[Illustration: Queen Victoria’s Visit to France, 1855. The Fireworks at Versailles. From a drawing by Gustav Doré in “The Illustrated London News.”] Where, however, the display consists—as on the occasion under consideration—solely of fireworks proper, a few days’ preparation on the actual site is usually sufficient; the kill-joy has less time to spread himself. It may be mentioned his season is over with the display; generally the British public, having enjoyed itself, turns a deaf ear to those who would convince it that it ought not to have done so. Other displays took place in various parts of the kingdom: in Edinburgh on Arthur’s Seat, at Portsmouth on the Fleet, to mention two only. An interesting event which took place on the 25th August was the entertainment of 2,000 men of the Guards at the Surrey Gardens. This resort was at the time the home of British pyrotechny, the displays being conducted by Southby, who, as we have said, went into Woolwich Arsenal to assist in the production of the fireworks for the official displays. The amusements of the day concluded with an exhibition of fireworks. A further event connected with the foregoing celebration was the festivities in Moscow on the occasion of the coronation of the Emperor Alexander II, which concluded with a pyrotechnic display. From this time until the end of the century the history of pyrotechny in this country is practically the history of pyrotechny at the Crystal Palace; it has been the Crystal Palace displays which have set the pace, as it were, to pyrotechnists in this country, and has provided the spur which has placed British pyrotechnists not only ahead but markedly ahead of their competitors in other countries. The Crystal Palace displays became a national institution, and any public event worthy of such recognition was accorded a pyrotechnic celebration there on a scale hitherto unattempted. The credit for the original introduction of fireworks at the Crystal Palace must belong to the late C. T. Brock, who succeeded in inducing the Directors to institute a competition among pyrotechnists in 1865. It may be interesting to give in his own words an account of the matter, taken from an article written by him some few years later: