done credit to the lungs of a London mob. Now commenced a right joyous carousal. Numerous booths and open bungalows had been erected in the compound, where tables were spread; and well did multitude after multitude do justice to the good things the Modliar had provided. Inside the house a more select company or companies were entertained, consisting of Mohandirams, friends, and acquaintances specially invited. Speeches were made, healths drank, toasts proposed; and while unbounded hilarity had free exercise within, ever and anon a loud hurrah from without gave notice of what was going on there. As soon as one company retired, another took their places, and speedily fresh courses made the laden tables groan again. After dark, fireworks illuminated the gardens, and to a late hour at night the Modliar was occupied in receiving the complimentary visits, and acknowledging the salams, of the throngs who poured into the place in an almost endless stream.

N.

FESTIVITIES AT BAGATELLE, KOLLUPITIYA, IN HONOR OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH.

THE entertainment given to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh by Messrs. Susew and Charles De Soysa was one unprecedented in the annals of Ceylon, and as successful in all its details as it was unprecedented of its kind.* As soon as His Excellency the Governor communicated to Messrs. De Soysa His Royal Highness's gracious acceptance of their invitation, they commenced their preparations, and with characteristic energy-(employing daily from 300 to 500 men for several weeks,)—completed all their arrangements in the most satisfactory manner by the morning of the 22nd April, on the evening of which day the entertainment took place.

From Galle Face to Bagatelle, a distance very little short of two miles, both sides of the Kollupitiya road were lined with decorations.

For the first time in the history of the Island-for not even in the palmiest days of the Sinhalese monarchy, when a liberal and large-minded ruler like Dutugemunu or Prakkramabahu wielded the sceptre, would Royalty so far condescend as to accept of the private hospitalities of a subject-a native has welcomed a Royal guest to his house. The circumstances under which both Ruler and Ruled now live are very much changed; but notwithstanding all the progress and the advancement which the natives of this country have made in Western civilization, 'the divinity that hedges round a throne' is not a mere

These consisted of a framework of upright bambu posts, five and ten feet each in height, alternating at distances of five feet from each other (wider spaces being left for entrances to compounds)— and crossed just above the smaller posts by longitudinal bars eighteen inches apart. From the ground to the lower bar rose skeleton arches of a gothic form. The space between the bars was arranged in continuous panels of a diagonal pattern. From the inside of the arched work hung long ribbon-like stripes of fringed cocoanut leaves, while the whole of the framework was wreathed over and ornamented with light green olas,* festoons of which swung between the larger uprights, the tops of which were surmounted with olaformed crowns. At the Galle Face end of the road an elegant triumphant arch with three terminal spires, the central one of which rose to a height of seventy-two feet, was erected; and two similar but perhaps more elaborately decorated arches spanned the road on either side of the gate that opened into the central carriage drive of Bagatelle grounds. Each arch bore suitable inscriptions of welcome. Wild pines and other fruits, with flowers, ferns, and mosses, were added, to give greater effect to the general appearance of the decorations, the whole of which glittered at night not only with innumerable lamps, but with flambeaux in green cocoa-nut

metaphor. It would therefore be impossible for the native mind to overrate the honor which his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh has done Mr. De Soysa in accepting the invitation to his Entertainment; while on the other hand it must be matter for sincere congratulation to all classes who can claim Mr. De Soysa for their countryman, that the Island could afford a native who by position and wealth, was pre-eminently qualified to do the hospitalities of the whole race, in his own person."-Examiner, April 23.

*The young and tender leaves of the cocoa and other palms.

husks; while a large body of men in uniforms of red and white, each bearing a blazing torch, lined the road and lighted up the way, the brilliance of which was added to by the illuminations with which almost every mansion on the route shone and sparkled and gave evidence of the loyalty of its occupants.

Bagatelle House* and grounds, with the numerous temporary buildings and corridors leading from one to the other, were ablaze with light, and presented to the eye a picture which realized to the mind the description given by the poet of the encampment of the Princess Lalla Rookh when on her way to Cashmere.

The invitations were issued for 9 o'clock, and by 10 most of the visitors had arrived; and although there must have been an assemblage of upwards of two thousand persons present, yet the arrangements made were so admirable, that although the throng was pretty close at the principal door where His Royal Highness, the Governor, Lady Robinson, and the Queen's House party were to alight, there was no undue squeezing or crowding. "All over the grounds, there were tents, and booths, gaily decorated and brilliantly lighted, in which the various artists who had been gathered from every part of the Island, and even beyond it, were to perform their respective roles. The dancing saloon in rear of the main building was a credit to its designer; for not only was it elegantly decorated and brilliantly lighted, but every attention had been paid to ventilation. The ball-room upstairs, and the private apartments for His Royal Highness, His Excellency Sir Hercules Robinson, and Lady Robinson, were all tastefully decorated; several handsome pier glasses and mirrors reflected the light from

* Since named "ALFRED HOUSE," in honor of the occasion.

the chandeliers, and rendered the reflected illusion superior even to the reality. The supper room was in the shape of a St. Andrew's cross, each limb holding three rows of tables with broad passages between them The floor was carpeted with coloured coir matting, and flowers and evergreens and white olas, with some hundreds of lamps burning over head, gave to the entire place the brilliance of a strictly oriental scene. The refreshment rooms were also conveniently placed, and while the liquors, from the brandy and soda, the champagne and the ices, were all of the most unexceptionable quality, the attendance was of a kind which seldom can be secured at similar gatherings. The servants were civil and obliging, and notwithstanding the incessant and too often conflicting demands on their time and attention, they never grumbled themselves, nor gave occasion for the visitors to grumble."

While waiting the arrival of the Royal Guest, the opportunity was seized by numbers of visiting the grounds and making themselves acquainted with the localities, where in booths and tents, and kiosks and theatres, artists, dancers and actors of all kinds and varieties were to exhibit and do their best to entertain those whom Messrs. De Soysa had honored with invitations. A long spacious corridor ceiled and carpeted, led from Bagatelle to what is known as little Bagatelle. From the main corridor minor ones branched off to the temporary buildings, which were laid out in three parallel rows. The principal of these was the theatre in which the Kandian tragedy named Eyehalapola, after the Adigar of that name, its principal hero, was to be performed. Tiers of broad platforms and seats circled round the interior of a spacious building; in the

* Examiner.