d portico. The great room used for
public occasions is the Egyptian Hall, for what reason does not appear
from any thing about it. Here the lord mayor has his great feasts. I
should like to be in London on the 9th of November, which is his day of
inauguration; and this is the great day for Londoners. He rides in a
large carved gilt carriage. I believe he goes to Westminster by water,
in a splendid barge, and comes back in his coach. The salary is eight
thousand pounds; but the expenses are beyond this amount, and some
persons refuse to serve, and pay a fine of five hundred pounds; but
this is a rare case, and enough are ready to pay for the honor. In the
city the mayor ranks before the royal family. The title of "your
lordship" ceases at the expiration of his office.

Our next visit was to the Royal Exchange, a very noble quadrangle, which
was finished in 1844. It stands finely between the Bank of England and
the Mansion House, and in front there is a sort of open space, or
widening of the streets. This is the third building which has occupied
the same spot--the two earlier ones were both burnt down. The original
Exchange was built by Sir Thomas Gresham, and opened by Queen Elizabeth
in 1570. It was copied from the famous Burse at Antwerp, which still
stands. It is singular that, in the great fires of 1666 and 1838, the
statue of Sir Thomas Gresham escaped uninjured. The Exchange is built of
Portland stone, and already has acquired, from the smoke of London, a
venerable tinge. The portico, I am told, is the largest in the kingdom;
but the one at St. Martin's Church I like better. Crossing over the
road, we were at the Bank of England. This is a truly immense affair.
The walls measure fourteen hundred and sixty feet. It wad built in 1734,
but has had many alterations and additions, and now covers four acres.
We did not go into it.

The docks of London are among the attractions of the place. They are
called St. Catharine's, London, East India, West India, Commercial, &c.
These are tar too great an affair for me to describe; and to look at
them, and then think of writing an account, is very much like a small
boy opening a book of mathematics and trying to understand it. What do
you think of the tobacco warehouse, at the docks covering five acres?
Then the tea in bonded warehouses was worth twenty-five millions of
dollars; and there are ten millions of pounds of pepper, six millions of
gallons of wine, and other things in