The income of the Bishop of London is fixed at 10,0007. a-year.

In the following account of the London churches, those which are particularly worthy of attention are alone mentioned.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY, or the COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. PETER'S, WESTMINSTER (income in 1852, 30,657l. 1s. 1d.,), originally a Benedictine monastery-the "minster west of St. Paul's, London-founded, by Sebert, king of the East Saxons, circ. 616; enlarged by Kings Edgar and Edward the Confessor; and rebuilt nearly as we now see it by Henry III. and his son Edward I. Here our Kings and Queens have been crowned, from Edward the Confessor to Queen Victoria; and here very many of them are buried, some with and others without monuments.

The style throughout (with the exception of Henry VII.'s Chapel and the west towers) is Early English, very rich, and rather late in the style. Henry VII.'s Chapel is late Perpendicular, richly ornamented with panelling, &c.; and the western towers, designed by Wren, are in a debased style of mixed Grecian and Gothic.

The Abbey is open to public inspection between the hours of 11 and 3 generally; and also in the summer months between 4 and 6 in the afternoon. The Nave, Transepts, and Cloisters are frec. The charge for admission to the rest of the Abbey (through which you are accompanied by a guide) is 6d. each person. The entrance is at the south transept, known as "Poets' Corner." The public are not admitted to view the monuments on Good Friday, Christmas Day, or Fast Days, or during the hours of Divine Service, viz., Sundays, at 10 A.M., and 3 P.M., and daily at 7.45 A.M., 10A.M., and 3 P.M. About 2000 people attend the Sunday services.

The usual plan observed in viewing the Abbey is to examine Poets Corner, and wait till a sufficient party is formed for a guide to accompany you through the chapels. If you find a party formed, you will save time by joining it at once. You can examine the open parts of the building afterwards at your own convenience. Observe, in the chapels, &c., through which you are taken by the guide-Part of an

altar-decoration of the 13th or 14th century, 11 feet long by 3 feet high (under glass, and on your left as you enter).

"The work is divided into two similar portions; in the centre is a figure, which appears to be intended for Christ, holding the globe, and in the act of blessing; an angel with a palm branch is on each side. The single figure at the left hand of the whole decoration is St. Peter; the figure that should correspond on the right, and all the Scripture subjects on that side, are gone. In the compartments to the left, between the figure of St. Peter and the centre figures, portions of those subjects remain the fourth is destroyed. These single figures and subjects are worthy of a good Italian artist of the fourteenth century. The remaining decorations were splendid and costly; the small compartments in the architectural enrichments are filled with variously-coloured pieces of glass, inlaid on tinfoil, and have still a brilliant effect. The compartments not occupied by figures were adorned with a deep-blue glass resembling lapis lazuli, with gold lines of foliage executed on it. The smaller spaces and mouldings were enriched with cameos and gems, some of which still remain. That the work was executed in England there can be little doubt."-Eastlake on Oil Painting, p. 176.

The first chapel you are shown is called the "Chapel of St. Benedict," or the "Chapel of the Deans of the College," several of whom are buried here. The principal tombs are those of Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1376); the Countess of Hertford, sister to the Lord High Admiral Nottingham, so famous for his share in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (d. 1598); and Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, and Lord High Treasurer in the reign of James I. (d. 1645).

The second chapel is that of "St. Edmund," containing 20 monuments, of which that on your right as you enter, to William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, half-brother to Henry III., and father of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke (d. 1296), is the first in point of time and also the most important; the effigy exhibits the earliest existing instance in this country of the use of enamelled metal for monumental purposes. The other tombs and monuments of importance in this chapel are-tomb of John of Eltham, son of Edward II.; tomb with miniature alabaster figures, representing_William of Windsor and Blanch de la Tour, children of Edward III.; monumental brass (the best in the Abbey), representing Eleanora de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, in her conventual dress, as a nun of Barking Abbey (d. 1399); monumental brass of Robert de Waldeby, Archbishop of York (d. 1397); effigy of Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, grand-daughter of Henry VII., and mother of Lady Jane Grey; and alabaster statue of Elizabeth Russell, of the Bedford family-foolishly shown for many years as the lady who died by the prick of a needle.

The third chapel is that of "St. Nicholas," containing the

monument of the wife of the Protector Somerset; the great Lord Burghley's monument to his wife Mildred, and their daughter Anne; Sir Robert Cecil's monument to his wife; and a large altar-tomb in the area, to the father and mother of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, the Steenie of James I.

The fourth chapel is that of the "Virgin Mary," called "Henry VII.'s Chapel," and entered by a flight of twelve steps beneath the Oratory of Henry V. The entrance gates are of oak, overlaid with brass, gilt, and wrought into various devices the portcullis exhibiting the descent of the founder from the Beaufort family, and the crown and twisted roses the union that took place, on Henry's marriage, of the White Rose of York with the Red Rose of Lancaster. The chapel consists of a central aisle, with five small chapels at the east end, and two side aisles, north and south. The banners and stalls appertain to the Knights of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, an order of merit next in rank in this country to the Most Noble Order of the Garter; the knights were formerly installed in this chapel; and the Dean of Westminster is Dean of the Order. The principal monuments in Henry VII.'s Chapel are-altar-tomb with effigies of Henry VII. and Queen (in the centre of the chapel), the work of Peter Torrigiano, an Italian sculptor:-Lord Bacon calls it "one of the stateliest and daintiest tombs in Europe:" -the heads of the King and Queen were originally surmounted with crowns; the Perpendicular enclosure or screen is of brass, and the work of an English artist. In South Aisle.-Altar-tomb, with effigy (by Peter Torrigiano) of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII. Altar-tomb, with effigy of the mother of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Tomb, with effigy (by Cornelius Cure) of Mary, Queen of Scots, erected by James I., who brought his mother's body from Peterborough Cathedral, and buried it here. The face is very beautiful, and is now generally admitted to be the most genuine likeness of the Queen. Monument to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and his duchess;-the duke was assassinated by Felton in 1628: his younger son, Francis, who was killed in the Civil Wars, and his eldest son, the second and profligate duke, are buried with their father in the vault beneath. Statue of the first wife of Sir Robert Walpole, erected by her son, Horace Walpole, the great letter-writer. In North Aisle-Tomb, with effigy (by Maximilian Coult) of Queen Elizabeth (the lion-hearted Queen); her sister, Queen Mary, is buried in the same grave. Alabaster cradle, with effigy of Sophia, daughter of James I., who died when only three days old: James I.

and Anne of Denmark, Henry Prince of Wales, the Queen of Bohemia, and Arabella Stuart are buried beneath. Monument to Lodowick Stuart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox, and his duchess, of the time of James I. (La Belle Stuart is buried beneath this monument). Monument to George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, who restored King Charles II. Sarcophagus of white marble, containing certain bones accidentally discovered (1674) in a wooden chest below the stairs which formerly led to the chapel of the White Tower, and believed to be the remains of Edward V. and his brother Richard, Duke of York, murdered (1483) by order of their uncle, King Richard III. Monuments to Saville, Marquis of Halifax, the statesman and wit (d. 1695);-to Montague, Earl of Halifax, the patron of the men of genius of his time (d. 1715), (here Addison and Craggs are buried)-to Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, the patron of Dryden, with its inscription, "Dubius, sed non Improbus, Vixi." Recumbent figure, by Sir R. Westmacott, of the Duke of Montpensier, brother to Louis Philippe, late King of the French. The statues in the architecture of this chapel are commended by Flaxman for "their natural simplicity, and grandeur of character and drapery." Charles II., William and Mary, and Queen Anne are buried in a vault at the east end of the south aisle ;-George II. and Queen Caroline,-Frederick, Prince of Wales, the father of George III., and William, Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden, in a vault in the central aisle. The remains of George II. and his Queen lie mingled together, a side having been taken by the King's own direction from each of the coffins for this purpose: the two sides which were withdrawn were seen standing against the wall when the vault was, it is said, opened for the last time in 1837.

The fifth chapel is "St. Paul's." Observe.-Altar-tomb on your right as you enter to Lodowick Robsart, Lord Bourchier, standard-bearer to Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt. Altar-tomb of Sir Giles Daubeny (Lord Chamberlain to Henry VII.) and his lady. Stately monument against the wall to Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chancellor of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; he sat as Chancellor at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay. Monuments to Viscount Dorchester, and Francis, Lord Cottington, of the time of Charles I. Colossal portrait-statue of James Watt, the great engineer, by Sir Francis Chantrey-cost 6000l.; the inscription by Lord Brougham. Archbishop Usher is buried in this chapel;-his funeral was conducted with great pomp by command of Cromwell, who bore half the expense of it; the other half fell very heavily on his relations.