of London (see p. 26). At one corner of the market is the Three Tuns Tavern, noted for its fish dinners (p. 15).

Adjacent to the fish-market is the Custom House, built by Laing in 1814-17, with an imposing façade towards the Thames, 490 ft. in length, by Sir R. Smirke. The customs-dues levied at the port of London amount to above 12,000,000l. a year, equalling that of all the other English sea-ports put together. The London Custom House employs more than 2200 officials; in the Long Room (190 ft. in length by 66 in breadth) no fewer than 80 clerks are at work. Confiscated articles are stored in a warehouse reserved for this purpose, and are disposed of at quarterly sales by auction, which take place in Mark Lane, and yield 5000l. per annum. Attached to the Custom House is a Museum containing curious contrivances for smuggling, etc. Between the Custom House and the Thames is a broad quay, which affords a fine view of the river and shipping.

The Coal Exchange, opposite the W. wing of the Custom House, erected in 1849 from plans by Bunning, is in the Italian style, and has a tower 106 ft. in height. Adjoining it on the E. is a hypocaust, or stove of masonry belonging to a Roman bath, discovered when the foundations were being dug (shown on application to one of the attendants). The circular hall, with glass dome and triple gallery, is adorned with frescoes by F. Sang, representing the formation of coal and process of mining. The flooring is inlaid with 40,000 pieces of wood, arranged in the form of a mariner's compass. The sword in the municipal coat-of-arms is said to be formed of the wood of a mulberry-tree planted by Peter the Great in 1698, when he was learning the art of ship-building at Deptford. The amount of coal annually consumed in London alone at present averages upwards of 8,000,000 tons (comp. p. 69).

A huge new Bridge has been begun by the Corporation below the Tower, but as yet nothing but the piers and the approaches have been constructed. The novel principle on which the bridge is to be built will be best understood from an inspection of the model exhibited in the grounds of the Crystal Palace (see p. 311). The bridge is expected to be finished in 1890 or 1891, at a total cost of 750,0001.

7. Blackfriars Bridge. Thames Embankment. Queen Victoria Street. Cannon Street.

Cleopatra's Needle. Times' Publishing Office. Bible Society.
Heralds' College. London Stone. Southwark Bridge.

Blackfriars Bridge (Pl. R, 34, 35; II), an iron structure, built by Cubitt, and opened in 1869, occupies the site of a stone bridge dating from 1769, the piers of which had given way. The bridge, which consists of five arches (the central having a span of 185 ft.) supported by granite piers, is 1272 ft. in length, including the abutments, and 80ft. broad. The cost of construction amounted to 320,000l. The dome of St. Paul's is seen to the greatest advantage from this bridge, which also commands an excellent view otherwise. Just below Blackfriars Bridge the Thames is crossed by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Bridge. On the right bank of the river is the spacious Blackfriars Bridge Station.

The bridge derives its name from an ancient Monastery of the Black Friars, situated on the bank of the river, and dating from 1276, where several parliaments once met, and where Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio pronounced sentence of divorce against the unfortunate Queen Catharine of Arragon in 1529 ('King Henry VIII. ii. 4). Shakspeare once lived at Blackfriars, and in 1599 acted at a theatre which formerly occupied part of the site of the monastery, and of which the name Playhouse Yard is still a reminiscence. In 1607 Ben Jonson was also a resident here.

The new *Victoria Embankment leads from Blackfriars Bridge towards the W. along the N. bank of the Thames as far as Westminster. It was constructed in 1864-70, under the supervision of Sir Joseph W. Bazalgette, chief engineer of the late Metropolitan Board of Works (p. 69), at a cost of nearly 2,000,000l. It is about 2300 yds. in length, and consists of a macadamised carriage-way 64 ft. wide, with a foot pavement 16 ft. broad on the land-side, and one 20 ft. broad on the river-side. The whole of this area was once covered by the tide twice a day. It is protected on the side next the Thames by a granite wall, 8ft. thick, for which a foundation was made by sinking iron cylinders into the river-bed as deeply as possible and filling them with concrete. Under the Embankment run three different tunnels. On the inland side is one traversed by the Metropolitan District Railway (p. 36), while on the Thames side there are two, one above the other, the lower containing one of the principal intercepting sewers (p. 70), and the upper one holding water and gas pipes and telegraph wires. Rows of trees have been planted along the sides of the Embankment, which in a few years will afford a shady promenade. At intervals are large openings, with stairs leading to the floating steamboat piers (p. 38), which are constructed of iron, and rise and fall with the tide. Part of the land reclaimed from the river has been converted into tasteful gardens. The gardens above Charing Cross Bridge are embellished with bronze statues of General Outram, Sir Bartle Frere, and William Tyndale, the translator of the New Testament, and those below with statues of Robert Raikes, the founder of Sunday schools, and Robert Burns. A statue of Isambard Brunel stands on the Embankment near Waterloo Bridge; and another, of John Stuart Mill, was erected near the Temple Station in 1878. Above Waterloo Bridge, at the back of the Savoy (p. 141), is the Medical Examination Hall, a building of red brick and Portland stone in the Italian style, erected in 1886. It contains a statue of the Queen by Williamson, unveiled in 1889. Near the Temple Station, opposite Mill's statue, is the tasteful Office of the London School Board, the weekly meetings of which are held here on Thursday at 3 p.m. (public admitted

BAEDEKER, London. 7th Edit.

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to the gallery; comp. 70). At the E. end of the Embankment, close to Blackfriars Bridge, is the handsome new City of London School, completed in 1883. To the W. of the school is the new Gothic building of Sion College and Library (see p. 17), opened in Dec., 1886. To the N., in Tudor Street, is the new Guildhall School of Music, a building in the Italian style, erected by the Corporation of London in 1886 at a cost of 22,0001. In 1878 the Embankment was embellished by the erection on it, by the Adelphi Steps, of Cleopatra's Needle (Pl. R, 30; 1), an Egyptian obelisk from Alexandria.

This famous obelisk was presented to the English Government by Mohammed Ali, and brought to this country by the private munificence of Dr. Erasmus Wilson, who gave 10,000l. for this purpose. Properly speaking Cleopatra's Needle is the name of the companion obelisk now in New York, which stood érect at Alexandria till its removal, while the one now in London lay prostrate for many years. Both monoliths were originally brought from Heliopolis, which, as we are informed by the Flaminian Obelisk at Rome, was full of obelisks. The inscription on the London obelisk refers to Heliopolis as the house of the Phœnix'. The obelisk, which is of reddish granite, measures 681/2 ft. in height, and is 8 ft. wide at the base. Its weight is 180 tons. The Obelisk of Luxor at Paris is 76 ft. in height, and weighs 240 tons.

The pedestal of grey granite is 182/3 ft. high, including the steps. The inscriptions on it are as follows. E. Face. 'This obelisk, quarried at Syene, was erected at On (Heliopolis) by the Pharaoh Thothmes III., about 1500 B.C. Lateral inscriptions were added nearly two centuries later by Rameses the Great. Removed during the Greek dynasty to Alexandria, the royal city of Cleopatra, it was there erected in the 8th year of Augustus Cæsar, B.C. 23'. W. Face. This obelisk, prostrate for centuries on the sands of Alexandria, was presented to the British nation A. D. 1819 by Mohammed Ali, Viceroy of Egypt: a worthy memorial of our distinguished countrymen, Nelson and Abercromby'. N. Face. Through the patriotic zeal of Erasmus Wilson, F. R. S., this obelisk was brought from Alexandria encased in an iron cylinder. It was abandoned during a storm in the Bay of Biscay, recovered, and erected on this spot by John Dixon C.E., in the 42nd year of the reign of Queen Victoria, 1878'. River Face, added at the suggestion of the Queen. 'William Asken, James Gardiner, Joseph Benbow, Michael Burns, William Donald, William Patan, perished in a bold attempt to succour the crew of the obelisk ship 'Cleopatra' during the storm, October 14th, 1877'.

Two large bronze Sphinxes, designed by Mr. G. Vulliamy, have been placed at the base of the Needle.

The principal approaches to the Victoria Embankment are from Blackfriars Bridge and Westminster Bridge (p. 193), from Charing Cross (p. 147), and from Arundel, Norfolk, Surrey, and Villiers Streets, all leading off the Strand.

The Albert Embankment (Pl. G, 29, R, 29; IV), completed in 1869, extending along the right bank of the Thames from Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall Bridge, a distance of about 4/5 ths of a mile, has a roadway 60 ft. in breadth, and cost above 1,000,000l. Adjacent to it rises the new Hospital of St. Thomas (p. 297). The Chelsea Embankment, on the left bank, between the Albert Suspension Bridge and Chelsea Hospital (p. 292), was opened in 1873.

In New Bridge Street, which leads straight to the N. from Blackfriars Bridge, immediately to the right, is the Blackfriars Station of the Metropolitan District Railway (p. 37); and farther on, beyond Queen Victoria Street (see below), is the large Ludgate Hill Station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway (p. 34), opposite which, on the left, the prison of Bridewell (so called from the old 'miraculous' Well of St. Bride or St. Bridget) stood down to 1864. The site of the prison was once occupied by Bridewell Palace, in which Shakspeare lays the 3rd Act of his 'Henry VIII.' New Bridge Street ends at the corner of Fleet Street (p. 134), the prolongation to the N. being called Farringdon Street (see p. 94). To the E., opposite Fleet Street, diverges Ludgate Hill, leading to St. Paul's Cathedral, and passing under the viaduct of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway (p. 33).

QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, a broad and handsome thoroughfare, leads straight from Blackfriars Bridge, towards the E., to the Mansion House and the Bank. In Water Lane, to the left, stands Apothecaries' Hall, built in 1670, and containing portraits of James I., Charles I., and others. The company, most of whose members really are what the name implies, grants licenses to dispense medicines; and to give medical advice; and pure drugs are prepared in the chemical laboratories at the back of the Hall. On the left side of Queen Victoria Street, farther on, is the Office of the Times (Pl. R, 35; II), a handsome building of red brick. The tympanum bears an allegorical device with allusions to times past and future. Behind the Publishing Office, in Printing House Square, is the interesting Printing Office. Tickets of admission are issued on written application to the Manager, enclosing a note of introduction or reference. Visitors should be careful to attend at the hour named in the order, when the second edition of the paper is being printed. No fewer than 20,000 copies can be struck off in an hour by the wonderful mechanism of the Walter press, and about 70,000 are issued daily. The continuous rolls or webs of paper, with which the machine feeds itself, are each 4 miles in length, and of these 28 to 30 are used in one day. The finished and folded copies of the Times are thrown out at the other end of the machine. The type-setting machines are also of great interest. The official who conducts visitors round the works explains all the details (no gratuity). The electric light is used in the office. The Times celebrated its centenary in 1884.

Printing House Square stands on a corner of old London which for many ages was occupied by frowning Norman fortresses. Part of the castle of Montfiquet, a follower of the Conqueror, is said to have stood here; and the ground between the S. side of Queen Victoria Street, or Earl Street, and the Thames was the site of Baynard's Castle (mentioned in 'Richard III'.) with its extensive precincts, which replaced an earlier Roman fortress, and probably a British work of defence. Baynard's Castle was presented by Queen Elizabeth to the Earls of Pembroke, and continued to be their residence till its destruction in the Great Firet.

Adjacent to the Times Printing Office on the E. rises the large building occupied by the British and Foreign Bible Society, erected in 1868. The number of Bibles and Testaments issued by this important society, which was founded in 1804, now amounts to more than four millions a year, printed in 286 different languages and dialects. The total number of copies issued since its foundation exceeds 116,000,000. The annual income of the society from subscriptions and the sale of Bibles is about 250,000l. Visitors are shown a long series of Bibles in different languages.

At the W. end of Queen Victoria Street, adjoining the Blackfriars Metropolitan Station, is the large St. Paul's Station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway.

Opposite is Upper Thames Street, leading on the right to London Bridge (p. 109). In St. Bennet's Hill, the first cross-street, was situated Doctors' Commons Will Office, prior to its removal in 1874 to Somerset House, in the Strand (see p. 142). To the left, in Queen Victoria Street, is Heralds' College, or the College of Arms (rebuilt in 1683), formerly the town house of the Earls of Derby. The library contains a number of interesting objects, including a sword, dagger, and ring belonging to James IV. of Scotland, who fell at Flodden in 1513; the Warwick roll, a series of portraits of the Earls of Warwick from the Conquest to the time of Richard III. (executed by Rous at the end of the 15th cent.); genealogy of the Saxon kings, from Adam, more curious than trustworthy, illustrated with drawings of the time of Henry VIII.; portrait of the celebrated Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, from his tomb in old St. Paul's. The college also contains a valuable treasury of genealogical records.

The office of Earl-Marshal, president of Heralds' College, is hereditary in the person of the Duke of Norfolk. The college consists of three kings-at-arms, Garter, Clarencieux, and Norroy six heralds, Lancaster, Somerset, Richmond, York, Windsor, and Chester - and four pursuivants, Rouge Croix, Blue Mantle, Portcullis, and Rouge Dragon. The main object of the corporation is to make out and preserve the pedigrees and armorial bearings of noble and great families. It grants arms to families recently risen to position and distinction, and determines doubtful questions respecting the derivation and value of arms. Fees for a new coat-of-arms 10l. 10s. or more; for searching the records 11.

A little farther on, Queen Victoria Street intersects CANNON STREET, which is the most direct route between St. Paul's Churchyard and London Bridge, and Queen Street (p. 101), leading from Cheapside to Southwark Bridge. Cannon Street, which is 2/3 M. long, was constructed at a cost of 589,470l., and opened in 1854.

+ This is the ordinary account, but it is disputed by Mr. Loftie, who maintains that the later house known as Baynard's Castle did not occuру the site of the original fortress of that name. See his 'London' (in the 'Historic Towns Series'; 1887).