Part 4 (2/2)

Paul's. As the Covent Garden Theater (the finest in London) was already full before I reached it, I went on to the Oxford Street Music Theater and spent my first evening there. The next day (Wednesday, July 14th,) I entered

St. Paul's Cathedral,

the n.o.blest building in England in the Cla.s.sic style. Its length from east to west is 550 feet and its height to the top of the cross 370 feet. Under the dome is an area affording seats for 5,000 persons. Here 5,000 charity children are collected on the first Thursday in June every year, to unite their voices in songs of praise. Besides the dome, St. Paul's has two other towers, each 222 feet high. In one of these is the clock and the great bell upon which it strikes.

The length of the minute-hand of the clock is eight feet, and its weight seventy-five pounds; the length of the hour-hand is five feet five inches, and its weight forty-four pounds. The bell is ten feet in diameter and weighs 11,474 pounds. ”It is inscribed, 'Richard Phelps made, me, 1716,'

and is never used except for striking the hour, and for tolling at the deaths and funerals of any of the Royal Family, the Bishops of London, the Deans of St. Paul's, and the Lord Mayor, should he die in his mayoralty.”

It requires a man three quarters of an hour every day to wind the clock, the striking weight alone weighing 1,200 pounds.

The dome const.i.tutes a very remarkable whisper gallery, the slightest whisper being transmitted from one side to the other with the greatest distinctness.

This Cathedral contains many fine monuments interesting from the persons they commemorate. Among them are those to the Duke of Wellington, to Nelson, to Lord Cornwallis, to Sir Charles Napier, to Sir William Jones, the Oriental scholar, and numerous others.

Crystal Palace,

which is outside of the city, is perhaps the grandest Exposition Building in the world, and possibly the only structure of the kind in existence, since the destruction, by fire, of Crystal Palace, in New York. This Great Exhibition Building was first built upon Hyde Park, covering nearly nineteen acres of ground. It was visited by upwards of 6,000,000 persons during the twenty-four weeks that it was open, or about 40,000 persons daily. The receipts amounted to over $2,000,000.

It was re-erected and enlarged at Sydenham, in Kent, 1853-4, at a cost of over $7,000,000.

It must be over a quarter of a mile long, and about one-fourth as wide.

The entire sides and the whole of the immense arched roof are of gla.s.s, admitting all the light except what little is intercepted by the sashes, thus affording an illumination quite equal to that outside, under the clear canopy of heaven.

The exterior gardens and water-works are magnificent. Among the attractions about the yard, is a gla.s.s tower about forty-five or fifty feet in diameter and over 200 feet high. Beautiful indeed is this magnificent crystal tower.

A clock with sixty-nine faces shows the times of so many different places on our planet. For the accommodation of such as are astronomically inclined, I render the following record as I entered it upon my diary, July 16th: Civil Middle Time, 12:40 p.m.; Astronomical Middle Time, 12:39 p.m.; Sidereal Time, 19:49; True Time, 12:38 p.m.

Around its great organ, there is seating accommodation for a choir of 2,000 singers.

For seeing the building only, one could well afford to go a great distance; but there are also constantly on exhibition a large collection of curiosities of every description, while extensive bazars expose for sale the richest and finest goods and wares of all kinds, and from the stores of every quarter of the globe.

There is also on exposition a large collection of plants, and a magnificent art gallery of paintings, sculpture, &c. Concert every day.

London has much fog and rain. I had but two fair days out of the eight I spent there. One very rainy morning I started out to see the Houses of Parliament. On my way thither I came to Trafalgar Square. In the center stands the magnificent Nelson Column, surrounded by statues and fountains. In order to-s.h.i.+eld myself from the rain, and to enjoy the view of the grand square before me, and of the Parliamentary Buildings in the distance, I took refuge upon the portico of the National Gallery of Paintings. Here I incidentally met and formed the acquaintance of the brother of Miss Rosie Hersee, a songstress, who had lately made herself popular in this country. After accompanying me through the Art Gallery, he changed his programme for the afternoon, and had the kindness to spent the balance of the day with me, showing me through the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. The tourist should constantly be on the lookout for some suitable companion who is well posted at the place that he proposes to visit. Without such a person to point out things and explain them, one will miss more than he sees. I had just taken leave of a gentleman who had given me considerable a.s.sistance, but whose course so differed from my programme, that I was in fear of losing time should I accompany him longer. My new companion was a short-hand reporter of one of the London papers, and thoroughly acquainted in Westminster.

The Houses of Parliament.

This is one of the largest buildings ever erected continuously in Europe--perhaps the largest Gothic edifice in the world. It stands upon the bank of the Thames, occupying the site of the old Royal Palace of Westminster, burnt down in 1834, and covers nearly eight acres. This building has 100 staircases, more than two miles of corridors, and 1,100 apartments! The cost of erection was some $14,000,000, or a little more than that of the Capitol of the United States.

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