Year: 1861

The last number of Blackwood's Maga- zine containing a lengthy account of the famous Tower of London, which we condense as follows:

 The time the Tower was erected and the name of the builder have not been preserved Some assign 1t to be of very remote antiquity, and Julius Caesar and Constantine the Great have both been considered the builders. Au- thentic annals inform us that the White Tower was built in the time of William the Conquerer Walls and bastions, and dungeons, were added at sundry times, till, in the reign of Edward the Third, 1t attained its present form and extent. During period of 300 years the Kings of England went in procession from it on their coronation day.

 During the period that Richard II filled the throne, this building was gay and noisy with dance and banquet. Here, too, that monarch lay prisoner, and was forced to re- sign his diadem It was afterward the scene ot injustice and tyranny. It was here were imprisoned the Princess of France, whom Henry ", whose chivalry has been so loudly extolled, conquered in honorable warfare James l. of Scotland, whom Henry the Fourth had seized by trcachery, was confined in one of the dungeons of this grim and gloomy pile. From the window of this room the captive King saw a beautiful damsel, and, smitten with her charms, sent her a letter, that so pleased the lovely miss, she gave her heart and hand to the royal lover.

 Hundreds have suffered cruel tortures in the Towers on account of the religious opin- ions Here Lord Gotham, loaded with chains for many weary months, because he worshipped God after the manner which the dominant sect pronounced herecy Because he denounced the worship of images, and was opposed to making pIgrimages, and entertained and openly protessed other notions obnoxious to those who believed in those things, the titled victim was condemned to suffer the most igno- minious and painful sentence. He was drawn from the Tower to St. Giles Field, where he was suspended by the middle from a chain fire was kndled under him, and he was burned to death"

 Twice the amiable and harmless Henry VI was confined within these dark walls, and here the unfortunate monarch was found stiff and cold in death. Its doors were kept continually swinging on their hinges by the vile and bloody Richard III. For framing an answer when questioned, touching the mode in which two innocent women should be punished, with an ' if' in 1t, Lord Hastings was dragged by a body of seryile soldiers from the Council to the Green near the Chapel within the Tower, and his head severed from his body on log of wood.

 The fascinating and corrupt Jane Shore was immured in one of the gloomiest cells of the Tower, for a crime that was not written against her in the book of the Recording An gel, and liberated after the prosecutors had had stolen her worldly substance. The wretched oUtcast died in want.

 The doors of its dark vaults never opened and shut so often in the same period as du- ring the reign of that taciturn, sagacious, bloody tyrant, Henry VII. Empson and Dudly suffered the same punishment they had inflicted on so many innocent persons. Bainham and Firth were tortured by Sir Thomas Moore who, in turn, fell under the axe of the cxecutioner The mood in which that nobleman met his fate was shockingly out of keeping with that solemn hour which comes to all On his way to the scafold he amused the bystanders with lively obserya- tions, and witticism fell from his lips the mo- ment before the axe descended. After he had committed his soul to God and laid his head upon the block the headsman prayed his forgiveness Il forgive thee," he said, '' but prithee, let me put my beard aside, for that hath never committed treason;" adding, pluck up thy spirit, man. and be not afraid | to do thine offce-lny neck Is very short; take heed, therefore, that thou strike not wrong for the saving of thine honesty"

 The clever and captivating Anne Boleyn was the next victim of suspicion and cruelty Her headless body lay for some time on the Green of the Tower, and was placed by rough hands in a common chest and buried in the chapel connected, with the grim building, The Lady Catherine Howard was the next l Queen whose blood stained the horrid axe. | The scholarly and engaging Earl of Surrey, one of the fastest friends the treacherous and ! bloOd-thirsty widowcr ever had. was, after the | lapse of few months, marked for the Hill. The gallant nobleman and gentle poet, de- lighting only in classical pursuits with no lust for power, was tried for treason in the presence of that illustrious soldier, his father, the Duke of Norfolk, and given to the heads | man.

 The shaft of greater tyrant than himself prevented the King from dinting the grass of the Green with the blood of the Duke. There are many more names on the gloomy catalogue, and some that shine most brightly were stained with blood by the unrighteous judgment of Mary and Elizabeth. This an cicnt pile has somewhat sottened its harsh visage Its walls are covered with vines and | flowers bloom on its moat. Its connection with the glorious name of Wellington has helped greatly to abate the horror its history inspires. The Duke was for some time Con stable of the Tower

 A CURIOUS HISTORICAL FACT.-During the troubles in the reign of Charles l., country girl came to London in search of