of the Emperor Alexander II, which concluded with a pyrotechnic display.
From this time until the end of the century the history of pyrotechny in this country is practically the history of pyrotechny at the Crystal Palace; it has been the Crystal Palace displays which have set the pace, as it were, to pyrotechnists in this country, and has provided the spur which has placed British pyrotechnists not only ahead but markedly ahead of their competitors in other countries.
The Crystal Palace displays became a national institution, and any public event worthy of such recognition was accorded a pyrotechnic celebration there on a scale hitherto unattempted.
The credit for the original introduction of fireworks at the Crystal Palace must belong to the late C. T. Brock, who succeeded in inducing the Directors to institute a competition among pyrotechnists in 1865. It may be interesting to give in his own words an account of the matter, taken from an article written by him some few years later:
"It occurred to me that of all the places of public resort
suitable for the inauguration of a new era for pyrotechny,
none offered such glorious advantages as the Crystal Palace,
then at the height of its popularity. Its terraces, fountains
and foliage offered unrivalled advantages for the display of
grand effects. The Directors of the Crystal Palace Company,
who had more than once been applied to for permission
to hold displays in the grounds, feared that, inasmuch
as fireworks had been recently associated solely with
gardens of the Cremorne class, the Palace itself would be
degraded to the same rank if consent were granted. I urged
that the Exhibition of 1862 had afforded no opportunity for
competition among firework makers—necessarily excluded
by the nature of their trade—although almost every other
