TOWER OF LONDON, the most ancient and historically the most inter esting pile in the English metropolis; a mass of buildings on the N. side of the Thames, immediately to the E. of the ancient city walls, its ramparts and gates surrounded by a dry ditch in pen tagonal shape; in outer circuit measuring 1,050 yards. Within this the whole of the buildings are encircled by a double line of walls and bulwarks, in some places 40 feet high and 12 feet thick; the space between the walls being known as the outer ward, and the interior as the inner ward. The inner ward was for merly the royal quarter. The outer ward was the folks' quarter. The inner ward is defended by 12 massive and conspicu ous towers, stationed at unequal dis also tragedy succeeded tragedy. and the innocent blood of many of England's bravest and most beautiful poured fortli in a cruel stream.
The first State prisoner was Flambard, Bishop of Durham, who effected his es cape in 1100 and fled to Normandy. The noble Wallace suffered a cruel impris onment and terrible death here in 1305. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, haunts the pile like a specter. He murdered Henry VI. in the Hall Tower. The infant princes, his nephews, were smothered in the Bloody Tower; their supposed re mains, found in the reign of Charles II., now lie in Westminster Abbey. Clar ence, according to tradition, was crowned by Richard in wine in the Bowyer Tower, and Hastings condemned to death in the Council Chamber. The remains of King Henry VIII.'s beheaded queens, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, lie in St.
tances, and possessing distinctive names and formations. In the center, rearing its head proudly above them all, stands the main quadrangular building and great Norman keep known as the White Tower. To the N. are the barracks, and to the N. W. the Church of St. Peter and Vincula. The entrance to the buildings is on the W. side by the Lion's Gate.
Tradition ascribes the origin of the Tower to Julius Caesar. The White Tow er was reared by William the Conquer or, probably as a secure place of shelter for himself and a menace to the turbu lent citizens. It was designed by Gun dulph, Bishop of Rochester, and bears a sister likeness to Rochester Castle.
For centuries the Tower was a palace, a prison, a fortress, and a court of law.
Here the Plantagenet kings held their gay tournaments, magnificent revels, and pompous religious ceremonials. Here Peter's Church. A group of ghastly exe cutions are associated with the reign of Mary, prominent among which are those of Lady Jane Grey, the wise, fair, and pious "Twelfth Day queen," her consort Dudley, and her father-in-law, Northum berland. Imprisoned together in the Gar den Tower, Cranmer, Ridley, and Lati mer searched the New Testament togeth er. Sir Walter Raleigh was thrice con fined in the Tower which bears his name in many places. Here he wrote his "History of the World," and beguiled his solitude with chemical experiments. Sir T. Overbury was poisoned in the Tower in 1613, and Strafford was beheaded in 1641, Laud in 1645. The last of the nu merous executions in the Tower, but a few of which have been mentioned, was that of Lord Lovat in 1747. The govern ment of the Tower is vested in the Con stable, usually an officer of high military rank. In the White Tower is the Chapel of St. John, which formerly held the records, one of the finest specimens of Early Norman style. The banqueting Hall and Council Chamber adjoining is used as an armory, and is filled with 60, 000 stand of arms, kept in perfect order and beautifully arranged. Beauchamp Tower, which was restored in 1853 by Mr. Salvin, is to the W., and the Horse Armory to the S. The latter, built in 1826, contains a gallery 150 feet long by 33 feet wide, in which are 22 eques trian figures clothed in the distinctive armor of the reigns from Edward I. to James II. A staircase from the Horse Armory leads to an ante-chamber filled with weapons and trophies taken in Brit ish struggles in the East. Queen Eliza beth's Armory in the White Tower con tains arms and armor of her reign, vari ous instruments of torture, and the block on which Lord Lovat was beheaded. The Jewel House contains several crowns, in cluding that for the coronation of Queen Victoria (valued at £111,900), the Kohl floor diamond, and the diadems, scepters, and jewels constituting the Regalia. To the N. W. of the Tower is Tower Hill, where, till within about 150 years, stood the scaffold for the execution of traitors.