216 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Just across the street are the Houses of Parliament, in the 

 most elaborate and profuse Gothic style, which appears, to use 

 the expression of a noble lady, decidedly " jimcracky." I had 

 the good fortune to see these buildings by day and to examine 

 them at my leisure, and soon after to attend the sitting of the 

 House of Lords, where I heard Lord John Russell, the Earl of 

 Derby, Lord Brougham, and many others whose names are 

 more or less familiar to all Americans. Space will not allow 

 me to state my impressions of these men or their speeches, nor 

 of those I had the good fortune to hear in the House of Com- 

 mons, to which I had access through the kindness of Mr. 

 Cobden, whom I had previously met in this country, and to 

 whom I had letters. I presented both him and Mr. John 

 Bright with copies of the beautiful edition of " Harris on 

 Lisects Lijurious to Vegetation," on behalf of the State of Mas- 

 sachusetts, for the kindly words they had spoken for my 

 country. Here also I had the pleasure of hearing Lord Palmers- 

 ton, Mr. D'Israeli, Mr. Cobden, and many others. 



The British Museum is a little world of itself. I visited it 

 many times, and always came away in despair of ever obtaining 

 an adequate idea of it myself, and it would be useless to attempt 

 to convey any just conception Of its immense extent, or the 

 extreme riches and splendor of its collections. The Egyptian 

 remains form a most wonderful and interesting feature, and 

 they throw greater and clearer light on the history and domes- 

 tic economy of that most remarkable people, the ancient Egyp- 

 tians, than any other collection in the world, but these remains 

 form only a small part of the whole. Every department is 

 planned upon the grandest scale, and filled with all that 

 science, art and boundless wealth could command. It is a 

 compendium, an epitome, the most complete imaginable of the 

 history, the manners and customs of all nations and all times, 

 of all arts and all sciences. This vast and varied establishment, 

 supported and endowed by the government, is open free to the 

 people, and must exert a vast and powerful influence upon the 

 education and development of the masses. It is very naturally 

 a subject of laudable national pride, an institution worthy to 

 be adopted as a model by every civilized nation. 



The Thames tunnel is remarkable rather as a curiosity than 

 any thing else. Whatever may have been its original design, 



