The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

LONDON. 193
before the authorities of the London University. Besides this, there are three
colleges specially established for the higher education of women.
There are four great public schools for boys—Westminster, St. Paul's, Merchant
Taylors', and Christ's Hospital; numerous middle-class schools, supported by
corporations, societies, or endowments ; and a multitude of elementary schools.
These latter are in a great measure under the administration of a School Board
elected by the ratejjayers, and it will convey some notion of their importance if
we state that they are attended by close upon half a million of pupils.*
If London, notwithstanding its many great schools, is not the university centre
of England, and is bound to recognise the prerogatives of Oxford and Cambridge,
it may at all events claim to be the scientific, literary, and art centre of all the
countries where English is the common tongue. It publishes more books than any
other town, is the seat of the most flourishing scientific societies, possesses the most
valuable art collections and the most famous exhibition galleries, and its boards
confer distinction upon the actors who appear upon them. The most valued
reviews and journals, which may not only claim to be the " fourth estate " of the
realm, but also sway public opinion throughout the world, are published in London.
The newspaper printing-offices are amongst the most wonderful industrial establish-
ments of the metropolis.
London does not hold the first place amongst the industrial centres of the
British Isles. It is not the equal of Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds,
or Glasgow in any special branch of manufacture. Yet, if the workshops and
factories scattered through the various quarters of London could be combined
to form a town by themselves, it would very soon become clear that in the totality
of its manufactures the metropolis is still the first town of England, and
that the name of Cockneys, contemptuously applied to all who live within
the sound of Bow bells, has not been earned through a life of idleness. The
majority of the factories lie within a huge semicircle, which bounds the City
towards the east and south, and extends from Clerkeuwell, through Spitalfields,
Bethnal Green, Mile End, Rotherhithe, and Southwark, to Lambeth ;
but there is
not a quarter of the town where workmen engaged in some useful occupation are
not to be met with.f London is more especially noted for its pottery, cutlery,
* Population of actool age, Christmas, 1878 729,710
Children in primary schools 444,322
Average daily attendance 360,607
Totalexpenditureof School Board, 1879 £470,543
t Occupations of the inhabitants of London (1871) :
Males and Females
General and Local Government
Females.
31,952
only.
1,591
Army and Navy ....... 18,464
—
—
Learned Professions (Literature, Art, and Science) . 96,096 37,781
Persons engaged in entertaining and performing
personal offices for man 314,711 262,100
Persona who buy and sell, keep or lend money, houses,
or goods 86,957 8,757
Conveyance of men, animals, goods, or messages . 134,014 1,096
Agriculture
Persons engaged about animals ..... 15,790
12,907
1,739
124
Industrial classes 726,695 220,923
Labourers, &o 112,162 13,782