talked-of Polar basin. It being evident that Sir John Franklin's party had not passed through this opening, her course was directed to Jones's Sound, which was penetrated as far as 85° west latitude, very far beyond any preceding Expedition; when, being arrested by ice, Captain Inglefield was obliged to stop short. Hence he proceeded to Beechey Island; where he found the North Star,—and gladdened the hearts of all at the depôt by delivering the numerous letters and despatches which had been put on board the Isabel before leaving England." Industrial CHAPTER X. THE ATHENÆUM, 1853. The Dublin THE Dublin Industrial Exhibition was the great Exhibition. event of 1853. Mr. Dargan, on the 24th of June in the previous year, had most generously offered to put down 20,000l. for a grand Exhibition, upon condition that the Royal Dublin Society would permit the building to be erected on their lawn. This was readily agreed to, but the plan had soon to be enlarged, for applications for space from intending exhibitors came in so rapidly that the building had to be extended until it covered the gardens and the court in Mr. Dargan's front of the Society's house. Mr. Dargan's expenditure amounted to nearly 100,000. munificence. The Exhibition was opened on the 12th of May by the Lord Lieutenant (the Earl St. Germains) in the presence of 15,000 people. The central hall was 425 feet long, and at the end of it was placed the organ built by Messrs. Telford for St. Peter's College, Oxford. The organ contained 3,000 pipes, one of thesethe CCCC-being 32 feet long. The Official Catalogue gives the names of 1,460 exhibitors in the United Kingdom, and of about 350 from France, Germany, Holland, and Belgium. The pictures, exclusive of those from France, amounted to about a thousand. The Athenæum of May 21st states that the general departments of the Exhibition in which Ireland makes the greatest show are linen manufactures; poplins, including a loom put up by Messrs. Fry for making a newly invented brocaded poplin; Balbriggan hosiery; saddlery and leather work; church bells, comprising some large and fine specimens; carriages; engineering and architectural designs; musical instruments; lace, embroidery, and needlework of every description, and most of it in good taste, including the cases and stands of the Ladies' Industrial Society of Ireland and of the Seamstresses' Society of Dublin; clothing; furniture; and agricultural machines and implements. Mention is also made of the collection of Irish marbles exhibited by the Royal Dublin Society: "At present, for want of the necessary stimulus, the working and conveyance of the native marbles are both costly, -but there is no intrinsic cause why they should remain so......The native marbles of Ireland are very beautiful,-some of them quite unique; and if the Exhibition draws attention. to them, and leads to improvements and greater Irish exhibits. Irish marbles. Irish economy in working them, it will render a very important service." The Exhibition included a collection of Irish antiquities. antiquities, which comprised nearly the whole of the museum of the Royal Irish Academy as well as contributions from the chief local collec tions. The room in which these antiquities were exhibited was of oblong form, about 24 yards long and 10 wide. The following description appears in the Athenæum of October 22nd:"A remarkable ancient architectural character has been imparted to it by the introduction of casts of portions of some of the most singular religious edifices in the country. The apartment is indeed, as it were, divided into a nave and chancel, by the great six-times-recessed chancelarch of Tuam, with its strange Egyptian-like sculptures; and the east end is lighted by the three still more curiously ornamented roundheaded windows from the same building. The three entrances are casts of curiously carved and inscribed doorways of ancient churches; and over the west door is inserted the circular window, assigned to the eighth century, from Rahan Church, figured in Petrie's 'Round Towers,' p. 241. In addition to these casts, the Fine Arts Committee have also obtained casts of the two great crosses from Monasterboice, as well as the originals of four other curiously carved stone crosses from other parts of Ireland, -that from Tuam being more than twenty feet high......Down the middle of the apartment are ranged a series of iron glazed safes, containing the gold torques from Sherwood Forest, exhibited by the Queen, and the gold antiquities belonging Irish gold! to the Royal Irish Academy and to private ornaments. individuals. These consist of torques, bracelets, brooches, rings, bullæ, boxes, discs, and other ornaments:—including many of the double-disked objects almost peculiar to Ireland, of which the use is entirely conjectural. The native gold of which these ornaments are composed is very rich in colour, and must have been found in early times in great quantity,-one of the torques weighing as much as 271⁄2 ounces, and one of the bracelets nearly 17 ounces. The great antiquity of these golden ornaments is proved by the fact not only of the use of many of them being quite unknown,-but also by the fact that the style of ornamentation employed in the decoration of such of them as are ornamented is very simple, like that of the earthen vases found in early graves, and quite unlike the ornamentation adopted in metal, stone, and manuscript work of the early Christian period. Such a splendid collection of golden ornaments is, we apprehend, perfectly unique. Adjoining the gold series are several upright glass cases |