a modern institution-familiar to the poorer classes-which perhaps now for the first time will become generally known to ears polite. It is called a goose club." It may partake either of the nature of a raffle, or a little savings' bank for a Christmas dinner. We believe that it is more generally the latter. The poor man, who cannot trust to himself to save the parings of his weekly income, gives sixpence a-week, under certain regulations, for a number of weeks antecedent to Christmas, which entitle him to a goose, when that sacred occasion of gluttony and feasting shall have arrived. The working men of Manchester who intend to visit London, are subscribers to a goose club of a different nature! Far better were it for them to stay at home and petition Government to put an end to this monster nuisance. But we have entered into engagements with Europe. Yes, pride must urge us on. We know our mistake, but must take the consequences. Our credit is at stake. Therefore let us sacrifice a limb, an eye-our lives, if necessary. Such are the arguments of unwilling combatants, when they find that they have been matched against each other for the amusement of others, although they would much rather shake hands and drink ale, than fight. Only there might be a slur on their courage. Some non-fighting bystanders might insinuate that they were afraid; besides, they stand pledged to the crowd to afford some fun.

We own the predicament; but at any rate plead that such a demonstration may be made by you as to show to the people of France, Russia, Holland, America, Germany, and Belgium, that the Englishman only joins issue to save a credit which has been falsely backed by a surreptitious stake-holder, that he views the contest with contempt and indifference, that his sinews stand pledged to labour, and

that it is indifferent to him whether the results of that labour adorn the compartments of a green-house, or the stalls of Bartholomew fair; and that he regards the whole matter, from one end to the other, as a stupendous but frivolous humbug,—a ridiculous and mischievous piece of trickery, quackery, and deception.

We propose to show, not only that this Exhibition has not been got up at the desire of England, or for her benefit, but that it will be to her loss.

Let us first examine the manner in which it was got up. If any of you have read the Mechanic's Magazine for March, you will there see a slight exposure of the initiatory part of the business. Certain persons representing themselves as deputies or legates of the Society of Arts in the Adelphi, or some such locality, went to PRINCE ALBERT, then absent in Scotland-a circumstance, for which they duly waited, according to the most approved fashion of stalking-and asked him, as patron of the Society, to assist it in starting this Exhibition. Now, we believe the Prince to be an excellent and amiable personage; but we do deny that he either does or can interpret in his own person, and by his own judgment, either the genius or the inclination of this country. If so, let us dissolve Parliament, and make war and peace, and create exhibitions, and settle this and other kingdoms, at his sole nod and bidding. The Prince is a foreigner. Therefore, although we are assured that the welfare of England is above all other things at his heart, there is a shade of suspicion as to his tendencies towards cosmopolitan sentimentality. Our motto is, we confess, "first take care of Englishmen, and let other nations take care of themselves." But apart from this, the exhibition has a very pretty sound. It smacks of an industrial millenium. What visions of

peace and plenty, and good will towards men! Unfortunately, the experience of past history does not justify these charming fancies, and we do not see the Tennysonian poetic era approaching. We heard of a revolution even in the case of the happy family exhibited in Trafalgar-square the other day; but we do not believe that the nations of the earth will ever become a "happy family." Things have not of late presented much promise of that desirable consummation. However, the thing wore, very naturally, a pretty and charming aspect in the eyes of the Prince-a harmonious meeting a delightful emulation a sort of ballet of labour. He felt himself a kind of fairyextravaganza Prince, for whom one was proposing, on the easiest terms, a garlanded and gilded popularity. In cases like this, a man cherishes, too, an after-dinner enthusiasm. One believes so completely in the paramount importance of "the occasion we have met to celebrate." The eyes of the world are upon us. Philanthropy extends our swelling shirt-frills and white waistcoats. We shed it about in the flourish of our dinner-napkin. How wonderfully this importance decreases when we awake next morning! It is like some achievement in a dream, which the waking moment realises as an absurdity. We have ourselves, in our sleep, written a poem, or made a speech of surprising wit and beauty. We catch the tail-end of it in waking, and find it a nonsense verse, or a meaningless jumble. So probably fared it with the first idea conceived by Prince Albert of the Great Exhibition. However, Mr. Cole, Mr. Dilke (junior), Mr. Drew, Mr. Fuller, and Mr. Matthew Digby Wyatt (the latter name being the only one we recognise, and we cannot tell even the circumstance which occasions that recognition), gained their point-the Prince; and the Prince gained the

Society; and the combination of the five individuals together with the Prince and the Society, angled for the public, and have hooked, but not caught it. Had the Prince been a little colder, the Society would have disowned its five selfmade representatives. But the Society could not disown the Prince, who fell into the trap, and so it attempted to give respectability to the five representatives by adding Mr. Stephenson, who is somebody, and who has, accordingly, since resigned, and was replaced by a Lieut.-Colonel Reid.

Now, then, you have a pretty good idea how the grand notion was generated, and by what means it acquired that desperate vitality which has carried it so far, amidst the indifference or contempt of all thinking and honest Englishmen. It was suggested, first-even to the representatives -by a set of meddling foreigners, ever forward in engendering some paltry novelty or other-men far better employed in the organization of an industrial flea-show, or in cutting out paper likenesses, than in sporting with the dignity and destiny of nations. It next engaged the attention of the five distinguished persons we have been at the pains to name, who rushed forward to place it under the august notice of Prince Albert, with the vulgar haste which deputations sometimes display in the acquirement of notoriety-if not with certain personal ulterior views of gain or employment. That we leave to you to decide. The Prince adopts the idea; innocent of everything but the best blind intentions in the world. The late worthy Duke of Cambridge would have done the same, provided that he had merely had himself to consult as to its wisdom, and that the proceeding had been ushered in by a dinner. The Society next falls prostrate before the Prince; after "eating the dirt" of the five active Dilkes, Drewes,

and Coles's. The nation next, sullenly, with here and there a show of morbid enthusiasm, adopts the monster as its own. Simple people fancy it is very fine. Fools cry, "Prosper," and knaves clap their hands. London in vain struggles to pluck the conventional incubus from its own vitals, and finally, in the most offensive manner, it is fixed in our beautiful park with a desecration unparalleled. The most gross intimidation, threats, and corruption are used to procure subscriptions from unwilling tradespeople. In its very details it proves a nuisance and a calamity. An advantage is taken of the designs sent in by eager artists to assist the fanciful plan of building, which is furnished by the ready appointed architect of this one-story shop-Babel! Humbug reigns paramount, and surveys her full-grown offspring from the summit of the equestrian statue of Wellington! Now, then, for the effect of all this. If you have a secret in manufactures left, you will teach it to all nations. You will give hints of every description-direct and indirect information-point out to the foreigner where a supply is wanted, and unveil all that which every nation is wise to keep to itself. If you give prizes to Frenchmen, you will destroy the reputation of all kinds of English goods of the same class. There has existed here for long a morbid desire for foreign articles, which is the result of pampered luxury. To this mischievous eccentricity you will give weight. If you do not give prizes to Frenchmen, you will merely reap the discredit of partiality. Even between manufacturers of the same nation heart-burnings will be innumerable. With regard to France, if she do not triumph, it will act like the remembrance of Waterloo, without the physical chastisement which prevented the immediate recurrence of another rupture. If she triumph, your dilemma is worse. Apart from