JUNE. 179 



tilis plan answers exceedingly well ; it is green paint, and stippuled ; 

 the large sheets were each divided when reglazed into three ; it is not 

 too dark in winter, and the plants look far better than when canvas 

 shading was used ; they have a healthy deep green foliage, and are 

 neither yellow nor burned, as was frequently the case under the large 

 clear sheets of glass. 



Royal Botanic Garden, Kew. J. Houlston. 



THE CRYSTAL PALACE AT SYDENHAM. 



As the opening day approaches, public excitement respecting this ex- 

 traordinary place increases ; and though it was noticed in your last 

 number, a few additional notes ma^le during a walk over it the other 

 day may not be unEicceptable to your readers. 



To begin ; the inside, though apparently at present in an unfinished 

 state, is so far advanced, that in a short time it can be got in readi- 

 ness for the reception of the public ; it cannot be expected that the 

 whole of the vast interior will be by that time furnished with the thou- 

 sands of industrial articles which hereafter it will contain. Yet the 

 vast proportions of the building itself, and the simplicity and harmony 

 of its details, will afford a large field for investigation ; and thouo-h the 

 present will not be represented to its fullest extent, yet there will be 

 found in the contemplation of the past (as exemplified in the Antique 

 Courts), sufficient materials to occupy public attention for a long time; 

 independently of the various sources of attraction which Sir Joseph 

 Paxton is fast providing for the public in the grounds. The Courts, 

 which are facsimiles of the architecture, style of decoration, and arts 

 of different nations, afford, without doubt, the most perfect memorials of 

 antiquity ever brought together on one spot. The public will now be 

 able to trace the gradual progress of arts and civilisation, from the 

 earliest danm of Egyptian art, till it reached the highest point of excel- 

 lence under the Greeks and Romans, whose consummate knowledge 

 of form and proportion has never been surpassed. The decay of pure 

 Roman art, as it gradually merged into the Byzantine ; and later, into 

 the Gothic, IMediseval, and Elizabethan styles, is perfectly sho^^^l in 

 the courts bearing the above names; wdiile the elaborate style of the 

 best JMoorish architecture is beautifully carried out in the Alhambra 

 Court. The Renaissance Court is represented on the opposite side, 

 in connexion with the examples of more modern eras. Nor must I 

 forget to notice the restored productions of Assyrian art, as displayed 

 in the Nineveh Court; which, buried for ages amid the ruins of the 

 Great City, have been carefully modelled and coloured, and now stand 

 before the world in all their pristine freshness, indicative of the marvel- 

 lous conception and poetic bent of the Assyrian mind. 



Before leaving, I must remark how infinitely more striking the in- 

 terior of the present building is, in com})arison with the Hyde Park palace : 

 tliis was in some measure to be expected; but I was hardly prepared 

 for the magnificence of the scene which presents itself when standing 



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