at the north entrance, and at the appointed hour, half-past twelve, the Queen arrived. On her entrance the whole of the vast audience rose to receive her, and remained standing while orchestra and organ joined in the National Anthem, and the royal procession moved slowly down the carpeted steps towards the dais, and there took up its position. Advancing towards the Queen, who sat with her back to the orchestra, and fronting the rest of the audience, the Prince of Wales then read with full voice and admirable emphasis the address to her Majesty, reporting the successful completion of the Hall. The reading was somewhat marred by an echo which seemed suddenly to wake from the organ or picture-gallery, and repeated the words with a mocking emphasis. The Queen handed to the Prince a written answer, and said in a clear voice, "I wish to express my great admiration of this beautiful Hall, and my earnest wishes for its complete success." After a prayer from the Bishop of London, the Prince exclaimed, "The Queen declares this Hall to be now opened," followed by a burst of cheering, the National Anthem, and the distant discharge of the park guns. The opening was celebrated by a concert, which included the performance of a cantata written expressly for the occasion by Sir Michael Costa. The orchestra numbered 900 singers, and nearly 200 players. The cost of the Hall was estimated at 200,000l., and to the unbounded astonishment of all who ever employed architects or paid builders, this estimate was not exceeded. : The following description of the Hall appeared at the time :"The original designs have been departed from in some few details, but on the whole the building is in its main features what it was at first intended to be, and the alterations have all happily turned out improvements. The provis onal committee have been entrusted with full power of management until the completion of the Hall; afterwards it will be managed under the Royal Charter granted in April, 1867. The foundation-stone was laid by the Queen on May 20th, in the same year. "The general appearance of the Hall without is that of an immense circular building, in the modern Italian style, of red brick, with yellow dressings, an abundance of long, narrow clerestory-windows, a wide band of decorations above them, a high gallery running round the entire exterior, and an elegant glass dome crowning the whole. The most interesting feature of the exterior is no doubt the frieze the band to which we have referred. It is formed of designs by Armstead, Armitage, Horsley, Marks, Pickersgill, Poynter, and Yeames, the subjects being allegorical, and fanciful representations of the great peoples of the globe, and the triumphs of human prowess and skill. Appropriate passages from Holy Writ are inscribed; also statements as to the origin, beginning, and finishing of the structure. The frieze is executed in tessera of terra-cotta, by Minton, Hollins, and Co., through the female students of the schools of art; and while the mosaic is simple in outline and colour, it is strikingly effective. The aim was to imitate the best period of Italian terra-cotta, and employ the material rather as brick than as an imitation of stone. This was, so far as England is concerned, an experiment, and its success makes it worthy of wider imitation. The appearance within is pleasing in the highest degree. "The Hall is apportioned into-the arena, accommodating 1000 persons; the amphitheatre, accommodating 1400; two tiers of boxes, forty-three in one, eighty-six in the other, accommodating 1100; balcony, accommodating 2500; and gallery, accommodating 2000; so that, exclusive of singers and musicians (for whose use there are about 2000 orchestra seats), the Royal Albert Hall will seat 8000 persons. The main entrance is through a handsome portico opening on the Kensington Road. But there are other main entrancesone from the Horticultural Gardens-and at least two dozen doors of egress and ingress. So carefully have these arrangements been made, that ten thousand persons were at the late concert cleared out of the building in ten minutes. The boxes, which are mostly sold, are being fitted up according to the tastes of their individual owners, and the few that are completed have all the beauty and luxury of a drawing-room. The Queen has the largest box on the grand tier. The Prince of Wales's box is also on the grand tier, and the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Cambridge are joint proprietors of the box adjoining on one side, while the Duke of Sutherland owns that on the other. It was thought at first that so many boxes would never be disposed of, many considering that 10007. for a box for ten persons on the grand tier, and 5007. for a box for five on the second tier were too high prices, although the proprietorship was to extend over 999 years. Not only, however, were the boxes in demand, but thirty-two additional have been added. Although the fittings of the interiors are matters concerning the owners alone, all the outer curtains are to be crimson, than which nothing could better harmonize with the buff and French grey of the wood work and the brass fittings. The balcony is an open tier of single seats, and immediately behind it is the gallery. Thirty bays, with piers and caps of composite design, and seraglio columns, are an effective termination, lightened and softened by the glass dome. The seats of each division of the house terminate about fifty feet from the orchestra, and the end-if end there can be in an oval-is the organ. This faces the Kensington entrance, and is close to the entrance to the gardens. The intervening space is the widest distance in the Hall, namely, 200 feet, the shorter length being 180 feet, and the height from arena to dome 140 feet. The organ, of ninety stops and fourteen couplers, built by Mr. Willis, is intended and acknowledged to be the finest in the world. It has a fine front, in keeping with the architecture of the building. Space would fail us to describe in detail the elaborate internal arrangements-the corridors in which, but for continual directions on the walls and doorposts, a wayfarer would be lost; the crush-rooms over the porticoes; the retiring-rooms for royalty and for the public; the staircases for the agile, and lifts for the indisposed and weary; the refreshment and promenade rooms; the lecture-theatre and concert-room in the wing buildings for the furtherance of science and art; the steam-engines which blow the bellows of the monster organ, feed the water-pipes, and set in motion the ventilating fans that heat, cool, or exhaust the air in the shortest space of time; the revolving chairs in the amphitheatre, or the movable cushioned seats of the balcony, or the wonderful system of electricity by which Mr. Ludd will light the 4210 gas jets in ten seconds- -a feat the like of which has never, we believe, been attempted before. These appliances, perfect of their kind, we can but enumerate. The gallery before mentioned is to be known as the Picture-Gallery, but for the present it will, in common with some of the larger rooms, be used for the purposes of the International Exhibition. The question which must arise in the mind of every visitor who gazes for the first time on the Royal Albert Hall is, What will they do with it?' The first answer, perhaps, should be an assurance that the concern will pay. Of this there is no doubt, even now. Afterwards, it may be replied that the Hall is available for congresses to promote the interests of science and art, for musical performances, for the meetings and conversaziones of learned bodies, for agricultural and horticultural, for national and international exhibitions. For these purposes the Hall is not only available, but adapted; and the arena we shall expect to find, before the season is over, the popular place of promenade, flower-shows, and military bands for the West-end." The first public use made of the Royal Albert Hall was on the 12th April, when the first of a series of six concerts by the Society of Arts, in aid of a national training school for music, was given. The beautiful interior of the Hall, illuminated by clusters of gas-jets, suspended from the roof and from the centre of the gallery arches, appeared to even greater advantage than by daylight. The shilling "orchestra seats were completely filled, and the arena was numerously attended; the audience in other portions of the Hall presenting a less compact appearance. It soon became manifest that, notwithstanding all that had been done to counteract the excessive reverberation, more remained to be effected if the Hall was to fulfil the proper conditions of a concert-room. The echo was most observable in the orchestral pieces and accompaniments-the solos, vocal and instrumental, were more distinctly heard than at the opening performances. APRIL. 1. UNIVERSITY BOAT-RACE.-The twenty-eighth occasion of this now annual eight-oared match scored another victory to the light blue. The attendance was said not to be up to the average of the last few years. The boats, which took up their positions a few minutes after ten, were manned as follows:: At The current odds were 2 to 1 on Cambridge. Oxford won the toss and took the Middlesex station. The start took place at eight minutes past ten, and was beautifully level. For an instant Oxford seemed to have the best of it, the nose of their boat being a foot or two in advance, but it was only for an instant, as in the next halfdozen strokes the light blues had recovered their position, and, drawing away in turn inch by inch, soon showed with an appreciable lead, which they steadily improved as the race proceeded. Barnes Railway Bridge they led by about two clear lengths. At this stage the race looked all over-hopelessly gone beyond chance of redemption. The Oxford crew seemed to be utterly beaten and demoralized by the long stern-chase, and to all appearance every thing was lost but honour; and yet between here and the finish the spectators were treated to one of the most magnificent displays of rowing ever witnessed on the Thames. Rousing his men for a final effort, Mr. Lesley quickened from thirty-nine to forty-three, and in less time than it takes to record it the whole aspect of the contest was changed. Hand over hand Oxford came up with the leaders; off the White Hart the gap was reduced to little more than a length; at the Brewery another half-length had been wiped off, and as the two boats breasted the Ship the long lead of Cambridge had diminished to some twelve or fifteen feet. From here to the flag-boat, which was moored a little distance below the site of Barker's Rails, the struggle was maintained on both sides with most unflinching determination, every yard of water being doggedly contested; but notwithstanding all the efforts of Oxford-who despite their distressed condition, held on with their spurt to the last, and actually overlapped the leaders within fifty yards of the finish the light blues retained their lead to the goal, and ultimately passed the win ning-post, according to the judge's verdict, three-quarters of a length in advance. The time from start to finish was exactly 23 mins. 8 secs. Oxford was clearly outpaced throughout, and their condition was not equal to that of their opponents. Their last grand effort was sustained by the sheer force of pluck, and the only wonder is that it was sustained for so long, as, with one or two exceptions-notably their stroke the whole crew were hopelessly ragged and beaten by the time Chiswick was reached. The result of the race was forwarded by the wires of the IndoEuropean Telegraph Company to India, via Teheran, at 10.40 a.m., Greenwich time, and reached Kurrachee at 10.43 a.m., and Bombay at 10.45 a.m. Greenwich time. 3. THE CENSUS was taken throughout the kingdom, apparently with the greatest ease, and without the smallest complaint. An old difficulty-the reluctance of the Irish emigrants to be countedwas this time completely overcome, through the energetic support given by Archbishop Manning to the Government. The old belief, that it was an impious act to number the people, seemed to have entirely disappeared, and the only point on which any apparent feeling remained was that of age, the reluctance to state the truth in that respect being in some quarters incurable. INDIGNATION MEETING. A meeting so called was held at St. James's Hall, the object of which was "to protest against the unconstitutional policy of the House of Lords in rejecting Bills repeatedly passed by the representatives of the people in the House of Commons, and to demand the immediate removal of the bishops from the House of Lords." It was one of the most noisy and riotous meetings held in London for some time. Of the twelve or fifteen members of Parliament who had been announced as likely to take part not one was present, except the chairman, Mr. Thomas Chambers, who was supported by Mr. Whalley and Mr. McCarthy Downing, whose names had not been announced. Letters were, however, read from most of the absentees, and other members of Parliament, apologizing for their non-attendance. The meeting was called by the persons interested in the Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, but among the audience were a number of the "Advanced Liberals" of Greenwich and the Republicans who meet in Holborn and St. Luke's; and this section of the meeting became very turbulent when it was discovered that their assistance was only required to pass what they called "milkand-water resolutions." The speakers were interrupted by shouts of "We want a Republic!" and at one stage of the proceedings a young man sitting in the lower gallery waved out in front of the whole audience a red flag. The outcry of the audience was startling for a moment, and then a gentleman dashed through the throng defending the flag, and, single-handed, tore it from its position. An attempt was made to hustle him, but he completely destroyed the flag, and broke its staff. Loud cheers arose from all parts of |