conservatories, in the centre of one of which is a _Camellia Japonica_,
which produces thirty varieties of flower, and is, perhaps, the most
magnificent specimen in England. Already here are several rare and
beautiful plants--a large proportion of exotics, and some of the most
curious plants of this country's growth. In the centre of one of the
chambers is a circular tank of water, surrounded by small _jets_, which
are to raise their streams so as to form a round case of water, within
which are to be aquatic plants, &c. At the end of this room aviaries are
in preparation.

Hence we ascended into a beautiful reading-room, with French windows and
rusticated Gothic verandas. The _artistes_ were here busy in hanging the
walls, &c. with green damask moreen. The next room in the suite will be
a library of beautiful proportions; and beyond this will be another room
equally splendid, besides numerous other smaller apartments, in all
numbering thirty. The object of this part of the building is to afford
to subscribers all the advantages of a club and a reading-room, combined
with the novel and luxurious conveniences of the establishment. We now
come to what appears to us the _bijou_ of the whole. A passage leads
from the saloon to a suite of small chambers, representing a Swiss
cottage. One of these rooms is finished. It is wainscotted with coloured
(knotted) wood, and carved in imitation of the fanciful interior of the
dwellings of the Swiss mountaineers. The immense projecting chimney, its
capacious corners, and the stupendous fire-dogs, are truly
characteristic charms of cottage life; and the illusion is not a little
enhanced by the prospect from the windows, consisting of terrific rocks
and caverns,[3] among which a cascade is to fall from an immense height
into a lake, which is to spread immediately beneath the windows. The
water is not yet admitted here; but from some successful specimens of
this branch of art, which we have seen, we are induced to think the