EXHIBITION OF 1862. 
157 
important of them—which I saw must require many weeks 
of severe labor—I determined first, to indulge in a rapid gen¬ 
eral survey—a cou]^ d'ceil —of the Exhibition as a whole, that 
I might better know where to begin its study and how much 
time to give to each country and class. And so with a plan of 
the building in hand, I first took a position directly under 
the eastern dome, looking down the grand nave toward the 
I 
western. 
Language is powerless to describe the magnificent spectacle. 
A perfect wilderness of objects of every conceivable kind ! 
Flashing jewels, brilliantly dyed fabrics of every possible 
color and pattern; clouds of delicate lawns and almost in¬ 
visible laces; furniture and upholsteries for the palaces of 
kings; glittering implements of steel, and batteries of deep- 
mouthed, solemn cannon ; precious wares of glass and porce¬ 
lain and silver and gold; hollow ware, hardware and wooden 
ware for every known use; trophies of iron and steel and 
polished brass from a thousand foundries and w^ork-shops; 
towering monuments of massive mineral from the bowels of 
the earth, and roof-touching trophies of timber from the far-off 
• forests of the New World or distant isles of tropical seas ; all 
instruments of music, from the silver-throated flute to the 
majestic organ, standing stately and grand in this new, vast 
temple dedicated to the Progress of Man; while, high over 
head, upon the arched and self-supporting girders of nave and 
transepts, the emblazoned names of all nations, colonies and 
principalities under heaven, made yet more effective by the 
gaily-flaunted banners which decorated the galleries on every 
side, gave assurance that here the people of every zone and 
clime had brought the products of their industry and genius 
and spread them before the world, each for the inspection of 
all. Add to this the hum and rattle and roar of remote 
machinery, the ringing of bells, the pealing of grand organs, 
the trampling of myriads of restless feet, and the music of 
eighty thousand human voices in all the babbling tongues of 
earth, and you have a faint conception of a tout ensemble at 
once bewildering, grand and glorious ! 
