470 HOW THE FAIRY RACE RECEIVED THE EUROPEANS depart, to resume their cheerful life on the holy hill, and aid in friendly offices again the mortal race. And more people of the strange race came, and they were delighted with the hills; they walked and they rode over the rugged paths, and the air rang again, and resounded from the echoing rocks, with their voices of hilarity and merriment. Their days were cheerful, and their nights were calm, for the fairies were their friends, and aided them, and they regained their health and spirits. And after a time, the queen of the aërial race sent and inspired the rulers of the stranger armies to form a place on the holy hill for the health of the warriors; and he was persuaded; and he ordered and sent men skilled in all knowledge of what was proper and requisite to be done for health; and they wandered over the mountain, and chose a site, and they made a path of ascent; and they built houses, and began to form gardens; and the place became great and thus the Christian race came to dwell on the holy hill of Murmuring Streams, in the midst of the gentle aërial race, and in friendship with them. THE RHINE. FULL stately is thy course, majestic Rhine! Now bending gracefully, now proudly swelling, With tribute streams thy dark blue waves propelling, "Twixt verdant banks, where toil and peace combine; Where sheltering hills protect the spreading vine, Whilst bolder heights, crowned with proud feudal dwelling, Or fortress stern, their antique legends telling, Still to each other speak of noble line, Brave knight and peerless dame: of days gone by, Heroic deeds of high-born chivalry, And minstrel tales of war, and love, and wine: The sun o'er lonely Drachen Fells is streaming; It is the moment for poetic dreaming, And all the pensive thoughts that blend with day's decline. On Singhara Mount, close by the Nun, where is the Orange Dell, and aiso the Fairy Well, to give water while the western breeze blows cheeringly over it. A LAST LOOK AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. MADAME DE STAEL has remarked that the English word "Farewell!" is one of the most musical, the most expressive, and the most affecting, that is to be found in any language. She is right; it is indeed more than a word-it is a sentence in itself. It contains the whole essence of an affectionate parting, fraught with all the good wishes that affection must ever prompt. It says, "Adieu! Be happy. I shall not witness that happiness, but I also shall be happy in hearing of it." If not so harmonious in sound, equally moving in sentiment is the simple phrase, "For the last time!" The last evening that friends spend together, the last cordial shake of the hand, the last look at parting, the last request of lips dear to us-how warm are the feelings they call forth at the moment! how tender the recollections they leave! Even of things inanimate it is the same-who ever looked back upon a favourite tree, a beloved roof, a well known turn in an oft tracked road, or upon any other familiar object, endeared by long associations, for "the last time," without feeling as if a void was left in the heart, which at the moment it seems no new object can ever fill up! It is not often, however, that crowded places of public resort awaken any sentiment of this kind: the "Positively Last Night of Performance," may indeed attract a numerous audience to a theatre, or a spectacle, but the scene is generally quitted without any demonstration of regret, except the doubtful one of uproarious applause, at its close. Not so has it been with the closing of the Crystal Palace. We may venture to affirm that never since the world began, has so singular, so interesting a spectacle been beheld as that of between twenty and thirty thousand members of civilized society all met together under one roof, all actuated by the same sentiment of regret, that they had met to look "for the last time" on the wonders of Nature, Science, and Art, by which the Crystal Palace had, for six months, attracted all ranks, all ages, all nations, within its ample boundaries; to gaze upon its light some architecture, to track its spacious aisles, to contemplate its treasures, and its wonders; and to open their hearts to that true philanthrophy which finds its own enjoyments multiplied, a hundred fold, in the thought that they are the enjoyments also of all around. Never, indeed, did human institution give rise to so wide a sphere of good feeling as has been diffused throughout this gigantic repository of nature's gifts and human industry, from all quarters of the globe! It afforded a delightful earnest of the happy period which we are allowed to hope for, and which we may all accelerate by individual efforts, when mankind will regard each other as fellow-citizens of the world at large; when facility of intercourse will lead only to exchange of benefits; and when nations, even the most remote, brought into familiar converse together, will willingly acknowledge and imitate all that is desirable in each other, and endeavour to remove or correct all that may be deemed otherwise. Never did the Crystal Palace look more beautiful, never did its beauties seem more appreciated, than on the day at the end of which it was to be closed to the public. The sun shone brightly on the vaulted roof, the sky displayed its purest blue, the trees within seemed to rejoice with the trees without; the fountains threw up their glittering waters, as if in playful rivalry with each other, and strains of music burst forth from organs, pianofortes, wind instruments, and musical glasses, wherever they could do so, without interfering with each other's audience. The very statues seemed animated; the Amazon to take a still keener aim at the ferocious animal that clung with firmer gripe round her horse's neck; the Greek Slave to cast a still prouder look of conscious dignity, on the admiring circle around her, and a new sweetness seemed to pervade her features, as though she would fain part friends with the many who had sympathised in her wrongs. The rich products of the loom, the graceful handicraft of the engravers on gold and silver, of the inlayers in mosaic and wood, the glittering ornaments in papier maché, and the chaster carvings in oak, ivory, and ebony, the painted porcelains, the cabinets, the bijoux, the magnificent glasses, in which the passers-by took "a last look" at themselves, the utile and the dulce all came in for a final examination. The ladies again stopped admiringly before the shawls, the velvets, the satins, the laces, the jewellery, and even the gentlemen lingered among the boots, the spurs, the "fancy woollens," and other matters of male coquetry. And now the Hallelujah swelled forth its noble strains from the great organ; and we are much mistaken if thousands of hearts did not swell, at that moment, with our own, in grateful acknowledgment of the goodness of an overruling and everwatchful Providence, that had thus allowed this beautiful Exhibition to draw to its close, without any occurrence of accident or harm to damp the recollection of it. A minute after a white satin flag was hoisted, with the well-known lines from Shakspere "The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces," &c. but no sooner were the words discerned A LAST LOOK AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. "And like the baseless fabric of a vision 473 than it was indignantly torn down, lest it might seem to prophecy that disappearance of the edifice, to which the nation at large is, as yet, unable to reconcile itself. And now every eye began to turn towards the clocks, and every countenance to betray a calculation of the seconds that remained. The first unmistakable hint that the final moment for the final close was approaching, was given, very unceremoniously, by the ruthless hand of a pompier, who, with officious haste, applied a hammer to the nails that attached the notices on the doors, respecting sticks and umbrellas, the exits and the entrances; and speedily brought them down, with an ominous sound which seemed to remind the clocks that they, also, had better not lose time; and away they began to strike the hour of departure. Yet there was a reprieve of a few minutes. Another flag was waved, and then was struck up the national anthem; hats flew off, and "God save our gracious Queen" burst at once from the thousands round, with more energy than harmony; as, unfortunately, the organs all thought proper to join, one after another, and seemed trying which could get along the fastest. However, the sentiment was the same: cheers reverberated through the vast edifice; handkerchiefs were waved; the great bell joined in "The concord of sweet sounds," with all its might, and soon overpowered them all. Its arguments were not to be resisted; and, in compassion to their own ears, the goodly company were compelled to depart, though not without casting many "A longing lingering look behind," and giving utterance to many an eulogium on all that they had seen many a regret that it was to be seen no more. But the Crystal Palace has not yet done half its missionwe might, indeed, say not a thousandth part of it. All its greatest benefits are to come; and were it to be dismantled to-morrow, and reduced into its component masses of iron and glass, we might truly exclaim "The spirit is not there!" No; it has already gone forth throughout every quarter of the civilised globe; teaching "peace on earth, and good will amongst men," by proclaiming the guiltless triumphs that wait upon industry; the high tone of urbanity and morality that may be imparted to entire communities, by the cultivation of pure taste; and the wisdom of nations cultivating the friend ship of each other, and promoting their own interests by an exchange of benefits; instead of exhausting their blood and treasure, and demoralising themselves, by a system of warfare which, even in professed time of peace, still requires to be kept in readiness for the moment of hostility. The spirit of the Crystal Palace has also incorporated itself with history; and future ages will read with astonishment, the details of the difficulties attendant on the undertaking in its outset; the energy that overcame them; the entire success that crowned its completion; the surpassing ingenuity and beauty of the edifice; the wonderful supplies that enriched it from all nations; the order observed in its arrangements; the millions that came from far and near to behold its treasures; the admirable decorum of all classes of visitorsraising the national character to a height it had never yet been able publicly and incontrovertibly to display - the benevolence it called forth; the happy meetings of friends and relatives that it fostered; the religious solemnity with which it was opened and closed; the blessing of providence that preserved it, and all and everything connected with it, from harm or loss! The account of its contents will form a history in itself, of the whole range of art and science in the nineteenth century; and the effects of the public display of them, and the examination and comparison of the objects in each compartment, thus afforded, will be daily evident in the improvement in every art and manufacture that has here had its representative, and beheld its competitor. Equally conspicuous will be the effect of the Crystal Palace upon our architecture. But we must pause, or we shall write a volume, instead of the mere passing sketch we had intended; for to what extent might we not dilate upon a subject, of which we are told, of the catalogue, only, that if the whole of the earlier editions, of which 250,000 copies were sold, "had been consigned, in one vertical column, to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, (a computed depth of 6,000 feet,) the present improved and corrected edition would still form a lonely peak rising to the height of Chimborazo or Cotopaxi, exactly 18,000 feet above the level, or the censure of the ordinary inhabitants of this earth." |