HOLYDAY SIGHTS.
- THE schools have let loose their swarms of boys and girls ; who throng the thoroughfares of the Metropolis, eager for sight-seeing. This, then, is a proper time to enumerate the different exhibitions—fewer than usual—that attract those in search of amusement or instruction out of doors.
The Chinese Collection at Hyde Park Corner claims the first place, both on account of the present interest of the subject and the compre- hensive and curious variety of objects, all of Chinese production, as- sembled in that vast saloon. As a mere sight, the coup d'ceil is magni- ficent, especially when lighted up : the feast of lanterns could hardly display a greater variety of these fanciful articles, from the com- monest sort to the imperial lantern ten feet high, bedecked with tassels, bead-work, and gay colours. These dangle from the ceiling, while the walls are lined with glass cases containing groups of Chinese, the figures life-size and modelled from individuals, attired in the costumes of different classes, and engaged in their various pursuits,—a silk-mercer's shop with customers, a party of Mandarins, ladies taking tea and smoking, priests and soldiers, itinerant workmen, a gentleman in his sedan, and a company of actors : there is also a room fitted up in the Chinese style. Innumerable paintings, of exquisite finish, cover the walls ; and specimens of almost every article of manufacture, with a number of natural productions, are arranged in cases. Several hours may be profitably spent in examining this extensive and unique col- lection ; which it cost the proprietor many years and thousands of pounds to get together. The Panorama of Cabul, in Leicester Square, will be an object of interest, as a faithful and beautifully-painted picture of the scene of the recent events in Afghanistan ; in which portraits of DOST MAHOMMED, AKBAR KHAN, and other chiefs, are introduced. Jerusalem and the Battle of Waterloo are the subjects of other panoramas in the same building. The Polytechnic Institution has recently added to its scientific appa- ratus a colossal electrical machine of prodigious power, and a micro- scope that magnifies seventy-four millions of times, making a human hair appear a cylinder of eighteen inches diameter. Popular lectures are given, illustrated by experiments. "Dissolving views" and the diving-bell are in constant operation. At the Adelaide Galles% also, lectures are delivered to juvenile philosophers ; the Daguerreotype-room is a source of attraction ; and the music of a choice band enlivens the exhibition.
Though the frost has not yet set in, skaters may enjoy their favourite exercise on a beautiful sheet of artificial ice, at the Glaciarium in the Baker Street Bazaar, without fear of drowning or ducking. The no\ elty of the thing attracts many lookers-on ; who peep out, as if from the windows of a Ss iss cottage, on a frozen lake surrounded with alpine scenery in miniature. The Colosseum is ever open ; though the Diorama is shut.
It is almost superfluous to mention those perpetual sources of delight
and instruction the British Museum and the National Gallery—not the less gratifying for being gratuitous ; and the cheapened exhibitions of Westminster Abbey and the Tower: the armour and crowns of a line of kings being shown at the one, and their marble effigies at the other.
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