Digitised Manuscripts and Books

other. We were sent to all the sights of London; at the Bank a bank note for a million was put in our hands, we climbed into the ball of St. Paul’s, fed the elephants and bears at the Zoo, and were shown the Abbey and the Guildhall – but none of them equalled in interest the opening of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. At first we were bewildered by the huge crowd, and but for the assistance of a policeman I should have been crushed to death at the turnstiles. But we found an excellent place in one of the galleries and had a good view of the Queen, in her pink satin gown and her jewels and feathers, walking between the Prince Consort [Albert] in uniform and the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred in highland costume and preceded by the Duke of Wellington. There have been many international exhibitions since 1851 on a far more important and elaborate scale, but none so impressive and beautiful. Sir Joseph Paxton’s crystal building was the first of its kind, and a more aerial or graceful structure could not be imagined or equalled. Two stately old elms towered into the dome, where, between them, fountains of china threw up their sparkling waters. Close by in a glass case was the Koh-i-noor, then a huge uncut stone, and the centre of attraction. Machinery was still in the early stages of its development, and the then novel printing presses and numerous steam contrivances provided endless amusement.

Yet much as I enjoyed the Exhibition and an occasional evening at the Opera, I delighted most in the society of my cousins; and of all the recollections of my childhood not the least happy have been associated with them. My Neapolitan Great-Uncle and his wife were often at Frankfort, and their daughter Charlotte who was married to my Uncle Lionel, the head of our London firm, occasionally came with her children to pay them her filial respects. Our English cousins who were physically and mentally far in advance of their years, were accomplished, good-looking and high-spirited, and realized in my eyes the very ideal of perfection. I was doubly delighted when my cousins visited Frankfort, for besides the brightness and mirth their presence brought into our home, entertainments were given in their honour, picnics and dances and displays of fireworks – at which the crackers which fizzed off between my legs caused me no small alarm.

An event which I welcomed almost as much as these visits was the Fair, which was and which still is held twice a year at Frankfort, at Easter and in the autumn. For many years, while Germany was a congeries of small independent states divided from each other by separate laws, customs duties, tariffs, and impassable roads, the great Fairs, those of Frankfort and Leipsig especially, were the chief trade marts of the commercial world, at which foreign as well as native merchants transacted their business, and where showmen came from all parts of Europe and the East, drawing crowds to the wonders they exhibited. The first elephant seen in Frankfort was at the fair of 1773. The Fairs suffered much from the introduction of railways, and though they are still held their commercial importance has now altogether waned. In my childhood they were still of considerable moment, and many a household availed of them to lay in a fresh stock of linen and cloth and to replenish its stores, while an untold variety of articles which can now be purchased on the spot or imported was only to be obtained on these occasions.