
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
181 

not account for the result. It is at the 
hotels the difference is felt ; and,when we say 
hotels, we are not speaking of such a den of 
thieves as Dover, but of the ordinary English 
hotel. We tind precisely the same kind of 
result if we go into an hotel in the neighbor- 
hood of town, at Greenwich or at Richmond 
—say at the “Crown and Sceptre,” or at 
the “Star and Garter.” Excellent dinners 
at a high rate can, no doubt, be served at 
either of these establishments; but let a party 
of three or four, who require a quiet meal, 
“think twice” of the cost before they venture 
in! They will find themselves mulcted in 
the sum of six shillings for little more thana 
pint of most indifferent wine, and other 
charges in proportion. Compare this system 
with that of foreign restawrants and tables 
a@hote, and is it a matter for great wonder 
that Englishmen avoid the hotels of their 
own country ? 
We fear it is too late now for our English 
hotel-keepers to reform. People avoid them 
as they would avoid a precipice, and it will 
be long indeed ere they recover the position 
they have lost. 
An Englishman’s hand is, at this season, 
never out of his pocket. Pay, pay, pay! 
rings in his ears, wherever he goes, either by 
steamboat or rail. If he enter a watering- 
place, he is fleeced ; if he go to “a quiet spot 
in the country,” it is simply ditto. 
In short, extortion and roguery seem to 
rule our land, from east to west, from north 
to south. All we can say is,—‘‘ We are 
used to it.” 
What a consolation under suffering ! 

THE NEW CRYSTAL PALACE. 

WE HARDLY NEED say, that the workmen at 
Sydenham are busily employed; for time now 
admits of no delay. However, although some 
portions of the extensive operations in the park 
connected with this great undertaking are pro- 
gressing rapidly towards completion, yet a very 
great deal has still to be effected before the whole 
of the ground-work is finished. 
The two terrace walls, which are of Bath stone, 
with circular niches in front and handsome balus- 
tradings on the top, are both built, and some of 
the statues which are to ornament the corners of 
the bastions have been procured and are ready for 
setting up. The narrow grass slope, between the 
basement of the palace and the level of the first 
terrace, is completed, and the terrace itself might 
soon be made ready for gravelling. 
The second terrace, which is to be laid out in 
beds on grass, intersected in various directions by 
gravel walks, has been putinto form. The basins 
for the fountains, with which it is to be ornamented, 
are being excavated, and the pipes laid for supply- 
ing them with water. The main central walk, 
leading from the principal transept through the two 
terraces, has been put into shape as far as where 
the first great fountain in the park is to play ; and 


the balustrading along the top of the lower terrace 
wall has been continued down the sides of this 
walk as far as it is raised, and round the fountain ; 
tillit terminates in two neat piers a little below the 
latter. The slopes too, from the base of the stone- 
work down to the level of the surrounding ground, 
have been turfed. This has the effect of setting 
off the white stone with which the terrace walls 
are formed, to great advantage. 
All along the terrace walls the little piers, 
which are 24 feet apart, are to be surmounted by 
vases filled with flowering plants; and beds of 
mignonette and other sweet-smelling flowers are 
to be scattered plentifully along the grassy bank 
below the first terrace, so as to yield an agreeable 
perfume to visitors looking over the wall on the 
magnificent gardens below, with their delightful 
groups of ornamental shrubs, flowers, and foun- 
tains. A large tract of ground lying between a 
natural knoll, or little hill, on the west side of the 
first great fountain in the park, and the front of 
the terrace gardens, has been laid down in turf or 
sown with grass seeds, and completed. Several 
of the broad walks too, in this part of the grounds, 
have been made, and rough gravelled. 
Various well-arranged chumps have also been 
formed and planted, chiefly with shrubs bought in 
at Messrs. Loddiges’ sale; and altogether this 
side of the park, with its finely undulating surface 
and broad glades of grass, begins to assume an 
interesting and finished appearance. On the top of 
the eminence, or little knoll, just mentioned, some 
sort of colonnade is to be raised ; from which views 
of the grounds can be obtained. But by far the 
best view, both of the park and the extensive and 
beautiful valley beyond it, will be that from an 
open eolonnade which is to be formed round the 
front of the palace itself. 
A few circular beds have been made round some 
of the pieces of lawn which have been finished ; 
but they have not been planted. A large quantity 
of bedding plants have, however, been bought in, 
and are planted out in nursery “‘ lines” merely to 
forward their growth a little preparatory to their 
being housed for the winter. 
Before leaving this part of the grounds, we may 
just mention that the palace station, into which 
not only the West-End railway but also that from 
London Bridge is to run, is being formed close on 
the western boundary of the park, at a little 
distance from the palace ; between which and the 
station, there is to be a glass covered-way ; so that 
the contents of the building may be inspected 
without inconvenience, during all kinds of weather. 
If we pass down the line of the great central walk 
which is to lead to the bottom of the park, decorated © 
as it is intended to be on either side with flowers 
and shrubs, and alive with fountains and water- 
falls, we find great operations going on; but 
nothing is as yet so far advanced as.te convey any 
correct idea of what it is ultimately intended to 
become. 
It is intended that the main walk, after passing 
round the first basin and fountain, shall proceed in 
the direction of Penge Church, till it terminates in 
another circular basin and series of fountains, 
whose equals will only be found at Chatsworth 
itself. To give some idea of the magnificence 
of the display that may be expected to be found 
here, we may mention that the centre column of 

