17 



for a steady and intelligent demand for the rich colors 

 and exquisite materials which the far East sends us. 



It is well known that the most popular exhibits at Phil- 

 adelphia were those in Art, and that the most constantly 

 crowded building was Memorial Hall. The throng of 

 sight seers was of course largely made up of those to 

 Avhom the meaning of a picture or statue was as a Greek 

 letter, and many were the odd speeches and queer mis- 

 takes which were noted among them. One spectator in- 

 terpreted the enormous and unpleasant picture of "Riz- 

 pah" to be the "Goddess of Liberty scaring away the 

 American Eagle from the vanquished South." Another 

 stopped in the Russian Court before a fine work in re- 

 pousse silver, which represented figures in violent action.. 

 "R-e-p-o-s-e," she slowly read it; "there don't seem to 

 be much repose about that!" A man and his wife were 

 examining the malachites in the same section. "They 

 arc beautiful, Charles, these amalekites, are they not?" 

 "No, my dear," he answered, proud of his superior knowl- 

 edge, "not amalekites, but amalgamitfs!" Still tlie peo- 

 ple saw and enjoyed all these things ; and unless they 

 are more obtuse than the last century seems to have made 

 them, they must have gained a vast amount of instruction 

 from their visit. 



Our household art, in particular, must be very much 

 advanced as one result of the Exhibition. It is not so 

 very long ago that England, .which had so much to teach 

 us in this department at Philadelphia, was herself a 

 scholar to tfle older art of the continent. In the brief 

 lull of the war with the first Napoleon there was a great 

 rush of English visitors to France ; and when hostilities 

 suddenly recommenced, it is said that twelve thousand of 

 them were caught and kept in Paris. They brought back 

 new tastes and refinements ; and English Art from that 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN. IX 2 



