,250,000 per mile to construct. The original idea seems to have been
to connect the various stations of the railways leading out of town, and
to do this, and at the same time furnish means of rapid transit from the
heart of the city to the suburbs, the railway has been constructed in
the form of an irregular ellipse, running all around the city, yet kept
far within the built-up portions. It is a double track, with trains
running all around both ways, so that the passenger goes wherever he
wishes simply by following the circuit, while branch lines extend to the
West End beyond Paddington and Kensington. It is constructed not in a
continuous tunnel, for there are frequent open spaces, but on a general
level lower than that of the greater part of London, and the routes are
pursued without regard to the street-lines on the surface above, often
passing diagonally under blocks of houses. The construction has taxed
engineering skill to the utmost, for huge buildings have had to be
shored up, sewers diverted, and, at the stations, vast spaces burrowed
underground to get enough room. In this way London has solved its
rapid-transit problem, though it could be done only at enormous cost.
The metropolis, it will be seen, has no end of attractions, and for the
traveller's accommodation the ancient inns are rapidly giving place to
modern hotels. Among London's famous hostelries is the "Old Tabard Inn"
in the Borough, which will probably soon be swept away.

[Illustration: THE "OLD TABARD INN."]

HOLLAND HOUSE.

[Illustration: HOLLAND HOUSE, SOUTH SIDE.]

To describe London, as we said before, would fill a volume, but space
forbids lingering longer, and we will pass out of the metropolis, after
devoting brief attention to one of its historical mansions, the
well-known Holland House. This fine old building of the time of James I.
stands upon high ground in the western suburbs of London, and its
history is interwoven with several generations of arts, politics, and
literature. The house is of red brick, embellished with turrets,
gable-ends, and mullioned windows. As its park has already been partly
cut up for building-lots, the end of the celebrated mansion itself is
believed to be not far off. Built in 1607, it descended to the first
Earl of Holland, whence its name. Surviving the Civil Wars, when Fairfax
used it for his head-quarters, it is noted that plays were privately
performed here in Cromwell's time. In 1716, Addison married