The Ladies' Garland

THE TRAVELLER.

EXTRACT FROM CARTER'S LETTERS.

A visit to the Tower of London, on the left bank of the Thames, opposite Wapping, concluded our observations for the day. An hour was passed, and something more than a guinea expended by three of us, in ascending from the river by the King's steps, and in looking at "the lions" here deposited. John Bull carries the division of labour, in showing his curiosities, to as great perfection as in the manufacture of pins. There is a guide and a fee for every department, though it be as circumscribed as White Watson's museum. One person exhibits muskets, another cannon, a third jewels, and a fourth wild beasts. The aggregate of the fee is exorbitant, and the more inexcusable, since this place is subject to the regulation of the government.

The Tower, in an architectural point of view, is not worth examining. It consists of antiquated piles of buildings standing round open courts, and in no way distinguishable from the contiguous wilderness of houses, except by four small turrets, which rise to a moderate height above them. The curiosities, both natural and artificial, are so numerous and so well known to our readers, that enumeration would become intolerably tedious. There is a world of notions, to which honest John seems as warmly attached, and in which he is as fond of dealing, as any part of the family of brother Jonathan. A Yankee sloop or pedlar's cart never furnished a greater variety than is here exhibited at eight shillings the peep. The motley collection, however, is really worth seeing, containing much that will interest the virtuoso and the naturalist.

We were first conducted to the apartments appropriated to a modern armoury, in which there are 500,000 muskets, carbines, pistols, and all descriptions of implements of war, many of which were tried and found useless in practice. The collection of armor taken from "the Invincible Armada" of Spain, in the time of Philip II, is extensive and rare, properly set off by a statue of Elizabeth, in the attitude of making her heroic speech to her troops, with her steed caparisoned for the field, and held by a page. The identical, long-shanked, rusty axe with which the left-handed executioner hewed off the head of poor Anne Boleyn, for no better reason than because she had blamelessly lost the affection of a capricious and licentious monarch, reflects as little credit upon royalty, as it affords pleasure to the visitant.

In the ordnance department of the Tower, there is a variety of curious pieces of artillery, some of them upon a gigantic scale; mortars, Roman scythes, and military ensigns, taken as trophies in different ages, and from different nations. It was gratifying to find no spoils from the well-fought fields of our own country, or from the decks of its gallant ships. France has supplied the tower with the greater part of its munitions and insignia of war. The fluted pillars in some of the rooms are composed of spears and boarding pikes of his Catholic Majesty. The air of triumph with which these monuments of British prowess are publicly exhibited, is strongly characteristic of John Bull, and must tend to perpetuate feelings of hostility between him and his neighbors. But it is not without its effect in inspiring the members of his family with sentiments of patriotism and a spirit of daring. The group of kings, arrayed in a long line, from William the Conqueror to George II, clad in the armour of their respective ages, and mounted upon their chargers, form an imposing and not uninteresting spectacle. Several of those whom I was most anxious to see are, however, wanting to complete the succession. The humpbacked Richard, at whose form 'the dogs did bark,' is not to be found in the royal assemblage; although the very spot was pointed out where 'Lay the gentle babes, girdling one another Within their alabaster, innocent arms; Their lips like four red roses on a stalk, Which in their summer beauty kiss'd each other'— Who were suffocated by Tyrrel, in compliance with the order of this regal monster; as also the place where the young princes were entombed.-- Parts of the Tower have been hallowed by the genius of Shakespeare, who here laid some of his immortal scenes, and hence derived a portion of his imagery. These associations are worth more than all the cannon and perforated armour taken from the French at the battle of Waterloo. The plate and regalia used at the coronation of George the IV --swords and chalices, sceptres and salt-cellars, of massive gold, studded with the costliest gems-excited in us some curiosity, as works of art ; though as emblems of power, they failed to inspire much reverence or awe. After all, they are merely what Cromwell denominated them-" baubles," fit only for kings and children to play with, the age having gone by when they were regarded as the symbols of divine rights. A rod of hickory is sometimes as much a badge of power, as a golden sceptre; and the swords of justice and mercy are not always wielded by regal hands.