ry to his opinion) was originally intended a colossal statue in
brass gilt of King Charles II., as founder of the new City, in the
manner of the Roman pillars, which terminated with the statues of their
Caesars; or else a figure erect of a woman crown'd with turrets, holding
a sword and cap of maintenance, with other ensigns of the City's
grandeur and re-erection. The altitude from the pavement is 202 feet;
the diameter of the shaft (or body) of the column is 15 feet; the ground
bounded by the plinth or lowest part of the pedestal is 28 feet square,
and the pedestal in height is 40 feet. Within is a large staircase of
black marble, containing 345 steps 10-1/2 inches broad and 6 inches
risers. Over the capital is an iron balcony encompassing a cippus, or
meta, 32 feet high, supporting a blazing urn of brass gilt. Prior to
this the surveyor (as it appears by an original drawing) had made a
design of a pillar of somewhat less proportion--viz., 14 feet in
diameter, and after a peculiar device; for as the Romans expressed by
_relievo_ on the pedestals and round the shafts of their columns the
history of such actions and incidents as were intended to be thereby
commemorated, so this monument of the conflagration and resurrection of
the City of London was represented by a pillar in flames. The flames,
blazing from the loopholes of the shaft (which were to give light to the
stairs within), were figured in brass-work gilt; and on the top was a
phoenix rising from her ashes, of brass gilt likewise."

The following are, or rather were, the inscriptions on the four sides of
the Monument:--

SOUTH SIDE.

"Charles the Second, son of Charles the Martyr, King of Great
Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, a most generous
prince, commiserating the deplorable state of things, whilst the
ruins were yet smoking, provided for the comfort of his citizens and
the ornament of his city, remitted their taxes, and referred the
petitions of the magistrates and inhabitants to the Parliament, who
immediately passed an Act that public works should be restored to
greater beauty with public money, to be raised by an imposition on
coals; that churches, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul, should be
rebuilt from their foundations, with all magnificence; that bridges,
gates, and prisons should be new made, the sewers cleansed, the
streets made straight and regular, such as were steep levelle