♦ 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of the City forbids, the towers of the Sydenham Crystal Palace 

 and the woody district which lies around them can be clearly 

 seen. 



At the termiaation of each wing of the Albani Arcades are 

 spaces, over which pavilions were proposed to be erected. The 

 right to these spaces was reserved to themselves by the Com- 

 missioners of 1851. They are now used for the sale of refresh- 

 ments. In the eastern arcade, over which it was at one time 

 contemplated that a pavilion for the Queen's use might be 

 buUt, is placed a marble group consisting of Venus with a Faun 

 and a Nymph. This is the work of FrancavUla, a Fleming, a 

 pupil of Giovanni di Bologna. Its date is about 1576. The 

 female in the middle is about nine feet high, and from having 

 at her feet two dolphins, may be assumed to be intended for 

 V enus. She ajajDcars to be protecting her nymph from the attack 

 of the Faun. This and the two statu.es now standing in the 

 ConseiTatory on each side of the stairs leading to the gallery 

 were purchased by King George IV. for one of the lodges at 

 A^'indsor. After his death the group disappeared, having been 

 buried under a heap of rubbish, whence it was disinterred only 

 a few years ago, in making some alterations near the lodge. 

 Some alterations on it were made by Mr. Thorneycroft, the 

 artist, by orders of H.E.H. the Prince Consort, and it has now 

 been placed by Her Majesty in the Society's Garden. Jets of 

 water have been made to spout from the nostrils of the dolphins, 

 1 marble cup to receive the water has been added by Her 

 Majesty, and the whole has been surrounded by imitation rock- 

 work planted with Ferns. 



