Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/480

* LONDON. 424 LONDON. mortality. Some of the narrow streets in tlie Rotlierliitlie, Bermondscy, and Lambetli districts, south of the Thames, are also the abodes of the poorer classes. Extending far north of the old City are tens of square miles of houses of the common English type occuj)ied by the lower middle classes, who live comfortably on modest incomes; and on the outskirts of the city to the north and cast are great districts chietiy inhabited by artisans liv- ing in small hut neat houses. In the northwest are many more square miles with higher and larger houses, many of them architecturally pre- tentious, the homes of the wealthier middle class. Thousands of these houses are luxurious homes. The most striking edifices in the City of Lon- don proper, which eml)raccs only 073 acres, are banks, exchanges, warehouses, and offices, among which still stand a number of edifices which were llip palaces of the nobility before commerce drove tlicm farther west. During the day more than 1,0.000 human beings are working within the narrow limits of the old City. At night its only inhabitants are the caretakers with their families and the police. Only 20,923 persons lived in the old City in 11)01. Two of the royal palaces, once in the heart of the fashionable quarter, are now considerably east of the aristocratic part of London. These are Saint .Tames's Palace (q.v. ), lying directly eastward of Eelgravia. the most fashionable part of London, an<l Buckingham Palace, isolateil by the parks in front of it and the royal private gardens in the rear, but within soimd of the roar of commercial Victoria Street. Other notable palaces are JIarlborough House (q.v.), the resi- dence of the Prince of Wales; Kensington Palace, (q.v.) on the west of Kensington Oardens; Lam- beth Palace (q.v.). the archicpiscopal residence of the primates of England; and Whitehall (q.v.), the ancient palace of the archbishops of York, replete with historic associations, and now used for public offices. The Tower (q.v.) is the most venerable of the old buildings. It stands on the banks of the Thames at the southeast corner of the old City. The ancient walls, the fine building called the White Tower, Saint .John's Chapel, one of the finest specimens of Norman architecture in Great Britain, and other structures of more modern date stand amid a garden and drill ground every inch of which is historic. This scene of former crimes and suffering is now used as an arsenal and armory, and the crown jewels of the King- dom are kept there. Westminster Abbey (q.v.), less ancient than the Tower, was built in the city of that name long since merged with London. In spite of additions and restorations not ap- proved by the architectural taste of to-day, the Abbey remains one of the most perfect specimens of Gothic architecture in England. Its interior is strikingly beautiful, though much crowded with monuments reared to royalty and hundreds of the great men of the coimtry. Among the largest Gothic edifices in the world are the Houses of Parliament, standing on the banks of the Thames, with a river front of 940 feet, covering eight acres and containing more than 1000 rooms and two miles of corridors. The chief external fea- tures are Saint Stephen's or the Clock Tower, 318 feet high, containing the great bell Big Ben; the iliddle Tower. 300 feet high : and the Victoria Tower, 340 feet high, with its handsome and lofty royal entrance. The chief interior features arc the House of Peers, the House of Connnons, West- minster Hall, part of the ancient Westminster Palace of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and the scene of numerous historical events of importance, the octagoiial central hall with its noble monument - the libraries, and the numerous courts. Tl dome of Saint Paul's Cathedral (q.v.) rises higli above London, is visible from most parts of the city, is the first object to impress the stranger, and is the noblest of the monumental structures. Here also are many monuments to military and naval heroes, artists, and other great men ot England. The Mansion Hou.se in the Poultry, tin- official residence of the Lord Mayor, is an eigh- teenth-century structure in a Corinthian style of architecture; the Guildhall (q.v.), or City Council Hall, dates from 1411; the Royal Courts of .lustice, a magnificent block of Gotiiic build- ings on the Strand, were opened in 18.S2. The luxurious club-houses are naturally grouped in the district where they are most aceessil)le at once to the Parliament buildings and Government offices, the financial centre of the old City and the aristocratic West End. The clubs are situated in the district between Saint .James's Park on tlir south, Piccadilly on the north, and Regent Stni t on the east. Most of the club buildings are im- pressive in proportions and architecture and arc classed among the ornaments of London. The more prominent of the theatres, of which there are over thirty-six in the county di.strict and several in the suburbs, are the Royal Italian Opera or Covent Garden Theatre, in Bow Street; Drury Lane Theatre; the Lyceum, The Strand, The Savoy, The Adelphi, and the Gaiety, all in the Strand; the Haymarket; Her Majesty's Theatre, opposite the Haymarket ; The Princess, in Oxford .Street ; The Criterion, in Piccadilly : and Daly's Theatre, in Leicester Square. Tin- chief of the music halls are the .lhambra anil the Empire, both in Leicester Square, and the South of London Palace of Amusements, in Lon- don Road, holding 5,000 persons. The city is adoraed throughout with numerous monuments, statues, and memorials of eminent personages, the more remarkable being the Albert Memorial, between Queen's and Prince's gates, Kensington Gardens, opposite Albert Hall, a mag- nificent Gothic monument designed by Sir G. Scott and erected at a cost of .$000,000: the N»l- son Column, fountains, and other statues in Trafalgar Square; the colossal Statue of Achilles or (iuard's Monument, at Hyde Park corner, to the Duke of ellington ; the National Memorial to Queen Victoria, in course of erection in front of Buckingham Palace; and Cleopatra's Needle, on the 'Thames Embankment, the companion Egyptian obelisk to the one in Central Park, New York, Mt-.sEUM.s A>'D LinR,RiES. London is especially rich in museums. They are among the finest in the world ; and some of them, devoted to spe- cialties, are particularly notable. Perhaps the most famous of modern collections arc those of the British Museimi (q.v.), a vast edifice filled with countless treasures of art and nature. JIany of its galleries are crowded with sculptures. The genius of Greece may be better studied in Lon- don than in Athens since Lord Elgin brought ' his famous collection of marbles to London in ISIO. The most interesting and admirable ex- amples of the sculptural arts of Egypt, Assyria,