In concluding, Mr. Jones said, with reference to some specimens of the proposed decoration which had been executed, "I would ask you to banish from your minds the glare of light by which this decoration is now seen--to forget the rough foreground, where men are engaged in every variety of occupation for the completion of this great building; and I would ask you to fill it in imagination with the gorgeous products of every clime. I would ask you to picture to yourselves in the foreground the brilliant primaries, blue, red, and yellow--the rich secondaries, purple, amber, and green, moulded in forms of every conceivable diversity; and, lastly, against them the darker tertiaries fading into neutral perspective. "The conception of such an effect, difficult even to the artist accustomed to abstract his attention from present interruptions and to calculate future harmonies, is impossible to the uninstructed spectator, who, from the experimental decoration of a single column, draws a premature and, necessarily, a fallacious inference as to the collective effect of the whole. "From my brother architects I hope for a more patient, a more comprehensive, and a fairer appreciation; for myself, I have a confident hope, grounded on the experience of years devoted to this particular branch of art, that the principles and plans I have had the honour to propose to the Royal Commission, for the decoration of this magnificent structure, will be found, when complete, not to disappoint the public expectations, or to prove wholly unworthy of the great occasion." In this lecture, Mr. Owen Jones asked his hearers, and the public generally, to suspend their final judgment upon his system of colouring until the whole should be completed, and the building filled with the objects to be exhibited, as he considered that many of the objections which were raised to his proposition resulted from a want of consideration of the ultimate effect to be produced by the whole, when completed and occupied; and so far as this effect has been realised, we believe it has inclined the public opinion more in favour of the coloured decoration than originally, when it was undoubtedly very strongly commented upon in various quarters. Without venturing to express any opinion ourselves, we may trust that Mr. Owen Jones's fondest hopes will be fully realised. [Illustration: View of the Building from the North Bank of the Serpentine.] The Water Supply.