North-Eastern, held at the Agricultural
Hall; a seventh, the East London, held at
the Beaumont Institution, Mile-end; and the
eighth held at the Crystal Palace, under the
designation of the Anglo-French Working-
Class Exhibition of Skilled Work, intended
"to celebrate the fiftieth year of peace
between two powerful nations in a manner
at once appropriate and suggestive." Of
these several exhibitions each had
something to say for itself. At Coachmakers'
Hall the articles exhibited bore relation to
one particular trade. At Lambeth the
display was an amplified edition of that in
the preceding year. At St. Martin's Hall
the exhibition was only open a fortnight,
and made no pretension to formal
classification of the articles exhibited. At the
Floral Hall there was rather a strong
element of West-end support to the exhibition;
the articles were grouped in eight
divisions, and there were upwards of a
thousand exhibitors. At Greenwich the
primary rule was observed, that "no article
be exhibited which is not the work or
design of the exhibitor," a real carrying out
of the theory of a working-man's exhibition.
At the Agricultural Hall the arrangements
bore much resemblance to those
of the exhibition at the same place in the
preceding year. At Mile-end the East-
enders contrived to get together a small
collection of curious industrial miscellanies.
At the Crystal Palace the commodities
exhibited belonged chiefly to the rank of art
manufactures, and were contributed by
shopkeepers rather than by workmen.

The year 1866 was less busy. There
were only two industrial exhibitions worth
noticing, the City of London, and the
Metropolitan and Provincial. The former,
held in Guildhall by permission of the
Corporation, consisted of about a thousand
exhibits, which the committee elaborated
into no fewer than thirty-three distinct
classes. The Metropolitan and Provincial
was the third of the exhibitions held at the
Agricultural Hall, and was supplemented
by contributions from the provinces. The
years 1867 and 1868 were nearly blank,
possibly because working-men were much
engaged in the discussion of political
questions at that time. In 1869 was held the
third of the Lambeth exhibitions, with
pretty nearly the same characteristics as
before.

Thus it will be seen that working-men's
exhibitions, more or less worthy of the
name, have been pretty numerous. But
the present is the first attempt to combine
the international element with the workman
element. If it should meet with only
partial success we need not feel much
surprised; for there are many difficulties
attending such an enterprise. Considering
the expense and trouble of bringing articles
of exhibition from Italy, the Netherlands,
Germany, Austria, and Bavaria, we may
rather marvel that the number of foreign
exhibitors is so high as seven hundred and
forty, than that it is no higher. It does
not appear that workmen are the chief
exhibitors; but an endeavour has been made
to identify the skilled artisan with his work
by mentioning his name as well as that of
his employer, who is usually the exhibitor.
As to the classification or grouping, it is a
curious fact that no two exhibitions of the
kind now under description ever agree; as
sure as there is a new exhibition, so sure is it
that there will be a new classification. The
number and names of the classes at the
present Agricultural Hall display need not
be given here; but we will just mention,
that Miscellaneous being thrown into the
same group with Food and Raw Materials,
can hardly be deemed a happy juxtaposition.
Another matter we may mention is,
that of three hundred and sixty pictures
lent for exhibition as a means of covering
vacant spaces of wall, nearly all have the
names of great masters attached to them in
the catalogue, but with nothing to denote
whether the pictures are to be understood
as painted by, or merely copied from, the
eminent artists named. The catalogue ought
to tell the truth on this point.

The mention of artisans' names, just
adverted to, has been adopted by many of
the foreign exhibitors. Thus, in connexion
with a display of patent skates from Stuttgart,
eight workmen are named, with a
notification of the kind of labour undertaken
by each. Grullmeyer, a metal-worker
at Vienna, names the workman employed
on each article. So does Corner, the pianoforte
maker of Wurtemburg. The Midland
Railway Company adopts a similar plan in
regard to locomotives made at Derby, the
names of no less than thirty-seven artisans
being named. Several engineering and
cutlery firms do the like. A watchmaker in
Clerkenwell records the names of the men
who made the movement, dial, escapement,
balance, and case of each watch, as well
as the finisher and examiner. And, not to
be outdone in this kind of justice, an
embroidered petticoat is catalogued with
the names of seven women or girls who
were engaged upon it. One object contemplated
by the committee was to contribute
articles, such as a watch or a piano, "showing