The White Tower, or citadel, the most important edifice, occupies the central part of these premises. It is one hundred and sixteen feet by ninety-six, and ninety-two in height, with walls fifteen feet in thickness. It was built in the latter part of the eleventh century, nearly eight hundred years ago, and is a specimen of Norman architecture. It is divided from base to summit into various compartments by walls seven feet in thickness. The smallest apartment is now occupied by what is termed Queen Elizabeth's Armory. On one side of this room, formed in the wall, is a cell eight feet high by ten, without light except at its entrance—formerly the prison of Sir Walter Raleigh, Ralstone, Fane and Culpepper. Above this apartment is St. John's Chapel, another specimen of Norman architecture. A chaplain was formally engaged to perform service here for about twelve dollars per annum. The most spacious room on the upper floor, in former ages, was used by the kings as a council room, where their courts were held. It is said to have been here that, when the council was assembled, the Duke of Gloucester demanded Lord Hastings' immediate execution. This chamber and the banqueting room are used at the present time as depositories for small arms. Great artistic skill is displayed in the arrangement of some of these arms and their implements, in form of floors, aquatic plants appearing in streams of water, luminous stars, and the sun rising in splendor.
We were conducted to the Horse Armory, which is nearly one hundred and fifty feet in length by thirty-four in breadth, filled with objects of curiosity and historical interest. There were equestrian figures, others on foot, dressed in armor of different periods embracing over two and a half centuries. It is curious to trace the development of the idea relating to armor and weapons, as exhibited in the multitude of those specimens. The conception in its perfect development, in regard to armor, was strikingly illustrated by a full suit on a life-sized effigy of Henry VIII, mounted on a horse. The suit of armor was made of plated metal, artistically arranged in sections overlapping one another, and turning upon pivots, so as to afford the body, head, neck and limbs free motion, without exposing any portion. It is ponderous, weighing, as nearly as I recollect, about one hundred and twenty pounds. This armor is elaborately worked—inlaid with gold and very beautiful. We were shown a rough suit he wore at the age of eighteen, which weighed ninety-two pounds.
The first specimens of armor manifested the idea as rather confused: leather cut in pieces in the form of fish scales and sewed on cloth or deer skins. The next stage of development appears in a specimen made of small rings of steel sewed on to the same material. Again, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, a higher point of development was reached—armor was constructed of vast quantities of small rings intersecting one with another, so as to form a connected garment. After this, another improvement was introduced—mixed chain and plate being worn on the arms and legs. And thus invention progressed to its full development as represented at the period of Henry VIII.
We saw various specimens of weapons invented at different periods, commencing with the cross-bow, the spear and battle axe, exhibiting step by step successive improvements represented in the matchlock, improved matchlock, flintlock, improved flintlock, percussionlock, improved percussion, double-barreled gun, improved double-barrel, revolving cylinder, cylinder improved, until we have reached the most perfect weapon now known.
The twelve towers of this fortress were erected, principally, in the early part of the thirteenth century; some of them, however, were built about the close of the eleventh. The strange scenes enacted in past ages, beneath these frowning battlements, form a dark and bloody page in English history. Observing the multitude of objects bearing distinct marks of those terrible events, my mind was almost overpowered with sad and gloomy reflections. In these dark and loathsome dungeons, kings and queens, after having been divested of their crowns and robes of royalty, were forced to make their ignominious abode.
These walls bear traces of having echoed the sighs and groans of illustrious men while gasping for life beneath the bloody instruments of horrid torture, also of princes and nobles having been thrust into these dungeons and ended their lives by means shrouded in mystery! Tradition speaks of secret passages, of torture rooms and hidden recesses within and underneath these walls where I stood. Many eminent personages left inscriptions upon their prison walls, which yet remain—sad mementoes of themselves and their sufferings. Queen Ann, having enjoyed a few years of pomp and splendor, basking in the smiles of Henry VIII, was forced to exchange queenly habiliments for the prison costume, in which she passed from this loathsome captivity to the executioner's block. Queen Elizabeth's favorite, the Earl of Essex, the pride of the English court, was immured within one of these towers previous to being beheaded upon the scaffold. The beautiful, amiable and accomplished Lady Jane Grey was incarcerated here. "Jane," engraved by Lord Dudley, her unfortunate husband, on the stone walls of his prison, which I saw, reminded me forcibly of the melancholy circumstance. Two princes, sons of Edward IV, while suffering captivity in what is termed "the bloody tower," were secretly murdered, and afterwards their bodies found mouldering beneath its walls.
We were shown the executioner's axe, the heading block, thumbscrews, iron collars and other horrid instruments for human torture. We were conducted to a small enclosure, surrounded with iron palings, where many illustrious men and women of distinction and royalty had been privately executed. Lorenzo Snow.
Letter II.
At Haarlem.—Two thousand people executed.—Wonderful organ.—A Dutch wedding.—Amsterdam.—A city on piles.—Formidable army of worms.—One hundred islands and two hundred and eighty bridges.—Palace on piles.—Diamond cutting.—Charitable institutions.—Antwerp.—Notre Dame.—Masterpiece of Rubens.—Royal Palace.—Brussels.—St. Nicholas.—Singular marriage.—Royal Theatre.—National Palace.