THE TOWER AND THE TUNNEL.
The famous Tunnel under the Thames, and the still more famous Tower of
London, are very near together, and strangers usually visit both on one
and the same excursion.
The Tower, as has already been explained, was originally a sort of
fortress, or castle, built on the bank of the river, below the city, to
defend it from any enemy that might attempt to come up to it by ships
from the sea. The space enclosed by the walls was very large; and as in
modern times many new buildings and ranges of buildings have been
erected within, with streets and courts between them, the place has now
the appearance of being a little town enclosed by walls, and surrounded
by a ditch with bridges, and standing in the midst of a _large_ town.
Rollo and Mr. George passed over the ditch that surrounded the Tower by
means of a drawbridge. Before they entered the gateway, however, they
were conducted to a small building which stood near it, where they
obtained a ticket to view the Tower, and where, also, they were required
to leave their umbrella. This room was a sort of refreshment room; and
as they were told that they must wait here a few minutes till a party
was formed, they occupied the time by taking a luncheon. Their luncheon
consisted of a ham and veal pie, and a good drink for each of ginger
beer.
At length, several other people having come in, a portly-looking man,
dressed in a very gay uniform, and wearing on his head a black velvet
hat adorned with a sort of wreath made of blue and white ribbons, took
them in charge to lead them about the Tower.
This man belonged to a body that is called the Yeomen of the Guard. The
dress which he wore was their uniform. He wore various badges and
decorations besides his uniform. One of them was a medal that was given
to him in honor of his having been a soldier at the battle of Waterloo.
Under the charge of this guide, the party, which consisted now of eight
or ten persons, began to make the tour. They passed through various
little courts and streets, which were sometimes bordered by ranges of
buildings, and sometimes by castellated walls, with sentinels on duty,
marching slowly back and forth along the parapet.
At length their gay-looking guide led the party through a door which
opened into a very long and narrow hall, on one side of which there was
arranged a row of effigies of horses, splendidly caparisoned, and
mounted with the figures of the kings of England upon them in polished
armor of steel. The gay trappings of the horses, and the glittering
splendor of the breast-plates, and greaves, and helmets, and swords of
the men, gave to the whole spectacle a very splendid effect. The guide
walked along slowly in front of this row of effigies, informing the
party as he went along of the names of the various monarchs who were
represented, and describing the kind of armor which they severally wore.
The armor, of course, varied very much in its character and fashion,
according to the age in which the monarch who wore it lived; and it was
very interesting, in walking down the hall, to see how military fashions
had changed from century to century, as shown by the successive changes
in the accoutrements which were observed in passing along the line of
kings.
There were many suits of armor that were quite small, having been made
for the English princes when they were boys. Rollo amused himself by
imagining how he should look in one of these suits of armor, and he
wished very much that he could have an opportunity of trying them on. In
one place there was a battery of nine beautiful little cannons made of
brass, each about two feet long, and just about large enough in caliber
for a boy to fire. These cannons, which were all beautifully ornamented
with bas reliefs on the outside, and were mounted on splendid little
carriages, were presented to Charles II. when he was a boy; and I
suppose that he and his playmates often fired them. There were a great
many other strange and curious implements of war that have now gone
wholly out of fashion. There were all kinds of matchlocks, and guns, and
pistols, of the most uncouth and curious shapes; and shot of every
kind--chain shot, and grape shot, and saw shot; and there were bows and
arrows, and swords and halberds, and spears and cutlasses, and every
other kind of weapon. These arms were arranged on the walls in
magnificent great stars, or were stacked up in various ornamental forms
about pillars or under arches; and they were so numerous that Rollo
could not stop to look at half of them.
After this the yeoman of the guard led his party to a great many other
curious places. He showed them the room where the crowns and sceptres of
the English kings and queens, and all the great diamonds and jewels of
state, were kept. These treasures were placed on a stand in an immense
iron cage, so that people assembled in the room around the cage could
look in and see the things, but they could not reach them to touch them.
They were also taken to see various prison rooms and dungeons where
state prisoners were kept; and also blocks and axes, the implements by
which several great prisoners celebrated in history had been beheaded.
They saw in particular the block and the axe which were used at the
execution of Anne Boleyn and of Lady Jane Grey; and all the party looked
very earnestly at the marks which the edge of the axe had made in the
wood when the blows were given.
The party walked about in the various buildings, and courts, and streets
of the Tower for nearly two hours; and then, bidding the yeoman good by,
they all went away.
"Now," said Rollo, as soon as they had got out of the gate, "which is
the way to the Tunnel?"
The Tunnel is a subterranean passage under the Thames, made at a place
where it was impossible to have a bridge, on account of the shipping.
They expected, when they made the Tunnel, that it would be used a great
deal by persons wishing to cross the river. But it is found, on trial,
that almost every body who wishes to go across the river at that place
prefers to go in a boat rather than go down into the Tunnel. The reason
is, that the Tunnel is so far below the bed of the river that you have
to go down a long series of flights of stairs before you get to the
entrance to it; and then, after going across, you have to come up just
as many stairs before you get into the street again. This is found to be
so troublesome and fatiguing that almost every one who has occasion to
go across the river prefers to cross it by a ferry boat on the surface
of the water; and scarcely any one goes into the Tunnel except those who
wish to visit it out of curiosity.
The stairs that lead down to the passage under the river wind around the
sides of an immense well, or shaft, made at the entrance of it. When Mr.
George and Rollo reached the bottom of these stairs they heard loud
sounds of music, and saw a brilliant light at the entrance to the
Tunnel. On going in, they saw that the Tunnel itself was double, as it
consisted of two vaulted passage ways, with a row of piers and arches
between them. One of these passage ways was closed up; the other was
open, and was lighted brilliantly with gas all the way through. But what
most attracted Rollo's attention was, that the spaces between the piers
all along the Tunnel were occupied with little shops, each one having a
man, a woman, or a child to attend it. As Mr. George and Rollo walked
along, those people all asked them to stop and buy something at their
shops. There were pictures of all kinds, and little boxes, and views of
the Tunnel, with magnifying glasses to make them look real, and needle
cases, and work boxes, and knickknacks of all kinds for people to buy
and carry home as souvenirs, or to show to their friends and say that
they bought them in the Tunnel.
[Illustration: SHOPPING IN THE TUNNEL.]
Besides these things that were for sale, there were various objects of
interest and curiosity, such as electric machines where people might
take shocks, and scales where they might be weighed, and refreshment
rooms that were formed in the passage way that was not used for travel;
and in one place there was a little ball room arranged there, where a
party might, if they chose, stop and have a dance.
Rollo and Mr. George walked through the Tunnel, and then came back
again. As they came back, Rollo stopped at one of the shops and bought a
pretty little round box, which he said would do for a wafer box, and
would also serve as a souvenir of his visit to the place.
Mr. George and Rollo concluded, after ascending again to the light of
day, that they would go home by water; so they went out to the end of a
long floating pier, which was built, as it happened, exactly opposite
the entrance to the Tunnel. They sat down on a bench by a little toll
house there, to wait for a steamer going up the river.
"It must have been just about under here," said Rollo, "that I bought my
little wafer box in the Tunnel."
"Yes," said Mr. George; "just about."
In a few minutes a steamer came along and took them in. She immediately
set off again; and, after passing under all the London bridges and
stopping on the way at various landings, she set them down at Hungerford
stairs, and they went to their lodgings.
* * * * *
Mr. George and Rollo had various other adventures in London which there
is not space to describe in this volume. Rollo did not, however, have
time to visit all the places that he wished to see; for, before he had
executed half the plans which he and his uncle George had projected, he
received a sudden summons to set out, with his father, and mother, and
Jennie, for Edinburgh.