Photo by F. I. Koch 



WHEN THE KING GOES ABROAD 



When the King leaves his house on state occasions a double guard is drawn up — the interior 

 guard made up of Royal Fusiliers and the outer of plain London "bobbies" 



he evidently doubted its fidelity. He 

 pulled down a bit of its eastern wall and 

 even encroached upon its territory to 

 make room for his great White Tower, 

 the keep of the huge fortress, the most 

 picturesque building in the Tower of to- 

 day. London did not like it very well. 

 Sentries on the Tower or wall could look 

 right down upon the mean little wooden 

 houses, the thatched roofs, the narrow, 

 dirty streets of the Saxon town; could 

 check the least uprising ere it had well 

 begun. But what could London do but 

 endure ! If a threat, the Tower was also 

 an inspiration. Under Norman rule, 

 wooden London became stone London, 

 a feat greatly aided by the fire of 1077, 

 "a fire such as never was before since 

 London was founded," which cleared the 

 ground. 



PALACE, PRISON, ARSENAL 



The Tower — the whole fortress is 

 called that, never "castle," for some rea- 



son unexplained — is today vastly differ- 

 ent from that of the Normans. Then it 

 was a royal residence as well as a strong- 

 hold ; now it is a government arsenal and 

 barracks. Its 13 acres are yet ringed 

 with the double walls of the Normans, 

 strengthened by many towers, and the 

 moat, now all soft, sunny turf fit for 

 tennis courts, could be flooded at need. 

 There are several huge modern barracks 

 in the enclosure, officers' quarters and 

 guardhouse, the equipment of a fairly 

 efficient fortress ; but, unthinking of wars 

 to come, we have always seen it with 

 eyes turned toward the past. It is as a 

 state prison that history knows it best ; 

 therein lies its greatest interest. 



The White Tower has its name from 

 nothing more poetic than whitewash 

 spread upon it in 1240. It is 107 x 118 

 feet, 92 feet high, and its walls are 13 

 feet thick at their thinnest. Sir Christo- 

 pher Wren "restored" it and altered four 

 of its Norman windows to a "classical" 



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