384 feet at the central transept. A striking feature of the interior is its great height, the nave rising to the height of 110 feet above the ground floor; the central transept to the height of 74 feet. Two spacious galleries extend at each side of the nave throughout its entire length, and round each end. From a distance the two towers, 284 feet high, are conspicuous objects. These can be ascended by a spiral staircase, and their roofs command, as may be imagined, a splendid view of the country, extending into six counties. They serve the double purpose of carrying off the smoke of the fires which heat the building, and of maintaining in tanks at their summits a supply of water for the high jets of the great fountains. Railway visitors alight at a covered station, and proceed along a wing (passing under rooms employed as dining-rooms) to the south end of the main building. The corresponding north wing was blown down by a violent storm in February 1861, and has not been rebuilt.

On entering the palace for the first time, the visitor is recommended to place himself at one end of the building, for the purpose of obtaining a view along the entire nave. He will be much struck by the length and height of the structure, its light and elegant appearance, the floods of daylight that pour in from all sides, the distant statues, the baskets of flowers suspended from the galleries, the green healthy plants growing on the level of the floor, and the large marble tanks, rendered gay by bright blossoms and beautiful ferns.

Then, with the view of taking things in detail, let him, after glancing at the screen of the kings and queens, turn to the left, and, passing the Crystal Fountain, make his way to the Pompeian Court, where he will see reproduced a house such as a well-to-do inhabitant of Pompeii resided in at the time Vesuvius potted it for posterity. Enter the court or atrium, with its tank in the middle, and observe the miserably small dens set apart for sleeping in. Into the ambulatory beyond, the dining-rooms, chief bed-chamber, and other apartments opened. In the middle is a small garden, and between this garden and the atrium is the tablinum, where were deposited the ornaments of the house.

We may then pass in succession through the Sheffield, Birmingham, and Stationery Courts, all elegantly and appropriately decorated and filled with objects displayed in cases or on stalls; works for the most part appertaining to the useful arts. Issuing from the last named court we find ourselves in the central tran

sept, at the foot of a flight of stairs leading to the western gallery. Over against these stairs is the Concert Room, where there is a daily performance of good music. At the west end of the great transept is the organ and grand orchestra, in which oratorios are executed. Behind it is the main carriage entrance from the road.

Now let us enter the Egyptian Court, with lions couchant keeping guard. The architecture is characterised by massive solidity, and the examples here given, selected from various temples and tombs, fully conveys that idea. Two courts are separated by a hall of columns, modelled from those at Karnak. The colouring is taken from actual remains in Egypt, and all the hieroglyphics have their meaning.

In the Greek Court the style is marked by far more elegance and symmetry. Models of temples, and sculptures copied from the finest remains of Greek art, are placed in the central court. The light colouring of this court is supposed to be justified by ancient examples. In the gallery beyond the pillared walk, at the back of this court, a copy of the frieze of the Parthenon has been placed, and this has been coloured, the tints employed being however purely conjectural. Here also will be seen a model of the western front of the Parthenon, about one-fourth of the size of the original; and more statues and groups, including the famous Niobe group from Florence. This gallery is continuous with that behind the Roman Court, and we may compare the noble intellectual countenances of the Greeks with the more sensual faces of their Roman conquerors. In the court will be found copies of sculptures, all of them carved by Greeks under Roman rule, including many well-known masterpieces. The walls are coloured in imitation of the marbles with which the rich Romans were in the habit of adorning their houses. In the side court are placed the busts of generals and empresses.

The Alhambra Court, copied from the ruined Moorish palace of this name at Granada in Spain, must strike every eye by the gorgeousness of the colouring, the elaborateness of the ornamentation, and the quaint grace of the architectural style. The Court of the Lions, 75 feet long, is two-thirds the size of the original. Crossing what is here called the Hall of Justice, we enter the Hall of the Abencerrages, with its stalactite roof and its lateral divans.

We now come upon an avenue of Egyptian sphynxes leading

up to two colossal seated figures, copied from the temple of Rameses the Great in Nubia. They are 65 feet high, the size of the originals.

The Assyrian Court, like the Egyptian, is connected with a remote antiquity. Here we have copies of the sculptures and portions of the buildings which our countryman, Mr. Layard, has disinterred at Nimroud and elsewhere in the old empire of Assyria. This court, larger than any other in the palace, is 120 feet long, and it affords us an opportunity of studying that monstrous style of architecture, with its human-headed bulls and winged lions, in which the barbaric Sennacherib and Sardanapalus delighted, the remains of which have been so lately revealed to us. Notice those puzzling arrow-headed characters in which a people long passed away concealed their thoughts, and which, however, have yielded up their meaning to the acumen and perseverance of the moderns.

This is the last of the courts on the western side. Passing into the nave we may examine the plants, natives of warm regions, which are hereabouts to be found. The water plants look particularly healthy and happy. Opposite the middle of the tank is the bark from the lower part of the trunk of a Californian coniferous tree, named Wellingtonia gigantea. On its native mountains it rose to the astonishing height of nearly 400 feet, and its age has been estimated at 4000 years, that is far older than any of the ancient buildings whose copies we have been examining. Close by is the Water Barometer, 40 feet long, which was originally erected by Professor Daniel in the hall of the Royal Society's rooms, Somerset House, and has only lately been removed here. The top of the column of water may be seen from the first gallery. As the extent of its variation is twelve times greater than that of the barometrical column of mercury, it is very interesting to watch its oscillations in unsettled weather.

Not far off the Library and Reading Room offer their resources to the visitor. There is a fair collection of books, a large supply of newspapers, British and foreign, materials for writing letters, a postage box, etc. To non-subscribers the charge of one penny is made for admission.

Let us now enter the Byzantine Court by the middle of the three arches which communicate with the north transept, and turning to the right pass along the copy of a cloister, the original