The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-08-06
[ Translated from the French for the Inter
ocean,
4 Visit TO the Tower OF LOnI Ion.

q hiSit ~ tAO IuuCf Vi bOu 1On.
: "Fhe man who best knows the hi
tory Of the present time Is the turnke
OF the Tower OF London"
These sinister words in one of th
, characters in the drans of "Marie Tu
dor" reeurred to my mind the me
! ment | entered the gloomy arches Z
this old monument.
There is, happily, between Mari
!, Tudor, the bloody, sud Queen Victor
ia, no point OF resemblance.
The Tower OF London has for ha. f
century ceased to receive prisoners a
State, and the actual guardian can n
longer, like the good Joshua OF tn
drama by Victor Hugo, follow upoI
his DrlsO1 register the vicissItuieS O
the political contemporary.
1t is not, indeed, Of the history O
this period that one reflects in passini
through the dreary galleries of the old
English bastile, but Of the drama
which recall these solid and bIsel
walls, witnesses of four centuries o
violence, of asSa5sinatioa5, and o
crimes without name.
Again, is it not Joshua FarnabI
who says in this same drama of Mari,
Tudor, sit is who pick up the piece:
of all the ministers and of all the IA
vorites who are shattered in the ser
vice of the queen. 1t is very anus
ing" To fail suddenly from the TOT
to the bottom II The ordinary fate U
all favorites, and the favOrites o
lqueens more than all others, ant
those whom Marie Tudor or her sister
Elizabeth sent from the palace o
Westminster to the tower, hal moi
much cause for complaint. They mus
in advance have ku0wn their destiny
But how many others Were the vie
Tins OF an all-powerfuI caprice or OI
the barbarity of the times?
One day, at the close OF the thir.
teenth century, the dungeons Of tn,
Tower opened at one time to receive
more than 900 Jews. They were &C
cused of clipping the royal coins, anC
more than half OF them were hung.
1t was at the Tower of London thai
John, King of France, taken prisoner
at the battle of POitiers, suffered his
captivity later, after the defeat o
Agincourt, Duke Charles of Orleans
passed there twenty-five years, and il
was there that he composed his ten
der aud graceful poems, one of thG
first monuments of our language.
One scarcely crosses the draw.
bridge which gives access to the vast
fortress than he imagines himself
transported two or three centuries
back these narrow and sinuou:
streets, courts bleak and bare, the
towers, bastions, moats and dOnjon,
4 krAaA OF
prisons, all, in fact, of construction
so varied. Behold them as thay werC
in the time of the Plantagenets, thu
Tudors, or the Stuarts. The Englist
] an S:Avara all their ntd t-AIiAi-~-->- J.L>>>a
bold picturesque whole, all these
grand structures crowded one against
the other. The interior ornaments-
| ton, even, and the furniture nave
been preserved in the principal rooms.
There is only one exception, and that
is in favor of large refreshment
room. where feeble blonde young la
dies make bOuntiful lunches, spriOk-
led with champagne, while awaiting
the hour for visiting the Tower.
Toe guardians OF the tower act as
guides and ciceroniiin this labyrinth OF
passages and courts. They also re-
tain the costume ana arms OF the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Formally is one of the distinctive
characteristics OF the English nation.
She can overthrow her institutions
and change her government, but she
! devoutly clings to usage or custom.
Since the fifteenth century kings have
succeeded kings, royal race royal race,
| two bloody wars have been concluded,
king has been condemned TO death
and executed, and all that 1t has been
possible to do, but no one has dared
to modify the custom Of the gusrdi-
ans of the tower. With their short
breeches, their shoes Ornamanted
with ribbon rosettes, their round vel
vet hats in embroidery and braid,
their blOuses of black cloth braided
with red cord, and ornamented with
the English coat Of arms; their guard
ians all OF high stature, and as vesti-
ges of the past in the midst OF an &C.
tive people, daring, and lovers of
progress.
Upon their blou5es, \ little abJve
the belt, are embroidered the letters
V. r. Victoria Rsgia.) Fns initial,
at each reign, is replace by anJther;
| uO JULIET CudukC % aiAO"CAs
MY visit to the tower of London,
under the direction Of the cieeront,
was like a promenade through the
crimes of English history. The short
accounts that he recited as we entered
some new part of the immense and
sinister edifice seemed to be borrowed
from the Book of Mysteries. This is
the bell-tower, where the Princess
Z .izabeth vas for a long time kept q
prisoner by her sister, Maria Tudor.
1t was there that the scene transpired.
rendered familiar by the beautiful
painting by NJ. La Rache the assss-
sination OF the children OF Edward ".
by the order Of their uncle, Richard
III. Adjoining the Bloody Tower
stands the Tower of Wakefield. 1t is
there that King Henry vi. was assis-
sinated. We enter the White Tower,
the largest Of the edifice of which the
whole compCses the Tower Of London.
After passing through the vast gal
/ leries, where the old armors of the
middle ages are kept, and the panO-
plies taken from every people, ancient
and modern, the guardian showed Us
frightful dun geOn, absolutely with
out light, almost without sir. 1t was
there that Q Ieen Elizabeth caused
Walter Raleigh to be imprisoned. In
neighbOring dungeon we were shown
instruments OF torture, and horrible
block Of oak, which still bore stains of
blood and marks of the ak. We
crossed a wide court, and found our
selves in front OF the Chapel OF St
Peter. Before entering the cicerOni
ii Na ~ 10 which
he asserted was yet red with the blood
of the prisoners Those VINO were
killed in this place were buried under
the altar Of the chapsi. All these ter
rible recitaIs confused me, and has
tened to escape from the "reminiscences
that the place awakened; witnesses
Of crime without number. l cast 3
hasty glance t. the Tower OF Beau
champ, where were imprisoned the
Counts of Warwick, of Arundel OF
Leicester; and where Anne de Boleyn
was bebeaded by order Of her husband,
Henry VIII. My imperturbable guide
wished to do me a favor he showed
me DeveIid. Tower, which, four CEN
turies later, served as a prison to the
poet, Chaueer and to the pamphleteer
John Wilkes.
Here is the Bowyer Tower, prison of
the Duke Of Clarence, who, having
the choice Of execution, wished TO be
drowned in a tun OF wine. Behold,
at last, the Brick Tower, where the
young and unfortunate Jane Grey
paid with her head the price OF q ten
days royalty.
Since 1920 the tower has ceased TO
be prison; it contains at present the
arsenal, the crown jewels, and Is the
repository of the judiciary archives OF
the kingdom. But the old and borri-
BILE memorials remain, and the singu-
lar circumstance is It seems no one de-
sires to see them Obliterated.
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