Richard II., in whose time Westminster Hall was used for the sittings of Parliament, raised the walls by two feet, re-cased them, and inserted new windows in them. The present roof and a new northern porch were added; and the flying buttresses, which the removal of the Law Courts has revealed, were built. It seems also that "divers lodgings" on the west side were erected at the same time, and these were mostly contained by a wall erected parallel to the hall, and connecting together the new great buttresses. This suggested the leading feature of the design for the restoration of the building now completed. The architect entrusted with this important work (Mr. Pearson) has again connected these great buttresses by an outer wall. A cloister has been constructed with a gallery over it extending nearly the whole length of the Hall. On the wall of Westminster Hall, as uncovered by recent demolitions, there are plainly visible the traces of wall arches erected by Richard II., between the older and flat buttresses of the Norman wall. These suggested to Mr. Pearson the series of arches by which his cloister is formed, and the formation of which is a protection to the original Norman wall of Rufus. This wall is, naturally, of great antiquarian interest, and its preservation is of the first importance. Between the first flying buttress and the Palace Yard end of Westminster Hall is some spare space, upon which is built two-storied building, projecting westward, of the same height as the cloister, with a high-pitched roof and gable towards St. Margaret's Church." Originally, it seems, there was an Early English building here, supposed to have been erected in the time of Henry III. One plan of the old foundations shows a doorway leading from the Early English building which at the date of the plan was the Court of Exchequer, into a small yard called "Hell.” Elizabeth, according to tradition, used the Exchequer Court as her breakfast-chamber and concert-room. The building consisted of three stories: the basement; the hall used as the Court of Exchequer, in which was the music gallery; and attics over. These attics were said traditionally to have been the royal

a

Ross, Snowdon and Islay; and six pursuivants, Kintyre, Dingwall, Carrick, Ormond, Unicorn and Bute. The chief officer for Ireland is the Ulster King-at-Arms, who is appointed by the Crown. He has two heralds, Cork and Dublin, and two pursuivants, Athlone and St. Patrick.

The next building of importance on our way westward is the Times Office, to which we have already elsewhere briefly alluded. Passing under the railway bridge of the London, Chatham and Dover Company, and crossing the road, we find ourselves on the Victoria Embankment, a noble boulevard skirting the Thames in unbroken line from Blackfriars to Westminster. At that point the imposing new frontage of the Houses of Parliament intervenes; and at Pimlico, a short distance beyond this point, the Victoria Embankment is continued to Chelsea. On the southern side of the river, the Albert Embankment extends from Vauxhall Bridge to Westminster Bridge.

The uniform line of the northern Embankment is broken at intervals by massive piers of granite, flanking recesses for pontoons, or landing-stages for steamboats, and at other places by stairs projecting into the river, and intended as landing-piers for small craft. There are five regular approaches into the Strand; namely by way of the Savoy, Villiers, Norfolk, Surrey and Arundel Streets; and there are four principal thoroughfares— those, namely, from Westminster, Whitehall, Blackfriars and Charing Cross. The Metropolitan District Railway has along this Embankment four stations: Westminster, Charing Cross, Temple and Blackfriars.

Returning whence we diverged, the handsome edifice next De Keyser's Royal Hotel at Blackfriars is the City of London School, a foundation of comparatively modern date (1834), which provides a first-class education for boys of the middle-classes at the moderate charge of £5 per annum. The red brick building a few yards westward is Sion College Library. Next we pass the pleasant Temple Gardens and the modern buildings which front upon them, forming one of the most delightful retreats in central

London. A short distance beyond lie Somerset House and Waterloo Bridge, with a street leading through the Savoy to the Strand. On the Embankment are blocks of fine modern buildings, the most recent of which is the Savoy Hotel. Between this point and Charing Cross, facing the Adelphi Terrace, stands the famous Egyptian obelisk, named Cleopatra's Needle, which was brought from Alexandria to England in 1878, at the charge of Sir Erasmus Wilson, and by the skill of Mr. Dixon, C.E. It is of solid granite, 70 feet high by 8 feet wide at the base, and weighs 200 tons. Here and there the wayfarer will have noticed the well laid-out Embankment Gardens, much resorted to by the residents of the Strand district in summer. Behind that, nearest Charing Cross Bridge may be seen the famous water-gate of Inigo Jones, built for Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. Pursuing our way westward, and crossing Northumberland Avenue, which leads to Charing Cross, we pass Whitehall Gardens, the Duke of Buccleuch's noble mansion, Richmond Terrace, the offices of the Civil Service Commission, the new red-brick building in occupation as Metropolitan Police Headquarters; and lastly, St. Stephen's Club, opposite the Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

WESTMINSTER: THE HALL, THE PALACE AND THE ABBEY.

WE

E are now within the limits of the ancient city of Westminster, which, from the earliest period of England's history has, more than any other spot, been intimately connected with the government of the realm. Here stands that ancient landmark of London, the venerable and beautiful Abbey, or "minster of the west," from which the locality takes it name; and adjoining it are the stately Houses of Parliament, raised on the site of the older place of meeting of the Legislature; and that grand old building, founded in Norman times, known as Westminster Hall. William the Red, second son of the Conqueror, has the credit of being the founder of Westminster Hall; but only the western wall of his building remains. In erecting it, he is said to have provoked the animosity of his subjects by imposing upon them unreasonable tasks and tributes to furnish the means; and when it was completed, he roughly complained that it was not half so large as it should have been, being but a bed-chamber in comparison with the hall he had intended to make. The original building lasted through his reign and the reigns of some of his successors. The Westminster Hall that we now see, the main beauty of which is to be found in its superb interior roof, restored during the present century, is the building of Richard II.'s time, with the important exception of the front, which has been condemned as having an air of spuriousness. It measures 239 feet in length by 68 feet in breadth, and is 110 feet high. The original Norman wall of William Rufus has been brought into view by the removal of the old Law Courts.