religious and allegorical subjects. Niches in the
walls contain statues of the barons who compelled King John to sign
Magna Charta. There are heraldic devices on the ceilings and walls, and
the throne stands at the southern end. The "Woolsack," where sits the
lord chancellor, who presides over the House, is a seat near the middle
of the room, covered with crimson cloth. When the sovereign comes to the
palace and enters the gateway at the Victoria Tower, she is ushered into
the Norman Porch, containing statues and frescoes representing the
Norman sovereigns, and then enters the Robing Room, splendidly decorated
and having frescoes representing the legends of King Arthur. When the
ceremony of robing is completed, she proceeds to the House of Peers
through the longest room in the palace, the Victoria Gallery, one
hundred and ten feet long and forty-five feet wide and high. Historical
frescoes adorn the walls and the ceiling is richly gilded. This gallery
leads to the Prince's Chamber, also splendidly decorated, and having two
doorways opening into the House of Peers, one on each side of the
throne. In this palace for six months in every year the British
Parliament meets.

HYDE PARK.

[Illustration: THE MARBLE ARCH, HYDE PARK.]

[Illustration: THE ALBERT MEMORIAL.]

[Illustration: THE PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE, NEW MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,
SOUTH KENSINGTON.]

When the Marble Arch was taken from Buckingham Palace, it was removed to
Hyde Park, of which it forms one of the chief entrances at Cumberland
Gate. This magnificent gate, which cost $400,000, leads into probably
the best known of the London parks, the ancient manor of Hyde. It was an
early resort of fashion, for the Puritans in their time complained of it
as the resort of "most shameful powdered-hair men and painted women." It
covers about three hundred and ninety acres, and has a pretty sheet of
water called the Serpentine. The fashionable drive is on the southern
side, and here also is the famous road for equestrians known as Rotten
Row, which stretches nearly a mile and a half. On a fine afternoon in
the season the display on these roads is grand. In Hyde Park are held
the great military reviews and the mass-meetings of the populace, who
occasionally display their discontent by battering down the railings. At
Hyde Park Corner is a fine entrance-gate, with the Green Park Gate
opposite, surmounted by the Wellington bronze equestrian statue. The
most magnificent d