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The day is fled, and yet I saw the sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.

"My spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung,
The fruit is dead, and yet the leaves are green;
but
My youth is past and yet I am young,

I saw the world, and I was not seen:

My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.”

The principal parts of the Tower usually inspected by visitors, are the Armory, containing equestrian figures in armor, from the reign of Edward I. to James II.; Queen Elizabeth's Armory, which is situated in the White Tower, and was the prison of Sir Walter Raleigh and others, during the reign of Queen Mary; the "Regalia," or royal jewels, contained in another apartment, are estimated at three millions sterling. St. Edward's Crown was made for the coronation of Charles II., and has been since used at the coronation of all the Sovereigns of Great Britain since that period to our days. This Crown is identically the same that Blood stole from the Tower, May 9, 1671. The new crown made for the coronation of Queen Victoria, is a purple velvet cap, enclosed by hoops of silver, and studded with a great quantity of diamonds. The upper part is composed of an orb,

adorned with precious stones, and surmounted by a cross. Amongst these diamonds is a magnificent ruby, worn by the Black Prince, and a sapphire of matchless beauty. The value of this crown is calculated at £111,900. Think of a space of two feet square representing property to the value of $15,000,000. These are magnificent baubles to gaze upon, but what vast benefit might be conferred upon the poor Spitalfields weavers were this amount devoted to their urgent necessities! In the Record Office are kept the rolls from the time of King John to the reign of Richard III.

At Queenhithe lived Tom Hill, as he was familiarly called. He died in 1840. This singular character, when in business at the unlettered Queenhithe, found leisure to accumulate a fine collection of books, chiefly old poetry; which afterwards, when misfortune overtook him, was valued at £6000. Hill was like a Mæcenas; he patronised two friendless poets, Bloomfield and Kirke White. "The Farmer's Boy" of the former was read and admired by him in manuscript, and was recommended to a publisher. Hill also established the "Monthly Mirror," to which Kirke White was a contributor. Hill was the Hull of Hook's "Gilbert Gurney.") He happened to know everything that was going on in all circles.

East Smithfield was the birthplace of Spencer, author of "The Faërie Queene."

The Royal Mint, on Tower Hill, is worthy of a visit on account of the various ingenious processes connected with coining which are carried on in that establishment. Sixty or seventy sixpences are struck in one minute, and other coins with similar rapidity. The present master of the Mint is Sir G. W. Herschel, the astronomer; Sir Isaac Newton once held the same office.

CHAPTER X.

Street Organists-The Thames Tunnel-London Docks-Deptford and Woolwich-Greenwich Hospital-Crutched Friars-The Minories-Lord Cobham-East Smithfield-Ratcliffe Highway-Aldgate-Whitechapel -Bishopsgate-street-Crosby Hall-St. Giles's, Cripplegate-Barbican -Moorfields-Finsbury-square-Bunhill Fields-Battle-bridge-Old St. Pancras Islington - Canonbury House-Collins's House-Charles Lamb's Cottage-Chalk Farm-St. James's Chapel-Hampstead-Kensal Green Cemetery-Highgate-Harrow-on-the-Hill-Aylesbury-street, Clerkenwell-Anecdote of Thomas Britton-Old-street-road-St. Botolph's Church-Little Britain and its booksellers-The Post Office.

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E introduce our itinerant organist in this part of the City to the reader, not because this class of noisy street musicians is more numerous in any particular district, they abound in all the streets of the Metropolis. But let us say a word or two respecting the Thames and its memories.

Queen Elizabeth died at Richmond, and her body was brought with great pomp by water to Whitehall. The following far-fetched conceit is by a quaint contemporary poet:

"The Queen was brought by water to Whitehall:
At every stroke the oars did tears let fall:

More clung about the barge; fish under water
Wept out their eyes of pearl, and swam blind after."

Cowley died at Chertsey, on the Thames, and his body was carried by water to Whitehall; Pope, in his "Windsor Forest," thus refers to it :

"Oh, early lost! what tears the river shed

When the sad pomp along his banks was led."

Nelson's body was brought in great state by water from Greenwich to Whitehall. State prisoners, committed from the Council Chamber to the Tower or the Fleet, were invariably taken by water. The Thames, that carried, in the reign of James II., the seven bishops to the Tower, was made the repository of the Great Seal of England, which James, in his flight, threw into the river, while crossing in a small boat from Millbank to Lambeth. It was accidentally fished up a few months after.

The Thames Tunnel, which is regarded as a triumph of skill rather than as a work of real utility, is yet an object of especial interest to the lovers of the marvellous. The Tunnel is one thousand three hundred feet in length, with two arched passages of massive brick work, sixteen feet four inches wide each, and a path of three feet wide for foot-passengers.

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