the gardens and pleasant
suburban villages lying on the north of the Strand, the young man's
gaze settled for a moment on Charing Cross--the elaborately-carved
memorial to his Queen, Eleanor, erected by Edward I.--and then ranging
over the palace of Whitehall and its two gates, Westminster Abbey--more
beautiful without its towers than with them--it became fixed upon
Westminster Hall; for there, in one of its chambers, the ceiling of
which was adorned with gilded stars, were held the councils of that
terrible tribunal which had robbed him of his inheritance, and now
threatened him with deprivation of liberty, and mutilation of person. A
shudder crossed him as he thought of the Star-Chamber, and he turned his
gaze elsewhere, trying to bring the whole glorious city within his ken.

A splendid view, indeed! Well might King James himself exclaim when
standing, not many years previously, on the very spot where Jocelyn now
stood, and looking upon London for the first time since his accession to
the throne of England--well might he exclaim in rapturous accents, as he
gazed on the magnificence of his capital--"At last the richest jewel in
a monarch's crown is mine!"

After satiating himself with this, to him, novel and wonderful prospect,
Jocelyn began to bestow his attention on objects closer at hand, and
examined the landscapes on either side of the eminence, which, without
offering any features of extraordinary beauty, were generally pleasing,
and exercised a soothing influence upon his mind. At that time Stamford
Hill was crowned with a grove of trees, and its eastern declivity was
overgrown with brushwood. The whole country, on the Essex side, was more
or less marshy, until Epping Forest, some three miles off, was reached.
Through a swampy vale on the left, the river Lea, so dear to the angler,
took its slow and silent course; while through a green valley on the
right, flowed the New River, then only just opened. Pointing out the
latter channel to Jocelyn, Dick Taverner, who had now come up, informed
him that he was present at the completion of that important undertaking.
And a famous sight it was, the apprentice said. The Lord Mayor of
London, the Aldermen, and the Recorder were all present in their robes
and gowns to watch the floodgate opened, which was to pour the stream
that had run from Amwell Head into the great cistern near Islington. And
this was done amidst deafening cheers and the thunder of ordnance.

"A proud