Photo by F. J. Koch 

 OLD CURIOSITY SHOP: LONDON'S MOST FAMOUS LITERARY SHRINK 



meekness, benignly purred ; the gates 

 were thrown open wide and we were 

 bidden to enter. 



The embankment parts the garden 

 from the river today. The roses no 

 longer tiptoe down to dip their dainty 

 feet in the Thames, as perhaps they did 

 when Plantagenet and Somerset plucked 

 there those blossoms, white and red, that 

 named a war. 



Plantagenet : 



If he suffer that I have pleaded truth, 

 From off this brier pluck a white rose 

 with me. 



Somerset : 



Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer. 

 But dare maintain the party of the truth, 

 Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with 

 me. — (Henry VI.) 



In the great, beautiful hall (1572) 

 there, Shakespeare saw his plays, Queen 

 Elizabeth dined, and, upon a table made 

 from the wood of the Spanish Armada, 

 signed the death warrant of Mary, 

 Oueen of Scots. 



Let us go now up the river past Somer- 

 set House, on the site of a palace of 

 that name begun in 1549 by the great 

 protector, and the home of many queens. 

 The present huge building, the "house 

 of many windows" (3,600), houses many 

 public offices — audit, inland revenue, pro- 

 bate registry, wills — and in a wing, King's 

 College, a school of London University. 



Let us go on past the Savoy Hotel, 

 where, from 1245. stood the palace of 

 Peter, Count of Savoy, uncle of Eleanor 

 of Provence, who was the wife of Henry 

 III and the mother of Edward I. King 

 John of France died here in 1364; 

 Chaucer was married in its chapel ; John 

 of Gaunt dwelt here for a space ; Crom- 

 well used it for conferences. There is 

 left of it today but a chapel (1505) and 

 the name. Is not that enough to hold us 

 for a while, waiting for court barges and 

 fair ladies that come, alas, no more? 



Soon we come to Charing Cross bridge, 

 where indeed we must alight. We have 

 passed under four bridges since we left 



2SJ 



