CHAPTER II.

DIRECTIONS TO THE PRINCIPAL LINES OF STREETS.

I began to study the map of London, though dismayed at the sight of its prodigious extent." The river is no assistance to a stranger in finding his way. There is no street along its banks, and no eminence from whence you can look around and take your bearings.-Southey.

NOTWITHSTANDING the vast size of London, there are few cities through which it is easier to find a desired route, by attending to a few leading points of direction. Persons coming from the north and west of England are placed by the railways in close contact with the great thoroughfare of the New Road, which runs from Paddington to the Bank, and from this there are several leading thoroughfares which communicate with the important line of streets which intersects London from west to east. This intersecting line may be considered the principal standard of direction for that part of London situated on the north of the Thames. Beginning at the west it may be described as consisting of Bayswater Road, Oxford Street, Holborn, Holborn Hill, Newgate Street, Cheapside, the Poultry, Cornhill, Leadenhall Street, and Whitechapel Road; a little further to the south are converging lines, having a slight degree of parallelism, which join the main line at the two extremities of Cheapside. The western subsidiary line consist of Piccadilly, part of Waterloo Place, Pall Mall east, the Strand, Fleet Street, and Ludgate Hill; joining Cheapside through St. Paul's Churchyard, and also offering an avenue to the wharfs, the Docks, and the Tower, through Watling Street, Eastcheap, and Great Tower Street. At the eastern extremity of Cheapside, a line diverges to London Bridge, (on the Surrey side of which is the Terminus of the Brighton, Dover, and North Kent Railway) through King William Street.

The lines that cross these longitudinal courses of streets, from north to south, are not so distinct or direct as those from east to west, which we have just described. We shall notice the most important; beginning, as before, at the extreme north-west. Near the Paddington Station of the Great Western Railway is the Edgeware Road, which joins the New Road with the western extremity of Oxford Street, and thus places strangers on what we have described as the great intersecting line of the metropolis; and this line may be continued to the Piccadilly line, divergent through Hyde Park, or Park Lane, which are very nearly direct continuations of the Edgeware Road. The other lines of communication, between the New Road and Oxford Street, are Gloucester Place, continued through Park Street to Piccadilly; Baker Street, continued through Audley Street to

Piccadilly; and at the north side of the New Road, forming the chief line of connection with the west side of the Regent's Park, and the suburban district of St. John's Wood. Wimpole Street, or Harley Street, connected with the Piccadilly divergent through New Bond Street, and Portland Place, which fronts the Regent's Park, and through Regent's Street, connects Oxford Street with Piccadilly, Pall Mall, and St. James's Park, from which it is easy to find the way to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and the principal Offices of Government. And after having passed the Park, and Portland Place, pursuing the road to the city, the next great line leading to the south is Tottenham Court Road, a very important thoroughfare, because on its north side it communicates with the great line of road leading to Camden Town, Kentish Town, Hampstead, and Highgate; and on its south side it joins the great intersecting line at the point of junction between Oxford Street and New Oxford Street. From this point there are two lines of communication with the Strand; one through Bloomsbury Street, the Seven Dials, and St. Martin's Lane, which leads to Charing Cross; and the other through a new opening called Endell Street, continued in front of Covent Garden Theatre, through Bow Street, Charles Street, and Wellington Street, into the Strand, opposite Waterloo Bridge. Nearly parallel with Tottenham Court Road is the line of Gower Street, which is not open for carriages, being stopped by a gate in front of the London University; and between this and King's Cross there are several indirect lines leading to Holborn, through Russell and Bloomsbury Squares. The New Road passes through the centre of Euston Square, on the north side of which is the Terminus of the North-western Railway. Those passengers who, on their arrival at this station, wish to go to the west-end, will find their various routes already recorded in this paragraph. Continuing the line of the New Road, we reach King's Cross, where will be the Terminus of the Great Northern Railway, from which there is a divergent line north-westwards, by the Pancras Road to the eastern side of Camden Town, and a communication with the middle of Holborn by Gray's Inn Lane: the New Road is continued over Pentonville Hill to the Angel at Islington, from whence there are lines of communication to the west-end of Newgate Street, by St. John Street and Smithfield; and to the east-end by Goswell Street and Aldersgate Street. The New Road, from Islington, takes the name of the City Road, and leads direct to the Bank. To the Bank also converge the north-eastern lines of communication, by Shoreditch (in which is the Terminus of the Eastern Counties Railway) and Bishopsgate Street, by Mile End and Whitechapel; and the eastern line by the Mile End Road.

The portion of London on the south side of the Thames presents more intelligible lines of communication, and much more easily remembered than those we have just described. The great Roads from the principal bridges converge at the obelisk in St. George's Fields, or may be described as radiating from the obelisk to the bridges. Taking the former arrangement, we may state that Bridge Street and Westminster Road lead from Westminster Bridge to the Obelisk; Waterloo Road, from Waterloo Bridge to the Obelisk; Blackfriars' Road, from

Blackfriars' Bridge to the Obelisk; Bridge Street, from Southwark Bridge to the Obelisk; High Street and Blackman Street, from London Bridge to the Obelisk.

To facilitate the stranger's acquisition of a knowledge of the localities of London, it may be well to point out some remarkable spots which ought to have their situations impressed upon the memory, so as to make them centres to which other directions may easily be referred.

The north, or Tyburn end of Hyde Park, stands at the extreme of what we have described as the great intersecting line of the metropolis; it communicates with the western suburbs by Bayswater, with the northern by the Edgeware Road, with the divergent line of Piccadilly through Hyde Park, and opens the extreme line of communication which runs completely across the city, through Oxford Street. The southern extremity of Hyde Park communicates through Grosvenor Street, and Wilton Street, with the fashionable squares and streets of Belgravia; through Sloane Street, with Chelsea; and through the old Western Road, with Brompton, Knightsbridge, Hammersmith, Kew, and Richmond; it commences what we have termed the divergent of the great intersectional line, with which the Piccadilly line unites in St. Paul's Churchyard, where it joins Cheapside.

Trafalgar Square, or Charing Cross, is about the middle of this diverging line; the Piccadilly portion of the line coming into it from the west, and the Strand continuing it towards the east. Through St. Martin's Lane there is a direct communication with Holborn, and the northern parts of London; and through Charing Cross and Parliament Street, the great thoroughfare of Westminster passes, leading to Whitehall, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and the principal offices of Government. The National Gallery, and the principal club houses are in the immediate neighbourhood. Wellington Street, which crosses the Strand about the middle, is a place that deserves to be noted. Its northern part leads to Covent Garden Theatre, and, by a slight deviation, to Drury Lane Theatre: and thence, from Bow Street, through Endell Street, to New Oxford Street and the British Museum. The southern portion of Wellington Street leads over Waterloo Bridge to Southwark and Lambeth. In the Waterloo Road is the Terminus of the South-Western Railway, from which are frequent trains to Kew Gardens, Richmond, Hampton Court, and Windsor. In the immediate vicinity are Exeter Ĥall, where the meetings of the various religious and charitable societies are usually held; and Somerset House, divided between several scientific bodies and various Offices of Government.

Temple Bar is erected at the point of union between the Strand and Fleet Street, and separates the cities of London and Westminster. At the end of Fleet Street, the communication northwards with Holborn is through Chancery Lane, which leads to Lincoln's Inn and the new Chancery Courts, and terminates in Holborn, opposite Gray's Inn. On the south side of this part of Fleet Street is the Temple; and a little further to the east is another line of communication with Holborn, through Fetter Lane.

St. Paul's Churchyard, by some called the lungs of London, is a

central point of some importance to those who wish to acquire a knowledge of the localities and directions of the city. It is entered from the west by Ludgate Hill. There is no passage for carriages at the north side of the church; but this side has many attractions for visitors, since here, and in the adjoining streets, such as Paternoster Row, Amen Corner, Ave Maria Lane, is the great mart for the literature of the empire. Stationers' Hall is placed in a small court, to which there is an entrance from Ludgate Hill. Carriages go round the church on the south side, and passing Watling Street, come into the great trunk line of intersection at the point of junction between Newgate Street and Cheapside. At the north side of this junction is the General Post Office and Money Order Office, from which Aldersgate Street, continued by Goswell Street, leads direct to the New Road and Islington.

The Bank and Royal Exchange form the grand central point of meeting for the great majority of the London Omnibuses; and conveyances may be had from thence in these veichles to almost any part of the city or suburbs. Turning from these magnificent buildings down King William Street, we reach London Bridge.

Eastward of London Bridge is the course of the way to the Tower and the Docks. Thames Street, which is intersected by the dry arch of the bridge, runs east and west, parallel to the river, with which it communicates by various small streets and lanes, leading to the wharfs. The greater part of the traffic between London and the south-eastern part of England, passes over London Bridge. At its southern extremity is the Terminus of the Brighton, Dover, North Kent, and Greenwich Railways. The Tunnel recently constructed under the Thames is rather less than two miles lower down the river than London Bridge. At the north-eastern side of the bridge is a range of wharfs, where passengers embark in the principal steamers for Greenwich, Woolwich, Gravesend or for distant ports. There is probably no part of the metropolis which will give strangers so complete a notion of the business and bustle of London as this bridge and the localities in its immediate neighbourhood.

We have already mentioned that the best points of guidance for the portion of London south of the Thames, are the bridges and the obelisk. We recommend strangers to study the lines of communication and the points of direction we have indicated on any good map of London; and when they have done so, we are persuaded that they will have no difficulty in finding their way to any locality that they may desire.

CHAPTER III.

RELIGIOUS EDIFICES.

This City Queen-this peerless mass

Of pillar'd Domes, and grey-worn Towers sublime.-Montgomery.

THE religious edifices of London have the most prominent and imposing share in its architectural splendour, and from their vast number must interest and surprise the casual visitor; they are, therefore, particularly deserving of notice.

The places of public worship amount to upwards of seven hundred, of which there are three hundred and forty episcopal churches and chapels: twenty are appropriated to the Roman catholics; fourteen to the worship of foreign protestants; and three hundred and seventy to the different sects of protestant dissenters. To complete the enumeration of the religious buildings in London, it may be added that there are eight synagogues for the Jews.

Of these it can only be necessary here to call the attention of strangers to those which, by their size or beauty, distinguish the metropolis; or by some striking peculiarity are calculated to awaken curiosity. Those grand national structures-the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, and the Abbey Church of St. Peter, Westminster-first demand our attention.

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

From its vast dimensions, great height, and commanding positionon an eminence north of the Thames-St. Paul's Cathedral may be regarded as the most conspicuous edifice in the metropolis, while its architectural merits render it one of the most magnificent. The ancient Gothic cathedral, which originally stood in majestic pomp on the same spot, and so eloquently described by Dugdale and Hollar, was destroyed in the great fire of London, in 1666, when the erection of the present building was entrusted to Sir Christopher Wren, under whose direction it was completed in 1715.

In 1673, Wren commenced preparations for the new building, and submitted various designs for the inspection of the King and the commissioners. He also made the beautiful model, which is still preserved in an apartment over the Morning Prayer chapel of the cathedral. This plan was deservealy a favourite with its author, and is in many