I had hoped that on getting into the Park, I would be out of the crowd that seemed to press so heavily in the street.  But in this I was mistaken.  I here found myself surrounded by and moving with an overwhelming mass, such as I had never before witnessed.  And, away in the distance, I beheld a dense crowd, and above every other object, was seen the lofty summit of the Crystal Palace.  The drive in the Park was lined with princely-looking vehicles of every description.  The drivers in their bright red and gold uniforms, the pages and footmen in their blue trousers and white silk stockings, and the horses dressed up in their neat, silver-mounted harness, made the scene altogether one of great splendour.  I was soon at the door, paid my shilling, and entered the building at the south end of the Transept.  For the first ten or twenty minutes I was so lost in astonishment, and absorbed in pleasing wonder, that I could do nothing but gaze up and down the vista of the noble building.  The Crystal Palace resembles in some respects, the interior of the cathedrals of this country.  One long avenue from east to west is intersected by a Transept, which divides the building into two nearly equal parts.  This is the greatest building the world ever saw, before which the Pyramids of Egypt, and the Colossus of Rhodes must hide their diminished heads.  The palace was not full at any time during the day, there being only 64,000 persons present.  Those who love to study the human countenance in all its infinite varieties, can find ample scope for the indulgence of their taste, by a visit to the World’s Fair.  All countries are there represented—­Europeans, Asiatics, Americans and Africans, with their numerous subdivisions.  Even the exclusive Chinese, with his hair braided, and hanging down his back, has left the land of his nativity, and is seen making long strides through the Crystal Palace, in his wooden-bottomed shoes.  Of all places of curious costumes and different fashions, none has ever yet presented such a variety as this Exhibition.  No dress is too absurd to be worn in this place.

There is a great deal of freedom in the Exhibition.  The servant who walks behind his mistress through the Park feels that he can crowd against her in the Exhibition.  The Queen and the day labourer, the Prince and the merchant, the peer and the pauper, the Celt and the Saxon, the Greek and the Frank, the Hebrew and the Russ, all meet here upon terms of perfect equality.  This amalgamation of rank, this kindly blending of interests, and forgetfulness of the cold formalities of ranks and grades, cannot but be attended with the very best results.  I was pleased to see such a goodly sprinkling of my own countrymen in the Exhibition—­I mean coloured men and women—­well-dressed, and moving about with their fairer brethren.  This, some of our pro-slavery Americans did not seem to relish very well.  There was no help for it.  As I walked through the American part of the Crystal Palace, some of our Virginian