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A MAYOR AND CORPORATION SHOW. 



A Mayor and Corporation Show ! and pray, what have we to do 

 with a Mayor and Corporation Show ? What to us is it, with its 

 City-marshal leading the way, its worshipful Companies of Grocers 

 and Goldsmiths, its Mercers and Spectacle-makers, Fishmongers and 

 Tallow-chandlers ? Wherein are we interested in its beadles and 

 banners, its watermen, mounted aldermen, and charity children ? 

 What to us is the pomposity of mace, the severity of sword-bearer, 

 the gravity of Mr. Recorder, or the complaisance of my lord, all 

 " nods and bows and wreathed smiles ?" What do we care whether 

 his lordship " takes water" at Blackfriars or London Bridge ? What 

 to us is the ancient man in armour, or man in ancient armour ? 

 What the man in brass, who albeit heroically bent upon the full per- 

 formance of his martial duties, is evidently galled by the rapid fire 

 simultaneously opened upon him on all sides from hundreds of pairs 

 of eyes, and sorely distressed by the "chaff" exploding in every direc- 

 tion ? What to us is it even though great Gog and Magog "walk;" 

 or what to us is the glory of the returning procession, adding to its 

 morning features the addition of banners dripping with a thick No- 

 vember mist, and draggling in the civic mud ? Beadles and water- 

 men unsteady in their equilibrium ; aldermen nervously grasping the 

 manes instead of the bridles of their steeds ; the man in brass be- 

 mused with beer ; and the ancient man in armour so exhausted with 

 his dreadful strife and deeds of daring -do, that he maintains his 

 seat on his gallant Rosinante only by the aid of his faithful squires. 

 What, I say, have ice to do v/ith civic pageantry ? Nothing ; our 

 show is of a very different order ; we have to sing or talk of the 

 floricultural show held by the Mayor and Corporation of Nottingham, 

 on June 24th, in the arboretum founded by them for the use of the 

 town for ever, — a show, we believe, without precedent in the annals 

 of such bodies. 



All honour, then, to our noble mayor and body corporate ; and 

 may their excellent example be followed in every town in the length 

 and breadth of the land! And how have the "people" responded.'' 

 Is the arboretum appreciated, and was the show successful ? Emi- 

 nently so. When it has been our good fortune to visit the arboretum, 

 we have always found it crowded ; and between three and four thou- 

 sand visitors testified the interest felt in floricultural exhibitions. 

 Each, the arboretum and the exhibition, added the one a grace to 

 the other ; and the delight of the good people of Nottingham was 

 evidenced on every side. Liberal, too, as were the prizes — amount- 

 ing to upwards of 50/. — the funds of the arboretum, after payment 

 of every expense, were advantaged by over 100/. Well, then, we 

 may wish the example so well set may be widely followed ; and we 

 would gladly know some part of the spirit exhibited had reached the 

 managers of our own beautiful arboretum (Derby), so well adapted as 

 it is for floral gatherings. 



