neral appearance. Its front measures three hundred and seventy feet in
length, the central portion being decorated with a grand line of lofty
columns in the Ionic style. These columns are five feet in diameter and
forty-five feet in height. The collection of Greek and Roman
antiquities, curiosities from all parts of the world, and valuable
relics, undoubtedly exceed in interest and comprehensiveness any other
similar museum. The library contains over a million volumes and
thousands of precious manuscripts. The National Gallery of Paintings on
Trafalgar Square has been formed at an enormous expense, and is worthy
of the great metropolis, though it is exceeded in the number of examples
and in the individual merit of many of the paintings by some of the
continental galleries of Europe. The Zooelogical Garden, adjoining
Regent's Park, is one of the great attractions to strangers, and of
never-failing interest to the people, being probably the most complete
and extensive collection of wild and domestic animals, quadrupeds,
birds, and reptiles in the world. Regent's Park is even larger than
Hyde Park. Besides these noble, health-dispensing parks,--these
breathing-places for a dense population,--the metropolis is dotted here
and there with large squares, varying in extent from four to six acres
each. The most notable of these are Belgrave Square, Trafalgar Square,
Grosvenor Square, Portman Square, Eaton Square, and Russell Square.

[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON.]

Twelve bridges other than railroad bridges cross the river Thames within
the city boundary. The largest manufacturing interest in London is that
of the breweries, wherein eleven million bushels of malt are annually
consumed.

Buckingham Palace, the town residence of Queen Victoria, occupies a
location facing St. James's Park, and is a spacious building, but of no
architectural pretention. The famous tower of London, according to
tradition, was originally built by Julius Caesar, and is situated on the
east side of the city, on the left bank of the Thames. It is no longer
used as a prison, but is a national armory and museum of warlike
implements of antiquity. London has an underground railway running
beneath the streets and houses by means of tunnels, and also through
cuttings between high walls, forming a complete belt round the inner
sections of the city, while branch lines diverge to the suburbs.
Statistics show that the railway company which controls the li