Have you ever visited the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, with a view of ascertaining the state of the people there?--Not with a definite view. My own work has nothing to do with those subjects; and it is only incidentally, because I gratuitously give such instruction as I am able to give at the Working Men's College, that I am able to give you any facts on this subject. All the rest that I can give is, as Sir Robert Peel accurately expressed it, nothing but personal impression. You admit that the Working Men's College is, after all, a very limited sphere?--A very limited sphere. 165. _Sir Robert Peel._ You have stated that, in the Louvre, a working man looks at the pictures with a greater degree of self-respect than the same classes do in the National Gallery here?--I think so. You surely never saw a man of the upper class, in England, scorn at a working man because he appeared in his working dress in the National Gallery in London?--I have certainly seen working men apprehensive of such scorn. _Chairman._ Is it not the fact, that the upper and lower classes scarcely ever meet on the same occasions?--I think, if possible, they do not. Is it not the fact that the laboring classes almost invariably cease labor at such hours as would prevent them from going to see pictures at the time when the upper classes do go?--I meant, before, to signify assent to your question, that they do not meet if it can be avoided. _Sir Robert Peel._ Take the Crystal Palace as an example; do not working men and all classes meet there together, and did you ever see a working man _gene_ in the examination of works of art?--I am sure that a working man very often would not go where he would like to go. But you think he would abroad?--I think they would go abroad; I only say that I believe such is the fact. _Mr. Slaney._ Do not you think that the light-hearted temperament of our southern neighbors, and the fineness of the climate, which permits them to enjoy themselves more in the open air, has something to do with it?--I hope that the old name of Merry England may be recovered one of these days. I do not think that it is in the disposition of the inhabitants to be in the least duller than other people. _Sir Robert Peel._ When was that designation lost?--I am afraid ever since our manufactures have prospered. _Chairman._ Referring to the Crystal Palace, do you think that that was an appropriate instance to put, considering the working man pays for his own, and is not ashamed to enjoy his own for his own money?--I have never examined the causes of the feeling; it did not appear to me to be a matter of great importance what was the state of feeling in foreign countries. I felt that it depended upon so many circumstances, that I thought it would be a waste of time to trace it. 166. _Sir Robert Peel._ You stated that abroad the working classes were much better dressed?--Yes. Do you think so?--Yes.