It is curious to observe how much more quickly some nations, as well as individuals, take a hint than others. Among the models and plans sent in answer to the public invitation of the Commissioners of the Exhibition of Industry, there are a great many, and of a most excellent kind, from our sprightly and sanguine friends, the French—while, notwithstanding the chief originator and patron is from the _Faderland_, not one of those who are more especially distinguished as entitled to the highest honours, is from Germany! Out of the eighteen names thus selected, no less than twelve are Frenchmen; four are English; one Austrian; and a solitary Dutchman. In all Prussia, there was not found one man to venture. It would seem as though they were aware of these tricks. But how is it that so few of our own countrymen are thus distinguished and complimented? Is it because they are deficient in the requisite talent, or do they not take sufficient interest in the matter? Surely neither of these reasons will be satisfactory to account for the fact of our native architects and designers having been so palpably beaten at this first trial of skill. We shall probably be told that the best men of France have entered the lists in this competition; whereas our best men have stood aloof. Why is this? May it not be that “old birds are not caught with chaff?” Our best men are generally well employed, and it is not worth their while to waste their time in competitions which almost invariably end in so unsatisfactory a manner. The same thing occurred, and may be answered in the same way, with regard to the hundred and sixty or seventy Plans sent in for the Drainage of London. Our most eminent civil engineers stood aloof. A few very able men, it is true, entered into the contest with enthusiasm, at great expense of time, labour, and money, (one of them, Mr. J. B. M‘Clean, spent nearly 500_l._ in surveys, &c.) but very few of them will ever do this again. Out of the two hundred and forty-five competitors who have sent designs and plans, in reply to the equally vague and formal invitation of the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, not a single name of the hundred and sixty or seventy engineers, surveyors, architects, builders, &c., who sent in designs for the Drainage of London, is to be found either in List A, or List B, of those whom the Commissioners of the Exhibition have mentioned as entitled to honorary distinction. They were, no doubt, very thoroughly sickened by the previous affair.