the chair at 5 p.m., when prayers are read, and business commences. The House of Commons empties at 7 p.m., and refills about 9 p.m. The best nights are Mondays and Fridays. On Wednesdays the House sits from noon to 6 p.m. Unless forty members are present there is no House. The cost up to Midsummer, 1855, was 1,663,954l., to which Sir Charles asks for a further expenditure of 931,5577., to complete the building “in a fitting and proper manner. NOTE. For a detailed and graphic account of every likely proceeding in the House of Commons, refer to an article in the Quarterly Review, for June, 1854. VI.-THE THAMES AND ITS BRIDGES; THAMES TUNNEL, POOL AND PORT OF LONDON. THE Thames, on whose banks London is situated, is the noblest commercial river in the world; above, below, and at London, it is, however, little more than a common sewer, oscillating with the tide; about Richmond and Twickenham, it is a sweet flowing stream; still higher up, about Pangbourne (where you may catch some pleasing glimpses of it from the Great Western Railway), it is pastoral and pretty; and at the Nore and Sheerness, where the Medway joins it, it is an estuary where the British navy may sail, or ride safely at anchor. The Thames rises in Gloucestershire, and passing Oxford, Windsor, Hampton Court, Twickenham, Richmond, Fulham, Chelsea, London, and Greenwich, falls into the English Channel at a distance of 60 miles from London. At very high tides, and after long easterly winds, the water at London Bridge is very often brackish. Spenser calls it "The silver-streaming Thames." Denham has sung its praises in some noble couplets— "O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull, And Pope described its banks with the accuracy of a Dutch painter in his ludicrous imitation of Spenser's manner. The bridges (three of which alone are toll free) were built or opened to the public in the following order :-old London Bridge, 1209; Westminster Bridge, 1750; Blackfriars Bridge, 1769; Vauxhall Bridge, 1816; Waterloo Bridge, 1817; Southwark Bridge, 1819; new London Bridge, 1831; and Hungerford Suspension Bridge, 1845. The Thames Tunnel was opened, 1843. The first steamboat seen on the Thames was in 1816. The distance between Richmond Bridge and Westminster Bridge (14 miles 3 furlongs), was rowed with tide, July 31st, 1848, by a Mr. Clayton, in one hour fortythree minutes and forty-five seconds. His bet was to row the distance in one hour and fifty minutes. The London visitor should make a point of descending the Thames by a steamboat from Chelsea to Blackwall (the work of an hour and a half), and of observing the following places, principally on the left or Middlesex bank :-(1.), Chelsea Old Church; Chelsea Hospital; Vauxhall Bridge; (rt.), Penitentiary; (1.), Lambeth Palace; (rt.), church of St. John's, Westminster, and Houses of Parliament; Westminster Bridge; (1.), Board of Control; Montague House; Sir Robert Peel's house in Privy-gardens (distinguished by its bay windows; the late Sir Robert Peel died in the dining-room of this house the ground-floor facing the river); (1.), Whitehall-stairs; the Great Coal Depôt at Scotland-yard; Hungerford Suspension Bridge; (1.), York Watergate, one of Inigo Jones's finest works; the Adelphi Terrace (David Garrick died in the centre house); Waterloo Bridge; (1.), Somerset House; Temple-gardens, and roof of Middle Temple Hall; St. Bride's Church (the steeple one of Wren's great works); (1.), Whitefriars, the site of Alsatia, now partly occupied by enormous gas-works; Blackfriars Bridge; here you have a very fine view of St. Paul's, and the city churches: Observe how grandly Bow steeple, with its dragon on the top, towers above them all, and commands attention by the harmony of its proportions; Southwark Bridge; here the right or Surrey side, commonly called the Bankside, becomes interesting from its fine associations-here stood the Globe Theatre, the Bear Garden, and Winchester House, and (rt.) here is the church of St. Saviour's, Southwark. You now pass under London Bridge, and should observe, (1.), the steeple of St. Magnus and the Monument. Here begins the Pool. Observe.-(1.), Traitors' Gate and the White Tower; St. Katherine's Docks; (rt.), Rotherhithe Church; here you pass over the Thames Tunnel; (rt.), Greenwich Hospital, one of Wren's great masterpieces; the Observatory at Greenwich; Blackwall Reach, &c. "This morning was fair and bright, and we had a passage thither [from London to Gravesend], I think as pleasant as can be conceived; for take it with all its advantages, particularly the number of fine ships you are always sure of seeing by the way, there is nothing to equal it in all the rivers in the world. The yards of Deptford and Woolwich are noble sights. We saw likewise several Indiamen just returned from their voyage. The colliers likewise, which are very numerous and even assemble in fleets, are ships of great bulk; and if we descend to those used in the American, African, and European trades, and pass through those which visit our own coasts, to the small craft that lie between Chatham and the Tower, the whole forms a most pleasing object to the eye, as well as highly warming to the heart of an Englishman, who has any degree of love for his country, or can recognise any effect of the patriot in his constitution."-Fielding, A Voyage to Lisbon. It is much to be wished that the side sewer and terrace embankment scheme (so long talked about, and first projected by John Martin, the painter) may be carried out before many years are over. By narrowing the current we shall recover a large quantity of waste ground on each side, and escape from the huge unhealthy mudbanks that disfigure the river about Whitehall and Scotland-yard. The Port of London, legally so called, extends 6 miles below London Bridge to a point called Bugsby's Hole, over against Blackwall; but the Port itself does not reach beyond Limehouse. The average return of vessels entering the Port of London is 7,000 British Vessels and 3,100 Foreign Vessels. The port of Liverpool is the next in number to London; the London tonnage amounting to about 900,000, and the Liverpool to 600,000. The largest amount of tonnage of British Vessels entering the London port are from Holland, Russia, and France; of Foreign from the United States, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The Pool is that part of the Thames between London Bridge and Cuckold's Point, where colliers and other vessels lie at anchor. It is said that no vessel of more than 300 tons is seen navigating above London Bridge. For some account of the Docks, see post, Commercial Buildings, &c., p. 61. Every master of a collier is required, upon reaching Gravesend, to notify the arrival of his vessel to the officer upon the spot; and then he receives a direction to proceed to one of the stations appointed for the anchorage of colliers. There are seven of these stations on different Reaches of the river. The ships are then directed to proceed in turn to the Pool, where about 250 are provided with stations in tiers, at which they remain for a limited time to unload. LONDON BRIDGE, 928 feet long, of five semi-elliptical arches, built from the designs of John Rennie, a native of Scotland, and of his sons, John and George. The first stone was laid June 15th, 1825, and the bridge publicly opened by William IV., August 1st, 1831. It is built of granite, and is said to have cost, including the new approaches, near two millions of money. The centre arch is 152 feet span, with a rise above high-water mark of 29 feet 6 inches; the two arches next the centre are 140 feet in span, with a rise of 27 feet 6 inches; and the two abutment arches are 130 feet span, with a rise of 24 feet 6 inches. The piers of the centre arch have sunk about six inches, owing, it is said by Telford and Walker, to over-piling. The lamp-posts are made from cannon taken in the Peninsular War. It is the last bridge over the Thames, or the one nearest to the sea, and is 54 feet wide, or 11 feet more than Waterloo, the next to it in width among London bridges. It has been ascertained that the number of carriages of all descriptions, and equestrians, who daily pass along London Bridge between 8 in the morning and 8 in the evening, exceeds 15,000; and that the number of pedestrians during the same space of time who enter the city exceeds 13,000. The number of persons who pass across the bridge daily is not fewer than 50,000.-Commissioner of City Police, in Times, Feb. 9, 1855. The slow traffic travels at the sides, the quick in the centre. This was commenced in 1854. The present low-water mark at London Bridge is 18 feet 11 inches below the Trinity House datum. Previous to 1832, when the old bridge was removed, it was only 15 feet 4 inches. In severe winters the starlings of the old bridge arresting the floating ice, at times caused the river to be frozen over. This is not likely to occur again since the impediments of the old bridge have been removed. SOUTHWARK BRIDGE, 708 feet long, of three cast-iron arches, resting on stone piers, designed by John Rennie, and erected by a public company, at an expense of about 800,000l. The first stone was laid April 23rd, 1815; and the bridge publicly opened April, 1819. The span of the centre arch is 402 feet (38 feet wider than the height of the Monument, and the largest span of any arch in the world until the tubular bridges were made.) The entire weight of iron employed in the bridge is about 5780 tons. There is a penny toll. 300,000l. has been offered for this bridge by the North Kent Railway Company, and refused. The cost of proper approaches would require (at the least) 150,000l. more, and proper approaches are all but impracticable. It is very ill placed. BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE. The work of Robert Mylne, a native of Edinburgh, and originally called Pitt-bridge, by way of compliment to the great Earl of Chatham. The first stone laid Oct. 31st, 1760, and the bridge finally and generally opened, Sunday, Nov. 19th, 1769. It consists of nine arches, is 995 feet in length from wharf to wharf, and cost 152,4801. 3s. 10d.,-163l. less than the original estimate. It was lowered in 1837, and the open balustrade removed, so that it presents very little of its original appearance, and having sunk considerably, has but small claims to architectural consideration. It is 42 feet wide. This bridge affords a stately and imposing view of St. Paul's Cathedral. HUNGERFORD SUSPENSION BRIDGE, called also CHARING-CROSS BRIDGE, crosses the Thames from Hungerford Market to Belvedere-road, Lambeth, is 1352 feet long, and is for foot-passengers only. It was constructed under the direction of Sir I. K. Brunel, and opened April 18th, 1845. It consists of three openings; the span of the centre is 676 feet 6 inches, and is greater than that of any suspensionbridge in Britain. It is only second to the suspensionbridge at Fribourg, in Switzerland, the span of which, from pier to pier, is nearly 900 feet. That of each of the side openings is 333 feet. The height of the roadway from high-water mark is 22 feet 6 inches; at the piers, 28 feet; and in the centre, 32 feet. The clear width of the roadway is 14 feet. The piers are built on the natural bed of the river without piles. The roadway is carried by four chains, in two lines, with single suspension-rods on each side, 12 feet apart. The chains pass over rollers in the upper part of the towers, so as to equalise the strain, and are secured in tunnels at the abutments to two iron girders, 44 feet long and 5 feet deep, solidly embedded in a mass of brickwork in cement, further strengthened and backed up with concrete. The first stone was laid in 1841; and the total cost, including the purchase of property, parliamentary, law, and other expenses, was 110,000l. 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 illion. The engineer was John Rennie, son of a farmer at |