South Kensington.] THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL. 1851 gave three acres of land as a site for the building, at the nominal rent of Is. a year, on a long lease, and subscriptions came in towards the much-cherished object. A provisional committee, consisting of twelve members, was formed, of which the Prince of Wales was president. They held several meetings at Marlborough House; £110,000 was soon subscribed; and there was every prospect of the intentions of the committee being quickly realised, when a sudden stop was put to the efforts of the promoters by the memorable panic of 1866. For a while all further proceedings ceased. In the plans of the proposed hall provision was made for a certain number of sittings; and at the beginning of the year 1867 Messrs. Lucas, the great contractors, came forward, and consented to purchase sittings valued at £38,000, on the understanding that they should receive the contract for the building, the total cost of which was not to exceed £200,000. These terms were agreed to by the provisional committee; the public nobly came forward and subscribed £112,000, the Royal Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition gave £50,000, Messrs. Lucas' proposition was worth £38,000; and on the 20th of May, 1867, the Queen laid the foundation-stone of the building, the original plans for which came from the late Captain Fowke, R.E.; Colonel Scott, R.E., being the architect. From that time the scheme was successful. A pardonable degree of curiosity was aroused respecting the ultimate destiny of the hall; but this was set aside when it was announced that the new building was intended, amongst other things, to accommodate science congresses, to provide a suitable arena for musical performances, and to serve other equally useful artistic and scientific purposes. For this the building is admirably adapted, from the immense disposable space it offers. Between 6,000 and 7,000 persons can be seated in the hall, and besides this, when the necessity arises, it is possible to place as many as 2,000 spectators in comfortable positions on an inclined staging in the picture-gallery, which runs nearly round the hall. 113 and cushion and the letter "V.," above which the principal floor is divided by terra-cotta pilasters, between which are semicircular-headed windows. An idea of the vast character of the building may be obtained from the knowledge that 70,000 blocks of terra-cotta were used in its construction. The frieze, which is about 800 feet long and about 6 feet wide, was made in sections of 50 feet, of encaustic tessera, by Messrs. Minton and Co., who employed in its working the female students of the School of Art at Kensington. Above these is the entablature, having a widely-projecting balcony four feet across. Surrounding the building, and high above the balcony, is mosaic work, representing various allegories descriptive of the arts, commerce, and manufactures. These mosaics are from the designs of Messrs. Horsley, Armitage, Yeames, Marks, Poynter, Pickersgill, and Armstead. Round the frieze of the building runs the following inscription in large letters:-"This hall was erected for the advancement of the arts and sciences, and for the works of industry of all nations, in fulfilment of the intentions of Albert, Prince Consort. The site was purchased by the proceeds of the Great Exhibition of the year 1851. The first stone of the hall was laid by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, on the 20th day of May, 1867, and it was opened by Her Majesty the Queen, on the 29th day of March, in the year 1871." Above the frieze, in terra-cotta, in letters a foot high, is the sacred text: "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. their works are in the hand of God. God on high, and on earth peace." The wise and Glory be to In the plan of the interior, it can be seen at once that the architect has taken for his model the old Roman amphitheatre, though with such important modifications as, happily, quite another kind of entertainment, and, unhappily, less genial skies, required. Roman plebeians and aristocrats were mere spectators, looking down on the fierce and bloody spectacles provided for their amusement in Guided by the principles upon which the Romans the arena. Here it was necessary so to provide constructed those amphitheatric buildings, the re- that people might both hear and see, but above all mains of which strike modern spectators with awe things hear. Such a condition gives the key to the and admiration, the designers of the Albert Hall arrangement of the interior. Imagine, then, within have succeeded in raising a structure of eminently an outer shell of staircases, corridors, refreshment beautiful and attractive proportions. Seen from and retiring rooms, a vast hall, in shape of a the Park or the Kensington Road, the hall stands graceful oval, of which the southern end is all but boldly out in all the magnificence which invests a filled by the organ and an orchestra rising upwards building in the style of Italian Renaissance. The in tiers of seats. Fronting this orchestra is the base is of plain red brick, with single-headed win-auditorium, of horse-shoe form, composed of arena, dows, the keystone of which is formed of the crown a level space; the amphitheatre, or, as it might be interior; and the thirty Italian arches, with their | orchestra, supported by a framework of the lightest scagliola pillars, through which the body of the hall is seen, are really its great ornament. The boxes and balcony project from the wall into the ellipse, each tier extending three feet beyond that above it. Such an arrangement enables the occupants of each tier to see without much difficulty, and be seen by those above them. One of the most remarkable features of the hall, in fact, is the perfect view of the interior, and of all within it, which can be had from any point. The boxes and stalls were taken by subscription. One of the latter, comprising the right to a revolving chair, like a music stool with arms, in the amphitheatre, cost and simplest kind, itself its only ornament. It is said to be the largest organ in the world, and was constructed by Mr. Henry Willis, the builder of the organ at St. George's Hall, Liverpool. Some idea of the size of the instrument may be formed when we say that it contains about 120 registers, about 8,000 pipes, distributed over four manuals and a pedal organ. The pipes vary in length from about thirty-four feet to three-quarters of an inch. The only organ in England which approaches it in size is that at the Alexandra Palace, built by the same maker; and it is about double the size of the fine organ of St. Paul's Cathedral. In this the building; and when one hears that the motive power is supplied by two steam-engines, one might be led to expect such a volume of sound as would almost blow the roof off. The lighting of the hall is a novelty in itself. Thirty gold-coloured chandeliers, one in each arch, surround the picture-gallery, each having fifteen lights. There is a third ring of sixty chandeliers, with twenty-one lights each; and altogether there are nearly 7,000 gas jets, which can all be lit by electricity in ten seconds. The spaces over the porches on the east and west sides of the hall have been in each case arranged as a lecture theatre, having a raised floor, with a platform or stage, and holding about 200 people. At its widest part the hall measures 200 industrial Exhibitions of 1871-4. The grandest scenes, perhaps, which have taken place within its walls were on the occasions of the state concerts given in honour of the visits to England of the Shah of Persia, the Czar of Russia, &c.; another brilliant ceremony witnessed here was the installation of the Prince of Wales as Grand Master of the Lodge of Freemasons of England. Close by the Royal Albert Hall, on a plot of ground granted by the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, is the National Training School for Music, of which the Duke of Edinburgh was the first president. The building was constructed in 1875, at the cost of Sir Charles Freake. The Council of the Society of Arts undertook the supervision of the foundation of scholarships. The Royal Horticultural Society, whose gardens, | memorate the International Exhibition of 1851. as we have already stated, are enclosed by the The death of the Prince having occurred before Exhibition buildings on the south side of the Royal the work was completed, the memorial was made Albert Hall, was established in 1804, and incorpo- into a lasting tribute to the "great founder of the rated by royal charter soon afterwards. The society Exhibition." The idea embodied is Britannia was instituted for the improvement of horticulture (typified by the Prince) supported by the four in all its branches, and it has an extensive experi- quarters of the globe-signifying that the Exhimental garden at Chiswick, five miles from London, bition originated in England, and was supported by laid out tastefully, and filled with many rare plants. all other nations. The monument stands upwards These gardens have acquired great celebrity from of forty feet in height, and represents the Prince their having been established at a period when in his robes as Grand Master of the Order of the gardening was in a very low condition in this Bath. The body of the memorial is of grey granite, country, and from having been the means of with columns and panels of red polished Aberdeen raising it to its present greatly-improved state. granite; the statue of the Prince, and also those of Previously to purchasing the land at Chiswick, the figures representing each quarter of the globe, the Horticultural Society had temporarily occupied being of bronze. a small piece of ground at Brompton, not far from the gardens which we are about to notice. In 1859 the society obtained (through the late Prince Consort) possession of about twenty acres of land on this site, and new and splendid gardens were laid out. These were opened in the summer of 1862, forming a charming retreat from the bustle of the Exhibition. In 1883 a large portion of the gardens of the Horticultural Society was utilised for the purposes of an International Fisheries Exhibition, which was opened by the Prince of Wales on the 12th of May. The exhibition was held in several temporary buildings, covering nearly twelve acres of ground. It was designed with the view of illustrating sea and fresh-water fishing in all its branches, fish-culture, fishing-boats, fish-curing, fishing-tackle and apparatus of all kinds, lifeboats and life-saving apparatus, diving apparatus, indeed, everything immediately relating to and connected with the actual working of all kinds of fishing. Among the more interesting features of the exhibition were the aquaria of sea and fresh water, well stocked with fish, anemones, aquatic plants, &c.; also the fine collection of pictures of marine subjects, and the collection of stuffed and preserved fish, and casts, and drawings; together with specimens and representations illustrative of the relations between extinct and existing fishes. The boat used by Grace Darling and her father, in 1838, in their gallant Between the Kensington Road and Cromwell Road the ground falls about forty feet, and using this fact in aid of a general effect, the ground has been divided into three principal levels. The entrances to the gardens are on the lower level in Exhibition Road and Queen's Gate, and the central pathway, upwards of seventy-five feet wide, ascending through terraces to the third great level, leads to the winter garden or conservatory. The whole garden is surrounded by Italian arcades, each of the three levels having arcades of a different character. The upper, or north arcade, where the boundary is semi-circular in form, is a modification of the arcades of the Villa Albani at Rome. The central arcade is almost wholly of Milanese brick-rescue of nine of the sufferers from the wreck of work, interspersed with terra-cotta, majolica, &c., the Forfarshire among the Farne Islands, was while the design for the south arcade has been exhibited, as also was the old Royal state barge adapted from the beautiful cloisters of St. John which was built in the reign of James II. Prizes Lateran at Rome. None of these arcades are less were offered for essays connected with the objects than twenty feet wide and twenty-five feet high, and of the Exhibition on such subjects as the natural they give a promenade, sheltered from all weathers, history of commercial sea fishes of Great Britain more than three-quarters of a mile in length. The and Ireland, with special reference to such parts of arcades and earthworks were executed by the Com- their natural history as bear upon their production missioners for the Exhibition of 1851, at a cost of and commercial use; as to the effect of the laws for £50,000, while the laying-out of the gardens and the regulation and protection of fisheries; on construction of the conservatory were executed by improved facilities for the capture and economic the Horticultural Society, and cost about the same distribution of sea fishes; and on improved fishery sum. On the upper terrace, in front of the conser harbour accommodation. Conferences were also vatory, and at the head of a lake, stands a memorial held for reading and discussing papers on subjects of the late Prince Consort, the work of Mr. Joseph connected with the exhibitions; and instruction Durham, sculptor, originally intended only to com-in cooking fish was given. 1: Descent of the Manor-A Parochial Enigma-Derivation of the Name of Kensington-Thackeray's "Esmond "-Leigh Hunt's ReminiscencesGore House-Mr. Wilberforce, the Philanthropist-Lord Rodney-The Countess of Blessington and her Admirers-An Anecdote of Louis Napoleon-Count D'Orsay's Picture-A Touching Incident-Sale of the Contents of Gore House, and Death of the Countess of Blessington -M. Soyer's "Symposium "-Sale of the Gore House Estate-Park House-Hamilton Lodge, the Residence of John Wilkes-Batty's Hippodrome-St. Stephen's Church-Orford Lodge-Christ Church. KENSINGTON, which is technically described as a suburb of London, in the Hundred of Ossulston, has long enjoyed distinction from its Palace, in which several successive sovereigns of the Hanoverian line held their court, and which was the birth-place of Queen Victoria. In the time of the Domesday survey the manor of Kensington was owned by the Bishop of Coutances, to whom it was granted by William the Conqueror. It was at that time held by Aubrey de Vere, and subsequently, as history tells us, it became the absolute property of the De Veres, who afterwards gave twenty Earls of Oxford to the English peerage. Aubrey de Vere was Grand Justiciary of England, and was created Earl of Oxford by the Empress Maud. Upon the attainder of John, Earl of Oxford, who was beheaded during the struggle for power between the houses of York and Lancaster, the manor was bestowed by Edward IV. on his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester. After passing through the hands of the Marquis of Berkeley and Sir Reginald Bray, the property returned (as is supposed by purchase) to John, Earl of Oxford, son of the attainted nobleman above mentioned. The manor is said to have again passed from that family, probably by sale, in the reign of Elizabeth; and early |