twice passes, affords an admirable view of the Queen and her great officers. Gentlemen as well as ladies are admitted here, but sit in separate places. It is not etiquette to examine the Sovereign through a lorgnette. To obtain a good seat, you should be in the House of Lords by half-past 12, for the carriages of strangers are not suffered to pass the barriers later than one, and it is a crowded and dirty struggle to get to the House after that hour. The arrival of her Majesty is announced within the House by the booming of the cannon. Her entrance is preceded by the Heralds in their rich dresses, and by some of the chief officers of state in their robes. All the peers are in their robes. The Speech is presented to her Majesty by the Lord Chancellor kneeling, and is read by her Majesty; the Mistress of the Robes and one of the ladies of the bedchamber standing by her side on the dais. return to Buckingham Palace is by 3 at the latest. The address to her Majesty in both houses is moved at 5 the same evening; and the debate, therefore, is always looked to with great interest. The old custom of examining the cellars underneath the House of Lords, about two hours before her Majesty's arrival, still continues to be observed. The custom had its origin in the infamous Gunpowder plot of 1605.

The

The House of Commons, 62 feet long by 45 feet broad, and 45 feet high, is more simple in character than the House of Peers: the ceiling is, however, of nearly equal beauty. The windows are filled with stained glass, of a simple character; the walls are lined with oak richly carved, and, supported on carved shafts and brackets, is a gallery extending along them, on either side. At the N. end is the chair for the Speaker, over which is a gallery for visitors, and for the reporters of the debates; while the S. end is occupied by deep galleries for the Members of the House, and for the public. The Entrance for the Members is either by the public approaches, or a private door and staircase from the Star Chamber Court (one of the twelve Courts lighting the interior), so called from occupying the site of that once dreaded tribunal. England and Wales return 500 members, Ireland 105, and Scotland 53, making in all 658 members composing the House of Commons.

St. Stephen's Hall, leading from Westminster Hall to the Great Central Hall, is 95 feet long by 30 wide, and to the apex of the stone groining 56 feet high. It derives its name from occupying the same space as St. Stephen's Chapel of the ancient Palace, and is lined by 12 "statues of Parliamentary statesmen who rose to eminence by the eloquence and abilities they displayed in the House of Commons."

They are: Hampden, by Bell; Falkland, by Foley; Clarendon, by Marshall; Selden, by Bell; Sir Robert Walpole, Lords Somers and Mansfield, Lord Chatham, Charles Fox; William Pitt, by McDowal; Burke, by Theed; and Grattan.

The Central or Octagon Hall is a grand apartment 80 ft. high, covered with a groined stone roof containing more than 250 elaborately carved bosses. From this hall corridors extend, rt. to the House of Lords, and 1. to the House of Commons. On the walls of these corridors are painted The last sleep of Argyle before his Execution, The Burial of Charles I., The Execution of Montrose. Capture of Alice Lisle, Departure of the Pilgrim Fathers, all by E. N. Ward; "Charles I. erecting his Standard at Nottingham," by F. R. Pickersgill, A.R.A.; and "Speaker Lenthall asserting the Privilege of the Commons, when Charles I. attempted to seize the five members," by Cross.

The Upper Waiting Hall, or Poets' Hall, will contain 8 frescoes from 8 British poets-viz., Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Scott, and Byron. Some have been completed. The Chaucer, by C. W. Cope, R.A., representing a scene from Griselda; the Shakspeare, by J. R. Herbert, R.A., Lear and his Daughter; the Milton, by J. C. Horsley, Satan starting at the touch of Ithuriel's Spear; and the Dryden, by John Tenniel, St. Cecilia.

Admission to Inspect the House of Lords-free tickets for Saturdays to be obtained at the Chamberlain's Office in the court next the Victoria Tower. Admission to the Strangers' Gallery to hear the debates-a peer's order. Up to 4 p.m., during the hearing of appeal cases, the House is open to the public. Admission to the Commons-a member's order, which any member can give. If you know an M.P., go to the lobby with the member's name written on your card; at the door of the House you will see a goodtempered old gentleman, with a powdered head, sitting in a watch-box. If you civilly ask him, he will send your card into the House, and thus fetch out the member you have named. Take care to keep on one side, out of the thoroughfare to the door or you will be warned off by a policeman. Take your seat before 5. Admission to the Strangers' Gallery is secured to those holding a member's ticket in the order of their arrival; doors are opened at 4, but many persons arrive on the spot some hours before, on occasions of debates of any importance. On the night of an interesting debate the House seldom rises before 2 o'clock in the morning. Strangers and reporters used to be excluded during divisions, but this practice was terminated in 1853, except

in regard to strangers occupying certain privileged seats. Ladies have been excluded from the interior of the House since 1738. There is, however, a small gallery (above that of the Reporters), behind whose grating the ladies are invisible, and enjoy but an imperfect view of the House. The Speaker takes 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 only from noon to 6 p.m. Unless forty members are present there is no House. The entire cost of erecting the Houses of Parliament, down to 1858, was 1,768,9791., as far as the architect was concerned; but including other charges was less than two millions!

NOTE.-For a detailed and graphic account of the usual proceedings in the House of Commons, refer to an article in the Quarterly Review for June, 1854.

VI.-THE THAMES, ITS QUAYS, EMBANKMENT, AND BRIDGES; THAMES TUNNEL, POOL AND PORT OF LONDON.

THE Thames, on whose banks, about 60 miles above its embouchure in the North Sea, London is situated, is the noblest commercial river in the world, in reference to its length. It has hitherto been almost concealed from view of its inhabitants and degraded into a common sewer. The tide ascends as high as Richmond and Teddington, where it is a clear flowing stream; still higher up, from Maidenhead to Reading, its course is marked by picturesque beauty of a very high order. About Pangbourne 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. At very high tides, and after long easterly winds, the water at London Bridge is 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
My great example, as it is my theme!

Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull,
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full."

And Pope described its banks with the accuracy of a Dutch painter in his ludicrous imitation of Spenser's manner,

The Thames Tunnel was opened, 1843. The first steamboat seen on the Thames was in 1816.

The London visitor should make a point of descending the Thames by a steamboat from Chelsea to Blackwall, a voyage of 1 hour. The objects, principally on the left or Middlesex bank, are enumerated in the order in which they present themselves. (See Thames, at end of volume.)

THE THAMES EMBANKMENT, or RIVER QUAYS.While the Seine at Paris, a far inferior stream to the Thames, contributes one of the most beautiful features to the French metropolis, the Londoners have hitherto persisted in shutting out from sight their far more magnificent river, inclosing it with mean hovels and black wharves, and converting its stream into a sewer. Many schemes for embanking the Thames have been suggested, one of the earliest being that of John Martiu, the painter, but nothing was done until 1864, when the Metropolitan Board of Works took the matter in hand. In 1865 a grand quay was commenced along the left bank of the Thames, from Westminster Bridge to the Temple, which will be finished in the present year. It will form a thoroughfare 100 ft. wide, faced with granite masonry,-walls founded below low water mark, in coffer dams, and furnished at intervals with steamboat landings. Beneath the embankment will be carried a great intercepting sewer, and along it the Metropolitan Dist. Railway. It will be accessible by streets leading down to the river at Charing Cross, and from the Mansion House to Blackfriars Bridge, which will cost 1,300,000l., while that for the quay from Westminster to the Temple will amount to two millions sterling, derived principally from rates and partly from the dues levied on coal and wine brought into London. The space gained from the river varies from 200 to 450 ft., and will afford sites for various public buildings. On the south embankment, opposite the Houses of Parliament, the new St. Thomas's Hospital will be erected.

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. Nearly 50,000 vessels enter and leave the Thames in 12 months, or on an average 120 daily. The Customs duties paid at this Port amount to nearly 12 millions sterling per annum, or nearly one-half of the duties paid in the United Kingdom. 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.

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.

"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.

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.

It has been ascertained that the number of carriages of all descriptions, and equestrians, who daily pass along London Bridge in the course of 24 hours exceeds 20,000; and that the number of pedestrians who pass across the bridge daily during the same space of time, is not fewer than 107,000.

By police arrangement since 1854, vehicles of slow traffic