"The Papyro Museum,

or 'Casting Pearls before Swine,' recently illustrated at 28, Old Bond Street, and here demonstrated as follows, viz:—

£s.d.
Dr. to 12 weeks rent of exhibition room25 4 0
"Carpenters' and drapers' bills11 3 1
"Three printers' bills11 2 0
"Advertisements in daily and weekly papers27 4 6
"Salaries of receiver, check-taker, and placard men25 19 0
"Sundries, including carriage, insurance, postage, magnifying-glasses, stationery, &c.8 5 4
108 17 11
Cr. by admissions £71 11s.; catalogues sold £7 1s.78 12 0
Loss on exhibition£30 5 11

"Reflect on this, ye directors of public taste and opinion, opera goers, déjeuné doers, and ostentatious patrons of virtu. The exhibition of a single little mediocre picture, with a big name, 'The Chapeau de Paille,'[21] cleared, by your indiscriminate, gregarious appreciation, about twelve hundred guineas! The Tam O'Shanter Stone Works, between three and four thousand! While eighty groups of the most unique and exquisite gems of art in Europe, the achievements of English artists, and wholly devoted to British charity, realizes, by three months exhibition, a loss of £30 5s. 11d.! to say nothing of considerable personal expenses, and the sacrifice of immense mental and physical exertion. If this be not disgusting, if it be not an eternal disgrace, if it fail to rouse deep indignation, and to justify the bitterest contempt, then what can, or ought? Would anomalies so odious have happened in Dublin or Edinburgh? In Paris, Brussels, or Amsterdam? In Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, or St. Petersburgh? In Rome, Naples, Madrid, or even Lisbon? Would such barbarous and heartless apathy to genius and humanity be evinced in Algiers, America, Hayti, or, in short, by any people on earth, but the 'most thinking,' absurd seeking, flea-hunting dilettanti of the British Metropolis? So much for Royal and aristocratic patronage; so much for the schoolmaster at home; his boasted 'march of intellect,' 'penny' intelligence, discernment, patriotism, and benevolence, forsooth!"

In May, 1834, was exhibited at the Baker Street Bazaar, a "Padorama," or a continuous view of the railroad and the adjacent country through which the line of road passes between Manchester and Liverpool. And the same month and year was opened a "Cosmorama" in Regent Street, with views of the Hippodrome at Constantinople, the town of Grenoble, the interior of the Cathedral of St. Gudule at Brussels, the Lake of Thun, and the adjacent Alps, Isola Bella on the Lago Maggiore, the Cascade in the Park of St. Cloud, the Monuments at Philœ, on the Nile, and the Convent of St. Bernard. These two exhibitions seem to have been ephemeral, but the panorama in Leicester Square, and the diorama in Regent's Park, still held their own.

Another ephemeral exhibition took place in this year, which is described in the Times, June 9—

"Exhibition of Ancient Costume.

"The exhibition of ancient female costume worn at the courts of Oliver Cromwell and Charles II., which last year was exhibited at Regent Street, has this season been opened at the Somerset Gallery, No. 151, Strand. The dresses which compose this very curious and entertaining collection, were the property of Mrs. Luson, who was well known for her eccentricity and peculiar habits of life. Mrs. Luson died about fourteen years ago, at the almost antediluvian age of 116 years. The dresses now being exhibited, with many others which are in the possession of the proprietor of the exhibition, and also many ancient watches, bracelets, and female ornaments of various descriptions, came into the possession of Mrs. Luson, in consequence of her marriage with Mr. Luson, to whom they descended from Mrs. Bendysh, the daughter of Lady Fleetwood, and, consequently, the granddaughter of the Protector Cromwell. We believe they may be considered as genuine articles, and, as the proprietor affirms them to be, the identical garments worn by the Cromwell family on the occasions of Court festivals."

In Tichborne Street was "Weeks' Mechanical Exhibition," where, among other things, was shown an automaton tarantula spider, made of steel, which ran backward and forward, stretched and drew out its legs, and moved its horns and claws. There was also an "animated white mouse, formed chiefly of oriental pearls. This little animal runs about the table, and feeds at pleasure, and looks so tempting that the most daintily fed tabby might consider it a bonne bouche. A caterpillar, the colours of which are represented in enamelled gold and brilliants, is an admirably minute copy of animated nature; it is seen feeding on the foliage of a golden tree. Nor must we forget the figure of an old woman, who at a call comes forth from her cottage, walks leisurely about, supported by the occasional use of her crutches, while the joints in her arms and legs are all in apparently natural motion!" Madame Tussaud's exhibition of waxwork was not open all the year round; up to 1834 the show was in Gray's Inn, and afterwards at the Lowther Rooms, King William Street, Charing Cross. Another minor exhibition was the "Microcosm" in Regent Street, near Piccadilly, where, "by means of the solar microscope, one wine-glassful of river water is shown to contain reptiles of all descriptions, from the newt to the lizard!"

The Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park were opened to the public in 1828, and William IV. considerably augmented the collection of the larger beasts, by presenting the Society with the menagerie which used to be maintained at the Tower. And there were also the Surrey Zoological Gardens, in Manor Place, Walworth, which were first opened to the public in August, 1831. Here was a small menagerie compared with that of the Zoological Society, the property of Mr. Cross, who removed here from Exeter Change, and the gardens were more for popular entertainment. There was a large lake, and, although the place was opened on a somewhat scientific basis, it soon came to be only for amusements, such as concerts, fireworks, etc. It was sold soon after 1862, and is now all built over.