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diff --git a/39379-0.txt b/39379-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..774c3c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/39379-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7450 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Collins' Illustrated Guide to London and +Neighbourhood, by Anonymous + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Collins' Illustrated Guide to London and Neighbourhood + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: April 5, 2012 [eBook #39379] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLLINS' ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO +LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD*** + + +Transcribed from the 1873 William Collins, Sons and Company edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Cover of book] + + [Picture: Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, + Crimean and Canning Monuments. Penitentiary, Vauxhall Bridge, Lambeth +Suspension Bridge, Lambeth Place, and Bethlehem Hospital in the distance] + + + + + + COLLINS’ + ILLUSTRATED + GUIDE TO LONDON + AND + NEIGHBOURHOOD: + + + BEING A + + CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF THE CHIEF PLACES OF INTEREST IN THE + METROPOLIS, AND THE BEST MODES OF OBTAINING ACCESS + TO THEM: WITH INFORMATION RELATING TO + + RAILWAYS, OMNIBUSES, STEAMERS, &c. + + * * * * * + + With fifty-eight Illustrations by Sargent and others, + AND + A CLUE-MAP BY BARTHOLOMEW. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + WILLIAM COLLINS, SONS, AND COMPANY, + 17 WARWICK SQUARE, PATERNOSTER ROW. + 1873. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +IN this work an attempt is made to furnish Strangers with a handy and +useful Guide to the chief objects of interest in the Metropolis and its +Environs: comprising also much that will be interesting to permanent +Residents. After a few pages of General Description, the various +Buildings and other places of attraction are treated in convenient groups +or sections, according to their nature. Short Excursions from the +Metropolis are then noticed. Tables, lists, and serviceable information +concerning railways, tramways, omnibuses, cabs, telegraphs, postal rules, +and other special matters, follow these sections. An ALPHABETICAL INDEX +at the end furnishes the means of easy reference. + +The information is brought down to the latest date, either in the Text or +in the Appendix at the end. And the Clue-map has, in like manner, been +filled in with the recently opened lines of Railway, &c., as well as with +indications of the Railways sanctioned, but not yet completed. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE +HOTEL CHARGES viii +GENERAL DESCRIPTION 9 +A FIRST GLANCE AT THE CITY 15 +A FIRST GLANCE AT THE WEST-END 27 +PALACES AND MANSIONS, ROYAL AND NOBLE 33 +HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT; WESTMINSTER HALL; GOVERNMENT OFFICES 40 +ST. PAUL’S; WESTMINSTER ABBEY; CHURCHES; CHAPELS; 47 +CEMETERIES +BRITISH AND SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUMS; SCIENTIFIC 62 +ESTABLISHMENTS +NATIONAL GALLERY; ROYAL ACADEMY; ART EXHIBITIONS 68 +COLLEGES; SCHOOLS; HOSPITALS; CHARITIES 70 +THE TOWER; THE MINT; THE CUSTOM HOUSE; THE GENERAL 77 +POST-OFFICE +THE CORPORATION; MANSION HOUSE; GUILDHALL; MONUMENT; ROYAL 84 +EXCHANGE +THE TEMPLE; INNS OF COURT; COURTS OF JUSTICE; PRISONS 90 +BANKS; INSURANCE OFFICES; STOCK EXCHANGE; CITY COMPANIES 93 +THE RIVER; DOCKS; THAMES TUNNEL; BRIDGES; PIERS 97 +FOOD SUPPLY; MARKETS; BAZAARS; SHOPS 109 +CLUBS; HOTELS; INNS; CHOP-HOUSES; TAVERNS; COFFEE-HOUSES; 116 +COFFEE-SHOPS +THEATRES, CONCERTS, AND OTHER PLACES OF AMUSEMENT 121 +PARKS AND PUBLIC GROUNDS; ZOOLOGICAL, BOTANICAL, AND 125 +HORTICULTURAL GARDENS +ALBERT HALL AND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION 129 +OMNIBUSES; CABS; RAILWAYS; STEAMERS 136 +SHORT EXCURSIONS— + UP THE RIVER 143 + DOWN THE RIVER 154 + CRYSTAL PALACE, &C. 162 + APPENDIX. +TABLES, LISTS, AND USEFUL HINTS— + Suburban Towns and Villages, within Twelve Miles’ 169 + Railway-Distance + Chief Omnibus Routes 171 + Tramways 173 + Clubs and Club-Houses 173 + The London Parcels’ Delivery Company 174 + Money-Order Offices, and Post-Office Savings-Banks 175 + London Letters, Postal and Telegraph System 175 + Reading and News-Rooms 176 + Chess-Rooms 177 + Theatres 177 + Concert Rooms 178 + Music Halls 178 + Modes of Admission to Various Interesting Places 179 + Principal, Public, and Turkish Baths 180 + Medicated Baths 181 + Cabs 182 + Hints to Strangers 183 + Commissionaires or Messengers 183 +THE GREAT INTERCEPTIVE MAIN DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF LONDON 184 +INDEX 185 + + + + +HOTEL CHARGES. + + +THERE is only one class of hotels in and near London of which the charges +can be stated with any degree of precision. The _old_ hotels, both at +the West-End and in the City, keep no printed tariff; they are not +accustomed even to be asked beforehand what are their charges. Most of +the visitors are more or less _recommended_ by guests who have already +sojourned at these establishments, and who can give information as to +what _they_ have paid. Some of the hotels decline to receive guests +except by previous written application, or by direct introduction, and +would rather be without those who would regard the bill with economical +scrutiny. The _dining_ hotels, such as the _London_ and the _Freemasons’ +Tavern_, in London, the _Artichoke_ and various whitebait taverns at +Blackwall, the _Trafalgar_ and _Crown and Sceptre_ taverns at Greenwich, +and the _Castle_ and _Star and Garter_ taverns at Richmond, are costly +taverns for dining, rather than hotels at which visitors sojourn; and the +charges vary with every different degree of luxury in the viands served, +and the mode of serving. The hotels which can be more easily tested, in +reference to their charges, are the _joint-stock_ undertakings. These +are of two kinds: one, the hotels connected with the great railway +termini, such as the _Victoria_, the _Euston_, the _Great Northern_, the +_Great Western_, the _Grosvenor_, the _Charing Cross_, the _Midland_ and +_Cannon Street_; while the other group are unconnected with railways, +such as the _Westminster Palace_, the _Langham_, the _Salisbury_, the +_Inns of Court_, _Alexandra_, _&c._ + + + + +COLLINS’ +ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO LONDON. + + +Whether we consider London as the metropolis of a great and mighty +empire, upon the dominions of whose sovereign the sun never sets, or as +the home of more than three millions of people, and the richest city in +the world to boot, it must ever be a place which strangers wish to visit. +In these days of railways and steamers, the toil and cost of reaching it +are, comparatively speaking, small; and, such being the case, the supply +of visitors has very naturally been adjusted to the everyday increasing +opportunities of gratifying so very sensible a desire. To such persons, +on their arrival at this vast City of the Islands, we here, if they will +accept us as their guides, beg to offer, ere going into more minute +details, a + + + + +GENERAL DESCRIPTION. + + +Without cumbering our narrative with the fables of dim legendary lore, +with regard to the origin of London—or _Llyn-Din_, “the town on the +lake,”—we may mention, that the Romans, after conquering its ancient +British inhabitants, about A.D. 61, finally rebuilt and walled it in +about A.D. 301; from which time it became, in such excellent hands, a +place of not a little importance. Roman remains, such as fine tesselated +pavements, bronzes, weapons, pottery, and coins, are not seldom turned up +by the spade of our sturdy excavators while digging below the foundations +of houses; and a few scanty fragments of the old Roman Wall, which was +rather more than three miles round, are still to be seen. London, in the +Anglo-Norman times, though confined originally by the said wall, grew up +a dense mass of brick and wooden houses, ill arranged, unclean, close, +and for the most part terribly insalubrious. Pestilence was the natural +consequence. Up to the great plague of 1664–5, which destroyed 68,596, +some say 100,000 persons—there were, dating from the pestilence of 1348, +no fewer than some nine visitations of widely-spreading epidemics in Old +London. When, in 1666, the great fire, which burnt 13,200 houses, spread +its ruins over 436 acres, and laid waste 400 streets, came to force the +Cockneys to mend their ways somewhat, and open out their over-cramped +habitations, some good was effected. But, unfortunately, during the +rebuilding of the City, Sir Christopher Wren’s plans for laying its +streets out on a more regular plan, were poorly attended to: hence the +still incongruous condition of older London when compared, in many +instances, with the results of modern architecture, with reference to +air, light, and sanitary arrangements. On account of the rubbish left by +the fire and other casualties, the City stands from twelve to sixteen +feet higher than it did in the early part of its history—the roadways of +Roman London, for example, being found on, or even below, the level of +the cellars of the present houses. + +From being a city hemmed within a wall, London expanded in all +directions, and thus gradually formed a connection with various clusters +of dwellings in the neighbourhood. It has, in fact, absorbed towns and +villages to a considerable distance around: the chief of these once +detached seats of population being the city of Westminster. By means of +bridges, it has also absorbed Southwark and Bermondsey, Lambeth and +Vauxhall, on the south side of the Thames, besides many hamlets and +villages beyond the river. + +By these extensions London proper, by which we mean the _City_, has +gradually assumed, if we may so speak, the conditions of an existence +like that of a kernel in a thickly surrounding and ever-growing mass. By +the census of 1861, the population of the _City_ was only 112,247; while +including that with the entire metropolis, the number was 2,803,034—or +_twenty-five times_ as great as the former! It may here be remarked, +that the population of the _City_ is becoming smaller every year, on +account of the substitution of public buildings, railway stations and +viaducts, and large warehouses, in place of ordinary dwelling-houses. +Fewer and fewer people _live_ in the City. In 1851, the number was +127,869; it lessened by more than 15,000 between that year and 1861; +while the population of the _whole_ metropolis increased by as many as +440,000 in the same space of time. + +If we follow the Registrar-General, London, as defined by him, extends +north and south between Norwood and Hampstead, and east and west between +Hammersmith and Woolwich. Its area is stated as 122 square miles. From +the census returns of 1861, we find that its population then was +2,803,921 souls. It was, in 1871, 3,251,804. The real _city_ population +was 74,732. + +The growth of London to its present enormous size may readily be +accounted for, when we reflect that for ages it has been the capital of +England, and the seat of her court and legislature; that since the union +with Scotland and Ireland, it has become a centre for those two +countries; and that, being the resort of the nobility, landed gentry, and +other families of opulence, it has drawn a vast increase of population to +minister to the tastes and wants of those classes; while its fine natural +position, lying as it does on the banks of a great navigable river, some +sixty miles from the sea, and its generally salubrious site and soil—the +greater part of London is built on gravel, or on a species of clay +resting on sand—alike plead in its favour. + +At one time London, like ancient Babylon, might fairly have been called a +brick-built city. It is so, of course, still, in some sense. But we are +greatly improving: within the last few years a large number of +stucco-fronted houses, of ornamental character, have been erected; and +quite recently, many wholly of stone, apart altogether from the more +important public buildings, which of course are of stone. Of distinct +houses, there are now the prodigious number of 500,000, having, on an +average, about 7.8 dwellers to a house. For our own part we are somewhat +sceptical as to this average. But we quote it as given by a professedly +good authority. + +The Post-Office officials ascertained that there was built in one year +alone, as long ago as 1864, no fewer than 9,000 new houses. Though, by +comparison with the houses of Edinburgh and some other parts of the +kingdom, many of these are small structures, with but two rooms, often +communicating, on a floor, a visitor to London will find no difficulty in +seeing acres of substantial residences around him as he strolls along +through the wide, quiet squares of Bloomsbury, the stuccoed and more +aristocratic quarters of Belgravia and South Kensington, or by the old +family mansions of the nobility and gentry in, say, Cavendish, Grosvenor, +or Portman Squares, and the large and more modern houses of many of our +wealthy citizens in Tyburnia and Westburnia, farther westward of the +Marble Arch. But of this more anon. + +We have often heard foreigners laughingly remark of sundry London +houses—apropos of the deep, open, sunk areas, bordered by iron railings, +of many of them—that they illustrate, in some sense, our English reserve, +and love of carrying out our island proverb—viz., that “every +Englishman’s house is his castle,”—in its entirety, by each man +barricading himself off from his neighbours advances by a fortified +_fosse_! + +Without particular reference to municipal distinctions, London may (to +convey a general idea to strangers) be divided into four principal +portions—the _City_, which is the centre of corporate influence, and +where the greatest part of the business is conducted; the _East End_, in +which are the docks, and various commercial arrangements for shipping; +the _West End_, in which are the palaces of the Queen and Royal family, +the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the residences of most +of the nobility and gentry; and the _Southwark and Lambeth_ division, +lying on the south side of the Thames, containing many manufacturing +establishments, but few public buildings of interest. Besides these, the +northern suburbs, which include the once detached villages of Hampstead, +Highgate, Stoke Newington, Islington, Kingsland, Hackney, Hornsey, +Holloway, &c., and consist chiefly of private dwellings for the +mercantile and middle classes, may be considered a peculiar and distinct +division. It is, however, nowhere possible to say (except when separated +by the river) exactly where any one division begins or ends; throughout +the vast compass of the city and suburbs, there is a blending of one +division with that contiguous to it. The outskirts, on all sides, +comprise long rows or groups of villas, some detached or semi-detached, +with small lawns or gardens. + +The poet Cowper, in his _Task_, more than a hundred years ago, +appreciatively spoke of + + “The villas with which London stands begirt, + Like a swarth Indian with his belt of beads.” + +We wonder what he would think now of the many houses of this kind which +extend, in some directions, so far out of town, that there seems to be no +getting beyond them into the country. + +From the Surrey division there extends southward and westward a great +number of those ranges of neat private dwellings, as, for instance, +towards Camberwell, Kennington, Clapham, Brixton, Dulwich, Norwood, +Sydenham, &c.; and in these directions lie some of the most pleasant +spots in the environs of the metropolis. + +The flowing of the Thames from west to east through the metropolis has +given a general direction to the lines of street; the principal +thoroughfares being, in some measure, parallel to the river, with the +inferior, or at least shorter, streets branching from them. Intersecting +the town lengthwise, or from east to west, are three great leading +thoroughfares at a short distance from each other, but gradually +diverging at their western extremity. One of these routes begins in the +eastern environs, near Blackwall, and extends along Whitechapel, +Leadenhall Street, Cornhill, the Poultry, Cheapside, Newgate Street, +Holborn, and Oxford Street. The other may be considered as starting at +London Bridge, and passing up King William Street into Cheapside, at the +western end of which it makes a bend round St. Paul’s Churchyard; thence +proceeds down Ludgate Hill, along Fleet Street and the Strand to Charing +Cross, where it sends a branch off to the left to Whitehall, and another +diagonally to the right, up Cockspur Street; this leads forward into Pall +Mall, and sends an offshoot up Waterloo Place into Piccadilly, which +proceeds westward to Hyde Park Corner. These two are the main lines in +the metropolis, and are among the first traversed by strangers. It will +be observed that they unite in Cheapside, which therefore becomes an +excessively crowded thoroughfare, particularly at the busy hours of the +day. More than 1000 vehicles _per hour_ pass through this street in the +business period of an average day, besides foot-passengers! To ease the +traffic in Cheapside, a spacious new thoroughfare, New Cannon Street, has +been opened, from near London Bridge westward to St. Paul’s Churchyard. +The third main line of route is not so much thronged, nor so interesting +to strangers. It may be considered as beginning at the Bank, and passing +through the City Road and the New Road to Paddington and Westbourne. The +New Road here mentioned has been re-named in three sections—Pentonville +Road, from Islington to King’s Cross; Euston Road, from King’s Cross to +Regent’s Park; and Marylebone Road, from Regent’s Park to Paddington. +The main cross branches in the metropolis are—Farringdon Street, leading +from Blackfriars Bridge to Holborn, and thence by Victoria Street to the +King’s Cross Station; the Haymarket, leading from Cockspur Street; and +Regent Street, already mentioned. There are several important streets +leading northward from the Holborn and Oxford Street line—such as +Portland Place, Tottenham Court Road, King Street, and Gray’s Inn Lane. +The principal one in the east is St. Martin’s-le-Grand and Aldersgate +Street, which, by Goswell Street, lead to Islington; others +are—Bishopsgate Street, leading to Shoreditch and Hackney; and Moorgate +Street, leading northwards. A route stretching somewhat +north-east—Whitechapel and Mile End Roads—connects the metropolis with +Essex. It is a matter of general complaint that there are so few great +channels of communication through London both lengthwise and crosswise; +for the inferior streets, independently of their complex bearings, are +much too narrow for regular traffic. But this grievance, let us hope, is +in a fair way of abatement, thanks to sundry fine new streets, and to the +Thames Embankment, which, proceeding along the northern shore of the +river, now furnishes a splendid thoroughfare right away from Westminster +Bridge to Blackfriars Bridge, by means of which the public are now +enabled to arrive at the Mansion House by a wide street—called Queen +Victoria Street, and, by the Metropolitan District Railway, to save time +on this route from the west. + +We shall have occasion again to allude to the Thames Embankment some +pages on, and therefore, for the present, we will take + + + + +A FIRST GLANCE AT THE CITY. + + +London is too vast a place to be traversed in the limited time which +strangers usually have at their disposal. Nevertheless, we may rapidly +survey the main lines of route from east to west, with some of the +branching offshoots. All the more important buildings, and places of +public interest, will be found specially described under the headings to +which they properly belong. + +The most striking view in the interior of the city is at the open central +space whence Threadneedle Street, Cornhill, Lombard Street, King William +Street, Walbrook, Cheapside, and Princes Street, radiate in seven +different directions. (See illustration.) While the corner of the Bank +of England abuts on this space on the north, it is flanked on the south +by the Mansion House, and on the east by the Royal Exchange. It would be +a curious speculation to inquire how much money has been spent in +constructions and reconstructions in and around this spot during half a +century. The sum must be stupendous. Before new London Bridge was +opened, the present King William Street did not exist; to construct it, +houses by the score, perhaps by the hundred, had to be pulled down. Many +years earlier, when the Bank of England was rebuilt, and a few years +later, when the Royal Exchange was rebuilt, vast destructions of property +took place, to make room for structures larger than those which had +previously existed for the same purposes. For some distance up all the +radii of which we have spoken, the arteries which lead from this heart of +the commercial world, a similar process has been going on to a greater or +less extent. Banking-houses, insurance-offices, and commercial +buildings, have been built or rebuilt at an immense cost, the outlay +depending rather on the rapidly increasing value of the ground than on +the actual charge for building. If this particular portion of the city, +this busy centre of wealth, should ever be invaded by such railway +schemes as 1864, 1865, and 1866 produced, it is difficult to imagine what +amounts would have to be paid for the purchase and removal of property. +Time was when a hundred thousand pounds per mile was a frightful sum for +railways; but railway directors (in London at least) do not now look +aghast at a million sterling per mile—as witness the South-Eastern and +the Chatham and Dover Companies, concerning which we shall have to say +more in a future page. + +[Picture: Bank of England, Royal Exchange, Mansion House, &c. (Cornhill, + Lombard, Threadneedle Streets.)] {16} + +The seven radii of which we have spoken may be thus briefly described, as +a preliminary guide to visitors: 1. Leaving this wonderfully-busy centre +by the north, with the Poultry on one hand and the Bank of England on the +other, we pass in front of many fine new commercial buildings in Princes +and Moorgate Streets; indeed, there is not an old house here, for both +are entirely modern streets, penetrating through what used to be a close +mass of small streets and alleys. Other fine banking and commercial +buildings may be seen stretching along either side in Lothbury and +Gresham Streets. Farther towards the north, a visitor would reach the +Finsbury Square region, beyond which the establishments are of less +important character. 2. If, instead of leaving this centre by the north, +he turns north-east, he will pass through Threadneedle Street between the +Bank and the Royal Exchange; [Picture: King William Street, Gracechurch +Street, &c. (Bank and Royal Exchange in the distance.)] next will be +found the Stock Exchange, on the left hand; then the Sun Fire Office, and +the Bank of London (formerly the Hall of Commerce); on the opposite side +the City Bank, Merchant Taylor’s School, and the building that was once +the South Sea House; beyond these is the great centre for foreign +merchants in Broad Street, Winchester Street, Austin Friars, and the +vicinity. 3. If, again, the route be selected due east, there will come +into view the famous Cornhill, with its Royal Exchange, its well-stored +shops, and its alleys on either side crowded with merchants, brokers, +bankers, coffee-houses, and chop-houses; beyond this, Bishopsgate Street +branches out on the left, and Gracechurch Street on the right, both full +of memorials of commercial London; and farther east still, Leadenhall +Street, with new buildings on the site of the late East India House, +leads to the Jews’ Quarter around Aldgate and Houndsditch—a strange +region, which few visitors to London think of exploring. “Petticoat +Lane,” perhaps one of the most extraordinary marts for old clothes, &c., +is on the left of Aldgate High Street. It is well worth a visit by +connoisseurs of queer life and character, who are able to take care of +themselves, and remember to leave their valuables at home. 4. The fourth +route from the great city centre leads through Lombard Street and +Fenchurch Street—the one the head-quarters of the great banking firms of +London; the other exhibiting many commercial buildings of late erection: +while Mincing Lane and Mark Lane are the head-quarters for many branches +of the foreign, colonial, and corn trades. 5. The fifth route takes the +visitor through King William Street to the Monument, Fish Street Hill, +Billingsgate, the Corn Exchange, the Custom House, the Thames Subway, the +Tower, the Docks, the Thames Tunnel, London Bridge, and a host of +interesting places, the proper examination of which would require +something more than merely a brief visit to London. Opposite this +quarter, on the Surrey side of the river, are numerous shipping wharfs, +warehouses, porter breweries, and granaries. The fire that occurred at +Cotton’s wharf and depôt and other wharfs near Tooley Street, in June, +1861, illustrated the vast scale on which merchandise is collected in the +warehouses and wharfs hereabout. {18} Of the dense mass of streets lying +away from the river, and eastward of the city proper, comprising +Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Stepney, &c., little need be +said here; the population is immense, but, excepting the Bethnal Green +Museum and Victoria Park, there are few objects interesting; nevertheless +the observers of social life in its humbler phases would find much to +learn here. 6. The southern route from the great city centre takes the +visitor, by the side of the Mansion House, through the new thoroughfare, +Queen Victoria Street—referred to at a previous page—to the river-side. + +It will therefore be useful for a stranger to bear in mind, that the best +centre of observation in the city is the open spot between the Bank, the +Mansion House, and the Royal Exchange; where more omnibuses assemble than +at any other spot in the world; and whence he can ramble in any one of +seven different directions, sure of meeting with something illustrative +of city life. The 7th route, not yet noticed, we will now follow, as it +proceeds towards the West End. + +The great central thoroughfare of Cheapside, which is closely lined with +the shops of silversmiths and other wealthy tradesmen, is one of the +oldest and most famous streets in the city—intimately associated with the +municipal glories of London for centuries past. Many of the houses in +Cheapside and Cornhill have lately been rebuilt on a scale of much +grandeur. Some small plots of ground in this vicinity have been sold at +the rate of nearly _one million sterling_ per acre! On each side of +Cheapside, narrow streets diverge into the dense mass behind—Ironmonger +Lane, King Street, Milk Street, and Wood Street, on the north; and among +others, Queen Street, Bread Street, where Milton was born, and where +stood the famous Mermaid Tavern, where Shakespeare and Raleigh, Ben +Jonson and his young friends, Beaumont and Fletcher, those +twin-dramatists, loved to meet, to enjoy “the feast of reason and the +flow of soul,” to say nothing of a few flagons of good Canary wine, Bow +Lane, and Old ’Change, on the south. The greater part of these back +streets, with the lanes adjoining, are occupied by the offices or +warehouses of wholesale dealers in cloth, silk, hosiery, lace, &c., and +are resorted to by London and country shopkeepers for supplies. Across +the north end of King Street stands the Guildhall; and a little west, the +City of London School and Goldsmiths’ Hall. At the western end of +Cheapside is a statue of the late Sir Robert Peel, by Behnes. Northward +of this point, in St. Martin’s-le-Grand, are the buildings of the Post +and Telegraph Offices; beyond this the curious old Charter House; and +then a line of business streets leading towards Islington. Westward are +two streets, parallel with each other, and both too narrow for the trade +to be accommodated in them—Newgate Street, celebrated for its Blue Coat +Boys and, till the recent removal of the market to Smithfield, for its +carcass butchers; and Paternoster Row, still more celebrated for its +publishers and booksellers. In Panyer Alley, leading out of Newgate +Street, is an old stone bearing the inscription: + + When ye have sovght the citty rovnd, + Yet stil this is the highst grovnd. + + Avgvst the 27, 1688. {20} + + [Picture: Old stone] + +At the west end of Newgate Street a turning to the right gives access to +the once celebrated Smithfield and St. John’s Gate. South-west of +Cheapside stands St. Paul’s Cathedral, that first and greatest of all the +landmarks of London. In the immediate vicinity of St. Paul’s, the names +of many streets and lanes (Paternoster Row, Amen Corner, Ave Maria Lane, +Creed Lane, Godliman Street, &c.) give token of their former connection +with the religious structure and its clerical attendants. The enclosed +churchyard is surrounded by a street closely hemmed in with houses, now +chiefly dedicated to trade: those on the south side being mostly +wholesale, those on the north retail. An open arched passage on the +south side of the churchyard leads to Doctors’ Commons, once the +headquarters of the ecclesiastical lawyers. + + [Picture: St. Paul’s, West End of Cheapside, Paternoster Row, &c. + (Newgate Street and Fleet Street in the distance.)] + +Starting from St. Paul’s Churchyard westward, we proceed down Ludgate +Street and Ludgate Hill, places named from the old Lud-gate, which once +formed one of the entrances to the city ‘within the walls.’ The Old +Bailey, on the right, contains the Central Criminal Court and Newgate +Prison, noted places in connection with the trial and punishment of +criminals. On the left of Ludgate Hill is a maze of narrow streets; +among which the chief buildings are the new Ludgate Hill Railway Station, +Apothecaries’ Hall, and the printing office of the all-powerful _Times_ +newspaper, in Printing-House Square. The printer of the _Times_, Mr. +Goodlake, if applied to by letter, enclosing card of any respectable +person, will grant an order to go over it, at 11 o’clock only, when the +second edition of “the Thunderer” is going to press. At the bottom of +Ludgate Hill we come to the valley in which the once celebrated Fleet +River, now only a covered sewer, ran north and south from St. Pancras to +Blackfriars, where it entered the Thames. A new street, called Victoria +Street, formed by pulling down many poor and dilapidated houses, marks +part of this valley; while Farringdon Street, where a market, mostly for +green stuff, is held, occupies another part. Newgate Street and Ludgate +Hill are on the east of the Fleet Valley; Holborn and Fleet Street on the +west. The Holborn Valley Viaduct crosses at this spot. And of this +wonderful triumph of engineering skill we have now to speak. + + [Picture: Holborn Valley Viaduct] + +It was an eventful day in the annals of the Corporation of the City of +London, when Queen Victoria, on November 6, 1869, declared Blackfriars +Bridge—about which more hereafter—and Holborn Valley Viaduct formally +open. The Holborn Valley improvements, it should be remembered, were +nothing short of the actual demolition and reconstruction of a whole +district, formerly either squalid, over-blocked, and dilapidated in some +parts, or over-steep and dangerous to traffic in others. But a short +time ago that same Holborn Valley was one of the most heart-breaking +impediments to horse-traffic in London. Imagine Holborn Hill sloping at +a gradient of 1 in 18, while the opposite rising ground of Skinner +Street—now happily done away—rose at about 1 in 20. Figure to yourself +the fact, that everything on wheels, and every foot passenger entering +the City by the Holborn route, had to descend 26 feet to the Valley of +the Fleet, and then ascend a like number to Newgate, and you will at once +see the grand utility of levelling up so objectionable a hollow. To +attempt to give a stranger to London even a faint idea of what has been +accomplished by Mr. Haywood’s engineering skill, by a necessarily brief +description here, is an invidious task. Nevertheless, we must essay it; +premising, by-the-by, that if our readers while in London do not go to +see the Viaduct for themselves, our trouble will be three parte thrown +away. The whole structure is cellular, to begin with. To strip the +subject of crabbed technicalities, imagine for a moment a long succession +of—let us call them—railway-like arches supporting the carriage-way: +these large vaults being available for other purposes. Outside this +carriage-way, and under the edge of the foot-paths on either side, is a +subway, some 7 feet wide and 11 feet or so high. Against the walls of +this sub-way are fixed, readily connectable, gas mains and water mains +and telegraph tubes. This was the first time all these important pipes +had been so cleverly arranged in one easily accessible place. They are +ventilated and partially lighted through the pavement, and by gas. Under +each sub-way goes a sewer, with a path beside it for the sewer men when +at work. Outside the sub-way are ordinary house vaults of two or three +storeys high, according to the height of the Viaduct. These are divided +by transverse walls; and, when houses are built against it, the Holborn +Valley Viaduct will be shut out from sight, except in the case of the +simple iron girder bridge over Shoe Lane, and the London, Chatham, and +Dover bridge, with its sub-ways for gas and water pipes, and the fine +bridge over Farringdon Street. You will, we trust, now see how +marvellously every yard of space has been utilized by the engineer, from +the roadway down to the very foundations. A few words must now be said +about the splendid bridge over Farringdon Street. This has public +staircases running up inside handsome stone buildings—the upper parts of +which have been let for business purposes. It is a handsome skew bridge +of iron, toned to a deep bronze green by enamel paint, and richly +ornamented; its plinths above ground, its moulded bases, and its shafts, +are respectively of grey, black, and exquisitely polished red granite. +Its capitals are of grey granite, also polished, and set off by bronze +foliage. Bronze lions, and four statues of Fine Art, Science, Commerce, +and Agriculture, stand on the parapet-line on handsome plinths. These, +and the projecting balconies and dormer window of the stone buildings +just named, with their four statues of bygone civic worthies,—Fitz +Aylwin, Sir William Walworth, Sir Thomas Gresham, and Sir Hugh +Myddleton,—enhance the effect of the whole. + +Poor Chatterton, “the marvellous boy, the sleepless soul that perished in +his pride,” after poisoning himself, in 1770, ere he was eighteen years +of age, in Brooke Street, on the north side of Holborn, was laid in a +pauper’s grave, in what was then the burying-ground of Shoe Lane +Workhouse, and is now converted to very different purposes. + +Let us now come to Fleet Street. This thoroughfare—the main artery from +St. Paul’s to the west—for many years has been emphatically one of +literary associations, full as it is of newspaper and printing-offices. +The late Angus B. Reach used humorously to call it, “The march of +intellect.” Wynkyn de Worde, the early printer, lived here, and two of +his books were “fynysshed and emprynted in Flete Streete, in ye syne of +ye Sonne.” The _Devil_ tavern, which stood near Temple Bar, on the south +side, was a favourite hostelrie of Ben Jonson. At the _Mitre_, near +Mitre Court, Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, and Boswell, held frequent +rendezvous. The _Cock_ was one of the oldest and least altered taverns +in Fleet Street. The present poet-laureate, in one of his early poems, +“A Monologue of Will Waterproof,” has immortalized it, in the lines +beginning— + + “Thou plump head waiter at the _Cock_, + To which I most resort, + How goes the time? Is ’t nine o’clock? + Then fetch a pint of port!” + + [Picture: Fleet Street from Mitre Court to Temple Bar. (The Temple, the + River, Lambeth, and Houses of Parliament in the distance.)] + +Dr. Johnson lived many years either in Fleet Street, in Gough Square, in +the Temple, in Johnson’s Court, in Bolt Court, &c., &c.; and in Bolt +Court he died. William Cobbett, and Ferguson the astronomer, were also +among the dwellers in that court. John Murray (the elder) began the +publishing business in Falcon Court. Some of the early meetings of the +Royal Society and of the Society of Arts took place in Crane Court. +Dryden and Richardson both lived in Salisbury Court. Shire Lane (now +Lower Serle’s Place), close to Temple Bar on the north, can count the +names of Steele and Ashmole among its former inhabitants. Izaak Walton +lived a little way up Chancery Lane. At the confectioner’s shop, nearly +opposite that lane, Pope and Warburton first met. Sir Symonds D’Ewes, +‘Praise-God Barebones,’ Michael Drayton, and Cowley the poet, all lived +in this street. Many of the courts, about a dozen in number, branching +out of Fleet Street on the north and south, are so narrow that a stranger +would miss them unless on the alert. Child’s Banking House, the oldest +in London, is at the western extremity of Fleet Street, on the south +side, and also occupies the room over the arch of Temple Bar. St. +Bride’s Church exhibits one of Wren’s best steeples. St. Dunstan’s +Church, before it was modernized, had two wooden giants in front, that +struck the hours with clubs on two bells—a duty which they still fulfil +in the gardens belonging to the mansion of the Marquis of Hertford in the +Regent’s Park. North of Fleet Street are several of the _Inns of Court_, +where lawyers congregate; and southward is the most famous of all such +Inns, the large group of buildings constituting the _Temple_. In the +cluster of buildings lying east from the Temple once existed the +sanctuary of Whitefriars, or _Alsatia_, as it was sometimes called, a +description of which is given by Scott in the _Fortunes of Nigel_. The +streets here are still narrow and of an inferior order, but all +appearance of Alsatians and their pranks is gone. The boundary of the +city, at the western termination of Fleet Street, is marked by Temple +Bar, consisting of a wide central archway, and a smaller archway at each +side for foot-passengers. There are doors in the main avenue which can +be shut at pleasure; but, practically, they are never closed, except on +the occasion of some state ceremonial, when the lord mayor affects an act +of grace in opening them to royalty. The structure was designed by Sir +Christopher Wren, and erected in 1672. The heads of decapitated +criminals, after being boiled in pitch to preserve them, were exposed on +iron spikes on the top of the Bar. Horace Walpole, in his _Letters_ to +Montague, mentions the fact of a man in Fleet Street letting out +“spy-glasses,” at a penny a peep, to passers-by, when the heads of some +of the hapless Jacobites were so exposed. The last heads exhibited there +were those of two Jacobite gentlemen who took part in the rebellion of +1745, and were executed in that year. Their heads remained a ghastly +spectacle to the citizens till 1772, when they were blown down one night +in a gale of wind. + +Having thus noticed some of the interesting objects east of Temple Bar, +we will now take + + + + +A FIRST GLANCE AT THE WEST END. + + +The Strand—so called because it lies along the bank of the river, now +hidden by houses—is a long, somewhat irregularly built street, in +continuation westward from Temple Bar; the thoroughfare being incommoded +by two churches—St. Clement Dane’s and St. Mary’s—in the middle of the +road. On the site of the latter church once stood the old Strand +Maypole. The new _Palace of Justice_, about whose site there have been +so many Parliamentary discussions, will stand on what is at present a +huge unsightly space of boarded-in waste ground, formerly occupied by a +few good houses, between Temple Bar and Clement’s Inn, and many wretched +back-slums. Not having the gift of prophecy as to its future, and warned +by so many long delays in its case, we hazard no conjecture as to the +time when it will gladden our eyes. In the seventeenth century the +Strand was a species of country road, connecting the city with +Westminster; and on its southern side stood a number of noblemen’s +residences, with gardens towards the river. The pleasant days are long +since past when mansions and personages, political events and holiday +festivities, marked the spots now denoted by Essex, Norfolk, Howard, +Arundel, Surrey, Cecil, Salisbury, Buckingham, Villiers, Craven, and +Northumberland Streets—a very galaxy of aristocratic names. The most +conspicuous building on the left-hand side is Somerset House, a vast +range of government offices. Adjoining this on the east (occupying the +site once intended for an east wing to that structure), and entering by a +passage from the Strand, is a range of rather plain, but massive brick +buildings, erected about thirty years ago for the accommodation of King’s +College; and adjoining it on the west, abutting on the street leading to +Waterloo Bridge, is a still newer range of buildings appropriated to +government offices—forming a west wing to the whole mass. The Strand +contains no other public structure of architectural importance, except +the spacious new Charing Cross Railway Station and Hotel on the south +side. The eastern half of the Strand, however, is thickly surrounded by +theatres—Drury Lane, Covent Garden, the Olympic, the Charing Cross, the +Adelphi, the Vaudeville, the Lyceum, the Gaiety (built on the site of +Exeter ’Change and the late Strand Music Hall, as is the Queen’s on that +of St. Martin’s Hall in Long Acre), the Globe, and the Strand Theatres, +are all situated hereabouts. Exeter Hall is close by, and—pardon the +contrast of ideas—so is Evans’s Hotel and Supper Rooms, long famous for +old English glees, madrigals, chops and steaks, and as a place for +friendly re-unions, without the objectionable features of many musical +halls. + +Northumberland House, the large mansion with the lion on the summit, +overlooking Charing Cross, is the ancestral town residence of the +Percies, Dukes of Northumberland. Over the way is St. Martin’s Church, +where lie the bones of many famous London watermen—the churchyard used to +be called “The Waterman’s Churchyard”—and those of that too celebrated +scoundrel and housebreaker, Jack Sheppard, hanged in 1724. There also +lies the once famous sculptor, Roubilac, several monuments from whose +chisel you can see in Westminster Abbey. Here, too, are interred the +witty, but somewhat licentious dramatist, Farquhar, author of _The Beau’s +Stratagem_; the illustrious Robert Boyle, a philosopher not altogether +unworthy to be named in the same category with Lord Bacon and Sir Isaac +Newton; and John Hunter, the distinguished anatomist. + +The open space is called Charing Cross, from the old village of Charing, +where stood a cross erected by Edward the First, in memory of his Queen +Eleanor. Wherever her bier rested, there her sorrowful husband erected a +cross, or, as Hood whimsically said, in his usual punning vein, apropos +of the cross at Tottenham, + + “A Royal game of Fox and Goose + To play for such a loss; + Wherever she put down her orts, + There he—set up a _cross_!” + +At the time of the Reformation you could have walked with fields all the +way on the north side of you from the city to Charing Cross. The history +of the fine statue of Charles the First, by Le Sœur, is curious. It was +made in Charles the First’s reign, but, on the civil war breaking out ere +it could be erected, was sold by the Parliament to a brazier, who was +ordered to demolish it. He, however, buried it, and it remained +underground till after the Restoration, when it was erected in 1674. It +marks a central point for the West End. + + [Picture: Trafalgar Square] + +Southward are Whitehall and the Palace of Westminster; to the west, +Spring Gardens, leading into St. James’s Park; north-west lie Pall Mall +and Regent Street. By-the-way, it just occurs to us that the old game +_Paille Maille_, from which Pall Mall took its name, was a sort of +antique forerunner of croquet! The former game, much beloved by Charles +the Second, was played by striking a wooden ball with a mallet through +hoops of iron, one of which stood at each end of an alley. Eastward is +the Strand. On the north, Trafalgar Square, with Nelson’s statue and +Landseer’s four noble lions couchant—which alone are worth a visit—at its +base. There are also statues to George IV., Sir Charles James Napier, +and Sir Henry Havelock. A statue of George the Third—with, we think, in +an equestrian sense, one of the best “seats” for a horseman in London—is +close by. The National Gallery bounds the northern side. Of the two +wells which supply the fountains in this square, one is no less than 400 +feet deep. + +Turning southward from this important western centre, the visitor will +come upon the range of national and government buildings—the Admiralty, +the Horse Guards, the Treasury, the Home Office, &c., &c.—in Whitehall, +particulars of which will be given a few pages further on under +_Government Offices_. Then there are the fine Banqueting House at +Whitehall, and some rather majestic mansions in and near Whitehall +Gardens—especially one just erected by the Duke of Buccleuch. Beyond +these, in the same general direction, are the magnificent Houses of +Parliament, Marochetti’s equestrian statue of Richard Cœur de Lion, +Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, Mr. Page’s beautiful new Westminster +Bridge, and a number of other objects well worthy of attention. + +Returning to Charing Cross, the stranger may pursue his tour through +Cockspur Street to Pall Mall, and thence proceed up Regent Street. As he +enters this new line of route, he will perceive that the buildings assume +a more important aspect. They are for the most part stucco-fronted, and +being frequently re-painted, they have a light and cheerful appearance. +In the Haymarket are Her Majesty’s Theatre and the Haymarket Theatre; and +near at hand are many club-houses and Exhibition-rooms. Pall Mall +displays a range of stone-fronted club-houses of great magnificence. At +the foot of Regent Street is the short broad thoroughfare of Waterloo +Place, lined with noble houses, and leading southwards to St. James’s +Park. Here stands the column dedicated to the late Duke of York; not far +from which is the Guards’ Memorial, having reference to troops who fell +in the Crimea. From this point, for about a mile in a northerly +direction, is the line of Waterloo Place, Regent Street, and Portland +Place, forming the handsomest street in London. At a point a short way +up we cross Piccadilly, and enter a curve in the thoroughfare, called the +Quadrant; at the corners of which, and also in Upper Regent Street, are +some of the most splendid shops in London, several being decorated in a +style of great magnificence. Regent Street, during the busy season in +May and June, and during the day from one till six o’clock, exhibits an +extraordinary concourse of fashionable vehicles and foot-passengers; +while groups of carriages are drawn up at the doors of the more elegant +shops. Towards its upper extremity Regent Street crosses Oxford Street. +The mass of streets west from it consist almost entirely of private +residences, with the special exception of Bond Street. In this quarter +are St. James’s, Hanover, Berkeley, Grosvenor, Cavendish, Bryanstone, +Manchester, and Portman Squares—the last four being north of Oxford +Street; and in connection with these squares are long, quiet streets, +lined with houses suited for an affluent order of inhabitants. In and +north from Oxford Street, there are few public buildings deserving +particular attention; but a visitor may like to know that hereabouts are +the Soho, Baker Street, and London Crystal Palace Bazaars. The once +well-known Pantheon is now a wine merchant’s stores. + +The residences of the nobility and gentry are chiefly, as has been said, +in the western part of the metropolis. In this quarter there have been +large additions of handsome streets, squares, and terraces within the +last thirty years. First may be mentioned the district around Belgrave +Square, usually called _Belgravia_, which includes the highest class +houses. North-east from this, near Hyde Park, is the older, but still +fashionable quarter, comprehending Park Lane and May Fair. Still farther +north is the modern district, sometimes called _Tyburnia_, being built on +the ground adjacent to what once was “Tyburn,” the place of public +executions. This district, including Hyde Park Square and Westbourne +Terrace, is a favourite place of residence for city merchants and other +wealthy persons. Lying north and north-east from Tyburnia are an +extensive series of suburban rows of buildings and detached villas, which +are ordinarily spoken of under the collective name St. John’s Wood: +Regent’s Park forming a kind of rural centre to the group. Standing +higher and more airy than Belgravia, and being easily accessible from +Oxford Street, this is one of the most agreeable of the suburban +districts. + + [Picture: Bunyan’s Tomb, Bunhill Fields] + +If, instead of the Strand and Piccadilly route, or the Holborn and Oxford +Street route, a visitor takes the northernmost main route, he will find +less to interest him. The New Road, in its several parts of City Road, +Pentonville Road, Euston Road, and Marylebone Road, forms a broad line of +communication from the city to Paddington, four miles in length. Though +very important as one of the arteries of the metropolis, it is singularly +deficient in public buildings. In going from the Bank to Paddington, we +pass by or near Finsbury Square and Circus, the buildings and grounds of +the Artillery Company at Moorfields, the once famous old Burial-ground at +Bunhill Fields, St. Luke’s Lunatic Asylum, the Chapel in the City Road +associated with the memory of John Wesley, the old works of the New River +Company at Pentonville, the Railway stations at King’s Cross (Great +Northern), and St. Pancras (Midland),—the vast span of this station’s +roof is noteworthy,—and Euston Square (L. and N. Western), several +stations of the Metropolitan Underground Railway, St. Pancras and +Marylebone churches, and the entrance to the beautiful Regent’s Park. +But beyond these little is presented to reward the pedestrian. + +It is well for a visitor to bear in mind, however, that all the routes we +have here sketched have undergone, or are undergoing, rapid changes, +owing chiefly to the wonderful extension of railways. Cannon Street, +Finsbury, Blackfriars, Snow Hill, Ludgate Hill, Smithfield, Charing +Cross, Pimlico, &c., have been stripped of hundreds, nay, thousands of +houses. + + + + +PALACES AND MANSIONS, ROYAL AND NOBLE. + + + [Picture: St. James’s Palace and Park. (Green Park in the distance.)] + +These two preliminary glances at the City and the West End having (as we +will suppose) given the visitor some general idea of the Metropolis, we +now proceed to describe the chief buildings and places of interest, +conveniently grouped according to their character—beginning with +_Palatial Residences_. + +St. James’s Palace.—This is an inelegant brick structure, having its +front towards Pall Mall. Henry VIII. built it in 1530, on the site of +what was once an hospital for lepers. The interior consists of several +spacious levée and drawing rooms, besides other state and domestic +apartments. This palace is only used occasionally by the Queen for +levées and drawing-rooms; for which purposes, notwithstanding its +awkwardness, the building is better adapted than Buckingham Palace. The +fine bands of the Foot Guards play daily at eleven, in the Colour Court, +or in an open quadrangle on the east side. The Chapel Royal and the +German Chapel are open on Sundays—the one with an English service, and +the other with service in German. + +Buckingham Palace.—This edifice stands at the west end of the Mall in St. +James’s Park, in a situation much too low in reference to the adjacent +grounds on the north. The site was occupied formerly by a brick mansion, +which was pulled down by order of George IV. The present palace (except +the front towards the park) was planned and erected by Mr. Nash. When +completed, after various capricious alterations, about 1831–2, it is said +to have cost about £700,000. The edifice is of stone, with a main +centre, and a wing of similar architecture projecting on each side, +forming originally an open court in front; but the palace being too small +for the family and retinue of the present sovereign, a new frontage has +been built, forming an eastern side to the open court. There is, +however, little harmony of style between the old and new portions. The +interior contains many magnificent apartments, both for state and +domestic purposes. Among them are the Grand Staircase, the Ball-room, +the Library, the Sculpture Gallery, the Green Drawing-room, the Throne +Room, and the Grand Saloon. The Queen has a collection of very fine +pictures in the various rooms, among which is a _Rembrandt_, for which +George IV. gave 5000 guineas. In the garden is an elegant summer-house, +adorned with frescoes by Eastlake, Maclise, Landseer, Stanfield, and +other distinguished painters. This costly palace, however, with all its +grandeur, was so badly planned, that in a number of the passages lamps +are required to be kept lighted even during the day. Strangers are not +admitted to Buckingham Palace except by special permission of the Lord +Chamberlain, which is not easily obtained. In the front was once the +_Marble Arch_, which formed an entry to the Palace, and which cost +£70,000; but it was removed to the north-east corner of Hyde Park in +1851. + + [Picture: Buckingham Palace, and West End of St. James’s Park. (Queen’s + Garden and Hyde Park Corner in the distance.)] + +Marlborough House.—This building, the residence of the Prince and +Princess of Wales, is immediately east of St. James’s Palace, being +separated from it only by a carriage-road. It was built by Sir +Christopher Wren, in 1709, as a residence for the great Duke of +Marlborough. The house was bought from the Marlborough family by the +Crown in 1817, as a residence for the Princess Charlotte. It was +afterwards occupied in succession by Leopold (the late king of the +Belgians) and the Dowager Queen Adelaide. More recently it was given up +to the Government School of Design; and the Vernon and Turner pictures +were for some time kept there. The building underwent various +alterations preparatory to its occupation by the Prince of Wales. + +Kensington Palace.—This is a royal palace, though no longer inhabited by +royalty, occupying a pleasant situation west of Hyde Park. It was built +by Lord Chancellor Finch late in the 17th century; and soon afterwards +sold to William III. Additions were made to it from time to time. +Certain portions of the exterior are regarded as fine specimens of +brickwork; and the whole, though somewhat heavy in appearance, is not +without points of interest. During the last century Kensington Palace +was constantly occupied by members of the royal family. Many of them +were born there, and many died there also. The present Queen was born in +the palace in 1819. The Prince and Princess of Teck reside there at +present. This, like the other royal palaces, is maintained at the +expense of the nation; though not now used as a royal residence, +pensioned or favoured families occupy it. + + [Picture: Lambeth Palace from the River] + +Lambeth Palace.—This curious and interesting building, situated in a part +of the metropolis seldom visited by strangers, is the official residence +of the archbishops of Canterbury. It is on the south bank of the Thames, +between Westminster and Vauxhall Bridges. The structure has grown up by +degrees during the six centuries that Lambeth has been the archiepiscopal +residence; and on that account exhibits great diversities of style. +Leaving unnoticed the private and domestic apartments, the following are +the portions of the irregular cluster possessing most interest. The +_Chapel_, some say, was erected in the year 1196; it is in early English, +with lancet windows and a crypt; but the roof, stained windows, and +carved screens, are much more recent. The archbishops are always +consecrated in this chapel. The _Lollard’s Tower_, at the western end of +the chapel, was named from some Lollards or Wickliffites supposed to have +been imprisoned there. It is about 400 years old. The uppermost room, +with strong iron rings in the walls, appears to have been the actual +place of confinement; there are many names and inscriptions cut in the +thick oak wainscoting. The _Hall_, about 200 years old, is 93 feet long +by 78 feet wide; it is noticeable for the oak roof, the bay windows, and +the arms of several of the archbishops. The _Library_, 250 years old, +contains about 15,000 volumes and numerous manuscripts, many of them rare +and curious. The _Gatehouse_ is a red brick structure, with stone +dressings. The _Church_, near it, is one of the most ancient in the +neighbourhood of London; it has been recently restored in good taste. +Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered here, in 1381, +by Wat Tyler’s mob, who stormed the palace, burned its contents, and +destroyed all the registers and public papers. Lambeth Palace is not, as +a rule, shewn to strangers. + + [Picture: Lambeth Palace—Lollard’s Tower] + +Mansions of the Nobility.—London is not well supplied with noble mansions +of an attractive character; they possess every comfort interiorly, but +only a few of them have architectural pretensions. _Northumberland +House_, lately alluded to, at the Charing Cross extremity of the south +side of the Strand, looks more like a nobleman’s mansion than most others +in London. It was built, in about 1600, by the Earl of Northampton, and +came into the hands of the Percies in 1642. _Stafford House_ is perhaps +the most finely situated mansion in the metropolis, occupying the corner +of St. James’s and the Green Parks, and presenting four complete fronts, +each having its own architectural character. The interior, too, is said +to be the first of its kind in London. The mansion was built by the Duke +of York, with money lent by the Marquis of Stafford, afterwards Duke of +Sutherland; but the Stafford family became owners of it, and have spent +at least a quarter of a million sterling on the house and its +decorations. _Apsley House_, at the corner of Piccadilly and Hyde Park, +is the residence of the Dukes of Wellington, and is closely associated +with the memory of _the_ Duke. The shell of the house, of brick, is old; +but stone frontages, enlargements, and decorations, were afterwards made. +The principal room facing Hyde Park, with seven windows, is that in which +the Great Duke held the celebrated Waterloo Banquet, on the 18th of June +in every year, from 1816 to 1852. The windows were blocked up with +bullet-proof iron blinds from 1831 to the day of his death in 1852; a +rabble had shattered them during the Reform excitement, and he never +afterwards would trust King Mob. [Picture: Apsley House, Hyde Park +Corner, Wellington Statue. (Knightsbridge and Sloane Street in the +distance.)] _Devonshire House_, in Piccadilly, faces the Green Park, and +has a screen in front. It has no particular architectural character; but +the wealthy Dukes of Devonshire have collected within it valuable +pictures, books, gems, and treasures of various kinds. _Grosvenor +House_, the residence of the Marquis of Westminster, is situated in Upper +Grosvenor Street, and is celebrated for the magnificent collection of +pictures known as the _Grosvenor Gallery_; a set of four of these +pictures, by Rubens, cost £10,000. _Bridgewater House_, facing the Green +Park, is a costly modern structure, built by Sir Charles Barry for the +Earl of Ellesmere, and finished in 1851. It is in the Italian Palazzo +style. Its chief attraction is the magnificent _Bridgewater Gallery_ of +pictures, a most rare and choice assemblage. This gallery contains no +fewer than 320 pictures, valued at £150,000 many years ago—though they +would now, doubtless, sell for a much higher sum. {40} _Holland House_, +Kensington, is certainly the most picturesque mansion in the metropolis; +it has an old English look about it, both in the house and its grounds. +The mansion was built in 1607, and was celebrated as being the residence, +at one time of Addison, at another of the late Lord Holland. The stone +gateway on the east of the house was designed by Inigo Jones. +_Chesterfield House_, in South Audley Street, was built for that Earl of +Chesterfield whose “Advice to his Son” has run through so many editions; +the library and the garden are especially noted. _Buccleuch House_, in +Whitehall Gardens, is recently finished. _Lansdowne House_, in Berkeley +Square, the town residence of the Marquis of Lansdowne, contains some +fine sculptures and pictures, ancient and modern. Scarcely less +magnificent, either as buildings or in respect of their contents, than +the mansions of the nobility, are some of those belonging to wealthy +commoners—such as Mr. Holford’s, a splendid structure in Park Lane; Mr. +Hope’s, in Piccadilly, now the _Junior Athenæum Club_; and Baron +Rothschild’s, near Apsley House, lately rebuilt. + + + + +HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT; WESTMINSTER HALL; GOVERNMENT OFFICES. + + +Houses of Parliament.—This is the name usually given to the _New Palace +of Westminster_, which is not only Sir Charles Barry’s greatest work, but +is in all respects one of the most remarkable structures of the age. The +building, which occupies a site close to the river, and close also to the +beautiful new Westminster Bridge, was constructed in consequence of the +burning of the old Houses of Parliament in 1834. It is perhaps the +finest modern Gothic structure in the world—at least for civil purposes; +but is unfortunately composed of a stone liable to decay; and, to be +critical, its ornaments and details generally are on too minute a scale +for the magnitude of the building. The entire structure covers nearly +eight acres. [Picture: Houses of Parliament from the River] Certain old +plain law courts on the north are intended to be removed. The chief +public entrance is by Westminster Hall, which forms a vestibule to the +Houses of Parliament and their numerous committee-rooms. The rooms and +staircases are almost inconceivably numerous; and there are said to be +two miles of passages and corridors! The river front, raised upon a fine +terrace of Aberdeen granite, is 900 feet in length, and profusely adorned +with statues, heraldic shields, and tracery, carved in stone. The other +façades are nearly as elaborate, but are not so well seen. It is a +gorgeous structure, which, so long ago as 1859, had cost over two +millions. A further cost of £107,000, for frescoes, statuary, &c., &c., +had been incurred by the end of March, 1860; and the constant outgoings +for maintenance of the fabric, and additions thereto, must every year +represent a heavy sum. Nevertheless, the two main chambers in which +Parliament meets are ill adapted for sight and hearing. On Saturdays, +both Houses can be seen free, by order from the Lord Chamberlain, easily +obtained at a neighbouring office; and certain corridors and chambers are +open on other days of the week. Admission to the sittings of the two +Houses can only be obtained by members’ orders; as the benches +appropriated in this way are few in number, such admissions are highly +prized, especially when any important debate is expected. On the +occasion when the Queen visits the House of Lords, to open or prorogue +Parliament, visitors are only admitted by special arrangements. + +Among the multitude of interesting objects in this stupendous structure, +the following may be briefly mentioned. The _House of Peers_ is 97 feet +long, 45 wide, and 45 high. It is so profusely painted and gilt, and the +windows are so darkened by deep-tinted stained glass, that the eye can +with difficulty make out the details. At the southern end is the +gorgeously gilt and canopied throne; near the centre is the woolsack, on +which the Lord Chancellor sits; at the end and sides are galleries for +peeresses, reporters, and strangers; and on the floor of the house are +the cushioned benches for the peers. At either end are three +frescoes—three behind the throne, and three over the strangers’ gallery. +The three behind the throne are—“Edward III. conferring the Order of the +Garter on the Black Prince,” by C. W. Cope; “The Baptism of Ethelbert,” +by Dyce; and “Henry Prince of Wales committed to Prison for assaulting +Judge Gascoigne,” by C. W. Cope. The three at the other end are—“The +Spirit of Justice,” by D. Maclise; “The Spirit of Chivalry,” by the same; +and “The Spirit of Religion,” by J. C. Horsley. In niches between the +windows and at the ends are eighteen statues of Barons who signed Magna +Charta. The _House of Commons_, 62 feet long, 45 broad, and 45 high, is +much less elaborate than the House of Peers. The Speaker’s Chair is at +the north end; and there are galleries along the sides and ends. In a +gallery behind the Speaker the reporters for the newspapers sit. Over +them is the Ladies’ Gallery, where the view is ungallantly obstructed by +a grating. The present ceiling is many feet below the original one: the +room having been to this extent spoiled because the former proportions +were bad for hearing. + +Strangers might infer, from the name, that these two chambers, the Houses +of Peers and of Commons, constitute nearly the whole building; but, in +truth, they occupy only a small part of the area. On the side nearest to +Westminster Abbey are _St. Stephen’s Porch_, _St. Stephen’s Corridor_, +the _Chancellor’s Corridor_, the _Victoria Tower_, the _Royal Staircase_, +and numerous courts and corridors. At the south end, nearest Millbank, +are the _Guard Room_, the _Queen’s Robing Room_, the _Royal Gallery_, the +_Royal Court_, and the _Prince’s Chamber_. The river front is mostly +occupied by _Libraries_ and _Committee Rooms_. The northern or Bridge +Street end displays the _Clock Tower_ and the _Speaker’s Residence_. In +the interior of the structure are vast numbers of _lobbies_, _corridors_, +_halls_, and _courts_. The Saturday tickets, already mentioned, admit +visitors to the _Prince’s Chamber_, the _House of Peers_, the _Peers’ +Lobby_, the _Peers’ Corridor_, the _Octagonal Hall_, the _Commons’ +Corridor_, the _Commons’ Lobby_, the _House of Commons_, _St. Stephen’s +Hall_, and _St. Stephen’s Porch_. All these places are crowded with rich +adornments. The _Victoria Tower_, at the south-west angle of the entire +structure, is one of the finest in the world: it is 75 feet square and +340 feet high; the Queen’s state entrance is in a noble arch at the base. +The _Clock Tower_, at the north end, is 40 feet square and 320 feet high, +profusely gilt near the top. After two attempts made to supply this +tower with a bell of 14 tons weight, and after both failed, one of the +so-called ‘Big Bens,’ the weight of which is about 8 tons, (the official +name being ‘St. Stephen,’) now tells the hour in deep tones. There are, +likewise, eight smaller bells to chime the quarters. The _Clock_ is by +far the largest and finest in this country. There are four dials on the +four faces of the tower, each 22½ feet in diameter; the hour-figures are +2 feet high and 6 feet apart; the minute-marks are 14 inches apart; the +hands weigh more than 2 cwt. the pair; the minute-hand is 16 feet long, +and the hour-hand 9 feet; the pendulum is 15 feet long, and weighs 680 +lbs.; the weights hang down a shaft 160 feet deep. Besides this fine +Clock Tower, there is a _Central Tower_, over the Octagonal Hall, rising +to a height of 300 feet; and there are smaller towers for ventilation and +other purposes. + +Considering that there are nearly 500 carved stone statues in and about +this sumptuous building, besides stained-glass windows, and oil and +fresco paintings in great number, it is obvious that a volume would be +required to describe them all. In the _Queen’s Robing Room_ are painted +frescoes from the story of King Arthur; and in the _Peers’ Robing Room_, +subjects from Biblical history. The _Royal Gallery_ is in the course of +being filled with frescoes and stained windows illustrative of English +history. Here, among others, specially note the late D. Maclise’s +stupendous fresco, 45 feet long by 12 feet high, representing “The +Meeting of Wellington and Blucher after the Battle of Waterloo;” and the +companion fresco, “The Death of Nelson.” + +Westminster Hall.—Although now made, in a most ingenious manner, to form +part of the sumptuous edifice just described, _Westminster Hall_ is +really a distinct building. It was the old hall of the original palace +of Westminster, built in the time of William Rufus, but partly +re-constructed in 1398. The carved timber roof is regarded as one of the +finest in England. The hall is 290 feet long, 68 wide, and 110 high. +There are very few buildings in the world so large as this unsupported by +pillars. The southern end, both within and without, has been admirably +brought into harmony with the general architecture of the Palace of +Parliament. Doors on the east side lead to the House of Commons; doors +on the west lead to the _Courts of Chancery_, _Queen’s Bench_, _Common +Pleas_, _Exchequer_, _Probate_, _and Divorce_, &c. No building in +England is richer in associations with events relating to kings, queens, +and princes, than Westminster Hall. _St. Stephen’s Crypt_, lately +restored with great splendour, is entered from the south end of the Hall. + +Somerset House, in the Strand, was built in 1549 by the Protector +Somerset; and, on his attainder and execution, fell to the Crown. Old +Somerset House was pulled down in 1775, and the present building erected +in 1780, after the designs of Sir Wm. Chambers. The rear of the building +faces the Thames, its river frontage being 600 feet long, and an +excellent specimen of Palladian architecture. In Somerset House are +several Government offices—among the rest, a branch of the Admiralty, the +Inland Revenue, and the Registrar-General’s department. More than 900 +clerks are employed in the various offices. The rooms in which Newspaper +Stamps are produced by ingenious processes, and those in which the +Registrar-General keeps his voluminous returns of births, marriages, and +deaths, are full of interest; but they are not accessible for mere +curiosity. The learned Societies are removed to Burlington House, +Piccadilly. + + [Picture: Somerset House, King’s College, Waterloo Bridge, &c. (St. + Clement’s and St. Mary’s Churches in the distance.)] + +Government Offices.—A few words will suffice for the other West-End +Government offices. The _Admiralty_, in Whitehall, is the head-quarters +of the Naval Department. The front of the building was constructed about +1726; and the screen, by the brothers Adam, about half-a-century later. +Most of the heads of the Admiralty have official residences connected +with the building. The _Horse Guards_, a little farther down Whitehall, +is the head-quarters of the commander-in-chief. It was built about 1753, +and has an arched entrance leading into St. James’s Park. [Picture: +Whitehall, Horse Guards, Government Offices, &c. (Westminster Abbey and +Houses of Parliament in the distance.)] The two cavalry sentries, +belonging either to the Life Guards or to the Oxford Blues, always +attract the notice of country visitors, to whom such showy horsemen are a +rarity. The _Treasury_, the _Office of the __Chancellor of the +Exchequer_, the _Home Office_, the _Privy-council Office_, and the _Board +of Trade_, together occupy the handsome range of buildings at the corner +of Whitehall and Downing Street. The interior of this building is in +great part old; after many alterations and additions, the present front, +in the Italian Palazzo style, was built by Sir Charles Barry in 1847. +The _Foreign Office_, the _India Office_, and the _Colonial Office_, +occupy the handsome new buildings southward of Downing Street. The _War +Office_ in Pall Mall is a makeshift arrangement: it occupies the old +quarters of the Ordnance Office, and some private houses converted to +public use. After many discussions as to architectural designs, &c., the +so-called “Battle of the Styles” ended in a compromise: the Gothic +architect (Mr. G. G. Scott, R.A.) was employed; but an Italian design was +adopted for the new Foreign and India Offices. + + + + +ST. PAUL’S; WESTMINSTER ABBEY; CHURCHES; CHAPELS; CEMETERIES. + + +St. Paul’s Cathedral.—This is the most prominent object in the +metropolis. The lofty dome, seen for miles around, stands in the centre +of an enclosed churchyard of limited dimensions, at the head of Ludgate +Hill. A church is said to have existed here four hundred years before +the Norman conquest; and, under various shapes and extensions, it +remained till destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. An entirely +new edifice was then erected in its stead, the important work being +committed to Sir Christopher Wren. It was opened for divine service in +1697, and finished in 1710—one architect and one master-mason having been +engaged on it for 35 years. {47a} The cathedral is built in the form of +a cross, 514 feet in length by 286 in breadth. {47b} Outwardly, the +walls, which have a dark sooty appearance, except where bleached by the +weather, exhibit a double range of windows. There are three porticos at +as many entrances on the north, west, and south. That on the west is the +principal, with twelve lofty Corinthian pillars below, and a second order +carrying the pediment above; the angles are crowned with handsome +bell-towers, much larger than ordinary church steeples, and 222 feet +high. [Picture: St. Paul’s Cathedral and Churchyard, from Ludgate Hill] +But this entrance, which fronts Ludgate Hill, is not much used; the +common entrance is by the north portico and flight of steps. On +entering, the impression produced by the vastness of the internal space +is great, although the walls want something in tone and relief. +(Subscriptions are being gradually raised for richly adorning the +interior.) There are two domes, an outer and an inner, having a brick +cone between them. The inner dome has six paintings relating to events +in the life of St. Paul: they were painted by Sir James Thornhill, and +have recently been renovated. In the choir is much beautiful carving, by +Grinling Gibbons. In various parts of the cathedral are statues and +monuments of John Howard, Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Bishop Heber, +Nelson, Cornwallis, Abercrombie, Sir John Moore, Lord Heathfield, Howe, +Rodney, Collingwood, St. Vincent, Picton, Ponsonby, and others. In the +_Crypt_ beneath are the tombs of Wellington, Nelson, Wren, Collingwood, +Picton, Reynolds, Lawrence, Opie, West, Fuseli, Turner, Rennie, and other +eminent men. Service is performed on Sundays at 10.30 A.M. and 3.15 +P.M.; on week-days at 8.0, 10.0, and 4.0. A screen, on which the organ +stood, has lately been removed, throwing open the beautiful choir to view +from the nave. The organ has been placed on the north side of the choir. +Several times in the year service is performed under the dome on Sunday +evenings by gaslight; and an additional organ for this service has been +set up in the south transept. The appearance of the dome at these times, +with a soft light shed around it, is extremely beautiful; and the +congregation generally assembled is enormous. If the stranger pleases to +pay the required fees, he may mount, by means of stairs and ladders, to +the top of the dome; and he will be amply repaid by the extensive view +from the balcony or gallery, which comprehends the whole of London, with +the country beyond its outskirts, and the Thames rolling placidly in its +winding course between dense masses of houses. The _Whispering Gallery_, +at the bottom of the inner dome, renders audible the slightest whisper +from side to side. The _Library_ contains chiefly ecclesiastical works +for the use of the Chapter. The two _Golden Galleries_ are at the top of +the inner and outer domes. The _Ball_ and _Cross_, reached by more than +600 steps, are at the summit of the building; the ball, about 6 feet in +diameter, is reached with some difficulty. The _Clock-work_ and _Great +Bell_ always attract the notice of visitors. The pendulum measures 14 +feet in length, while the mass at its extremity is one hundredweight. +The great bell, which is only tolled when a member of the royal family +dies, is placed in the southern turret above the western portico; it +weighs 4½ tons, and is 10 feet in diameter. The fine deep tones of this +mighty bell, on which the hours are struck, sweep solemnly, in a quiet +evening, across the metropolis, and are at times heard distinctly by +families at their firesides far out in the suburbs. Altogether, St. +Paul’s is a magnificent structure; and though it cost a million and +a-half of money in the erection—a great sum in the seventeenth +century—the amount was well spent on so worthy an object. St. Paul’s is +open, during the greater part of the day, free to the public, but no +place is exhibited during divine service.—Fee for admission to the +whispering gallery and the two outer galleries, 6d.; the ball, 1s. 6d.; +the clock, great bell, library, and geometrical staircase, 6d.; and the +crypt, 6d. + + [Picture: Tomb of Nelson—crypt] + +Westminster Abbey.—Nearly opposite the Houses of Parliament stands +Westminster Abbey, open to inspection on the north, west, and east, but +much crowded upon by private dwellings on the south. In very early times +this spot of ground was a small insular tract, surrounded by the waters +of the Thames, and called Thorney Island. Here a monastic institution +was founded on the introduction of Christianity into Britain. Under +Edward the Confessor an abbey was raised upon the site of the ruined +monastic building. The ground-plan, as usual, bore the form of the +cross. Rights and endowments were granted; and the edifice assumed a +great degree of architectural grandeur. It had become the place for the +inauguration of the English monarchs; and William the Conqueror was +crowned here with great pomp in 1066. Henry III. and Edward I. enlarged +the abbey; and the building continued nearly in the state in which they +left it, until Henry VII. added a chapel, built in the perpendicular +style, on which the greatest skill of the architect and the sculptor was +displayed; exhibiting one of the most splendid structures of the age, and +so highly esteemed, that it was enjoined that the remains of royalty +alone should be interred within its walls. During the reign of Henry +VIII., the abbey was considerably defaced; but on the surrender of its +revenues, Henry raised Westminster to the dignity of a city, and its +abbey was constituted a cathedral. It was, however, afterwards re-united +to the see of London, in 1550. (An archbishopric of Westminster, created +by the Pope a few years ago, is connected only with Roman Catholic +matters, and is not recognised by the English law.) Westminster Abbey, +during the reign of William and Mary, was thoroughly repaired, and the +towers added at the western entrance, under the direction of Sir +Christopher Wren. These towers, however, though good in outline and +general mass, are not in harmony with the rest of the building. The +length of the abbey is 416 feet; breadth at the transept, 203 feet; and +at the nave, 102 feet; height of the west towers, 225 feet. The exterior +measurement, including Henry VII.’s Chapel, is 530 feet. + + [Picture: Westminster Abbey, and St. Margaret’s Church] + +On entering at the great western door between the towers, the +magnificence of the abbey soon becomes apparent. The interior displays +grand masses of marble columns separating the nave from the side aisles. +A screen, surmounted by a noble organ, divides the nave from the choir; +while beyond the eye soars, amid graceful columns, tracery, and decorated +windows, to the summit of the eastern arch that overlooks the adjacent +chapels. The walls on both sides display a great profusion of sepulchral +monuments, among which are some finely executed pieces of sculpture, and +touching memorials of those whose exploits or exertions have deserved the +notice of posterity; but too many, unfortunately, are in very bad taste. +Above the line of tombs are chambers and galleries, once occupied by +ecclesiastics; solemn and dreary in their antiquity, though relieved by +occasional sunbeams glancing across the misty height of the nave. The +northern window is richly ornamented with stained glass. + + [Picture: Westminster Abbey—Chapel of Henry VII.] + +The Chapel of Edward the Confessor is at the eastern end of the choir, +and contains the shrine of St. Edward: that it was an exquisite piece of +workmanship, is evident even in its decay. Here also is the +coronation-chair, under which is placed the celebrated stone brought from +Scone, in Scotland, by Edward I. in 1297. The Chapel of Henry VII. is +also at the eastern end; and among the ashes of many royal personages +interred here are those of Mary and Elizabeth. The ascent to this +splendid work of Gothic art is by steps of black marble. The entrance +gates display workmanship of extraordinary richness in brass. The effect +produced on entering this chapel is striking: the roof is wrought in +stone into an astonishing variety of figures and devices; the stalls are +of oak, having the deep tone of age, with Gothic canopies, all +elaborately carved. Here, before the remodelling of the order, used to +be installed the knights of the Order of the Bath. In their stalls are +placed brass plates of their armorial insignia, and above are suspended +their banners, swords, and helmets; beneath the stalls are seats for the +esquires. The pavement is composed of black and white marble; beneath +which is the royal vault. The magnificent tomb of Henry VII. and his +queen stands in the body of this chapel, in a curious chantry of cast +brass, admirably executed, and interspersed with effigies, armorial +bearings, and devices relating to the union of the red and white roses. + +The number of statues and monuments in Westminster Abbey is very great. +Most of them are contained in side-chapels, of which there are several: +viz., St. Benedict’s, St. Edmund’s, St. Nicholas’s, St. Paul’s, St. +Erasmus’s, John the Baptist’s, and Bishop Islip’s; besides Henry VII.’s +and Edward the Confessor’s Chapels, already mentioned. These Chapels +contain about ninety monuments and shrines, some of great beauty. The +Choir, the Transept, and the Nave, also contain a large amount of +sculpture—many specimens in wretched taste, by the side of some of the +first works of Flaxman, Chantrey, Roubiliac, Nollekins, Bacon, +Westmacott, Gibson, Behnes, and others. _Poets’ Corner_, occupying about +half of the south transept, is a famous place for the busts and monuments +of eminent men—including Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Drayton, Ben +Jonson, Milton, Butler, Davenant, Cowley, Dryden, Prior, Rowe, Gay, +Addison, Thomson, Goldsmith, Gray, Mason, Sheridan, Southey, Campbell, +&c. Lord Macaulay and Lord Palmerston were recently buried in the +Abbey—the one in January, 1860; the other in October, 1865. William +Makepeace Thackeray does not lie there, but at Kensal Green, though his +bust is placed next to the statue of Joseph Addison. On the 14th June, +1870, Charles Dickens was interred there. His grave is situated at the +foot of the coffin of Handel, and at the head of the coffin of R. B. +Sheridan, and between the coffins of Lord Macaulay and Cumberland the +dramatist. Near to England’s great humorist, towards his feet, lie Dr. +Johnson and Garrick, while near them lies Thomas Campbell. Shakespeare’s +monument is not far from the foot of the grave. Goldsmith’s is on the +left. A monumental brass, to the memory of Robert Stephenson, has +recently been inlaid in the floor of the nave. The _Cloisters_ and the +_Chapter House_ contain some curious old effigies. + +Westminster Abbey is a collegiate church, with a dean and chapter, who +possess a considerable authority over the adjoining district, and a +revenue of about £30,000 per annum. The abbey may be considered as +sub-divided into chapels; but in the present day divine service (at +7.45,10, and 3) is performed only in a large enclosed space near the +eastern extremity of the building—except on Sunday evenings during a +portion of the year, when service is performed in the nave, in a similar +way to the Sunday evening services under the dome of St. Paul’s. This +evening service, at 7 o’clock, is very striking in effect. There are +usually a considerable number of strangers present at the services, +particularly at that on Sunday evenings. The entrance chiefly used is +that at Poets’ Corner, nearly opposite the royal entrance to the Houses +of Parliament; but on Sunday evenings the great western entrance is used. +There is admittance every week-day free to the chief parts of the +building, and to other parts on payment of a fee of 6d. + +Parish and District Churches.—When we consider that the metropolis +contains nearly 1000 churches and chapels, it may well be conceived that +only a few of them can be noticed here. In addition to St. Paul’s and +the Abbey, the following are worth the notice of strangers. _St. +Michael’s_, Cornhill, has lately been restored and re-decorated in an +elaborate manner by Mr. Gilbert Scott. _St. Bartholomew’s_, Smithfield, +which has been lately restored, was once the choir and transepts of a +priory church; it is interesting, not only for some of its monuments, but +for the varieties of Norman and Gothic styles which it exhibits. _St. +Stephen’s_, Walbrook, close to the Mansion House, is especially worthy of +attention; as the interior is considered to be one of Wren’s happiest +conceptions. _Bow Church_, or the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, occupies a +conspicuous position on the south side of Cheapside, and has a spire of +great elegance, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The clock projects +over the street from the lower part of the tower. Standing as this +church does, in the centre of the city, those who are born within the +sound of its bells are jocularly called _Cockneys_, a name equivalent to +genuine citizens. [Picture: St. Stephen’s, Walbrook] The consecration of +the Bishop of London takes place at Bow Church. _St. Bride’s_, Fleet +Street, is adorned with one of the most beautiful of Sir Christopher +Wren’s steeples. _The Temple Church_ is described in the section +relating to the Temple and other Inns of Court. _St. Saviour’s_ is by +far the most important parish church on the Surrey side of the water. It +is near the foot of London Bridge, on the west side of High Street, +Southwark. It originally belonged to the Priory of St. Mary Overy, but +was made a parish church in 1540. The Choir and the Lady Chapel are +parts of the original structure, and are excellent examples of the early +English style; they have been restored in the present century. Many +other parts of the building deserve notice. The _Savoy Church_, between +the Strand and the Thames, near Waterloo Bridge, was once the Chapel of +the Hospital of St. John the Baptist; it was destroyed by fire in 1864, +and re-built in 1866. _St. Paul’s_, Covent Garden, built by Inigo Jones, +is noticeable for its massive Doric portico. _St. James’s_, Piccadilly, +one of the least sightly of brick churches outside, has an interior which +exhibits Wren’s skill in a striking degree. _St. +Martin’s-in-the-Fields_, at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square, +has always been admired for its elegant spire and portico, constructed by +Gibbs. _St. George’s_, Hanover Square, is chiefly celebrated for the +fashionable marriages that take place there; the exterior, is, however, +picturesque. _Whitehall Chapel_ was originally intended as part of a +royal residence. It is, in fact, the Banqueting House of the palace of +Whitehall, the only remaining portion of what was once an extensive pile. +The former brick structure is entirely gone. The present edifice, built +by Inigo Jones in the time of James I., is considered to be one of the +finest specimens of Italian architecture in England. Charles I. was +executed on a scaffold erected in front of one of the windows. The +interior of Whitehall is about 112 feet long, 56 wide, and 56 high, +forming exactly a double cube; the ceiling is painted by Rubens, with +mythological designs in honour of James I. The building, being +appropriated to no other use, was converted into a chapel in the time of +George I., and was modernized in the interior, about 30 years ago, by Sir +Robert Smirke. _Old St. Pancras Church_, in Pancras Road, a small but +venerable structure, has in recent years been altered and adapted as a +District Church. Its churchyard was remarkable for the number of artists +and other eminent persons interred in it; at one time it was the great +metropolitan burial-place for Roman Catholics, and consequently an +unusual number of foreigners of celebrity, French _emigrés_ during the +Reign of Terror, &c., were buried there. Recently, however, the old +graveyard has been sadly cut about by the pickaxes and shovels of railway +excavators, engaged by the Midland Railway, which passes thereby. + +It is worthy of note, that Sir Christopher Wren built the large number of +_fifty-three_ churches in London after the Great Fire. Nearly all of +them are still standing. Among the most noted are St. Paul’s; Bow +Church; St. Stephen’s, Walbrook; St. Bride’s; St. Andrew’s, Holborn; St. +Sepulchre’s; St. Antholin’s, Watling Street; Christ Church, Newgate; St. +Clement Danes; St. Dunstan’s-in-the-East; St. James’s, Piccadilly; St. +Lawrence, Jewry; St. Magnus, London Bridge; St. Martin’s, Ludgate; and +St. Mary, Aldermanbury. + +Among churches and chapels of the Establishment, of more recent date, the +following are worth looking at:—_New St. Pancras_, near the Euston +Railway Station, is the most notable example in London of an imitative +Greek temple; it was built by Messrs. Inwood, in 1822, and cost nearly +£80,000. _St. Marylebone_, in the Marylebone Road, built by Mr. Hardwick +in 1817, cost £60,000; the interior is heavy in appearance, having two +tiers of galleries; in few London churches, however, is divine service, +according to the established ritual, performed on a more impressive +scale. _St. Stephen’s_, Westminster, in Rochester Row, was built wholly +at the expense of Miss Burdett Coutts, and is a fine example of revived +Gothic; the choral service on Sundays is grand and complete. _St. +Paul’s_, at Knightsbridge, and _St. Barnabas_, at Pimlico, especially the +latter, are noticeable for the mediæval revivals, in arrangements and in +service, which belong to what is called the high-church party. _All +Saints’ Church_, Margaret Street, is, perhaps, the most sumptuous of +modern London churches. Although small, it cost £60,000. Mr. +Butterfield was the architect. The exterior is of red and black brick, +very mediæval in appearance. The interior is ornate, with polished +granite piers, alabaster capitals, coloured marble decorations, +stained-glass windows, and frescoes by Dyce. _St. James the Less_, in +Garden Street, Westminster, is a truly remarkable specimen of +coloured-brick architecture, both within and without; Mr. Street was the +architect; and the cost was defrayed by the daughters of the late Dr. +Monk, Bishop of Gloucester. A very noteworthy and costly brick church +has been constructed in Baldwin’s Gardens, Gray’s Inn Lane, from the +designs of Mr. Butterfield, and at the sole cost of Mr. J. G. Hubbard. +It is dedicated to _St. Alban_. The Rev. A. Mackonochie, whose extreme +ritualistic views have several times brought his name prominently before +the public, was the incumbent. + +Catholic, Dissenting, and Jewish Places of Worship.—It is almost +impossible to give an exact enumeration of the places of worship in +London, seeing that so many new ones are in the course of building. But +the following figures, based on information supplied by the London +Post-Office Directory, and otherwise, will, it is hoped, be found to +convey a very fair approximate notion on the subject. In that Directory, +then, there will be found the names of about 100 city parishes. But of +these, some 40 have, of late years, been united to other parishes. Thus, +All Hallow’s, Honey Lane, is united with St. Mary-le-Bow; St. Mary +Magdalen, in Milk Street, is united with St. Lawrence, Jewry; and so +forth. Many of the parishes so united have their own churches now +closed, or in course of demolition, and worship is provided for them at +the churches of the particular parishes into which they have been merged. +Without counting the city proper, there are, in London, 50 parish +churches, and at least 300 district churches and chapels belonging to the +Church of England. The Roman Catholics have 41 churches and chapels, +without reckoning sundry religious houses. The Wesleyans have 152. The +recognised Dissenters from the Wesleyan body have 4; the Baptists, 109; +the Independents, 109; the United Methodist Free Church, 27; Primitive +Methodists, 16; the Unitarians, 8; Methodist New Connexion, 8; the +Quakers, 5; the Presbyterians (English) 15; the Church of Scotland, 5; +the Calvinists have 2; the Calvinistic Methodists, 3; the Welsh +Calvinistic Methodists, 4. The Jews have 12 Synagogues; there are 3 +French Protestant churches; 9 German (Reformed) churches and chapels; +Swiss Protestant, 1; Swedenborgians, 2; Plymouth Brethren, 3; Catholic +Apostolic (not Roman) 6; 1 Swedish, and 1 Greek church; 1 Russian chapel, +and 3 meeting-houses of Free Christians; 1 Moravian; and some 40 other +places for public worship, belonging to miscellaneous denominations. Of +Roman Catholic churches, the chief is _St. George’s Cathedral_, near +Bethlehem Hospital—a very large, but heavy Gothic structure; the tower +has never been finished for want of funds. [Picture: The Tabernacle] The +service here is more complete than at any other Roman Catholic structure +in England. _St. Mary’s_, near Moorfields; the _Spanish Chapel_, near +Manchester Square; and the _Italian Church_, in Hatton Wall—are three +other Roman Catholic chapels that attract many strangers by their +excellent music. The _Catholic and Apostolic Church_, in Gordon Square, +may be regarded as the cathedral of the so-called Irvingites (a +designation, however, which they repudiate); it is one of the best modern +examples of early English, but there are no funds available for finishing +the tower. The minister of the National Scotch Church, in Crown Court, +Drury Lane, is the celebrated Rev. J. Cumming, D.D., whose preaching +attracts large congregations. Of the dissenting chapels in London, by +far the most remarkable is Mr. Spurgeon’s _Tabernacle_, built at a cost +of about £30,000, at Newington, near the Elephant and Castle; everything, +within and without, has been made subservient to the accommodating of +4000 or 5000 persons, all of whom can hear, and nearly all see, the +celebrated preacher. The principal _Jews’ Synagogue_ is in Great St. +Helen’s, near Leadenhall Street—remarkable rather for the ceremonies, at +certain seasons of the year, than for anything in the building itself. A +synagogue exists for the Jews residing in the western half of the +metropolis, in Great Portland Street. + +Cemeteries.—Intramural burial is now forbidden in London. The chief +cemeteries are those at Highgate, Finchley, Abney Park, Mile-End, Kensal +Green, Bethnal Green, Ilford, Brompton, Norwood, Nunhead, and Camberwell. +There is a very fine view of London, on a clear day, from the +first-named. Kensal Green contains the graves of many distinguished +persons. Princess Sophia was buried at the last-named cemetery; and a +sedulous visitor would discover the tombs and graves of Sydney Smith, the +daughters and a grandchild of Sir Walter Scott, Allan Cunningham, John +Murray, Thomas Hood, Liston, Loudon, Callcott, Birkbeck, Brunel, +Thackeray, and other persons of note. Cardinal Wiseman lies interred in +the Catholic Cemetery adjacent to Kensal Green. The _Great Northern +Cemetery_, near Colney Hatch, lately opened, has special railway +facilities from the King’s Cross Station. The _Woking Necropolis_, in +Surrey, is too far distant to be included within London; nevertheless, +the admirable railway arrangements, from a station of the South-Western, +in the Westminster Road, make it, in effect, one of the metropolitan +cemeteries. If the old burial-grounds are no longer attended to for +funerals, many of them are deeply interesting for their memorials of the +past. _Old St. Pancras Churchyard_ has already been named; and another +worthy of attention is _Bunhill Fields_ burying-ground. It has been +called the ‘Campo Santo’ of Dissenters, for there lie the remains of +Daniel Defoe, John Bunyan, John Owen, George Fox, (who founded the sect +of the Quakers about 1646,) Dr. Isaac Watts, and many a stout defender of +nonconformity. + + + + +BRITISH AND SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUMS; SCIENTIFIC ESTABLISHMENTS. + + +British Museum.—This is a great national establishment, containing a vast +and constantly-increasing collection of books, maps, drawings, prints, +sculptures, antiquities, and natural curiosities. It occupies a most +extensive suite of buildings in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, +commenced in 1823, and not even now finished. The sum spent on them is +little less than £1,000,000. Sir Richard Smirke was the architect. The +principal, or south front, 370 feet long, presents a range of 44 columns, +the centre being a majestic portico, with sculptures in the pediment. +Since its commencement, in 1755, the collection has been prodigiously +increased by gifts, bequests, and purchases; and now it is, perhaps, the +largest of the kind in the world. The library contains more than _eight +hundred thousand_ volumes, and is increasing enormously in extent every +year. The Reading-Room is open only to persons who proceed thither for +study, or for consulting authorities. A reading order is readily +procured on written application, enclosing the recommendation of two +respectable householders, to “the Principal Librarian.” It is open +nearly 300 days in the year, and for an average of eight hours each day. +No general inspection of this room by strangers is allowed, except by a +written order from the secretary, which can, however, readily be obtained +on three days in the week. The porters in the hall will direct to the +secretary’s office; and strangers must be careful to observe the +conditions on which the order is given. The present reading-room, opened +in 1857, and built at a cost of £150,000, is one of the finest apartments +in the world; it is circular, 140 feet in diameter, and open to a +dome-roof 106 feet high, supported without pillars. This beautiful room, +and the fireproof galleries for books which surround it, were planned by +Mr. Panizzi, the late chief librarian. + +The portions of the British Museum open to ordinary visitors consist of +an extensive series of galleries and saloons on the ground and upper +floors, each devoted to the exhibition of a distinct class of objects. +Among others are—terracottas, Roman sculptures and sepulchral +antiquities, Sir T. Lawrence’s collection of casts, British antiquities, +ethnological specimens, Egyptian antiquities, several saloons containing +the Elgin and Phigalian Marbles, Nineveh and Lycian sculptures, &c. The +rooms containing objects in natural history and artificial curiosities +are handsomely fitted up with glass-cases on the walls and tables. Days +may be spent in examining this vast assemblage of objects; and to assist +in the inspection, catalogues for the entire Museum may be purchased at +the door at a cheap price. [Picture: Reading Room, British Museum] The +following will convey an idea of the order in which the general contents +of the Museum meet the eye. Outside the building, in unsightly glass +sheds under the porticos and colonnades, are ancient Greek sculptures +from Asia Minor, chiefly from the famous Mausoleum of Halicarnassus; they +are temporarily so placed until room can be found for them elsewhere. On +entering the hall or vestibule, and ascending the staircase, the +galleries of natural history are reached—stuffed quadrupeds, including a +_gorilla_ purchased from M. Chaillu; stuffed birds; birds’ eggs; shells +in immense variety and of surpassing beauty; minerals; and fossils. +These occupy the eastern, northern, and part of the southern galleries. +The western, and the rest of the southern galleries, are occupied by +numerous antiquarian and ethnological collections—including Egyptian +mummies and ornaments, Greek and Etruscan vases, Greek and Roman bronzes, +ancient and mediæval porcelain, ivory carvings, and specimens of the +dresses, weapons, instruments, &c., of various nations. On the +ground-floor, to the right of the hall, visitors are admitted to a room +containing a curious collection of manuscripts, autographs, and early +printed books; and to the King’s Library, a beautiful apartment, +containing the books presented by George IV. This room also possesses a +small but extremely choice display of Italian, German, and Flemish +drawings and engravings; together with a few _nielli_, (black engravings +on silver plates.) The west side of the ground-floor is occupied by the +ancient sculptures—Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian, Lycian, Roman, &c.—A +refreshment-room for visitors was opened in 1866, and is situated in the +western basement. + +The British Museum is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the +whole of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun weeks. It is closed on the first +week in January, May, and September, and on Christmas-day, Good-Friday, +and Ash-Wednesday. The hour of opening is 10 o’clock; that of closing +varies from 4 till 6 o’clock, according to the season of the year. +During many years past there have been newspaper controversies and +parliamentary debates touching the disposal of the rich contents of the +Museum. Almost every part is filled to overflowing; but much diversity +of opinion exists as to which portion, if any, shall be removed to +another locality. Burlington House and the South Kensington Museum, each +has its advocates. Immediate removal of part of the contents has been +decided on. + + [Picture: Kensington Museum] + +South Kensington Museum.—This very interesting national establishment is +situated at South Kensington, near the Cromwell and Exhibition Roads, on +ground bought out of the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The +varied contents have been either presented to, or purchased by, the +nation, with the exception of a few collections which have been lent for +temporary periods. They consist of illustrations of manufactures and the +useful arts; models of patented inventions; collections of raw produce, +derived from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; a museum of +educational appliances; casts from sculptures and architectural +ornaments; objects of ornamental art, both mediæval and modern; naval +models, &c. Besides these, there are the fine collections of paintings +presented to the nation by Mr. Sheepshanks, and other liberal donors; and +a portion of the Vernon collection, the rest being at the National +Gallery. Turner’s pictures, bequeathed to the nation in his will, were +kept here for some years, but were removed to the National Gallery in +1861. There are, among the group of buildings, some devoted to the +Government Department of Science and Art; but the Museum generally is, so +far as concerns the public, distinct. The Gallery of British Art +contains many hundred pictures, including choice specimens by Turner, +Wilkie, Mulready, Landseer, Leslie, Hogarth, Wilson, Gainsborough, +Reynolds, Lawrence, Constable, Loutherbourg, Callcott, Collins, Etty, +Stanfield, Roberts, Uwins, Creswick, Maclise, Webster, Eastlake, Ward, +Cooke, Cooper, Danby, Goodall, &c. The rooms containing these pictures, +planned by Captain Fowke, are remarkable for the admirable mode of +lighting, both by day and in the evening. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and +Saturdays, the admission is free from 10 A.M. till 10 P.M.; on the other +three days, called _students’_ days, 6d. is charged from 10 A.M. till 4, +5, or 6, according to the season. This is one of the very few free +exhibitions open in the evening (thrice a-week) as well as the daytime. + +Bethnal Green Museum.—This is really a branch of the South Kensington +Museum, and is situated not far from Shoreditch Church. It is accessible +by omnibus from most parts of the City and the West End, and is not far +distant from Victoria Park. It was formally opened, in 1872, by the +Prince and Princess of Wales. At the present, its great attraction is +the picture gallery; but it promises to become as popular as any museum +in London, especially as technical information will become an essential +feature of its future existence. It is open under the same regulations +as are observed at the South Kensington Museum. + +Museum of Economic Geology.—This small but interesting establishment, +having an entrance in Jermyn Street, is a national museum for the +exhibition of all such articles as belong to the mineral kingdom. It was +built from the designs of Mr. Pennethorne, and was opened in 1851. +Though less extensive than the British and South Kensington Museums, it +is of a very instructive character. Besides the mineral specimens, raw +and manufactured, it contains models, sections, and diagrams, +illustrative of mining, metallurgy, and various manufactures. It is +open, _free_, every day, except Friday. + +Museum of the College of Surgeons.—This building, on the south side of +Lincoln’s Inn Fields, can be visited by strangers only through the +introduction of members of the College. The Government, about seventy +years ago, bought John Hunter’s Anatomical Museum, and presented it to +the College. The contents of the museum are illustrative of the +structure and functions of the human body, both in the healthy and the +diseased state; they have been classified and arranged with great skill +by Professor Owen. + +United Service Museum.—This is situated in Whitehall Yard. Admission is +obtained through the members of the United Service Institution. The +contents of the museum consist of models, weapons, and implements +interesting to military men. Here see the robe worn by Tippoo Sahib, +when killed at Seringapatam, in 1799. Also observe Siborne’s +extraordinary model of the battle of Waterloo; and notice the skeleton of +the horse which Napoleon rode at that battle. + +East India Museum.—Near the building last noticed, in Fife House, +Whitehall, is deposited the collection known as the East India Museum, +formerly deposited at the India House, in Leadenhall Street, and now +belonging to the nation. It comprises a very curious assemblage of +Oriental dresses, jewels, ornaments, furniture, musical instruments, +models, paintings, tools, implements, idols, trinkets, &c. Among the +rest is the barbaric toy known as _Tippoo’s Tiger_. It consists of a +figure of a tiger trampling on a prostrate man, whom he is just about to +seize with his teeth; the interior contains pipes and other mechanism, +which, when wound up by a key, cause the figure of the man to utter cries +of distress, and the tiger to roar. Such was one of the amusements of +Tippoo Sahib! The museum is open free on Mondays, Wednesdays, and +Fridays, from 10 till 4. + +Royal Institution.—This building, in Albemarle Street, is devoted to the +prosecution of science, by means of lectures, experiments, discussions, +and a scientific library. It has been rendered famous by the brilliant +labours of Davy and Faraday. Admission is only obtainable by membership, +or by fees for courses of lectures. + +Society of Arts.—This institution has existed in John Street, Adelphi, +for a long series of years. Its object is the encouragement of arts, +manufactures, agriculture, and commerce. Under the auspices of the late +Prince Consort, it was mainly instrumental in bringing about the two +great International Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. The lecture-room +contains six remarkable pictures by Barry, illustrative of ‘Human +Culture.’ Every year there are free exhibitions of manufactures and new +mechanical inventions. + +Scientific Societies.—There are many other Scientific Societies which +hold their meetings in London; but only a few of them possess buildings +worthy of much attention, or contain collections that would interest a +mere casual visitor. The _Royal_, the _Astronomical_, the _Geological_, +the _Chemical_, and the _Linnæan_ Societies, the _College of Physicians_, +the _Institution of Civil Engineers_, and others of like kind, are those +to which we here refer. Many of these societies are at present +accommodated with the use of apartments at the public expense, in +Burlington House, Piccadilly. + + + + +NATIONAL GALLERY; ROYAL ACADEMY; ART EXHIBITIONS. + + +National Gallery.—This building, in Trafalgar Square, is the chief +depository of the pictures belonging to the nation. In 1824, the +Government purchased the Angerstein collection of 38 pictures, for +£57,000, and exhibited it for a time at a house in Pall Mall. The +present structure was finished in 1838, at a cost of about £100,000, from +the designs of Mr. Wilkins. Since that year till 1869, the Royal Academy +occupied the eastern half, and the National Gallery the western. In the +last-named year, the Royal Academy was removed to Burlington House; and +the whole of the building is now what its name denotes. This National +Gallery now comprises the Angerstein collection, together with numerous +pictures presented to the nation by Lord Farnborough, Sir George +Beaumont, the Rev. Holwell Carr, Mr. Vernon, and other persons; and, most +recent of all, the Turner collection, bequeathed to the nation by that +greatest of our landscape painters. Every year, likewise, witnesses the +purchase of choice old pictures out of funds provided by Parliament. The +grant annually is about £10,000. To accommodate the constantly +increasing collection, the centre of the building was re-constructed in +1861, and a very handsome new saloon built, in which are deposited the +choicest examples of the Italian Schools of Painting: forming, with its +contents, one of the noblest rooms of the kind in Europe. To name the +pictures in this collection would be to name some of the finest works of +the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, and French schools of painters. Some of +the most costly of the pictures are the following:—Murillo’s ‘Holy +Family,’ £3000; Rubens’s ‘Rape of the Sabines,’ £3000; Francia’s ‘Virgin +and Child,’ £3500; Sebastian del Piombo’s ‘Raising of Lazarus,’ 3500 +guineas; Coreggio’s ‘Holy Family,’ £3800; Perugino’s ‘Virgin and Child,’ +£4000; Claude’s ‘Seaport,’ £4000; Rubens’s ‘Judgment of Paris,’ £4200; +Raffaelle’s ‘St. Catherine,’ £5000; Rembrandt’s ‘Woman taken in +Adultery,’ £5250; Correggio’s ‘Ecce Homo,’ and ‘Mercury instructing +Cupid,’ 10,000 guineas; and Paul Veronese’s ‘Family of Darius,’ £14,000. + +Royal Academy, Burlington House.—The Academy was established in 1768, for +the encouragement of the fine arts. Until the finishing of Mr. Wilkin’s +building, the Academy held its meetings and exhibitions in a small number +of rooms at Somerset House. Students are admitted on evidence of +sufficient preliminary training, and taught gratuitously; but so far as +the public is concerned, the Royal Academy is chiefly known by its famous +Annual Exhibition of modern English pictures and sculptures, from May to +July. This Exhibition is a very profitable affair to the Academy. Royal +commissions and parliamentary committees find a difficulty in +investigating the revenues, privileges, and claims of the Academy; it is +known, however, that the schools are maintained out of the profits. +Concerning the building in Trafalgar Square, most persons agree that the +main front is too much cut up in petty detail, and that one of the finest +sites in Europe has thus been comparatively neglected. Some have +humorously nicknamed it “The National Cruet Stand.” + +National Portrait Gallery.—This infant gallery, established by the nation +in 1857, is now at Exhibition Road, South Kensington. The object is to +be strictly confined to the collecting of a series of national portraits +of persons of any note, whether of early or of late days. A sum of £2000 +a-year is voted for this purpose. The collection is yet only small, but +very interesting, and is yearly increasing. Open free on Wednesdays and +Saturdays. + +Soane Museum.—This closely-packed collection, presented to the nation by +the late Sir John Soane, the architect, occupies the house which he used +to inhabit, at No. 13, on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Every +nook and corner of about 24 rooms is crowded with works of +art—sarcophagi, ancient gems and intaglios, medals and coins, sculptures, +sketches and models of sculptures, books of prints, portfolios of +drawings, Hogarth’s famous series of pictures of the ‘Rake’s Progress,’ +and numerous other examples of _vertu_, some of which cost large sums of +money. The place is open every Wednesday from February to August +inclusive, and every Thursday and Friday in April, May, and June, from 10 +till 4. Still, these are very insufficient facilities (only 56 days out +of the 365 in the year) for seeing a fine collection of treasures. +Orders for admission are sent, on application, by post. + +Art Exhibitions.—There are always numerous picture exhibitions open in +the summer months—such as those formed by the _British Institution_, the +_Society of British Artists_, the _Society of Painters in Water Colours_, +&c.; concerning which information can be seen in the advertisement +columns of the newspapers. At the British Institution there is a spring +exhibition of modern pictures, and a summer exhibition of ancient. The +price of admission to such places is almost invariably One Shilling. +Other exhibitions, pertaining more to entertainment than to fine arts, +are briefly noticed in a later section. + + + + +COLLEGES; SCHOOLS; HOSPITALS; CHARITIES. + + +London, as may well be imagined, is largely supplied with institutions +tending to the proper care of the young, the aged, the sick, and the +impoverished. A few of the more important among them are worthy of the +attention of strangers. + +Colleges.—The two chief colleges in London are connected with the _London +University_. This University is a body of persons, not (as many suppose) +a building. The body was established in 1837, to confer degrees on the +students or graduates of many different colleges in and about London. It +occupies apartments at Burlington House, Piccadilly, lent by the +government for examining purposes; but it neither teaches nor gives +lectures. _University College_, in Gower Street, was originally called +_London University_; but since 1837, the more limited designation has +been given to it. [Picture: University College] It was founded in 1828, +on the proprietary system, to afford a good middle-class education at a +moderate expense, without limitation as to religious tests. Hence it is +much frequented by Jews, Parsees, Hindoos, &c. The whole range of +college tuition is given, except divinity; with the addition of much +fuller instruction in science and in modern languages than was before +given in colleges. The building, with its lofty portico, might possibly +have presented a good appearance if the plans of the architect had been +carried out; but, through want of funds, the wings have never been built, +and the structure is ridiculously incomplete. The college possesses a +fine collection of casts from Flaxman’s sculptures, usually open to +inspection by strangers. _King’s College_, in the Strand, has been +already mentioned as adjoining Somerset House on the east. It was +founded in the same year as University College, expressly in connection +with the Established Church of England. There was some sectarian +bitterness between the two establishments at first, but both have settled +down into a steady career of usefulness. The teaching of divinity, and +the observance of church-service as part of the routine, are maintained +at King’s College. _Gordon College_, or _University Hall_, in Gordon +Square, is an establishment mainly supported by Unitarians; the building +itself, as a modern imitation of the old red-brick style, is worthy of a +passing glance. _New College_, at St. John’s Wood, for +Congregationalists or Independents; the _Baptist College_, in the +Regent’s Park; the _English Presbyterian Theological College_, Guildford +Street, W.C.; the _Wesleyan College_, in the Horseferry Road; _Hackney +College_; and a few others of less note—are establishments maintained by +various bodies of dissenters; some for educating ministers for the +pulpit; some for training schoolmasters and schoolmistresses. Of the +buildings so occupied, the handsomest is New College. This was +established, a few years ago, as a substitute for _Highbury_, _Homerton_, +and _Coward_ Colleges, all belonging to the Congregationalists. _Gresham +College_: this is not a college in the modern sense of the term; it is +only a lecture-room. Sir Thomas Gresham left an endowment for an annual +series of lectures, and residences and stipends for the lecturers. The +charity was greatly misused during the 17th and 18th centuries. Public +attention having been called to the subject, a new lecture hall was +built, a few years ago, at the corner of Basinghall and Gresham Streets, +out of the accumulated fund; and lectures are delivered here at certain +periods of each year. The subjects are divinity, physic, astronomy, +geometry, law, rhetoric, and music. The lectures take place in the +middle of the day, some in Latin, some in English; they are freely open +to the public; but the auditors, at such an hour and in such a +place—surrounded by the busy hum of commerce—are very few in number. +Among the training colleges for schoolmasters and mistresses may be named +the _National Society’s_ at Battersea; _St. Mark’s Training College_, +Fulham Road; the _Training Institution_ for schoolmistresses, King’s +Road, Chelsea; the _British and Foreign_ in the Borough Road; and the +_Home and Colonial_ in Gray’s Inn Road. At Islington is a Church of +England Training College for missionaries. The _College of Preceptors_, +in Queen Square, resembles the London University in this, that it confers +a sort of degree, or academical rank, but does not teach. Many so-called +colleges are either proprietary or private schools. + +Great Public Schools.—The chief of these in London is _Westminster +School_, not for the building itself, but for the celebrity of the +institution; although the college hall, once the refectory of the old +abbots of Westminster, is interesting from its very antiquity. The +school, which was founded in 1560, lies south-west of Westminster Abbey, +but very near it. Some of our greatest statesmen and scholars have been +educated here. _St. Paul’s School_, situated on the eastern side of St. +Paul’s Churchyard, was founded in 1521, by Dean Colet, for the education +of ‘poor men’s children.’ Like many others of the older schools, the +benefits are not conferred so fully as they ought to be on the class +designated. The presentations are wholly in the hands of the Mercers’ +Company. The now existing school-house, the third on the same site, was +built in 1823. The _Charter House School_, near Aldersgate Street, is +part of a charity established by Thomas Sutton in 1611. Among other +great men here educated were the late Sir Henry Havelock, and W. M. +Thackeray. There is an Hospital or Almshouse for about 80 ‘poor +Brethren,’ men who have seen better days; and there is a school for the +free education of 40 ‘poor Boys,’ with many more whose parents pay for +their schooling. The chapel and ante-chapel, the great hall and +staircase, and the governor’s room, are interesting parts of the +building. _Christ’s Hospital_, or the _Blue Coat School_—as it is +commonly called from the colour of the boys’ dress—is situated within an +enclosure on the north side of Newgate Street, and is one of the most +splendid among the charitable foundations of London. The buildings stand +on the site of a monastery of Grey-friars, which was granted by Henry +VIII. to the city for the use of the poor; and his son and successor, +Edward VI., greatly extended the value of the gift by granting a charter +for its foundation as a charity school, and at the same time endowing it +with sundry benefactions. The hospital was opened, for the reception and +education of boys, in 1552. Charles II. added an endowment for a +mathematical class; and with various augmentations of endowment, the +annual revenue is now understood to be no less than £40,000. This income +supports and educates nearly 1200 children, 500 of whom, including girls, +are boarded at the town of Hertford, for the sake of country air. The +management of the institution is vested in a body of governors, composed +of the lord mayor and aldermen, twelve common-councilmen chosen by lot, +and all benefactors to the amount of £400 and upwards. The children are +admitted without reference to the City privileges of parents; about one +hundred and fifty are entered annually. It is undeniable, however, that +many children are admitted rather through interest than on account of the +poverty of their parents. After instruction in the elementary branches +of schooling, the greater number of the boys leave the hospital at the +age of fifteen; those only remaining longer who intend to proceed to the +university, or to go to sea after completing a course of mathematics. +There are seven presentations at Cambridge, and one at Oxford, open to +the scholars. The buildings of the institution embrace several +structures of large dimensions, chiefly ranged round open courts, with +cloisters beneath; and a Church, which also serves as a parochial place +of worship. The only part of the establishment, however, worth examining +for its architecture is the Great Hall, occupying the first floor of a +building of modern date, designed by Mr. Shaw, in the Gothic style. It +measures 187 feet long, 51 feet broad, and 47 high, and possesses an +organ-gallery at the east end. In this magnificent apartment the boys +breakfast, dine, and sup. Before meals, one of the elder inmates repeats +a long grace or prayer, at the commencement of which the whole of the +boys, in lines at their respective tables, fall on their knees. The boys +are dressed in the costume selected for them in Edward VI.’s reign; the +outer garments consisting of a long dark-blue coat, breeches, and yellow +worsted stockings. The ‘public suppers,’ on Thursdays in Lent, are worth +the attention of strangers: (tickets from governors.) _Merchant Taylors’ +School_, situated in a close part of the City behind the Mansion House, +was founded in 1561 by the Merchant Taylors’ Company. The present +structure was built in 1673, with the exception of some of the +classrooms, which are much more modern. About 260 boys are educated, +wholly on the presentation of members of the Company; and there are +numerous fellowships at St. John’s College, Oxford, open to the scholars. +_Mercers’ Free Grammar School_, in College Hill, is a small establishment +of similar kind. The _City of London School_, in Milk Street, Cheapside, +is one of the most modern of these _Grammar_ Schools, as they are called. +It was founded in 1835, and possesses several Exhibitions for successful +senior scholars. + +Other Schools.—The schools established under the auspices of the National +Society, called _National_ Schools, are very numerous, but need hardly be +noticed here. The _British and Foreign School Society_, in the Borough +Road, and the _Home and Colonial School Society_, in Gray’s Inn Road, +train up teachers without reference to religious tests; whereas the +_National Society_ is in connection with the Church of England. Many +very superior schools for girls, under the designation of _Ladies’ +Colleges_, have been established in the metropolis within the last few +years, in Harley Street and in Bedford Square, &c. The _Government +School of Art for Ladies_ is in Queen Square, Bloomsbury. The _National +Art Training School_ is at South Kensington. + +The London School Board, elected in 1870, under the new Education Act, +has its _locale_ at 33 New Bridge Street, Blackfriars. It has, +practically speaking, almost entire control of the educational systems of +the metropolis, and is armed with inquisitorial powers that remind us of +the ancient Star Chamber. Still, the system of election of the members +of the Board gives a certain guarantee of responsibility, that makes its +prestige, at least, without suspicion. + +Schools of Telegraphy are established at 138 Regent Street, W., and 24 +City Road, E.C., where the art is fully instructed, to resident and +non-resident pupils. + +Hospitals and Charitable Institutions.—A small volume might readily be +filled with a list of London’s charitable institutions. The charities +connected in some way with the corporation of London are _Christ’s +Hospital_, for boarding and educating youth, already mentioned; +_Bethlehem Hospital_, Lambeth, for insane patients; _St. Thomas’s +Hospital_, for treating poor patients diseased and hurt; and _St. +Bartholomew’s Hospital_, West Smithfield, for the same purpose. The City +companies likewise support a number of beneficiary institutions, such as +the _Ironmongers’ Almhouses_ at Kingsland, and others of like kind. The +following hospitals are the most important among the large number founded +and supported by private benevolence:—_Guy’s Hospital_, Southwark; +_London Hospital_, Whitechapel Road; _Westminster Hospital_, near the +Abbey; _St. George’s Hospital_, Hyde Park Corner; _Middlesex Hospital_, +Charles Street, Oxford Street; _University College Hospital_, Gower +Street; _St. Luke’s Hospital_, for the insane, City Road; _King’s College +Hospital_, near Clare Market; _Small-Pox Hospital_, Highgate Rise; the +_Foundling Hospital_, Great Guildford Street; the _Consumption Hospital_, +Brompton; _Charing Cross Hospital_, Agar Street; the _Lock Hospital_, +Harrow Road; and the _Royal Free Hospital_, Gray’s Inn Road. Besides +these, there are several Lying-in hospitals, a Floating hospital on the +Thames, now substituted by a part of Greenwich Hospital being devoted to +a similar use; various Ophthalmic hospitals, and numerous Dispensaries +and Infirmaries for particular diseases. Institutions for the relief of +indigent persons, Deaf and Dumb asylums, Blind asylums, and Orphan +asylums, are far too numerous to be specified. In short, there are in +this great metropolis about 250 hospitals, dispensaries, infirmaries, +asylums, and almshouses; besides at least 400 religious, visiting, and +benevolent institutions for ministering to the various ills, mental and +moral, bodily or worldly, to which an immense population is always +subject. It is supposed that these several institutions receive in +subscriptions considerably over £2,000,000 annually. Some of the +hospital buildings above named are large and majestic in appearance. +When, for the Charing Cross extension of the South-Eastern Railway, St. +Thomas’s Hospital and site, which formerly stood close to London Bridge +Station, were purchased for a sum not very much under £300,000, it was +arranged to rebuild the hospital between the south end of Westminster +Bridge and Lambeth Palace. This hospital, which is now completed, +affords a fine object from a steamboat passing up the river, and is +certainly one of the noblest buildings of its class in Europe. + + + + +THE TOWER; THE MINT; THE CUSTOM HOUSE; THE GENERAL POST OFFICE. + + +This section treats of four important government buildings situated in +the eastern half of the metropolis. + +The Tower of London.—This famous structure, or rather group of +structures, is a cluster of houses, towers, barracks, armouries, +warehouses, and prison-like edifices, situated on the north bank of the +Thames, and separated from the crowded narrow streets of the city by an +open space of ground called Tower-hill. The Tower was founded by William +the Conqueror, probably on the site of an older fortress, to secure his +authority over the inhabitants of London; but the original fort which he +established on the spot was greatly extended by subsequent monarchs; and +in the twelfth century it was surrounded by a wet ditch, which was +improved in the reign of Charles II. This ditch or moat was drained in +1843. Within the outer wall the ground measures upwards of twelve acres. +Next the river there is a broad quay; and on this side also there was a +channel (now closed) by which boats formerly passed into the main body of +the place. This water-entrance is known by the name of Traitors’ Gate, +being that by which, in former days, state prisoners were brought in +boats after their trial at Westminster. There are three other entrances +or postern-gates—Lion Gate, Iron Gate, and Water Gate—only two of which, +however, are now used. The interior of the Tower is an irregular +assemblage of short streets and courtyards, bounded by various +structures. The _White Tower_, or _Keep_, is the oldest of these +buildings; and the _Chapel_ in it is a fine specimen of a small Norman +church. Other towers are the _Lion Tower_, near the principal entrance; +the _Middle Tower_, the first seen on passing the ditch; the _Bell +Tower_, adjacent to it; the _Bloody Tower_, nearly opposite _Traitors’ +Gate_; the _Salt Tower_, near the Iron Gate; _Brick Tower_, where Lady +Jane Grey was confined; _Bowyer Tower_, where the Duke of Clarence is +said to have been [Picture: Chapel in Tower] drowned in the butt of +malmsey; and _Beauchamp Tower_, where Anne Boleyn was imprisoned. These +old towers are very curious, but few of them are open to the public. The +principal objects of interest are a collection of cannon, being trophies +of war; the horse armoury, a most interesting collection of suits of mail +on stuffed figures; and the crown and other insignia of royalty. In the +_Horse Armoury_, a long gallery built in 1826, is an extensive collection +of armour, arranged by Sir Samuel Meyrick, a great authority on this +subject. It comprises whole suits of armour, consisting of hauberks, +chausses, surcoats, baldricks, breast-plates, back-plates, chain-mail +sleeves and skirts, gauntlets, helmets, frontlets, vamplates, flanchards, +and other pieces known to the old armourers. About twenty complete suits +of armour are placed upon stuffed figures of men, mostly on stuffed +horses. Four of the suits belonged to Henry VIII., Dudley Earl of +Leicester, Henry Prince of Wales, and Charles I.; the others are merely +intended to illustrate the kinds of armour in vogue at certain periods. +One suit, of the time of Richard III., [Picture: Traitor’s Gate, Chapel +White Tower] was worn by the Marquis of Waterford at the Eglinton +tournament in 1839. The gallery also contains some other curiosities +relating to the armour of past days. _Queen Elizabeth’s Armoury_ is in +the White Tower, the walls of which are 13 feet thick, and still contain +traces of inscriptions by state prisoners in troubled times: the armoury +contains many curious old shields, bows, Spanish instruments of torture, +petronels, partisans, beheading axe and block, thumb-screws, Lochaber +axes, matchlocks, arquebuses, swords, &c. Immediately outside these +Armouries, in the open air, are some curious cannon and mortars belonging +to different ages and different countries. The new _Barracks_ occupy the +site of the Small Arms Armoury, destroyed by fire in 1841, when 280,000 +stand of arms were destroyed. The _Lions_ in the Tower were among the +sights of the place for nearly 600 years; they were in a building near +the present ticket-office, but were given to the Zoological Society in +1834. The _Jewel House_, a well-guarded room to the east of the +Armouries, contains a valuable collection of state jewels. Among them +are the following:—_St. Edward’s Crown_, used at all the coronations from +Charles II. to William IV.; the _New State Crown_, made for the +coronation of Queen Victoria, and valued at more than £100,000; the +_Prince of Wales’s_ and the _Queen Consort’s Crowns_ (the most recent +wearer of the last was Queen Adelaide); the _Queen’s Diadem_; the _Royal +Sceptre_, _Queen’s Sceptre_, and _Queen’s Ivory Sceptre_; the _Orb_ and +the _Queen’s Orb_; _St. Edward’s Staff_ and the _Rod of Equity_; the +_Swords of Mercy and of Justice_; the _Coronation Bracelets_ and _Royal +Spurs_; the _Ampulla_ for the holy oil, and the _Coronation Spoon_; the +silver-gilt _Baptismal Font_, used at the christening of royal children; +and the famous _Koh-i-noor_, or ‘Mountain of Light,’ the wonderful +diamond once belonging to Runjeet Singh, chief of Lahore, but now the +property of Queen Victoria,—it was an object of great interest at the two +great Exhibitions in 1851 and 1862. Strangers, on applying at an office +at the entrance from Tower-hill, are conducted through a portion of the +buildings by warders, who wear a curious costume of Henry VIII.’s +time—some years ago rendered incongruous by the substitution of black +trousers for scarlet hose. These warders, or _beef-eaters_ (as they are +often called), go their rounds with visitors every half-hour from 10 till +4. The word “beef-eaters” was a vulgar corruption of _beaufetiers_, +battle-axe guards, who were first raised by Henry VII. in 1485. They +were originally attendants upon the king’s buffet. A fee of 6d. is +charged for seeing the Armouries, and 6d. for the Jewel House. From time +to time, when foreign politics look threatening, the Tower undergoes +alterations and renovations to increase its utility as a fortress; and it +is at all times under strict military government. + +The Mint.—This structure, situated a little north-east of the Tower, is +the establishment in which the coinage is in great part made, and wholly +regulated. The rooms, the machinery, and the processes for coining, are +all full of interest. The assaying of the gold and silver for coinage; +the alloying and melting; the casting into ingots; the flattening, +rolling, and laminating of the ingots to the proper thickness; the +cutting into strips, and the strips into circular blanks; the stamping of +those blanks on both surfaces; and the testing to ascertain that every +coin is of the proper weight—are all processes in which very beautiful +and perfect apparatus is needed. Copper and bronze coins are mostly made +for the government at Birmingham. From a statement made in parliament, +in August, 1869, by the Right Hon. Robert Lowe, we gathered that _98 +millions of sovereigns_ had been coined in the Mint since 1850. But of +these no fewer than 44 millions had been lost to our coinage, because +many of the sovereigns, being overweight, had been sent to the Continent +to be melted down as bullion! There are nearly 500 millions of copper +coin in circulation; and of silver coin, from crown pieces down to +threepenny pieces, something like the astounding number of 286,220,000. +Permission to view this interesting establishment could at one time only +be obtained by special application to the Master of the Mint, who has an +official residence at the spot; but since the death of the late Master, +Dr. Graham, that office will not in future be filled up. A letter to the +Deputy Master will probably obtain the required order to view. We should +add that the removal of the Mint to Somerset House is now seriously +contemplated. It is urged that the price of its present site, if sold, +would readily defray cost of removal. + +Custom House.—This important building, situated on the north bank of the +Thames, between London Bridge and the Tower, occupies a site on which +other and smaller custom houses had previously stood. The east and west +ends of the present structure were finished in 1817 by Mr. Laing; but the +central portion was rebuilt afterwards from the designs of Sir Robert +Smirke. The river front is extensive, and although not architecturally +fine, the general appearance is effective. One of the few broad terraces +on the banks of the Thames is that in front of the Custom House; it is a +good position from whence strangers can view the shipping in the river. +The ‘Long Room’ in this building is 190 feet long by 66 broad. By way of +illustrating the enormous amount of business done here, we may mention, +that in the years 1867–68, the amount of Customs’ receipts collected in +the port of London was _more_ than [Picture: Billingsgate, Coal Exchange, +and Custom House. (Fenchurch Station, behind at the right.)] that of all +the _other ports_ of _Great Britain_ taken together, and five times that +of the whole of Ireland. In 1867, the port of London gross receipts were +£10,819,711; and in 1868, £10,694,494. The vast Customs’ duties for the +port of London, amounting to nearly half of those for the whole United +Kingdom, are managed here. + + [Picture: General Post Office, &c. (Tower, Monument, and London Bridge + in the distance.)] + +General Poet Office.—This large building, at the corner of Cheapside and +St. Martin’s-le-Grand, was finished in 1829, from the designs of Sir +Robert Smirke. It is in the Ionic style, with a lofty central portico; +beneath which is the entrance to the spacious hall (80 feet long, 60 feet +wide, and 53 feet high), having also an entrance at the opposite +extremity; but the central Hall is now entirely enclosed, owing to the +recent great extension of the Postal business. A Money-order Office has +been built on the opposite side of the street; and the Post Office has +been added to in various ways, to make room for increased business. The +main building, which contains a vast number of rooms, is enclosed by a +railing; and at the north end is a courtyard, in which mail-vans range up +and depart with their load of bags, at certain hours in the morning and +evening, for the several railway termini. At other portions of the +building the foreign, colonial, and India mails are despatched. From six +to seven o’clock in the evening a prodigious bustle prevails in putting +letters into the Post Office; and on Saturday evening, when the Sunday +newspapers are posted, the excitement is still further +increased—especially just before six, by which hour the newspapers must +be posted. The establishment, some four years ago, employed 20,000 +clerks, sorters, and letter-carriers in the various parts of the United +Kingdom; and since the Post Office took over the business of the +Telegraph Companies, the number of its employés is greatly increased. +The postage charged on foreign and colonial letters is too small to pay +for the mail-packets and other expenses; profit is derived only from the +inland letters. There are now in London and the suburbs about 730 +pillar-boxes and wall-boxes; without counting receiving houses. +Newspapers and book packets must not be put in town pillar-boxes. A very +useful novelty, _Post Office Savings’ Banks_, was introduced in 1861. In +the year 1840, in which the uniform rate of one penny per letter of half +an ounce weight, &c., commenced, the revenue of the Post Office was only +£471,000. Its revenue received during the year 1871–72 was no less than +£6,102,900, and every year the receipts are increasing. New postal +buildings of great extent have been erected on the opposite side of the +street. + + + + +THE CORPORATION; MANSION HOUSE; GUILDHALL; MONUMENT; ROYAL EXCHANGE. + + +It will be convenient to group here certain buildings belonging to the +Corporation of London; and to prefix to a notice of them some account of +the mode in which the city of London is governed. + +The Corporation.—With respect to civic jurisdiction, the city of London +is governed in a peculiar manner. In virtue of ancient charters and +privileges, the city is a species of independent community, governed by +its own laws and functionaries. While all other boroughs have been +reformed in their constitution, London has been suffered to remain, as +yet, in the enjoyment of nearly all its old usages. The city is civilly +divided into twenty-five wards, each of which has an alderman; and with +one alderman without a ward, the number of aldermen is 26. Each is +chosen for life, and acts as magistrate within his division. The freemen +of the various wards elect representatives annually to the +common-council, to the number of 206 members. The lord mayor, aldermen, +and common-council, compose the legislative body for the city. The lord +mayor is chosen by a numerous and respectable constituency, called _the +livery_, or liverymen; these are certain qualified members of trading +corporations, who, except in electing the lord mayor, sheriffs, members +of parliament, &c., do not directly interfere in city management. The +Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common-council have certain +legislative and executive duties, partly with and partly without the +immediate aid of the lord mayor. The revenue of the city corporation is +derived from sundry dues, rents, interest of bequests, fines for leases, +&c. The magistracy, police, and prisons cost about £40,000 annually; but +this is exclusive of large sums disbursed by the court of aldermen. The +lord mayor is elected annually, on the 29th of September, from among the +body of aldermen. The livery send a list of two candidates to the court +of aldermen, and one of these, generally the senior, is chosen by them. +He enters office, with much pomp, on the 9th of November, which is hence +called Lord Mayor’s Day. The procession through the streets on this +occasion attracts citizens as well as strangers. The advocate and legal +adviser of the corporation is an official with the title of Recorder. +The lord mayor and corporation exercise a jurisdiction over Southwark and +other precincts. Westminster, which is not connected in civic matters +with London Proper, is under the jurisdiction of a high-bailiff. The +city returns 4 members to Parliament, besides the 16 returned by +Westminster, Southwark, Marylebone, Tower Hamlets, Finsbury, Lambeth, +Chelsea, and Greenwich. + +In 1829, the old mode of protection by _Watchmen_ was abolished in all +parts of the metropolis except the city, and a new _Police Force_ +established by Act of Parliament. This has been a highly successful and +beneficial improvement. The new police is under the management of +commissioners, who are in direct communication with the Secretary of +State for the Home Department; under the commissioners are +superintendents, inspectors, sergeants, and constables. The district +under their care includes the whole metropolis and environs, with the +exception of the city, grouped into 21 divisions, each denoted by a +letter. The constables wear a blue uniform, and are on duty at all times +of the day and night. Three-fourths of the expenses are paid out of the +parish rates, but limited to an assessment of 8d. per pound on the +rental; the remainder is contributed from the public purse. The +corporation have since established a Police Force for the city on the +model of that above mentioned. In addition to two Police Offices for the +city, at the Mansion House and Guildhall, there are eleven for the +remaining parts of the metropolis,—viz., Bow Street, Clerkenwell, Great +Marlborough Street, Thames, Worship Street, Southwark, Marylebone, +Westminster, Lambeth, Greenwich and Woolwich, and Hammersmith and +Wandsworth. The Thames Police have a peculiar jurisdiction over the +river. In 1836, a horse patrol was added to the Bow Street +establishment, consisting of inspectors and patrols, whose sphere of +action is the less frequented roads around the metropolis. With all +these means of preserving the peace and preventing crime, the metropolis +is now one of the most orderly cities in the world; and provided +strangers do not seek the haunts of vice, but pursue their way steadily, +they run little or no risk of molestation. The number of metropolitan +police in 1872 was about 9,000; of city police, 700—including, in both +cases, superintendents, inspectors, &c., &c. The commissioner of +metropolitan police is Lieutenant-Colonel E. Y. W. Henderson, C.B., 4 +Whitehall Place, S.W.; the commissioner of city police is Colonel James +Fraser, C.B., 26 Old Jewry, E.C. + +The _Drainage_ of London was a matter barely understood at all, and in no +wholesome sense practised, till some time after the Board of Works was +formed, in 1855, when their best efforts to check a rapidly growing +evil—viz., the casting of London’s poisonous sewage into the Thames at +our very doors—were called into play. The estimated cost of one of the +most colossal schemes of modern times was, at its outset, put down at +something over three millions; and when the vast plan for main drainage +was commenced, in 1859, a sanitary revolution began. A far greater sum, +however, must be expended ere the idea is wholly carried out. It is +obviously out of our power, in our limited space, to do anything more +than give the reader a mere rough notion of the good to be done and the +difficulties to be overcome. The plan was to construct some 70 odd miles +of gigantic sewers on either side of the Thames. The north side of the +river has three different lines of sewers, which meet at the river Lea, +and thereafter go along, in one huge embankment, to Barking Creek, on the +Thames, 14 miles below London Bridge. With certain differences, the +sewage of the south side of the Thames is amenable to the same kind of +treatment. By some returns, furnished in June, 1870, by the engineer of +the Metropolitan Board of Works, it appears that the average daily +quantity of sewage pumped into the river Thames at Crossness was 170,934 +cubic metres, and at Barking 152,808 cubic metres—equivalent to about as +many tons by weight. That quantity, of course, will every year, as +London grows, increase. As the sewers on the north side of the river get +more near to the sea, they can be seen. The south side sewers are nearly +all out of sight. As the tide flows, the filth of London, by their +means, is poured into the water. As it ebbs, the sewage is carried out +to sea. Powerful steam-engines, for pumping up sewage from low levels, +are used as they are required. The clerk of the Metropolitan Board of +Works, who may be seen at Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, will, we should +fancy, oblige any gentleman with engineering proclivities with an order +to view what has already been accomplished by marvellous ability and +enterprise,—whose results can in no fair sense gain anything like fair +appreciation without personal inspection. + +London is _Lighted_ by sundry joint-stock gas companies; the parishes +contract with them for street lights, and individuals for the house and +shop lights. Gas was first introduced into London, in Golden Lane, in +1807; in Pall Mall in 1809; and generally through London in 1814. There +are something like 2,500 miles of gas-pipes in and about London. + +The first of the public _Baths_ and _Wash-houses_ was established near +the London Docks in 1844. The number, of course, has vastly increased. +Many of them are maintained by the parish authorities, and are very +cheap. + +The first public _Drinking Fountain_ in London was erected, near St. +Sepulchre’s Church, close to Newgate, in 1859. There are now nearly 200 +such fountains and troughs for animals in London. + +In 1833, by an agreement among the Fire Insurance offices, there was +established a regular fire-suppression police, or _Fire Brigade_, +consisting of a superintendent, foremen, engineers, sub-engineers, and +firemen; numerous engines are in constant readiness at fifty-four +different stations. (The brigade is now placed under public control, +supported by a house-rate.) The fires in London exceed 1,500 annually, +on an average. + +Mansion House.—This is a tall square mass of dark stone building, nearly +opposite the Bank and the Royal Exchange, with a portico of six +Corinthian columns in front, resting on a low rustic basement. This +edifice, which extends a considerable depth behind, is the official +residence of the Lord Mayor of London, provided by the city corporation. +Besides an extensive suite of domestic apartments, it contains a number +of state-rooms, in which company is received and entertained. The chief +of these rooms are the Egyptian hall and the ball-room, which have a +grand appearance. Some fine sculptures by British artists—the best of +which are Foley’s ‘Caractacus and Egeria,’ and Bailey’s ‘Genius and the +Morning Star’—have recently been added; the corporation having voted a +sum of money for this purpose. The lord mayor’s annual stipend is £5,997 +8s. 4d., with certain allowances, we believe, not stated; and in the +Mansion House he has the use of a superb collection of plate: he is +likewise allowed the use of a state-coach, &c. Every lord mayor, +however, expends more than this sum during his year of office in grand +banquets. + +Guildhall.—This may be regarded as the _Town-hall_, or what the French +would call the _Hotel de Ville_, of London; where are held meetings of +the livery to elect members of parliament, lord mayor, sheriffs, and +others, and where the grandest civic entertainments are given. It is +situated at the end of King Street, Cheapside. The building is old, but +received a new front, in a strange kind of Gothic, in 1789. The interior +of the grand hall is 153 feet long, 48 feet broad, and 55 feet high; it +is one of the largest rooms in London, and can accommodate about 3,500 +persons at dinner. Two clumsy colossal figures, called Gog and Magog, +the history of which has never clearly been made out, are placed at the +west end of the hall. Around it are some fine marble monuments to Lord +Mayor Beckford, Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Chatham, +and his son, William Pitt. Note the stained glass with the armorial +bearings of the twelve great city companies; also observe, in the passage +leading to the common-council chamber, the portrait of General Sir W. F. +Williams, the heroic defender of Kars in 1855. At the top of the council +chamber will be seen Chantrey’s statue of George III.; a picture of the +siege of Gibraltar, by Copley; and Northcote’s ‘Wat Tyler slain by Lord +Mayor Walworth,’ with other pictures and portraits. Near by are several +offices for corporate and law courts. The _Library_ contains many +valuable antiquities, books, coins, pottery, &c., and some interesting +autographs. Note that of Shakespere, on a deed of purchase of a house in +Blackfriars. The _Crypt_ is a curious underground vault. On Lord +Mayor’s Day the grand dinner usually costs about £2,200. On the 18th +June, 1814, when the Allied Sovereigns dined here, the gold plate was +valued at £200,000. + +The Monument.—This may be regarded as a corporate structure, although it +answers no useful purpose. It is a fluted Doric column, situated in a +small space of ground adjoining the southern extremity of King William +Street, on the descent to Lower Thames Street. It was begun in 1671, and +finished in 1677, at a cost of about £14,500, in commemoration of the +Great Fire of London, which began at the distance of 202 feet eastward +from the spot, in 1666; and its height has on that account (so we are +told) been made 202 feet. It is a handsome column, with a gilt finial +intended to represent flames of fire. Visitors are allowed to ascend by +a winding stair of 345 steps to the top; fee, 3d. No better place can be +chosen from which to view the river, the shipping, and the city +generally. + +The Royal Exchange.—This is a handsome quadrangular building on the north +side of Cornhill, having in the centre an open court with colonnades. +The chief entrance faces an open paved space on the west, on which is +placed an equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington. The building was +erected from plans by Mr. Tite, and was opened in 1844; it occupies the +site of the former Exchange, which was accidentally destroyed by fire. +The pediment contains sculptures by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A. The lower +part of the exterior is laid out as shops, which greatly injure the +architectural effect; the upper rooms are occupied as public offices, one +of which is _Lloyd’s_, or, more properly, _Lloyd’s Subscription Rooms_, +where merchants, shipowners, shippers, and underwriters congregate. A +statue of the Queen is in the centre of the quadrangular area. The busy +time on ’Change is from 3 till 4 o’clock, Tuesday and Friday being the +principal days. + + + + +THE TEMPLE; INNS OF COURT; COURTS OF JUSTICE; PRISONS. + + +The buildings noticed in this section belong partly to the crown, partly +to the corporation of London, and partly to other bodies. + +The Temple.—Contiguous to the south side of Fleet Street is a most +extensive series of buildings, comprising several squares and rows, +called the _Temple_; belonging to the members of two societies, the +_Inner_ and _Middle Temple_, consisting of benchers, barristers, and +students. This famous old place, taken in its completeness, was, in +1184, the metropolitan residence of the Knights Templars, who held it +until their downfall in 1313; soon afterwards it was occupied by students +of the law; and in 1608 James I. presented the entire group of structures +to the benchers of the two societies, who have ever since been the +absolute owners. The entrance to Inner Temple, from Fleet Street, +consists of nothing more than a mere gateway; the entrance to Middle +Temple was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. _Middle Temple Hall_, 100 +feet long, 42 wide, and 47 high, is considered to have one of the finest +Elizabethan roofs in London. A group of chambers, called _Paper +Buildings_, built near the river, is a good example of revived +Elizabethan. A new _Inner Temple Hall_ was formally opened, in 1870, by +the Princess Louise. In October, 1861, when the Prince of Wales was +elected a bencher of the Middle Temple, a new _Library_ was formally +opened, which had been constructed at a cost of £13,000; it is a +beautiful ornament to the place, as seen from the river. The _Temple +Church_, a few yards only down from Fleet Street, is one of the most +interesting churches in London. All the main parts of the structure are +as old as the time of the Knights Templars; but the munificent sum of +£70,000 was spent, about twenty years ago, in restoring and adorning it. +There are two portions, the _Round Church_ and the _Choir_, the one +nearly 700 years old, and the other more than 600. The monumental +effigies, the original sculptured heads in the Round Church, the +triforium, and the fittings of the Choir, are all worthy of attention. +The north side of the church has recently been laid open by the removal +of adjoining buildings; and in their place some handsome chambers are +erected. Hard by, in the churchyard, is the grave of Oliver Goldsmith, +who died in chambers (since pulled down) in Brick Court. The Sunday +services are very fine, and always attract many strangers. The _Temple +Gardens_, fronting the river, are probably the best in the city. + +_Lincoln’s Inn_ was once the property of the De Lacie, Earl of Lincoln. +It became an Inn of Court in 1310. The fine new hall—worth seeing—was +opened in 1845. The Chapel was built in 1621–3, by Inigo Jones. He also +laid out the large garden in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, close by, in 1620. +Lord William Russell was beheaded here in 1683. In Lincoln’s Inn are the +Chancery and Equity Courts. + +_Graves Inn_, nearly opposite the north end of Chancery Lane, once +belonged to the Lords Gray of Wilton. It was founded in 1357. Most of +its buildings—except its hall, with black oak roof—are of comparatively +modern date. In Gray’s Inn lived the great Lord Bacon, a tree planted by +whom, in the quaint old garden of the Inn, can yet be seen propped up by +iron stays. Charles the First, when Prince Charles, was an honorary +member of Gray’s Inn, and Bradshaw, who tried him, was one of its +benchers. + +_Sergeant’s Inn_, Chancery Lane, is what its name denotes—the Inn of the +sergeants-at-law. _Sergeants Inn_, Fleet Street, is let out in chambers +to barristers, solicitors, and the general public. The last remark +applies to the other small Inns of Chancery in and about Holborn and +Fleet Street. + +Till the new _Law_ Courts are erected in Central Strand, London has no +Courts of Law well built or convenient. The _Westminster Courts_ are +little better than wooden sheds. So are the _Lincoln’s Inn Courts_. But +they still are worth a visit. At the _Old Bailey_, near Newgate, is the +_Central Criminal Court_, for the trial of prisoners accused of crimes +committed within ten miles of St. Paul’s. Nominally, this court is free; +but practically, a small _douceur_ is always extorted by the ushers for a +place. In the other courts this practice of ‘tipping’ is less common. +The _Bankruptcy Court_, in Basinghall Street, the _Clerkenwell Sessions +House_, the _County Courts_, and the _Police Courts_, are other +establishments connected with the administration of justice; but the +business of the first will shortly be transferred westward. + +The Record Office.—Connected in some degree with the Courts of Law and +Equity, is the _New Record Office_, Fetter Lane, where is deposited a +vast body of unprinted documents belonging to the state, of priceless +value, including the far-famed _Doomsday Book_; they having been +previously scattered in various buildings about the metropolis. Apply to +the deputy-keeper for an order to inspect any but state papers of later +date than 1688, for which the Home Secretary’s special order is +requisite. + +Prisons.—_Newgate_, the chief criminal prison for the city and county, in +the Old Bailey, was a prison in the _new gate_ of the city as early as +1218. Two centuries after it was re-built, and in the Great Fire (1666) +burnt down. It was re-constructed in 1778–80; its interior burnt in the +Gordon ‘No Popery’ riots in 1780; and its interior again re-constructed +in 1857. Debtors are no longer confined here; the few who come under the +new law—which has almost abolished imprisonment for debt—being sent to +_Holloway Prison_ under the new law. Till public executions were +abolished, criminals came out for execution in the middle of the Old +Bailey, through the small iron door over which is suspended a grim +festoon of fetters. They are now hanged privately inside the jail. The +condemned cells are on the north-east side of Newgate. To view the +prison, apply to the sheriff or the lord mayor. The chief debtors’ +prison _was_ the _Queen’s Bench_, in Southwark. It is now a _Military +Prison_. The _City Prison_, Holloway, a castellated structure, was built +in 1855, as a substitute for other and overcrowded jails in London. +Other prisons are the _House of Correction_, Cold Bath Fields, capable of +holding 1,200 prisoners; the _House of Correction_, at Wandsworth; the +_House of Correction_, Westminster; _Millbank Penitentiary_, near the +Middlesex end of Vauxhall Bridge, which could, if wanted, hold 1,200 +prisoners, and cost £500,000; _Pentonville Model Prison_; _Female +Prison_, Brixton; _Surrey County Jail_, Horsemonger Lane, on the top of +which the infamous Mannings were hanged in 1849; and the _House of +Detention_, Clerkenwell, which the Fenians tried to blow up. The last +prison is for persons not convicted. + + + + +BANKS; INSURANCE OFFICES; STOCK EXCHANGE; CITY COMPANIES. + + +Bank of England.—This large establishment is situated north of the Royal +Exchange; the narrow thoroughfare between being _Threadneedle Street_, in +which is the principal front. This is unquestionably the greatest bank +in the world. The present structure was mostly the work of Sir John +Soane, at various periods between 1788 and 1829. About 1,000 clerks, +messengers, &c., are employed here, at salaries varying from £50 to +£1,200 per annum. The buildings of the Bank are low, but remarkable in +appearance. In the centre is the principal entrance, which conducts to +an inner open court, and thence to the main building. The Dividend and +Transfer Offices, with which fund-holders are most concerned, lie in the +eastern part of the building. Thus far the place is freely open to +visitors. The whole buildings and courts include an area of about eight +acres. The teller’s room shews a scene of great activity—clerks counting +and weighing gold and silver, porters going to and fro, and crowds of +tradesmen and others negotiating business at the counters. The other and +more private parts of the Bank can be seen only by an order from a +director. The most interesting departments are the bullion-office, in a +vaulted chamber beneath—where there commonly are some 14 to 17 millions +in bullion, as a reserve—entering from one of the many open courts; the +treasury; the apartments in which the notes of the Bank are printed; and +the weighing-office, where coin-balances of exquisite construction are +used. In the printing department there is a large steam-engine, which +moves printing-machines, plate-presses, and other mechanism—the whole +being in beautiful order, and forming a very interesting sight. The Bank +is guarded at night by its own watchmen, and a detachment of Foot Guards. + +Joint-Stock and Private Banks.—Some of the handsomest modern buildings in +London are those belonging to the Banking Companies. The _London and +Westminster_, the _London Joint-Stock_, the _Union_, the _City_, the +_Australian_, and numerous other Companies, have two or more +establishments each, some as many as half-a-dozen—the head bank always +being in the busy centre of trade, the ‘City.’ Some of these are elegant +structures; and all are planned with great skill in reference to interior +arrangements. The private bankers, such as Glyn, Barclays, Lubbocks, +Coutts, &c., rival the companies in the architectural character of their +banks; and some of their establishments, such as Child’s, near Temple +Bar, are curious old places. Many have lately been rebuilt in a +substantial and handsome style. + +Insurance Offices.—These form another extensive group, which has conduced +much to the improved street appearance of modern London. All the best +conducted Life and Fire Insurance Companies are wealthy; and they have +devoted part of their wealth to the construction of commodious and often +elegant offices. The _County_, the _Royal Exchange_, the _Sun_, the +_Phœnix_, the _Amicable_, the _Equitable_, the _Imperial_, are among the +most noted of these insurance offices. The chief buildings are within a +small circle, of which the Royal Exchange is the centre; another group is +about Fleet Street and Blackfriars; and a western group lies in and near +the Regent Street line. + +Stock Exchange.—This building, of which scarcely anything can be seen on +the outside, lies up a paved passage called Capel Court, in Bartholomew +Lane, on the east side of the Bank of England. Dealers and brokers in +the public funds, and in all kinds of joint-stock shares and debentures, +meet and transact business here. They buy and sell, not only for +themselves, but for the public generally; and the amount of business +transacted every day is enormous. The establishment is maintained by +about 900 members, who pay £10 a-year each. They endeavour to enforce +strict honesty in each other’s dealings; but they sedulously refuse to +allow a stranger even to pass the threshold of their Temple of Wealth. + +Various Commercial Buildings.—A stranger has only to look at a detailed +map or a directory, to see how numerous are the buildings, especially in +the city, applied in various ways to commerce and trading on a large +scale. The _Trinity House_ on _Tower Hill_; the chambers of the building +that was once the _South Sea House_, near Leadenhall Street; those of the +large but irregular structure called _Gresham House_, in Bishopsgate +Street—are all worthy of a glance, some for their architectural +character, and all for the importance of the work transacted in them. +The _East India House_, in Leadenhall Street, has been pulled down; +commercial chambers in great number, and let at enormous rentals, have +been built on the site. + +City Companies.—In nothing is the past history of the metropolis, the +memory of _Old_ London, kept alive in a more remarkable way than by the +_City Companies_, or _Trading Guilds_, which are still very numerous. +All were established with a good purpose, and all rendered service in +their day; but at the present time few have any important duties to +fulfil. The age for such things is nearly past; but the companies have +revenues which none but themselves can touch; and out of these revenues +many excellent charities are supported. Several of the companies have +halls of great architectural beauty, or curious on account of their +antiquity. Twelve, from their wealth and importance, are called the +_Great_ Companies; and all of these have halls worthy of note. They are +the _Mercers’_, _Drapers’_, _Fishmongers’_, _Goldsmiths’_, _Skinners’_, +_Merchant Taylors’_, _Haberdashers’_, _Salters’_, _Ironmongers’_, +_Vintners’_, _Grocers’_, and _Clothworkers’_. Every year banquets are +given in the halls of these great companies—often under such +circumstances as to give political importance to them. _Mercers’ Hall_, +on the north side of Cheapside, has a richly ornamental entrance. +_Grocers’ Hall_, in the Poultry, is remarkable rather for the age of the +company (more than 500 years) than for the beauty of the building; it is +interesting to note that the Long Parliament was entertained at +city-dinners in this hall. _Drapers’ Hall_, in Throgmorton Street, built +in 1667, replaced a structure which had belonged to Thomas Cromwell, Earl +of Essex, in the time of Henry VIII., and which was destroyed by the +Great Fire. _Fishmongers’ Hall_, the most majestic of the whole, stands +at the northern end of London Bridge, on the west side; it was built in +1831, as part of the improvements consequent on the opening of New London +Bridge, on a site that had been occupied by an older hall since the time +of the Great Fire. _Goldsmiths’ Hall_, just behind the General +Post-Office, is too closely hemmed in with other buildings to be seen +well; it is one of Mr. Hardwick’s best productions, and was finished by +him in 1835, on the site of an older hall. _Skinners’ Hall_, Dowgate +Hill, was built (like so many others of the city halls) just after the +Great Fire in 1666; but was newly fronted in 1808. _Merchant Taylors’ +Hall_, Threadneedle Street, is the largest of the city halls. It was +rebuilt after the Great Fire, and has long been celebrated for the +political banquets occasionally given there—this being considered the +leading Tory Company, and the Fishmongers’ the leading Whig Company. +_Haberdashers’ Hall_, near Goldsmiths’ Hall, is quite modern; the present +building having been constructed in 1855. _Salters’ Hall_, St. Swithen’s +Lane, was rebuilt in 1827. _Ironmongers’ Hall_, Fenchurch Street, was +erected in 1748, on the site of an older structure; the banqueting-room +was remodelled a few years ago with great richness. In 1861 this company +held an _Exhibition of Art_, notable for the rarity and beauty of the +objects collected; it was the first thing of the kind organized among +these companies, and was in all respects creditable to those who planned +and managed it. _Vintners’ Hall_, Upper Thames Street, is small and +unpretentious. _Clothworkers’ Hall_, Mincing Lane, is an elegant Italian +Renaissance edifice, erected in 1858, from the designs of Mr. Angell. + +Among the minor halls are the _Apothecaries’_, Blackfriars; +_Stationers’_, behind Ludgate Hill; _Armourers’_, Coleman Street; _Barber +Surgeons’_, Monkwell Street, (which contains some fine paintings;) +_Weavers’_, Basinghall Street; _Saddlers’_, Cheapside; and _Paper +Stainers’_, Little Trinity Lane. At the last-named hall an interesting +exhibition of specimens of decorative painting was held in 1864. The +city companies are about eighty altogether. Some, which tell most +singularly of past times, and of the difference between the past and the +present, are the _Cooks’_, the _Bowyers’_, the _Fletchers’_, the +_Woolmen’s_, the _Scriveners’_, the _Broderers’_, the _Horners’_, the +_Loriners’_, the _Spectacle Makers’_, the _Felt Makers’_, the _Patten +Makers’_, the _Parish Clerks’_, and the _Fan Makers’_ companies. All +these, except the _Spectacle Makers’_ and the _Parish Clerks’_, have now +no halls. Eight others, formerly existing, have become extinct. The +only three which are actually trading companies at the present day are +the _Goldsmiths’_, the _Apothecaries’_, and the _Stationers’_. The +Goldsmiths’ company assay all the gold and silver plate manufactured in +the metropolis, stamp it with the ‘Hall-mark,’ and collect the excise +duty upon it for the Government; the Apothecaries’ sell medicines, and +have a certain jurisdiction in relation to medical practice; the +Stationers’ publish almanacs, and register all copyright books. + + + + +THE RIVER; DOCKS; THAMES TUNNEL; BRIDGES; PIERS. + + +We shall next describe certain features connected with traffic _on_, +_under_, and _over_ the Thames. + +The River and its Shipping.—The Thames stream rises in the interior of +the country, at the distance of 138 miles above London, and enters the +sea on the east coast about sixty miles below it. It comes flowing +between low, fertile, and village-clad banks, out of a richly ornamented +country on the west; and, arriving at the outmost suburbs of the +metropolis, it pursues a winding course, between banks thickly lined with +dwelling-houses, warehouses, manufactories, and wharfs, for a space of +several miles, its breadth being here from an eighth to a-third of a +mile. The tides affect it for fifteen or sixteen miles above the city; +but the salt water comes no farther than Gravesend, or perhaps +Greenhithe. However, such is the volume and depth of water, that vessels +of great magnitude can sail or steam up to London. Most unfortunately, +the beauty of this noble stream is much hidden from the spectator, there +being very few quays or promenades along its banks. With the exception +of the summit of St. Paul’s or the Monument, and the Custom House quay, +the only good points for viewing the river are the bridges, which cross +it at convenient distances, and by their length convey an accurate idea +of the breadth of the channel. Formerly there were many light and +fanciful boats for hire on the Thames; but these are now greatly +superseded by small steamers, which convey crowds of passengers up and +down the river. + +The part of the river between London Bridge and Blackwall, an interval of +several miles, constitutes the _Port_; and here are constantly seen lying +at anchor great numbers of vessels. The portion immediately below the +bridge is called the _Pool_, where coal-ships are usually ranged in great +number. It is curious to watch, while passing up and down the river, the +way in which coals are transferred, by labourers called _coal-whippers_, +from the ships into barges, in which they are conveyed to the wharfs of +the several coal-merchants. At wharfs between the Custom House and the +bridge lie numerous steam-vessels which ply to Greenwich, Woolwich, +Gravesend, Margate, and other places of resort down the Thames; also +steamers for continental ports. London, as has already been observed, +possesses no line of quays on the river. The trade with the ships is +carried on at wharfs jutting upon the water. The Thames is placed under +strict police regulations with respect to trade; certain places being +assigned to different classes of vessels, including those which arrive +from the Tyne, Wear, and Tees with coal, and all coasters. The trade +connected with the Port is mostly carried on in the closely built part of +the metropolis adjacent to the Thames. Almost the whole of this district +consists of narrow streets, environed by warehouses and offices, making +no external show, but in which an incalculable amount of trade is +transacted. + + [Picture: Entrance West India Docks] + +The Docks.—As a relief to the river, and for other reasons, there are +several very large _Docks_. The lowest or most eastern are the _Victoria +Docks_, in Essex, just beyond the river Lea. They cover an area of 200 +acres, and have been the means of introducing many improvements in the +accommodation of shipping. The _hydraulic lift_ at these docks, for +raising and supporting ships during repair, is well worth looking at. +Next are the _East India Docks_, constructed in 1806; they consist of two +docks and a basin, covering 32 acres. Near these are the _West India +Docks_, the entrances to which are at Blackwall and Limehouse; in these +large _depôts_ of shipping connected with the West India and other trade +may at all times be seen some hundreds of vessels, loading or unloading +in connection with the warehouses around. The largest of these docks is +24 feet deep, 510 feet long, and 498 wide; and, with a basin, they cover +nearly 300 acres. Farther up the river, and near the Tower, in the +district called Wapping, are the _London Docks_ and _St. Katharine’s +Docks_. The London Docks consist of one enclosure to the extent of 20 +acres, another of smaller dimensions, a basin, and three entrances from +the river. These are surrounded by warehouses for the reception of +bonded goods, and beneath the warehouses are vaults for bonded liquors. +The principal warehouse for the storing of tobacco in bond till it is +purchased and the duties paid, is situated close beside a special dock +called the Tobacco Dock. The Tobacco Warehouse occupies no less than +five acres of ground, and has accommodation for 24,000 hogsheads of +tobacco. The sight of this extraordinary warehouse, and of the +Wine-Vaults, is not soon to be forgotten. The vaults are arched with +brick, and extend east and west to a great distance, with diverging lines +also of great length, the whole being like the streets of an underground +town. Along the sides are ranged casks of wine to an amount apparently +without limit. There is accommodation for 65,000 pipes. These cellars +being dark, all who enter and go through them carry lights. Admission +may be had by procuring an order from a wine-merchant to taste and +examine any pipes he may have in bond: a cooper accompanies the visitor +to pierce the casks. Besides this large vault, which principally +contains port and sherry, there are other vaults for French wines, &c. +_St. Katharine’s Docks_, between the Tower and the London Docks, were +formed in 1828, on a site which required the removal of more than 1,200 +houses and 13,000 inhabitants; the earth obtained by the excavation was +employed in raising the site for some of the new streets and squares of +Pimlico. There are twelve acres of water area, and about as much of +quays and warehouses. On the south of the Thames are the _Commercial_ +and the _Grand Surrey Docks_, the great centre of the timber trade. The +various docks are the property of joint-stock companies, who receive +rents and dues of various kinds for their use. + +Thames Tunnel.—With the view of effecting a ready communication for +wagons and other carriages, and foot-passengers, between the Surrey and +Middlesex sides of the river, at a point where, from the constant passage +of shipping, it would be inconvenient to rear a bridge, a _tunnel_ or +sub-river passage was designed by a joint-stock company. The idea of +tunnelling under the river, by the way, was not a novel one. In 1802 a +company was got up with a similar notion, Trevethick, the inventor of the +high-pressure engine, being its engineer. It came to nought; and in 1825 +Mr. (afterwards Sir) Marc Isambard Brunel began his tunnel, at a point +about two miles below London Bridge, entering on the southern shore at +Rotherhithe, and issuing at Wapping on the other. The water broke in in +1827, and again in 1828, when six men perished. After all the funds were +exhausted, and the Government had advanced no less than £246,000 by way +of loan, the work, after many delays, was opened in 1843. The total, +cost was £468,000. The tunnel consisted of two archways, 1,300 feet +long, the thickness of the earth being about 15 feet between the crown of +the tunnel and the river’s bed. As a speculation—toll 1d.—it never paid. +The descent was by a deep, dirty staircase; and only one arch was open +for foot-passengers. But now that the East London Railway Company have +purchased it, a wholesome change has come. Some 40 trains are now +running backwards and forwards through it, from Wapping to Rotherhithe, +and thence to Deptford and New Cross, and _vice versâ_. And so, at last, +the once well-nigh useless scheme, which wore out Brunel’s heart, has +been, some twenty-two years after his death, made of great service to +that part of London. + +The Tower Subway.—In the neighbourhood of the Tunnel a subway has been +formed, consisting of an iron tube, 7 feet in diameter, laid below the +bed of the Thames. It belongs to a Limited Liability Company. It was +commenced in February, 1869, and opened for tramway traffic on 12th +April, 1870. Being a losing speculation, the tramway cars ceased to run +on 7th December, 1870; but it was opened for foot-passengers on the 24th +of that month, and it is the intention of the Company to continue it only +as such. It is reached at each end by a spiral staircase of 96 steps. +Its whole length is 1225 feet. A charge of ½d. is made for each person +passing through this Tunnel. The Tunnel is well lighted up with gas, and +the average heat by the thermometer is 65 degrees. + + [Picture: Albert Bridge, Chelsea] + +Bridges.—The communication between the northern and southern sections of +the metropolis is maintained by means of various bridges. Excluding +_Albert Suspension Bridge_, (between Cadogan Pier, Chelsea, and Albert +Road, leading into Battersea Park,) commenced in 1865, and not yet open, +the number is 14—as follow: 1. _London Bridge_, built by Rennie, and +opened in 1831; it is 928 feet long, and 54 wide; it has 5 arches, of +which the centre is 152 feet span, and cost, with the approaches, +£2,000,000. This is regarded as one of the finest granite bridges in the +world. 2. _South-Eastern Railway Bridge_, to connect the London Bridge +Station with a new terminus in Cannon Street; this bridge, having five +lines of railway, is midway between London Bridge and the one next to be +named. 3. _Southwark Bridge_, by Rennie, was opened in 1819; it is of +iron, 708 feet long, with three magnificent arches, the centre one of 402 +feet span; it was a toll bridge, and cost £800,000. In 1865, it was made +free, and remains so, by arrangement between the Company and the +Corporation. 4. _Blackfriars Railway Bridge_, with four lines of rail, +connects the Metropolitan Railway north of the Thames with the Chatham +and Dover Railway on the south. [Picture: Blackfriars Bridge] 5. _Old +Blackfriars Bridge_, by Mylne, was opened in 1769; it consisted of 19 +arches, and was 995 feet long. The foundations, however, having become +decayed, the bridge was pulled down, and a magnificent new one, by Mr. +Cubitt, built its place. A wooden bridge of remarkable construction, +with a foot-way _over_ the carriage-way, did duty for traffic till the +opening of Mr. Cubitt’s present structure. This was formally done by the +Queen in person, November 6, 1869. The entire width of the new bridge is +75 feet, the foot-paths being 15 feet each, with a fine road between +them, 45 feet in breadth from kerb to kerb. The entire length of the +bridge, including approaches, is 1,272 feet, and its centre arch has a +span of 185 feet in the clear. It has four piers. All its iron (except +the ornamental portion, which is of cast metal) is hammered. With its +handsome polished red granite piers, Portland stone capitals, and florid +Venetian Gothic ornamentation, light-looking yet massive iron arches, +spandrils, and parapets, and its general _tout ensemble_, new Blackfriars +is, bearing all things in mind, one of the cheapest permanent bridges +thrown across the Thames. Its total cost is under £400,000. 6. +_Waterloo Bridge_, one of the most magnificent in the world, was built by +Rennie, and was opened in 1817; it is flat from end to end, 1,380 feet +long, or 2,456 with the approaches; it consists of nine beautiful arches +of 120 feet span, and cost £1,000,000; a toll of one halfpenny per +passenger yields a very poor return on this outlay. 7. _Hungerford +Suspension Bridge_ has been replaced by a fine new bridge, partly for +foot-passengers, and partly for the Charing Cross extension of the +South-Eastern Railway. 8. _Old Westminster Bridge_, opened in 1750, is +now all removed, to make way for a beautiful new bridge of iron, with +granite piers, built by Mr. Page, opened for traffic in 1862. It is +about 1,160 feet long by 85 feet wide. 9. _Lambeth Bridge_, a wire-rope +suspension bridge of economical construction, from Westminster to near +Lambeth Church, was opened in 1862. 10. _Vauxhall Bridge_, built by +Walker, was opened in 1816; it is of iron, 798 feet long, and consists of +nine equal arches. 11. _Pimlico Railway Bridge_, from Pimlico to the +commencement of Battersea Park, connects the Victoria Station with the +Brighton and other railways. 12. _Chelsea Suspension Bridge_, very near +the bridge last named, gives easy access from Chelsea to Battersea, and +is a light and elegant structure. 13. _Battersea Bridge_ is an old +wooden structure, unsightly in appearance, inconvenient to passengers +over it, and still more so to steamboats under it. 14. _West London +Extension Railway Bridge_, opened in 1863, crosses the Thames from a +point a little above Cremorne Gardens to Battersea town; it is a link to +connect various railways on the north of the river with others on the +south. _Putney Bridge_, _Hammersmith Suspension Bridge_, _Barnes Railway +Bridge_, and _Kew Bridge_, may or may not be included in this series, +according to the acceptation of the indefinite word ‘Metropolis.’ + +Steam-boat Piers.—If you wish to go eastward of London Bridge, on the +north side of the river, you will find steam-boats at London Bridge to +take you to Thames Tunnel Pier, Limehouse, Blackwall, and North Woolwich. +On the south side, at the Surrey end of London Bridge, you can take boat +for Rotherhithe, Commercial Docks, Greenwich, Charlton, and Woolwich. If +you wish to go westward from London Bridge, on the north side, you can +take boat thence for the following piers:—Bridge, Paul’s Wharf, Temple +Stairs, Waterloo Bridge, Hungerford Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Millbank, +Pimlico, Thames Bank, Chelsea, and Battersea; and on the south side, at +Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Stairs, Vauxhall, Battersea Park, Wandsworth, +Putney, Hammersmith Bridge, and Kew. The steamers make an amazing number +of trips each way daily, between these several piers, at intervals +varying with the season, and at fares ranging from one penny to +fourpence. For example, the fare by the _Citizen_ boats from London +Bridge to Westminster is 1d.; to Pimlico, 2d.; Chelsea and Battersea, 3d. +If you wish to go _quickly_ from Westminster Bridge to London Bridge, you +will avoid delays at piers by getting one of the penny boats which run +every ten minutes from Westminster to London Bridge, only calling at +Hungerford. Steamers for Kew, in the summer, run about every half-hour +from London Bridge, calling at intermediate up-river piers—return ticket, +1s. From Cadogan Pier, Chelsea, you can go to Kew for 4d. And on +Sundays and Mondays you can go up as far as Richmond, if the tide allow, +at half-past 10 a.m. from Hungerford—return ticket, about 1s. 6d. For +more distant journeys, such as to Erith, Gravesend, Sheerness, Southend, +&c., by excursion steam-boats. To Gravesend and back, the fare is 1s. +6d.; Sheerness and Southend and back, 2s. 6d. Boats generally leave +Hungerford Bridge for Gravesend and Erith every half-hour up to 12, and +leave London Bridge at 2 and half-past 4 p.m.; they leave Hungerford +Bridge for Southend and Sheerness at various times from half-past 8, +calling at London Bridge, returning in the afternoon or early evening. + + [Picture: The Thames Embankment] + +The Thames Embankment is one of the noblest works in the metropolis. As +long ago as 1666 Sir Christopher Wren advocated such a scheme. Till Mr. +Bazalgette, the engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works, (who, by the +way, planned the main drainage,) came forward with his plans, there had +been scores of others, all over-costly and few practicable. The work was +virtually begun in 1862. Both south and north embankments are now open. +The former (or _Albert Embankment_) was opened the entire length, from +Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall, on the 1st September, 1869; the latter, +(or _Victoria Embankment_,) from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars, in +the middle of July, 1870. What the ultimate cost will be of both these +gigantic works it is for us here impossible to tell. Already the +metropolitan public hare paid for their new Thames boulevard £1,650,000. + +And now—in the case of the northern embankment, for example—let us +consider what vast difficulties have had to be surmounted. The words of +an excellent authority put the matter very concisely as follows:—“The +river had to be dammed out for some thirty-eight acres—the mud had to be +dredged out down to the London clay—the granite walls had to be built +below low-water mark; behind these the low-level sewer had to be +constructed. Over this, again, had to come the subway, and behind all +the District Railway, which runs at an average of about eighteen feet +below the surface. It is not known what materials were required for the +railway; but what was used for the Embankment is known. It was:—Granite, +650,000 cubic feet; brickwork, 80,000 cubic yards; concrete, 140,000 +cubic yards; timber, (for cofferdam, &c.,) 500,000 cubic feet; caissons, +(for ditto,) 2,500 tons; earth filling, 900,000 cubic feet; excavation, +144,000 cubic feet; York paving, 90,000 superficial feet; broken granite, +50,000 yards superficial. The railway works would make these totals +still more formidable. London is now the metropolis of engineering +works, but there is no part of it in which so many and such varied and +difficult kinds centre as in the Thames Embankment. A section of it +would be a study for engineers for all time.” + +The public foot-way had been open since July, 1868. It was for the +formal opening of the carriage-way that the Prince of Wales, on 13th +July, 1870, drove from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars along the +Northern Embankment’s carriage-way. This is sixty-four feet wide, and +the foot-way on the land-side is sixteen feet wide, and that on the +river-side is twenty feet wide. Along the river-side are planted rows of +trees, which in a few years will afford an unbroken line of shade, +doubtless. As the railway works were completed sufficiently to admit of +it, this main roadway has been extended to the Mansion-House, by means of +a new street—_Queen Victoria Street_—referred to in a former page. There +is thus one broad, airy thoroughfare between the Houses of Parliament, +and the West End, and the heart of the city. + +It will be obvious that though so much has been done, much yet remains to +be accomplished ere the Thames Northern Embankment is regularly +completed. The carriage-way, for the present, has only been gravelled +and macadamized. The reason is, that in newly-made rotten earth its +sinking down must be allowed for, for some time, ere it can all be paved, +like London Bridge, with “granite pitching.” Four regular approaches +into the Strand—by way of Villiers, Norfolk, Surrey, and Arundel +Streets—have been made; and there are three other ways which go from +Westminster, Whitehall, and Blackfriars; another is in progress from +Charing Cross. + +Starting from the western end, the Metropolitan District Railway has +already open, along this embankment, five stations, called Westminster, +Charing Cross, Temple, Blackfriars, and Mansion House. + +The wall of the Thames Northern Embankment just alluded to is, to quote +once more, “constructed generally of brickwork faced with granite, and is +carried down to a depth of 32½ feet below Trinity high-water mark, the +foundation being of Portland cement concrete. The level of the roadway +generally is four feet above Trinity high-water mark, except at the two +extremities, where it rises to Westminster and Blackfriars Bridges to an +extreme height of about 20 feet above high-water. The rising ground for +both these approaches is retained by a granite faced wall, similar in +character to the general Embankment wall. + +“The face of the Embankment forms a graceful curve, having a plane face +to about mean high-water level, and being ornamented above that level +with mouldings, which are stopped at intervals of about seventy feet with +plain blocks of granite, intended to carry lamp standards of cast-iron, +and relieved on the river face by bronze lions’ heads carrying mooring +rings. The uniform line of the Embankment is broken at intervals by +massive piers of granite, flanking recesses for pontoons or landing +stages for steamboats, and at other places by stairs projecting into the +river, and intended as landing-piers for small craft. The steamboat +piers occur at Westminster, Charing Cross, and Waterloo Bridges; and +those for boats midway between Westminster and Charing Cross, and between +Charing Cross and Waterloo Bridge; and both are combined opposite Essex +Street. It is intended eventually to surmount the several blocks and +pedestals with groups of statuary.” + + + + +FOOD SUPPLY; MARKETS; BAZAARS; SHOPS. + + +Food Supply.—The _Quarterly Review_, on one occasion, illustrated, in a +whimsical way, the vastness of the system. The following is described as +the supply of meat, poultry, bread, and beer, for one year:—72 miles of +oxen, 10 abreast; 120 miles of sheep, do.; 7 miles of calves, do.; 9 +miles of pigs, do.; 50 acres of poultry, close together; 20 miles of +hares and rabbits, 100 abreast; a pyramid of loaves of bread, 600 feet +square, and thrice the height of St. Paul’s; 1000 columns of hogsheads of +beer, each 1 mile high. + +Water and Coal Supply.—The _water_ used in the metropolis is chiefly +supplied by the Thames, and by an artificial channel called the _New +River_, which enters on the north side of the metropolis. The water is +naturally good and soft. The spots at which it is raised from the Thames +used to be within the bounds of the metropolis, at no great distance from +the mouths of common sewers; but it is now obtained from parts of the +river much higher up, and undergoes a very extensive filtration. Nine +companies are concerned in the supply of water,—viz., the _New River_, +_East London_, _Southwark and Vauxhall_, _West Middlesex_, _Lambeth_, +_Chelsea_, _Grand Junction_, _Kent_, and _Hampstead Water Companies_. +Some of the works, within the last few years, constructed by these +companies, up the river, are very fine. Returns furnished to the +Registrar-General by the London Water Companies shewed that the average +daily supply of water for all purposes to the London population, during +the month of May, 1870, was 107,540,811 gallons, of which it is estimated +the supply for domestic purposes amounted to about 88,381,700 gallons, or +26 gallons per day per head of population. The metropolis is supplied +with _coal_ principally from the neighbourhood of Newcastle, but partly +also from certain inland counties; the import from the latter being by +railway. Newcastle coal is preferred. It arrives in vessels devoted +exclusively to the trade; and so many and so excessive are the duties and +profits affecting the article, that a ton of coal, which can be purchased +at Newcastle for 6s. or 7s., costs, to a consumer in London, from 22s. to +27s. The quantity of coal brought to London annually much exceeds +5,000,000 tons, of which considerably more than 2,000,000 come by +railway. The wholesale dealings in this commodity are managed chiefly at +the _Coal Exchange_, a remarkable building just opposite Billingsgate. + + [Picture: Smithfield Market] + +Markets.—London contains nearly 40 markets for cattle, meat, corn, coal, +hay, vegetables, fish, and other principal articles of consumption. The +meat-markets are of various kinds—one for live animals, others for +carcases in bulk, and others for the retail of meat; some, also, are for +pork, and others principally for fowls. The _New Cattle Market_, +Copenhagen Fields, near Pentonville, built, in 1854, to replace old +_Smithfield Market_, covers nearly 30 acres, and, with outbuildings, +slaughterhouses, &c., cost the City Corporation about £400,000. It is +the finest live stock market in the kingdom. The present _Smithfield +Market_, near the Holborn Viaduct, for dead meat and poultry, is a +splendid building, 625 feet long, 240 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Wide +roads on its north, east, and west sides, accommodate its special +traffic. A carriage road runs right through it from north to south, with +spacious and well ventilating avenues radiating from it. There are in +this market no less than 100,000 feet of available space. It has cost +upwards of £180,000 already. There are underground communication with +several railways, to bring in, right under the market, meat and poultry +from the country, and meat from the slaughterhouses of the Copenhagen +Fields Cattle Market. _Newgate Market_, as a market, no longer exists. +_Leadenhall Market_ is a _depôt_ for meat and poultry. At Whitechapel +there is a meat market also. The minor meat markets require no special +note here. _Billingsgate_, the principal fish market of London, near the +Custom House, was greatly extended and improved in 1849. It is well +worth visiting any morning throughout the year, save Sunday, at five +o’clock. Ladies, however, will not care to encounter its noise, bustle, +and unsavoury odours. The fish arriving in steamers, smacks, and boats +from the coast or more distant seas, are consigned to salesmen who, +during the early market hours, deal extensively with the retail +fishmongers from all parts of London. The inferior fish are bought by +the costermongers, or street-dealers. When particular fish are in a +prime state, or very scarce, there are wealthy persons who will pay +enormously for the rarity; hence a struggle between the boats to reach +the market early. At times, so many boats come laden with the same kind +of fish as to produce a glut; and instead of being sold at a high price, +as is usually the case, the fish are then retailed for a mere trifle. +Fish is now brought largely to London by railway, from various ports on +the east and south coasts. The yearly sale of fish at Billingsgate has +been estimated at so high a sum as £2,000,000. + +_Covent Garden Market_ (connected by Southampton Street with the Strand) +is the great vegetable, fruit, and flower market. This spot, which is +exceedingly central to the metropolis, was once the garden to the abbey +and convent of Westminster: hence the name _Convent_ or _Covent_. At the +suppression of the religious houses in Henry VIII.’s reign, it devolved +to the Crown. Edward VI. gave it to the Duke of Somerset; on his +attainder it was granted to the Earl of Bedford; and in the Russell +family it has since remained. From a design of Inigo Jones, it was +intended to have surrounded it with a colonnade; but the north and a part +of the east sides only were completed. The fruit and vegetable markets +were rebuilt in 1829–30. The west side is occupied by the parish church +of St. Paul’s, noticeable for its massive roof and portico. Butler, +author of _Hudibras_, lies in its graveyard, without a stone to mark the +spot. In 1721, however, a cenotaph was erected in his honour in +Westminster Abbey. The election of members to serve in Parliament for +the city of Westminster was held in front of this church: the hustings +for receiving the votes being temporary buildings. The south side is +occupied by a row of brick dwellings. Within the square thus enclosed +fruit and vegetables of the best quality are exposed for sale. A large +paved space surrounding the interior square is occupied by the +market-gardeners, who, as early as four or five in the morning, have +carted the produce of their grounds, and wait to dispose of it to dealers +in fruit and vegetables residing in different parts of London; any +remainder is sold to persons who have standings in the market, and they +retail it to such individuals as choose to attend to purchase in smaller +quantities. Within this paved space rows of shops are conveniently +arranged for the display of the choicest fruits of the season: the +productions of the forcing-house, and the results of horticultural skill, +appear in all their beauty. There are also conservatories, in which +every beauty of the flower-garden may be obtained, from the rare exotic +to the simplest native flower. The _Floral Hall_, close to Covent Garden +Opera House, has an entrance from the north-east corner of the market, to +which it is a sort of appendage as a Flower Market. Balls, concerts, +&c., are occasionally given here. The _Farringdon_, _Borough_, +_Portman_, _Spitalfields_, and other vegetable markets, are small +imitations of that at Covent Garden. + +The cultivation of vegetables in the open ground within ten miles +surrounding London, has arrived at great perfection; and so certain is +the demand, that the whole is regularly conveyed by land or water to the +metropolis; insomuch that persons residing in the neighbourhood of those +well-arranged gardens are really less readily accommodated than the +inhabitants of the metropolis, and have no supply of vegetables but such +as have already been sent to London, and thence back to retailers in +their own locality. There are also large supplies of foreign fruit and +vegetables. The annual produce of the garden-grounds cultivated to +supply the London markets with fruit and vegetables has been estimated at +the enormous weight of 360,000 tons, or 1,000 tons _per day_. + +Corn.—The greater part of the _corn_ used for bread and other purposes in +the metropolis is sold by corn-factors at the _Corn Exchange_, Mark Lane; +but the corn itself is not taken to that place. Enormous quantities of +flour are also brought in, ground at mills in the country and in foreign +parts. + +Malt liquors.—The _beer_ and _ale_ consumed in the metropolis is, of +course, vast in quantity, though there are no means of determining the +amount. If, by a letter of introduction, a stranger could obtain +admission to Barclay & Perkins’s or Truman & Hanbury’s breweries, he +would there see vessels and operations astonishing for their +magnitude—bins that are filled with 2,000 quarters of malt every week; +brewing-rooms nearly as large as Westminster Hall; fermenting vessels +holding 1,500 barrels each; a beer-tank large enough to float an up-river +steamer; vats containing 100,000 gallons each; and 60,000 casks, with 200 +horses to convey them in drays to the taverns of the metropolis! + +Shops and Bazaars.—The better-class London retail shops, for wealth, +variety, and vast number, are among the greatest wonders of the place. +They speak for themselves. The wholesale establishments with which New +Cannon Street, Wood Street, and the south side of St. Paul’s +Churchyard—noticeably the gigantic warehouses of Messrs. Cook & +Co.—abound, if, by a letter of introduction, an order of admission can be +obtained, would strike a stranger—in spite of less external display, save +as regards size—as more wonderful still, so enormous is the amount of +their business operations, and of capital incoming and outgoing. + +There are about 7,400 streets, lanes, rows, &c., in the metropolis. From +Charing Cross, within a six miles radius, there are something over 2,600 +miles of streets. As regards trades generally, it is hard even to get +anything like an approximate notion of their numbers. As the _Post +Office London Directory_ says, new trades are being added to the list +every year. Thus, we are told, 57 new trades were so added in the year +1870. But to specify a few, there are, say, about 130,000 shopkeepers, +or owners of commercial establishments, who carry on more than 2,500 +different trades. Loss of much of London’s shipping trade, &c., has +indeed driven hundreds of emigrants of late from our east-end waterside +neighbourhoods. But London has gone on growing all the same, and trade +with it. Among these trades are, without counting purely wholesale +dealers, about 2,847 grocers and tea dealers, 2,087 butchers, 2,461 +bakers, 1,508 dairymen, &c., 2,370 greengrocers and fruiterers, more than +595 retail fishmongers, 891 cheesemongers, (this computation does not +include the small shops in poor neighbourhoods which sell almost +everything,) 2,755 tailors, (not including about 500 old-clothesmen, +wardrobe-dealers, &c.,) about 3,347 bootmakers, about 450 hatters, and so +forth. All these are master tradesmen or shopkeepers, irrespective of +workmen, foremen, shopmen, clerks, porters, apprentices, and families. +We may add, that in the pages of that very large book the _London Post +Office Directory_, no less than 52 columns and over are occupied by the +long list of London publicans. + +The principal Bazaars of London are the _Soho_, _London Crystal Palace_, +(Oxford Street,) and _Baker Street_ bazaars, to which should be added the +_Burlington Arcade_, Piccadilly, and the _Lowther Arcade_, (famous for +cheap toys,) in the Strand. The once celebrated _Pantheon_, in Oxford +Street, is now a wine merchant’s stores. Many small bazaars exist. + +The Bazaar system of oriental countries, in which all the dealers in one +kind of commodity are met with in one place, is not observable in London; +yet a stranger may usefully bear in mind that, probably for the +convenience both of buyers and sellers, an approach to the system is +made. For instance, _coachmakers_ congregate in considerable number in +Long Acre and Great Queen Street; _watchmakers_ and _jewellers_, in +Clerkenwell; _tanners_ and _leather-dressers_, in Bermondsey; _bird_ and +_bird-cage sellers_, in Seven Dials; _statuaries_, in the Euston Road; +_sugar-refiners_, in and near Whitechapel; _furniture-dealers_, in +Tottenham Court Road; _hat-makers_, in Bermondsey and Southwark; +_dentists_, about St. Martin’s Lane; &c. There is one bazaar, if so we +may term it, of a very remarkable character—namely, _Paternoster Row_. +This street is a continuation of Cheapside, but is not used much as a +thoroughfare, though it communicates by transverse alleys or courts with +St. Paul’s Churchyard, and, at its western extremity, by means of +Ave-Maria Lane, leads into Ludgate Hill. Paternoster Row, or ‘the Row,’ +as it is familiarly termed, is a dull street, only wide enough at certain +points to permit two vehicles to pass each other, with a narrow pavement +on each side. The houses are tall and sombre in their aspect, and the +shops below have a dead look, in comparison with those in the more +animated streets. But the deadness is all on the outside. For a +considerable period this street has been the head-quarters of booksellers +and publishers, who, till the present day, continue in such numbers as to +leave little room for other tradesmen—transacting business in the +book-trade to a prodigious amount. At the western extremity of +Paternoster Row a passage leads from Amen Corner to Stationers’ Hall +Court, in which is situated Stationers’ Hall, and also several +publishing-houses. + +Mudie’s Library.—While on the subject of books, we may remind the visitor +that the most remarkable _lending library_ in the world is situated in +London. _Mudie’s_, at the corner of New Oxford Street and Museum Street, +affords a striking example of what the energy of one man can accomplish. +At this vast establishment the volumes are reckoned by hundreds of +thousands; and the circulation of them, on easy terms, extends to every +part of the kingdom. The chief portion of the building is a lofty +central gallery, of considerable beauty. + + + + +CLUBS; HOTELS; INNS; CHOP-HOUSES; TAVERNS; COFFEE-HOUSES; COFFEE-SHOPS. + + +Club-houses.—During the last forty or fifty years new habits amongst the +upper classes have led to the establishment of a variety of +_Club-houses_—places of resort unknown to our ancestors. There are at +present, including many fifth-rate clubs, about 84 clubs in London. A +London club-house is either the property of a private person, who engages +to furnish subscribers with certain accommodation, on paying a fixed sum +as entrance-money, and a specified annual subscription; or else it +belongs to a society of gentlemen who associate for the purpose. Of the +first class, the most noted are _Brookes’s_ and _White’s_, both situated +in St. James’s Street, The second class of clubs is most numerous: the +principal among them being the _Carlton_, _Junior Carlton_, _Reform_, +_Athenæum_, _Oriental_, _Conservative_, _Travellers’_, _United +University_, _Oxford and Cambridge_, _Army and Navy_, _Guards’_, _United +Service_, _Junior United Service_, _Union_, _Arthur’s_, and _Windham_ +clubs. The houses belonging to these clubs respectively are among the +finest at the West-end of London, and may easily be distinguished in and +about Pall Mall, St. James’s Street, and Waterloo Place. No member +sleeps at his club; the accommodation extends to furnishing all kinds of +refreshments, the use of a library, and an ample supply of newspapers and +periodicals in the reading-room. The real object of these institutions +is to furnish a place of resort for a select number of gentlemen, on what +are really moderate terms. The Athenæum Club, (near the York Column,) +which consists chiefly of scientific and literary men, is one of the most +important. It has 1,200 members, each of whom pays thirty guineas +entrance-money, and seven guineas yearly subscription. As in all other +clubs, members are admitted only by ballot. The expense of the house in +building was £35,000, and £5,000 for furnishing; the plate, linen, and +glass cost £2,500; library, £5,000; and the stock of wine in cellar is +usually worth about £4,000. The other principal clubs vary from nine to +thirty guineas entrance-fee, from six to eleven guineas annual +subscription, and from 600 to 1,500 members. During part of the life of +the late M. Soyer, the _kitchen_ of the Reform Club-house was one of the +sights of the West-end. The _Garrick Club_, in Garrick Street, W.C., +consists chiefly of theatrical and literary men. The same remark applies +to the _Arundel_, in Salisbury Street, Strand. The _Whittington Club_, +in the Strand, was the humblest of its class, and bore little resemblance +to the others; it was rather a literary and scientific institution, with +a refreshment department added. + +The Albany.—The _Albany_ consists of a series of chambers, or suites of +apartments, intended for ‘West-end bachelors.’ No person carrying on a +trade or commercial occupation is allowed to live within its limits. +There are two entrances, one in Piccadilly and one in Burlington Gardens. +The chambers are placed in eleven groups, denoted by letters of the +alphabet, A to L. There are about 60 suites of apartments, many of which +are occupied by peers, members of parliament, honourables and right +honourables, and naval and military officers. Canning, Byron, and +Macaulay, are named amongst those who have lived in this singular place. + +Hotels and Inns.—It has been conjectured (though probably in excess of +the truth) that at all times there are 150,000 strangers residing for a +few days only in the metropolis; and to accommodate this numerous +transient population, there is a vast number of lodging and +boarding-houses, hotels, and other places of accommodation. There are +upwards of 500 better-class hotels, inns, and taverns. There are about +120 private hotels not licensed, and therefore do not keep exciseable +liquors for sale. There are about 5,200 public-houses licensed to sell +wines, spirits, and malt liquors. There are more than 1,964 beer-shops, +where malt liquors only are sold. + +The fashionable hotels are situated west of Charing Cross—as, for +instance, _Claridge’s_, Brook Street, Grosvenor Square; _Fenton’s_, St. +James’s Street; _Limmer’s_, George Street, Hanover Square; the +_Clarendon_, in New Bond Street; the _Burlington_, in Old Burlington +Street; _Grillon’s_, in Albemarle Street; _Long’s_, in Bond Street; the +_Palace_, Pimlico; _Wright’s_, Dover Street; _Morley’s_, Trafalgar +Square; _Hatchett’s_, Dover Street; _Maurigy’s_, Regent Street; _Marshall +Thompson’s_, Cavendish Square; the _Albemarle_, Albemarle Street; the +_Hyde Park_, near the Marble Arch; the _Alexandra_, Hyde Park Corner; &c. +In and about Covent Garden there are several good hotels for single +gentlemen; among others, the _Cavendish_, the _Bedford_, the _New_ and +_Old Hummums_, and the _Tavistock_. One or two others, in Bridge Street, +Blackfriars, are excellent hotels. Foreign hotels of a medium class are +numerous in and about Leicester Square. Another class of hotels or inns +are those from which stage-coaches at one time ran, and which were +resorted to by commercial and other gentlemen; for example, the _Golden +Cross_, (now renovated and extended,) near Charing Cross; the _White +Horse Cellar_, Piccadilly; the _Bell and Crown_, Holborn; the _Castle and +Falcon_, Aldersgate Street; and the _Bull-in-Mouth_, (now called the +_Queen’s_,) opposite the General Post Office, in St. Martin’s-le-Grand. +These have all become comfortable middle-class hotels, with railway +booking-offices attached; but the fall of the stage-coach trade has +lessened their importance to a great extent. To these we may add certain +large inn and tavern establishments at other parts of the town—such as +the _Bridge House Hotel_, at London Bridge; the _Angel_, at Islington; +and the _Elephant and Castle_, Newington Causeway. + +The almost universal defect of the older class of hotels in London is, +that they are too often private dwellings extemporized for purposes of +public accommodation—not buildings erected with the distinct object for +which they are used. Hence the London hotels, generally, are confined +and awkward in their arrangements—a huddle of apartments on different +levels, narrow passages, and the offensive odour of cookery being common. +Rarely is there anything to parallel the larger hotels of New York, or +the _Hotel du Louvre_ at Paris. The nearest approach to these foreign +establishments is found in certain hotels adjoining the railway termini, +of recent construction. These are the _Euston_ and _Victoria Hotels_, +near Euston terminus; the _Great Northern Hotel_, adjoining the King’s +Cross terminus; the _Great Western Hotel_, at the Paddington _terminus_; +_the Grosvenor Hotel_, at the Pimlico terminus; the _London Bridge +Terminus Hotel_, adjoining the Brighton Railway terminus; the fine +_South-Eastern Railway Hotel_, Cannon Street; the _Westminster Palace +Hotel_, Victoria Street, Westminster; the _Midland_, at St. Pancras; and +the _Charing Cross Railway Hotel_. At these new and extensive hotels the +accommodation is on a better footing than in the older and generally +small houses. But notwithstanding these additions, it is indisputable +that the amount of hotel accommodation is still meagre and defective. +The want of large good hotels in central situations, to give +accommodation at moderate charges, remains one of the conspicuous +deficiencies of the metropolis. The _Langham_, however, in Portland +Place, is an excellent hotel. So is the _Salisbury Hotel_, Salisbury +Square, Fleet Street. The idea of building a large hotel in the Strand, +near St. Mary’s Church, was, by-the-by, abandoned in favour of the new +_Globe Theatre_; while that handsome building, the _Inns of Court Hotel_, +in Holborn and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, has never yet been properly +finished, and is now (1873) a failure. + +In and about London, we may mention, are sundry extensive and +highly-respectable taverns, which, though principally designed for +accommodating large dining and other festive gatherings, lodge gentlemen +with every comfort. Among these may be mentioned the _London Tavern_; +the _Albion_, in Aldersgate Street; several in Fleet Street, near +Blackfriars Bridge; the _Freemasons’ Tavern_, Great Queen Street, +Lincoln’s Inn Fields; and so forth. There is, besides, a class of +taverns whose chief business is supplying dinners and slight +refreshments, also the accommodation of newspapers, and which are +resorted to chiefly by commercial men. Each of these has a distinct +character. _Garraway’s_ and _Lloyd’s_, at the Royal Exchange, were once +coffee-houses, but now are associated with marine intelligence, +stock-trading, and auctions; and in Cornhill, opposite, the _North and +South American Coffee-house_ supplies American newspapers; and here also +are to be seen the captains of vessels who are preparing to sail to +different ports in the western continent and islands. At the _Jerusalem_ +and _East India Coffee-house_, Cowper’s Court, Cornhill, information +relating to East India shipping and captains may be obtained. _Peele’s +__Coffee-house_, in Fleet Street, is celebrated for keeping files of +newspapers, which may be consulted; this accommodation, as respects +London papers, may also be had at some other places. Other economical +Reading-Rooms are noticed in the _Appendix_. + +Chop-houses, Coffee-shops, and Dining-rooms.—The next class of houses of +this nature comprises _Chop-houses_, but also doing the business of +taverns, and resorted to chiefly by business-men—as the _Chapter_, in +Paternoster Row; the _Mitre_, the _Cock_, the _Cheshire Cheese_, and the +_Rainbow_, in Fleet Street. Many such houses are to be met with near the +Bank of England, in Cheapside, Bucklersbury, Threadneedle Street, +Bishopsgate Street, and the alleys turning out of Cornhill. The _Ship +and Turtle_, in Leadenhall Street, was a famous turtle-house; and others +are noted for some specialty. + +London contains a very numerous class of _Coffee-shops_, of a much more +humble, though perhaps more useful nature, at which coffee, cocoa, tea, +bread and butter, toast, chops and steaks, bacon and eggs, and cold meat, +may be obtained at very moderate prices; a few pence will purchase a +morning or evening meal at such places; and many working-men dine there +also. There are about 1,500 houses of this class in London. There is +another class of _Eating-houses_ or _Dining-rooms_, resorted to for +dinners by large numbers of persons. _Lake’s_, _His Lordship’s Larder_, +and one or two others, in Cheapside; _Izant’s_, and several others in and +near Bucklersbury; the _Chancery Dining-rooms_, in Chancery Lane; the +_Fish Ordinary_ at the _Three Tuns_ in Billingsgate, and at _Simpson’s_ +in Cheapside; and several dining-rooms in and near the Haymarket and +Rupert Street—may be reckoned among the number. A good but simple dinner +may be had at these houses for from 1s. 6d. to 2s. 6d. At the _St. +James’s Hall Restaurant_, in Regent Street; _Blanchard’s_, Regent Street, +corner of Burlington Street; the _Albion_, Russell Street, near Drury +Lane Theatre; the _London_, Fleet Street, nearly opposite the Inner +Temple gate; _Simpson’s_, in the Strand, opposite Exeter Hall; and last, +but by no means least, at _Speirs and Pond’s Restaurant_, at Ludgate +Station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway; a very fair dinner may +be had, at prices varying from, say, a minimum of half-a-crown up to a +greater cost, according to the state of the diner’s tastes and finances. +At the _Gaiety Restaurant_, adjoining the Gaiety Theatre, a good dinner +may be had. At Cremorne Gardens, too, there used to be a good _table +d’hôte_ for 2s. 6d. + +Temperance Hotels.—There are several good houses of this character. +Among others may be named _The Waverley_, King Street, Cheapside; +_Angus’s_, Bridge Street, Blackfriars; _Anderson’s_, Theobald Road; and +_Ling’s_, South Street, Finsbury. + + + + +THEATRES, CONCERTS, AND OTHER PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. + + +Theatres.—There are altogether in London a large number. Of these the +following are the principal:—_Her Majesty’s Theatre_, on the western side +of the Haymarket, is the original of the two Italian Opera Houses in +London; it was built in 1790, on the site of an older theatre, burnt down +in 1867, and re-built in 1869. It is occasionally unoccupied. The +freehold of some of the boxes has been sold for as much as £8,000 each. +The Opera Season is generally from March to August; but the main +attractions and the largest audiences are from May to July. The _Royal +Italian Opera House_, occupying the site of the former Covent Garden +Theatre, was built in 1858, on the ruins of one destroyed by fire. The +building is very remarkable, both within and without. Under the +lesseeship of Mr. Gye, and the conductorship of Mr. (now Sir Michael) +Costa, operas have been produced here with a completeness scarcely +paralleled in Europe. When not required for _Italian Operas_, the +building is occupied usually by an _English Opera_ Company, or +occasionally for miscellaneous concerts. The _Floral Hall_, adjoining +this theatre, is occasionally engaged for concerts. _Drury Lane +Theatre_, the fourth on the same site, was built in 1812; its glories +live in the past, for the legitimate drama now alternates there with +entertainments of a more spectacular and melodramatic character. The +_Haymarket Theatre_, exactly opposite Her Majesty’s, was built in 1821; +under Mr. Buckstone’s management, comedy and farce are chiefly performed. +The _Adelphi Theatre_, in the Strand, near Southampton Street, was +rebuilt in 1858; it has for forty years been celebrated for melodramas, +and for the attractiveness of its comic actors. The present lessee, Mr. +Webster, has the merit of having introduced many improvements for the +comfort of the audience. The _Lyceum Theatre_, or _English Opera House_, +at the corner of Wellington Street, Strand, was built in 1834; it was +intended as an English Opera House, but its fortunes have been +fluctuating, and the performances are not of a definite kind. The +_Princess’s Theatre_, on the north side of Oxford Street, was built in +1830; after a few years of opera and miscellaneous dramas, it became the +scene of Mr. Charles Kean’s Shakspearian revivals, and now resembles most +of the other theatres. _St. James’s Theatre_, in King Street, St. +James’s, was built for Braham, the celebrated singer; it was a losing +speculation to him; and although a really beautiful theatre inside, its +managerial arrangements have been very changeable of late years. The +_Olympic Theatre_, in Wych Street, Drury Lane, is small, but well +conducted and successful. The _Strand Theatre_, near the Olympic, has +been remarkable for its burlesque extravaganzes. The _New Globe +Theatre_, Newcastle Street, Strand, and the _Gaiety_, 345 Strand, and +lastly the _Vaudeville_, (for comedy, farce, and burlesque,) near the +_Adelphi_, are all of comparatively recent erection; so are the _Court +Theatre_, near Sloane Square; the _Charing Cross Theatre_, King William +Street; the _Queen’s Theatre_, Long Acre, late _St. Martin’s Hall_; and +the _Holborn Theatre_. The _New Royalty_, or _Soho Theatre_, in Dean +Street, Soho, was once a private theatre, belonging to Miss Kelly, the +celebrated actress. The _Prince of Wales’s Theatre_, in Tottenham +Street, is the old Tottenham Theatre in a renovated and greatly improved +condition. Some of Mr. T. W. Robertson’s best comedies have been +produced here within the last few years. _Sadler’s Wells_, near the New +River Head, was at one time remarkable for the ‘real water’ displayed in +melodramas. The _Marylebone Theatre_, between Regent’s Park and the +Edgeware Road; the _Grecian_, in the City Road; the _Britannia_, at +Hoxton; the _City of London_, in Norton Folgate; the _Standard_, in +Shoreditch; and the _Pavilion_, in Whitechapel, are Theatres noticeable +for the large numbers of persons accommodated, and the lowness of the +prices of admission. On the Surrey side of the Thames are _Astley’s +Amphitheatre_, in the Westminster Road, (the Circus is now removed;) the +_Victoria Theatre_, in the Waterloo Road; and the _Surrey Theatre_, in +Blackfriars Road. The performances at these several theatres commence at +an hour varying from half-past six (some of the minors) to half-past +eight (two Opera houses) in the evening, but the most usual hour is +seven; and, as a general rule, there is half-price at a later hour in the +evening. During the run of the Christmas pantomimes there are a few +additional performances at two in the afternoon. It has recently been +estimated that 4,000 persons are employed at the London theatres, earning +daily food for probably 12,000; and that the public spend about £350,000 +at those places annually. + +Concerts.—The principal Concert Rooms in London are, _Exeter Hall_, _St. +James’s Hall_, _Hanover Square Rooms_, the _Music Hall_, in Store Street, +the _Floral Hall_, _Willis’ Rooms_, and the _Queen’s Concert Room_, +attached to Her Majesty’s Theatre. All these places are engaged for +single concerts; but there are also musical societies and choral bodies +which give series of concerts every year. Among these are the _Sacred +Harmonic Society_, (Exeter Hall,) the _National Choral Society_, (same +place,) the _Philharmonic Society_, (Hanover Square Rooms,) _Mr. Henry +Leslie’s Choir_, the _New Philharmonic_, (St. James’s Hall,) the _Musical +Society_, the _Musical Union_, the _Glee and Madrigal Society_, the +_Beethoven Society_, the _Monday Popular Concerts_, &c. The _Oratorio_ +performances at Exeter Hall, by the Sacred Harmonic and National Choral +Societies, are considered to be the finest of the kind in Europe. There +are occasional _Handel Choral Meetings_ at the same place, under Sir +Michael Costa, supported by 1,600 singers. + +Tavern Music Halls.—Numerous Rooms connected with taverns have been +opened in London, within the last few years, for musical performances. +The music is a singular compound of Italian, English, and German operatic +compositions, fairly executed, with comic songs of the most extravagant +kind; to these are added what the performers please to term ‘nigger’ +dances, and athletic and rope-dancing feats—the whole accompanied by +drinking and smoking on the part of the audience. The chief among these +places are, _Canterbury Hall_, near the Westminster Road; the _Oxford_, +in Oxford Street; the _Royal Music Hall_, late _Weston’s_, in Holborn; +the _Alhambra_, in Leicester Square; the _Philharmonic_, Islington, near +the _Angel_. _Evans’_, in Covent Garden, does not as a rule admit +females, though ladies, friends of the proprietor, &c., are occasionally +allowed to look down on the proceedings from wired-in private boxes above +the line of the stage. _Evans’_ has long been honourably known for its +old English glees, catches, madrigals, &c., good supper, and gentlemanly +arrangements and audiences. The _Raglan_, the _Winchester_, the _South +London_, and others, are of plainer character. Charge, usually 6d. to +1s. Mr. Morton, the former proprietor of _Canterbury Hall_, provided a +capital gallery of pictures, (_Punch’s_ ‘Royal Academy over the Water,’) +placed freely open to the visitors to the Music Hall. + +Entertainments.—There is a class of London amusements, called +_Entertainments_, which has come much into fashion within a few years. +They generally last about two hours, from eight till ten in the evening. +The late Mr. Albert Smith was one of the first to commence these +entertainments, with his ‘_Overland Route_,’ ‘_Mont Blanc_,’ and +‘_China_;’ and the names of other well known entertainers are, Mr. +Woodin, Mr. and Mrs. German Reed, Mr. John Parry, Mr. A. Sketchley, Mr. +and Mrs. Howard Paul, &c. Delineation of character, painted scenery, +descriptive sketches, singing, music, ventriloquism—some or all of these +supply the materials from which these entertainments are got up. +Sometimes the _programme_ of performances is of a less rational +character, depending on the incongruities of so-called negro melodists; +while occasionally a higher tone is adopted, as in ‘_Readings_,’ by +various persons. The principal halls or rooms in which these +entertainments are held are the _Egyptian Hall_, Piccadilly; the _Gallery +of Illustration_, Regent Street; the minor rooms at _St. James’s Hall_; +and the _Music Hall_, in Store Street. The prices of admission generally +vary from 1s. to 3s. The leading pages of the daily newspapers, and more +especially of the _Times_, will always shew which of these entertainments +are open at any particular time. + +Miscellaneous Amusements.—The sources of information just mentioned will +also notify particulars of numerous other places of amusement, which need +not be separately classified. Among these are the _Polytechnic +Institution_, Regent Street, (famous for Mr. Pepper’s ‘Ghosts;’) and +_Madame Tussaud’s Waxwork_, Baker Street, Portman Square, (a favourite +exhibition with country visitors.) To all such places the charge of +admission is 1s. Among _Pleasure Gardens_, for music, dancing, tight and +slack rope performances, &c., _Cremorne Gardens_, at Chelsea, _St. Helena +Gardens_, at Rotherhithe, the _Riverside Gardens_, at North Woolwich, and +the _Surrey Gardens_, near Walworth, are the principal; _Vauxhall +Gardens_ have disappeared as places of amusement, and have been +supplanted by bricks and mortar. The so-called _Tea Gardens_ are much +more numerous, and are supported rather by the profit on the beverages +sold, than by the fee charged for admission. + +A few additional particulars concerning _Free Exhibitions_, _Shilling +Exhibitions_, and Exhibitions available only by Introduction, are given +in the _Appendix_. + + + + +PARKS AND PUBLIC GROUNDS; ZOOLOGICAL, BOTANICAL, AND HORTICULTURAL +GARDENS. + + +Much has been done within the last few years towards adorning the +metropolis with health-giving parks and grounds freely open to the +public. The gardens of three scientific societies, gradually brought +into a very attractive state, are also accessible, though not without +payment. + +St. James’s Park.—This is so called from St. James’s Palace, which partly +bounds it on the north. Originally these grounds were a marshy waste, +which was drained and otherwise improved by Henry VIII.; who also took +down an ancient hospital dedicated to St. James, and built on its site +the palace now called St. James’s. Charles II. improved the grounds by +planting the avenues of lime-trees on the north and south sides of the +park; and by forming the _Mall_, which was a hollowed, smooth, gravelled +space, half a mile long, skirted with a wooden border, for playing at +ball. The southern avenue was appropriated to aviaries; hence it derived +the appellation Birdcage Walk. The centre of the park was occupied by +canals and ponds for aquatic birds. William III. threw the park open to +the public for their recreation. Within the last thirty years the park +has been greatly improved. It is nearly a mile and a-half in +circumference, and covers about 90 acres; and the avenues form delightful +shady promenades. In the centre is a fine piece of water, interspersed +with islands, and dotted with swans and water-fowl; a bridge was built +across this water in 1857. On each side are spacious lawns, enriched +with lofty trees and flowering shrubs. The lawns are separated from the +avenues by iron railings, and at different parts are keepers’ lodges. +There are nine or ten entrances to the park, the Queen’s Guard doing duty +at each, day and night. At the east side is a large gravelled space, +called the _Parade_, on which, about ten o’clock every morning, the +body-guards required for the day are mustered—and here the regimental +bands perform for a time in fine weather. Here also guns are fired on +state occasions. At the south side of the parade is placed a huge +mortar, brought from Spain, where it was used during the Peninsular war; +it can propel a bombshell nearly four miles. At the north end of the +parade is a piece of Turkish ordnance, of great length, brought from +Alexandria, in Egypt. A little farther north from the parade is a broad +flight of steps, giving entrance to the park from Waterloo Place, +constructed by order of William IV.; these steps are surmounted by a +lofty column, commemorative of the late Duke of York, which occupies the +spot where formerly stood Carlton House, the favourite residence of +George IV. while Prince Regent. (Near here the band of the +Commissionaires plays on summer evenings.) Farther along the Mall, or +avenue, is Marlborough House; next to which is St. James’s Palace, +separated by Stafford House from the Green Park. At the western end is +Buckingham Palace; and on the southern side, Birdcage Walk, and the +Wellington Barracks. This park, all things considered, is one of the +greatest ornaments to the metropolis. The lake or water is a famous +skating-place in winter; and having been brought to a maximum and nearly +uniform depth of four feet, there is little danger of drowning by the +breakage of the ice. + +The Green Park.—This park, less attractive than St. James’s, and +occupying about 60 acres, rises with a gentle slope to the north of +Buckingham Palace, and is bounded on its east side by many fine mansions +of the nobility—including those of the Duke of Sutherland, and the Earls +Spencer, Ellesmere, and Yarborough. In a north-westerly direction from +the palace is a broad road called Constitution Hill, connecting St. +James’s Park with Hyde Park Corner. On the north is the line of +terrace-like street forming the western portion of Piccadilly. The whole +of the Green Park is surrounded by iron railings, and is interesting from +its undulating grassy surface, which rises considerably on the north +side. From the highest ground there is a pleasing prospect of Buckingham +Palace, and of St. James’s Park, with its ornamental grounds and avenues +of tall trees; and behind these Westminster Abbey and the new Houses of +Parliament majestically rise, accompanied by the turrets of other +buildings. At the north-west angle of the park, where Constitution Hill +joins Piccadilly, is a triumphal arch of the reign of George IV., +elaborately decorated, but possessing little general effect. The largest +equestrian statue in England, that of the Duke of Wellington, stands on +this arch; where it was placed in defiance of the opinion of persons of +taste, who protested against the incongruity of such an arrangement. +Across the way is the handsome entrance to Hyde Park, close to Apsley +House, the great Duke’s residence; and here, in the after-part of the +day, in fine weather, may be seen an extraordinary concourse of +foot-passengers, vehicles, and equestrians, going to and returning from +Hyde Park; also the general traffic between Piccadilly and Kensington, +Brompton, and other places in a westerly direction. + +Hyde Park.—This fine open place is part of the ancient manor of Hida, +which belonged to the monastery of St. Peter, at Westminster, till Henry +VIII. appropriated it differently. Its extent is about 390 acres, part +of which is considerably elevated. The whole is intersected with noble +roads and paths, and luxuriant trees, planted singly or in groups, +presenting very diversified prospects. Near the south-east corner, the +entrance from Piccadilly, on an elevated pedestal, stands a colossal +bronze statue of Achilles, cast from the cannon taken at the battles of +Salamanca and Waterloo, weighing thirty tons, and (as the inscription +informs us) ‘erected to the Duke of Wellington and his companions in arms +by their countrywomen.’ [Picture: Knightsbridge, Albert Gate, Hyde Park, +&c. (Brompton and Kensington Roads in the distance.)] It cost £10,000, +and was the work of Sir R. Westmacott. The south-east entrance to the +park, near Apsley House, is marked by a handsome series of arches and +balustrades, from the designs of Mr. Decimus Burton. The north-east +entrance, at the end of Oxford Street, now comprises the _Marble Arch_, +removed from the front of Buckingham Palace. The other entrances, of +which there are several, are less ornate. The long sheet of water called +the _Serpentine_ enriches the scenery of Hyde Park. Near its western +extremity is a stone bridge, of five large and two smaller arches, +erected in 1826, giving access to the gardens of Kensington Palace; and +the portion of the Serpentine contained within the gardens has lately +been rendered very attractive, by the formation, at its head, of a small +Italian garden, with fountains, statuary, &c. The carriage-drive on the +northern bank of the Serpentine is called the _Ladies’ Mile_. On the +level space of Hyde Park troops of the line and volunteers are +occasionally reviewed. There is a well-stored magazine near the western +side. The broad road through the park to Kensington is denominated +Rotten Row, and is a fashionable resort for equestrians of both sexes, +but is not open to wheel-carriages. Other roads display countless +elegant equipages of wealth and fashion; while the footpaths, which are +railed off from the roads, are favourite places of resort for visitors, +who enjoy the salubrity of the air, and the gaiety of the scene, more +particularly between five and seven on a summer afternoon. There are +several entrances open from early morning till ten at night. No stage or +hackney coaches, carts, or waggons, are permitted within the gates of +Hyde Park—with the exception of a road-way, made at the time of the +International Exhibition in 1862, and since kept up, across the park, +near Kensington Gardens, for passenger-vehicles. The Serpentine is much +frequented for bathing and skating. It has been recently cleaned out, +and drained to that end; the Royal Humane Society have a receiving-house +near at hand, to aid those whose lives may be endangered. The morning +and evening hours for bathing are defined by regulations placarded in +various places. The Great Exhibition of 1851, the first of its kind, was +held in a Crystal Palace near the south-west corner of the park. The +Exhibition building of 1862 was beyond the limits of the park. The +_Albert Memorial_ is at the Kensington end of Hyde Park. + +London International Exhibition.—Not far beyond Prince’s Gate, Hyde Park, +is the London International Exhibition of 1873, which opened on the 1st +May, and will continue open till the 30th September of this year. The +ground plan and the view of the building which we give will save +unnecessary expenditure of our space, which is obviously limited. +[Picture: Ground Plan] Among the many objects of interest are shewn +selected specimens as follows:—Pictures, Oil and Water Colour; Sculpture; +Decorative Furniture, Plate, Designs, Mosaics, &c.; Stained Glass; +Architecture and Models; Engravings; Lithography; Photography as a Fine +Art; Porcelain; Earthenware of all kinds; Terra-Cotta and Stoneware; +Machinery used for Pottery of all kinds; Woollen Manufactures; Carpets; +Worsted Manufactures; Machinery, in motion, used in Woollen and Worsted +Manufactures; Live Alpacas, remarkable for their hair and wool, and other +animals; Educational Works and Appliances; Scientific Inventions and +Discoveries; Horticulture. In the Royal Albert Hall musical art is +represented daily. + + [Picture: London International Exhibition, 1873] + +Kensington Gardens.—At the western extremity of Hyde Park lie Kensington +Gardens, a large piece of ground laid out in the ornamental park style, +interspersed with walks, and ornamented with rows and clumps of noble +trees. Besides entrances from Hyde Park, there are others from the +Knightsbridge and Bayswater Roads. Near the west end of the grounds +stands Kensington Palace. The gardens have been more than once +considerably extended, so that they now measure about two and a-half +miles in circumference. There are some beautiful gates on the south +side, which were contributed by the Coalbrook Dale Company to the Great +Exhibition of 1851. These grounds form a most delightful public +promenade during fine weather; especially on summer evenings, when one of +the Guards’ bands frequently plays near the south-east corner. + +Regent’s Park.—This beautiful park is situated considerably away from the +other parks, in a northerly direction from the Marylebone Road. It +consists of a nearly circular enclosure of about 470 acres, laid out on +the approved principles of landscape gardening; its centre is enriched +with lakes, plantations, shrubberies, and beds of flowers. Many of the +Metropolitan Volunteer Rifle Corps exercise and drill in this park, in +all except the winter months. The park is surrounded by extensive ranges +of buildings, forming terraces, variously designated, and decorated with +sculpture in agreement with their respective orders of architecture: +producing an effect of much grandeur, though, in some instances, of +questionable taste. Three or four isolated mansions occupy sites within +the park. The outer drive is two miles in circuit; the inner drive is a +perfect circle, with two outlets. At Mr. Bishop’s Observatory, near this +inner circle, Mr. Hind made most of his important discoveries of +asteroids and comets. Near the south-eastern corner of the park the +_Colosseum_ stands conspicuous. It is now closed. The Zoological and +Botanical Gardens will be described presently. Some distance north of +the Colosseum are St. Katharine’s Hospital and Chapel—a very luxurious +provision for ‘six poor bachelors and six poor spinsters.’ Near the +Colosseum was the once celebrated exhibition called the _Diorama_, which +was some years ago converted into a Baptist chapel, at the cost of Sir +Morton Peto. + +Primrose Hill.—This spot now deserves to be ranked among the public parks +of London. It is immediately north of the Regent’s Park. The Crown +owned part of it, and obtained the rest by purchase from Eton College. +The hill-top, the grassy slopes, and the gravelled paths are kept in +excellent order; and a stranger should not lose an opportunity of viewing +the ‘world of London’ from this spot in early morning. By permission of +the authorities, a refreshment-room has been established for visitors; +and a ‘Shakspeare Oak’ planted, April 23, 1864, which, however, “came to +grief.” + +Victoria Park.—This, the only park in the east or poorer division of +London, consists of about 270 acres. Having been formed only a few +years, the trees have not yet grown to a full size; but it is gradually +becoming a pleasant spot, with flower-beds, lakes, walks, and shady +avenues. This park is especially distinguished by possessing the most +magnificent _Public Fountain_ yet constructed in the metropolis; it was +provided by the munificence of Miss Burdett Coutts, at a cost of £5,000; +the design, due to Mr. Darbyshire, is that of a Gothic structure, crowned +by a cupola 60 feet high. Being near the densely populated districts of +Bethnal Green and Mile End, the park is a great boon to the inhabitants. +It lies between those districts and Hackney, and easy access to it can be +obtained from two stations on the North London Railway—those of Hackney +and Hackney Wick, or Victoria Park. The fountain just mentioned is near +the Hackney entrance. Improved access is also opened from Whitechapel, +from Mile End, and from Bow. + +Battersea Park.—This park, of about 180 acres, on which £300,000 has been +spent, lies between Vauxhall and Battersea, and is the only public park +which comes down to the Thames. Nothing can exceed the change exhibited +on this spot. Until recently it was a miserable swamp, called Battersea +Fields; now it is a fine park, interesting to look at, and healthful to +walk in. A beautiful suspension bridge, from the designs of Mr. Page, +connects this park with Chelsea, on the other side of the river; and near +it is another bridge for railway traffic. + +Kennington Park.—A few years ago there was an open common at Kennington, +dirty and neglected, and mostly held in favour by such classes as those +which held the Chartist meeting in 1848. It is now a prettily laid-out +public park—small, but well kept. + +Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington, near Alexandra Park, was opened in +August, 1869. + +Southwark Park was opened about the same time. Though small, they are +great boons to the working classes. + +Zoological Gardens.—At the northern extremity of the Regent’s Park are +the _Zoological Gardens_, the property of the Zoological Society, and +established in 1826. These gardens are very extensive; and being removed +from the dingy atmosphere, noise, and bustle of London, present an +agreeable and country-like aspect. The grounds have been disposed in +picturesque style—here a clump of shrubby trees and border of flowers, +indigenous and exotic; there a pretty miniature lake; and at intervals a +neat rustic cottage, with straw-thatched roof and honeysuckled porch. +Much of the ground, also, is occupied as green meadows, either subdivided +into small paddocks for deer and other quadrupeds, or dotted with movable +trellis-houses, the abodes of different kinds of birds which require the +refreshing exercise of walking on the green turf. Throughout the whole, +neat gravel-walks wind their serpentine course, and conduct the visitor +to the carnivora-house, reptile-house, bear-pit, monkey-house, aviaries, +aquaria, and other departments of the establishment. The collection of +animals is unquestionably the finest in England. The gardens are open +every week-day, from 9 till sunset, for the admission of visitors, who +pay 1s. each at the gate, or 6d. on Mondays. On Saturday afternoon, in +summer, one of the Guards’ bands generally plays for an hour or two. On +Sunday Fellows are admitted, and non-Fellows by a Fellow’s order. + + [Picture: Zoological Gardens] + +Botanical Gardens.—These are also situated in the Regent’s Park, +occupying the chief portion of the space within the inner circle. They +belong to the Botanical Society, and contain a very choice collection of +trees, shrubs, flowers, and plants generally. Admission by strangers can +only be obtained through the medium of the members, or occasionally on +the payment of rather a high fee. On the days of the principal flower +and plant shows, these gardens are especially distinguished by the +display of aristocratic fashion and beauty. + + [Picture: Horticultural Gardens] + +Horticultural Gardens.—These beautiful new grounds are objects of +attraction on many accounts—their merit in connection with garden +architecture, the interest attending the flower-shows there held, and the +special relation existing between the grounds and the Exhibitions at +Brompton. You can enter them by the gates in Exhibition Road and Prince +Albert Road, South Kensington. A few years ago, besides an office in +London, the society had only facilities at Chiswick for holding the great +flower-shows. The present arrangement is in all respects a superior one. +Twenty acres of land were purchased or rented from the Commissioners of +the Great Exhibition of 1851, between the Kensington and Brompton Roads; +the subscribers of the purchase-money being admitted to membership on +favourable conditions. The ground is laid out in three terraces, rising +successively in elevation, and surrounded by Italian arcades open to the +gardens. There are also cascades and waterworks. The highest terrace +has a spacious conservatory, to form a winter-garden. Mr. Sidney Smith +is the architect. The last Great Exhibition building was so planned as +to form a vast southern background to the gardens; and the latter were +spread out in all their beauty, as seen from certain points in the +former. During the summer months the gardens are open on certain +occasions to the public by paying, the days and terms being duly +advertised in the newspapers and journals. Near these gardens is the +towering _Royal Albert Hall of Science and Art_, which was formally +opened by Queen Victoria, on the 29th of March, 1871. The fact of 8,000 +people attending within one building to witness the opening of it, will +shew its vast size. The sum of £200,000, up to that date, had been +expended on it. The Hall, in some sense, has been erected in memory of +the late Prince Consort, whose aspirations, during his honourable life +here, were always towards whatever tended to the moral and intellectual +culture of the people of this country. The management of the undertaking +is entrusted to the energetic attention of the scientific men to whom we +owe the South Kensington Museum. + + + + +OMNIBUSES; TRAMWAYS; CABS; RAILWAYS; STEAMERS. + + +Omnibuses.—Very few indeed of the regular old-fashioned coaches are now +to be seen in London. Most of the places within twenty miles of the +metropolis, on every side, are supplied with omnibuses instead. The +first omnibus was started by Mr. Shillibeer, from Paddington to the Bank, +July 4, 1829. From a return with which, by the courtesy of Colonel +Henderson, C.B., Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Scotland Yard, +we were kindly favoured, we gathered, that up to date of the +communication in question,—viz., 28th June, 1870,—the number of such +vehicles licensed in the Metropolitan district was 1,218. Every omnibus +and hackney carriage within the Metropolitan district and the City of +London, and the liberties thereof, has to take out a yearly license, in +full force for one year, unless revoked or suspended; and all such +licenses are to be granted by the Commissioners of Police, whose officers +are constantly inspecting these public vehicles. Generally speaking, +each _omnibus_ travels over the same route, and exactly the same number +of times, day after day, with the exception of some few of the omnibuses +which go longer journeys than the rest, and run not quite so often in +winter as in summer. Hence the former class of omnibus comes to be +associated with a particular route. It is known to the passengers by its +colour, the name of its owner, the name given to the omnibus itself, or +the places to and from which it runs, according to circumstances. The +designations given to the omnibuses, whether meaning or unmeaning in +themselves, are found to be very convenient, because they are generally +written in large conspicuous characters. This being an important matter +to strangers, we shall give a condensed list of some of the chief omnibus +routes in London in the _Appendix_. + +Large omnibuses, to work on _street tramways_, after having been tried +within the last few years, having evoked angry discussion between +opponents and defenders, and having been entirely withdrawn, have now +been revived, from Brixton Church to Kennington Gate, on the Mile End and +Whitechapel Roads, City Road, Kingsland, &c., &c., and are rapidly +extending. + +There are, to a male visitor, few better ways of getting a bird’s-eye +view of London than by riding outside an omnibus from one end of London +to the other, as, according to the omnibus taken, the route can be +greatly varied. + +Cabs.—These convenient vehicles have completely superseded the old +pair-horse hackney-coaches in London; no vehicle of the kind being now +ever seen. There are, according to the return above quoted, 6,793 of the +modern single-horse hackney-coaches in the metropolis altogether—of two +different kinds, ‘four-wheelers’ and ‘Hansoms,’ (named after the +patentee.) The ‘four-wheelers’ are the more numerous; they have two +seats and two doors; they carry four persons, and are entirely enclosed. +The ‘Hansoms’ have two very large wheels, one seat to accommodate two +persons, and are open in front; the driver is perched up behind, and +drives his vehicle at a rapid rate. + +Railways.—If omnibuses and cabs are more important than railways to +strangers while _in_ London, railways are obviously the most important of +the three when coming to or departing from London. The following are a +few particulars concerning such railways as enter the metropolis. + +_London and North-Western Railway_ has its terminus just behind Euston +Square. The noble portico in front—by far the finest thing of the kind +connected with railway architecture—has been rendered ridiculous by the +alterations in the buildings behind it; for it is now at one corner of an +enclosed court, instead of being in the centre of the frontage. A new +hall leading to the booking-offices, finished in 1849, is worthy of the +great company to which it belongs; the vast dimensions, the fine statue +of George Stephenson, and the _bassi-rilievi_ by Thomas, render it an +object deserving of a visit. This station is the London terminus of a +system exceeding 1,446 miles. + +The _Midland Railway_ has a magnificent terminus in the Euston Road, and +a junction with the Metropolitan line. It has already more than 800 +miles open. + +_Great Northern Railway_ has its terminus at King’s Cross—a building more +remarkable for novelty than for beauty. This company, a severe +competitor to some of older date, has few stations near London; but the +directness of the line of railway renders it important as an outlet to +the north. A good hotel is contiguous to the terminus. The goods’ depôt +has become famous for the vast quantity of coal brought to the +metropolis. + +_Great Western Railway_ has its terminus at Paddington, where a fine new +station was built a few years ago. A style of arabesque polychrome +decoration has been adopted, not seen at other metropolitan stations. +Paddington is the head-quarters of the broad-gauge system, which extends +to Weymouth in one direction, to Truro in a second, to Milford Haven in a +third, and to Wolverhampton in a fourth; but some of the broad-gauge +lines belong to other companies; while, on the other hand, this company +has adopted the double-gauge on about 400 miles of its line. The +terminus has a splendid new hotel adjoining it. + +_West London Railway_ (now better known as the _West London Extension +Railway_) can hardly be said to have an independent commercial existence. +It was an old and unsuccessful affair, till taken up by four of the great +companies, and enlarged in an important way. It now includes a railway +bridge over the Thames at Battersea; it is connected with the London and +North-Western, the Great Western, and the Metropolitan, on the north, and +with the South-Western, the Brighton, and the Chatham and Dover, on the +south. There are stations at Kensington, Chelsea, and Battersea. + +_Hammersmith and City Junction Railway_ crosses the last-named line at +Shepherds’ Bush, and joins the Great Western at Kensal New Town, a mile +or two beyond Paddington. + +_North and South-Western Junction Railway_ is, perhaps, valuable rather +as a link between the greater railways, than as an independent line. It +joins the North London at Camden Town, and the South-Western at Kew; and +has stations at Kentish Town, Hampstead, Finchley New Road, Edgeware +Road, Kensal Green, Acton, and Hammersmith. It establishes through +trains with other companies; and although it has no actual London +terminus of its own, it is a great convenience to the western margin of +the metropolis, for the fares are low. + +_South-Western Railway_ has its terminus in the Waterloo Road, which has +been placed in connection with the London Bridge Station. The main lines +of the company extend to Portsmouth in one direction, Dorchester in +another, and Exeter in a third; while there is a multitude of +branches—from Wimbledon to Croydon, from Wimbledon to Epsom and +Leatherhead, from Wandsworth to Richmond and Windsor, from Barnes to +Hounslow, from Staines to Reading, &c. There is no good hotel whatever +near the Waterloo or Vauxhall Stations—a defect which seems to need a +remedy. + +_Victoria and Crystal Palace Railway_ is a concern in which so many +companies have an interest, that it is not easy to define the ownership. +The Victoria Station, within a quarter of a mile of the Queen’s Palace, +Pimlico, is very large, but certainly not very handsome. The _Grosvenor +Hotel_, attached to it, may rank among the finest in the metropolis. The +Brighton, the Chatham and Dover, and the Great Western, are accommodated +at this station, where both the broad and narrow gauges are laid down. +The railway leads thence, to join the Brighton at Sydenham and Norwood, +by a railway-bridge across the Thames; it has stations at Battersea, +Wandsworth, Balham, Streatham, Norwood, and the Crystal Palace; and +throws off branches to meet the lines of the other three companies above +named. + +_London_, _Brighton_, _and South Coast Railway_ has for its terminus a +portion of the great London Bridge Station, contiguous to which a hotel +has been constructed. It also has termini at Victoria and Kensington. +The line leads nearly due south to the sea at Brighton, and then along +the sea-coast, from Hastings in the east to Portsmouth in the west. +There are also several branches to accommodate Surrey and Sussex. Taken +altogether, this is the most remarkable _pleasure-line_ in England,—the +traffic of this kind between London and Brighton being something +marvellous. + +_South-Eastern Railway_ has another portion of the large but incongruous +London Bridge Station in its possession. The seaside termini of the line +are at Margate, Ramsgate, Deal, Dover, and Hastings. The Greenwich and +North Kent branches are important feeders; while there are others of less +value. The company have spent a vast sum of money in extending their +line to the north of the Thames—by forming a city station in Cannon +Street, with a bridge over the river midway between London and Southwark +Bridges; and a West-end Station at Charing Cross, with a bridge over the +river at (what was till lately) Hungerford Market. There is also a +connection with the South-Western terminus in the Waterloo Road. The +company have been forced to pay a sum of £300,000 for St. Thomas’s +Hospital, as the only means of insuring a convenient course for this +extension—a striking instance of the stupendous scale on which railway +operations are now conducted. + +_London_, _Chatham_, _and Dover Railway_ is a very costly enterprise. It +may be said to start from two junctions with the Metropolitan, has a +large station near Ludgate Hill, (involving great destruction of +property,) crosses the Thames a little eastward of Blackfriars Bridge, +and proceeds through Surrey and Kent to Sydenham, Bromley, Crays, +Sevenoaks, Chatham, Sheerness, Faversham, Herne Bay, Margate, Ramsgate, +Canterbury, Dover Pier, &c. It also comprises a curvilinear line from +Ludgate to Pimlico, with stations at Blackfriars, Newington, Walworth, +Camberwell, Loughborough Road, Brixton, Clapham, Wandsworth Road, and +Battersea; and a branch to Peckham, Nunhead, and the Crystal Palace. + +_Blackwall Railway_, with which is associated the _Tilbury and Southend_, +has its terminus in Fenchurch Street. The station is small and +unattractive; but it accommodates a wonderful amount of passenger +traffic. The original line extended only from London to Blackwall, with +intermediate stations at Shadwell, Stepney, Limehouse, West India Docks, +and Poplar. An important branch from Stepney to Bow establishes a +connection with the Great Eastern Railway valuable to both companies. At +Stepney also begins the Tilbury and Southend line, passing through +Bromley, Barking, and numerous other places. Accommodation is provided, +a little way from the Fenchurch Street Station, for a large amount of +goods traffic. The line is now leased in perpetuity to the Great Eastern +Company. + +_Great Eastern Railway_ has its terminus in Bishopsgate Street, or rather +Shoreditch, and a large depôt and station at Stratford. The Shoreditch +station is large. This terminus, however, will shortly be removed to +Broad Street, City. The lines of this company are numerous, and ramify +in many directions towards the east, north-east, and north. Its terminal +points (with those of the associated companies) at present +are—Peterborough, Hunstanton, Wells, Yarmouth, Aldborough, and Harwich; +with less distant termini at Ongar and North Woolwich. + +_North London Railway_, consisting wholly of viaduct and cutting, has its +terminus at Broad Street, Finsbury. All its stations are considered to +be in London. It joins the London and North-Western near Primrose Hill, +and the Blackwall at Stepney. It has intermediate stations at Camden +Road, Caledonian Road, Islington, Cannonbury, Kingsland, Dalston, +Hackney, Victoria Park, and Bow. Trains run every quarter of an hour, in +both directions, at fares varying from 2d. to 4d.; and the number of +passengers is immense. + +_Metropolitan Railway_, from Finsbury to Paddington, is a very remarkable +one, nearly all tunnel, and requiring the carriages to be constantly +lighted with gas. It runs from Westminster Bridge, _viâ_ Pimlico, +Brompton, Kensington, Notting Hill, and Bayswater, to Paddington, where +it joins the Great Western. It then goes under Praed Street and the New +Road to King’s Cross. There it joins the Great Northern, and thence goes +on to Holborn Bridge, Smithfield Dead Meat Market, and Moorgate Street. +Since the opening of the Metropolitan District Extension Railway, you can +go at present (July, 1870) from the Mansion House, under the Northern +Thames Embankment, before described, to Westminster Bridge, &c. There +are stations near the Mansion House, the terminus; at Blackfriars, the +Temple, Charing Cross, and Westminster. + +_Steamers_ and _Steamboat Piers_ have been already referred to. + + + + +SHORT EXCURSIONS. + + +WE shall now direct the stranger’s attention to a few places of interest +easily accessible from the metropolis—beginning with those situated +westward, or up the river. + + + +UP THE RIVER. + + + [Picture: Chelsea Hospital] + +Chelsea.—Chelsea, once a village, is now a part of the metropolis, +Pimlico and Belgravia having supplied the intervening link. During the +last century a pleasant ramble across the fields was much in favour to +the _Chelsea bunhouse_; but no one thinks of Chelsea now, except as part +of London. Sloane Square and Street, and Hans Place, were named after +Sir Hans Sloane, who lived in that neighbourhood. The chief place of +interest at Chelsea is the _Hospital_ for retired invalid soldiers, an +institution similar to the asylum for old seamen at Greenwich. The +hospital, which is situated on a flat stretch of ground bordering the +Thames, and was planned by Sir Christopher Wren, consists chiefly of one +large edifice of red brick, several stories in height, forming a centre +and two wings, or three sides of a square, with the open side towards the +bank of the Thames. On the north, in which is the main entrance, the +style of architecture is simple, being ornamented with only a plain +portico. The inner part of the centre building is more decorated, there +being here a piazza of good proportions, forming a sheltered walk for the +veteran inmates. In the centre of the open square stands a statue, by +Grinling Gibbons, of Charles II., in whose time the hospital took its +rise. The only parts of the structure considered worthy to be shewn to +strangers are the chapel and old dining-hall, both in the central +building. The chapel is neat and plain in appearance; the rows of +benches being furnished with prayer-books and hassocks, and the floor +being paved with chequered marble. Above the communion-table is a +painting of the Ascension, by Sebastian Ricci. The dining-hall is +equally spacious, but is now disused as a refectory. In the hall and +chapel are about 100 flags, taken by British troops in various battles. +The usual number of in-pensioners is about 500, and of out-pensioners not +fewer than 60,000 to 70,000, who reside in all parts of the United +Kingdom. The former are provided with all necessaries, while the latter +have each pensions varying according to their grade. The inmates wear an +antique garb of red cloth, in which they may be seen loitering about the +neighbourhood. + +Near Sloane Square is situated a large building forming the _Royal +Military Asylum_, familiarly called the _Duke of York’s School_, for the +support and education of about 500 poor children, whose fathers were +non-commissioned officers and privates in the army. Each regiment of the +British army contributes annually one day’s pay, to aid in supporting the +institution. Between Sloane Square and Chelsea Bridge is the fine new +Barracks for the Foot Guards: the only handsome barrack structure in the +metropolis. + + [Picture: Star and Garter, Putney] + +Chelsea to Chiswick.—_Battersea Park_, elsewhere described, is just +opposite Chelsea. Beyond the park are _Battersea_ and _Wandsworth_, +places containing very few objects of interest; and backed by _Clapham_ +and _Wimbledon_, where many London merchants and tradesmen have their +private residences. Beyond Wandsworth lie _Putney_, _Barnes_, and +_Mortlake_, where the river makes a great bend towards Kew. Between +Putney and Kew many _Regattas_, or boat-races, take place during the +summer; especially the famous annual contest, from Putney to Mortlake, +between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge: these are among the +most pleasant of the up-river scenes. Omnibuses, steamboats, and the +South-Western Railway, give abundant accommodation to the places here +named. On the Middlesex side of the river, just beyond Chelsea, are +_Cremorne Gardens_. Next, we get into a region of Market-Gardens, from +which London is supplied with vast quantities of fruit and vegetables. +_Walham Green_, _Parson’s Green_, and _Fulham_, lie in the immediate +vicinity of these gardens. Strangers would find an hour or two +pleasantly spent hereabouts. The bishops of London have their palace at +Fulham, a picturesque old structure. After passing _Hammersmith_, where +there is a pretty suspension bridge, we come to _Chiswick_, noted for its +market-gardens; here is the house in which Hogarth died; and in the +churchyard is his tomb, with an inscription by David Garrick. The Duke +of Sutherland has a fine mansion at Chiswick; and near at hand are the +old gardens of the Horticultural Society. + + [Picture: Palm-House, Kew Gardens] + +Kew Gardens.—_Kew_ is one of the pleasantest villages near London. When +we have crossed the Thames from Brentford, by the bridge, we come upon +the green, bounded on three sides by countryfied-looking houses, and on +the fourth by the splendid gardens. The place is very easily reached—by +omnibuses from the city to the Middlesex end of the bridge; by steamers +every half-hour during summer; and by trains from the Waterloo and the +North London Stations. It may be well to remember, however, that the +so-called Kew Station is not actually at Kew. There is another, however, +near the Gardens. By far the most interesting object at Kew is the +famous _Botanic Gardens_. This is a very beautiful establishment, +maintained at the public expense. It contains a rare collection of +plants, obtained from all parts of the world, arranged and labelled in +admirable order by Dr. Dalton Hooker. The flower-beds, hot-houses, and +conservatories, are very numerous. The _great palm __house_, with its +exotics, reaching to a height of 60 feet, and constructed at a cost of +£30,000, forms a grand object. The new _temperate-house_ was constructed +from the designs of Mr. Burton; 212 feet long, 137 wide, and 60 high, +with two wings 112 feet by 62. Extensive new works have been +added—including a lake having a communication with the Thames by a tunnel +under the river-terrace, and a winter-garden, or enclosed conservatory, +more than twice as large as the palm-house. Three detached buildings +have been fitted up as a _Museum of Economic Botany_. The _Pleasure +Grounds_ form a kind of Park contiguous to the Botanic Gardens; the +gardens are 75 acres in extent, and the grounds 240 acres. This +beautiful place is freely open to the public in the afternoon, on Sundays +as well as week-days, after one o’clock. + + [Picture: Richmond Bridge] + +Richmond.—_Richmond_ is a village situated on the south bank of the +Thames, at about 9 miles by land from Hyde Park Corner, and 16 miles by +following the windings of the river. The most pleasant mode of +conveyance to it used to be by one of the small steamboats from +Hungerford Pier; for then an opportunity was afforded of seeing numerous +beautiful and interesting spots on both banks of the river. The river is +now, however, so shallow, that steamers can seldom reach this spot; and +the trip is usually made by railway—from the Waterloo and Vauxhall +Stations, and from all stations on the Blackwall, North London, and North +and South Western lines. Omnibuses also run very frequently from the +City and West End. Richmond stands on a slope overhanging the river. +Opposite the village is a stone bridge crossing the Thames. South from +the village, a pretty steep bank ascends to the green and bushy eminence +called _Richmond Hill_; and from the terrace on its summit a view is +obtained of the beautifully wooded country up the river, stretching away +to Windsor. Among numerous villas, ornamental grounds, and other +attractive objects, may be seen _Twickenham_, situated in the immediate +vicinity, on the left bank of the Thames. In the house for which the +present was erected as a substitute, lived Pope the poet, and his body is +entombed in the church. [Picture: Pope’s Villa] Close by Twickenham is +_Strawberry Mill_, once the seat of Horace Walpole, and now belonging to +Lady Waldegrave. Moving onwards along the brow of the eminence, and +passing the well known but expensive hotel called the _Star and Garter_, +we enter the famous _Richmond Park_, which is eight miles in +circumference, and enriched with magnificent trees. These extensive +grounds were at one time connected with a royal palace, but there is now +no such edifice—one or two hunting-lodges excepted; the park is, however, +still a domain of the Crown, and freely open to the public. Foreigners +are great admirers of this vicinity. + + [Picture: Hampton Court] + +Hampton Court.—_Hampton_ is about 13 miles from London by railway, and 24 +by water. Trains run there very frequently, and at low fares, from +Waterloo Station. The village is unimportant, but rendered pleasant by +its large and open green. The chief object of attraction is _Hampton +Court Palace_, situated within an enclosed garden near the north bank of +the Thames. The palace was originally built by Cardinal Wolsey, and a +portion of the structure which he reared is still extant in the northern +quadrangle. Here was the scene of the humiliation and forfeiture of that +favourite of Henry VIII., who at this place often held his court, and +made it the scene of his Christmas festivities; there Edward VI. was +born; here were held the masques, mummeries, and tournaments of Philip +and Mary, and Elizabeth; here James I. held his court and famous meeting +of controversialists; here Charles I. was immured as a state prisoner, +and took leave of his children; here was celebrated the marriage of +Cromwell’s daughter and Lord Falconberg; here Charles II. sojourned +occasionally with his dissolute courtiers; here lived William and Mary +after the revolution of 1688; and here, till the reign of George II., +royal courts were sometimes held. The palace, in external appearance, is +a lofty and magnificent structure of red brick, with stone cornices and +dressings. The older part, including the famous Great Hall, the scene of +the court masques and revels, is of the time of Henry VIII.; the eastern +part, including the public rooms and the long garden front, was built by +Wren for William III. Altogether, the edifice consists of three +quadrangles. Entering by the grand staircase, which is decorated with +paintings by Antonio Verrio, the visitor is conducted through a suite of +lofty and large apartments, furnished in an old-fashioned style. The +guard-room, which is first in order, contains, besides a series of +English admirals by Kneller and Dahl, a variety of ancient warlike +instruments. In the next apartment are portraits of various beauties of +Charles II.’s court, painted by Sir Peter Lely, who has here depicted +several lovely countenances, though a sensual character is common to them +all. In the third room, or audience-chamber, is seen what is generally +regarded as the finest painting in the palace—a portrait of Charles I. on +horseback, by Vandyck. The third room has also some good pictures; among +others, a painting of the family of Louis Cornaro, a person celebrated +for his extraordinary temperance. The picture, which is from an original +by Titian, shews Cornaro and three generations of descendants, who appear +in the act of adoration at a shrine. There are likewise portraits of +Titian and his uncle, painted by Titian himself, and a spirited +battle-piece by Giulio Romano. The fourth apartment, or Queen’s +drawing-room, is enriched with an exceedingly fine painting of Charles +I., a whole length, by Vandyck, esteemed the best likeness we have of +that monarch. There is a well known and beautiful print from it by Sir +Robert Strange, the prince of English line-engravers. In the next room, +or state bedchamber, the visitor will see a portrait of Ann Hyde, +daughter of Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, and mother of the successive queens, +Mary and Anne. The Queen’s dressing-room and writing-closet, and Queen +Mary’s state bedchamber, which follow, contain many fine pictures, by +Holbein, Sir Peter Lely, Sebastian del Piombo, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert +Durer, and others. A series known as the Beauties of the Court of +William and Mary comprises portraits (by Kneller) more staid than those +of the court of Charles II., and, it must be admitted, more tame and +dull. After having traversed these stately and silent halls, one of +which contains a valuable collection of historical portraits, the visitor +is led out through the gallery lately containing the famous Cartoons of +Raphael—which were transferred in 1865 to the South Kensington Museum. +Another room contains a fine series of Cartoons by Andrea Mantegna. The +whole of the pictures at Hampton Court are little less than 1000 in +number. + +The palace garden has a _Vinery_, where there is a grape vine ninety +years old, which has sometimes yielded 3000 bunches of grapes in one +year. The garden also possesses a _Maze_, a source of great delight to +holiday juveniles. On the opposite side of the Hampton Wick Road from +the palace gardens, is _Bushy Park_, a royal domain, embellished with an +avenue of horse-chestnut trees, which present a splendid sight when in +full bloom. The palace grounds are also exceedingly beautiful. Bushy +Park is open for omnibuses and other vehicles, as well as for +pedestrians. The palace is open free every day except Friday, from 10 +till 4 or 6, according to the season; and the grounds or gardens till +dusk. This is one of the very few public buildings in or near the +metropolis open on Sundays. + +Windsor.—Passing over the country between Hampton and Windsor, which does +not comprise many spots interesting to strangers, we come to the famous +royal domain. _Windsor_ is situated in the county of Berks, at the +distance of 22 miles west from London by the road through Brentford; but +it may now be reached in an hour or less by the Great Western Railway +from Paddington, or the South-Western from Waterloo Bridge. Windsor +occupies a rising-ground on the south bank of the Thames, and is +interesting for its ancient and extensive castle, the grandest royal +residence in this country. The gates of the castle are close upon the +main street of the town, and lead to enclosures containing a number of +quadrangles, towers, gates, mansions, barracks, and other structures. +[Picture: Round Tower, Windsor] The principal portion of the castle +occupies two courts, an upper and lower, of spacious dimensions, and +having between them a large round tower or keep, in which the governor +resides. The top of this keep is 220 feet above the Thames, and twelve +counties can be seen from it in fine weather. In the lower court is St. +George’s Chapel, an elegant Gothic edifice, in which service is performed +on Sundays, occasionally in presence of the royal residents. Besides the +chapel and keep, the chief parts of the castle attractive to strangers +are the state apartments in the upper or northern court; these are +exhibited _free_ to visitors on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and +Fridays. Tickets can be obtained of Messrs. Colnaghi, 13 and 14 Pall +Mall East. The days, hours, and conditions of visiting are notified on +the tickets. The apartments here meant are the _old_ state rooms, not +those actually occupied by the Queen, her family, and retinue. + + [Picture: Windsor Castle] + +Outside the castle, facing the north, is the famed _terrace_, from which +a view is obtained over a most beautiful expanse of country. On another +side are the new royal stables, the finest in England, having, with the +Riding House, cost £70,000. In the gardens immediately adjoining the +Queen’s apartments, the royal family, before the death of the Prince +Consort, were wont occasionally to promenade, at an hour when the public +might see them. The _Home Park_, bounding the palace on two sides, is +not open to the public; but the _Great Park_ is freely open, to persons +on foot, on horseback, or in vehicles. The _Long Walk_ through this +park, extending 3 miles, is one of the finest things of the kind in +England. + + [Picture: Eton College] + +_Eton College_, with its school-rooms for 900 boys, chapel, quadrangles, +and playing-fields, lies beautifully situated opposite Windsor Castle. + +A ramble from the Slough Station, near Eton, would take a visitor to the +scenes rendered memorable by Gray’s _Elegy_. + + + +DOWN THE RIVER. + + +Deptford.—This was once of some importance as a shipbuilding place, a +dockyard having been established here ever since the time of Henry VIII.; +but the government establishments have recently been given up to the +victualling and store departments. Deptford may now be considered part +of the metropolis—and a very dirty part it is, containing few objects +that would interest a stranger. Peter the Great of Russia studied as a +shipwright at Deptford dockyard in 1698, to fit himself for creating a +Russian navy. + + [Picture: Greenwich] + +Greenwich.—This favourite place lies on the south bank of the Thames, a +little below Deptford, about six miles below London Bridge, following the +windings of the river, but only about four miles by railway, from the +London Bridge Station. It is noted for the _Trafalgar_, _Ship_, _Crown +and Sceptre_, and other taverns, where _whitebait dinners_ have become +celebrated. Diners at these places, however, will require long purses. +Greenwich is chiefly interesting, however, for its national +establishments. Towards its eastern extremity stands the _Hospital_, +which faces the Thames, and has a command of all that passes on the +river. This superb hospital consists of four edifices, unconnected with +each other, but apparently forming an entire structure, lining three +sides of an open square, the fourth side being next the water. It is +mostly built of stone, in majestic style; and along nearly the greater +part are lofty colonnades, with handsome pillars, and covered overhead, +to protect those underneath from the weather. The square interval in the +centre, which is 273 feet wide, has in the middle a statue of George II., +by Rysbrach. A portion of these beautiful buildings was originally +planned by Inigo Jones, another portion by Sir C. Wren, and the rest by +later architects. It was William and Mary who, in the year 1694, here +established an hospital for superannuated and disabled seamen, to which +purpose the buildings were till lately devoted. The institution is +supported by the interest on £2,800,000, funded property, the rental of +estates in the north of England, and a national grant. In 1865 it +accommodated about 1300 pensioners, 150 nurses, and a variety of officers +for the government of the place. The inmates were old sailors, with +countenances well browned by tropical suns, or bleached by the tempests +of the ocean; here one hobbling on a wooden leg, there one with an empty +sleeve, and occasionally one with only one eye. Their clothes were of a +dark-blue colour, of an antiquated fashion. Their old cocked-hats had +been superseded by hats of more modern shape; the boatswains, or other +warrant-officers, being allowed a yellow trimming or lace to their +garments. An abundance of food was allowed, the clothing warm and +comfortable, the accommodations in the rooms good; and each man, +according to his rank, had from three to five shillings a-week, as an +allowance for pocket-money. The outer gateway, and the interior parts of +this establishment, were under the care of the pensioners themselves, who +shewed the utmost attention to strangers, manifesting a frankness and +good-nature characteristic of the profession of the sailor. Small sums +were taken for exhibiting some of the buildings, but the money went to +the general fund, or for the board and education of the children of +seamen. The visitor did not fail to glance into the _refectory_ and +_kitchen_, which were freely open, and see the old men at their meals. + +It may seem singular thus to speak of this famous establishment in the +_past_ tense; but in truth the purpose of Greenwich Hospital is changed. +By an arrangement made in 1865, nearly all the pensioners (except sick +and decrepit) have left the building, with a greatly increased +money-allowance; most of them now living with their relations or friends. + + [Picture: Painted Hall, Greenwich Hospital] + +One attractive part of the establishment is the _Painted Hall_, in the +west wing. It consists of a great room and one smaller, a vestibule, and +a flight of steps. The appearance of the whole interior, on entering, is +very imposing, the ceiling and one end being covered with paintings; and +although these paintings, exhibiting a mixture of fantastic heathen gods +and goddesses with royal and other portraits, are not in judicious taste, +they serve to give a good general effect to the noble apartment. Along +the walls are hung a collection of pictures, partly portraits of +celebrated navigators and admirals, and partly depicting distinguished +naval victories: each being a present to the institution by some +benefactor. A good portrait of Captain Cook, by Dance, presented by Sir +Joseph Banks, adorns the vestibule. A number of portraits, by Sir Peter +Lely, Dahl, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and others, were presented by George IV. +There are also several by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The painted ceiling of +the great room was executed by Sir James Thornhill in 1703 and subsequent +years. It is related that, in consequence of the length of time he had +to lie on his back painting the ceiling, the artist could never +afterwards sit upright. In the smaller apartment are shewn several +models of ships of war, admirably executed; the coat worn by Nelson at +the battle of the Nile; the astrolabe of Sir Francis Drake, a curious +brass instrument of antique fashion, used for nautical observation; and +some interesting relics of the ill-fated voyage of Sir John Franklin. +The Hall is open free to the public on Monday and Friday; on other days +the charge is 4d. On Sunday it may be seen after morning-service. The +_Chapel_ is also worth a visit; it contains a fine picture by Benjamin +West, the ‘Shipwreck of St. Paul;’ and monuments to two admirals, by +Chantrey and Behnes. A monument or obelisk to the memory of Lieutenant +Bellot, who perished in one of the Arctic Expeditions, has been placed on +the noble Hospital-terrace, fronting the river. + +The _Park_, extending behind the hospital—open free to the public until +dusk—comprehends a considerable space of ground, nearly 200 acres, of +great natural and artificial beauty. A pathway amidst lines of tall +trees leads to a piece of rising-ground or mount, which, on holidays, +generally exhibits a mirthful scene, in which ‘running down Greenwich +hill’ plays a great part. On the summit is the _Royal Observatory_, +founded by George III. for the promotion of astronomical science, and the +scene of the labours of some men of distinguished ability. An +astronomer-royal, supported by a parliamentary grant, constantly resides +and pursues investigations in the Observatory. From this spot British +geographers measure the longitude. The collection of instruments kept +and used in this building is superb and costly; but the public are not +admitted to see them. An electric _time-ball_ falls every day at one +o’clock precisely; and an _electric clock_, a _standard barometer_, and +_standard measures of length_, (of rigorous accuracy,) are placed for +public use by the side of the entrance-gates. + +Limehouse to North Woolwich.—If a stranger be willing to lay aside the +ideas of mere _pleasure_ spots, he will find much to look at and think +about in the stretch of river margin here denoted. First comes the _Isle +of Dogs_, joining Limehouse on the east. This strange horseshoe-shaped +piece of ground is almost wholly below the level of the river, the +inroads of which are only prevented by embankments. The northern neck of +the peninsula (for it is not strictly an island) is occupied by the West +India Docks; the middle portion is not much appropriated to any useful +purpose, on account of the lowness of the site; the river edge is fringed +with shipbuilding and factory establishments. The _Great Eastern_ was +here built at Messrs. Scott Russell’s works. A new church has been built +at _Cubitt Town_, the name now given to the eastern part of the Isle. +Next below the Isle of Dogs are _Poplar_ and _Blackwall_, now forming one +town—observable for the shipyard of Messrs. Green, the terminus of the +Blackwall Railway, the East India Docks, and two or three river-side +taverns where _whitebait dinners_ are much in fashion during the season. +Then comes the spot, Bow Creek, at which the River Lea enters the Thames, +so closely hemmed in by shipyards and engine-factories, that the Lea +itself can barely be seen. The great shipyard of the Thames Company, +late Messrs. Mare’s, is situated here. Next we come to the extensive and +convenient _Victoria Docks_, occupying ground which was previously mere +waste. Beyond the Docks are new centres of population gradually +springing up, called _Silvertown_ and _North Woolwich_, with large +factories and a railway station. Still farther east, near _Barking +Creek_, there may be seen the vast outfall of the great system of +drainage for the northern half of the metropolis. + +Woolwich.—Taking the south side of the river instead of the north, and +availing himself of steamers or of trains, (from Charing Cross, Fenchurch +Street, or Shoreditch,) the stranger finds the next place of importance +below Greenwich to be _Woolwich_. This is a busy town in Kent, eight +miles from London by land, and ten following the course of the river. +Here, in the reign of Henry VIII., a dockyard for the construction of +vessels of the royal navy was established; and ever since that time the +place has been distinguished as an arsenal for naval and military stores. +The dockyard was closed 1st October, 1869. From the river, a view is +obtained of the arsenal, now greatly improved. The ground of the +arsenal, for nearly a mile in length, is bounded on the river side by a +stone quay, and is occupied in part by prodigious ranges of storehouses +and workshops. Among these is included a laboratory for the preparation +of cartridges, bombs, grenades, and shot; a splendid manufactory for +shells and guns; a gun-carriage factory of vast extent; and a store of +warlike material that never fails to fill a stranger with amazement. +Adjoining are barracks for artillery and marines, military hospitals, &c. +On the upper part of Woolwich Common is situated a royal military academy +for the education of young gentlemen designed for the army. Strangers +(if not foreigners) are admitted to the arsenal only by a written order +from the War Office. The number of government establishments in and near +Woolwich is very large; and there is generally something or other going +on which a stranger would be interested in seeing. + + [Picture: Woolwich] + +Below Woolwich.—Numerous steamers during the day, trains on the Tilbury +Railway, and others on the North Kent Railway, give easy access to a +number of pleasant places lower down the river than Woolwich. On the +Essex side are _Rainham_, near which onion gardens are kept up; +_Purfleet_, where vast stores of government gunpowder are kept; _Grays_, +where immense quantities of chalk are dug, and where copious springs of +very pure water are found in the chalk beds; and _Tilbury_, where there +is a regular fortification for the defence of the river, and a +steam-ferry over to Gravesend. [Picture: Tilbury Fort] On the Kent side +are _Plumstead Marshes_, where artillery practice by Woolwich officers is +carried on; _Crossness Point_, where the fine buildings connected with +the Southern Outfall Sewer are situated, (and near which were the great +Powder Magazines that blew up in October, 1864;) _Erith_, with its pretty +wooded heights; _Greenhithe_, where the late General Havelock passed some +of his early years, and where Alderman Harmer built a mansion with the +stones of old London Bridge; and _Northfleet_, where much shipbuilding is +carried on. Beyond Northfleet is _Gravesend_, a famous place for Cockney +picnics, but fast losing its rural character. Commercially, Gravesend is +important as being the place where the customs’ authorities recognise the +port of London to begin; all ships, incoming and outgoing, are visited by +the officers here, pilots embark and disembark, and much trade accrues to +the town in consequence. + + [Picture: Gravesend Reach] + + + +CRYSTAL PALACE, &c. + + +There are many pretty spots in different directions in the vicinity of +London, away from the river, worthy of a visit. On the north-west are +_Hampstead_, with its noble Heath and its charming variety of landscape +scenery; and _Harrow_, with its famous old school, associated with the +memory of Byron, Peel, and many other eminent men. To its churchyard +Byron was a frequent visitor: “There is,” he wrote to a friend in after +years, “a spot in the churchyard, near the footpath on the brow of the +hill looking towards Windsor, and a tomb (bearing the name of Peachey) +under a large tree, where I used to sit for hours and hours when a boy.” +Nearly northward are _Highgate_, with its fringe of woods, and its +remarkable series of ponds; _Finchley_, once celebrated for its +highwaymen, but now for its cemeteries; _Hornsey_, with its ivy-clad +church, and its pretty winding New River; and _Barnet_, with its great +annual fair. On the north-east are _Edmonton_, which the readers of +‘_John Gilpin_’ will of course never forget; _Enfield_, where the +government manufacture rifles on a vast scale; _Waltham_, notable for its +abbey and its gunpowder mills; and _Epping Forest_—a boon to picnic +parties from the eastern half of London. ‘Fairlop Oak’ (Hainault Forest) +has disappeared. + +South of the Thames, likewise, there are many pretty spots, quite +distinct from those on the river’s bank. _Wimbledon_, where volunteers +assemble; _Mitcham_, near which are some interesting herb-gardens; +_Norwood_, a pleasant spot, from which London can be well seen; +_Lewisham_ and _Bromley_, surrounded by many pretty bits of scenery; +_Blackheath_, a famous place for golf and other outdoor games; _Eltham_, +where a bit of King John’s palace is still to be seen; the _Crays_, a +string of picturesque villages on the banks of the river Cray; &c. +_Dulwich_ is a village about 5 miles south of London Bridge. Here Edward +Alleyn, or Allen, a distinguished actor in the reign of James I., founded +and endowed an hospital or college, called _Dulwich College_, for the +residence and support of poor persons, under certain limitations. On +21st June, 1870, a new college, a modern development and extension of the +old charity, was formally opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales. +The new buildings are entirely devoted to educational purposes, and they +have accommodation for 600 or 700 boys. The founder bequeathed some +pictures to the institution, and the collection was vastly increased by +the addition of a large number, chiefly of the Dutch and Flemish schools, +bequeathed in 1810 by Sir Francis Bourgeois. A gallery, designed by Sir +John Soane, was opened in 1817; and this now forms a most attractive +sight to all who delight in the fine arts. The gallery is open free +every week-day from 10 to 5 in summer, and from 10 to 4 in winter. + +Crystal Palace.—One especial object of interest in the southern vicinity +of London is the far-famed _Crystal Palace_. This structure, in many +respects one of the most remarkable in the world, owed its existence to +the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. The materials of that +building being sold to a new company towards the close of that year, were +transferred to an elevated spot near Sydenham, about 7 miles from London. +The intention was to found a palace and park for the exhibition of +objects in art and science, and to make it self-paying. The original +estimate was £500,000, but the expenditure reached nearly £1,500,000—too +great to render a profitable return likely. The palace and grounds were +opened in 1854; the water-towers and great fountains some time +afterwards. The marvels of this unparalleled structure cannot be +described within a limited space. [Picture: Crystal Palace] The building +is about 1600 feet long, 380 wide, and, at the centre transept, nearly +200 high. It consists of a nave and three transepts, all with arched +roofs, and all made chiefly of iron and glass. Within, the building +consists of a central nave, having marble fountains near the two ends, +and lined with statues and plants throughout its whole length. On each +side of the nave are compartments to illustrate the sculpture and +architecture of different ages and countries; such as Greek, Roman, +Assyrian, Pompeian, Egyptian, Alhambraic or Saracenic, Romanesque, +Byzantine, Mediæval, in its English, French, and German varieties, +Renaissance, Palladian, and Elizabethan. Other compartments illustrate +certain industrial groups, such as cutlery, porcelain, paper, encaustic +tiles, &c. On the first gallery are large collections of pictures, +photographs, and casts from medallions and small works of art. Near the +centre transept are all the necessary arrangements for two +concert-rooms—one on a stupendous scale, in which 5000 singers and +instrumentalists can sometimes be heard at once. [Picture: Interior, +Crystal Palace] An orchestra of unparalleled dimensions is constructed +here for great festival commemorations, and similar musical meetings. +The botanical collection within the building is very fine; and to +preserve the exotic plants, one end of the building is maintained at a +high temperature all the year round. Some portions of the galleries are +let out as stalls or bazaars to shopkeepers; and very extensive +arrangements are made for supplying refreshments. In an upper gallery is +a museum of raw produce. In long galleries in the basement are exhibited +agricultural implements, and cotton and other machinery in motion. + + [Picture: Crystal Palace Fountains] + +The park and gardens are extensive, occupying nearly 200 acres; they are +beautifully arranged, and contain an extremely fine collection of flowers +and other plants, occupying parterres separated by broad gravel-walks. +The terraces, stone balustrades, wide steps, and sculptures, are all on a +very grand scale. The fountains are perhaps the finest in the world, +some of them sending up magnificent streams of water to a great height, +and some displaying thousands of minute glittering jets interlacing in +the most graceful manner. A portion of the water is made to imitate +cascades and waterfalls. The jet from the central basin rises to 150 +feet; and those from the two great basins to 250 feet. There are two +cascades, each 450 feet long, 100 wide, and having a tall of 12 feet. +When the whole of the waterworks are playing, there are 12,000 jets in +all; and when this continues for the length of time customary on some of +the ‘grand days,’ the water consumed is said to amount to 6,000,000 +gallons. Two water-towers of enormous height, (nearly 300 feet from the +foundations,) to which water is pumped up by steam-engines, supply the +water-pressure by which the fountains are fed. The illustrations of +extinct animals and of geology, in the lower part of the grounds, are +curious and instructive. + +Railway trains, running frequently during the day, give access to the +Crystal Palace, from the Pimlico and London Bridge stations of the +Brighton Company, from the Kensington and Chelsea stations of the West +London Railway, from the Waterloo station of the South-Western _viâ_ +Wimbledon, and from the Ludgate Hill and other stations of the Chatham +and Dover. The last-named company have built an elegant and convenient +‘high-level’ station, in front of the main centre transept. The Crystal +Palace is a shilling exhibition; but the greater number of visitors only +pay 1s. 6d. each for a ticket (third class) which insures admission to +the palace and grounds, and the railway journey there and back; first and +second class tickets are higher; and there are days on which admission to +the palace is also higher. A whole week might be spent in examining the +various treasures; for the Crystal Palace and grounds are interesting in +each of the following features:—Sculpture; Illustrations of Architecture; +Pictures and Photographs; Illustrations of Mechanics and Manufactures; +Botany; Ethnology, or Illustrations of National Characteristics; +Palæontology, or Extinct Animals; Geology; Hydraulic skill in the +Fountains; and Musical facilities of an unprecedented kind. There are +also facilities in the grounds for Cricket, Archery, Boating, Athletic +Exercises, and Sports of other kinds, either regularly or occasionally. +The directors must be credited with the undoubted excellence of their +Choral Festivals and Orchestral Concerts. For great holiday +demonstrations, too, there is nothing else at all equal to the Crystal +Palace in the kingdom; and railways give access to it from almost every +part of the metropolis. + +Alexandra Park and Palace.—This is situated on the north side of London, +near Hornsey, and is reached by means of the Great Northern Railway. It +has long remained closed for want of funds, but is expected to be opened +in June. Its objects, &c., are similar to those of the Crystal Palace. +The building was erected from the remains of the Exhibition of 1862. + + [Picture: Albert Memorial] + + [Picture: London Stone. Supposed to be an ancient Roman terminal stone, + whence, as from a centre, the miles were reckoned throughout Britain.] + + + + +APPENDIX. +TABLES, LISTS, AND USEFUL HINTS. + + +Suburban Towns and Villages within Twelve Miles’ Railway-distance. + + +THE distances are measured from the terminal stations of the great +Companies’ lines. The names of these stations are abbreviated thus: + +_Padd._—Paddington; Great Western. + +_Eust._—Euston Square; London and North Western. + +_K. C._—King’s Cross; Great Northern. + +_Shore._—Shoreditch; Great Eastern. + +_Fen._—Fenchurch Street; London and Blackwall. + +_L. B._—London Bridge; South-Eastern, and London and Brighton. + +_Wat._—Waterloo; London and South-Western. + +_Vic._—Victoria or Pimlico; Crystal Palace and other railways. + +_N. L._—North London. + +_Lud._—Ludgate Hill; London, Chatham, and Dover. + +_St. Panc._—St. Pancras; Midland. + +The places accommodated by the North London Railway have no mileage +distances named; for all the stations on that line are equally within the +metropolitan limits. The Metropolitan Railway is not here mentioned at +all, for a similar reason. For all stations on the South-Eastern, the +distance from Charing Cross is about 1¾ miles farther than from London +Bridge. On the Chatham and Dover, most of the stations are about +equidistant from the Ludgate and Victoria termini. The places reached by +steamers are marked _St._; while _Om._ signifies Omnibus, in cases where +there is no very available railway route. When a town is some little +distance from the nearest station, two mileages are named: thus, +‘Beddington, 10½ Croydon + 2½,’ implies that after a railway journey of +10½ miles to Croydon, there are 2½ miles of road. + +Abbey Wood, Kent L. B. 12 +Acton, Midd. from all N. L. Stations. +Anerley, Surrey L. B. 7½ +Balham, Surrey Vic. 5 +— L. B. 11 +Barking, Essex Shore. & Fen. 7 +Barking Road, Essex Shore. & Fen. 5 +Barnes, Surrey Wat. 7 +—, from all N. L Stations. +Barnet, Herts. K. C. 10½ +Battersea, Surrey St. & Om. +Battersea Park Vic. 1 +Beckenham, Kent L. B. 9 +— Lud. & Vic. 10 +Beddington, Surr. L. B. 10½ Croydon +2½ +Bickley, Kent Lud. & Vic. 13 +— L. B. 12 +Blackheath, Kent L. B. 6 +Blackwall, Middlesex Fen. 4½ +— St. & Om. +Bow, Middlesex Fen. & Shore 4 +Brentford, Middlesex Wat. 10 +— Padd. 13 +Brixton, Surrey Vic. 3 +— Lud. 4 +Bromley, Kent L. B. 10 +— Lud. & Vic. 11 +—, Middlesex Fen. 4 +Buckhurst Hill, Essex Fen. & Shore. 10 +Bushey Park, Midd. Wat. 13 +Camberwell, Surrey Lud. & Vic. 4 +Carshalton, Surrey L. B. 12 +Catford Bridge, Kent L. B. 6 +Charlton, Kent L. B. 7 +— St. +Chelsea, Middlesex St. & Om. +Chigwell, Essex Fen. & Shore, to + Ilford or Woodford. +Chiswick, Middlesex Wat. 8 +Clapham, Surrey Wat. 4 +— Vic. 2½ +Clapton, Midd., from all N. L. Stations to Hackney. +Colney Hatch, Midd. K. C. 6 +Crouch End, Midd. K. C. 4 Hornsey + 1½ +Croydon, Surrey L. B. 10½ +— Vic. 12 +Crystal Palace, L. B. 7 +Surrey +— Vic. 9 +— Lud. 9 +Dalston, Middlesex, all N. L. Stations. +Deptford, Kent L. B. 3½ +Ditton, Surrey Wat. 12 Kingston + 2 +Dulwich, Surrey Lud. & Vic. 5 +Ealing, Middlesex Padd. 6 +East Ham, Essex Fen. 6 +Edgeware, Middlesex K. C. & Om. 8½ +Edmonton, Middlesex Shore. 9½ +Elstree, Herts St. Panc. & Om. 11 +Eltham, Kent L. B. 6 Blackheath + 2 +Enfield, Middlesex Shore. 12 +Finchley, Middlesex, from all N. L. Stations to Finchley Road. +— K. C. 7¼ +Forest Gate, Essex Shore. 5 +Forest Hill, Surrey Vic. 11 +— L. B. 5 +Fulham, Middlesex Wat. 6 Putney + ½ +— St. & Om. +Gipsy Hill, Surrey L. B. 8 +— Vic. 8 +Greenwich, Kent L. B. 4½ +— St. & Om. +Hackney, Midd., from all N. L. Stations. +Hadley, Midd. K. C. 10 Barnet + 1 +Ham, Surrey, Wat. 12 Kingston + 2 +Hammersmith, Midd., from all N. L. and Metropolitan Stations. +— St. & Om. +Hampstead, Midd., from all N. L. Stations. +Hanwell, Middlesex Padd. 7½ +Harlington, Midd. Padd. 9 Southall + 3½ +Harrow, Middlesex Eust. 12 +Hatcham, Kent L. B. 4 +Hayes, Kent L. B. 10 Bromley + 2 +—, Midd. Padd. 7 Hanwell + 3 +Hendon, Midd. St. Panc. & Om 7 +Herne Hill, Surrey Lud. & Vic. 6 +Highgate, Middlesex K. C. 4¾ +— Om. +Holloway, Middlesex K. C. 2 +Homerton, Midd., from all N. L. Stations to Hackney. +Hornsey, Middlesex K. C. 4 +Hounslow, Middlesex Wat. 12 +Ilford, Essex Shore. 7 +Isleworth, Middlesex Wat. 12 +Kensal Green, Midd., from N. L. Stations. +Kensington, Midd., from Metrop Stats. +Kentish Town, Middlesex from all N. L. Stations. +Keston, Kent L. B. 10 Bromley + 4 +Kew, Surrey Wat. 9 +—, from all N. L. Stations. +— St. & Om. +Kilburn, Middlesex Eust. 3 +Kingsland, Midd., from all N. L. Stations. +Kingston, Surrey Wat. 12 +Lady Well, Kent L. B. 5 +Lea Bridge, Essex Shore. 5½ +Lee, Kent L. B. 6 Blackheath + 1 +Lewisham, Kent L B. 5 +Leytonstone, Essex Shore. & Fen. 6 +Loughton, Essex Shore. & Fen. 12 +Low Leyton, Essex Shore. & Fen. 5 +Maldon, Surrey Wat. 10 +Merton, Surrey Wat. 9 +Mill Hill, Middlesex K. C. 8¼; Om. 7 +Mims, Midd. K. C. 12 Potter’s Bar + 2 +Mitcham, Surrey Wat. 10 +— L. B. 10½ Croydon + 4 +Morden, Surrey Wat. 8 Wimbledon + 2 +Mortlake, Surrey Wat. 8 +Muswell Hill, Midd. K. C. 4 Hornsey + 1½ +New Cross, Kent L. B. 3 +North Woolwich, Ess. Shore. & Fen. 7 +— St. +Norwood, Surrey L. B. 8½ +— Vic. 8 +Parson’s Green, Om. 4 +Middlesex +Peckham, Surrey Lud. 5 +Penge, Surrey L. B. 7 +— Lud. & Vic. 9 +Plaistow, Essex. Fen. 5 +Plumstead, Kent L. B. 10 +Ponders’s End, Midd. Shore. 12 +Poplar, Middlesex Fen. 4 +Potters’s Bar, Midd. K. C. 12 +Putney, Surrey Wat. 6 +— St. & Om. +Richmond, Surrey Wat. 10 +— from all N. L. Stations. +— St. & Om. +Roehampton, Surr. Wat. 6 Putney + 1½ +Romford, Essex Shore. 12 +Shacklewell, Midd. Om. 3 +Shepherd’s Bush, Metrop. Stats. +Midd. +Shooter’s Hill, Kent L. B. 9 Woolwich + 2 +Shortlands, Kent L. B. 10 +— Lud. & Vic. 10 +Snaresbrook, Essex Fen. & Shore. 7 +Southall, Middlesex Padd. 9 +Southgate, Middlesex K. C. 7 +Stamford Hill, Midd. Om. 4 +Stanmore, Middlesex Om. 10 +Stepney, Midd. from all N. L. Stations. +Stockwell, Surrey Om. 4 +Stoke Newington, Midd. from all N. L. Stations. +Stratford, Essex Shore. & Fen. 4 +Streatham, Surrey L. B. 10 +— Vic. 6 +Teddington, and Wat. 13 +Bushey Park +Thornton Heath, Surr. Vic. 9 +Tooting, Surrey L. B., Vic. & Lud. 8 +Tottenham, Middlesex Shore. 8 +Totteridge, Herts. K. C. 10½ Barnet + 2 +Turnham Green, Midd. Om. 5 +— from all N. L. Stations, Wat. and Lud. +Twickenham, Midd. Wat. 11¼ +— from all N. L. Stations. +Vauxhall, Surrey Wat. 1½ +— St. +Walham Green, Midd. Om. 3 +Walthamstow, Essex Shore., Station at 5¾, and Om. + Lea Bridge +Wandsworth, Surrey Wat. 5 +— Vic. 2 +Wanstead, Essex Shore. & Fen, + Snaresbrook Station. +Welling, Kent L. B. 9 Woolwich + 2½ +West Ham, Essex Fen. 4 +West Wickham, Surr. L. B. 10½ Croydon + 4 +Whetstone, Midd. K. C. 6 Colney Hatch + 2 +Willesden, Middlesex Eust. 6½ +Wimbledon, Surrey, Wat. 7 +Woodford, Essex Shore. & Fen. 9 +Wood Green, Midd. K. C. 5 +Woolwich Dockyard, L. B. 8 +Kent +— Arsenal L. B. 9 +——Dockyard and St. +Arsenal + +CHIEF OMNIBUS ROUTES. + + +There are few better ways for a man to see London, on a fine day, than by +riding through it on an omnibus. These vehicles mostly begin to run +about 8.30–9 a.m., and cease about 12 p.m. To give more than a mere +general notion as regards a few of the chief omnibus routes, is +impossible in our limited space here. The fares range, for the most +part, from a minimum of 2d. to a maximum of 6d. They are painted inside +the omnibus: the main localities passed on the way, outside. The groups +of these conveyances known by distinctive _names_, (all the omnibuses of +each group having one common name,) are chiefly the following:— + +_Atlas_—colour, green—running between St. John’s Wood and Camberwell +Gate, and _vice versa_, _via_ Oxford Street, and over Westminster +Bridge—every 5 minutes. + +_City Atlas_—green—between Swiss Cottage, St. John’s Wood, and London +Bridge Station, and _vice versa_, _via_ Oxford St., Holborn, Bank—every 7 +minutes. + +_Bayswater_—light green—from Notting Hill and Bayswater to Mile-End Gate, +_via_ Oxford Street, Holborn, Cornhill, Whitechapel—every 6 minutes. + +_Bayswater_ to _London Bridge Station_, _via_ Oxford Street, Holborn, +Cheapside—every few minutes. + +_Bayswater_ to _Shoreditch Station_—Oxford Street, Holborn, Cheapside, +Threadneedle Street, Bishopsgate Street—every hour. + +_Citizen_—_Paddington_ to _London Bridge Station_—Edgeware Road, (only,) +Oxford Street, Holborn, Bank—every 8 minutes. + +Other omnibuses also run to and from Paddington, as follows:— + +_Paddington_ to _London Bridge Station_—green—Royal Oak, Edgeware Road, +New Road, City Road, Bank—every 10 minutes. + +_Paddington_ to _Fenchurch Station_—Some of the above go to Fenchurch +instead of London Bridge Station. + +_Paddington_ to _Whitechapel_—green—as above to Bank, then Cornhill and +Aldgate—frequent. + +_Paddington_ to _Charing Cross_—red—Edgeware Road, Oxford and Regent +Streets, Charing Cross—every 8 minutes. + + * * * * * + +_Favorite_—green—Holloway to London Bridge, _via_ Highbury, Islington, +City Road, Bank, King William Street—about every 8 minutes. + +_Favorite_—green—Holloway to Westminster, Islington, Exmouth Street, +Chancery Lane, Westminster Abbey, Victoria Street. + +_Favorite_—blue—Holloway Road, Caledonian Road, King’s Cross, Euston +Road, Portland Road, Regent Street, Piccadilly, Knightsbridge, South +Kensington, Museum, “Queen’s Elm”—every 9 minutes. + +_Havelock_—Kingsland Gate to “Elephant and Castle,” _via_ Shoreditch, +Bishopsgate Street, London Bridge, Borough—at frequent intervals. + +_Paragon_—green—Brixton to Gracechurch Street, Kensington, “Elephant and +Castle,” London Bridge—every 10 minutes. + +_Buxton_ to _Oxford Street_—Kensington, Westminster Bridge, Charing +Cross, Regent Street—every half hour. + +_Royal Blue_—blue—Pimlico, Piccadilly, Strand, Cheapside, Fenchurch +Street Station—every 8 or 10 minutes. + +_Waterloo_—blue—from “York and Albany,” Regent’s Park, by Albany Street, +Regent Street, Westminster Bridge, “Elephant and Castle” to Camberwell +Gate—every 6 minutes. + +_Westminster_—brown—Pimlico to Bank, _via_ Lupus Street, Vauxhall Bridge +Road, Westminster, Strand, &c.—every 6 minutes. + + * * * * * + +Such are a few of the numerous omnibus routes of London. From such +places as Charing Cross and the London Bridge Stations, you can get an +omnibus for almost any part of London, up till nearly midnight; while, by +the aid of a map, no matter in what quarter you may be, you will speedily +find out how best to consult your particular tastes in the way of +locomotion and sight-seeing. In the case of gross incivility or +overcharge, you have a simple remedy by taking the conductor’s number and +applying for a summons at the nearest police office. If you are curious +in the matter of social contrasts, say, you might do worse than by +getting up outside a _Stratford and Bow_ (green) omnibus, at the Oxford +Street Circus, and riding—for sixpence all the way—_via_ Regent Street, +Pall Mall, Trafalgar Square, Strand, Fleet Street, St. Paul’s, past the +Mansion House and the Bank, Royal Exchange, Cornhill, Leadenhall Street, +Aldgate, Whitechapel Road, Mile End, to Stratford. If your tastes should +lead you westward, an enjoyable shilling’s worth may be obtained by +riding on the _Richmond_ (white) omnibus, from St. Paul’s Churchyard to +that prettily situated little town. + + + +LONDON TRAMWAYS. + + +There are now _three_ Tramway Companies in London:—1. _The Metropolitan +Street Tramways Company_, (_Limited_.) They run regularly from +Westminster Bridge to Clapham and Brixton, at about every 5 minutes from +each terminus, Fare 3d. 2. _North Metropolitan Tramways Company_: (1) +From Aldgate, along Whitechapel and Mile End Road (through Bow) to +Stratford Church; (2) From Moorgate Street to the Angel, Islington, +thence to Kingsland, Stoke Newington, &c. Both running every 5 minutes, +Fares 2d.; (3) another route is by Old Street to Stoke Newington and +Clapton. 3. _Southall_, _Ealing_, _and Shepherd’s Bush Tram Railway +Company_, (_Limited_.) This company is constructing lines in the western +suburbs of London. There are tramways in the north-west of town. + + + +CLUBS AND CLUB HOUSES. + + +There are, in all, in London, about ninety. The following is a list of +the principal club-houses:— + +Alpine 8 St. Martin’s Place, + Trafalgar Square. +Army and Navy 36 to 39 Pall Mall, S. W. +Arthur’s 69 and 70 St. James’s Street. +Arundel 12 Salisbury Street, + Strand. +Athenæum 107 Pall Mall. +Brooks’s 59 St. James’s Street. +Carlton 94 Pall Mall. +City Carlton 83 King William Street, + E.C. +Cavendish 307 Regent Street. +City of London 19 Old Broad Street, + City. +Conservative 74 St. James’s Street. +East India United Service 14 St. James’s Square. +Garrick 13–15 Garrick Street, + Covent Garden. +Gresham 1 Gresham Place, City. +Guards’ 70 Pall Mall. +Junior Athenæum 29 King Street, St. + James’s. +Junior Carlton 30 to 35 Pall Mall. +Junior United Service 11 and 12 Charles Street, St. + James’s. +Junior Army and Navy 13 Grafton Street, Bond + Street. +Naval and Military 94 Piccadilly. +New University 57 St. James’s Street. +Oriental 18 Hanover Square. +Oxford and Cambridge 71 to 76 Pall Mall. +University +Portland 1 Stratford Place, + Oxford Street. +Pratt’s 14 Park Place, St. + James’s. +Reform 104 Pall Mall. +Smithfield 47 Halfmoon Street, + Piccadilly. +St. James’s 106 Piccadilly. +Travellers’ 106 Pall Mall. +Union Trafalgar Square, + (S.W. Corner.) +United Service 116 and 117 Pall Mall. +United University 5 Pall Mall, East. +Westminster 23 Albemarle Street. +Whitehall Parliament Street. +White’s 37 and 38 St. James’s Street. +Windham 11 St. James’s Square. + +THE LONDON PARCELS DELIVERY COMPANY. + + +This Company—whose chief office is in Roll’s Buildings, Fetter Lane, +Fleet Street, and whose minor receiving houses, at shops, &c., are very +numerous—delivers parcels at a tariff of 4d. if under 4 lbs. weight, and +within three miles distance; under 14 lbs. within a like range, 6d.; and +so on up to a cwt., which will be delivered for 1s. 2d., subject to the +aforesaid condition. Over three miles distance, the charge for +delivering a parcel under 1 lb. to any part of London and its environs +will be 4d., under 7 lbs., 6d., and so forth. For a parcel under 112 +lbs., if carried beyond three miles, sender will be charged 1s. 6d. To +more distant places, minimum charge is 6d. Light but bulky packages +charged for by measurement. The Company does not undertake to _collect_ +parcels from the houses of the senders. + + + +MONEY-ORDER OFFICES, AND POST-OFFICE SAVINGS-BANKS. + + +The _London Postal District_, to which special rules relate, includes +every town and village within twelve miles of the General Post-office. +Reference has already been made to the number of post-offices, +receiving-houses, and pillar-boxes, in this area. There are 500 +_Money-order Offices_, the whole of which (with a very few exceptions) +have within a recent period been made _Post-office Savings-banks_ also. +The facilities thus afforded to strangers visiting London for a few days, +for receiving or transmitting money, are very great. A Post-office +Money-order will convey sums of a few pounds without risk of loss, at a +cost of a few pence, either from the visitor to his country friends, or +from them to him. The Post-office Savings-banks are even still more +convenient; for a person residing in the country, and having money in the +savings-banks, _can draw it out in London_ during his visit, or any part +of it, with a delay of a day or two, free of expense. In whatever part +of London a visitor may be, he is within five or ten minutes’ walk of a +Money-order Office; and at any such office he can, for six hours a day, +(10 till 4,) obtain the requisite information concerning both of these +kinds of economical monetary facilities. + + + +LONDON LETTERS, POSTAL AND TELEGRAPH SYSTEM. + + +As just stated, the _London District Post_ operates within twelve miles +of the General Post-office: that is, within a circle of twenty-four miles +in diameter. There are a few outlying patches beyond this circle, but +they need not here be taken into account. This large area is now divided +into eight _Postal Districts_, each of which has a name, an initial +abbreviation, and a chief office. They are as follows:— + +E. C. _Eastern Central_ St. Martin’s-le-Grand, (head + office.) +W. C. _Western Central_ 126 High Holborn. +N. _Northern_ Packington Street, Islington. +E. _Eastern_ Nassau Place, Commercial Road, + East. +S. E. _South-Eastern_ 9 Blackman Street, Borough. +S. W. _South-Western_ 8 Buckingham Gate. +W. _Western_ 3 Vere Street, Oxford Street. +N. W. _North-Western_ 28 Eversholt Street, Oakley Square. + +The use of the district system is, that if a letter, arriving from the +country, has on the outside the _district initials_ as well as the +address, it has a fair chance of _earlier delivery_; and if sent from one +part of London to another, such chance is the greater. The reason for +this is, that much of the sorting is effected at the eight chief district +offices, if the initials are given, to the great saving of time. An +official list of a vast number of streets, &c., with their district +initials, within the London District Post, is published at 1d., and is +obtainable at most of the principal receiving-houses. + +The portion of each district within about three miles of the General +Post-office is called the Town Delivery, and the remainder the Suburban +Delivery. Within the town limits there are twelve deliveries daily: the +first, or General Post, commencing about 7.30, and mostly over in London +about 9; the second commencing about 8.15, and the third at 10.30. The +next nine are made hourly. The last delivery begins about 7.45. There +are seven despatches daily to the suburban districts. The first, at 6.30 +a.m., to all places within the London District limits. A second, at +9.30, to suburbs within about four miles of the General Post-office. The +third, at 11.30, takes in almost all the London district. The fourth +despatch, at 2.30 p.m., goes to spots within about six miles of the +General Post-office. The fifth, at 4.30, comprises the whole of the +suburban districts, and, except in the more outlying country spots, +letters are delivered same evening. The sixth, at 6 p.m., goes to places +under four miles from the General Post-office. The last despatch is at 7 +p.m. Letters to go by it should be posted at the town post-offices or +pillar-boxes by 6 p.m., or at the _chief_ office of the district to which +they are addressed. They will thus probably be delivered the same night, +within about six miles of the General Office. The suburban deliveries +begin one to two hours after despatch, according to distance. + +It is always well to remember, that for any given delivery, a letter may +be posted rather later at the chief office than at any of the minor +offices of each district; that _letters_ only, not newspapers, +book-parcels, manuscripts, &c., may be put in pillar-boxes; and that +letters posted during the night, (from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.,) have a chance +of earlier delivery than otherwise, seeing that the pillar-boxes are +cleared at 5 in the morning, and, as a rule, we believe, earlier than the +receiving-houses. Outgoing letters for the evening mails are received at +most offices till 5.30, and at the chief office of each district till 6. +By affixing an extra penny stamp, the letter is receivable till 6 at the +minor, and till 7 at the chief offices. + +Telegraph Offices.—Telegrams may be sent from all Postal Offices within +the London district. The charge for 20 words, not including address, is +1s. + + + +READING AND NEWS-ROOMS. + + +Jerusalem Coffee-house, Cowper’s Court, Cornhill, (Indian, China, and +Australian newspapers.) + +3 Wallbrook. + +154 Leadenhall Street, (Deacon’s.) + +13 Philpot Lane. + +Royal Exchange, Lloyds’, (Subscribers only.) + +King’s Head, Fenchurch Street. + +26 Fore Street, Cripplegate. + +88 Park Street, Camden Town. + +83 Lower Thames Street. + +177, 178 Fleet Street, (Peele’s—files of the _Times_ for many years.) + +24 King William Street, (Wild’s.) + +34 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, (St. George’s.) + +22 Paddington Green, (Working Men’s.) + +Patent Museum Library, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, (free.) + +British Museum Library, (apply for ticket; enclosing letter of +introduction from respectable householder.) + + * * * * * + +There are Reading and News Rooms belonging to a large number of learned +societies and public institutions; but these are for the most part +accessible only to members. + + + +CHESS ROOMS. + + +A chess player may meet with competitors at any one of the several chess +rooms. The best are Simpson’s, (Limited Co.,) late Ries’s, _Divan_, +opposite Exeter Hall, Strand; Kilpack’s, Covent Garden, (also an American +Bowling Saloon;) and Pursell’s, Cornhill. Many Coffee-shops are provided +with chess-boards and men, and many dining and chop houses have +chess-rooms up-stairs. + + + +THEATRES. + + +There are at present about thirty-seven London Theatres, but those named +below are all that need here be considered. + +Adelphi Strand. +Alhambra Leicester Square. +Astley’s Amphitheatre 6½ Bridge Road, Lambeth. +Royal Amphitheatre Holborn. +Britannia Theatre Hoxton Old Town. +Charing Cross King William Street, Strand. +City of London 36 Norton Folgate. +Covent Garden, (Opera House) Bow Street. +Court Theatre Sloane Square. +Drury Lane Brydges Street. +Gaiety Strand. +Garrick Leman Street, Goodman’s Fields. +Globe Strand. +Grecian City Road. +Great Eastern Whitechapel Road. +Haymarket East side of Haymarket. +Holborn Holborn. +King’s Cross Liverpool Street, King’s Cross. +Her Majesty’s, (Opera House) West side of Haymarket. +Lyceum Wellington Street, Strand. +Marylebone New Church Street, Lisson Grove. +Olympic Wych Street, Drury Lane. +Opera Comique Strand. +Pavilion 85 Whitechapel Road. +Philharmonic Islington. +Princess’s 73 Oxford Street. +Prince of Wales’s 4 and 5 Tottenham Street. +Queen’s, (late St. Martin’s Hall) Longacre. +Royalty, or Soho 73 Dean Street, Soho. +Sadler’s Wells St. John’s Street Road. +St. James’s 23 King Street, St. James’s. +Standard 204 Shoreditch, High Street. +Strand Between 168 and 169 Strand. +Surrey 124 Blackfriars Road. +Vaudeville Strand. +Victoria 135 Waterloo Road. + +CONCERT ROOMS. + + +Willis’s Rooms, King Street, St. James’s. + +Hanover Square Rooms. + +Exeter Hall, 372 Strand, Choral Societies, Sacred Harmonic, &c. + +St. James’s Hall, Quadrant and Piccadilly,—Concerts occasionally. + +16 Store Street, Bedford Square, „ „ + +St. George’s Hall, Langham Place. + +Princess’s Concert Room, Princess’s Theatre,—Concerts occasionally. + +Queen’s Concert Room, (attached to Her Majesty’s Theatre,)—Concerts +occasionally. + +Myddleton Hall, Upper Street, Islington. + +Agricultural Hall, Islington,—Concerts occasionally. + + + +MUSIC HALLS. + +Alhambra {178} Leicester Square, (east side.) +Alhambra (Temperance) Music Hall Shoreditch. +Borough Music Hall 170 Union Street. +Cambridge Music Hall Commercial Street. +Canterbury Hall Lambeth Upper Marsh. +Deacon’s Sadler’s Wells. +Evans’ Covent Garden. +Islington Philharmonic Hall {179} High Street, Islington. +Marylebone High Street +Metropolitan Music Hall 125 Edgeware Road. +Middlesex Drury Lane. +The Oxford 6 Oxford Street, (east end.) +Pavilion Music Hall Tichborne Street, Haymarket. +Raglan Music Hall 26 Theobald’s Road. +Regent Vincent Square, Westminster. +South London Music Hall 92 London Rd., St. George’s + Fields. +Royal (late Weston’s) Music Hall 242 High Holborn. +Wilton’s Music Hall Wellclose Square. +Winchester Hall Southwark Bridge Road. + +MODES OF ADMISSION TO VARIOUS INTERESTING PLACES. + + +Free. + + +_British Museum_.—_Chelsea Hospital_.—_Courts of Law and Justice_ (at the +Criminal Court and the Police Courts a fee is often needed.)—_Docks_, +(but not the vaults and warehouses without an introduction.)—_Dulwich +Gallery_.—_East India Museum_, Fife House, Whitehall.—_Greenwich +Hospital_, (a small fee for some parts.)—_Hampton Court Palace_, (Sundays +as well as week-days).—_Houses of Parliament_, (some portions every day; +more on Saturdays.)—_Kew Botanic Garden and Pleasure Grounds_, (Sundays +as well as week-days.)—_Museum of Economic Geology_, Jermyn +Street.—_National Gallery_.—_National Portrait Gallery_.—_Patent Museum_, +(adjoining the South Kensington Museum.)—_Soane’s Museum_, Lincoln’s Inn +Fields.—_Society of Arts_ Exhibition of Inventions, (in the spring of +each year.)—_St. Paul’s Cathedral_, (fees for Crypt and all above +stairs.)—_Westminster Abbey_, (a fee for some of the +Chapels.)—_Westminster Hall_.—_Windsor Castle_, (at periods notified from +time to time.)—_Woolwich Repository_, (the Dockyard was closed in +October, 1869, and a letter of introduction is needed for the Arsenal.) +Private Picture Galleries are sometimes opened free; of which notice is +given in the newspapers. + + +Shilling Admissions. + + +The number of Shilling Exhibitions open in London is at all times very +large, but more especially in the summer months. The first page of the +_Times_ contains advertisements relating to the whole of them; while the +penny papers contain a considerable number. As the list varies from time +to time, we cannot print it here; but the following are the chief places +where the exhibitions or entertainments are held. (Theatres and Music +Halls are not included; because the terms of admission vary to different +parts of those buildings. We may here add that _Burford’s_ and the +_Colosseum_ have long been closed.)—_Cremorne Gardens_, Chelsea.—_Crystal +Palace_, Sydenham, (2s. 6d. on Saturday, 1s. on other days.)—_Egyptian +Hall_, Piccadilly, (sometimes two or three exhibitions at once, in +different parts of the building.)—_Gallery of Illustration_, Regent +Street.—Various temporary exhibitions in large rooms situated in the +Haymarket, Pall Mall, Regent Street, Piccadilly, and Bond +Street.—_Picture Exhibitions_, (such as the _Royal Academy_, the _British +Institution_, the _Society of British Artists_, two _Water Colour +Societies_, &c.)—_Polytechnic Institution_, Regent Street.—_Polygraphic +Hall_, Strand.—_Tussaud’s Waxwork_, Baker Street Bazaar.—_Zoological +Gardens_, (sixpence on Mondays.) + + +Admit by Introduction. + + +Among the places to which admission may be obtained by personal +introduction, or by letter, the following may be named:—_Antiquarian +Society’s Museum_, Somerset House.—_Armourer’s Museum_, (ancient armour,) +81 Coleman Street.—_Asiatic Society’s Museum_, 5 New Burlington +Street.—_Bank of England Museum_, (collection of coins.)—_Botanical +Society’s Gardens and Museum_, Regent’s Park.—_College of Surgeons’ +Museum_, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.—_Guildhall Museum_, (old London +antiquities.)—_Linnæan Society’s Museum_, Burlington House.—_Mint_, +(process of coining,) Tower Hill.—_Missionary Museum_, (idols, rude +implements, &c.,) Bloomfield Street, Finsbury.—_Naval Museum_, (formerly, +now at South Kensington.)—_Private Picture Galleries_, (several.)—_Royal +Institution Museum_, Albemarle Street.—_Trinity House Museum_, (models of +lighthouses, &c.,) Tower Hill.—_United Service Museum_, Scotland +Yard.—_Woolwich Arsenal_. + +_N.B._—These lists are subject to constant change. + + + +PRINCIPAL PUBLIC AND TURKISH BATHS. + + +(Those printed in _italics_ are public baths, established rather for the +benefit of the working and middle classes, than for the sake of profit. +At most of them a third-class cold bath can be obtained for 1d.; from +which minimum the prices rise to about 6d. or 8d. Many of the so-called +_Turkish_ baths are ordinary baths in which the arrangements for the +Turkish or Oriental system have recently been introduced. There are also +a few _Medicated Baths_, kept by medical practitioners for the use of +invalids.) + +_Bermondsey Baths_ 39 _Spa Road_, _Bermondsey_. +_Bloomsbury_ _Endell Street_, _St. Giles’s_. +Cadogan 155 Sloane Street, Chelsea. +Coldbath 25 Coldbath Square, Clerkenwell. +Culverwell’s 10 Argyll Place and 5 New Broad Street. +Islington Cross Street. +Lambeth 8 Mount Street, Lambeth. +Mahomed’s 42 Somerset Street, Portman Square. +Metropolitan 23 Ashley Crescent, City Road. +Old Roman 5 Strand Lane. +Old Royal 10½ and 11 Bath Street, Newgate Street. +Pentonville Pentonville Road, (south side.) +_Poplar_ _East India Road_. +Portland Great Portland Street, (east side.) +Royal York 54 York Terrace, Regent’s Park. +Russell 56 Great Coram Street, Russell Square. +Russian 16a Old Cavendish Street. +_St. George’s_ 8 _Davis Street_, _Berkeley Square_, _and_ 88 + _Buckingham Palace Road_. +— 22 _Lower Belgrave Place_. +_St. James’s_ 16 _Marshall Street_, _Golden Square_. +_St. Martin’s_ _Orange Street_, _Leicester Square_. +_St. Marylebone_ 181 _Marylebone Road_. +Wenlock Wenlock Road, City Road. +_Westminster_ 21 _Great Smith Street_, _Westminster_. +_Whitechapel_ _Goulston Square_, _Whitechapel_. + +Turkish. + + 191 Blackfriars Road, S.E. + 184 Euston Road, N.W. + 155 Sloane Street, S.W. + 282 Goswell Road, E.C. + 7 Kennington Park Road, S.E. + 1 Upper John Street, Golden Square, W. + 55 Marylebone Road, N.W. + 42 Somerset Street, Portman Square, N.W. + +Medicated Baths. + +Ballard’s Chapel Place, Cavendish Square. +Campion’s 155 Sloane Street, Chelsea. +Mahomed’s 42 Somerset Street, Portman Square. + +CABS. + + +Practically speaking, the new law ordering cabmen to display a flag, on +which is painted their tariff per mile and per hour, is a dead letter. +Few or none shew flags, and many have none to shew. Cab proprietors can +now charge what they please, provided they take out a license from the +Commissioners of Metropolitan Police, on which is endorsed the rate by +distance or by time intended to be charged, and the number of persons to +be carried. No fare less than one shilling is to be offered. The driver +is to give passenger a card which specifies the licensed price per hour +or per mile. As regards luggage, for each package carried outside 2d. +extra is charged. For each person _above two_ 6d. extra on the entire +journey. If such extra person be a child under 10 years of age, 3d. Two +children of such age to be reckoned as one person. If cab be discharged +more than four miles from Charing Cross by radius, an extra charge will +be made for such excess of distance, as per sum stated on cabman’s card. +Every full mile of such excess will be charged for at per tariff per mile +stated on such card. Driver is not compelled to drive more than 6 miles. +For every quarter of an hour he is kept waiting, if the cab be hired by +time, one-fourth of his tariff per hour. If hired by distance, for every +quarter of an hour of waiting, the rate charged per mile. By time, for +any period under one hour, the sum stated on driver’s card as charged per +hour. As a general rule, cabmen charge 2s. per hour for four-wheeled +cabs, and 2s. 6d. for “Hansom;” and by distance, 1s. for the first mile, +and 6d. for the second, and so on. Property left in hackney carriages +should be asked for at the office for property left in such carriages, at +the office of the Commissioners of Police, Great Scotland Yard, Charing +Cross. Cabmen are bound, under a penalty, to take such lost property to +the nearest police station within 24 hours. In case of disagreement +between a cabman and his passenger, the latter can compel the cabman to +drive to the nearest police office; and if a Magistrate be then sitting, +he will at once settle the dispute. If such office is closed, the cabman +may be required to drive to the nearest police station, where the +complaint will be entered, and adjudicated at the magistrate’s next +sitting. Our readers cannot do better than purchase (price 1s.) a little +book on the subject of Cab Fares and Regulations, published under the +auspices of the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police. It can be +ordered through any bookseller, or may be purchased direct, at the office +for its sale, a few doors north of the entrance to Great Scotland Yard. +In it will be found a list of fares, and the distances in yards, from +many parts in London to others. Its usefulness will amply repay our +readers for their small outlay in its purchase. + + + +HINTS TO STRANGERS. + + +Whether you know the proper cab-fare or not, always make a bargain with +the cabman when hiring his vehicle; and take a note of his number. + +Keep the right hand side of the pavement when walking. + +If out with other country friends, keep well together. + +Observe caution while crossing crowded thoroughfares. + +In asking for information, apply to shopkeepers, or to policemen, rather +than to passers-by. + +The London police are, for the most part, reliable men; and strangers in +any doubt or difficulty can generally obtain useful aid from them. + +Be on your guard against pickpockets in crowds, street exhibitions, and +omnibuses. + +Beware of strangers who endeavour to force their acquaintance on you, and +affect to be unacquainted with London; they are often low sharpers. + +Keep no more cash about you than is needed for the day’s supply. + +Be cautious in opening your purse or looking at your watch in the +streets. + +Avoid low neighbourhoods after dark; if there is anything worth seeing +there, see it in the daytime. + +Disregard street-beggars; residents only (and not always even they) can +tell the deserving from the undeserving. + + + +COMMISSIONAIRES OR MESSENGERS. + + +These are a body of retired soldiers of good character, who were +originally organized in 1859, by Captain Walter. Their central office, +open day and night, is at Exchange Court, 419_a_ Strand, where men can +always be hired. But they are also to be seen, and are easily +recognisable by their neat dark green uniform and badge, in most large +thoroughfares. Their tariff is,—twopence for half-a-mile or under; and +threepence for any distance over half-a-mile to a mile. Back fare, or +charge for return, (unless bearing a return message,) is not allowed. A +charge of one penny per mile extra, if the parcel carried weighs more +than 14 lbs. If engaged by time, sixpence per hour, twopence a quarter +of an hour, half-a-crown for a day of eight hours. By special +arrangement, they may be hired at from 15s. to 20s. per week. + + + +THE GREAT INTERCEPTS MAIN DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF LONDON. + + +North of the Thames are the _High Level_, the _Middle Level_, the _Low +Level_, and the _Western District Sewers_, together with an _Outfall_ at +Barking Creek. The High Level drains Hampstead, Highgate, Kentish Town, +Highbury, Stoke Newington, Hackney, and passes under Victoria Park to Old +Ford; its length is about 9 miles. The Middle Level runs by way of +Kensal Green, Kensington Park, Notting Hill, Bayswater, Oxford Street, +and so under a number of minor streets, to Old Ford, being about 12 miles +long. The Low Level commences near Pimlico, and passes along under the +Thames embankment to Blackfriars, whence it is to go through the City and +Whitechapel to West Ham. The Western District Sewers drain Acton, +Hammersmith, Fulham, Chelsea, &c., on a plan different from that of the +main drainage in other localities. The Outfall, an immense work 6 miles +long, continues the Upper and Middle Level Sewers from Old Ford to West +Ham, and all the three sewers thence to Barking Creek, where stupendous +arrangements are made for conducting the flow of the sewage into the +Thames. The drainage south of the Thames comprises a _High Level Sewer_, +a _Low Level Sewer_, and an _Outflow_. The High Level drains Clapham, +Brixton, Streatham, Dulwich, Camberwell, &c.; the Low Level keeps nearer +the Thames, by Wandsworth, Battersea, Vauxhall, Lambeth, Southwark, +Bermondsey, and Rotherhithe, to Deptford; while the Outfall continues +both these lines of sewers through Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich, and +across Plumstead Marshes to Crossness Point, where the works are situated +for conveying the sewage into the river. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abney Park Cemetery, 61 + +Achilles’s Statue, 127 + +Adelphi Theatre, 28, 121 + +Admiralty, 30, 46 + +Admission to Places of Interest, 178 + +Albert Suspension Bridge, 102 + +Aldermen, 85 + +Aldgate, 18 + +Aldgate High Street, 18 + +Alexandra Park, 167 + +Alhambra, 124 + +Amusements, 125 + +Apothecaries’ Hall, 97 + +Apsley House, 38, 39 + +Armouries, Tower, 78 + +Arsenal, Woolwich, 160 + +Art Exhibitions, 70 + +Artillery Ground, 32 + +Arundel Street, 27 + +Astley’s Amphith., 123 + +Austin Friars, 17 + + * * * * * + +Bank of England, 15, 93 + +Bank of London, 17 + +Banks, 94 + +Baptist College, 72 + +Barclay & Perkins’s, 113 + +Barnes, 145 + +Barnet, 162 + +Baths, 180 + +Battersea, 104, 144 + +— Bridge, 104 + +— Park, 133 + +Bazaars, 31, 113 + +Belgrave Square, 31 + +Berkeley Square, 31 + +Bethnal Green, 19 + +Bethnal Green Cemetery, 61 + +Bethnal G. Museum, 66 + +Billingsgate, 18, 111 + +Birdcage Walk, 126 + +Bishopsgate Street, 18 + +Blackfriars’ Bridge, 22, 103 + +Blackheath, 163 + +Blackwall, 159 + +— Railway, 141 + +Blue Coat School, 73 + +Board of Trade Office, 47 + +Boat-races, 145 + +Bolt Court, 25 + +Bond Street, 31 + +Book-trade, 115 + +Botanical Gardens, 134 + +Bow Church, 56 + +Bow Lane, 19 + +Bread Street, 19 + +Breweries, 113 + +Bridges, 102 + +Bridgewater Gallery, 40 + +— House, 40 + +Brighton Railway, 140 + +Britannia Theatre, 122 + +British Institution, 70 + +— Museum, 62 + +Broad Street, 17 + +Bromley, 163 + +Brooke Street, 24 + +Bryanstone Square, 31 + +Buccleuch House, 40 + +Buckingham Palace, 34 + +Bunhill Fields, 32 + +Burlington House, 69 + + * * * * * + +Cabs and Cab Fares, 137, 182 + +Cannon Street, 14, 33 + +Canterbury Hall, 124 + +Cattle Market, 110 + +Cavendish Square, 31 + +Cecil Street, 27 + +Cemeteries, 57, 61 + +Central Criminal Court, 21 + +Chancery Lane, 25 + +Chapels, 55 + +Charing Cross, 28, 30 + +— Railway Station and Hotel, 27 + +— Theatre, 28, 122 + +Charitable Institutions, 76 + +Charles I.’s Statue, 28 + +Charter House, 20 + +Charter House School, 73 + +Chatham and Dover Railway, 141 + +Cheapside, 15, 19 + +Chelsea, 144 + +— Bridge, 104 + +— Hospital, 143 + +Chess Rooms, 176 + +Chesterfield House, 40 + +Child’s Banking Ho., 26 + +Chiswick, 145 + +Chop-houses, 120 + +Christ’s Hospital, 73 + +Churches, 55 + +City Bank, 17 + +—Companies, 97 + +—of Lond. School, 20, 75 + +—Prison, 93 + +— Road, 32 + +—, the, 12, 15 + +Clapham, 144 + +Clement’s Inn, 27 + +Clock, Westminster, 43 + +Clothworkers’ Hall, 97 + +Clubs and Club Houses, 116, 173 + +Coal Exchange, 110 + +Cockspur Street, 30 + +Coffee-houses, 120 + +— shops, 120 + +Colleges, 70 + +Colonial Office, 47 + +Colosseum, 132 + +Commercial Docks, 100 + +Commissionaires, 183 + +Common Council, 85 + +Companies’ Halls, 96 + +Concert Rooms, 123, 178 + +Constitution Hill, 127 + +Corn Exchange, 18, 113 + +Cornhill, 15, 18 + +Corporation, 84 + +Cotton’s Wharf, 18 + +Courts of Law, 44, 92 + +Court Theatre, 122 + +Covent G. Market, 111 + +— Theatre, 28 + +Crane Court, 25 + +Craven Street, 27 + +Crays, 163 + +Cremorne Gardens, 125 + +Crossness Point, 161 + +Crystal Palace, 163 + +— Railway, 139 + +Custom House, 18, 81 + + * * * * * + +Deptford, 154 + +Devonshire House, 39 + +Dining-rooms, 120 + +Dissenting Chapels, 59 + +Docks, 18, 99 + +Doctors’ Commons, 20 + +Doomsday Book, 92 + +Downing Street, 47 + +Down River Excur., 154 + +Drainage System, 86, 184 + +Drapers’ Hall, 96 + +Drury Lane Theatre, 28, 121 + +Duke of York’s Column, 30 + +Duke of York’s School, 144 + +Dulwich College, 163 + + * * * * * + +East India Docks, 99 + +— Museum, 67 + +Edmonton, 163 + +Egyptian Hall, 124 + +Electric Time-ball, 158 + +Eltham, 163 + +Enfield, 163 + +English Presbyterian Theological Coll., 72 + +Entertainments, 124 + +Environs of London, 169 + +Epping Forest, 163 + +Erith, 161 + +Essex Street, 27 + +Eton College, 154 + +Euston Road, 32 + +— Station, 32 + +Evans’s Hotel and Supper Rooms, 28, 124 + +Exchequer Office, 47 + +Excursions, 143 + +Exeter Hall, 28 + +Exhibition, International, 129 + +Exhibitions, &c., 179 + + * * * * * + +Farringdon St., 22 + +Fenchurch Station, 141 + +— Street, 18 + +Finchley, 162 + +— Cemetery, 61 + +Finsbury Park, 133 + +— Square, 32 + +Fire Brigade, 88 + +Fires, Great, 10, 18, 80 + +Fishmongers’ Hall, 96 + +Fish Street, 18 + +Fish-supply, 111 + +Fleet Street, 22, 24 + +— Valley, 21 + +Floral Hall, 112 + +Food-supply, 109 + +Foreign Office, 47 + +Fountains, 88, 133, 166 + +Free Exhibitions, 179 + +Fulham, 145 + + * * * * * + +Gaiety Theatre, 28, 122 + +Gall. of Illustration, 12 + +George III.’s Statue, 30 + +George IV.’s Statue, 29 + +Globe Theatre, 28, 122 + +Gog and Magog, 89 + +Goldsmiths’ Hall, 20, 96 + +Gough Square, 25 + +Government Offices, 45 + +Gracechurch Street, 18 + +Grand Surrey Docks, 100 + +Gravesend, 161 + +Grays, 161 + +Gray’s Inn, 91 + +Great E. Railway, 141 + +— Nor. Railway, 138 + +— W. Railway, 138 + +Grecian Theatre, 122 + +Greenhithe, 161 + +Green Park, 38, 127 + +Greenwich, 155 + +— Hospital, 155 + +— Park, 158 + +Gresham House, 95 + +— Lectures, 72 + +— Street, 17 + +Grocers’ Hall, 96 + +Grosvenor Gallery, 39 + +— Hotel, 118 + +— House, 39 + +— Square, 31 + +Guards’ Memorial, 30 + +Guildhall, 20, 88 + + * * * * * + +Haberdashers’ Hall, 96 + +Hackney College, 72 + +Hammersmith, 145 + +Hampstead, 162 + +Hampton Court Palace, 149 + +Hanover Square, 31 + +— Rooms, 123 + +Harrow, 162 + +Havelock’s Statue, 30 + +Haymarket Theatre, 30, 121 + +Henry VII.’s Chapel, 51 + +H. M. Theatre, 30, 121 + +Highest Ground in London, 20 + +Highgate, 162 + +— Cemetery, 61 + +Hints to Strangers, 183 + +Holborn, 22 + +— Hill, 23 + +— Theatre, 122 + +— Valley Viaduct, 22 + +Holford House, 40 + +Holland House, 40 + +Home Office, 30, 47 + +Hornsey, 162 + +Horse Guards, 30, 46 + +Horticultural Gardens, 135 + +Hospitals, 76 + +Hotel Charges, viii + +Hotels, 117 + +Houndsditch, 18 + +House of Correction, 93 + +Houses and Streets, 11 + +— of Parlt., 30, 49 + +Howard Street, 27 + +Hudson’s Bay House, 18 + +Hungerford Bridge, 104 + +Hyde Park, 31, 127 + +— Square, 31 + + * * * * * + +India House, 95 + +— Office, 47 + +Inns, 117 + +— of Court, 26, 91 + +Insurance Offices, 94 + +International Exhibition, 129 + +Ironmonger Lane, 19 + +Ironmongers’ Hall, 96 + +Isle of Dogs, 159 + + * * * * * + +Jewel House, Tower, 80 + +Jewish Synagogues, 59 + +Jews’ Quarter, 18 + +Johnson’s Court, 25 + +Junior Athenæum Club, 40 + + * * * * * + +Kennington Park, 133 + +Kensal Green, 61 + +Kensington Garden, 131 + +— Palace, 36 + +Kew Gardens, 146 + +King’s College, 27, 45, 72 + +— Cross Station, 138 + +King Street, 19 + +King William St., 13, 18 + +Koh-i-noor, 80 + + * * * * * + +Lady’s Mile, 129 + +Lambeth Bridge, 104 + +— Palace, 36 + +Landseer’s four Lions, 29 + +Lansdowne House, 40 + +Leadenhall Market, 111 + +— Street, 18 + +Letter Deliveries, 175 + +Lewisham, 163 + +Lighting, 87 + +Limehouse, 159 + +Lincoln’s Inn, 91 + +Lloyd’s, 90 + +Lombard Street, 15, 18 + +London and N.-W. Railway, 138 + +London Bridge, 15, 18, 102 + +— Hotel, 119 + +— Station, 140 + +London, Chatham, and Dover Bridge, 23 + +London Docks, 100 + +— in Roman times, 9 + +— Stone, 168 + +— University, 70 + +Long Walk, Windsor, 154 + +Lord Mayor’s Show, 85 + +Lothbury Street, 17 + +Lower Serle’s Place, 25 + +Ludgate Hill, 21 + +— Railway Station, 21 + +Ludgate Street, 21 + +Lyceum Theatre, 28, 122 + + * * * * * + +Maclise’s Great Picture, 44 + +Mall, 126 + +Malt Liquors, 113 + +Manchester Square, 31 + +Mansion House, 15, 19, 88 + +Markets, 110 + +Mark Lane, 18 + +Marlborough House, 35 + +Marylebone Road, 32 + +— Church, 33 + +— Theatre, 122 + +May Fair, 31 + +Medicated Baths, 181 + +Mercers’ Grammar School, 75 + +Mercers’ Hall, 96 + +Merchant Taylors’ Hall, 96 + +Merchant Taylors’ School, 75 + +Metropolitan Railway, 33 + +Mile-End Cemetery, 61 + +Military Prison, 93 + +Milk Street, 19 + +Millbank Prison, 93 + +Mincing Lane, 18 + +Mint, 81 + +Mitcham, 163 + +Mitre Court, 24 + +Model Prison, 93 + +Money-Order Office, 175 + +Monument, 18, 89 + +Moorgate Street, 16 + +Mortlake, 145 + +Mudie’s Library, 115 + +Museum, British, 62 + +Museum of College of Surgeons, 67 + +Museum, Geological, 66 + +Music Halls, 123, 178 + + * * * * * + +Napier’s Statue, 29 + +National Gallery, 30, 68 + +— Portrait Gallery, 69 + +Nelson’s Column, 29 + +— Tomb, 49 + +New College, 72 + +Newgate, 92 + +— Market, 111 + +— Prison, 21 + +— Street, 20, 22 + +News Rooms, 176 + +Norfolk Street, 27 + +Northfleet, 161 + +N. and S.W. Junction, 139 + +North London Railway, 141 + +Northumberland House, 28, 38 + +Northumberland Street, 27 + +North Woolwich, 159 + +Norwood, 163 + + * * * * * + +Observatory, Greenwich, 158 + +Old Bailey, 21, 92 + +Old ’Change, 19 + +Old Roman Wall, 9 + +Omnibus Routes, 136, 171 + +Open House, 121 + +Oratorios, 123 + +Oxford Music Hall, 124 + +— Street, 31 + + * * * * * + +Paddington, 32 + +— Station, 138 + +Palace of Justice, 27 + +Pall Mall, 29 + +Pantheon, 114 + +Panyer Alley, 20 + +Parcels’ Delivery Co., 174 + +Park Lane, 31 + +Parks, 125 + +Parson’s Green, 145 + +Paternoster Row, 20 + +Pavilion Gardens, 125 + +Peel’s Statue, 20 + +Penitentiary, Millbank, 93 + +Pentonville Road, 32 + +Petticoat Lane, 18 + +Philharmonic Music Hall and Theatre, 124 + +Piccadilly, 30 + +Pimlico, 33 + +— Station, 140 + +Plague, Great, 10 + +Plumstead Marshes, 161 + +Pneumatic Despatch, 101 + +Police, 85 + +Polytechnic Inst., 125 + +Pool, the, 98 + +Pope’s Villa, 148 + +Poplar, 159 + +Population, 11 + +Portland Place, 30 + +Portman Square, 31 + +Port of London, 98 + +Postal System, 175 + +Post-office, General, 83, 175 + +P.O. Savings Banks, 175 + +Poultry, 16 + +Primrose Hill, 132 + +Prince of Wales’ Theatre, 122 + +Prince’s Street, 15 + +Princess’s Theatre, 122 + +Printing House Sq., 21 + +Prisons, 92 + +Privy Council Office, 47 + +Purfleet, 161 + +Putney, 145 + + * * * * * + +Quadrant, 30 + +Queen’s Bench Prison, 93 + +Queen’s Theatre, 28, 122 + +Queen Street, 19 + +Queen Victoria Street, 14, 19, 107 + + * * * * * + +Railway Bridges, 104 + +— Distances, 169 + +— Hotels, 118 + +Railways, 138 + +Rainham, 161 + +Reading Rooms, 63, 176 + +Record Office, 92 + +Regent’s Park, 132 + +Regent Street, 29, 30 + +Registrar-General’s Office, 45 + +Richard Cœur de Lion’s Statue, 30 + +Richmond, 147 + +— Bridge, 147 + +— Hill, 148 + +— Park, 149 + +Roman Catholic Chapels, 59 + +Rotherhithe, 101 + +Rothschild’s House, 40 + +Rotten Row, 129 + +Routes through London, 13 + +Royal Academy, 69 + +— Albert Hall, 131 + +— Exchange, 15, 19, 90 + +— Humane Society, 129 + +Royal Institution, 67 + +— Military Asylum, 144 + +Royal Music Hall, 124 + + * * * * * + +Sacred Harmonic Concerts, 123 + +Sadler’s Wells, 122 + +— Court, 25 + +Salisbury Street, 27 + +Savoy Chapel, 57 + +Schools, Public, 73 + +—, Various, 75 + +Scientific Societies, 68 + +Sergeant’s Inn, 92 + +Serpentine, 129 + +Sheepshanks’ Pictures, 65 + +Shilling Exhibitions, 179 + +Shoe Lane, 23 + +Shops, 113 + +Skinners’ Hall, 96 + +Shoreditch Station, 141 + +Smithfield, 20, 110 + +Snow Hill, 33 + +Soane Museum, 70 + +Society of Arts, 67 + +— of British Artists, 70 + +Soho Bazaar, 114 + +— Theatre, 122 + +Somerset House, 27, 44 + +South-Eastern Railway, 140 + +South-Eastern Railway Bridge, 103 + +South Kensington Museum, 64 + +South Sea House, 17, 95 + +Southwark Bridge, 103 + +— Park, 133 + +South-Western Railway, 139 + +Spitalfields, 18 + +Spring Gardens, 29 + +Spurgeon’s Tabernacle, 60 + +St. Bride’s Church, 26 + +St. Clement Dane’s Church, 27 + +St. Dunstan’s Church, 26 + +St. George’s Cathedral, 60 + +St. Helena Gardens, 125 + +St. James’s Church, 58 + +— Hall, 124 + +—Palace, 33 + +St. James’s Park, 29, 33, 38, 125 + +— Square, 31 + +— Theatre, 122 + +St. John’s Gate, 20 + +— Wood, 31 + +St. Katherine’s Docks, 100 + +— Hos., 132 + +St. Martin’s Church, 28 + +St. Martin’s-le-Grand, 20 + +St. Mary’s Church, 27 + +St. Pancras’ Church, 33 + +— Station, 32 + +St. Paul’s Cathedral, 20, 47 + +— Churchyard, 20, 112 + +— School, 73 + +Stafford House, 38 + +Star and Garter, Putney, 145, 149 + +State Paper Office, 92 + +Stationers’ Hall, 97 + +Steam-boat Piers, 105 + +Steamers, 142 + +Stepney, 19 + +Stock Exchange, 17 + +Strand, 27, 29 + +— Theatre, 28, 122 + +Strawberry Hill, 148 + +Streets, 113 + +Suburban Villages, 169 + +Sun Fire Office, 17 + +Surrey Gardens, 125 + +— Street, 27 + +— Theatre, 123 + + * * * * * + +Taverns, 119 + +Tea Gardens, 125 + +Telegraphs, 175, 176 + +Temperance Hotels, 121 + +Temple, 26, 90 + +— Bar, 26, 27 + +— Church, 91 + +— Gardens, 91 + +Thames, and Shipping, 97 + +Thames Embankment, 14, 106 + +Thames Subway, 18 + +— Tunnel, 18, 101 + +Theatres, 121, 176 + +Threadneedle St., 17, 93 + +Tilbury, 161 + +— and Southend Railway, 141 + +_Times’_ Office, 21 + +Tobacco Dock, 100 + +Tooley Street, 18 + +Tower of London, 18, 77 + +Tower Subway, 101 + +Trades, Number of, 114 + +Trafalgar Square, 29 + +Training Colleges, 73 + +Tramways, 173 + +Treasury, 30, 46 + +Trinity House, 95 + +Turkish Baths, 180 + +Turner’s Pictures, 68 + +Tussaud’s Exhibition, 125 + +Twickenham, 148 + +Tyburnia, 31 + + * * * * * + +United Service Museum, 67 + +University College, 71 + +— Hall, 72 + +Upper Regent Street, 30 + +Up River Excursions, 143 + + * * * * * + +Vaudeville Theatre, 28, 122 + +Vauxhall Bridge, 104 + +— Gardens, 125 + +Vegetable Markets, 111 + +Vernon Pictures, 68 + +Victoria Docks, 99 + +— Park, 132 + +— Station, 140 + +— Street, 22 + +— Theatre, 123 + +— Tower, 43 + +Villiers’ Street, 27 + +Vintners’ Hall, 97 + + * * * * * + +Walbrook, 15 + +Walham Green, 145 + +Waltham, 163 + +— Abbey, 163 + +Wandsworth, 144 + +War Office, 47 + +Water-colour Exhib., 70 + +— Supply, 109 + +Waterloo Bridge, 27, 45, 104 + +— Place, 30 + +— Station, 139 + +Wellington’s Statue, 39 + +Wesleyan College, 72 + +Westbourne Terrace, 31 + +West-End, 19, 27 + +— India Docks, 99 + +— London Rail, 139 + +Westminster Abbey, 30, 51 + +— Bridge, 30, 41, 104 + +— Hall, 30, 41, 44 + +— Palace, 29 + +— Palace Hotel, 119 + +— School, 73 + +Weston’s Music Hall, 124 + +Wharfs, 98 + +Whitebait Taverns, 155, 159 + +Whitechapel, 19 + +— Market, 111 + +Whitecross Street Prison, 92 + +Whitehall, 29 + +— Banqueting House, 30 + +— Chapel, 57 + +— Gardens, 30 + +Wimbledon, 144, 163 + +Winchester Street, 17 + +Windsor, 151 + +— Castle, 153 + +Wine Vaults, Docks, 100 + +Woking Necropolis, 61 + +Wood Street, 19 + +Woolwich, 159 + +Wren’s Churches, 58 + + * * * * * + +Zoological Gardens, 133 + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + WILLIAM COLLINS & CO., PRINTERS, + HERRIOT HILL WORKS, GLASGOW. + + * * * * * + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{16} Most of the illustrations are _bird’s-eye views_, taken from +house-tops and church-towers, in order to shew as many public buildings +as possible. The reader will attribute to this cause any apparent +distortion of perspective, as compared with views taken from level +ground. + +{18} This tremendous conflagration was one of the largest ever known in +London since 1666, involving the loss of property valued at two millions +sterling. The ruins were still hot, steaming and smoking, seven weeks +after the fire commenced. Mr. Braidwood, chief of the London Fire +Brigade, perished in the ruins; a public funeral testified to the esteem +in which he was held. + +{20} This is not what is called LONDON STONE. That famous stone will be +found on the side of St. Swithin’s Church, New Cannon Street. (See p. +168.) + +{40} Tickets of admission can generally be obtained, during the season, +of Messrs Smith, 137 New Bond Street. Days of admission, from 10 till 5, +Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. + +{47a} The total cost, including 200 tons of iron-railing, was +£1,511,202. + +{47b} It is strange that, in relation to the best known building in +London, great discordance reigns concerning the total _height_. Wren’s +son, in the _Parentalia_, simply states that the lantern is 330 feet from +the ground; Maitland gives the total height at 340 feet; many authorities +name 360 feet; while several Hand-books and Guides, following the +pamphlet sold in the cathedral, raise it to 404 feet. This last +statement agrees with the Cockney tradition, that St. Paul’s is twice as +high as the Monument. A careful examination of the vertical section, +however, shews that the height is about 356 feet above the marble +pavement of the cathedral, 375 above the level of the crypt, and 370 +above the pavement of the churchyard. It will thus be sufficiently near +the truth to say that St. Paul’s is 365 feet high—a familiar number, easy +to remember. + +{178} Is also a theatre. + +{179} Is also a theatre. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLLINS' ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO LONDON +AND NEIGHBOURHOOD*** + + +******* This file should be named 39379-0.txt or 39379-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/3/7/39379 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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