Dimensions of Crystal Palace.

general shape of the edifice is oblong, with wings at either end, extending frontward, enclosing a lawn and garden, and open corridors on the front side also, with a double gallery within. A few figures will afford a glimpse of its size and other remarkable features. Above the floor the building is of iron and glass, except a panneling of wood on the north wing. The length of the main building is 1608 feet, and the wings 574 each, which with 720 feet in the colonnade leading from the railroad terminus to the south wing, give a total length of 3476 feet, or three fourths of a mile of ground, covered with a transparent roof of glass! The area of the ground floor and of gallery, including the wings, amounts to a grand total of 843,656 superficial feet! The length of columns employed throughout the building, if laid in a straight line, would extend sixteen and a fourth. miles. The total amount of iron used was 9,641 tons! The superficial quantity of glass is 25 acres, extending, if laid side by side, 48 miles, and if end to end, 242 miles! The hot water apparatus for warming, employs twenty-two boilers, containing eleven hundred gallons of water, flowing through pipes, which upon an average of twelve inches in diameter, would stretch 50 miles, the supply coming from an artesian well 570 feet deep. The first column of the new structure was raised on the fifth of August, 1852, and was opened with appropriate solemnities, (Queen, Princes and Nobles being present,) on the tenth of June, 1854. The original capital was $2,500,000, which will reach if not exceed $3,000,000, before completion. Though a private enterprise, Royalty has extended to it a degree of favor which in a land like England, has been of the most substantial benefit.

Interior of the Palace.

Taking the cars at London Bridge, fifteen minutes found me at the foot of the hill upon which stands this justly famed structure. Ascending a covered stairway, I entered a second class refreshment room, and by a second flight of steps I was brought upon the floor of the main building, passing from thence through various large rooms named from the objects to which they were devoted, the Egyptian Court-the Greek-the Roman-the Alhambra—the Assyrian--the Byzantine--the German Mediaval—the English, French and Italian Mediaval-the Elizabethan— the Italian-the Stationery-the Pompeian—the Ethnological and Natural History-the Musical-the Printed Fabrics-the Mixed Fabrics-the Foreign Industrial-witnessing in each, originals or faithful copies of all that is instructive or interesting, from lands remote or near-the useful, the marvelous and beautiful, so arranged as to appear to highest advantage and make the deepest impression. In respect to size, the building is one half larger than that of Hyde Park, and consequently seems to have more unoccupied space. Additions are constantly made, and will be for months to come; for the structure is designed to be permanent, and filled with objects of instruction and interest, and thus ever attractive to travelers and town residents. The view of the building from the third gallery-the crystal roof, the transepts, nave, corridors--all suspended, castle like, upon slight iron pillars--leave an impression which language can but faintly embody; but the recollection of which is pleasant, as it is enduring.

CHAPTER IX.

Greenwich Hospital.

"When evening listened to the dripping oar,

Forgetting the loud city's ceaseless roar

By the green banks, where Thames with conscious pride

Reflects that stately structure on his side

Within whose walls, as their long labors close,

The wanderers of the ocean find repose;

We wore, in social ease the hours away,

The passing visit of a summer's day."

FIVE miles southeast from London stands the small but important village of Greenwich ;-a place of worldwide celebrity, as the meridian whence all English astronomers and geographers make their calculations, and as the locality of a National Hospital for aged and disabled seamen. To the credit of England, be it said, that she is not forgetful of those who have suffered and bled in defending her throne, at home, and maintaining her rights abroad. For her eminent commanders she builds mausoleums or erects columns, which perpetuate their names and hand down their deeds of valor for future fame and imitation. For the families of the bereaved, funds, national and voluntary, furnish a relief, if not a sufficiency, while the disabled by accident or sickness, can retire on half pay, or gain admission to some public Institution, like Chelsea or Greenwich, where every comfort is at hand which feebleness or infirmity may require. When the British sailor or soldier hears the cheering watchword, "England expects every man to do his duty," accompanying it, is the added promise, and England will do her duty to you. This is a general fact, liable to the excep

D*

A Stranger's Home.

Interior of Greenwich Hospital.

tions pertaining to all things human. With no sympathy with her standing army and campaign beyond her own territory, we may not name ingratitude among the crimes of our mother country.

One of my last days in the metropolis was devoted in part to an excursion to this beautiful and attractive spot. In company with an English Missionary, lately arrived from India, I went to the foot-bridge across the Thames, and at midway descended a flight of stairs, where lay a steamer in waiting, to convey passengers to Greenwich, and adjoining places. Steaming down the river, we passed a vessel of large dimensions-once a man-of-war, but now dismantled and moored in the middle of the stream, having upon her sides in bold letters, the thrilling title, "A home for seamen of all nations." A noble and generous heart was that which projected the enterprise of furnishing a comfortable residence for shipwrecked, sick, or otherwise disabled mariners, till they could reach their own countries. Arriving at Greenwich, I spent three hours in wandering over its admirable grounds, chatting with the aged seamen, most of whom were minus a leg, an arm, or an eye, and their clothing of the style, fashionable a-half century ago. Marvelous were their tales of battles they had fought, and victories they had helped to achieve, under Collingwood, Nelson, and other commanders, whom they delighted to name. Conducted into a large hall, I saw a very complete collection of nautical paintings, lining the walls, while in the middle of the room were glass-cases, containing the coat worn by Nelson at the battle of the Nile, as also, that which he had on, when he received his death-wound; with a multitude of marine relics, busts, models, &c.,-all designed to keep in

Chelsea.

memory the achievements of Britain, when, from her "wooden walls," she poured destruction upon her foes. The chapel I found to be a room commodious and beautiful beyond any thing seen in the metropolis. Our guide was evidently a religious man, and we were pleased to learn that their present chaplain is a faithful minister of the Gospelwith a heart intent on leading these aged seamen to Him, whose love for the mariner was evinced, by the choice he made of his early disciples. Attached to this establishment is a naval school, where the youth are trained for the sea;-a motionless ship with masts, yards, ropes, and sails, completely arranged, as upon the ocean, furnishing the pupil with an opportunity to perfect themselves in all forms of nautical scholarship.

Two miles from London, on the north side of the Thames, is the village of Chelsea, the locality of a Hospital founded by Charles the Second, erected by Sir Christopher Wren, and forming an asylum for sick and superannuated soldiers. It is a handsome brick structure, seven hundred and ninety feet in length; and, together with the accompanying ground, occupies a space of forty acres. Standards taken from various nations, east and west, decorate the sides of the chapela junction of the war and peace spirit, in a doubtful connection. But the institution has a noble and generous purpose-being a fitting counterpart to the hospital of Greenwich. Blessings be upon them both!