ffect so august an
undertaking.{1}

1 During the building of St. Paul's Church, a country
carpenter applied to the Overseer of the workmen for
employment as a carver. The Overseer smiling at the man's
temerity, hearing he had never worked in London, it was
observed by Sir Christopher Wren, who was present, who
calling the man to him, asked him what he had chiefly worked
at in the country?"Pig-troughs, &c." was his answer. "Well
then," says Sir Christopher, "let us see a specimen of your
workmanship in a sow and pigs." The man returned in a few
days, having performed his part with such exquisite skill,
that he was immediately employed; and in tine, executed some
of the most difficult parts of the Cathedral, to the great
astonishment of all that knew the circumstance. So true it
is that genius is often lost in obscurity.

169~~ Again proceeding on their way, they arrived in a few minutes, at
another amongst the many in the metropolis, of those surprising works
of public utility which reflect the highest honor on the laudable
enterprize of the present times,--the Iron Bridge, known as Southwark
Bridge, leading from the bottom of Queen Street, Cheapside to
the Borough. It is constructed of cast-iron, and, from the river
particularly, presents an appearance of elegance and magnificence;
consisting of three arches only, the spacious span of each, stretching
across the Thames in towering majesty, affords an aquatic vista equally
novel and interesting.

Gliding on the pacific wave, the "trim-built wherry" now passed under
the lofty elevation of the centre arch; and our observers were struck
with the contrast between the object of their admiration and its ancient
neighbour, London Bridge, that "nameless, shapeless bulk of stone and
lime," with its irregular narrow arches, through which the pent-up
stream rushes with such dangerous velocity.

"This gothic hulk," said the Squire, "is a deformity in the aspect of
the river." "And ought at least to be pulled down, if not rebuilt,"
added his Cousin. "Even on the principle of economy, the large and
incessant expenditure in support of this decayed structure, would
be much more profitably applied in the erection of a new bridge of
correspondent grandeur with the first metropolis in the universe; but
the citizens seem inclined to protract the existence of this heavy
fabric, as a memento of the bad taste of their