Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-05-14
The Tower OF London.

A FRESH chapter in the history of the
Tower of London was begun on Saturday
when for the first time the grim fortress
was thrown open to the public In fu-
ture twice q week, on Mondays and Sat
urdays, the tower may be visited by all
who come, without the payment of any
fee, the only formality to be gone
through being that of applying for a
ticket at the entrance-lodge which stands
ON the side of the old Lions Tower. The
privilege thus conferred by the Govern
ment upon the public cannot be too
highly estimated by those who value
freedom of access to our few historical
showplaces, and the present Prime
Minister may be sure that when the peo-
pie come to consider his claims to their
popularity his action in this particular
matter will not be overlooked "If
prison walls could only speak what tales
of mystery and horror they would re-
late~ We often hear such phrase
quoted with reference to some dungeon
or castellated fortress whose gray stones
are moldering into dust But we do not
ask that the walls of the Tower of Lon.
don might speak, for, thanks to such in
telligent students as Mr.. Dixon, we know
almost as much of the towers history as
the ancient stone walls themselves
From the days of the Conuueror,
the tyranical Norman King who
caused the famous military architect,
Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, to build
the Middle Tower, down to yesterday,
we have the complete story of the tower
before us. And what a marvellous mar
rative it is! 1t should be written in
blood. Every inch of the ground, every
fnDt al ia
cruel deed, some tyrannous act. To use
the words Of that Countess of Somerset
who, with her husband, poisoned Over
bury and subsequently, occupied the
prison in which he had been confined,
the place is "iull of the ghosts of the
dead" These specters confront the vis-
lt0r at every step and will not be shaken
OF, In the White Tower, with its watch.
towers at each angle, and its walls fifteen
feet thick, was imprisoned Maud, the
third daughter of Earl Fitzwater, that
stout Baron who, To avenge the Kings
treatment OF his cEid, compelled him to
sign Magma Charta at Runnymede.
Here, in dungeon compared with
which the Black Hole at Calcutta would
be palatial residence, was Imprisoned
Guy, or Guido, Fawkes; and here was
the prison home of the seven Bisbops.
at whose knees even the soldiers of the
guard fell, imploring their benediction,
while the shore was crowded by pros
trate spectators asking a blessing. The
prosecuted prelates were lodged in the
Earl OF Leicester's Tower, where Heriot
FIRST observed the satellites of Jupiter.
The dial of this famous astronomer
yet remains, and the story of Heriot and
the three magi," as his companions
were called, is by no means one of the
least interesting episodes of the tower
In the Bloody Tower, called the Garden
rover until the murder of the two little
frlnces--pefhaps the most tragic and
plIlIul incident in the annals of the
iortress-Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley
neia thelr conference, asking only a
DlDle from which TO get counsel ana in
structlon in their hour of need. Here.
too, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote his :" His.
tory OF the World,d his ESSAY entitled
The Parliament of Man." and other
political treatises.
Memories of those ill-fated great ones
rise everywhere, and it does not require
oVermuch Imagination to cOnjure up
those dread mornings when Raleigh
passed out of his little room TO the block.
ana when the eXecutioner waited with
ms glltteriDg ak on the green for pa.
tient Lady Jane Grey, who was lodged in
the house whore now resides Mr.. Hughes,
the Yeoman jailer.
Indeed, we walk upon stones which
cover piles of royal and noble dust, that
OF lhe unfortunate Earl of Monmouth
among the rest; and then, Issuing into
the fresh air again, we find ourselves
gazing AZ little slab in the center of a
falled-On space, placed there by the
queen, IN memory of Anne Boleyn. II
was on this green that royal and illus
lrious persons were executed. Now the
Constables Of the Tower are installed
there, and very shortly such ceremony
VIII be witnessed or the bloody scNRal
enacted within the precincts of the
tower century after century, nothing now
femains but their memory. The scatlold,
the masked headsman with his shining