Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Amusement, Display, Reading, Education, Archaeology, Palaeontology, Zoology, Machinery, Invention, Music, Instruments

    Opens with a reference to the International Exhibition, a place where 'winged creation becomes a solace to the Cockneys' who can get away from work, and where they can enjoy seeing artefacts that they would normally decline to use: for example, a gun. The author describes his own experiences of the exhibition which he left 'with infinite regret'. He wandered 'carelessly' about the place, carrying the official catalogues under his arm, determined to see such displays as the '"Skull of Confucius", the antediluvian, exhumed and immortal Frog', although he can get 'no information concerning these objects of interest'. Continuing to complain about the lack of information, wishes he was 'scientific enough to describe the various machines' that he saw (including the 'thrashing machine', the 'washing-machine', and 'mowing-machine') and recalls his confusion caused by the 'burr of wheels, the bustling of visitors and the plashing of water'. Distinguishes himself from those who are attracted to such machines as the 'centrifugal pump' and the 'sugar-crushing machine', and concludes by noting his scepticism about a display of a 'gigantic sax-horn'.