ely, that at Westminster. Prior to this
date, the only communication between Lambeth and Westminster was by
ferry-boat, near Palace Gate, the property of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, to whom it was granted by patent under a rent of L20, as an
equivalent for the loss of which, on the opening of the bridge, the see
received the sum of L2,205.

In 1739, amid great opposition from "The Most Worshipful Company of
Watermen," the first stone was laid, and in 1747 the structure was
completed, the plans having been changed _interim_ in favour of an entire
stone structure.

As it then stood Westminster Bridge was 1,066 feet long, or 260 feet
shorter than Waterloo Bridge; its width is 42 feet, height, 58 feet. The
proportions of the bridge were stated by an antiquary, since departed this
life, to be "so accurate that, if a person speak against the wall of any
of the recesses on one side of the way, he may be distinctly heard on the
opposite side; even a whisper is audible during the stillness of the
night," a circumstance of itself of little import, one would think, but
which is perhaps worth recording, as indicating the preciseness of a
certain class of historians of the time. To-day it is to be feared that
such details are accepted, if not with credulity, at least with
indifference.

This fine work not being equal to the demands which were made upon it, it
gave way in 1865 to the present graceful and larger iron-spanned
structure, which, while in no way a grand work of art, does not offend in
any way.

As the "Embankment" passes Charing Cross Railway Bridge, we are reminded
that this rather ugly structure, with its decidedly ungainly appendage in
the form of a huge railway station, did not exist in Dickens' day.
Instead there was a more or less graceful suspension bridge, known as
Hungerford Bridge, which crossed the river from the lower end of
Hungerford Market, now alas replaced by the aforesaid crude railway
station, which, in spite of the indication of progress which it suggests,
can hardly be an improvement on what existed on the same site some fifty
years ago.

Hungerford Market was a structure occupying much the same area as the
present railway station; beside it was Warren's Blacking Factory, where
Dickens, as a boy, tied up the pots of the darksome fluid. Just below was
"Hungerford Stairs," another of those riverside landing-places, and one
which was perhaps more made use of than any other between Blackfriars and