The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-08-23

preaching of one greater than Jonas.
From stuffed beasts and birds, from tn
literary remains of human genius, and tn
choicest labors Of mans hand, the way i
not very long to Madame Tussadd's Wa
Exhibition, where the men and women them
selves are made to appear more real ant
life like, than if their own bodies had beer
stuffed or embaImed for the inspection o
coming ages. Every visitor to London goe
to see Madame Tussaud's Wax Exhibition
and Bazaar-so I went too. The large hall
were crowded with ladies and gentlemen, {
fine band was discoursing choice music, ant
passing from Baker Street into her saloons
you pass from every day life to that of which
we have read and heard. For here are tht
greet he net -
poets, diyines anu notorious criminals, al
dressed as they we're wont to do, ife-siEe
and looking SO life-like that, suddenly com
ing upon the figures you find yourself invol
UNFAIRLY turning aside to let them pass, or to
beg pardon for intruding upon their privacy
Here are over 300 figures richly dressed
among them the line of English Kings and
Queens from William the Conqueror to the
present time, the great heroes of the pen
and sword down to Bright and Gladstone,
and the leaders of the late war in Europe.
Here too, is the marriage group of Princess
Louise and the Marquis of Lorne, the sur
render at Sedan, &C., &c. But cannot be-
gin to specify. The coronation robes Of
kings, the rich attire of the middle ages and
the most costly dresses of our own day, are
found upon these mute fgures-bringing
their histories and persons at once vividly
before your eye. There is one room called
the Napoleon Chamber" in which all the
existing relics of the great Captain have
been brought together at enormous expense.
His campaign carriage, captured at Water
loo, the one in which he rode to his corona
ton, the coronation robes of himself and
Josephine, the bed on which he slept and
died-swords, regalia, letters, outer and un-
derclothing-these and many other histori
Cal relics, with memorials of Wellington,
&c.,-are exhibited in one room. The last
chamber is called "the chamber of horrors, :"
and verify the name is just. To crafty a
prurient curiosity all the famous murderers
and other villains, male and female, are
ranged on either side of the apartment, leer
iGg and grinning at the visitor as he enters.
There, too, are the famed executioners begin
ming with the present hangmen, models of
the Rastila, tho original knife aud iunette
which beheaded $4,000 persons in the first
French Revolution, among them Louis XVI
and Marie Antoinette, and the guillotine in
working order This was too much. | had
supped full of horrors, and went home to
dream of courts and dungeons and horrid
deeds,-and to awake, rejoiced to find my
self neither famous nor infamous in Madame
Tussaud's collection.
l wish that | could portray to you one
tenth part of the great sights which have
seen in London--the master pieces of human
genius and skill, the noble triumph of art
and labor, and the sacred monuments of the
past, which have been garnered into this
marvellous capital of our race; and could
reproduce on paper the feeling of enthusiasm,
the glowing of Imagination, the rush of his
toric memories with which one is filled as he
roams at will through these old streets
and crooked lanes, and quiet courts, and
grand temples, that in their very stones are
eloquent with the story of brave hearts and
heroic lives, and immortal minds, whose
deathless names still cling to the spots which
gave them sanctuary on earth. One day
may be the picture of many. Come then
and be my companion one Monday in Lon
don. Not far from the Hotel is the great
Minister Abbey, where England crowns her
Kings and Queens, and buries her noble
dead. l need not stop to describe West
minister Abbey, whose chapels, choir, tran
septs, and nave, and dimensions, are so we'll
known to every reader. With many others
(for in every place of interest in London you
meet with many fellow-sig ghtseers, native and
foreign we enter the North Transept where
the Statesmen of England are buried. Here
is a splendid monument to Lord Chatham,
and near him lies his brilliant son the younger
Pitt, while close by Pitts side sleeps his
mighty adversary, Fox. The great rivals
are at peace now. Here are Canning, and
Grattan, and Castlereagh, and Sir Robert
Peel, and Wilberforce, and many of those
whose clear foresight guided England's ship
of State amid tempeStuous seas.
Every one is hurrying to the South
Transept where is the "Poet's Corner.
Here is the tomb of Chaucer, and on either
side are monuments to Spenser, Shakespeare
Milton, Dryden, Prior, Gay, Thomson,
Campbell. While looking around at these,
L chanced to look down, and right under my
feet was the slab which covered the dust oi
Lord Macaulay, while by its side another
slab bore the name of Thackeray, and al
most touching it another slab, bearing
simple inscription which every one stopped
to read, Charles Dickens. Every way yor
turn in the Abbey you tread upon noble