Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
the building has been opened , but still in a state of great incompletenesscomparing the result Avith the original announcements and those which have appeared subsequently . The gardens , water-works , and fountains , and the lake and illustrations of geology , and other branches of science , put forward as main features in the undertaking , are still quite unfinished . The zoological and the ethnological collections are of great interest , and are arranged with no slight skill ; but they are small in extent when judged
by lists of desiderata which were published . The important departments of raw materials and machinery are only now beginning to be put in order . Under the head of Manufactures in general , there is so marked an inferiority in extent , quality of goods , and even in arrangement , to the collection in 1851 , that this circumstance has , we feel certain , very materially lessened the interest of the whole Exhibition to the general public . These slight discrepancies between the intention and the result ,
have , we believe , led to a very general idea that there is not much to see this year , and that it will be time enough to go when all is finished—a very mistaken notion , but one hardly to be wondered at , and one from which the Company will suffer very seriously . The extraordinary collection of sculpture and portrait busts , and architectural ornaments and reproductions , is alone worth a great number of visits—presenting , as it does , materials for all but a complete study of the works of the most
important races during various periods of history . There may be some exceptions to our approval of the manner in which these have been arranged and set forth ; but we are bound to confess that , if we do not agree with portions of the indiscriminate praise which seems lately to have become the cue of certain journals , we know not by whose hands the difficult task would have been better performed . What we have to regret
in the present state of the management—viewing the importance of the educational objects—are very different matters . They are simply features in the arrangements which interfere with the frequency of the visits required for the objects referred to . The difficulties of a visit to the Crystal Palace—so far as a very large number of individuals are concerned—are comprised in the time occupied , and the expense . At an occasional holiday these things may , perhaps , not be felt ; and asso farthe visitors have beenin great measureidle
, , , , people—country cousins , with money to spend , and holiday makers—¦ kindly suggestions and urgent remonstrances have been alike unattended to . The profits on cold fowl and lobster salad have been clutched exultingly ;—but they are " a delusion and a snare . " Yourself and family spend a sovereign with great unction and delight : but a certain question is considered , at the time when another visit is thought of , and perhaps your family may be left at home . This should not be the case—certainl
y not , either for the educational object , or the commercial one . The Company had better even retail their viands at cost price . What will the industrious artizan say to "dinner , " or rather luncheon , at 2 s . —what will the not more prosperous student P We recollect something was once said about charges such as those of an ordinary chop-house . We take the liberty to suggest both the charges , and the bill of fare . —The journey is a serious objection to frequent visits . Men of business are now not in
the habit of waiting half an hour in a railway carriage before the regular time of starting . The time in going to the Crystal Palace and returning from it , is equal to what can be spent in the building , and will be thought of during the winter months—tho experimentum crucis of the undertaking . The receipts are said to be satisfactory at the present moment ; and the working expenses are put at an amount which seems small , considering the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
the building has been opened , but still in a state of great incompletenesscomparing the result Avith the original announcements and those which have appeared subsequently . The gardens , water-works , and fountains , and the lake and illustrations of geology , and other branches of science , put forward as main features in the undertaking , are still quite unfinished . The zoological and the ethnological collections are of great interest , and are arranged with no slight skill ; but they are small in extent when judged
by lists of desiderata which were published . The important departments of raw materials and machinery are only now beginning to be put in order . Under the head of Manufactures in general , there is so marked an inferiority in extent , quality of goods , and even in arrangement , to the collection in 1851 , that this circumstance has , we feel certain , very materially lessened the interest of the whole Exhibition to the general public . These slight discrepancies between the intention and the result ,
have , we believe , led to a very general idea that there is not much to see this year , and that it will be time enough to go when all is finished—a very mistaken notion , but one hardly to be wondered at , and one from which the Company will suffer very seriously . The extraordinary collection of sculpture and portrait busts , and architectural ornaments and reproductions , is alone worth a great number of visits—presenting , as it does , materials for all but a complete study of the works of the most
important races during various periods of history . There may be some exceptions to our approval of the manner in which these have been arranged and set forth ; but we are bound to confess that , if we do not agree with portions of the indiscriminate praise which seems lately to have become the cue of certain journals , we know not by whose hands the difficult task would have been better performed . What we have to regret
in the present state of the management—viewing the importance of the educational objects—are very different matters . They are simply features in the arrangements which interfere with the frequency of the visits required for the objects referred to . The difficulties of a visit to the Crystal Palace—so far as a very large number of individuals are concerned—are comprised in the time occupied , and the expense . At an occasional holiday these things may , perhaps , not be felt ; and asso farthe visitors have beenin great measureidle
, , , , people—country cousins , with money to spend , and holiday makers—¦ kindly suggestions and urgent remonstrances have been alike unattended to . The profits on cold fowl and lobster salad have been clutched exultingly ;—but they are " a delusion and a snare . " Yourself and family spend a sovereign with great unction and delight : but a certain question is considered , at the time when another visit is thought of , and perhaps your family may be left at home . This should not be the case—certainl
y not , either for the educational object , or the commercial one . The Company had better even retail their viands at cost price . What will the industrious artizan say to "dinner , " or rather luncheon , at 2 s . —what will the not more prosperous student P We recollect something was once said about charges such as those of an ordinary chop-house . We take the liberty to suggest both the charges , and the bill of fare . —The journey is a serious objection to frequent visits . Men of business are now not in
the habit of waiting half an hour in a railway carriage before the regular time of starting . The time in going to the Crystal Palace and returning from it , is equal to what can be spent in the building , and will be thought of during the winter months—tho experimentum crucis of the undertaking . The receipts are said to be satisfactory at the present moment ; and the working expenses are put at an amount which seems small , considering the