_locale_ assigned to them being at the top of the building, where,
exposed to the action of the sun, they would be in peril of
dissolution. The examples consist of two remarkable models--one an
enormous and magnificent bouquet, consisting of hundreds of flowers
of the most intricate structure and beautiful colouring, as well as
the greatest diversity of character. The violet and the _Cactus
grandiflora_, with the water-lily of Guiana, and the newly
discovered _Victoria regia_, form part of this exquisite group.

All the flowers were modelled separately from white wax, and the
colours afterwards superinduced. The bouquet stands six feet in
height, and is covered with a bent glass shade. The other model is a
group of fruitage, covered with a glass shade more than four feet
high, and nearly three feet across, being the largest ever yet blown
in England. It was manufactured from designs supplied by Mrs.
Peachey herself, and cost L200. Nothing can be more picturesque or
artistic than these models: full of wonderful detail which it is
impossible to pursue, and implying a marvellous amount of labour and
ingenuity, they lead us to regret that any misunderstanding should
have led to their absence from the Crystal Palace.--_Illustrated
London News._

* * * * *

Ever willing to extend our protecting aegis to the weak and
unsupported, we feel ourselves called upon at the present juncture
to step into the arena as the defenders of several meritorious
individuals whom we conceive to have met with the most unworthy
treatment in regard to the exhibition, or rather the non-exhibition
of their productions of art in the Crystal Palace. We have received
a number of communications from artists of first-rate talent,
complaining of the exercise of undue influence in official quarters,
but we have been more immediately led into an investigation of the
circumstances connected therewith, by a communication from Mrs.
Peachey, of No. 35, Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, artiste in wax to
Her Majesty. That lady's statement is nearly as follows:--that about
twelve months ago, when the erection of the building in Hyde Park
was spoken of, and the nature of its contents mentioned, she,
feeling anxious to prove to the world that the very high and royal
patronage she enjoyed was n