492 International Exhibitions. [Oct., 



Exposition was placed on the Carre de Marigny, a large oblong 

 piece of ground abutting on the main aTenne of the Champs 

 Elysees. The architect was M. Moreau. The whole plot covered 

 a parallelogram of about 675 by 328 feet English, round the outline 

 of which was a gallery about 90 feet wide, divided into two avenues 

 by a double range of pilasters. 



In England, the Society of Arts may claim the credit of having 

 originated national exhibitions. In 1756, about the period when 

 the Royal Academy first began its Fine Art Exhibitions, that 

 Society offered prizes for improvements in the manufacture of 

 tapestry, carpets, porcelain, and other things, and exhibited the 

 articles which were offered for competition. It also offered prizes 

 for improvements in agricultural and other machines, and, in 1761, 

 a gentleman was paid to attend an exhibition of machinery in the 

 Society's rooms, and to explain the models exhibited. The progress 

 of national exhibitions in England was not by any means so marked 

 and steady as in France. Such industrial displays had to fight 

 then way against a vast amount of apathy and prejudice. The first 

 project set on foot for commencing an annual public exhibition of 

 this kind was coldly received, and even denounced by the mouth- 

 pieces of public opinion. This Exhibition, however, was formed in 

 1828, under the patronage of Xing George IY., on the plan which 

 had been found successful in France, the Netherlands, and the 

 United States ; and the King's Mews at Charing Cross, which stood 

 on the site of Trafalgar Square and was pulled down in 1833, was 

 fitted up to receive the few productions sent in for exhibition. The 

 Exhibition was opened on Monday, June 23rd, 1828, and was 

 described by the following title : — " The National Repository for 

 the Exhibition of Specimens of New and Improved Productions of 

 the Artizans and Manufacturers of the United Kingdom, Eoyal 

 Mews, Charing Cross." This National Repository met with a most 

 decided opposition from the public, but it succeeded in struggling 

 through some four Exhibitions of decreasing merit ; and when it 

 left the King's Mews, in 1833, it still carried on a languishing 

 business for a short time at a room in Leicester Square. 



During this time the Society of Arts had continued to give 

 then attention to the subject. In 1829 the Secretary of the Society 

 read papers on several of the leading industries of the country, 

 and from that date specimens of raw materials, manufactures, and 

 new inventions were frequently collected in the old rooms in the 

 Adelphi. Then followed local Trade Exhibitions, held at Man- 

 chester, Birmingham, Leeds, Dublin, and other places; and the 

 Exhibition of Manufactures at the Free Trade Bazaar, held in 

 Co vent Garden Theatre in 1845. In that year the Society of Arts 

 tried to revive the idea of forming periodical Exhibitions of Indus- 

 trial products in England on the plan of the French Expositions. 



