and eighty decayed gentlemen, to defray which he endowed it with lands at that time worth £5,000. The pensioners, many of whom have distinguished themselves in the world by their talents, if they have failed in securing a stronger claim upon the favours of fortune, are allowed £14 per annum each, besides chambers, provisions, fire, and a cloak. The arrangements, though sometimes savouring of monastic quaintness, still display the charitable intentions of the founder, and effectually minister to the comfort of the unfortunate, who find here a peaceful retreat for their declining age. The school in connexion with this foundation, is an admirable one, and contributes to our universities some of the finest scholars. The privileges and scholastic perquisites they enjoy are very extensive.

Turning into Aldersgate Street, we may notice a fair specimen of ornamental street architecture, in the new façade of the City of London Literary and Scientific Institution, which was rebuilt, at a cost of £5,000, in 1839. The institution was founded in 1825, and has enabled many to acquire intellectual improvement, at a small individual expense. The library contains many thousand volumes. Jewin Street will lead the curious explorer into that region familiar to debtors, under the name of Whitecross Street. The DEBTORS' PRISON is a substantial structure, built in 1815, for the reception of those debtors who had been previously incarcerated indiscriminately with criminals in Newgate and the Compter. There is accommodation for about 400 prisoners, access to whom is readily granted every day, at stated hours, varying according to the season of the year.

If we again make our way into Newgate Street, the visitor should not pass Panyer Alley, the width of three streets from St. Paul's, without noticing a flat stone placed against the wall of a house there, on which is sculptured a naked child sitting upon a pannier or basket, with the following doggrel inscription, which had more truth when placed there than it

has now:-" When you have sought the city round, yet still this is the highest ground. August the 27th, 1688."

Continuing our way along Skinner Street, we shall come to the foot of Holborn Hill, where the old Fleet River, that now forms the sewer underground, was once spanned by a bridge, and bore upon its surface the broad barges of the merchants. It was filled up in 1733, and finally built over. Here will be noticed a new street, communicating with the northern suburbs, and advantageously substituting a commodious thoroughfare, for the nests of vice and crime, that until very lately occupied its site. FARRINGDON MARKET lies a little to the west of the street so called, and occupies a space of an acre and a-half. There is a roofed avenue with shops all round, but vegetables form the chief commodity sold within its precincts.

On the left, as we ascend Holborn Hill, is St. Andrew's Church, which was rebuilt by Wren in 1686, and is further noticeable for a fine painted window over the altar, representing the Lord's Supper and the Ascension. In the register of burials, under the date August the 28th, 1770, is recorded the name of Chatterton, the most wonderfully gifted youth the world has ever known. Here was interred another suicidal poet, Henry Neele, the young and imaginative author of the "Romance of English History," and other works that will long perpetuate the name of the unfortunate writer.

ELY PLACE, nearly opposite, was for many years the residence of the Bishops of Ely, and Hatton Garden marks the spot where the Lords Hatton had their dwelling from the time of the renowned Sir Christopher, who, as some historians assert, danced himself into the favour of the capricious Queen Elizabeth. THAVIES INN was a residence for students as long back as the days of Edward III., and was granted in fee to the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn. STAPLES INN was so called from its being the place where the wool-staplers used to assemble, but it gave shelter to law students possibly before the reign of Henry V. FURNIVAL'S INN, the chief now

of a formidable array of law-courts that once flanked Holborn, was in old times the town abode of the Lords Furnival, a title that became extinct in the reign of Richard II.

At Holborn Bars, the City boundary terminates, and hence, by Fetter Lane and Fleet Street, we may retrace our steps to St. Paul's.

DISTRICT 5.

THE "TIMES" PRINTING OFFICE-APOTHECARIES' HALL-BLACKFRIARS' BRIDGE-BRIDEWELL-ST. BRIDE'S CHURCH-FLEET STREET-ST. DUNSTAN'S-CHANCERY LANE-THE ROLLS-TEMPLE BAR-THE TEMPLE-THE INNER TEMPLE-THE MIDDLE TEMPLE -THE TEMPLE CHURCH-THE TEMPLE GARDENS.

E now proceed from St. Paul's westward, and, to vary the route a little, we may suggest a digression towards the "TIMES" PRINTING OFFICE, situated in Printing House Square-a small quadrangle at the back of Apothecaries' Hall, and easily reached by taking one of the tortuous thoroughfares leading southward from Ludgate Hill towards the water-side. A visit to the office during the time the huge machine is at work, casting off its impressions at the rate of 170 copies a-minute, will present a sight not easily to be forgotten. From five till nine in the morning this stupendous establishment, employing nearly 300 people daily on its premises, is to be seen in active operation. The average daily circulation is 32,000; and the value of the advertisments is estimated at £110 per page of six columns. The first number of the Times appeared on the 1st of January, 1788. The duties paid to Government for paper, advertisements, and stamps, alone, amount to £95,000 annually. A system of judicious outlay, conjoined with the tact and spirited enterprise of the late Mr. John Walter, and the indefatigable exertions and welldirected talents of those engaged in the various departments, have raised this great property to the pinnacle of newspaper prosperity; and it well deserves its recognised title of the leading organ of the world. Besides an extensive corps of editors, contributors, and reporters, for the collection and arrangement of local intelligence, correspondents at a liberal salary are

stationed at all the principal places on the globe; and scarcely an event can occur anywhere, of which its emissaries are not prepared to supply the earliest and the fullest account.

APOTHECARIES' HALL, built in 1670, is next encountered on our way from Printing House Square to Bridge Street, Blackfriars. Those who desire to have drugs unadulterated, may place the most implicit reliance on the articles here sold. The famous botanic garden at Chelsea, founded by Sir Hans Sloane, belongs to the Apothecaries' Company, who have the privilege of granting certificates to those desirous of vending chemicals, and for which they must pass a previous examination.

We now emerge upon Bridge Street, at the end of which is BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE, forming an important link of communication with the opposite side of the river. Blackfriars Bridge was commenced in 1760, and completed in November, 1769. The immense sums necessary for its construction were raised by loan, the City guaranteeing their payment by tolls to be levied on the bridge; but Government ultimately bought the tolls and rendered it free. The entire expenditure was not less than £300,000; but it has been repaired since, at a cost nearly equal to the original amount. The bridge consists of nine arches, and, from wharf to wharf, is 995 feet in length and forty-two in width. The removal of the balustrades, and the substitution of a plain parapet, somewhat spoiled its architectural beauty. The steamboat-pier on the eastern side is the most important accommodation of its class; it has no pretension to ornament, but considerably promotes the convenience of the many thousand passengers who daily embark and land at this point. From the fourth arch of the bridge, one of the best views of St. Paul's Cathedral can be obtained.

BRIDEWELL, a City house of correction, has its entrance on the western side of Bridge Street. The building consists of a large quadrangle, one side of which is occupied by a spacious hall. The prison affords accommodation for seventy male and thirty female prisoners, who are incarcerated in single cells.