THE TOWER OF ST. MAGNUS
Queenhithe was given by King John to his mother, Queen Eleanor. Hence arose the name. It was no trifling gift, for this was the most important dock on the Thames at that time, and dues were collected from all the ships unlading here. Now it is a small area in which the water laps at rotting lichened posts as it slowly uncovers and re-covers the slimy mud.
The whole of this district lying north of the Thames is the oldest part of our ancient city, and it is thick with memories. Down the crooked streets Spenser came as a boy from his home beyond the city ditch to his school of the Merchant Taylors in Dowgate. Here a fair-haired gentle lad, called Chaucer, loitered many a time, for his father's house was in Thames Street.
Not far from Puddle dock stood Baynard's Castle with its high buttressed walls. In it Edward IV. was proclaimed, and in it, also, Richard III. made a feint of refusing the crown belonging to his imprisoned nephew. Tower Royal, Montfichet, and many another glorious building, have gone utterly, so that their sites can be fixed only approximately. The river Fleet, up which large ships could ply once, flowed into the Thames where is now Blackfriars Bridge. By its banks the great religious houses of the Black and White Friars rose, and the boundary cliff hewed by its current may still be traced in the steep rise up Ludgate Hill, which tries the patient omnibus horses day by day. Over all, as we draw further up the river, towers the great dome of St. Paul's.
The Surrey side of the Thames continues unlovely—a medley of browns and greys, tall chimneys and tumble-down sheds; it needs the veil which the atmosphere of London mercifully throws over it.
The railway bridge and Blackfriars are so close together, they almost touch. As we pass underneath there is a hollow reverberation, like the beat of the surf in a cave on the shore. Just above the bridge is anchored the Buzzard, the Naval Volunteer training ship.
ST. PAUL'S