CAUSES OF SUCCESS. 21 



Queen. And think what a refreshment for these 

 working men on a summer's eve, when their hot 

 work is done, or on silent sabbaths, when there is 

 no work to do, "to sit 'mong the Roses and hear 

 the birds sing" — songs of praise and comfort and 

 hope. 



Meanwhile they have a foretaste of this glad- 

 ness in the glass houses which I went to see. 

 Houses ! why, a full-sized giant would have taken 

 them up like a hand-glass ; and even I, but a 

 small office-boy in connection with that great 

 business,* was unable in most of them to stand 

 upright, and into some to enter at all. That *'bit 

 o' glass" had been, nevertheless, as much a dream, 

 and hope, and happiness to its owner as the 

 Crystal Palace to Paxton. How often the very 

 thought and expectation of it had soothed and 

 relieved his weariness as he worked at his stock- 

 ing-frame ! How the reality had refreshed, refined 

 him, in his brief, bright holiday hours ! There is 

 a timber-yard on the left as you leave Notting- 



* One of the first of many delicious stories which it was my 

 privilege to hear Mr. Thackeray tell, was, that once upon a time he 

 and Mr. Higgins ("Jacob Omnium") went to see a Giant, and that 

 the man at the door inquired whether they were in the business, 

 because, if so, no charge would be made for admission. Mr. Thack- 

 eray was 6 feet 4 inches, and Mr. Higgins not less than 6 feet 6 inches 

 in height. As the Eton boy, describing a country fair, remarked in 

 his Latin verse : — 



" Gigantesque duo, super honore meo." 



