CHAPTER II The Great Exhibition-The Koh-i-noor-Soyer's Symposium—A Platesnatcher-The Old Cornish Woman-The Sydenham Palace-Railways -An Old Whip. A LTHOUGH, as I have already pointed out, many of my recollections owe their origin to the University city, I would not have it inferred that they will be bounded by it. London was within such easy reach of it that I began going there in my childhood and followed it up in later years, for, with the vast opportunities it afforded of seeing persons and things not to be found elsewhere, it always possessed a great attraction for me. One of my early recollections, in connection with matters outside my own home, was a journey to town, though I saw very little of the latter, as the Great Exhibition of 1851 was the objective and the time was limited to a day. As I was born in 1844, I was then seven years of age, and, after all this lapse of time, my impressions have remained almost, if not quite, as vivid as they were a twelvemonth after the event. My father was the secretary of the Exhibition for the county in which we lived, and I have still the bronze medal and large engraved diploma presented to him by the Prince Consort in recognition of his services. My father was also an exhibitor of one or two inventions, for which he was honourably mentioned. I may say, in explanation, that the Exhibition, being so completely a novelty, was managed in several respects upon different lines, so far as the collection of exhibits was concerned, to any that succeeded it. It was the business of the local secretaries to make the Exhibition known in all quarters of the district for which they were responsible, with a view to the gathering together of exhibits. Hence it was that I heard a very great deal about the Exhibition before it took place, for it was continually being discussed in the family circle. Many called to make THE GREAT EXHIBITION 9 inquiries respecting it, and several articles for exhibition were deposited at the house. Very incongruous some of these were, for people had an impression that anything out of the common way would be welcome. Among other things I remember we had sent in, was a sixpence on which had been engraved the whole of the Lord's Prayer, whilst old ladies came with various specimens of their needlework, such as patchwork quilts made of many hundred different pieces of material. Everybody spoke of it as "the Great Exhibition," and, notwithstanding that there have been many such shows since, of much greater magnitude and splendour, it has never lost its designation as "great." Certainly no Exhibition has ever created the interest and excitement in the country as did this one. Our pleasure-party consisted of my father and mother, an old friend of the family and his wife, and myself. Although I had only travelled once or twice by train previously, the journey left no impression whatever upon my mind, which is a perfect blank until I reached Paddington, and from that point my recollections of the day begin. I had heard so much about London streets and their beauties that I had almost begun to think with Dick Whittington that they were paved with gold. Thence arose my first disillusionment. My parents who, like Mrs. Gilpin, had a frugal mind, thought that we could well save the cost of a vehicle by walking from Paddington to Hyde Park, and we went by way of streets in which there were hardly any shops. Hence, regarding these streets as a type of the rest, I remember I inveighed strongly against the dissemination of the fabulous stories that had painted London thoroughfares in such glowing colours. I stoutly maintained that the Metropolis was in this respect far behind our own town. Going over the bridge across the Serpentine, the great Exhibition was before me, and I saw it as Thackeray so well described it : "A blazing arch of lucid glass Leaps like a fountain from the grass A Palace as for Fairy Prince, A rare pavilion such as man Saw never, since mankind began." On nearing the entrance, the first thing that attracted and very much impressed me was the spectacle of soldiers in great bearskin caps standing in sentry boxes just outside the pay gates. It seemed so curious that they should be exhibited in boxes, for I regarded them as part and parcel of the show. When I had passed into the Exhibition, my expectations were more than realized. The sense of space, air and brightness was borne in upon me in a way that left nothing to be desired, and the colouring imparted by the many flags and such exhibits as carpets, tapestry, etc., hanging from the galleries, all added to the effect; whilst everything seemed on a vast scale. I was particularly struck by the sight of large trees growing in the midst of a huge building, and sought an explanation as to why they should have planted them there instead of in the open air, for I regarded them, as I did the Grenadiers, in the light of exhibits. I was content to accept as sufficient that they were there before the great glass house was built and that they could not be moved. I had three things in my mind which I particularly desired to see. The first and foremost was the Koh-i-noor diamond, the great jewel which was more talked about than anything else there; the second was a bed that turned people out if they did not get up in time; the third was the crystal fountain. I saw No. 3 first and was disappointed in it, and I think I was not alone in this. It looked somewhat insignificant in so large a space. But it had its use, for it was the great meeting-place for people who separated in the Exhibition and wanted to reunite later on in the day, and it was impressed upon me that if, by any unfortunate mischance, I happened to get separated from the rest, I was to ask my way to this spot, and stop there till I was once more in safe custody. I shuddered to think what might happen to me if I lost sight of my parents amid the crowds in this vast space, and kept my hand tightly locked in that of my mother. Whenever I go to the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, I always, for old associations' sake, pay a visit to this fountain and try to think what my feelings were on that eventful day when I first saw it. THE KOH-I-NOOR 11 Shortly afterwards we went up into one of the galleries, where I soon became bewildered with the multiplicity of different things I had to look at ; not only those on exhibition, but the human additions to the show representing so many nationalities. Among these, the turbanned Turks and the pig-tailed Chinamen stand out conspicuously in my memory. I was also particularly struck with two men, whose entire outward costume, viz. hat, coat, waistcoat and trousers, was made of carefully plaited straw. Although they were, apparently, like ourselves, only visitors, they were the observed of all observers. All this time I was on the look-out for the Koh-i-noor, and at last I caught sight of an object that I was sure was the mountain of light itself, and which, whatever else failed to come up to expectation, at least was equal to anything I had imagined. I gazed at it with delight from the gallery, for it was in the middle of the central transept, and, with the sun shining full on it, it displayed all the colours of the rainbow and was one mass of glitter. I eagerly called my parents' attention to this in case they should miss it, and was at once told : "That's not the Koh-i-noor, that's a lighthouse lantern." I had my own opinion as to this, and was quite content, until I saw something better, to believe that for once my parents were wrong. Some time after this, when we had descended to the ground level, I was taken to where a crowd of people were gathered round something enclosed in a sort of cage. 66 66 Now," said my father, you shall see the Koh-i noor." And the crowd were asked to make way for the little boy, who was lifted up in order that he might feast his eyes upon it. Looking between the bars of this cage, I perceived, suspended over a small velvet cushion, what looked to me like a little bit of glass, and no more resembling what I had pictured the Koh-i-noor to be than the Exhibition itself was like our Town Hall. Therefore, when, on getting out of the crowd, I was told that now I had seen the great diamond, I simply scoffed at the idea. I said: "Yes, I certainly have seen it, but it was when we were up in the gallery," and no amount of explanation or assurance could convince me to the contrary. I was sure that either my parents did not know the Koh-i-noor when they saw it, or else that they had some particular reason for putting me on the wrong track. I ultimately dismissed the first hypothesis as untenable, and clung to the second, which it took some time to dissipate. However, my thoughts were soon distracted by my parents-who took a good deal of trouble in the searchdiscovering what I had set my heart upon seeing. This was a bedstead with a clock in the woodwork at the foot. If you wanted to get up at six o'clock you set the alarm attached to the clock for that hour. If you slumbered on five minutes later, the bed-clothes, by means of some machinery connected with the bedstead, were suddenly whisked off you, and, if that did not result in inducing you to get up, the bed itself, which revolved on a pivot, turned over and shot you out. I was exceedingly pleased with this, but, at the same time, hoped that it might not come into general use, as I was not at all sure, in my own case, that operation No. 3 might not too frequently be applied. However, I need have had no fear on that score, as I do not think anybody ever saw or heard of that bed being brought into use outside the Exhibition. The other objects that I saw, and which particularly dwell in my imagination, were a piece of sculpture, representing a boy with a broken drum in an agony of tears; a large model of the Castle of Rosenau, where the Prince Consort-then Prince Albert-was born, with a large number of groups of figures, some dancing, some witnessing certain sports and pastimes, all illustrating the celebration of the Prince's birthday; the Queen of Spain's jewels, which reminded me of a page from The Arabian Nights; a collection of wax figures, illustrative of the costumes and occupations of the people of Mexico; and the story of Reynard the Fox told in a series of animal groups most cleverly stuffed and set up by some one at Würtemberg. These were the recollections that I brought away with most distinctness so far as the interior of the building was |