The only blot, as we thought, upon the whole proceedings were the unnatural and crab-like movements of one of our wealthiest peers, the Marquess of Westminster, and his fellow-official, the Lord Chamberlain, whose part in the pageant consisted of the difficult, but not very dignified, feat of walking backwards during the progress of the procession. We hope the time is not far distant when, among the other sensible arrangements of the present reign, a wealthy nobleman may be released from the humiliation of having to perform before the Sovereign and the public a series of awkward evolutions, which not all the skill of the posture-master can redeem from the absurdity attaching to the contortions of the mountebank. _Punch_ could not resist having a dig at the aristocrat courtiers, but he had nothing but praise for the Queen and the Prince Consort, and especially for their practice of visiting the Exhibition on the "shilling days." As he put it in the lines "Victoria Felix",:-- Heaven's duteous sunshine waits upon her going, And with it blends a sunshine brighter still-- The loyal love of a great people, knowing That building up is better than o'erthrowing; That freedom lies in taming of self-will. _Punch's_ loyalty to the Sovereign, however, did not cause him to forget the workers. He suggests to Prince Albert that a dinner should be given to the workmen who erected the building. As for Paxton, the architect, _Punch_ agreed with the _Examiner_ that a knighthood was not a sufficient reward for his services, and suggested that he should be given a share of the profits. But _Punch_ was from the first concerned with the future of the building; with the possibilities of transforming it into a permanent People's Palace. So when Paxton asked "What is to become of the Crystal Palace?" and answered his own question by saying "Let the Crystal Palace become a winter park under glass," with rare flowers and plants and a colossal aviary, _Punch_ voted the suggestion of the Crystal Magician "delightful and practicable," for, as he notes, on the testimony of "the princely Devonshire, Mr. Paxton never failed in anything he undertook." Nay, _Punch_ went so far as to depict, in a cartoon, John Bull contemplating the marvels of the winter garden. The scheme lapsed, and in the spring of 1852 _Punch_ was indignant at the imminent sale of the Crystal Palace, and lavish of gibes at the "nobs and snobs" who despised the masses:-- THE PEOPLE AND THEIR PALACE The People! I weally am sick of the wawd: The People is ugly, unpleasant, absawd; Wha-evaw they go, it is always the case, They are shaw to destwoy all the chawm of the place. They are all vewy well in their own pwopa spheeaw, A long distance off; but I don't like them neeaw; The slams is the place faw a popula show; Don't encouwage the People to spoil Wotten Wow.