rise twice a day to the height of seventeen feet at London Bridge, or at the extreme springs to the height of about twenty-two feet, and this influence is perceptible, though in a less degree, as far as Teddington, between Richmond and Kingston. The salt water itself keeps many miles away from London, but once, in Henry VIII's reign (1542), there occurred such a drought, and the Thames fell so low that the salt water flowed above London Bridge. The flow of the river at ebb tide is about 3 miles an hour between Westminster and London Bridges; the tidal flow is about thirteen miles an hour.

On rare occasions the tide rises to such a height that all the low-lying places on the banks of the river are flooded, and much damage is done. On the 7th and 8th of March 1860 the river rose to an unusual height; the Temple Gardens were flooded to the depth of several feet, and the pleasure grounds attached to the mansions in Privy Gardens, Whitehall, were inundated. The water covered the Horseferry Road, Westminster, to a considerable depth, and prevented all thoroughfare, so that persons proceeding in that way had to be ferried in boats along the street. The open spaces in front of Lambeth Palace and Bishop's Walk were likewise covered with water. In this neighbourhood the houses of the poor inhabitants were flooded, and much mischief was done. Lower down the river, on the south shore, and at Limehouse, Blackwall, and Wapping, on the north shore, there was much destruction of property, and in many granaries, warehouses, and cellars near the banks, very great damage was done. The marshes of Battersea, Greenwich, Woolwich, and Essex, were converted into great lakes.

Formerly there were several state barges kept on the Thames, but they are being gradually laid down. The Lord Mayor's barge and the barge of the Goldsmith's Company have been sold. The Sovereign has, or had until lately, a state barge, a curious specimen of boat building, constructed 150 years ago. The Elder Brethren of the Trinity House retain their barge, and so do the Lords of the Admiralty.

Rowing in light pleasure boats on the Thames, from Chelsea upwards, is a favourite amusement with young men, and matches take place during the summer which excite great interest among the Londoners, who are attracted to the river in large numbers on these occasions to witness the contest. Large sums are staked in bets on the event, more Anglorum. The most inte

resting of these matches is that between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. On the first of August every year a coat and silver badge are rowed for by Thames watermen in pursuance of the will of Dogget the actor (d. 1721), who left a sum of money for the purpose.

The cold is sometimes so severe that the Thames is frozen from bank to bank, and there are records from ancient times of carts having crossed over the ice, and of fairs being held upon it. Thus Evelyn, under date of the 24th of January 1684, writes, "The frost continuing more and more severe, the Thames before London was planted with boothes in formal streetes, all sorts of trades and shops furnished, and all full of commodities, even to a printing presse, where the people and ladies tooke a fancy to have their names printed on the Thames. Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from several other staires, as in the streetes; sliding with skeetes, and bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays, and interlades, cookes, tipling, etc., so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph or carnival on the water." At the beginning of 1814 similar occurrences and scenes took place on the frozen river, and there is a book in existence which has this title page :"Frostiana, or a History of the river Thames in a frozen state, with an account of the late severe frost, etc., printed and published on the ice on the river Thames, February 5, 1814." So lately as January 1861 the river was ice bound. THE PORT OF LONDON extends from London Bridge for six miles and a half down the river to a place called Bugsby's Hole. The part where vessels lie is divided into the Upper Pool, which consists of the reach from the bridge nearly as far as the tunnel, and the Lower Pool, extending thence to Cuckold's Point. Colliers lie chiefly in the Lower Pool, a clear way of 300 feet being left for other vessels. The amount of business done in this port is very great. (See the notice of the Custom House in this volume.) As many as 244 vessels have been known to enter it in one day, but this was after bad weather. Many fatal accidents occur in the port in the course of the year; there being about 500 lives lost here annually. A vigilant police force keeps depredators in check. At Wapping is a place called Execution Dock, where pirates and sailors guilty of murder were executed in former days.

As the "silent highway" of the Thames is greatly frequented, and as it is highly desirable that the stranger who wishes to

examine London thoroughly should see not only various objects lying on the banks of the river, but the bridges spanning the current, which can be done nowhere so well as from the stream itself, we propose to take him to the bridge that connects Battersea with Chelsea, and then conduct him in three stages to Greenwich. The first division of this river route will be that from

BATTERSEA AND CHELSEA BRIDGE TO HUNGERFORD BRIDGE.

Battersea Church, where Lord Bolingbroke, Pope's friend, was interred, stands on the south bank, a little above the first-mentioned bridge. Cremorne Gardens, a popular haunt of pleasure seekers, lies almost opposite on the north bank. A little below it on the same bank is Chelsea Church. Sir Thomas More lived in a mansion in this neighbourhood, the gardens of which extended to the river; and here Henry VIII. has been seen to walk with him "by the space of an hour, holding his arm about his neck," that neck which his gracious majesty was in course of time to order the executioner to sever with his axe. In the church is a black marble tablet to More, with a Latin inscription, placed there by More himself three years previous to his judicial murder. In the churchyard is a curious monument to Sir Hans Sloane, egg-shaped, with serpents entwined round it. At Chelsea have lived several eminent persons in former days, when country retirement was to be had here. Swift, Addison, Steele, Locke, and Smollett, made it their residence. Between the church and Cadogan Pier is Cheyne Walk, and a little below is the Apothecaries' Botanic Garden, and then comes Chelsea Hospital, for our old soldiers, built by Wren. On the opposite bank is Battersea Park, a place only recently laid out. Between the hospital and the park the river is 790 feet wide. From the north end of Mr. Page's elegant Suspension Bridge a new road leads to Sloane Street, in the direction of Hyde Park. Nearly adjacent to this bridge is the bridge by which the railway is taken northwards to the Victoria Station, Pimlico. On the south bank below these bridges are the Nine Elms Station Warehouses of the South Western Railway Company, the Belmont and Vauxhall Works of Price's Patent Candle Company, and near the end of Vauxhall Bridge, the Phoenix Gas Works. Not far distant are the once celebrated Vauxhall Gardens, but their glory has departed; their ten thousand lamps have been extinguished for

ever, and they have become common-place building ground, which any one may purchase at so much a foot. Behind Pimlico Pier, on the north bank, are the Government Military Clothing Stores. Trinity Church is opposite to the end of the bridge. We now pass under Vauxhall Bridge, and are in the near neighbourhood of the huge building once called Millbank Penitentiary, now Millbank Prison. On the other bank are the towers of Lambeth Palace and St. Mary's Church, opposite St. John's Church (north bank), which has been compared to an elephant on its back, with its four legs in the air. Beyond are the grand front and the lofty towers of the Houses of Parliament, and behind stands Westminster Abbey. Passing under the new Westminster Bridge, another of Mr. Page's iron structures, we may see the building lately used by the extinct Government Board of Control in Indian affairs, then the end of Richmond Terrace, near which is the Duke of Buccleuch's new and spacious mansion. Then come Privy Gardens, Whitehall, with their private houses, in one of which Sir Robert Peel died. Soon afterwards we arrive at the new railway bridge at Hungerford.

HUNGERFORD BRIDGE TO LONDON BRIDGE.

Soon after leaving Hungerford Bridge behind, we see at the end of Buckingham Street the rustic Watergate, the work of Nicholas Stone, the sculptor of many monuments in Westminster Abbey. It is the last relic of a mansion known as York House, from having been the town residence of the Archbishops of York. It came, however, to be let to the keepers of the great seal, and there Lord Bacon was born, and there he was living when the great seal was taken from him. It passed into the hands of Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, and he it was who built the Watergate, two years before his assassination. The adjoining Adelphi Terrace was erected, with other streets, by the brothers Adam in 1768. David Garrick died in the centre house (1779), and there his remains lay in state previous to interment in the Abbey. The vaults under the terrace are used as cellars and coal wharf's. Before gas was, these vaults were the mighty haunt of thieves and profligates. A little beyond the terrace is the SAVOY. On the opposite bank of the river will be seen the Lion Brewery and a tall shot tower, which some one has ventured to say is of finer design than Wren's London Monument. We now pass under one of the arches of WATERLOO BRIDGE, and emerge in front of

SOMERSET HOUSE. The eastern angle of the noble front is King's College. From some parts of the river the towers of St. Mary le Strand and St. Clement Danes are caught. The three streets that come down to the river are Surrey Street, Norfolk Street, and Arundel Street, which occupy the site of the Earl of Arundel's mansion, where he assembled his famed marbles in the first half of the 17th century. Peter the Great lodged in Norfolk Street, in a house near the river, and at the south-west corner William Penn the quaker lived. Essex Street is on the site of the mansion where the Earl of Essex was living when he made his attempt to dethrone Queen Elizabeth. He fortified the house and only surrendered when he saw that defence against the artillery, by which it was threatened, was hopeless.

The Temple Pier is at the end of Essex Street, and close by is a new and handsome building, the MIDDLE TEMPLE LIBRARY, standing at one side of its patch of garden, and near the HALL. The larger garden of the Inner Temple is a little beyond, with its halls and various buildings occupied as lawyers' chambers. Further on are the unsightly buildings of the City Gas Works, erected on part of the site of Whitefriars which acquired the cant name of Alsatia. It was the haunt of the worst class of

people, and has been often mentioned in works of fiction, early and modern. (See Sir Walter Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel" for example.) The elegant spire of St. Bride's is seen behind. Passing Blackfriars Bridge—on the east side is the city steam-boat pier— we shall see on the north bank the City Flour Mill, said to be one of the largest establishments of the kind in the world. The buildings cover an acre of ground, and the principal one is eight stories high. This bank of the river is a region of active commerce, lined with warehouses that extend to Upper and Lower Thames Street. The Dome of St. Paul's is seen towering over all meaner edifices. Behind St. Paul's pier is St. Bennet's church, where Inigo Jones, the architect of the beautiful banquetinghouse, Whitehall, was interred. Notice the handsome steeple of Bow Church. An indentation of the river is called Queenhithe dock, hithe being the Saxon name for a wharf. This spot has been used as a landing-place from very ancient times, and is frequently mentioned in our early dramatists. It derives the first syllable of its name from having been part of the dowry of Eleanor, queen of Henry II. In Stow's time it was the chief watergate of the city. At this time it is chiefly used by barges bringing grain and