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left, would take us northward to the Bethnal Green Museum (p. 274). At the corner of this road, and at the beginning of the spacious Mile End Road, are the Trinity Almshouses for seamen and their wives and widows, a picturesque group little altered since their establishment by Trinity House in 1696. Stepney Green, on the south side of Mile End Road, leads obliquely to St. Dunstan's, the parish church of Stepney, with a large churchyard now converted into a public garden. This fine Perpendicular church, with registers dating back to 1568, narrowly escaped destruction by fire in 1901. It contains several tombs of fifteenth and sixteenth century worthies, including Sir Henry Colet, father of Dean Colet of St. Paul's. Another is the well-known "fish and ring monument to Dame Rebecca Berry, who was long supposed to be the heroine of the ballad called "The Cruel Knight and the Fortunate Farmer's Daughter." According to the story-a curious variant of that of St. Mungo, which gave rise to the fish and ring" in the Glasgow arms-a knight was passing a cottage when he heard the cries of a woman. His knowledge of the occult sciences warning him that the child then born was destined to be his wife, he attempted unsuccessfully to encompass the death of the child, in order to escape this ignoble alliance. When she had grown to woman's estate he took her to sea with the intention of drowning her. Relenting of his purpose, he cast a ring into the sea and commanded her never to see his face again unless she could produce the ring. The woman became a cook, and, finding the ring in a cod-fish, married the knight.

The

Towards the eastern end of Mile End Road is the People's Palace (Plan I. B. 17), the outcome of a suggestion in the late Sir Walter Besant's All Sorts and Conditions of Men. Queen's Hall, seating 2,500, and having a magnificent organ, was opened by Queen Victoria in state in 1887. In addition there are summer and winter gardens, a library, a gymnasium, swimming-baths, workshops, etc. The funds were mainly provided by the trustees of Mr. Barber Beaumont and the Drapers' Company. The Palace is also known as the East London Technical College, and is the centre of much useful educational work.

We have wandered rather far from the City, however, and must beg the reader to put on the magic slippers, and return at a bound to Aldgate (p. 278). Varying our outward route, we will regain the Bank by way of Fenchurch Street (Plan I. D. 13). In Lloyds' Avenue, a new thoroughfare on the south side, is the fine new building of Lloyds', with beautiful friezes and marbles. Fenchurch Street Station is the terminus of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, and is also largely used by the Great Eastern Railway. Steps in front of the

station lead down to Hart Street, where is St. Olave's Church (open 12.30 to 3), one of the thirteen City churches which escaped the Fire. It dates from the fifteenth century, and contains many quaint old tombs. It is chiefly interesting, however, as our owne church" of Samuel Pepys, the diarist. He and his wife are buried here, a modern memorial in the south aisle recalling the fact. Crutched Friars is a crooked street deriving its name from a former monastery of the Crossed Friars.

Mark Lane, connecting Fenchurch Street with Great Tower Street, is the centre of the corn trade, the dealers on market days, chiefly Mondays, meeting in the commodious Corn Exchange. According to some authorities, the name is a corruption of Mart Lane. Mincing Lane, running parallel on the west, is the centre of the tea trade, where "tasters" foregather and draw luxurious salaries for the performance of duties which the majority of women would gladly do for nothing. Mark and Mincing Lanes and the streets thereabouts are also the headquarters of the wine trade. The Clothworkers' Hall seems somewhat out of place in such a locality. One of the Company's most treasured possessions is a loving cup presented by Pepys, who was Master in 1677.

Continuing along Fenchurch Street, we cross Gracechurch Street (p. 276) and enter Lombard Street (Plan I. D. 12 and 13), generally looked upon as the richest street in the world. On either hand handsome buildings display brass plates bearing names we would gladly be more familiar with; and in Post Office Court is that useful institution, the Bankers' Clearing House, where cheques having a face value of hundreds of millions change hands every year. The name of the street is an obvious reminder of the old Lombard money-lenders. Pope was born in Plough Court in 1688. On the north side of the street is the Church of St. Edmund the Martyr, and at the western end is St. Mary Woolnoth's, already referred to (p. 241).

ROUTE XIII.-KING WILLIAM STREET-LONDON BRIDGE-THE TOWERTOWER BRIDGE-THE DOCKS.

Now let us complete our rambles from the Bank by following King William Street, named after our sailor king," in a south-easterly direction to London Bridge, whence we can turn eastward to the Tower and the Docks. At the junction with Cannon Street and Gracechurch Street is a Statue of William IV, occupying the site of the old Boar's Head Tavern, the scene of the roysterings of Prince Henry and Falstaff. Across the road is the Monument Station, and in Fish Street, to the east,

is the Monument itself (Plan II. D. 13), a fluted Doric column, 202 ft. high, erected by Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666, which broke out in Pudding Lane close by, and destroyed property valued at over ten million pounds (see p. 76). Persons desirous of so doing may, on payment of threepence, ascend to the "caged" gallery near the top. The view is sublime, but the steps are 345. The cage is designed to protect would-be suicides from themselves. The gilt urn, like Moses' bush, burns but is not consumed.

The present London Bridge (Plan II. D. 12) dates from 1831, and was designed by John Rennie. The Thames at this point narrows to 900 ft., but is much wider both above and below. The bridge is a granite structure of five arches, having a length of 928 ft. The span of the central arch is 152 ft. In 1903-4 a considerable widening was effected by means of corbels, increasing the space between the parapets from 53 ft. 6 in. to 65 ft., and the footways from 9 ft. to 15 ft. each. The necessity for the widening may be judged from the fact that about 30,000 vehicles, to say nothing of pedestrians, cross the bridge daily. Until after the middle of the eighteenth century, London Bridge afforded the only means of crossing the Thames except by boat. The predecessor of the present structure was more like a street than a bridge, being lined on both sides with houses and having fortified gates at each end. From the east side a fine view of the busy Pool, so admirably rendered in the pictures of Vicat Cole, W. L. Wyllie, Chas. Dixon and others, is gained. Below the west side of the bridge, and dating from the same period, is Fishmongers' Hall. The Fishmongers, incorporated so long ago as the reign of Edward I, are one of the wealthiest of the great companies. On the staircase is a statue of “Brave Walworth, knight, Lord Mayor," who slew rebellious Tyler; and the actual dagger is also shown, though it is quite erroneous to suppose, as many do, that this is the object which figures in the City arms. As a matter of fact, the heraldic emblem is not a dagger at all, but the sword of St. Paul, the patron saint of London. In front of this is Old Swan Pier, the starting point of the Palace Steamers, while Fresh Wharf, the starting point of the Belle and the General Steam Navigation Steamers is on the east side of the bridge (see p. 30).

The northern approach to London Bridge spans Lower Thames Street, a decidedly "fishy" thoroughfare-if a road which is perpetually blocked can be called a thoroughfare-skirting the north bank of the Thames between London Bridge and the

Tower. Just below the bridge, at the foot of Fish Street Hill, is the Church of St. Magnus the Martyr, rebuilt by Wren after the Fire. We are now in the somewhat unsavoury locality of Billingsgate, which has been almost from time immemorial the principal fish market of London. The present building, Italian in style, dates from 1877. To be seen at its best, the Market should be visited shortly after the opening at 5 a.m. Adjoining is the Custom House, the fine river front of which, 488 ft. long, is an imposing feature in the view from London Bridge. In spite of alarmist statements about the decadence of the Port of London, the duties here levied almost equal those of all other British seaports put together. Opposite, at the corner of St. Mary-at-Hill, is the Coal Exchange, with a tower over 100 ft. high, and a handsomely decorated circular hall, with frescoes illustrative of the coal industry. The inlaid floor, comprising 40,000 pieces of wood, represents a mariner's compass. Other curiosities shown are the remains of a Roman bath, and a sword in the City arms made of the wood of a mulberry tree said to have been planted by Peter the Great when learning shipbuilding in this country. In Idol Lane is the church of St. Dunstan-in-the-East, rebuilt in the early part of last century to replace a building designed by Wren. The neighbouring church of St. Mary-at-Hill is the headquarters of the Church Army. Lantern lectures, concerts, etc., are frequently given in the building.

Turning now into Great Tower Street, the eastward continuation of Eastcheap, we pass Mark Lane Station, and, on the opposite side, the church of All Hallows, Barking, so called not because it is in Barking, which is 7 miles distant, but because it was founded by the nuns of Barking Abbey, a figure of whose first Abbess, St. Ethelburga, may be seen in the porch. Archbishop Laud was buried here after his execution on Tower Hill in 1645, but eighteen years later the body was removed to St. John's College, Oxford. The church contains a number of old brasses.

We have now reached Tower Hill, as interesting a spot historically as any in the City. On a site to the north-west, now enclosed by the railing of Trinity Square, the headsman's block stood almost continuously for centuries. Here, to name only a few, were beheaded Dudley, the minister of Henry VII (1510); his son, the Duke of Northumberland (1553); and his grandson, Lord Guildford Dudley (1554); More and Fisher (1535); the Protector Somerset (1552); Strafford (1641), and Laud (1645).