the north bank of the Thames, about a mile below London Bridge and in the oldest part of the city. Its walls embrace an area of over twelve acres.

It would be pleasant to dwell over the history of this old place, and talk of the days when King John held his court here, or when Henry III. founded the Lion Tower, and how Edward II. retired here against his subjects. Then we might think of the illustrious persons whom Edward III. confined within these walls, including David, King of Scotland, and

head cut off on a log of timber. Then comes the horrible murder of Edward V. and the Duke of York by their Uncle Richard. Shakespeare thus pictures the deed :

"The tyrannous and bloody act is done; The most arch deed of piteous massacre That ever yet this land was guilty of."

Henry VII. frequently made the Tower his place of abode, and his queen also fled to it for refuge from the presence of her sullen and cold-hearted husband. The court of Henry VIII. was often held here, and here also that royal

John, King of France, with Philip, his son. How frequently the scene changes! The insurrection of Wat Tyler compelled King Richard II. to take refuge here, with his court and nobles, six hun

dred persons. He was deposed while imprisoned here, in 1399. Then Edward IV. enlivens the place with his magnificent court. Passing on, we find Henry IV. twice imprisoned in the fortress, and dying here. Deeds of blood. next startle us. In front of the chapel there, the Protector, Gloucester, ordered Lord Hastings'

Bluebeard received all his wives, in great pomp, previous to their espousals, two of them, Anne Boleyn and Catharine Howard, subsequently returning to lose their heads. A few years pass, and then Edward VI. comes to keep his court in the Tower prior to his coronation. His uncle, the Protector Somerset, after being twice imprisoned here, was beheaded on Tower Hill. Now we see the fair Lady Jane Grey, entering the Tower in gorgeous array as Queen of England, but in three short weeks she and her youthful

born, and at the Bull public-house, Otway, the poet, died, it is said, of hunger. On the west side, in Great Tower Street, is the Czar's Head, built on the site of a former tavern, where Peter the Great and his companions, after their day's work, went to smoke pipes and drink beer and brandy. In the same street Thomson wrote his "Summer," being at the time a tailor.

"The Monument," on Fish Street Hill, built on the site of St. Margaret's church, destroyed in