But here are some pretty English agates; and a huge mass of Irish rock
crystal, which is very bright and clear. In a compartment, at a little
distance, we may see a book, bound according to a new method, by which
the leaves are so firmly placed together, that they would not loosen
in ten years' time, no matter how the book was tossed about, unless
they were purposely taken out.

We must now have a look at the machinery department. Firstly, there is
the great steam-engine that works all the other steam-engines in the
Exhibition, though, of course, you cannot understand it by looking at
it; neither can I, although I know so much more than you do. Near it
is a model of a new agricultural machine for cutting, turning up, and
making into light mould, the clay of fields, so as to make it ready to
receive the seeds to be set, without the farmers being obliged to
plough the earth. There is a machine for making bricks and tiles, so
that people may, if they like, form those materials for building
houses cheaper and better than in the usual way. But here is a useful
machine. It is a measuring machine, by which you could measure to the
smallest size, even to the hundred-thousandth part of an inch!

Here is a very pretty contribution; it is a model of the house of the
great play-writer, Shakspeare,--of whom, perhaps, you may have
heard,--and it is surrounded by figures representing different
beautiful scenes from Shakspeare's plays. It was made by a workman in
his leisure time: and it certainly does him credit. It is called the
Shakspeare Jubilee.

Yonder is another piece of ingenious industry; it is a group of
figures showing all the various Scotch games; there is one figure
dancing the Highland fling, another throwing the beam, and all the