50 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 17. 
are known more or less to millions—to the many who 
simply read for instruction, and who gather information from 
the most diversified sourees, whatever may be its nature— 
for the pioneer of penny literature, the “ Penny Magazine,” 
occasionally copied Piranesi’s views, to inform and instruct 
its readers; and so vigourously has that once useful publica¬ 
tion been imitated, that there is scarcely a single structure 
in the costly work alluded to but is now as familiarly known 
to the ordinary reader of cheap literature as St. Paul’s is to 
the citizen of London, or the Madelaine to the inhabitant of 
Paris. Again, when Sir William Gell, even within the re¬ 
collection of many of us still living, produced his distinguished 
work upon Pompeii, and the Roman city was illustratively 
restored for our amusement and edification, how few could 
embrace the opportunity of even perusing the production of 
that distinguished antiquarian and architect. As a con¬ 
sequence, it was little known, and had less influence upon 
tho practical instruction of the time than it otherwise might 
have had. Had Layard, even, excavated Nineveh at the 
period to which we allude, there is very little doubt that his 
“ winged hulls ” would have been little better than a myth 
to the thirsting many, and a mere idle study for the insouciant 
few; for books, plates, drawings, paintings, Ac., were any¬ 
thing but the prerogative of the mass, and there was, therefore, 
little hope of inspiration being drawn from the spirit and 
genius they contained by those who could scarcely obtain a 
glimpse of them. Strictly speaking, however, this remark is 
more justly applicable to this country than to many parts of 
the continent; for it is a recorded fact, that when Denon’s 
great work on Egypt first made its appearance, several copies 
were exposed in the great salle of the Ecole des Beaux Arts 
in Paris, in order that the public should become acquainted 
with the contents of the work, and catch a new idea or so 
from its illustrative matter. In this country, and in those 
days, on the contrary, such a work as Egypt Illustre would 
have been locked up in the British Museum ; and who would 
have presumed to approach such a treasure ? As to looking 
at it, in a studious sense, that were out of the question 
altogether; it would have been strictly forbidden to do so, 
and little less than sacrilege to have requested such a boon. 
Not so, however, they in France. Artists, manufacturers, 
book amateurs, and book-illustrators, all went to see Le 
Grand Ouvrage sur I’Egypt, and all benefited more or less by 
the sight. In less than a month or so, the whole industry 
of France was breathing of Egypt and its studies: china, 
porcelain, silks, woollens, shop-fronts, and every possible 
device that could administer to the wants of that highly 
artificial community, were covered with imitations from the 
illustrations of Denon; and the manufacturing art of France 
was proportionately improved. Herein lies the secret of the 
success of our neighbours in their designs. It is not the 
climate, as many have naively suggested; neither is it in the 
temperament of the people : it consists simply in the cultiva¬ 
tion at an early period of the artistic faculties, to which all 
their governments for the last half century have given their 
cordial assistance, and a ready access to the finest specimens 
and the choicest models which art could produce. The art, 
in these instances, almost ceases to become an art: it is 
second nature ; for it is altogether impossible for any, except 
those who won’t see, to have daily before their eyes elegant 
features and graceful forms, and yet endure, much less 
imitate, that which is vulgar. 
These are advantages which we have never possessed 
until now. We have had painting, sculpture, engraving, 
and other artistic developments; but they have been confined 
to the few. Individual energy has never accomplished here 
what national governments have done elsewhere. In this 
country, even in matters of art, all has been done by the 
people for the people; in France, and other parts of the con¬ 
tinent, on the contrary, everything is done for the people by 
the state, otherwise they might, and doubtless would, have 
been in a similar condition to ourselves, as regards artistic 
skill and industrial illustration. 
With the “ won’t-see class," we repeat, we have done for 
the present; but to the “ can't-seeclass” we should respect¬ 
fully answer, were the question which we have placed at the 
head of this article—“ What do you think of the Crystal 
Palace ? ”—put to us :— 
The delight you experienced in your youth, at the first 
sight of a print, which illustrated the meaning of what you 
were reading about, and which first vividly impressed upon 
the mind the spirit and ideality of the subject, you Irave 
repeated and reflected in a most glorious manner in the 
objects of the Crystal Palace. All that the Bible so in- 
spiringly inculcates, as regards mere intellectual improve¬ 
ment ; all that Homer sings so delightfully about, and all 
that Milton or Shakspere idealised, have there received a 
material form. Nineveh, the great and mighty, whose name 
is the very symbol of ancient power and grandeur; Egypt, 
so much read of and so little known to the multitude who 
read about her, are here placed before us as they existed in 
the plenitude of thfeir power. Greece, the classical, the 
refined, the poetical, lives once more in the apartments of 
the Palace ; and Rome, the mighty and majestic, with her 
imperial pomp, has there her features reflected for your 
benefit, in more forms than one. The courts are filled with 
representations of the heroes and sages of all ages. Every 
glorious work of art produced since our race began is repre¬ 
sented in the majestic vistas of the Art-temple which you, 
the “ can’t-see class,” are half-disposed to ignore and repu¬ 
diate. But what can a mousing owl know of objects in the 
bright blaze of the noon-day ? The vision of the bird is not 
adapted for such a knowledge :— 
“ Shall winking tapers show the sun his light? ” 
In one word—the Crystal Palace at Sydenham is an epitome 
of the art-excellence of the ancient and modern world— 
the light of the human mind massed in a material form, 
equally for the benefit of those who “ can’t see," as those 
who are able, willing, and most intensely anxious to see, and 
to “mark, learn, and inwardly digest," what they really do 
see. This is what The Home Companion thinks of the 
Crystal Palace ; and it thinks, moreover, that none should 
enter that singular structure without feeling that they owe a 
debtof gratitude to the Paxtons, the Lathams, the Waterhouse 
Hawkins’, the Digby Wyatts, and the Owen Jones’ who have 
directed their minds in so useful a manner as to produce so 
intellectual and such a highly instructive work of art.— Hume 
Companion. * 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
GREENHOUSE QUERIES. 
“ Being desirous of erecting a small glass-house for the 
better protection of my plants in winter, &ci, I venture to 
inclose a rough sketch of the only position I can conveni¬ 
ently assign for this purpose. It is a nook at the bottom of 
my kitchen garden, very sheltered, and exceedingly hot. 
“ Perhaps, in your ‘ Answers to Correspondents,’ you will 
favour me by noticing the following queries, viz.:—Would two 
feet added to the back wall of scullery, seven to ten feet, be suf¬ 
ficient height? At back end, five to five feet six inches ; front 
width ten feet—and the length,of course, only that of scullery 
wall (fifteen feet). This would only take three sashes ; and, 
therefore, if the middle one only opens with a slide, would 
not that do for the roof ventilation ? the other two to be 
fixtures. And what size and description of glass would you 
use ? Hartley’s Rough Patent ? Finally, how shall I manage 
to keep the frost out ? A very little heat would do, if rightly 
applied, because the situation is so warm; and, generally, j 
our winters are not severe. I have had some idea that a 
small pipe from the boiler in the kitchen range might be 
sufficient. Certain it is, I do not see where the stock-hole for 
a flue could be placed, as the spaces, right and left, are 
scarcely six feet.— Warner, Isle of Wight.” 
[We should place no value on the place being exceedingly 
hot: an exceedingly cold night would make havoc of your 
best plants. 
2. The situation will answer admirably. 
8. Twelve feet high for a back wall—or even ten or eleven 
would do, and five-and a-half feet for the front; but six would 
do better if the back wall was raised to twelve ; and half, at 
least, of that front should be glass. 
4. If you do not intend having glass in front, then a 
hipped roof, like that at Hitchin Nursery, would suit you 
best. 
5. Supposing you have a lean-to roof, the centre sash 
* The Home Companion is an excellent illustrated journal of popular 
literature, published weekly, price three-halfpence. 
