The Portland daily press., 1882-04-03
lLondon ,Times.l
The Tower of London,

Iu0 IOW6I VI AOAOOu,
It may safely be said that no city in the
world possesses a monument equal in historic
interest to the Tower of London. For 800
years, as palace fortress and prison, it has
been continuously inhabited. Recent discov-
cries have justified the ancient tradition that
on this same site there stood an important
Roman fortifcation, and the fact stands PROV
ed that important Roman works occupied the
spot for 1000 years OF more before Gundulf, the
weeping monk of Bee. in Normondy, whom
the Conqueror summoned to act as his builder,
laid one stone of the great white tower on
another. Gundulf was said to have tempered
his cement with the bloodsof beasts, and to
have watered with his tears the theatre Of so
many future tragedies. Probably he pounded
up the old red tiles and bricks of the Romans,
and SO gave to his mortar the red color which
the common folk regarded with so much
awe.
Successive kings, notably William Rufus, who
.spilled and shaved the people with tribute es-
pecially to spend about the Tower OF London
and the Great hall at Westminster" and
Henry III the first deviser of Thames en-
bankment, added to the Tower of London.
not without many murmurings on the part OF
their subjects, who saw in the Tower stand
ing menace to their liberties
In the 10Th century the Tower OF London
with its outer and inner balllum, the great,
keep of the White tower, and the grim portal
of the traitors gate, must have been looked
upon from the river as a most imposing monu-
ment of the feudal system. Unhappily, under
the Stuarts and their successors, the glories OF
the Tower were suffered to decay. On the
south side the inner wall with the Lantern
tower became ruins. and during the latter part
of the last century their places were filled by
huge and hideous brick building, with all the
unWieldly ugliness of Thames street ware
house, by which the yleT S,.5 o. sne 9 to"er rom
During the last 25 years better Judgment and
better taste have been shown in the treatment
of this great standing record OF the history OF
England. The prince consort was one OF the
firstlto take an active interest IN the antlqui-
ties and beauties of the place. Mr.. Salvin,
who died last year, and who only short time
before his death visited the tower in order to
see the work that had been done, and the dis
coveries that had been made at the Cradle
tower Was called in as consulting architect.
Under his advice the chapel of st. John in the
White tower was restored, and IS now perhaps
the finest specimen of Norman architecture in
the kingdom, and the ruinous tumble-down
warders' quarters were replaced by appropriate
buildings in the style of the Tudors For some
time, owing to the pressure of work in other
directions, little was done beyond mere main
tenance and repair. Six years ago, however,
the work of restoration was actively begun
again. The chapel of st. Peter and Vincula,
the burial place OF Queen Anne Boleyn, with
the other illustrioas victims of royal displeas-
ure or political necessity down to the time OF
the Jacobite lords of the 40, had fallen into
most discreditable state of decay. The interior
was choked by the ugliest of modern galleries,
with tall unsightly pews; sinking OF the
pavement of the altar was becoming more and
more apparent, and it became necessary TO take
immediate steps to prevent the whole building
from falling into ruins. When this chapel had
been repaired and purged OF the monstrosities
by which it was defined, the next work OF i'm
portance to be undertaken was the restoration
Of the outer wall on the south or river side,
to gether with the Well and Cradle towers.
This has now been done, and in the mean time
certain mean buildings on the east side OF tho
White tower which were used by the Royal
engineers as stores, showed such unmistakable
signs of an immediate intention OF falling in
bodily that they had to be swept away. On
that side, therefore, the White tower is un-
masked, and clear as was erected BY Gundult.
1t was in course of this removal that the
Roman remains, to which allusion has been
made in the early part of this paper, were dis
covered. At the same time the dirty slums
known as the Irish barracks were cleared away,
aud the space between the inner and outer
Notifications on the eastern side being thrown
open the Salt and Broad Arrow towers stand
fully revealed.
The great work of all, however, remains.
The Tower of London is still screened from
the Thames by the great warehouse OF which
mention has been made. Fortunately, there is
a prospect that remedy will be found for the
eclipse. An arrangement has at last been come
to between the Secretary of State for war and
the first commissioner of works, by which the
former will give no the warehouse, which isno
longer required by the war department, and
the upper stories of which are so rotten and OF
such fiimsy construction that no bulky goods
can be stored there. The first commissioner Of
works, on his part, will remove these buildings,
and then proposes to complete the restoration
of the inner wall of the Tower and the Lantern
tower, of which, no doubt, the foundations will
be found beneath the warehouse. The whole
circle of the Tower of London will thus again
reappear, and the Central Tower will stand
out, unincumbered by other buildings, in all its
pristine grandeur. Ample authorities exist for
the restoration, and, though it is impossible to
give back the very stones, it is easy to recon-
struct an exact and authentic presantment OF
the old fortress as it stood in those days. Care
full drawings have been prepared at the office
of works, together with models OF the Tower
as it is and as it will be when the work is ac-
complished, and these have received the ap-
proyal of some of the chief authorities on arch
zoology and architecture. Nor need the public
fear lest they should be "pilled and shaved"
for the purpose, for the total cost of the work
il only estimated at about $500, of which
some $4,000 or more will be reconped to the ex-
cheauer by the sale Of the old materials Of the
atorehouse.