The WAKEFIELD TOWER is near the middle of the south side, and was erected by William Rufus; the story above the basement is, however, more modern, probably of the thirteenth century. It has been the place for the RECORDS from an early period, and is also interesting as the alleged scene of the murder of Henry the Sixth.

very miscellaneous aescription. The earliest are fortyone rolls, termed Charta Antiquæ, a collection of grants from the reign of Edward the Confessor, to the commencement of the thirteenth century; and the most interesting are a series called the Close Rolls, beginning with John's reign, and continued to Edward the Fourth's. The purport and contents of these are so varied, as to be incapable of being enumerated; but they throw a great light on many parts of our domestic history, far more valuable than the treaties of peace and war, and proceedings of courts, preserved along with them.

The annexed view is the profile of St. Thomas's tower, taken from the eastern draw-bridge; showing the moat which this crosses, and which divides the wharf from the enclosure.

GATEWAY TO BLOODY TOWER.

Immediately adjoining is the principal gateway to the inner ward, called, from some forgotten reason, the BLOODY TOWER, possibly from the vague tradition of the murder of the young princes, Edward the Fifth, and the Duke of York; but, as before stated, there is no good authority for concluding that this ever took place. The Gateway, of which we give an engraving, is a splendid specimen of ancient strength and solidity; the gates and portcullis are very old; those at the northern end have been removed; in the passage of the gateway, which is thirty-four feet deep, the ceiling is boldly groined and carved.

Immediately opposite the BLOODY TOWER is a strong latticed gate in the outer wall, at the head of the flight of steps leading down to the passage of the TRAITOR'S GATE, before mentioned.

In the line of the strong outward wall, just within the moat, there were other towers for defence, of which we can give but a short notice. At the Barbican were the BULWARK GATE and the LION'S TOWER, of which little now remains, the site of the latter being occupied by the MENAGERIE, and its yards. The Martin and Byward Gates have been described; the former is now used as the hospital to the garrison. A few yards, on the right, within the latter, is an ancient arched portal, leading to a small wooden bridge over the moat, which is one of the communications between the fortress and the wharf: another and similar one, with a draw-bridge, is at the eastern end, or south-eastern angle of the moat; both these approaches are very curious and characteristic. On this line are the remains of three towers besides St. Thomas's, called the CRADLE TOWER, the WELL TOWER, and the IRON-GATE TOWER. The two former are obvious on the spectator's right hand in walking along the southern side, and are curious as old ruins; an arched gateway through one, leads to the drawbridge just mentioned. The modern defences, which supply the place of these ruined edifices, consist of eight batteries round the outer walls, and on the two circular bastions at the north-east and north-west angles; mounting, in all, about thirty carronades.

The ROYAL MINT was first stationed in the Tower in the time of Henry the Third; and Elizabeth forbid all coining any where but at this place: from the great increase of business, consequent on our increasing population and trade, the old offices were found inadequate, and the new buildings on Tower Hill were erected for the purpose, about twenty-five years ago. The places within the walls being appropriated to barracks and store-rooms: the narrow street on the western side is still called Mint-street, and this is the only memorial now remaining of this office.

The principal public offices still within the Tower are the RECORD OFFICE and the ORDNANCE OFFICE.

The records of the Court of Chancery were kept there at a very early period, soon after the Conquest; but great obscurity prevails respecting this part of our civil history; very little attention was paid to their charge by the different Keepers of the Rolls, till Government, in 1800, commenced a series of publications of them. These records are of a

THE TRAITORS GATE AND MOAT.

THE MENAGERIE.

IT was in Henry the Third's reign that foreign animals were first kept in the Tower, as a Royal Menagerie, when that monarch sent thither a white bear, which had been brought to him as a present from Norway, and which he prized very highly. In one year, the Sheriffs of London were ordered to pay four pence a day for his maintenance; and in the following year, they had directions to provide the said bear with a muzzle, a long chain, and a stout cord. In the time of Edward the Second, we find mention of the King's lion, of a quarter of mutton ordered for his daily food, and three half-pence a day to be given to his keeper. There exist many other notices in old records of the place respecting this collection, which was formerly very extensive. James the First used to resort to the Tower, for the cruel and unprincely purpose of seeing Lions and other wild beasts baited by dogs. On one of these occasions a spaniel was cast into the lion's den, but the lion and he became friends, and lived together for several years. A great part of the present collection belongs to the keeper, and the rest are royal property.

It may be necessary to apprise our readers, that a very small part of the interiors of the edifices described can be seen at all. The admission fee to the Armouries is two shillings; to the Regalia, two shillings; and to the Menagerie, one shilling. After going through the whole, the visiter is required to write his name and address, and to pay a further fee of one shilling each person, with a donation of two, three, or four shillings, according to the number of persons composing the party.

The apartments occupied by the Records, which are the most interesting, of course can only be seen by great private interest; and the old towers, being all in the occupation of individuals, are not in any way accessible to visiters; but, nevertheless, there is enough to be seen gratuitously of the exteriors to reward the tasteful and rational curiosity of persons who can appreciate the inexpressible charm of antiquity and local associations.

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Through these gates you enter the nave of the chapel: the flood of light pouring in upon its various decorations forms so powerful a contrast with the awful gloom of the entrance porch, that no words can convey an idea of its dazzling effect. elevation of the roof is grand, and the perforated arch-ribs light and beautiful: the ceiling of stone, with its panelled rays diverging into a thousand graceful figures, is studded with devices and ornaments so brilliant and varied in effect as to appear quite magical; yet so distinct, as, when viewed from either end of the chapel, to produce a magnificent whole; in short it seldom fails to fill the beholder with astonishment and delight.

The canopies over the stalls greatly detract from the beauty of this chapel, and the banners of the Knights of the Bath, suspended from rude iron brackets, entirely hide one of the finest specimens of panel and niche work in the kingdom.

The accompanying view is taken from the east end of the chapel, looking westward, and includes the east end of the Tomb, with the figures of Henry and his queen Elizabeth, in the costume of the period. This engraving is copied, by permission of the Publishers, from COTTINGHAM'S Elevations, &c. of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, to which interesting work we are also indebted for the materials of the present article. The figures, which are recumbent upon the tomb, are represented by the artist in an upright position, for the purpose of showing the beauty of the sculpture.

The tomb is principally of black marble; but the figures, bas-reliefs, shields and pilasters, are of copper, gilt. The statues of the king and queen, with the bas-reliefs which decorate the sides, were executed by Pietro Torregiano, a celebrated Italian artist, who contracted with Henry's executors to

complete the tomb, figures, &c., for fifteen hundred pounds (a very large sum in those days); it was finished in the year 1518. The tomb is surrounded by a screen which is a magnificent specimen of casting in brass; its style corresponds with the architecture of the chapel, and it is highly probable that the moulds were made by the same artificers who prepared the models for working the masonry. It has evidently suffered much from wanton spoliation-this the broken ornaments and vacant niches attest; but we trust that the vigilance of the guides will preserve this inimitable work of art from further injury.

The body of the chapel is divided into two parts; the nave occupies four arches on each side, which, previously to the erection of the stalls, communicated with the side-aisles. The chancel is divided from the nave by a bold arch, five feet in depth, crossing from north to south, which adds greatly to the strength and solidity of the building; it is decorated throughout in the most beautiful and elaborate manner: the variety, design, and arrangement of the niches, panelling, armorial bearings, and sculptures in this arch, render it an object of the highest interest to students in ornamental architecture. The great perforated arches of the roof are supported by clustered shafts, springing from the pillars between the side-arches of the nave, each of which is finely ornamented with foliage-points on the under-surface. The interior of the west end is similar to the east end of the porch as far as the horizontal mouldings above the doors, over which is a bold cornice, finished with an open leaf battlement; attached to this cornice are fourteen busts of coronetted angels, which extend across the nave, intermixed with roses, fleurs-de-lis, and portcullises, all having crowns above them.

The statues which adorn the niches exhibit considerable skill in design; and have a strong characteristic expression of countenance; they consist of kings, cardinals, bishops, martyrs, saints, pilgrims, &c., each represented under some particular circumstance recorded in the life or legend.

The windows of this superb edifice were originally filled with the most splendid designs in painted glass: the small lights of the clerestory and the head of the great window, still contain various small figures, such as crosses, crowns, fleurs-de-lis, red and blue mantles, crowns and portcullises, single feathers of the Prince of Wales's crest, crowns and garters, red and white roses, the king's initials, and fragments of the canopies which were over the various saints. One of the original figures in the eastern window is still entire, as well as several of the armorial bearings of the kings of England in the window of the eastern chapel.

For many years, this magnificent structure had been rapidly advancing to a state of decay; this at length attracted the attention of Parliament :—a grant was made to repair the dilapidations, and the whole of the exterior has been restored according to the original plan.

AN ELEPHANT HUNT.

THE following interesting account of the perilous adventures of an Elephant-hunt, near Coutallam, in the district of Tinavelly, in Southern India, has been lately received from a young gentleman, who holds an official situation under the Collector of the district.

ON the 2nd of September, 1832, intelligence was brought to the Collector of Tinavelly, that some wild elephants had appeared in the neighbourhood of Coutallam. A hunting-party was immediately formed, and a large number of native hunters were engaged. We left the tents on horseback at half past seven o'clock in the morning, and rode three miles to an open spot, flanked on one side by ricefields, and on the other by jungle. After waiting some time, Captain B. and myself walked across the rice-fields to the shade of a tree. When here, we heard the trumpet of an Elephant; we rushed across the rice-fields up to our knees in mud, but all in vain, though we came upon the track of one of the animals, and then ran five or six hundred yards into the jungle. After various false alarms, and vain endeavours to discover the objects of our chase, the Collector went into the jungle, and Captain B. and myself into the bed of the stream where we had seen the tracks, and here it was evident the elephants had passed to and fro. Disappointed and impatient, we almost determined to give up the chase and go home, but shots fired just before us, reanimated us, and we proceeded, and found that the Collector had fired twice. Off we went, through forest, over ravine, and through streams, till at last, at the top of a ravine, the elephants were seen. This was a moment of excitement! We were all scattered. The Collector

had taken the middle path, Captain B., some huntsmen and myself the left, and other hunters scrambled down that to the right. At this moment, I did not see anything but what I took to be a native hut roofed with leaves, but after advancing a few yards, the huge head of an elephant shaking above the jungle within ten yards of us, burst suddenly upon my view. Captain B. and a hunter were just before me; we all fired at the same instant, and in so direct a line that the percussion cap of my gun hit the hunter, whom I thought, at first, I had shot. This accident, though it proved slight and unimportant, a little unhinged The great excitement occasioned by seeing for the first time a wild beast at liberty and in a state of nature, produced a sensation of hope and fear that was intense and indescribable.

me.

The startling appearance of such a huge creature, and our being scattered and separated, created, for an instant, a slight bewilderment, which may be better understood than described. The beast gave one of his horrid trumps, and charged somebody, whom I could not see, but I followed it, and the next instant beheld the Collector, running without hat or gun, and the elephant after him. I fired instantly, intending to hit a vital part which is under the ear; the shot struck, but unfortunately without taking proper effect. My servant boy with a reserve gun was ten or twelve yards off, a long way at such a moment, but no more time was lost than could be avoided in exchanging guns with him. I turned back as quickly as possible, and at this instant the elephant seized the Collector and lifted him off the ground. I instantly levelled my gun, in the hope that a chance of saving him might offer. The beast turned partly round the tree, still holding the Collector by his trunk, and I saw that I had a clear shot at his head; I fired, and providentially struck him, the ball entering his left eye. He staggered, stumbled, let the Collector fall, and made off without

trampling on him. I then rushed forward, intending to discharge my second barrel, but some objects intervening between the elephant and me, he escaped, and I lost sight of him entirely. The Collector now lay apparently lifeless on the ground;—a painful sensation of dizziness nearly overpowered me; I went towards him, he moved, and assisted himself by taking hold of the tree; I then hastened and found him like one risen from the grave, pale as death; I saw blood, but it was that of the elephant, dropping

from his brow.

Never shall I forget my sensations when I saw the monster rushing on him, still less those when I saw the brute's huge proboscis twine round and take him up; all this occurred in less than a minute. The Collector was of course very faint; we gave up the pursuit, and got some brandy and water which revived him, and he told us he had advanced to within six yards of the Elephant, and then fired, thinking that, as usual, it would retreat; instead of which it charged him. He then fired a second time, within three yards of the beast, and fled, but the animal gained upon him; he threw his gun at it, and tried to run round a tree, but it was too cunning, and ran round the tree also, seized him by the neck and threw him down; it then attempted to gore him: providentially the tusks struck into the earth on Collector then felt the brute take him up in its each side of him, and thus he was preserved. The trunk, he then heard my shot, and immediately found himself on the ground. He lay quietly there a second or two, then inclined himself slightly, and perceived that the elephant's back was towards him. The elephant must have carried away at least twenty balls. Perhaps he was led to select the Collector, on account of his being dressed in bright white jean.

Four days after our hunt, a report reached us that some hunters had killed the elephant, which had been wounded. It was fourteen feet long, from the continued to wander about the place where he had insertion of the tail to the joining of the trunk to the head, and eleven feet high. My balls had struck in the neck and left eye, and the head was terribly marked with shots. C.

A LITTLE error of the eye, a misguidance of the hand, a slip of the foot, a starting of a horse, a sudden mist, or a great shower, or a word undesignedly cast forth in an army, has turned the stream of victory from one side to another, and thereby disposed of empires and whole nations. No prince ever returns safe out of a battle, but may well remember how many blows and bullets have gone by him that might easily have gone through him; and by what little odd unforeseen chances death has been turned aside, which seemed in a full, ready, and direct career to have been posting to him. All which passages, if we do not acknowledge to have been guided to their respective ends and effects by the conduct of a superior and a divine Hand, we do by the same assertion cashier all providence, strip the Almighty of his noblest prerogative, and make God, not the Governor, but the mere Spectator of the world.SOUTH.

IN Judea and other eastern countries, where flocks and herds constituted the riches, and the feeding of them the chief employment, of the principal inhabitants, practices prevailed very different from aught that we have been accustomed to see. Instead of a keeper following the sheep, and employing dogs on all occasions to drive them (for the use of dogs in Judea was to defend the flocks from the wild beasts of the forest and the field, and to give notice of their approach), the shepherd himself walked before the sheep, whether he led them to pasture, water, or the fold. The shepherd's going before the sheep, and leading them to pure waters and verdant pastures, is a very striking and beautiful representation of God's preventing grace and continual help.SHEPHERD.

dominion of the Popish Hierarchy, and crushing the power of Queen Elizabeth, under whose auspicious reign the Protestant religion had been happily established in these kingdoms, and the name of England become respected by all civilized nations. The whole power of the Spanish priesthood, assisted by the Pope himself (who in person bestowed a blessing on the expedition before it sailed), was put in requisition for the purpose of raising supplies of men, money, stores, ships, and ammunition; while the kingly revenues of the South American mines, the treasures of the state, the forced contributions of the people, and the voluntary gifts of the richest families of the land, were all employed for the same purpose.

While these preparations were making on the part of the Spanish monarch, the Queen of England was not unmindful of the danger that threatened her realm. Before the Spanish armament was ready to put to sea, the famous Admiral, Sir Francis Drake, was despatched with a fleet of armed vessels, for the purpose of annoying the enemy. With his small force he daringly entered the harbour of Cadiz, and destroyed by fire no less than a hundred sail of Spanish vessels: he carried destruction along the whole line of the Spanish coast, and returned to England in triumph, bringing home a richly-laden Galleon, laden with specie, intended for the supply of the invading army.

The vessels of which the Spanish fleet was composed were chiefly of two kinds. The largest, called GALLEONS, were very curiously built, having in the after part of the ship, sometimes as many as five or six decks, and appearing at a distance like huge floating castles. A smaller kind were called GALLEASSES, or GALLEYS, and were impelled by oars as well as sails.

When this mighty armament left the coast of Spain, its force consisted of a hundred and fifty vessels, many of which were greatly superior in size

to those of the English. It had on board 20,000 soldiers, 8000 sailors, and 2000 volunteers of the first families in Spain; it carried 2650 guns, and was victualled for half a year, with an immense quantity of military stores of every description. The troops on board were to be joined by 34,000 men, under the Duke of Parma, who were assembled in the neighbourhood of Nieuport and Dunkirk, in the Netherlands; for transporting these he had, with incredible labour, provided a great number of flatbottomed vessels.

Although the preparations for the invasion of this country, were well known, yet still when the news reached England that it was about to sail, terror and consternation seized on the inhabitants. A fleet of not above thirty ships of war, and those small in comparison, constituted the whole of the navy ready to oppose it at sea. All the commercial towns, however, were required to furnish a certain number of vessels to increase its force, and it is recorded, that the citizens of London, although only required to fit out fifteen vessels, doubled that number of their own accord. The nobility and gentry also equipped fortythree ships at their own cost. Lord Howard of Effingham was appointed Admiral, and under him served Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, all men of well-known courage and ability. The principal fleet was stationed at Plymouth. A smaller squadron, consisting of forty vessels, was commanded by Lord Seymour, and lay off Dunkirk, in order to intercept the Duke of Parma.

The Spanish Armada was ready in the beginning of May, but its sailing was retarded by the death of the Marquis of Santa Croce, the admiral, and that also of the vice-admiral, the Duke of Paliano. The command of the expedition was therefore given to the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Upon leaving the port of Lisbon, the Armada next day met with a violent tempest, which sunk some of the smallest of their shipping, and the fleet put back into the harbour. After some time spent in refitting, they again put to pirate of the name of Fleming, who was cruising in By this time, they were discovered by a Scotch those seas, and who immediately sailed towards the English fleet, and warned the admiral of their approach. Effingham had just time to leave the harbour with his ships, when, on the 19th of July,

sea.

1588, "they discovered the Spanish fleet with lofty turrets, like castles, in front, advancing in the form of a half moon. The wings spreading out to the length of seven miles; sailing very slowly with full sails, the wind being as it were wearied with carrying them, and the ocean groaning beneath their weight."

The English admiral considering that the Spaniards would most probably be much superior to him in close fight, in consequence of the size of their ships and the number of their troops, wisely resolved to content himself with harassing them on their voyage, and with watching attentively all the advantages that might be derived from storms, cross-winds, and