DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1312#0070
34 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
Rawlins, were noble in form, being after the fashion of the old camp-bottle, and decorated
in the renaissance style, in silver-gilt. Just the sort of thing to grace the table of
an old baronial hallon a birth-day, or other family anniversary. The design of the
silver inkstand, by Martin and Co., represented as a thistle, does not strike us as a very
happy idea, except it be intended as a metaphorical illustration of the peculiarity supposed
to characterise the genus irritable of scribblers, in which case we would recommend, as
an appropriate motto, the Scotch proverb, nemo me impune lacessit. The introduction
of hooks or rests for the pen upon the stalk, is decidedly an addition not found in
nature; the execution, however, is highly satisfactory. The silver claret-jug, by Lias
and Sons, was handsomely shaped, ewer-fashion; somewhat elastic in form, covered
with vine-leaves, grapes, &c. Designed by J. Fitzcook. The fairy summoner was a
fanciful and pretty idea, very pleasingly realised. Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, was
represented as seated on the inverted cup of a tulip, serving as a hand-bell, and with
his hands raised to each side of his head, appeared to be shouting out lustily, to sum-
mon the spirits of the air to do the bidding of his gentle mistress. The subject
altogether reminded us of the merry sprites, " Peaseblossom" and Co., in the unrivalled
descriptions of the Midsummer Night's Dream. A silver casket, by Meurice, was worthy,
in delicacy of manipulation and originality of conception, the hand of Benvenuto Cellini,
the great .Florentine master of the art. M. Fromene Meurice would have been welcome
in Hyde-park, had he exhibited no further specimen of his art than this single object.
The pokal, or drinking-cup, from the royal porcelain manufactory at Munich, was a
beautiful specimen of the good taste and correct judgment of its designer, Neurenthier,
an artist worthy the celebrated capital of Bavaria.
CHAPTER VII.
CARRIAGES.
EABXIEST ACCOUNT OF, HfT 3CRIPTITBE—WHEW INTRODUCED INTO ENGLAND—HACKNEY- COACHES^-—
STAGE-COACHES----SEMI-CTBCTTLAR CLARENCE— COOK'S PATENT BROUGHAM—DATIE's PATENT
CARRIAGE—BOCK AND SON'S 'dIOBAPHA----KESTERTON'S AMEMPTON ---- HOBNE, MTJXDINER,
WIDEOUGHBY—BATH-CHAIRS—JAUNTING-CABS—CABRIOLET----CABS, ETC.—JURIES* REPORT ON
CARRIAGES.
We shall introduce the subject of our present chapter to our readers with an extract
from the pages of an able contemporary, whose remarks evince considerable research,
and are equally graphic and correct:—"Man has been variously described as a cooking
animal, as a laughing animal, a trading animal (and by no end of other attributes), as the
culinary, risible, commercial, or other feelings of the describer predominated; but, as
we walked through the compartment of the Crystal Palace devoted to carriages, cabs,
locomotive engines, and other means of conveyance, we could not help thinking that he
might be quite as appropriately distinguished from the brute creation by the definition
of a coach-building animal. Nor was this opinion weakened on our way home through
Piccadilly, crowded with cabs, omnibuses, and every description of vehicle, conveying
hundreds of passengers, here, there, and everywhere. From the days of the charioteer
Jehu, who, we are told in Scripture, 'drove furiously/ from the days of the old
Assyrians, Ninevites, and Babylonians, of whom we have the sculptured representations
Rawlins, were noble in form, being after the fashion of the old camp-bottle, and decorated
in the renaissance style, in silver-gilt. Just the sort of thing to grace the table of
an old baronial hallon a birth-day, or other family anniversary. The design of the
silver inkstand, by Martin and Co., represented as a thistle, does not strike us as a very
happy idea, except it be intended as a metaphorical illustration of the peculiarity supposed
to characterise the genus irritable of scribblers, in which case we would recommend, as
an appropriate motto, the Scotch proverb, nemo me impune lacessit. The introduction
of hooks or rests for the pen upon the stalk, is decidedly an addition not found in
nature; the execution, however, is highly satisfactory. The silver claret-jug, by Lias
and Sons, was handsomely shaped, ewer-fashion; somewhat elastic in form, covered
with vine-leaves, grapes, &c. Designed by J. Fitzcook. The fairy summoner was a
fanciful and pretty idea, very pleasingly realised. Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, was
represented as seated on the inverted cup of a tulip, serving as a hand-bell, and with
his hands raised to each side of his head, appeared to be shouting out lustily, to sum-
mon the spirits of the air to do the bidding of his gentle mistress. The subject
altogether reminded us of the merry sprites, " Peaseblossom" and Co., in the unrivalled
descriptions of the Midsummer Night's Dream. A silver casket, by Meurice, was worthy,
in delicacy of manipulation and originality of conception, the hand of Benvenuto Cellini,
the great .Florentine master of the art. M. Fromene Meurice would have been welcome
in Hyde-park, had he exhibited no further specimen of his art than this single object.
The pokal, or drinking-cup, from the royal porcelain manufactory at Munich, was a
beautiful specimen of the good taste and correct judgment of its designer, Neurenthier,
an artist worthy the celebrated capital of Bavaria.
CHAPTER VII.
CARRIAGES.
EABXIEST ACCOUNT OF, HfT 3CRIPTITBE—WHEW INTRODUCED INTO ENGLAND—HACKNEY- COACHES^-—
STAGE-COACHES----SEMI-CTBCTTLAR CLARENCE— COOK'S PATENT BROUGHAM—DATIE's PATENT
CARRIAGE—BOCK AND SON'S 'dIOBAPHA----KESTERTON'S AMEMPTON ---- HOBNE, MTJXDINER,
WIDEOUGHBY—BATH-CHAIRS—JAUNTING-CABS—CABRIOLET----CABS, ETC.—JURIES* REPORT ON
CARRIAGES.
We shall introduce the subject of our present chapter to our readers with an extract
from the pages of an able contemporary, whose remarks evince considerable research,
and are equally graphic and correct:—"Man has been variously described as a cooking
animal, as a laughing animal, a trading animal (and by no end of other attributes), as the
culinary, risible, commercial, or other feelings of the describer predominated; but, as
we walked through the compartment of the Crystal Palace devoted to carriages, cabs,
locomotive engines, and other means of conveyance, we could not help thinking that he
might be quite as appropriately distinguished from the brute creation by the definition
of a coach-building animal. Nor was this opinion weakened on our way home through
Piccadilly, crowded with cabs, omnibuses, and every description of vehicle, conveying
hundreds of passengers, here, there, and everywhere. From the days of the charioteer
Jehu, who, we are told in Scripture, 'drove furiously/ from the days of the old
Assyrians, Ninevites, and Babylonians, of whom we have the sculptured representations