230 TIIE TOWER OF LONDON. 



estimated at 20,000, and, for want of necessary funds, the repairs were 

 not commenced until 1,608, when it was become so ruinous that one 

 hundred thousand pounds was raised for the purpose, and the reparation* 

 of the Cathedral were entrusted to the celebrated Inigo Jones ; but these 

 were stopped by the civil wars in 1,642, and the Parliament seized upon 

 the remainder of the funds raised, sold the unused buildings to pay the 

 troops, and it is said that even the scaffolding was sold to discharge the 

 arrears of pay due to Colonel Jephson's regiment. During this period, 

 although a part of the interior of the Cathedral was desecrated by the 

 erection of barracks for troops, shops, &c., still divine service 

 was performed at the east end. In this state it remained until the 

 Restoration, when it was again put under repair by a public subscription, 

 raised in August, 1,663, and was progressing rapidly until September, 

 1,666, when the Great Fire of London reduced it to ashes, and the 

 present magnificent Cathedral rose in its place; a glorious proof of Sir 

 Christopher Wren's taste and genius. An encouraging omen is said to 

 have occurred at the commencement of the present Cathedral. When 

 Sir Christopher was laying down his plan for the great Cupola, it is 

 related, that upon his desiring a workman to bring him a flat stone, to 

 use as a station, the man obeyed him, and brought one the fragment of 

 a tombstone, upon which was the single word " Resurgam." 



THE TOWER OF LONDON. 



Tradition, which loves to cling to the marvellous, has also given greater 

 antiquity to this building (or rather incongruous mass of erections) than 

 it has any claim to. Leaving to the more curious the question of its Roman 

 origin, the most reasonable conclusion is, that of Messrs. Britton and 

 Brayley, who say " that the Londinium of the Romans, was at once a 

 fortress, a fort, and a municipium, is attested by the best informed 

 historians and antiquarians, and that the site of the present Tower would 

 be the most likely spot to be chosen for a place of defence is deducible 

 from its situation. It is a tract of land gently raised above the river, 

 the Essex marshes, and those on the opposite side of the Thames, where 

 a fortification was afterwards formed by the Saxons, and called South- 

 wark;"and the latter adds, "that no historian who can be relied on, 

 furnishes us with the slightest ground for supposing that any fortifica- 

 tion of importance ever did exist here, until the erection of the Citadel 

 or Keep, called the White Tower. This was built by command of the 

 Conqueror, by a celebrated military architect, Gundulph, Bishop of 

 Rochester.; but whether there were any outer works does not appear " 



