abode of poverty, vice, and crime--a fit place for such an institution. When we entered the room, the teachers, who are females, were very polite in offering us seats, showing the improvement of their little. ragged pupils, and explaining the objects and manner of conducting the institution. I do wish that you had been seated with us in the midst of this congregation of poverty-stricken children, varying in their age from one to twenty years. I am confident that you would agree with us in saying that there is nothing in our glorious land half so low, half so pitiable. Englishmen may write, talk, and preach what they please about the horrors of our peculiar institution; they may send their abolition emissaries across the water, with pockets well filled, to preach a crusade against our liberty and our laws; but they had better consider the deplorable condition of their own population, one tenth of which is now supported by charity, and whose condition both in a physical and moral point of view is far inferior to that of the slave owned by the most cruel of masters. Our colored population are provided with every thing calculated to render them comfortable, and life happy. They are worked moderately, clothed comfortably, fed abundantly, and provided for when they get old and decrepit-while the poor of this great metropolis are devoid of all these blessings.

My friend being connected with one of the Medical Universities of Pennsylvania, and desirous of gaining as much information as possible relative to the manner of conducting such establishments in London, proposed that we should visit St. Bartholomew's Hospital, at which there are a number of students and any quantity of subjects both living and dead for them to operate upon at their leisure. This hospital is the oldest and best in the city; having been founded by Rahere, the minstrel and poet of Henry I., in 1102. It owes much to the munificence of Henry VIII., who endowed it at the Keformation with an annual revenue, and profits largely at times by the liberality of private benefactors. The annual income of this hospital averages about £32,000. This establishment is conveniently arranged, and cleanliness, returning health, and comfort pervade all its apartments. The professors were very polite in conducting us through the different rooms, and explaining the symptoms of several patients who were singularly affected. I am not a medical man, yet I took a great deal of interest in examining the different institutions

of this description which add so much to the character of London One thing I noticed, and with some pride too, as it is an American invention, that chloroform is invariably used in amputations which are attended with much pain-a fact not generally known with us, who always apprehend danger from its use.

From St. Bartholomew's Hospital we visited Smithfield Market, which is very near. This is considered the greatest market for live cattle in the world; it is situated in the centre of the city, and covers an area of six acres and a quarter. Markets have been held here from time immemorial, it being mentioned by writers as far back as the tenth century, as a place where horses and cattle are sold. It is nothing more than a square of unsightly pens, which are filled on market days with cattle, sheep, and pigs, besides any quantity of trading and swindling speculators, who infest the whole neighborhood. The citizens have been endeavoring for many years to get Parliament to remove this market-place, which is undoubtedly a great nuisance, to some point in the suburbs; but as bills before Parliament are somewhat like their bills in Chancery, they have as yet received no encouragement, and the market must continue an eyesore and grievous nuisance to all in its vicinity. At Smithfield we concluded that while we were visiting such places we might as well go to the well-known market of Billingsgate, about which we read so much in Punch, etc. Fish of all kinds in season are on sale here daily; the market opens at five o'clock in the morning and continues during the day. I was altogether disappointed in the place; it is a little narrow, filthy, and cramped up affair, where a gentleman would dislike exceedingly to venture. But being out sight-seeing, I made my way through, much to the amusement of my friend, who stood on the outside. As I walked along, the fish-women accosted me at every step, pressing me to buy the fish or periwinkles, which they sell by the bushel. After I completed the task of wading through fish, women, and periwinkles, we went to a place adjoining the market called the Three Tuns Tavern, which is a celebrated fish ordinary. Here we were furnished with a fish dinner in perfection, which, added to the busy scene on the ever moving Tems, induced me to forget the market from whence they came and the delicate hands that prepared them. But enough of the fish stories.

LETTER TWELVE.

LONDON, England.

Westminster Hall-Public Buildings-Monuments-Parks, Streets, and Gardens-Dinner and Soirée at the American Minister's-The Duke of Wellington, Lord John Russell, etc.

Ir is always natural for one to frequent those places of public attraction in which they are most interested, and which pertain to their own sphere of life; consequently, I have found myself day after day within the walls of Westminster, attending the proceedings of the various courts, and witnessing the administration of justice according to the tenets of that jurisprudence which our ancestors early adopted, and which we have subsequently aided in improving. Before noticing the conduct of the different courts as compared with our own, a brief account of this Hall, around which linger so many remarkable associations, will not be out of place. It is said to be one of the largest rooms in Europe unsupported by pillars, being 238 feet long, 68 feet broad, and 90 feet high; and has a carved roof of chestnut wood, most curiously constructed in the Gothic style of architecture. The interior, as well as the stone moulding that runs round the Hall, is adorned with angels supporting the arms of Edward the Confessor, or those of Richard II. with the hart couchant under a tree, and other devices of the latter monarch, under whose reign it was used as a banqueting room to the ancient palace of Westminster. To give you some idea of the dimensions of this Hall, I will quote from history a fact which seems almost incredible, which is, that Richard II. held his Christmas festival here, accompanied with all that splendor and magnificence for which his conspicuous; and that on these occasions, twenty-eight

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three hundred sheep, and fowls without number were consumed-requiring two thousand cooks to prepare the feast, which was attended by ten thousand guests.

Since Richard's time the Hall has been used for a variety of purposes. Parliament often sat here-Cromwell was inaugurated here the coronation feasts of all the sovereigns were held here; and here likewise have been held various important State trials, one of which finds no parallel in the annals of English jurisprudence. I allude to the trial commenced in 1684, in which was

presented the extraordinary spectacle of a sovereign defending himself before a jury composed of his own subjects-a trial which occupied one hundred and thirty days at intervals from the period of its commencement. In this Hall the voices of some of the greatest men in history have been heard-men whose virtues and whose eloquence are now pointed to by teachers as models for the rising generation. Here the fierce and withering invective of Burke, and the impassioned eloquence of Sheridan and Warren Hastings, have been heard and felt, which of itself is sufficient to make the place almost sacred.

The High Court of Chancery is now held in the new House of Lords, which I have previously described. The Vice Chancery, Exchequer, Queen's Bench, and Common Pleas Courts are held in a series of small, close, and disagreeable apartments entering into Westminster Hall, which are wholly unsuited for court rooms, being too small to accommodate even the members of the bar. In these rooms I had an opportunity of listening to the opinions and arguments of some of the first men in England, on cases of great interest and importance to the government as well as individuals. When I first entered, my attention was directed to the peculiar manner in which the members of the court were dressed, which is so entirely at variance with our democratic way of doing things, and at the same time so useless, that I was forced to give utterance to my thoughts, and smile at what seemed to me the mere trappings of monarchy, put on to attract the eyes of the ignorant, who are always. influenced more by sight than common sense. The judges are required, while on the bench, to be clothed in long purple robes, made of silk, with capes of the same material covering the shoulders, with white cravats and white wigs made of horse hair, or fine wire, curled all over the head with the exception of a small place just on the top, where there is a patch representing baldness. The members of the bar are required to wear black robes, white cravats, and wigs of the same material, but differently shaped and curled, and with no patch on the top. This mode of dressing certainly gives to the members of the legal profession a very venerable and dignified appearance, and is well calculated to create a feeling of reverence among the people-particularly those who believe that wisdom always lies under gray hairs; but in this age of progressive democ

racy in America, all such trappings would be cast aside as utterly `useless and anti-utilitarian. In the speeches of those members of the bar that I had the pleasure of listening to, I discovered that hesitancy and stammering which I noticed in the House of Parliament and in the pulpit-which is not only disagreeable to the ear, but contrary to all rules laid down by the old masters. Demosthenes had the fault, and corrected it by placing pebbles in his mouth and practising elocution on the sea-shore-a task that I would recommend to all those that I have heard to undertake immediately, if they desire to become fluent speakers.

The proceedings of the different courts are conducted with great accuracy and precision; the decorum is perfect, and the arguments of counsel evince a degree of research and study that we do not often see in our own country. You will be pleased to know that the opinions of some of our jurists are received, and frequently quoted in the higher courts as excellent law, and precedence often given over the best English authorities. Indeed, I have heard Marshall, Story, and Greenleaf quoted by the best lawyers of the London bar quite as often as any of the English writers. In law reform we are far ahead of the mother country, and before the lapse of many years we will be able to show an improved system of jurisprudence that they may well receive and adopt.

I had intended giving you a description of the Bank of England, Custom House, Post Office, Treasury Department, and other public buildings, but I have devoted so much space in previous letters to descriptions of places of more importance, that I must pass them over by merely stating that they are all very large and superior buildings, every way suited to their different purposes, and great ornaments to the city.

Next to the public buildings, the monuments and national statues of distinguished public characters, which are open to the view of every passing traveller, are worthy of notice. Some possess great interest from historical associations, others from the excellent workmanship which they exhibit, while many are utterly worthless and uninteresting.

The most remarkable monument in the city is called "The Monument," to distinguish it from the rest. It was built by Sir Christopher Wren, at a cost of £13,700, in commemoration of the great