The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-08-05
OUR EUROPEAN LETTER.A
A Ramble Through London.

To attempt to describe all that we nave
seen of London in one short letter is like
trying to crowd its teeming population in
an English railway carriage-an impos.
sibility-and in our rambles We will
briefly mention only the things that i'm
pressed us the most On the Sabbath
following the day of our crrival We
attempted to attend St. Paul's cathedral,
but it happened to be a special day, none
being admitted without tickets. Thous-
ands of people thronged the streets and
thousands filled the cathedral, yet ell was
calm and peaceful. Not knowing the
cause of the immense gathering, we in.
quired, and were informed that the church
was celebrating the advent of the 5Oth
year of the reign of her Majesty, Queen
Victoria. The day throughout seemed
extremely quiet to us, and we concluded
that England acknowledges the suprema.
cy of God and remembers to keep his
day holy-a good plan for some of our
American cities to adopt. On Monday
early we learn that the Prince of Wales
would lay the corner stone of the Tower
Bridge at O'Clock p. m. We take the
underground railroad for Cannon street,
and find it densely packed with people as
far as we can see, banners and flags of all
nations being promiscuously above the
anxious throng, and just over our heads
foated the ensign of our own beloved
country. and if ever in our whole lives
we felt tproud of it, 1t was then. At "a few
minutes past the appointed time the
guards of his Royal Highness, the Prince
of Wales, appeared in the distance follow
ed by the Prince and Princess of Wales,
Louis Victoria, Prince Albert Victor, the
Duke of Cambridge, Duke and Duchess
of Connsught, and Mary, Duchess of
Teok, the Duke of Teck, and the Lord
Mayor of London. We did not go to the
bridge to witness the ceremonies, but
took the cars again for the geological
gardens, where we spent few pleasant
hours. 5000 animals are on exhibition,
but we will not take the time to tell you
how we fingered in the monkey house,
or how the elephants teased for crackers.
We spent the remainder of the evening
at Madame Tussand's gallery of wax
| figures. The Napoleon rooms were the
most interesting to US, containing besides
the wax display many relics, most of them
belonging to Napoleon 1st. About the
center of the main room is the figure of
the great general, wonderfully life like,
representing him lying in state upon his
camp bedstead, used by him during near
" six years as state prisoner at st. Hele-
ma, with the mattresses and pillow on
which he died. He is dressed in his
Chasseur uniform, covered with the cloak
he wore at the famous battle of Marengo
th the 11Sl King 20 of Rome. I'm it he lay in a
soldiers glory" and it served as his pail
to the grave. For the bed alone the
proprietors paid s450 lauthenticated).
| The likeness of the Emperor is from the
original cast from his face by Anton.
march,, an Italian physician, sent out to
St. Helena to attend Napoleon after the
recall of Barry O'AIeara. A little to the
left stands the celebrated carriage of the
Emperor Napoleon in which he made the
campaign of Russia and which was cap.
tured on the evening of the battle Of
Waterloo. We were allowed to 60 in
and sit down, and in>spite of all that has
been said derogatory to this great mans
character we felt somewhat honored, and
as we looked out of the windows in front
we fancied that we lived in other years,
that the dreary march to Moscow was
before US and that we ride defeated from
the great battle of Leipsic, and at Water
loo we witness the last desperate charge
of Marshal Ney bafaed, his last hopes
frustrated, and the star of his glory goes
down forever. Other attractions we will
not mention. 1.-THE Chamber of Horrors
was the next and last room We visited
where we saw one of the most e1traordi-
nary relics in the world. A melancholy
relic of the first French revolution. The
original knife and sunette, the identical
instrument that decapitated $4,000 per-
Sons, amongst whom were the unfortunate
Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Madame
Elizabeth, the Duke of Orleans, Robe.
SPHERE and shed the best and worst blood
of France bought by Madame Tussand
and sons from NJ. Samson, the grandson
of the original executioner. Tuesday we
visit the National Art Gallery. Saw
many paintings by the old masters and
many by those of modern schools. Tur-
ner did not meet our expectations by q
long way. Perhaps our eyes were too
young. Landseer vas all We had imag-
ined. We examined the foreign collec-
tion by ancient and modern artists and
ne hardly knew how to express our.
selves, but the works of Raphael, Rubens,
Murillo, Titan, Leonardo, 'Davinci, and
Alichelangelo, seemed 10 interest US most.
But we are frank to confess that we can't
see wherein the ancients excell our mod
crn artists. From the National Gallery
ne visit the Dore Gallery. We do not
profess to be art critics but to our minds
M. Gustave Dore is without rival either
in ancient OF modern schools. The two
pictures that attract the most attention
is "Christ Leaving the Pretorian" and
his last great picture "The Vale of Tears" +"
The rich fertility Of Imagination, the
power of drawing, and the glow of color
displayed in this masterpiece we will not
even attempt to describe. 1t is wonderful.
Wednesday we visit Cleopatra's Needle,
Houses of Parliament, Westminster Alb.
bey, Buckingham Palace, the Indian and
Colonial Exhibition. At the Abbey We
took great pleasure in visiting the tombs
of the illust,ous dead, and the beautiful
monuments reared in memory of many
whose remains rest, elsewhere. The
statue of our beloved Longfellow did not
escape our notice, and we are glad to
know that England not only acknowl.
edged his genius, but so loved him that
they have built monument and given it
a place among their own honored dead.
At the exhibition we were much pleased
with the extensive and artistic display of
exhibits. Those of Canada, Australia
and India were particularly interesting.
Thursday we visit the British Museum,
and the Royal Acadamy of Art and
concerning these wo are compelled to
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