Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/699

Rh LONDON. 691 LONDON. time of day is kept and communicated by telegraph wires to certain stations in London. Off Greenwich pier is moored the Caledonia, an old wooden line-of-battle ship, which is now fitted up as a hospital ship for sick seamen of all nations. It is supported by voluntary sub- scriptions. Further down in Blackwall Reach we have on the left bank the West India Docks and Brunswick pier, the latter leading to those celebrated taverns where Londoners are so fond, during the whitebait season, of taking their fish dinners. Then the Blackwall railway, the East India Docks and masthouse, and the Victoria Docks ; while the opposite bank consists of a large extent of flat, damp land called the Greenwich and Bugsby's marshes. In Long Reach, on the left, are the North Woolwich Gardens, hotel, and pier, Barking and Dagenham, and Purfleet and the Government powder magazines; while on the opposite bank are Charlton, Woolwich, with its dockyard, arsenal, &c., Erith, and Dartford Marshes, and lower down Green- hithe, Northflcet, and Rosherville, and Gravesend, with Tilbury Fort on the opposite side. The docks which have been mentioned are all of them remarkable works of engineering science, and their extent such as to astonish the visitor. As an example the London Docks may be cited, which has several docks each communi- cating with the other, and the nearest or western of which is 20 acres in extent. The "tobacco dock" is surrounded by warehouses covering 4 acres, and 24,000 hogsheads of tobacco can be stowed there, while beneath are vaulted cellars capable of holding 70,000 pipes of wine and spirits. The eastern dock occupies 7 acres, and about 2,500 vessels are cleared in the London docks in the course of the year, representing freight and cargoes of nearly 500,000 tons. The docks are managed by a board of 25 directors, and employ a capital of 4,000,000 sterling. The extent of vaultage covers an underground area of 890,545 feet, and it is said that the walls which surround the docks on the land side alone have cost nearly 70,000. The corpora- tion of the Trinity House has the jurisdiction of the river Thames, and possesses very extensive powers in matters connected with its navigation, such as erecting lighthouses, the placing of buoys and sea marks, examining masters of ships, appointing pilots, removing obstructions to the navigation, &c. The corporation consists of a master, 4 wardens, 8 assistants, and 18 elder brethren, and the Trinity House itself is a hand- somo stone building in Trinity-square, on Great Tower- hill, not far from the Tower, the Custom House, and the Royal Mint. The former of these is a very extensive fortress, having four turrets, and presenting within the appearance of a regular town, as it comprises inside the walls an area of upwards of 1 2 acres. It has several streets it.'S barracks for the garrison stationed there. The chief entrance is by a stone bridge over a ditch on the W. ride. On the river side is a gate opening into a cut which loads to the ditch or moat by which the Tower is sur- rounded. This gate is known as the "Traitors' Gate," from the circumstance that through it state prisoners were brought to and from their trials at Westminster. The principal objects to be seen are various armouries and the crown jewels, which are said to be worth about 3,000,000 sterling. The Tower is open daily to the public by tickets to be obtained at the gate. The warders or " beefeaters " (boufetiers, or attendants at the ')> a body of men dressed in quaint costume, are in iness to show visitors over at the fee of Gr!. each no armouries, and 6d. to the crown jewels. Tho jin House is a plain but extensive and convenient of buildings immediately below Billingsgate- market. The principal, or " long room," is 190 feet by "lit 55 feet high in the centre. The business n; Custom House at London is of course enormous, i largo staff of officials is kept constantly employed. The customs are under the control of nine com- ioners acting under the Lords of the Treasury, and have jurisdiction over all the ports of England and Will -. tho Mint is on Little Tower-hill. It ig a massive and extensive building with ponderous entrance gates. It is fitted with engines and apparatus of great power, accuracy, and ingenuity for the various purposes of coining the current money of the realm, the production of which in 10 years has been 52,696,355 sovereigns ; 12,692,316half-sovereigns; 14,380,157florins; 24,154,339 shillings; 20,200,444 sixpences; 782,661 groats; 18,359,110 threepences; 133,445,760 pence; and 152,686,237 halfpence. Permission to view it can only be obtained from tho chief officer, who is styled the " Master of the Mint." Returning westward from tho place which is the manufactory of money, by tho Minories, Leaden- hall-street, past Bishopsgate-street, and so into Cprnhill, tho passenger soon arrives in the neighbourhood of its prin- cipal market, the Stock Exchange, the Royal Exchange, andthe Bank of England. The first of these has entrances from Hercules-passage, Shorter' s-court, New-court, and Capel-court. It is a large room with a cupola in the middle, and is fitted with tables and benches for tho accommodation of tho brokers and jobbers and their clerks, who alone have tho right of entree there. Any non-member who should venture inside is liable not only to be insulted, but to be grossly maltreated, a fact which contrasts badly with the courteousness which is observed to strangers in other societies in the modern day. The affairs of tho Stock Exchange are managed by a committee of 24 members annually elected by ballot. Tho Royal Exchange is a truncated triangular building, about 310 feet long from E. to W., by about 175 feet at tho E. and 120 at the W. end, and sur- mounted by a tower 177 feet in height. Tho quadrangle is 170 feet long by 112 wide. It was opened by the queen in 1844, and has in tho centre of tho quadrangle a statue of her Majesty by Lough. All round the quadrangle is an arcade or covered walk, in which merchants transact their business, and denominated the " merchants' walks." The roof and sides of this arcade are adorned with frescoes, and on the walls are exhibited placards advertising tho sailing of ships, sales by auction, various shops, &c. On tho E. and N. sides of the Exchange upstairs is tho vast shipping establishment known as " Lloyds." It consists of three principal rooms, one of which is open to tho public and has an excellent refreshment bar, and the others reserved for the use of subscribers. The entrance is by a vestibule 35 feet square opening on the S. into the subscription, or "underwriters" room, and on the W. side into tho public, or " commercial " room. The former of these apartments is 100 feet by 48 ; the latter 92 feet by 40 in its widest part, and 30 feet high. Beyond tho subscription room is the reading room and library, 40 feet by 25, and lighted by a lantern. The E. front of the Royal Exchange has in the centre four Corinthian columns from which the tower springs, and on the top of tho tower is the famous old copper-gilt grasshopper rane 11 feet long, which escaped injury from tho fire which burnt down the old Exchange in 1838. Also in the tower aro a clock and a peal of 15 bells. The main portico is at the W. end, mounted on 13 granite steps and supported by columns, and in the tympanum of the pediment is an allegorical pioceof sculpture in relief representing commerce. There are two inscriptions on tho frieze, one recording tho foundation of tho original building, 13th Elizabeth, and its restoration, 7th Victoria; the other the words, "Tho earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." The 8. side of tho building is nrincipally occupied by tho London Assurance Corporation. Tho building is under tho management of tho Gresham Committee, Sir Tho- mas Gresham having been the founder of tho original Elizabethan building, and the cstablisher of the col- lego in Basinghall-Btreet which still goes by his name, and where the Gresham Lectures are delivered by seven professors, upon the subjects of divinity, astro- "nomy, music, geometry, Roman law, physic, and rhe- toric. Gresham's statue, which was also saved from tho fire of 1838, is now deposited in this college. The Coal Exchange is a building in tho Italian style of architecture, and has two principal fronts, of which one is in Lower Thames-street, tho other in St. Mary-