You see this rectangular space marked off on the map of Greater London? I am next going to give you a map, on a larger scale, of the central and most important part of London; it is contained within the rectangle. Here it is, with the boundary of the City of London shown in red upon it. We see the chief streets, and we are able to mark out the route which we are going to take. We start from the Tower and the Tower Bridge; we pass beneath London Bridge, with the City, the chief business centre, on our right hand; we go under several more bridges and arrive at Westminster, where Parliament sits and the King-Emperor is crowned; then we land, drive past Buckingham Palace, where the King lives, and so to the chief parks. Turning eastward again we return through Trafalgar Square to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is the Cathedral of London; finally we reach the Bank of England, in the centre of the City, and come back to London Bridge, from whose neighbourhood we started. The whole round measures about eight miles, and yet, as you will remember, the map upon which we have traced it is but the central and smaller part of London.
14.
Waterloo Bridge and Somerset House.
It would tire you were I to attempt to show all the bridges under which we pass, but there is one which we must not omit. This is Waterloo Bridge, architecturally the finest bridge in London, perhaps the finest of all the buildings in London. The road, as you see, is quite level, and it is carried upon a series of great stone arches. The bridge is called Waterloo Bridge because it was completed soon after the Battle of Waterloo. As we go through London you will find that there are two famous battles—the Battle of Waterloo on the land, and the Battle of Trafalgar on the sea—which are constantly remembered by Englishmen. They were fought ninety and a hundred years ago. Because Britain was victorious in them the British Empire exists to-day. Therefore these battles and the men who fought them are deemed worthy of commemoration in the metropolis of the Empire. Beyond Waterloo Bridge we see on the slide a fine building known as Somerset House, the office into which the taxes of the people of England are paid for the government of the country.
15.
The Embankment at Waterloo Bridge.
16.
Cleopatra’s Needle and Somerset House.
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The Thames Embankment.
18.
The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
19.
Westminster Abbey from Dean’s Yard.
Here we have one of the arches of Waterloo Bridge, spanning the riverside road which is known as the Thames Embankment. The traffic from north to south is carried, as you see, over the bridge, while that from east to west passes under it. Here we have yet another view of the Embankment, with Somerset House and Waterloo Bridge in the distance. We can see Somerset House better in this view, because the bridge is not in the way. In the foreground we have Cleopatra’s Needle, a single piece of stone as high as a tower. It was brought from Egypt in a specially built ship, having been presented to the Queen of England by a former Khedive of Egypt. The next slide shows the bend of the river, with the Embankment beside it. You see the trees planted along the road—they are green in the summer, but in winter the leaves fall and they are black. In the distance, showing over the housetops, is the great dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. At last we reach Westminster, and look across the water to two of the chief buildings of London, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. The Houses of Parliament were erected in the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, but Westminster Abbey was built more than 600 years ago. We have here a view of the Abbey from the land side.
20.
The King opening Parliament—the State Coach.