[Illustration: WATERLOO BRIDGE.]
[Illustration: SCHOMBERG HOUSE.]
[Illustration: STATUE OF SIDNEY HERBERT.]
Let us now take a brief glance at some well-known London sights. The two
great heroes who are commemorated in modern London are Wellington and
Nelson. Trafalgar Square commemorates Nelson's death and greatest
victory, the Nelson Column standing in the centre, with Landseer's
colossal lions reposing at its base. Passing eastward along the Strand,
beyond Charing Cross and Somerset House, we come to Wellington Street,
which leads to Waterloo Bridge across the Thames. This admirable
structure, the masterpiece of John Rennie, cost $5,000,000, and was
opened on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo in 1817. It is of
granite, and with the approaches nearly a half mile long, crossing the
river upon nine arches, each of one hundred and twenty feet span.
Passing westward from Trafalgar Square, we enter Pall Mall, perhaps the
most striking of the London streets in point of architecture. Here are
club-houses and theatres, statues and columns, and the street swarms
with historical associations. On the south side are the Reform and
Carlton Clubs, the headquarters respectively of the Liberal and
Conservative parties, and a little beyond, on the same side, the row of
buildings of all sizes and shapes making up the War Office. Among them
is a quaint old Queen-Anne mansion of brick, with a curious pediment and
having many windows. This is Schomberg House, shorn of one wing, but
still retained among so much that is grand around it. Also in Pall Mall
is Foley's celebrated statue of Sidney Herbert, one of the most
impressive in London--the head drooped sadly and reflectively,
indicating that it is the image of a conscientious war-minister, who,
overweighted with the responsibility of his office, was cut off
prematurely. Although not one of the greatest men of England, Herbert's
fame will be better preserved by his finer statue than that of many men
who have filled a much larger space in her history. Marlborough House
has an entrance on Pall Mall, and adjoining its gate is the curious and
elaborately decorated building of the Beaconsfield Club. Over the
doorway the semicircular cornice does duty for a balcony for the
drawing-room windows above. The doorway itself is an imposing archway
strangely cut into segments, one forming a window and the other the
door.
[Illustration: DOORWAY BEACONSFIELD CLUB.]
[Illustration: CAVENDISH SQUARE.]
[Illustration: THE "BELL" AT EDMONTON.]
London contains in the West End many squares surrounded by handsome
residences, among them probably the best known being Belgrave, Russell,
Bedford, Grosvenor, Hanover, and Cavendish Squares. Eaton Square is said
to be the largest of these, Grosvenor Square the most fashionable, and
Cavendish Square the most salubrious and best cultivated. The line of
streets leading by Oxford Street to the Marble Arch entrance to Hyde
Park is London's most fashionable route of city travel, and on Tottenham
Court Road, which starts northward from Oxford Street, is the "Bell Inn"
at Edmonton. It is not a very attractive house, but is interesting
because it was here that Johnny Gilpin and his worthy spouse should have
dined when that day of sad disasters came which Cowper has chronicled in
John Gilpin's famous ride. The old house has been much changed since
then, and is shorn of its balcony, but it has capacious gardens, and is
the resort to this day of London holiday-makers. It is commonly known
as "Gilpin's Bell," and a painting of the ride is proudly placed outside
the inn. Tottenham Court Road goes through Camden Town, and here at
Euston Square is the London terminus of the greatest railway in
England--the London and North-western Company. Large hotels adjoin the
station, and the Underground Railway comes into it alongside the
platform, thus giving easy access to all parts of the metropolis. This
railway is one of the wonders of the metropolis, and it has cost about
$3,250,000 per mile to construct. The original idea seems to have been
to connect the various stations of the railways leading out of town, and
to do this, and at the same time furnish means of rapid transit from the
heart of the city to the suburbs, the railway has been constructed in
the form of an irregular ellipse, running all around the city, yet kept
far within the built-up portions. It is a double track, with trains
running all around both ways, so that the passenger goes wherever he
wishes simply by following the circuit, while branch lines extend to the
West End beyond Paddington and Kensington. It is constructed not in a
continuous tunnel, for there are frequent open spaces, but on a general
level lower than that of the greater part of London, and the routes are
pursued without regard to the street-lines on the surface above, often
passing diagonally under blocks of houses. The construction has taxed
engineering skill to the utmost, for huge buildings have had to be
shored up, sewers diverted, and, at the stations, vast spaces burrowed
underground to get enough room. In this way London has solved its
rapid-transit problem, though it could be done only at enormous cost.
The metropolis, it will be seen, has no end of attractions, and for the
traveller's accommodation the ancient inns are rapidly giving place to
modern hotels. Among London's famous hostelries is the "Old Tabard Inn"
in the Borough, which will probably soon be swept away.
[Illustration: THE "OLD TABARD INN."]