ARDENS 270

XXI. THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS--_continued_ 289

XXII. THE BRITISH MUSEUM 303

XXIII. THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 311

XXIV. WESTMINSTER ABBEY, ST. PAUL'S, AND THE CENOTAPH 332

XXV. THE MINT, THE BANK, AND THE POST OFFICE 353

XXVI. THE LORD MAYOR'S SHOW AND OTHER THINGS 370

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE TOWER BRIDGE _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

QUEEN VICTORIA MEMORIAL AND BUCKINGHAM PALACE 30

TRAFALGAR SQUARE 132

THE TRAITORS' GATE, TOWER OF LONDON 180

THE CENOTAPH, WHITEHALL 216

ST. MARY-LE-STRAND AND BUSH HOUSE 244

THE CORONATION CHAIR, WESTMINSTER ABBEY 340

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL 348

BOOK I

LONDON AS IT IS

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF LONDON

CHAPTER I

LONDON CHILDREN

To begin with, the streets of London are not paved with gold; but I need
not have said that, for nowadays the very youngest child knows it. It
was Dick Whittington who first imagined anything so foolish; but then he
was only a country lad, and in his days there were not the same
opportunities for finding out the truth about things as there are now.
There were very few books for one thing, and those there were cost a
great deal of money, and would hardly be likely to come in Dick's way;
so that if there was by chance a book which described London as it was
then, it is not at all probable that he would have seen it. There were
no photographs, either, to show him what London was really like, so, of
course, he had to make up ideas about it himself, just as you who live
in the country and have heard people talking about London do now. Are
the stories you invent at all like the stories Dick Whittington made up
for himself? You can't answer because you're not writing this book, so I
must answer for you. Perhaps you think London is a place where there are
no lessons to do, and where there is always a great deal of fun going
on; where you can go to see sights all day long; the huge waxwork
figures at Madame Tussaud's, as big as real people; and lions and tigers
and elephants and b