walk for exercise or pleasure. These parks are very extensive. Hyde Park contains 394 acres, and, in the afternoon of Sunday, is thronged by crowds of fashionable people, who pour along the promenades like the ebbing and flowing tide. In Regent's Park is an immense edifice called the Coliseum, in which may be seen a panorama of London as viewed from the dome of St. Paul's. The gardens of the Zoological Society are also in this Park. They are elegantly laid out, and contain an interesting collection of rare animals from all parts of the world. Adjoining it are Kensington Gardens, also a favorite resort; Vauxhall Gardens are on the south side of the Thames.

entrance is formed of 12 Corinthian columns, on an elevated marble basement, with 8 coupled columns above, supporting a pediment, an entablature representing St. Paul's conversion in

bas relief, a colossal statue of the Saint at the top, and statues of the evangelists on the sides. The dome, resting on the mass of building, is surmounted by a lantern, and adorned with Corinthian columns and a balcony; the whole is surmounted by a cross. The interior of the cathedral does not equal its noble exterior. It would be little else than an immense vault with heavy columns, were it not relieved by monumental statuary.

Westminster Abbey, some distance higher up the river, is one of the noblest existing monuments of Gothic architecture. The south front combines grandeur with grace in a remarkable degree. The northern part has a magnificent window of stained glass, and is very imposing. The exterior of the building is perhaps somewhat deficient in that airiness and beauty which distinguish some of the Gothic edifices of the continent; but the interior cannot be too highly extolled. It is in the form of a long cross; the roof of the nave and cross aisles is sustained by two rows of arches, one

above the other; the lower tier springing from a series of marble pillars, each principal pillar formed by the union of 1 main with 4 slender pillars. It has a vast, airy, and lofty appearance, which inspires feelings of awe and veneration. The chapel of Henry the Seventh, at the east end of the church, is unrivalled for gorgeous magnificence. The city of Westminster and northwestern suburb of London contain many splendid modern churches, almost all in the classic style. London has few public edifices compared to its great size and wealth. Westminster Hall was once a palace; here the kings of England are crowned, and here the parliament hold their sittings. It has the largest hall without pillars, in Europe. St. Saviour's is a beautiful specimen of the Gothic architecture. St. James's Palace is an ill-looking, brick building, but contains spacious and splendid apartments. A new palace, called Buckingham Palace, is now building in St. James's Park, with a triumphal arch in front. The Banqueting Hall, in Whitehall, is the remains of a royal palace, which was consumed by fire. At Lambeth, on the southern side of the Thames, is the

Westminster Abbey.

palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which has been recently rebuilt at a great expense, and with much splendor. The Tower, in the eastern part of the city, is an antique fortress,

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which for a long time was a royal residence, and is still used as a prison for state criminals. Within its extensive walls are comprised several armories, containing the greatest collection of arms in the world; the jewel office, in which are kept the crown jewels; a church; the royal menagerie, &c. In the horse armory are the effigies of all the English sovereigns, in armor and on horseback. The Royal Exchange, the Mint, the East India House, the Mansion House, or residence of the lord mayor of London, Somerset House, the Bank of England, the Admiralty, the Custom House, &c., deserve notice. The Monument, a hollow Doric

The Bank of England.

The Admiralty.

column 200 feet high, was erected in commemoration of the great fire, which destroyed a great part of the city in 1666. A stairway in the inside leads to the top.

There are 6 bridges over the Thames. Of these, we may mention Waterloo Bridge, of granite; and Southwark and Vauxhall Bridges, of iron. A more remarkable object is the

The Custom House.

Southwark Bridge.

Tunnel, a passage under the river at a point where a bridge would be too detrimental to the navigation. This work was performed by sinking a perpendicular shaft near the river, and working horizontally under the stream. The laborers in this process were aided by a frame work, called a Shield, which prevented the earth from caving in around them, and was pushed forward as the work proceeded. As fast as the excavation was made, the tunnel was formed by mason-work into two arches ; and in this manner the work has been carried beyond the middle of the river, although the water has several times burst through. The enormous expense

Manner in which the Tunnel is to pass under the River.

of the undertaking has caused a suspension of its progress, and there are doubts whether it can be completed, owing to the looseness of the soil which remains to be worked. Should the tunnel be finished, it would exhibit a work without a parallel either in ancient or modern times. The engraving below will show the manner in which the tunnel is proposed to pass under the river, should it ever be completed.

The wet docks, or basins of water surrounded with warehouses for merchandise, are on a scale commensurate with the wealth and grandeur of the metropolis of the world. The West India docks alone, with their basins, cover an extent of 68 acres, excavated by human labor, and, including the warehouses and quays attached, cover an area of 140 acres. The East India, London, and St. Catherine's docks are also extensive, but inferior in size to the first mentioned.

The principal institutions for education are King's College, Westminster School, Christ's Hospital or the Blue Coat School, &c. No city in the world has so great a number of learned societies, and literary and scientific establishments, and none can compare with London in its charities for the poor, the sick, the ignorant, and the suffering. Asylums, hospitals, relief societies, charity schools, and philanthropic associations of every form, combine the efforts of the benevolent to alleviate human misery. The British Museum is one of the richest collections in the world, comprising works of art, cabinets of natural science, and the largest and most valuable library in Great Britain.

London has 13 theatres, of which Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and the King's theatre or Italian Opera, are among the first in Europe. It has 147 hospitals; 16 schools of medicine; as many of law; 5 of theology; 18 public libraries; 300 elementary free schools; 1,700 dispensaries, where the poor receive medicine and attendance gratis; 14 prisons; and 50 newspapers, printing 50,000 daily. 15,000 vessels lie at a time, in the docks and at the wharves; 1,500 carriages a day leave the city at stated hours; 4,000 wagons are employed in the country trade; the annual commerce of the city is estimated at £130,000,000 sterling.

The water works, for supplying the inhabitants with water, are calculated to excite wonder at their magnitude. The streets are perforated by upwards of 350 miles of main pipes, through which a daily supply of 30 million gallons of water from the Thames and the New River is furnished. The city is lighted with gas, which is conveyed through nearly 400

miles of pipes, communicating with 80,000 lamps. Manufactures of all sorts are carried on within the precincts of the metropolis, including every article of elegance or utility.

The number of ships belonging to this port in 1830, was 2,663, of 572,800 tons; and the amount of customs collected 75 million dollars. A statement of the annual consumption of several articles of food will help us to form a conception of the extent of the city; 8 million gallons of milk, 2 million lobsters, 3 million mackerel, and as many herrings, 1 million quarters of wheat, 20,000 hogs, 160,000 oxen, and 1,500,000 sheep, form but a part of the food consumed here.

London presents a striking contrast of wealth, intelligence, luxury, and morality, with ignorance, poverty, misery, and vice. The most disgusting and appalling scenes of filth and crime, and the most distressing pictures of squalid wretchedness, throw a dark shade over this picture of human life. Thousands live by theft, swindling, begging, and every sort of knavery, and thousands of houseless wretches here drag out a miserable life, half-fed and halfclad, and sunk to the lowest degree of debasement.

*

The population of the city is 1,500,000; 20,000 individuals here rise in the morning without knowing how they shall live through the day, or where they shall sleep at night.

*It is impossible by any written description to convey adequate ideas of the real magnitude of London. Indeed, it is not till after a person has been in the city for some months, that he begins to comprehend it. Every new walk opens to him streets, squares, and divisions which he has never seen before. And even those places where he is most familiar are discovered day by day to possess archways, avenues, and thoroughfares, within and around them, which had never been noticed before. Even people who have spent their whole lives in the city, often find streets and buildings, of which they had never before heard and which they had never before seen. If you ascend to the top of St. Paul's church, and look down through the openings in the vast cloud which envelopes the city, you notice a sea of edifices, stretching beyond the limited view that is permitted by the impending vapors. It is not until many impressions are added together, that this great metropolis is understood even by one who visits and studies it. It is not until the observer has seen the palace of the king and the hovel of the beggar; the broad and airy streets inhabited by the rich, and the dark and dismal abodes of the poor; the countless multitudes that ebb and flow like the tide through some of the principal streets; the thousands that frequent the parks and promenades during the day, and other thousands that shun the light, and only steal forth in the hours of darkness. It is not until all these, and many other spectacles have been witnessed, that he can understand the magnificence and meanness, the wealth and poverty, the virtue and the vice, the luxury and the want, the happiness and misery, which are signified by that brief word, London.

To one disposed to study this metropolis, we should recommend, that at the approach of evening, he should take his station on Waterloo bridge, facing the north. On his right hand lies that part which is called the City,

Sharpers are innumerable. The public beggars, are 116,000; the thieves and pickpockets, 115,000; the receivers of stolen goods, 3,000; servants out of place, 10,000, and 8,000 criminals are annually sent to prison. It is not a rhetorical exaggeration, but a statistical fact, that every tenth man in London is a habitual and professional rogue.

The head of the corporation of London is styled the Lord Mayor, and his entrance into office is celebrated by the citizens with much pomp.

The environs of London present a succession of beautiful and populous villages and towns, the roads leading to which are thronged by wagons, stagecoaches, and other vehi

and which, during the day, is devoted to business. On his left is the west end, where fashion, luxury, and taste hold their empire. At evening, this part of the city is tranquil, or only disturbed by an occasional coach, while the eastern part of the metropolis yet continues to send forth its almost deafening roar. Coaches and carriages, carts and wagons, of every kind, are still rolling through the streets, and, ere the busy scene closes, appear to send forth a redoubled sound. But as the darkness increases, and long lines of lamps spring up around you as by enchantment, the roar of the city begins to abate. By almost imperceptible degrees, it decreases, and finally, the eastern half of the city sinks into profound repose.

But the ear is now attracted by a hum from the west end of the city. At first, a distant coach only is heard, and then another, and another, until at length a pervading sound comes from every quarter, at midnight the theatres are out, and the roar is augmented. At two o'clock the routs, balls, and parties are over, and for a short period, the din rises to a higher and a higher pitch. At length it ceases, and there is a half hour of deep repose. The whole city is at rest. A million of people are sleeping around you. It is now an impressive moment, and the imagination is affected with the deepest awc. But the dawn soon bursts through the mists that overhang the city. A market woman is seen groping through the dim light to arrange her stall; a laborer with his heavy tread, passes by to begin his task: a wagoner, with his horses, shakes the earth around you, as he thunders by. Other persons are soon seen; the noise increases, the smoke streams up from thousands of chimneys, the sun rises, and while the west end of London remains wrapped in silence and repose, the eastern portion again vibrates with the uproar of business.