ENGLAND. 163 



of court ; 37 public squares, besides those within single buildings, 

 as the Temple, &c. ; 3 bridges ; 49 halls for companies ; 8 public 

 schools, called free-schools; and 131 charity schools, which provide 

 education for 5034 poor children ; 207 inns; 447 taverns; 551 coffee- 

 houses ; 5975 ale-houses ; 1200 hackney-coaches ; 400 ditto chairs ; 

 7000 streets, lanes, courts, and alleys ; and 130,000 dwelling-houses, 

 containing, as has been already observed, upwards of 1,000,000 inha- 

 bitants, who, according to calculations made so many years ago that 

 they may be considered as low in the present enlarged state of this 

 great city, consume annually 101,000 black cattle; 710,000 sheep; 

 195,000 calves; 240,000 swine and pigs; 1,172,500 barrels of strong 

 beer; 3000 tuns of foreign wines; and eleven millions of gallons of 

 rum, brandy, and other distilled liquors; with 500,000 chaldrons of 

 coals for fuel. 



London-bridge was first built of stone in the reign of Henry II, 

 about the year 1 163, by a tax laid upon wool, which, in the course of 

 time, gave rise to the notion that it was built upon wool-packs : from 

 that time it has undergone many alterations and improvements, parti- 

 cularly since the year 1756, when the houses were taken down, and 

 the whole rendered more convenient and beautiful. The passage for 

 carriages is 31 feet broad, and 7 feet on each side for foot passen- 

 gers. It crosses the Thames where it is 915 feet broad, and has 10 

 arches of about 20 feet wide each ; but the centre one is considera- 

 bly larger. 



Westminster-bridge is reckoned one of the most complete and 

 elegant structures of the kind known in the world. It is built en- 

 tirely of stone, and extended over the river at a place where it is 

 1,223 feet broad; which is above 300 feet broader than at London- 

 bridge. On each side is a fine balustrade of stone, with places of 

 shelter from the rain. The width of the bridge is 44 feet; having, 

 on each side a fine foot -way for passengers. It consists of 14 piers, 

 and 13 large and two small arches, all semicircular, that in the centre 

 being 76 feet wide, and the rest decreasing four feet each from the 

 other ; so that the two least aixhes of the 13 great ones are each 52 

 feet. This magnificent structure was begun in 1738, and finished 

 1750, at the expense of 389,000/. defrayed by the parliament. 



Blackfriars-bridge is not inferior to that of Westminster, either in 

 magnificence or workmanship ; but the situation of the ground on 

 the two shores obliged the architect to employ elliptical arches : 

 which, however, have a very fine effect ; and many persons even pre- 

 fer it to Westminster bridge. This bridge was begun in 1760, and 

 finished in 1770, at the expense of 152,840/. 



The cathedral of St. Paul is the most capacious, magnificent, and 

 regular protestant church in the world. The length within is 500 

 feet; and its height, from the marble pavement to the cross on the 

 top of the cupola, is 340. It is built of Portland stone, according to 

 the Greek and Roman orders, in the form of a cross, after the model 

 of St. Peter's at Rome, to which, in some respects, it is superior. 

 St. Paul's church is the principal work of sir Christopher Wren, and 

 undoubtedly, the only work of the same magnitude that ever was 

 completed by one man. He lived to a great age, and finished the 

 building 37 years after he himself laid the first stone. It occupies 

 six acres of ground, though the whole length of this church mea- 

 sures no more than the width of St. Peter's. The expense of build- 



