TOWER OF LONDON.

Description.

At first a palace, next a prison, now a fortress. Its principal buildings within the high, massive wall are, the White Tower, that lofty square edifice in the centre, with white turrets, which is supposed to be the work of Norman William ; the Horse Armory, Middle Tower, and Byward Tower, which were enlarged and strengthened by Henry III.; Bell Tower, containing the alarm-bell; Bloody Tower, where the two young princes were suffocated by order of Richard III.; Wakefield Tower, where are deposited the ancient Records of England some think it was added by William Rufus; Beauchamp Tower, state-prison of the fortress, where have suffered Britain's noblest sons. North of the last stands Robyn the Devyll's Tower; and south of White Tower is the Ordnance Office. Martyn's Tower was formerly a prison with a dismal dungeon. Beside the Barracks, stands the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula, erected by Edward I.

Martyrs.

Here repose those victims of tyranny and religious perse. cution John Fisher, Thomas More, Anne Bullen, Catherine Howard, Thomas Cromwell, Rob't Devereux, Edward Seymour, Jane Gray, her husband, his father and grandfather. I'll mention no more. How many have bled on the fatal Hill!

Baliol, David, James and William Wallace, have been prisoners here. Wallace, the dauntless patriot, after a mock trial, was dragged, tied to horses' tails, as far as Smithfield, and there cruelly tortured to death.

Sometimes the Tower has been crowded with illustrious French prisoners.

Popish Persecution.

In the reign of Catholic Mary, many suffered here for the crime of hating Papacy.

Protestant Elizabeth exclaimed, as she was conducted through the Thames entrance, "Here landeth as true a subject, being a prisoner, as ever landed at these stairs; and before thee, O God, I speak it, having none other friends than thee!"

That princess was shut up, subjected to the espionage of priests, and often compelled to celebrate Mass. Yet, in the latter part of her own reign, severities equally unjustifiable were inflicted upon persons for loving Papacy.

Protestant Persecution.

It is recorded that some were confined in a dungeon twenty feet below the surface of the earth. Others suffered in the "Little-ease," where they had not room to stand upright, or lie down at full length. And others were put to the Rack, or placed in the "Scavenger's Daughter," a machine of iron, which yerked up and held together the head, hands, and feet. Many were chained and fettered, while others had their hands forced into iron gloves, much too small, or endured the cruel torture of the "boot."

Old Annals.

Fitz-Stephen, who wrote our oldest account of the Tower in the 12th century, has this sentence: "The mortar is tempered with the blood of beasts." Now one should say,

"it is tempered with the gore of men.”

Visit.

I went to see it, and shall never cease to feel the horror inspired by the sight of those rough instruments of human slaughter.

There are to be seen, also, the British Regalia of all ages: crosses, sceptres of gold, crowns and diadems, flaming with costly gems.

New England to Old England in 1642.
What medicine shall I seek to cure thy woe,
If the wound's so dangerous I may not know?
But you, perhaps, would have me guess it out.
What, hath some Hengist, like that Saxon stout,
By fraud and force usurped thy flowering crown,
And by tempestuous war thy fields trod down?
Or hath Canutus, that olde, valiant Dane,
The regall, peacefull scepter from thee ta'en?
Or is't a Norman, whose victorious hand,
With English blood bedews thy conquered land?
Or is't intestine wars that thus offend?

Doe Maud and Stephen for the crown contend?
Doe barons rise, or Edward lose his power,
Or Second Richard suffer in the Tower?

Reply of Old England.

-I'll show the cause

It was my Sins, the breach of sacred lawes,

And thou wast jeered, New England, 'mong the rest

Thy flying for the truth I made a jest.

From crying blood yet cleansed not am I,
Martyrs and others dying causelessly.
How many princely heads on blocks laid down
For nought but title to a fading crown!
'Mongst all the cruelties which I have done,
Oh, Edward's babes and Clarence' haplesse son;
O Jane, why didst thou dye in flowering prime?
Because of Royall stem, that wastly crime.
I saw poore Ireland bleeding out her last —
Such cruelty as all reports have past –
My heart obdurate stood not yet aghast.

t;

A. B.

BRITISH MUSEUM.

By the generous aid of our excellent Minister Plenipotentiary (Hon. Abbott Lawrence), and our former countryman, Henry Stevens, Esq., now of London, I obtained an introduction to many noble institutions of science, literature, and art. It is far more difficult to make the acquaintance of distinguished persons in England, than in our democratic country. That stupendous display of wonders, the British Museum, is open to all honest individuals for study or research.

Nineveh Sculptures.

At the last-named place, I was deeply interested with those late excavated bas-reliefs and statues from the site of old Nineveh. They are representations of landscapes, modes of worship, battles, the persons of heroes and other distinguished characters-all embossed upon a hard kind of stone resembling flint-rock. One is the picture of a river, with an island in the midst, crowned by a strong castle. Fugitive warriors appear swimming for life, upon goatskin wind-bags, to gain the fortress, while pursuing foes hurl impetuous shafts at them from the forest-shore. Some war-steeds are seen, cleaving the Several pieces exhibit a dignified personage, wearing a cap in the form of a truncated cone, out of which rises a horn. To him the rest pay homage. Here he appears holding a basket in one hand, while, with the other, fruits are offered, as if for sacrifice. There he is seen boldly dashing on, before armed troops of horsemen, like the rest poising on high his beamy lance, or aiming a winged arrow from his far-bent bow. I was forcibly reminded of those poetic passages in

waves.

Habakkuk :

"For lo! I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land,

to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves." "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah." "He had horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power." "Was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses, and thy chariots of salvation?" "The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows they went, and the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march. through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger."

The Engraved Stones.

One figure seems to be of another nation, wearing the Trojan cap. Some ladies are represented in beautiful headdresses, slightly ornamented. Servants stand waving featherfans around them. Both the male and female forms are very symmetrical. That must have been a fine race. Each of these Ninevites, like his less fair contemporary of Egypt, has his crinkled locks and beard elegantly plaited over a nobler brow. Their peculiar dress consists of a square, tasseled blanket, embroidered with flowers and words in an unknown tongue. But humbler persons have them short and plain. Many wear two or three horns on each side of the head. The principal characters of each sex have pearl necklaces, ear-rings, bracelets, and various badges about them. Their shields, made of reeds woven together, are sometimes square, but oftener round. One stone bears a pastoral scene-sheep, goats, oxen, etc., grazing in presence of their shepherds. Another shows a city besieged, whose ramparts are beaten with huge batteringrams. These are suspended from rolling towers, at the top of which soldiers are striving to scale the high walls, often falling pierced by opposing darts. Battle-fields are common, where birds of prey hover above, or devour the mangled bodies of unfortunate combatants. War must have been a favorite