went smoothly. The leading manufacturers warmly took up the idea; the
colonies and the East India Company were sympathetic; the great foreign
nations were eager to send in their contributions; the powerful support
of Sir Robert Peel was obtained, and the use of a site in Hyde Park,
selected by the Prince, was sanctioned by the Government. Out of 234
plans for the exhibition building, the Prince chose that of Joseph
Paxton, famous as a designer of gigantic conservatories; and the work
was on the point of being put in hand when a series of unexpected
difficulties arose. Opposition to the whole scheme, which had long been
smouldering in various quarters, suddenly burst forth. There was
an outcry, headed by The Times, against the use of the park for the
exhibition; for a moment it seemed as if the building would be relegated
to a suburb; but, after a fierce debate in the House, the supporters
of the site in the Park won the day. Then it appeared that the project
lacked a sufficient financial backing; but this obstacle, too, was
surmounted, and eventually L200,000 was subscribed as a guarantee fund.
The enormous glass edifice rose higher and higher, covering acres and
enclosing towering elm trees beneath its roof: and then the fury of
its enemies reached a climax. The fashionable, the cautious, the
Protectionists, the pious, all joined in the hue and cry. It was pointed
out that the Exhibition would serve as a rallying point for all the
ruffians in England, for all the malcontents in Europe; and that on
the day of its opening there would certainly be a riot and probably a
revolution. It was asserted that the glass roof was porous, and that the
droppings of fifty million sparrows would utterly destroy every object
beneath it. Agitated nonconformists declared that the Exhibition was an
arrogant and wicked enterprise which would infallibly bring down God's
punishment upon the nation. Colonel Sibthorpe, in the debate on the
Address, prayed that hail and lightning might descend from heaven on the
accursed thing. The Prince, with unyielding perseverance and infinite
patience, pressed on to his goal. His health was seriously affected; he
suffered from constant sleeplessness; his strength was almost worn out.
But he remembered the injunctions of Stockmar and never relaxed. The
volume of his labours grew more prodigious every day; he toiled at
committees, presided over public meetings, made speeches, and carried on
communications with