le platform, which is caged in to prevent people from falling or
flinging themselves over. From here there is a fine view of London; you
can see the river, and the ships going up and down, and the bridges, and
the tall steeples of all the churches built by Sir Christopher Wren for
the new London that rose out of the ashes of the old.

At the place where the fire is said to have stopped there is the figure
of a funny little fat boy put up, and that you can see at Smithfield if
you care to go there.

The greater part of London was completely wiped out; the streets were
all gone--none knew even where their own houses had stood; there were
heaps of ashes everywhere, so hot that the boots of those who walked
over them were scorched. For long afterwards, when the workmen were
opening a pile to take away the rubbish and begin to build a new house,
flames which had been smouldering below burst out again. The great task
of rebuilding the city demanded all the energy and sense of which the
people were capable. There were many quarrels, of course, between people
who claimed more land than they ought to have had, and between others
who were both quite sure their houses had stood on one spot. It was a
long time before a new London was built. But though the fire cost the
Londoners many millions of pounds, and though it ruined many persons and
caused fearful loss, it was really a blessing, for it burnt away things
that might have carried the plague infection; and it burnt the old
unwholesome dirty wooden houses, and in their place were built better
houses and wider streets, and health and comfort were greater.

BOOK III

THE SIGHTS OF LONDON

CHAPTER XVIII

THE TOWER OF LONDON

If anyone were staying in London for the first time, what do you suppose
he or she would want to see most? It would depend on the character and
age of that person. If it were a boy, he would be almost sure to say the
Zoological Gardens. A girl might choose Madame Tussaud's. But besides
these there are many other things that could be chosen--St. Paul's
Cathedral; the British Museum; Westminster Abbey. Also places of
entertainment, like Maskelyne's Mysteries, where there is conjuring so
wonderful that, having seen it no one can believe the sight of his own
eyes. At Christmas time many of the large shops turn themselves into
shows, with all sorts of attractive sights to be enjoyed free, so that
people may be brought into the shop and possibly