floor of the hall is cleared of every seat, and seemingly half an acre of solid men, with eager and upturned faces, are surging to and fro, as if the breath of the orator were moving on the face of the human sea, and it were leaving in a ground-swell under the power of his thoughts. Now a great wave, crested with a thousand heads, sets in towards the platform with a tremendous surge. All those cager faces and eyes for a moment are buried in the trough of the sea; then comes the ebb and undertow, and they flash up again upon the speaker, and the retreating wave softens off into gentle ripples against the walls. On some of these occasions seven or eight thousand men are massed before and around the speaker; and when he puts them under the mesmeric spell of his eloquence in some powerful passage or peroration, the sight is worth a long journey to witness; and he who witnesses it with attentive faculties must see what a power in itself is such a hall for shaping the mind of a town on the great questions of the day.
When one has attended such a public meeting in the Town Hall, he should witness the spectacle presented within its walls at the great Musical Festival, which takes place once in three years. On this occasion philanthropy is set to music. The grand organ is owned by the General Hospital,
