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E. Public Buildings, Monuments, Parks, &c.

E. Public Buildings, Monuments, Parks, &c.-We do not here notice the ecclesiastical, institutional, educational, or benevolential buildings of the metropolis, for these will be described in subsequent sections. We here notice chiefly the governmental, municipal, commercial, and miscellaneous public buildings, the parks, monuments, &c., and for the convenience of our readers we have arranged them in alphabetical order.

Admiralty, The.-This building which stands in Whitehall opposite Scotland Yard was erected about 1726 from the plans of Ripley, satirised by Pope in the " Dunciad," forms three sides of a quadrangle, with a screen and gallery towards the street, designed by the brothers Adam in 1776. It stands upon the site of Peterborough, afterwards called Wallingford House, from the roof of which Archbishop Usher attempted to see the execution of Charles I., but, unable to bear the sight, fainted, was taken down and put to bed. Adjoining the Admiralty is a house for the First Lord, and the Secretary to the Board has an official residence within the building. Formerly the officials communicated with Portsmouth by means of semaphores, one being on the roof of the Admiralty, and others at short distances apart along the road to that port. The house contains a portrait of Nelson painted at Palermo in 1799 by Guzzardi, and in the Secretary's house are portraits of persons who have filled that office from the time of Pepys to the present time.

Agricultural Hall, The Royal.-An immense building, greatly resembling in its exterior a railway station, between Islington Green and Liverpool Road in the N of London. It has a great hall 380 feet long by 217 wide, with a glass roof supported by columns. A horse show is held here in the summer, and the Smithfield Club Cattle Show in the winter. An old-fashioned fair is held early in January, and the hall is also used for other exhibitions and entertainments, the most important being the military tournament.

Albert Hall.-This building, which is officially styled the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, is the outcome of a proposition made by the late Prince Consort at the close of the Exhibition of 1851, but which was not commenced until May 1867, when the first stone was laid by the Queen, who also opened the completed building in 1871. It is a huge structure of elliptical form, constructed of brick and terracotta, in the style of the Italian Renaissance. The larger exterior diameter is 272 feet, interior 219 , the smaller exterior 238 feet, interior 185. There are twenty-six entrances, and the interior forms one of the finest saloons of the world. The arena is 100 feet long by 70 broad, and has space for 1000 persons. The amphitheatre which adjoins it contains ten rows of seats and holds 1360 persons. Above it are three tiers of boxes, a balcony with eight rows of seats accommodating 1800 persons, and a picture gallery and promenade that will accommodate 2000. There are two hydraulic lifts to the gallery. The roof, crowned by a domed skylight of coloured glass, is 135 feet in height. At night the hall is lighted by electricity. The organ, built by Willis, chiefly under the direction of Sir Michael Costa, is 65 feet wide, 70 high, and 40 deep ; it contains five rows of keys- belonging to the choir, great, solo, swell and pedal organs, and 10,000 pipes, and is one of the largest in the world. The orchestra accommodates 1000 performers. The hall itself seats comfortably 8000 persons, and if crowded can accommodate 1000 more. It is used chiefly for concerts, and it cost about £200,000.

Albert Memorial.-This magnificent monument, erected to the memory of the late Prince Consort at a cost of about £120,000, stands immediately in front of the Albert Hall, and inside Kensington Gardens between Queen's Gate and Prince's Gate, near the site of the Exhibition of 1851. It was designed by the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott, somewhat after the model of an Eleanor cross. On a spacious platform, to which granite steps ascend on each side, rises a basement adorned with 169 marble figures, representing the chief architects, musicians, painters, poets, and sculptors of all time. At each angle of this pedestal are marble groups representing agriculture, manufacture, commerce, and engineering. In the centre of the basement under a Gothic canopy sits the colossal bronze gilt statue of the Prince Consort by Foley, wearing the dress of a Knight of the Garter. The canopy, supported by clustered columns of polished granite, is crowned by a spire of rich tabernacle work, in partially gilt and enamelled metal, terminating in a cross. At the comers of the steps leading up to the basements are four noble groups of allegorical marble figures, representing America by Bell, Africa by Theed, Asia by Foley, and Europe by Macdowell. The whole monument is 175 feet in height.

Alexandra Palace.-A large building, designed to resemble the Crystal Palace, on Muswell Hill in the N of London, first opened in 1863, soon afterwards burnt down but immediately rebuilt, opened for short seasons in 1887-89, but then closed. It stands in a park of 400 acres, and commands views over five counties.

Aquarium Royal.-A large building of red brick in Victoria Street, Westminster, opened in 1876. It is 600 feet in length, has an arched roof of glass and iron, and cost nearly £200,000. It contains a few fish tanks, a theatre, concert hall, reading-room, picture gallery, and restaurant, and it presents every kind of music-hall entertainment as well as various shows.

Bank of England.-The Bank of England occupies an irregularly quadrangular area of nearly 4 acres immediately N of the junctions of Poultry, Cornhill, Lombard Street, and King William Street; presents its four fronts to Thread-needle Street, Prince's Street, Lothbury, and Bartholomew Lane; measures along these fronts respectively 365, 440, 410, and 250 feet; and includes eight open courts. The oldest part of it was built in 1733 on the site of the house of Sir John Moulton, the first governor; parts adjoining Threadneedle Street were afterwards built by George Sampson ; enlargements of these parts were made, and E and W wings of them were erected, in 1766-86, by Sir Robert Taylor; the other parts, with slight exception, were built by Sir John Soane, who also took down or altered some of the older parts; and copings above the cornice were added by Cockerell, after a temporary fortification of the structure against an apprehended attack of the Chartists in 1848. The structure as a whole does not possess much architectural elegance, yet portions of it, particularly in the interior, are admirable. The principal front, seen from the corner of Cornhill, shows a long line of wall in the Grecian style, with fluted pillars, cornices, and other ornaments, but has blank windows and looks flat and heavy. The front toward Lothbury was copied from the temple of Tiyoli, and is very beautiful. The cashier's office was modelled after the temple of the San and Moon at Rome, the ante-room of the discount office after the villa of Adrian, and the entrance to the bullion court after the arch of Constantine. The central court, planted with shrubs and trees, and ornamented with a fountain, was formerly the churchyard of St Christopher. The parlour is the room in which the directors meet, and the lobby of it has a portrait of Abraham Newland, who rose from a low condition to be chief clerk of the bank. The ruling-room is the place where the paper for the books is cut and ruled by machines; the binding-room, where the pages of the ledgers are numbered by machinery; the printing-room, where the common bank papers are printed; the bank-note printing-room, where cheques are numbered by a machine, and 15,000 notes are printed daily; the old note office, where the paid notes are accumulated for ten years; the weighing office, where the light sovereigns are separated from the full-weight ones by very ingenious pieces of mechanism ; the bullion office, where the coin is kept in iron safes; a bank note for £1,000,000 ; the bank-note autograph books, containing the signatures of royal and distinguished personages ; all of which may be seen by an order from a director. The vaults usually contain from £15,000,000 to £20,000,000 in gold and silver, and the average amount of money negotiated daily in the bank is over £2,000,000.

Bridges.-The Tower Bridge, which was opened for traffic by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 30 June, 1894, is approached on the N side of the river by a wide street along the eastern wall of the Tower. The foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales in June, 1886, so that the bridge occupied eight years in construction, and its total cost was nearly £1,170,000, the money being provided by the Corporation of the City of London from the Bridge House Estates. It consists of a carriage way which in the centre is 29 1/2 feet on the under side above the level of high water, but which at its lowest part has only a height of 27 feet There is also a permanent footway 135 feet above high water which is reached by means of stairs and of hydraulic lifts. Two huge Gothic towers 200 feet apart, with their foundations laid 26 feet below the river bed, rise to a total height of 293 feet. From one tower to the other runs the roadway with side paths, traversing a bridge 200 feet in length. North and south of these towers are two suspension bridges, each connected at the shore end with an abutment tower less in size than the towers in the centre. The whole bridge has a length of 880 feet. The main bridge between the towers consists of two leaves, each of 100 feet in length and composed of four girders about 13 feet apart rigidly braced together. They diner from the old-fashioned drawbridge in the fact that they do not terminate at the base of the towers in a hinge, but the shaft or pivot on which the leaf turns is continued beyond the base for 46 feet, the short arm supporting 290 tons of lead and 60 tons of cast iron to counterbalance the weight of the long arm. The moving power is hydraulic, and all the essential parts of the machinery are in duplicate so as to guard against the risk of a breakdown. When the central leaves are raised in order to permit vessels to pass there is an open waterway 200 feet wide with a clear headway of 140 feet. The old London Bridge stood immediately below the new one. It was preceded on or near its own site by at least three wooden bridges; it was itself built mainly in 1176; it had twenty narrow arches, and rose considerably in the middle; it was surmounted early by a chapel, and afterwards by a dense mass of timber-houses; it was the scene in Elizabeth's time of a romantic event which founded the fortunes of the ducal family of Leeds; it was taken down in 1832, after completion of the new bridge; and it was found to cover or to embody a number of objects very interesting to antiquaries. The new London Bridge was built in 1825-31, after designs by Rennie, was publicly opened, by William IV. and Queen Adelaide, comprises five elliptic granite arches-the central one 152 feet in span, and rising 29 1/2 feet above high-water mark-and is 928 feet long from the extremities of the abutments and 54 feet wide. Large spaces were cleared away on both sides of the river for making the approaches, and contiguous rectilinear spaces were opened for the construction of new street-lines of buildings. The cost of the bridge, together with that of making the approaches, was £2,566,268. The number of carriages and equestrians passing along in the course of twenty-four hours exceeds 20,000, and that of pedestrians is not less than 107,000. Cannon Street Railway Bridge, belonging to the S.E.R., is a plain structure of iron built in fine girder spans resting on cylinder piers. Southwark Bridge connects Queen Street in the city with Bridge Street, Southwark, stands about a third of a mile above London Bridge, was erected in 1815-19, after designs by Rennie, comprises three cast-iron arches resting on stone piers, has a span of 210 feet in each of the side arches and of 240 feet in the central arches, is 708 feet long, consumed about 5780 tons of iron, and cost, inclusive of approaches, about £800,000. It was erected by a company, and a penny toll was imposed. But the company found it unremunerative, and in 1865 the bridge was purchased by the city for the sum of £218,868 and the toll abolished. Blackfriars Bridge connects Bridge Street in the city with Blackfriars Road, Southwark, at a line about half a mile above Southwark Bridge; was originally built in 1760-69 at a cost of £152,840; consisted of nine arches; measured 995 feet in length and 42 in width; underwent alterations in 1837, lowering it, and removing its open balustrade; and has given place to an entirely new bridge, founded in 1865. This is in a modified Venetian-Gothic style, measures 922 feet in length and 85 in width, has piers of granite surmounting columns of polished granite and ornate arches of wrought iron from 155 feet to 185 feet in span, cost about £650,000, and was opened by the Queen on 6 Nov., 1869. Immediately to the E of this bridge is the massive iron bridge belonging to the L.C. & D.R. Waterloo Bridge, pronounced by Canova to be the finest in Europe, was designed by John Rennie, and opened in 1817 on the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. It consists of nine elliptical arches 120 feet in span and 35 in height, supported on piers 20 feet wide at the spring of the arches and surmounted by an open balustrade. The bridge is 1380 feet long, and it cost over £1,000,000 to build. It is a flat bridge-that is, does not rise in the centre. Being built by a company a toll was demanded of all persons using it until 1878, when the Metropolitan Board of Works acquired it for the sum of £475,000 and opened it to the public toll free. Charing Cross Railway Bridge is built of iron, and superseded the Hungerford Suspension Bridge, which was removed in 1864 and now spans the Avon at Clifton near Bristol. Westminster Bridge, erected in 1856-62 on the site of an earlier stone bridge from designs by Page at a cost of £250,000, is a noble structure consisting of seven iron arches borne by granite buttresses, the central arch having a span of 120 feet, the others of 114 feet. It has a roadway with an easy gradient 85 feet wide, and is in all 1160 feet in length. This bridge is one of the finest in London, and it affords an admirable view of the Houses of Parliament. Lambeth Suspension Bridge, which comes next in order, is at once one of the ugliest and cheapest ever built over the river. It consists of three spans of 268 feet each, with double cylinder piers, wire cables being used instead of the usual chains. It was built in 1862, the engineer being Mr Peter Barlow, and it cost only £40,000. Vauxhall Bridge, which was built in 1811-16 from designs by Mr J. Walker, is a plain iron structure of nine equal arches. It is 23 feet wide and 798 in length. The river is next crossed by the Victoria Station railway bridge, also known as Grosvenor Bridge, a wide and handsome structure of stone and iron used by the various lines of railway which converge at Victoria Station. Chelsea Suspension Bridge, also known as Victoria Bridge, was erected in 1858 from designs by Page at a cost of about £80,000. It has a length of 333 feet between the suspension towers, and a total length including the abutments of 704 feet. The Albert or Cadogan Suspension Bridge, opened in 1873, is an elegant structure 790 feet in length by 40 wide. Battersea Bridge is a new structure consisting of five spans of ironwork resting upon piers of granite and concrete which are carried down 40 feet below high-water mark. A wooden bridge formerly crossed the river at this point, but having become unsafe it was closed in 1886. The first stone of the new bridge was laid. by the Duke of Clarence in 1887, and the bridge was opened by Lord Rosebery in 1890.

Cemeteries.-Since the passing of the Act prohibiting intramural interments, an immense number of burial grounds have been opened in the suburban districts round London. It would require more space than we can afford to give a complete list, but the following are among the more important :-
Abney Park, at Stoke Newington, with a branch at Chingford. This has been much used by Nonconformists, has a monument to Dr Isaac Watts, and the grave of Mrs Booth, the "Mother of the Salvation Army." Brompton Cemetery, in the Fulham Road, contains the graves of Sir Roderick Murchison, Gen. Fenwick Williams, E. H. Rodwell the composer, T. P. Cooke the actor, and many other persons of note. Bunhill Fields, in the City Road, now closed as a cemetery and ornamentally laid out, was for 200 years the chosen burying place of dissenters, and contains the graves of General Fleetwood, the Rev John Owen, John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, Isaac Watts, and Susannah Wesley. Highgate or North London Cemetery, situated on a slope of Highgate Hill, is one of the most picturesque in London, is very tastefully laid out, and contains among many others the graves of Michael Faraday, Professor Clifford, Lord Lyndhurst, and George Eliot. Kensal Green Cemetery, in the NW of London, was laid out in 1832, and contains about 70,000 graves. Among the eminent people interred here are Brunel, Sidney Smith, Tom Hood, Thackeray, John Leech, Leigh Hunt, Buckle the historian, and Charles Matthews the actor. In the adjacent Roman Catholic cemetery are interred Cardinals Wiseman and Manning. Other important cemeteries are those of Norwood, Nunhead, Paddington, and Woking, the last of these being celebrated for its excellent arrangements for cremation.

Chelsea Hospital. See CHELSEA.

City Companies, Halls of.-The halls of the "Twelve Great Companies," or the twelve most notable of the City guilds, possess considerable interest. Mercers' Hall, in Cheapside, between Ironmonger Lane and Old Jewry, stands close to the site of the house in which Thomas a Becket's father lived, includes a beautiful chapel on the site of the ancient hospital of St Thomas of Aeon, and contains portraits of Dean Colet and Sir Thomas Gresham. Grocers' Hall stands in the Poultry, was built in 1427, rebuilt after the Great Fire, and built again in 1802, and was the place of the City dinners to Cromwell and the Long Parliament, and the place of the Bank of England's courts from 1694 till 1734. Drapers' Hall stands in Throgmorton Street; was originally the mansion of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, purchased by the drapers from Henry VIII.; is now one of the most luxuriously furnished mansions in England; had gardens which extended to London Wall, and were used as a fashionable promenade; and contains a curious picture of Mary Queen of Scots, and a portrait of Lord Nelson. Fishmongers' Hall stands on the W side of Adelaide Place, at the N foot of London Bridge; was built after the Great Fire, and rebuilt in 1881; and contains a statue of Sir William Walworth, who slew Wat Tyier, and portraits of William III. and Mary, George II. and Caroline, the Duke of Kent, Earl St Vincent, and Queen Victoria. Goldsmiths' Hall stands in Foster Lane, Cheapside; was rebuilt in 1835, after designs by Hardwicke; has a rich, bold, well-proportioned front, with sculptures of armour, banners, cornucopiae, and musical instruments ; has an interior of equally ornate character; and contains a Roman altar found at the digging of its foundations, a gold cup said to have been used by Queen Elizabeth at her coronation, busts of George III., George IV., and William IV., and portraite of George III. and Charlotte, George IV., William IV. and Adelaide, Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. Skinners' Hall stands in Dowgate Hill, was destroyed by the great fire and rebuilt immediately afterwards, has a front, added in 1808, and contains a portrait of Lord Mayor Sir Andrew Judd of 1551. Merchant Taylors' Hall stands in Threadneedle Street behind an ornamental row of merchants' houses, was purchased by the tailors in 1331, superseded an earlier hall in Basing Lane, suffered severe injury in the Great Fire insomuch that only a small portion of the old structure now exists, was rebuilt immediately after the great fire, is the largest of the Companies' halls, was the scene of two great dinners to all the Conservative members of the House of Commons in 1835 and 1851, and contains portraits of Henry VIII., Charles I., Charles II., James II., William III., George III. and his queen, the Duke of York, the Duke of Wellington, and Sir Thomas White, the founder of St John's College, Oxford, Haberdashers' Hall stands in Staining Lane, Cheapside, was rebuilt after the Great Fire and again in 1855, and was destroyed by fire in 1864 and again rebuilt. Salters' Hall stands in Oxford Court, St Swithin's Lane, occupies the site of first the town-house of the priors of Tortington, afterwards of a mansion of the Earls of Oxford, and was rebuilt in 1827. Ironmongers' Hall stands on the N side of Fenchurch Street, was rebuilt in 1748, has a highly decorated interior in the Tudor style, and contains a portrait of Admiral Lord Hood. Vintners' Hall stands in Upper Thames Street, is a plain modern edifice, and contains portraits of Charles II., James II., and Prince George of Denmark. Clothworkers' Hall stands in Mincing Lane, Fenchurch Street, is a fine modern building which was completed in 1870, and contains a silver " loving-cup," given by Pepys, who was master of the company in 1677.

The halls of some of the other city companies or guilds also possess interest. Apothecaries Hall stands in Water Lane, Blackfriars, is a plain brick and stone building of 1670, figures in Garth's satirical poem of " The Dispensary," has connection with a botanic garden at Chelsea, and contains a portrait of James I. and a statue of Delaune. Stationers' Hall stands in Stationers Hall Court, Ludgate Hill, was destroyed in the Great Fire, when the Stationers lost property-to the value of about £200,000; was afterwards rebuilt, possessed long the right of having every sort of publication " entered at it," is still the place of registration of new books for protection under the Copyright Act, and contains portraits of Prior, Steele, Richardson, Alderman Boydell, and Vincent Wing. Painters-Stainers' Hall stands in Little Trinity Lane, and contains portraits of Charles II., William III., Anne, and the antiquary Camden, and a " loving-cup" given by Camden and used at the annual feast on St Luke's Day. Barber-Surgeons' Hall stands in Monkwell Street, on the site of a bastion of the ancient city wall, is one of the few old city halls which escaped the Great Fire, has an elaborately executed doorway, and contains a gilt cup presented by Henry VIII., another cup presented by Charles II., a portrait of Inigo Jones, and a famous picture by Holbein of Henry VIII. bestowing the charter on the barber-surgeons. Carpenters' Hall stands at Carpenters Buildings, London Wall, has been recently rebuilt, and was found during repairs in 1845 to have four frescoes of the 15th century, all on Scripture subjects, and three of them referring to carpenters' work. Weavers' Hall stands in Basinghall Street, and contains an old picture of William Lee, a scholar of Cambridge, the inventor of the stocking-loom, representing him pointing out that loom to a female knitter. Armourers' Hall stands in Coleman Street, and contains a very fine collection of mazers, hanaps, and silver-gilt cups. Saddlers' Hall stands in Cheapside, and contains a fine funeral pall of the 15th century.

Cleopatra's Needle.-This Egyptian obelisk originally stood at Heliopolis, where it was erected about 1500 B.C.. and was presented to the British Government by Mohammed Ali. For many years it lay half buried in the sands at Alexandria, but was brought over in 1878 by the munificence of Dr Erasmus Wilson and the skill of John Dixon, C.E. It is a monolith of reddish granite 68 1/2 feet in height, 8 feet wide at the base, and it weighs about 180 tons. The scenes on the pyramidion represent the monarch Thothmes III. under the form of a sphynx with hands, offering water, wine, milk, and incense to the gods Ra and Atum. The inscriptions give the names and titles of the deities, the titles of Thothmes III., and the statement of each of his special gifts. The obelisk stands upon a pedestal of grey granite 18 3/4 feet in height, and is supported by a bronze wing at each corner. Two bronze sphinxes designed by Mr G. Vulliamy have been placed at the base of the needle.

Congregational Memorial Hall.-This edifice, which was completed in 1874, was erected by the Congregationalists in memory of the 2000 ministers ejected from the Church of England by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. It stands on part of the site of the old Fleet Prison, and is a handsome building in the Second Pointed style, of the French type. The site of the hall cost nearly £30,000, and the total cost of land and building was over £93.000. It contains various offices, a library, and a large hall at the top of the building capable of seating 1500 persons.

Coal Exchange.-The Coal Exchange stands in Lower Thames Street, nearly opposite Billingsgate; was erected in 1847-49 to afford convenience for conducting the coal trade, and was opened by the Prince Consort. Its interior is highly interesting. Three galleries encircle it and a lantern surmounts it. The floor consists of upwards of 40,000 pieces of wood, and is laid in the form of the mariner's compass. The walls are painted with representations of the coal fossils, pictures of colliers' implements and tackle, aift portraits of men who have rendered service to the coal trade. A Roman hypocaust having been laid open at the digging of the foundations, it was arched over, and can still be seen.

Crystal Palace. See under that heading.

Custom House.-The Custom House stands in Lower Thames Street, along a terrace fronting the river, and is the fifth custom house structure on the site. The first was built in 1385 by John Churchman; the second was built in the time of Elizabeth, and destroyed by the great fire; the third was designed by Wren, and was destroyed by fire in 1714; the fourth was built by Ripley, and was burnt in 1814. The present structure was erected in 1814-17, after designs by Laing; rests on piles driven to the depth of 30 feet, rendered necessary by the substrata having once been covered by the river; proved insecure throughout the central portion; was rebuilt throughout that portion in 1825, under the direction of Sir R. Smirke; measures 480 feet in length and 100 in width; is in the Ionic style, of centre and two wings, with bold and massive aspect; and contains what is called the long room, 190 feet long, 66 wide, and 55 high, together with a multitude of offices.

Duke, of Yorks Column.-This monument, which stands at the end of Waterloo Place, was erected in 1833 from designs by Wyatt, in memory of the second son of George III. It cost £30,000, which was raised by subscription; is of Scotch granite, is 123 feet in height, and is surmounted by a bronze statue of the Duke of Westmacott.

Dulwich Picture Gallery. See DULWICH.

Exeter Hall.-This celebrated building is on the north side of the Strand, to which, however, it has only a narrow frontage. It was built in 1831 from the designs of Mr Gandy Deering for the meetings of religious and philanthropic societies, and for musical performances on a large scale. In 1881 it was purchased by six gentlemen for £25,000, and presented to the Young Men's Christian Association. It has a large hall, with a fine organ, and an orchestra at the east end capable of seating more than 4000 persons. There is also a smaller hall capable of seating 1000 persons. Its lower floors are fitted as class and refreshment rooms, and there is a good gymnasium.

Foreign Office.-This important department of the state was formerly lodged in a pile of antiquated and dingy rooms at the end of Downing Street. It new occupies a portion of a splendid pile of buildings filling the space between Downing Street and Charles Street, which were erected in 1868-73 from designs by the late Sir G. G. Scott, R.A., at a cost of about £500,000. The architect wished to erect a Gothic building, but was overruled by Lord Palmerston, and the present edifice is in the Italian style. The buildings also furnish accommodation to the Home Office, the Colonial Office, and the India Office. The splendid state-rooms of the Foreign and India Offices are shown to visitors on Fridays between 12 and 3 o'clock.

General Post Office.-The General Post Office stands in St Martin's-le-Grand, near Cheapside, Newgate Street, and St Paul's Churchyard; occupies the site of an ancient college and church dedicated to St Martin; and was built in 1825-29 after designs by Sir R. Smirke. It measures 389 feet in length and 80 in width; is in the Ionic style, simple, but massive ; has a hexastyle portico, copied from remains of two ancient temples; consists of granite in the basement, and of brick, faced with Portland stone, in the superstructure; and includes a central vestibule or great hall 80 feet long, 60 wide, and 53 high. The post office was kept in 1635 at Sherbourne Lane; next at Dowgate; next at the Black Swan, Bishopsgate Street; next at the Black Pillars, Brydges Street, Covent Garden; next at what had been Sir Robert Viner's house in Lombard Street; and was removed thence to the present building. The vast increase in the work of the post office has, however, long outgrown the capacity of the old building, and in 1870-73 a large new building with frontages to St Martin's-le-Grand and Newgate Street was erected at a cost of £450,000. This is known as the General Post Office, West, and it is chiefly devoted to the telegraphic department. Capacious as the new building was, it was soon found to be inadequate for the requirements of the post office, and a block of land adjacent was purchased for £326,450, and a new building erected upon it at a cost of £170,000 in 1889-94. This is known as the General Post Office, North, and it accommodates the Central Savings Bank, the office of the Postmaster-General, and the staffs of the General Secretary, the Solicitor, and the Receiver and Accountant-General.

Guildhall, The.-The Guildhall stands at the foot of King Street. Cheapside; superseded a previous hall in Aldermanbury; was built in 1411; suffered much injury from the great fire; retains little of the original structure except the packing of the walls, two mutilated windows, and a crypt; has a front of 1789, designed by George Dance; contains tlie principal public offices of the City Corporation ; and includes a great hall 153 feet long, 50 wide, and 55 high, used by the citizens at elections and for public meetings, and used also for the lord mayor's banquet at his accession to office. To the N of the great hall is the new Common Council Chamber, erected from the plans of Sir Horace Jones in 1885. The corporation offices contain numerous portraits, memorials, and busts; the Free Library, a splendid building opened in 1872-73, entered through a passage in the porch, contains many rare books relating to the city's history. The great hall contains the giant figures called Gog and Magog, statues of Edward VI., Elizabeth, and Charles I., and monuments to the Earl of Chatham, William Pitt, Lord Nelson, and the Duke of Wellington. The Museum, beneath the library, contains a large number of interesting curiosities, chiefly relating to the history of London. The Corporation Art Gallery, on the right of the entrance to the Guildhall, opened in 1886, contains a collection of paintings of but moderate value and interest Splendid loan collections, however, are occasionally exhibited here. The Guildhall was the scene of the advocacy of Richard III.'s claims to the throne, of the trial of Anne Askew on a charge of heresy, and of the impeachment of the Earl of Surrey, Lady Jane Grey, and the Jesuit Garnet for treason ; and it was the place of the great dinner in 1814 to the Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia, when plate was used to the estimated value of £200,000. The Lord Mayor's banquet is annually held here on 9 Nov., and it is the scene from time to time of magnificent banquets and entertainments to royal and distinguished personages on behalf of the corporation.

Greenwich Hospital. See GREENWICH.

Horse Guards.-This building, which formerly contained the offices of the commander-in-chief of the army, was erected in 1753 on the site of an old Tilt Yard at a cost of above £30,000. It was originally a guardhouse for Whitehall Palace, from which fact it obtained its name. It consists of a centre surmounted by a clock tower, and two pavilion wings. The military guard on duty is provided alternately by the Life Guards and the Horse Guards Blue, and two mounted troopers are posted here as sentinels from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The changing of the guard, which takes place at 11 a.m., is one of the sights of London. A passage, open to foot passengers, leads through the Horse Guards across the parade ground into St James's Park. There is also a carriage way, but this is reserved for the use of Royalty and a select list of privileged persons.

Imperial Institute.-The Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, which stands facing the new Imperial Institute Road in South Kensington, is a huge edifice in the Renaissance style of architecture, with a frontage 600 feet in length, surmounted by a large central tower called the Queen's Tower, 280 feet in height, and having smaller towers, each 176 feet high at the corners. The central tower contains a splendid peal of bells, the gift of an Australian lady, which are excelled in London only by those of St Paul's. The foundation stone of the building was laid by the Queen in 1887, the year of Her Majesty's Jubilee, and the Institute was opened by Her Majesty in May, 1893. It is constructed chiefly of Portland stone and red brick, and it contains a Great Reception Hall, a large number of conference rooms, offices, laboratories, refreshment and smoking rooms, and exhibition rooms. It is designed according to the charter of incorporation granted by Her Majesty in 1888, to be " a central source of information upon all matters relating to the national and industrial resources, the trades and handicrafts, and. the commerce of every part of the empire."

India Office. See FOREIGN OFFICE.

Lambeth Palace. See LAMBETH.

London, County Council Chamber.-This is formed at present at the offices formerly occupied by the Metropolitan Board of Works at Spring Gardens. The chamber used by the old board was enlarged, on the formation of the new body, at a cost of £10,000. It includes seats for the members, a public gallery capable of accommodating 150 persons, and it has two committee rooms adjacent.

Mansion House.-The Mansion House stands at the E end of the Poultry, on the site of the ancient Stocks Market, near the ancient course of the Wallbrook rivulet; rests on an artificial foundation of piles, rendered necessary by the saturation of the ground with springs; was erected in 1739-53, after designs by George Dance, at a cost of £71,000; consists of Portland stone; has a tetrastyle Corinthian portico, with symbolic sculptures on the pediment; is the official residence of the lord mayor, the locality of the city police court, and the place of many city banquets and balls; and contains a state-room, called the Egyptian Hall, from the style of its architecture, designed by the Earl of Burlington, and capable of accommodating 400 persons at dinner. The City Police Court is held in one of the rooms of the Mansion House, and here the lord mayor or one of the aldermen sits daily.

Mint, The.-The old Mint stood within the Tower, near the Lions' Gate. The present Mint stands on Tower Hill; occupies the site of an ancient Cistercian monastery called the Abbey of St Mary of the Graces; was preceded on that site by the Victualling Office for the Navy; was erected in 1811 after designs by Mr Johnson, with superintendence by Sir Eobert Smirke for the ornamental parts and for the entrances; was extensively enlarged in 1881-82 ; is a three-storey edifice of centre and wings, adorned with columns and pilasters, and contains some of the most beautiful automatic machinery in the world.

Monument, The.-The Monument commemorative of the great fire stands on Fish Street Hill, 202 feet distant from the house in which the fire originated, and not far from London Bridge; was constructed in 1671-77 after a design by Wren, at a cost of £13,700 ; comprises a pedestal 28 feet square and 40 high, a Doric column 15 feet in diameter, and a surmounting gilded blazing um 42 feet high ; has a total height- of 202 feet; is hollow, and contains a staircase of 345 steps ; has sculptured figures on the pedestal carved by C. G. Gibber, and emblematic of the ruin and restoration of the city-and four dragons at the four angles carved by Pierce; and had formerly an inscription attiibuting the fire to the treachery and malice of the Popish faction-an inscription not originally on it, but added in 1681, obliterated in tlie time of James II., re-cut in the time of William III., and finally erased in 1831. Six persons from 1750 till 1842 threw themselves from the top of the monument, and to prevent any more such suicides a disfiguring cage-like balcony was formed on the summit.

Parks and Open Spaces.-Upon the whole London is very inadequately supplied with open spaces and public gardens. The actual area of those which exist is considerable, but a glance at the map will show that they are not well distributed, while there are huge districts of a densely-populated character the inliabitants of which are a very long way from any breathing space. It is a matter for lasting regret that the great increase in the extent of London which has taken place during the 19th century has not been accompanied by any adequate provision for open spaces. During recent yeais public attention has been repeatedly called to this want, and many things have been done to mitigate the evil. Many of the disused intramural churchyards have been laid out as gardens and fitted with seats, drinking-fountains, and shelters, while in the suburbs fresh breathing spaces are being constantly secured. Commencing with the parks of the metropolis the first in interest and importance is Hyde Park-the great resort of Royalty, aristocracy, wealth, and fashion. It has an area of 390 acres, and to the W, separated by a sunk fence and haha, are Kensington Gardens, with an area of 210 acres more, the two places together forming an open space nearly a mile and a half in length by three-quarters of a mile in width. The park is crossed everywhere by footpaths ; is beautifully planted with flowers ; contains a large piece of ornamental water called the Serpentine, a carriage-drive of about two and a half miles, and the famous track reserved for equestrians known as Rotten Row. The favourite time for carriages is from 5 to 7 p.m., and for equestrians from 12 till 2, and again later in the afternoon. The finest display of dress and fashion, however, is at the "Church Parade " between morning service and luncheon on Sundays. Carriages are not admitted in Kensington Gardens, but there are plenty of footpaths, a fine collection of shrubs and rhododendrons, many pleasant expanses of turf, some beautiful flower-beds, and a grand collection of trees. The Round Pond in winter is a favourite resort of skaters. The ALBERT MEMORIAL is noticed under that heading. The Marble-Arch at the NE angle of Hyde Park is a triumphal arch in the style of the Arch of Constantine, originally erected by George IV. at the entrance of Buckingham Palace at a cost of £80,000, and removed to the park in 1850-51. The gateway at Hyde Park Comer was built in 1828 from designs by Decimus Burton. The Green Park, about 60 acres in extent, lies on the S side of Piccadilly, and is nearly triangular in shape, the NW corner being just opposite the SE corner of Hyde Park. The Queen's Walk runs along the eastern border, and Constitution Hill is on the SW side. The Triumphal Arch at the NW corner of the Green Park has been set back during recent years, greatly to the relief of the traffic. It was formerly surmounted by a colossal equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, but this has been removed to Aldershot, and a fine new bronze equestrian statue of the Duke, by Boehm, has been erected in the centre of the enclosure, facing Apsley House. St James's Park joins the SE corner of the Green Park, has an area of about 90 acres; contains some beautiful clumps of trees, and an expanse of shallow water-the home of waterfowl in the summer and a safe skating-ground in winter, which is crossed by a light iron suspension bridge. Regents Park, the largest of the metropolitan parks, is nearly three miles round, and has an area of 472 acres, but a good deal of the space enclosed is occupied by the grounds of the Zoological and Botanical Societies and the Baptist College. Around it is a carriage-drive two miles in circuit known as the Outer Circle, and in the centre of the park there is another circular road known as the Inner Circle. The eastern part of the park is crossed by a fine road known as the Broad Walk, and there is a beautiful lake in the western portion having three divisions crossed by suspension bridges. Battersea Park is on the Surrey side of the river, in the SW district, and though one of the youngest is also one-of the prettiest parks of London. Originally a marsh, it was arranged on its present plan in 1852-58 at a cost of over £300,000. It has an area of 185 acres, contains a fine sheet of water, a prepared ride, some excellent drives, and a beautiful sub-tropical garden 4 acres in extent, while a fine terrace walk faces the river. Victoria Park, in the NE of London, was laid out in 1841 at a cost of about £130,000. It contains about 290 acres; contains some very beautiful flowerbeds, three slieets of ornamental water, two gymnasiums, and some fields devoted to cricket There is a beautiful drink-ing-fountain in the centre which was erected by the Baroness Burdett Coutts. Finsbury Park, which lies between Stoke Newington and Hornsey, was opened in 1869. It has an area of about 115 acres, is carefully laid out, and is intersected by the New River. Other open spaces on the outskirts of the great city are to be found in Dulwich Park, Peckham Rye, Brockwell Park in the S ; Chissold Park, Waterlow Park, Highgate Woods, and Hampstead Heath in the N, and Hackney Marshes and West Ham Park in the E. Other places a little further out, such as Richmond and Bushey Parks, Wimbledon Common, Blackheath, Epping Forest, &c., will be found noticed in other parts of this work.

Parliament, Houses of.-These were built in 1840-47 from the designs of Sir Charles Barry, and form a splendid pile of buildings in the richest Late Gothic (Tudor or Perpendicular) style. They cover a site of nearly 8 acres, are 900 feet in length by 300 in width, and have cost in all about £3,000,000. The stone used for the exterior is magnesian limestone from Yorkshire, a most unhappy selection, inasmuch as it began to crumble before the building was finished, and the decay has continued ever since. The river terrace is of Aberdeen granite, Caen stone being used for the interior. The buildings have four principal fronts, the finest being that along the river, where there is a terrace 940 feet long by 33 wide. They contain eleven open quadrangular courts, eleven hundred apartments, and one hundred staircases. The Clock or St Stephen's Tower, at the N end, next Westminster Bridge, is 318 feet high ; the Central Tower, which is used as the main air-shaft for ventilating the Houses, is 261 feet high; and the great Victoria Tower, at the SW angle, the largest of the three, through which the Queen enters when she opens or prorogues Parliament, is 75 feet square and 331 high. It is surmounted by a wrought-iron flagstaff 2 feet in diameter at the base, tapering to 9 inches at the summit, and 120 feet high. The large clock in the Clock Tower is perhaps the best-known clock in London, and it is certainly one of the best timekeepers. It was made by Dent of the Strand from the designs of E. Beckett-Denison, Q.C., has four faces, each 22 1/2 feet in diameter, and is illuminated at night. The great bell of the Clock Tower upon which the hours are struck is one of the largest in use, weighing 13 tons. It is popularly known as "Big Ben," after Sir Benjamin Hall, Chief Commissioner of Works at the time of its erection, and it has a deep tone which can be heard at night in calm weather over a large part of London. The quarters are chimed on eight smaller bells. Among the chief rooms in the interior are the House of Peers, the House of Commons, the Central Hall, the Queen's Robing-Room, the Royal or Victoria Gallery, the Prince's Chamber, and St Stephen's Hall. The first of these, the House of Peers, is a sumptuously-decorated oblong chamber 90 feet in length, 45 in breadth, and 45 in height. The walls and ceiling are decorated with heraldic and other emblems, and in recesses at the upper and lower ends of the room are six large frescoes. Twelve painted windows contain portraits of all the kings and queens of England since the Conquest, and at night the house is lighted from the outside through these windows. At the south end of the hall is the Throne of the Queen, smaller thrones being on the right and left for the Prince of Wales and the Royal Consort. The Woolsack of the Lord Chancellor stands in front of the Throne, almost in the centre of the house. The House of Commons, which is fitted up in a much simpler fashion, is a handsome apartment 70 feet in length, 45 in width, and 41 high. It provides seats for only 476 members out of the 670 who are elected, and hence is at times very inconveniently crowded. It has twelve painted windows adorned with the armorial bearings of the Parliamentary boroughs existing at the date of the erection of the House. The Speaker's Chair is at the N end, and in front of it is the table at which the clerks sit, and on which the mace is laid when the House is sitting. The Reporters' Gallery is above the Speaker's Chair, and above this, screened by lattice work, is the Ladies' Gallery. At the other end of the chamber is the Peers' Gallery, and close to it the Strangers' Gallery. The House is lighted by the electric light. The great Central Hall in the middle of the building is a richly-decorated chamber, octagonal in shape, 60 feet in diameter and 75 high. It has a vaulted stone roof ornamented with Venetian mosaic, mosaic pictures above the doorway, numerous statues of English sovereigns and their consorts, and statues of Lord John Russell and Lord Iddesleigh. The Queen's Robing-Room is a handsome chamber 45 feet in length, richly decorated with fresco paintings by Dyce representing the virtues of chivalry, the subjects being taken from the Arthurian legends. The Royal or Victoria Gallery, through which the Queen proceeds in solemn procession to the House of Peers, is 110 feet long; has two large frescoes in water-glass by Maclise, the subjects being the death of Nelson and the meeting of Wellington and Butcher after Waterloo ; a pavement of fine mosaic work and a ceiling panelled and richly gilt. The Prince's Chamber, between the Royal Gallery and the House of Peers, is a room artistically decorated with dark wood in the Mediaeval style. It contains a marble group by Gibson of Queen Victoria on the Throne, supported by figures representing Mercy and Justice, and has painted windows showing the national emblems of the rose, shamrock, and thistle. St Stephen's Hall occupies the site of the old St Stephen's Chapel, founded in 1330, and long used for meetings of the Commons. It is 75 feet long, 35 broad, and 55 high, and it contains numerous marble statues of English sovereigns and statesmen.

People's Palace.-This large and beautiful building in the Mile End Road, E., designed for the recreation and advancement of the artizan population of the East End, owes its existence in part to the " Palace of Delight" described in Mr. Walter Besant's novel, "All Sorts and Conditions of Men." The nucleus of the sum required for its erection was found in a bequest of £12,250 by Mr Barber Beaumont, which has been largely supplemented by voluntary subscriptions, including £60,000 from the Drapers' Company. The scheme includes the provision of a great central hall for meetings, entertainments, concerts, &c., a large library, swimming baths, technical trade and science schools, gymnasia, billiard and refreshment rooms, &c. Most of these are provided, and the Palace has had already over 2 1/2 millions of visitors and 80,000 students. The great Queen's Hall, opened by Queen Victoria in 1887, will accommodate 2500 people, and is fitted with a splendid organ, the gift of Mr Dyer Edwards.

Polytechnic Institution.-Formerly a popular place of amusement, but since 1882 a Young Men's Christian Institute, providing in addition to recreation, technical and scientific classes in connection with various trades and manufactures. It stands between Cavendish Square and Regent Street, W.

Prisons.-Among the principal prisons of the metropolis are Brixton Prison, the first in which a treadmill was introduced, now used as a military prison ; Holloway Gaol, situated near the Metropolitan Cattle Market, erected at a cost of £100,000, and covering 10 acres ; Pentonville Prison, known as the model prison, in Caledonian Road, also near the Cattle Market, a large building containing 1000 cells; Newgate, a grim granite building, erected in 1782 between the Old Bailey and Newgate Street, now used only for the reception of prisoners waiting trial at the Central Criminal Court; and Wormwood Scrubs, a large building built entirely by convict labour, and including all the latest improvements for buildings of this character. Wandsworth prison serves for the Surrey side of London. The Compter, Fleet, Whitecross Street, Marshalsea, King's Bench, Millbank, and other London prisons have disappeared.

Queen's Hall.-This fine building in Langham Place was opened in 1893, and is one of the latest additions to the public halls of London. Its front, in the French Renaissance style, is of Portland stone, and it occupies an area of 21,000 square feet, having seventeen entrances and exits. It possesses a fine organ and a large orchestra,«and it can accommodate about 2500 persons. There is a smaller hall seated for 500 in the building, and the whole is lighted with the electric light.

Royal Exchange.-The Royal Exchange occupies an area of 51,000 square feet, presents a S front to Cornhill, a W front toward the Poultry, a N front to the Bank of England and Threadneedle Street, measures 293 feet by 175, includes a central quadrangle of 114 feet by 57, and is the third Exchange building on the site. The first was erected by Sir Thomas Gresham and destroyed in the great fire; the second was erected in 1668, after designs by Wren, at a cost of £80,000, and was destroyed by fire in January 1839 ; and the present was erected under the direction of William Tite at a cost of £180,000, and opened in October 1844 by Queen Victoria. The exterior, contrary to the strongly expressed wishes of the architect, has been much disposed in shops, yet, in spite of that disfigurement, makes a most imposing appearance. The W front has an octostyle Corinthian portico, 96 feet wide and 76 high, with a pediment designed by the younger Westmacott, and richly adorned in the tympanum with seventeen emblematic statues. The W gates are of cast iron, bronzed, and 22 feet high and 16 wide, and bear the arms of the twelve great city companies. The E tower has a statue of Sir Thomas Gresham, 14 1/2 feet high, by Behnes, and is surmounted by the old grasshopper vane, 11 feet long. (The grasshopper was the heraldic cognizance of Gresham.) The S side has a row of pilasters and three sets of armorial sculptures, and the N side has statues of Gresham and Middleton. The central quadrangle is surrounded by a colonnade and has a marble statue of Queen Victoria. Lloyd's Rooms, the seat of marine insurance business and the centre of commercial and shipping news, extend over most of the spacious first floor of the building, are approached by stairs at the E end of the Royal Exchange, and have a handsome vestibule, with marble statues of Huskisson and the Prince Consort. The name is in continuance of Lloyd's Coffee-House, one of the ancient City coffee-houses, where alone formerly merchants could meet. Lloyd's Coffee-House has long since disappeared. It was the centre for all shipping business, and was situated off Cornhill.

St John's Gate.-This ancient structure, which stands in St John's Lane, Clerkenwell, is one of the most interesting of the few remaining relics of old London. It is all that remains of a great priory of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, founded in 1100. The priory was destroyed by the insurgents under Wat Tyler in 1382, and it was partly rebuilt between 1502-20, the gate now standing being completed in 1504. The rooms above the gate were once occupied by Cave, the founder of the Gentleman''s Magazine, to which Dr Johnson contributed, and they witnessed Garrick's first essay as an actor in London, Johnson and Cave forming the audience. They are now occupied by the St John's Ambulance Association. A memorial here of the Duke of Clarence, the first sub-prior of the modern (ambulance) Order of St John, was unveiled in 1893 by the Grand Prior the Prince of Wales.

Somerset House.-This fine building, which stands between the Strand and the Victoria Embankment, was erected in 1776-86, from the designs of Sir William Chambers. It is in the Italian style, with capitals of various Grecian orders copied from original antiques, and it encloses a quadrangle 319 feet in length by 224 in width, in which is a bronze group by Bacon representing George III. leaning on the British Lion and with Father Thames at his feet. The principal facade towards the Thames is 780 feet in length, and rises on a terrace 50 feet broad and 50 high. The two wings of the building were erected during the present century, the eastern, containing King's College, from the designs of Smirke in 1828; the western, from the designs of Penne-thorne in 1854-56. The total cost of the building is estimated at about £500,000. There are sunken storeys throughout the building, which afford a large amount of accommodation, and the whole building is said to contain 3600 windows. The public offices here include the Exchequer and Audit Office, the Inland Revenue Office, the Prerogative Office where wills are kept, the office of the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and some minor Government offices.

Statues.-So far as number is concerned, London is fairly well provided with statues commemorative of public events and of eminent men, but very few possess any artistic merit, and most of them are so smoke-begrimed, weather-stained, and dirty, as to be altogether the reverse of ornamental. To furnish a complete list would require more space than we can afford, but the following are among the more important: -The colossal bronze figure, by Westmacott, cast from the metal of 12 French guns captured in war, which stands in Hyde Park near Hyde Park Corner, and which is known as the statue of Achilies. It was erected in 1822 in honour of the Duke of Wellington, and is a copy of one of the Dioscuri on the Monte Cavallo at Rome. The statue of Lord Beaconsfield, in Parliament Square, is of bronze, by Raggi, represents the Earl wearing the robes of the Garter, and was unveiled in 1883. Bronze statues of Isambard Brunel, Robert Burns, Sir Bartle Frere, W. E. Forster, John Stuart Mill, General Outram, Robert Raikes, and William Tyndall, are in the gardens along the Victoria Embankment, where there is also a memorial fountain, with a bronze medallion of Henry Fawcett, M.P. A statue of Thomas Carlyle, by Boehm, stands on the Chelsea Embankment. The equestrian statue of Charles I., at Charing Cross, has a curious history. The work of a French sculptor named Le Sueur, it was cast in 1663, but had not been erected when the Civil War broke out. The Parliament ordered it to be destroyed, and it was sold to a brazier named John Rivet for the purpose of being melted down. Rivet hid the statue, but offered for sale a large number of small articles in bronze which he said were made from it. After the Restoration he produced the statue, and it was erected in 1674 on the spot where it now stands. The plinth was renewed in 1856. Not far distant, between the fountains in Trafalgar Square, is a statue to Major-General Charles George Gordon, K.C.B., "killed at Khartoum, 26 Jan., 1885;" the work of Hamo Thorneycroft: it was unveiled in 1888. The Guards' Memorial, by Bell, standing in Waterloo Place, is a group of statuary commemorative of the 2162 officers and soldiers belonging to the regiments of Guards who fell in the Crimean war. On a pedestal of granite stands a figure of Victory, with laurel wreaths; on the Pall Mall front, at the base, are three figures of Guardsmen; at the back a trophy of guns captured at Sebastopol; on the sides are carved the names " Alma," " Inkerman," and " Sebastopol." In Waterloo Place also we find among other memorials a statue of Lord Lawrence, the governor of the Punjaub during the Mutiny, afterwards Viceroy of India (1864-69), and chairman of the first School Board of London. Here is also a fine equestrian statue, by Boehm, of Lord Napier of Magdala, which was unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1891. Nelson's Monument in Trafalgar Square, designed by Railton, is a granite column 177 feet high, enlarged from one of the Corinthian columns of the Temple of Mars the Avenger at Rome. It is surmounted by a statue of Nelson, by Bailey, 17 feet in height. The pedestal is adorned with reliefs in bronze, cast with the metal of captured French cannon, representing scenes from the battles of the Nile, St Vincent, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar. Four colossal lions in bronze, modelled by Sir Edwin Landseer, couch upon pedestals running out from the column in the form of a cross. Bronze statues of Lord Palmerston and Sir Robert Peel stand in Parliament Square, and the latter statesman has also a statue at the entrance to Cheapside, opposite Paternoster Row. What is generally thought to be the best of our outdoor statues-that of Lord Herbert of Lea, outside the War Office in Pall Mall-is by Foley, the sculptor of the seated statue of Prince Albert in the Albert Memorial. The latter is a fine work, but, having been gilded all over, cannot now be seen properly. The Poets' Fountain, which stands at the junction of Hamilton Place and Park Lane, W., is a beautiful work by Thorneycroft, dedicated to " the fathers of English poetry," and the gift of Mrs Brown, 1875. It displays figures representing Tragedy, Comedy, Poetry, and Fame, and statues of Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Milton. Of the Prince Consort there is an equestrian statue in Holborn Circus of very little merit, a statue on the staircase leading to Lloyd's Rooms, Royal Exchange, and the Albert Memorial already noticed. A spirited equestrian statue in bronze of Richard Coeur de Lion, by Marochetti, which originally stood in front of the Exhibition of 1851, now stands in Old Palace Yard between the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. The Temple Bar Memorial stands on the site of the old Temple Bar, has statues of the Queen and Prince of Wales, busts of Prince Albert Victor of Wales, and of Lord Mayor Truscott, in whose year of office the memorial was erected. It cost £10,696, serves to block one of the busiest thoroughfares of London, and is surmounted by an heraldic dragon or griffin, by C. B. Birch, A.R.A., supposed not without reason to be the ugliest thing ever achieved by a sculptor for a public monument. Of Her Majesty Queen Victoria there is another statue in the Royal Exchange; one of white marble and of heroic proportions in the Broad Walk, Kensington Gardens, executed by Princess Louise; one of marble, by Boehm, in the vestibule of the University of London, Burlington House; and one, unveiled in 1889 in the examination hall of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons on the Thames Embankment. Of the Duke of Wellington there is an equestrian statue on the paved space known as the " heart of the city," in front of the Royal Exchange. The old colossal bronze equestrian statue of the Duke, which afforded so much fun to the readers of the early numbers of Punch, and which was for so long one of the most conspicuous objects in London, formerly stood upon the arch at the top of Constitution Hill. It now dominates the South Camp at Aldershot, standing on the summit of the hill above the garrison church, and its fine proportions are well seen now that it has a more fitting base than that afforded by the small arch which it used to seem on the point of crushing down. But at once the finest statue of the " Iron Duke," and the finest piece of memorial statuary in London (if not, indeed, the finest modern work of the kind anywhere), is the superb Wellington Monument by Alfred G. Stevens in St Paul's Cathedral in marble and bronze. Stevens worked on this from 1817 to 1875, and may be said truly to have put his life into it. An equestrian group in bronze ought to surmount it, but though the Cathedral authorities moved the monument from its original most absurd position into the nave in 1894, they still refuse, from some ecclesiastical scruple, it is believed, to complete it by placing the horse in its proper place. The outline of the design is therefore truncated and seriously damaged. But even as it is, it approaches, as far as the work of a modern artist may, to the splendours of Michelangelo. The Westminster Column, which faces the west front of the abbey, is a column of granite about 30 feet high, surmounted by a figure of St George slaying the Dragon. It has small statues of Edward the Confessor, Henry III., Elizabeth, and Victoria, with four lions at the base. It was designed by Sir Gilbert G. Scott, and erected in memory of Lord Raglan and other Westminster scholars who fell in the Crimean and Indian wars.

Tower of London.-The Tower stands on a gentle eminence contiguous to the Thames, outside the line of the city walls, nearly 1 1/2 mile ESE of St Paul's. It is not one building, but a group of buildings, with some open spaces surrounded by a fortification wall, and occupies an area of about 12 acres. It was described by Stowe as "a citadel to defend or command the city, a royal palace for assemblies or treaties, a prison of state for the most dangerous offenders, the only place of coinage for all England at this time, the armoury for warlike provisions, the treasury of the ornaments and jewels of the Crown, and the general conserver of most of the records of the King's Courts of Justice at Westminster." The oldest extant portions of it are of the time of William the Conqueror, and other portions are of various dates, and the latest portions are quite recent. Tradition, followed by the poets Gray and Shakespeare, assigns its origin to Julius Caesar, but fair criticism can allow no original of it to have been probable before at least the later period of the Roman possession, and authentic record makes no mention of anything of it for many centuries after the time of Caesar. A deep, broad ditch long encompassed the completed citadel; became eventually noisome and pestiferous, resembling more a sewer than a moat; and in 1843 was drained and converted into pleasure ground, adorned with trees, and traversed by walk's. The encincturing walls form a pentagon, with the longest side parallel to the Thames, and the two shortest sides meeting in a point toward the N; and they have been so often repaired with brick that a question might be raised whether any portions of them, except the turrets, ever were of stone. Four gates formerly afforded the only access: the Lion's Gate, on the W side, still the principal entrance, and named from its vicinity to the site of the royal menagerie mentioned below; the Iron Gate, a great and strong one, opened only on signal occasions; the Water Gate, used for business communication for boats and small vessels; and the Traitors' Gate, a small postern with a drawbridge fronting the Thames, and used for receiving state criminals brought to the fortress by water. The detached towers in the interior are the Lion Tower, named from the same circumstance as the Lion's Gate; the Middle Tower, named from its position on the side toward the Thames; the Bell Tower, said to have been the prison of Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and of the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen Elizabeth; the Bloody Tower, named from a tradition that here the young sons of Edward IV. were murdered by order of Richard III., and pronounced by the Duke of Wellington the strongest fortress within the citadel; the Beauchamp Tower, on the W side, named from having been the prison of Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, in 1397-more remarkable for havng been the prison of Anne Boleyn-and so thoroughly restored in 1853 as to present a modern appearance; the Develin Tower; the Bowyer Tower, on the N side, containing a dungeon where tradition asserts the Duke of Clarence to have been drowned in a butt of Malmsey; the Brick Tower, on the NE side, said to have been the prison of Lady Jane Grey; the Martin Tower, near the Jewel House; the Salt Tower, on the E side, noted for a curious astronomical drawing made in 1561 by Hugh Draper, who was then a prisoner here under the charge of sorcery; and the Keep or White Tower, in the centre, 116 feet long and 96 wide, the oldest structure within the fortress, and containing St John's Chapel, a splendid specimen of Norman architecture, long used as a deposit for records. The residence of the governor stands between the Bell Tower and the Bloody Tower, is a structure of the time of Henry VIII., and contains the room in which Guy Fawkes and his accomplices were examined. The Horse Armoury stands along the S side of the White Tower, was built in 1826, is a gallery 150 feet long and 33 wide, and contains a rich and well-arranged collection of armour, in the various styles from the 13th till the 17th century. Queen Elizabeth's Armoury is within the White Tower, but is approached by a narrow staircase from the Horse Armoury; has walls 14 feet thick; was cased with wood a few years ago in the Norman style; includes a small dark cell, said to have been the prison of Sir Walter Raleigh; was once a deposit of curiosities called the Spanish collection; and is still a museum of military and other antiquities. The Jewel House stands on the NE, and contains, within a glazed iron cage in the centre of a well-lighted room, St Edward's crown, Queen Victoria's crown, the Queen Consort's crown, the Queen's diadem, the Prince of Wales' coronet, St Edward's staff, three sceptres, two orbs, three swords of state, the coronation bracelets, a model of the Koh-i-Noor, which is not one of the Crown jewels, but the private property of the Queen, the royal spurs, the ampulla, the coronation spoon, the state salt cellar, the royal baptismal font, and the silver wine fountain. The church of the Tower liberties, or Church of St Peter ad Vincula, stands in the NW, on the site of two previous ones, the latter of which was erected by Edward I., and it contains the remains of Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, and a number of other distinguished persons who were executed in the Tower. The Waterloo Barracks stand across the N side; were founded in 1845 by the Duke of Wellington; and are an extensive structure, in a questionable style of architecture, serving as barracks and armoury, loopholed, and capable of defence. An armoury or grand storehouse, 345 feet long, and built by William III., occupied the site of the Waterloo Barracks, and with 280,000 stand of arms was wholly destroyed by fire in 1841. A statue of the Duke of Wellington, and some remarkable cannons and mortars, are on the parade. The Royal Menagerie, adjacent to the Lion Tower, was one of the great curiosities of London from the time of Henry III. till that of William IV.; contained lions, which were named after the reigning kings; and was disused in 1834, when the few animals which remained in it were removed to the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park.

Tower Subway.-This is a narrow tunnel having one entrance on Tower Hill, and passing under the Thames to Vine Street. It consists of an iron tube 7 feet in diameter, and is reached by a staircase of ninety steps. It was designed originally for a small omnibus to be drawn backwards and forwards by a wire rope, but the plan proved impracticable, and it is now used only by foot passengers, who pay a toll of a halfpenny.

Trinity House. -This is the office of the Trinity Board, which has control of the pilotage, the superintendence and erection of buoys, lighthouses, &c.; is a plain unpretending building of the Ionic order, erected by Wyatt in 1793, and ornamented with the arms of the Trinity Corporation, medallions of George III. and Queen Charlotte, and naval emblems. It contains some interesting busts of naval celebrities, including Admirals St Vincent, Howe, Duncan, and Nelson; some valuable pictures, including one with portraits of several of the Elder Brethren, by Gainsborough; and a model chamber, containing a collection of models, and designs of lighthouses and lifeboats.

Westminster Hall.-This noble hall, one of the most ancient and interesting memorials of old London, is now the public entrance to the Houses of Parliament. It was begun by William Rufus, son of the Conqueror, in 1097; continued and extended by Henry III. and Edward I.; and was almost wholly destroyed by fire in 1291. Edward II. afterwards began to rebuild it, and in 1397-98 Richard II. caused it to be remodelled and enlarged, the clerk of the works being Geoffrey Chaucer the poet. It was restored in 1802, and it has been improved and altered several times since. It is one of the largest halls in the world which has a wooden ceiling unsupported by columns, and its timber roof, with its hammer beams, is considered a masterpiece of skill and beauty. Most of the old wood is chestnut, but in the repairs effected in 1820 oaken beams were introduced, the wood being taken from some old ships of war. Some of the memories of this famous building have been referred to in the historical part of this article.

Zoological Gardens.-These are situated in Regent's Park, being bounded on the N by the Regent's Canal, and intersected by the Outer Circle, the two portions communicating with each other by a tunnel. There are several entrances, the chief one being in the Outer Circle. The houses of the larger animals-the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus- as well as of the cassowaries and parrots, are in the northern portion. The southern and larger portion contains the dens of the larger carnivora, the new lion house, the new monkey house, the aquarium, the bear pit, the seal ponds, numerous aviaries, &c. The collection includes about 1300 birds, 700 quadrupeds, and 300 reptiles. The gardens are a fashionable promenade on fine Sunday afternoons in the London season, but only members of the Zoological Society and their friends are admitted. On other days the price of admission is one shilling, except on Mondays, when it is sixpence. The gardens usually have from 600,000 to 700,000 visitors during the year.

Theatres and Places of Amusement.-There are in London upwards of sixty theatres and about 500 concert rooms and music halls. Their number, however, is constantly changing, new ones being yearly erected, while old ones disappear from time to time, being unable to maintain their position in face of the fierce competition which exists. Among the chief theatres at present in existence are the Adelphi, 411 Strand, chiefly devoted to melodramas and farces ; the Avenue, Northumberland Avenue, operettas, &c.; the Britannia, High Street, Hoxton, a large building holding upwards of 3000 persons, chiefly patronised by the working classes, and devoted to melodrama; the Comedy, Panton Street, Haymarket, comic operas, &c.; the Court, Sloane Square, Chelsea, comedies, farces, &c.; the Criterion, Piccadilly, comedies, farces, &c.; Drury Lane, between Drury Lane and Brydges Street, near Covent Garden, Shakespeare's plays, comedies, spectacular plays, pantomime, &c,; the Elephant and Castle, New Kent Road, popular performances, chiefly patronised by the working classes; the Gaiety, Strand, comedies, operettas, farces, &c.; the Garrick, Charing Cross Road, comedies and dramas; the Globe, Newcastle Street, Strand, comedies, operettas, &c.; the Grand, High Street, Islington, a place of popular entertainment, devoted to comedy, melodrama, operetta, pantomime, &c.; the Hay market, Haymarket, English comedy; the Lyceum, Wellington Street, Strand, Shakes-perian plays, tragedies, comedies, &c.; the Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue, comedy, operas, &c.; the Marylebone, Church Street, Paddington, melodramas and farces; the Novelty, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, popular pieces, pantomime, &c.; New Saddler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue; the Olympia, Wych Street, Strand, comedies, farces, extravaganzas, &e.; the Opera Comique, Strand, operettas, &c.; the Pavilion, Whitechapel Road, largely patronised by the working classes, a very large building, accommodating nearly 4000 persons, and devoted to nautical dramas, melodramas, farces, pantomime, &c.; the Princess's, 150 Oxford Street, between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road, comedies, operettas, &c.; the Prince of Wales's, Coventry Street, Haymarket, comedies, operettas, &c.; the Royalty, Dean Street, Soho, burlesques, farces, opera-bouffes, &c.; St James's, King Street, St James's Square, comedies, &c.; the Savoy, Beaufort Buildings, Strand and Thames Embankment, English comic operas, operettas, &c.; the Shaftesbury, Shaftesbury Avenue, comedies, &c.; the National Standard, 204 Shoreditch, High Street, a large building devoted to melodrama, comedies, pantomime, &c.; the Strand, Strand, near Somerset House, comedies, opera-bouffes, burlesques, &c.; the Surrey, 124 Blackfriars Road, melodramas and farces, chiefly patronised by the working classes; Terry's, 105 Strand, comedies, domestic dramas, &c.; Toole's, King William Street, Charing Cross, burlesques, &c.; Trafalgar Square, St Martin's Lane, and the Vaudeville, 404 Strand. Other theatres are Covent Garden Opera House and the Imperial Theatre, which forms part of the Royal Aquarium, Westminster. There is also a theatre and opera house in the Crystal Palace.

The music halls of London, which enjoy a popularity equal to or even greater than that enjoyed by the theatres, are prevented by the Acts of Parliament which regulate public entertainments, from giving anything which can be called a stage play, and they are therefore chiefly devoted to exhibitions of singing, instrumental music, dancing, conjuring, acrobatic feats, &c. Owing partly to a great improvement in public taste, and partly to the stringent regulation of the London County Council, the tone of the entertainment provided has been greatly raised during recent years, and all are conducted in a quiet and orderly manner. Among the more prominent are the Alhambra in Leicester Square, remarkable for its elaborate ballets; the Empire, also in Leicester Square; the Tivoli, in the Strand; the London Pavilion, Piccadilly; the Oxford, Oxford Street; the Royal, 242 High Holborn; the Canterbury, 143 Westminster Bridge Road; the Metropolitan, 267 Edgware Road; the Palace, in Cambridge Circus; the Paragon, Mile End Road, E.; the Foresters', Cambridge Road, E.; the Cambridge, 136 Commercial Street, E.; the Royal Albert, Victoria Dock Road, E.; Gattis, Westminster Bridge Road; the South London, 92 London Road, near the Elephant and Castle, the largest concert room in London, seating 5000 persons; and the Victoria, in Waterloo Bridge Road, formerly the Victoria Theatre (or popularly "the Vic."), a music hall conducted on "temperance principles." The chief circuses are Sanger's, formerly called Astley's, in Westminster Bridge Road, and Hengler's, Argyll Street, Oxford Circus. The chief concert rooms are the Albert Hall, South Kensington; the Crystal Palace; St James's Hall, Piccadilly; the Langham Hall, Prince's Hall, and the Victoria Hall. The Egyptian Hall has for many years been a home for high-class conjuring performances, and St James's Hall and the Agricultural Hall for negro minstrelsy. Spectacular entertainments on a large scale are given at Olympia, Addison Road, Kensington; and at Earl's Court, West Kensington; and the chief exhibitions of waxwork are Madame Tussaud's in Marylebone Road, near Baker Street Station, and Louis Tussaud's, Regent Street. It has been computed that the places of entertainment in London are visited nightly by about 325,000 people, or nearly 100,000,000 yearly.