The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

182
TIIE BRITISH ISLES.
Of all the old buildings of London the Tower is the most venerable. It was
erected by William the Conqueror, to the east of the City and on the banks of the
Thames, on a site perhaps previously occupied by a Roman castle, for coins of the
Kmpire and the foundations of walls, believed to be very ancient, have been discovered
there.
Looking across the wide moat of the fortress, now laid out as a garden and
drill-ground, there rises boldly and commandingly the glorious old pile known as
the " "White Tower." This keep of the ancient fortress, in its simple grandeur,
contrasts most advantageously with the pretentious buildings of more modern date
which surround it. Its walls, so old chronicles teU us, were " cemented with the
blood of animals," and in its neighboui-hood the blood of human beings has been
shed most freely. Leaving out of account those who fell on both sides during
revolutions and civil wars in the defence or attack of the fortress, as also the
obscure prisoners who were murdered within its precincts, we can count
Fiff. 94.—BvCKrXGHAM P.U.ACE.
many personages known to history whose heads fell on Tower Green, close
to the unpretending church of St. Peter ad Vincula, or on Tower Hill, outside
the entrance gate. It was here that the sovereigns of England caused to be
beheaded rivals to kingly power, courtiers of whom they had grown tired, wives
whom they repudiated. Here, too, perished some of those men whose names are
justly venerated in England, and amongst them Algernon Sidney, whom
Charles IT. caused to be executed in 1685. The " Bloody Tower " was the scene
of the murder of the children of Edward lY. The history of the Tower is that of
- ..yal crimes. " Upon its blackened walls are painted, in lines of blood, the ambition
of Edward I., the luxuriousness of Henry YIIL, the fanaticism of Mary, the cruel
vanity of Elizabeth." Long before the destruction of the French Bastille, the
Tower of London had twice fallen into the hands of a revolted people ; but neither
Wat Tyler nor Jack Cade thought of demolishing the fortress, which up to 1820
served as a state prison. The Tower is now used as an arsenal and armoury,