AT my departure, I remember you ordered me to send you accounts of every thing I saw remarkable in London; I will obey your commands as well as I can; but pray excuse my defects, and let my will plead for my inability, to entertain my absent friends.
I am just now come from seeing the tower, monument and St. Paul's cathedral, (places which I remember to have heard much talk of in the country, and which scarce any body that comes to London omits seeing). The tower, which stands by the Thames, is a large strong building, surrounded with a high wall, about a mile in compass, and a broad ditch supplied with water out of the River Thames. Round the outward wall are guns planted, which on extraordinary occasions are fired. At the entrance, the first thing we saw was a collection of wild beasts, viz. lions, panthers, tygers
[sic]
, &c. also eagles and vultures: These are of no sort of use, and kept only for curiosity and shew. We next went to the mint, (which is in the tower observe) where we saw the manner of coining money, which is past my art, especially in the compass of a letter, to describe. From thence we went to the jewel room, and saw the crown of England, and other regalia, which are well worth seeing, and gave me a great deal of pleasure. The next is the horse armory, a grand sight indeed; here are fifteen of our English monarchs on horseback, all dressed in rich armour, and attended by their guards; but I think it not so beautiful as the next thing we saw, which was the small armory: This consists of pikes, muskets, swords, halberts
[sic]
, and pistols, sufficient, as they told us, for three-score thousand men; and are all placed in such different figures, representing the sun, star and garter, half moons, and such like, that I was greatly delighted with it; and they being all kept clean and scowered, made a most brilliant appearance. Hence we went and saw the train of artillery, in the grand storehouse, as they call it, which is filled with cannon and mortars, all extremely fine: Here is also a diving-bell, with other curiosities too tedious to mention; which having examined, we came away and went to the monument, which was built in remembrance of the fire of London: It is a curious lofty pillar, 200 feet high, and on the top a gallery, to which we went by tedious winding stairs in the inside: from this gallery we had a survey of the whole city: And here having feasted our eyes with the tops of houses, ships, and multitude of boats on the River Thames, we came down and went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is a most magnificent pile, and stands on high ground, near the centre of the city. This noble building struck me with surprise, and is admired by the whole world, as well for its beautiful architecture as height and magnitude; it has a grand awful choir, chapel, a dome finely painted by that masterly hand Sir J. Thornhill, a whispering gallery, and other curiosities, with which I conclude my first letter, and am,
Madam,
Your very dutiful son,
JOHN CURIOUS.