DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1310#0020
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTBY. 15
for fountains, pedestals for statues, foundations for machines; and tables, counters,
partitions, and glass cases rising rapidly around. The monster organ was beginning to
try its pipes, sotto voce, from the western gallery. In the great central avenue was the
Amazon of Kiss, levelling her spear at the tiger, neck or nothing, who has seized upon
her horse; further on was a mailed Crusader, of colossal dimensions, about to charge
upon his foes; whilst, utterly guiltless of any such warlike propensities, Lord Eldon, and
his brother Lord S to well, were peaceably seated, in effigy, side by side, as if gazing in
placid admiration upon the busy scene before them, within the operations of which
assuredly Lord Elgin's favourite motto " Festina lente" had nothing to do.
But still the work of the building was going on. Still the hammer and the chisel, the
saw and the plane reverberated through the long aisles, and interminable galleries; the
pipes for the supply of water and gas had still to be finished ; the ventilation to be con-
trolled; some acres of canvas to be spread over the roof; the chief of the internal
arrangements and compartments to be made, and in short, to many it would have
appeared as if there were the work of two years to do, instead of as many weeks.
But masters and men were alike indefatigable. Mr. Fox was on the ground every
day, from seven in the morning until ten at night. It was calculated that at this period
not fewer than ten thousand persons were engaged, some way or other, in the service of
the Exhibition. One week, two thousand two hundred and sixty workmen were actually
employed in and about the building itself; and it was in keeping with all the rest of the
business details, that the system of payment was so admirably arranged with regard to
exactitude and celerity, that out of this number, two thousand received their wages at
the close of the day, in one hour, without confusion, noise, or mistake of any kind.
And now rapidly congregated on British ground the representatives of the different
nations, with their respective productions and wares, who had been invited to take their
place in the great industrial mart, one of the avowed objects of which was to draw ail
the families of the civilized world together, in bonds of amity, for their mutual benefit
and enlightenment. Thus were these families typified by an ingenious writer, with equal
truth of discrimination and playfulness of fancy:—
"First on the lists were the kingdoms of Arabia and Persia; with their caravans
freighted with rich tissues, and the work of delicate looms from Mushed and Tehran;
with myrrh and frankincense from Hadramaut, 'musk from Khoten/ pearls from the
sea of Oman, and attar gul from the gardens of Shinar. Then came (small-eyed China f
sending her fragile porcelain, her painted screens, her snow-white and crimson silks, her
gold and silver stuffs, her paper made of rice, her ivory fans, so curiously carved, and
her mother-of-pearl ornaments, so laboriously and exquisitely graven. Brazil and
Mexico were ready with diamonds and rich ores, and many-tinted flowers, whose hues
were borrowed from the ruby throats and emerald wings of the colibri. Turkey held
out her jewelled weapons, with their Damascus blades, her perfumed skins, gaudily dyed,
and stamped with rare devices, her splendid caparisons, her fragrant and richly orna-
mented pipes, her costly variegated carpets. Greece, no longer able to astonish the
world with the sculpture of Phidias and Praxiteles, or the marvels of Appelles' art, could
vie with her former rulers in the beauty and elegance of her mountain costumes, and
the elaborate workmanship she bestowed on weapons now little suited to her hands.
Egypt, under the impulse of a newly awakened industry, had drugs, and dyes, and per-
fumes, soft cottons, and cloths of finest texture, the plumes of the ostrich, and raiments
of the camel's hair. Italy was prepared to display her manufactures from the fertile
plains of Lombardy to the sunny cliffs of Sorrento: Genoa, rich in velvets and embroi-
dery ; Bologna, decked in the gayest silks and ribands; Rome, proud of her cameos, her
mosaics, her false pearls, and her hats; Venice, still famous for her glass, though its
for fountains, pedestals for statues, foundations for machines; and tables, counters,
partitions, and glass cases rising rapidly around. The monster organ was beginning to
try its pipes, sotto voce, from the western gallery. In the great central avenue was the
Amazon of Kiss, levelling her spear at the tiger, neck or nothing, who has seized upon
her horse; further on was a mailed Crusader, of colossal dimensions, about to charge
upon his foes; whilst, utterly guiltless of any such warlike propensities, Lord Eldon, and
his brother Lord S to well, were peaceably seated, in effigy, side by side, as if gazing in
placid admiration upon the busy scene before them, within the operations of which
assuredly Lord Elgin's favourite motto " Festina lente" had nothing to do.
But still the work of the building was going on. Still the hammer and the chisel, the
saw and the plane reverberated through the long aisles, and interminable galleries; the
pipes for the supply of water and gas had still to be finished ; the ventilation to be con-
trolled; some acres of canvas to be spread over the roof; the chief of the internal
arrangements and compartments to be made, and in short, to many it would have
appeared as if there were the work of two years to do, instead of as many weeks.
But masters and men were alike indefatigable. Mr. Fox was on the ground every
day, from seven in the morning until ten at night. It was calculated that at this period
not fewer than ten thousand persons were engaged, some way or other, in the service of
the Exhibition. One week, two thousand two hundred and sixty workmen were actually
employed in and about the building itself; and it was in keeping with all the rest of the
business details, that the system of payment was so admirably arranged with regard to
exactitude and celerity, that out of this number, two thousand received their wages at
the close of the day, in one hour, without confusion, noise, or mistake of any kind.
And now rapidly congregated on British ground the representatives of the different
nations, with their respective productions and wares, who had been invited to take their
place in the great industrial mart, one of the avowed objects of which was to draw ail
the families of the civilized world together, in bonds of amity, for their mutual benefit
and enlightenment. Thus were these families typified by an ingenious writer, with equal
truth of discrimination and playfulness of fancy:—
"First on the lists were the kingdoms of Arabia and Persia; with their caravans
freighted with rich tissues, and the work of delicate looms from Mushed and Tehran;
with myrrh and frankincense from Hadramaut, 'musk from Khoten/ pearls from the
sea of Oman, and attar gul from the gardens of Shinar. Then came (small-eyed China f
sending her fragile porcelain, her painted screens, her snow-white and crimson silks, her
gold and silver stuffs, her paper made of rice, her ivory fans, so curiously carved, and
her mother-of-pearl ornaments, so laboriously and exquisitely graven. Brazil and
Mexico were ready with diamonds and rich ores, and many-tinted flowers, whose hues
were borrowed from the ruby throats and emerald wings of the colibri. Turkey held
out her jewelled weapons, with their Damascus blades, her perfumed skins, gaudily dyed,
and stamped with rare devices, her splendid caparisons, her fragrant and richly orna-
mented pipes, her costly variegated carpets. Greece, no longer able to astonish the
world with the sculpture of Phidias and Praxiteles, or the marvels of Appelles' art, could
vie with her former rulers in the beauty and elegance of her mountain costumes, and
the elaborate workmanship she bestowed on weapons now little suited to her hands.
Egypt, under the impulse of a newly awakened industry, had drugs, and dyes, and per-
fumes, soft cottons, and cloths of finest texture, the plumes of the ostrich, and raiments
of the camel's hair. Italy was prepared to display her manufactures from the fertile
plains of Lombardy to the sunny cliffs of Sorrento: Genoa, rich in velvets and embroi-
dery ; Bologna, decked in the gayest silks and ribands; Rome, proud of her cameos, her
mosaics, her false pearls, and her hats; Venice, still famous for her glass, though its