Chapter I: Part 1

AROUND THE WORLD

IN

EIGHTY MINUTES

PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTIONS OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT EDIFICES,
THE MOST INTERESTING REMAINS AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
SCENES ON THE EARTH’S SURFACE

WITH DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

BY

WM. S. WALSH

PHILADELPHIA

HENRY ALTEMUS

1894

Copyrighted, 1894, by HENRY ALTEMUS

ALTEMUS’ BOOKBINDERY, PHILADELPHIA

INTRODUCTION

Travel is the greatest of educators, the greatest of civilizers. To come in contact with men and manners different from those to which we have been accustomed by birth is to broaden the mind; to teach it forbearance, sympathy, wisdom; to rob it of its philistinism; to make it cosmopolitan and not provincial. To come face to face with the great monuments of the past and of the present, to see what man has done and is doing, is to get a new idea of the vastness, the imaginative strength, the creative power of the human mind, to renew your respect for your kind and for yourself, because you belong to that kind. It may teach you your own littleness, indeed, in itself a useful lesson. But it also teaches you the greatness of that aggregate of little individuals to which we give the generic name of man. And to learn this lesson of reverence for man is to kin yourself with what is best and holiest in man.

Horse-power, sails, steam, electricity are all at your bidding to-day, ready harnessed to transport you where you will. If you wish to travel, the world is yours to command. Fictitious heroes have circled it in eighty days; real men and women have accomplished the feat in less time. A little leisure and a little money will enable you to do what a century or so ago would have been impossible to the greatest potentate on earth, with twenty-four hours of leisure every day, and the wealth of Indies at his beck and call.

But if you have not the little leisure, if you have not the little money, you can travel without them. You can travel without passing out of your room, without quitting your chair. The resources of modern science are inexhaustible. Mahomet, though a prophet, had to go to the mountain because the mountain would not come to him. But you need not go to the mountain; modern science will make it come to you. You have but to say the word.

Here, in this book, for example, are one hundred photographs of one hundred of the most famous sights, scenes and monuments in the whole world. To see these sights, these scenes, these monuments, is to attain a liberal education. Now what is seeing? Seeing, the philosopher will tell you, is to have certain waves of light strike your eye and create an impression on your retina of the objects that are in front of you. The retina, in other words, is nothing but a natural camera obscura. And what is a photograph? A photograph is a modern invention whereby, by means of an artificial camera obscura, the sun, the author of all light, is cunningly induced to bind upon paper forever the impression made by the actual waves of light set in motion by certain objects. Remember it is not a picture of that object formed by some individual man and blurred by the personality of the individual who made it. It is the actual sight, the actual scene, the actual monument, or what not, just as it would have met your natural retina if you had been there, and simply reflected from the artificial retina into your natural one. The sun is the true realist--faithful, literal, exact. Would we not cheerfully exchange Giotto’s portrait of Dante for a photograph by Sarony, had Sarony and his camera existed in Dante’s day; or Wagner’s Chariot Race for an instantaneous photograph of the great Colosseum, with its surging crowds of humanity? The men and women in Wagner’s masterpiece are vivid and life-like; as types they are faithful and exact, but the instantaneous photograph would give you the very outer form and semblance, the body and almost the soul, of individuals who had once lived, who are now once again living before you. Savages are said to shrink from being photographed, deeming that a part of themselves passes into the picture, and the superstitions of savages are metaphors in which civilized men read a poetical hint of the truth.

Here, then, are one hundred of the greatest of human monuments and the most magnificent of earthly scenes brought into your very presence by the witchery of modern science. The selection has been made with the greatest care so as to be truly representative of all ages, people and climes. Each photograph is accompanied by a pains-taking and accurate description which briefly but succinctly sums up the information that the reader needs for his guidance. Here, therefore, is a trip round the world with the services of a guide thrown in, and that trip can be accomplished pleasantly and without fatigue at an expense which is too ridiculously small to mention.

Well may the modern laugh at Mahomet and his mountain, and snap his fingers at Phineas Fogg and Nelly Bly. Eighty days quotha! Seventy? Sixty? Nay, eighty minutes will suffice.

CONTENTS

PAGE
The Statue of Liberty 12

The Tower of London 14

Westminster Abbey 16

St. Paul’s Cathedral 18

Houses of Parliament, London 20

Bank of England, London 22

Mansion House, London 24

London Bridge 26

Trafalgar Square, London 28

Thames Embankment, London 30

Kenilworth Castle, England 32

Warwick Castle, England 34

Windsor Castle, England 36

Shakespeare’s House 38

Osborne House, Isle of Wight 40

Blarney Castle, Ireland 42

The Lakes of Killarney, Ireland 44

Giant’s Causeway, Ireland 46

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland 48

Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh 50

Melrose Abbey, Scotland 52

Abbotsford, Scotland 54

Fingal’s Cave, Scotland 56

Forth Bridge, Scotland 58

Balmoral Castle, Scotland 60

Loch Katrine, Scotland 62

North Cape, Norway 64

The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia 66

The Church of St. Basil, Moscow 68

Royal Museum, Berlin, Germany 70

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin 72

Cologne Cathedral, Germany 74

Heidelberg Castle, Germany 76

Ehrenbreitstein, Germany 78

The Cathedral, Antwerp, Belgium 80

Palais de Justice, Brussels, Belgium 82

Field of Waterloo, Belgium 84

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris 86

Place de la Bastille, Paris 88

Place de la Concorde, Paris 90

Place Vendome, Paris 92

Garden of the Tuileries, Paris 94

Arc de Triomphe, Paris 96

Napoleon’s Tomb, Paris 98

Chamber of Deputies, Paris 100

Grand Opera House, Paris 102

Eiffel Tower, Paris 104

The Trocadero, Paris 106

Chateau de Fontainebleau, France 108

Garden and Fountains, Versailles, France 110

Grand Trianon, Versailles 112

A Bull Fight, Seville, Spain 114

The Alhambra 116

Cordova, Spain 118

Rock of Gibraltar 120

Monte Carlo 122

Lake Lucerne, Switzerland 124

Mont Blanc, Switzerland 126

Mer de Glace, Switzerland 128

The Matterhorn, Switzerland 130

Rigi-Kulm, Switzerland 132

Thun, Switzerland 134

Jungfrau from Interlaken 136

Cursalon, Vienna, Austria 138

Cathedral, Milan, Italy 140

Panorama of Venice, Italy 142

St. Mark’s, Venice 144

Grand Canal, Venice 146

Doge’s Palace, Venice 148

Cathedral and Leaning Tower, Pisa, Italy 150

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy 152

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence 154

Cathedral of Florence 156

The Capitol, Rome, Italy 158

Castle of St. Angelo, Rome 160

St. Peter’s, Rome 162

The Colosseum, Rome 164

The Pantheon, Rome 166

Tomb of Cecilia Metella, Rome 168

The Forum, Rome 170

The Bay of Naples, Italy 172

Pompeii, Italy 174

The Acropolis, Athens, Greece 176

The Bosphorus, Constantinople, Turkey 178

The Mosque of St. Sophia, Constantinople 180

The Sphinx, Egypt 182

The Pyramids of Gizeh, Egypt 184

Ruins of the Temple of Amenophis, Karnak 186

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem 188

Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem 190

Ruins of Baalbek, Syria 192

Taj Mahal, Agra, Hindostan 194

The Pearl Mosque, Hindostan 196

Yosemite Valley, California 198

Big Trees, Mariposa Grove, California 200

Geysers, Yellowstone Park, Wyoming 202

Grand Canon, Yellowstone Park 204

Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico 206

Masonic Temple, Chicago 208

Niagara Falls 210

The Thousand Islands 212

Victoria Bridge, Montreal 214

The Capitol, Washington, D. C. 216

The White House, Washington, D. C. 218

Independence Hall, Philadelphia 220

The Brooklyn Bridge 222

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. This colossal statue, by Auguste Bartholdi, stands on Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor. It is distinguished, not only by its immense height (three hundred and five feet six inches from foundation to torch), but by the elegance of its proportions and its imposing dignity. At night, especially, when the torch is lighted by electricity, its effect is unique and commanding. The statue was presented to the American people by France, the cost being defrayed by public subscription. The sculptor himself took no remuneration. Public subscription here put up the pedestal. The statue was formally handed over to the President of the United States by the French delegates on October 28th, 1886.

THE TOWER OF LONDON, ENGLAND. In all the world there is no more famous fortress than this ancient citadel of London. Situate in the oldest portion of the city, on the north bank of the Thames, it at once arrests the attention of every stranger in the English metropolis. Tradition ascribes its erection to Julius Cæsar, but tradition is unsupported by historical evidence, and at the most it is only conjectured that the Romans had a fortress on this site. It may be stated authoritatively, however, that the Keep or White Tower (so named because it was formerly whitewashed), which is now the oldest extant portion of the citadel, was built by William the Conqueror. As the council chamber of the ancient kings of England, and subsequently as a prison of state for political offenders, its glory and its shame are part and parcel of the glory and the shame of all England. Some of the most momentous events in the history of the country were enacted within its walls. From an early period it has been the depository of the ornaments and jewels of the crown.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY, LONDON. This is the supremely interesting spot in all London. Its exquisite architecture would alone ennoble it. But as the sepulchre of sovereigns, heroes, statesmen, authors and poets, as the scene of some of the most hallowed events in English history, it makes an even more serious appeal to the imagination. Its very history is involved in becoming mystery. Tradition asserts that on this site Sebert, King of the Saxons, built a church and dedicated it to St. Peter. More authentic history ascribes its inception to Edward the Confessor, who designed it for his own burial place. Hence, other royal interments followed. William the Conqueror was crowned here within a few yards of the Confessor’s tomb, and every succeeding sovereign of England has followed his example. It also has continued to be the favorite spot for royal weddings and funerals. As it now stands the Abbey was for the most part rebuilt by Henry III. Henry VII added the famous chapel which bears his name, and the two towers on the front were placed there by Christopher Wren. The Poet’s Corner in the south transept contains tombs or monuments in honor of many of the most famous of English literary worthies.

ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, LONDON. This, the metropolitan church of London, is one of the largest and, without exception, the most conspicuous of its edifices. Built on a slight eminence, which is said to have been anciently occupied by a temple to Diana, it is the last of a series of Christian churches that succeeded to the Pagan temple. The first, founded about 610, was destroyed by fire in 1087. The second succumbed to the Great Fire of 1666. The present church was begun June 21st, 1675, and was finished in thirty-five years, under one architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The whole cost, £747,954 2_s._ 9_d._, was paid by a tax on every chaldron of coal brought into London. The structure is five hundred and fifty feet from east to west by one hundred and twenty-five feet in width; the front is one hundred and eighty feet wide, and the top of the cross is four hundred feet from the crypt floor. Carlyle said of it that it was the only edifice that struck him with a proper sense of grandeur.

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, LONDON, ENGLAND. This is the largest, and in some respects the most imposing, of all the public edifices in England. Gothic in style, in size, at least, it surpasses any other Gothic building in the world. And in respect to its equipments and the excellent adaptation of every part to the purposes for which it was erected and for the transaction of the business to which it is consecrated it is absolutely unrivaled. Both Houses, Lords and Commons, meet within its walls. Yet it is a comparatively modern structure. Occupying the site of the Royal Palace, dwelt in by every English monarch from the time of Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth, the corner-stone of the present building was not laid until April 27th, 1840. It covers about eight acres of ground, and has four fronts, the longest and most effective of which, facing the river Thames, is nine hundred and forty feet long. The Victoria Tower at the south-west angle, which is about three hundred and forty feet high and admirably proportioned, is one of its most effective features.

BANK OF ENGLAND, LONDON. This, the most celebrated moneyed institution in the world, is situated on Threadneedle Street. Hence, it is sometimes facetiously alluded to as “The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.” It has a branch in the West End of London and nine branches in the provinces. It was founded July 27th, 1694, as a joint stock association, with a capital of £1,200,000, which was lent at eight per cent. interest to the government of William and Mary. And as it began as a servant of the government so it has continued. At the present moment it has the management of the public debt and the paying of interest thereon, it holds the deposits belonging to government and aids in the collection of the public revenue. It is the bank of all the other banks in England. Its notes are legal tender, and are convertible into coin. Its credit and reputation have been absolutely unequaled by any other establishment of the sort. Hence, the recent discovery of a deficit of £5,000,000 shook the financial world to its centre. But the bank has been able to meet the emergency.

MANSION HOUSE, LONDON, ENGLAND. The Lord-Mayor of London has his official residence at the Mansion House. It is situated nearly opposite the Royal Exchange, on the site of the ancient Stock’s Market; was begun in 1739 and finished in 1741. In its great banqueting hall, known as the Egyptian Hall, are given the state banquets. Formerly it was the ambition of every great London merchant and banker to become Lord-Mayor, but since the district actually under his jurisdiction has come to be a very small part of what is known as London, the importance of this functionary has greatly diminished in the eyes of all save foreigners. As the dispenser of civic hospitality he receives £8000 a year, with the use of the Mansion House, furniture, carriages, &c.

LONDON BRIDGE, LONDON, ENGLAND. This is not the London bridge of Shakespeare’s time, for that was a wooden structure, lined with houses on either side. The present London bridge is substantially built of granite on the site of the older one. It cost £2,566,268, and was opened to the public on August 1st, 1831, by King William IV. There are five arches, the central one having a span of one hundred and fifty-two feet. The entire length is nine hundred and twenty-eight feet and the width fifty-four. A curious interest attaches to the lamp posts along the side, which are cast from the metal of French cannon captured in the Peninsular War. The constant stream of traffic that pours across this bridge is prodigious. It is estimated that every twenty-four hours no less than twenty thousand vehicles and one hundred and seven thousand pedestrians are borne along in the opposing currents.

TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON. The battle of Trafalgar (22d October, 1805) was won over the combined French and Spanish fleet by the English, under Lord Nelson, who lost his life at the very moment of victory. One of the finest open places in London is named after the conflict. In the centre a massive granite column, one hundred and forty-five feet in height, rises to the memory of the great admiral, whose statue surmounts it. The pedestal is adorned with reliefs in bronze, cast with the metal of French captured cannon, and representing scenes in the career of Nelson. Four colossal bronze lions, modeled by Sir Edwin Landseer, in 1867, crouch upon pedestals running out from the column in the form of a cross. The square is paved with asphalt. Statues of Sir Henry Havelock, of Sir Charles James Napier and of George IV are distributed around it. Towards the north side are two fountains, and on the terrace to the north rises the National Gallery, with the interesting old church of St. Martin in the Fields by its side.

THAMES EMBANKMENT, LONDON, ENGLAND. At an early period the banks of the Thames River had many wide stretches of marsh land, covered by shallow lagoons. From time to time embankments have been erected, some of them dating from the time of the Romans. The greatest of all these works is the new Victoria Embankment, leading from Blackfriars Bridge towards the west, along the north bank of the Thames as far as Westminster. Built in 1864–70, under the direction of Sir Joseph W. Bazalgette, it cost nearly $10,000,000. It consists of a macadamized carriageway about two thousand three hundred yards in length and sixty-four feet wide. The foot pavement on the land side is sixteen feet broad and on the river side twenty feet. This entire area was formerly covered by the tide twice a day. A granite wall eight feet thick protects it on the side next the Thames. Rows of trees have been planted along the sides of the Embankment, which will eventually make it a shady and delightful promenade. At intervals are large openings, with stairs leading to the floating steamboat piers. It is illuminated at night by electricity.

KENILWORTH CASTLE, ENGLAND. One of the stateliest of feudal remains in all England is this ruined castle, situated on rising ground to the west of the village of Kenilworth. Picturesque in itself, famous as it is in history, it yet derives its chief charm from the glamour thrown over it by Walter Scott in the novel which he has named after it. Kenilworth Castle first takes a prominent position in history as one of the strongholds of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in his rebellion against Henry III. Subsequently it passed into the possession of John of Gaunt, who enlarged and beautified it. But its highest fame results from the fact that Queen Elizabeth bestowed it upon her favorite, Robert Leicester, Earl of Dudley, and it was here that Amy Robsart ended her unhappy life. Cromwell dismantled the castle. Since his day it has suffered much from the ravages of time, but even in ruins it retains a potency to delight and to impress.

WARWICK CASTLE, ENGLAND. Beautiful in itself, famous as the residence of the Earls of Warwick, and especially of him who went by the title of the King-maker, Warwick Castle is one of the most notable edifices in England. Nothing could be more picturesque than its situation on a rock washed by the Avon. Its two towers are surpassingly beautiful. The one known as the Clock Tower is here represented. Its battlements and turrets are full of quaint interest. The grounds which surround it are a triumph of landscape gardening. And the castle itself is almost a thousand years old. Legend declares that it was founded in 915 by the daughter of King Alfred, Ethelfleda. In the war with the barons in the reign of Henry III it was partially destroyed. In the reign of Edward III it was restored and strengthened. Additions and improvements have successively been made. In the reign of James II it passed into the hands of the Grevilles, and has remained their property ever since.

WINDSOR CASTLE, ENGLAND. The favorite residence of the English sovereigns, which distinction it merits through its own beauty, the beauty of its surroundings and its opulence of historical and legendary associations. Long before the Normans landed in England it was the seat of the Saxon Kings. But William the Conqueror founded the present castle; it was rebuilt by Edward III, was extended by successive sovereigns, and, finally, in the reign of Queen Victoria, was brought to its present perfection. The town of Windsor is some twenty miles from London. On a promontory, overlooking the Valley of the Thames, stands the castle. Its chapels and its terrace are among the noblest in Europe. The interior is lavishly decorated, and contains valuable paintings, statuary, furniture, tapestries and plate. In its vaults lie the bodies of the Kings and Queens of England.

SHAKESPEARE’S HOUSE, STRATFORD-ON-AVON, ENGLAND. The birth-place of genius must always be full of interest to his fellow-men. How great then must be the interest in the birth-place of the greatest of geniuses! That interest is attested by the fact that the walls of the small, mean-looking edifice in which Shakespeare was born are scrawled all over with the names of potentates, princes, statesmen, poets and other great and little men. These, indeed, form a not insignificant part of the curiosities of the place. The house became the property of the English nation in 1847, and has been carefully restored. The actual room which witnessed the birth of the poet is shown, and is in substantially the same condition as when that event took place. In another room there is a small museum of Shakespearean relics.

OSBORNE HOUSE, ISLE OF WIGHT, ENGLAND. This is the seaside residence of Queen Victoria. Even in the Isle of Wight, a place famous for its magnificent private residences, it occupies a pre-eminent position. Situated in the immediate neighborhood of East Cowes, almost opposite to the mouth of Southampton Water, no place could be more favored by nature in its surroundings, and art has come to the assistance of nature. The grounds, though not large, are exquisite specimens of that princely art of landscape gardening in which the English have achieved the highest success. The palace itself is in excellent taste. A high tower in one corner is a conspicuous object for miles around. From its summit a magnificent view of the surrounding country may be obtained.

BLARNEY CASTLE, IRELAND. This imposing ruin of an ancient fortress is situated in the village of Blarney, about four miles from Cork. It was built in the early part of the fifteenth century by Cormac McCarthy, Prince of Desmond. Little now remains of it but the massive donjon tower, one hundred and twenty feet high. Its main celebrity arises from the famous Blarney stone, which endows whoever kisses it with the gift of flattery, palavering rhodomontade or wheedling eloquence. No one exactly knows the origin of the stone, nor whence it derived its mysterious powers. The date 1703 is carved upon it. It is preserved and held in place by two iron girders between huge mertons of the northern projecting parapet nearly one hundred feet above the ground. To kiss it has been the ambition of many generations who laboriously climb up to its dangerous eminence. But the lip service of so great a multitude is gradually wearing it away.

LAKES OF KILLARNEY, IRELAND. These are three connected lakes in County Kerry, of extraordinary beauty and interest. The largest, known as Lough Leane, is fifteen miles long by three broad. It contains some thirty islands, the chief of which is Innisfallen, celebrated in history and story. On the sides of these lakes rise the loftiest mountains in Ireland, intersected by the wildest ravines, and full of the boldest cascades. The beauty of the scenery is enhanced by the varied coloring of the thickly-wooded shores, the gray rock forming an effective contrast to the dark firs, the brown mountain heath, the light green arbutus and other features in an infinite variety of foliage and verdure. In the immediate neighborhood of Lough Leane is Muckross Abbey, founded by Franciscan monks in 1340, now a most picturesque ruin.

GIANT’S CAUSEWAY, IRELAND. A singular mass of basaltic columns, situated on the coast of Antrim, Ireland, has obtained this name from the legend that it was the commencement of a road planned by the giants of old to project across the channel from Ireland to Scotland. And, indeed, it looks almost like a deliberate work of mightier men than we rather than a frolic of nature. It resembles an immense pier jutting out into the sea from the base of a stratified cliff about four hundred feet high, to the length of about seven hundred feet. The pillars composing it are close-fitting, dark-colored and somewhat irregular hexagons, varying in diameter from fifteen to twenty inches and sometimes reaching the height of twenty or even thirty feet. Whinstone dikes separate it into three divisions, known as the Little Causeway, the Middle or “Honeycomb” Causeway and the Larger or Grand Causeway. Altogether, it comprises about forty thousand columns, each consisting of several pieces.

EDINBURGH CASTLE, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. Picturesquely situated on a rocky eminence, three hundred and eighty-three feet high, in the very heart of the old portion of Edinburgh, is this ancient fortress. The rock is perpendicular on three sides. On the fourth it slopes away gradually so that it can be ascended with ease. The fort is supposed to have been erected in the seventh century, the city gradually growing up around it. In early Scottish history it was frequently captured by and recaptured from the English. In the twelfth century it became a royal residence. By the articles of union it is one of the four fortresses which are to be kept constantly fortified. It contains accommodations for two thousand soldiers, and its armory affords space for thirty thousand stands of arms. The Scottish Regalia are preserved here, and one of the chief objects of interest is the room where Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James VI, in whom the crowns of England and Scotland were united. The picture is taken from the Parade Ground.

HOLYROOD PALACE, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. This spacious building occupies the site of an Abbey, founded in A. D. 1128 by King David I, of Scotland. The palace itself was begun in the reign of James IV, was nearly destroyed by Cromwell in 1650, and was rebuilt by Charles II. But the chief interest of the place centres upon its associations with Mary, Queen of Scots. Luckily her apartments are preserved in almost their original condition. The royal chapel, where she celebrated mass to the indignation of the Protestants, is almost intact. So is the audience chamber in which she disputed with John Knox. And even to this day is pointed out a deep stain at the foot of the private stairway to her apartments which is said to be the blood of the murdered Rizzio. In recent times the palace has been seldom used as a place of residence. It stands on the top of a huge rock four hundred and forty-three feet above the sea, and is built in the shape of a quadrangle with a court in the centre.

MELROSE ABBEY, MELROSE, SCOTLAND. This is the most famous and the most picturesque ruin in Scotland--indeed in all Great Britain. Originally founded for the Cistercian monks by David I, of Scotland, in the twelfth century, it was nearly destroyed by the English--Edward II--in 1322, and shortly after was rebuilt by Robert Bruce, whose heart is fabled to be buried under the east window. The abbey was again burned by Richard II in 1385, and though again restored it was considerably altered after the Reformation to suit the demands of Presbyterian worship. Later it was plundered by builders to secure ornaments for houses, and is now in utter ruin. As it stands, therefore, it belongs mainly to the middle of the fourteenth century and the first half of the fifteenth, with a good many portions of much later date. Even in ruins it is one of the noblest exemplars of the Middle-pointed style of Gothic architecture. Sir Walter Scott made it the scene of his novel of “The Monastery,” and also celebrated it in some well-known lines in “Marmion.”

ABBOTSFORD, SCOTLAND. As the residence of Sir Walter Scott, who erected it in the days of his greatest financial success, and as the scene and the cause of his eventual ruin, the castle of Abbotsford must ever retain a picturesque and pathetic hold upon the lover of literature. It is situated on the south bank of the Tweed, near Melrose Abbey, and about twenty-eight miles southeast of Edinburgh. Scott’s aim was to erect a great mansion on something like feudal principles, where he would dispense a lordly hospitality akin to that of the ancient nobles whom he loved to celebrate. The scheme was too grand to succeed. The kindly baronet was involved in ruin, and spent his last days in a courageous and almost successful effort to battle against terrible odds. At present Abbotsford has passed out of the hands of his descendants and become a boarding-school for young ladies. But it is still a museum of interesting relics, and on account of its associations is much visited by tourists.

FINGAL’S CAVE, SCOTLAND, one of the most remarkable of all cave formations. It is situated on the Island of Staffa, seven miles off the west coast of Mull. The entire island is almost entirely encircled by cliffs of columnar basalt, hollowed out here and there into caves. Fingal’s, known also as the Great Cave, is the greatest of these. The entrance is almost like that of a huge Gothic Cathedral. A lofty arch, sixty feet high by thirty wide, is supported by columnar ranges of basaltic rock, whose native blackness is whitened with calcareous stalagmite. The cave is two hundred and thirty-two feet deep. Its floor is the sea, which flashes many colored lights upon the ceiling with its pendant clusters of columns, and on the great cavernous sides, with their countless complicated ranges of gigantic columns, beautifully jointed and of the most symmetrical though varied forms.

FORTH BRIDGE, SCOTLAND. The largest and, in many respects, the most magnificent bridge in the world, is that across the Firth of Forth, at Queensbury. Here the estuary of the Forth is divided by the island of Inchgarvie into two channels, whose depth--two hundred feet--precluded the construction of intermediate piers. A design for a gigantic suspension bridge, by Sir Thomas Bouch, had almost been adopted, when the collapse of the Tay bridge, in 1879, led to the abandonment of the project. A new plan was accepted from Benjamin Baker. This was a cantilever bridge of steel. A cantilever is a structure overhung from a fixed base. Work was begun in 1882 and completed in 1889. There are three granite piers, the central one being on the island; and on those piers three double lattice-work cantilevers are poised in line, reaching towards each other, and connected at their extremities by ordinary girders three hundred and fifty feet long, by which the two main spans are completed. These main spans are each seventeen hundred feet long, and the total length of the bridge is eighty-two hundred and ninety-six feet, or a little over one and one-half miles. The under side of the bridge is one hundred and fifty-two feet above high water.

BALMORAL CASTLE, SCOTLAND, the Highland residence of the Queen of England, situated in Braemer, Aberdeenshire. Its situation is of great beauty. It stands on a natural platform nine hundred and twenty-six feet above sea level, which slopes gently and gradually down to the margin of the River Dee. The castle is in the Scottish Baronial style of architecture. It is entirely of granite, and consists of two separate blocks of buildings united by wings. A tower eighty feet high is surmounted by a turret twenty feet higher. The entire estate, including a deer forest, comprises over twenty-five thousand acres. It was purchased by Prince Albert in 1832 from the Earl of Fife. He pulled down the older castle, finding it not exactly suited to the needs of the royal family, and put up the present imposing structure in its place.

LOCH KATRINE (ELLEN’S ISLE), SCOTLAND. The Scotch lakes are famous the world over for their beauty. Loch Katrine is the most famous of them all. It lies in Perthshire; is eight miles in length, and has an average breadth of three quarters of a mile. Ben Venue and Ben An are celebrated mountains on its banks, and it contains a number of exquisite islands. Among the latter is Ellen’s Island, chosen by Sir Walter Scott as the scene of “The Lady of the Lake.” Wordsworth and other poets have thrown the glamour of their genius around Loch Katrine. But it has a more practical use. Its waters, which are remarkably pure, supply the city of Glasgow, twenty-five miles off; being conveyed thither by a series of tunnels, aqueducts and pipes.

NORTH CAPE, NORWAY. A promontory, situated on the north extremity of the Island of Mageroe, which is divided by a narrow channel from the mainland of Norway. It is celebrated, not only for the sombre grandeur of its scenery, but as the northernmost point of Europe. It consists of a precipitous slate rock, fissured with many clefts, which rise to a height of some twelve hundred feet above the sea.

KREMLIN AND GREAT BELL, MOSCOW, RUSSIA. The Kremlin is the name given to an inner enclosure or citadel in Moscow crowded with palaces, churches and towers, surrounded by a wall sixty feet in height and two miles in circuit. The Tartar style of architecture, with gilded domes and cupolas, forms the predominant feature. The palace of the Kremlin is the residence of the czars. It suffered much damage in the conflagration of 1812, which drove Napoleon out of the city, and was rebuilt in the reign of Nicholas I in 1838–49. In its restored shape it is rather a mass of buildings, old and new, than a single, harmonious structure. But it is full of historical and immediate interest. The tower of Ivan the Great, whose five stories rise to a height of three hundred and twenty-five feet, is close to the palace. At its foot lies the Great Bell, the largest in the world--cast in 1730. It was broken a few years afterwards by the burning of the wooden tower in which it was suspended. Its height is twenty-six feet four inches, its circumference sixty-seven feet eleven inches.

CHURCH OF ST. BASIL, MOSCOW, RUSSIA. This remarkable edifice, standing on the site of an ancient church and cemetery where St. Basil was buried, was built in 1554 by Ivan IV. He is said to have been so much delighted with it that he put out the eyes of its Italian architect, so that it might never be surpassed. It is a bewildering medley of great and little domes and towers, not only of different shapes and sizes, but gilded and painted in all possible varieties of color. There is no main chapel or church, but each dome surmounts its own chapel, dedicated to some particular saint, and services are carried on in each without disturbing the worshipers in any other. Bayard Taylor appropriately styles this church the “apotheosis of chimneys,” and describes it as the product of some architectural kaleidoscope, in which the most incongruous things assume a certain order and system. Relics of St. Basil and of St. John the Idiot are shown to visitors.

ROYAL MUSEUM, BERLIN, PRUSSIA. Architecturally, this is the finest building in Berlin. It is an admirable specimen of the Greek style, with its Ionic portico of eighteen columns and its broad flight of steps leading up to the entrance. The central part of the structure, rising above the rest of the building and corresponding with the rotunda in the interior, is adorned at the corners with four colossal groups in bronze. Two other bronze groups are on the steps. This building is usually known as the Old Museum to distinguish it from its annex, the New Museum, by which it is connected with a short passage, crossing the street at the back. The two buildings contain a magnificent collection of antiquities and of ancient and modern sculptures, paintings, etc.

BRANDENBURG GATE, BERLIN, PRUSSIA. This gate, at the west end of the famous Unter der Linden, the principal street in Berlin, forms the entrance to the city from the Thier-garten. Next to the Arc de l’Etoile in Paris, this is the most magnificent triumphal arch in the world. It even eclipses the ancient monuments of this kind in Rome. Yet it is not entirely original. It was erected in 1789–93 by C. G. Langhans in imitation, or rather as a glorification, of the model presented by the Propylacum at Athens. The height is eighty-five feet, the width two hundred and five. There are five passages (that in the centre reserved for royal carriages), separated by massive Doric columns. The material is sandstone. A notable feature is the triumphal car on the summit, the Quadriga of Victoria, done in copper. Napoleon carried this to Paris in 1807, but it was recovered in 1814. Adjoining the gate on the side next the town are two wings resembling Grecian temples, of which that on the right or north side contains a telegraph office and a pneumatic post-office, while that on the left is the guard-house.

THE CATHEDRAL OF COLOGNE, GERMANY. This church, known officially as the Cathedral of St. Peter’s, is, next to St. Peter’s at Rome, the largest church edifice in the world, and is, without any exception, the most magnificent specimen of Gothic architecture extant. Begun in 1248, the work went on very slowly. In 1322 the choir was consecrated. Then the work lagged still more, and at the beginning of the sixteenth century came to a sudden close, not being resumed till 1816, since which time more than two millions of dollars have been expended to bring the edifice to its present state of completion. The spires are five hundred and twenty-one feet high, and before the building of the Eiffel Tower this church was the highest edifice in the world. The height of the roof inside is one hundred and forty-five feet, the length of the building is four hundred and forty-four feet and the breadth two hundred and one. The choir is rich in statues, frescoes and fine carvings. A chapel, known as the chapel of the Three Kings, contains a gorgeous shrine, in which are exhibited the skulls of the three wise men who came from the East with presents for the infant Saviour.

HEIDELBERG CASTLE, GERMANY. On a height above the city of Heidelberg are the ruins of this old-time palace and fortress. Founded by the Elector Rudolph in the fourteenth century, and altered and added to by his successors, it partakes of the architectural style of all the three centuries. The French sacked and partially burned it in 1693; it was subsequently restored, but being struck by lightning in 1764, it has since been suffered to remain in ruins. As such it is one of the most magnificent remains of the Middle Ages--a square massive building, roofless, with a round tower at one end and an octagonal one at the other. Some idea of its strength may be gained from the fact that the walls of the round tower are twenty-two feet thick. In one of the cellars is the famous Tun of Heidelberg, a huge copper reservoir, bound with iron hoops, whose capacity is forty-nine thousand gallons.

EHRENBREITSTEIN, GERMANY. This fortress, whose name signifies the Broad Stone of Honor, is situated on a precipitous rock three hundred and seventy-seven feet above the Rhine, just opposite Coblentz. The rock is known as the Gibraltar of the Rhine. The ancient Romans recognized its commanding position and erected here a castrum or camp. In 1018 the Franconian king, Dagobert, presented it to the bishops of Treves, who made it their stronghold. It has successfully resisted many sieges, but was twice captured by the French, first in 1631 and again in 1798. After the Peace of Luneville in 1801 they blew it up. Restored to Prussia with the Peace of Paris, the French were forced to contribute 15,000,000 of francs to place it in its former condition. At present it is defended by four hundred cannon, and fifty thousand stands of needle guns are stored in its armory. It is capable of accommodating one hundred thousand men, but five thousand are sufficient to man it properly. The summit of the rock commands a magnificent view of the surrounding country. A bridge of boats connects the village of Ehrenbreitstein with Coblentz.

THE CATHEDRAL OF ANTWERP, BELGIUM. Though inferior to the great minster at Cologne, the cathedral at Antwerp is an exquisite and notable specimen of Gothic architecture. It is unfortunately situated in a narrow street, just away from the Place St. Antoine, and is hedged in by shops, which are backed up against its very walls. It is unfinished, only one of the towers being complete. The other is but half-way up, where it has been capped over, and has remained so for centuries. Nevertheless, nothing can detract from the majesty of the church itself. Out from the littleness of its surroundings it calmly rears its splendid front. Its solitary tower soars upward to the height of four hundred and three feet, with delicate open arches that look like fretted work, so that Napoleon said: “It looked as if made of Mechlin lace.” The chimes of ninety-nine bells are deservedly famous. The interior is glorified by the presence of Rubens’ two greatest pictures, “The Elevation of the Cross” and “The Descent from the Cross.” Begun about the middle of the thirteenth century, it suffered seriously from fire in the sixteenth century, and the greater part of the present edifice dates from that period. In the foreground of the picture is the monument to Rubens.

PALAIS DE JUSTICE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. The new Palace of Justice, or Court-house, in Brussels, is the largest architectural work of the present century, and one of the most magnificent. It was begun in 1866 and completed in 1883 at a total cost of $10,000,000. It is splendidly situated on a height commanding a view of the whole city. This massive pile covers an area of two hundred and seventy thousand square feet, considerably more than St. Peter’s, at Rome, and is five hundred and ninety feet long by five hundred and sixty wide. The avowed aim of the artist was to accommodate Assyrian form to modern requirements. Above the main body of the building rises another rectangular structure, surrounded with columns, this, in turn, supporting a columned rotunda, the whole crowned by a dome which is four hundred feet above the pavement. In details the Græco-Roman style has been generally adhered to, with an admixture of rococo treatment.

FIELD OF WATERLOO, BELGIUM. The scene of the greatest battle of modern times, if not of all times, is necessarily of perennial interest to the world. It is a matter for rejoicing, therefore, that the field of Waterloo is retained in much the same condition in which it was left on the fateful day of June 18th, 1815, when the power of Napoleon was crushed by Wellington and Blucher. To be sure, Wellington is reported to have said: “You have spoilt my battlefield,” when he saw the artificial mound surmounted by a Belgic lion of cast-iron, which has been raised in the centre of the field. But at least its one hundred and fifty feet of height afford the opportunity for an excellent bird’s-eye view of the entire field. And the old house of Hougemont, whose building and orchard were occupied by the British Guards, and where some of the fiercest fighting of the day was carried on, remains as it was, with the bullet holes in the walls and other damages unrepaired. The monument represented in the foreground is dedicated to the soldiers who fell in the battle.

NOTRE DAME, PARIS. The cathedral of Notre Dame, one of the great historical churches of the world and one of the most beautiful specimens of mediæval architecture, was founded in 1163 on the site of an earlier church, was consecrated in 1182 and was completed in 1420. It suffered sadly during the Revolution, when it was made a Temple of Reason; was restored in 1845, and during the time of the commune narrowly escaped destruction by fire. The form is that of a Latin cross, with a nave and double aisles, which are continued around the choir, the earliest example known. The façade is one of the most admired pieces of early Gothic. The triple portal is ornamented by rich bas-reliefs. In the second story is a great rose window, flanked by double windows, enclosed in wide-spreading Gothic arches. The third story is an open gallery of slender arches and columns. In one of the towers is a famous bell, weighing thirty-two thousand pounds, which is only rung on state occasions. The interior of the church is adorned with sculptures, bas-reliefs and paintings and magnificent rose windows of stained glass.

PLACE DE LA BASTILLE, PARIS, FRANCE. This square ends the line of the original boulevards, and marks the beginning of the Faubourg St. Antoine. It is historically interesting as the site of the Bastille, the former state prison of France, whose destruction by the Parisian mob on July 14th, 1789, marked the real beginning of the French Revolution. The column in the middle, known as the Colonne de Juillet, was reared in 1831 in honor of the citizens who fell in the revolution of July, 1830, which drove Charles X from the throne and put Louis Philippe in his place. The names of six hundred and fifteen of these are inscribed upon the sides of the column, and their ashes, together with those of combatants in the revolution of 1848, repose in two vast sarcophagi in the vaults below. The column is of bronze, one hundred and fifty-four feet high, and is divided by four collars into five divisions. Bas-reliefs, by Barye, adorn the exterior. Inside there is a spiral stair-case, also of bronze. The top is surmounted by an emblematic figure of Liberty, in gold bronze, the work of Dumont.

PLACE DE LA CONCORDE, PARIS, FRANCE. This square, situated between the Rue Royale and the Pont de la Concorde, is perhaps the most beautiful and effective in all Paris. It dates from the year 1748. Originally it was adorned with a statue of Louis XV, which was pulled down in 1792 to make way for a colossal figure of Liberty. The place was then called Place de la Revolution. It was here that next year the guillotine was erected, upon which perished Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and nearly three thousand of their adherents. Under the Directory the Statue of Liberty was removed and the great place became the Place de la Concorde. Since then it has undergone many alterations. It was laid out as it now stands by Napoleon III. In the middle is the great Obelisk of Luxor, presented to Louis Philippe by Mehemet Ali, and on each side are two large fountains. At the different corners of the square there are seated figures, representing eight different towns, formerly the chief towns of France. But one of them, Strasbourg, is now a portion of Germany.

PLACE VENDOME, PARIS. A handsome octagonal square, between the Boulevard des Capucines and the Tuileries Gardens. It was designed by Louis XIV, in 1686, to contain public buildings, such as the Mint, the Royal Library, the various academies, &c. This plan was subsequently much modified. The buildings, which are of Corinthian architecture of a severely uniform appearance, are mainly occupied by banks and other fiscal institutions. A grand equestrian statue of Louis XIV once stood in the centre of the square, but it was destroyed in 1792, and in 1806 its place was taken by the famous Vendome column, a stone shaft one hundred and forty-three feet high, covered with the metal of cannon taken from the Prussians and Austrians. It is surmounted by a statue of Napoleon, and is ornamented by bas-reliefs commemorative of that hero’s campaign in 1805. In 1871 column and statue were both pulled down by the Commune, but the Republic under Thiers repaired and replaced them.

THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES. The Tuileries is but the remains of its former glory. The main front of the building was burned by the Commune in 1871, and after remaining a picturesque ruin for some years was at length removed. The wing nearest the Rue de Rivoli shared the fate of the front, but was rebuilt, together with the Pavillon de Marsan, which formed the angle. The Pavillon de Flore, at the other end, suffered much less, and had only to be restored. Both wings, and, indeed, the entire building, are a marvel of exterior ornamentation. Before the Revolution the Tuileries was only the occasional residence of the French sovereign, but Napoleon made it his principal abode, and his example was followed by his successors. The picture is taken from the exquisite gardens of the Tuileries facing the Place de la Concorde.

ARC DE TRIOMPHE, PARIS, FRANCE. This, the distinctive triumphal arch of Paris, is more specifically known as l’ Arc de l’ Étoile, to differentiate it from three other triumphal arches of less celebrity. It stands at the west end of the Avenue des Champs Elysées on the summit of a slope, which makes it visible from all parts of Paris and the environs. It is not only the largest arch in existence, but the most magnificent ever erected. Begun by Napoleon in 1806, to commemorate the wars of the Revolution and of the Empire, it was completed thirty years later by Louis Philippe. The total cost was about $2,000,000. The height of the arch above the ground is one hundred and fifty-two feet, its width one hundred and thirty-eight feet, its thickness sixty-eight feet. The main archway measures ninety feet in height and forty-five in width; the smaller lateral archways are each fifty-seven feet by twenty-five. The bas-reliefs represent the most famous events of 1792–1815. Finest of all are the two colossal groups on each side of the central arch facing the Champs Elysées, cut in full relief and representing the “Departure of the Troops in 1792” and “The Triumph of Napoleon after the Austrian Campaign.”

NAPOLEON’S TOMB, PARIS, FRANCE. Under the splendid dome of the Church of the Invalides, in a huge circular crypt below the level of the floor, is the tomb of the Great Napoleon I. The sarcophagus, hewn out of a single block of granite brought from Finland, was the gift of the Emperor Nicholas, when in 1841 the remains of the Emperor were brought back from St. Helena by the Prince de Joinville. The crypt is adorned with marble reliefs symbolical of Napoleon’s reforms and with twelve colossal figures of victory and sixty mouldering banners captured from the enemy. There are also monuments to Vauban and Turenne, Napoleon’s most illustrious predecessors in the field. At the entrance to the crypt lie the bodies of Bertrand and Duroc, the near friends and companions of Napoleon. The monuments or the remains of various members of the Bonaparte family are in the upper part of the church.

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, PARIS, FRANCE. This is sometimes called the Palais Bourbon. It is the seat of the French parliament. It is a large classical building on the left bank of the Seine, facing the Pont de la Concorde. The old façade was in the Rue de l’ Université at the back; the new one, with its Corinthian colonnade, was erected in 1804. The hall is a semi-circular room, with the President’s chair facing the extremity of the half circle. Here sat the Council of Five Hundred, Louis Philippe’s Chamber and Napoleon III’s Corps Legislatif, and here at present sit the deputies elected from the various districts of the French republic. Orators address the Chamber from the tribune, which is placed immediately under the President’s chair. Voting is done by means of white or blue cards, placed in tin receptacles that are handed round by the ushers; the white being an “aye,” the blue “nay.”

THÉÂTRE DE L’OPERA, PARIS. The new Opera House, in Paris, is the handsomest, though not the largest, temple of amusement in the world. It will hold twenty-one hundred people, while La Scala, in Milan, holds three thousand. The stage, however, in cubic and superficial area, is the largest known. It is equaled by others in depth, but surpasses them all in breadth. The exterior is bewildering in the richness of its decorations. The grand staircase and the foyer are in magnificent keeping with the exterior. This building is one of the creations of the Second Empire. More than one hundred houses were torn down to clear the square on which it stands. It was inaugurated on January 1st, 1875. The total cost is estimated at $8,000,000. The opera is managed by a director, who receives from the State an allowance of eight hundred thousand francs a year. He has to supply what is necessary and run all risks.