"halls," a cathedral, and thirteen elegant parish churches, | ing of various ranges of buildings for the reception of besides the Radcliffe Library, the University Theatre, naval and military stores, artillery, &c. The Small Ar. and several other elegant public buildings, all condensed moury is capable of containing 25,000 stand of arms. into a small space, amidst streets, some of which are There is a naval college, where a hundred scholars, in straight and elegant, while none except a few of an ob- time of war, and seventy in time of peace, are taught; scure character are mean, Oxford appears to a stranger thirty, who are the children of officers, being maintained as beautiful externally as its historic character renders it and educated at the public expense. During war, the venerable. The High Street, in which several colleges number of persons employed in the various establishare situated, is generally acknowledged to be one of the ments connected with the public service at Portsmouth, finest streets in the world. The origin of the university has amounted to 5000. The principal buildings conis usually attributed, but upon no certain authority, to nected with the arsenal and dockyards, are the commisKing Alfred. Oxford has certainly, however, been a sioner's house, the government house, the victualling famed seat of learning since the twelfth century. Each office, the port-admiral's house, and the naval and milicollege and hall has its own students and teachers, reve- tary barracks. The promenade along the fortifications, nues and regulations; yet they are all united under the forms one of the most agreeable features of the town. government of one university. The officers by whom Among objects of curiosity, we may specify the Victory, the university is immediately governed, are the chan- Nelson's flag-ship at Trafalgar; the Semapore Telecellor, high steward, vice-chancellor, and two proctors. graph; and the house (No. 110, High street) in which In addition to the private officers in each college and hall, the Duke of Buckingham was temporarily residing, who see that due order and discipline are preserved, and when, in front of it, he was stabbed to death by Licuall the liberal sciences taught, there are twenty-three tenant Felton, in 1628. The church of Portsmouth is public professors of the several arts and sciences. In a spacious Gothic structure, with a comparatively modern 1829, there were 5009 members on the books, one-third tower, useful as a landmark to scamen. There are vaof whom, in their capacities as fellows, &c., were main- rious charitable, literary, and scientific institutions contained by the revenues. The students wear a peculiar nected with the town. dress, varied according to their status in the college. They all live within the precincts of their respective colleges.

Cambridge is the chief town in Cambridgeshire, and is situated on the Cam, at the distance of 50 miles from London. It is also an elegant city, though less so than Oxford. The university has no certain date before 1229: it comprehends seventeen colleges, which in most respects are similar to those of Oxford. King's College Chapel, built in the reign of Henry VI., is considered the most beautiful structure in either of the two university towns.

Naval Stations.

Portsmouth, the principal rendezvous of the British navy, is situated on the west side of the Isle of Portsea in Hampshire. To the west of the island is the bay called Portsmouth Harbour, excelling every other on the coast of England for its spaciousness, depth, and security. The obvious utility of this harbour in such a situation, caused it to be used at an early period as a station for shipping, and hence the rise of the town of Portsmonth on the narrow inlet by which it communicates with the English Channel. It is also to be observed, that the strait between the mouth of this harbour and the Isle of Wight, forms the celebrated roadstead of Spithead. which is capable of containing a thousand sail at anchor in the greatest security. The original or old own of Portsmouth, surrounded by ancient walls; the modern suburban towns of Portsea and Southsea, respectively situated to the north and south of the original town; and the town of Gosport, on the opposite side of the inlet to the harbour, may all be said to form one Juster of population, probably numbering not less than 70,000. The beach opposite Southsea being well adapted or sea-bathing, has caused that suburb or village to become a watering-place of some note.

The docks, arsenal, building-yards, and all the various other establishments concerned in the fitting out and safe keeping of the national shipping, render Portsmouth an objet of wonder to all who see it for the first time. The Dockyard includes the great area of 100 acres. The Smithery is a vast building, where anchors are wrought, weighing from seventy to ninety hundredweight each. On the Anchor-Wharf hundreds of these useful implements are piled up, ready for immediate service. The Ropery, where the cordage for the vessels is prepared, is three stories high, 54 feet broad, and 1094 feet long. The Gun-Wharf is an immense arsenal, consist

Plymouth is another important naval station, besides being a thriving commercial town. It is situated at the head of the spacious haven of Plymouth Sound, in Devonshire, on the east side of a tongue of land formed by the estuaries of the rivers Plym and Tamar, which here empty themselves into the sea. Essentially connected with Plymouth is Devonport, situated in the immediate neighbourhood, and properly an appendage of Plymouth, though of late years distinguished by a sepa rate name. The united population, in 1831, was 75,534. Plymouth having gradually risen from the condition of a small fishing-town to its present size, most of the streets are irregular, and by no means elegant or commodious, but the new parts of the town are handsome, and are spreading rapidly.

Plymouth carries on a considerable trade in timber with North America and the Baltic, and an intercourse has been established with the West Indies. The coasting trade is chiefly with London, Newcastle, Newport, (in Wales), and Bristol. The chief imports are coal, culm, corn, wine, and timber.

It is as a naval and military station that the town is chiefly distinguished. Situated upon a capacious and secure natural harhour, near the mouth of the English Channel, it is well adapted for this purpose, fleets having a ready exit from it upon any expedition towards the Mediterranean, the Indies, or America. The dock, which is situated at Devonport (formerly on that account called Plymouth Dock), extends along the bank of the Tamar, in a curve 3500 feet in length, with a width at the middle, where it is greatest, of 1600 feet, and at each extremity 1000, thus including an area of 96 acres. Of the fortifications connected with Plymouth, the most remarkable is the citadel, which was erected in the reign of Charles II. It is placed in a most commanding situation on the cast end of the height called the Hoe, which shelters the town from the sea. It is exceedingly well fortified, and is constantly garrisoned. It contains the residence of the Governor of Plymouth, and barracks for five or six hundred troops. The Victualling Office, an important establishment, containing storehouses, granaries, baking-houses, and cellars for supplying the meat, bread, and liquors required to provision the vessels of the Royal Navy, occupies a splendid building in the adjacent township of East Stonehouse. The port of Plymouth is distinguished for its capacity, and the security which it affords in its several parts. It is capable of containing 2000 sail, and is one of the finest harbours in the world. It consists of three divisions or harbours-Sutton Pool,

Of this class of towns, besides those which have been already noticed under other heads, we can here only advert to three of more than usual importance.

Canterbury, the capital of Kent, is a city of great antiquity, having formed the seat of an ecclesiastical esta blishment to St. Augustine, the apostle of Christianity to Britain in the sixth century. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the town derived great importance from the erection or extension of a cathedral, on a most extensive re-scale, and of the purest Gothic architecture. In 116%, the archiepiscopal see was bestowed on the famous Becket, who enjoyed it eight years, till the period of his mur der in 1170, when his shrine became an object of extra ordinary reverence, and brought pilgrims in thousands from all parts of the kingdom. The cathedral, which thus became celebrated, still exists, in a slightly altered and improved condition. Its form is that of a cross, with a central tower of unrivalled workmanship, reaching to a height of 236 feet. The size of the building is immense: the length inside, from east to west, being 514 feet; height of the vaulted roof, 80 feet; breadth of the nave and side aisles, 71 feet; and breadth of the

cross aisies, from north to south, 124 feet. The interior window consists of upwards of 200 compartiments of exhibits a number of interesting monuments of distin- stained glass, containing representations of the Supreme guished individuals. Altogether, the cathedral is a work Being, saints, and events recorded in Scripture. The of exceeding grandeur, and, with exquisite beauty of screen is a piece of carved wood-work in a highly orna form, possesses a profound historical interest. The town mental style. The chapter-house is also much admired: of Canterbury is old, and, like most cathedral towns, is a it is a magnificent structure, of an octagonal form, 62 dull and formal place of residence, with a proportion of feet in diameter and 68 feet in height. York Minste! genteel inhabitants. It is, however, neat and clean, and has, within the last few years, twice suffered severely is surrounded by a fertile and pleasant tract of country. from fire. The damage produced on the first occasion, It has a number of large hotels and posting-houses, to namely, the destruction of the wooden work in the choir, accommodate the numerous travellers passing between was completely and successfully repaired; that which the metropolis and Dover, the chief out-port for France. took place on the second occasion, and which consisted The distance from London is 56 miles, and from Dover of the destruction of the interior of one of the smaller 16. A railway which is now preparing between London towers and the roof of the nave, is in the course of being and Dover, and which does not touch Canterbury, will, also repaired. in all likelihood, completely ruin it as a posting-station. The only object of attraction in the town, besides the cathedral, is a pleasure-ground called the Danejohn, a corruption of the word donjon, such a building having once occupied the spot, in connection with the city walls. The area of the field is laid out with an avenue of trees, and is principally otherwise a grassy esplanade, open freely to all the inhabitants. In 1790, the field was presented by Mr. Alderman James Simmonds for the use and recreation of the inhabitants in all time coming, an act of generosity deserving the highest commendation. The population of Canterbury in 1831 was 14,463.

York. This ancient city, considered as the second in the kingdom in dignity-the chief town of the county, and the cathedral city of the archiepiscopal diocese bearing its name is situated at the confluence of the Rivers Foss and Ouse, in one of the richest and most extensive plains in England. Its population in 1831 was 25,359. York, whatever its first rise might be, was a city of the Romans, and occupied by Roman citizens as a colony. It was successively the seat of Adrain, Severus, and other emperors: Severus died here in the year 210. At the time of the Norman Conquest, it was a city of considerable consequence and size. This eminence it retained for severa centuries, but latterly it has sunk into a mere county and cathedral town, that is to say, a place where a considerable number of legal and ecclesiastical functionaries reside, and from which articles of necessity and luxury are diffused over a neighbouring rural district.

It is entered by four principal gates or bars, has six bridges, a cathedral, twenty-three churches, besides places of worship for various dissenting bodies; a guild-hall, county-hall, and other public buildings. The most remarkable object by many degrees is the Cathedral, or Minster, a most superb specimen of the Gothic architecture, measuring in length 524 feet; in breadth across the transepts, 222 feet; the nave being in height 99, and the grand tower 213 feet. The various parts were built | at different times between 1227 and 1377. The parts most admired are the east window and the screen dividing the choir from the body of the church. This

York was at one time a commercial town of some importance, conducting trade by means of the River Ouse, which is navigable for vessels of 120 tons burden. It still possesses a few sinall manufactures.

Winchester, a town of great antiquity in Hampshire, at the distance of 62 miles from London, is situated ir the bottom of a rich grassy vale, through which flows the Itchin, a small river which issues into the sea a Southampton. There was a town here before the Chris tian era, and it afterwards became the principal city of the Danish, Saxon, and Norman dynastics. It was the scene of Alfred and Canute's glories; and here, with innumerable princes, bishops, and abbots, they lie interred. Till the revolution, it continued a chief place of resi dence of the royal family; a palace built by the Stuarts is now used as a barrack for soldiers. In the reign of Edward III. (1366), Winchester became the episcopal see of the celebrated William of Wykeham, who greatly improved the cathedral, and instituted a college for the education of youth. The cathedral has undergone various mutations; but being lately repaired and cleaned, is now one of the finest structures of the kind in Britain. The splendid mausoleum of William of Wykeham, in one of its aisles, is an object of great interest. At a short distance from the cathedral are placed the venerable buildings composing the College of Wykehamn, at which a number of young gentlemen are educated and prepared for the university. Another highly interesting object of antiquity is the Hospital of St. Cross, situated about a mile down the Itchin. Founded by Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester, and brother of King Stephen, in 1136, at St. Cross, is the most perfect specimen remaining in England of the conventual establishments of the middle ages, and affords a residence and means of subsistence to thirteen indigent old men. Winchester is composed of a variety of old streets, and seems among the least improved towns in England. Latterly it has been inspired with a little animation, by becoming a station on the line of the London and Southampton Rail way. Population in 183], 9212.

LONDON:

A DESCRIPTION OF AND GUIDE TO THE BRITISH METROPOLIS.

London is fortunate in a particularly salubrious situa- | early part of the day. The main cross branches in the Lion, whether as respects its relation to the river or its metropolis are-Farringdon street, leading from the subsoil. A large portion of the entire city is built on opening to Blackfriars Bridge, at the foot of Ludgate gravel, or on a species of clay resting on sand; and by Hill, to Holborn; the Haymarket, leading from Cockmeans of capacious underground sewers in all directions, spur street; and Regent street, already mentioned. emptying themselves into the Thames, the whole town There are several large streets leading northwards from (with some discreditable exceptions in the humbler and the Holborn and Oxford street line. The principal one. more remote class of streets) is well drained and cleared in the east, is St. Martin le Grand and Aldersgate street, from superficial impurities. On account of the want of which communicates with the great north road. It is a stone here, as in many other places in England, brick matter of general complaint, that there are so few great is the only material employed in building. London is channels of communication through London both lengththerefore a brick-built town. To a stranger, it appears to wise and crosswise; for the inferior streets, independently consist of an interminable series of streets of moderate of their complex bearings, are much too narrow for reguwidth, composed of dingy red brick houses, which are lar traffic. According to the accounts last taken, the commonly four stories in height, and seldom less than entire metropolis contained 13,936 separate streets, three. The greater proportion of the dwellings are small. squares, courts, alleys, &c., each with a distinct name. They are mere slips of buildings, containing, in most Oxford street, the longest in London, is 2304 yards in instances, only two small rooms on the floor, one behind length, and numbers 225 houses on each side. the other, often with a wide door of communication between, and a wooden stair, with balustrades, from bottom to top of the house. It is only in the more fashionable districts of the town that the houses have sunk areas with railings; in all the business parts, they stand close upon the pavements, so that trade may be conducted with the utmost facility and convenience. Every street possesses a smooth flagged pavement at the sides for foot passengers; while the central parts of the thoroughfares are causewayed with square hard stones, or paved in some other way equally suited to endure the prodigious tear and wear created by the horses and vehicles passing along them.

In the central and many other principal streets of London, the ground stories of the houses are generally used as shops or warehouses. When the object is retail traffic, the whole range of front is usually formed into door and window, so as to show goods to the best advantage to the passengers. The exhibition of goods in the London shop windows is one of the greatest wonders of the place. Every thing which the appetite can desire, or the fancy imagine, would appear there to be congregated. In every other city there is an evident meagreness in the quantity and assortments; but here there is the most remarkable abundance, and that not in isolated spots, but along the sides of thoroughfares miles in length. In whatever way the eye is turned, this extraordinary amount of mercantile wealth is strikingly observable; even in what appear obscure alleys or courts, the abundance of goods is found to be on a greater scale than in any provincial town.

The flowing of the Thames from west to east through the metropolis, has given a general direction to the lines of streets; the principal thoroughfares are in some measure parallel to the river, with the inferior, or at least shorter, streets branching from them. Intersecting the town lengthwise, or from east to west, are two great leading thoroughfares at a short distance from each other, but gradually diverging at their western extremity. One of these routes begins in the eastern environs, near blackwell, proceeds along Whitechapel, Leadenhall street, Cornhill, Cheapside, Newgate street, Skinner street, Holborn, and Oxford street. The other may be considered as starting at London Bridge, and passing up King William street into Cheapside, at the end of which it makes a bend round St. Paul's Churchyard, thence proceeds down Ludgate Hill, along Fleet street and the Strand to Charing Cross, where it sends a branch off to the left to Whitehall, and another to the right, called Cockspur Street, which leads forward into Pall-Mall, and sends a shoot up Regent street into Piccadilly, which proceeds westward to Hyde Park Corner. These are the main lines in the metropolis, and are among the first traversed by strangers. It will be observed that the main channels unite in Cheapside, which therefore becomes an excessively crowded thoroughfare, particularly in the VOL. II-79

Without particular reference to municipal distinctions, London may be divided into four principal portions-the city, which is the centre, and where the greatest part of the business is conducted; the east end, in which is the port for shipping; the west end, or Westminster, in which are the palaces of the queen and royal family, the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the residences of the nobility and gentry; the Surrey division, lying on the south side of the Thames, and containing many manufacturing establishments and dwellings of private families. Besides these, the northern suburbs, which include the once detached villages of Stoke Newington, Islington, Hoxton, St. Pancras, Pentonville, Somer's Town, and Paddington, and consists chiefly of private dwellings for the mercantile and higher classes, may be considered a peculiar and distinct division. It is, however, nowhere possible to say exactly where any one division begins or ends. Throughout the vast compass of the city and suburbs, there is a blending of one division with those contiguous to it. In the business parts there are lines or clusters of neat dwellings, and in the parts devoted to retirement there are seen indications of business. The outskirts on all sides comprise long rows or groups of detached villas, with ornamental flower-plots; and houses of this attractive kind proceed in some directions so far out of town, that there seems no getting beyond them into the country. From the Surrey division there extend southward and westward a great number of these streets of neat private houses, as, for instance, towards Walworth, Kennington, Clapham, Brixton, &c.; and in these direc tions lie some of the most pleasant spots in the environs of the metropolis. The suburban streets are only macadamized, and possess gravel side paths.

PLACES ON THE THAMES, BELOW LONDON.

The places on the Thames, below London, which are most worthy of the visits of strangers, are Deptford, Greenwich, and Woolwich, the latter being the farthest from town.

Woolwich is a village in Kent, on the south bank of the Thames, eight miles from London by land, and ten following the course of the river. Here, in the reign of Henry VIII., a dockyard for the construction of vessels of the royal navy was established; and, ever since, the place has been distinguished as an arsenal for naval and military stores. From the river a view is obtained of the dockyard and arsenal, now greatly improved. The ground, for nearly a mile in length, is bounded by a stone quay, and surrounded on the land side with various storehouses and workshops. Among these is included a laboratory for the preparation of cartridges, bombs, grenades, and shot. Adjoining are barracks for artillery and marines, military hospitals, &c.: on the upper part of Woolwich Common is situated a royal military academy for the education of young gentlemen designed 3 G