Catholic, Dissenting, and Jewish Places of Worship.—It is almost impossible to give an exact enumeration of the places of worship in London, seeing that so many new ones are in the course of building. But the following figures, based on information supplied by the London Post-Office Directory, and otherwise, will, it is hoped, be found to convey a very fair approximate notion on the subject. In that Directory, then, there will be found the names of about 100 city parishes. But of these, some 40 have, of late years, been united to other parishes. Thus, All Hallow’s, Honey Lane, is united with St. Mary-le-Bow; St. Mary Magdalen, in Milk Street, is united with St. Lawrence, Jewry; and so forth. Many of the parishes so united have their own churches now closed, or in course of demolition, and worship is provided for them at the churches of the particular parishes into which they have been merged. Without counting the city proper, there are, in London, 50 parish churches, and at least 300 district churches and chapels belonging to the Church of England. The Roman Catholics have 41 churches and chapels, without reckoning sundry religious houses. The Wesleyans have 152. The recognised Dissenters from the Wesleyan body have 4; the Baptists, 109; the Independents, 109; the United Methodist Free Church, 27; Primitive Methodists, 16; the Unitarians, 8; Methodist New Connexion, 8; the Quakers, 5; the Presbyterians (English) 15; the Church of Scotland, 5; the Calvinists have 2; the Calvinistic Methodists, 3; the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, 4. The Jews have 12 Synagogues; there are 3 French Protestant churches; 9 German (Reformed) churches and chapels; Swiss Protestant, 1; Swedenborgians, 2; Plymouth Brethren, 3; Catholic Apostolic (not Roman) 6; 1 Swedish, and 1 Greek church; 1 Russian chapel, and 3 meeting-houses of Free Christians; 1 Moravian; and some 40 other places for public worship, belonging to miscellaneous denominations. Of Roman Catholic churches, the chief is St. George’s Cathedral, near Bethlehem Hospital—a very large, but heavy Gothic structure; the tower has never been finished for want of funds.
Cemeteries.—Intramural burial is now forbidden in London. The chief cemeteries are those at Highgate, Finchley, Abney Park, Mile-End, Kensal Green, Bethnal Green, Ilford, Brompton, Norwood, Nunhead, and Camberwell. There is a very fine view of London, on a clear day, from the first-named. Kensal Green contains the graves of many distinguished persons. Princess Sophia was buried at the last-named cemetery; and a sedulous visitor would discover the tombs and graves of Sydney Smith, the daughters and a grandchild of Sir Walter Scott, Allan Cunningham, John Murray, Thomas Hood, Liston, Loudon, Callcott, Birkbeck, Brunel, Thackeray, and other persons of note. Cardinal Wiseman lies interred in the Catholic Cemetery adjacent to Kensal Green. The Great Northern Cemetery, near Colney Hatch, lately opened, has special railway facilities from the King’s Cross Station. The Woking Necropolis, in Surrey, is too far distant to be included within London; nevertheless, the admirable railway arrangements, from a station of the South-Western, in the Westminster Road, make it, in effect, one of the metropolitan cemeteries. If the old burial-grounds are no longer attended to for funerals, many of them are deeply interesting for their memorials of the past. Old St. Pancras Churchyard has already been named; and another worthy of attention is Bunhill Fields burying-ground. It has been called the ‘Campo Santo’ of Dissenters, for there lie the remains of Daniel Defoe, John Bunyan, John Owen, George Fox, (who founded the sect of the Quakers about 1646,) Dr. Isaac Watts, and many a stout defender of nonconformity.
BRITISH AND SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUMS; SCIENTIFIC ESTABLISHMENTS.
British Museum.—This is a great national establishment, containing a vast and constantly-increasing collection of books, maps, drawings, prints, sculptures, antiquities, and natural curiosities. It occupies a most extensive suite of buildings in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, commenced in 1823, and not even now finished. The sum spent on them is little less than £1,000,000. Sir Richard Smirke was the architect. The principal, or south front, 370 feet long, presents a range of 44 columns, the centre being a majestic portico, with sculptures in the pediment. Since its commencement, in 1755, the collection has been prodigiously increased by gifts, bequests, and purchases; and now it is, perhaps, the largest of the kind in the world. The library contains more than eight hundred thousand volumes, and is increasing enormously in extent every year. The Reading-Room is open only to persons who proceed thither for study, or for consulting authorities. A reading order is readily procured on written application, enclosing the recommendation of two respectable householders, to “the Principal Librarian.” It is open nearly 300 days in the year, and for an average of eight hours each day. No general inspection of this room by strangers is allowed, except by a written order from the secretary, which can, however, readily be obtained on three days in the week. The porters in the hall will direct to the secretary’s office; and strangers must be careful to observe the conditions on which the order is given. The present reading-room, opened in 1857, and built at a cost of £150,000, is one of the finest apartments in the world; it is circular, 140 feet in diameter, and open to a dome-roof 106 feet high, supported without pillars. This beautiful room, and the fireproof galleries for books which surround it, were planned by Mr. Panizzi, the late chief librarian.
The portions of the British Museum open to ordinary visitors consist of an extensive series of galleries and saloons on the ground and upper floors, each devoted to the exhibition of a distinct class of objects. Among others are—terracottas, Roman sculptures and sepulchral antiquities, Sir T. Lawrence’s collection of casts, British antiquities, ethnological specimens, Egyptian antiquities, several saloons containing the Elgin and Phigalian Marbles, Nineveh and Lycian sculptures, &c. The rooms containing objects in natural history and artificial curiosities are handsomely fitted up with glass-cases on the walls and tables. Days may be spent in examining this vast assemblage of objects; and to assist in the inspection, catalogues for the entire Museum may be purchased at the door at a cheap price.
The British Museum is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the whole of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun weeks. It is closed on the first week in January, May, and September, and on Christmas-day, Good-Friday, and Ash-Wednesday. The hour of opening is 10 o’clock; that of closing varies from 4 till 6 o’clock, according to the season of the year. During many years past there have been newspaper controversies and parliamentary debates touching the disposal of the rich contents of the Museum. Almost every part is filled to overflowing; but much diversity of opinion exists as to which portion, if any, shall be removed to another locality. Burlington House and the South Kensington Museum, each has its advocates. Immediate removal of part of the contents has been decided on.
South Kensington Museum.—This very interesting national establishment is situated at South Kensington, near the Cromwell and Exhibition Roads, on ground bought out of the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The varied contents have been either presented to, or purchased by, the nation, with the exception of a few collections which have been lent for temporary periods. They consist of illustrations of manufactures and the useful arts; models of patented inventions; collections of raw produce, derived from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; a museum of educational appliances; casts from sculptures and architectural ornaments; objects of ornamental art, both mediæval and modern; naval models, &c. Besides these, there are the fine collections of paintings presented to the nation by Mr. Sheepshanks, and other liberal donors; and a portion of the Vernon collection, the rest being at the National Gallery. Turner’s pictures, bequeathed to the nation in his will, were kept here for some years, but were removed to the National Gallery in 1861. There are, among the group of buildings, some devoted to the Government Department of Science and Art; but the Museum generally is, so far as concerns the public, distinct. The Gallery of British Art contains many hundred pictures, including choice specimens by Turner, Wilkie, Mulready, Landseer, Leslie, Hogarth, Wilson, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Lawrence, Constable, Loutherbourg, Callcott, Collins, Etty, Stanfield, Roberts, Uwins, Creswick, Maclise, Webster, Eastlake, Ward, Cooke, Cooper, Danby, Goodall, &c. The rooms containing these pictures, planned by Captain Fowke, are remarkable for the admirable mode of lighting, both by day and in the evening. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, the admission is free from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m.; on the other three days, called students’ days, 6d. is charged from 10 a.m. till 4, 5, or 6, according to the season. This is one of the very few free exhibitions open in the evening (thrice a-week) as well as the daytime.