solidly embedded in a mass of brickwork in cement, further strengthened and backed up with concrete. The span of the central opening is greater than that of any suspension-bridge in Britain. It is only second to the suspension-bridge at Fribourg, in Switzerland, the span of which, from pier to pier, is nearly 900 feet. The first stone was laid in 1841; and the total cost, including the purchase of property, parliamentary, law, and other expenses, was 110,000. In 1845, the bridge was sold to the original proprietors for the sum of 226,000l., but only the first instalment was paid, and the purchase was thus void. The toll charged is a halfpenny each person each way.

WATERLOO BRIDGE, perhaps the noblest bridge in the world, was built by a public company pursuant to an act passed in 1809. The first stone was laid 1811, and the bridge opened on the second anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, June 18th, 1817. It is said to have cost above a million. The engineer was John Rennie, son of a farmer at Phantassie, in East Lothian-the engineer of many of our celebrated docks and of the breakwater at Plymouth.

"Canova, when he was asked during his visit to England what struck him most forcibly, is said to have replied-that the trumpery Chinese Bridge, then in St. James's Park, should be the production of the Government, whilst that of Waterloo was the work of a Private Company."Quarterly Review, No. 112, p. 309.

M. Dupin calls it "a colossal monument worthy of Sesostris and the Cæsars." It consists of nine elliptical arches of 120 feet span, and 35 feet high, supported on piers 20 feet wide at the springing of the arches. The bridge and abutments are 1380 feet long, the approach from the Strand 310 feet, and the causeway on the Surrey side, as far as supported by the land-arches, 766 feet. The bridge is, therefore, on a level with the Strand, and of one uniform level throughout. This bridge (it is 43 feet wide) affords a noble view of Somersethouse, the chef-d'œuvre of Sir William Chambers. The toll charged is a halfpenny each person each way, and the receipts from foot-passengers in a half-year of 1850 were 4676l. 178. 11d., received from 2,244,910 persons, so that in one half-year the population of London may be said to pay for passing over the bridge.

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, the second stone bridge over the Thames at London, 1223 feet long, by 42 feet wide, and built by Charles Labelye, a Swiss, naturalised in England. The first stone was laid, 1739, and the bridge opened, 1750. It consists of 15 arches, the centre being 76 feet wide, and is

built on caissons or rafts of timber, floated to the spot. destined for the piers, and then sunk, each containing 150 loads, of a form and size suitable to the pier. It was formerly surmounted by a lofty parapet, which M. Grosley, a French traveller, gravely asserted was placed there in order to prevent the English propensity to suicide; but the real intention of Labelye was to secure a sufficient weight of masonry to keep his caissons to their proper level. The system, however, of building on caissons, though certainly ingenious, has, in this case more especially, been found to be wholly erroneous. After the removal of old London Bridge, the bed of the Thames on which the caissons rest became undermined so much by the body of water and increased velocity of the tide, that three of the piers gave way, and in 1846 it was found necessary to close the bridge for carriages. Portions of the enormous masonry about it were then removed, including the lofty parapet, and the bridge itself at the same time considerably lowered, three of the arches being supported by a temporary centering resting upon piles. At present it is allowed to remain only until another can be substituted, for which Sir Charles Barry has given an elegant design or until the Thames shall wash it entirely away. The new bridge will, it is said, be a little lower down the river-of iron, and 60 feet wide, but Sir C. Barry is in favour of the present site. This would make it six feet wider than London Bridge. An iron bridge at Westminster would take twenty months to build a stone structure on the same site would take three years to erect.

VAUXHALL BRIDGE. An iron bridge, of nine equal arches, over the Thames at Vauxhall, communicating with Millbank on the left bank of the river, built from the designs of James Walker; commenced May 9th, 1811, and opened June 4th, 1816. It is the property of a private company, and the toll charged is a halfpenny each person each way. It is 798 feet long, and 36 feet wide, and is built on caissons.

THE THAMES TUNNEL is two miles below London Bridge, and is easily reached by the numerous steam-boats plying on the Thames. It is 1200 feet in length, beneath the bed of the river Thames, connecting Wapping, on the left side of the river, with Rotherhithe, or Redriff, on the right. This great work—a monument of the skill, energy, and enterprise of Sir Isambard K. Brunel (d. 1849), by whom it was planned, carried out through great difficulties, and finally completed) was commenced March 2nd, 1825, closed for seven years by an inundation, which filled the whole tunnel

with water, Aug. 12th, 1828, recommenced Jan. 1835 (thousands of sacks of clay being thrown into the river-bed above it), and opened to the public, March 25th, 1843. The idea of the shield, upon which Sir Isambard K. Brunel's plan of tunnelling was founded, was suggested to him by the operations of the teredo, a testaceous worm, covered with a cylin drical shell, which eats its way through the hardest wood. Brunel's shield (the great feature in the Thames Tunnel operations) consisted of 12 separate parts, or divisions, each containing three cells, or 36 cells in all. In these cells the miners worked, protected by the shield above and in front, and backed by the bricklayers behind, who built up as fast as the miners advanced. Government lent 247,000l., in Exchequer Bills, to advance the works, and the total cost is said to have been about 614,000l. The yearly amount of tolls and receipts is under 50007., a sum barely sufficient to cover the necessary expenditure, from the constant influx of land springs. It belongs to a public company called the Thames Tunnel Company. The descent and ascent are by cylindrical shafts of 100 steps each, and the toll for foot passengers is one penny each passenger. It has not been rendered accessible for vehicles of any sort, owing to the great cost of completing the approaches.

GOVERNMENT OFFICES.

THE TREASURY, WHITEHALL. A large range of building, between the Horse Guards and Downing-street, so called from its being the office of the Lord High Treasurer; an office of great importance, first put into commission in 1612, on Lord Salisbury's death, and so continued with very few exceptions till the present time. The prime minister of the country is always First Lord of the Treasury, and enjoys a salary of 5000l. a year, the same as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but smaller in amount than the salaries of the Lord Chancellor and of the Lord Chief Justice. He has also an official residence in Downing-street. All the great money transactions of the nation are conducted here. The Lord High Treasurer used formerly to carry a white staff, as the mark of his office. The royal throne still remains at the head of the Treasury table. The present façade toward the street was built (1846-47), by Sir Charles Barry, to replace a heavy and somewhat dowdy front, the work of Sir John Soane. The shell of the building is of an earlier date, ranging

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from Ripley's time, in the reign of George I., to the times of Kent and Soane. The building called "the Treasury" includes the Board of Trade, the Home and Privy Council offices.

PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE, WHITEHALL, is part of the south end of the present range of Treasury buildings, as altered by Sir Charles Barry in 1847-48. Here are kept the minutes of the Privy Councils of the Crown, commencing in 1540. A minute of the reign of James II. contains the original depositions attesting the birth of the Prince of Wales, afterwards known as the Old Pretender.

THE HOME OFFICE, in which the business of the Secretary of State for the Home Department (i.e. Great Britain and Ireland) is conducted, is at Whitehall, in part of the Treasury buildings. The salary of the Secretary is 50001. a year, and his duty is to see that the laws of the country are observed at home. His office is one of great importance, and is always a Cabinet appointment.

FOREIGN OFFICE, DOWNING STREET, WESTMINSTER, consists of four very old and shabby private houses, gradually purchased at each side of the centre one; two look into the Park, two others front to Downing-street and back to Fludyerstreet. The chief officer is a Cabinet Minister, and is called the "Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs." His salary is 5000l. a year. The Cabinet Councils of her Majesty's Ministers are held at this office, in a room about which workmen in 1840 had to be employed night and day to prevent it from falling.

Passports are here issued to British subjects known to the Foreign Secretary, or recommended by a banker, at a charge of 78. 6d. A day's notice is necessary.

THE COLONIAL OFFICE, 14, DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, is a Government office for conducting the business between Great Britain and her 44 colonies. The head of the office is called the "Secretary for the Colonies," and is always a Cabinet Minister. His salary is 5000l. In a small waitingroom, on the right hand as you enter, the Duke of Wellington, then Sir Arthur Wellesley, and Lord Nelson, both waiting to see the Secretary of State, met the only time in their lives. The duke knew Nelson from his pictures. Lord Nelson did not know the duke, but was so struck with his conversation that he stept out of the room to inquire who he was.

THE EXCHEQUER, OR, OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR OF

THE EXCHEQUER. The principal office for fixing or receiving taxes is in Downing street, Westminster, the last house on the right-hand side. The word Exchequer is derived from a fourcornered board, about 10 feet long and 5 feet broad, fitted in the manner of a table for men to sit about; on every side whereof was a standing ledge or border, 4 fingers broad. Upon this board was laid a cloth, parti-coloured, which the French call Chequy, and round this board the old Court of Exchequer was held. The Chancellor was one of the judges of the Court, and in ancient times he sat as such, together with the Lord Treasurer and the Barons. His duties since 4th William IV., c. 15, are entirely ministerial; the annual nomination of sheriffs being the only occasion on which the Chancellor takes his seat at the Court of Exchequer in Westminster Hall. The salary of the Chancellor is 5000l. a year, with a house in Downing-street and a seat in the Cabinet. The income of Great Britain and Ireland, paid into the Exchequer, has been, for the last six years, upwards of 52 millions sterling.

THE CUSTOM HOUSE is in Lower Thames-street, facing the river. It was erected 1814-17 from the designs of David Laing, but in consequence of some defects in the piling, the original centre was taken down, and the present front, to the Thames, erected by Sir Robert Smirke. Nearly one-half of the customs of the United Kingdom are collected in the Port of London, and about one-half of the persons in the Civil Service of the country are employed in duties connected with the collection. In London alone, upwards of 2230 persons are employed in and attached to the London Custom House, and maintained at an annual expense of about 275,000l.; Liverpool, after London, is the next great port where the largest amount of customs is collected. The average revenue collected by the Customs in the last nine years is about 20 millions, and the duties are conducted by commissioners appointed by the Crown. Seizures are stored in the Queen's warehouse, and when the warehouse is full there is a public sale. These sales (some four a year) produce about 5000l. They are principally attended by Jews and brokers. The sales take place in Mark Lane, while the goods are on view at a different place. Observe. The "Long Room," 190 feet long by 66 broad. The Quay is a pleasant walk fronting the Thames. Hither Cowper, the poet, came, intending to make away with himself.

INLAND REVENUE OFFICE, OR EXCISE, STAMP, LEGACY DUTY, AND PROPERTY-TAX OFFICE, is in Somerset House, and occupies nearly one-half of the building. Malt, spirits, and