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Page 32
* * * * *
An autumn sun shone brightly through a remarkably transparent atmosphere
this morning, which was a most striking contrast to the weather we have
had during the past three days; and I again set out to see some of the
lions of the city, commencing with the Tower of London. Every American,
on returning home from a visit to the old world, speaks with pride of
the places he saw while in Europe; and of the many resorts of interest
he has read of, few have made a more lasting impression upon his memory
than the Tower of London. The stories of the imprisoning of kings, and
queens, the murdering of princes, the torturing of men and women,
without regard to birth, education, or station, and of the burning and
rebuilding of the old pile, have all sunk deep into his heart. A walk of
twenty minutes, after being set down at the Bank by an omnibus, brought
me to the gate of the Tower. A party of friends who were to meet me
there had not arrived, so I had an opportunity of inspecting the grounds
and taking a good view of the external appearance of the old and
celebrated building. The Tower is surrounded by a high wall, and around
this a deep ditch partly filled with stagnated water. The wall incloses
twelve acres of ground on which stand the several towers, occupying,
with their walks and avenues, the whole space. The most ancient part of
the building is called the "White Tower," so as to distinguish it from
the parts more recently built. Its walls are seventeen feet in
thickness, and ninety-two in height, exclusive of the turrets, of which
there are four. My company arrived, and we entered the tower through
four massive gates, the innermost one being pointed out as the "Water,
or Traitors' Gate"--so called from the fact that it opened to the river,
and through it the criminals were usually brought to the prison within.
But this passage is now closed up. We visited the various apartments in
the old building. The room in the Bloody Tower, where the infant princes
were put to death by the command of their uncle, Richard III.; also, the
recess behind the gate where the bones of the young princes were
concealed, were shown to us. The warden of the prison who showed us
through, seemed to have little or no veneration for Henry VIII.; for he
often cracked a joke, or told a story at the expense of the murderer of
Anne Boleyn. The old man wiped the tear from his eye, as he pointed out
the grave of Lady Jane Grey. This was doubtless one of the best as well
as most innocent of those who lost their lives in the Tower; young,
virtuous, and handsome, she became a victim to the ambition of her own
and her husband's relations. I tried to count the names on the wall in
"Beauchamp's Tower," but they were too numerous. Anne Boleyn was
imprisoned here. The room in the "Brick Tower," where Lady Jane Grey was
imprisoned, was pointed out as a place of interest. We were next shown
into the "White Tower." We passed through a long room filled with many
things having a warlike appearance; and among them a number of
equestrian figures, as large as life, and clothed in armour and
trappings of the various reigns from Edward I. to James II., or from
1272 to 1685. Elizabeth, or the "Maiden Queen," as the warden called
her, was the most imposing of the group; she was on a cream coloured
charger. We left the Maiden Queen to examine the cloak upon which
General Wolf died, at the storming of Quebec. In this room Sir Walter
Raleigh was imprisoned, and here was written his "History of the
World." In his own hand, upon the wall, is written, "Be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." His Bible is still
shown, with these memorable lines written in it by himself a short time
before his death:--
"Even such is Time that takes on trust,
Our youth, our joy, our all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days."
Spears, battle-axes, pikes, helmets, targets, bows and arrows, and many
instruments of torture, whose names I did not learn, grace the walls of
this room. The block on which the Earl of Essex and Anne Boleyn were
beheaded, was shown among other objects of interest. A view of the
"Queen's Jewels" closed our visit to the Tower. The Gold Staff of St.
Edward, and the Baptismal Font used at the Royal christenings, made of
solid silver, and more than four feet high, were among the jewels here
exhibited. The Sword of Justice was there, as if to watch the rest of
the valuables. However, this was not the sword that Peter used. Our
acquaintance with De Foe, Sir Walter Raleigh, Chaucer, and James
Montgomery, through their writings, and the knowledge that they had been
incarcerated within the walls of the bastile that we were just leaving,
caused us to look back again and again upon its dark grey turrets.
I closed the day with a look at the interior of St. Paul's Cathedral. A
service was just over, and we met a crowd coming out as we entered the
great building. "Service is over, and two pence for all that wants to
stay," was the first sound that caught our ears. In the Burlesque of
"Esmeralda," a man is met in the belfry of the Notre Dame at Paris, and
being asked for money by one of the vergers says:--
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