16,4 ENGLAND. 



ing, or rather rebuilding it, after the fire of London, was defrayed by 

 a duty on coals, and is computed at a million sterling. 



Westminster-abbey, or the collegiate church of Westminster, is a 

 venerable pile of building in the Gothic taste. It was first built by 

 Edward the Confessor : king Henry III, rebuilt it from the ground, 

 and Henry VII, added a fine chapel to the east end of it. This is 

 the repository of the deceased British kings and nobility ; and here 

 are also monuments erected to the memory of many great and illus- 

 trious personages, commanders by sea and land, philosophers, poets, 

 &c. In the reign of queen Anne, 4000/. a yeai', out of the coal duty, 

 was granted by parliament for keeping it in repair. 



The inside of the church of St. Stephen, Walbrook, is admired for 

 its lightness and elegance, and does honour to the memory of sir 

 Christopher Wren. The same may be said of the steeples of St. 

 Mary's -le -Bow, and St. Bride's, which are supposed to be the most 

 complete in their kind of any in Europe. The simplicity of the por- 

 tico in Covent-garden is worthy the purest ages of ancient architec- 

 ture. That of St. Martin's in the Fields would be noble and striking, 

 could it be seen from a proper point of view. Several of the new 

 churches are built ifi an elegant taste, and even some of the chapels 

 have gracefulness and proportion to recommend them. The ban- 

 queting-house at Whitehall is but a very small part of a noble palace 

 designed by Inigo Jones, for the royal residence ; and, as it now 

 stands, under all its disadvantages, its symmetry and ornaments are 

 in the highest style and execution of architecture. 



Westminster-hail, though on the outside it makes no very advan- 

 tageous appearance, is a noble Gothic building, and is said to be the 

 largest room in the world, the roof of which is not supported by pil- 

 lars; it. being 230 feet iong, and 70 broad. The roof is the finest of 

 its kind. Here are held the coronation-feasts of our kings and 

 queens ; also the courts of chancery, king's-bench, common-pleasj 

 and exchequer. 



The Monument, erected at the charge of the city, to perpetuate 

 the memory of its being destroyed by fire, is worthy of notice. This 

 column, which is of the Doric order, exceeds all the obelisks and 

 pillars of the ancients, it being 202 feet high, with a stair-case in the 

 middle to ascend to the balcony, whence there are other steps to the 

 top, which is fashioned like an urn, with a flame issuing from it. On 

 the base of the monument, next the street, the destruction of the ci- 

 ty, and the relief given to the sufferers by Charles II, and his bro- 

 ther, are emblematically represented in bas-relief. The north and 

 south sides of the base have each a Latin inscription, the one describ- 

 ing its dreadful desolation, and the other its splendid resurrection ; 

 and on the east side is an inscription, stating when the pillar was 

 begun and finished. The charge of erecting this monument, which 

 was begun by sir Christopher Wren in 1671, and finished by him in 

 1677, amounted to upwards of 13,000/. 



The royal exchange is a large and noble building, and is said to 

 have cost above 80,000/. 



The terrace in the Adelphi is a very fine piece of architecture, and 

 has laid open onex>f the finest prospects in the world. 



We might here give a description of the Tower, Bank of England, 

 the new Treasury, the Admiralty-office, and the Horse-guards at 

 Whitehall, the Mansion-house, or house of the lord-mayor, the Cus- 

 tom-house, Excise-office, India-house, and a vast number of other 



