The Five Shilling Day at the Exhibition from The Illustrated London News (19 July 1851): 101.
"The day of the great folks, and the day of the little folks — the day of the peach-coloured visites and the gaudy mousselaines de laine, and the day of cotton prints and the handkerchiefs at 1s. 11 d. — the day of the shiny boots, and the day of the ancle jacks with hob-nails — the day of the newest paletot, and the day of the most primitive smock-frock — the day of vanille, ices, and wafers, and the day of hunches of crust and lumps of meat and liquid refreshments in small bottles — the day of languid lounging and chatting, and the day of resolute examining and frank amazement — the day of the West-End of London, and the day of all the other ends of the earth — the five shilling day in fact, and the one shilling day, come — pass each before us, with your votaries; exhibit each your phenomena and your usages; introduce us each to your train of company; tell us, each, your comparative value; read us, each your separate lesson: for you have and you present, each of you — crown day and twelvepenny day — your distinct train of appendages and characteristics. Sunday in the world is not more unlike Saturday, than Saturday in the Exhibition is unlike Monday. On one day, society — on the other, the world" (100).
Image scan and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Last modified 3 September 2006