Her knowledge of divine things rapidly increased, and her earnest devotions seemed now to be the perpetual breathings of her soul.
The third visit I made her, she lamented her former state of ignorance and sin, and expressed great fears lest her sins should be too enormous to be forgiven.
The poor woman continued in this state about six weeks, soliciting the company of all Christian friends to converse and pray with her.
The last visit I made to her produced a very affecting scene, both to her and me. I talked to her as one actually dying, and prayed for her as one who must soon appear before the Judge of all the earth. While I was engaged in prayer, she repeated the words after me in the most affecting manner, and after I had finished supplicating the Father of mercies, she added, "Oh, Lord, hear! Oh, Lord, forgive such a wretch as I am!" A few hours after this, she breathed her last, without either sigh or groan.
THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851.
Of late years we have had in Britain almost a surfeit of exhibitions, of one sort or another, chief among which have been the splendid series which so many witnessed at South Kensington, and which have given to many of the inhabitants of these isles a far better ideal of the empire's resources than otherwise they would have had, besides having contributed not a little to the stimulation of commerce, while furnishing agreeable entertainment to the sightseer. That the day of the exhibition, as we understand the word, as an educational and profit-raising medium, is not yet gone, is proved by the holding of the Irish, Italian, and Anglo-Danish Exhibitions in London this year, and the popularity of the more general display at Glasgow, not to speak of minor shows which have found favour elsewhere.
The forerunner of all these magnificent spectacles was the Great Exhibition of 1851, held in Hyde Park, on the initiative of the late Prince Consort, who borrowed the idea from the State-supported Expositions at Paris. The Prince proposed that an exhibition of colossal proportions should be held in London, in a building specially designed for the purpose, and that it should be open to competitors from all nations, so as to form a veritable "world's fair." The scheme was entered into with alacrity by the public. All sorts of representative men cordially supported the Prince. A big banquet was given by the Lord Mayor of London in the Mansion House, on March 21st, 1850, to the municipal magnates of the kingdom, at which the success of the undertaking was practically assured; and later on a similar feast was given in the ancient city of York, at which the Prince again eloquently and effectively pleaded for the accomplishment of the task to which he had set his hand. A Royal Commission was appointed to manage the undertaking. Hyde Park was fixed upon as the most appropriate site for the building, and Sir Joseph Paxton, though not an architect, was honoured with instructions to design the fabric—that magnificent Crystal Palace, which was subsequently removed to a permanent and commanding position at Sydenham, and which is familiar to every London resident and visitor. It was formed chiefly of iron and glass, being 1,848 feet long, 408 feet broad, and 66 feet high; crossed by a transept 108 feet high, and also 408 feet in length, for the purpose of enclosing and encasing a group of noble elms. Within, the nave presented a clear, unobstructive avenue, from one end of the building to the other, 72 feet in span, and 64 feet in height. The wings, exterior to the centre or nave on each side, had also galleries the same height, the wings themselves being broken up into a series of courts each 48 feet wide. The number of columns used in the entire edifice was 3,230. There were 34 miles of gutter for carrying off the rain-water to the columns, which were hollow, and served as water-pipes; 202 miles of sash-bars, and 900,000 superficial feet of glass, weighing upwards of 400 tons. The building covered about 18 acres of ground, and, with the galleries, gave an exhibition surface of 21 acres, with eight miles of tables for laying out goods. The building cost £176,000; and though the plan was not accepted until the 26th of July, and the first column not fixed until two months later, the edifice was virtually completed by the 1st of the following January, on which date it was delivered over to the Exhibition Commissioners to be fitted up for its destined purpose. The Crystal Palace excited universal admiration for its wonderful combination of vastness and beauty, and when it was fully furnished, and opened to the public, on the 1st of May, 1851, the visitor felt as if he had entered a fairy-like scene of enchantment, a gathering-ground of grace, brightness, and delight.
It was a splendid sunny morning, and the assembled multitude was brilliant in the extreme. The Queen, accompanied by the Prince Consort, walked in procession through the immense aggregation of treasures, followed by an imposing array of eminent British and foreign notabilities. It has been truly said that within the giant palace of glass were then massed representatives of all the people and productions of the earth—a grand presentment of wealth, intelligence, and enterprise. There were over 17,000 exhibitors, some 3,000 of whom received medals of merit. The Exhibition remained open until the 15th of October, altogether 144 days, during which it was visited by 6,170,000 persons. The greatest number present in any one day was 109,760, on October 8th. On one occasion 93,000 were within the palace at the same moment, which surpassed, it is said, in magnitude, any number ever assembled together under one roof in the world's history. The charges of admission to the Great Exhibition were practically the same as those obtained at the recent South Kensington "shows," and the whole affair was so well managed and successful in every point that at its close a surplus of £150,000 remained, after paying all expenses.