A catalogue of the collection, and a newspaper printed in the building, were then presented to the Prince. The catalogue showed that contributions had been sent from all the chief industrial centres in England,--Sheffield, Birmingham, Coventry, Worcester,--and from Ireland, in bog-oak carvings, and articles of the linen and flax industry. The foreign contributions were from France, Austria, Italy, Holland, and other parts of the continent. A musical piece composed for the occasion was given, and the Old Hundredth psalm sung by the choir, after which the Prince declared the Exhibition open. THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL. _March 29th, 1871._ The "Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences" was opened by Her Majesty the Queen with imposing ceremony on the 29th of March, 1871. The procession from Buckingham Palace consisted of nine State carriages, in the last of which were the Queen, the Princess of Wales, and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In the other carriages were the Royal Family, with the great officers of State and the Household in waiting. The Hall was filled with nearly 8000 spectators, and the orchestra consisted of nearly 1200 musicians and singers, Sir Michael Costa being leader. When the Queen had taken her place on the daïs, the Prince of Wales, who wore the uniform of Colonel of the 10th Hussars, advanced to Her Majesty, and, as President of the Provisional Committee, read the following address:-- "May it please your Majesty,--As President of the Provisional Committee of the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, it is my high privilege and gratification to report to your Majesty the successful completion of this Hall, an important feature of a long-cherished design of my beloved father, for the general culture of your people, in whose improvement he was always deeply interested. Encouraged by your Majesty's sympathies, and liberally supported by your subjects, we have been enabled to carry out the work without any aid from funds derived from public taxation. I am warranted in expressing our confidence that this building will justify the conviction we expressed in the report submitted on the occasion of your Majesty's laying its first stone, that by its erection we should be meeting a great public want. Your Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 in further prosecution of my father's design for the encouragement of the Arts and Sciences, an object which he always had warmly at heart, are about to commence a series of Annual International Exhibitions, to the success of which this Hall will greatly contribute by the facilities which it will afford for the display of objects and for the meeting of bodies interested in the industries which will form the subjects of successive Exhibitions. The interest shown in the Hall by the most eminent musicians and composers of Europe strengthens our