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944 THE LEADER ISASvmAy ,
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Great Workshop Of Dublin. Bv An Engl...
former ducal residence of the famous Geraldine family Thus , therefore , the stranger from England , who comes incommoded with luggage , can walk , in about five minutes * time , from the place of his outshooting from the railway carriage right into this really glorious shop , paying , of course , his single shilling for the admission , for here , in Dublin , as was before in London , the shilling seems to have become the one unaltered price at these Exhibitions . Yet there are extreme differences to be observed , in
many things , between the two scenes , as a whole—the Exhibition of London and this one of Dublin ; and thus I would caution my reader not to be in an over hurry to accompany me through the entire interior of the place , but to have a little patience , and , ere he has passed the unreturnable shilling-paying barrier , to make a trifling delay in examination of the state of matters in the immediate neighbourhood of the building , as also of the appearance which the building itself makes in its outward character . The building , however , shall be honoured with the priority in this notice .
In passing along Merrion-street , either from the northern or southern quarters of the city , the square , which bears the same name , opens grandly before the eye , as you come directly upon it , at the close of your advances . There are none of the London squares so extensive in area as is this one of Merrion ; and Stephen ' s-green , another of the Dublin quarters of the wealthy and the fashionable , is even much larger , although the space inclosed on the estate under notice , is said to be upward of twelve acres , the footway surrounding the railing being , as I should suppose , full fifteen feet wide , and the road itself some fifty or sixty feet ; three sides of the space so inclosed—beautiful with trees , shrubs , flowers , and exquisite patches of grass—flanked by lofty and cleanfaced houses , and the
remaining side adorned with the one paramount erection of this young Ireland ' s most praiseworthy industrial endeavour ; for paramount it is , indeed , beyond comparison to any other structure in the country . And yet what is it ? A something which neither looks human habitation-like , nor church-like , nor theatrelike , with big outjutting and rounded centre part , and a lesser and still Jesser likeness o f the same feature on each side , just as one may imagine of a hen with an equal number of chickens , and placed in a similar mode , but magnified a million-million fold , as regards herself and brood . There she immovably sits , or squats , that mighty bird , or something else , with her four young counterparts , two on each side , not hid beneath her wings , but pressing up against them , and uncaring to move away from such endeared
protection . Very remarkable altogether is this building , but only , as described , when you hare fairly come upon its presence , and then but by taking the trouble to cross over to the railing of the opposite square for the sake of the broader view , the Crystal Palace of Hyde Park catching and entrancing the eye at a very long distance , whereas in the present instance the thhif is very different , and even then you only can see its forward parts , the bulgy breast of the great hen accompanied by her little ones .
Another similitude may bo traced , that of an immense steam-boiler , with two other boilers of a graduated undergrowth placed on each side , and the colour dark , as is commonly the case with such articles , the whole five overlooking , in their different degrees , the fragile-like incase of wood which forms the outside of tho structure , the lower story of this casing being perforated with n main central place of entrance , and others on each tho wings , and no windows anywhere to bo seen , so that one is at a loss to know how the inner portions are lighted . Yet as wo are fporfectly aware that the interior has an '
almudance of light , because otherwise the purpose of the place could not be fulfilled , so thero is no disappointment , the stranger merely holding his expectation in abeyance until he lias discovered the cunning by which this principnl object is effected . But if there is an absence of tho observable in window thoro is a fully recompensing plenitude of outside gallery , as may bo seen by the many people who are enjoyii ' igly walking to and fro on tho railed-in platform which may bo considered na tho divisional marking ' of the
second story of the building , while another piece of similarly rail-protected footway , but of dimi n ished proportions , marks a higher fitory , and then there in another at tho extreme top , though it in biff , rarely ( , llat any person is observed making uho of these higher esplanades . DoubtloKH , however , on the visits of the Queen , thero xv : w not an inch of Htanding-room unoccupied throughout the whole extent of these outside galleries—a kccho which must have been extremely imposing , tho royal party approaching in all tho gorfrcous gaiety of hucIi a momont , and thousands of
uncovered and bonneted headfl lookiiiggengorly down on the I splendid cavalcade which was there presented beforo tho gaze of all who were ranged along thouo gftllerioH . All this , however , Imd passod away at tho time of my first visit to the Bamo building ; for now the whole Heeno was comparatively quiet , though , perhaps , the early hour of tho day at which I jimdo thin vioit had
something to do in such result , where the contrast with what I had previously witnessed at Hyde-park was extreme indeed . But then , there is no London but one ¦—nor never was , nor possibly will ever be again , after the decline of this marvellous modern Babylon—should such , a terrible decadence ever come about ; and hence the astounding lifefulness of London is not to be found in the close neighbourhood of this Dublin Exhibition , as was the case near the Crystal Palace of 1851—that
unceasing , bustling , driving in upon it which was there so observable , crowds on crowds during all parts of the early and middle-day , hurrying onward to , and onward through , the Park in all directions , from the higher or Oxford-street side , from the lower or Kensington-road , or the still lower Chelsea , Pimlico , and Brompton avenues , and thicker—far thicker still—¦ from the great Piccadilly thoroughfare , and angle-ways , on and on , through the nearer parks of St . James ' s and the Green Park .
And then the very manner of this crowding was alike marvellous—in coach , gig , omnibus , cab , market-cart , as well as on the two flesh-covered feet of every perfect-footed pedestrian , and on the one leg of many a veteran pensioner from the far Greenwich and the nearer Chelsea , or , occasionally , on the no leg at all of certain of these war-worsted old sailors and soldiers , and so they came stumping it along—plump ! plump ! on flag or other pathway , everything and everybody pushing vigorously onward , horse aud donkey , manhood and womanhood , and boys and girls , toward the one great goal of attraction — that wonderful House of Glass , of which the world will never have done hearng . In Dublin the contrast in this matter struck me most
forcibly , even although I had endeavoured to prepare my mind for some such difference in the appearance of the two scenes ; but still there arose a feeling of damaging comparison as relative to the potency of London over ; Dublin- —of the Saxon and the Celtic element ; for however I might endeavour to reason on the thing , or to make out the best possible cause in excuse , still the fact itself was a stern one , and had a somewhat saddening influence over me at the moment of such reflection . At the London Exhibition the stream of human life came onward by thousands , here but by tens , just as if a comparison were drawn between the thick hurrying to and fro over London-bridge and the much attenuated numbers who make use of such a bridge as Putney , or the halfpenny tolled bridge which here crosses the Liffey .
Still there was a crowding , an undeniable crowding , to this Dublin Exhibition ; a cr owding such as , to Merrion-square—as I have been told , and can well believe—is quite unusual ; for even in this square , magnificent as it is from general grandeur of outline , an awful number of houses were untenanted antecedent to the Exhibition ; but now everything of this deplorable unsightliness has disappeared—of those horribly ugly announcements in such a beautiful quarter , as " ¦ This house to be let , " and so on , in the windows perhaps of every third or fourth mansion .
This fact has been stated to me on reliable authority ; but now it is the fact no more ; either the native gentry of Ireland or the stranger gentry having thought proper to take to those houses in the wa y mentioned ; and not only is it thus to Merrion-squaro alone , but in every other of the lately so melancholy , house-letting quarter of Dublin . And various other advantages have also arisen from this Exhibition to Dublin , for even the very flag-ways of the fine . square near which it is 2 > laccd have been widened , levelled and lowered ; every broken stono rej ^ acod by a perfect one , and the utmost cleanliness commanded and
bestowed . And , generally , tho like spirit of renovation has taken effect—as all about the Bank , College-greeu , in tho broad Dame-streot , and other places , testif y ; wherever , in fact , such care seemed needful ; a eirciiinstiincc which the stranger is made rarely cognizant of , because his inquiries may neither lie in this way nor any one think it worth while to give him such information . JJut it is now full time to be doing something moro than thus wearying the reader by these prefatory sentences ; and as there i . s no inconvenient crowding about the several doors of inlet to tlie Great Shop
winch I came all the way from London to inspect , ho now , with the usual . shilling held between my fingers , I . pasH comfortably forward to the wheel-crank of one of tho moncy-takera of the place , drop my bit of rounded . silver in the proper method before him , push gently against the first fan of the wheel which pre-MontH it . self , feel the hindering catch in immediately taken invjiy , and next moment 1 am within , fret ) to riiii ! r . whensoever 1 like—look « t all I like bent to lookat—tnke pencilled notes of whatever I may choose moro carefully to examine , than usual , and Miuh in my own fanhion to n < . < : ure tho worth of my shilling , an ali-o the utmost , share of reemnpeueo for tho expnuso of journeying to Dublin .
Aud , reader , now that I have arrived at tho inside , I fed there in no longer any utrango similitude to bo drawn between thin building and either of the other objects to which I have already referred , but that the
whole of what I ' see makes even a glorious spectacle Spacious , and widening out to the fright and left into still greater spaciousness , with the chastened sunshine streaming in upon all—upon every visitor and every article there to be seen , in a manner which showed that the one oblong-roof . window now discerhable ren . dered . any other description of window useless the light being at once so abundant and exquisitely softened . This Benson building , then , has much of both a high and pure splendour to recommend it to eyes like mine—eyes in no way skilled , certainly in a knowledge of the perfect in architecture , but ' yefc having a capacity to enjoy , in some degree , the elegant and gorgeous ; and elegance united with gorgeousness is assuredly fully present in the novel construction of this marvellous shop .
Ireland's mud and chimneyless cabins , and this brilliant building on the lawn of the Royal Dublin Society's premises , formerly the frontage of Kildare House ! Could there be two things more dissimilar than , these associations in the one thought—the idea of rags and hunger , and every conceivable discomfort , contrasted with a scene like the one under notice—the projected aud alimented , and nursed into vigorous maturity by a Darg . an , and which has but just received the deservingly bestowed visit of the Queen of wide-spread mil - lions , her own palace offering ho single ensemble of such profuse enrichment as that which she had thus come to witness in Ireland—that Ireland which , as Erin ' s own beloved poet has pictured her , has never yet had a smile in her eye unaccompanied by a tear .
Really , as every true Irishman must say in his heart , in the presence of this building , " that Dagan must be the delight of a fellow ; " a very favourite mode of Irish gratulatory expression , this prefix of " delight , " and assuredly it could never be better bestowed than in the present instance . Dargan , indeed , is altogether a splendid specimen of the true man ; and that fond Irish expression is apt and deserved by the man whose present position in riches and honour has been really self-won ; therefore do I , whose line of life has . been cast among the lowly toilers of this * world , feel a glowing pride in offering this recognition of my homage—not having
the least envy of such success , as one who has neither achieved fame nor wealth ; and yet am I proud for those of the class of the toiler , who occasionally override all obstacles , and come forth before every eye in excellin g brightness and goodness conjoined , no jealousy being able to eclipse the glory nor cast a doubt upon the reality of such virtue . And how wonderful is the magic of this high , and pure , and far-spread reputation of the man Dahgan ! I am at work at a low-paid trade in London , and on my hearing of the great doing which Dargan is
working for the future good of Ireland , and how tho Q , ueen herself , as the newspaper sheets tells me , went over to Ireland in consequence of what Dargan has alrea dy done there , so , at all hazards , I scramble , liko many more of my own class , a pound or two together , and off I am by rail and steam-ship to get to Dublin also ; and now the thing is accomplished , and I am pleasurabl y gazing within this munificent p ile of a Dargan and a Benson ' s joint creative and sustaining power—a conception and an achievement of the largest promise as regards the hitherto so deeply distracted Ireland , but now tho truly hopeful and cheerful .
Still one must not be over sanguine , even now . Oh , no ! for , as beforo hinted , Dublin is not London—Ireland not England ; and perhaps no severer proof of the truth of auch remark can be offered than that which the very first visit to this Exhibition affords . And why so ? Simply because now that I am within tho building—within this shop for the display of nil kinds of work , useful and ornate—I do not find that among the many spectators which I see around meand tho number is really largo : not less , I shonld suppose , than ten or twelve thousand—I do not find that thero aro the proper mustering of tho Irish working classes here—of those men who have to make
everything of tho makeable , and superintend everything every process of tho growable , be it potato or cabbage , common as these articles may bo considered . I <> ' >" serve , in short , scarcely a real friezo coat upon tlio back of any of my companions in this placo , wherc'iiH . aa I remember at the liydo-park " gathoring of 1 «•'>! > thero was not a , day on which I visited that Hceno , a goodly sprinkling of tho wnock-frock of tho lOnghsU peasant might bo traced , many of these huinbl " worthies having been afforded tho moans of tho journey by the landlords ] under whom they lived «¦ " « ' Un ' ol
whom they toiled . Cienorosity , I should mippow ' , Mas kind , m not unknown in Ireland ; but ho the iact , appeared on the day I Hpeak of ; while , should by .-my chance what I am thus Haying come to the hearing oi the Irish landlord intercHtH , and the Irish employ *^ generally , I hopo the proper l | int will bo tak «" , «* tluw thrown out by ouo , , iir right of his own position in lift , haH often known wljat it in t <> " » vo a i « " £ desire to be informed of somft particular ol hjh >« - ' Horvico to himself , and yet to be wholly p oworhws wwunlH Bati . sfying hucIi desire , for the want oi * " » diHpci . Hablo and all-powerful hoJ p-niato-tho inomy to meet tho oxponwo .
944 The Leader Isasvmay ,
944 THE LEADER ISASvmAy ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 1, 1853, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01101853/page/8/
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