The Queen opened the new and handsome building of the
University of London in Burlington Gardens, on Wednesday,— in the designs and execution of which Mr. Pennethorne is thought to have surpassed himself,—with a ceremonial of some pomp. The Senate of the University and all the graduates present wore their academical costumes, except the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, who wore his official gown, — a robe of extraordi- nary magnificence, worth, it is said, 1130. Many of the great politicians and statesmen who attended came in the Windsor uniform, and altogether it was a very pretty show, and seemed to prove that learning does not wean the heart much from the lust of the eye.' The Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Princess Louise, were all respectably cheered, and there were hearty cheers given for other distinguished individuals, though it is evident enough that the graduates of the, young University do not emulate the noise, the easy humours, or the impertiuent freedoms of an Oxford Commemoration Day. Mr. Disraeli, who came in the Windsor uniform, and entered the theatre with the soft step, cast-down eyes, and folded hands of a veritable ingenu, was rapturously cheered. Mr. Gladstone, who came in a great-coat over a plain morning dress, was not so enthusiastically received till he took off his great-coat, which seemed to the graduates an act of virtue worthy of another cheer. The great ceremony consisted only in the Chancellor of the University (Lord Granville) reading a compli- mentary address to the Queen, to which Her Majesty handed him a reply, and then declared the building opened,—a statement followed by a buret from the silver bugles. The Queen looked well, and young, and interested.
