The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-17 00:00:00

A ➢'OTAGE FROM WESTMINSTER TO

LONDON-BRIDGE.

BY A GHOST OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Can this be London, the orderly and steady-going capital
of the kingdom of " Bluff King Harry ;" of her Gracious
Majesty our good " Queen Bess ;" and of our royal and
learned master King James ? Impossible to tell ; for old
landmarks seem to be all removed. 1 have called at Char-
ing-cross; all appearance of the beautiful cross erected at
Charing to good Queen Eleanor's memory has vanished ;
but I find the name of " Charing-cross" lettered on a
strange-looking building, quite unlike any of my day. The
" Golden Cross" is close by, but only in name ; and oh !
the bustle and tumult of this place I Persons in unfashion-
able and absurd attire move in all directions rapidly along :
carriages of the strangest and most remarkable shapes are
filled with multitudes of people ; the waggons and carts,
loaded with merchandise, and drawn by enormous horses,
grind along on (what is this ?) a flat stone solid pavement.
My wonder at all this is increased when I search for the
King's Mews, and find in its place a great building, which
to me looks to be of noble enough proportions. I enter in :
and see—it is full of beautiful and wonderful paintings,
most of them by artists unknown to me, either by name or
style. On leaving this place, I observe a sort of display
of statues and fountains ; but so great is the confusion
caused by all, that it seems as if it would be a pleasure for
me to saunter quietly up St. Martin's .lane, and rest awhile
in the open green fields, under the trees. But lo I instead
of these there are nothing here bat houses, houses, on and
still farther on; and a gentleman of somewhat prim ap-
pearance, clad in a close-fitting costume of blue, set
with silver buttons, and having marked on his collar
peculiar letters and figures, tells me that if I go for
miles in this direction there will be found nothing
but houses still. Perhaps there may be breathing space
in Spring Gardens, which, in my time, was a beautiful
place, thickly shaded with the most luxuriant trees.
The number of passengers who come to and fro by these
" steam-packets" seems to me surprising. I have just passed
a bridge of fairy-like lightness, which they call Hunger-
ford, and along which streams of people move : nor is this
to be wondered at, when I learn that London now contains
close upon three millions of ,people. I hope they do not
joke with a poor old ghost; for this is about as much as
half the population of England was in the reign of our
good Queen Elizabeth. If this be true, Ido not wonder to
hear of the immense extent of the metropolis now, or that
the new works which we have just passed are intended for
a new line of traffic, along which people and goods are
carried by an iron horse, fed with burning coal, at the rate
of 40 miles an hour. It is not easy for me at once to com-
prehend all these strange things, although my old friend,
the Marquis of Worcester, I dare say, could. Upon the
whole, the Temple is less changed than most other places :
here are still the steps which were often used by both the
company and the players, when they needed a boat to go to
Southwark. But where thoseimmense cylinders, which seem
to be hung in chains, now are (for lighting London, they tell
me, with smoke I), used to be Whitefriars ; and, from my
knowledge of the place, I am not sorry it has been removed.
What has become of the famous old St. Paul's? which seems,
however, to have been most worthily replaced. Where are
those quaint-looking church-towers, and other objects, once
so prominent ?—Swept off, you say, sir, by the Great Fire
—most terrible calamity I But of all the changes in this
route, there is none more marked than London-bridge. The
fall of water there has been altered : no old and tottering
houses now stand upon this thoroughfare. And what is all
the crowd hurrying along for, on foot and in vehicles of va-
rious kinds, as if some great sight were turning out all
London? But lam too fatigued to be able to fellow them
to see the great sight : I have seen so many, too, already ;
and in truth I am stupified with wonder at what I have
already seen, and wish much for the present to rest.—
Bulkier.

Mr. Charles Makinson, recently of Manchester,
has been elected Town Clerk of the municipal district of
Taradale, Victoria.

SERIOUS BOILER EXPLOSION IN THE CITY.—A
serious explosion took place yesterday on the premises of
Mr. D. A. Jones, packing-case maker, of 14, Bath-street,
Newgate-street, Three persons were seriously scalded and
burned, one of them lying at present in St. Bartholomew's
Hospital. It seems that the men went to work as usual in the
morning, a circular sawing machine of four-horse power,
which is used on the premises for sawing the wood, being
set in motion according to the usual practice. At about half-
past nine o'clock, however, they were startled by a loud re-
port, and in a moment the whole of the shutters inclosing
the warehouse on the ground floor were thrown with great
violence, as well as a portion of the brickwork, some twenty
or thirty feet from the premises. Very soon the premises
were in a blaze. In consequence, however, of the timely
arrival of the engines from the Farringdon-street Station
the fire was soon extinguished. A son of Mr. Jones, a lad
between eleven and twelve years of age, and two of the
workmen, who had been injured by the explosion, were
taken out of the premises. Their names are Walter Jones,
Alfred Reynolds, aged 26 years, and Robert Honeymore,
aged 24 years. The last-named sufferer being severely
scalded and burned, he was taken to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital. The other two sufferers received prompt medical
attendance. The whole of the windows of the first and
second floors of the building were blown out, as were also
the skylight and roof of the house. The roof and portions
of the premises of Mr. Buckiand, packer, opposite, have
also been blown out.

MAKING CRIMINALS.—At Hemel Hampstead
petty session, on Wednesday (before Sir A. P. Cooper, Bart.,
Rev. J. B. Bingham, and Mr. C. Longman), Emma Allen,
a child of nine years of age, was charged with stealing some
barley, the property of Mr. Jones, a farmer, of Kensworth.
Mr. Hill, who conducted the case, said it was one in which
three children of the respective ages of 7,8, and 9 years were
concerned in taking the barley from a rick, and they had
selected the oldest of the delinquents. To substantiate this
case he called George Woodcroft, a boy 10 years old, who
stated that he had been to school but did not know the na-
ture of an oath. Upon being questioned by Sir A. P.
Cooper, however, the boy said that in calling God to wit-
ness that he told the truth, if he did not tell the truth he
believed he should be punished hereafter. He was then
examined and said—l was in Mr. Jones's wheat field on
Tuesday, the 3d inst., at Kensworth, between 10 and 11
o'clock, picking up bean stalks ; there was a barley rick
at the end of the wheat field. I saw Emma Allen and
others pulling the barley out of the rick ; they had a little
barley in their hands; at this time Mr. Jones was coming
into the field ; I called to them and they put the barley
down and ran away. The barley was here produced, nothing
like a handful altogether, and the witness said he saw the
prisoners take one of the " bundles" out of the rick, but he
could not tell which bundle it was; that produced was all
the bundles all the children took put together. Mr. Jones,
the prosecutor, was then called. He said,--On the day in
question I saw several children near the barley rick; they
had a handful each in their hands, and as I walked towards
them they ran away. I cannot swear to the girl Allen my-
self. I sent three bundles home by a boy; I told him to
take it to my house. The child in defence said,--I was in
the field, gentlemen, and gathered it in my hand from the
ground ; I never pulled a bit out of the rick ; it wng all
what was dropped on the ground in the wheat field. The
prisoner was then fined, with costs, 175., and 2d. the value
of the barley. A young man then stepped from the assem-
bly and said,—l cannot pay the money; lam her brother,
and keep her; she has no mother, and her father has lost
the use of his arm and leg, and could not walk here to-day
to see after his child. Ido all I can to keep a home for
them. In consequence of this appeal a fortnight was allowed
to pay the money, and in default the child stands committed
to Hereford gaol for three weeks.—Rucks ifeivertoir.