isetfipth/e leading Illustrated Iiantefii WILLIAM H. RAU PHILADELPHIA 1890 A DESCRIPTIVE READING ON LONDON ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE LANTERN SLIDES BY EDMUND STIRLING 1 © — i& — -© 1*** WILLIAM H. RAU PHILADELPHIA 1890 Copyright, 1890, by William H. Ran. THE LIBRARY] \ow c ong ress J*a«hington|j ILLUSTRATIONS. i. Westminster Abbey. 2. Thames Embankment and Parliament Buildings. 3. Interior of House of Lords. 4. Trafalgar Square 5. The Strand. 6. Temple Bar. 7. Obelisk, Thames Embankment. 8. Bank of England. 9. St. Paul's Cathedral from the Thames. 10. London Bridge. 11. The Tower. 12. Albert Memorial. LONDON. The venerable city of London, the metropolis of all English speaking people, unquestionably stands unrivalled in the history of the world. Herschel spoke of it as the center of the terrestrial globe, which it really is in more senses than that in which he meant to imply ; and the German poet, Heine, called the city the greatest wonder which the world can show to the astonished spirit. When we con- sider that within a fifteen-mile radius of St. James' Palace there live upwards of 4,800,000 persons, a very faint idea is conveyed of what that fact means. It means among other things that London has within her narrow limits a population twice that of Paris, more people than in the whole of Scotland, more Roman Catholics than Rome itself, more Irishmen than Belfast, more Scotchmen than in Aberdeen, and more Jews than in all Palestine ; more people than in the whole State of Pennsylvania ; more than in all the New England States and the State of California put together. A number of people equal to the entire population of Brooklyn daily enter and leave the 632 acres of the City of London proper, and ten years ago ground sold at the rate ot ten millions of dollars an acre. Of this great city, however, we can only look at one or two of its most striking features. 1. Westminster Abbey. — This beautiful Gothic church — Westminster Abbey, earth's richest maus- oleum, stands on the site of an ancient temple to (211 212 LONDON. Apollo. The first Christian Church dates from 610, and many English monarchs have since added to their renown by their additions to, and restorations of this venerated pile. Dean Stanley once said of Westminster that "It is not only Rheims Cathedral and St. Deny's both in one, but is also what the Pan- theon was intended to be to France, what the Val- halla is to Germany, what Santa Croce is to Italy." In its precincts are entombed the remains of some of the most illustrious, wisest and best men England has given to the world, and a study of its monuments and memorials would well repay the thoughtful stu- dent of history. Perhaps the best illustration of the English estimation of the honor of being buried there is given in Nelson's famous speech on the eve of one of his battles: "A peerage, or Westminster Abbey ! " The view before us presents the west front, the towers — said to be the loftiest of their kind in England — having been the fruit of Sir Christopher Wren's attempt at restoration. It is interesting to think that it was Henry III.'s extravagance in his efforts to rebuild the Abbey which called into exist- ence the House of Commons. The dimensions of the Abbey are: Length, 416 feet; length of trans- cript, 203 feet ; length of choir, 155 feet ; height, 101 feet 8 inches, and height of towers, 225 feet. 2. T li a 111 e s Embankment and Parliament Buildings. — Close to the Abbey is the " New Palace of Westminster " or the Parliament Buildings, which we see from the Thames or Victoria Embankment, and which were erected at a cost of eight millions of dollars on the site of the old palace, destroyed by fire in 1854. The buildings are of the Tudor style of LONDON. 213 architecture, and fronting 940 feet on the river, con- tain eleven open quadrangle courts, 500 apartments, and 18 official residences, beside the royal state apartments, the Houses of Lords and Commons and the central Hall. The clock tower is 40 feet square and rises to a height of 320 feet, while behind it rises to a height of 346 feet the Victoria Tower. The Vic- toria Embankment comprises a strip of land reclaim- ed from the Thames, varying from 200 to 450 feet in width and amounting to about 30 acres. It consists of a solid granite wall eight feet thick, 40 feet high, and 7000 feet long, and provides a roadway, walks, &c, and gardens of great beauty. Beneath the Em- bankment runs the Underground Railway and there are also tunnels for the great sewer, and for water and gas pipes, and electric wires. This stupendous public work was completed in 1870, and cost about ten mil- lion dollars. 3. Interior of the House of Lords. — Approach- ing the Palace we will enter through the Victoria Tower and presently will find ourselves in the House of Lords, a magnificent chamber, 97 feet long, 45 feet wide and 45 feet high. The apartment is extremely rich in gilding and color, wrought metal and carved work. Frescoes adorn the walls, the subjects illus- trated being the Baptism of Elizabeth ; Edward III. conferring the Order of the Garter on the Black Prince ; Henry, Prince of Wales, committed to prison for assaulting Judge Gascoigne ; and the Spirit of Re- ligion, Chivalry and Law, all by Royal Academicans. Here the Sovereign comes to open Parliament; on either side of the throne, but upon a less elevated dias, is a chair for the Prince of Wales, and the per- 214 LONDON. sonage next in honor ; while in front of the throne is the Woolsack of the Lord Chancellor of England. The seats of the Peers are ranged on either side. On the cornice below the gallery which surrounds the House, are the arms of the Sovereigns and Chancel- lors since the time of Edward III. 4. Trafalgar Square. — Turning next to the ex- terior aspect of the city, we find one of the chief places of interest to be Trafalgar Square, on the site of the old royal mews, named in honor of Nelson's last victory, which destroyed the French and Span- ish fleets and turned Napoleon's thoughts from his intended invasion of England. In the centre stands the Nelson column, erected by popular subscription, aided by the Government, in 1840-43. The column is of Portland stone, 145 feet high, and is flanked by four superb bronze lions designed by Sir Edwin Landseer. The capital is of bronze from cannon captured by the great Admiral. On the side of the column are statues of the two military heroes — Sir Charles Napier and Sir Henry Havelock. Nearer the foreground is the equestrian statue of George IV. On the Charing Cross side of the square is another of Charles I., on the spot where once stood Queen Eleanor's Cross, the place of execution of the regi- cides, and near the spot where Charles himself was be- headed. A statue of General ("Chinese") Gordon has also recently been placed in Trafalgar Square. To the right is the National Gallery, and near by are many of the most important of the public offices, club houses, &c, Parliament Street, Pall Mall and the Strand opening into the square on different sides. LONDON. 215 5. The Strand. — This busy street, which runs parallel with the Thames from Trafalgar Square to Temple Bar, was once in fact as well as in name, the Strand, and here were clustered the great residences of the nobility. Somerset House, the Savoy Chapel Royal and other relics of those days remain, but the street is now given up to trade, and is one of the busiest of the many busy streets of the metropolis. Here are to be found also, several of the well-known London Theatres, including the Lyceum, the Adel- phi, the Gaiety, Opera Comique, and so forth. Near its upper end, standing in the centre of the thorough- fare is the Church of St. Mary le Strand, which was built in 1714-17. A peculiarity of this church con- sists in its being built in two orders, in the upper of which the lights are placed, the wall of the lower being solid to keep out noises from the street. 6. Temple Bar. — Where the Strand joins Fleet street, and opposite the large tower of the New Law Court, stood Temple Bar, the last of the old city gates. The ancient structure was removed in 1878, because it was not only a serious obstruction to travel, but had become unsafe. The Bar has since been re-erected on the outskirts of the city, but upon the original site a memorial has been built. The spot is full of historic associations. When the Sov- ereign visited the city it was customary to keep the gates of Temple Bar closed till admission was form- ally demanded ; they were then thrown open, and the city sword surrendered by the Lord Mayor. Above the centre of the pediment were spikes upon which were displayed to the people the heads of persons exe- cuted for high treason. The statues are those of 2l6 LONDON. Queen Elizabeth and James I., while on the other side are similar figures, in Roman costume, of Charles I. and Charles II. This view was taken looking west into the Strand, the building to the extreme left being St. Clement's Danes' Church, which was frequented by Dr. Johnson. It was so named because the Danes left in the kingdom after the Conquest, lived by compulsion between Ludgate and Westminster, and built a church there. 7. Obelisk, Thames Embankment. — Although many of the churches and monuments of London trace their history back to the dim ages of tradition, here is one whose hoary age makes the others seem youthful by comparison. This obelisk and its mate, commonly called Cleopatra's needles, were erected by Thothmes III. at Heliopolis, about fifteen centuries before Christ, and were remoued to Alexandria by Augustus, A. D. 23. One of them was acquired for the British government in 1801, but it was not re- moved until 1877-8, when Mr. Erasmus Wilson of- fered to pay all expenses. The engineering difficul- ties were overcome by Mr. John Dixon, who placed the shaft, weighing over 186 tons, in a cylindrical barge and floated it to England. In August, 1877, the barge and the steamer which was towing it, be- came separated in a heavy gale, and after six lives had been lost in an attempt to recover it, the obelisk was abandoned. It was pikced up, however, by an- other vessel, to whom ,£2,000 salvage was paid. The obelisk stands on the Thames Embankment, at the foot of Salisbury street, where it was erected Septem- ber 12, 1878. The column is of granite and measures 68 feet from tip to base, being eight feet wide at the LONDON. 217 lower end. Beyond we see the Waterloo Bridge — the "English Bridge of Sighs," and Somerset House, now used for government offices. 8. Bank of England. — The Bank of England, perhaps the most extensive and important financial institution in the world, stands on Thread-needle Street, nearly opposite the Mansion House — the Lord Mayor's official residence. It covers nearly three acres of ground and was founded by Paterson in 1 69 1. Its general style of architecture, chiefly by Sir John Soane, is Corinthian, being copied from the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli. It need only be ex- plained that this famous bank has notes in circulation to the amount of £18,000,000, but every note is can- celled upon its being paid in. It is the fiscal agent of the Imperial Government, receives the taxes, pays the interest on the national debt and annually divides twenty-five millions in dividends to its 284,000 share- holders. Since the riots of 1780 a military force has been stationed nightly within the Bank, besides a force of clerks who watch and patrol the building. To the right, in the view before us, is the Royal Ex- change, a splendid building erected in 1845. 9. St, Paul's Cathedral from the Thames. — St. Paul's Cathedral, besides being one of the finest build- ings of its class in all England, is beyond question the most prominent object in London, being at the end of Ludgate Hill. Wherever you go its great dome looms up over the house-tops and it has 1 often 1 served as a landmark for the pedestrian who has 1 wandered about the streets of the city — too much interested in the throng about him to note distances 2l8 LONDON. or direction. From the river the Church is particu- larly impressive, the dome and its cross towering up to a height of over 400 feet. The present building is a monument to the genius of Sir Christopher Wren, taking the place of "Old St. Paul's," burned in the Great Fire of 1666. This great work was completed in 35 years, under one bishop, one architect and one master-mason. St. Paul's is spoken of as the Val- halla of England ; for while in general civil eminence has been commemorated at the Abbey the Cathedral has been made a Pantheon for the nation's heroes. Wellington and Nelson are buried there side by side, besides many other illustrious personages, including Wren himself. His epitaph contains the sentence, "Reader, if thou seekest his monument, look around." 10. London Bridge. — We have now reached the famous London Bridge. Prior to 1750 the bridge at this point was the only one which spanned the Thames, and the old bridge was a famous structure — both in its history and as to its form. But its arches were narrow, impeding navigation and rendered pos- sible the freezing over of the river, and it had to give way to the march of improvement. The present splendid stone structure was opened in 1831 and so admirably has it answered the purposes for which it was intended that the people some years ago rejected a proposition to widen it, lest the additions should mar its beauty. It has been reckoned that over 30,000 vehicles and 140,000 foot passengers cross London bridge every 24 hours. This view, which was taken at a time when the travel was rather light, shows the monument (just back of the steeple of St. Magnus' Church) which commemorates the Great Fire ; and LONDON. 219 on the river's edge, is the great fish market whose name has come to be used as a synonym for profanity — Billingsgate. On the other side Fishmonger's Hall can be discerned. 11. The Tower. — A visit to London would be most incomplete without a view of the Tower, a ven- erable structure which is the connecting link between the days of freedom and the remote ages of feudalism. Shakespeare but repeats the tradition which existed before his time when he says that Julius Caesar built a fortress here. The most ancient part which now remains, however, is the White Tower, or Keep, the large square, turreted structure in the centre, which was built in 1078 by the Norman Conqueror. Nearly every English soverign since has added to it in some way. Prior to the time of Queen Elizabeth it was used as the royal residence ; but it is as a state prison that the Tower is chiefly famous — or it had better be said, infamous. In the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, within its walls, are buried many of the victims of the jealousy and revenge of the English monarchs. Lord Macauley said of it that there was no sadder spot on earth than this little cemetery, the resting place of the bleeding relics of men who have been the captains of armies, the oracles of senators and the ornaments of courts. Now its chief use is as a museum and arsenal, and its mote is turned into a flower garden. 12. Albert Memorial. — In Hyde Park, near the evtreme end of the famous drive known as Rotten Row, stands the Albert Memorial, which is said to be the most magnificent monument in the world. It 220 LONDON. commemorates the civic virtues of the Prince Consort, and was erected at a cost of ^150,000 of which sum a large portion was given by the Queen and £50, 000 by Parliament. The memorial was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and consists of a Gothic cross and canopy, with a spire reaching to a height of 175 feet. Beneath the canopy is a colossal seated figure of the Prince, by Foley. Around the base are 200 life size figures and portraits of the great men of all ages who have been illustrious in the arts and sciences. The monument is approached by four flights of steps, 130 feet wide, and at each angle are groups of figures representing respectively Europe, Asia, Africa and America ; while smaller groups above represent Agriculture, Manufactories, Commerce and Engi- neering. 1 1 I