uthampton; Guy Fawkes and the Gun-powder Plot
conspirators; Robert Carr, Earl of Southampton, and his countess, for
murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, 1616; Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, 1641;
Archbishop Laud; Charles I., for his attacks upon the liberties of his
country, 1649; the seven bishops, in the reign of James II.; Dr.
Sacheverel, 1710; in 1716, the Earls Derwentwater, Nithisdale, and
Carnwath, and the Lords Widdington, Kenmure, and Nairn, for the
rebellion of 1715; Harley, Earl of Oxford, 1717; the Earls Cromartie
and Kilmarnock, and Lord Balmerino, 1746, for the rebellion of 1745;
Lord Lovat, 1747; William Lord Byron, for the death of William Chaworth
in a bloody duel, 1765; Lord Ferrers, for the murder of his steward; the
infamous Duchess of Kingston, for bigamy, 1776; and Warren Hastings, for
cruelty in his office as Governor of India, 1788.

And besides all this, here have been the coronation feasts of all
England's monarchs, from William Rufus, who built it in 1099, down to
George IV., 1820. Sad times and merry ones have been here. We stepped
from the hall into the courts of law, which have entrances from this
apartment, and we saw the lord chancellor on the bench in one, and the
judges sitting in another. The courts were small, and not very imposing
in their appearance.

Yours truly,

JAMES.

Letter 13.

LONDON.

DEAR CHARLEY:--

O, we have had a noble treat; and how I longed for your company, as we
spent hour after hour in the British Museum. The building is very fine,
but the inside--that is every thing. The entire front is, I think, about
four hundred feet, and I reckoned forty-four columns forming a
colonnade; these are forty-five feet high. The portico is now receiving
magnificent sculpture in relief; and when the whole is finished, and the
colossal statues surmount the pediment, and the fine iron palisadoes,
now erecting, are completed, I think the edifice will be among the
finest in the world. The entrance hall is most imposing, and the ceiling
is richly painted in encaustic. The staircases are very grand, and their
side walls are cased with red Aberdeen granite, brought to an exquisite
polish. To describe the British Museum would be a vain attempt. In the
hall are several fine statues. Especially did we admire the one of
Shakspeare by Roubilliac, and given by Garrick. We soon found our way to
the Nineveh Gallery, and were wide awake to look after the relics of
Nineveh dug up by Layar