The Halifax Comet. — 1894-11-17 (Halifax, West Yorkshire, England)

THE SIGHTS OF LONDON.  IN all probability the sight which most impresses the visitor to "The Queen City of the World" is London itself, covering, as it does, an area of upwards of 120 square miles, and holding a population of nearly five million souls. This was my reflection as I gazed around on the city from the summit of the Monument, a noble Doric column, 202 feet high, situated at the foot of London Bridge, and designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren, to commemorate the great fire of London in 1666. From the top of this column one of the finest views of the Metropolis may be enjoyed, superior in some respects to that from the Cathedral of St. Paul's. The ascent is made by a staircase of 345 steps ; these lead to a gallery, which was encased in 1842 to prevent suicides. A bas-relief on the pediment, or crowning ornament, represents Charles 11. consoling the citizens of London. An inscription was added in 1681 (at the time of Titus Oates's plot) which ascribed the "dreadful burning of this Protestant city" to the "treachery and malice of Popish faction." But this offensive paragraph was removed in 1831, and there remains now only the original inscription written by Dr. Gale, Dean of York. My advice to the pleasure-seeking visitor is—" First ascend the Monument and see the city, and then turn your attention to its varied sights" ; for it is a solemn and impressive experience to have gazed on London from such a height. The tumult of the city is reduced to a drowsy hum; then the extremes which are ever present in all large centres of civilisation seem to more closely meet, and. class distinctions vanish, for then one sees nothing but a struggling mass of common humanity below, pressed in on all sides by buildings of every conceivable description, from the palatial residences of the very rich to the hovels of the very poor. But perhaps I am looking at these things in too serious a light, and not in my customary Mark Tapley frame of mind. It may be that as I write the remembrance of an annoying circumstance in connestion with my visit to the Monument someA,at overshadows my usual jocularity. However, at the risk of losing dignity, I will explain. I had, with great difficulty, mounted 330 of the 345 steps leading to the top of the column, when I found I could go no flyther without pausing to rest. At the moment of so doing a smart little youth (I should have written fiend) came hurrying down. I was in doubt as to how much higher I had to ascend, and. so questioned the lad in that connection. "Oh ! " was his reply, "only about 250 steps more, sir." I groaned, and then sat down and read the COMET for fully half-an-hour. When I eventually resumed my journey and reached the open-air my feelings can }Ater be imagined than described. I verily believe that could I have laid hands on that funny (?) little fellow just then something awful would have happened. The public would, in all-probability, have been startled by the news of how the wirework around the gallery of the Monument had been torn away and an innocent little child dashed on to the pavement below by a frantic in d ivid us! bearing the name of