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minster-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-place and Wilton-street with the fashionable squares and streets of Pimlico; through Sloane-street with Chelsea; and through the old western road with Brompton, Knightsbridge, Hammersmith, Kensington, 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

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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 Musenm. The southern portion of Wellington-street leads over Waterloo-bridge to Southwark and Lambeth. In the Waterloo-road is the Ter minus of the South Western Railway. In the immediate vicinity are Exeter Hall, 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 Fleetstreet 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 PostOffice, 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 vehicles to almost any part of the city or suburbs. Turning from these magnificent buildings down King William-street, we reach London-bridge.

Eastwards 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 Londonbridge. At its southern extremity is the Terminus of the Brighton, Dover, and Greenwich Railways. The Tunnel recently constructed under the Thames is rather less than two miles lower down the river than Londonbridge. At the north-eastern side of the bridge is a range of wharfs, where passengers embark in the principal steamers for places down the river, 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 ordinary 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.

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CHAPTER III.

RELIGIOUS EDIFICES.

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 position, on 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, was destroyed in the great fire of London, A. D. 1666; and the erection of the present building was intrusted to Sir Christopher Wren, under whose direction the first stone was laid, in 1675.

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The highest or last stone on the top of the lantern was laid by Mr. Christopher Wren, the son of the great architect, in the year 1710; and thus was this noble fabric, lofty enough to be discerned at sea eastward, and at Windsor to the west, begun and completed in the space of thirty-five years, by one architect, the great Sir Christopher Wren; one principal mason, Mr. Strong;

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