Courts of London is the seat of the supreme courts of the kingdom. Several of these were long accommodated at Westminster Hall, but in 1883 were removed to the New Law Courts at the junction of the Strand and Fleet street. This great building occupies an area of nearly four acres. It is of a somewhat heavy mediaeval character, a large western tower be ing its chief feature. The Old Bailey, adjoin ing the famous Newgate Prison, has, with the latter, been demolished to make way for the palatial Sessions House of the city of London. It is the central criminal court for the trial of prisoners who have committed serious offenses in the metropolitan district. One or more of the judges of the law courts sit here also in the old court, while the new court is presided over by the recorder and common sergeant of the city of London. There are numerous County Courts within London for the of small debt cases. Besides the above there are also the Clerkenwell Session House; the city police courts, which are held at the Mansion House and Guildhall, and are presided over by the lord-mayor and one of the aldermen; and numerous police courts, each of which is pre sided over by a barrister of at least seven years' standing. The Inns of Court, as they and called, are four, the Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn. Every law student, before he can be called to the bar, has to be entered as a member of one of these inns, and to dine a certain number of times in the common hall. The Inner and Middle Temple are close to Temple Bar, be tween Fleet street and the river. The roof of Middle Temple Hall, built in 1572, is considered the best specimen of Elizabethan architecture in London. Lincoln's Inn is situated between Chancery lane and the extensive square called Lincoln's Inn Fields, now open as a public garden. A handsome hall and library in the Tudor style, from the designs of Hardwick, have been erected in the gardens. Gray's Inn stands on the north side of Holborn. The other "Inns,)) Staple Inn, New Inn, Sergeant's Inn, are now in private hands and not connected with the law.
Many of these establishments, hav ing most elaborate and ornate buildings, are among the principal architectural features of West London. They are situated chiefly in and near Pall Mall and vie with each other in elegance and luxury. The principal are the Athenaeum, possessed of a fine library, and having a great many artists and men of science and letters among its members; the Army and Navy, the United Service, the Guards' and the Junior United Service; the Carlton, the great Tory Club, standing side by side with the r— Clul) in Pall Mall, the former number ing 2,000 and the latter 1,450 members; the Junior Carlton; the Oriental; the Travelers'; Brooks', one of the oldest of the clubs; White's, a still older club, much frequented by the Con servative nobility; the Conservative; the Devon shire; the Oxford and Cambridge; the Garrick, frequented by lovers of the drama; the Royal Automobile, and four political clubs, which have the largest numbers of members, the Con stitutional having 6,500, the National Liberal 5,000, the Junior Conservative 2,500, and the Junior Constitutional 5,00ct Hotels.— The Grand Hotel, Trafalgar square, occupying part of the site of old North umberland House; the Victoria Hotel and Hotel Metropole in Northumberland avenue; the Hotel Cecil in the Strand; the Savoy Hotel on the Embankment; the Carlton Hotel at the corner of the Haymarket; the Russell Hotel, occupying the greater part of the east side of Russell square, recently built; the Piccadilly„ occupying the site of Saint James' Hall; and De Keyser's immense hotel at Blackfriars, are the most important and attractive. There are
large hotels at Charing Cross and* Cannon street in connection with the South Eastern Railway, at Saint Pancras in connection with the Midland Railway, the last named. being the largest and one of the handsomest in London; and at Marylebone in connection with the Great Central Railway. Also associated with railways are the Great Western Hotel at Pad dington; the Great Northern Hotel in King's Cross; the Grosvenor Hotel at Pimlico. Other large hotels are the Langham Hotel, Portland place; the Westminster Palace Hotel in Vic toria street; the Salisbury Hotel, in Salisbury square, Fleet street; the First Avenue near Gray's Inn; and the famous Ship Hotel at Greenwich.
Theatres, Public Halls, etc.— The principal theatres are Covent Garden (the Royal Opera House), opened in 1858; His Majesty's, the historic Drury Lane, the Haymarket, the Strand, the Ade1phi, the Surrey, the Gaiety, the Vaudeville, Saint James', the Savoy, the Avenue, the comedy, Criterion, Terry's, the Lyric, the Garrick, the Shaftesbury, the Duke of York, the Prince of Wales, Wyndham's, the Court, Daly's, the Kingsway and the London Opera House. There are also many new erec tions, whose names are not so familiar as those just named. Local theatres have been built in many of the outlying parts of London. Saint James Hall, remarkable' almost entirely for its interior and chiefly devoted to musical entertainments of a high class, has recently been demolished. The Queen's Hall in Port land place, and the Albert Hall at Kensington, are devoted to high-class music. Hanover Square Rooms were once famous as concert rooms. The Freemasons' Hall in Great Queen street is well known, and Olympia, at West Kensington, is a large and imposing hall in an extensive area. The Congregational Memorial Hall, and the Agricultural Hall, Islington, the largest covered area in London, are also im portant buildings of this kind. The Empire and the Alhambra in Leicester square and the Hippodrome in Charing Cross road are the chief of numerous music halls in London.
Markets.—These are numerous, but have generally little to attract either in external beauty or in internal arrangement. The grin, cipal ones are Billingsgate for fish; the Borough Market, Southwark, and the Covent Garden for vegetables, fruit, flowers and plants; Leadenhall for poultry, game, etc.; Deptford for foreign cattle; Smithfield for fresh meat, poultry and fish; the Islington Cattle Market, in the Caledonian road. The Spitalfields Market and the Woolwich Market, for vegetable products, are included in the pub lic markets. But London is inadequately pro vided. The city corporation owns all the largest markets, and exercises charter rights to prevent others being erected. The result is that all retail markets are in the hands of costermongers.