buy something. All
these things are attractive. But there is one thing not yet mentioned,
which is the best of all, and interesting to both boys and girls alike,
as well as to men and women. This is the Tower of London.

I am now going to imagine that you are staying with me on a visit, and
every day we will do something enjoyable, and go to see something fresh.
We could go on for days and days doing this in London, and not come to
the end of the sights. But the first thing to see, the very first, ought
to be the Tower, because it is one of the few old buildings left in
London, and there are so many stories connected with it they would make
a big fat book in themselves.

On the first morning of your visit to London you would get up in a
rather excited frame of mind, and be anxious to start off at once. That
would be as well, because if we are to go to the Tower it will take us a
long time to get there.

Before the west end of London was built the Tower was in the important
part of London. All that could then be called London clustered round it.
In those days, when the country was unsettled and enemies appeared
suddenly outside a town, and might burn and destroy houses, and steal
all that they could lay hands on, it was necessary to have a wall all
round the city. This wall was very strong and high, and could be
defended by men with spears and arrows. It ran right round the city on
three sides, and on the fourth was the river.

In the reign of William the Conqueror there was no strong castle or
palace for the King in London, but only an old fortress on one side of
this wall, the east side, quite near to the river. This fortress had
stood there for a long time. No one knew when it had been built. King
William ordered it to be pulled down, and in its place he caused a
strong castle to be built. Part of the city wall was pulled down to make
room for this castle, and so began the Tower of London.

If we, living in the West End, want to get to the Tower, we must take an
omnibus or train and go right through the City until, at the place where
the City and the East End meet, we shall find the Tower.

It is a very fine building, with a great square tower in the middle.
Round it are the gardens, and round the gardens, again, there is another
line of buildings, which have smaller towers set here and there upon
them at intervals. Circling round the outermost walls is a huge, deep
ditch, as big and broad as a river. This was