It is impossible by any written description to convey adequate ideas of the real magnitude of London. Indeed, it is not until after a person has been in the city for some months, that he begins to comprehend it. Every new walk opens to him streets, squares and divisions which he has never seen before. And even those places where he is most familiar, are discovered day by day to possess archways and thoroughfares within and around them, which had never been noticed before. Even people who have spent their whole lives in the city, often find streets and buildings, of which they had never before heard, and which they had never before seen.
The Thames Tunnel which is the medium for communication between the Surrey and Middlesex sides of the river, was designed and carried into execution by a joint stock company, which, however, has been largely assisted by government. The tunnel consists of two avenues or arched vaults, beneath the river. Each avenue is of such height and breadth as to afford a beautiful walk, and is lighted with gas. It is about two miles below London bridge, and was begun in 1822.
Standing in some measure behind the site of the Royal Exchange, facing Threadneedle street, are seen the extensive series of stone buildings containing the Bank of England. The whole buildings and courts include an area of about eight acres, and were completed in 1778. In 1832, there were employed in the bank 820 clerks and porters, and 38 printers and engravers. There were besides, 193 pensioners. The salaries and pensions amounted to £218,003; the house expenses, £39,187, and the allowance to directors, £8,000.
These statistics will give the reader a better opportunity to judge of the enormous amount of business that this bank transacts annually.
The hours at which the bank is open are from nine in the morning till five in the afternoon, holidays excepted.
St. Paul's Church, which is built in the form of a Greek cross, is the most prominent object in London. It measures 514 feet in length, 286 in breadth, and 370 in height, to the topmost pinnacle. There are three porticoes at as many entrances, on the north, west, and south. That on the west is the principal, with twelve lofty Corinthian pillars below, and the angles above crowned with handsome bell towers, the size of ordinary church towers or steeples.
The great bell of St. Paul's is only rung when a member of the royal family dies, and its fine deep tones can be distinctly heard at a distance of several miles. The great bell weighs four and a half tons, and is ten feet in diameter.
Westminster Abbey is situated nearly opposite the houses of Parliament, and is open to inspection on the north and east, but on the west it is much crowded upon by dwelling-houses.
In very early times this spot of ground was a small insular tract, surrounded by the waters of the Thames, and called Thorny Island. A monastic institution was founded here on the introduction of Christianity into Britain. An Abbey was raised upon the site of the ruined monastic building, under Edward the Confessor.
The ground plan, as usual, bore the form of the cross. Rights and endowments were granted, and the edifice assumed a great degree of architectural grandeur. It had become the place for the inauguration of the English monarchs, and William the Conqueror was crowned here with great pomp and solemnity, in 1066.