Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1885-02-04
THE HOUSE AND THE TOWER.

De1Ot0 IL naQ Oo0n nOrr1Djy ana 1at6lly
burned. Scipio has been arrested.
THE HOUSE AND THE TOWER.
History and Points Of Interest In the
Two Old Landmark.
The present house If Parliament were
erected from the des'Kns of Sir Charles
Barry, the work being begun in 1910.
(Ihe old houses which adjoined the hall
aud lay between Westminster Abbey
and the Thames were burned to the
ground in 1884, TIE present building
is considered the most magnificent
erected in that country for many cent.
uries. Roughly it may be said to forma
parallelogran., 900 feet long by 300 feet
in width. The principal rooms are the
House of Lords and the House of Com
mons, which occupy the center of the
building and run on the line of its
greatest length. They are separated
by an "octagon hall" with diameter
of seventy feet between the walls.
From this hall one corridor runs north
to the House of Commons and another
south to the House of Lords, beyond
which are the royal apartments, at the
extreme south of the building. The
entrance to tne "octagon hall" is by
passage known as st. Stephens Hall,
which communicates by flights Of steps
with an entrance in the east front, and
also with Westminster Hall, which, in
cluded in the new buildings, forms it's
northern vestibule. The state entrance
of the Queen is at the southwestern ex-
tremity, and is, of course, in direct COM
munication with the royal apartments.
The building is surmounted by lofty
spires and towers. In the center, above
the octagon hall, rises the central tower
800 feet high. At each corner there are
tower, 346 feet high; at the northwest,
the clock tower, surmounted by q beliry-
spire 800 feet high. The clock has four
faces, each thirty feet in diameter; it
strikes the hours on . bell weighing
nine tons, and is known as Big Ben.
The stone of which the building is
erected is q magnetism limestone from
Yorkshire. and has rapidly decsyed
since the completion.
The Tower of London was in feudal
days powerful fortress; next, aud long
after, state prison. It is now q gov
eminent store-house and armory, and
instead of being one great building, as
many suppose, is an irregular quadrilst-
eral collection of buildings on rising
ground adjoining the Thames, and i'm
medistely to the east Of the city of Lon
don. It occupies . space of about thir-
teen acres, and the whole is surrounded
by . moat of fair width, but no great
depth. The moat is usually dry, but the
garrison have the power of flooding it.
Seen from without, the moat is bordered
within by . lofty castellated wall, broken
by massive danking towers at frequent
intervals. Within this wall rises Sec
ond of similar construction but greater
height; and within this again are the
several barracks and armories and in
the center Of all the lofty keep or DON
Jon, known as the White Tower, re-.
ferred to in the dispatches. This bears
. close resemblance to Rochester
Castle, and like it, was built by Gun
dulph, Bishop of Rochester, in the
time of William the Oonquerer. It is
the center of interest and antiquity in
the whole structure. It's walls are in
parts sixteen feet thick and of solid ma
sonIy.
This tower was the court of the Plan
tagenet kings. The various other tow
ers are principally noteworthy on &C
count of the i1lustrious prisoners who
have pjDed in them or left them for the
scaffold. In the northwest corner of
the quadrangle is st. Peters Chapel,
now the garrison church. In another
part is the jewel house, containing the
crown jewels or regslia, comprising sew
eral crowns, scepters, globes and jewels
of enormous value. Near this building
IL the horse arn,"r., collection Of an
cient and medieval arms and armor, the
latter being exhibited in complete suits
on wooden figures Of men and horses.
EARLY writer's have alleged that JUL
(ius Cesar first built tho Tower of Lon
don - . Roman fortress, but there Is
NO written evidence to substantiate this.
Some earlier structure of tho Saxon
time sppears to hsve been there from
the massive foundations which have
been discovered in the course of subse-
quent erections. It was . fortress in
tho reigns Of the first two Norman
kings; in Henry 1.'s time it was . state
prison. Kings have frequently resided
there, holding their courts there. OF
the long list of executions for political
onenses, real or imputed, those Of
Lords KlmaTnock, Ba1minno, and Lo1-
WI, after the rebellion of 1745, were the
last.
In 1841 serious fire broke out in the
boyer tower and extended TO the ar-
: mory, causing the destruction Of num-
erous modern buildings and many
thousand stands Of arms. At present
tho tower Of London is = great military
; store-house containing arms and ac-
coutrements for the complete outfit OF
. large army. Al fortress it is useless
.. against modern arms. It's government
il vested in . constable who has great
, privileges and il usually . military OIL
car Of long service and distinguished
marx. The deputy constable 10 the
! actual governor. He has . small stat
! under him and the corps Of yeoman Of
the guard, more commonly known q
, beefessers.
Il BLACK milk stockings have jet clocks
) A pair Of black satin shoes have je1
{ swallow on either too. =.