ALBERT SMITH'S CHINESE MUSEUM.
The special act, by Mr. Albert Smith, of decorating three of the ante- rooms to his Salle in Piccadilly within the last month, with objects of art and curiosity illustrative of Chinese manners, not only calls for remark, but suggests the inquiry why this gentleman should not gradually create a separate and distinct museum which shall lead his visitors and the general public to appreciate the social conditions-in its whims, eccentricities, excellence, or defects-of this peculiar and vast division of the human race. Besides pictorial reminiscences of his travel, here are scenes of " the merchant Puntinqua's garden at Canton," the pro- cession of furnitUre and gifts of a Chinese Bride on the day of her wed- ding, and the staple pursuits of tea-packing, cultivating rice. Here too are arms, shields, and gingalls taken from pirate junks, reed organ from Siam, model of a Chinese tanks, Chinese money (cash) 1000=1 dollar, Mandarin's boots, coolie's hat, sacred sword made of cash, cafes made of young date palm, bamboo chair (Hongkong), the crosses upon which the prisoners of the Chinese revolution were cut to pieces alive by order of Yeb, portrait of A-Tye, a Macao tanks girl, by Lamgua of Canton, double sword, or two-in-one, pipes used for smoking opium, policeman's hat, shaving stool and dish, washstand, screws, ornaments, and bamboo furniture ; paintings on rice-paper of the different modes of executing Chinese revolutionists, joss-house, kites; bamboo blinds, as well as some native paintings on glass. Indeed the articles themselves, not being overcrowded, and being deposited either in, or adjoining to, a waiting- room furnished with newspapers and writing materials, (one visitor actually asked why postage stamps were not supplied gratuitously), and Where telegraph forms are kept for general use, certainly form a feature worthy to be noticed, independently of the entertainment and its own particular attractions.
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