolls are made up again with 
 putty-powder and oil, and the friction is continued for another 
 eight hours, and so on until the polishing is complete. The needles 
 are next removed to the bright-shop, placed in long tin trays, and 
 made to lie parallel by shaking. They are next piled in heaps, 
 the heads and points lying one way or the other. The points are 
 arranged all one way by a little girl, who wraps a piece of rag 
 round her forefinger, and pressing this against the side of the heap, 
 while the left hand is pressed against the opposite side, the points 
 of the needles enter the rag, and she lifts them up and turns them 
 over or drags them out, so as to form a separate pile. In this way 
 the points are quickly placed in the same direction. The needles 
 are examined, and broken and defective ones removed, after which 
 comes the delicate operation of drilling, to remove the jagged and 
 rough portions, and produce that smooth appearance, like the bow 
 of the handle of a pair of scissors. For this purpose the eyes must 
 first be softened, which is done by placing the needles on a steel 
 slab with the eyes projecting over, and bringing a redhot plate 
 near them until a dark blue tint is produced, which shows the 
 proper temper for working. 
 The drills are minute three- 
 sided wires attached to a wheel 
 revolving with great speed ; 
 the driller, seated at the bench 
 opposite a window, as shown 
 in Fig. 109, and taking a num- 
 ber of needles in the left hand 
 by the points, spreads them 
 out like a fan, and brings each 
 eye in succession up to the 
 point of the drill, then by a 
 twist of the finger and thumb 
 turns round the needle, and 
 presents the other side of the 
 eye to the drill. Iveen sight 
 and steady hands are required 
 for this kind of work. After 
 this the points are finished, 
 first on a small stone, and 
 then on wheels of wood covered with buff leather, and coated with 
 polishing paste. The needles are now counted into twenty-fives, 
 folded up in blue papers, and labelled. Twenty of these form a 
 packet. 
 
 Nails, which are now produced in enormous quantities in Bir- 
 mingham by means of machinery, formerly gave employment to 
 many hands in forging. Hutton, the historian of Birmingham, in 
 
 Fig. 109. — DRILLING THE E 
 
 approaching the town from Walsall, in 1741, was “surprised at the 
 prodigious number of blacksmiths’ shops on the road, and could not 
 conceive how a country, though populous, could support so many 
 people of the same occupation.” In some of the shops he observed 
 females wielding the hammer, and on inquiring “ whether the 
 ladies in this country shod horses,” he was answered with a smile, 
 “ They are nailers." 
 
 The nailer’s apparatus is very simple : it consists of a small 
 hearth or forge for heating the iron rods out of which the nails are 
 wrought, an anvil, a hammer, and a few swage tools adapted to 
 the various forms of nails — and those are somewhat numerous, 
 amounting to more than 300, with at least ten different sizes for 
 each sort. A good fibrous iron is required for nails, and when they 
 were forged by hand, each man usually accustomed himself to the 
 forging of one or two sorts only. Nails are known by various 
 names, such as fourpenny, sixpenny, tenpenny, &c., which are retail 
 terms ; or better still by their uses, such as hurdle, pail, deck, 
 scupper, mop, See. Other sorts, of more general application, are 
 named from the form of the heads or the points, such as rose, clasp, 
 diamond heads, and Jlat, sharp, spear points. The thickness is 
 expressed by the terms Jine, bastard, strong. The length is some- 
 times expressed in linear measure ; but it is usually included in the 
 weight of a thousand nails ; thus 7 Ib.-rose means a nail with a rose 
 head and a sharp point about \\ inch long, a thousand of which 
 weigh about 7 lbs. A few varieties of nails are represented in 
 Fig. 110. No. 1 is called rose-sharp, and is used in coopering, 
 
 Fig. 110. — VARIETIES OP NAILS. 
 
 fencing, and other coarse purposes with hard wood ; a thinner sort, 
 Jine-rose, is used with soft woods, and has a broad, spreading head, 
 well adapted for holding the work down. No. 2, the rose with Jlat 
 or chisel points, is used with wood that is likely to split ; the flat 
 points are driven with their edges across the grain. No. 3, clasp 
 nails, with heads projecting downwards, stick into the wood and 
 clasp it, and when driven below the surface, allow a plane to pass 
 over them. No. 4, clout nails, are used for nailing iron- work, &c., to 
 wood. No. 5, counterclout, have countersinks under the head, and 
 chisel-points. No. 6, Jine-dog, and a thicker nail called strong or 
 weighty-dog, used for nailing down stout iron-work, and for purposes 
 where the heads are not required to lie flush with the work. 
 No. 7, Kent-hurdle. No. 8, rose-clench, used in ship and boat- 
 building; they have no points, the ends being left square, so that 
 
 Fig , 111. 
 
 they punch out their own holes, driving a portion of the wood 
 before them. They are also used for packing-cases and boxes. The 
 term clench is derived from the method of securing the extremity 
 by hammering it down, or by placing a small diamond of metal 
 over it, called a rove, and rivetting the end of the clench upon it. 
 No. 9, horse-shoe nails. No. 10, brads. We may also refer to tacks 
 as a numerous and useful class of nails. 
 
 Nails are formed by casting as well as forging. They are brittle, 
 but very cheap, and are hence used for such coarse 
 purposes as the lathing of plasterers, for garden- 
 walls, for stout boots and shoes, &c. As already 
 stated, nails are extensively manufactured by cutting 
 or punching. It is evident that if we take a narrow 
 strip of paper, Fig. Ill, and cut from the end of it 
 triangular sections in the form of wedges, turning 
 the paper over after every cut, so that the head or 
 broad part of every clipping may be taken from the 
 point of the preceding one, and vice-versa, we have 
 the principle of nail-making by machinery. In this way we easily 
 get the shoe-nail called sparrable or sparroiv-bill a, or the smaller 
 
 Y Y 
 
 Fig. 112. 
 
174 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 wedges B, called sprigs. If shears were used on the strip of iron, 
 the nails would be bent, or curled, an effect which may be avoided 
 by a fly-press with cutting punches. Suppose in, Fig. 112, to be a 
 rectangular mortice in the bed of a fly-press used for cutting brads, 
 such as c, Fig. Ill, the punchy fills the bed, but a portion, repre- 
 sented black in the figure, is nicked in, or filed back to the size and 
 angle of the brad. A pin or stop s guides the strip of metal into 
 the mortice, and to prevent it from passing too far over the hole in 
 the bed, the punch is not raised quite out of its bed, thus the metal 
 is stopped by the tail of the punch, while its outer or rectangular 
 edge removes the brad. The strip is turned over by an attendant 
 after each descent of the punch, so that the head of one brad is cut 
 from the point of the one previously made. In cutting brads with 
 heads, and headed nails, as at D, E, Fig. Ill, the same principle is 
 observed ; m in show the l'ectangular opening in the bed of the 
 press; p is the tail of the punch fitting into it; s the stop, placed at 
 such a distance from the opening in the bed as to correspond with 
 the vertical height of the head, so that the strip of metal may over- 
 hang the aperture by that quantity : the width of the point of the 
 brad is also equal to the projection of the head. When the strip 
 of iron is first applied, a wedge-shaped piece is cut off, equal to the 
 difference between the tail of the punch and the bed ; there is a small 
 projection left in the strip near s. On turning over the slip this 
 projection rests against the tail of the punch, as shown at s, so that 
 the next cut removes a perfect brad, and leaves the head of another 
 ready formed. 
 
 In cutting nails by steam power the cutter is attached to the end 
 of a long arm, to which a rapid up and down motion is given by 
 means of a crank or an eccentric, as at e, Fig. 113. The strip of 
 
 metal z is held in a clamp c supported in a rest r, which enables 
 the boy who attends the machine to turn the metal over while the 
 cutter is ascending; or to prevent the necessity for turning over 
 the strip, a toggle or knee-joint may be used. In this joint the two 
 parts a b, be, Fig. 114, are jointed together at b, and the end a 
 
 being jointed to the upper part of the press, and c to the top of the 
 follower, when the parts a b and b c make but a small angle, the 
 ends a and c come closer together, and the follower is raised : but 
 when the two levers are straightened, a and c separate with a small 
 motion, but with great power. The toggle-joint is bent and i 
 straightened by the revolution of a small crank united to the point 
 & by a connecting rod b,f. The whole press moves upon pivots ee 
 bv the rod g, so as to be alternately inclined to the right and left 
 to suit the angle of such nails as are wedge-shaped or have no heads. 
 In some cases, when the nail is cut off, it is grasped between forceps 
 or dies, and a hammer, set in motion by the machine, strikes a blow 
 which forms the head. After the cutting or punching of nails, they 
 arc annealed in close iron boxes, heated in ovens, and left to cool slowly. 
 
 Vast quantities of nails are manufactured in Great Britain, the 
 larger proportion of which are consumed at home, although there 
 
 is a considerable trade to the colonies and the East. The Continent 
 of Europe is supplied with nails chiefly from Holland and Belgium ; 
 indeed, the price of nail-rods is lower in Belgium than in England. 
 In the passage behind the Birmingham Court of the Crystal Palace 
 is a large display of nails from Liege. These nails are all gal- 
 vanised, or covered with zinc, for protection from rust — apian now 
 common for sheet-iron and other articles in that metal. One method 
 of covering iron with zinc is to cleanse the iron in a bath of warm 
 sulphuric or hydrochloric acid and water, then to hammer and 
 scrub the metal, so as to produce a chemically clean surface, after 
 which it is immersed in a preparing bath, consisting of a saturated 
 solution of hydro-chlorate of zinc and sulphate of ammonia, and 
 lastly, it is transferred to a metallic bath composed of 202 parts of 
 mercury and 1292 parts of zinc, both by weight ; to every ton 
 weight of this alloy is added one pound of potassium or of sodium. 
 As soon as the cleaned iron has obtained the point of fusion of this 
 triple alloy, namely G80°, it is removed thoroughly coated with 
 zinc. Such is the affinity of this alloy for iron, that at 680' it will 
 dissolve a plate of wrought-iron one-eighth of an inch thick in a 
 few seconds. "Wire, nails, small chains, are galvanised in a similar 
 manner. 
 
 Birmingham is also the birth-place of screws — especially of that 
 variety used for fastening pieces of wood, or wood and metal together, 
 whence they are called wood-screws, or screio -nails. The blanks for 
 such screws were formerly forged by the nail-makers. The next 
 improvement was to form them out of round rolled iron, cut to the 
 required lengths, and the heads were formed by pinching them 
 while redhot between a pair of dies, after which the threads were 
 cut by means of a file. Screws are now cut by machinery, for 
 which purpose a coil of screw- wire is arranged so as to be drawn 
 into the machine as it is wanted ; the required lengths are cut off, 
 one end of each is struck up to form the head, and the blanks thus 
 produced are turned out into a box. The blanks are next taken by 
 hand, and placed one at a time in a lathe, where the heads and 
 necks are turned, and cut into shape. The notch or nick in the 
 head is cut by means of a circular saw, and lastly the tcornung or 
 cutting of the thread is performed in a lathe in the following 
 manner : — A steel spindle or mandril revolves between collars in 
 two uprights by the motion of a strap passing round the pulley f, 
 Fig. 115; l is a loose pulley for carrying the strap when the 
 
 Fig. 115 . 
 
 machine is stopped; b is an iron box, containing the pattern or 
 regulating screw P ; this is 5 or 6 inches in length, and is a pattern 
 of the thread of the screw to be cut, the latter being fixed in an iron 
 chuck or holder c, shown separately in Fig. 116, and is held firmly 
 
 by a kind of hasp, the nick of the screw resting against a chisel- 
 spike, and the shank projecting. At k, Fig. 115, are the cutters, 
 shown on a larger scale at Fig. 117. The frames move on joint- 
 
also a lever which, causes certain directing points, resembling the 
 cutters, to close upon the regulating screw P, and the two levers 
 being connected by a horizontal bar, can be depressed or raised 
 together, and the cutters and directors applied at the same moment; 
 thus the inclination of the thread is determined by the pattern- 
 screw, and its shape by the form and position of the cutters. This 
 machinery is commonly managed by a woman, who fixes the blank 
 in the chuck, and makes it revolve by shifting the strap from the 
 loose to the fixed pulley. She then depresses the levers and the 
 guides which act on the regulator screw, and cause the chuck to 
 move forward, and force the shank of the blank screw between the 
 cutters, which turn out a shaving of metal, and leave a sharp thread 
 or worm. During this operation a little water is applied to the 
 steel cutters to modify the heat occasioned by the friction. 
 
 Screws are also cut by dies instead of cutters. The dies are 
 arranged on a frame, and are opened and shut by a right and left- 
 handed screw. Hyland’s gimlet-pointed screics are made in this 
 way. Such screws enter the wood easily, and retain their hold 
 firmly. In Nettlefold’s screws the upper side of the thread is made 
 flat or inclined, which greatly increases the resistance to its being 
 forcibly drawn out of the wood ; while the under side, being also 
 much inclined, enables the screw to penetrate the wood with greater 
 ease. Fig. 118 represents such a form of screw; Fig. 119 the 
 
 brass, it is understood that that quantity of zinc is alloyed with 1 lb. 
 of copper. The smallest proportion of zinc is from £ to \ oz., this 
 enables the copper to cast soundly, which it does not usually do when 
 unalloyed; 1 to 1* oz. forms gilding metal for common jeweiier}'; 
 8 oz. forms red sheet brass ; 3 to 4 oz. Bath metal, Pinchbeck, Mann- 
 heim gold, similor, &c., all resembling inferior jeweller’s gold much 
 alloyed with copper. But some of these alloys contain a small 
 quantity of tin : — 6 oz., Bristol brass, and brass that can be soldered; 
 8 oz., ordinary brass, or common ingot brass, made by simple fusion 
 of the two metals ; 9 oz. to 10} oz., Muntz’s patent sheathing, which 
 can be rolled and worked at a red heat ; 12 oz., Spelter solder, for 
 copper and iron, also pale yellow metal, fit for dipping in acids ; 
 16 oz., soft spelter solder for ordinary brass-work ; 16£ oz., Hamilton 
 and Parker’s patent mosaic gold— this is dark coloured when first 
 cast, but on dipping assumes a beautiful golden tint— when cooled 
 and broken the yellowness disappears, and the tinge varies from 
 reddish fawn or salmon colour to a light purple or lilac, and from 
 that to white ; 32 oz., a bluish white, brilliant, brittle alloy, which 
 can be pounded cold in a pestle and mortar; 12S oz., a hard crys- 
 talline metal, more tenacious than zinc, and sometimes used for laps 
 or polishing disks. Brass from 8 to 16 oz. is used for the various 
 brass articles in furniture &c. ; the metal is first annealed befox - e it 
 is scoured or cleaned, or before the acids, lacquers, or bronzes, are 
 used. Brass that files and turns well is from about 4i to 9 oz. 
 
 The arrangements of the brass foundry are shown in Fig. 125, in 
 
 Fig. 118. Fig. 119. Fig. 120. 
 
 mould made by it in wood ; and Fig. 120 a section of the common 
 form of screw, in which the worm is shallow and imperfect. 
 
 Screw bolts, and other screws for working in metal, are cut by a 
 die resembling a common iron nut, formed of well-tempered steel in 
 two parts. These are fixed in an iron box or die-stock with two 
 long handles or levers, and there is also a set screw, by means of 
 which the two halves of the die may be brought nearer together, or 
 removed farther from each other. The blank or iron pin on which 
 the screw is to be cut is turned to the proper size, and introduced by 
 its narrow end into the dies, which are then closed, so as to grip the 
 pin, which being set in a vice, the die is worked round upon it by 
 means of the two handles, the two halves of the die being occasion- 
 ally set closer together as the work proceeds. 
 
 Small metal screws are cut by a steel tap-plate , or screw-plate 
 (Fig. 121), wormed and 
 
 
 notched, and furnished with 
 several holes, slightly di- 
 minishing in size, from two 
 to six holes being used for 
 each thread. For large wooden screws, a screw-box with a steel- 
 cutter, c, Fig. 122, is used, consisting of two pieces of wood attached 
 by steady pins and screws, shown in the plan 
 Fig. 123. Interior screws are cut by means 
 of a steel tap, consisting commonly of a screw 
 with a large portion of the worm filed off, the 
 angles left by the operation forming a series 
 of obtuse cutters. Such a tap is shown in 
 Fig. 122 . three views, in Fig. 124. Large highly- 
 
 finished metal screws are also cut in the screw-cutting engine. 
 
 Birmingham is distinguished for brass — a useful alloy of copper 
 
 which in is the moulding-trough for the sand. In the centre is the 
 pouring or spill-trough , and at t is the furnace, usually built within 
 a cast-iron cylinder erected over the ash-pit, and reached by a loose 
 grating on a level with the floor of the foundry. The mouth of the 
 furnace is 8 or 10 inches above the floor, and its central aperture is 
 closed with an iron plate t, called a tile. Three or four such furnaces 
 usually stand in a row, and separate flues proceed from each into a 
 large stack. The fuel is hard coke, broken into lumps about the 
 size of hens’ eggs. The pot or crucible is first raised to a red heat 
 with the mouth downwards, and then being placed in its proper 
 position in the fire, a charge is put in, and left until the metal is 
 run down. When the alloy is formed, from 10 to 20 hours bein<»- 
 required for the purpose, the heat is increased so as to fuse the 
 whole. The tile t is then removed, and the crucible taken out of 
 
 and zinc; the quality of the metal depending on the relative pro- 
 portions of the two metals. In the brass foundry it is usual to take 
 
 Fig. 124. 
 
 1 lb. of copper as the standard, and to designate the kind of brass 
 only by reference to the zinc ; so that in speaking of 6 to 8 oz. of 
 
170 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 exposure of the molten brass to the air during the pouring liberates 
 dense fumes of oxide of zinc, an imperfect protection from which is 
 adopted by the men, by tying a handkerchief over the mouth and 
 nostrils during the casting. The ingot of brass thus formed is in 
 some cases broken up and fused a second time with fresh zinc, or 
 calamine and charcoal ; but a good malleable brass may be produced 
 at a single fusion, provided the materials are good. If the brass is 
 to be rolled into sheets, or made into wire, it is cast into plates. 
 
 It is not necessary to notice the various articles in brass produced 
 at Birmingham by casting. The operation does not greatly differ 
 from that already described for cast articles in iron. There are, 
 however, a few articles in brass produced in enormous quantities, 
 
 these are smoothed and rounded between two parallel grooves of 
 steel (Fig. 131), about 18 inches long, one movable and the 
 other fixed. A semi-circular opening in each grooved piece 
 coming together once during each revolution of the handle, allows 
 a blank to be dropped into the grooves, which blank, revolving as 
 it proceeds between the two pieces of steel, reaches a hole at a, 
 where it falls into a basket beneath. The blanks are next planished 
 under a polished steel hammer, and are now ready to receive 
 the shanks. These are made of brass wire in a machine, in 
 which a coil of wire gradually advances one end to a pair of 
 shears, where short pieces being cut off, a metal finger presses 
 against each short piece in the middle, bending it, and forcing it 
 
 Figs. 127, 128, 129. — brass door-handles, by Messrs, hart. 
 
 which require to be noticed, such as buttons and pins. Gilt buttons 
 are made of sheet-copper with a small alloy of zinc. It is supplied 
 in strips of the exact thickness, and is first cut into round disks or 
 blanks by means of a circular cutter or punch at an ordinary fly- 
 press. Besides the common gilt button, which is flat on both sides, 
 
 Fig. 130. — PUNCHING BLANKS. 
 
 a convex button — such as is worn by pages — is very common ; to 
 produce which the flat blanks are placed one at a time in a fly-press, 
 furnished with a concave mould and a convex punch, which being 
 brought down upon the soft metal, forces it into the bed, and gives 
 it the required shape. Some buttons are convex in front, and closed 
 in behind with another piece of metal, also convex on the outer 
 surface, but less so than in front. Such are called shell buttons. 
 The two pieces are made separately, and are brought together by 
 the action of a die and a punch, whereby the edge of the shell is 
 bent over, and lapped neatly down upon the button without any 
 soldering. Metal buttons, with holes through them instead of a 
 shank, are made by first 
 stamping out the blanks, next 
 punching them a little concave 
 in the middle, then punching 
 out the holes, and next rub- 
 bing down their edges with a 
 blunt steel tool, to prevent 
 Fi <f - 131 * them from cutting the thread. 
 
 The flat blanks, as formed by punching, are sharp at the edges ; 
 
 between the jaws of a vice, which compress it so as to form an 
 eye. A small hammer then strikes the two ends, flattening them, 
 and finishing the shank, which is now pushed out of the machine. 
 The shanks are placed on the blanks, and are held in position 
 by means of a small spring clasp of iron wire ; a small quantity of 
 solder and resin are applied to the spot where the shank is to be 
 fixed, and several hundred blanks being thus prepared, are placed 
 on iron plates in an oven, when the solder melts, and afterwards, on 
 cooling, firmly unites the shank to the blank. If the button is to be 
 decorated with a crest or inscription, this is raised by stamping ; a 
 die containing the crest or device is attached to a heavy weight or 
 monkey, moving between two upright posts, suspended by a cord 
 passing over a pulley, and ending in a 
 stirrup-iron, into which the workman 
 inserts his foot. In the bed is another 
 die, containing the maker’s name and 
 a hole for the shank. In this way 
 blanks are ornamented with ease and 
 rapidity (Fig. 132). The buttons are 
 cleaned in a week solution of nitric 
 acid, and silvered in a mixture of silver, 
 common salt, cream of tartar, and some 
 other ingredients. If required to be 
 gilt they are made chemically clean, 
 and immersed in a solution of nitrate 
 of mercury, which covers them with a 
 thin film of mercury. The gold is made 
 into an amalgam with mercury, into 
 which buttons are immersed, or only 
 their faces are brushed over therewith. 
 
 Such is the divisibility of gold, that 
 from 2i to 5 grains of the precious metal 
 are sufficient to gild 144 one-inch buttons. 
 
 The gold is made to appear by driving off the mercury by means of 
 heat, for which purpose the buttons are put in a cage, and placed 
 within a furnace arranged so as to condense and preserve the fumes 
 of mercury. The cage is kept in constant motion by a woman seated 
 before the furnace, as shown in Fig. 133. After this operation the 
 gold is of a dull dingy colour-, but it is made resplendent by burnish- 
 ing in a lathe with bloodstone. 
 
 Covered buttons are now made in enormous quantities, and much 
 ingenious machinery has been contrived for producing them cheaply 
 and quickly. The parts of a common Florentine button are very 
 numerous, and are cut out at the fly-press. First there is a metal 
 shell, a front and side view of which is shown at No. 1, Fig. 134 ; 
 
 Fig. 132.— THE STAMPING-PRESS. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 177 
 
 secondly, a metal collet, with an oblong hole for the shank of the 
 button (No. 2) ; a circular piece of silk or other woven material 
 
 >'<!/. 133. — DUYINC-UKK. 
 
 (No. 3); the padding (No. 4), which lies under the collet, and has 
 a thread wound round it at right angles with the oblong hole of the 
 collet — this padding is made up of several layers of soft paper and a 
 
 Fij, 134 . 
 
 layer of silk over them, the whole forming. the back of the button. 
 In putting the parts together, No. 3 is placed on the face of a mould 
 No. 5, No. 1 is placed on the silk, and the two are pressed to the 
 bottom by means of a punch, which being removed, a hollow tool 
 (No. 6) is forced into the die, by which the edges of the silk are 
 brought towards the centre, and made to overlap the shell; the 
 collet (2) with the padding (4) is next dropped into the mould 
 through a hollow tool (7) ; a punch passed down the hollow tool 
 forces the padding and the edges of the outer covering of the button 
 into the shell. The button is now removed by passing a wire up 
 through the bottom channel, and a final pressure is given to the 
 button by a punch with a plane face. In this kind of button the 
 place of shank is supplied by a portion of the material projecting 
 from the hole in the collet No. 2. 
 
 Pins are produced from wire, which is furnished to the pin-maker 
 in a soft state, and his first operation is to make it clean, hard, and 
 of the proper size; for which purpose it is pickled in dilute sulphuric 
 acid, washed, beaten, and dried, wound on a barrel, and passed 
 through a draw-plate, by which it is reduced to the proper size, and 
 made hard and bright. It is then pulled through another draw- 
 plate to straighten it, and is run out upon a low wooden bench or 
 trough 20 ft. long, and cut into lengths of 20 ft., which are again 
 cut with shears into shorter lengths, each sufficient for about 6 pins. 
 These pin wires are pointed at each end at a wheel or mill, consist- 
 ing of a circular single cut file, as many a3 50 or 80 being applied 
 
 at a time, the grinder spreading them out, and giving them a rotatory 
 motion between the thumb and fingers. The points are finished on 
 a finer wheel. Good ventilation is as necessary here as in the case 
 of needle-grinding, for the brass dust entering the eyes produces 
 blindness, and being inhaled leads to consumption, and also to the 
 curious effect of turning the hair of a green colour. A pin or blank 
 is cut from each end of the pointed wire, and the intermediate por- 
 tion has its blunt ends again pointed. Two more shafts are cut from 
 the wire, the intermediate portion is again pointed, and divided in 
 the middle, forming two more pin-shafts. The heads are prepared 
 from a finer and softer wire, which is first wound in a close coil 
 round a mould-wire 40 inches in length, of the thickness of the pin, 
 for which purpose the mould is attached to the spindle of a Jersey 
 spinning-wheel, and the heading wire being attached to the end of 
 the spindle, is passed with the mould through two small loops in a 
 wooden handle, which the attendant holds in her left hand to regu- 
 late the winding, while she turns the wheel with her right. As 
 the mould-wire rotates, the heading-wire being held to it at right 
 angles, is gradually coiled upon it, and when slipped off is cut up 
 into heads, each head being formed of 2 or 21 turns of the spiral. 
 The heads are cut by means of a sharp chisel, fixed vertically in a 
 wooden frame, and held down by a spring ; a lever from the upper 
 part of the chisel, becoming engaged for a moment in one of the cogs 
 of a tappet-wheel, is depressed, while the chisel is raised, but the 
 lever immediately escaping from the cog, the chisel is forced down 
 by the spring. Other cogs instantly coming into action, and being 
 released in the same way, a chopping motion is thus produced, and 
 the spirals, placed on a horizontal board, are gradually advanced 
 under the edge of the chisel in such a manner as to cut off two turns 
 from each spiral at each descent of the chisel. The pin-shafts are 
 headed by a boy, seated with a number of heads in his apron, who, 
 taking a number of the shafts in his hand, passes them through the 
 heads, when the wires catch up each a head, or it may be 2 or 3. 
 The superfluous ones being removed, the shafts are ready for 
 moulding, or fixing the heads securely ; for which purpose the pins 
 are placed, points downwards, one at a time in a steel die, the 
 counterpart of which is attached to a hammer, moving in vertical 
 guides, and regulated by a treadle acted on by the foot of the 
 workman. A single blow of this hammer on the top of the pin 
 shapes the head and fastens it. A small spring below the die raises 
 the pin immediately after the blow, and enables the man quickly to 
 remove it and substitute another. The pins are next cleaned by 
 boiling in sour beer, wine lees, or a solution of tartar, and they are 
 whitened or tinned by being interstrntified with grain-tin, to which 
 cream of tartar and water are added, the process being assisted by 
 heat. After this the pins are polished by being agitated in a 
 leather sack filled with bran, and this being separated by winnow- 
 ing, the pins are ready for papering. The papers are grooved with 
 crimping irons, and two of the folds being gathered together, are 
 placed between the jaws of a vice, with a small proportion project- 
 ing. The vice closes with a slight spring, and has grooves at the 
 top to regulate the distances of the pins. A girl, seated before the 
 vice with a lapfull of pins, passes a hand-comb through them, and 
 collecting the pins thus caught up in her fingers, presents the 
 points to the channels of the vice, and drives the points into the 
 paper: then opening the vice, she brings up a couple more folds of 
 the paper, and proceeds as before. Mourning pins are covered with 
 a black varnish instead of being tinned, but it is not uncommon to 
 form such pins of iron or steel wire, rendered deep blue or purple 
 by the action of heat. Pins are also produced by machinery, 
 although hand-made pins appear to be quite as cheap ; and in order 
 to form the solid head by jumping up the end of the wire, a softer 
 wire is required, and hence machine-made pins are liable to bend. 
 
 Birmingham has been distinguished of late years for its dazzling 
 displays of electro-plated and electro-gilt goods. The art of electro- 
 metallurgy, or electrotype, owes its origin to the fact that when a 
 voltaic current is passed through a metallic solution, decomposition 
 takes place ; the metal in a revived form attaches itself to the 
 negative pole or electrode , while the acid or alkali goes to the posi- 
 tive pole. This principle may be applied in a vast number of ways, 
 and with almost endless forms of apparatus. In the production of 
 plated goods, or the deposit of silver upon a baser metal, — such as 
 copper, brass, and German silver, which are much more readily 
 plated than iron, tin, zinc, pewter, or Britannia metal, — a solution 
 of cyanide of silver, dissolved in cyanide of potassium, has been 
 found best adapted for obtaining the silver precipitate. The articles 
 
 7 z 
 
178 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 to be plated are cleansed from grease by being boiled in an alkaline 
 lye, then washed and dipped in dilute nitric acid, for removing any 
 oxide from the surface : they are next brushed with Isle of Wight 
 sand. Each article is then suspended by a copper wire, dipped for 
 a moment into nitric acid, then into water, and then suspended in 
 the silver solution from the wire which crosses the mouth of the 
 vessel from the zinc of the battery. The article is instantly coated 
 with silver, and after a few seconds is taken out and brushed with 
 a hard hair brush and a little fine sand, or if the article be large, 
 with brushes of brass wire, attached to a lathe, the object of this 
 brushing being to remove any particles of foreign matter which 
 might prevent the perfect adhesion of the silver. The article is re- 
 placed in the solution, and in the course of a few houx-s a coating of 
 the thickness of tissue paper is deposited upon it, having the beautiful 
 matted appearance of dead silver. If this appearance is to be pi - e- 
 served the article must be taken out, and immersed for a few minutes 
 in boiling distilled water. If it is a medal it should be immediately 
 put into an air-tight frame ; if a figure, under a glass shade, as it 
 tarnishes in a few days by the formation of sulphuret of silver it 
 the air of rooms where there is a coal fire or gas burning. If the 
 article is not to have a dead surface, it is brushed with a wire brush 
 and old ale or beer, after which it is burnished with polished steel 
 or bloodstone. 
 
 The voltaic battery must be so arranged that the quantity of elec- 
 tricity generated may give the required coating of metal in a given 
 time, and the intensity sufficient to cause the electricity to pass 
 through the solution to the articles. The plates of metal forming 
 the positive pole in the solution should correspond in surface to the 
 articles to be coated, and face them on both sides. In Fig. 135 the 
 
 Fig. 136. 
 
 vat, or plating-vessel, V, is about 6j ft. long, 33 inches broad, and 
 33 inches deep, and contains from 200 to 250 gallons of solution. 
 The silver plates used as electrodes are fixed upon light iron frames. 
 Two battery troughs, arranged as at B, consist of 6 batteries of 3 
 pair intensity. The zinc plates are each 6 inches by 7 inches, thus 
 giving 504 square inches from which electricity is disengaged. The 
 zinc pole Z is connected with the rods R R, and the copper pole C is 
 connected with the metallic sheets P P in the solution, by means of 
 the copper slip F. The surfaces of the silver electi’odes exposed to 
 the articles receiving the deposit vary from 3000 to 4000 square 
 inches. D D are articles suspended in the solution by wires from 
 the rods rr, As soon as the articles, which are connected with the 
 negative pole of the battery, and the metallic sheets connected 
 with the positive pole, are both immersed in the solution, the voltaic 
 circuit is complete. The amount of metal deposited is ascertained 
 by weighing the articles befoi’e and after plating, allowance being 
 made for the loss occasioned by dipping in nitric acid. Any thick- 
 ness of silver may be given to a plate by allowing the action of the 
 battery to continue sufficiently long. From lloz. to 11 oz. of silver 
 to the square foot of surface forms a deposit about as thick as ordi- 
 nary writing-paper, and forms an excellent plate. To prevent the 
 deposit from being made unequally, and the silver from being porous, 
 the article should be kept in motion, for which purpose some simple 
 machinery is usually attached to the vat, and is moved by engine- 
 power or by clockwork. When the articles are taken out of the 
 solution they are dipped in water, then put into boiling water, and 
 dried in hot sawdust. Their colour is chalk white. After being 
 weighed they are brushed with fine wire brushes and stale beer, which 
 produces the appearance of bright metallic silver. The chalky 
 
 appearance may be prevented, and the deposit have the lustre of 
 bright metallic silver by adding to the solution a small quantity of 
 sulphuret of carbon. 
 
 Fig. 13G.— jog in electko-plate, bt eleington and co. 
 
 In the process of electro-gilding the solution is formed by dis- 
 solving gold in nitro-muriatic acid, digesting with calcined mag- 
 nesia, which precipitates the gold as an oxide ; this is boiled in 
 strong nitric acid, washed, and dissolved in cyanide of potassium, 
 
 Fig . 137. — TOILET-BOX IN electbo-plate, bt eleington and CO. 
 
 which gives cyanide of gold and potassium. The solution is used 
 at a temperature of at least 130°. The positive electrode of the 
 battery is of gold, the negative of iron or of copper in a porous 
 vessel charged with cyanide of potassium. The articles to be gilt 
 
 Fig. 138. — inkstand in electeo-plate, bt eleington and co. 
 
 are made chemically clean, and the gilding is rapidly performed: 
 a small article may be gilt in three or four minutes. Iron, tin, and 
 lead are difficult to gild unless a thin coating of copper be first 
 deposited upon them. The solution usually contains from half to 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR, 
 
 179 
 
 Fig. 139.— BASKET IN ELECTUO-PLATE, 
 
 one ounce of gold to the gallon, but for gilding rings, thimbles, &c., 
 and for covering small articles, such as medals, a weaker solution 
 will suffice. For large articles the solution should be of sufficient 
 depth to gild them at one operation, for if a portion of the article 
 be out of the solution, there will be a line mark at the point which 
 touches the surface, and at this surface line metals are acted upon 
 with great rapidity ; if the positive electrode is not wholly im- 
 mersed, it will quickly be cut through at the edge of the water, as 
 if with a knife — an effect which applies equally to silver, copper, 
 and other solutions. 
 
 With respect to the 
 quantity of gold de- 
 posited much will de- 
 pend on the uses to 
 which the articles are 
 applied. A few grains 
 of gold will impart a 
 gold colour to a large 
 surface, but it will not 
 last. A mere blush 
 may suffice for articles 
 not subjected to wear, 
 but a good coating 
 should be given to 
 watch-cases, pencil- 
 cases, chains, &c. An 
 ordinary sized watch- 
 case should have from 
 20 grains to 1 penny- 
 weight of gold, nearly 
 the whole of which should be on the outside, a mere colouring being 
 sufficient for the inside. Such a watch-case in ordinary wear will 
 !ast five or six years. Small silver chains, sold at about eight 
 shillings each, should have 12 grains of gold ; pencil-cases of 
 common size, from 3 to 5 grains ; a thimble, from 1 to 2 
 grains. 
 
 It need scarcely be remarked that, in order to cover one surface, 
 or a portion only of one surface of a body, the part not intended to 
 share in the deposit must be coated with wax, or some similar 
 non-conducting body. So also, on the other hand, a non-conducting 
 surface, such as a plaster-cast, Sic., may be made conducting by 
 brushing powdered plumbago, or black-lead, over it. 
 
 Ihe applications of the art of electro-metallurgy are very 
 numerous. It was at first applied chiefly to the copying of medals 
 and similar works in copper; it has been used for imparting a 
 coating of copper to cornices for decorated buildings, to terra-cotta, 
 wood-carvings, &c. Cloth has been covered and made to appear 
 like a sheet of copper, while retaining the lightness and pliability 
 of cloth. Lace has been covered with copper, and even gilt and 
 made into beautiful ornaments. Table-covers, with metallic orna- 
 ments richly gilt, have been prepared by this art ; the process has 
 also been applied to the preparing and etching of calico-printers’ 
 i oilers, to the art of engraving, stereotyping, and many other similar 
 purposes, quite as useful, although they do not make as much show, 
 as electro-plating, which, from the time of its introduction into 
 Birmingham, in 1840, by Mr. Elkington, has gradually risen into 
 an important manufacture there, at Sheffield, and at other places. 
 We give a number of specimens of this beautiful art ; the effect 
 produced by them is quite equal to solid silver or gold. They are 
 manufactured in the same manner as silver. The ornamental parts are 
 chased in solid metal, and only hard solder is used for the joints; the 
 base is a purified white nickel metal, very durable, and of the same 
 colour as the exterior. From the nature of the process the deposit 
 forms one body with the base, and no matter how elaborate the style, 
 whether embossed or engraved, it can be plated as easily as a plain 
 surface. With moderate care, such goods may last from ten to 
 twenty years, and when worn can be replated at moderate expense. 
 
 In Messrs. Elkington’s show-rooms may be seen beautiful speci- 
 mens of the art, such as flowers and shrubs, with all their delicate 
 details coated with metal — birds and insects, similarly preserved, by 
 being coated with zinc, silver, copper, or gold. Even a spider’s web 
 has in this way been covered with gold or silver. 
 
 The Birmingham Court contains a large number of locks, which, 
 if not made in Birmingham, owe their origin to the neighbouring 
 Wolverhampton district, and to Willenhall, the centre of the trade. 
 
 A formidable opposition to this manufacture has arisen in London, 
 
 I w ^ere Mr. Hobbs, an American locksmith, is performing by ma- 
 ! chinery those processes which had hitherto been executed by hand, 
 and had obtained for the English lock a world-wide celebrity. The 
 Great Exhibition of 1851, however, startled us out of our complacency 
 in this, as in some other subjects on which we had prided ourselves. 
 Our best locks were picked, and our manufacturers were compelled 
 resolutely to set to work so to improve their locks as to defy the 
 efforts of the scientific lock-picker. 
 
 Hie reader is of course aware that in the most common variety of 
 
 locks the principle of 
 security is the inser- 
 tion of wheels or 
 wards, so arranged as 
 to prevent the entrance 
 or revolution of any 
 lever or key which is 
 not formed with cor- 
 responding openings, 
 so as to thread its way 
 among them ; thus 
 Fig. 140 represents a 
 portion of the interior 
 of a common lock, with 
 two wards attached to 
 the back plate, and the 
 key upon the central 
 pin. The notches in 
 the key must evidently 
 
 UY MESSH3. CABTWRICUT AND BIBONS. be formed so as to allow' 
 
 the projecting wards 
 
 to pass freely into them, or the key would not turn round so as to 
 shoot the bolt. Further security is sought by making the bits of 
 the keys, and also the key-holes, of vari- 
 ous shapes, to prevent the introduction 
 of a false key; thus, in Fig. 141, the 
 bits abed are of different shapes ; e and 
 f resemble a, but the portions cut away 
 allow the key-hole to be so contracted 
 in those parts as to prevent the insertion 
 of another key not so indented. It 
 happens however, unfortunately, that 
 the wards of a lock may be very com- Fig. no. 
 
 plicated, and an efficient key be of the simplest character. For ex- 
 ample, in Fig. 142, the keys numbered 1, 2, 3, are of very different 
 
 Fig. 141. 
 
 pattern ; No. 1 has two plain or simple wards ; No. 2, two L - wards ; 
 No. 3, a T -ward between tw r o plain wards; and not one of these 
 three keys could be substituted for the other in opening their 
 
 respective locks. But it is evident that the only efficient portion in 
 these keys is the extremity of the bit shown in No. 4, which is called 
 a skeleton key, and this will open such locks as the first three keys 
 are intended for without touching the wards. The lock may be 
 made a little more secure by attaching wards to the front as well 
 
180 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 as to the back plate, in which case the key must be furnished with 
 corresponding notches, as in No. 5 ; but in such a case, a simple 
 pick like No. 12 would open such a lock, the theory of master-keys 
 being founded upon such defects. The keys No. 9, 10, and 11, so far 
 differ from each other that no one of them could be substituted for 
 the other, and yet the fourth, or master-key (No. 12), would open all 
 three, and even a whole suit of locks constructed on the same prin- 
 ciple. Indeed, it would be possible to make locks for all the doors of 
 all the houses in London, with a distinct and different key for each 
 lock, and yet with one master-key to open the whole. Such keys as 
 Nos. 6 and 7 represent good forms of wards, but such keys are weak, 
 and will not bear much wear and tear. No. 8 is a key with a solid 
 3hank, adapted to a lock which can be opened on both sides. All 
 the other keys are called pipe-keys, adapted to locks with a central 
 pin, and can be opened on one side only. 
 
 The second principle of security in locks is the introduction of 
 tumblers. A tumbler is a sort of spring-latch which detains the 
 bolt of the lock, so as to prevent it from moving until the key in 
 turning lifts the tumbler out of contact with the bolt before moving 
 
 by the application of the true key; b is the bolt into which is 
 rivetted the stump s ; t are the six tumblers moving on the centre- 
 pin a ; d is a divided spring pressing upon the ends of the six 
 tumblers ; e is the detector-spring ; and it will be noticed that the 
 back-tumbler has a projecting piece near the detector- 
 spring, with a stud or pin p fixed into it. Fig. 146 is 
 the key. It is evident that the bolt b is held by the 
 stump s pressing against the shoulders of the tumblers, 
 and that the bolt cannot pass unless the tumblers be 
 raised to such a height as to allow the stump to pass 
 through the gatings of the tumbler at n. There 
 are no ordinary means of ascertaining when any one 
 tumbler is lifted too high or not high enough, and it 
 is still more difficult to ascertain the combination of 
 the six. Should a false key be inserted, and one 
 of the tumblers be raised beyond its proper position. 
 
 Fig 143. 
 
 it. Figs. 143, 144, will show the difference between a warded and 
 a tumbler lock, and the means by which the bolt is kept in the 
 position in which it is left by the key. Fig. 143 is a back-spring 
 lock ; the bolt b is represented as half-shot, or half-locked, and it can 
 be moved either to the right or to the left by the action of the bit 
 of the key within the semi-circular cavity of the bolt. At the top 
 of the bolt is a spring s, formed by cutting a strip of metal from 
 the bolt itself, and bending it so that its upward pressure causes 
 the bolt to press upon the edge of the rim. When entirely locked 
 or unlocked, one of the notches n or n falls into the edge of the rim, 
 and holds the bolt ; when half-locked, as in the figure, the convex 
 surface between the two notches rests upon the edge. This lock is 
 open to the serious defect that the bolt can be moved backwards or 
 forwards by applying pressure to either end of it — a defect which 
 is got over in the tumbler-lock, Fig. 144, where, instead of the 
 spring s, Fig. 143, the bolt b has two notches n n' in its upper 
 edge, and behind the bolt is the spring-catch or tumbler i, moving 
 on a pivot at one end, and pressed down by the action of a spring 
 on its upper edge. The portion of the tumbler concealed by the 
 bolt is represented by the dotted line. At the upper angle of the 
 tumbler is a projecting stud or stump s, which, when the bolt is 
 fully shot, falls into the notch n, and holds it until the key is 
 inserted, the bit of which touches the lower edge of the tumbler, 
 raises the stump out of the notch, and releases the bolt, which 
 can be shot forward until the notch n' comes under the stump which 
 falls in and secures the bolt. It will be evident from this arrange- 
 ment that no pressure applied to either extremity of the bolt will 
 have the effect of shooting it. 
 
 I, 
 
 Fig. 14G. 
 
 the detector-spring e will catch the back tumbler, and hold it 
 
 so as to prevent the bolt from passing, and on the next appli- 
 cation of the true key it will be discovered that a tumbler has 
 been over-lifted in the attempt to pick the lock, as the true key 
 will not at once unlock it. But by turning the key the reverse 
 way, the tumblers will be brought to their proper bearing, and 
 allow the bolt to move forward, and the stump to enter the 
 notches n 1 : the bevelled part of the bolt will then lift up the 
 detector-spring, and allow the back tumbler to fall into its place. 
 The lock can now be opened and shut in the ordinary manner. 
 By means of the pin p attached to the back tumbler, and extend- 
 ing across the other five, should any one be raised too high, it 
 would raise this pin so as to catch into the detector-spring. The 
 action of the bit of the key in raising the tumblers is for the lowest 
 step, or that next to the end of the key, to operate on the bolt, 
 while the other steps move the tumblers to the exact height neces- 
 sary for the stump to pass. By varying the length of these steps, 
 endless varieties of lock may be contrived. During the Great 
 Exhibition of 1851, the startling announcement was made that such 
 locks as the above admitted of being easily picked. Mr. Hobbs, an 
 American locksmith, embodied the art of lock-picking in the 
 following axiom : — “ That wherever the parts of a lock which come 
 
 Such is the tumbler-lock in one of its simplest forms. Fig. 145 
 represents a complicated form of tumbler-lock, consisting of six 
 distinct double-acting tumblers, and a detector, by which if, in an 
 attempt to pick or open the lock with a false key one of the 
 tumblers be lifted too high, it is retained, and can only be released 
 
 Fig. 147. — Hobbs' pbotectob luce. 
 
 in contact with the key are affected by any pressure applied to the 
 bolt, that lock can be picked.” In picking such a lock as that 
 represented in Fig. 145, a skeleton bit was inserted •n l m Dffl lfii l( r 
 in the lock, turned, and made to act with pressure 
 against the bolt b, the effect of which pressure would 
 be to bring the stump s up against the shoulders of 
 the tumblers. A second skeleton bit being then in- Fig. in- 
 troduced, each tumbler is gently raised until pressure ceases to be 
 exerted; the last tumbler being thus operated on, 
 the bolt will pass. To prevent such pressure being . 
 applied with effect, Mr. Hobbs contrived a lock re- 
 presented in Figs. 147, 148, 149, in which b b is the 
 bolt, tt the tumblers, with the usual slots or gatings 
 through which the stump s must pass when the 
 bolt is being shot or unshot. Now instead of 
 ri vetting this stump firmly into the bolt, it is 
 attached to a piece of metal shown separately in 
 Fig. 148, the hole h fitting on a centre-pin in a 
 recess formed at the back of the bolt, and the stump, 
 passing through a slot in the bolt, occupies its usual 
 position in tumbler locks. There is also a small 
 binding spring to prevent the piece from turning of Fig. 149 . 
 itself. When the key, Fig. 149, is applied to the lock, and the 
 tumblers are properly adjusted, the stump, meeting with no obstruc- 
 I tion, passes through the gating of the tumbler; but should an 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 181 
 
 attempt be made to shoot the bolt before the tumblers are all 
 properly raised, the stump, meeting with a resistance, turns the 
 piece to which it is attached in its centre, and brings the tongue p 
 into contact with a stud rivetted into the case of the lock, thereby 
 preventing the possibility of withdrawing the bolt, at the same 
 time releasing the tumblers from any pressure, so that their 
 position cannot be ascertained. In Fig. 147, d is a lever catching 
 into the top of the bolt, serving as an additional security against 
 its being shot back, k is the pin on which the key turns, and r 
 is a piece on which the tumblers rest. 
 
 In return for the compliment of picking Mr. Chubb’s lock, 
 Mr. Chubb picked Mr. Hobbs's, the effect of which competition led 
 both parties to study the weak points of their respective inventions, 
 and to introduce such improvements as to render their locks, if not 
 absolutely inviolable, at least more safe than locks have been at any 
 former period. Other inventors, too. have come forward with many 
 ingenious combinations, all tending to security. Among these must 
 be mentioned Mi*. E. B. Denison’s lock, Parnell’s, Puckeridge’s, and 
 Cotterill’s, the last of which has, we believe/ resisted the efforts of 
 
 Mr. Hobbs to pick. Our object is not in this place to give a treatise 
 on locks,* but merely to state a few leading principles in their 
 construction, to enable the reader the better to enjoy his visit to 
 the Birmingham Court. We may therefore conclude this part of 
 our subject by briefly describing the principle of the Bramah lock. 
 In Fig. 150, B is a bolt capable of being moved backwards and 
 forwards in the rectangular frame ff. In this bolt are six notches, 
 into which are exactly fitted the six slides abode f and it will be 
 seen that, in the represented position of these slides, the bolt B 
 cannot move. These slides admit of being moved up and down in 
 the notches of the bolt B, and they are themselves furnished with 
 notches 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 
 
 If by any means the 
 slides be so raised 
 that all their notches 
 coincide with the bolt, 
 it is evident that the 
 bolt can then be 
 moved backwards and 
 forwards. Such an 
 elevation of the slides 
 may be brought about 
 by means of the tally 
 T, which, being press- 
 ed against the lower 
 ends of the slides, 
 will raise them all 
 unequally, but suffi- 
 ciently to bring their 
 notches into one hori- 
 zontal line, and thus 
 allow the bolt to pass. 
 
 If only the lower ends 
 of the slides be ex- 
 posed to view, it is Fig. 
 
 evident that without such a key or tally it would be difficult, if 
 not impossible, t o ascertain how far to press in the sliders, so as to 
 
 *J*"> f, e i de , r . lnte , rcsted in !“ks is referred to one of Mr. iVealo's scries, 
 “hS^ldSoT^nd^lSdS?' 1 the C “ str “‘ i “ ° f ” edited by 
 
 Messrs. Chubb have attracted attention to their locks in an 
 especial manner by exhibiting some beautiful designs, one of which 
 
 is represented at Fig. 
 131. It is of pure 
 polished steel, excel- 
 lent in execution. 
 The lock and key, 
 Fig. 152, are by 
 Mr. J. Gibbons, jun., 
 of Wolverhampton. 
 He calls it an im- 
 proved lock for doors, 
 park -gates, &c. 
 
 Conspicuous among 
 Birmingham wares 
 are the multifarious 
 works in papier 
 machi, often pain- 
 fully forcing them- 
 selves upon the atten- 
 tion by over-orna- 
 mentation, impossible 
 landscapes, and mo- 
 ther-of-pearl rivers 
 
 ]5] and moonlights, 
 
 which tell sad talcs 
 
 of misapplied labour and ingenuity. Many articles, however, are 
 in good taste, and such specimens, we hope, are rapidly on the 
 increase. The visitors to the Great Exhibition will probably 
 remember the large collections of japanned ware from Japan and 
 China, and will agree in the remark of the Jury Report which 
 
 3 A 
 
 allow the bolt to pass. The Bramah lock is an ingenious appli- 
 cation of such an arrangement. 
 
 
 
Fig. 153 . 
 
 By the second method, as conducted at Birmingham, unsized 
 paper is saturated with a solution of flour and glue, and is applied 
 to an iron, brass, or copper mould in repeated layers, a drying 
 heat of about 100° being applied after each coat. When suffi- 
 
 The two articles represented in Figs. 157, 158, belong to this house. 
 The legitimate application of papier mache may be seen in Fig. 159, 
 which represents a group of trays, the centre of which was made 
 for the Duchess of Sutherland ; its shape was expressly designed 
 
 Fig. 154 . 
 
 182 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 equalities are removed with pumice-stone, and the ornament is next 
 applied in bronze-powder, gold, or colour. Shell-lac varnish is put 
 on with several coats; the article is again stoved, and polished with 
 rotten-stone and oil, and finished by hand-rubbing. 
 
 The Birmingham firm of Jennens and Bettridge is celebrated for 
 
 Papier mache architectural ornaments are prepared by glueing 
 sheets of brown paper together, and pressing the paper into a metal 
 mould of the ornament required; the moulded paper is trimmed to 
 shape, and a composition of paper pulp, rosin, and glue, is put into 
 the mould, and the paper being again inserted and pressure applied, 
 
 refers to them, that “ vulgar forms and bad ornament are not 
 necessarily connected with cheap manufacture.” 
 
 Articles in papier mache are produced by pressing the pulp of 
 paper between dies, or by pasting paper in sheets upon models ; 
 when dry, the articles are varnished, japanned, and ornamented. 
 
 Various cheap articles are 
 manufactured in Paris by the 
 first process, out of the paper 
 and paste supplied by the bill- 
 stickers, whose bills are pulled 
 down by night, mashed in 
 water, and pressed in moulds. 
 
 this branch of manufacture ; their factory is open to visitors at 
 certain times during the week, and their show-rooms contain an 
 endless variety of objects in this material, including tables, chairs, 
 screens, work-boxes, inkstands, portfolios, and a piano. We give a 
 few engravings of objects exhibited by this firm (Figs. 153, 154, 155, 
 156); although we cannot with- 
 hold our opinion that some of 
 the forms represented do not 
 belong to the material. Messrs. 
 
 M'Cullom and Hodgson, of Bir- 
 mingham, have also attained 
 celebrity in this manufacture. 
 
 Fig. 156 . 
 
 ciently thick, the shell thus formed is removed from the mould, 
 planed and filed to shape. A tar varnish, mixed with lamp-black, 
 is laid on, and the article is stoved. Other coats of varnish are 
 added, the storing being applied after each varnishing. The in- 
 
 Fig. 158 . 
 
 to admit the tea-urn nearer to the dispensers of the tea, the urn 
 being placed in the deeply indented portion. The tray to the left 
 is richly inlaid with patent pearl ornaments. The design of the 
 other tray is plainer. 
 
 Fig. 157 . 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 1S3 
 
 the composition adheres to it, and produces a sharp, ■well-defined 
 ornament. Carton-pierre ornaments are formed of paper-pulp, 
 whiting, and glue, pressed into plaster piece-moulds backed with 
 paper, and when sufficiently set, hardened by drying in a hot 
 room. Fig. 160 is a candelabrum in wood and carton-pierre, gilt in 
 
 Fig. 160. 
 
 imitation of or-molu ; it stands eight feet high, and was exhibited 
 by Mr. G. Brown, of London. 
 
 In a general display of Birmingham goods, lamps and their 
 accompanying decorations are conspicuous objects. It is not 
 necessary to describe the various processes of casting, &c., by which 
 a lamp is produced. We prefer to give a few particulars respecting 
 the principles on which lamps are constructed. A lamp does not 
 differ from a candle in its action, for in a candle, just below the 
 flame, a cup of melted matter is formed, which is drawn up to feed 
 the flame by the capillary attraction of 
 the twisted wick. In a lamp the oil is 
 drawn up in a similar manner, but the 
 reservoir for supplying the wick is at 
 some distance from the oil which is about 
 to undergo combustion. The antique lamp, 
 Fig. 161, is constructed with great sim- 
 plicity, although made the subject of artistic beauty. It consists 
 simply of an extended open or closed vessel, 
 with an unspun wick rising through a hole 
 in the beak. In such a construction the oil 
 raised by the wick varies in quantity with 
 the supply in the lamp ; combustion takes 
 place only on the outside, where the air is 
 in contact with the flame, and as the amount 
 of carbon liberated from the oil is greater 
 than can be appropriated by the oxygen sur- 
 rounding the flame, some of the carbon must 
 Fig. 162. escape unconsumed in the form of smoke. 
 
 Moreover, the shadow cast by such a lamp must greatly interfere 
 with its illuminating power. The shadow may be diminished by 
 bringing the flame forward away from the vessel, as in the old 
 
 Fig. Id. 
 
 Fig. 103. 
 
 kitchen lamp, Fig. 162, where, in proportion as the distance be- 
 tween the beak and the reservoir is great, so the angle b a c becomes 
 more acute, and consequently the shadow less. 
 
 In the construction of a good lamp the wick should be so arranged 
 that the quantity of oil decomposed by the heat, and the supply of 
 air required for its combustion, bear such a relation to each other that 
 the hydrogen and carbon of the decomposed oil pass off as vapour 
 of water and carbonic acid without the production of any visible 
 smoke. The second point to be attended to is to maintain the flame 
 at the same distance from the surface of the oil, so that the capillary 
 action of the wick may remain the same; thirdly, the oil vessel 
 should be placed so as to throw as little shadow ns possible ; 
 fourthly, the light should be thrown by means of collectors, or 
 reflectors, from those parts where it is of little use into directions 
 where it is most required. In the Argand lamp, a cylindrical wick 
 is used, and the air which 
 supports the combustion is 
 directed by means of a glass 
 chimney and other arrange- 
 ments up through the cylin- 
 der, as well as along its ex- 
 terior. The burner is formed 
 of two metallic cylinders c d, 
 
 Fig. 163, one within the other, 
 the annular space between 
 them, which is closed at the 
 bottom, contains the wick and 
 a portion of the oil. The 
 oil vessel v v surrounds the 
 burner at some distance, and 
 supplies this annular space 
 with oil by means of the tube 
 t, the other tube t' being a 
 counter support for the oil vessel. The inner cylinder is open both 
 at top and bottom, so that the flame is surrounded by two concentric 
 currents of air, which, assisted by theglass chimney, stream in through 
 | openings below with considerable force, placing the flame in the con- 
 dition of a small furnace, in which combustion is rapid but perfect, 
 and the heat and the light great in proportion. The glass chimney 
 first used was a simple, straight cylinder, but this was found to 
 supply too much air, the excess serving not to feed the flame, but to 
 cool it. This was remedied by contracting the diameter of the 
 glass at a certain height above the burner, as at b, so as to form a 
 shoulder against which the air should impinge, and thus be directed 
 to the flame. Various forms have been given to the oil vessel for 
 diminishing the shadow. In Phillips’s Simimbra lamp, the three 
 I surfaces of the oil vessel, Fig. 164, 
 meet in the form of a flat wedge, 
 
 I the sharp edge of which is directed 
 1 towards the flame. The position of I 
 the flame with respect to the oil Fi 0- 1C4 - 
 
 I vessel is such that two tangents drawn from the apex and base of 
 the flame to the oil vessel meet a few inches behind it in x , 
 
 J Fig. 165. Beyond this the vessel can cast no shadow, and within 
 j the space where .... 
 
 the shadow is {! \ 
 
 cast it is destroy- 
 ! ed by theground- 
 i glass shade. The 
 wick is moved 
 as follows: — the 
 j inner cylinder f 
 i is furnished with 
 
 ! a spiral groove, into which the short peg a 
 of the wick-holder e fits. On turning the 
 holder round, the peg moves along the 
 | groove, and forces the holder up or down. 
 
 ' The holder is turned by the cylinder d, 
 
 I which has a long slit in its side, into which 
 j a second peg b, attached to the outer side 
 ! of e fits. By this arrangement d can be 
 , moved freely up or down, taking with it 
 the wick-liolder. In order that d may 
 move easily, it is attached to the support of the chimney, and termi- 
 nates at the upper part in a thick ring, which rests upon the edge 
 ; of the cylinder c, made lower for the purpose, and thus the whole 
 
 Fig. 165. 
 
is brought up to tlie full height of the burner. The supports for the 
 chimney are fixed in this rim, on turning which by hand d is at the 
 same time moved, and with it the wick. 
 
 In what are called fountain reservoir lamps, the oil vessel is 
 placed on one side of the burner, so that its shadow may fall upon 
 the wall, or to that part of the room where the light is least wanted. 
 'J he reservoir may consist of an ornamental globe or vase G, Fig. 166, 
 
 from the lower part of which proceeds a tube, closed at the bottom 
 by a thumb-screw s. There is a hole in the side of the tube, which 
 can be opened or closed by depressing or raising the short cylinder 
 s by means of its handle h. The globe is filled by pouring oil into 
 the lower opening while the vessel is inverted and the hole closed. 
 The screw is then put in, the vessel turned over and screwed into 
 the neck of the oil cistern o. On depressing the handle h, the oil 
 flows out, passes along the tube c, and ascends to the wick as far as 
 the dotted line. As the oil is consumed and falls below the level of 
 this line, air enters the oil cistern through a hole at x, a bubble of 
 air passes up through the hole, and a corresponding quantity of oil 
 escapes from the reservoir, thus maintaining the level marked by 
 the dotted line. When the lamp is extinguished the handle li is 
 drawn up, thus cutting off the supply of oil. The arrows show the 
 direction of the double current of air, and it is a cup for catching 
 any oil that may overflow, w is the circular wick attached to e the 
 wick-holder, which slides up and down on the tube f. I I is the 
 gallery for supporting the glass chimney g. 
 
 To get rid of the shadow, lamps have been constructed with the 
 oil vessel at the foot, the oil being raised by various kinds of appa- 
 ratus. In Girard’s lamp the oil is raised by the compression of 
 air. In Iveir’s hydrostatic lamp the oil is raised to the wick, and 
 sustained by a column of a solution of salt and water, of such density 
 that it will balance a column of oil 4-3rds its own weight. In some 
 forms of lamp the oil is raised by a pumping apparatus placed with 
 the oil in the pedestal. In Carcel’s clockivorlc or mechanical lamp, 
 the oil is pumped up from the foot of the lamp by clockwork, in such 
 quantity as to exceed its consumption, the unconsumed portion flows 
 back over the outside of the burner to the reservoir, making it 
 necessary to screw up the wick higher than in common lamps, and 
 hence the flame being raised more above the edge of the burner, no 
 cai'bonaceous matter is produced on the wick or about the edge to 
 interfere with the regular flow of oil. Carcel’s lamp has been 
 modified and improved in various ways, among which may be 
 noticed Meyer’s elliptic lamp. It is adapted to the combustion of 
 crude vegetable oils ; the oil is contained in the foot in a cylindrical 
 vessel, in which a leathern piston or valve is worked up and down 
 by means of a rack and pinion. At the top of the solid stem of the 
 lamp is a strong spiral spring, which presses on the piston so long 
 as it is above the bottom of the oil vessel. Between the coils of this 
 spring, and passing air-tight through the piston, is a tube ter- 
 minating in a funnel-shaped mouth in the oil-vessel; this mouth is 
 covered with a perforated dish for straining the oil. The oil is forced 
 up this tube to the burner, on approaching which it receives a fine 
 silver tube several inches long, and l-30th inch internal diameter, 
 surrounded by a cup of wire-gauze of tinned copper for straining 
 the oil. The resistance offered by this narrow tube regulates the 
 
 flow of oil, and its length and bore are so proportioned to the force 
 of the spring that enough oil is brought up to supply the flame with 
 an additional quantity to overflow and keep the metal parts of the 
 wick cool. The lamp is filled with oil at a point above the spiral 
 spring, and it flows down and rests on the top of the piston ; then 
 by winding up the rack-work with a key, the piston is raised to 
 the top of the cylindrical oil vessel ; the ascension- tube with the 
 burner attached is next pushed down by hand through the piston, 
 and the oil is thus brought into a position below the piston, when 
 the spring, in forcing the piston down, raises the oil. In pressure 
 lamps the management of the mechanism involves much trouble 
 and requires some experience, and must, we should think, be liable 
 to get out of order. 
 
 In Parker’s economic or hot-oil lamp, the oil vessel is placed 
 above the flame, the object being to throw the shadow in a 
 direction where it cannot interfere injuriously with the light, and 
 also to overcome the consistency of crude whale oil. In this lamp 
 R R, Fig. 167, is the oil vessel, a double cylinder of metal surrounding 
 
 the upper part of the chimney. The hot oil descends by the arm a 
 to the burner; this arm has a slide valve D, worked by a trigger T, 
 by raising which the supply of oil can be cut off, and the oil vessel 
 removed to be filled. The flame is regulated by raising or lowering 
 the bell-mouthed chimney-glass G, which rests upon three points 
 below, and is moved by rack and pinion H. The wick is not 
 movable as in ordinary lamps, and a fresh wick must be inserted 
 every time the lamp is used. A frame F supports a shade s of glass 
 or paper. 
 
 The facility with which volatile oils liberate their carbon renders 
 them generally inapplicable to the purposes of illumination; they 
 
 AAA 
 
 may, however, be used by increasing the draught 
 of air, or by lessening their percentage of carbon 
 by dilution. Thus oil of turpentine, mixed with 
 four parts alcohol of 90 per cent, strength, has its 
 carbon reduced from 88 to 63 per cent., and the 
 lamp for burning such a mixture is shown in 
 section Fig. 168 ; in which A is the reservoir, B the 
 burner, descending nearly to the bottom, and con- 
 sisting of a wide metal tube a a fitting tightly into 
 another tube u u, which surrounds a loose cotton 
 wick 0 0 , and fastens it by the semi-circular piece x. 
 
 The tube narrows into d, and terminates in a 
 knob c, which is the real burner. At the base 
 of h are ten or twelve holes 3 inch bore, arranged 
 in a circle. The lamp is lighted by pouring a little 
 spirits of wine into the cup ee; inflammable 
 vapour then issues from the holes b, which, being 
 ignited, produces the flames ff surrounding the 
 knob c, the heat of which keeps up the vaporisa- 
 tion. The light is brilliant, but expensive. 
 
 Mr. Marbe, of Birmingham, has contrived various 
 lamps on this principle. 
 
 Lamps without wicks have been contrived for burning naptha. 
 In Beale’s steam and vapour lamp, a current of air traverses the 
 naptha, and becomes saturated with it. In D’Hanen’s lamp, the 
 flame proceeds from a knob surrounded by ten holes, as in Fig. 168. 
 
 Fig. 1C8. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 185 
 
 
 F " J 170, Fig. 17 1. Fig.m. 
 
 manufactures would require an extensive work. That large 1 produced of great beauty in design and excellence of workmanship, 
 and important portion of them included under the general term i but adapted only to the resources of the wealthy. In order to produce 
 of hardware (see note, p. 169) was favourably viewed by the Jury | such works in large quantities, and at a cheap rate, it was necessary 
 
 3 B 
 
 Both lamps produce dazzling white flames. Camphine, obtained by 
 distilling oil of turpentine over chloride of calcium, so as to free it 
 from water, is a powerful illuminating body, containing as it does 
 88 46 per cent, of carbon, and 11 ‘54 of hydrogen ; it is decomposed 
 with great ease, and an- 
 swers well, if properly 
 supplied with air for the 
 complete combustion of 
 its ingredients. Should 
 the supply of air be at 
 all deficient, large flakes 
 of soot escape uncon- 
 sumed. 
 
 Various other forms of 
 lamps might be noticed 
 in connection with the 
 Birmingham trade, such 
 as light-house lamps, rail- 
 way lamps, &c., of too 
 special a character to call 
 for detail in this place. 
 
 We must, however, refer 
 to the large amount of 
 employment, and the ex- 
 ercise of taste in connec- 
 tion with lamps and gas- 
 fittings. We give a few 
 specimens by Mr. Potts, 
 of Birmingham, who has 
 done so much to advance 
 the character of the bronze 
 and brass-work of that 
 town. Mr. Potts was 
 the first to introduce the 
 application of a ceramic 
 substance, statuary porcelain, for ornamental purposes in con- 
 junction with metal in chandelier lustres, lamp brackets, &c. 
 (Figs. 169, 170, 171). Fig. 172 is by Mr. R. W. Winfield, of Bir- 
 mingham ; it is a brass lamp with the bowl of 
 semi-poreelain. The group of candelabra, table 
 lamps, and gas-chandeliers (Fig. 1 73), is by Messrs. 
 
 Salt and Lloyd, of Birmingham. All the orna- 
 ments are from natural objects. 
 
 We have thus far illustrated some of the most 
 conspicuous and remarkable manufactures of Bir- 
 mingham. To give a full notice of all these 
 
 of the Great Exhibition of 1851 ; but, as in many other in- 
 stances, mechanical skill was generally superior to artistic design. 
 In the various articles intended to supply the every-day wants 
 and the conveniences of life, the contributions of the British 
 
 hardware manufacturer 
 are stated in the Jurv 
 Report to be “ chiefly pre- 
 eminent for excellence of 
 workmanship and ma- 
 terial, contrivance, inge- 
 nuity, mechanical skill, 
 and other qualities." It 
 is further stated that, 
 “ with the advantages of 
 cheap material, superior 
 and powerful machinerv, 
 and a commercial demand 
 of such extent as to in- 
 sure while it invigorates 
 and directs the efforts to 
 supply, British hardware 
 of the commoner sort 
 stands unrivalled in its 
 variety, its utility, and 
 excellence of workman- 
 ship, and in its adaption 
 to the wants and wishes of 
 every class of purchasers.” 
 The deficiency of British 
 hardware in point of taste 
 is not only due to defec- 
 tive design, but to a dis- 
 position among mechanics 
 to bestow a kind of 
 mechanical high polish 
 and finish upon their work, rather than to make their work subor- 
 dinate to the due expression and development of the design. Hence 
 accurate modelling can be of no avail if the workman is at liberty 
 to abrade the surface so as to attain that amount 
 of polish and high finish which he thinks neces- 
 sary to good workmanship. 
 
 Before the introduction of machinery, and before 
 the middle classes of society were in a condition 
 to procure or even appreciate works in art-manu- 
 facture, the artists and the artificer were .usually 
 one and the same individual. Works were thus 
 
186 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 to substitute machinery for hand-labour, and this at once broke up 
 the relation of the artist to the artificer, and tended for a time, at 
 least, to injure artistic production. The objects first produced by the 
 new method would be simple in form and as little ornamented as pos- 
 sible, in fact they would be mechanical rather than artistic. If the 
 manufacturer found it necessary to employ an artist at all, the latter 
 would find himself trammelled by the very method of production. 
 In process of time, however, as the resources of manufacture im- 
 proved, artists would endeavour so to vary and adjust their designs 
 as to make them capable of being executed and multiplied by 
 machine-labour. The mind of the artist would accommodate itself 
 to the new circumstances of production more readily than the 
 artisan : the former may furnish effective designs for casting in 
 bronze and other metals, while the tendency on the part of the 
 artisan to high finish would lead him to spoil the details of form or 
 surface, as rendered by the mould, by injudicious chiselling, and 
 other operations. So great was this evil found to be some years 
 
 its progress to commercial demand. “ It is a vigorous and inde- 
 pendent manufacturing system arising out of the substitution of 
 machinery for hand-labour wherever it was practicable — a system 
 which, not only impelled by necessity, but induced by interest, 
 developed itself solely or chiefly in the first instance in the direc- 
 tion of the indispensable, the useful, and the convenient, and which, 
 by a natural progression, is tending towards the ornamental, and is 
 now in fact exhibiting signs of the fermentation consequent on the 
 insertion of the new leaven of taste and refinement.” In France, 
 and some of the other nations of Europe, industry is not left to 
 private enterprise, but the government carries on an artistic system 
 of manufacture, which it supports by its influence and resources. 
 Such national establishments being superior to the ordinary regula- 
 tions of commerce — supported as they are by artificial stimulants — 
 must not be judged of by the laws of supply and demand. They 
 probably exercise a salutary influence on the taste of the people, 
 and strongly characterise their industry. In France the people are 
 
 Fig. 173 . 
 
 ago in France, that a school was established for the purpose of 
 instructing artificers in drawing and modelling, combined with the 
 practice of chasing, chiselling, and finishing castings in metal. 
 Such a plan as this not having been adopted in Great Britain until 
 very recently, British hardware is, in point of taste, inferior to that 
 of some other countries. But so vast are the commercial advan- 
 tages reaped by this country from unornamented machine-made 
 wares, that the deterioration of the ornamented sorts has ever been 
 of little importance in a commercial sense, because counterbalanced 
 in the estimation of the majority of purchasers by other qualities 
 which are more easily appreciated. It is only within the last few 
 years that the artistic element has begun to assert its claim, to meet 
 which efforts have been, and are being constantly made, to adjust 
 properly the mechanical and the artistic elements in manufacture. 
 
 In comparing the productions of this country with those of some 
 of the continental states, it must not be forgotten that the industry 
 of the United Kingdom owes its existence to private enterprise, and 
 
 more artistic than workmanlike — “ the artistic element hinders the 
 development of the mechanical ; precisely the reverse of the case in 
 the United Kingdom, in which the mechanical overwhelms or over- 
 spreads the artistic. In the one artistic skill is indigenous — mecha- 
 nical for the most part exotic ; in the other the reverse is generally 
 true.” Hence in France industry tends to emuiate the national 
 manufactures, and to produce a supply of expensive luxuries— a 
 tendency injurious to the progress of useful industry ; while in the 
 United Kingdom the feeling for utility has tended to check the pro- 
 gress of taste. The progress towards free-trade which is now being 
 made in France, and the freer intercourse with Great Britain, will 
 tend to the development of the utilitarian principle ; while in our 
 own country the establishment of Schools of Design, and the encou- 
 ragement given to native artists, show that our manufacturers are 
 aware of the fact, that in order to maintain their position in the 
 markets of the world, they must combine beauty of design with 
 excellence of material and workmanship. 
 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 187 
 
 THE CERAMIC COURT. 
 
 A Court devoted to the exhibition of specimens of pottery and 
 porcelain has lately been opened in the Crystal Palace, and by the 
 side of it is another Court for the exhibition of glass. These sub- 
 stances hold so high a rank in the manufacturing industry of Great 
 Britain, that they may, not inappropriately, occupy our attention 
 after our survey of the principal manufactures in metal. The speci- 
 mens of ceramic ware which we now have to consider do not, how- 
 ever, illustrate the manufacture, but rather the history of the art; and 
 even in this respect the collection, choice and beautiful as it is in 
 many respects, fails for want of a proper arrangement of the speci- 
 mens. Most of this costly fictile ware has been generously lent by its 
 owners for the special purpose of edifying and amusing the nume- 
 rous visitors to the Crystal Palace ; and it would appear to be a 
 matter of the greatest importance to place these specimens in a his- 
 torical series, so that the mind might contemplate them without 
 distraction. In this way alone can the excellent idea be carried 
 out, which has led the Directors to collect materials for a complete 
 
 tional value, and illustrates the proud position which English 
 Ceramics have now taken. It appears to have been generally 
 admitted by those who examined the display of porcelain at the 
 recent Exhibition at Paris, that English porcelain now stands 
 unrivalled, with the solitary exception of that of Sevres; but we 
 must again repeat, that in order to a perfect representation of the 
 progress we have made and are making, a classification such 
 as that at Sevres is highly necessary. Two or three years ago 
 we had an opportunity, through the kindness of M. Regnault, 
 the resident Director, of minutely examining the imperial manufac- 
 tory and museum at Sevres, and the large amount of pleasure and 
 instruction which we derived was due quite as much to the scientific 
 method and order which regulated the arrangement as to the in- 
 trinsic merit of the specimens themselves. Here we could trace the 
 progress of fictile art, from the sun-baked clay vessels of the savage 
 to the ceramic pictures of the accomplished modern artist ; here we 
 could study what may be called the geography of the art, from the 
 
 
 -INTEKIOH OF THE CEUAMIC COl'UT. 
 
 
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 educational system within the walls of this splendid building. 
 From their own circular, we learn that “ one of the chief objects 
 originally advocated and proposed by the promoters of the Crystal 
 Palace was, that it should include within its range the materials 
 for an educational system unprecedented both for comprehensive- 
 ness and completeness ; and that this should be developed in a form 
 so simple and attractive, that its advantages might be generally 
 and readily available for the instruction of the masses who, it was 
 reasonably presumed, would be eagerly drawn to profit by its 
 examination. The progress of a plan so vast in its scope, and so 
 complex in detail, must necessarily be gradual, since its develop- 
 ment involves not only a vast financial outlay, but requires the 
 co-operation of men of eminence in the particular studies selected 
 for illustration.” The Ceramic Court is placed under the direction 
 of Mr. Thomas Battam, who for many years superintended the art 
 departments of the works of Mr. Alderman Copeland at Stoke- 
 upon-Trent. The porcelain already collected has a high educa- 
 
 specimens contributed by the various nations of the world; and 
 here too could be studied the chronology of the art, from the most 
 distant periods to the present time. But invaluable as this collection 
 is as a historical series, its value is still greater as a manufacturing 
 one. The basis of this collection was of a heterogeneous kind, 
 consisting of— -first, a collection of Greek vases, made by Louis XVI. 
 about 1785, to serve as models of form for the correction of the bad 
 taste into which the modellers of his time had fullen; secondly, 
 specimens of porcelain from the works of Meissen, Beilin, Bruns- 
 wick, Wirtemberg, Vienna, &c. ; thirdly, specimens of coarse pottery 
 from various parts of France. In 1812 the director, M. Brongniart, 
 determined to make the above specimens the basis of a scientific 
 collection — an object which he caused to be made known as widely 
 as possible, trusting to the known taste and generosity of educated 
 men in all parts of the world to assist a scheme devised by a com- 
 petent mind. Nor was he disappointed in this respect, for no less 
 than seven-eighths of the whole collection were brought together 
 
188 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 without purchase. The captains of the French navy, in returning 
 from various parts of the globe, felt a lively interest in being able 
 to contribute something to the national collection ; and it was 
 with very sincere pleasure that we noticed with what frequency 
 the names of English manufacturers appeared as donors. One of 
 the conditions of the collection was that every specimen, whether of 
 raw produce or of finished ware, should have a label attached to it, 
 containing concise but sufficient particulars respecting it, such as 
 the name, the composition, the origin, the locality, the date, the 
 use, &c., by which means articles of no value whatever without 
 such information, become invested with a high degree of interest. 
 The collection of raw materials is large and complete; the speci- 
 mens are arranged in drawers, above which are the glass cases con- 
 taining the finished articles. The raw materials are not classed 
 according to their mineralogical or even technical characters, but 
 with special reference to the manufacture to which they pertain. 
 The progress of the art is further illustrated by a collection of tools, 
 implements, trial-pieces, and other articles. We here notice the 
 first piece of ware that was made with kaolin after its discovery at 
 St. Yrieix, in 1765. There is also a collection of drawings and models 
 of ovens, utensils, &c., in use in various parts of Europe. We were 
 also particularly struck with a collection of failures, consisting of 
 specimens illustrating the methods adopted to overcome faulty 
 results, the whole properly arranged, with written records of the 
 experiments undertaken, thus marking the progress of improve- 
 ment, and anticipating retrogression, by showing what has 
 been done, and what it is hopeless to attempt. The value of 
 such a collection to the student and to the manufacturer, and 
 hence, by a reflex action, to the public at large, is incalculable. 
 Here, in the course of a few hours, the potter may gain a precise 
 idea of his art, as practised at a former period in China, Germany, 
 Great Britain, &c., and contrast it with the practice of his own day. 
 Here he may contemplate the realisation of truths which are to 
 him of little or no value in scientific books on chemistry, and are 
 often costly and difficult to verify in his own works: such as the 
 effects of the introduction of chromium on the manufacture of 
 porcelain, of uranium on that of stained glass, &c. ; but in a museum, 
 under scientific guidance, he can examine the specimens at leisure, 
 ask his own questions, and receive that precise kind of information 
 which will enable him to judge as to the desirability of introducing 
 the new process into his own manufacture. 
 
 Without pausing to inquire why there is not such an institution 
 in Great Britain, let us now return to the Ceramic Court of the 
 Crystal Palace. In viewing such a collection it must be borne in 
 mind that so far as regards the finished products we are dealing 
 with the Fine Arts rather than with the Useful Arts. People make 
 collections of porcelain as they would collections of pictures, statu- 
 ettes, or other articles which appeal to our sense of beauty by 
 exquisite form, richness, variety and harmony of colour, choiceness 
 of material, and, we fear, we must also add in many cases costliness, 
 which limits the possession to the favoured few ; oddness or eccen- 
 tricity of design, which accords with the tone of some people’s 
 minds, love for the productions of a particular country, or period, 
 or school, and other motives, such as fashion, &c. The close affinity 
 between porcelain and pictures, between the fictile and the pictorial 
 arts, may be seen in some of the enamelled "works contributed to 
 this collection by Lady Rolle, among which we would direct parti- 
 cular attention to an example of Dresden art — a slab, on which is 
 represented a charming female figure, leaning forward in such a posi- 
 tion as just to catch the rays of the setting sun streaming in through 
 a window. The effect of this picture is perfectly delicious, exhibit- 
 ing in full perfection that peculiar softness and creamy smoothness 
 which belong to the best productions of this art. But it may be 
 doubted whether this and several other subjects similarly treated, — 
 such as the Virgin and Child, from the celebrated Raffaellc in the 
 Dresden Gallery; the Boys and Grapes, apparently from a Spanish 
 picture; and large groups of flowers and landscapes, — are legitimate 
 productions of this art, when presented on slabs to be exhibited by 
 hanging against the wall. To produce such effects on canvas the 
 artist lays on his colours as they are intended to appear, and trusts 
 to the judicious criticism of time to soften, mellow, and blend them 
 into a consistent whole. In working on porcelain, on the contrary, 
 the metallic oxides, and other compounds destined to produce the 
 desired results, are for the most part in their first application abso- 
 lutely hideous as colours, bearing no resemblance to the ultimate 
 effect after the work has been passed through the fire ; so that the 
 
 artist has to work, so far as colour is concerned, literally in 
 the dark, uncheered by the beauty and harmony which grow, 
 as it were, out of the canvas of the oil-painter. And then again, 
 after all his guessing and labour, the enamel-painter is at the 
 mercy of the furnace ; a few degrees of temperature too high 
 or too low may ruin his work, or, as happened during our visit 
 to the Royal Porcelain Works at Meissen, a beautiful work of 
 Art may come out of the furnace cracked into several pieces, in 
 consequence of some slight error in the cooling of the furnace. 
 But it may be said that these objections apply to the highly- 
 finished paintings on the various vessels and services to which 
 they are usually applied. To some extent this objection is valid; 
 custom alone has reconciled us to the incongruity of eating our 
 food from off an elaborate picture — such, for example, as the 
 plate in this collection, from the famous works of Minton, ex- 
 hibited by Chamberlain and Co., of New Bond Street, on which is 
 represented Mrs. Siddons, in the character of the Tragic Muse. No 
 amount of argument would ever convince us that it is a fit, deco- 
 rous, or becoming thing to soil with our food a highly-finished copy 
 of one of Reynolds’ finest works. The circumstance that such costly 
 services are limited to the tables of the wealthy does not remove 
 the objection : wealth and refinement are not always synonj’mous 
 terms; if they were so, the inappropriateness in question would be 
 keenly felt. The fact is, custom admits of these exquisite and 
 laborious performances ; hut the plates and dishes are kept rather 
 for show than for use, and, in spite of their homeliness of form, they 
 hold equal rank with vases, figures, &c., where form is one of the 
 chief elements of beauty. On such articles as vases it is fitting and 
 proper to bestow a high degree of ornamentation. Flowers, wreaths, 
 and the interminable magic of foliage, will not be out of place on 
 them ; figures of men and animals in relief may assist the original 
 conception; and we should not object to a certain amount of land- 
 scape, and other pictorial features, as applied to an article whose 
 chief object is to soothe and satisfy the mind with grace of form and 
 beauty of surface decoration, associating as they do so well with 
 the poetry of life. With such objects, however, as plates and 
 dishes, cups and saucers, the ornamentation ought to be of a simple 
 and subdued character. The objects themselves may be as graceful 
 and elegant as a due regard to the proper use of the article will 
 admit of ; the material may, and, indeed, ought to be, of the purest 
 and choicest kind; the glaze ought to carry out this idea of purity; 
 the wreath of flowers or other simple ornamentation ought also to 
 relieve, and not detract from, the leading idea of absolute cleanness 
 and purity in the articles from which we take our food. Much 
 gold, many opaque heavy colours, occupying most if not all of the 
 surface, while opposing this leading idea, also suggest that of over- 
 ornamentation, which is only another term for vulgarity. If it 
 be said that dessert plates fall under a different rule, and that 
 people while cracking their nuts may love to contemplate the 
 beauty of the picture beneath, we still object that that is not the 
 proper place for a picture — to say nothing of the unnatural position 
 of a landscape placed horizontally ; as if society had recognised these 
 objections, it is the custom to cover the walls of the dining-room 
 with pictures, so that during the pauses of conversation, and, 
 indeed, as subjects for renewing it, the guests may refresh their 
 minds by a contemplation of works of Art. 
 
 There is a well-marked distinction between pottery and porcelain, 
 the one being opaque, and the other translucent. The term pottery 
 appears to be derived from potum, a drinking-vessel, while the ety- 
 mology of porcelain is rather uncertain. Some refer it to porcellana, 
 the Portuguese for a drinking cup ; others to the same word in 
 Italian, signifying a univalve shell of the genus cypr aides, or 
 coteries, having a high-arched back, like that of a hog ( porco , Ital.), 
 and remarkable for a white smooth vitreous glossiness of surface.* 
 
 Pottery is further distinguished as being soft and hard, or, as the 
 French call them, tendre and dur — terms which refer to the compo- 
 sition of the ware, and also to the temperature at which it is solidi- 
 fied : thus, ordinai - y bricks, common earthenware vessels — such as 
 pipkins, pans, &c. — are soft; while fire-brick and crockery — such as 
 Queen’s ware, stone-ware, &c. — are hard. 
 
 T^e potter’s art is almost as early as man on the earth ; the most 
 ancient record — i.e. the Book of Job — refers to it in a manner to 
 
 * We need scarcely refer to the fanciful derivation founded on the fact that 
 the clay, or porcelain earth, improves in quality by being kept many years — 
 the Chinese say a hundred years — whence the word porcelain, from pour cent 
 annees. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 189 
 
 show that it was well-known ; the potters of Samos are celebrated 
 by Homer; and many specimens of pottery, belonging to the times 
 of the Pharaohs have been found in Egyptian tombs. The religious 
 employment of earthen vessels in early times has given the moderns 
 much valuable information respecting the state of society at a former 
 period: just as the fossil animals and plants have revealed to the 
 geologist the condition of the earth in pre-Adamite times. It was 
 formerly the custom to preserve the ashes of the dead in vases of 
 baked earth ; and even where this practice was not observed, earthen 
 vessels have been found at the head and feet of the skeleton, or 
 hanging on pegs along the sides of the tomb. In such vessels 
 have been found medals, trophies, insignia, money, charms, rings, 
 and votive offerings, all of which have a high historical value. On 
 the monuments of Thebes the potter’s art is represented pictorially : 
 here we see the method of mixing the clay by kneading with the 
 feet; the balling by hand, and throwing on a wheel of simple 
 construction. The handles were afterwards attached as in the 
 modern practice ; the articles were placed on planks to dry ; then 
 arranged on trays, and carried to the oven; the ornamental designs 
 being previously traced by means of a wooden or metal instru- 
 ment. Sir Gardner Wilkinson has contributed to the Ceramic 
 Court some specimens of Egyptian pottery, and also of Etruscan 
 ware from Chiusi. 
 
 Although a general agreement in the nature and uses of ancient 
 
 sion, the Peruvians were in the habit of escaping from the towns, 
 carrying with them much of their property, burying it, and then 
 committing suicide. 
 
 But as the collection which we are now considering scarcely deals 
 in ancient examples, we prefer to limit our remarks to the various 
 schools of fictile art so beautifully illustrated in the Ceramic Court. 
 This will exclude the earlier productions of Persia, Arabia, and 
 Spain ; but we shall have abundant material to fill our limited space 
 by confining our historical remarks chiefly to the productions of 
 Italy, France, and Germany, from the fifteenth century. 
 
 And first, with respect to soft pottery : the wares admit of four 
 divisions — namely, unglazed, lustrous, glazed, and enamelled. The 
 first three include the ancient pottery of Egypt, Greece, and Home, 
 as well as modern pottery, in common use among all nations. 
 Enamelled ware is covered with a thick enamel or glass, composed 
 of silica and oxide of tin or of lead, and capable of being ornamented 
 with beautiful paintings. 
 
 The majolica, or enamelled ware of Italy, apparently dates from 
 the twelfth century, and is of Moorish origin. A pirate king of 
 Majorca was, about the year 1115, besieged in his stronghold by 
 an armament fitted out at Pisa, and being completely routed, the 
 expedition returned laden with spoil, among which were probably 
 a number of plates of painted Moorish pottery, from the circum- 
 stance that such specimens have been found encrusted in the walls 
 
 Fig. 175.— copies of ancient etboscan vases, contribcted ur Messrs, battam and son. 
 
 pottery is to be observed, there are still distinctive characters to be 
 met with in the productions of different nations, thus imparting a 
 high historical value to pottery. The individuality to which we 
 refer may be noticed in the rude and simple urns of the early inha- 
 bitants of Great Britain ; the more carefully fashioned specimens of 
 the .Roman period; the simple unglazed earthenware of ancient 
 Greece ; the more elaborate forms known as Etruscan, the finest 
 specimens of which are attributed to the Greek potters of the Isle 
 of Samos, already referred to ; the red and black potteries of India ; 
 the black and white potteries of North America, in some cases 
 interspersed with fragments of bivalve shells; the irregularly 
 formed and fanciful pottery of South America, and many others. On 
 the discovery of the extraordinary ruins of Central America, various 
 specimens of pottery were found of a remarkably advanced kind for 
 the period assigned to those ruins — namely, 1000 B.C. They had 
 been formed, it is true, without the assistance of the turning lathe; 
 but they are well baked, the ornaments are in different colours, and 
 they are coated with a fine vitreous glaze, such as was unknown in 
 Europe until within about ten centuries. In the Crystal Palace 
 collection there are some curious specimens of the last-named 
 description of pottery, lent by A. Anderson, Esq., who received 
 them from an intelligent captain of a merchant vessel. These 
 specimens were found in Peru, buried in the ground, with human 
 skeletons, in a remote part of the country; and the theory is, that 
 in consequence of the cruelty of the Spaniards during their inva- 
 
 of the most ancient churches of Pisa. Such specimens appear to 
 have been long regarded as religious trophies, but no less than two 
 centuries elapsed before any attempt was n ade to reproduce them 
 in Italy. In the fourteenth century, however, specimens of majo- 
 lica (so called from the island of Majorca) were produced similar to 
 the Moorish examples, consisting of arabesque patterns in yellow 
 and green upon a blue ground. About 1451 the manufacture had 
 become celebrated at Pesaro. This place gave birth, in 1388, to 
 Luca della Robbia, some of whose admirers, indeed, setting aside 
 the above generally received account of the origin of majolica, 
 assign the invention of this beautiful ware to him. He certainly 
 appears to have worked with distinction as a sculptor in marble and 
 in bronze, and to have abandoned that pursuit for modelling in 
 terra-cotta; and he succeeded in making his productions therein 
 durable by the invention of a white enamel, which enabled him to 
 transmit his works to our own day, as may be seen by some 
 interesting specimens in the Crystal Palace collection, contributed 
 by W. Bryant, Esq. . There is also in the centre of the Court the 
 figure of a negro in a white dress, but this we suppose to be a copy. 
 The chief productions of Luca della Robbia are madonnas, scripture 
 subjects, figures, and architectural subjects. These Mr. Marryat. * 
 
 * The reader interested in the subject will do well to study the work which 
 Mr. Marryat modestly entitles, Collections towards a History of Pottery and 
 Porcelain in the loth, 16 th, 17 th, and 18 th Centuries. London. 1850. The 
 great authority on the subject, chiefly of the manufacture, is Brongniart’s 
 Traits des Arts Ccramiqucs , 2 vols., with an Atlas of Plates. Paris, 1844. 
 
 3 n 
 
190 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 characterises as “ by far the finest works of Art. ever executed in 
 pottery.” “ He adorned the Italian churches with tiles as well as 
 with altar-pieces in terra-cotta enamelled; and he is the founder of 
 a school which produced works not much inferior to his own.” 
 Another high authority refers in the following terms to the influ- 
 ence of the works of Luca della Robbia on the Ceramic art : — 
 “ Jeweller, sculptor, modeller in wax, he and his numerous family, 
 devoted to the same profession, performed miracles with enamelled 
 earth. Their most important works are in bas-relief, chieflv 
 scriptural subjects, and principally in white earth and glaze. The 
 specimens which have come down to us are as white as snow, and 
 the glaze as perfect now as if they had been out of the furnace 
 yesterday. Luca’s earth has become marble, and having lasted till 
 these days, continues to dazzle the world of taste by its brilliancy 
 and lustre. His compositions are simple and sublime ; generally 
 the best modelled, and least liable to suspicion, are white on a blue 
 ground.” * 
 
 The manufacture of majolica, however, owes much of its celebrity 
 and importance to the continued patronage, during two centuries, of 
 the house of Urbino. The first duke, Frederick of Montefeltro 
 (1444), took great interest in the manufacture, and his son estab- 
 lished another work at Pesaro, in which the first artists of the age 
 were employed. Succeeding dukes established other works, and 
 used their efforts to improve the style of painting. The opinion 
 that the great Raffaelle was employed on some of these works has 
 obtained for them the name of Raffaelle ware. But as the finest 
 specimens do not date earlier than 1540, or twenty years after the 
 death of that great master, it is tolerably certain that he was not 
 directly concerned in the manufacture. It is, however, admitted 
 that some of his original drawings furnished his scholars with 
 designs for some of the finest specimens. In the collection before 
 us, Raffaelle's dish will be studied with interest, together with the 
 large collection of specimens of majolica, including the lustrous. 
 
 In the middle of the fifteenth century and at the beginning of 
 the sixteenth many towns in Italy had become celebrated for their 
 majolica ware, by which time the coarse specimens were named 
 mezza-majolica, and the finer ware porcelana. From 1540 to 1560 
 the manufacture was at its greatest celebrity, under the patronage 
 of Duke Guidobaldo II., first-rate artists being employed to furnish 
 the designs. After the death of the duke, in 1754, the manufacture 
 began to decline, and the introduction of oriental porcelain com- 
 pleted its ruin. 
 
 The best specimens of mezza-majolica are remarkable for the 
 beauty and perfection of their colour and enamel glaze, the latter 
 giving to the yellow and white the metallic lustre of gold and silver. 
 The varying mother-of-pearl lustre is also remarkable, while the 
 iridescent ruby, which Mr. Marryat says is peculiar to Pesaro and 
 Gubbio, is rare. Blue and yellow, with their mixtures, appear to 
 have been the only colours generally used in the painting, and they 
 are used with striking effect. The general style of mezza-majolica 
 consists of arabesques and heraldic devices round the rim of the 
 dish, with a bust in the centre. The drawing is inferior to the 
 colouring, until the introduction of the porcelana raised the art to 
 excellence. About 1560 the designs became more fanciful and 
 grotesque, and the colours inferior. But during the whole progress 
 of the manufacture all kinds of articles were produced for common 
 domestic use as well as for ornament. Pilgrims’ bottles, recognised 
 by the holes in the bottom rim for receiving the strap or cord by 
 which the vessel was carried ; vases of various forms, decorated 
 with paintings, with handles in the form of serpents, and rims sur- 
 mounted by grotesque figures of animals and fishes; fruit basins 
 with embossed patterns in high relief; small plates for ices and 
 sweetmeats; vases for holding different kinds of wine poured out 
 from one spout ; small flasks in the shapes of lemons and apples ; 
 cups covered with tendrils or quaint devices; small figures of 
 saints; jocose figures ; birds coloured after nature ; painted tiles for 
 walls and floors, — may indicate the extent and variety of the manu- 
 facture. But we must not forget to refer to the amatorii, or vessels 
 adorned with the portrait and name of a lady, to be presented by 
 
 From a Lecture delivered before the Literary and Scientific Society of 
 Salisbury, January, 18o3. London : printed for private circulation ” This 
 lecture was delivered by the late C. Baring Wall, Esq., M.P., and contains 
 some valuable critical notices by one well qualified to give an opinion and 
 whose collection of porcelain, &c., which we have recently had an opportunity 
 of examining at Norman Court, shows with what exquisite taste and diligence 
 Mr. Wall had studied the subject to which his lecture refers. 
 
 her lover. These are of great interest, as giving the costume of the 
 period. 
 
 The painters on this ware were generally copyists, the designs 
 being furnished by eminent artists, as already mentioned. Some of 
 the original majolica painters, however, were sufficiently skilful to 
 have preserved their names from oblivion, and the monograms 
 attached to their works are known to collectors. The different 
 towns had also their distinguishing marks; but the usual plan was 
 to mark in blue characters on the back of the dish the subject of the 
 design, but when a complete service was painted only the principal 
 piece was marked : it was also usual to introduce the arms of the 
 families for whom the service was prepared. 
 
 Majolica was introduced into Germany in 1507 by one Hirsch- 
 vogel, of Nuremberg, but the manufacture does not appear to have 
 survived his death. It was more prosperous in France, where, 
 under the name of fayence, it took root under the patronising smiles 
 of Catherine de Medicis, assisted by her kinsman, Louis Gonzaga, 
 who established Italian artists in his dukedom of Nevers, and suc- 
 ceeded with native materials in producing enamelled pottery. By 
 degrees, as native artists took the place of Italian ones, the classical 
 designs of the latter yielded to French subjects, and at length 
 descended to the production of common fayence. Nevers, however, 
 recovered its reputation in the eighteenth century, and became 
 celebrated for the brilliancy of the dark blue enamel with white 
 patterns upon common ware. Rouen also invented a description of 
 enamelled pottery, which attracted some notice ; but the kind of 
 ware which may be said to be peculiar to France is the Palissy 
 ware, so named from Bernard Palissy, whose life reminds us that 
 the Useful Arts have their romantic features as well as history and 
 the Fine Arts. He was born at the commencement of the sixteenth 
 century, of parents too poor to afford him any education; but the 
 spirit which stirred within him taught him how to take advantage 
 of scant opportunities, and he acquired the art of reading, writing, 
 and land surveying, and earned his livelihood by the last-named 
 pursuit. His natural love of the beautiful led him to study the 
 works of the Italian masters, and he obtained employment in paint- 
 ing images and designs on glass. This enabled him to indulge his 
 taste for travel, and for carrying on the work of self-tuition. He 
 became master of the chemistry of his day, such as it was, and loved 
 to study the forms and properties of minerals. In 1539 he settled 
 at Saintes as an artist, married, and had a family. His attention 
 was first directed to pottery by a beautiful enamelled cup ; and on 
 inquiring into the nature of the manufacture, he found that the 
 composition of the enamel was kept secret by the manufacturers. 
 He immediately undertook a course of experiments to discover the 
 secret. He was unsuccessful ; and we see him for some years with 
 the persistence of genius in following up one leading idea, devoting 
 all his time and means to this one pursuit, deaf to the entreaties of 
 his wife, the cries of his children, and the remonstrances of his 
 friends. He even borrowed money to enable him to construct a 
 new furnace, and when too poor to buy fuel he burnt his furniture. 
 Unable to maintain his assistant, or even to pay him his wages, he 
 discharged him, and gave him his own clothes in lieu of money, 
 becoming every day, if possible, more wretched than the preceding — 
 avoiding wife, children, and friends, lest their reproaches should 
 deter him from his purpose. Thus did Palissy work on for sixteen 
 years, brave and heroic, as we call him, only because he ultimately 
 succeeded, mad and criminal, had he failed. The accomplished 
 artist at length became the successful potter; the court and the 
 nobility smiled, and his beautiful patterns and Jigulines, or rustic 
 pottery, became the fashion of the day. But though successful as a 
 potter, he was a Protestant, while his powerful patrons were Roman 
 Catholics. In 1562, under a new edict against the Protestants, his 
 workshop was destroyed, and his life was only spared by the special 
 intercession of the king, who claimed him as his own servant, and 
 as such he was lodged in the Tuileries, where he escaped the Mas- 
 sacre of St. Bartholomew. In these evil days, however, the presence 
 of on avowed Protestant was intolerable to the Leaguers, and he 
 was arrested, and sent to the Bastille, where Henry III. visited him, 
 and is reported to have said, “My good fellow, if you do not 
 renounce your religious views I shall be constrained to leave you in 
 the hands of my enemies.” The old man is reported to have replied, 
 
 “ Sire, those who constrain you have no power over me, because I 
 know how to die.” Some authorities refer to him the additional 
 declaration, that no power on earth should compel him to fall down 
 and worship the images which he had made with his own hands. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 191 
 
 With such a spirit we cannot wonder that the old man terminated 
 his life in prison about 1589, at the age of ninety. 
 
 In the Ceramic Court there are some specimens of Palissy ware, 
 contributed by B. Falcke, Esq., and W. Bryant, Esq. There is also 
 some imitation Palissy ware contributed by Minton & Co. The 
 style of this ware is quaint and singular, and is thus characterised 
 by Mr. Marryat: — “ The forms of his figures are generally chaste. 
 His ornaments, his historical, mythological, and allegorical subjects, 
 are in relief and coloured. The colours are generally bright, but 
 not much varied, being confined generally to yellows, blues, and 
 greys, though sometimes extending to green, violet, and brown. 
 He never succeeded in attaining the purity of the white enamel of 
 Luca della Robbia, or even that of the fayence of Nevers. The back 
 of his pieces is never of a uniform colour, but is generally shaded or 
 coloured with two or three different colours, such as blue, yellow, 
 and brown. The enamel is hard, but the glaze is not so good as 
 that of Delft. The natural objects which are placed upon this 
 fayence are very true in form and colour; for with the exception of 
 certain leaves, all were moulded from nature. The choice he has 
 made shows that this potter was a skilful naturalist, for the fossil 
 shells with which he has ornamented his different pieces are the 
 tertiary shells of the Paris basin, and their species can be clearly 
 recognised. The fish are those of the Seine ; the reptiles and 
 plants of the environs of Paris.* There is no foreign natural 
 production to be seen on his ware.” One peculiarity is that the 
 dishes are loaded with objects in relief, forming what are called 
 pieces rustiques , and intended for the adornment of the large side- 
 boards of the dining-rooms of the period. Ewers and vases with 
 grotesque ornaments, boars’ heads, salt-cellars curiously formed, 
 figures of saints, wall and floor tiles, exist in large uumbers from 
 the hand of this artist. One of his favourite subjects was a flat 
 kind of basin or dish, representing, as it were, the bottom of the 
 sea, covered with fishes, shells, sea-weeds, pebbles, snakes, &c. 
 
 Mr. Baring Wall, speaking of Palissy, says that, “although the 
 hero of potters, and indeed a wonderful man, he added little by his 
 writings to our knowledge of the Ceramic art. His ware consisted 
 of coloured transparent glazes. His subjects were almost always 
 in relief ; generally of a subdued green, blue, or brown colour. 
 He was a great master of the power and effect of neutral tints, but 
 never rivalled, nor even approached, the pure white and polished 
 glaze of Robbia.” f 
 
 So early as the thirteenth century Germany appears to have 
 attained celebrity for its enamelled ware — the discovery of a fine 
 glaze being, of course, the secret of success. Ratisbon, Landshut, 
 and Nuremberg, became formidable rivals of the Arabs and Italians. 
 Mr. Marryat points out its distinctive character in the fine green 
 glaze, the complicated form, the great number and variety of 
 ornaments, lightness and good workmanship. Nuremberg was also 
 famous for large enamelled tiles used for covering stoves. 
 
 Holland, from its exclusive connection with Japan, appears to 
 have been stimulated at an early period, some say in the fifteenth, 
 others in the sixteenth century, to imitate both in form and colour 
 the Japanese porcelain. The principal seat of the manufacture was 
 Delft, and its ware soon found favour on account of its fantastic 
 design, excellence of colour, and beauty of enamel; the latter being 
 smooth and even, and slightly tinged with blue. The Japanese 
 parentage was evident in “the hideous imaginary animals of the 
 Chimtera class — the three-ringed bottle, the tall and shapeless beaker, 
 and the large circular dish,” which long held rank as favourite 
 ornaments in Europe, while the more common articles were so 
 generally distributed as to bestow on Delft the title of “ parent of 
 pottery.” The introduction of fine English wares by Wedgwood 
 and others, inflicted a permanent injury on the prosperity of Delft. 
 
 With regard to hard pottery, consisting of fine earthenware and 
 stone-ware, named by the French fayence fine and gres-cerame, some 
 of the earliest specimens, known to collectors under the name of 
 renaissance, or fine fayence of Henry II., were probably manu- 
 factured in France during a short period, when, from some forgotten 
 cause, the art became lost. Of this manufacture only thirty-seven 
 pieces are extant, and as twenty-seven of them have been traced to 
 Touraine and La Vendee, it has been supposed that the manufactory 
 was at Thouars, in Touraine. The articles are made of a very fine 
 
 * This serves as one of the tests to discover the true Palissy ware ; his 
 imitators not having observed a similar rule. 
 
 t The reader interested in the subject is referred to Mr. Morley’s interest- 
 ing work entitled “ Palissy the Potter." 
 
 white pipeclay, not requiring a thick enamel, as in the case of a soft 
 ware; but instead of concealing the fabric, it is made as apparent as 
 possible by using only a thin, transparent, yellow varnish. 4 s 
 regards the style of decoration, the patterns are engraved on the 
 paste, and the hollows filled up with coloured pastes, resembling 
 the finest inlaying, or chiselled silver works in niello, whence this 
 ware is sometimes styled fayence d niellure. There are also raised 
 ornaments, such as masks, escutcheons, lizards, shells, garlands, 
 &c., beautifully modelled ; but the articles are mostly small and 
 light, consisting of cups, ewers, and a vase with a spout for 
 pouring, called a biberon. Some idea of the estimation in which 
 these pieces are held may be gathered from the fact that six of them 
 produced at a sale some time ago £490. A candlestick of this ware 
 was purchased by Sir A. de Rothschild for £220. 
 
 It lias been conjectured that the first manufactory of fine earthen- 
 ware in England was established in the reign of Elizabeth at 
 Stratford -le-Bow. Shakspere’s jug, which is still carefully pre- 
 served, is a good specimen of Elizabethan pottery. It is of cream- 
 coloured earthenware, about nine inches in height, and sixteen in 
 circumference in the largest part ; somewhat of the shape of a 
 modern coffee-pot. It is divided lengthwise into eight compart- 
 ments, each having a mythological subject in high relief, possessed 
 of considerable merit. The silver top, or cover, is a modern 
 addition, and contains a small medallion of Shakspere, with the 
 inscription, “William Shakspeare at the age of 40.” Mr. Marryat 
 characterises the Elizabethan pottery as being hard, approaching 
 nearly to fine stone-ware, of a dingy white, and chiefly enriched 
 with ornaments in relief of quaint figures and foliage. In the same 
 reign we also hear of the Staffordshire potteries, the earliest 
 specimens consisting of butter-pots of native brick earth, glazed 
 with powdered lead ore, which was dusted on the vessel while in 
 the green state. Also the tig, or drinking-cup with three handles, 
 and the parting-cup, with two handles. In 1684, Mr. John Dwight 
 established at Fulham a manufactory of earthenware, consisting of 
 white gorges, or pitchers, marble porcelain vessels, statues, and 
 figures, and fine stone gorges, and other articles — some of which 
 are still valued by collectors, and may be examined in the Ceramic 
 Court under the name of Fulham ware. Ale-jugs of native marl 
 were introduced about the time of the Revolution, and were often 
 ornamented with figures in white pipeclay. In the reigns of Anne 
 and George I., an improved ware was made of sand and pipeclay, 
 coloured with oxide of copper and manganese, forming the well- 
 known agate ware and tortoise-shell ware, and giving to the pottery 
 the character of hard paste, which was afterwards so greatly 
 improved by Wedgwood under the name of Queen's xoare. 
 
 The name of Wedgwood, made so familiar by being associated 
 with his ware, is one of which the British nation has every reason 
 to be proud. By dint of genius, perseverance, and integrity, this 
 man succeeded in making his own fortune ; which, however, is a 
 very secondai'y consideration compared to the branch of national 
 industry which he created, and which has continued ever since to 
 flourish. There are many men like himself of lowly origin, self- 
 taught and self-reliant, whose memory we still cherish as national 
 benefactors. Arkwright and Smeaton, Br'ndley and Watt, and 
 many others, will always be famous in English history for their 
 conquests over nature and over themselves. Their example should 
 ever be an encouragement to the artisan who is struggling to 
 educate himself, seeing that in a country of free institutions no 
 man is excluded from distinction on account of his birth, only as 
 lowly birth may make the struggle more difficult, so will success 
 be more honourable. Such, indeed, was the case with Josiah 
 Wedgwood. He was the son of a potter at Burslem, in Stafford- 
 shire, but so inferior were the native productions that the higher 
 classes obtained their porcelain from China, while the great bulk 
 of earthenware for domestic use was procured from France, 
 Germany, and Holland; indeed, the latter country had well-nigh 
 supplanted us in the art of making tobacco-pipes, in which we had 
 obtained some success. 
 
 Josiah’s education scarcely deserves the name, since book- 
 learning, about the time of his birth (1780), was not highly 
 estimated by persons of his class. At the age of eleven we find 
 him working in his brother’s pottery as a thrower, and even this 
 poor employment he was forced to give up in consequence of an 
 attack of smallpox, which left him with a lame leg, and rendered 
 amputation subsequently necessary. His first attempts to settle 
 in life were not successful. He was partner for a short time 
 
192 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 ■with one Harrison, at Stoke, where he is said to have first conceived 
 his love for the manufacture of ornamental pottery. He afterwards 
 joined one Wheildon, and made knife-handles in imitation of agate 
 and tortoise-shell, melon table-plates, green pickle-leaves, &c. ; but 
 he could not induce Wheildon to consent to undertake ornamental 
 wares. In 1759 we find him again at Burslem, in a small 
 manufactory of his own, where he must have been successful, for 
 soon after he established a second factory, where he made a 
 white stone-ware, and afterwards a third, where he produced his 
 celebrated cream-coloured ware. He made an offering of some 
 articles of this ware to Queen Charlotte, who was so pleased with 
 it that she ordered a complete service, and this produced so much 
 royal satisfaction, that Wedgwood was named the Queen’s Potter, 
 and his ware, “ by command,” the Queen's icare. Among 
 Wedgwood’s other inventions were — a terra-cotta which could be 
 made to resemble porphyry, granite, See. ; basalts, or black ware, 
 which would strike sparks like a flint ; white porcelain biscuit, with 
 properties similar to the basalt; bamboo, or cane-coloured biscuit; 
 jasper, a white biscuit of exquisite delicacy and beauty, fit for 
 cameos, portraits, &c. ; and a porcelain biscuit, little inferior to 
 
 mistaken, as we think — that it was wrong to make a beautiful work 
 of Art too common. But, believing with the poet that — 
 
 “ A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,” 
 
 we would, if it were possible, convey the refining influence of this 
 beautiful form far and wide, by placing it in the power of persons 
 of moderate means to become possessed of a copy. Wedgwood 
 charged fifty guineas for each of his fifty copies, and lost money, it 
 is said, by the transaction. The reader will regard with interest 
 one of these fifty copies in the Ceramic Court, together with other 
 specimens of old Wedgwood ware from private collections, lent by 
 Isaac Falcke, Esq. In another part of the Court is another collection 
 of old W edgwood ware, consisting of a set of Flaxman’s chessmen, 
 friezes, vases, broken columns, bas-reliefs, tea-service, Sec., also 
 from private collections. The name of Flaxman reminds us of 
 another obligation which we owe to Wedgwood. With the true 
 spirit of enlightenment, he introduced a higher class of artists than 
 had hitherto been accustomed to work in the potteries — thus im- 
 proving the public taste, stimulating Art, and encouraging other 
 manufacturers to improve their wares. The extension of Wedg- 
 
 Fig. 176. — SPECIMENS BY MINTON AND CO , EXHIBITED BY CHAMBERLAIN AND CO. 
 
 agate in hardness, and used for mortars in the laboratories of 
 chemists. He also succeeded in giving to hard pottery the vivid 
 colours and brilliant glaze which had been thought peculiar to 
 porcelain. 
 
 About 1762 Wedgwood opened a warehouse in London, and 
 committed it to the care of Mr. Bentley, a gentleman of distin- 
 guished literary and scientific tastes, who succeeded in enlisting 
 the sympathies of many patrons of Art in favour of the rising 
 Staffordshire works, and obtaining the loan of vases, cameos, 
 specimens of oriental porcelain, specimens from Herculaneum, and 
 other articles, to be copied and multiplied by processes and materials 
 which Wedgwood had invented. About this time the celebrated 
 Barberini Vase was offered for sale, and with a view of producing 
 facsimiles of it, Wedgwood determined to become the purchaser, 
 and, at the time of sale, found himself bidding against the celebrated 
 Duchess of Portland. Happening in the course of the bidding to 
 mention his object in becoming its possessor, her grace offered, if 
 he would withdraw his biddings, to lend him the vase. This was 
 accordingly done, and the Portland Vase, as it was henceforth 
 called, was purchased for 1800 guineas. Wedgwood executed fifty 
 copies of the vase, and then destroyed the mould, under the idea — 
 
 wood’s works, and the numerous people to whom they gave 
 employment, led to the foundation of a new village near Newcnslle- 
 under-Lyne, to which he gave the name of Etruria, in consequence 
 of the resemblance of the clay dug there to the ancient Etrurian 
 earth, and also, probably, to celebrate the success with which he 
 imitated the ancient Etruscan ware. So celebrated did this village 
 become that it was long a point of attraction throughout Europe; 
 we may even, at the present day, find traces of this celebrity in the 
 various collections on the Continent — his cameos, and other works 
 of Art, taking their place among the choice specimens of Dresden 
 and Sevres. We must not forget to mention in this slight sketch 
 that the patronage by which Wedgwood had so largely benefited 
 he freely extended to others ; some of the -most brilliant of 
 Priestley’s discoveries were helped forward by the friendly aid of 
 Wedgwood, while he himself was a contributor of several papers to 
 the transactions of the Royal Society, of which he was a fellow. 
 He died at his mansion in Etruria, in 1795, in his sixty-fifth year. 
 
 The Ceramic Court contains various specimens of stone-ware, 
 both common and fine, the latter only differing from the former in 
 the superior composition of its paste. The Chinese have long been 
 celebrated for this kind of ware, aud in large works use it as the 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 193 
 
 
 basis for a surface of porcelain paste, examples of which may be 
 seen in this collection, together with the stone pottery of the 
 Rhine of the sixteenth century, remarkable for quaintness of form, 
 richness of ornament, and for the colour of its enamel. Flemish j 
 stone-ware, or gres Flamand , is remarkable for its beautiful blue 
 colour, quaint forms, and rich ornaments, and belongs to a period 
 between 1540 and 1620. France also appeal’s to have produced 
 stone-ware previous to the sixteenth century. England appears 
 to have employed Dutch and German workmen in its manufacture 
 at an early period. In 1690, the method of glazing by means of 
 common salt caused the stone-ware to displace Delft and soft paste 
 fabrics. The red Japan ware (which is a very fine unglazed stone- 
 ware, with raised ornaments) was made in England towards the end 
 of the seventeenth century, after many attempts to imitate it by 
 Dutch and English manufacturers. And here we have another of 
 those romances which throw such a charm over the history of the 
 Useful Arts. Two brothers, named Elers, from Nuremberg, dis- 
 covered at Bradwell, about two miles from Burslem, a bed of fine 
 
 than the other, requiring a higher temperature for its fusion, and 
 having a greater density : the soft is moreover distinguished as 
 being easily scratched by a steel point. 
 
 The most ancient descriptions of porcelain are those of China, 
 Japan, and Persia. The Chinese manufactured porcelain at an early 
 I period : in the tombs of Thebes, bottles of Chinese manufacture 
 have been found ; and from an inscription upon one of them it would 
 appear to have been manufactured between 1575 B.c. and 1289 B.C. 
 These bottles, however, are of inferior workmanship. Porcelain 
 appears to have been common in the empire in the year 163 B.c., 
 but to have attained its greatest perfection in 1000 a.d. The por- 
 celain tower near Nankin was constructed in 1277, and well illus- 
 trates the durable nature of the material ; for it is said perfectly to 
 have resisted the action of the weather during the long period of 
 its existence. Marco Polo describes the manufacture in China 
 during the thirteenth century, and specimens of the ware gradually 
 found their way into Europe ; but it was not until the Cape of Good 
 Hope had been doubled by the Portuguese that these fine wares 
 
 -PROM 
 
 AK3PKRE SERVICE OF MESSRS. KERR AND 
 
 red clay, which they worked at a small factory, situate on the 
 bed itself. They did their best to conceal their discovery, as well 
 as the processes by which they executed their ware, which Mr. 
 Marryat characterises as being fine in material, and sharp in execu- 
 tion, the ornaments being formed in copper moulds. They even 
 employed the most ignorant and idiotic workmen that they could 
 meet with ; but no sooner did the ware become celebrated, than a 
 potter named Astbury counterfeited idiotcy, and engaged himself as 
 the servant of the two brothers. He even continued in their service 
 for some years, until he had completely mastered all their methods, 
 and made drawings of their apparatus, &c. He then set up a fac- 
 tory for himself; and others soon following his example, the 
 foreigners could not resist the force of competition, and they closed 
 their establishment in 1720, and found a more congenial home in 
 the porcelain manufactory at Chelsea. From this period the history 
 of fine English stone-ware is connected with the name of Wedg- 
 wood, whose history we have already sketched. 
 
 In proceeding to notice the specimens of porcelain in this collec- 
 tion it will be borne in mind that there are two kinds, distinguished 
 as hard and soft, the one containing more alumina and less silica 
 
 became generally known. The Portuguese, struck by the resem- 
 blance of this ware to the cowrie-shells named jwrcelluna, imagined 
 that the ware might be made of such shells, or of a composition re- 
 sembling them, and named it accordingly. They imported into 
 Europe splendid collections of the ware, which was also called, from 
 the country of its birth, China metal or earth, with which majolica, 
 exported sometimes by way of Venice, appears sometimes to have 
 been confounded. On the expulsion of the Portuguese, the Dutch 
 succeeded in establishing an intercourse with India and Japan, and 
 they imported into Europe large quantities of porcelain. The Eng- 
 lish obtained their share in the ware later, through the medium of 
 the East India Company ; and the passion for collecting China 
 appears to have taken root about the middle of the seventeenth 
 century. In the time of Queen Anne services of oriental porcelain 
 were common among the wealthy. The writers of the period make 
 frequent allusions to it. Addison describes the passion in terms 
 which cannot even now be said to be obsolete : — “ There is no incli- 
 nation in woman that more surprises me than this passion for china. 
 When a woman is visited with it, it generally takes possession of 
 her for life. China vessels are playthings for women of all ages. 
 
 3 D 
 
194 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 An old lady of fourscore shall be as busy in cleaning an Indian 
 mandarin as her great granddaughter is in dressing her baby.” The 
 French, who succeeded in establishing missions in China, have 
 from time to time thrown considerable light on the manufacture. It 
 appears that pure white porcelain is made at Fokien, and some of 
 the most valued descriptions consist of small cups, and similar 
 articles, with ancient inscriptions, devices, &c., upon them, under 
 the glaze, so that they can only be seen by holding the article 
 against a strong light. The blue and white porcelain ranks next 
 in antiquity, and is produced at Nankin, where also is produced the 
 pale buff on the necks of bottles and backs of plates. King-te-tching 
 is said to be the parent of the old sea-green and crackle porcelain, 
 known by the name of celadom — the term crackle being applied to 
 those specimens in which the glaze appears to be cracked all over 
 into small fissures. The brilliancy of this porcelain is said to be 
 unequalled in Europe. The very thin transparent ware, resembling 
 an egg-shell in appearance, and bearing the name of “egg-shell 
 porcelain,” marks the perfection of the art. The most esteemed 
 colours are yellow and ruby — the yellow being the only colour used 
 at the imperial table, and the ruby found only on the reverse of the 
 finest plates and small pieces. There is a brown porcelain, white 
 inside, and with white medallions outside, in common domestic use 
 in China ; and there is an inferior and more modern porcelain, 
 known as Indian china, manufactured at Canton. But in all cases, 
 whatever may be the beauty of the material, the delicacy of texture, 
 the brilliancy of colour, and the purity of the glaze, the form and 
 the design are always repulsive to good taste. The vase of the 
 humblest Greek potter of the best period has an aesthetic value far 
 above the most costly productions of the celestial empire. The col- 
 lection at the Crystal Palace contains a specimen of Turquoise 
 Celadom from the Duke of Devonshire’s collection ; an Indian vase 
 from D. Falcke’s collection ; some specimens of egg-shell ; an 
 oriental vase, enamelled on copper ; and other examples of Chinese 
 and Persian ware. The most celebrated collection of oriental por- 
 celain in Europe is in the Japanese Palace at Dresden. It occupies 
 thirteen rooms, and contains specimens of enormous size and 
 monstrous form. 
 
 Mr. Marryat distinguishes the porcelain of Japan, as compared 
 with that of China, in the following terms : — “ It is of a more 
 brilliant white, and the clay is of a better quality; the designs are 
 more simple, and the decorations less overloaded ; the dragons are 
 not so monstrous; and the flowers are designed more in accordance 
 to nature. The glazing also is more tinged with blue, and more 
 delicate : it does not stand the heat of the fire so well as the Chinese. 
 Some degree of taste is shown in the forms, which are more natural 
 than the Chinese. Chinese and Japan ornaments are, however, 
 sometimes found upon the same pieces ; and the Chinese occasionally 
 imitate the Japan porcelain.” 
 
 During two centuries after the introduction of Chinese porcelain 
 into Europe attempts were made to imitate it, but in vain ; and in 
 recording the first successful attempt we shall again appear to be 
 dealing rather with the romance than with the reality of Art, An 
 apothecary at Berlin had an assistant, named John Frederick Bott- 
 cher, who, being fond of chemical pursuits, had no difficulty in 
 exciting the suspicions of the authorities that he was dealing in the 
 black art. To escape persecution, he fled to Dresden, and claimed 
 protection of the Elector of Saxony, Augustus II., who eagerly 
 inquired of him respecting the art of transmuting the baser metals 
 into gold. Bbttcher, more honest or more incredulous than many 
 of his brother alchemists, frankly confessed his ignorance, but was 
 disbelieved, and was placed under the strict tutelage of Tschirnhaus, 
 who was endeavouring to discover the art of converting old age into 
 youth by means of the elixir vitce. Bbttcher was set to work to 
 discover the philosopher’s stone; and in the course of his experi- 
 ments he made some crucibles, which, on being passed through the 
 furnace, assumed many of the characters of oriental porcelain. The 
 ware was, however, of a red colour, and was prepared from a brown 
 clay found near Meissen. The elector saw at once the importance 
 of the discovery, and, in order that he might pursue his experiments 
 in secret, sent him to the Castle of Albrechtsburg, at Meissen, where 
 he was royally provided for, but kept, nevertheless, under surveil- 
 lance, lest he should escape with his important secret. During the 
 troubles consequent on the invasion of Saxony by Charles XII. of 
 Sweden, Bbttcher, Tschirnhaus, and three workmen, were kept in 
 safety in the fortress of Konigstein, on the Elbe, above Dresden, 
 where a laboratory was prepared. Bottcher’s fellow -prisoners 
 
 formed a plan of escape, in which Bbttcher refused to join, and even 
 communicated it to the commandant, whereby he succeeded in 
 obtaining a larger amount of liberty. In 1707 he returned to 
 Dresden, and continued to work with his colleague, inspiring all 
 around him with cheerfulness by his gay and lively disposition, 
 during some of the furnace operations, which lasted two or three 
 days, without quitting his post. In 1708 Tschirnhaus died, but 
 Bbttcher continued his experiments on a more extended scale, and 
 with success. In his enlarged furnace he extended the period of the 
 firing to five days and five nights. The king was present at the open- 
 ing, and was delighted with the progress made. Still, however, the 
 produce was only a species of red and white stone-ware ; and when 
 at length, in 1709, a white porcelain was produced, it bent and 
 cracked in the fire. Sufficient progress had been made to encourage 
 Augustus to establish the manufactory at Meissen, of which Bbtt- 
 cher was appointed director. Here he succeeded, in 1715, in pro- 
 ducing a beautiful porcelain, by means of the kaolin of Aue, in the 
 Erzgebirge, the discovery of which was due to one Schnorr, an iron- 
 master of the district. He observed, when riding near the place, 
 that his horse’s feet stuck in a soft white tenacious earth. It 
 occurred to him that this earth might make a good substitute for 
 hair-powder, which was then in general use, and he manufactured 
 it in considerable quantities, and sold it at Dresden and elsewhere. 
 Bbttcher was one of those who adopted the new hair-powder, and, 
 with the acute observation of a man of genius, he soon remarked 
 that it was much heavier than the ordinary powder made of wheat 
 flour. Having ascertained from his valet that it was a mineral, he 
 immediately tried it in his furnace experiments, and was surprised 
 and delighted to find that he had at length discovered the material 
 for making white porcelain. But the secret thus curiously gained 
 was for a time carefully preserved. They continued to call the 
 powder by its commercial name of Schnorr’s White Earth 
 ( Schnorrische weisse JErde), its exportation was forbidden, and it 
 was introduced into the factory in sealed barrels, by persons who 
 were sworn to secrecy. A similar obligation was imposed upon all 
 persons concerned in the factory ; visitors were carefully excluded ; 
 and the factory was managed more like a besieged fortress than a 
 peaceful residence. In each room the motto in large letters was 
 written, “ Be secret until death ;” each workman, from the inspector 
 downwards, was sworn to secrecy once a month, and when the king 
 took any person of distinction to see the works he imposed a similar 
 oath on the visitor. 
 
 With so much care to conceal materials and processes, it is not to 
 be wondered at that some of the workmen should listen to the voice 
 of the tempter, seeing that it was now an object of royal ambition 
 throughout Europe to manufacture porcelain. Even before Bott- 
 cher’s death, which took place in 1719, at the early age of thirty- 
 seven, a foreman escaped from the factory, and proceeded to Vienna, 
 where he sold the secret, and rival establishments soon rose up in 
 different parts of Germany. But the real or supposed superiority 
 of Dresden china caused this exclusive system to be kept up until 
 modern times. By degrees, however, as the porcelain of other 
 countries attained celebrity, visitors were admitted on payment of 
 an entrance fee. The writer visited the works at Meissen a few 
 years ago : they still retain the old castellated appearance, and 
 stand out picturesquely on the banks of the Elbe. The various 
 workshops are light and airy (the principal one being ornamented 
 with a bust of Bbttcher), and some of them look out upon the river. 
 There is of course nothing peculiar in the mode of working; and 
 here, as at Sevres, we were struck with the lassitude which seemed 
 to pervade the whole establishment. No one seemed to be in 
 earnest ; work appeared to be slack, and the labourers few — a con- 
 sequence doubtless of state support and royal patronage, and bearing 
 about the same relation to such works as Minton’s as the humble- 
 bee’s nest does to the busy swarming hive. 
 
 The early productions of the Meissen works were, for the most 
 part, imitations of oriental patterns, with a want of grace and 
 lightness. There was, however, a manifest improvement when a 
 professional sculptor, Handler, had the direction of the modelling. 
 His garlands, bouquets, animals, groups, chandeliers, and vases, are 
 much admired. After the Seven Years’ War, which stopped the 
 works, Meissen became celebrated for its exquisite miniature copies 
 of the best Flemish pictures, birds, insects, flowers, animals, &c., 
 which were painted by Linderer, and other first-rate artists. When 
 Frederick of Prussia attacked Dresden in 1745, vast quantities of 
 porcelain became the spoil of the conqueror, who also forcibly carried 
 

 off to Berlin some of the best workmen, together with models and 
 moulds. That a king should desire to become a porcelain manufac- 
 turer at the time to which we refer need not excite surprise, seeing 
 that Meissen sold wares to the annual value of from 150,000 to 
 
 200.000 crowns, while the annual expense was not estimated above 
 
 80.000 crowns; besides the fashion of the thing, which caused 
 magnificent presents in porcelain to be so highly appreciated. 
 Moreover, a king like Frederick, who was so fond of indulging in 
 the expensive luxury of war, would be glad to avail himself of so 
 profitable a source of income. 
 
 The finest specimens of Dresden china were made previously to 
 the Seven Years’ War. Mr. Marrvat characterises it as being supe- 
 rior in form to that of any other manufacture — it being for the most 
 part taken from the classical models of the ancients, with which it 
 vies in elegance and beauty. “ The groups from antique models, 
 the lace figures — so-called from the fineness of the lace-work intro- 
 duced in the dress, the flowers true to nature, the vases richly 
 adorned and encrusted, called honeycomb , are all unequalled in 
 beauty of execution, and show the great excellence of the artists 
 employed.” 
 
 The various rival establishments which were started in different 
 parts of Germany had the effect of converting the establishment 
 at Meissen from a source of revenue to a source of expense, and the 
 works are now no longer a royal toy, but are managed by the 
 finance department. They yield some little profit, but their glory 
 has departed. The articles produced are of inferior quality and 
 material, the beds of fine clay in the neighbourhood being well-nigh 
 exhausted. The Ceramic Court contains various specimens of 
 Dresden porcelain from the collections of Lady Molesworth, the 
 Duke of Devonshire, and D. Falcke, Esq. — the latter gentleman 
 contributing numerous and highly interesting specimens, which the 
 visitor will do well to examine. There are some curious specimens 
 of basket-ware, resembling large wicker baskets, with numerous 
 handles, and small wicker doors opening at the side, and moving on 
 hinges. A certain ideal finish is given the figure by resting it, 
 as it were, upon a bed of flags, whose lanceolated foliage rises up 
 gracefully, and constitutes, indeed, the only pleasing part of the 
 production, affording as it does a refreshing glimpse of nature 
 amidst the embarrassments of Art. Those only who are acquainted 
 with the practical details of this manufacture can be at all aware of 
 the enormous difficulties of forming one of these baskets, and passing 
 it successfully through the furnace ; and when the results have been 
 successful, as in the cases before us, we have an infringement of one 
 of the soundest canons of Art — namely, not to imitate an inferior 
 material in a superior. 
 
 By the side of a pair of pheasants, executed at Dresden when 
 Marcoline was the director (1796), lent by H. Porter, Esq., are some i 
 specimens of the porcelain of Vienna, the first rival of Meissen, ori- ! 
 ginating in 1720, as already noticed, by the defection of a foreman j 
 from Meissen. The factory, however, does not appear to have flou- 
 rished until the time of Maria Theresa, 1744, and the Emperor j 
 Joseph, when it became one of the most prosperous establishments j 
 of the kind in Europe. Vienna porcelain is not equal to that of 
 Dresden or of Berlin; it is thicker than the Dresden, and the 
 glazing inclines rather to grey. It is chiefly remarkable for the 
 fineness and taste of its raised and gilded work, and, of late years, 
 for the application in relief of solid platinum and gold. The largest 
 sale of this ware was in Turkey; and now that the works are 
 in private hands, large quantities are exported to Italy, Russia, and 
 Turkey. 
 
 The manufacture of porcelain was successfully introduced into 
 a celebrated pottery at Hbchst, on the Nidda, in the territory of 
 Mayence, in 1740, in consequence of one of the Viennese workmen 
 offering to superintend the production. This man, Ringler by name, 
 had committed the various processes of the Vienna establishment to 
 writing, and carefully concealed his manuscript about his person, 
 giving out the materials to the people under him, and apportioning 
 them according to his written recipes. Such a state of things was 
 not likely to last. Some of the workmen took advantage of Ringler’s 
 fondness for wine to make him drunk, and in his helpless condition 
 obtained possession of his papers, which they carefully copied. They 
 then decamped, and sold their secrets to persons in different parts of 
 Germany who were anxious to fabricate the precious ware. From 
 the same source originated the manufactories of Switzerland, of the 
 lower Rhine, of Cassel, and even of Berlin. The Fiirstenburg 
 works, in the Duchy of Brunswick, originated in the offer made by 
 
 one of its dukes to one of the Hbchst workmen. The works at 
 Frankenthal, in Bavaria, originated in a pottery which was visited 
 by Ringler after he had been robbed of his papers; and on the 
 death of the owner the establishment was purchased by the Elector 
 Palatine. During the French Revolution the factory declined, and 
 in 1800 it passed into private hands, in which it still continues. To 
 Ringler is also due the establishment of the works at Nymphenburg, 
 in Bavaria, a few miles from Munich. Some specimens from these 
 works are contributed to the Ceramic Court from Lady Molesworth’s 
 collection. This porcelain is much esteemed, the celebrated picture 
 gallery at Munich furnishing many of the designs. A manufactory 
 at Baden was carried on until 1778 by some of the Hbchst work- 
 men. The factory of Ludwigsburg was established in 1758, under 
 the patronage of the Duke of Wirtemberg, and produced some 
 beautiful works, which are also known as Cronenbury porcelain, 
 from the town of that name, and the mark of C. C. on its ware ; but 
 it was a losing concern, on account of the distance from which the 
 clay and the fuel had to be carried. The porcelain manufactory of 
 Berlin originated with some of the workmen who obtained possession 
 of Ringler’s papers, as already noticed, but it does not appear to have 
 been successful until Frederick the Great adopted the violent means 
 of transferring to it the best of the artists and of the plant from 
 Meissen. The Berlin porcelain was of course in the style of the 
 Dresden, and soon came into such request that the factory yielded 
 the king an annual revenue of 200,000 crowns. In 1790 a second 
 royal manufactory was established, two miles from Berlin. Since 
 1827, porcelain tablets, called lithopharces, or transparent pictures, in 
 white porcelain have been manufactured. They are cast in a mould 
 from a wax model ; the various thicknesses of the tablet giving the 
 effect of light and shade ; and when held up to the light they have 
 the appearance of being painted in grisaille. The Ceramic Court 
 contains specimens of Berlin ware. Cassel appears to have given its 
 name to porcelain ; and a work is said to have been established at 
 Fulda, about 1763, in consequence of the disclosures of one of 
 Ringler’s workmen. Another factory was established by the 
 Prince-bishop of Fulda, in a building adjoining the episcopal palace; 
 but it failed, it is said, from the dignitaries of the church and their 
 numerous relatives claiming the privilege of taking out of the fac- 
 tory whatever articles they chose without paying for them. The 
 porcelain manufactories of Thuringia originated in the circumstance 
 that about 1758 an old woman took some sand for sale to the house 
 of the chemist Maclieleid, whose son, struck with its appearance, 
 made some experiments with it, and obtained a substance nearly 
 resembling porcelain. Further inquiries justified the excellence of 
 the material, and the Prince of Schwartzburg gave permission for 
 the establishment of a manufactory at Sitzerode, which was after- 
 wards removed to Volkstadt. The plentiful supply of fuel in the 
 Thuringian forest led to the formation of other establishments, such 
 as Wallendorf, in Saxe Cobourg, Limbach, in Saxe Meinengen, the 
 director of which was so successful that he purchased the factory at 
 Grosbreitenbach, in Rudolstadt, and also that of Kloster Veilsdorf. 
 There was also a factory founded at Gotha, in 1780, at Hildburg- 
 haus, at Anspach, at Ilmenau, at Breitenbach, and at Gera. Some 
 of these factories have degenerated into pottery establishments, and 
 some of them make pipe-bowls ; but the porcelain produced at these 
 establishments during their respective seasons of prosperity is still 
 sought for by collectors who know how to distinguish its leading 
 characteristics and peculiar marks. 
 
 During all this busy emulation among the porcelain sovereignties 
 of Europe, it is not to be supposed that Russia should look idly on. 
 Several attempts were made to obtain the secret of the manufacture; 
 and Elizabeth founded, in 1756, a factory near St. Petersburg, which 
 continues to the present day to make good porcelain from native 
 materials. The government of Denmark has a factory at Copen- 
 hagen, which does not pay its expenses. The factory at Zurich, in 
 Switzerland, owes its origin to one of Ringler’s workmen. Nyons, 
 in the Canton de Vaud, was also at one time celebrated for its por- 
 celain — specimens of which, together with that of Zurich, may be 
 seen in the Ceramic Court. 
 
 The first English porcelain works were those of Bow and of 
 Chelsea. They produced soft porcelain from a mixture of white 
 clay and fine white sand from Alum Bay, in the Isle of Wight, 
 with a sufficient quantity of pounded glass to improve its trans- 
 lucency. It is uncertain at what time the Chelsea factory was 
 established, but it is probable that the introduction of oriental por- 
 celain, about 1631, stimulated ingenious men to imitate it. The 
 
196 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 factory does not, however, appear to have flourished until the acces- 
 sion of the house of Hanover, when George II., in imitation of other 
 German potentates, patronised porcelain, and threw new blood into 
 the Chelsea works by importing workmen, models, and materials from 
 Brunswick and Saxony. Chelsea porcelain thus became the 
 fashion, and such was the competition for it that it was sold by 
 auction, the dealers thronging the doors of the factory to compete 
 for a set as soon as it was out of the ovens. Some of the best pro- 
 ductions were made between 1750 and 1765, and are of the style of 
 the best German, the colours being fine and vivid, while the claret 
 colour is said to be peculiar to this ware. Lady Molesworth has 
 contributed some valuable specimens of Chelsea porcelain to the 
 Ceramic Court, representing the Seasons, the Grecian Daughter, &c. 
 There are also specimens from Lady Rolle’s collection. The Bow 
 china, made at Stratford-le-Bow, bears some resemblance to the 
 Chelsea, but the material is inferior. It produced chiefly tea and 
 dessert sets; and on the handle or under the spout of the cream-jug 
 the letter B was either embossed or painted. 
 
 The works at Derby were established in 1750, and were subse- 
 
 King’s Blue which this country could boast of was produced at 
 Derby, and has been successfully imitated by Messrs. Rose and 
 Minton. 
 
 The porcelain works at Worcester were founded in 1751 by 
 Dr. Wall, and some other persons, under the title of the Worcester 
 Porcelain Company. Dr. Wall appears first to have conceived the 
 idea of ornamenting the ware, by transferring printed patterns to 
 it while in the state of biscuit, a plan which is now in common use. 
 The first efforts of the company were directed chiefly to the produc- 
 tion of blue and white ware, in imitation of the blue and white 
 Nankin. They afterwards imitated the Sevres style, and the 
 Dresden method of painting. The Worcester works are celebrated 
 as being the first to make use of the kaolin discovered in Cornwall 
 by Cookworthy, in 1768. The works are now carried on by Messrs. 
 Kerr and Binns, who have contributed largely to the Ceramic Court. 
 We would call attention to their Shakspere services, Fig. 177, 
 and to the duplicate of a plate, executed for her majesty in 
 Worcester enamel, containing light classical figures and groups 
 on a. deep blue ground. We see also by some specimens lent by 
 
 Fig. 178. — specimens of limoges, Sevres, Dresden, Berlin, and Vienna porcelain. 
 
 quently improved by the introduction of many of the artists, 
 workmen, and models from Chelsea. Mr. Marryat charac- 
 terises the Derby porcelain as being very transparent, of fine 
 quality, and distinguished by a beautiful bright blue, often 
 introduced on the border or edge of the tea-services, the ground 
 being usually plain. The white biscuit figures rival those of 
 Sevres. 
 
 Mr. Baring Wall characterises the Chelsea of all English china 
 as the most attractive, with its peculiar claret colour, its bold 
 designs, its quaint devices, unimitated, because inimitable. The 
 advantages of Chelsea over other workshops were the possession of 
 a clay, not so tender as the old Sbvres, but softer than any other we 
 possessed; it had French moulds and models, and French workmen, 
 conversant with the secrets of the art. At a later period it formed 
 a junction with the Derby fabric, and the anchor and the letter D, 
 the monograms of each manufacture, became identified; the same 
 models were used by both establishments, and Flaxman furnished 
 designs. The union was not of long continuance ; the partners 
 quarrelled, and one of them melted down the models. The best 
 
 J. J. Rogers, Esq., of what the works were capable in the year 1780 , 
 these consist of part of a dessert-service of that date. 
 
 A porcelain factory was founded in 1772 at Caughley, near 
 Broseley, Colebrook Dale, the productions of which are known as 
 Salopian ware. At the beginning of the present century some good 
 porcelain was made at Nantgarrow and Swansea; and, according to 
 some authorities, the Bristol china — a name given to a white ware, at 
 one time not uncommon in the west of England — was made in Wales, 
 and sold in Bristol. Specimens of Bristol porcelain are to be 
 found in the Ceramic Court. The works of recent or existing manu- 
 facturers are also, to a certain extent, illustrated there. Among these 
 Minton and Co. are conspicuous. Their tea-services, beautiful and 
 delicate in form, exquisite in device, and rich in colour, contrasting 
 with their porcelain vases, flower vases, and enormous majolica vases, 
 w’ould seem to illustrate the beautiful and the sublime in the fictile art. 
 We have also some exquisite busts manufactured by Copeland from 
 j porcelain earth, such as the bust of Clytie, reduced from the original 
 ! in the British Museum — a form of the art which cannot be too highly 
 i commended, since there is nothing more touching to the thoughtful 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 197 
 
 mind than to be brought face to face with the worthies and cele- 
 brities of the past, and we cannot but regard the splendid collection 
 of busts in the Crystal Palace as one of its most attractive features ; 
 and were a better system of classification adopted, its interest would 
 be greatly increased. If all the warriors were collected into one 
 class, all the poets into another, the historians into a third, the 
 artists into a fourth, the musicians into a fifth, and these classes 
 again pi-operly subdivided, how deeply interesting would be the 
 study of the features of men whose reputation belongs rather to the 
 world than to their own country. But scattered as these valuable 
 casts are throughout the building, they bewilder and confuse where 
 they should instruct and delight; and they even sometimes, by 
 their odd juxtaposition, excite amusement or disgust — for it was 
 only at our last visit that the stately colossal head, massive 
 and dignified, of Goethe had for its companion the bewhiskered 
 face of a popular orator of the present day, reminding one of 
 Landseer’s picture of “ Dignity and Impudence.” But to return 
 to the Ceramic Court. We refer with peculiar pleasure to what 
 are called “ reproductions of Greek vases, chiefly copies of those 
 in the British Museum,” manufactured by Messrs. Battam and Son. 
 There is also an Alhambresque vase by Copeland, and some speci- 
 mens of Spode’s terra-cotta, bearing date 1800, and some specimens 
 of jasper ware, to which the same well-known name is attached. 
 
 The part which France has taken in the manufacture of porcelain 
 deserves a far more extended notice than our limits will allow. This 
 highly-imaginative and intellectual nation has ever regarded with 
 impatience the successful progress of any Art-manufacture in other 
 lands. With exquisite taste, a profound knowledge of the scientific 
 principles on which every manufacture rests, with great energy and 
 perseverance, France only wants the raw material, the capital, and, 
 we may add, the free institutions of Britain, to prove a formidable 
 rival in the markets of the world. The want of the proper raw 
 material in the case of porcelain prevented France, during the long 
 period of sixty years, from surpassing the choicest productions of 
 Dresden. As early as the year 1695 a soft porcelain had been 
 manufactured at St. Cloud, and some of the most distinguished 
 scientific men of France endeavoured, under royal patronage, to 
 discover the secrets of the art; and partly by this means, and partly 
 by bribery, they so far succeeded that the company who had the 
 management of the works removed from Vincennes, where the 
 crown had given them buildings, to a large edifice which they had 
 constructed at Sevres. This was in 1756. They do not, however, 
 appear to have been very successful ; for in 1760 Louis XV. bought 
 the whole establishment, being probably incited thereto by Madame 
 de Pompadour, who shared with other fine ladies of her time in the 
 passion for porcelain. The soft porcelain or pclte-tendre, as the 
 French called it, was carried to the highest pitch of excellence; 
 but the ambition of every one concerned in the factory was to pro- 
 duce the hard porcelain for which Saxony was so famous. The 
 want of kaolin was the fatal defect ; and it was not known to exist 
 in France until about the year 1768, when the wife of a poor sur- 
 geon, named Darnet, residing at St. Yrieix, near Limoges, having 
 noticed in a ravine near the town a white unctuous earth, fancied, 
 poor soul, that she might favour the economy of her household by 
 using it instead of soap. She informed her husband of her dis- 
 covery, and of its proposed application, and he showed it to an 
 apothecary at Bordeaux, who having heard of the researches that 
 were being conducted for porcelain earth, forwarded a sample 
 thereof to the chemist Macquer, who was delighted to recognise in 
 it the much-desired kaolin. Having satisfied himself that the 
 material could be had in abundance, he organised at Sevres the 
 manufacture of hard porcelain in 1769. There was some difficulty 
 at first in managing the colours upon the more compact and less 
 absorbent materials, so that the soft porcelain continued to be 
 manufactured until 1804. “This soft porcelain was remarkable,” 
 says Mr. Marryat, “for its creamy and pearly softness of colour, 
 the beauty of its painting, and its depth of glaze.” That for com- 
 mon or domestic use generally had a plain ground, painted with 
 flowers in patterns or medallions ; articles de luxe, and pieces 
 intended for royal use, generally had grounds of various colours — 
 such as bleu de roi, bleu tut qaoise,jonquille or yellow, vert-pres, and 
 the lovely rose Dubarry. The best artists were employed on the 
 highest class of porcelain — on landscapes, flowers, birds, boys, and 
 cupids, gracefully disposed in medallions; some of the subjects being 
 after Watteau. The jewelled cups of the best period, with the bleu 
 de roi ground, are very celebrated. The tests by which Mr. Marryat 
 
 determines the value of the Sevres porcelain constitute its highest 
 eulogium — namely, “ the beauty of the painting, the richness of the 
 gilding, and the depth of colour.” As regards beauty of form, the 
 Sevres china is stiff and inelegant compared with that of Dresden. 
 By a law passed in 1766, and renewed in 1784, all manufactories of 
 porcelain in France, except the royal one of Sevres, were prohibited 
 from using gold in their decorations. 
 
 As the genuine soft porcelain of Sevres of the best period — i.e. 
 from 1740 to 1769 — is difficult to procure, while the secret of its 
 production appears to have been lost, unscrupulous dealers have 
 
 Fig. 179. — JEWELLED PORCELAIN OF SEVRES. 
 
 resorted to a curious fraud for the purpose of supplying the demand. 
 At the commencement of the peace of 1815 the old stocks of porce- 
 lain at Sevres were sold by auction, and they were industriously 
 bought up by certain persons, who obtained as much as they could 
 from private collections also. It must be understood that none of 
 these specimens were distinguished by those much-desired colours, 
 the bleu de roi, the turquoise, and the rose Dubarry ; and the object 
 of the purchasers was to impart these colours, together with certain 
 designs in imitation of the best porcelain of the best period. This 
 was done by filing off' the original pattern and glaze, colouring the 
 ground with one of the three colours mentioned, — turquoise answer- 
 ing the best, — and adding medallions and other paintings. On 
 passing the specimens thus doctored through the furnace, a portion 
 of the original glaze absorbed during the first firing was brought 
 out sufficient to cover the new ground and paintings, thus making 
 the imitation complete, and greatly enhancing the value of the 
 specimens. Skilful dealers have certain tests by which to detect 
 the fraud; but it is only at Sevres that it can be completely done, 
 for there the model of every piece is preserved. 
 
 Although at the time of the French Revolution many fine speci- 
 mens of Sfevres porcelain were destroyed in the royal palaces, and 
 in the houses of the nobility, yet the royal manufactory at Sevres 
 received the support of the revolutionary government. During that 
 period it was managed by three commissioners until 1800, when the 
 first consul appointed M. Brongniart as director. We have already 
 mentioned his name as the originator of the Musee Ceramique. He 
 held the appointment for forty-seven years, and was succeeded by 
 M. Ebelman, the chemist. He died some time after Louis Napoleon 
 became president of the French Republic, and there were many can- 
 didates for the post, among whom was the young and rising chemist 
 M. Regnault, who had greatly distinguished himself by original dis- 
 coveries, and by an admirable treatise on the science to whioh he had 
 devoted his fine abilities. He submitted his testimonials to the govern- 
 ment, and made personal application, when he was informed by tho 
 minister that his request could not be granted, on the ground of inex- 
 
198 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 perience. M. Regnault then adopted the simple but straightforward 
 course of addressing the prince-president on the subject, stating his 
 qualifications, and meeting the charge of inexperience by referring to 
 various scientific commissions appointed by the government to which 
 he had acted as secretary — in many of which he had had the chief 
 labour in conducting the experiments, and drawing up the reports. 
 Some weeks elapsed, during which no answer was vouchsafed to 
 M. Regnault’s letter; but in due course the directorship of the 
 Sevres works was brought before the prince. The form of appoint- 
 ment was placed before him to fill in the name of the candidate, and 
 to sanction it with his own signature. The minister stated the name of 
 the person selected by the government for the office, and what were 
 his qualifications, and when the minister had done speaking the 
 prince filled up the blank with a name, and attached his own signa- 
 ture; but what was the surprise of all parties concerned to find 
 that instead of the name of the person recommended, the prince had 
 written that of Victor Regnault. 
 
 In the Ceramic Court there are some beautiful specimens of old 
 Sevres porcelain, lent by the Duke of Devonshire. There is also 
 an interesting collection of royal ptlte-tendre, made by the express 
 order of Louis XVI., and exhibited at the fete of Christmas, 1783, 
 at Versailles — the corresponding pieces being in the possession of 
 her Majesty at Windsor Castle. There is also a fine specimen of 
 the jewelled porcelain of Sevres, from Lady Rolle’s collection ; and 
 some specimens of the earlier porcelain of St. Cloud. There are also 
 some specimens of modern Sbvres from the collection of James 
 Fergusson, Esq. 
 
 We cannot omit to notice in this place the admirable modern 
 jewelled porcelain exhibited by Mr. Alderman Copeland, a specimen 
 of which is represented in Fig. 181. The ground is deep blue, and 
 there is a slightly raised beading of white enamel with some speci- 
 mens, apparently, of turquoise and malachite. 
 
 The other porcelain manufactories of France may be briefly named 
 as follows: — Chantilly, of which there are specimens in the Ceramic 
 
 fig. ISO. — JEWELLED PORCELAIN OF SEVRES. 
 
 Court, and which owed its origin, in 1735, to a workman from 
 St. Cloud; Menecy, founded in 1735, under the patronage of the 
 Due de Villeroy; Sceaux-penthievre, established in 1751; Clig- 
 nancourt, under the patronage of the Duke of Orleans, 1750 ; 
 Etiolles, near Corbeil, 1766; Bourg la Reine, Paris, 1773; Lille' 
 established, it is said, in 1708, when the Dutch had possession of 
 the town. In 1785-6 experiments were made on the use of coal 
 instead of wood in firing the hard porcelain, which were considered 
 on the whole successful, although the use of wood is continued in 
 the principal factories up to the present time. Arras, 1782; Tour- 
 
 nay, 1750. There are also seven manufacturers of hard porcelain 
 in Paris. 
 
 The example of the sovereigns of Germany in manufacturing por- 
 celain extended, as we have seen, to other places. At the com- 
 mencement of the eighteenth century an Italian nobleman estab- 
 lished a large manufactory at Doccia, near Florence, and being 
 conducted with taste and spirit, it appears to have met with much 
 success. But the quality of its wares declined as works in other 
 parts became multiplied. Collectors also esteem the porcelain of 
 Venice, the manufacture of which ceased in 1812. Specimens of it 
 
 Fig. 181. — MODERN JEWELLED PORCELAIN (COPELAND). 
 
 may be seen in the Ceramic Court, as well as that of Doccia, already 
 mentioned, lowards the end of the last century a factory was 
 established at Vineuf, near Turin; but the most celebrated factory 
 in Italy is the Capo di Monti, at Naples, of which there are several 
 choice and beautiful specimens in the Ceramic Court— such as a vase 
 lent by Mr. David Falcke, and specimens from Lady Molesworth’s 
 collection. This manufactory is also of royal origin. It was founded 
 by Charles III., in 1736, — a sovereign who appears to have excelled 
 in fictile ardour the other royal and imperial amateurs, for he is 
 said to have worked in the manufactory with his own hands. But 
 as the sublime often merges into the ridiculous, our respect for the 
 royal artisan is somewhat diminished when we learn that during the 
 fair held every year before the royal palace at Naples, a shop was 
 opened for the sale of the royal productions ; that the king was 
 informed every day of what was sold, and who were the purchasers, 
 and that there was no surer road to royal favour than to become a 
 purchaser at this shop. When this sovereign became King of Spain, 
 he established a factory at Madrid, at the expense of that at Naples, 
 where he had served his apprenticeship. His successor, Ferdinand, 
 gave permission for the establishment of other porcelain works, and 
 permitted his workmen to assist in their establishment — a permission 
 which they interpreted so liberally as to rob the royal works of its 
 gold and silver models, and other valuables. The royal factory ter- 
 minated its existence in 1821. The porcelain of Capo di Monti is 
 not, as in many other cases, based upon that of some rival manufac- 
 ture. Its peculiar beauty and excellence depend on the design — 
 from shells, corals, embossed figures, &c., exquisitely moulded in 
 high relief. Mr. Marryat gives a wood engraving of a basin, and a 
 coloured plate of an ewer, “ formed of a variety of native sea-shells 
 grouped together, interlaced with branches of coral, and ornamented 
 with shells of a smaller size, all being moulded and coloured from 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 199 
 
 nature.” The same authority regards the tea and coffee services as 
 perhaps the most beautiful porcelain articles ever manufactured in 
 Europe for transparency, thinness of the paste — equal to oriental 
 egg-shell, elegance of form, and gracefully-twisted serpent handles, 
 but especially for the delicate modelling of the ornamental groups 
 of classical and mythological subjects in high relief, painted and 
 gilt, and contrasting well with the plain ground. 
 
 The factory at Madrid, in the gardens of the palace of El Buen 
 Retiro , was established in 1759, by Charles III., as already men- 
 tioned. During several reigns the works were conducted with the 
 utmost secrecy; they were destroyed by the French in 1812. The 
 ware resembles that of Capo di Monti, as may be seen by examining 
 some specimens in the Ceramic Court. In Portugal there is a fac- 
 tory of hard porcelain near Oporto. 
 
 In passing from these historical into manufacturing details, the 
 reader need scarcely be reminded that the progress of improvement 
 in the Useful Arts, depending, as it gx-eatly does, on the advance of 
 chemical science, has enabled the manufacturer to produce wares 
 rivalling those of Dresden and Sbvres at a far cheaper rate; so that 
 it is now no longer a peculiar mark of high birth or of great wealth 
 to be served on porcelain of fine quality. A service of Sevres por- 
 celain of a good period would have cost 30,000 livres ; one made at 
 Chelsea is said to have cost £1200, and the Dresden ware was 
 equally expensive. A visit to the Ceramic Court will show how ; 
 successful our modern manufacturers have been in producing exqui- 
 site porcelain at rates which, though high, are not to be compared 
 with those of the olden time, — besides which, when the most costly 
 porcelain was manufactured, the descent from it to common crockery 
 was sudden and abrupt ; now, however, the transition is by a series 
 of nice gradations, including a large variety of wares, suited to all 
 tastes, and to the varying means of purchasers. Driven from their 
 much-loved porcelain, royalty, and persons who are fond of distinc- 
 tion, have resorted to gold and silver plate; but even here the pro- 
 gress of the Useful Arts will not leave them unmolested, nor appa- 
 rently unrivalled, as our recent description of electro-gilding and 
 electro-plating, and Messrs. Elkington’s display in the Crystal 
 Palace, will show. If, then, the rich and the great are thus deprived 
 of material distinctions, let us hope that they will shine forth the more 
 brightly in those higher and more noble distinctions which spring 
 from mental sources; and employ their worldly position and advan- 
 tages, as many of their class are now happily doing, in alleviating 
 misery, checking vice, and acquainting themselves with the real 
 condition of the suffering and oppressed among their fellow-men. 
 
 Still, however, for porcelain of the finest kind, and of the highest 
 style of ornamentation, high prices will be asked and given so long 
 as there is a demand for these fragile treasures. Lord Ward gave 
 £1500 for a dessert-service of Sevres; Lord Hertford £1000 for 
 two vases ; Mr. Mills the same ; one of the Queen’s vases has been 
 valued at £1000 ; Mr. Minton received £1000 for his service of 
 turquoise and Parian. But the great demand for earthenware is 
 for those kinds (and their name is legion ) which are in daily use at 
 our tables, and the trade in earthenware has gone on increasing to 
 a remarkable extent during the last few years. In the year 1835, 
 the declared value of earthenware exported from the United King- 
 dom was £540,421; in 1853 it was £1,338,370; in 1854 it was 
 £1,306,146 — which last two values were represented respectively 
 by 99,760,664 pieces, and 92,541,843 pieces — a cup and a saucer, for 
 instance, being reckoned as distinct pieces. Our exports extend to 
 most parts of the world, including Russia, Austria, Turkey, and even 
 France, the classic land of fine pottery; and such was the effect of 
 the Great Exhibition of 1851 that, whereas in 1848 France took of 
 us 29,226 pieces, in 1851 she took 296,871 pieces. But the most 
 surprising fact connected with the Exhibition was the absence of 
 earthenware in the American department; for, with the exception of 
 a solitary specimen from Cincinnati, somewhat resembling our 
 Rockingham ware, it seemed as if that vast continent had neither 
 potteries nor potters : indeed, the American trade absorbs nearly 
 the half of our exports in earthenware. 
 
 The regulations by which English earthenware is admitted into 
 foreign states are somewhat clumsy. The German and Italian 
 states levy the duty on the weight — so that Wedgwood, from the 
 lightness of his wares, had long the command of the market in those 
 countries. In France the duty on common English china of one 
 colour, without gilding or ornament, is 164 francs per 100 kilo- 
 grammes (200 lbs.) ; for fine china, 327 francs for the same weight. 
 But the most whimsical tariff is that of Portugal, which charges by 
 
 colour — so that, as Mr. Wall remarks, “ no man’s pocket could stand 
 the choice of a rainbow pattern. The greater the variety of colours, 
 the heavier the duty; and a manufacturer conversant with the 
 details and niceties of the trade could almost detect a Portuguese, 
 not by his accent, but by the service he chose, and test his wealth 
 by the colours he selected.” 
 
 Our concluding remarks on the Birmingham Court referred to 
 the effect of exclusive privileges and government patronage on the 
 growth of Art-manufacture. In most cases, the effect has been to 
 produce articles of luxury adapted to the tastes of the privileged 
 few, rather than wares within the reach of the great bulk of the com 
 munity. When trade is left to itself, it. will find out what are the 
 wants and tastes of the community at large ; and, in the case of the 
 Ceramic Art, it can only succeed by rapidity of design and exe- 
 cution, convenience of form, colours both lasting and attractive, and, 
 above all, cheapness. The question is, are these qualities compatible 
 with the artistic portion of the manufacture, which requires genius 
 for original conception, leisure for study, accurate drawing, a good 
 knowledge of inorganic chemistry, together with all the technical 
 resources of the art. “The tendencies of the age,” says Mr. Wall, 
 
 “ to save labour, to lessen expense, and to multiply production, are 
 abstractedly all adverse to the development of taste; and I often 
 think what advantages to Art would be gained if more breathing- 
 time could be afforded to genius by the establishment of cities of 
 refuge in Italy and Greece, where artistic feeling could fly for peace 
 and repose, and perfect under a warmer sun the education of the 
 student’s eye; freed as he then would be from the trammels with 
 which he is now encumbered, working, as he too often does, on his 
 own account for his own daily bread. Although, in the present 
 circumstances of the times, adventitious assistance is out of the 
 question, the truth must be told, the struggle is arduous, and 
 almost impqssible; for hitherto, whether we look to the oriental, the 
 majolica, the Dresden, the Sevres, or the Chelsea, every manufacture 
 of porcelain (which has held for any length of time any influence 
 on the public mind) has been supported by public money. We 
 know it now to be impossible, and it is on that account that we ask 
 with confidence for the establishment of schools of design — an 
 academy for porcelain as there is for pictures — giving to every 
 student the means of appreciating the power of pottery, by finding 
 in local as well as metropolitan museums the impress of Raphael’s 
 immortal mind.” 
 
 As the diamond is, chemically speaking, identical with a piece of 
 common charcoal, so the finest piece of porcelain holds an intimate 
 relation with a common brick or tile. The essential ingredients of 
 every article in pottery and porcelain are silica and alumina. The 
 pure compound silicate of alumina is an ideal type to which the 
 finest porcelain strives as nearly as possible to attain; while in the 
 coarser varieties impurities are regarded as of little moment. Such 
 impurities consist of iron, lime, potash, &c., in various conditions, 
 which give character to the manufactured wares. In some cases, 
 where it is possible to obtain silica and alumina nearly pure, sub- 
 stances are added for imparting a certain degree of fusibility to 
 those refractory materials, forming* therewith vitrifiable double 
 silicates; and when such substances are diffused through the paste 
 formed by silicate of alumina with water, — in some cases with silica 
 in excess, in others with excess of alumina, — the cohesion and hard- 
 ness of the mass are increased. 
 
 We have already pointed out the distinctions between soft and 
 hard, as applied to pottery and porcelain. Soft pottery, composed 
 of silica, alumina, and lime, is usually fusible at the heat at which 
 porcelain is baked, and can be scratched with a knife or file. Stone- 
 ware consists of silica, alumina, and baryta, and is a kind of coarse 
 porcelain. Hard porcelain contains a larger proportion of alumina and 
 less of silica than the soft : it is fired at a higher temperature, and 
 has a greater density than the soft. Soft porcelain contains a larger 
 proportion of silica, together with alkaline fluxes, and is soft in two 
 senses — in being less able to resist a high temperature, and being 
 easily scratched with a knife. 
 
 After the article in clay has been passed once through the fire, it 
 becomes converted into a porous substance, termed biscuit ; it is 
 rendered impermeable to water and durable by means of glazing, or 
 glassing, i.e. covering it with a thin layer of glass. In fine wares, 
 such as porcelain, the vitreous glaze resembles the substance of the 
 paste, only it must melt at a lower temperature than the article 
 which it is destined to cover and protect. The glaze combines so well 
 with the biscuit that on breaking a piece of good porcelain the line of 
 
200 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 separation between the biscuit and the glaze cannot be seen ; the 
 glazes for pottery are much more fusible. The materials of porcelain 
 are selected and prepared so as to insure the production of a white 
 biscuit; the glazes also are colourless. The clays used in making 
 pottery are impure, and frequently contain protoxide of iron, 
 which is converted by the oxidising influence of the flame into 
 the red peroxide. The resulting red biscuit has its colour concealed 
 by an opaque or coloured glaze, which differs from porcelain glaze 
 in not combining with the biscuit, but forming a distinct layer on 
 its surface. In the case of porcelain, and the finer descriptions of I 
 pottery, there are therefore two firings ; in the first of which the 
 soft plastic material is converted into biscuit, while in the second 
 the ornaments and glazes are vitrified. In the case of coarse 
 pottery, economy of production requires that the glazing shall be 
 performed simultaneously with the baking; for which purpose, when 
 the wares have been raised to a very high temperature, a quantity 
 of moist salt (chloride of sodium) is thrown into the kiln : this salt 
 becomes volatilised and decomposed in the presence of moisture and 
 of hot clay, hydrochloric acid is disengaged, and the wares become 
 covered with silicate of soda, which, combining with the silicate of 
 alumina, forms a fusible double alkaline silicate, or glaze, on the 
 surface of the articles. 
 
 The lowest application of the potter’s art is the production of 
 bricks and tiles. For such coarse pottery the materials and mani- 
 pulation are very rude : the clay is kneaded, or ground, in a 
 primitive kind of mill, called a pug-mill, the articles are moulded 
 by hand, exposed to the air in order to get rid of superfluous 
 moisture, and then fired in clamps, or kilns. If the articles have to 
 be exposed to a high temperature, as in the case of fire-bricks and 
 tiles, a refractory clay must be selected, or one which contains only 
 a very small proportion of the alkaline earths and of iron — for these 
 act the part of a flux, and render the clay fusible at high tem- 
 peratures. The proportions of silica and alumina in the fire-clays 
 vary considerably — the silica from 50 to 70 per cent., and the 
 miscellaneous ingredients from l| to upwards of 7 per cent. The 
 celebrated Stourbridge clay contains in 100 parts — silica 63'7, 
 alumina 22*7, oxide of iron 2-0, water 10 3. 
 
 In the manufacture of earthenware the two principal ingredients 
 are clay and flint. The clays commonly used in Staffordshire are 
 supplied by Devonshire and Dorsetshire — the latter county fur- 
 nishing brown and blue clays, and the former black and cracking 
 clays. The black clay owes its colour to the presence of bitumen, or 
 coaly matter, which disappears in the firing, and leaves a nearly 
 white biscuit. Cracking clay is a pure white, but cracks during the 
 firing, so that it requires to be mixed with other clays. Brown clay 
 is liable to an imperfection called crazing , or cracking of the glaze. 
 Blue clay is the best for ordinary purposes : it bears a larger propor- 
 tion of flint than the others, and produces a whiter ware. For por- 
 celain the china clay of Cornwall is used. It consists of felspar, one 
 of the ingredients of granite in a partially decomposed state. It 
 is collected by breaking up the stone with a pick, and throwing it 
 into a stream of running water. This washes off the argillaceous 
 parts, and keeps them suspended ; while the quartz and mica, the ; 
 other two ingredients of granite, sink at once to the bottom. At the ! 
 end of these rivulets the water is dammed up, forming catchpools , i 
 where the clay subsides in a solid mass, and can be dug out in 
 blocks on drawing off the water. When dry it is crushed, packed 
 in casks, and' sent to the pottery as kaolin, or china clay. It is a 
 white, impalpable powder, consisting of 60 parts alumina, and 20 of 
 silica. A certain proportion of undecomposed felspar is sometimes 
 added. 
 
 Flints for the manufacture are obtained from the chalk districts ; 
 those with yellow spots are rejected, for they indicate the presence 
 of iron, which would stain the ware. Steatite, or soap-stone (silicate 
 of magnesia), is sometimes used in making porcelain. The mineral 
 called pegmatite contains all the materials for hard porcelain ready 
 mixed- — namely, felspar, kaolin, and a small proportion of prismatic 
 quartz. Soft porcelain, as now manufactured, consists of kaolin, 
 Cornish stone, and bones ; the last ingredient forming a kind of 
 semi-transparent enamel, which improves the transparency of the 
 ware. 
 
 All these materials require a careful preparation. In the case of 
 pottery, the blue and white clays are mixed in the proper proportions 
 in a trough with the requisite quantity of water, and are left all night. 
 
 In the morning they are well worked up by means of a wooden 
 instrument, called a blunger , Fig. 182, until a smooth pulp is 
 
 obtained, a pint of which weighs 24 ounces. To facilitate the 
 blunging the clay is sometimes pugged in a cylinder, through the 
 
 centre of which runs a shaft furnished with a spiral line of knives 
 inclining downwards, while another series of knives is fixed to the 
 interior of the cylinder — so that as the shaft revolves, the knives cut 
 up the clay, force it downwards through an opening in the bottom, 
 whence it is removed to a vat, and blunged by machinery. 
 
 The flints are burnt in a kiln, and quenched redhot, which 
 facilitates their being crushed at the flint-mill. Fig. 183, which 
 consists of stampers and a strong iron 
 grating. The fragments thus formed are 
 ground in the Jlint-pan, Fig. 184, in 
 which a vat with a smooth quartz oi 
 felspar bottom is furnished with a 
 central shaft, the motion of which swings 
 round the runners, consisting of very 
 hard silicious stones, called chert, which 
 reduce the broken flints or felspar, in 
 the course of a few hours, to powder, 
 forming them, with the water, into a 
 creamy mixture, which is passed into 
 another vessel of water, and kept in 
 motion by a revolving shaft and arms — 
 the effect of which is that, while the 
 finer particles of flint remain suspended, 
 the larger ones sink to the bottom. 
 
 The water containing the finer particles 
 is from time to time drawn off into a 
 reservoir, where the flint powder sub- 
 sides. It is considered fit to mix with 
 clay when a wine pint of it weighs 32 ounces. The density of the 
 diluted clay being also adjusted, the manufacturer mixes these two 
 
 
 principal ingredients in such proportions as experience has dictated 
 for the kind of ware intended to be produced. The diluted mixture 
 of clay and flint, after being well agitated, is passed through sieves 
 of hard spun silk, kept in constant motion, and arranged on different 
 levels, as shown in Fig. 185, so that the mixture may pass from 
 coarser to finer sieves, and at length come out quite uniform and 
 smooth, in which state it is called slip. The water which was used 
 as a vehicle in straining and purifying the mixture being now in 
 excess, has to be got rid of by the application of heat, in what is 
 called the slip-kiln, a portion of which is shown by the side of the 
 blunging-pit, Fig. 182. The kiln consists of long brick troughs, 
 with flues under them, and during the early part of the evaporation 
 the slip is kept in constant agitation, to prevent the flint powder 
 
 Fig. 183.— FLINT-MILL. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 aoi 
 
 from subsiding. There is also tendency in flint and clay, when | 
 water is present, to form a kind of mortar which quickly hardens, 
 
 Fig. 185. — mixing. 
 
 an effect which is prevented by diligent stirring. In about twenty- 
 four hours bubbles of steam cease to be formed on the surface, and 
 the mass, when cut, is uniform in texture and sufficiently consistent. 
 The abundance of fuel in the potteries has led to this wasteful 
 method of depriving the mixture of its superfluous water. In 
 countries where fuel is scarce, better and more scientific methods 
 are adopted for the purpose, but these we will not stop to describe. 
 The next process is called wedging , it consists in cutting up the 
 mass into wedges by means of a spade, and dashing them against 
 each other with considerable force, so as to get rid of air bubbles, 
 which might otherwise form blisters in the ware. This wedging 
 should be performed at intervals during several months, in order to 
 secure a fine grain and freedom from flaws. The Chinese are said 
 to keep a store of materials in this way many years in advance. 
 During this ageing of the paste, as it is called, a kind of fermenta- 
 tion goes on — carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen are dis- 
 engaged, and the paste slowly improves in texture and in colour. 
 The next process is that of slapping, in which the workman takes 
 a mass of the paste weighing sixty or seventy pounds, and dashes 
 it down upon the bench before him. He frequently divides it by 
 drawing a wire through it, and, taking up one portion, dashes it 
 down on the remainder, taking care to preserve the grain of the 
 paste, by slapping the layers parallel to each other, and not 
 obliquely or at right angles, otherwise the ware would be liable to 
 fall to pieces in the firing. 
 
 The paste is now ready for being formed into some of the innu- 
 merable articles included in the term crockery. The most ancient 
 mode of proceeding is called throwing, which is performed at the 
 potter's wheel, or lathe, Fig. 186. It consists of an upright shaft, 
 
 Fig. 186. — tubowing. 
 
 about the height of a common table, on the top of which is fixed a 
 disk of wood of sufficient diameter to support the article which is to 
 be made. The lower end of the shaft, which is pointed, runs in a 
 conical step, and the upper part in a socket a little below the disk. 
 The shaft carries a pulley, grooved for three degrees of speed, over 
 which passes an endless band from a fly-wheel, the revolution of 
 which sets the shaft in motion. The paste, as received from the 
 
 slapper, is cut up into portions with a brass wire, each of which is 
 weighed, slapped with the hand, and rolled into a ball. The 
 thrower, seated as shown in the figure, takes one of these balls, 
 dashes it down upon the centre of the revolving board, and with 
 both hands kept wet by occasionally dipping them in water, 
 squeezes up the clay into a high conical mass, and again forces it 
 down so as to get rid of air bubbles. With one hand, or finger and 
 thumb in the mass, he gives the first rude form to the vessel, and 
 with a piece of horn, shell, or porcelain, called a rib, which has the 
 profile of the shape of the vessel, he smoothes the inner surface, 
 gives it the proper shape, and removes the inequalities left by the 
 fingers, during which operations the assistant keeps the wheel 
 moving at the varying degrees of speed, according to the require- 
 ments of the thrower. That the articles made may all be of the 
 same dimensions, the thrower has a peg, or stick, placed opposite to 
 him at a certain distance from the centre of the vessel, whereby he 
 is able to judge of the proper height and diameter. The thrower’s 
 business is simply to produce circular vessels, such as tea-cups, 
 basins, &c., handles and ornaments being added afterwards. 
 
 As soon as one vessel is formed, and cut off at the base with a fine 
 brass wire, the bailer supplies another ball of clay, and the newly- 
 made vessel, said to be in its green state, is lifted off the wheel and 
 conveyed into a warm room, where it parts with sufficient moisture 
 to allow of the next operation, which is turning. This process 
 scarcely differs from the turning of wood or metal ; the green vessel 
 is placed upon the chuck of a lathe, a steel tool is applied, and the 
 surplus clay rapidly removed in shavings. It is also smoothed and 
 solidified by the pressure of a broad tool, and then delivered to the 
 handler, or dried for the biscuit-oven. The clay for the handles is 
 first formed into a cylindrical shape at a small press, which forces 
 the clay through a metal tube of the required size and form. The 
 paste thus formed is cut up into lengths and shaped by hand. The 
 handles are attached to the articles by means of slip, superfluous 
 clay is scraped off with a knife, and the article is cleaned with a 
 damp sponge. Where figures and foliage are required, they may 
 be formed in moulds or by hand, and are attached with slip as 
 before. 
 
 The second method of forming articles is by pressing, for which 
 purpose plaster moulds are formed of the required size and pattern. 
 Moulds for plates and other shallow articles consist of one piece 
 only, and the process by which such articles are formed is called 
 Jlat-ioare pressing. In forming a plate, for example, the man stands 
 at a bench before a whirling table similar to the thrower’s, and on 
 his left hand is a butting-block of wet plaster, and a mass of well- 
 beaten paste, which he cuts into lengths with a wire ; one of these 
 he batts out thin upon a block by striking it with a plaster mallet 
 called a batter, and he smoothes the surface with the flat side of a 
 knife. The boy then places a mould on the whirler, and stations 
 himself at the handle of the jigger, or apparatus for giving motion 
 to the whirler. The man places the paste on the mould, which is 
 then set whirling, and he presses it down close, first with his hand, 
 and then with a profile, or earthenware tool. Where great 
 precision is required, the profile is mounted in a carrier c, Fig. 187, 
 
 Fig. 187. 
 
 which is adjusted by screws upon the arm I of the frame FF, r.nd 
 fixed to the proper height by the screw R. The arm I descends in a 
 groove g to the exact depth required for the thickness of the plate, 
 when the proper shape is given by whirling, smoothing, pressing, 
 finishing with a wet sponge, trimming the edges, &c. The maker’s 
 name or other mark is stamped on the back, the boy catches up the 
 mould with the plate upon it, runs with it to a hot room, places it 
 on a shelf to dry, and returns with the empty mould of a plate 
 which has been drying ; in the meantime, the man batts out another 
 piece of paste for another plate. In about two hours the plates 
 have become sufficiently dry to be removed from the moulds; but 
 these having absorbed a good deal of moisture from the plates, are 
 left to dry before they can be used again. 
 

 Fig. 189. 
 
 portion : one of these uprights is shown with the pan in it. In 
 moulding such an article the paste is kneaded, batted out, and 
 spread over the bottom, which 
 is placed on a flat board, mounted 
 on a vertical axis, so as to turn 
 round easily : two halves are 
 each lined with paste, which is 
 well worked into the grooves, 
 and made to project a little at 
 the edges. Each half is then 
 placed upon the base piece, and 
 secured by passing a string 
 round the outside of the mould. 
 The joints are then worked with 
 the wet finger, fresh paste is 
 added where required, and slip 
 is applied so as to make the seams adhere. The handles are pre- 
 pared in plaster dies or moulds, as in Figs. 189. 190. For elaborate 
 figures the mould often becomes very complicated ; thus, at Meissen, 
 we were shown models for four vases, emblematical of fire, air, earth, 
 and water, the moulds for which consisted of 150 separate pieces. 
 
 There is yet another method of giving form to articles in pottery 
 or porcelain — namely, by casting. The paste is reduced to the con- 
 sistency of slip, and is then allowed to flow into a plaster mould ; 
 the plaster quickly absorbs water from the portion which comes in 
 contact with it, so that a thin shell of paste is formed on the surface 
 of the mould, and the central fluid portion is then poured off. When 
 this is partly dry, a second quantity of slip is poured in, and this in 
 turn being poured off, the mould and its lining are put into a hot 
 room to dry. Ihe cast is then taken out of the mould, and is care- 
 fully examined and touched by the modeller. We have seen the 
 delicate coffee-cups of Sevres formed in this way, and also the por- 
 celain statuettes of Minton and Co. The celebrated lace figures are 
 first formed in this way without the lace; and in finishing the 
 cast real lace is dipped into slip, in order to imbibe the fictile mate- 
 rial, so that when subsequently passed through the furnace the 
 heat destroys the thread, and leaves porcelain lace in its place. 
 
 We have already spoken of the beautiful copies of busts, reduced 
 from the originals in the British Museum ; and we may here refer 
 to the statuettes and other works, so common about town, known as 
 Parian, Carrara, or statuary porcelain. It is a true porcelain ; but 
 its peculiar texture, which allows the light to penetrate into it to a 
 certain depth, whereby its softness is produced, is due to the use of 
 a species of felspar instead of Cornish stone in its composition ; while 
 its agreeable yellowish- white tint arises from the presence of a small 
 quantity of oxide of iron, which, during the firing, forms a per- 
 oxide, and the silicate thus produced imparts the tint. During the 
 firing the figures contract as much as one-fourth, so that much skill 
 and knowledge of the human form are required, especially when it 
 
 is considered that each subject is cast in a number of separate 
 pieces, which the modeller has to join and repair before the firing. 
 Messrs. Minton have successfully adapted the Parian to a chimney- 
 piece. We have also referred to the revival of majolica ware by 
 the same eminent firm ; and we may likewise notice their extensive 
 manufacture of encaustic tiles. At the time when we visited their 
 manufactory 4 the tiles were formed of a body of red clay, faced 
 with a finer clay, bearing the ornamental pattern, and strengthened 
 at the base with a thin layer of the clay, different from the body, 
 to prevent warping. The three layers 
 being thus put together in the green 
 state, the tile is put into a box press, 
 when a plaster of Paris slab, contain- 
 ing the pattern in relief, is brought 
 down upon the face of the tile, and 
 impresses in the soft tinted clay the 
 design, which is afterwards to be 
 filled up with clay of another colour. 
 
 The maker’s name is stamped on the 
 back, and some indentations are made 
 to cause the mortar to adhere. The 
 pattern is deeply indented in the face 
 of the tile, as shown in Fig. 191, and 
 over this is poured a quantity of slip, properly coloured, so as com- 
 pletely to cover the surface, and hide the pattern. When the slip 
 is sufficiently hard for the purpose, 
 a portion of it is scraped away, as 
 shown in Fig. 192, so as to reveal - 
 the pattern and the ground. The 
 tile is then finished up, dried in a 
 warm room, and afterwards fired. 
 
 We are also indebted to Minton 
 and Co. for the manufacture of terra- 
 cotta, or baked clay, resembling 
 stone. 
 
 We have now to notice the firing. 
 
 The temperature at which ceramic 
 
 wares are fired has much influence on their character and tex- 
 ture. The usual effect of firing is to convert the article into a 
 hard sonorous biscuit, more or less porous, requiring the application 
 of glaze and a second firing to remove the porosity, and give a 
 durable smooth surface. In the case of porcelain the temperature 
 of the first firing is sufficient to produce incipient vitrification, so 
 that, as far as use is concerned, the article is complete at one firing, 
 the second firing being for the purpose of fixing the enamel orna- 
 ments, &c. The firing is always a costly process, requiring much 
 fuel and long and skilful management — hence it was a great 
 improvement when Wedgwood introduced a ware so compounded 
 
 ' 
 
 
 Ifl 
 
 ra m 
 
 dm. 
 
 T 
 
 i\ «i 
 
 .11 i 
 
 lllc/Y 1 
 
 Fig. 193 
 
 that partial vitrification took place at the first firing, thus rendering 
 a second unnecessary. The method of glazing by salt at the first 
 firing has already been referred to. 
 
 The arrangement of the kiln depends upon the kind of ware to be 
 fired, and the nature of the fuel. A section of a pottery kiln is 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 203 
 
 shown in Fig. 193. It consists of a massive cylinder of brickwork 
 iv to, surmounted by a dome, with apertures hh for the exit of 
 smoke, and surrounded at some distance by a hovel H, which pro- 
 tects the kiln from the weather. Heat is supplied by six or eight 
 fireplaces, placed at intervals round the cylinder ; one of them is 
 shown in the figure, f is the fire ; g the grate ; a the ashpit ; d the 
 fire-door. The draught is regulated by means of the openings o 
 and a'. Between the wall w and the chimney c is a space r about 
 15 inches wide, and 3a feet above the floor of the kiln ; below this 
 floor are flues f l for the circulation of the flame, which flues all meet 
 in the centre x. At cc are vertical flues, and at sv sight-holes, to 
 allow the men to watch the fire, and regulate the draught of the 
 flues c c. 
 
 Porcelain, and the better kinds of pottery are protected from the 
 direct action of the fire by being placed in cases, called seggars, 
 made of a mixture of fire-clay and old 
 ground seggars. Much skill is required in 
 packing the articles in the seggars, so as 
 to economise space, and give them the 
 proper temperature. If the articles are 
 not likely to soften or vitrify, they may be 
 placed in the seggars in contact, so as 
 mutually to support each other and pre- 
 vent distortion ; some pieces may require supports to prevent 
 warping, as in Fig. 194, where, the vessel being thin, a piece of 
 fire-clay is stretched across. For 
 some kinds of porcelain a quantity 
 of sand, or powdered flint, is inter- 
 posed between the pieces ; saucers 
 are kept in form by an earthenware 
 ring; vessels of similar forms are 
 packed in the seggars ss, Fig. 195, 
 fitted together by rings of clay c c 
 to make them tight, while pp are 
 projections for supporting a vessel 
 F,g - 195, of fire-clay ss, in which the por- 
 
 celain cup, or bowl, stands. Fig. 196 shows another arrangement, 
 in which the projection p supports a ring c, on which the edge of 
 the cup rests, while the handle h 
 passes through a space cut out of the 
 ring, and the base b occupies this 
 internal cavity. The seggars, when 
 filled, are conveyed to the furnace, 
 and piled up so that the flat bottom 
 i of one seggar acts as a cover to the 
 
 1 one beneath it ; a ring of soft clay on 
 the upper rim of each preventing the 
 entrance of the smoke. Fig. 197 re- 
 presents a porcelain-kiln in the act of 
 being filled, and Fig. 198 the arrange- 
 ment of the seggars, some of them 
 being in section for the purpose of 
 Ftg ‘ 19G> showing the enclosed pieces, of which 
 
 many thousand may be included in one firing. The flame enters 
 the kiln by the openings //, and is prevented from playing directly 
 on the seggars by a guard of fire-clay^; and the bungs, or piles of 
 seggars B B, are steadied by means of short struts. P shows the 
 method of arranging a porcelain slab for firing. When the kiln is 
 filled, the door is bricked up, the fires are lighted — usually in the 
 evening — and are kept up with considerable force all night. Early 
 in the morning the first watch is taken out to see how the firing 
 goes on. These watches, or trial-pieces, are rings of fire-clay, so 
 placed in the kiln that the workman can hook out one from time 
 to time with a long iron rod, and he judges by the colour produced 
 by the heat whether the firing is going on properly, and when it 
 has been continued long enough. In from thirty-three to forty 
 hours the process may be complete; the fire is then allowed to go 
 out, and the contents of the kiln are left to cool during twenty-four 
 hours or more — as much as fourteen tons of coal having probably 
 been consumed in the operation. The ware, as it comes from the 
 kiln is said to be bisqued, and it is called biscuit ; not because it has 
 been “ twice cooked,” or baked, but from its resemblance to well- 
 baked ship-bread. In this condition it is ready for receiving 
 coloured ornaments and for glazing. The pottery of some rude 
 nations is rendered impermeable to water by rubbing it while hot 
 with tallow, which fills up the pores, and, by being charred, gives 
 
 the ware a black colour. Even some of the beautiful Etruscan and 
 Greek vases are varnished with a black, carbonaceous, non-vitreous 
 
 substance, which wears off in the handling, and may have been 
 produced by a similar process. In Spain and Italy wine and oil 
 jars are rendered water-tight by rubbing them with wax. 
 
 The usual method of finishing pottery and porcelain is by means 
 of a vitreous glaze, the object of which is to render the ware imper- 
 meable to liquids, to impart an agreeable durable lustre, and to 
 preserve the colours and patterns. The glaze must not have too 
 strong an affinity for the paste, or during the second firing it 
 will be absorbed into the body of the ware, instead of remaining at 
 the surface, to which it should adhere firmly, and expand and con- 
 tract with the ware, so as not to be liable to craze or crack. 
 
 The ingredients of glazes are numerous. Where the point of 
 fusion is required to be high, the felspars and certain volcanic 
 scoria may be employed. Among other non-metallic glazes, are 
 common salt, potash, boracic acid, phosphate of lime, and sulphate 
 of baryta. Another class of glazes consists of earthy and metallic 
 substances, mixed or fritted into a glass— such as silica and lead, or 
 the enamels of silica, tin, and lead. A fourth class of glazes includes 
 metallic oxides— such as those of manganese, lead, and copper. 
 Metallic and earthy substances, if not previously fritted, form a 
 glass, by combining with the silica of the paste they are intended 
 to cover. But such glazes are usually soft, and are liable to be dis- 
 solved by acid and fatty substances, so that glazes containing lead 
 may be sources of danger. Some glazes are transparent, some are 
 opaque, and some are coloured. A paste of a pure white, or of an 
 agreeable tint, is improved by a transparent glaze ; but if the clay 
 have a bad colour, though well fitted for pottery in other respects, 
 it may be dipped into opaque glazes even before the first firing, and 
 an agreeable effect be produced by this species of veneering. Opacity 
 is given to glazes by means of oxide of tin ; colour by means of the 
 oxides of manganese, of copper, and of iron ; while, by introducing 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 these, together with the oxides of cohalt and of chromium, into 
 opaque and transparent glazes, much variety is produced. Of late 
 years borax has been substituted for lead in the glaze for common 
 pottery, a change which liberates the workpeople from a large 
 amount of disease. Pegmatite forms a good glaze for hard porce- 
 lain ; but for soft porcelain a glass is fritted and mixed with oxide 
 of lead or earthy materials. 
 
 In applying the glaze to the biscuit it is reduced to a fine powder, 
 and mixed with water; the biscuit being plunged therein, the 
 porous material immediately becomes coated with the glazing 
 powder. When articles are glazed in the green state — such as the 
 cheaper kinds of pottery — the glaze may be put on with a brush. 
 
 In the second firing, which is in the glaze or gloss oven, the 
 pieces are packed in seggars, as in the kiln, and they are prevented 
 
 with a mixture of oxide of cobalt, ground flint, and sulphate of 
 baryta, fritted and reduced to powder, then blended with a flux of 
 ground flint, and thick glass powder, which serves to fix the colour. 
 This preparation is made into an ink by means of a composition of 
 boiled linseed oil, resin, tar, and oil of amber. The coloured ink 
 thus formed is made sufficiently fluid for use by being spread out 
 on a hot iron plate, from which it is transferred by means of a 
 leathern dabber to engraved copper-plates, also made hot, and the 
 superfluous ink is scraped off with a palette-knife, and the surface 
 of the plate is cleaned with a dossil. The workman next takes a 
 sheet of yellow unsized paper, dips it into soapy water, lays it while 
 moist upon the copper-plate, and passes it through a cylinder press. 
 Here it receives the pattern ; and a girl, called the cutter , then 
 cuts away the white unprinted part, and leaves the pattern in its 
 
 Fig. 199.— MODERN STAFFORDSHIRE PORCELAIN (COPELAND). 
 
 Fig. 200 . Fig. 201 . 
 
 arranged in the glaze kiln, the temperature is raised just enough 
 to melt the glaze into a transparent glass, and allow it to unite 
 with the surfaces of the biscuit. Watches, or rings of clay, covered 
 with glaze, shown in Fig. 200, are drawn out from time to time to 
 enable the workman to judge of the temperature. 
 
 When the ware has a pattern it is usually added before the 
 glazing ; thus, the blue design of a common dinner-plate is printed 
 
 from coming in contact with each other by means of little pointed 
 supports and rests, known as cockspurs, stilts, triangles, &c., some 
 of which are shown in Fig. 200 ; while the method of arranging 
 the pieces in the seggar is shown in Fig. 201. The seggars being 
 
 separate portions, which are passed to the transferrer, who trans- 
 fers the pattern from the paper to the biscuit, by placing the pattern 
 
 Fig. 202. — tbansfeebino the pattebn. 
 
 with the printed side next the ware, and rubbing it with a flannel 
 rubber, as shown in Fig. 202. The biscuit articles are placed in a 
 tub of water to remove the paper, and the moisture thus imbibed is 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 205 
 
 got rid of by heating in an oven, and the articles are ready for 
 glazing. In some cases the impression is taken from the engraved 
 plate in oil only, on a flexible sheet of glue, called a paper, or bait, 
 ■which receives enough oil to furnish two impressions to the biscuit; 
 colour in a dry state is then dusted over the biscuit, and on 
 removing it to an oven the oil is driven off, while the colour sinks 
 in, and forms part of the glaze. The glue or india-rubber used for 
 transferring the pattern can be cleaned with a wet sponge, dried, 
 and used over again many times. 
 
 Painting on porcelain is, as already noticed, a Fine Art, requiring 
 the skill of the artist. The figures are painted on the ware with a 
 camel’s hair pencil, and the colours are all metallic oxides, ground 
 up with such vitrifiable substances as glass, nitre, and borax. The 
 colours are pounded, and then ground with a small quantity of oil 
 on a glazed palette. Oil of turpentine or of lavender is the usual 
 vehicle, both for the colour and the flux. In painting, the artist 
 rests his right arm on a board projecting from the table, while with 
 his left he holds the article to be painted. Considerable judgment 
 is required in the management of the colours, since they all have a 
 dingy unpleasant hue, requiring the heat of the furnace to develop 
 their natural brilliancy. The painting usually requires to be seve- 
 ral times retouched and passed through the fire. When properly 
 fired the colours have a smooth and creamy effect, and all the dura- 
 bility of enamels. 
 
 For gilding porcelain, pure gold is dissolved in aqua regia , when 
 the acid being driven off by heat, the gold remains in a minutely 
 divided state ; it is then mixed with one-twelfth of its weight of oxide 
 of bismuth, and a small quantity of borax and gum- water, which 
 composition is supplied to the articles by means of a hair pencil. The 
 gold ornaments are very dingy when they come out of the oven ; 
 but the lustre of the gold is brought out by burnishing first with 
 agate and then with bloodstone. The metal platinum is used to 
 impart a silver lustre, and also a lustre resembling polished steel. 
 The iridescent lustre, called by the French lustre cantharide , is 
 obtained from chloride of silver. An iron lustre is obtained by dis- 
 solving iron or steel in muriatic acid. 
 
 The fixing of the colours in the furnace is a delicate operation. 
 The heat is regulated according to the indications of small por- 
 
 I celain watches, painted with some of the enamel colours em- 
 ployed on the ware. The muffle-furnace employed for the purpose 
 1 is shown in Fig. 203. The first 
 firing is rather a trial than an 
 actual result, since it informs the 
 artist what is wanting in the ap- 
 plication of the colouring oxides, 
 
 &e. ; and having retouched the 
 parts requiring it, the ware is 
 passed a second time through the 
 muffle. Other retouchings and 
 firings may be required to complete 
 the work satisfactorily. 
 
 We have thus indicated, rather 
 than described, the principal pro- 
 cesses concerned in the manufac- 
 ture of pottery and porcelain, and 
 must now take leave of the Ce- 
 ramic Court, inviting the reader’s 
 attention to the group of modern 
 Staffordshire work (Fig. 199), 
 from the establishment of Mr. Fig.zox 
 
 Alderman Copeland. The large open vase on the left has an 
 antique effect, the ground being of a rich reddish brown, with 
 slightly raised ornaments in blue, red, green, and gold. The piece 
 in the centre is of a peculiarly chaste description, the ground 
 being creamy white without glaze, and the pattern wrought in 
 beautiful pale colours with dead gold. The small piece next it is 
 a pure white figure of a boy, standing on a pedestal of blue, white, 
 and gold, and holding on his head a blue and white basket fit to 
 contain flowers. Partly hidden by the figure of the boy is an 
 antique-looking piece, one of a pair having a striped groundwork of 
 green, white, and drab, with a raised pattern of flowers, butterflies, 
 &c., brightly coloured, and arranged in panels. We may appro- 
 priately conclude this notice of the Ceramic Court with a few 
 specimens of early Flaxman- Wedgwood ware (Fig. 204), from the 
 large and beautiful collection which Mr. Isaac Falcke has intrusted 
 to the care of the Crystal Palace. 
 
 204. — CROUP OF EARLY FI. AXMAX- WEDGWOOD WA 
 

 
 
 I iff 
 
 : ? 
 
 ■ ‘ fit ' ' 
 
 I k 
 
 THE GLASS COURT. 
 
 The Glass Court of the Crystal Palace may he said to comprise 
 the whole building — for what so appropriate to this beautiful mate- 
 rial as a Palace of Glass! It is true that there is a court specially 
 devoted to the sale of articles in glass; but it illustrates neither its 
 manufacture, nor its rich and varied results, as produced by various 
 countries and manufacturers. The Glass Court illustrates the pro- 
 ductions of only one country, and one manufacturer: — Francis 
 Steigenwald, a Bavarian glass manufacturer, of Munich, announces 
 on his card that “ a large assortment is constantly exhibited at the 
 Crystal Palace, Steigenwald’s Court, Sydenham.” This will serve 
 us as a basis for our remarks and descriptions ; but remembering 
 how meritorious was the display of British glass at the Great Ex- 
 hibition of 1851, it is disappointing to find that no attempt has 
 been made to display here our unrivalled skill and power in the 
 production of various kinds of glass, from the finest to the cheapest; 
 but there is consolation in the thought that the Crystal Palace itself 
 is the most worthy contribution that the nation could offer on this 
 subject. 
 
 There are very few artificial substances more calculated to win 
 our admiration and esteem than glass. It is the triumph of the 
 Useful Arts ; for, in the absence of chemical knowledge, what so 
 unlikely as that certain crude, and, for the most part, opaque mate- 
 rials, should become by fusion converted into a clear transparent 
 crystal, capable of being blown, moulded, or otherwise wrought 
 
 into transparent vessels of great strength and lightness, and yet of 
 great capacity ? Nothing can be more appropriate for holding many 
 of the liquid portions of our food ; the eye detects at a glance any 
 impurity, or is as quickly satisfied with the purity of the contents 
 of a vessel of this material. From its great hardness and smooth- 
 ness it admits of being cleaned with ease and rapidity. But 
 perhaps the most important application of glass is to the glazing of 
 windows. It is scarcely possible to realise the amount of discomfort 
 in the houses even of the upper classes previous to the introduction 
 of this material. The lights were closed with oiled paper in fine 
 weather, or with wooden shutters or louvre boards in foul, and were 
 often placed high up, to mitigate the cutting draughts. We read of 
 the astonishment of the people when Wilfrid, Bishop of Worcester, 
 substituted glass for the heavy shutters in his cathedral. With the 
 usual readiness of the uneducated to refer to supernatural agency 
 that which they cannot understand, the people in the eighth cen- 
 tury thought that a miracle had been performed, which allowed 
 them to see the moon and the stars through a material which 
 excluded the wind and the rain. Glass must, however, have con- 
 tinued long to be very costly, for it was some centuries in getting 
 into general domestic use ; and even so late as the middle of the 
 sixteenth century it was recommended in a survey of the Duke 
 of Northumberland’s estates to take out the glass of the windows 
 during the duke’s absence, and lay the frames by in safety until 
 
 Fig. 205. — specimens of engraved and cut-glass, chiefly by mb. w. nayloii. 
 
 his return, in order to save the cost of repair. So late as 1661, the 
 windows of ordinary houses in Scotland were not glazed ; but about 
 this time the use of the diamond in glass-cutting becoming known, 
 greatly facilitated the manufacture, and when once the glazing of 
 windows became general, a peasant’s cottage was more luxurious 
 than a palace had previously been. We see, too, in the mode of 
 glazing how gradually the art of glass-making has improved. 
 From the small lozenges of glass set in lead, and hung in iron 
 frames, we had parallelograms of gradually increasing size, set in 
 wood, and, at length, enormous plates, one of which is sufficient to 
 glaze a shop-front, set in massive brass or bronze. Thus, while 
 glass has promoted domestic comfort, it has greatly enlarged the 
 boundaries of knowledge ; it has introduced us to the opposite 
 realms of vastness and minuteness, and shown up the wonders of 
 the starry world and of the water-drop. Glass has been the means 
 of creating several branches of science, and consequently of extend- 
 ing the dominion of mind over matter. Were it not for glass the 
 science of optics would have no existence, photography would be 
 unknown, and the condition of chemistry w’ould be lower than it 
 was, as left by the alchemists. Glass has given to the eye, rendered 
 defective by age or malformation, the means of exercising the most | 
 precious of the senses. By means of glass we enlarge the apparent 1 
 
 boundaries of our rooms, and add to their cheerfulness by the use of 
 plane mirrors, which also serve many useful purposes at the toilet. 
 By means of glass our candles shine with greater brilliancy, and 
 show the beautiful prismatic effects of the material which led the 
 great Newton to discover the compound nature of light. By means 
 of glass the lighthouse is made to converge its rays to the dis- 
 tant horizon, and thus to deprive the ocean track of some of its 
 terrors. 
 
 Glass was a rare and costly production among the ancients, who 
 regarded the best specimens much in the same way as we regard 
 the most precious stones. Clear and transparent crystal glass was 
 so regarded, for the inferior kinds of white glass, and many kinds 
 of coloured glass, appear to have been known at a very early period. 
 Some of the Egyptian monuments represent glass-blowers at work ; 
 glass beads have been found in Egyptian tombs ; and glazed pottery 
 was common before the exodus of the children of Israel from that 
 land. The cinerary vases of greenish glass found in Homan 
 barrows are thought to be of Egyptian or Roman manufacture. 
 Glass vessels have been found among the ruins of Herculaneum ; 
 and there is evidence that the Anglo-Saxons had some acquaintance 
 with the art of making glass. There is, however, in the British 
 Museum a specimen of glass supposed to be the most ancient in 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 207 
 
 existence. It was dug out of the ruins of Nineveh by Mr. Layard, 
 and is thought to have been manufactured at least seven centuries 
 before the Christian era. On the revival of learning in Europe, — 
 indeed, as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century, — 
 Venice was the first to manufacture glass for domestic use : her 
 mirrors, drinking-glasses, and ornamented glass, were long cele- 
 brated, and are even now much prized by collectors, although 
 inferior in value to productions in pottery and porcelain, which 
 admit of such high pictorial embellishment. Glass suffers by most 
 attempts at ornamentation. Its transparency and crystal purity 
 are its chief ornament, and anything which tends to conceal these 
 properties can scarcely be in good taste. Venetian glass, however, 
 is remarkable for a great variety of ornament, which involves this 
 objection; it is reticulated, flashed, and enamelled, and it has such 
 ornaments as beads and narrow ribbons of glass running in lines 
 over its surface, rendering it difficult to preserve the glass from 
 fracture, and almost impossible to clean it, to say nothing of forms, 
 which are not only ugly in themselves, but make the cleaning out 
 of the interior also difficult; hence, collections of glass have not the 
 historical interest which attaches to collections of fictile ware. 
 Venice unwittingly gave lessons to Bohemia in the production of 
 ornamental glass, which still retains the marks of its origin in the 
 reticulated pattern, the Eastern forms, the taper stem, the variety of 
 colours, the engraving, and imitations of precious stones. The use 
 of glass continued so long to be confined to courts, and the fre- 
 quenters of courts, that even its manufacture was thought to be 
 too refined an employment for common men. A law was passed in 
 France, in the reign of Louis IX., granting to the sons of the nobi- 
 lity and to born gentlemen the sole right of establishing glass- 
 houses, and working therein. The gentility of the art may be 
 traced in the term “gentlemen glass-blowers,” which has continued 
 in use in England. The first English glass-house was established 
 in 1557, in Crutched Friars, London, for the manufacture of window- 
 glass. Savoy House, in the Strand, was opened shortly after for 
 the manufacture of flint-glass ; but it was not till 1670 that the 
 art of making the fine Venetian drinking-glasses, so much in request, 
 was perfected. In 1673 a plate-glass house was established in Lam- 
 beth; but it was not till 1771 that plate-glass was manufactured 
 extensively in Great Britain, in which year the British Plate-glass 
 Company received its charter. The progress of the manufacture in 
 this country, notwithstanding the obstructions offered by the excise 
 laws, has been very decided. In 1845 glass was made free of duty ; 
 and at the present time the British manufacture is probably supe- 
 rior to any other in the world. In the year ending the 31st of 
 December, 1855, the declared value of our exports of glass of 
 British manufacture was — for flint-glass, £141,831; for window- 
 glass, £33,821; for bottle-glass, £279,620; and for plate-glass, 
 £52,283. 
 
 Glass is a compound of silica and an alkali, or metallic oxide, 
 the silica acting the part of acid, and the alkali that of base. Silica 
 is an abundant natural product; it forms an important ingredient 
 in most rocks and stones, and exists separately in flint, agate, chal- 
 cedony, rock-crystal, and quartz. Potash, or soda, or mixtures of 
 both, are the alkalies most commonly used. The combination of 
 silica with potash forms silicate of potash, and with soda, silicate 
 of soda. Silicate of potash with oxide of lead forms the three kinds 
 of glass known as flint, crystal, and strass, but flint-glass contains 
 more lead than crystal, and strass more than flint. The effect of the 
 lead is to impart brilliancy and fusibility to silicates which might 
 otherwise be infusible. Silicate of soda and lime, or silicate of 
 potash, soda, and lime, form common window, English crown, and 
 plate glass. Silicate of potash and lime forms foreign crown and 
 refractory Bohemian glass, the presence of lime imparting hardness. 
 Silicate of soda, lime, alumina, and oxide of iron, form coarse green 
 wine-bottle-glass, the alumina imparting hardness, and the iron the 
 dark colour. 
 
 In the manufacture of glass, the silica was formerly obtained by 
 calcining and grinding flints, whence the name of flint-glass; but 
 fine sea-sand is now used for the purpose, the sand being chosen as 
 free from iron as possible, for this would colour the glass. It is 
 cleaned by washing and calcining, after which it is sifted through 
 lawn sieves. Carbonate of potash is prepared by refining American 
 or Russian pearlash; soda is obtained by the decomposition of 
 common salt, and is supplied by the chemical manufacturer. When 
 a more than ordinary degree of whiteness is required, as in plate- 
 glass, the soda is used in the form of dry carbonate ; but for crown 
 
 and sheet-glass it is more commonly used in the form of sulphate, 
 as it is obtained from the manufacturer of nitric acid, who produces 
 it largely as a secondary product. Care must be taken not to employ 
 too large a proportion of alkali in the composition of glass, or it 
 will attract moisture from the air, or “sweat," as the glassmakers 
 term it. The lead used in the manufacture of flint-glass, and which 
 imparts to it softness as well as brilliancy, is in the form of litharge, 
 or of red-lead. A small quantity of black oxide of manganese is 
 also usually employed, the effect of which is to deprive the fused 
 glass of colour arising from the presence of carbonaceous matters 
 and protoxide of iron ; for when the silicate of the protoxide of iron, 
 which is of a green colour, comes in contact with one of the higher 
 oxides of manganese, it takes away some of the oxygen from the 
 manganese, and forms silicate of the peroxide of iron, which is 
 nearly colourless, while the protoxide of manganese unites with 
 silica to form a colourless silicate. The carbonaceous matters are also 
 removed by the oxygen of the manganese uniting with them, and 
 forming carbonic acid gas, or carbonic oxide. Borax, arsenic, and 
 nitre, are also used in small proportions in the manufacture of 
 glass ; they are powerful agents, and require both care and know- 
 ledge in their application. 
 
 In fusing the glass-making materials, and retaining them in the 
 liquid state, it is necessary to protect them from the action of smoke 
 and flame, which would deoxidise the lead, in the case of flint-glass, 
 and precipitate it in the metallic state, 
 an effect which would also be produced 
 by the various metallic oxides used to 
 impart colours to glass. Hence, the 
 materials for these glasses are melted 
 in covered or hooded pots, sheltered 
 entirely from the fire. Such pots are 
 made of fire-clay, and one of them is 
 represented in Fig. 206. The horse- 
 shoe piece, shown near the base of the 
 pot, is used for contracting its mouth 
 when required. A number of such pots F,g ■ 206- 
 
 are arranged in a circular furnace, which is heated by the fire 
 heaped upon the grate-bars b, Fig. 207, with a flue placed between 
 
 Fig. 207.— CBOCSD-rLAs of the siege, flues, and fibeplace of fubnace. 
 
 every two pots, while immediately abreast of each pot, and between 
 every two flues, is an aperture, called the working-hole, which is 
 used for introducing the raw materials, and getting out the glass. 
 The appearance of the furnace may be judged of b} r referring to 
 Fig. 208, which represents the interior of Mr. Apsley Pellatt’s 
 glass-house. 
 
 Flint-glass, at a certain temperature, is plastic, ductile, and 
 flexible, so as to admit of being blown, drawn out, moulded, turned, 
 and cut with scissors. The blowing tube is of iron, from 4 to 5 
 feet in length, with a bore of from £ inch to 1 inch in diameter. 
 It is smaller at the mouth end than at the end which gathers the 
 metal, as the glass-maker is accustomed to call the material on 
 which he works. He also uses a solid rod, called a ponty, or pontil, 
 for supporting the glass while working, when the blowing rod is 
 no longer required. The pucellas B, Fig. 209, are made something 
 like a pair of spring sugar-tongs, the prongs resembling the cutting 
 parts of shears but blunt, and are used for rubbing the outside of 
 
208 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 close the insides of hollow vessels, and to shape the glass as it is 
 rotated on the inclined planes of the chair in which the workman sits, 
 
 Fig. 209. 
 
 Figs. 208, 210. The spring-tool A, Fig. 209, is a kind of tongs for 
 laying hold of half-formed handles, and for seizing the glass while 
 
 Fig. 210.— TUE GLASS MAKER'S CHAIR. 
 
 solid or hollow glass, and pressing it into a smaller diameter, while 
 elongating the parts by rotation. This tool is also used to open or 
 
 Fig. 208. — elevation of the furnace, and interior of a flint-glass iiousb. 
 
 The battledore e is used for flatting glass. Tho blower has also 
 compasses and a measure-stick ; also a slab of cast-iron, called a 
 marver, supported on a wooden stand, on which to roll the glass, 
 and give it a regular exterior surface. This is shown in Figs. 208, 
 210, and 213. 
 
 The art of the glass-blower is well illustrated by Mr. Pellatt’s 
 description of manufacturing a goblet, which consists, as so many 
 articles do, of a bowl, a stem, and a foot. The blowing-iron, heated 
 at the end nearly to redness, is introduced into the glass pot. Some 
 of the metal instantly adheres to it, and the workman, by simply 
 turning the iron round, can gather up as much as he requires. If 
 this be a large quantity, the first gathering is taken out, and cooled 
 by exposure to the air, and a second, third, or even fourth, gather- 
 ing is made in succession on the same lump, the gatherings increas- 
 ing in cubical proportions— viz., if the first be 8 oz., the second 
 will be 4 lbs, the thix*d, 16 lbs. For a wine-glass, the first small 
 gathering is enough, as at a, Fig. 211, which represents a ball of 
 
 — " Q ---- 
 
 hot glass on the blowing-tube. This having been rolled or. the 
 marver, and expanded a little by blowing, assumes the form of b, 
 which, being further shaped for the bowl of the wine-glass, and 
 flattened with the battledore, is brought into the form of c. A 
 small ball of solid glass is then attached to the flat part of the 
 bowl, as at d, from which the stem is to be lathed or shaped with 
 the pucellas while it is rotated up and down the inclined planes of 
 the glass-maker’s chair, which serves as a lathe. The stem thus 
 shaped, as at e, is ready for the foot. The rubbing of the pucellas 
 is not continued after the glass gets hard by cooling, otherwise the 
 surface becomes excoriated. A globe, attached to the stem at f is 
 opened by the pucellas, and flattened into a foot, which is lathed and 
 rapidly rotated on the arms of the chair to the form at g. A boy 
 then gathers a small knob of glass upon an iron pontil,and attaches 
 it to the foot, as at h. The blowing-iron is then wetted off at the 
 dotted line in h by the touch of the cold pucellas, w’hich cracks the 
 glass, and it is disengaged by a smart blow of the pucellas. The 
 edges of the glass have then to be sheared, as at i, and the finished 
 glass k is then knocked off from the end of the pontil by a sharp 
 blow, and carried to the annealing- arch on the end of a forked rod 
 c, Fig. 209. The method of making a decanter with rings at tho 
 neck is as follows : — A gathering is made on the blowing-tube, as 
 at a, Fig. 212, and swung wholly or partly round, until it assumes 
 
 making. The shears D are strong scissors for cutting off surplus the form of b. It is further swung and expanded to c, and battle- 
 glass, and for levelling the edges of the bowds of wine-glasses, &c. 1 dored to a flat end ; it takes a more shapely form at d, when the 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 209 
 
 and blows down the tube, when the plastic metal forms, as it were, 
 a thin lining to the mould, and assumes its internal form. On 
 relaxing the string the mould opens, and the phial is taken out 
 adhering to the blowing-iron ; it is wetted off, taken up on the end 
 of a pontil, and finished off. 
 
 Articles in flint-glass are also formed by pressing, for which pur- 
 pose a die is secured by a ring and handle ; and the glass being 
 gathered and dropped into it, a matrix or plunger is brought 
 down, and presses the soft metal into the required form. Drops for 
 chandeliers are pinched in twin brass dies, attached to handles, as 
 in Fig. 214. The dies are furnished with steel wires, which pierce 
 
 the holes for the brass wires by which the glass drops are united. 
 Arms of chandeliers are also formed by pressing, but both they and 
 the drops require to be cut and polished to produce the required 
 brilliancy. 
 
 Glass, in whatever form it leaves the hands of the workman, 
 requires to be annealed before it is fit for use, in order to get rid of 
 that excessive brittleness which accompanies glass when quickly 
 cooled. For this purpose, the articles, as they are shaped and 
 finished, are put into what is called a lear, or annealing furnace, 
 consisting of from two to four cylindrical arches, placed side bv 
 side, Fig. 215. 'Ihe articles are arranged in iron trays, and are 
 placed at that end of the annealing-arch where the temperature is 
 just short of the melting heat of glass, and the trays are gradually 
 
 Fig. 216.— TUE glass-cutteh’s wheel. 
 
 away by the action of the wet sand. The, marks of the sand are 
 next smoothed out by means of a stone wheel with water, and it is 
 polished on a wheel of willow-wood, first with a mixture of pumice 
 and rotten stone, and then with putty powder. Engraving on 
 glass is performed in the same manner as seal-engraving, by means 
 of small tools rotating rapidly in a lathe. 
 
 Few artists require the guidance of good taste and artistic feeling 
 more than the glass-cutter. The danger is that lie will not distin- 
 guish sufficiently between those words of power, “ enough,” and “ too 
 much;” but. will cut up the whole surface of the article into lines 
 and facets, and various other ornaments, so as to obscure the contents 
 of the vessel, although that vessel be of the most transparent sub- 
 stance produced by art. The great object of having glass vessels to 
 hold the liquid portions of our food is to show the perfect cleanness 
 and limpidity which we usually connect with purity. Hence, the 
 water-jug, Fig. 217, is greatly to be preferred to the decanter, 
 Fig. 218. The beauty of the one depends on its exquisite form, 
 and the clear, hard, transparent material which embodies it, show- 
 ing at a glance the nature of its contents. Were we disposed to be 
 critical, we should object to the narrowness of the neck in a vessel 
 which does not admit of a cover or a stopple, for with such an 
 article in everyday use the very idea of the difficulty of cleaning 
 the interior suggests that it is never cleaned. With respect to the 
 
 3 II 
 
 pontil is attached, and the blowing-tube is wetted off at the dotted 
 line, and the mouth of the decanter formed. A man then gathers 
 a small piece of glass upon a pontil, and drops it on that part of the 
 decanter where a ring is required, as at/. The decanter is rotated 
 until a whole circle or ring is formed and welded on to the neck, 
 the surplus piece being torn suddenly away. The whole is re- 
 heated, rotated, and adjusted, by means of the pucellas. These 
 tools, as used for fixing rings, differ from the common tools in 
 having two dies affixed to the prongs, which, being pressed upon I 
 the rings while hot, give the required shape and size after re-heat- 
 ing the decanter. A second and a third ring are next added, as at 
 /. The brim is then finished, and the rings are well melted in, to 
 insure safe welding and annealing. 
 
 Flint-glass bottles are formed by blowing glass into a brass ! 
 mould. In making 8 oz. phials, for example, the man collects upon • 
 the end of his blowing-iron a sufficient quantity of metal for one 
 bottle, and holding the rod vertically, gives it a slight jerk, which 
 lengthens out the lump. He then marvers it, pinches the upper 
 part with pliers to form the neck, places the hot glass in the mould, 
 which is formed in two halves, and kept open by a spring. He 
 pulls the two halves together with a string, as shown in Fig. 213, 
 
 pushed forward, so that in the course of from six to sixty hours, 
 according to the weight of the articles, they pass tln’ougii a gra- 
 dually decreasing temperature, and are fit for use. 
 
 Fig. 215. — THE ANNEALING-AktU 
 
 The brilliancy of flint-glass is enhanced by the operation of 
 cutting, or giving to it facets and - numerous angles, whereby it 
 reflects and refracts the light in various ways, and produces that 
 play of colour which we so much admire in precious stones. The 
 cutting or grinding is performed by means of a cast-iron wheel, 
 revolving in a lathe, above which is suspended a hopper, containing 
 sand and water, which pours in a thin stream upon the rim of the 
 wheel, see Fig. 216. On applying the glass to this rim : it is ground 
 
2 10 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 decanter, the artist, unmindful of the transparency of his material, 
 has committed the great fault of over-ornamentation. Every part 
 of the surface is covered with ornament, and that of a very com- 
 
 Fig. 218. 
 
 monplace description. The form of the stopple is ugly ; but in 
 order to judge of such articles fairly, they ought to be seen in 
 glass rather than in wood-engravings, for the brilliancy produced 
 by such elaborate cutting often allures the eye from defects of form. 
 Some of the articles at the head of this chapter, Fig. 205, are in 
 better taste, although they appear to be rather tours de force of 
 the glass-cutter’s art, than articles intended for domestic use. 
 
 A brilliant description of flint-glass, known as strass, is used in 
 the manufacture of fictitious gems. It contains more oxide of lead 
 than flint-glass, and also a small proportion of borax. When the 
 materials are pure and well compounded, so as to be highly refrac- 
 tive and dispersive, the specimens, when properly cut and mounted, 
 rival the diamond itself; and when, by the addition of various 
 metallic oxides, colour is imparted, they are inferior to real jewels 
 only in being softer, and consequently deteriorating by wear. 
 
 The most desirable properties of glass intended for ordinary use 
 can be secured without much difficulty ; but when required for 
 optical purposes, for objects so remote or so minute that any distor- 
 tion of the optical image prevents or disturbs the accuracy of the 
 result, it is exceedingly difficult to obtain glass free from flaws, 
 uniform in structure, unchangeable in colour, and of the proper 
 degree of transparency and of refractive power. The chief difficulty 
 in forming a homogeneous glass arises from the different densities 
 of the various ingredients of the metal. Some fuse at a lower tem- 
 perature than the others, and, sinking through the mixture, leave a 
 streak or trail behind them ; some evaporate or become decomposed 
 at a temperature necessary for the fusion of others, and the ingre- 
 dients do not all solidify at the same temperature. Hence arise a 
 series of defects, such as discoloration, threads, globules, striae, 
 sweating, irregular crystallisation, all of which interfere with the 
 perfect action of a glass lens. Some years ago a Swiss watchmaker, 
 named Guinand, found that by a diligent stirring of the glass while 
 in a state of fusion, together with a close attention to its composi- 
 tion, he was able to get rid of many of the irregularities in the 
 structure of glass, and he succeeded, in conjunction with Messrs. 
 Utzschneider and Frauenhofer, in making one of the largest tele- 
 scope-glasses that had ever been constructed of so pure a material, 
 namely, 9 inches in diameter, which glass is now in the observatory 
 at Dorpat. This success was, however, restricted to flint-glass, for 
 he did not succeed in making a homogeneous crown-glass, which 
 requires the same perfection and the same dimensions as the 
 flint. After the death of Guinand, M. Bontemps joined one of 
 Guinand’s sons in the manufacture, and succeeded in producing 
 disks of good flint-glass of from 12 to 14 inches in diameter. About 
 1848, M. Bontemps accepted an offer from Messrs. Chance, Brothers, 
 and Co. to unite with them in attempting to improve this branch of 
 
 the trade, and they succeeded in producing discs in flint of 29 
 inches diameter, weighing 2 cwt., and of crown-glass up to 20 
 inches. One great difficulty in producing such glasses is, that 
 in annealing, the surface is liable to cool more rapidly than the 
 interior, the effect of which is to produce a difference in molecular 
 structure, and, consequently, an equal refractive action on the rays 
 of light. 
 
 The glass in common use for window-panes is a silicate of soda 
 and lime : it is much harder than flint-glass, and does not admit of 
 being shaped into vessels, or ornamented by cutting and grinding. 
 It will bear considerable exposure to the weather, and yet be suffi- 
 ciently transparent and so regular in its surface as not to distort 
 objects seen through it. It is made in the form of flat discs or 
 tables, 52 inches in diameter; but Messrs. Chance have formed 
 tables of 66 inches. Glass is also formed in cylinders, whereby 
 larger panes can be produced. The glass-pots, Fig. 219, are open 
 
 Fig. 219. — CBOWN-GLAS3 POT. 
 
 at the top, on account of the greater heat required; the materials 
 are fritted or calcined before being vitrified, to prevent the alkali 
 from being volatilised in the furnace. About 18 hours are required 
 for vitrification ; and when the glass is clear, and the glass-gall , 
 or infusible earthy impurities, have been skimmed off, the metal is 
 ready for working. The man collects on the end of his blowing 
 tube as much glass in successive layers as will form a disk or table 
 of about 9 lbs. weight. He marvers this into a pear-shaped lump, 
 a, Fig. 220, while a boy slightly distends it by blowing. It is then 
 
 Fig. 220. — progbess of the manufacture of a table of crown-glass. 
 
 softened in the mouth of a small furnace, called a blowing-furnace, 
 from its use in enabling the man to blow the glass into a large 
 globe. It is again marvered, in order to distribute the thickness 
 properly, and to collect the great mass of the glass at the lowest 
 point, or at the end of a neck of glass, as at b. The outer extremity 
 is made during the marvering into a conical end, called the bullion , 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 211 
 
 
 I 
 
 which is rested upon a smooth iron rod, called the bullion-bar, and 
 is further distended by blowing, as at c. In some cases the bullion 
 is supported by a tube, held by a boy, but 
 in either case the glass is made to revolve 
 while being distended by blowing. The 
 sphere being properly formed, is exposed 
 to the direct action of flame at what is 
 called the bottoming-hole , Fig. 221, the 
 wall partly built in front screening the 
 man from the flame. The hook project- 
 ing from the wall serves to support the 
 blowing-tube, by revolving which the 
 globe, under the united action of heat 
 and centrifugal force, assumes the form 
 shown at cl, Fig. 220. The glass is now 
 transferred to a pontil by dipping the 
 iron rod into melted glass and applying 
 it to the centre of the flattened part of the glass. At the same 
 time the man detaches the blowing-iron by touching the neck of 
 the glass with cold water, leaving a hole in the glass, as shown at 
 e, Fig. 220. By holding the glass before a moderate flame, and 
 causing it to rotate with gradually increasing velocity, the flattened 
 sphere becomes more flat, and the hole larger. The glass is now 
 heated before the flashing-furnace, Fig. 222, when, by causing it to 
 
 Fig. 221 . 
 
 Fig. 222. — the flashing-furnace. 
 
 
 rotate with greater speed, the flattened globe at length flies open 
 with a noise something like that produced by quickly opening a 
 wet umbrella, and forms a flat circular disk from 50 to 60 inches 
 in diameter, of uniform thickness, except where the glass is 
 attached to the pontil, where there is a swelling, called the bull’s- 
 eye. The man continues to whirl 
 the table until it is sufficiently hard- 
 ened by cooling to support itself 
 w ithout folding together, when it is 
 placed on a large iron fork, held by 
 an assistant, the pontil is cracked 
 off, and the plate is transferred to 
 the annealing-arch, Fig. 223, where 
 it is made to rest on edge in two 
 parallel iron supports, running the 
 whole length of the kiln, which is of sufficient capacity to receive 
 two rows of tables, as shown by the dotted circles. The annealing 
 is continued for 24 hours, during which the whole arch is raised to 
 a uniform temperature, which is gradually let down. 
 
 The objection to glass in tables arises from the waste in cutting 
 consequent on the circular form, and from the knob or bull’s-eye in 
 the middle, so that it is impossible to procure from them panes of 
 greater superficial measurement than about one-third of that of the 
 tables themselves. On the continent of Europe crown-glass is 
 made on a different principle; the glass is first formed into a cylin- 
 r, closed and rounded at both ends, which are then cut off, and a 
 crack being run down the length, or the 
 cylinder itself attached to a three-pronged 
 pontil, is cut open with shears, as shown 
 in Fig. 224. The cylinder is then con- 
 veyed to a furnace, where it is flatted out. 
 The glass thus formed is coarser in texture, more wavy and dull 
 than glass formed in tables, but it allows of larger sheets being 
 manufactured. Some years before the opening of the Great Exhi- 
 bition of 1851, the method of making cylinder-ylass , or spread-glass , 
 
 Fig. 224 . 
 
 and broad-glass, as it is called, was introduced into this country,* 
 but for which the existence of the Crystal Palace would have been 
 impossible. This subject belongs so peculiarly to the Crystal 
 Palace Expositor, that we will dwell a little upon its history. 
 
 Ihere is evidence to show that the cylindrical process was in use 
 about the end of the twelfth century. The plan was employed 
 among the Venetians for their coloured glasses, which could thus 
 be made more uniform in colour and in thickness than by the other 
 method. As the demand for coloured glass declined, the plan went 
 out of use, and glass long continued to be made on the rotatory 
 principle. Bohemia, however, which, as has been already observed, 
 still retains the traditions of her first teacher, did not abandon the 
 cylindrical process, but practised it with so much success that, when 
 glass of unusually large size and good colour was required, Bohemia 
 was called upon to supply it. France, as a glass-making country, 
 beheld this superiority with impatience, and at the commencement 
 of the eighteenth century attempted to share in it, by establishing 
 a manufactory at Lettenbach, on the borders of Lorraine and 
 Alsace. The works were carried on by artisans from Bohemia, 
 under the direction of a French officer, named Drolenvaux. The 
 company had established themselves on land belonging to the 
 Monastery of St. Querin, under a lease for 100 years, and the title 
 of Manufactory of St. Querin. The numerous factories of cylindri- 
 cal glass in other parts of Europe owe their origin to these works. 
 
 The Bohemian workmen, who had been induced by high wa°-es 
 to establish themselves at St. Querin, determined, if possible, to 
 preserve their privileges, by forming a close league to keep their 
 art and mystery strictly confined to their own families. They 
 would not allow any stranger to enter, either as apprentice or 
 workman ; and when attempts were made to this effect, they struck 
 work, and threatened to abandon the factory, a proceeding which 
 in a glass-house would entail ruinous consequences, for it is neces- 
 sary to keep the fires constantly burning, to prevent the glass from 
 becoming solid, and the pots from being ruined. This workmen’s 
 league long continued to operate — the son followed the trade of his 
 father, and the grandson had no higher aim ; indeed, at the present 
 day, men employed in the various glass-houses of France show their 
 German origin by such names as Schmidt, Zeller, Theber, Stenger, 
 Huy, Mayer, &c. A somewhat similar practice has prevailed in 
 England, the glass-makers’ trade being a very exclusive one. The 
 men form themselves into benefit societies, and watch with great 
 jealousy the introduction of strangers into the trade — a circum- 
 stance whiclr has proved injurious to it, by interfering with that 
 development consequent on freeing glass from the trammels of the 
 excise laws ; and there is probably no country in the world better 
 qualified to produce unlimited quantities of glass than our own. We 
 have the raw material abundant and cheap, and the fuel, which is the 
 grand item of expense in a glass-house, we have in abundance also. 
 
 Ihe production in this country of cylinder-glass of large size was 
 called for by the improved state of horticulture, which required 
 
 D 
 
 Fig. 225 . 
 
 larger houses for the plants, and more light. Mr. Paxton describes 
 the forcing-houses at Chatsworth, in 1828, as being formed of coarse 
 thick glass and heavy wood-work, which made the roofs dark and 
 gloomy. .The evil was mitigated by bevelling off the sides of the 
 rafters and sash- bars. There was also an objection in the construc- 
 tion of glass-houses; in plain lean-to or shed-roofs the morning and 
 
 * Properly speaking, spread-glass or broad-glass had been made in England 
 long before on the cylindrical principle, but it was of very inferior quality, and 
 of small size. 
 
212 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 evening sun presented its direct rays at a low angle, and conse- 
 quently very obliquely to the glass, when most of his rays are 
 obstructed by the position of the glass and of the heavy rafters, as 
 shown in Fig. 225, and much of the benefit arising from the influ- 
 ence of the morning and evening sun is thus lost. An attempt was 
 made to obviate the objection by placing the glass more at right 
 angles to the oblique rays. This led to the adoption of the ridge 
 and furrow principle for glass 
 roofs (Fig. 226), which places 
 the glass in such a position that 
 the morning and evening rays 
 enter the house without obstruc- 
 tion, and present themselves 
 more perpendicularly to the glass 
 at those times when they are 
 least powerful; while at mid- 
 day, when they are most power- 
 ful, they present themselves 
 more obliquely to the glass. In 
 introducing a lighter sash-bar, it was desirable to get rid of the 
 numerous overlaps connected with the old system of glazing in 
 short lengths, and we have now to refer to the efforts of Messrs. 
 Chance and Hartley, of Smethwick, near Birmingham, who, during 
 a visit, in 1830, to the manufactory of M. Bon temps, of Choisy-le- 
 Roi, near Paris, were struck with the advantages attending the 
 manufacture of glass on the cylindrical principle. About this time 
 the revolution had rendered society unsettled in France, and 
 M. Bontemps agreed to co-operate with Messrs. Chance in introduc- 
 ing the method into England. Their first furnace was started in 
 the autumn of 1832, but many difficulties had to be overcome before 
 the glass made its w r ay in the market, among which was the heavy 
 excise duty upon window-glass. In 1836 the partnership was dis- 
 solved, and Mr. Hartley established a manufactory for crown-glass 
 at Sunderland. The waviness of the surface was a great obstacle 
 to its general introduction ; and it was not till 1838 that Messrs. 
 Chance, Brothers, & Co., succeeded in obtaining a thick glass with 
 a good surface. The removal of the excise duty led to many im- 
 provements — panes 4 feet in length were produced for horticultural 
 purposes; and at the time of the Great Exhibition panes somewhat 
 larger even than this were manufactured for the Exhibition build- 
 ing — a size which, as it was remarked at the time, no country but 
 England could have furnished any large quantity. 
 
 In the formation of cylindrical- glass, the workman collects a 
 large ball of molten metal at the end of his 
 blowing-tube, pushes it forward so as to 
 form a groove, a, Fig. 227, marvers it, slightly 
 distends it by blowing, as shown in section 
 in the same figure, and from the thick mass 
 of glass below the air-bubble distends and 
 lengthens out a cylinder, the glass being first 
 made to assume the width, and then the 
 Fig. 227 . Fi v- 228 - length of the intended cylinder. The ball 
 of glass having been heated, the man holds it up over his head, 
 
 Fig. 229 — BLOWING AND swinging cylinder-glass. 
 
 and blows into it, when the plastic material, yielding to the dis- 
 tending force of the air, and to gravity, forms a kind of flattened 
 
 hottle, Fig. 228. In this way the required width of the intended 
 cylinder is attained. The man then quickly lowers the glass, and 
 swings it backwards and forwards (Fig. 229), blowing into it all 
 the time. The thick bottom retains its heat much longer than the 
 thin sides, and, yielding to the two forces, increases in length, and 
 assumes the form shown in Fig. 230. The blowing without the 
 swinging would produce the form indicated by the dotted line. 
 The glass is again heated, and, by repeating the swinging and 
 the blowing, the length of the intended cylinder is obtained, as 
 shown in Fig. 231. The glass is next opened at the point c, 
 which is now the thinnest part; this is done by blowing air into 
 
 Fig. 230. 
 
 Fig. 231. 
 
 Fig. i33. 
 
 the vessel, closing the blowing-tube with the thumb, and hold- 
 ing the end c in the flame of the furnace, until the vessel bursts 
 at that part from the increasing elasticity of the enclosed air. 
 The margin of the aperture is trimmed with scissors, and en- 
 larged with the pucellas to the proper diameter, as shown in 
 Fig. 232, and when brought to the form of Fig. 233, the neck 
 or cap is removed by supporting the cylinder on a wooden 
 rod, and turning the upper part two or three times in the 
 curve of a bent iron, heated to redness, as shown in Fig. 234 ; 
 
 Fig. 234. ’ Fig. 233. 
 
 the heated part, on being wetted, causes the separation of the 
 cap, a crack being also run down the length of the cylinder; the 
 glass is in the form shown in Fig. 235, and is ready for spread- 
 ing or flatting. This operation is performed in a furnace, the 
 chief arrangements of which are shown in Fig. 236: a is the ash- 
 
 Fig. 230. — FLATTING-FDRNACE. 
 
 pit, r the grate, b the ashpit-door, and (l the stoke-hole. The flame 
 enters the upper part of the furnace through the openings c, and 
 first plays on the flatting-hearth c. It then passes into the anneal- 
 ing or cooling-furnace B, and escapes by the flue or channel D, by 
 which the cylinders are introduced, c and B are connected by 
 means of an arched aperture at E, which allows the passage of the 
 glass plates, and also hy a smaller higher opening g, which admits 
 the flame. The heat is regulated by opening or closing the aper- 
 ture c; the man who flattens out the cylinders stands in front of 
 the aperture l; the man at the annealing-fui'nace before rn, and an 
 assistant pushes the cylinders forward along a railway into D. The 
 spreading-plate or flatting-stone must be perfectly smooth and even : 
 it is sometimes made of fireproof-clay, mixed with cement, and 
 ground smooth, or it may be a thick plate of devitrified glass. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 213 
 
 Some kinds of sandstone have also been found to answer the pur- 
 pose, such as that of Godstone, in Surrey. The spreading is com- 
 menced by introducing the cylinders into a long flue leading into B, 
 and as they are pushed forward they gradually soften. The flat- 
 ter, standing before the aperture l, takes up one of the cylinders 
 with an angular tool, places it on the flatting-stone with the cracked 
 side, uppermost: the cylinder soon opens, and the man makes it 
 straight and even with a piece of wood attached to an iron rod 
 (Fig. 237), the wood being dipped in water previous to use. The 
 
 curves and lumps being flatted out, the sheet is pushed into the 
 annealing-oven, where it cools down sufficiently to be placed on 
 edge in an inclined position ; and when 30 or 40 sheets have thus 
 been collected, an iron rod s, Fig. 236, is inserted. 
 
 . English manufacturers have introduced various improvements 
 into the above method of making cylindrical glass. Messrs. Chance, 
 instead of at once removing the glass from the flatting to the 
 annealing-furnace, and lifting it to the cooling-bed while soft and 
 liable to distortion, flat and cool it by passing it through a succes- 
 sion of decreasing temperatures, so that it is not lifted up until it 
 becomes rigid. By this means the flattening can proceed simulta- 
 neously with the annealing, which cannot be done according to the 
 previous arrangement, since the temperature of the annealing-kiln 
 must be greatly reduced; and as this is contiguous to the flatting- 
 kiln, that must also be let down much below the working-point. 
 Mr. Hartley has improved the process by making the flatting-stone 
 l evolve in such a way that the cylinder upon it is gradually exposed 
 on all sides to the action of the fire, so that one part be not hotter 
 than the other; and as it is difficult to obtain perfectly flat glass 
 lor polishing, on account of the film of air between the flatting-stone 
 and the plate, the flatting-stone is perforated with holes k inch in 
 diameter, and about 1 inch apart. 
 
 . ^ lie beautiful variety known as plate-glass, for which this country 
 is so celebrated, is similar in composition to crown-glass, the only 
 essential basis with silicic acid being soda and lime; but a larger 
 proportion of alkali being used, the point of fusion is lower than in 
 crown-glass. Plate-glass should be transparent and colourless, 
 especially when used for mirrors, and there must be no waves or 
 lumps to produce irregularity of reflexion. 
 
 The materials for plate-glass must be carefully selected, and 
 purified from oxide of iron, sifted and ground. A small portion of 
 nitre is sometimes used for getting rid of carbonaceous matters, and 
 arsenic and borax are also used to improve the colour. The mate- 
 rials are melted in open pots, and by 
 the side of them are crucibles or cis- 
 terns, Fig. 238, into which the glass is 
 ladled when ready for casting. The 
 cisterns hold from 3 to 6 cwt., and have 
 an indented ring, about one-third of the 
 Fig. 238 . way up from the bottom, into which 
 
 the limbs of tongs fit. Vitrification is 
 complete in about 20 hours ; and when the glass-gall is removed, a 
 copper ladle, supported by an iron rest, held by two men, is plunged 
 into the glass-pot, raised full of melted glass, and poured into the 
 
 cistern, which, being in this way filled, is left for 12 hours to fine. 
 Hie casting is performed on massive tables of metal (t, Fig. 239); 
 
 and when everything is prepared for the purpose, the cistern is 
 taken out of the furnace, placed on a low carriage, and removed to 
 the casting-table. The glass is skimmed with a broad copper sabre, 
 and the cistern being scraped on the outside, is wound up to a suf- 
 ficient height by means of a crane, and swung over the upper end 
 of the casting-table, when, being tilted over, an avalanche of melted 
 glass pours down, and spreads over the metal surface, ribs of metal c c 
 at the side preventing it from overflowing, while a massive copper 
 roller R, Fig. 239, is set in motion, and spreads the glass out into a 
 sheet of uniform breadtli and thickness. The effect of this operation 
 is exceedingly beautiful — a variety of prismatic colours play over 
 the surface of the plate after the roller has passed over it. Beiii" 
 itself a sort of temporary sun, it lights up the spacious hall, and 
 brings out the individuals and all the details of the locality, while 
 the floods of heat which pour from it are painfully felt, and show 
 the necessity for the high roof and the iron sheeting placed under it, 
 30 or 40 feet above the casting-table. To remove all impurity 
 from the casting-slab, a washer to is drawn immediately in front of 
 the fluid glass ; the excess of glass, if any, pours over the front edge 
 into a trough filled with water; the roller then passes off the slabs, 
 and is received in the groove nn. The casting is then cleared of 
 any redundancy at the sides; a thick flange is turned up at the end 
 cc ; and, when this has become rigid, an iron rake is applied to it, 
 and the plate is forced forward into the annealing-oven a f, or it is 
 thrust upon a wooden platform moving upon wheels, by which it is 
 conveyed to the oven, where it remains about five days. The plates 
 thus formed are about £ inch thick, of an irregular mottled 
 appearance ; they are examined to see whether the glass is suffi- 
 ciently free from defects to be formed into large plates, or whether 
 the plate must be cut up into smaller portions. Having been 
 squared, the plates are next ground and polished. The first object 
 is to produce a level surface, which is done by grinding one plate 
 upon another by means of appropriate machinery. Sharp river 
 sand, washed and sifted into three sizes, being used with water as 
 the grinding material. The plates are then reversed, and the other 
 sides are ground. When the plates are sufficiently smooth to 
 require the application of emery the surfaces tend to cohere, so that 
 when travelling even with moderate velocity, one surface is liable 
 to tear the glass from the other. Hence the next process, namely, 
 the smoothing, is usually done by hand. The plates are put upon 
 flat stone benches covered with wet canvas, and, the surface being 
 sprinkled with emery and water, a small plate, used as a runner, is 
 moved over it with a peculiar eccentric motion. Three sizes of 
 carefully w-ashed emery are used; the plates, canvas, bench, and 
 hands being carefully washed between every two sizes. The fine 
 emery last used gives a very smooth and partly polished surface ; 
 the polishing is completed by rubbers covered with thick felt, and 
 worked by machinery, Venetian pink being the polishing powder. 
 By means of grinding and polishing the plates are reduced in 
 thickness from one third to one half. The plates are now carefully 
 examined, the defective ones are cut up into smaller plates, while 
 the more perfect ones are reserved for silvering. 
 
 The silvering of glass consists in the application of an amalgam 
 of tin to the surface of the glass, for which purpose a sheet of tin- 
 foil of larger dimensions than the plate to be silvered is spread out 
 upon the silvering table, and mercury is brushed over it. When 
 the surface is uniformly covered, more mercury is added, so as to 
 attain a height of two or three lines. The film of impurities which 
 covers the surface is removed with a wooden rod, and the whole 
 made bright and resplendent. The plate of glass is then pushed 
 slowly forward, with the longest edge foremost, and dipping below 
 the surface of the mercury so as completely to exclude the air. 
 The glass is thus brought into contact with the metal, and a brilliant 
 surface is produced. The excess of mercury is got rid of by loading 
 the mirror with iron weights, and inclining the silvering table ten 
 or twelve degrees. After this the plate is set up on edge, and in 
 the course of three or four weeks the coating of tin amalgam 
 becomes dry. 
 
 Another method of silvering is by mixing ammonia with nitrate 
 of silver, filtering the mixture, and adding to it an alcoholic solution 
 of oil of cassia. On the addition to this fluid of a reducing liquid, 
 consisting of an alcoholic solution of oil of cloves, a brilliant metallic 
 silver film is deposited, which attaches itself firmly to the surface of 
 the glass. The effect, however, is not quite satisfactory ; it is not 
 easy to obtain a perfectly clear, unspotted surface, and the mirror 
 has a certain black effect, arising from the close texture of the 
 
 3 I 
 
214 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 metal, and its perfect adhesion to the glass, so that it reflects the 
 rays of light with such precision that very few of them reach the 
 eye, unless the angle of incidence be very small, as when a person 
 is standing opposite, or nearly opposite the mirror. The ordinary 
 coating of tin amalgam is, on the contrary, crystalline, the effect of 
 which is to scatter the light, and reflect it to the eye in almost any 
 position in which the observer may be placed. One advantage of 
 the silvering fluid is that irregular 
 surfaces — the interior of glass balls, j 
 &c. — admit of being easily silvered. 
 Figs. 240, 241 represent a centre 
 dish and a vase of glass, silvered 
 by Mr. Hale Thomson’s process. 
 They are from the establishment 
 of Mr. Mellish, of London. 
 
 The French have long been cele- 
 brated for the excellence of their 
 plate-glass, and the beauty of their 
 mirrors. Compared with English 
 plate, the quantity of French plate 
 annually produced is small. Our 
 custom of glazing windows with 
 plate-glass — extending as it does to 
 shops of every description in the commonest neighbourhoods of the 
 metropolis, and in most country towns, to say nothing of the number 
 of looking-glasses, large and small, which 
 are to be found in every house — requires 
 an enormous production of this beautiful 
 material.* The French, on the contrary, 
 manufacture chiefly to suit the taste of 
 the upper classes; and, the manufactories 
 having been accustomed to government 
 support, there are thus two powerful 
 reasons why the manufacture should flou- 
 rish rather as a fine art than as a com- 
 mercial speculation. On comparing spe- 
 cimens of the best French with English 
 plate, by placing them side by side, and 
 viewing some distant object in each by 
 reflexion, the French glass will give a 
 clear, sharp outline, while the English 
 will reflect two or more images in a hazy 
 and imperfect manner. One reason for 
 the excellence of the French glass is to 
 be found in the care with which the 
 materials are selected and combined, the 
 plate-glass of St. Gobain being, it is said, 
 a true chemical compound, consisting of 
 of soda, and one atom of tri-silicate of 
 lime, with a small percentage of alumina. English plate, on 
 the contrary, consists of a mixture of two glasses of different 
 densities, produced by want of attention to the atomic relations 
 of the components. Now, it is a remarkable fact that a mixture 
 of certain bodies produces by fusion a compound more easily 
 fusible than any one of the components separately. Thus, car- 
 bonate of potash and carbonate of soda, when mixed atom for atom, 
 form a compound more easy of fusion than either alkali alone. 
 So also fluorspar and sulphate of lime, two remarkably infusible 
 substances, melt readily, when mixed at a low red heat, into a mobile 
 transparent fluid. So also, in the case of the silicates, a mixture 
 of silicate of potash and silicate of soda, if in atomic ratios, fuse 
 much more readily than either one of them alone ; but, if one of 
 them be in excess, the silicate of soda, for example, then the sili- 
 cate of potash unites with exactly sufficient of the silicate of soda 
 to produce a glass of comparatively easy fusibility; while the less 
 easily fusible silicate of soda in excess forms a kind of net-work 
 throughout the mass, and, being thus entangled in the more fusible 
 glass, and having a different density, form strice, and produce un- 
 equal refraction, and consequently distortion of figure. 
 
 The origin of the celebrated French works of St. Gobain is inti- 
 mately connected with the present method of making plate-glass 
 
 * The Thames Plate-Glass Company, established in 1S35-6, at Blackwall, 
 produces enormous quantities of plate-glass. Two other works, in Lancashire 
 and at Smethwick, produced in 1851 upwards of two millions of square feet 
 annually, which was used first in the shape of rough plates for glazing, for 
 roofing in railway-stations, for skylights, and similar purposes; secondly, as 
 polished glass for shop-windows, and large plates for the windows of houses. 
 
 Fig. 211 . 
 
 one atom of tri-silicate 
 
 Fig. 210 . 
 
 by casting. The cylindrical process had previously been adopted, 
 and was introduced into France in 1665, under the patronage of the 
 minister Colbert; and the works established at Tourlaville, near 
 Cherbourg, were aided by a grant of public money. The works 
 had not been long in operation when Abraham Thevart, a 'working 
 manufacturei', discovered the method of producing plate-glass by 
 casting. He obtained a patent for his invention for thirty years, 
 and established works in the Faubourg St. Antoine, at Paris, where 
 plates were cast of the then extraordinary dimensions of eighty-four 
 inches by fifty — a size which excited the greatest surprise and 
 admiration. The expense of carrying on the works at Paris being 
 too great, they were removed to St. Gobain, in Picardy, where the 
 new company met with considerable opposition from the old com- 
 pany of Tourlaville. Thevart was bound by his patent not to cast 
 any plates of less dimensions than sixty inches by forty. The 
 largest plate formed by the cylindrical process did not exceed fifty 
 inches in its largest dimensions. In 1695, the two companies endea- 
 voured to settle their disputes by uniting under a common charter of 
 incorporation ; the union was not a happy one — the company 
 rapidly declined, and, in two short years, became insolvent. On 
 the ruins of the old company a new one was formed, under the 
 management of Antoine d’Agincourt, who re-kindled the furnaces, 
 re-engaged the discharged workmen, and, by prudent management, 
 caused it to prosper. The company of St. Querin was not slow in 
 combining the art of casting with the cylindrical process, which 
 they had first introduced into France. Previous to the expiration 
 of their lease from the monks of St. Querin, they had taken the 
 precaution of forming another establishment at Cirey, near 
 St. Querin, into which the manufactory of the latter place merged. 
 The two great establishments of St. Gobain and Cirey long con- 
 tinued to oppose each other ; but, on the appearance of a third 
 company, they adjusted their differences, established a common 
 
 depot for the sale of their wares, and agreed as to their price in 
 different markets. The specimens of glass from both manufactories 
 sent to the Great Exhibition are described in the Jury Report, 
 Class XXIV., as being pure in colour, excellent in structure, finish, 
 ] and polish, and free from globules and other defects; “ in short,” it 
 | is added, “ the produce of these manufactories, now exhibited, 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 215 
 
 approaches as near to perfection in this branch of the manufacture 
 as it can attain.” As a specimen of French taste in mounting mir- 
 rors, we select a toilette-glass, Fig. 242, by M. Rudolphi, of Paris. 
 
 The coarsest variety of glass that is manufactured is known as 
 bottle-glass, the materials being soap-boilers’ waste, and common 
 river or sea-sand, such being required by law for wine and 
 beer-bottles, when the duty thereon was only ith that of flint- 
 glass. The theoretical composition of bottle-glass is a triple silicate 
 of soda, alumina, and lime ; but a portion of the lime is generally 
 supplied by magnesia and protoxide of iron, and a portion of the 
 alumina by peroxide of iron. The alumina is in the form of clay. 
 The raw materials are first fritted, and then vitrified, a very high 
 temperature being required for the purpose on account of the small 
 proportion of alkali. In about eighteen or twenty hours the vitri- 
 fication is complete; the glass-gall is skimmed off, and the tem- 
 perature of the furnace is lowered, so that the glass may become 
 sufficiently viscid for blowing. Wine bottles are formed in cast-iron 
 or brass moulds, as in the case of flint-glass bottles. Wine-bottles 
 require care, not only as respects the choice of materials, but also in 
 the blowing. If the lime or other alkali of the bottles be in excess, 
 or not chemically combined, and the wine be of an acid character, 
 the bottle will be slowly disintegrated. Glass bottles are sometimes 
 fraudulently made in England with an excess of alkali, which may 
 be readily acted on by the tartaric acid of wine, and quickly form a 
 crust, which will adhere more firmly to the glass than in the case 
 of ordinary bottles. The bottles used for effervescing wines must 
 be of equal thickness throughout, so as to he able to resist the 
 bursting pressure. It is stated that in the champagne trade the 
 loss of bottles from bursting amounts to from twenty to thirty per 
 cent; and it is now customary to prove the bottles by a machine 
 which imparts an internal pressure of from twenty-five to thirty- 
 five atmospheres. 
 
 Passing from the coarsest glass to the finest, we must now refer 
 to some of the varieties of ornamental glass, which may be seen in 
 the Glass Court, and in other parts of the Crystal Palace, including 
 coloured glass, and paintings on glass. Many varieties of orna- 
 mental glass are due to the Venetians, and are from time to time 
 revived and brought out as novelties. Such are the Venetian ball , 
 which consists of a number of pieces of filigree glass packed into a 
 pocket of transparent colourless glass, which is adhesively collapsed 
 upon the interior mass by sucking out the air, so as to allow the 
 atmospheric pressure to act upon it. Venetian filigree consists of 
 plain and coloured enamel. Canes, or sticks of glass, are arranged 
 round the interior of a mould, transparent flint-glass is then put in, 
 so as to form a ball with the canes adhering to it. The ball is then 
 heated, marvered, and covered with a gathering of white glass, 
 after which the whole is worked into a vessel, after the manner 
 described for making a wine-glass, or other article in flint-glass. 
 Spiral stems for wine-glasses, &c., are sometimes made in a similar 
 manner. Millefiore glass is formed by fusing together a number of 
 tubes of various colours, together -with sections representing stars, 
 flowers, &c., slices of which are imbedded in w'hite transparent 
 glass, forming an ornamental letter-weight. This manufacture has 
 recently been revived ; but in many cases the patterns are quite 
 devoid of taste. Mosaic glass is produced by small rods of variously 
 coloured opaque or transparent glass of uniform length, arranged 
 so that the ends may form patterns. By cutting off slices at right 
 angles to the length the pattern may be multiplied. Sinelz glass is 
 formed by fusing lengths of coloured glass into each other, so that 
 the section may resemble carnelian and the agates. Vitro di trino 
 is a kind of lace-work formed by intersecting lines of white enamel, 
 or transparent glass ; the centre of each mesh being occupied by 
 a bubble of air. Frosted glass is formed by plunging the vessel, 
 after it has been blown, while still hot, into cold water, then 
 re-heating and re-blowing it, the effect of which is to make it 
 appear as if covered with fractures. Aventurine glass has a 
 brownish colour, and is interspersed with small spangles, which 
 give it a peculiar shining appearance. It may be prepared by 
 fusing together a mixture of 300 parts pounded glass, with 40 parts 
 of copper scales, and cooling the mixture slowly, when the copper 
 becomes diffused through the glass in octohedral crystals. Mr. 
 Pellatt has invented a method of ornamenting glass with delicate 
 white argentine incrustations of dry porcelain clay, cemented into 
 the solid glass. The figures, made quite dry, are placed on a red- 
 hot bulb of flint-glass, and covered with a thin layer of very fluid 
 glass, in which state it may be worked into the vessel by placing it- 
 
 in the mould in which the glass is blown. The white figures have 
 a silvery appearance ; but coloured enamel figures are also used. 
 
 There is yet another description of glass to which the Crystal 
 Palace is indebted for some of its most charming effects, and which, 
 during several centuries past, has formed a most important feature 
 in religious edifices, where — 
 
 “ Storied windows, richly dight, 
 
 Casting a dim religious light,” 
 
 have given the finishing touches to those Gothic interiors which 
 wanted but this to render them worthy of their architects : — 
 
 “ They dreamt not of a perishable home 
 Who thus could build.” 
 
 During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the art of glass- 
 painting flourished, as it were, under the very shadow of barbarism, 
 when, whatever appreciation of artistic beauty existed, belonged to 
 or was appropriated by the church. In the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries this art reigned supreme. In the sixteenth we see it 
 engaged in a struggle with its formidable rival, oil-painting, and, 
 as if the world of art had not space enough for the two, glass- 
 painting yielded, and would have sunk into oblivion, but for the 
 variegated monuments of beauty which the windows of nearly every 
 church in Europe constantly presented to the eye. The practice of 
 adorning the interior of churches with oil-paintings led to the 
 necessity, real or supposed, of throwing upon them the pure light 
 of heaven, instead of straining it through the splendid palette of 
 the glass-painter; and hence it was that the two arts were supposed 
 to be incompatible, and that of glass-painting fell into desuetude, 
 and did not begin to revive until our own day. As it is not the 
 practice to admit oil-paintings into Protestant churches (indeed, 
 the bench of bishops, at the request of George III., considered 
 the matter, and decided that it would not be proper to introduce 
 such a practice), there can be no good reason why this glorious art, 
 this unrivalled method of relieving the baldness and monotony of 
 our ecclesiastical interiors should not become more and more 
 common. A little of the money which has been lavished in 
 collecting the stone quarry of marble clouds and stone seas, which 
 disfigures the nave of Westminster Abbey, or has been wasted, shall 
 we not say, on the meaningless statues, pedestals, and pyramids 
 which mar the beauty of most of our Gothic interiors would, if 
 expended on painted-glass windows, have given the finishing touch 
 to those marvels of architectural beauty and dignity which con- 
 tinue, age after age, to instruct and delight mankind. 
 
 The old painted glass is as characteristic of the time which pro- 
 duced it as are the mullions or tracery of the windows which it 
 adorns. In the earlier forms we have lively colours distributed 
 after the fashion of a mosaic — “ a rich carpet, whose simple, but 
 graceful pattern is illuminated in alternate gradations of colour 
 admirably combined.” * The artists “began their work by running 
 round the edge a rich border of colour, fringing the outside, and 
 forming a distinct and glowing enclosure for what came after. 
 They then proceeded to cross with bands of colour the clear space 
 left between, dividing it into compartments with panelled shapes of 
 strongly defined form, squares, lozenges, and circles, in every com- 
 bination and variety. The principal lines of these were confirmed 
 by the stout iron-work to which the glass was attached ; and, in all 
 early glass, these bands and divisions form a prominent feature, and 
 give an air of arrangement and solidity which the width and 
 extent of the spaces might render difficult with any other treat- 
 ment.” f The earlier examples consist of pieces of glass of various 
 colours symmetrically arranged, the art of drawing lending but 
 little assistance. But as this art came to be appreciated, and applied 
 in other departments, we see it extending its marvellous effects to 
 glass-painting. In the windows of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries is introduced what may be called the historical era; and 
 
 * Art of Painting on Glass, published in "Weale’s Rudimentary Series. 
 This work professes to be a translation from the German of Emanuel Otto 
 Fromberg; but, in the Encyclopadic Roret, the same matter is included 
 in a manual by M. E. F. Eoboulleau, de Thoircs, entitled Nouveau Manuel 
 Complet de la Peinturc sur Vcrre. Paris: 1844. 
 
 t A Pica for Painted Glass, being an Inquiry into its Nature, Character, 
 and Objects , and its Claims as an Art. By Fras. W. Oliphant. Oxford : 1855. 
 We have great pleasure in referring to this pamphlet, which gives within the 
 compass of a few pages a clear and eloquent statement of the claims and pre- 
 tensions of glass-painting as a distinct branch of art. It is easy for a mere 
 writer on the subject to appear to be learned, authoritative, and critical : 
 Mr. Oliphant, without anv such assumption, speaks feelingly and well of the 
 art which he practises with, so much success. 
 
216 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 it was the object of the artist to make each window bear a lasting 
 testimony to the eye of that which the fasts and festivals of the 
 church addressed to 
 
 ear and heart. But 
 
 another change comes 
 over the art of glass- 
 painting. The colours 
 become more bril- 
 liant, more diversified, 
 and the interior of 
 many a chapel daz- 
 zles with the splen- 
 dour of innumerable 
 jewels in the light of 
 the sun. Larger fi- 
 gures are now intro- 
 duced, drawn with 
 greater skill ; the fi- 
 gures are surrounded 
 with splendid bor- 
 ders, or friezes ; thus 
 the design becomes 
 more elaborate, until 
 we have architectural 
 backgrounds, and imi- 
 tations of the antique. 
 
 In the eighteenth cen- 
 tury the art may be 
 said to have been lost, 
 so little was it prac- 
 tised. In modern 
 times, when men 
 sought this form of 
 the beautiful to add 
 grace and dignity to 
 their churches, or 
 when the piety and 
 affection of survivors 
 led them to raise 
 memorials to their 
 friends in this beau- 
 tiful material rather 
 than in stone, the 
 dexterity of the old 
 workers could not be 
 at once commanded, 
 nor were artists ready 
 with suitable designs. 
 
 These latter fell into 
 the mistake that it 
 was necessai-y to imi- 
 tate, and even to rival 
 oil-painting, forget- 
 ting that they had 
 to deal with a mate- 
 rial possessing pro- 
 perties peculiarly its 
 own, among which 
 must be specially no- 
 ticed the transpa- 
 rency, or, rather, 
 translucency by 
 which it addresses 
 the eye, by means of 
 light coming from 
 without to the spec- 
 tator within through 
 the picture itself. In 
 oil-painting, on the 
 contrary, the material 
 on which the paint- 
 ing is made being 
 opaque, all the co- 
 
 Fig. 243. — ST. micuael casting 
 (By the St. Helen's 
 
 lours, many of which are opaque also, must be viewed by reflected 
 light, and from a moderate distance, so moderate, indeed, that the 
 artist can introduce minute details, and blend his colours with so 
 
 much delicacy and harmony as to run into each other— to meit into 
 those imperceptible gradations which form so much of the loveliness 
 
 of nature. But, in a 
 painting on glass, the 
 distance at which it is 
 seen being ordinarily 
 considerable, minute 
 detail cannot be ap- 
 preciated any more 
 than gradation of co- 
 lours, for, however 
 delicatetyand harmo- 
 niously the half-tints 
 may be arranged, 
 they run into each 
 other, and appear at a 
 distance to be of only 
 one colour. This fact 
 is so important that 
 it ought to be upper- 
 most in the mind of 
 the designer on glass, 
 and to regulate all 
 his proceedings. The 
 great merit of the old 
 specimens of stained 
 glass lies in their ori- 
 ginality ; their de- 
 signers did not con- 
 descend to borrow 
 from other arts, but 
 presented boldly the 
 peculiarities of their 
 own art; and, if they 
 received suggestions 
 at all, they obtained 
 them from Nature, 
 the great parent of 
 all the arts. More- 
 over, the lead-work 
 and iron bars which 
 unite the different 
 parts of a painted 
 window, and which 
 cannot be entirely 
 concealed in the sha- 
 dows, must entirely 
 prevent any resem- 
 blance to oil-paint- 
 ing, should the glass- 
 painter not rise above 
 the low ambition of 
 being a mere imi- 
 tator; indeed, the me- 
 thod of mountin^.the 
 glass-picture consti- 
 tutes one of its essen- 
 tial features, which 
 the earlier artists, so 
 far from attempting 
 to conceal, brought 
 prominently forward. 
 
 In carrying out the 
 mechanical details of 
 the art, the moderns 
 failed in some cases 
 to produce that bril- 
 liancy of tone and 
 purity of colour for 
 which the best ancient 
 specimens were re- 
 markable. Then ori- 
 ginated the statement 
 — made by persons who look with mistrust on all modern attempts 
 to reproduce the works of some favoured period — that we are a 
 degenerate race, that the ancient art is lost, and that it is in vain 
 
 OUT THE GREAT RED DRAGON, 
 Glass Company ) 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 217 
 
 to seek to revive what is gone for ever. To such detractors we may 
 relate an anecdote of what fell under our own notice a few years 
 ago. Previous to the erection of that magnificent pile of Tudor 
 architecture in Lincoln’s Inn, the architect, in explaining his 
 working drawings to the builder, 
 advised him to spend a day at 
 Hampton Court, and study the 
 mode in which the artizans 
 worked in the time of Elizabeth, 
 
 “ for,” said he, “ that is the sort 
 of effect I wish to produce.” The 
 builder paid his visit, and, on his 
 return, said to the architect, “ It 
 cannot be done.” — “ What do 
 you mean?” inquired the other. 
 
 “ Why,” said the builder, “ it 
 would be impossible for me to 
 find workmen to do their work 
 so badly — such bad bond, such 
 bad pointing, such wretched ma- 
 terials I never saw.” It may 
 perhaps shock the prejudices of 
 the admirers of ancient glass to 
 be told that the materials and 
 workmanship of the old windows 
 are like the palace at Hampton 
 Court ; workmen could not be 
 found to do the work so badly. 
 
 The glass on which the colours 
 are painted is, from the impurity 
 of its components, of a dingy 
 green colour; the enamel colours 
 are laid on, and burnt in, in the 
 coarsest manner; the leading is 
 clumsy and rude ; but, in spite of 
 all these defects, there pervades 
 the whole a true artistic feeling, 
 and this is the secret of the magic 
 charm which we find in the pro- 
 ductions of men who cared not 
 for fame or wealth in comparison 
 with the beautifying of the house 
 in which God was to be wor- 
 shipped. In our own day, when 
 art has intermarried with manu- 
 facture, and the spirit of trade 
 pervades our most sacred things, 
 we look in vain for those works 
 which are illuminated by ths 
 lamp of self-sacrifice. The cus- 
 tomer with money to spare gives 
 an 'order for a painted-glass win- 
 dow ; the tradesman on whom the 
 success of the whole work depends 
 receives the order cap in hand ; 
 he makes his calculations, em- 
 ploys a designer to sketch out the 
 subject, which is submitted to the 
 customer, who, with little or no 
 taste of his own, adopts the sug- 
 gestions of the man whom he em- 
 ploys, who, with an eye to his 
 own profit, is not likely to select 
 the richest colours, or the most 
 careful workmen to execute them ; 
 it is probable, indeed, that he has 
 no share in the glass-house where 
 the work is executed, so that the 
 division of labour which is the 
 feature of modern manufacture 
 applies here also, and prevents 
 each man from feeling that deep, all-pervading interest in his work 
 which is necessary for success. What wonder, then, that under 
 such circumstances of production many a modern painted window 
 is pronounced to be a failure. The remedy for 6uch a state of 
 things lies in the general cultivation of taste — those who order 
 
 Fig. 244. — window by - messes. ballanttne and allan. 
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 painted windows, those who look at them, and those who execute 
 them being imbued with a portion of that artistic, if not devotional 
 feeling, which has bequeathed to us so many monumental wonders. 
 Some of the specimens of painted glass which have been executed 
 of late years, show that we have 
 artists equal to their work, and 
 that the principles on which this 
 art must rest are appreciated and 
 acted on. The chemistry of the 
 art is all but perfect ; we can 
 produce glass of limpid purity as 
 the recipient of the enamel co- 
 lours; we can prepare these co- 
 lours with the greatest precision, 
 and produce tints of perfect purity 
 and dazzling brilliancy, and we 
 have colours which were quite 
 unknown to the ancients. We do 
 not say that such results belong 
 to the ordinary glass-house, where 
 cheapness , that Diana of modern 
 Ephesus, reigns ; but we do mean 
 to say that, in those cases where 
 the manufacturer is a scientific 
 chemist, or employs one to direct 
 his works, colours may be pro- 
 duced surpassing those of the 
 ancient glass, and, if our artists 
 are ready with their aid, and 
 patronage is not wanting, there 
 is no reason why the painfully 
 glaring white glass of our church 
 windows may not be exchanged 
 for windows surpassing those of 
 the best period of the art. We 
 cordially agree with Mr. Oli- 
 phant’s advice : — “ Accept nothing 
 but good glass, good design and 
 execution, good and correct draw- 
 ing, a composition suited to the 
 place and subject, and an artistic 
 treatment of colour worthy of the 
 splendour of the material em- 
 ployed.” 
 
 Our illustration, Fig. 243, is a 
 remarkable example of the pro- 
 gress which has been made in the 
 mechanical details of the glass 
 manufacture of late years. Here 
 is a design by Mr. Frank Howard, 
 which, instead of being produced 
 on numerous pieces of glass, is 
 painted upon one entire piece 
 upwards of nine feet in height, 
 and nearly five feet in width, 
 whereby the lead and iron- work 
 are entirely got rid of. We are 
 by no means sure that this is an 
 advantage, for the artist renounces 
 one of the peculiarities of the art, 
 and, by his mode of treatment, 
 enters into direct competition with 
 the oil-painter. We must prefer 
 the window shown in Fig. 244, 
 now in the entrance-hall of Gle- 
 normistan. This estate is held 
 from the crown on condition that 
 the proprietor, when required, shall 
 present the sovereign with a red 
 rose on the festival of St. John. 
 The design in the centre represents 
 this ceremony, which, it is said, was last performed in 1529. 'I he 
 picture, as well as the entire window, is surrounded by a rich 
 border of ruby and gold, studded with imitations of gems; the 
 background is pale blue, with gold bands stencilled in white 
 enamel, with the united national emblems — the rose, the shamrock, 
 
 3 K 
 
218 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 and the thistle. In the upper corners is the legend, “ He that 
 tholes (i. e. endures) overcomes.” 
 
 The materials -which are used in glass-painting as the sources of 
 colour are similar to, if not identical with, those which are employed 
 in painting on porcelain and enamel — only, in the case of glass, the 
 colours require to be translucent, and for porcelain and enamel 
 opaque. The colours, when fixed on the recipient, must be capable 
 of resisting' the action of air and moisture, and of the weather gene- 
 rally. They must expand and contract with the recipient, and, 
 in fact, so blend with it as to form a part of its own substance. 
 The colours consist mostly of metallic oxides, formed by the 
 addition of silicic or boracic acid into fusible glasses, which, being 
 reduced to powder and mixed with some vehicle, such as sugar 
 and water, borax and water, oil of turpentine or of lavender, and 
 so applied by means of suitable brushes, the whole is passed 
 through the fire, when the vehicle, evaporating or becoming decom- 
 posed, the colour fuses and attaches itself to the surface of the 
 recipient, whether that be glass, pottery, porcelain, or enamel. It 
 is evident that the conditions required for these colours exclude all 
 animal and vegetable matters, and limit the number to those of 
 mineral origin, and even these are still further limited by their 
 reaction on each other, or by the action of the fluxes employed to 
 vitrify them. The ingredients of the recipient may even be 
 inimical to the colour, as is the case with the potash contained in 
 porcelain, the alkalies contained in glass, and the oxide of lead 
 which is often found in the glaze of earthenware. 
 
 Vitrifiable colours, as now employed, differ considerably from those 
 of the old glass-painters. During the period when the art was almost 
 entirely neglected, the manufacture of common glass had greatly im- 
 proved. During the most successful periods of the art it was, as 
 already noticed, a hard, infusible glass of a greenish colour, formed 
 chiefly of flint and potash, or soda. The materials, however, were far 
 from being pure, and the glass-makers had not the method of making 
 them so. The want of fusibility in this glass rendered it difficult 
 to work, so that the small panes used for glazing were not only 
 tinged with unintentional colour, but also wavy on the surface, so 
 as to distort the objects seen through them. Mr. Oliphant finds a 
 beauty in the “irregular manufacture” of the old glass. He speaks 
 of its “ broken surface, waved and speckled, yet nowise diminished 
 in purity” — terms which we hold to be inconsistent with each 
 other. The advantage which he finds in the “ roughness and im- 
 perfection ” of the old glass is that “ you no longer feel a necessity 
 to look through, but are able to look at these windows;” and again, 
 he says, “ this pearly radiance and glory, which is one chief 
 attraction of old windows, is greatly owing not to secrets of the 
 craft unknown to us, but to the inequality and broken surface of 
 the material in which the elder artists worked. The power of 
 glass so made to convey colour is quite unique, no kind of painting 
 can at all come up to it.” There can be no doubt that the ancients 
 made the best use of their materials, and sought, as far as lay in their 
 power, to remedy the defects arising from want of chemical know- 
 ledge and manipulative skill ; but, to attempt to establish that the 
 excellence lay in these defects, is to attempt to prove too much. Had 
 they possessed purer materials, they would gladly have used them, 
 and carried their art still nearer to perfection ; for in this, as in every 
 department of mediceval art, men did their best, and our efforts become 
 ridiculous when we seek to copy beauties and defects alike — when 
 we are able to avoid the defects, even though we cannot emulate the 
 beauties. We must repeat our conviction that the excellence of 
 the old windows is to be found in the artistic feeling which designed 
 them, and that exquisite appreciation of the harmony of colour 
 which knew so well how to distinguish the enough from the too 
 much. But, however this may be, it is certain that when the glass- 
 painter resumed his art, the materials with which he had to deal 
 were no longer the same as those of the old artists. A more fusible 
 and pellucid glass required that the vitrifiable colour should be burnt 
 in at a lower temperature; and this required a readjustment of the 
 metallic oxides and their fluxes, and this, again, necessitated better 
 modes of firing than the old method of the iron box with shelves 
 covered with powdered lime, on which to arrange the pieces of 
 glass while being fired — a method which often led to a dulling of 
 the surface, and a production of that translucency instead of trans- 
 parency which Mr. Oliphant so much admires. The introduction 
 of the muffle furnace, with watches and pyrometers for determining 
 the temperature, the preparation of the pigments, under the legis- 
 lation of known chemical laws, give to our results that precision 
 
 which must surely as much surpass the blind gropings of the 
 ancient artists, and the secrets which they boasted should die with 
 them, as the glass which serves as the recipient of the colour 
 surpassed the dingy green of the olden time. 
 
 The substances used for vitrifiable colours generally are, for the 
 production of blue, oxide of cobalt ; for red, the protoxide of copper, 
 gold in the form of the purple precipitate of Cassius, and the per- 
 oxide of iron ; for green , the oxide of chromium, the binoxide of 
 copper, and a mixture of oxide of cobalt, antimonious acid, and 
 oxide of lead ; for yellow, oxide of uranium, chromate of lead, and 
 certain combinations of silver, also certain compounds of anti- 
 monious acid, oxide of lead, and the sub-sulphate of iron ; for violet, 
 protoxide of manganese, and the purple precipitate of Cassius ; for 
 black, a mixture of the oxides of iron, of manganese, and of cobalt ; 
 for white, ordinary enamel, which consists of a glass rendered 
 opaque by stannic acid, or oxide of tin. 
 
 The temperature at which these colours fuse varies considerably. 
 Most of them yield to a heat below that at which silver fuses : 
 others require a heat equal to that of a porcelain furnace. Hence 
 the nature of the flux requires to be carefully considered. In 
 painting on hard porcelain there are two classes of colours, adapted 
 to very high and to moderate temperatures. The former are 
 limited to about three colours — namely, the blue produced by oxide 
 of cobalt, the green from oxide of chromium, and the brown from 
 mixtures of the oxides of manganese and of iron. These colours 
 usually form continuous grounds, and so perfect is the vitrification 
 that they penetrate the surface of the porcelain, and form well 
 marked edges. The temperature employed being adequate to the 
 fusion of felspar, that substance is used as the flux ; thus indigo blue 
 is produced from four parts oxide of cobalt, and seven of felspar, 
 repeatedly ground and sifted, and fused in a crucible in the por- 
 celain furnace. A pale blue is produced from one part oxide of 
 cobalt, with thirty parts felspar. 
 
 By far the most numerous class of colours are those which melt 
 at the lower temperature, and, being vitrified in a muffle, are hence 
 termed muffle colours. The fluxes for such colours are usually the 
 silicate of lead, a mixture of silicate of lead and of borax, or of the 
 silicate and borate of 6oda and of lead. The colouring matter may 
 either be mixed in proper proportions with the flux, and applied 
 directly in the form of powders by means of a suitable vehicle, and 
 a hair-pencil or brush, or it may undergo a preliminary fusion. 
 The method of proceeding for porcelain is then carried on as 
 described at the end of the last section. 
 
 In the preparation of stained, or painted-glass windows, there 
 are two methods of proceeding. In the one method sheets of 
 stained glass are cut up into the required forms, and are arranged 
 and oonnected together by means of the leading, so as to form the 
 required design. In the second method, white glass is painted 
 according to a preconceived design with vitrifiable colours mixed 
 with a proper vehicle, and laid on with brushes. The glass is then 
 fired. It often happens that a combination of the two methods 
 is adopted. 
 
 The colours used by the glass-painter being for the most part 
 transparent, the number is much less than is used for painting on 
 porcelain and enamel. Cobalt is still relied upon for blue ; gold in 
 the form of the precipitate of Cassius produces purples, violets, and 
 carmine, according to the nature of the flux and the temperature 
 employed, while peroxide of iron produces reds, browns, &c. 
 Greens are produced by silicate of copper, sometimes by oxide of 
 chromium — preference being given to copper, which forms a trans- 
 parent colour, while that of chrome is opaque ; often also with a 
 mixture of blue and yellow, one side of the glass being painted 
 blue, and the other yellow, the combined effect, as seen by trans- 
 mitted light, being of course green. The blacks and the greys are 
 produced by the oxides of manganese, of cobalt, and of iron ; while 
 the yellows are much the same as those used for hard porcelain. 
 
 Among the many peculiarities of glass-painting, arising from the 
 nature of the material, is the fact that the artist can paint on either 
 or both sides of the glass, and he is constantly in the habit of doing 
 so — placing on the side next the spectator the shadows, which thus 
 become more marked and distinct. He also usually places on the 
 same side the gradated and more sombre colours, while all the 
 brilliancy is thrown to the other side. There is this great con- 
 venience in being able to paint on both sides, that colours which 
 would chemically injure each other, and produce undesirable tints 
 if blended, can be used on opposite sides without coming in contact, 
 
and therefore without detriment to the general effect. It is in 
 this way that a scarlet is produced by painting yellow on one side, 
 and red, from the precipitate of Cassius, on the other. 
 
 The smooth and polished surface of the glass offers some 
 difficulties in the laying on of the colour. A second application of 
 the brush will sometimes remove the colour deposited by the first, 
 hence some artists roughen, their glass by means of fine sand or 
 emery ; others change the vehicle whenever they wish thus to 
 superpose the colours, placing a colour mixed with water upon 
 a colour mixed with turpentine, and, as one vehicle is insoluble 
 in the other, many layers may thus be built up without incon- 
 venience. 
 
 As the colours which are passed through the fire generally have 
 a somewhat dull effect, the artist employs these for the parts of the 
 design which must be executed by hand, such as faces, inscriptions, 
 &c., making free use of stained glass for draperies, skies, &c., intro- 
 ducing upon these such shadows as may be required. 
 
 Stained glass is formed in sheets or tables, at the glass-house, by 
 ordinary methods. In the ground-plan of Mr. Pellatt’s furnace, 
 Fig. 207, three small pots for coloured glass are indicated in one 
 group. Blue glass is formed by the addition of silicate of cobalt to 
 the common materials of white glass ; violet by silicate of manga- 
 nese ; green by silicate of copper ; yellow by the action of smoke, or 
 of antimonite of lead, or of chloride of silver ; purple by means of 
 copper; black by the oxides of manganese, iron, and cobalt mixed. 
 Glass is made white and opaque by means of the hydrated oxide 
 of tin. The appearance of opal is given by means of phosphate of 
 lime, or of calcined bones. This last addition produces at first a 
 transparent glass ; but, if heated several times during the working, 
 it becomes milky. 
 
 Blue, violet, and green glasses, which are formed by the addition 
 of from one to two per cent, of the colouring oxide to the compo- 
 sition of ordinary glass, form what are called pot-metals. White 
 
 glass may be coloured yellow by covering its surface with a layer 
 of clay, ground up with chloride of silver, and passing it through 
 the muffle. When cool the layer of clay is removed, and the glass 
 has a yellow tint, which may vary from a canary-yellow to a deep 
 yellow, depending on the nature of the glass ; glass containing 
 from eight to ten per cent, of alumina takes a much finer tint than 
 glass which contains only two or three per cent. The red from 
 copper is so intense that, unless great care be taken, it is opaque ; 
 hence the method of flashing has been resorted to, which consists in 
 covering white glass with a very thin coating of the red, for which 
 purpose the workman dips his blowing tube into a pot containing 
 red glass, and takes up a small quantity, he then introduces it into 
 a pot of white glass, and takes out the quantity required, which is 
 blown into a sheet by one of the methods already described. One of 
 the advantages of flashed glass is that the red coating may be 
 ground off, or melted off by the action of hydrofluoric acid, so as to 
 show white designs on a red ground. This method of grinding is 
 very common in the old windows. 
 
 The subject of glass-painting is very fascinating, and, did our 
 limits permit, we might enlarge upon it. The charming effects 
 produced in the Alhambra Court of the Crystal Palace by the 
 judicious use of stained glass show how much might be done in 
 other parts of the building, and we would suggest to the directors 
 whether they could not turn some of their abundant space to good 
 account by a collection of stained glass historically arranged. 
 Without such an arrangement any collection would lose much of its 
 value, and we would the more insist upon it since method does not 
 appear to be a strong point in this institution. 
 
 In the foregoing remarks we have not wandered from the Glass 
 Court of the Crystal Palace, since all that we have written will 
 assist the visitor to an intelligent appreciation of its contents. The 
 following group illustrates some of the graceful forms therein 
 exhibited. 
 
220 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 THE STATIONERY COURT. 
 
 In old times when books and paper, instead of being hawked 
 about by pedlers or foot- travellers, were sold at fixed stalls or 
 stations , the vendors were named stationers, and the miscellaneous 
 wares which they sold stationery. The above Court at the Crystal 
 Palace is more ambitious than the original stalls in St. Paul’s 
 Churchyard, which are said to have given the name ; it resembles 
 rather the modern stalls of the great book fairs of Leipzic, Frank- 
 fort, and other towns of Germany. It exhibits various species of 
 the great paper family, plain and ornamented ; books in plain and 
 fancy bindings, and the various mechanical means for writing 
 them ; a tempting fac-simile of the first book printed in England in 
 movable type — "The Game and Playe of the Cliesse, translated by- 
 William Caxton (upon the French translation of Jehan de Vignay). 
 Wcstinonasterii, Guil. Caxton, 1474.” There are also a number of 
 steel and copper-plate engravings, also a choice collection of pictures 
 by that rising young artist, Herr Sol — some of the photographs 
 
 is the work of Mr. Rogers, and the property of Mr. Claudet. Its 
 height is about 7 £ feet; it is in the Italian style, and hexagonal 
 in form. Some idea may be formed of the style of the ornament 
 from the figures in the following page, which represent two of the 
 panels. 
 
 Altogether, the Stationery Court, with its agreeable blending of 
 the Fine Arts and the Useful Arts, is an enticing place, such as the 
 veriest bookworm and devoted classic would not hesitate to commit 
 himself to for a spare hour, for amid the wide range of the Useful 
 Arts these great authorities admit the value of printing. Alma 
 Mater even has a printing-press of her own, and issues choice edi- 
 tions for the edification of her children. It is also within our own 
 knowledge that two of her sucklings, who look with scorn on 
 manufactures, nevertheless maintain juvenile printing-presses of 
 their own, and from time to time issue among their friends poetry 
 and scolia in booklings and leaflets composed and worked with 
 
 lig. 246.— THE STATIONERY COURT, CRYSTAL PALACE. 
 
 being coloured, which we hold to be a mistake; lithographic prints, 
 plain, tinted, and printed in colours, which last we also hold to 
 be a mistake ; the stones used in printing them ; and “ sermons in 
 stones,” in the shape of organic remains found between the layers ; 
 lithographic chalks and inks ; artists’ colours, and their component 
 parts, in the prepared as well as the crude state (would that this 
 breath of the spirit of the Great Exhibition of 1851 found freer cir- 
 culation in the Crystal Palace) ; black-lead pencils, showing also 
 the progress of the manufacture, a remark which equally applies to 
 that of paper, music, and the movable types in which it is some- 
 times printed ; maps of the Ordnance Survey ; sealing-wax and 
 wafers, and their formidable rivals, adhesive envelopes, in great 
 variety ; ledgers and copying machines ; blank diaries, and a pro- 
 spectus containing numerous unanswerable reasons why everybody 
 should keep one. The stereoscope, which has made so much noise 
 in our day, through the contentions of rival claimants to its in- 
 vention, has a stand erected to its honour in carved box-wood. It 
 
 their own hands.* We also know a grave and learned doctor who 
 indulges in the delectable art of book-binding, and inscribes in the 
 
 * We have lately received a volume of sonnets printed at the private press 
 of one of these gentlemen, and we duly acknowledge the gift in the follow- 
 ing 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 The sun that animates one half the world, 
 
 And cheers all nature with its wondrous power, 
 
 Presides with softened grace at vesper hour, 
 
 When the young moon or evening star has birth : 
 
 So does the Press, the world of intellect 
 Guide and encourage, animate, control — 
 
 Connect past times with present — cheer the soul, 
 
 Which else might pine in darkness and neglect. 
 
 Hail, glorious Printer’s Art! thou art the sun 
 Of freedom : may thy rays unclouded be, 
 
 Shining while aught of good is to be done, 
 
 Scattering thy blessings over land and sea ; 
 
 And from thy lofty station deign to bless, 
 
 Like moon or evening star, my friend’s domestic press. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 221 
 
 fly-leaf of the books thus honoured, “ Bound by me,” with the name 
 and date. Such learned people regard the art of printing, with its 
 subsidiary trades, as the Useful Art — the only noble trade worthy 
 of a place in the universe ! reflecting, as it does, the light and lustre 
 of learning over the world. 
 
 Without venturing in such good society to assert the claims of 
 manufacturers as benefactors of mankind, we are ready to admit all 
 the praise of books that can be said or sung. They have doubtless 
 before now formed the subject of many a prize poem. 
 
 w ^at strange art, what magic can dispose 
 The troubled mind to change its native woes ? 
 
 Or lead us willing from ourselves to see 
 Others more wretched, more undone than we ? 
 
 This books can do ; nor this alone — they give 
 New views to life, and teach us how to live ; 
 
 They soothe the grieved, the stubborn they chastise, 
 
 Fools they admonish, and confirm the wise ; 
 
 Their aid they yield to all — they never shun 
 The man of sorrows or the wretch undone ; 
 
 Unlike the hard, the selfish, and the proud, 
 
 They fly not sullen from the suppliant crowd, 
 
 Nor tell to various people various things, 
 
 But show to subjects what they show to kings.”— Crabbe. 
 
 People show their love of books in various ways. We can only 
 speak of ourselves. Our affection for them is individual ; we love 
 books as books, not so much as Shakspere, Milton, Bacon, but the 
 books on our shelves which represent their mighty minds. It is a 
 positive grief to us to see their bodies injured (we would extend the 
 tax from dogs to dogs-ears), their garments torn, their faces soiled. 
 We regard books as the 
 relics of the mighty dead 
 — we look upon the print- 
 ed page as we should upon 
 the face of a friend’s wi- 
 dow, with a wide margin 
 of cap, sweetly discours- 
 ing of the dear departed. 
 
 We love to see our books 
 in smiling rows, nicely — 
 t. e. neatly and usefully — bound (not in court-dresses, which one fears 
 to handle lest we soil them) with marbled edges, their names in plain, 
 honest characters on their backs. They must not be too large or too 
 heavy, but such as can be 
 held comfortably in the 
 hand, or pocketed on occa- 
 sion ; there must be no 
 reluctance in the opening 
 — they must spread them- 
 selves delightfully before 
 you, as if they enjoyed 
 being read. Our weak 
 sight requires a good 
 print, and our taste and 
 scribbling propensities awidish margin — for we love to mark favourite 
 passages, or note down a thought suggested by the text. Some authors 
 are so suggestive — Bacon, for example — as to require the margin of a 
 whole octavo volume for annotation ; and the worthy archbishop who 
 has filled so wide a margin has taken each essay as a small meal of 
 pemican, only to be digested with his own accompanying pleasant, 
 but lighter fare. Suggestive authors are those whose works must 
 be your own property; they are not books to be borrowed, but kept, 
 and cherished, and pondered over. These are the books that win 
 the affections, and make one curious about rare editions and choice 
 bindings. In such cases we love to see everything choice, even the 
 book-mark, only, as before suggested, not too choice for use. 
 
 Some of the doings of the book-binder are incomprehensible. 
 We have a great horror of landscapes and portraits on the edges of 
 books, and we do not understand the use of jewels on the covers. 
 
 It may be curious, and, in some cases, difficult, to draw on the 
 edges of a book the author’s or the owner’s face, or the house or 
 village where he was born, or which he celebrated (as in the case 
 of “ Sweet Auburn,” which we saw a short time ago on the edges 
 of an illustrated edition of Goldsmith’s works) ; but, as the book 
 cannot be opened without chopping the face or the landscape in two, 
 and distorting the fragments, and the book cannot be used, even 
 moderately, without wearing away the picture, we protest against 
 such unfitness of place, of material, and of effect. So also with 
 respect to jewels. They are out of place on the book-covers, for, 
 when the book is being read, they cannot be seen, and they prevent 
 
 the book from occupying its natural position on the book-shelves. 
 Ihe same objections apply to the carvings and embossings in high- 
 relief on the covers of some of the books in the Crystal Palace, 
 where the binding occupies more space than the book itself, and is 
 far more elaborately adorned. In such cases the purposes of 
 binding seem to be forgotten. It is evidently more convenient to 
 have a book in sheets, which can be folded so as, when cut, to make 
 so many leaves and pages, according as the 6ize is quarto, or octavo, 
 or twelvemo, &c., than to have the book in a single sheet of enor- 
 mous length, rolled round two cylinders of wood from the two 
 extremities, as was done with the books of ancient times. The 
 objects of binding are to collect, hold fast, and preserve from injury 
 all the folded sheets of the book, to allow it to be handled and read 
 with facility, and to occupy as little space as possible in its case. 
 Now it is obvious that an elaboration of ornament on the sides of 
 the book-covers must interfere with some or all of these objects, and 
 therefore be out of place. A book for the drawing-room table is 
 perhaps an exception — the sides may then be more adorned than 
 those of a library-book ; but it must be done judiciously, or the 
 jewel-case may appear of more value than the jewels. In most 
 i examples the only position where the ornamentation can be seen is 
 j on the backs, and the amount of it will depend on the taste of the 
 owner and of the binder. So also the amount and style of the 
 ornament will be regulated by the subject of the book. An orna- 
 mental book should have an ornamental binding ; just as a gay 
 lady looks well in fine clothes, and a grave one in more sober attire. 
 
 No one would think of 
 giving an ornate style of 
 binding to a treatise on 
 chemistry, or of treating 
 history as if it were a 
 nouvellette. We have 
 often regretted that the 
 style of binding were not 
 generally regulated by 
 the subject, as in law 
 books. There is no mistaking law-binding, why should there be 
 any mistake about history-binding, science-binding, poetry-binding, 
 fiction-binding, &c. ? Something of the kind lias been attempted 
 
 in the national library — 
 books of a scientific cha- 
 racter are bound in red, 
 poetry in yellow, &c. 
 This is useful because 
 distinctive ; it shows the 
 subject of the book at a 
 glance, and enables you 
 to return it to its shelf 
 without delay. 
 
 Owners of books, as 
 
 well as books themselves, have their idiosyncrasies, and some of 
 them are useful. One of our friends, a man of taste and learning, 
 and a great devourer of books, finding them likely to overflow in 
 his house, adopted an ingenious method of doubling his slielf- 
 room by arranging his books in double rows, in such a way as to 
 make the books in front indicate those behind. Thus, suppose 
 Gothe s works, in 40 volumes, are to be arranged — the first 20 
 volumes are placed in front, thereby indicating that 20 more are 
 behind ; Gray’s poems and letters, in two volumes, would have the 
 first volume in front, and the second immediately behind. There 
 is always something to be learnt in a well-ordered library, or, as the 
 poet says, — 
 
 “ La renoncule un jour dans un bouquet 
 Avec l’ceillet se trouva reunie ; 
 
 File eut le lendemain le parfum de l'oeillet : 
 
 On ne peut que gagner en bonne compagnie.” * 
 
 The Stationery Court is from the design of J. G. Crace. It is in 
 the Composite s : yle, and aims at being an application of cinque- 
 cento decoration to a wooden structure. The official description is as 
 follows : “ Over the opening through which we enter, and between 
 the stained-glass windows let into the wall, have been introduced 
 
 F These lines, which are from Beranger, may be translated thus : — 
 “ One day there were found in a nosegay 
 Th’ ranunculus and carnation together ; 
 
 On the morrow the first shared the other’s perfume : 
 
 One must gain in good company ever.” 
 
 3 L 
 
222 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 allegorical figures of the Arts and Sciences applied to the manu- 
 facture of the articles exhibited in the Court; and over the opening 
 at the back the artist has depicted the genii of manufactures, com- 
 merce, &c. The interior ‘walls of the Court are divided in the 
 upper portions into panels ; these have a groundwork of white 
 colour, and borders of a deep marone, richly decorated with designs 
 in gold ; in the centre of each is a medallion, on which are repre- 
 sented cupidons, engaged in one of the various mechanical and 
 scientific arts having reference to paper, printing, engraving, &c. ; 
 the spaces between the compartments are of a rich blue colour, also 
 decorated with patterns of gold. The ceiling, or what is presumed 
 to be such — for, as in all the Courts, a part only stands for the whole 
 — is supported by deep projecting beams, very light in construction, 
 and having the form of pendants ; they are painted in imitation of 
 dark oak, the mouldings being picked out with gold and colours. 
 Above each of the compartments, or panels, is a small panel running 
 horizontally, and of a blue ground, to harmonise with the inter- 
 mediate upright panels alternating with the others.” 
 
 In giving a brief account of some of the manufactures which the 
 Stationery Court is intended to exhibit, we begin with paper, the 
 basis of them all. Seldom has a waste material been turned to 
 better account than in the conversion of old rags into paper. The 
 spinning and the weaving of the fibrous materials, and their subse- 
 quent wear, are all useful stages in the preparation for paper ; but, as 
 the British Islands require every year no less than about 180 million 
 pounds weight of paper to supply the appetite for newspapers (a 
 single day’s Times requires for its sixty thousand copies nearly nine 
 tons weight of paper), for cheap literature, and the various other 
 forms in which knowledge of some kind or other is multiplied, if 
 not always diffused, there is no wonder that our consumption of 
 linen and cotton goods should fail to supply sufficient rags for the 
 purpose. Other countries, which are deprived of the blessings of 
 free discussion and a free press, have enough rags for their own 
 purpose and to spare ; from some of them we obtain a certain 
 supply; the waste of our immense cotton-mills contributes some- 
 thing, and straw is coming into use, especially for writing papers ; 
 but there are so many advantages in rags as a paper-making 
 material that the demand is for them, and so long as they can be 
 supplied at a moderate cost they are likely to supersede all other 
 materials ; but there is a difficulty in meeting the demand for rags. 
 
 The consumption of paper in Great Britain is about 4g lbs. per 
 head every year ; in the United States of America, where, it must 
 be remembered, there is neither paper- duty nor stamp-duty, it is 
 13£ lbs. per head (not including the slave population). Hence the 
 United States not only do not send us paper-making materials, but 
 compete with us in other markets for them. France, Holland, 
 Belgium, and some other countries forbid the exportation of rags, 
 whereby the difficulty is, of course, increased. This led, a year or 
 two ago, to a rise of one halfpenny per pound in the price of paper ; 
 and this caused a difference of some ten or twelve thousand pounds 
 sterling per annum to the proprietors of the Times newspaper in 
 the supply of paper, and induced them to offer a reward of £1000 
 to any one who should discover a new, cheap, and readily-available 
 material for paper-making. Since that offer was made the rag- 
 market has become more easy ; we are not aware that any new 
 material has been found ; but the inquiries which were set on foot 
 showed that new materials exist in great abundance, and will pro- 
 bably be turned to account when another deficiency of rags shall 
 again stimulate enterprise and invention. The warm and tropical 
 climates possess inexhaustible stores of fibrous material, which, if 
 imported as dunnage or in compressed bales, would be of great 
 service. In India, flax is largely cultivated for the sake of its seed, 
 while the plant itself is neglected; but, supposing the fibre were 
 collected and sent over in the cheapest possible form, how vastly 
 inferior it would be to rags as a paper-making material. All the 
 cleaning, scutching, and dividing, the spinning, bleaching, and 
 carding, the wearing, washing, and tearing which so admirably 
 prepare linen for the papei'-maker would have to be performed, as it 
 were, at first hand, and would greatly add to the cost. The short 
 staple flax and cotton of India may be had in any quantity, labour 
 is cheap, and the labourers are neat-handed, ingenious, and eager to 
 work ; there is water in abundance, and a bright smokeless sky: all 
 that are wanting are the skill, the machineiy, and the capital to pro- 
 duce paper sufficient for the wants of the whole civilised world. The 
 only cloud that obscures this bright prospect is the doubt whether 
 paper could be made and distributed at a sufficiently cheap rate to 
 
 answer the purpose of the producer and the consumer. It has been 
 suggested that the materials of India might be brought to the con- 
 dition of half -stuff, made up into cakes, dried in the sun, and so 
 imported into this country, where our machinery would be ready 
 for its reception. But the want of roads in India, and the indif- 
 ference of our great manufacturers to the subject do not offer much 
 encouragement at present to the Indian paper-maker. Another 
 suggestion was that of the plantain, which forms the food of so 
 large a portion of the human race in tropical countries, should 
 furnish the materials for paper. The fruit weighs from 30 to 80 lbs., 
 and at the time this is gathered the stem is cut down and allowed 
 to rot. "VVhat if it were collected and sent to England as paper- 
 material P The very worthlessness of the article is the difficulty. 
 By the time it was collected, compressed, and consigned to the ship 
 it would acquire value ; the transmission of it to this country would 
 so far increase the value as to render it a question whether the 
 paper made from it could be sold so much lower than the paper 
 made from rags as to encourage all parties concerned to go on with 
 the manufacture. At any rate, while rags are tolerably abundant, 
 it is scarcely to be expected that plantain-fibre will be imported to 
 take their place. There is no doubt of its adaptability to the 
 purpose, some excellent specimens having been brought to this 
 country ; and Dr. Royle mentions the refuse of manilla hemp, or 
 worn-out manilla ropes, as forming an admirable paper-making 
 material. The refuse of sugar-cane, in the West Indies, has also 
 been favourably mentioned ; but the objection of the distance from 
 the home -manufacture applies to this material also. Of the 
 substances of home-production, straw has been already mentioned, 
 and is now in constant use, either alone or mixed with rags. 
 Patents have been recently taken out for the manufacture of paper 
 from wood, from hop-bines, from couch-grass, from water-broom, &c. 
 Each material requires a special treatment in the earlier stages of 
 the manufacture ; but this we shall pass over, and proceed to sketch 
 in general terms the processes through which the rag, or raw 
 material, is made to pass in the course of its conversion into paper. 
 These processes, so far as their principle is concerned, are the same 
 which have been practised for ages by the Chinese, who could also 
 teach us many a lesson in the adaptation of vegetable substances in 
 great variety to this use. They use linen rags, as we do, but they 
 have many other resources. The entire substance of the common 
 cotton shrub and of the bamboo, the leaves of the latter only 
 excepted, is reduced to pulp by soaking in water, burying in dry 
 lime, washing and drying in the sun, boiling in cauldrons, and 
 pounding in wooden mortars. The inner bark of the paper-mul- 
 berry and other trees is also used, not simply as uncivilised nations 
 employ such substances as a natural paper, or as the Egyptians, by 
 the simplest methods of preparation, laid out the celebrated papyrus, 
 but in the ordinary way of reduction to a pulp, which is performed 
 in the most painstaking and effective manner by the natives of both 
 China and Japan. This reduction of material to the state of pulp 
 is the serious part of the business in making paper; the after pro- 
 cesses are much more easily accomplished. In the case of rags the 
 difficulty is partially surmounted by the previous manufacture of 
 the article, which has brought it into a condition not very dissimilar 
 to that of paper, so that, under certain precautions, linen can be 
 written or printed on with facility. But, in order, to bring rags 
 into the actual condition of paper, they must be cleansed, sorted, 
 boiled, washed, bleached, and beaten into a beautiful creamy liquid, 
 spotless and delicate as the contents of a dairy. To view the 
 processes by which this wondrous conversion is effected, we shall 
 be led into no unpleasing spots or associations. In whatever 
 neighbourhood one may chance to be located, the prettiest walk and 
 the most tranquil scenery are sure to be “ in the direction of the 
 paper-mills,” where such are in existence. In few manufactures is 
 so much water employed, and in none is its quality so important as 
 in the manufacture of fine paper. Therefore a considerable stream 
 of pure water, uncontaminated by any neighbouring abomination, 
 is the first requisite in determining the site of a paper-mill, and 
 where such pure streams are found, there the usual adjuncts of rich 
 pastures and luxuriant foliage are found also. Guided by the 
 humming sound of machinery, we traverse the pastures and enter 
 the paper-mill, where the first objects which attract our attention 
 are the women engaged in sorting the rags. Each woman has a 
 sack filled with rags on her left hand, from which she takes out 
 handfuls, and rubs them briskly against the wire top of a deep 
 box which stands before her. This removes much dust and dirt 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 223 
 
 from the rags, as a preliminary to farther examination. A sharp 
 knife is fixed in the top of this box, with its edge turned away 
 from the woman. This she 
 uses to cut away seams, but- 
 tons, &c., from the rags, and 
 to divide the latter into very 
 small pieces. As she does 
 this, she observes the dif- 
 ferent qualities of the rags 
 as to coarseness or fineness 
 and wear, and puts them 
 into different compartments 
 of another box, standing to 
 the right of that which re- 
 ceives the dust and refuse. 
 This is done with much ra- 
 Fig. 249 . — sorting the KAGs. pidity, and completes the 
 
 sorter’s work. 
 
 Next we observe that the rags are transferred to large cages of 
 wire, as much as six feet in diameter, and ten feet in length, to 
 undergo a further operation of dusting. These cages do not revolve, 
 but they enclose a revolving axle, with a number of spokes reaching 
 nearly to the sides of the cage. The rapid motion of the axle 
 tosses about the rags with such energy that a large amount of dust 
 is again set free, but this is prevented from escaping into the mill 
 by an outer case of wood or sheet-iron which encloses each cage, and 
 into which the dust falls with a sufficient amount of fibre to make 
 it worth saving for the inferior purposes of the manufacture, such 
 as railway tickets. This is also the case with the dust of the 
 sorter’s box. 
 
 The rags are next boiled in iron cylinders, with water which 
 generally contains lime or soda, for the removal of grease ; hut, as 
 these substances injure the fabric while they remove the dirt, the 
 best paper-material is boiled in pure water only. The cylindrical 
 boilers are mounted on pivots at their ends, and made to revolve 
 slowly, so that the rags are kept in constant motion while boiling. 
 
 Thus cleansed and purified, the rags are transferred into what is 
 called a washing-e ngine ; but this does not express the chief use of 
 
 Fig. 250. 
 
 the apparatus, which is to tear and divide into minute fragments 
 the softened rags. For this purpose the engine or vat v v, 
 Figs. 250, 251, has a set of blades b, so fixed and arranged at its 
 
 lower part that they shall act in unison with a number of revolving 
 blades which cover a cylinder c, called the roll. The rags, immersed 
 in water, are set in rapid motion by the action of this roll, which 
 may revolve at the rate of 120 or even 150 revolutions per minute. 
 Space is left in the trough by means of a partition P P, for the rags 
 to make a circuit in the direction of the arrows, and return con- 
 tinually beneath the action of the blades, while at the same time 
 the dirty water overflows into a waste pipe at G, and fresh water is 
 admitted in a regulated supply at p c. The distance between the 
 fixed blades and the revolving ones can be lessened or increased at 
 
 pleasure by lowering or raising the roll on its bearings 1 1, so that, 
 as the work proceeds, the rags can be more and more completely 
 torn and separated by the teeth. The water is prevented from being 
 whirled out of the vat by the centrifugal action of the roll by means 
 of a cover fg. At one part of the vat is a breasting b', curved to the 
 form of the roll, and nearly in contact with its teeth, and an 
 inclined plane I passes from the bottom of the vat to the top of the 
 breasting. As the rags are drawn between the cutters and are 
 subjected to the double set of teeth, they are thrown over the top 
 of the breasting upon the inclined plane, down which they slowly 
 slide, and, passing round the partition, are again brought under the 
 action of the teeth. Any solid substances which might injure 
 the teeth are caught and retained in a hollow a. In this 
 operation with the washing-engine, as it is called, a further portion 
 of dirt has been carried off from the rags by the water, but they 
 are not yet by any means of a pure white. In fact, if they were 
 manufactured at this stage they would only make whiteg-broicn 
 paper. The condition to which they are now reduced is that 
 which is technically known as half-stuff; the state to which foreign 
 raw materials should be reduced by some simpler process before 
 they are transmitted to this country. 
 
 Supposing that we witness the operations necessary for writing 
 and drawing papers, we must repair to the bleaching-house, a long 
 apartment with a railroad down the middle, and stone chests along 
 the sides, each chest being about three feet deep, and having a 
 sieve-like false bottom, and under this a valve which can be opened 
 at pleasure to allow the contents to escape into a large tank 
 extending under the chests the whole length of the room. The 
 half-stuff, drained from the water of the washing-engine, is brought 
 in boxes along the railroad, and placed in these chests, or vats, with 
 water impregnated with chloride of lime — the action of which 
 valuable substance soon changes the brownish tint of the rags to 
 snowy whiteness. In twenty-four hours, and after repeated 
 stirrings, the stuff is drained by the arrangement just noticed, and 
 is then lifted into a railway-box and conveyed to a hydraulic press, 
 where the remainder of the solution is pressed out. It must be 
 stated, however, that the whole of this bleaching process is omitted 
 in papers where great strength and durability are more valued than 
 whiteness. 
 
 The sixth operation, called beating , is mei'ely a repetition with 
 more powerful machinery of the fourth, or washing process. The 
 beating-engine, Fig. 252, has more blades on the roll, and a more 
 
 Fig. 252. — BEATING MACHINE. 
 
 rapid motion than the former ; the process is also continued longer, 
 so that the linen is torn into its finest fibres, and, when drained 
 from the water, it may be heaped up like clay, but has the pure 
 whiteness of snow. The substance is now no longer half-stuff, but 
 has become the perfect and complete stuff, or pulp, of which paper 
 is to he made. 
 
 In making paper by hand, this pulp has again to be diluted with 
 pure water to the consistency of milk, and is made to flow through 
 a strainer, which separates knots, &c., into a vat provided with 
 means for keeping the pulp warm and in motion during the 
 succeeding operations. A man then dips a mould, or shallow 
 rectangular frame, Fig. 253, with a movable rim, Fig. 254, called 
 a deckle, and a bottom of close parallel wires for laid paper, and 
 wire-gauze for wove, into this vat of milky liquid, and takes up just 
 that quantity which practice tells him will be wanted for the 
 required sheet of paper. This he distributes equally over the 
 mould by a gentle shaking as the water drains away. At the same 
 
224 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 time the filaments are deposited on the mould in that combined or 
 felted manner which forms an even sheet of paper. This is passed 
 
 Fig. 253 . Fig. 254 . 
 
 (still on the mould, but without the deckle) to another man, who 
 has laid out a piece of felt quite smoothly to receive the sheet, and 
 who turns the mould over upon it, when the sheet becomes trans- 
 ferred to the felt, and the empty mould is handed back to the first 
 workman, who by this time has another mould and sheet ready to 
 put into his companion’s hand. The work goes on thus, a sheet of 
 felt being laid between each sheet of paper, until a pile is raised of 
 six quires, or 144 sheets, or one post. The whole pile is then placed 
 in a powerful screw-press, and is soon reduced to a third of its 
 original height. Twenty such posts are sometimes produced in a 
 day. The pressing of the sheets is varied after a time by removing 
 the felts, and pressing the sheets of paper in contact with each 
 other. The drying is performed in large lofts, where the sheets are 
 hung across a multitude of hair lines. By this simple means is 
 produced a complete sheet of paper; not such as we could write upon, 
 for, even when dry, the ink would run, as upon blotting-paper: 
 but, so far as the actual substance of the sheet is concerned, nothing 
 is required except the addition of size to make it a serviceable 
 article. Even in its present state it forms, according to thickness 
 and quality, the kinds of paper known as tissue-paper , copying post, 
 blotting-paper, filtering-paper, and plate-paper. What is called the 
 water-mark is formed by insertion into the wire mould of a certain 
 design, such as letters or figures in wire, which, standing up above 
 the general surface, causes the deposit of pulp to be a little thinner 
 there than in other parts. A blue colour is given to paper by 
 means of a small addition to the vat of stone-blue, of smalt, or what 
 is now more common, of artificial ultramarine. 
 
 The next operation is called sizing. The man who performs it 
 takes up as many sheets as he can conveniently hold in one hand, 
 and dips them into a vat of warm liquid animal size, which has a 
 certain portion of alum added to it to preserve it from putrefaction. 
 The sheets of paper are placed in a press to remove the superfluous 
 liquor, and are then hung up singly for the final drying, which is 
 slowly performed in order that the size may thoroughly penetrate 
 the paper. After the drying of the size, many writing papers are 
 finished by certain smoothing processes. They may be placed in a 
 powerful press between two glazed cards, which again are inclosed 
 by two thick smooth plates of cast-iron, which have been heated in 
 an oven — this is hot-pressing ; or they may be finished between 
 plates of copper and passed between rollers — this is called milling ; 
 or they may be passed between two rollers, one of polished iron, the 
 other of solid paper — which is called rolling, or calendering. High 
 glazing is attained by repeatedly passing the paper between the 
 rollers ; for the iron roller is a cylinder into which steam is admitted, 
 and this produces heat enough to give a high finish to the paper. 
 By the slight yielding of the solid paper cylinder, the iron one is 
 preserved from indentation, which would soon be the case if both 
 were of iron, and great quantities of hard writing papers were in 
 process of manufacture. There are many offices for women and 
 children in these final processes, who work at numerous tables 
 supporting the small roller mills, all of which are driven by 
 connection with the general prime-mover, whether a water-wheel 
 or a steam-engine. 
 
 This brief description of paper-making by hand will sufficiently 
 show what is the nature of the several processes employed in the 
 conversion of pieces of rag into sheets of paper, and, if we would 
 gain an idea, however faint, of paper-making by machinery, we 
 must keep these processes in mind, and remember that the work- 
 man’s labour is in every case closely imitated by the beautiful self- 
 acting machinery which is now so largely in use, with this 
 remarkable difference — that instead of the breaks and delays in the 
 work, caused by shifting it from one person to another, and con- 
 veying it from one room to another, the whole affair is here carried 
 on without check or interruption. At one end of a long room we 
 see a stream of milky liquid issuing from a tap, and spreading out 
 in a broad shallow stream, while at the other end of the room we 
 find that this stream, without any interruption to its onward flow, 
 
 has become a firm sheet of continuous paper, gathered up by a reel, 
 or delivering itself over a roller to have piece after piece chopped off 
 by a machine-driven knife, and falling in finished sheets on a heap 
 below. Instead of the wire moulds we see an endless wire-web ; 
 instead of separate sheets of paper an endless sheet; instead of the 
 gentle shake given by hand, we find a vibration of the machinery ; 
 instead of the draining between pieces of felt, there is a passing of 
 this endless sheet, supported by its web of wire-cloth, over the 
 mouths of air-boxes, or boxes partially exhausted of air ; instead of 
 the screw-press, there are rollers between which the paper loses 
 part of its moisture, and is then able to leave its supporting wire- 
 cloth, and pass along to the first felt, or blanket, which conveys it 
 to another pair of rollers, where it receives severer pressure, corre- 
 sponding with the “ wet press,” and is passed to another blanket, 
 which takes it to the last pair of pressure rollers. Here the making 
 is complete, and the drying processes commence. The paper now 
 leaves the blanket, and, instead of being taken to the drying-loft, it 
 passes to the first pair of drying cylinders, which turn at exactly 
 the same rate as the pressure cylinders, and are heated by steam 
 admitted through their pivots. Some machines have as many as 20 
 of these drying cylinders, and in passing between them all the 
 moisture from the paper passes off in steam, and would occasion 
 much inconvenience by condensing on the roof above, and falling 
 down in drops on the paper, were it not for a canopy which is 
 raised on pillars on purpose to protect the newly-formed and 
 delicate paper from this accident. In this way the paper completes 
 its journey, and is wound up on an hexagonal reel, driven with the 
 same speed as the other parts, unless a cutting machine be attached 
 to the same train, in which case it is at once divided into printing 
 or writing sheets. 
 
 The rate of speed at which the paper travels varies from six 
 inches to one foot per second, or from one third to two thirds of a 
 mile per hour. The whole journey from the strainer to the reel 
 comprises about 60 feet, therefore the pulp passes from the liquid 
 to the finished state in the space of from one to tivo minutes, instead 
 of one zoeek, which is the time occupied by the same processes as 
 performed by hand. The sizing may be applied to machine-made 
 paper after the cutting into sheets, but before any glazing or other 
 surface-finishing, in which case it exactly resembles the operation 
 on hand-made paper ; or it may he performed on the dried web 
 before cutting into sheets, or it may be mixed with the pulp in its 
 liquid state. This last process saves not only the distinct operation 
 of sizing, but also the whole second drying, and therefore greatly 
 economizes time and labour. We owe to the French the discovery 
 of several kinds of vegetable size, which are applicable in this way ; 
 the subject having been deemed of sufficient importance by Napo- 
 leon I. to employ a commission for five years in its investigation. 
 The chemists forming it were not successful, but the subsequent 
 researches of another chemist, M. Braconnet, led to the desired 
 result. The first, or gelatine method, may be thus described. An 
 endless felt passes round three or more revolving rollers, the lowest 
 of which is immersed in the vat of size. A woman or child lays 
 each sheet on the descending slope, and it is rapidly carried through 
 and impregnated with size, and as rapidly delivered on the other 
 side to a hand which picks off each sheet, and hangs it up in the 
 drying loft. Or, if in continuous length, it is passed through a 
 narrow slit into a very long room, almost filled with skeleton 
 drums, over and under which it winds, so as to have the greatest 
 possible length exposed before winding on the reel, and thus to 
 imitate as nearly as may be the effects of air-drying in lofts. The 
 room is warmed, and the air is usually agitated by means of fans, 
 or winnows, made to revolve rapidly within each skeleton drum. 
 The finishing of the paper is then performed in one of the methods 
 already described, and it always receives its last pressure between 
 the plates of a screw, or hydraulic press. The manufacturing 
 stationer, however, before cutting and packing it, usually glazes it 
 again by the process of milling between plates. A ream contains 
 472 sheets in 20 quires, of which the two outside ones commonly 
 have only 20, and the other 18 have 24 sheets each, and no 
 defective ones, which are all collected to the outsides, and retailed 
 at a lower price. 
 
 Such is the merest outline of proceedings, the full description of 
 which would fill volumes, and the inspection of which is calculated 
 to excite our highest respect for the inventive genius of the men 
 who have devised and carried out the remarkable series of improve- 
 ments referred to. Their labours have, indeed, helped to bring us 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 225 
 
 into the difficulty already referred to by accelerating the production, 
 and increasing the consumption of paper; but, when we consider 
 the benefits which have accrued to mankind through their exertions, 
 we shall not be disposed to quarrel with them for the share they 
 have had in producing the inconvenience of a deficient supply of 
 materials for paper. 
 
 We now pass from the manufacture of paper to the art of print- 
 ing with movable types, which has conferred such vast benefits 
 on mankind ; and we cannot but regard it as an astonishing cir- 
 cumstance that during many thousand years men should have 
 constantly been, as it were, on the threshold of this great disco- 
 very, and yet not have made it until within about four hundred 
 years. The stones and rocks which, by a process of natural 
 stereotyping, present us with the foot-prints of extinct animals, 
 and the printed impressions (first proofs, so to speak) of the Flora 
 of a former world,* — the steps of a man on the sea-shore, — the 
 abundance of impressible clay and other substances in familiar 
 use, — all suggest the multiplication of copies by means of pressure, 
 an idea which we see carried out in the use of seals and signets, 
 which are mentioned in the earliest record of the human race that 
 we possess. The Chinese so far improved on the idea, as to print 
 books by means of blocks, containing all the words cut out after 
 the fashion of our wood-engravings, one block for each page. 
 Had that ingenious nation been in possession of an alphabet, they 
 could scarcely have resisted the idea of employing, instead of one 
 block for one page of one particular book, separate letters for the 
 words of any page of any book. Indeed, this seems to have been 
 the natural order of the discovery in Europe, where separate blocks 
 were used for the separate pages of certain pious picture-books, 
 the idea being probably taken from playing-cards, which were thus 
 printed; but the wooden type formed after this fashion would be 
 rude and clumsy, and not adapted to the production of books 
 6uch as scholars would be likely to read — since, in the infancy of 
 the art, and, indeed, long afterwards, the number of persons 
 who could read was small compared with those who could not; 
 for the lower orders, always apt to copy the coarse manners (the 
 courtly ones being beyond them) and prejudices of their betters, 
 regarded with scorn the “ clerk ” whose business it was to read 
 and write. At the very time when Gutenberg, Fust, and Schoffer 
 were busy with their great invention in Germany, a scene is 
 represented as having occurred in England which shows the esti- 
 mate in which the ignorant poor held reading and writing. 
 T\ hen these accomplishments were proved against the clerk of 
 Chatham, Jack Cade exclaims, “ O, monstrous ! ” and when one of 
 the rabble further declares, “ We took him setting of boys’ copies,” 
 the ready conclusion was, “ Here ’s a villain ! ” When questioned 
 as to whether he wrote his name, or made his mark “like an 
 honest, plain-dealing man,” and he replied, “ Sir, I thank God that 
 I have been so well brought up that I can write my name,” he 
 was condemned to be hung "with his pen and ink-horn about his 
 neck.” f 
 
 Now, although we are not here quoting history, we have in 
 Shakspere’s living pen a graphic touch of that angry, jealous feeling 
 which long prevailed on the part of the unlettered against the 
 lettered (one of the numerous forms of envy, in fact), and which is 
 not now quite extinct, although the paper-maker and the printer are 
 every day removing the cause for the complaint; so that at the 
 present time it is so far from being regarded as a reproach to be 
 able to read and write, that the shame is usually attached to the 
 defect of those attainments. Such a happy change could not, 
 however, have been brought about by block-books, and Biblia 
 vauperum. A great social change must, if not begin with, at 
 least meet the favour of, men in authority, — they form the river- 
 head of society ; their opinions, habits, and manners descend to 
 the lower level, and operate for good or for evil. The scholar and 
 the priest, the noble patron and the poet, the writers, users, and 
 collectors of books were to be conciliated ; the scribes and illumi- 
 nators of books would be sure to object to and oppose the mighty 
 change, as the former class would be likely to welcome it, if not 
 
 * The extinct vegetable forms of the coal deposits of Bohemia are among 
 the most remarkable in the world. The roof of the galleries in the coal-mines 
 is described as being “ covered with a canopy of gorgeous tapestry, enriched 
 with festoons of most graceful foliage, flung in wild, irregulai profusion over 
 every portion of its surface. The effect is heightened by the contrast of the 
 coal-black colour of these vegetables with the light ground-work of the rock 
 to which they are attached.”— H i ckland’s Bridgewater Treatise. 
 
 f Shakspere, “King Henry VI.,” part ii. act i'v. 
 
 too novel to be startling, and not too cheap in its results to be 
 common. Hence the worthy trio of Mayence endeavoured to 
 make their type resemble as much as possible the character in 
 common use among the transcribers of manuscripts, neither larger 
 nor smaller. This could not be well done by means of wood- 
 engravings, for the art as then practised gave neither sharpness 
 of outline, nor delicacy of finish ; and the material, in the sub- 
 divided form of type, would not allow of the rough handling 
 required in printing. Nevertheless, such a method seems to have 
 preceded the invention of the art of printing with movable metal 
 type. The Dutch claim the invention for one Coster, of Haerlem, 
 about the year 1420; and state that a Donatus, or Vocabulary, and 
 the first three editions of the Speculum humanis Salvationis , were 
 printed in movable wooden type. They further state, that one 
 of these books falling into the hands of Gutenberg, while residing 
 at Strasburg in 1435, suggested to him the idea of printing in 
 movable metal characters. The evidence for these statements we 
 hold to be either fabricated or insufficient; but we cannot, on this 
 occasion, go over the ground for such a conclusion, nor the reasons 
 why we believe Gutenberg to be the inventor of printing, first in 
 movable wooden type, and afterwards, in conjunction with Fust 
 and Schoffer. in movable types of metal. 
 
 A few trials with wooden type would be sufficient to prove how 
 inadequate that material is for the production of books. The 
 letters must be formed in metal, or the whole thing would prove 
 a failure. When Gutenberg was endeavouring, unaided (or rather 
 impeded, by men whom he took as partners for the sake of the 
 money which they brought into the concern), to bring out his one 
 grand idea from the darkness of conception to the light of practical 
 reality, he saw no other method than that of carving or chasing 
 each letter separately; but the progress thus made was so slow and 
 costly, and the artist’s wages so high (for the chaser was an artist 
 in those days), that the transcribers, had they been aware of the 
 momentous change which was being contemplated, might have 
 smiled at the notion of their craft being in danger. But when 
 Providence has raised up a man destined to work some vast bene- 
 fit for his fellows, the difficulties and even dangers of the task 
 become stimulants to further exertion, — he is not allowed to cease 
 from toil until the end has been accomplished, or at least until he 
 has intrusted to others the grand idea which has moved him. At 
 this time the invention of printing was necessary for the glory 
 of God and the good of mankind; the Deformation was at hand; 
 men’s minds had long been preparing for the mighty change which 
 would free them from spiritual bondage; but how was the work 
 of the Deformed Church to be carried on without an open Bible in 
 a living language P and how could the Bible be open to the great 
 mass of the people unless, instead of being exchanged for a house 
 or a field, it could be multiplied cheaply, so as to be placed within 
 the reach of every man ? Not many years after Gutenberg had 
 been labouring in his house at Strasburg, endeavouring (foolish 
 man !) to keep his art secret, and practise it, when perfected, for 
 his own peculiar benefit, the young monk in his cell at Erfurth 
 was testing his practice, and that of his spiritual superiors, by the 
 light of divine truth — by that very Bible which Gutenberg's art 
 was to spread among the nations. The honesty and singleness of 
 purpose of Luther finally triumphed, and he had the glory of 
 testifying before men, and of seeing the truth prevail. The 
 double purpose of Gutenberg misled him. He was not working 
 only for the glory of God and the good of men, and so he was not 
 permitted to carry out his invention. New difficulties arose at 
 every step, and having expended his own private fortune in the 
 undertaking, and borrowed money at interest, and expended the 
 partnership money, he was at length reluctantly compelled to 
 seek the assistance of some one better skilled in the working of 
 metals than himself, and at the same time possessing sufficient 
 pecuniary means to carry out the project; accordingly, he quitted 
 Strasburg, and resorted to John Fust, the wealthy goldsmith of 
 Mayence, laid before him his plans, and shared with him his long- 
 cherished secret. The goldsmith rightly estimated the value of 
 the invention, formed a partnership with the inventor, and pro- 
 ceeded in earnest to improve upon Gutenberg’s process. The 
 first thing that was done was to intx - oduce the art of casting, — to 
 form plaster-moulds of the letters, and to fill them up with melted 
 metal. But the letters thus formed were destitute of sharpness, 
 and had to be finished by hand, and that hand, be it remembered, 
 the hand of a cunning workman, not that of an ordinary journey - 
 
 3 M 
 
226 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 man at ordinary wages. Moreover, a new mould was required 
 for the casting of every individual letter. Many attempts were 
 made to improve the moulds, but they ended in failures. Thus 
 baffled, the partners shared their design with a third person. 
 They sought the assistance of Peter Schoffer, a transcriber of 
 manuscripts, and known to Fust as a skilful designer of pat- 
 terns for gold and silver plate. In this latter capacity he 
 must have been acquainted with all the resources of the gold- 
 smith’s art, or he would not, of course, have been competent to 
 design for it ; and in the former he was well acquainted with the 
 tastes and wants of bookish men, so that he seems to have been 
 well qualified to assist the two partners. Moreover, his ingenuity 
 was stimulated by the bright eyes of Fust’s pretty daughter, and 
 by the promise of her hand, should he succeed in rearing the 
 nursling art. No wonder that Schoffer set resolutely to work, — 
 no wonder that he succeeded. He saw that, in order to the due 
 multiplication of type, it was necessary to have a mould for each 
 letter ; but in order for the types to be produced cheaply, the 
 moulds must be permanent ; he also saw the necessity for having a 
 complete alphabet of characters nicely executed, for the purpose of 
 forming the moulds ; and the happy thought occurred to him to 
 make each character in the form of a punch, and of steel, so that 
 after having been carefully executed by hand, it could be har- 
 dened for use. The moulds could now be made of iron, or even of 
 steel, and also be hardened, and such precision could be given 
 to the form of the mould that the letter could be turned out per- 
 fect and fit for use, or nearly so. Such is substantially the nature 
 of Schciffer’s inventions ; we are not informed as to the share that 
 Gutenberg and Fust had in them : they doubtless aided by then- 
 counsel and assisted in the experimental trials, which must have 
 been numerous; and the three partners must have often discussed 
 the matter long and anxiously. We are not even informed as to 
 the precise details of the invention, for the partners, alive to their 
 own interests, held it necessary to be secret. No sooner, however, 
 was success insured, than difficulties arose in the adjustment of 
 those very interests of which their owners were so careful. 
 Gutenberg probably claimed more than his share of the invention, 
 and Fust and his son-in-law were probably disposed to concede to 
 him less. At any rate, they took their oyster to the lawyers to 
 divide for them, and Gutenberg seems to have had nothing but 
 the shell. He left his partners in disgust — a most unjust decree of 
 the law court deprived him of his well-earned share in the pro- 
 fits which were now about to accrue from the practice of the infant 
 art, and with the assistance of Dr. Conrad Humbracht established 
 a rival printing-press in the same town. After carrying on this 
 establishment for a few years, Gutenberg abandoned the art which 
 had occasioned him so much grief and loss, and in 1465 entered 
 the service of the Elector Adolphus of Nassau. 
 
 Not many months after Gutenberg had retired from the part- 
 nership, namely, in August 1457, Fust and Schoffer produced the 
 celebrated Psalter , the first book that bears the name of the 
 printers, the date, and the name of the place where it was printed. 
 Three years later the celebrated Latin Bible was published. These 
 and other works which issued from the press of Fust and Schoffer 
 are remarkable for taste and beauty, and are still much prized by 
 book collectors. Fust appears to have travelled about with copies 
 of his books for sale. It was not the fashion in those days for men 
 to publish their travels, or we might have had a curious chronicle 
 of the wanderings of Fust. The astonishment occasioned by the 
 number and cheapness of his books, compared with those of the 
 transcribers, must have been great : the readiness with which men 
 adopt any conclusion, however absurd, if it only save them the 
 trouble of thinking, and the habits of close investigation which 
 thought leads to and requires, favoured the belief that the devil 
 had assisted Fust in the production of his books, and hence arose 
 the popular story of “ the Devil and Dr. Faustus.” The worthy 
 folks did not consider that if the enemy of souls had turned printer, 
 he would not have multiplied copies of the Book which told how 
 souls were to be saved ; he would rather have continued to preside 
 over the press which worked playing-cards ; or if the Cardinal 
 Bishop of Ostias’ estimation of chess, as a“ vanity which defiles the 
 hands and the tongue,” is to be received, he would rather have 
 been printer’s devil to Caxton when he brought out his “ Art of 
 Cheese Playe.” * 
 
 • In the work printed at Cologne, which preceded the “Art of Chesse Playe,” | 
 
 While Fust was on his travels, Schoffer had the management of 
 the printing-press at home. His business must have been thriving, 
 for there was a great demand for the productions of the new art, 
 which everywhere excited curiosity and pleasure. Schoffer gave 
 as little information as was possible respecting its details; but the 
 demands for books required that he should employ many skilful 
 workmen, who soon became acquainted with all the processes. 
 This state of things might have continued for many years, had not 
 Providence ordered otherwise. The moral government of the 
 world required that books, and especially the Book, should be 
 rapidly and well-nigh simultaneously diffused, and the effect was 
 brought about by one of those astonishing events which baffle 
 human calculation. One of the miserable squabbles among the 
 petty and ecclesiastical princes of Germany led to the capture of 
 Mayence, in 1462, by Count Adolphus, of Nassau, the effect of 
 which was to destroy, for a time, the trade of the town. The 
 friends of letters might well have regarded it as a calamity that 
 the young art which promised so well for literature should be, as 
 it were, strangled in its birth : the press was stopped, and the 
 workmen quitted the town in search of employment elsewhere. 
 Now this very dispersion was a broadcast sowing of the young 
 art. Wherever the workmen settled, a printing-press started up ; 
 and this became a new centre which radiated its influence, and 
 suggested its example to other towns, so that within six years of 
 the publication of the Psalter , the art was established in many of 
 the towns in the vicinity of Mayence, and within fifteen years 
 there was at least one printing-press in every considerable town of 
 Christian Europe. Nor had Schoffer any reason to repent the loss 
 of his monopoly. His father-in-law being dead (he died at Paris 
 in 1466), and tranquillity being restored at Mayence, he formed a 
 partnership with Conrad Henlif, and continued during many years 
 to publish valuable works, the number of which amounts to no 
 less than fifty. 
 
 Our own Caxton is said to have learnt his art from one of the 
 fugitive printers of Mayence. He was residing in the Low Coun- 
 tries at the time, and with the aid of this man established a print- 
 ing-office at Cologne, at that time the Rome of Cisalpine Europe. 
 The church, in the plenitude of her power, regarded the printing- 
 press with favour, for it was used by the early printers under her 
 patronage, and it was used by herself as early as 1454 for the 
 multiplication of those very Letters of Indulgence which roused 
 the indignation of Luther, and was one of the direct causes of 
 her overthrow. But there was as yet no Reformation to cause 
 uneasiness to the church which was of this world, and she was 
 not permitted to see how dangerous a rival she was cherishing; 
 one whom the people would adopt when she herself was cast off, 
 or as Herder expresses it, “ Eine gesammte sichtbare Ivirche worin 
 die Presse das Wort ersetzt ” (a collected visible church where the 
 press gives the word). 
 
 The art of casting type has attained great perfection in modern 
 practice. The type-founder’s art is one of great complexity in 
 consequence of the large number of sizes of type in common use, 
 and also from the large variety of sorts or characters belonging to 
 each size. Book types include eleven or twelve varieties of fount, 
 from Great Primer, which is the largest type used for books, to 
 Diamond, which is the smallest. Great Primer is used in large 
 Bibles, and is hence called Bible Text; but it is now seldom 
 employed. The next size is English, which is used for church 
 Bibles, and works in folio and quarto. Pica is the next type. It 
 is used for works of a standard character, such as history, art, &c. ; 
 but Small Pica is, perhaps, the most extensively used letter. 
 Novels are printed in this body. Long Primer is in common use 
 in 12mo. works, also for dictionaries, & c., where a large quantity 
 of matter is required to be got into a small space. Bourgeois much 
 resembles Long Primer but it is smaller. Brevier, formerly used for 
 printing Breviaries, is much used for small works and for notes. 
 Minion is used for pocket editions, Prayer-books, and Bibles, and 
 also for advertisements. For similar purposes Nonjmreil or Half- 
 Pica is also used. The next size is called Pearl or Half-Long 
 Primer, then follows Ruby, and lastly Diamond. 
 
 Each of these founts consists of five alphabets, namely, A, A, a, 
 
 Caxton thought it necessary to explain that the book was printed, “ not wreton 
 with penne and inke, as other bokes ben, to thende that euery man may have 
 them attones [at once] ; ffor all the books of this story, named the Recule of the 
 historves of Troyes, thus enprynted as ye here see, were begonne in oon day 
 and also fynished in oon day.” 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 227 
 
 A, a ; there are also many other characters, making the whole 
 number of each fount about two hundred, all of which require to 
 be exactly alike, except in device and width, the greatest width 
 being for the W and M, and the smallest for the i and !. Each of 
 these numei'ous characters requires for its formation a punch, a 
 mould, and fused metal. The punch is a piece of steel with a 
 single character at one end : it is formed by hammering down 
 the hollows and filing up the edges of the metal in a softened state. 
 The matrix is a small piece of copper, two forms of which are 
 shown in Figs. 2 55, and 256, each containing a sunken impression 
 
 or ¥i 
 
 Fig. 255. 
 
 Fig. 256. 
 
 formed by striking upon it the raised letter on the punch, so that 
 in order to form the type, a quantity of fluid metal poured into this 
 hollow, would come out an exact counterpart of the letter on the 
 punch. But the cast letter requires a support or body, h, Fig. 257, 
 an appropriate width W, and certain nicks or notches, 
 seen below w, to enable the compositor to place the 
 letter in the proper position in the composing-stick. 
 The measure of the type is determined by the type- 
 mould, the formation of which is peculiar. Such a 
 mould, for example, as is shown in Fig. 258, does 
 not admit of contraction to 
 suit the various widths of 
 the letters, for if the piece 
 p were slid upon the mould, P 
 it would not alter the width F, °' 258 * 
 
 of the type, as represented by the shaded portion. 
 If the mould were formed of two parts, as in Fig. 
 259, and one part were slid upon the other after the 
 molten metal had been poured into the central 
 square cavity, there would be a contraction in 
 width but a distortion in form, as shown by the 
 shaded part out of the mould. But if the mould were made of 
 two parts, as in Fig. 260, it is evident that, by sliding one part 
 
 
 
 upon the other, the square cavity in the centre, while retaining the 
 same height, could be diminished in width to any extent required. 
 The type-mould, Figs. 261, and 262, is based on this principle. It 
 
 consists of two parts of steel, with a cover of wood on the outside, 
 so contrived that, on being put together, a fits into a, d into d', 
 e into e ; c falls upon c', and the two halves form in the centre e a 
 space or mould in which the type is formed : the matrix M is placed 
 at the bottom of the mould, and is retained in its place by the 
 spring 8, and the extent to which the two parts of the mould 
 slide upon each other is determined by the width of the matrix. 
 The metal is poured in at the orifice formed by closing the upper 
 parts, and the newly-cast letter cannot be disengaged without 
 opening the mould : the letter is removed from the mould by 
 bringing down one of the hooks, h, to the waste part attached to 
 the base of the letter. 
 
 In casting the letters, with the assistance of this little piece of 
 apparatus, the caster stands by the side of a furnace containing 
 the melting-pot with the type-metal in 
 a fused state. This consists of an alloy 
 of lead and antimony varying in com- 
 position with the size of the type. For 
 the smallest, hardest, and most brittle 
 types, the alloy consists of three parts 
 of lead to one of antimony; for small 
 hard brittle types, four lead to one anti- 
 mony; for types of medium size, .five 
 lead to one antimony ; for large types, 
 six lead to one antimony ; and for the 
 largest and softest types, seven lead to 
 one antimony. Small types, however, 
 contain from four to six per cent, of tin, 
 and sometimes from one to two per cent, 
 of copper. The caster, standing before 
 the melting-pot with the mould in his 
 left hand, and a small ladle in his right, 
 takes up a quantity of the molten metal, 
 pours it into the mould, which he jerks 
 upwards for the purpose of expelling 
 
 the air from the cavity, and driving the metal into the finest stroke 
 of the matrix. He then releases the spring, opens the mould, and 
 hooks out the letter, which has the appearance represented 
 in Fig. 263. A good caster will cast about five hundred 
 letters per hour of ordinary sized type, the small and the 
 large sizes requiring more time. A boy is employed to break 
 off the superfluous metal from the types, after which they are 
 rubbed on a slab of gritty stone to remove knobs or globules 
 from the sides. The letters are next set up in a long, shallow 
 frame, with the faces uppermost and the nicks outwards. 
 
 They are then polished on each edge, when, being turned 
 with the face downwards, the bottom is planed and a groove 
 formed, which brings the type to the required height, and 
 enables them to stand steadily. The letters are next carefully ^ 
 inspected with a lens, after which the fount is proportioned, 
 that is, the proper portion of each letter, together with the spaces, 
 quadrats, &c., are counted out, and each letter is tied up in lines of 
 convenient length for the printer. A complete fount of pica 
 weighs eight hundred pounds. 
 
 When a new fount of type is received at the printing-office, the 
 first operation is to lay it in cases, of which there are two, the 
 upper and the lower, Fig. 264. The upper case contains a number 
 
 Fig. 263. 
 
 of equal spaces or boxes, the left-hand division containing capital 
 letters, dotted letters, figures, fractions, and a few other particular 
 sorts; while the right-hand division contains small capitals, ac- 
 cented letters, note references, &c. In the upper case the letters 
 and the figures are arranged in proper order from left to right. In 
 the lower case the divisions are unequal, those letters that are 
 most in request occupying the largest divisions : thus the letter e, 
 has the largest box ; c, d, m, n, h, u, t, i, s, o, a, r, have each boxes 
 of twice the size of the letters b, 1, v, f, g, y, p, w, and four times 
 the size of z, x, j, q, or the crochets [], points and full-points, double 
 and treble letters, &c. The letter k, occupies a spare box in the 
 left-hand division of the upper case. Italic letters are in a separate 
 case. 
 
228 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 The compositor, standing before the case with his copy, as the 
 author’s manuscript is called, takes in his left-hand a com- 
 posing-stick, Fig. 265, fixes the length of the line by means of the 
 
 Fig. 265 . 
 
 inner movable portion, and then takes a piece of brass, called 
 a setting or composing-rule, of the exact length of the line, and 
 furnished with a projecting ear for lifting it out of the composing- 
 stick, where it serves the purpose of allowing the letters to slip 
 easily into their places. The compositor begins his work by read- 
 ing a portion of his copy, and carrying a line or two in his mind. 
 He takes a capital letter from the upper case and places it in the 
 left angle of the composing-stick; he takes the remaining letters 
 of the first word from the lower case, and at the end of the word 
 inserts a space, which is merely the shank of a letter without any 
 face, and not so high as a letter by one-fourth. He proceeds in 
 this way until he gets to the end of a line, making the words and 
 spaces exactly fill it, or properly dividing the last word according 
 to its syllables. Correct spacing requires considerable skill, and is 
 one of the tests by which the good compositor is distinguished from 
 an indifferent one. At the end of the first line the compositor takes 
 out the setting-rule and places it in front of the line just completed, 
 and proceeds to compose a second line, which being completed, the 
 selling-rule is put in front of it, and so on with the remaining lines. 
 If the matter is to be leaded, that is, if the lines are to be further 
 apart than the type alone will allow, a flat metal band, called a 
 lead, of the length of the line, of the height of the spaces, is 
 inserted after the completion of each line and before the setting- 
 rule is removed. The page may be thick-leaded or thin-leaded; 
 in the one case two or three leads are inserted between every two 
 lines, in the other case only one is used. 
 
 The compositor works with considerable rapidity ; long practice 
 has made him familiar with the localities of the various letters, 
 and he selects them one by one without looking at their faces, 
 the nick in each type enabling him to place the letter in its correct 
 position in the composing-stick. When this is full he takes out 
 the composed matter, consisting of 6, 8, 10, or 12 lines, and deposits 
 it in a long frame called a galley, Fig. 
 266, for which purpose the setting- 
 rule laid on the last line allows the 
 whole of the matter in the stick to 
 be grasped tightly between the fin- 
 gers and thumbs of both hands, and so 
 removed. This requires some practice, for if not properly grasped 
 the stickful of type will fall to pieces, and make what, in the 
 language of the printer, is called pie. When enough matter has 
 been collected in the galleys, the compositor begins to make it up 
 into pages, for which purpose he selects the proper number of lines, 
 and adds at the bottom a line of quadrats, which resemble spaces, 
 but are much larger ; he next places at the top the folio and the 
 running head, or line, which indicates the title of the work, the 
 subject of the chapter, or, still better, of the page. At the bottom 
 of the first page he places the signature, or letter of the alphabet 
 which serves as a guide in gathering, folding, and binding the 
 sheets. The page thus formed is tied round with string, ox page- 
 cord, and placed on a piece of coarse paper. Having made up as 
 many pages as the sheet consists of, — 4 for folio, 8 for quarto, 16 
 for octavo, &c., — he places them upon a slab of marble let into a 
 frame, called the imposing-stone. He then takes an iron frame 
 called a chase, which is divided by cross bars into compartments, 
 and places it over the pages, adjusting between them a number of 
 pieces of wood, or metal, called furniture; within the chase next to 
 the pages he places other pieces of iron called side and foot-sticks, 
 which are rather wider at one end than at the other, and between 
 this and the chase he drives in small pieces of wood, called quoins, 
 which decrease in width in the same proportion as the side-sticks. 
 By means of a mallet and a stick, called the shooting-stick, he 
 drives the quoins towards the thicker end of the side and foot-sticks, ! 
 and the quoins thus act with the gradual force of the wedge, driving ! 
 the separate pieces of type together, so that all the sides of the j 
 pages being many times locked up, the whole mass, consisting of | 
 
 many thousand letters, may be lifted off the stone like a solid body ; 
 j this united mass is called a form, and there are of course two forms 
 ! to every sheet, the outer and inner form. Fig. 267 represents the 
 forms of an octavo sheet. 
 
 Fig. 267 . 
 
 When the two forms have been prepared they are conveyed to a 
 hand-press, and a proof of the sheet is pulled. This proof is taken 
 to the first reader, or corrector of the press, who folds the sheet, 
 examines the signature, the folios, the running heads, &c. A 
 reading-boy then rapidly reads the copy, and the reader makes such 
 corrections in the margin of the proof as are required. The sheet is 
 then returned to the compositor, who, having made the necessary 
 corrections, pulls another proof, which, being compared with the 
 first proof and found satisfactory, is sent to the second reader, who 
 subjects it to an intellectual as well as technical revision, and often 
 confers great benefit on the author by the useful queries and 
 suggestions made in the margin. The proof is now sent to the 
 author, who reads it, makes his own corrections, and returns it to 
 the printer ; these may be more or less extensive, according to the 
 nature of the work and the experience of the writer; but, whatever 
 they are, they form the subject of a separate charge on the part of 
 the compositor. With all the care of readers and of the author, 
 mistakes frequently creep into the work, and are often not detected 
 until the edition is published ; some of these mistakes are of an 
 amusing description. There is an edition of the Bible known as the 
 “ Vinegar Bible,” from the circumstance that in the parable of the 
 vineyard the word “ vinegar” was printed instead of vineyard. Jn 
 a treatise on light we described a beam of light as consisting of 
 “ innumerable bundles of rays.” The printer converted this 
 expression into “ bundles of rags.” Any one connected with the 
 press might easily collect from his own experience a large 
 number of blunders of this kind, which, though amusing enough 
 to read when made into an essay by a pleasant writer (such as 
 the elder “ D’Israeli ” has done in his “ Curiosities of Litera- 
 ture”), are mortifying to the author to discover when too late 
 for correction. Careless reading of the press leads to long lists of 
 errata, and in some French scientific books we have pages of 
 supplementary errata, and we have even noticed an erratum of the 
 errata. When the author is satisfied with his proof, or with the 
 revise thereof, it is returned marked “for press.” This “press- 
 proof,” as it is called, is once more read with a view to weed out 
 any remaining technical errors, to correct the spacing, to take out 
 defective letters, &c. ; and at length, all corrections having been 
 made, the reader marks on the proof the number of copies to be 
 printed, and sends it to the press-room. 
 
 The earliest form of printing-press was nothing more than an 
 ordinary screw-press, with a contrivance for running the inked 
 form under the screw. This was a slow process, and there was 
 danger of injuring the face of the type from the mode of applying 
 the force. The first great improvement in the printing-press was 
 effected by a mathematical-instrument maker of Amsterdam, named 
 Blaew. It is represented in Fig. 268. The two upright posts uu 
 are bound together by four horizontal bars ; the top one c is called 
 the cap, the second h is the head, and is held by tenons and mortices, 
 and is also suspended from the cap by screw-bolts ss, and in the 
 centre is a brass nut containing a hollow screw, or worm, for 
 receiving the upper end of the large screw by which the pressure is 
 produced. The third bar t', called the shelf or till, is intended to 
 guide the hose h', which contains the spindle and screw. The next 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 229 
 
 cross bar w, called the winter, is for supporting the carriage. The 
 spindle and screw s is a vertical bar of iron, the lower end of which 
 is of steel, while at the upper end is a small screw which works in 
 the small brass nut at the head, and in the eye of the spindle, just 
 below the upper end, is fixed the handle H, by which the press is 
 worked. Under the spindle is the platten, which imparts the 
 pressure to the paper. It is suspended from the point of the spindle 
 by the hose h', a square frame or block of wood which passes 
 through the shelves. The lower end of 
 the spindle passes through the hose, and 
 its point rests in a plug fixed in a brass 
 cup containing oil, which is fixed to an 
 iron plate let into the top of the plat- 
 ten. By pulling the handle H, the press- 
 man turns the spindle, the round of 
 which moves in its screw box, and by its 
 descent brings down the platten, which 
 thus presses on the paper lying on the 
 form of type. The platten is suspended 
 from the spindle, and rises up again 
 with it by means of a fillet of iron 
 screwed to the hose, and entering a 
 groove round the upper part of the 
 spindle ; the platten hangs truly level 
 by four threads passing from its four 
 corners to the four corners of the lower 
 part of the hose. The form of type F is 
 conveyed under the platten by means of 
 a carriage cc, which is supported on 
 a horizontal wooden plane, the fore part 
 being sustained by a fore-stay, while 
 the back part rests on a winter. Be- 
 low the plank of the carriage are short cramp-irons, which slide 
 upon two long iron bars fixed on the upper part of the hori- 
 zontal wooden frame. To run the carriage in and out on this 
 frame, there is below the carriage the split, or small spindle 
 with a double wheel on the middle of it, round which are fas- 
 tened leather belts, the opposite ends of which are nailed to 
 each end of the plank of the carriage. On one of the ends of 
 the split is the ivinch w', by turning which the carriage can be 
 run out and in. The carriage is a strong wooden plank, upon 
 which is fixed a 
 square wooden 
 frame forming 
 the cell, in which 
 is placed a po- 
 lished stone for 
 sustaining the 
 form. To this cell 
 are fixed stay- 
 belts, one end at- 
 tached to the cell, 
 and the other to 
 the cheeks of the 
 press, to prevent 
 the carriage from 
 running out too 
 far when drawn 
 from under the 
 platten. On the 
 outer end of the 
 plank is fixed the 
 gallows g for sup- 
 porting the tyvn- 
 pans f', when they 
 are turned up to 
 receive a new 
 sheet of paper after each impression. The tympans are light 
 square frames covered with parchment, and so constructed that 
 the one represented as the upper one in the engraving shall lie 
 within the exterior one, to which it is fitted by iron hinges. 
 Between the two tympans are placed two or three folds of blan- 
 kets, for the purpose of equalising the pressure of the platten 
 upon the surface of the types. A square frame of thin iron, 
 called the frisket, tt, is attached by hinges to the headband of the 
 exterior tympan, and is made to fall down upon the tympan so as 
 
 Fig. 268. — common printing-press. 
 
 to inclose the sheet of paper which is to be printed between them. 
 The tympan and the frisket being thus folded down, lie flat on the 
 form of types, and the carriage containing them is run between the 
 platten, so that, when the handle is pulled, the platten presses on 
 one half of the form of types ; the carriage is then run further in 
 with the other half of the form of types : and in this way, by means 
 of two separate pulls, the impression of the types is made upon the 
 paper. By turning a winch w, the carriage is withdrawn from 
 beneath the platten, and the tympan, 
 being lifted up, is made to rest against 
 the gallows : the frisket is then raised, and 
 rests against a slip of wood descending 
 from the ceiling, when the printed sheet 
 is taken out and a fresh sheet put in. 
 Every time the carriage is run out, the 
 sheet is inked by means of two bulky 
 inking -l alls, consisting of two circular 
 pieces of pelt covered with composition, 
 stuffed with wool, and nailed to wooden 
 stocks. One of these balls, b, is shown 
 in the ball-rack, and the other, b', on the 
 ball-block, which contains the ink heaped 
 up in the angle, but brought gradually 
 down to a thin layer in front of the block. 
 We have described this press thus mi- 
 nutely since every lover of books will 
 recognise it as a valuable old servant, 
 which has done good service in its time. 
 By its means the works of the greatest 
 men of modern times have been propa- 
 gated, and the masterpieces of antiquity 
 distributed to the world ; it continued to 
 perform its useful offices up to the commencement of the present 
 century, when it was superseded by better mechanical contrivances. 
 Those who are interested in such matters will remember, in the 
 Great Exhibition of 1851, one of Blaew’s presses rearing its lofty 
 head, dark, dingy, and discoloured with the service of many years, 
 but not ashamed of its more prolific rivals and neighbours ; for truly 
 it might say, “ I have done my duty to the best of my power, do 
 you continue to do yours.” 
 
 The chief improver of the hand printing-press was the Earl of 
 
 Stanhope, whose 
 press is represent- 
 ed in Figs. 269 
 and 270, in which 
 B B, the body of 
 the press, is a cast- 
 iron frame in one 
 piece attached to 
 a wooden cross w\ 
 Two horizontal 
 rails are screwed 
 at pp, Fig. 270, 
 to two projecting 
 pieces cast with 
 the body for sus- 
 taining the car- 
 riage when the 
 pull is made. The 
 ribs of the car- 
 riage slide in 
 grooves on the 
 upper surface of 
 these rails, and 
 are moved by the 
 handle w, with 
 the split and lea- 
 ther, as in the old press. A brass nut or hollow screw is fixed 
 on the upper part s of the body of the press, in which the upper 
 end of the spindle works. This screw is attached above s to 
 the rim L l, while the toe C of the screw fits into a cup at- 
 tached to a piece screwed to the plank. A handle H for work- 
 ing the press is firmly fixed into the lower end of the bar b , 
 the lower point of which moves in a hole in the principal frame, 
 while the upper end passes through a collar in the projecting 
 piece; being passed through this collar, the end of the bar joins a 
 
 3 N 
 
230 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 short lever, -which is connected by a link l with another short lever 
 L fixed on the upper end of a screw. The pressman in pulling the 
 handle turns round the spindle, and by its connection with the 
 rod C, &c., the great lever turns with it, and causes the platten to 
 descend and produce the required pressure. The power of the 
 lever H is transmitted to the screw in such a way as to produce 
 the required effects. After the impression is made, the platten, 
 which is of considerable weight, is raised from the form by means 
 of a balance-weight suspended on a lever and hook at the back 
 of the press, and thus brings the bar-handle back again ready for 
 another pull. The form of types rests upon a cast-iron block, 
 and the press is of such a size that a whole sheet can be printed at 
 one pull. The advantages of this press over the old form are 
 too numerous to be pointed out here, nor would they be of suffi- 
 cient interest to the general reader, any more than the numerous 
 variations and improvements which have been made from time to 
 time. Such a press as we have described is worked by two men, 
 one of whom inks the type and attends to the impression, while 
 the other works the press. The inner form is first laid on the table, 
 and is secured in the centre by means of quoins. A sheet of stout 
 paper is pasted on the frisket-frame, and also secured on the tympan. 
 The form being inked an impression is taken on the frisket, after 
 which all the printed part is cut away, the use of the portion 
 which is left being to protect the paper from soiling. A sheet of 
 paper is next folded according to the crosses of the chase, and 
 being placed on the form, it 'is carefully opened, so as to lie evenly 
 on the form with the same margin that it is to have in the working. 
 The tympan being wetted, is closed down on the form, and an 
 impression is taken, when the paper adheres to the tympan, and 
 serves as a guide for laying on the sheets which are to be printed. 
 The points are next selected; these are pointed wires fixed in the 
 tympan ; they perforate the sheet, and thus serve as guide marks 
 to the pressman. The tympan-frame is arranged so that the points 
 may fall into the cross of the chase. The paper is now brought 
 from the wetting-room, where it has been damped by passing it, one- 
 fourth or one-fifth of a ream at a time, through water, and allowing 
 it to remain two or three days till it is evenly damp^throughout. 
 A ream of paper is now laid on an inclined plane called the horse , 
 placed on the left end of a long table called the hank, and as the 
 paper is worked it is brought from the tympan to the bank. The 
 man takes a sheet, lays it carefully over the tympan sheet, closes 
 the frisket over it, shuts down the tympan and frisket upon the 
 inked form, runs the table under the platten, pulls the handle of 
 the lever until it is brought down by the stop, when the platten 
 descends and produces the impression. Gradually releasing his 
 hand, the balance-weight raises the platten, the bar returns to its 
 first position, the table is run out, the tympan and frisket raised, 
 and the frisket is thrown up. The sheet is taken off the points 
 and examined. The first impression is generally defective from 
 the unequal thickness of the parchment lining of the tympan, or of 
 the blanket, or from the slight inequalities in the height of the 
 type. The defects are remedied by over-laying or pasting pieces 
 of paper on the tympan where the impression is too faint, and 
 rubbing or cutting away where it is too strong. When a favour- 
 able impression is taken, the whole number is worked off; the 
 inner form is then removed, washed with lye, and sent to the 
 composing-room, where it is again washed, rinsed, and distributed. 
 This last operation constitutes one of the peculiar advantages of 
 printing with movable types, for the letters being now returned to 
 the cases can be used over again for setting-up fresh matter. In 
 distributing, the compositor holds a quantity of the composed type 
 in his left hand with the face towards him, and taking up one or 
 two words between the fore-finger and thumb of the right hand, 
 drops the letters into their proper boxes with great rapidity. But 
 to return to the pressmen, who are now laying on the outer form 
 with as much care as the inner, and, having obtained a satisfactory 
 impression, they proceed to perfect, or complete the sheet by print- 
 ing on the other side. In this operation the points insure what is 
 called perfect register, whereby the pages and lines fall exactly on 
 the back of each other. When the impression of the outer form is 
 brought up, a sheet of thin white paper, called the set-off sheet, is 
 placed over the tympan sheet, and is frequently changed, so that 
 the impression may be kept clean. Two good pressmen will work 
 one token or two hundred and fifty impressions in one hour, but 
 this varies greatly in the kind of work. For very fine work and 
 with wood-engravings not more than fifty impressions per hour 
 
 may be produced, an extra amount of care being required for fine 
 work. The wood-engravings are imposed in the chase and are 
 locked up on the table of the press ; they are worked in the same 
 manner as type, but require more care. The balls formerly used 
 for inking the type did their office in an unequal and imperfect 
 manner. Some parts of the impression being pale from the defect 
 of ink, others too black from an excess thereof; these two opposite 
 defects were called friars and motiks. The inking-roller, Fig. 271, 
 is now commonly in use; it 
 is supplied with ink from 
 an inking-table, Fig. 272, 
 and contains a trough of 
 ink and a distributing 
 roller, shown separately in 
 the figure. The trough of Fig- 27 1 . 
 
 ink is pressed up to the distributing-roller by means of balance- 
 weights : on turning the distributing-roller it presents a line of 
 ink, which the man takes up 
 with the inking-roller, and dis- 
 tributes it carefully on the table 
 until the whole face is evenly 
 covered ; he then rolls the form 
 with an equal, light, and steady 
 motion. 
 
 The printer’s ink-maker forms 
 a distinct trade ; this ink differs 
 essentially from writing-ink, it 
 being an oily while the other is 
 a gummy compound. The black 
 colour is produced by lamp- 
 black, the finest quality of which 
 should be used, and the oil, nut 
 or linseed, should be boiled and 
 burnt into a varnish. The ingredients should be well mixed, and 
 ground until quite impalpable, so as not to clog the types or tear 
 the face of the paper. Turpentine is added to promote the dry- 
 ing; indigo or prussian-blue are sometimes added to impx'ove the 
 colour. 
 
 When the sheets are worked off, they are hung upon lines to dry, 
 for which purpose a wooden peel, Fig. 273, is used. The drying 
 must not be hurried, or a skin will form on 
 the surface of the letters, and keep the under 
 part of the ink wet, and when the sheets 
 come to be pressed, rolled, or beaten, the 
 filmy skin breaks, and the ink spreads and sets 
 off on the opposite pages. After a day or 
 two, the sheets are taken down and laid in 
 heaps, or they are arranged for gathering, 
 or they are hot or cold-pressed. 
 
 We have thus far described printing by 
 hand, which still continues in use for works 
 like the present, where engravings and letter- 
 press are combined. For periodical literature, 
 and for cheap books of large circulation, the 
 printing-machine has rendered signal service 
 to the intellectual progress of the age, as well 
 as to that political progress by which the 
 liberties of a great nation are secured. If the 
 Times newspaper, which is now printed by ^ 273 
 
 Mr. Applegath’s splendid vertical machine at 
 
 the rate of 13,000 impressions per hour, had depended upon the press- 
 men with their 300 or 400 impressions per hour, it is not too much 
 to say that the progress of this country in morality, general intelli- 
 gence, commerce, wealth, and all those elements which constitute 
 an advanced state of civilisation, would have been greatly retarded. 
 It is true, that with our great facilities for printing other great 
 social improvements have kept pace. The steam-engine, which has 
 lent the aid of its mighty arm to the printing-press, has also greatly 
 assisted in promoting intercourse between the people of the same 
 nation and those of different nations. The electric telegraph has 
 performed still greater wonders by bringing persons who are 
 separated hundreds, or even thousands, of miles within speaking 
 distance of each other. Improved sanatory arrangements — an 
 increased interest for each other among the different classes of the 
 community, show that, notwithstanding the strongly developed 
 money-getting propensity of the age, we are as a nation advancing 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 231 
 
 in our obedience to the Divine command, “ Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour as thyself.” 
 
 It would occupy too much of our space to go into the details of 
 the printing-machine, we must rather direct our attention to some 
 of the ornamental varieties of printing which adorn the Stationery 
 Court. Among these, coloured lithographs are conspicuous. We 
 will notice the method of multiplying these productions after 
 having given a few details respecting the elder branches of the 
 art — viz., chalcography , or copper-plate engraving, from two 
 Greek words signifying copper, and I inscribe ; xylography, from 
 two Greek words signifying wood, and I inscribe; while engraving 
 on stone is called lithography, from the Greek for a stone, and I 
 inscribe. 
 
 The ornamentation of metals by means of engraving is very 
 ancient; but the method of filling up the engraved lines with ink is 
 a modern invention, and is ascribed to one Finiguerra, a native of 
 Florence, who lived in the fifteenth century. He was skilful in the 
 engraving of church ornaments and other articles in niello, as it is 
 called ; that is, filling up the’engraved parts with a black composition 
 of silver and lead. It is stated that on one occasion Finiguerra 
 having cast some melted sulphur on his engraving to try its effect 
 previously to putting on the black composition, observed on 
 removing the sulphur that some dust and charcoal which had 
 gathered in the hollows gave an impression of his engraving. This 
 led him to try the effects of moistened paper pressed down upon 
 the engravings with a roller, and he found that he could thus obtain 
 an impression. Other goldsmiths practised the art, and it soon 
 attracted general attention from the facility with which copies 
 could be multiplied by this means. The art led to the production 
 of block-books, and very soon to printing by means of movable 
 types. 
 
 Copper-plate engraving in its simplest form is carried on in the 
 following manner. A smooth, level, highly-polished plate of copper 
 is selected, and on it the outlines of the subject to be engraved are 
 accurately drawn, for which purpose the plate is heated sufficiently 
 to melt white wax, a piece of which is rubbed over it so as to form 
 a thin layer. A tracing of the original design having been made 
 on tracing-paper with a black-lead pencil, this is laid down upon 
 the wax surface with the lead lines in contact with it. By means 
 of heavy pressure the lead lines are transferred from the paper to 
 the wax. The engraver then removes the paper, and with a fine 
 steel point goes over the subject lightly, so as just to penetrate the 
 wax and touch the copper. In this way an outline of the subject 
 is drawn on the plate, and when the wax is melted off, the subject 
 is completed according to the skill of the engraver. His chief 
 instrument is the graver or burin of steel, ending in an unequal- 
 sided pyramidal point. 
 This instrument is held 
 in the hand at a small 
 inclination to the plane 
 of the copper, as in 
 Fig. 274, and is pushed 
 Fi Q- 2 " 4 - forward in the direction 
 
 required to cut the lines on the plate. Should the lines be cut too 
 deeply, a smooth tool called a burnisher is used to soften them 
 down. The graver, in ploughing furrows in the copper, raises 
 correspondent ridges, or burs ; these are scraped off with a steel 
 scraper. A woollen rubber is also used with olive-oil to clear the 
 face of the plate, to show the progress of the work, and to polish 
 off the burr. Writing engravers use a leather bag filled with sand 
 as a cushion to support the plate during the progress of the work. 
 Parallel lines for skies, &c., are put in with a ruling-machine. 
 Such is the old method of engraving, and it is still adopted for 
 letters, silver-plate, &c., but for artistic subjects it has given way to 
 the freer and more expeditious process of etching. 
 
 Etching is the process of corroding with aquafortis the lines of 
 a drawing traced out with an etching-needle on the copper-plate, 
 over which has been previously placed an etching ground, or com- 
 position of bee’s-wax and Burgundy-pitch, on which the strong 
 acid has no action. The composition is made up into balls and 
 tied up in pieces of plain worn-silk ; the plate being heated, one 
 of the silken balls is rubbed over it, and the warmth causes the 
 composition to ooze through the silk. The ground is then equal- 
 ized with a dauber of lamb’s-wool, tied up in soft, fine muslin in 
 the shape of a flattened ball, and covered with black silk. The 
 etching-ground being smoothly and equally distributed, the copper- 
 
 plate is held, face downwards, over the flames of two or three wax 
 candles tied together, and moved about so as to blacken the whole 
 surface. The design being made in outline with a black-lead 
 pencil on a piece of thin, even paper, and placed face downwards 
 on the smoked surface, the whole is passed through a roller-press, 
 whereby the outline is transferred to the ground. The design is 
 then etched-in by means of needles, a very fine point being used 
 for the more distant and delicate parts, and a broader one for the 
 nearer and bolder objects. The needles remove the wax compo- 
 sition or etching-ground from the copper wherever they pass, 
 and slightly scratch the surface of the plate, so that when acid is 
 poured upon it, the parts that have been scratched are exposed to 
 its action. To prepare for the acid, a border of banking-wax half 
 an inch high is put round the plate, and the acid is poured into 
 the trough thus formed, and left for a time, which must be regu’ ' ed 
 by experience. The acid 'being poured off, the plate is w--** d 
 with water, and the fainter parts of the subject are stopped, or 
 varnished with a composition called stopping-ground of lamp-black 
 and Yenice-turpentine applied with a camel’s-hair pencil, which 
 prevents the acid from acting upon those parts when poured on a 
 second time. The repeated action of the acid is for the bolder 
 parts of the subject, and the stopping-out and biting-in can be 
 repeated as often as the subject may seem to require it, so as to 
 produce various gradations of tint. The wax border is then 
 removed by heating the plate, and the etching-ground is wiped off 
 with a rag moistened with olive-oil. The work is then touched 
 up by hand with the graver. Etching-points or needles resemble 
 common needles fixed in handles four or five inches long. Some 
 are of an oval form, so as to produce the broader lines. What is 
 called the dry point is the common etching-needle brought to a 
 very fine point for the purpose of cutting or serrating the more 
 delicate points of skies, &c. The dry point raises a slight ridge or 
 burr, which is not removed with the scraper, but is left on with 
 fine effect. In some of Rembrandt’s etchings, the burr was left on 
 till it wore away in the printing; hence the early impressions of 
 his etchings, where this peculiarity is visible, are much valued. 
 Imitations of chalk and pencil-drawings are sometimes produced by 
 etching on soft ground; but this practice has been superseded by 
 lithography. Etching on steel is performed in the same way as 
 on copper, but the steel gives a larger number of good impressions. 
 A kind of etching is also used in the representation of medals, for 
 which purpose a machine is used. Etched imitations of chalk- 
 drawings of the human figure, called engravings in stipple, are 
 executed in dots, which are afterwards bitten-in with aquafortis. 
 These dots may be harmonised with a small hammer, when the 
 work is known as opus mallei. In mezzotints a dark barb or 
 ground is raised uniformly by means of a toothed instrument, and 
 the design being traced, the light parts are scraped off according to 
 the effect required. In aquatinta the outline is first sketched, and 
 then a sort of wash is laid on with aquafortis, producing the effect 
 of Indian-ink drawings. 
 
 Steel engraving resembles copper-plate engraving, but it has 
 this peculiar advantage, that the plate can be engraved on in its 
 soft state, and having received the finishing touches of the hand of 
 genius, can then be hardened and printed from to an unlimited 
 extent. It can even be used for multiplying steel plates resembling 
 itself. For this purpose the subject is engraved either by hand or 
 mechanically, or the two methods may be combined on a plate of soft 
 steel: the plate is then hardened. A cylinder of decarbonised steel 
 is next rolled over the hardened plate with strong pressure until 
 the engraved impression appears in relief, the hollow lines of the 
 original being raised on the cylinder. The roller is then brought 
 back to the condition of ordinary steel, and is hardened, after which 
 it can be used for returning the impression to any number of 
 decarbonised plates, each of which thus becomes a counterpart of 
 the original plate. It is stated that each of these plates, when 
 hardened, will give 150,000 impressions without being materially 
 worn. The original plate thus serves to give one impression to the 
 transfer-roller, which in its turn is used to produce any number of 
 plates. The plates are decarbonised by being heated in contact 
 with iron filings, and they are reconverted into steel by being heated 
 in contact with fine charcoal made from leather ; when taken out 
 of the fire the plates are plunged into cold water. 
 
 The Chinese, to whom we owe many of the useful arts, appear to 
 have practised wood-engraving at least as early as the tenth 
 century. Native Chinese literature has been perpetuated by 
 
232 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 means of this art, the characters of a whole page being engraved 
 upon a single block ; for, whex'e words of a language are made up 
 for the most part of arbitrary characters rather than of an alphabet 
 of separate letters, much difficulty would be found in the use of 
 movable type. In their intercourse with the Chinese, the 
 Venetians appear to have learnt this art, and from them it was 
 taken up by Germany and the Low Countries for the production of 
 playing-cards and prints of saints. This was early in the fifteenth 
 century, when the engraver on wood was called a formschneider, 
 or figure-cutter, a term still in use. The prints of saints were sold 
 separately, but in the course of time they were pasted into religious 
 books, and hence probably arose the custom of illustrating books 
 with wood-engravings. One of the earliest block-books is the 
 Biblia Pauperum, or Bible of the Poor; it consists of 40 leaves, 
 small folio, printed from the same number of engraved blocks of 
 wood on one side of the paper only. These prints are placed two 
 by two, facing each other, so that by pasting their backs the book 
 has the appearance of being printed in the usual way on both 
 6ides. 
 
 The art of wood-engraving, with a few artistic exceptions, long 
 continued in obscurity; but the necessity in modern times for illus- 
 trated works, in which wood-engravings and letter-px-ess mutually 
 assist each other, has led to such improvements in the art that it 
 may now be said to have attained perfection. The wood employed 
 for the purpose is box, chiefly of American or Turkish growth, 
 which is sufficiently hard and close in the grain for the pui-pose. 
 It must be well seasoned, cut into blocks of such a thickness as to 
 correspond with the height of the type, and the surface must be 
 nicely smoothed and polished. Before drawing upon it, it is usual 
 to wash over the surface with gum-water containing a little flake- 
 white. The artist on wood must be acquainted with the pecu- 
 liarities and resources of the art, and must give such effects only as 
 the material is capable of expressing. In coppei’-plate or steel 
 engraving, lines may be crossed in various kinds of etchings, and 
 effects may be px-oduced by means of dots. In wood-engraving, 
 however, where the lines, instead of being ploughed in, or the dots 
 sunk, are raised and left in relief by the cutting away of the 
 surrounding material, the crossing of lines and the production of 
 dots are difficult, if not impossible. The principal tool employed 
 in wood-engraving is the graver, and it resembles the tool used in 
 copper-plate engraving. The point, however, is ground to a peculiar 
 form by rubbing on a Turkey-stone. Eight or nine diffex-ent sizes 
 
 are used, the finest be- 
 ing the outline tool ; 
 the upper part A, Fig. 
 275, is the back, the 
 Fig. 275. lower part D is the 
 
 belly, b is the face, c the point. This tool, in common with the 
 others, is fixed in a handle with a rounded end, part of which 
 is cut off to allow the tool to rest in the proper position of 
 
 the hand when taken 
 
 up. Fig. 276 shows 
 i ii the other gravers. The 
 lower dotted line shows 
 the extent to which 
 the points are usually 
 ground down. For 
 tinting, which is done 
 by cutting parallel lines, thinner tools are usually employed; 
 these are shown in Fig. 277. The faces of these graving-tools 
 
 should be long, so that 
 the shaving of wood 
 may turn gently over 
 towards the hand, as 
 in Fig. 278, whereas, 
 if the graver be too 
 obtuse, the shaving, 
 instead of turning 
 aside, coils up before the point of the tool, as in Fig. 279, and 
 hides the pencil-line which the engraver is following. Gouges of 
 
 Fig. 276. 
 
 "••“if 
 
 Fig. 277. 
 
 
 n 
 
 Fig. 278. Fig. 279. 
 
 different sizes, Fig. 280, are also used for scooping out the wood 
 
 towards the centre of the block, and flat tools, or chisels, for 
 n cutting it away towards the 
 edges. The flat tool marked 
 C is objectionable, as the pro- 
 jecting corners are apt to cut 
 Fig 2g0 under the line. The graver is 
 
 held, not as in copper-plate 
 or steel engraving, where the fore-finger is extended on the 
 back of the tool, so as to press the point into the plate, as shown in 
 Fig. 273 ; but, on the contx-ary, the force of the hand has to be 
 checked by the thumb, which, in small subjects, is rested against 
 the side of the block, allowing the blade to move freely, but ready 
 
 to check it in case of a slip, see Figs. 281, 282 ; in larger subjects 
 the same object is obtained by resting the thumb on the surface of 
 the block. 
 
 Wood-engraving requires artistic feeling, a steady hand, and a 
 good eye. Some artists use a lens for the finer parts of their work, 
 but this should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. In working 
 by lamp-light the heat of the flame is got rid of by placing a glass 
 globe filled with water between the light and the block ; by this 
 means one lamp will serve for three or four persons, and each will 
 have a clear, cool light to work by. During the engx-aving the 
 drawing is usually protected by a piece of paper, folded down and 
 secured at the sides, portions of this paper being removed from 
 time to time, as the work proceeds. 
 
 Lithography depends on the simple principle that resinous or oily 
 substances will not combine with aqueous, or gummy ones. Now, 
 if a stone of smooth texture and absorbent surface be prepared first 
 with an aqueous or gummy ground, and drawings be made on this 
 with a resinous or oily substance, the latter will adhere strongly 
 to the stone, and not be affected by water poured over it, while the 
 other parts of the stone imbibe it readily. If, however, a resinous 
 or oily body be passed over the stone, it will adhere strongly to the 
 drawing, and not to the watery parts of the ground. The stone 
 used in lithography is a kind of calcareous slate from the banks of 
 the Danube, in Bavaria; it is of a pale yellowish drab colour, 
 brittle, and porous. The face of the stone is px - epared by grinding 
 two stones together with fine sand interposed. Much care, how- 
 ever, is required to produce a uniform sux-face, and the grained 
 stone, as it is called, thus prepared is used for drawings in the 
 chalk manner, or for imitations of pencil drawings. For writings, 
 imitations of etchings, pen-and-ink sketches, &c., the face of the 
 stone is polished with pumice-stone dust, and water applied with a 
 rag. The materials used for drawing, writing, &c., are lithographic 
 chalk and lithographic ink. They are composed of tallow, white 
 wax, soap, shell-lac, and lamp-black, incorporated by burning in a 
 covered vessel over the fire, the proportions being different in the 
 chalk from the ink. The mixture is cast in a mould in the form 
 required for use ; the chalk is used dry, but the ink is dissolved by 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 233 
 
 rubbing it up with water, and is used with a pen or hair pencil, 
 soap enabling it to combine with the water. When the drawing is 
 made on the stone, it would for this reason admit of being washed 
 out with water; but it is fixed by passing over the stone a weak 
 solution of nitric acid, which combines with the alkali of the soap, 
 and renders the ink insoluble in water. A solution of gum is then 
 floated over the whole face of the stone, and when this is removed 
 the surface is ready for printing. A roller covered with printing- 
 ink being passed over the stone, the parts wetted with water will 
 not even be soiled by the printer’s ink, but the lines of the drawing 
 will take up a sufficient quantity to transfer an impression to a 
 sheet of damp paper placed on its surface, and passed with the stone 
 through a roller-press. After every impression a wet sponge is 
 passed over the stone previous to applying the inking-roller, and in 
 this way many thousand impressions can be taken. 
 
 Fac-similes of letters, &c., can be made by means of transfer- 
 paper , which is prepared by being washed with a gummy solution, 
 and is wi'iften on with lithographic ink. If this writing or drawing 
 be placed on a polished stone, and, the back of the paper being 
 wetted, the whole be passed through the press, the writing will 
 be transferred to the stone ; and, the paper being removed, and the 
 gum which prevented the ink from sinking into the paper being 
 washed otf with water, the stone can be printed from as before. 
 
 A method called etching, or engraving on stone, is performed by 
 rubbing over a polished stone a coat of gum-water containing some 
 lamp-black, or Vermillion. This prevents the stone from taking 
 grease or pi-inter’s ink. If, however, a drawing be executed with 
 an etching-needle by scratching away portions of the gum-ground, 
 and some oil be then rubbed over the stone, the parts exposed by 
 the etching-point will alone imbibe the oil, and, on washing off the 
 gum-ground, the surface can be printed from as before. 
 
 By printing with two or more stones, a great variety of effects may 
 be produced. For example — in printing a landscape, the drafting 
 is made with chalk on a grained stone, the sky and other delicate 
 tints being omitted — these are afterwards added by the tint- stone. 
 The latter is polished, and the ink used is peculiar. The extreme 
 lights can also be scraped out, and care being taken with the register, 
 the effects of the tint-stone can be added to those already given to 
 the paper by the other stone. On this principle, by using various 
 stones, coloured lithographs are produced, coloured inks being used, 
 with a separate stone for each colour. 
 
 Letter-press printing in various colours, or chromotypy, as it is 
 called, is seldom practised, except for the red-letter days in alma- 
 nacks, and the rubric in superior editions of the Church of England 
 Prayer-book. Some of the early printers retained the services of 
 the illuminator, who inserted titles, initial-letters, &c., in crimson, 
 blue, and gold. When the art of illumination was no longer a 
 profitable employment, the printer sometimes attempted its effects 
 by the use of variously coloured inks ; but as each form requires to 
 be passed through the press as many times as there are coloured 
 inks, this mode of printing becomes expensive. For example, in 
 printing the red-letter days, the sheets are passed through the press 
 with the omission of the red matter, the exact space which it fills 
 being occupied by quadrats. In the second working the red matter 
 alone is set up, and the difficulty is to preserve accurate register 
 where so small a portion of red has to be inserted in so large a body 
 of black. The difficulty is, of course, increased as the number of 
 the colours becomes multiplied. The coloured inks require careful 
 preparation, and before being used they must be worked up with 
 varnish on a stone with a muller to the required consistency. The 
 ink is applied to the type usually with a ball. If a form consist of 
 pica, small-pica, and long-primer of different colours, the prevailing 
 colour — the pica, for example — is worked first, and the lines in pica 
 are set up, and the other lines are filled in with small-pica and 
 long-primer quadrats. When the second set of lines is to be 
 worked, its quadrats are taken out and the proper letters inserted, 
 while the type of the first lines is removed, and quadrats substi- 
 tuted. A similar plan is adopted for the third lines ; and in making 
 these changes the form must not be disturbed in its place on the 
 press; care must also be taken, in this treble working, not to disturb 
 the points in the tympan. The paper must not be allowed to dry 
 between the different workings, or it will shrink and the register 
 cannot be afterwards obtained. The composition of coloured inks 
 has of late years been greatly benefited by the improvements which 
 have been effected in the manufacture of those foolish things 
 playing-cards. 
 
 Printing in gold is performed by setting up the type in the 
 usual manner, and causing leaf-gold to adhere to the paper when 
 the impression has been taken in varnish. The gold leaf is rubbed 
 on with a piece of cotton wool. For inferior gold printing bronze 
 powder is used, and a very large trade is carried on in this branch 
 of the art at Manchester for ornamental tickets, which are attached 
 to muslins and calendered goods. 
 
 Before proceeding to notice other kinds of printing, the results o* 
 which are exhibited at the Stationery Court, we may shortly 
 describe the rolling-press used in copper-plate printing* and for 
 other purposes. It consists of two parts, the body and the carriage ; 
 the body is formed of two cheeks of wood or of iron placed vertically 
 on a stand or foot which supports the whole machine. From this 
 foot proceed four other vertical pieces joined by horizontal pieces 
 supporting a strong even plank of wood called the table ; within 
 the cheeks are two rollers, the upper one of iron, and the lower 
 of wood. These rollers run on the cheeks or gudgeons, formed by 
 turning down the ends of the rollers on two pieces of wood in the 
 form of half-moons, lined with polished iron to assist their motion. 
 One of the gudgeons of the upper roller carries a cross consisting of 
 levers, as shown in Fig. 283, by means of which motion is given to 
 
 Fig. 2S3. 
 
 the upper roller. The space between the upper and lower rollers 
 can be adjusted by screws. 
 
 In the process of printing the copper or steel plate is raised to 
 the temperature of 150° by means of a charcoal fire, or a steam-box, 
 which is much preferable, by thus getting rid of the dangerous 
 charcoal fumes. The man takes up a small quantity of ink on a 
 rubber, and daubs it over the face of the plate ; he then removes 
 some of the superfluous ink with a piece of canvas, and with the 
 palm of the hand dipped in whitening he clears away the ink from 
 those parts which are not engraved, while a proper supply of ink 
 is left in the hollows. The plate being once more warmed is 
 placed on the plank of the press, and over the plate the damped 
 paper which is to receive the impression, and over the paper two 
 or three folds of flannel or blanket. The arms of the cross are 
 now pulled, and the plate with its furniture are passed between 
 the rollers, which by their strong equable pressure force the 
 moistened paper into the strokes of the engraving, by which it 
 absorbs the ink and retains the impression. Three kinds of ink, 
 the thin, the thtck, and the strotig, are in use; they differ in their 
 degrees of cohesion, the strong being used for the finer works. 
 The stronger the ink, the stronger must be the impression. 
 
 The lithographic-press differs from the copperplate-press in the 
 mode of applying the pressure, which is accompanied by a sort of 
 scraping movement. In this press there are two iron uprights 
 rising from the bed or table, and the stone is supported by a car- 
 riage moving on rollers along a small railway. The scraper or 
 bar, instead of being pressed down by a lever, is acted on by a 
 spring, which keeps it in strong contact with the tympan. A 
 cylinder worked by a handle sets the carriage in motion, and the 
 stone is thus brought under the action of the scraper or pressing- 
 bar. 
 
 Some remarkable specimens of printing of natural objects have 
 of late years attracted attention by their variety and beauty, and 
 
 3 o 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 show how countless are the ramifications of the printer’s art. By 
 means of the galvanoplastic process, fossil fishes have been repro- 
 duced upon paper with the exactness of nature. For this purpose 
 a mould of the fish is taken in gutta-percha, which by the action of 
 a voltaic-battery is coated with copper, thus forming a plate on 
 which all the markings of the fish are reproduced in relief, and 
 which, when printed at the typographical press, give a result on 
 paper identical with the object itself. 
 
 Impressions resembling aquatint engravings have been obtained 
 without the assistance of the engraver by the following process : — 
 a plate of silvered copper is covered with a landscape or other 
 subject by a good artist, who uses various coats of a paint composed 
 of an oxide, such as that of iron, burnt sienna, or black-lead ground 
 up with linseed-oil. The substance of these coats is thin or thick 
 according to the tenacity of the lights and shades in the picture. 
 The plate is then submitted to the action of a voltaic-battery, by 
 which means another plate is obtained, reproducing an intaglio 
 copy, with all the unevenness of the original painting, and which 
 can, of course, be printed from like an actual engraving. 
 
 In the process of galvanoglyphy a drawing is etched upon a 
 plate of zinc coated with varnish, and upon this a coat of ink is 
 spread by means of a small composition roller. The ink is deposited 
 only on those parts where the varnish has not been removed by the 
 etching-needle, the sunken portion of the engraving being left free. 
 When the first layer is dry a second is applied, then a third, and 
 so on until the original hollows are thought to be deep enough. 
 The plate is then placed in the voltaic-battery, and another plate 
 is thus produced on which all the hollows of the engraving are in 
 relief. 
 
 In the process of chemitypy casts in relief are obtained from the 
 engraving. A polished zinc plate is covered with an etching-ground, 
 the design is etched with a point, and bitten-in with aquafortis ; 
 the etching-ground is then removed, and the acid well cleaned off. 
 Filings of fusible metal are next placed on the plate, which is heated 
 until the fusible metal fills up the engraving ; when cold the sur- 
 face of the fusible metal is scraped down to the level of the plate, 
 leaving only that portion of it which entered the hollow parts of 
 the engraving. The plate of zinc is next submitted to the action 
 of a weak solution of muriatic acid ; the zinc alone is attacked, and 
 the fusible metal which was in the hollow of the engraving is now 
 left in relief, and may be printed from. 
 
 Lithographic drawings, or, indeed, drawings of any kind, can be 
 reproduced by Mr. Gillot’s method, which goes by the unwieldly 
 name of paneiconography. A plate of zinc is well polished with 
 pumice-stone, and on this the writing or drawing is executed with 
 lithographic crayon or ink, or the impressions printed from copper 
 or steel-plates, wood-engravings or type, may be transferred to 
 the zinc-plate by wetting the impressions with dilute nitric acid, 
 placing them on the plate, and passing them through a roller- 
 press ; a process adopted in what is called anastatic printing. 
 The surface is then inked over with a roller, so as to increase the 
 thickness of the ink, which is afterwards consolidated by dusting 
 finely-powdered resin over the plate ; the resin adheres to the ink 
 only, and can be easily removed from the other parts. To obtain 
 a block in relief the plate is put into a shallow trough contain- 
 ing very dilute sulphuric or muriatic acid. A rocking motion is 
 given to the trough, by which the acid is made to pass slowly 
 to and fro over the plate, and in the course of half an hour the 
 etching is completed, and a relief-block is obtained, from which the 
 large whites are removed by saw-piercing. Should the plate 
 contain writing, or many fine lines, it must be taken out of the 
 acid from time to time, and the surface be again inked with litho- 
 graphic ink, and powdered with resin to protect the edges from 
 the undermining action of the acid. Transfers from old impressions 
 of wood-engravings may be made by sponging them on the back 
 with dilute acid, and then operating as is usual with lithographic 
 transfers. 
 
 The photographic portraits which are exhibited in such profusion 
 in the Stationery Court are exquisite examples of printing by the 
 delicate fingers of the solar light. The earliest successful expe- 
 riment in photographic printing was made in 1839, by Mr. Fox 
 Talbot, whose method consisted in soaking writing-paper in a 
 solution of common salt, and when dry washing it over on one side 
 with a solution of nitrate of silver. This was done by candle-light, 
 and the paper was dried at the fire. A film of chloride of silver 
 mixed with an excess of nitrate of silver was thus formed on the 
 
 surface of the paper. In using this sensitive surface to obtain a 
 copy of an engraving or the leaf of a tree, the engraving or the 
 leaf was placed upon it, and pressed firmly together between two 
 plates of glass (or in the apparatus represented in Figs. 284, 285, 
 and 286, which represent two front views, and the method of fixing 
 
 at the back), and thus exposed to the light for half an hour or an 
 hour. A negative impression was thus obtained, or one in which 
 the shadows were represented by lights, and the lights by shadows; 
 the portions which had been exposed to the strongest light becom- 
 ing dark, and where less light was transmitted, the blackening was 
 less, while the parts which transmitted no light at all were left 
 white. The impression was fixed by placing it in a strong solution of 
 common salt. Although great improvements have been introduced 
 since this method was published, the art of photographic printing 
 remains in principle the same. In multiplying a photographic 
 portrait a sensitive coating is applied to the surface of a pane or 
 glass, on which is thrown the optical image of the sitter as formed 
 in the camera-obscura ; by treating the plate with a developing 
 liquid a negative is formed, and a sheet of sensitive paper is placed 
 under it, which by exposure to the light receives a positive impres- 
 sion ; this being fixed the process is complete, and in this way any 
 number of impressions can be taken from the same glass plate. 
 
 Photography has revealed much of the marvellous power of light 
 in reducing certain chemical substances, and forming new combi- 
 nations among them ; but it does not inform us of those mysterious 
 effects which are going on constantly around us, or of the nature of 
 that vivifying influence which light so cheerfully impresses on the 
 whole of creation. Some years ago M. Moser discovered the fact 
 that light constantly emanates from all bodies, even in complete 
 darkness ; and that when two bodies are placed near each other, 
 the one impresses upon the other a picture of itself. In this way 
 true photographic pictures are formed, engravings copied; the 
 glass which serves to protect a framed engraving from the dust has 
 readjusted its molecules to the lights and shades of the picture : but 
 in all these cases the impressions are invisible, and they remain so 
 until developed by exposure to the vapour of water, of mercury, or 
 or of iodine. The vapour arranges itself in the most delicate 
 manner on the glass, and clearly indicates that the molecular 
 change which it has undergone has been regulated by the print, 
 or rather by the light reflected from the print back to the glass. 
 The experiment may be tried by placing a coin, such as a sovereign, 
 on a piece of glass, and leaving it on a warm mantle-shelf for half 
 an hour, when, by exposing the glass to the vapour of mercury, an 
 image may be obtained of that side of the coin which was in con- 
 tact with the glass. 
 
 A remarkable process of photographic engraving has been con- 
 trived, based on the fact observed so long ago as 1827, by M. 
 Niepce, that the bitumen of Judea becomes insoluble in oil of 
 lavender by exposure to the sun, while those parts which have 
 remained in the shade retain their solubility. Powdered asphalte 
 with a little bees’-wax is dissolved in oil of lavender, and mixed 
 with an equal bulk of benzole. The surface of a steel plate is then 
 well cleaned with whitening and water, after which a solution of 
 muriatic acid is poured over it, and the plate is immediately washed 
 and dried. The solution of bitumen is poured upon the plate in a 
 darkened room, and dried at a gentle heat. A positive photographic 
 proof is then applied to the surface, covered with glass, and 
 exposed for a short time to the action of diffused light. The plate 
 is next subjected to the action of a mixture of naphtha and benzole, 
 which acts upon the parts which have not been exposed to the 
 light. The solution having been washed off with water, the exposed 
 parts of the plates are bitten-in with a mixture of nitric acid, 
 alcohol, and water, after which the plate may be submitted to the 
 ordinary processes employed in aquatint engravings. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 235 
 
 A modification of this process has been applied to lithography, 
 for which purpose the bitumen, dissolved in ether, is poured upon 
 the stone, and a negative photograph being placed upon it, it is 
 exposed to the light. The stone is now washed with ether, which 
 dissolves the unexposed parts of the film, and does not act on those 
 which have been modified by the light. The surface is then acted 
 on with dilute acid, and washed, when it may be used with litho- 
 graphic ink, which attaches itself to the parts upon which the 
 bitumen is left. The results obtained in this way are said to be 
 very good. 
 
 The coloured impressions of ferns which strike the visitor of the 
 Stationery Court by the life-like resemblance to the originals, are 
 made to print themselves in the following manner : — the specimen 
 to be copied is placed on a sheet of lead, and passed through a roller- 
 press, by which means every part of the plant (even the most 
 delicate markings of the leaves) leaves an impression. By submitting 
 this plate to the action of the voltaic-battery a copy in copper is 
 obtained in relief, and can be printed from. By applying properly 
 coloured inks to the various parts a copy is obtained in all the 
 natural colours at one printing. 
 
 The reader will judge from the foregoing details, how universal 
 is the process of printing. "VVe have nearly reached our limits in 
 this notice, but we cannot quit the Stationery Court without 
 giving a few details on the bookbinder’s art, which should ever be 
 held in honour. 
 
 A. book being printed in sheets in the manner already described, 
 the first step towards the binding is called gathering or collecting 
 the sheets into quires in their proper order. In this process the 
 gatherer is guided by the signatures of the sheets, which usually 
 consist of the letters of the Roman alphabet, the first sheet being 
 marked B (a being reserved for the title, contents, &c., which are 
 usually printed last), the second sheet is marked c, and so on. In 
 this alphabet the letters J, v, and w are omitted, so that the 
 twenty-third sheet is marked A A or 2 A, the twenty-fourth BB or 
 2 B, and so on ; while the third alphabet begins with AAA or 3 A, 
 and so on. It is also usual, for the purpose of guiding the printer 
 in imposing, and the folder in folding, to insert other minor sig- 
 natures at the bottom of the third page of every sheet, such as 
 B 2, c 2, &c. In gathering the sheets, the last sheet is taken first ; 
 and proceeding from z (if that be the last) backwards to B, the 
 sheets are thus arranged in their proper order for folding. The 
 title, contents, &c., or signature A, is then placed with the other 
 signatures, and the whole being folded into quires, the gatherer 
 proceeds as before until the whole impression has been made up 
 into quires. 
 
 The sheets are folded with gi'eat rapidity by females with the 
 assistance of a paper-knife, Fig. 287 ; the sheets are then sub- 
 
 Fig. 2s7.— folding. 
 
 jected to pressure in a hydrostatic press, or if the sheets have been 
 printed some time, and the ink be properly set, they may be passed 
 between rollers, Fig. 288, the effect of which is very superior to 
 the old method of beating with a hammer. 
 
 The sheets are next collated, to see that the signatures run pro- 
 perly, and the plates (if any) are inserted in their proper places. 
 The waste leaves are added at the beginning and end ; the back 
 
 and head are knocked up square, and the book is placed between 
 pressing boards with the back of the sheets projecting, in which 
 
 position the book is placed in the cutting-press, Fig. 289, consist- 
 ing of two wooden cheeks 
 c c connected by two slide 
 bars b b, and two wooden 
 screws s s, which are worked 
 by an iron bar. A tenon 
 saw is passed across the 
 back of the sheets, so as to 
 make a number of grooves 
 for the reception of the 
 cords or bands for holding 
 the threads in the sewing, F,f> ‘ 239, 
 
 and also for securing the boards which form the side covers. The 
 book is then taken to the sewing-press, Fig. 290, which is a stout 
 
 flat board containing an upright screw s at each end, supporting a 
 top rail r, which rises and falls on the screws by means of nuts n n. 
 
 Fig. 292. 
 
 Attached to this rail are several cords corresponding with the 
 grooves sawn in the back, which cords are secured by being fas- 
 tened to brass keys, one of which is shown in Fig. 291, passed 
 
 Fig. 291. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 236 
 
 through an aperture in the bed of the press, and tightened by 
 tux-ning the nuts n n. There are various kinds of sewing, depend- 
 ing on the size of the book and the style of binding; and for the 
 better kinds of binding, instead of sawing grooves for the bands, 
 tapes are used in place of strings, as shown in Fig. 292. 
 
 The books having been sewed, a layer of glue is brushed over 
 the back, and on this is placed a shred of paper or coarse thin 
 canvas of the size of the back. If the book is to be boarded or 
 bound in cloth, the canvas is made to project a little on each side, 
 for the purpose of securing the side boards. The book is next 
 placed in the cutting-press, and the edges trimmed with a knife, 
 without, however, cutting through the folds of the sheets. The 
 back of the book is now rounded by tapping it with a broad- 
 faced hammer, after which each book is placed between a 
 couple of wooden boards, with the back projecting, and is put 
 in a screw-press. The man then, by a succession of blows, 
 causes each side of the back to project a little over the boards, 
 so as to form grooves for the reception of the side covers. The 
 books are now placed in their cases, and the outside fly-leaf 
 being pasted to the boards, the books are built up between 
 wooden boards, with the backs projecting, and are placed in a 
 standing-press, Fig. 293, where they are left for some hours. The 
 
 Fig. 293. 
 
 mill-boards, which form the solid substance of the cases, are sup- 
 plied to the binder in large sheets, and he cuts them up to the 
 proper size by means of a knife, as shown in Fig. 294. The 
 cover of the book may be of leather or of cloth, and in either case 
 it is ornamented at the back and sides with a pattern which is 
 
 Fig. 294. 
 
 produced in various ways. Embossing is now much practised, for 
 which purpose the embossing-press, Fig. 295, is used. This con- 
 sists of a solid iron frame, well secured ; the lower bed of the press 
 (also of iron) is perforated with two openings, for the reception of 
 a row of gas jets for the purpose of heatiug it ; on this lower bed 
 is placed the metal die containing the pattern, while the counter 
 die is formed by pasting pieces of mill-board to the surface of the 
 upper bed. By swinging round the arms of the press, which are 
 
 furnished with huge balls at the extremities, the mill-board is 
 brought down with amazing force on the metal die, and takes an 
 impression therefrom. When the counter die is properly adjusted, 
 
 the leathern covers are passed one by one through the press, and 
 the ornaments are embossed on them with great ease and rapidity. 
 
 Cloth covers are embossed after the boards are inserted. The 
 ornaments may be produced by pressure only, which is called 
 blind-blocking, and when done by hand, blind-tooling, while the gilt 
 ornaments or lettering are called gold-blocking or gold-tooling. The 
 blocking -presses do not greatly differ, except in power, from the fly- 
 press already described. The pattern is cut out in a thick plate or 
 block of brass fixed in the upper bed of the press, which contains a 
 cavity for a row of gas-jets. The cloth covers are inserted within 
 metal rules, which serve as a gauge, by a man who sits before the 
 
 Fig. 2 mi. 
 
 press, while another man swings round a long lever, whereby the 
 upper bed is brought down upon the case in the lower bed, and 
 embosses the impression. When the cases are completed in this 
 way, they are taken to the gilder, who covers the parts intended to 
 be gilt with a little white of egg, and then with a film of leaf 
 gold. The covers are then passed to a gold-blocking press, Fig. 296, 
 containing a plate or block with the lettering and other ornaments 
 intended to be gilt, and heated by jets of gas. The cover being 
 introduced into a gauged bed, the man by means of a lever brings 
 down the heated plate upon the cover, and permanently fixes the 
 lettering and device. The superfluous gold is wiped off with a piece 
 of rag, and the covers are now ready for the books which we left 
 in the standing-press. The covers are secured by glueing to the 
 boards the canvas strips which project on each side of the back, 
 and to conceal the arrangement as well as the uncovered parts of 
 the boards, and to give a neat finish to the book, some coloured 
 paper, called lining-paper, is glued in. The books are then put into 
 the standing-press for a few hours, and are then ready for delivery 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 237 
 
 Most of the literature of the present day is cloth-boarded in the 
 manner above described, and as the amount of work is vast, it is 
 performed on that wholesale system which has been gaining ground 
 of late years in this country, absorbing the small independent 
 tradesmen, just as the large and increasing estate has absorbed the 
 small farm of the yoeman, and well-nigh extinguished yoemen as 
 a class. We have been accustomed to regard cotton, silk, flax, and 
 wool, as proper subjects for the manufacturing system, and are not 
 surprised to learn that a manufactory employs hundreds, and even 
 thousands of hands, male and female. The steam-engine, the spin- 
 ning-jenny, and the power-loom have rendered the existence of the 
 picturesque Jersey-wheel and the domestic hand-loom impossible ; 
 but we are scarcely prepared for a wholesale furnishing manufactory, 
 or house-decorator , as this colossus of trade is now called, who will 
 undertake to decorate the whole interior of a house, to supply the 
 whole of its furniture, and 
 present it fit for habitation. 
 
 Still less are we prepared for 
 a book manufactory, or an 
 establishment where the print- 
 ing, decorating, binding, and 
 finishing of a book are carried 
 on ; where steam-presses and 
 copper-plate presses are dis- 
 playing their marvellous re- 
 sults of production, and wood 
 engravers and copper -plate 
 engravers are busily plying 
 their skilled labour. Such 
 things are doubtless necessary 
 consequences of the progress 
 of a great nation in popula- 
 tion, in commerce, in improved 
 means of intercommunication, 
 in education, and a keener 
 appreciation of the comforts of 
 life. The result of printing 
 by steam has been to increase 
 books many thousand fold ; 
 and as this and other causes 
 have proportionally increased 
 the number of readers, it was 
 necessary to readjust the modes 
 of production, even of such 
 intellectual things as books. 
 
 So strongly does one of the 
 great book-binding establish- 
 ments to which we have re- 
 ferred resemble a manufactory 
 in the vastness and rapidity of 
 its results, that we have known 
 the whole impression of an 
 octavo work, consisting of 1000 
 copies, to be bound in the 
 course of six hours, in which 
 case, however, the cloth covers 
 are prepared a day or two 
 before, the number of sheets 
 being stated, and the title, style „ 
 
 c , , „ , * Pig. 297. — BOOK-COYEH BY 
 
 ot ornament, colour of the cloth, 
 
 &c., being also determined. A thousand covers, or cases, can be 
 prepared in one or two days, but the book itself can be folded, 
 stitched, glued, and rounded, the edges trimmed, and the book 
 mounted in cases and pressed, all within six hours. 
 
 For leather bindings, such as those for Bibles and prayer-books, 
 the edges, instead of being trimmed with a knife, are cut through 
 
 with a plough, Fig. 298, which consists of two cheeks of wood cc, 
 connected by a wooden screw s, and a couple of guides bb. By turn- 
 ing the screw the cheeks are brought closer together, and, in the con- 
 trary direction, they are moved farther apart. Into one of the cheeks 
 k is fixed a cutting knife, Fig. 299, a double-edged pointed blade, 
 of which two forms are shown. The book to be ploughed is placed 
 between a couple of boards in the cutting-press, Fig. 289, with the 
 edges projecting, and one of the cheeks being placed in the groove 
 of the press, the point of the knife is brought up to the book, and is 
 moved backwards and forwards against it, the knife being advanced 
 by turning the handle s. In common binding the white edges are 
 sprinkled with a mixture of coloured chalk, umber, Venetian red, or 
 ochre, in size and water, for which purpose a brush dipped in the 
 mixture is held a few feet from the books, and by striking it a 
 shower of drops falls down upon the edges, and produces the 
 intended effect. The colour is 
 fixed by passing an agate bur- 
 nisher over the edges. For 
 the better class of binding the 
 edges are marbled by the pro- 
 cess by which marbled paper 
 is produced. The colours em- 
 ployed are the ochres, and such 
 animal and vegetable matters 
 as will float upon a solution 
 of gum-tragacanth. The co- 
 lours are mixed with various 
 combinations of beef-marrow, 
 several different oils, such as 
 nut, rape, &c., turpentine, 
 white-soap, potash, a soap of 
 wax called by the French colie 
 d lisser, alum-water, and tar- 
 taric acid. The workman has 
 his colours properly mixed in 
 pots, or stone jars, with a brush 
 in each. Taking up a brushful 
 of colour, he strikes it on his 
 left hand, so as to jerk a shower 
 of drops upon the bath of mu- 
 cilage, when each drop slowly 
 spreads. He then takes a 
 brush containing another co- 
 lour, and throws down a shower 
 of drops as before ; he may use 
 a third or fourth brush with 
 ^different colours. By a little 
 contrivance he strikes the 
 brush so as to make some 
 colours fall in large and some 
 in small drops, and he finishes 
 by showering down in the 
 greatest size and abundance 
 the colour that is to predomi- 
 nate, or form the ground. The 
 colours partially blend, and 
 form those pebble-like patterns 
 which are 60 well known ; and 
 the spreading of the ground 
 drives the other colours into 
 narrow streaks, like the cement between the pebbles of a conglome- 
 rate marble, whence the French call papers of this variety jwpiers 
 cailloutages. The paper to be marbled is now laid upon the bath, 
 and on taking it up carefully the whole of the pattern will be found 
 adhering to its surface, and this, when dry, may be fixed by 
 polishing with an agate. By dipping the ploughed edges of a book 
 into the bath prepared with the required pattern, the colours attach 
 themselves in like manner, and may be fixed by means of the agate 
 burnisher.* The curled marble pattern is formed by introducing the 
 
 * In Mr. De la Rue’s iridescent marbling the colours depend on the vibratory 
 or undulatory nature of light; in most cases, on the interference, or mutual 
 stifling of some of its vibrations or waves, when reflected at different surfaces, 
 so near as to have only the interval of a few of these minute waves. A sheet 
 of paper glazed with flake-white is placed on a sloping plate of perforated 
 zinc, and water is poured over it ; it is then lifted by the zinc, and placed 
 beneath the surface of water, on which is poured a few drops of varnish, 
 necessary to form the film. The solvent of the varnish, being an essential oil, 
 or chloroform, dries quickly. The zinc plate, with the paper on it, is then 
 
 MADAME CUL EL, OF PAIUS. 
 
 3 P 
 
238 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 point of the handle of a brush among the colours, and giving it a 
 few spiral turns; combed pat- 
 terns are produced by first 
 moving the point of a stick 
 through the bath repeatedly 
 from end to end, so as to draw 
 out the colours into streaks, 
 and then passing the teeth of 
 a brass comb across them at 
 right angles, which notches 
 them into the serried ranks 
 of narrow repeated arches, as 
 seen on the edges of account- 
 books. 
 
 In the better class of bind- 
 ing, as in whole bound calf, lettered, with raised backs, the boards 
 are added after the glueing and rounding of the backs ; for which 
 purpose the sewer leaves small 
 projecting pieces of string bands, 
 which are passed through holes 
 made in the boards, and are se- 
 cured with glue. After plough- 
 ing the edges they are marbled, 
 or gilt, the latter operation being 
 performed with gold-leaf laid on 
 with glaire, or white of egg, and 
 polished with agate. The head- 
 band, which serves as a finish to 
 the top and bottom of the sheets, 
 consists of a small strip of mill- 
 board, secured by needle and 
 thread, and the thread is twisted 
 or plaited over the strip, for 
 which purpose the book is held 
 in a small screw-press, as shown 
 in Fig. 300. The head-hand, in- 
 stead of being worked, may be 
 stuck on. The leathern cover, 
 being cut to shape and pared at 
 the edges, is damped, covered 
 with paste, and applied to the 
 book, — a few simple tools being 
 used to smooth it down and press 
 it into shape, to square the edges, 
 and to raise the bands. When 
 this is properly arranged the 
 marbled, or other lining-papers 
 are inserted, and the book is put 
 into the standing-press. The 
 ornaments are put on by means 
 of brass tools, Figs. 302, 303, 
 
 304, heated at a gas-stove, Fig. 
 
 305; and the ornaments may be- 
 long to what is called blind- 
 tooling, or gilt-tooling . For the 
 latter gold-leaf is put on by 
 means of glaire, and the heated 
 tools being pressed down, per- 
 manently fix the gold to the 
 leather, the superfluous gold 
 being wiped off with a rag. The 
 lettering is done by a set of 
 letters cut in brass, and selected 
 according to the subject, each Fig ' “i. - book-cover 
 
 letter being used separately. Certain titles in common use, such 
 
 Fig. 305. 
 
 Fig. 306. When the ornaments, letter- 
 ing, &c., are complete, the book is finished < 
 off with polishing irons of various shapes 
 and sizes, one of which is shown in Fig. 
 
 307. Yellum binding is a distinct branch 
 of the trade, and is chiefly used for account- 
 books. 
 
 We have thus gone over in a rapid man- 
 ner the chief details of the binder’s art, and 
 must conclude with one or two examples 
 of those elaborate bindings which were re- 
 ferred to at the commencement of this notice, g. 
 
 Fig. 297 is a carved book-cover by Madame 
 Gruel, of Paris. Good taste in an inap- 
 propriate position is almost as objectionable 
 as bad taste in a position where ornament 
 is a natural and necessary part of the subject, and therefore ap- 
 propriate. The house to which 
 we owe this example is celebrated 
 for its book-covers, carved in box 
 or ivory, often of the most mi- 
 nute and elaborate design, and 
 fitted rather to be framed and 
 glazed, and hung up against 
 the wall as artistic relievos, than 
 to undergo the rough wear to 
 which we should suppose a book 
 is likely to be exposed. Some 
 persons adopt the practice of 
 covering all their books with 
 paper, so that they have even 
 not the advantage of drawing- 
 room furniture, from which the 
 covers are sometimes removed, — 
 and as these bindings are never 
 seen, it would seem scarcely to 
 matter whether they were plain 
 or ornamental. Such bindings 
 as Madame Gruel’s do not even 
 admit of being covered, and 
 cannot be placed with their fel- 
 lows on a book-shelf, but must 
 be exposed to all the accidents 
 of table-furniture ; or if taken 
 so much care of by the owner 
 as not to be used at all, they 
 become degraded to the level of 
 a bright-poker ornament, which 
 is a sad position for an intel- 
 lectual production. Fig. 301 is a 
 book-cover by Mr. Leighton, from 
 a drawing by his son, designed 
 for an edition of “ Thomson’s 
 Seasons.” The four seasons of 
 the year are stamped upon it 
 round a circle, on which appear 
 the twelve signs of the zodiac ; 
 in the centre is a floral group 
 comprising the crocus of spring, 
 the rose of summer, the ripe corn 
 of autumn, and the holly of 
 Christmas. There is considerable 
 merit in the design — it is free 
 from the objections of embossed, 
 or carved surfaces ; but it is liable to the serious objection of want 
 of fitness. It is sufficiently elaborate to serve as a frontispiece to 
 the work which it is intended to cover. Such a design, executed 
 
 Fig. 3U6. 
 
 Fig. 307. 
 
 lifted out and left to dry, with the excessively thin film permanently attached. 
 Tliis may afterwards he embossed or printed with black patterns, which 
 heighten the iridescent effects. 
 
 on a leather surface in blind or gilt tooling, is an example of the 
 now so common fault of attempting to make an art of small pre- 
 tensions rival an art whose scope is illimitable. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 The design by Mr. J. W. Evans, Fig. 308, is taken from an 
 original specimen of the time of Henry II. of France ; it is a small 
 quarto, richly illuminated in gold and various colours, on brown 
 leather; the black field is a positive dye, but the remaining colours 
 
 Fig. 308. — design foe a book-coyer of the time of henry n. of France. 
 
 are enamelled. We cannot help thinking that this design is in the 
 true spirit of the book-binder’s art, and we should be glad to see 
 taste following this direction rather than adopting the absurd 
 rivalry of the engraver, the painter, and the modeller. Fig. 309 
 
 is a tolerably good design for an album cover, but we think it 
 might be improved by a less frequent repetition of the circle, which 
 
 CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 is too geometrical a figure for pure ornament, and is the least 
 graceful among the endless variety of curves. 
 
 THE INDIA-RUBBER COURT. 
 
 How easily do we adopt new objects and appliances, and assi- 
 milate the new ideas to which they give rise. Things which are 
 regarded with amazement by one generation are looked upon as 
 commonplace by the next. The father who has witnessed the birth 
 of the electric telegraph, a-nd can scarcely realise its wondrous results, 
 sees his son send messages by it quite as a matter of course, and hears 
 him speak of it with all the familiarity which a person feels w’hen 
 he grows up as it were to an invention, instead of the invention 
 dawning upon his manhood. The name of Dr. Priestley is known 
 to most of us as that of an original thinker, whose scientific dis- 
 coveries, which resulted from the amusements of his leisure, have 
 made his name immortal, w T hile the theological discussions which 
 formed the business of his life, and are included in a long list of 
 publications, are forgotten. In one of the works of this celebrated 
 man occurs the first notice of India-rubber. In the preface to his 
 work on perspective, printed in 1770, he says: — “ Since this work 
 was printed off I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the 
 purpose of wiping from paper the marks of a black-lead pencil. 
 It must therefore be of singular use to those who practise drawing. 
 It is sold by Mr. Nairn, mathematical instrument maker, opposite 
 the Royal Exchange. He sells a cubical piece of about half an 
 inch for three shillings, and he says it will last for several years.” 
 
 Turning from this statement to the India-rubber Court of the 
 Crystal Palace, we shall be indeed struck with the progress which 
 India-rubber has made. For many years, however, after Dr. 
 Priestley wrote, the use of India rubber was restricted to the purpose 
 which he indicates. It is now scarcely possible to say what is the 
 limit to its use : almost every domestic utensil, articles of furniture, 
 and articles of dress, are made of this protean substance. 
 
 The India-rubber Court is situate in the north-east gallery : the 
 
 1 proprietor is Mr. Charles Goodyear, of New York, and the architect 
 is Mr. Stannard Warne, who, adopting the principle of making the 
 case illustrate the nature of its contents, constructed the stall 
 entirely of India-rubber, so that the cabinet-maker has thus a new 
 material placed at his disposal, and he may in this Court study the 
 effect of India-rubber in the manufacture of sofas, chairs, tables, 
 bedsteads, drawers, work-tables, pillars, and bas-reliefs. Among the 
 innumerable articles of a miscellaneous kind, we have fruit-plates, 
 card-trays, boxes, boxes inlaid with pearl (which, however, we 
 think had better have been omitted), watch-cases, bracelets, brooches, 
 and rings set with jewels (this also we hold to be a mistake) ; fruit- 
 knives, and paper-knives, ladies’ work-boxes, fans, opera-glasses, 
 jewel-boxes, toilet-boxes, picture- frames, eye-glasses, ink-stands, 
 paper-folders, powder-flasks, cork-screws, pen-holders, pencil-cases 
 of peculiar construction, drinking-cups, buttons, syringes, surgical 
 instruments of various kinds, canes and walking-sticks, umbrellas, 
 combs, and brushes. We are not prepared to say that in all these 
 cases the material is appropriate. The manufacturer seems desirous 
 to astonish by the great variety of uses to which India-rubber can 
 be applied, and he speaks as if he had done something worthy of 
 applause when he assures you that the house and its contents are 
 all of India-rubber. It would be almost as wise to make a tea-kettle 
 of that substance as some of the articles above enumerated. India- 
 rubber has properties peculiar to itself, which render it more fit 
 for certain objects than any other substance, and these properties 
 admit of a wide range of application ; but we should as soon think 
 of introducing a chimney-sweep to the society of the drawing-room 
 as of placing an India-rubber bracelet on a fair lady’s arm. 
 
 Caoutchouc is the produce, not of one tree or of one family of 
 trees, but of a great variety of trees in different parts of the world, 
 
 
240 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 but chiefly in the tropics. The milky juice contained in some of 
 our own well-known plants, such as dandelion, celandine, and the 
 spurges, closely resembles that which in hot countries forms caout- 
 chouc; but especially is this the case with the common fig-tree 
 (Ficus carica). Another species of fig ( Ficus elastica ) yields the 
 principal supply of caoutchouc received from Continental India, and 
 the supply from Java is also obtained from different species of fig. 
 In Central America the best kinds of India-rubber are furnished by 
 a plant called Siphotiia elastica, belonging to the order Euphor- 
 biacece ; but the India-rubber of the Indian islands is obtained from 
 a totally different plant — a climber of very rapid growth, and great 
 size, XJrceola elastica, a single tree of which is said to yield annually 
 from fifty to sixty pounds of the milky juice. 
 
 From numerous sources, therefore, the substance is to be obtained, 
 the quality varying with the species of plant, and with the greater 
 or less degree of care bestowed on its collection by the natives. 
 
 The juice is generally collected at the foot of a tree which has 
 been cut to let it escape, or it is run into a rough kind of mould or 
 trench made in the ground, where it hardens by exposure to the 
 
 the purified portions of the caoutchouc are made to unite. The 
 mastication is performed a second time dry, and the heat evolved 
 by the process, together with the compression, causes it to form 
 into a mass which is afterwards cut up into rectangular blocks. 
 These are now placed in moulds, and subjected to powerful com- 
 pression, the effect of which is to get rid of cavities, air-bubbles, 
 &c. The blocks are divided into slices of various thicknesses by 
 the action of knives moving with great rapidity, and kept cool by 
 the play of a jet of water. Some of these 
 sheets are further subdivided into small 
 parallelopipeds, which are used for rub- 
 bing out pencil-marks. The thinner sheets 
 are used in the laboratory for making short 
 elastic tubes for connecting pieces of ap- 
 paratus together, the facility with which 
 two recently cut and perfectly clean sur- 
 faces of caoutchouc weld together, admi- 
 rably fitting it for the purpose. For example, the ends of two 
 tubes may be connected air-tight by wrapping a piece of sheet 
 
 air into large masses like the trunk of a tree. These are the 
 rougher modes of preparation, and such India-rubber is often 
 largely mixed with sand and other impurities. Wet weather is the 
 most favourable time for collecting it, for the juice then flows most 
 freely. Another form of caoutchouc is indicative of the rude art of 
 the natives : it is modelled on plastic clay into the shape of 
 bottles, pear-shaped bodies, figures of animals, slippers, &c. This 
 seems to be done by dipping the mould into the partially thickened 
 juice, and allowing it to harden, then dipping again, and so on in 
 successive layers. When this is well done, the India-rubber so 
 obtained, is fit for many uses without further preparation. But 
 when the different layers are badly united, it is necessary to work 
 up the whole af-esh by kneading, and it often happens that the 
 substance is so impure as to be unfit for use without a further 
 process. 
 
 Caoutchouc is purified by being submitted to the action of 
 cylinders furnished with teeth, which move at unequal rates of 
 speed in opposite directions. During this kind of mastication a 
 jet of water is made to play upon the apparatus, by which means 
 the impurities crushed by the mill are gradually carried off, and 
 
 caoutchouc over the ends, as in Fig. 310, and cutting off the 
 superfluous portion with a pair of scissors, when on pressing the 
 fresh-cut edges together they cohere so as to form a perfect tube. 
 
 The most important application of caoutchouc was made by 
 Mr. Mackintosh about the year 1820, namely, to the purposes of 
 waterproofing ; while to the French we owe the art of draw- 
 ing it out into delicate threads for the preparation of elastic 
 tissues. The garments called Mackintoshes are made of fabrics 
 covered on one side with caoutchouc, or two fabrics are united 
 with caoutchouc between them, they thus become impermeable 
 to water, while most of the flexibility which belongs to a gar- 
 ment is retained. For the purpose of applying the India-rubber 
 to a fabric it is first kneaded with spirit of turpentine or naphtha, 
 and thus reduced to a pulpy consistence, in which state it is spread 
 over the cloth by means of a flatting-mill. 
 
 The threads of caoutchouc used for making elastic tissues are 
 prepared in the following manner, which, however, is varied by 
 different manufacturers. A hollow cylinder of caoutchouc is formed 
 by placing within a mould m a solid core, and using a hollow 
 piston or plunger p, as in Fig. 312. This cylinder is made into 
 
 Fit/. 311. — THE INlUA-RUBBER COURT. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 241 
 
 •v 
 
 tapes by cutting it from end to end in a spiral direction, or the 
 thin sheet already referred to may be cut up into tapes. These 
 tapes may be cut up into threads by the machine, 
 Pig. 313, in which a series of circular knives l are 
 fixed on an axis m, between two circular plates, one of 
 which is capable of movement, and of being tightly 
 fixed on the axis when the knives are in their places ; 
 there being a washer or disc of metal between every 
 two knives for regulating the distance apart, ac- 
 cording to the thickness of the thread required. The 
 circular knives are three inches in diameter, and are 
 made to revolve with considerable velocity: n is 
 another axis, bearing a cylindrical block of hard wood (such 
 as wainscot oak), against which the cutting edges of the knives 
 
 Fig. 313 . 
 
 come, and slightly cut into the block, which should be made of 
 several parts or sections, in order that the grain may run from 
 the centre outwards in all directions. The axis n revolves but 
 slowly in comparison with the cutters, as will be seen by the 
 dimensions of the driving pulleys to each — the axis in making 
 about 1400 revolutions per minute, and the axis n only 24: o is 
 a tape or sheet of caoutchouc being cut; it is guided between 
 the pins p , and between the spring guide plates q, there being a 
 constant stream of water supplied to and amongst the knives by 
 the pipe r: s is a piece of wood, in the cuts of which the knives 
 work, and are thus cleaned, any portions of caoutchouc which might 
 otherwise remain between the knives are removed. 
 
 By a slight increase of temperature the threads thus formed can 
 be greatly increased in length by drawing them out and rolling 
 them upon bobbins. By exposing the bobbins to a low temperature 
 the threads lose their natural elasticity, and can be used like com- 
 mon threads in the fabrication of stuffs by weaving; they can also 
 be covered with threads of cotton, silk, &c., and compound thread 
 be introduced into new tissues. The perfect manner in which 
 recently-cut surfaces of caoutchouc unite, allows of threads of any 
 length being formed. When the fabric is finished, the application 
 of a hot iron causes the threads of caoutchouc to shrink back to 
 their original length, and to regain their elasticity. 
 
 Caoutchouc is liable to the inconvenience of becoming hard and 
 brittle by exposure to cold. It has been discovered that by com- 
 bining caoutchouc with a minute portion of sulphur this property 
 may be got rid of. Indeed this combination, called vulcanised India- 
 rubber, may be regarded in many respects as a new substance. 
 The invention of this substance we owe to America, and the great 
 improvements which have been made in the manufacture are in 
 great measure due to Mr. Goodyear, the proprietor of the India- 
 lubber Court in the Crystal Palace. Mr. Goodyear’s first success 
 was in the production of India-rubber shoes, which are as of nuicli 
 importance as the waterproof fabrics of England and the elastic 
 tissues of France. Since the year 1842 these shoes have been 
 imported into Europe, and they possess the valuable property of 
 not becoming rigid by cold, nor do their surfaces adhere when 
 pressed together. During a long period the means by which these 
 desirable results were attained remained secret, since Mr. Goodyear 
 
 had not taken out any patent for his invention. Mr. Thomas 
 Hancock, of Stoke-Newington, however, discovered that by dipping 
 a band of caoutchouc into melted sulphur it did not lose any of its 
 properties, but by a subsequent exposure thereof to a temperature 
 of 300° it acquired new ones, which were in fact identical with 
 those of the India-rubber used in making the American shoes. 
 
 In the vulcanisation of India-rubber the materials are masticated 
 in the machines already referred to, the heat generated by the 
 friction being sufficient to effect the combination. The India- 
 rubber in this state becomes hard by exposure to cold, and has not 
 acquired any new properties. By exposing it to a temperature of 
 300°, however, it becomes, as already remarked, a new substance. 
 It is no longer soluble in substances which dissolve caoutchouc, 
 but on being placed in them absorbs them, swells out, and on 
 being removed gradually resumes its original condition. It does 
 not become rigid by cold, its surfaces do not adhere by pressure, 
 and it is not altered by exposure to a temperature which would 
 make ordinary caoutchouc sticky. The absence of the property of 
 adhesion between two surfaces of vulcanised India-rubber is so 
 decided, that no use can be made of the shavings of that material 
 produced during the manufacture ; and the separation of the sulphur, 
 so as to bring back the vulcanised to the common form of India- 
 rubber, is a problem which still remains to be solved. In the 
 manufacture, the compound of sulphur and India-rubber is forced 
 into moulds of the shape of the articles required ; heat is then 
 applied, and this gives the permanent and peculiar qualities of the 
 vulcanised India-rubber already referred to. 
 
 India-rubber may be “ converted,” as the vulcanisation is called 
 in commerce, by sulphur in a state of combination, such ns the 
 chloride. If articles of common caoutchouc are immersed for a 
 minute or two in chloride of sulphur largely diluted with sulphuret 
 of carbon, and then exposed to the proper temperature, they ac- 
 quire all the properties of vulcanised India-rubber. 
 
 In consequence of this useful discovery, mackintoshes are made 
 much lighter and with less smell, and they have a permanent 
 suppleness. The price is also diminished, so that the vulcanised 
 India-rubber cloth can be used instead of common tarpaulings for 
 covering waggons, carriages, &c. Cloth of this kind has been 
 made into portable baths, which retain water perfectly, and can be 
 rolled up when not in use. It is also a valuable material for the 
 pistons of pumps ; and conical valves of this substance have taken 
 the place of leather and metal ones. The use of this substance to 
 form the piston valves in steam-engines of the screw principle, has 
 tended greatly to bring these new forms of motive power into use. 
 Sheets of this substance, of various colours, are used for moulded 
 ornaments in furniture, and also in bookbinding. Air cushions 
 and air mattresses are manufactured in considerable numbers of 
 this substance, the mattresses being well adapted to the use of 
 travellers and invalids : boats made of it and inflated with air have 
 the advantages of being very portable and incapable of sinking. 
 Wheels of carriages have been surrounded with vulcanised India- 
 rubber, the effect of which is to remove the disagreeable noise of a 
 carriage on a London pavement ; but we, are not sure that this is 
 an advantage, since the noise is one of the safeguards of the pedes- 
 trian. Rollers for inking printing type and lithographic stones 
 have been made of it ; and it is used in making the cushions of 
 billiard-tables, and for superseding the use of sacking-cords in 
 bedsteads. So great and so perfect is its elasticity that a band of 
 it may be used with good effect as a door-spring ; and it untwisi.s 
 itself with so much force that it can be used in the mechanism of 
 window’-blinds. “ A thin tube of India-rubber, of tolerably large 
 diameter, but flattened at the bottom, so that it terminates in two 
 flat edges, which the elasticity keeps in juxtaposition, constitutes 
 an apparatus of extreme simplicity, which perfectly supersedes 
 ordinary hydraulic valves. The edges, which are in contact below, 
 open by the pressure of any liquid passing through the tube, and 
 close when the liquid has run out, thus preventing any fetid gas 
 escaping from below'. The elasticity of India-rubber has made a 
 ring of it applicable for uniting cast-iron or earthen tubes used for 
 the conveyance of water. This indestructible and movable tube, 
 which admits of widening, and allows the pipes to slide one 
 within another, presents a method of fitting which seems des- 
 tined to render notable service in the conveyance of water in large 
 towns. A thin, hollow sphere of India-rubber, terminating in an 
 appendage in the form of a tube, introduced in a flaccid state into 
 an opening accidentally made in gas or water-pipes, may, by 
 
 3 Q 
 
.242 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 means of being expanded by inflation, be used to press upon the 
 sides of these pipes, and thus present a method of occlusion of 
 great simplicity, which will allow these pipes, which it has become 
 necessary to replace, to be removed without inconvenience.” * 
 
 Mr. Hodges makes use of cords of vulcanised India-rubber for 
 the purpose of raising weights, a number of these cords attached 
 to a fixed point being stretched down to the weight, when the sum 
 of the elasticities will raise it. By stretching a number of cords 
 in succession, and l-eleasing them all at once, a projectile force has 
 been obtained, which is said to be useful in throwing harpoons, &c. 
 
 Masses of vulcanised India-rubber have been used instead of the 
 metallic springs in the buffers of locomotive carriages with great 
 advantage, from the ease with which this substance deadens shocks. 
 Ordinary cloths covered with India-rubber offer considerable resist- 
 ance when pulled in the direction of the fibres, but they easily tear 
 when pulled in an opposite direction. Mr. Goodyear has got over 
 this inconvenience by producing a kind of felted-stuff, formed in 
 successive layers, and in variable numbers of threads crossed in 
 different directions, so as to be able to resist with equal effect a 
 strain in any direction. By covering these stuffs, formed of from 
 three to six coats of entangled threads, with a thin coat of India- 
 rubber in a pulpy state, the interstices of the fibres are thus pene- 
 trated and their adhesion increased, by which means waterproof 
 material has been obtained adapted for the covering of damp walls, 
 and also for printing on, in making wall-maps. This fabric has 
 also been used for covering a kind of woollen wadding, the material 
 of a remarkable warm waterproof clothing. By covering this 
 felted stuff with cotton fabrics, table-covers have been formed, and 
 by applying to the same felt a thick woollen down, carpets have 
 been formed, well adapted to resist cold and moisture. By covering 
 the two sides of rough canvas with these felts, sail-cloths and tar- 
 paulins of a superior description have been obtained. 
 
 Some of the articles exhibited in the India-rubber Court are pre- 
 pared by the addition of magnesia to the caoutchouc and sulphur, 
 by which means a kind of plastic wood is obtained capable of being 
 moulded into any required form. Like India-rubber it also admits 
 of being coloured, and by partially mixing the differently coloured 
 masses, shaded specimens are produced, which are used instead of 
 horn in the manufacture of buttons, knife-handles, &c., and when 
 rolled out into thin sheets may be used as veneers for furniture. 
 
 There is another substance which of late years has attracted as 
 much attention as India-rubber, viz., gutta-percha, which like 
 India-rubber is a carburet of hydrogen, and possesses many of its 
 peculiar properties ; and it is as indestructible by means of che- 
 mical agents. Its consistence is midway between that of leather 
 and wood, it admits of being softened by heat and of becoming 
 hard on cooling: like wax it will receive and retain the most deli- 
 cate impressions ; in short, the uses to which it is now applied, if 
 not so numerous, are in some respects as important as those of vul- 
 canised India-rubber. Perhaps the most important use of this sub- 
 stance is for insulating the wires of the submarine-telegraph, which 
 has in so wonderful a manner brought this country within speaking 
 distance of the continent of Europe, and promises to bring that of 
 America into the same amicable relationship. It may readily be 
 supposed that a substance which admits of being softened by heat 
 and moulded into various forms, and on cooling regains its leather- 
 like properties, should have various uses, especially when we consider 
 that with all the properties of leather it has peculiar properties far 
 surpassing those of that substance. Like metal it can be melted 
 up again and be made as good as new, and articles made of it, when 
 damaged by wear, can be made new again by the application of 
 heat and a little manipulation. 
 
 Gutta-percha is the concrete juice of a forest-tree, a native of the 
 shores of the Straits of Malacca, Borneo, and the neighbouring 
 countries. The natives had themselves discovered its valuable 
 properties before they became known to Europeans. They con- 
 structed whips, buckets, and vessels of various kinds out of the 
 hardened juice, and thus excited the attention of travellers to this 
 substance. The native method of proceeding, however, has been 
 of the most destructive kind, especially since the demand of the 
 European markets for this substance has had to be met. Instead 
 of economising their treasure, as is done in the case of the caout- 
 chouc, by tapping the tree and allowing its juice to ooze out gra- 
 dually from the incision, they fell the tree at once, and removing 
 
 * Jury Report of the Great Exhibition, Class XXVIII. 
 
 strips of bark at intervals, collect, indeed, a large quantity of sap at 
 one time, but destroy all future supplies from that source. This 
 wholesale destruction of the gutta-percha trees, which are naturalty 
 slow of growth, must, if unchecked, necessarily involve the destruc- 
 tion of the traffic which is now so brisk and advantageous in this 
 article. To put any check upon these proceedings is said, more- 
 over, to be extremely difficult; because each set of explorers, in 
 searching after these trees, is more anxious for present profit, than 
 for future benefit to the trade. A very small quantity, compara- 
 tively speaking, is to be obtained by tapping, and it is evidently to 
 the interest of the first comers to get a full supply of sap for them- 
 selves, without considering those who come after, and who might 
 very probably cut down the trees if they had been spared previously. 
 
 The first accounts which reached us of these trees were given by 
 Dr. Montgomerie, of Bengal, who appears to have been the first 
 person to notice the native use of this substance ; this was in 1842. 
 In 1843, Dr. D’Almeida presented a specimen of their inspissated 
 juice to the Society of Arts, and described some of the advantages 
 which would accrue from its use. This communication led to no 
 results ; but another, made shortly after by Dr. Montgomerie, was 
 more successful, so that by the united efforts of these gentlemen 
 gutta-percha was introduced to public notice, and soon told its own 
 tale to our manufacturers. The gutta-percha tree is from sixty to 
 seventy feet high, and three or four feet in diameter. Its foliage 
 is of a pale green on the upper side, and is covered with reddish 
 brown hair beneath. The wood is peculiai-ly soft, fibrous, and 
 spongy, of a pale colouv, and is traversed by longitudinal receptacles 
 or reservoirs filled with the gum, forming ebony black lines. A 
 branch of the Isonandra r/utta, with various portions of the blossoms 
 
 are represented in Fig. 314; 1, being the flower scarcely expanded; 
 2, ditto, with the corolla expanded ; 3, the pistil ; 4, transverse 
 section of the ovary; 5, vertical section of ditto; 6, the anther; 
 7, scarcely matured fruit, natural size ; 8, transverse section of the 
 same. 
 
 After the natives have cut down the full-grown trees, they make 
 rin"s in the bark at the distance of every ten or twelve inches, 
 placing under each as they make it a cocoa-nut shell, or the spathe 
 of a palm, as a receptacle for the milky sap which begins to flow 
 immediately that the incision is made. The sap is collected in 
 bamboos, taken to their houses and boiled, in order to drive off the 
 watery particles, and inspissate it to the proper consistence. Boil- 
 ing appears necessary when the juice is collected in large quantity, 
 but when a small quantity is allowed to exude from a freshly- 
 wounded tree, and is collected and moulded by the hand, it conso- 
 lidates perfectly in a few minutes, and has all the appearance of 
 the prepared article. 
 
 The natives are not at all particular respecting the purity of the 
 article, but will even introduce sand and stones into it for the 
 purpose of increasing the weight. The commercial price, of course, 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 213 
 
 soon adjusts itself to the frauds which lead to the necessity of 
 purification in this country. The blocks of gutta-percha are cut 
 into slices by a slicing- machine, then softened by means of hot 
 water, divided and torn into shreds by the same machines as those 
 which are used in the preparation of India-rubber, and by means 
 of kneading under the action of jets of water, the stones and sand 
 are separated. After this it is dried and kneaded into a homo- 
 geneous mass, when it can be drawn by the drawing-mill into 
 cylindrical cords and tubes of various sizes, or it is spread out by 
 means of a flatting-mill into sheets of various thicknesses ; these 
 are divided into bands, from which are cut out, by means of a 
 knipping-tool, the pieces required in the manufacture. 
 
 The Gutta-Percha Company have introduced this substance in 
 various forms, some of the most important of which are for marine 
 use, since salt-water exerts no action upon it. Buoys of every 
 description, for anchors, &c., have been made of it; sailors’ hats, 
 speaking-trumpets, &c. It appears to be well adapted for life- 
 boat apparatus, and waterproof garments. The facility with which 
 it combines with wood has been taken advantage of, as also with 
 
 MACHINERY 
 
 The Crystal Palace Company, mindful of the attractions in the 
 Great Exhibition of 1851 of those marvellous machines employed 
 in the preparation of yarn and textile fabrics which appear to act 
 with more than human intelligence, exhibit a series of machines 
 for the preparation and spinning of cotton. They are contributed 
 by Messrs. Walker and Hacking, of Bury, and consist chiefly of a 
 lap machine, first and second carders, a throstle frame, and a mule. 
 A notice of these machines will enable us to give a brief account 
 of the cotton manufacture, the rapid development of which, at the 
 end of the last and beginning of the present century, materially 
 contributed to the national prosperity, and greatly assisted this 
 country in maintaining her long and arduous struggle with 
 despotism on the Continent. It may well excite our surprise that 
 the downy covering of a seed, found in a distant part of the earth, 
 should be productive of such prodigious results — that the wealth 
 and continued prosperity of this country depend, to a great extent, 
 on the continued abundant supply of this apparently insignificant 
 article, the consumption of which in Great Britain within the last 
 forty years has risen from 88,000,000 lbs. to 891,000,000 lbs. This 
 immense quantity of raw material not only provides a portion of 
 the clothing of our whole population, but furnishes one-third of 
 the value of our entire exports to foreign countries, amounting, in 
 the last year, to £32,‘28d,700. Of the import of cotton for the last 
 year, seven-ninths, or about 700,000,000 lbs., were furnished by 
 the United States of America; and it is not without considerable 
 anxiety that the failure of this source of supply — depending, as it 
 does, on slave labour — is contemplated. It would be almost as 
 unwise to depend upon a distant foreign land for our supply of 
 corn, as for the supply of the raw material, the food of our industry, 
 which enables our vast population to procure corn. Slave labour 
 in the United States may fail, from a variety of causes which are 
 now under frequent discussion ; or the friendly relations which 
 now happily subsist between our government and that of the 
 United States may be interrupted. The cotton-growing resources 
 of the United States, vast as they are, do not meet our increasing 
 demand for the fibre; so that it behoves us to look to other sources 
 of supply : and it does seem unpardonable, that with so many fine 
 colonies of our own, many parts of which are admirably adapted 
 to the growth of cotton, we should not, long ere this, have had 
 abundant supplies from various sources. It is doubtless a work of 
 difficulty to organise a new culture, and a new traffic, in countries 
 where the habits of men are formed in an antique mould; where 
 novelty is often synonymous with profanity; or, it may be, if the 
 native population is acquainted with the raw material in question, 
 the mode of preparing it by hand, or by antiquated machines, is 
 not consistent with our enormous demands, and the people will not 
 use our new and powerful machines — if, indeed, these are adapted 
 to the nature and length of the fibre. Then, again, a colony well 
 adapted for growing cotton may not be able to command labourers; 
 or, if this difficulty be overcome, roads may be wanting to connect 
 
 leather in the formation of soles for boots and shoes. Ornaments 
 in gutta-percha for interior decoration have been largely manu- 
 factured, and in spite of certain modern dicta, we see no reason 
 why a beautiful form, whether of a frieze, a moulding, or a leaf, 
 &c., should not, like an engraving, be multiplied to charm the eye 
 and improve the taste of the many, instead of being confined to the 
 few. The perfection with which gutta-percha resists the action of 
 corrosive liquids has led to its use in lining casks for the conveyance 
 of some of the strong mineral acids, instead of the large glass 
 carboys. The use of gutta-percha for making stereotype moulds, 
 and for some of the purposes of the galvano-plastic art were alluded 
 to in our notice of the Stationery Court. The plastic nature of the 
 material allows of sharply finished groups and objects being 
 moulded, and these admit of being coated with metal, so as to 
 perfectly resemble bronze, &c. AVe may also mention that gutta- 
 percha has been combined with sulphur and the metallic sulphurets, 
 the effect of which is to produce a substance as hard as ebony, which 
 can be used for most of the purposes to which wood and ivory arc 
 applicable. 
 
 IN MOTION. 
 
 the plantation with the seaport. These and other considerations 
 show how difficult it is to organise new sources of supply of a 
 material so greatly in demand as cotton. Should it be objected 
 that tobacco, from a small centre of growth became quickly diffused 
 over the earth, there is a special reason for the fact, which does 
 not apply to cotton. To say nothing of tobacco growing in the 
 temperate as well as the torrid zone, and hence having a much 
 wider range than cotton, no sooner were men under the fascination 
 of the fragrant weed, than they sought to possess themselves of it 
 by direct cultivation, and thus secure what quickly became one of 
 the prime necessaries of life. In the case of cotton, however, the 
 motive was not so strong, since many other substances were at 
 hand for the purposes of clothing, and the great bulk of the 
 population would rather put up with worn-out clothes than suffer 
 the lack of their usual stimulant, or sensual indulgence. 
 
 The cotton plant ( Gossypium herbaceum ) is a member of the 
 order Malvacece, which contains our common mallow, to which it 
 bears some resemblance. In 
 some varieties the blossom 
 is purplish, like that of the 
 mallow, but in others it is 
 of a pale yellow colour ; the 
 great difference is in the 
 seed-vessel, the seed- coat 
 producing a thick growth of 
 vegetable hairs, or filaments, 
 of considerable length, which 
 fill the seed-pod, and when 
 this bursts, there is a ball 
 of snowy white or yellow- 
 ish down, containing three 
 locks, one for each cell, en- 
 closing and firmly adhering 
 to the seeds, which some- 
 what resemble grapes. The 
 varieties of cotton-bearing 
 gossypium are divided into 
 herbaceous, shrub, and tree 
 cotton, the first being the 
 most valuable. The crop is 
 annual, but shrub cotton, 
 though annual in certain Fig ' 3,5 : herbaceous cotton. 
 
 temperate climates, lasts in other parts for two or more years. 
 The shrub is about the size of our currant bush. Tree cotton 
 attains a height of from twelve to twenty feet. These plants 
 are cultivated on a light sandy soil, near the sea, the saline 
 breezes of which are favourable to its growth. The American 
 sea-island cotton, which is cultivated on the low sandy islands 
 from Charleston to Savannah, is celebrated for its long fibre 
 and strong and silky texture. In Georgia, and the neighbour- 
 
244 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 in" states, three varieties of herbaceous cotton are cultivated: 
 — the first, from its yellow colour, is called nankin cotton ; the 
 second, green-seecl cotton ; and the third, sea-island cotton. The 
 first two grow in the midland and upland districts, whence a fine 
 white variety derives its name of upland cotton, or, from a former 
 method of cleaning it, bowed Georgia. In the cultivation of 
 cotton, the seed is sown by hand in March, April, and May, in 
 rows five feet apart, while the seeds are eighteen inches apart, 
 with several seeds in each hole. The land is well weeded, and 
 when the plants appear, the weakest are pulled out; a few months 
 later they are again thinned and topped , to the extent of one or 
 two inches, in order to favour the development of side branches. 
 When the cotton is ripe, it is gathered with the seeds, without the 
 outer husk, which is brittle, and the pieces cannot easily be sepa- 
 rated from the fibres. After the cotton has been dried, the seeds 
 are separated from the wool, which is rapidly done by means of 
 "Whitney’s saw-gin, and the cotton is then put into a long narrow 
 hopper, one side of which is formed by a grating of strong parallel 
 wires, -|th of an inch apart: close to the hopper is a roller, con- 
 taining a number of circular saws 1| inch apart, which, in their 
 revolution pass within the grating of the hopper, and seize by 
 their teeth on the locks of cotton, dragging them through the 
 wires, which are not wide enough to allow the seeds to pass also. 
 The cotton is removed from the saws by a revolving cylindrical 
 brush : one of these machines will clean 3 cwt. in a day. The 
 fibre is somewhat injured by this machine, so that, in India and 
 China, the better kinds of cotton are picked by hand, or a rude 
 roller-gin is employed, after which the cotton is further cleaned by 
 bowing, for which purpose a large bow being placed in a heap of 
 cotton, the string is made to vibrate, and thus clean the heap. 
 This process, however, is much too tardy to supply the wants of 
 the cotton manufacturer. 
 
 Cotton is imported into this country in bags or bales (Fig. 316), 
 and the first process in the ma- 
 nufacture is sorting. As the 
 contents of different bags may 
 differ somewhat in quality, va- 
 rious qualities are equalised by 
 forming a sort of stack, called a 
 bing or bunker (Fig. 317), for 
 which purpose the contents of 
 one bag are spread out evenly on 
 the floor: upon this the contents 
 of a second bag are equally dis- 
 tributed ; and so on until the 
 height of several feet is attained. 
 "When the cotton is required for 
 use, it is collected at the side of 
 the bing by passing a rake from 
 the top to the bottom, by which means a portion of every bag is 
 taken. Much judgment and experience are required in bringing 
 different samples of cotton thus together. They should have a 
 similar length of staple, and should bear reference to their ultimate 
 destination; soft, short, ribbon-like filaments are best adapted for 
 wefts; and firm, long, and cylindrical ones for warps. The cotton 
 in the bing is matted together, and contaminated with dirt and 
 impurities; it is opened and cleaned by a machine called a loilloiv, 
 consisting of a box containing a conical wooden beam studded 
 ovir with spikes, and passing between other spikes fixed within 
 t lie case or cover. The beam is made to revolve rapidly, and as 
 the cotton is put in at one end of the machine it is caught by the 
 
 I spikes, and tossed and shaken about in its passage to the other 
 end. Sand and other heavy impurities fall out through a grating 
 at the bottom, while the dust and lighter impurities pass up a shoot, 
 in which a draught is maintained by means of a revolving fan. 
 
 Some of the finer varieties of cotton are not submitted to this 
 
 process, but are beaten or baited with twigs of hazel or holly, three 
 or four feet long, upon a frame, the upper surface of which is 
 made of cords, so as to present an elastic surface. Women are 
 employed at this work with a rod in each hand (Fig. 318), by 
 
 1 ij. 318. — BATTING COTTON. 
 
 which means the tangled locks are opened and cleaned without 
 injuring the fibre; but fragments of seed-pods, which adhere 
 somewhat firmly, are picked out by hand. 
 
 For common work the batting is done by a scutching-machine, 
 or blowing-machine, in which the cotton from the willow is spread 
 out upon an endless band in regulated quantities, and entering 
 the machine, is seized by rollers and exposed to the blows of a 
 batting-arm, or beater, wherebj' dirt and dust are got rid of ; the 
 cotton is opened, and the wind produced by the rapid motion of the 
 beater drives the filaments onward, where they are exposed to a 
 second beater, from which they are blown upon the surface of a 
 revolving wire-gauze drum, beneath which, and in close contact 
 with it, is an endless band, which receives the cotton, and conveys 
 it out of the machine in the form of a filmy sheet, called a lap. 
 The arrangements of the batting and lapping-machine will be 
 understood by referring to Fig. 319. At A a portion of the feed- 
 
 Fig. 313. — SECTION OF BATTING AND LAPPING-JIAt’IUNE. 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 245 
 
 npron is shown passing over a roller a. Upon this apron the wil- 
 lowed cotton is spread in weighed quantities in a layer about two 
 inches thick, and is carried forward by this apron to the feed- 
 rollers b, which are pressed together by a weight acting on a 
 lever c. A wooden roller d keeps the cotton close to the apron, 
 and guides it between the feed-rollers, which are small coarsely 
 fluted iron cylinders. The first beater B consists of two flat bars e e, 
 fixed upon a revolving shaft, at right angles, so as to strike upon 
 the cotton filaments as they are delivered by the feed-roller. This 
 scutching-shaft revolves 2000 times per minute. At C is a grating 
 in the form of a quarter of a cylinder, against the bars of which 
 the cotton is scutched by the beaters, and thoroughly opened, after 
 which it is thrown upon the apron D, which turns upon rollers 
 f, g. E is a revolving cage, enclosed under the cover h, at the 
 top of which is a pipe i, which communicates with a revolving 
 fan. This cylinder allows the dust to pass through it, and also 
 serves to spread upon the apron the loose cotton filaments in the 
 form of a level fleece, which passes off under the wooden roller h, 
 and is thence drawn in by the second pair of feed-rollers l, in 
 order to be exposed to a second scutching by the beater F. This 
 beater delivers the filaments to a second apron G, where they are 
 exposed to the sucking action of a second sieve cylinder, which 
 communicates with a fan by the opening m. There the cotton is 
 again formed into a fleecy mass, and is carried through between the 
 two pairs of iron rollers oo and pp, the upper ones being weighted. 
 These rollers deliver the compressed fleece to the wooden lap 
 cylinder I, whose axis is loaded by hanging weights, as at L, so 
 as to bear down between the two rollers kk, which, revolving 
 both in one direction, carry round with them, by friction alone, 
 the lap cylinder. As this cylinder increases in diameter, the links 
 q progressively rise up, with their weights L, so that the pressure 
 continues always uniform. When the coil of lap has attained the 
 proper size, the twin rollers oo, with the aprons, cages, and feed- 
 rollers, throw themselves out of gear, whilst the twin rollers pp, 
 and the lap cjdinders continue to revolve, whereby the fleece is 
 torn or cut across in the middle line between the two pairs of 
 twin rollers. The attendant now lifts the lever r, which raises 
 the links q, and suspends the weights L by the hook s. In this 
 way he relieves the axis of the lap cylinder, removes it, and puts 
 an empty one in its place. He next throws the machinery once 
 more into gear, disengages the connecting rod t from the hook s, 
 and restores the action of the weight, while he guides the begin- 
 ning of the fleece round the empty roller. 
 
 The next operation is carding, by which the fibres are combed 
 out and made parallel. A cotton card is a kind of wire brush, 
 made of bands or fillets of leather pierced with numerous holes, in 
 which are fixed bent pieces of hard-drawn iron wire, called dents 
 or teeth. Each piece of wire is first bent at right angles, as at 
 ah, Fig. 320; then each limb receives a second bend, as at c d, 
 Fig. 322, at a determinate obtuse angle, which must be the same 
 throughout the set: the teeth must stand at equal distances, and 
 be equally inclined to the curved surface of the drum round which 
 the card is lapped. The action of the cards upon the tangled 
 fibres will be seen from Figs. 321 and 324. If two cards a b 
 
 I 'uj. 321 . 
 
 be moved in opposite directions with the tangled tuft of cotton 
 between them, the fibres will be evidently combed into parallel 
 lines by repeated applications of the 
 cards, each card taking up and retain- 
 ing a portion of the cotton. On re- 
 versing the position of the cards, and 
 placing them as in Fig. 323, all the 
 cotton may be got upon one card, 
 since by drawing the upper card a 
 over the lower b, the teeth of the 
 latter can offer no resistance, and it will give up its cotton to the 
 upper card. In the carding-engine, a section of which is shown 
 in Fig. 324, the main carding cylinder A is formed of parallel seg- 
 ments of mahogany, to each of which is attached a length of card- 
 
 leather. The small rollers defg, called urchins or squirrels, are 
 covered with card fillets wound spirally round each from one end 
 to the other. The engine is fed by means of a pair of fluted iron 
 rollers h, pressed together by a screw c; h is a feed-board, along 
 which the fleece, as it is unwound from the lap roll I, by the acting 
 roller K, advances to the feed rollers. The first roller card D, 
 called the licker-in, turns much more slowly than the drum-card, 
 
 and draws in single filaments from the feed roller. These are 
 stripped off from it by the large cylinder A, to be again teazed out 
 by the teeth of the second roller E, which moves still more slowly 
 than D, and serves to pick off the knots from the drum. These 
 knots being carried round by the roller ai-e again presented to the 
 cylinder D, as it revolves nearly in contact with E. The roller D 
 next transfers the teazed out filaments to the drum, blending them 
 with fresh ones supplied by the feeding rollers. The tufts or knots 
 which escape the action of the first two rollers D and E, are almost 
 sure to be laid hold of by the fourth roller G, which is placed 
 closer to the drum, and moves with the same speed as E. The 
 knots caught by G are teazed out by F, which is nearly in contact 
 with it, but revolves at a quicker rate, but not so fast as the 
 surface of the drum. The loosened fibres are thus seized by F, 
 and once more transferred to the drum, whence they proceed, and 
 receive a second teazing from the roller G. Any knots which still 
 remain are arrested by the first flat top cards, and held there till 
 they are disentangled by the l'otation of the drum. These flats 
 are occasionally taken out and cleaned, and the first flats require 
 more frequent cleaning than the others. After the filaments of 
 cotton have passed by the flats, they lie in nearly parallel lines 
 among the card teeth of the drum, and from these they are removed 
 by a smaller drum card, which is covered spirally with fillet cards, 
 and is called the doffer. This doffer L turns slowly in contact 
 with the drum, and in an opposite direction, and thus becomes 
 covered with a fine fleece of cotton, which is removed from the 
 opposite side of the cylinder by the vibrating action of the doffing 
 knife M, Fig. 325. This consists of a blade of steel, toothed at its 
 
 edge like a fine comb, and it is made to strike down by means of 
 the crank T and the upright rods pp, with a rapid motion tan- 
 gentially over the points of the cards. In this way a fine trans- 
 parent fleece is removed, equal in breadth to the length of the card 
 on the doffer, but its breadth is immediately contracted into that 
 of a narrow riband, by being passed through the funnel i, Fig. 
 324. This riband is called a card end or sliver, and it is conso- 
 lidated by being passed between three pairs of iron rollers k, l, m ; 
 the bottom rollers of k and l are finely fluted, or channelled, and 
 
 3 it 
 
246 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 the top ones are covered with two coats, the inner of flannel and 
 the outer of leather. The upper rollers are pressed upon the 
 lower ones by weights z hung upon their axis. We here first 
 observe the effect of the beautiful invention of passing the cotton 
 between pairs of rollers moving with different degrees of speed. 
 The pair of rollers l moves faster than the pair k, the effect of 
 which is to draw out and straighten the filaments. The card end, 
 after being spread by the first two pairs of rollers into a flat 
 riband, is passed through a vertical slit in a plate N, situated 
 between the second and third pairs of rollers, which gathers it up 
 into an elliptical sliver ; it is next drawn through two smooth 
 rollers m, which are slightly pressed together, and lastly it is 
 received into the tin can o, in the shape of a spongy, slightly 
 coherent sliver. In fine spinning the cotton passes through two 
 carding-engines ; the first, which is coarse, is called a breaker-card, 
 and the second, in which the teeth are set finer, a ^ finishing-card . 
 A number of cardin gs from the breaker card are united together 
 at the edges by passing them between the steel rollers of a lap- 
 machine : the new lap is wound upon a cylinder from which the 
 finishing card is fed. Fig. 326 represents a carding-engine with 
 the card tops drawn off. 
 
 Fig. 32G. — CAitDixc-E.NGiNE. 
 
 The spongy slivers, or ribands, prepared by the carding-engine 
 are next subjected to the operations of drawing and doubling, by 
 which the filaments are equalised, drawn out, and placed in parallel 
 order. The principle of drawing depends upon the action of three 
 pairs of rollers moving with different rates of speed, and by bringing 
 a number of slivers together and drawing them into one, the 
 different qualities of the cotton are equalised, and the sliver is 
 attenuated preparatory to the next process. The drawing-frame is 
 shown in Fig. 329, but its action will be better understood from 
 the diagram Fig. 327. A number of slivers n n , contained in cans, 
 are passed over a smooth curved plate of metal, with a channelled 
 
 Wi\ 
 
 surface, shown separately in Fig. 328, by which they are guided to 
 the rollers. From three to six slivers are thus brought together, 
 and are made to converge, so as to pass together 
 between the rollers, by which means the sliver, 
 doubled from three to six-fold, is drawn out into a 
 uniform sliver of greatly increased length. Two 
 Fig. 328. such slivers are usually again brought together in a 
 funnel I, and are delivered by the two smooth rollers K k into a can 
 in front of the machine, by which means the cotton filaments, spread 
 out broad and thin by the drawing-rollers a, b, c, are collected into a 
 compact riband, which being thus drawn out with repeated doublings, 
 becomes very regular in texture, and, if the subsequent operations 
 be well conducted, it produces a level yarn. If it were attempted 
 to draw out a single sliver until the filaments were properly' parallel, 
 it would soon become too much attenuated for the purpose, but, by 
 
 repeatedly doubling and drawing together a number of slivcis 
 into one riband, we produce an effect similar to that of taking a 
 lock of cotton-wool between the finger and thumb of one hand, and 
 drawing it out with that of the other, laying the two parcels 
 parallel before repeating the operation. The following details will 
 give some idea of the elaborate nature of drawing and doubling. 
 
 Fig. 329. — DRAWING -FRA ME. 
 
 Suppose ten card-ends to meet and unite in passing through the 
 first pair of rollers, whereby they are all reduced to one sliver, the 
 second pair reduces every inch of this compound sliver into about 
 2 inches, and the third pair of rollers extends these 2 inches into 
 10 ; so that the result of this first operation is a sliver of the same 
 thickness as one of the ten card-ends, but of ten times the length. 
 Next let us suppose that ten cans filled with the compound sliver 
 are passed on to a second drawing-head, and the ten drawings are 
 again doubled and drawn out into one ; that twelve of these are 
 doubled and drawn out at a third head; that twelve of these are 
 doubled again and drawn out at a fourth head ; and, lastly, that six 
 of these are doubled and drawn out at a fifth head. Now, collecting 
 all these numbers together, it will be seen that before a thread is 
 attempted to be spun, the fibres are placed parallel to each other 
 86,400 times ; for 10 x 10 x 12 x 12 x 6 = 86,400. The drawing 
 is carried on to this extent only in fine spinning. For coarse 
 numbers six card-ends are usually passed through the first drawing- 
 head, and formed into one riband. Six of these ribands are again 
 formed into one ; six of these make a third sliver, and five of these 
 are passed through the last drawing-head. Thus the doubling of 
 the fibres of the cardings has been multiplied 6x6x6x5 = 1080 
 times. The quality of the yarn depends greatly on the success of 
 the process. It is stated of Arkwright, the perfecter, if not the 
 inventor, of the process, that when any defects appeared in his 
 yarns, he told his people to look to their drawings, for if they were 
 right, everything else would be so too. 
 
 Ihe riband, formed of parallel fibi'es in the process of drawing, is 
 next slightly twisted, so as to allow it to be still further attenuated 
 by drawing, this slight amount of twist giving it sufficient strength 
 for the purpose. This, the commencement of spinning, is called 
 roving, and it is performed by a machine called the bobbin-andjly 
 frame, Fig. 330, which not only' twists the sliver into a roving, but 
 winds it in a regular and equable manner upon the bobbin. The 
 bobbin, Fig. 333, is a wooden tube, upon which the roving is wound 
 so as to produce conical ends, Fig. 334, by shortening the up and 
 down motion of the bobbin, whereby the roving is distributed 
 equally and compactly over the bobbin, which object is further 
 assisted by the steel finger of the fly, Figs. 331, 332, over which the 
 roving is twisted, and which winds it on the bobbin with a certain 
 pressure. The spindles contain two arras gg, called the flyer, or 
 fly, one of which is hollow, for containing the roving, while the 
 other is a counter-balancing solid rod, to prevent it flying off the 
 spindle. Ihe bobbins containing the sliver are mounted on a shelf 
 called a creel. From these bobbins the sliver is passed through a 
 set of drawing rollers, which extend somewhat the sliver, and pass 
 it down to the spindles, which, by their rapid rotation, twist or 
 spin it into roving, and then wind it upon the bobbins which 
 surround the spindles. A motion of ascent and descent is given to 
 the bobbins, in order that the roving may be properly wound, and 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR, 
 
 24‘ 
 
 as the bobbins become filled its speed is slightly slackened, in order 
 that the roving may not be improperly stretched. Two sets of 
 bobbin-and-fly frames are in common use ; they are called the 
 coarse and the fine, or the first and the second roving-frames. The 
 second roving-frame is fed with rovings, or slubbings, as they are 
 now called, from bobbins filled at the first frame, and they are 
 
 arranged on upright skewers on a shelf, or creel, placed behind the 
 roller-beam. The roving from these bobbins passes through wire 
 eyes, to prevent it from being torn obliquely from the bobbins. In 
 the coarse roving-frame the upper part behind the rollers has a 
 smooth plate, over which the sliver glides from the cans towards 
 the rollers. There is also a rod stretching over the machine with 
 
 Fig. 331 . 
 
 Fig. 331 . 
 
 a guide at the end, for moving the strap or band which drives the 
 pulley, so that by moving this rod to the right or to the left, the 
 machine can be thrown in or out of gear. 
 
 It will be understood from these arrangements that the twisting 
 of the sliver is produced by the rotation of the spindle and fly. 
 The amount of twist depends on the ratio between the surface 
 speed of the front delivering-roller, Fig. 330, and the revolution of 
 the spindle. The winding on of the twisted roving upon the 
 bobbin is effected by giving to the bobbin such a velocity, that the 
 difference between the motion of the surface of the bobbin and 
 the motion of the delivering end at the arm of the flyer be equal 
 to the surface motion of the roller, or the supply of the sliver. The 
 spindle and the bobbin being driven by different movements and 
 
 at different rates, the winding is effected either by making the 
 bobbin revolve a little faster than the spindle, or the spindle faster 
 than the bobbin. If, for example, I lie bobbin revolves fifty times while 
 the spindle only revolves forty, forty turns of the bobbin will have 
 nothing to do with the winding ; but there are ten turns of the 
 bobbin above those of the fly which will perform the winding. 
 Hence the forty turns of the spindle produce twist, while the fifty 
 turns of the bobbin produce ten coils of the roving upon its barrel. 
 In the coarse roving-frame the spindles revolve on an average 750 
 times per minute, turning off for each spindle 400 inches per 
 minute, or 666:} yards per hour. In the fine frame there is more 
 twisting power, and this produces on an average 533£ yards per 
 hour. In the coarse frame the sliver is elongated from four to six 
 times, the principal draught of four and a half being between the 
 front and middle rollers, and the remaining one and a half 
 between the middle and the back rollers. For fine spinning, the 
 rovings are weighed on the bobbins by a quadrant beam, and 
 distributed according to their respective weights into five numbered 
 j baskets. In some coarse spinning-mills only one carding, one 
 i drawing, and one roving are employed for manufacturing the yarn 
 j used for the cheapest calico. 
 
 The rovings are usually spun into yarn by one of two machines, 
 viz., the throstle and the mule-jenny, according as it is intended for 
 warps or for wefts. In the throstle the yarn is spun and wound 
 upon bobbins at the same time; in the mule, a certain length of 
 yarn having been made, the operation of spinning is suspended 
 while the yarn is being wound up on bobbins, or spindles. Throstle- 
 yarn, or water-twist , so called from its having been originally pro- 
 duced at a frame turned by water power, is smooth and wiry, 
 while the mule-yarn is soft and downy. The throstle consists of 
 two roller beams, each provided with the usual three-fold set of 
 drawing-rollers, which, instead of being mounted in four and sixes 
 upon independent heads, are all coupled together in one range upon 
 each side of the frame. The top rollers are, as usual, covered with 
 leather, and the roving passes over a guide-bar, to which a slight 
 horizontal movement is communicated, for the purpose of leading 
 the roving over different points of the rollers, and thus preventing 
 the leather from being chafed by constant pressure on one spot. 
 The machine is usually made double— a row of bobbins, spindles, 
 &c., occupying each side of the frame. The bobbins, filled with 
 rovings, are placed upright upon skewers fixed in shelves in the 
 middle of the frame, or creel. There are usually from seventy to 
 150 spindles on each side of the throstle, and they are set from 2^ 
 to 3 inches apart. The spindles on both sides are driven in common 
 by means of bands from the long horizontal tin cylinder, which 
 extends the whole length of the machine; this cylinder is seen in 
 Fig. 335, and also in section c, Fig. 336. On quitting the last pair 
 
 of rollers, each roving is guided by a little ring, or notch of smooth 
 glass let into the frame at e, towards the spindles, which revolve 
 with great rapidity, producing by the motion of their flyers a low 
 musical hum, which is supposed to have given the name to this 
 machine. 
 
 The roving, which may now be called yarn, passes through an 
 eyelet formed at the end of one of the arms of the flyer, and thus 
 guides the yarn to the bobbin, which revolves round the spindle 
 axis in the middle, between the two prongs of the flyer. Imme- 
 diately over the spindle is an eyelet of wire, which serves as a 
 

 is set spinning, the thread 
 drags the bobbin after it, 
 and makes it follow the 
 motion of the spindle and 
 fly ; but the weight of 
 the bobbin and its fric- 
 tion on the copping-rail, 
 which is promoted by 
 covering the end with 
 coarse cloth, causes it to 
 hang back ; and thus the 
 double purpose is served 
 of keeping the thread 
 stretched, and winding it 
 on the bobbin much more 
 slowly than the flyer re- 
 volves. The yarn is 
 equally distributed on the bobbin by a slow up-and-down motion 
 of the copping-rail. These effects are similar to those of the 
 bobbin-and-fly frame, only the means are simpler. In the bobbin- 
 and-fly frame, the bobbin and spindle are made to revolve by 
 distinct mechanical movements; while in the throstle, the bobbin 
 is made to revolve by the pull of the yarn, which is sufficiently 
 strong for the purpose ; whereas the roving in the bobbin-and-fly 
 frame could not bear such a strain. 
 
 It has already been noticed that the machine called the mule- 
 jenny spins a different kind of yarn from that produced by the 
 throstle. The object of mule spinning is to convert the rovings 
 into yarn, and to wind it upon spindles. The mule consists of 
 four principal members: viz. 1. Drawing rollers; 2. A carriage, 
 movable upon iron rails, placed at right angles to the drawing 
 rollers or roller beam ; 3. A head-stock for drawing the different 
 
 Fig. 336.— principle of tiie tiibostle. 
 
 Fig. 337.— cnoss section of tiie mole-jenny. 
 
 parts; and 4. A creel-frame for holding the bobbins of rovings 
 which are to be spun into yarn. The action of this machine will 
 be better understood from the cross section, Fig. 337, where the 
 dotted lines represent the carriage, when it is fully drawn out. A 
 is a triple set of drawing rollers, working in heads fixed upon 
 the i oiler beam B; c is the creel for holding the roving bobbins 
 in three, and sometimes in four rows, one over and behind 
 another. To lessen the friction in unwinding the roving, the 
 lower ends of the bobbin skewers stand in creel-steps , or small 
 conical cups of glazed pottery. The creel and roller beam are 
 supported by frame-pieces of cast-iron, as at D. EE is the car- 
 riage to which are attached three or four horizontal bars F, 
 which rest upon the axis of the wheels G G. The wheels run 
 upon the railway H. The carriage is formed of two long planks 
 a, b, extending through its whole length, and barred with cross 
 pieces of wood or iron made fast by screws; there are also 
 
 diagonal braces and other contrivances to prevent warping or 
 vibration. Upon these planks is built a frame-work c, cl, in 
 front of which are fixed the top bushes and bottom steps of the 
 spindles I. The spindles are set in an inclined position, sloping 
 towards the roller beam, so that in revolving, the threads may be 
 twisted round their points without being wound upon their sur- 
 faces during the coming out of the carriage ; e are little pulleys 
 called wharves, fixed upon the under part of the spindles, each at 
 a different height, throughout a range of eight or sixteen adjoining 
 spindles. K is one of a series of drum cylinders, usually made of tin 
 plate, each furnished with two grooves round the upper end for 
 receiving the driving bands. Their smooth sides receive and 
 work the moving bands or cords of two ranges, containing from 
 sixteen to thirty-two spindles. The uppermost cord impels the first 
 spindles of the adjoining two rows ; the second cord moves the second 
 spindles of the same ranges, and so on in succession ;/ is a long, 
 slender iron shaft lying on the bearings g, over the carriage from 
 end to end. and provided with small arms h h, called the fullers. 
 These bear the fuller wire, which serves to depress all the threads 
 from the points of the spindles, as in the dotted lines under i, and 
 to bring them upon a level with the bottom of the cop in the act 
 of winding on. The wire being then gradually raised, the thread 
 is duly distributed upon the cop. To assist the spinner in apply- 
 ing the faller wire, so as to coil on the yarn with regularity, there 
 is another wire called the counter f alter ; this consists of lever 
 arms l, with the fulcrum attached to the framework : these arms 
 bear at their points in a wire which extends horizontally, like 
 the faller, from end to end, but beneath the surface level of the 
 threads. On the other ends of these level’s are weights n, which 
 cause the wire in to rise, so as to balance the threads after they 
 are depressed by the faller wire 
 *, and to straighten them when 
 loose. The carriage is drawn out 
 by a rope z, passing round two 
 horizontal pulleys, only one of 
 which is shoivn in Fig. 338, and 
 this is in front of the mule, at 
 the spot to which the carriage 
 comes on completing its stretch : 
 this pulley p turns freely upon an 
 upright stud in the floor, and is 
 looped round a bolt a', attached to 
 the carriage E. The spindles re- 
 ceive their whirling motion all 
 the time that they go out and in 
 with the carriage by means of a 
 distinct band passing round a 
 twist pulley, provided with six 
 grooves of progressively increas- 
 ing diameter, calculated to vary 
 the whirling velocity of the spin- 
 dles. This pulley is situated in 
 the head-stock at the back of the 
 mule, not shown in the figure; 
 but an endless band proceeding 
 from it passes over a guide pul- 
 ley, and then over the top grooves 
 of the drum K, thus driving all 
 the drums on the right-hand 
 side of the carriage ; the band 
 then returns round their second grooves, and passes to the drums 
 at the left-hand side of the carriage. After driving all the drums 
 
 E 
 
 ( n , 
 
 F 
 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 Fig. 338. 
 
 there, it returns to the middle of the machine, and passes over 
 guide pulleys to the horizontal pulley Q, which revolves freely on 
 the same upright bolt with the rope pulley p, and from thence 
 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 249 . 
 
 proceeds to the twist pulley. By this contrivance the band is 
 always of the same length, whether the carriage be in or out, and 
 the drums K, which work the spindles, are thus continued in 
 motion, at whatever point of its course the carriage may happen 
 to be. Fig. 338 will convey a general idea of the working of 
 these band coils. N is the twist pulley, Q the end pulley, K the 
 carriage drums, and e e the carriage. It will be seen that the 
 carriage can be moved backwards and forwards between the fixed 
 centres of the pulleys N and q, while the coils of the band con- 
 tinue to move round the drums. It must be remembered, however, 
 that the revolving parts do not lie in one plane, as in Fig. 338, 
 but in different planes, the band being conducted over guide 
 pulleys, wherever a change of plane occurs. Supposing the 
 rollers to be delivering the roving properly drawn out, the car- 
 riage is moved out with a speed somewhat greater than that of 
 the front rollers, by which means the yarn is equalised, the 
 thicker parts becoming extended, while the whole is being twisted, 
 the spindle being made to revolve while the carriage is being 
 moved out; but when the carriage has been moved out about 
 forty-five or fifty inches, the rollers are made to stop, and thus 
 cease to deliver thread. The carriage is then slowly moved out 
 to the end of its course, and the velocity of the spindles is 
 nearly doubled, so as to give an additional twist to the yarn, 
 called the stretching or the second draw. The yarn is now 
 stretched to the full extent that it will bear without breaking, 
 but the spindles are made to revolve until the twist-wheel has 
 completed a certain number of turns, — the amount of twist being 
 regulated by the purpose to which the yarn is to be applied, 
 more twist being given for warps than for wefts, and for bobbinet 
 and book-muslin yarns than for those of softer fabrics. A finger 
 attached to the twist-wheel now disengages a catch, whereby the 
 driving strap is now pushed on to the loose pulley, and the 
 machinery is brought to rest. The spinner then turns a winch- 
 handle which acts on a pulley that moves all the spindle drums, 
 and he thus makes the spindles turn a short space backwards, in 
 order to take off the slant coils from the upper ends of the spin- 
 dles, and to prepare for distributing the fifty-four or fifty-six 
 inches of yarn just spun upon them. The spinner now seizes the 
 faller rod with his left hand, and depresses the faller wire, so as 
 to bear all the threads before it to a level with the bottom of the 
 cops, then with his right hand he turns the handle of the pulley, 
 which sets the spindles revolving in the proper direction for wind- 
 ing up ; at the same time, applying his knee to the carriage, he 
 pushes it in at the proper degree of speed required for winding 
 the yarn on the cop. As the carriage approaches to its primary 
 position near to the roller beam, he allows the faller wire to rise 
 slowly to its natural elevation, whereby the threads once more 
 coil slantingly up to the top of the spindle, and are thus ready to 
 co-operate in the twisting and extension of another stretch of the 
 mule. Having pushed the carriage home, the spinner immediately 
 sets the mule again in gear with the driving shaft, by transferring 
 the strap from the loose to the fast steam pulley, and thus com- 
 mences the same beautiful train of operations. It is during the 
 few instants after the carriage starts, that a number of little girls 
 called piecers or pieceners, are seen skipping from point to point to 
 mend the broken threads. Whenever it has receded a foot or two 
 from the delivering rollers, the possibility of piecing the yarn 
 being at an end, the children have an interval for repose or recre- 
 ation, which, in fine spinning at least, is three times longer than 
 the period of employment. The spinner, likewise, 
 has nothing to do till after the completion of the 
 fresh range of threads, when he once more backs 
 off the slanting coil, and winds on the stretch. 
 By winding successive portions of yarn upon the 
 spindle, the cop, Fig. 339, is formed ; this, when 
 slid off the spindle, is sold as cop-yarn. If in- 
 tended to be dyed or exported, it is wound upon 
 reels, and made up into skeins or hanks. Some 
 skill is required to give the cop such a shape that 
 it may deliver itself easily upon the reel, or when 
 placed in a shuttle. The part of the cop which 
 is first formed is a double cone a, b, c ; upon the 
 upper part of this, the cone is built upwards into 
 into the form of a cylinder a, b, e, f, and terminat- 
 ing in a cone at the top. The mode of building up 
 the cylinder is shown by the dotted lines. 
 
 We have described the mule-jenny in such a form as to be intel- 
 ligible without the aid of numerous complicated diagrams. The 
 mule at the Crystal Palace is a power-nude, in which the work of 
 the spinner in regulating the faller wire, winding up the yarn 
 on the spindles, and pushing in the carriage, is all done by 
 machinery, — the only attendance being that of the pieceners to 
 join the broken threads. 
 
 Yarn intended for warps is wound off into measured lengths of 
 840 yards, called hanks. This is done by means of a six-sided 
 reel, 1^ yards in circumference, mounted in a carriage which 
 carries the spindles, or secures the skewers that bear the bobbins 
 or cops (see Fig. 340). The carriage has a slow traverse motion 
 
 Fig. 340.— REEL FOR WINDING AND COUNTING HANES. 
 
 for distributing tiie thread, and the reel revolves eighty turns, as 
 indicated by the striking of a bell, when the attendant knows that 
 a ley, or rap, of 120 yards has been formed : seven of these raps 
 make a hank of 840 yards. The hanks are tied round with a 
 string to separate and distinguish them, and they are then slid off 
 the reel. The size of the yarn is ascertained by weighing the 
 hanks, and dividing 1000 grains by the number of grains in a ley. 
 A ley is -^th of a hank, and 1000 grains are equal to |-th of a 
 pound. The average number of hanks to the pound is, for coarse 
 spinning, from ten to forty; but for some purposes, such as candle- 
 wicks, counterpanes, &c., the number of hanks to the pound may 
 not be more than two, whereas some of the finest muslin yarn 
 may be from 300 to 600, and much higher numbers have even 
 been attained; they are of course very costly, and have produced 
 twenty guineas and upwards per lb. 
 
 Yarns are sent to the market in cubical bundles of 5 or 10 lbs. 
 weight, and they are made 
 341, 342), which greatly dimi- 
 nishes the bulk of the yarn, 
 and preserves it from injury. 
 
 It consists of an iron frame, 
 beneath a wooden table B b, on 
 one side of which the yarn is 
 arranged for packing, and on 
 the other the papers and 
 twines. The bundles of yarn 
 are placed between two up- 
 right sets of flat bars b b, 
 resting on a piece of wood upon 
 the iron press-plate ; in this 
 wood are grooves for the thread 
 or twine, the loose ends of 
 which hang down between the 
 spaces of the upright flat bars. When the hanks have been 
 twisted and put in their places, the tops rails g g are lowered, and 
 the key-rods are pushed into the slits of the rails. The iron cross 
 F is then turned; this acts on pinion c, and a ratchet-wheel fur- 
 nished with a click a prevents the wheel from flying back : on one 
 of the radial arms of this wheel is a connecting-rod G, the upper 
 end of which is attached to the press-plate, which must move 
 upwards when the wheel is turned round. When, by this means. 
 
 3 s 
 
 up at a bundling-press (Figs. 
 
 Fig. 341. — BUNDLING-TRESS. 
 
250 
 
 THE CRYSTAL PALACE EXPOSITOR. 
 
 the bundle is sufficiently compressed, the attendant binds the 
 twine round it, then pushes the click out of the ratchet-tooth, and 
 the cotton, by its elastic rebound, drives down the press-plate. 
 
 Fine yarns are subject to a curious process, for the purpose of 
 getting rid of those loose, divergent fibres which interfere with 
 their level compact appearance. This is done by passing the yarn 
 rapidly through a gas flame, as shown in Fig. 343, where the yarn, 
 
 Fig . 343. — “ gassing " the thbead. 
 
 proceeding from one bobbin d d, passes through the flame to another 
 bobbin b b, which is also kept in motion by means of the tin drum 
 c, which, in its turn is moved by the strap a a. The thread between 
 the two bobbins is led over pullies backwards and forwards, 
 through the flame, which singes off the loose fibres, and diminishes 
 the weight of the yarn, so that a yarn of No. 90, may thus become 
 No. 95, making a difference of five hanks per lb. by gassing , as 
 this operation is called. When the yarn passes out of the flame 
 for the last time, it is cleaned by moving over the surface of a 
 brush, and it is then passed through a small hole in a piece of 
 brass, which detects any knot or foul point in the yarn — for the 
 hole is only just large enough to allow the yarn to pass, and should 
 there be any impediments, the piece of brass becomes depressed, 
 and this acts on a lever which turns the gas-flame aside, and lifts 
 the bobbin away from the rotating barrel : the yarn thus remains 
 at rest till the tenter-woman removes the impediment, and sets the 
 machinery again in motion. 
 
 We have thus far described the manufacture of yarn, which 
 consists of a number of fibres twisted in one direction : thread is 
 formed by the twisting together of two or more yarns. There are 
 
 various kinds of thread: lace-thread , which is made of fine numbers 
 of yarn, usually consists of two yarns twisted together ; sewing-thread 
 consists of three or more yarns twisted together ; while stocking 
 thread varies in the number of its component yarns considerably. 
 
 The thread-frame, or doubling and twisting mill, Fig. 344, re- 
 sembles the throstle already noticed. The doubling is effected by 
 
 spindles and flyers, and the twist given to the doubled yarns is 
 usually in an opposite direction to the twist of the individual 
 yarns. The frame has a pair of rollers for delivering the yarns at 
 a measured rate to the twisting spindles, so as to produce a regular 
 and equal twist; and after the thread has been twisted, it is wound 
 upon bobbins, which are dragged round by the thread itself, the 
 l-ail upon which they are placed having the usual up-and-down 
 motion. As the yarns are unwound from the bobbins or cops, they 
 are led over a guide-bar into a vessel containing water, or a weak 
 solution of starch, which enables the lines of yarn to twist into a 
 more solid thread than if they were dry. On leaving the trough 
 the yarns are guided over a roller, which lays them nearly parallel, 
 and they then pass down to the eyelet at the extremity of the flyer, 
 the rapid motion of which twist them into a solid cord or thread. 
 
 The thread is next made up into hanks for the purpose of dyeing 
 or bleaching, after which it is wound upon bobbins for the purpose 
 of balling or reeling. This last process is performed by a young 
 woman, who is seated at a kind of turning lathe, with the bobbin 
 of thread mounted upon a spindle above her head : she seizes the 
 end of the thread, and attaches it to a rod of steel, sets this spin- 
 ning, and in an instant a ball of cotton appears at the end of the 
 rod. The rotation is stopped, a blue ticket is inserted at the end, 
 a further quantity of thread wound to secure the ticket, and the 
 ball is finished. The size of the ball is regulated with great accu- 
 racy by the eye. The cotton is also wound upon reels with sur- 
 prising celerity ; the steel finger which delivers the thread from 
 the bobbin being guided to and fro to distribute it equally along 
 the barrel of the reel. 
 
 We here conclude our notice of those departments of the Crystal 
 Palace which are arranged in a systematic manner. Some of 
 the Courts originally intended for the illustration of the Useful 
 Arts — such as the Court for Musical Instruments, the Court 
 for Printed Fabrics, the Court for Woollen and Mixed Fabrics — 
 have been appropriated to other purposes. In various parts 
 of the building there are displays of manufactured articles for 
 sale ; but as these collections partake rather of the character 
 of a bazaar than of a museum, — of a shifting miscellaneous 
 nature, intended for the eye of the customer, instead of a me- 
 thodical collection of models and objects illustrating processes 
 intended for the eye of the student, — we have passed them 
 over. Single machines, agricultural implements, carriages, &c., 
 for the most part tell their own tale, or are interesting only to 
 those persons concerned in their use. Had it been our purpose to 
 describe single objects, this work might have been indefinitely 
 extended; but on comparing what we have written on the Fine 
 Arts and the Useful Arts with the originals, the reader will pro- 
 bably agree with us that enough has been said to impart a vivid 
 idea of the Crystal Palace to those who have not yet visited it, 
 and to awaken pleasant memories in the minds of those who have 
 done so. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 a. VIRTUE, PRINTER, CITY ROAD, LONDON 
 
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