sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds for the purpose, and an extra tax of sixpence per ton having been imposed upon all coals entering the port of London, to provide additional funds, the works were soon afterwards commenced. The plan of Mr. Rennie, was adopted, and the foundation-stone was laid with all the pomp usual upon such great occasions, by the Lord Mayor, Mr. Garratt, in the presence of the Duke of York and a great assemblage of distinguished persons, and all the city functionaries. The bridge was completed in six years, and was opened in great state by King William the Fourth on the 1st of August 1831. The King was accompanied by his Queen Adelaide, by her present Majesty, then Princess Victoria; and her illustrious mother, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, the Duke of Sussex, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Wellington, and a long array of noble and celebrated individuals. A short detail of the ceremonies observed may not be uninteresting. Every vessel in the river, every steeple, every house-top, every eminence that commanded a view was crowded with spectators, and to increase the beauty of the scene, the day was remarkably

fine. When the King and Queen arrived on the bridge they were met by the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress, the former of whom presented his Majesty with the Sword of State, the Lady Mayoress at the same time presenting the Queen with a flower. According to the old formality, the Lord Mayor was desired to keep his sword, as it was in such good hands, and the procession began. Preceded by the Duke of Devonshire (the Lord Chamberlain) walking backwards according to the etiquette, his Majesty arm-in-arm with the Queen, and followed by the royal family, the great officers of state, and his court, the members of the corporation of London, and the ambassadors, or other illustrious visitors, walked slowly over the bridge to the Southwark side, amid the firing of cannon, and the joyous ringing of all the bells in the metropolis. Here his Majesty witnessed the ascent of a balloon, and then returned to the city side to a pavilion erected on the bridge, where a sumptuous collation was prepared at the expense of the City. After the repast, and when the usual toasts had been given, the Lord Mayor, with a suitable address, presented the King with a golden cup; on receiving which his Majesty made the following short but very appropriate speech:

"I cannot but refer on this occasion to the great work which has been accomplished by the city of London. The city of London has ever been renowned for its magnificent improvements; and we are commemorating a most extraordinary instance of their skill and talent. I shall propose the source from which this vast improvement sprung-The trade and commerce of the city of London." The toast, of course, was enthusiastically honoured, and soon afterwards the festivities terminated. His Majesty then entered the barge prepared for him, and was rowed up the river to Somersethouse, where he disembarked.

The demolition of the old bridge was immediately commenced, and within a few months not a vestige of it remained.

But the signal-bell has rung, and our steamboat proceeds up the ancient highway of the city towards Westminster, in the track of all the Lord Mayors since Norman, in the year 1454. This worthy functionary was very fond of the water, and first began the custom, regularly continued since his day, of proceeding to Westminster Hall by water, with a grand city pageant. The boatmen took him in great affection in consequence, and one of them wrote a song upon him, the burden of which was,

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"Row thy boat, Norman,

Row to thy Leman.”

What a formidable array of steeples is to be seen as we get out of sight of the shipping! No city in Europe can show such a forest of ships, or such a forest of steeples, as London. The most prominent object in the view is St. Paul's, rearing his head, as fat and saucy as if he were a bishop with forty thousand a-year. Around him are gathered the inferior dignitaries of the Church, some of them looking in good condition enough, but most of them as tall and thin as if they had a wife and six children, and only a curacy of eighty pounds a-year to support them.

What a contrast there is now, and always has been, both in the character and appearance of the two sides of the river. The London side, high and well-built, thickly studded with spires and public edifices, and resounding with all the noise of the operations of a various industry; the Southwark and Lambeth side, low and flat, and meanly built, with scarcely an edifice higher than a coal-shed or timber-yard, and a population with a squalid, dejected, and debauched look, offering a remarkable contrast to the cheerfulness and activity visible on the faces of the Londoners. The situation upon

the low swamp is, no doubt, one cause of the unhealthy appearance of the dwellers on the south of the Thames; but the dissolute rakehellish appearance of the lower orders of them must be otherwise accounted for. From a very early age, Southwark and Lambeth, and the former especially, were the great sinks and common receptacles of all the vice and immorality of London. Up to the year 1328, Southwark had been independent of the jurisdiction of London,—a sort of neutral ground, which the law could not reach,-and, in consequence, the abode of thieves and abandoned characters of every kind. They used to sally forth in bands of one and two hundreds at a time, to rob in the city; and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen for the time being had not unfrequently to keep watch upon the bridge for nights together, at the head of a troop of armed men, to prevent their inroads. The thieves, however, upon these occasions took to their boats at midnight, and rowing up the river, landed at Westminster, and drove all before them with as much valour, and as great impunity as a border chieftain upon a foray into Cumberland. These things induced the magistrates of London to apply to Edward the Third for a grant of Southwark. The