Part 5

Catholic, Dissenting, and Jewish Places of Worship.—It is almost impossible to give an exact enumeration of the places of worship in London, seeing that so many new ones are in the course of building. But the following figures, based on information supplied by the London Post-Office Directory, and otherwise, will, it is hoped, be found to convey a very fair approximate notion on the subject. In that Directory, then, there will be found the names of about 100 city parishes. But of these, some 40 have, of late years, been united to other parishes. Thus, All Hallow’s, Honey Lane, is united with St. Mary-le-Bow; St. Mary Magdalen, in Milk Street, is united with St. Lawrence, Jewry; and so forth. Many of the parishes so united have their own churches now closed, or in course of demolition, and worship is provided for them at the churches of the particular parishes into which they have been merged. Without counting the city proper, there are, in London, 50 parish churches, and at least 300 district churches and chapels belonging to the Church of England. The Roman Catholics have 41 churches and chapels, without reckoning sundry religious houses. The Wesleyans have 152. The recognised Dissenters from the Wesleyan body have 4; the Baptists, 109; the Independents, 109; the United Methodist Free Church, 27; Primitive Methodists, 16; the Unitarians, 8; Methodist New Connexion, 8; the Quakers, 5; the Presbyterians (English) 15; the Church of Scotland, 5; the Calvinists have 2; the Calvinistic Methodists, 3; the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, 4. The Jews have 12 Synagogues; there are 3 French Protestant churches; 9 German (Reformed) churches and chapels; Swiss Protestant, 1; Swedenborgians, 2; Plymouth Brethren, 3; Catholic Apostolic (not Roman) 6; 1 Swedish, and 1 Greek church; 1 Russian chapel, and 3 meeting-houses of Free Christians; 1 Moravian; and some 40 other places for public worship, belonging to miscellaneous denominations. Of Roman Catholic churches, the chief is _St. George’s Cathedral_, near Bethlehem Hospital—a very large, but heavy Gothic structure; the tower has never been finished for want of funds. [Picture: The Tabernacle] The service here is more complete than at any other Roman Catholic structure in England. _St. Mary’s_, near Moorfields; the _Spanish Chapel_, near Manchester Square; and the _Italian Church_, in Hatton Wall—are three other Roman Catholic chapels that attract many strangers by their excellent music. The _Catholic and Apostolic Church_, in Gordon Square, may be regarded as the cathedral of the so-called Irvingites (a designation, however, which they repudiate); it is one of the best modern examples of early English, but there are no funds available for finishing the tower. The minister of the National Scotch Church, in Crown Court, Drury Lane, is the celebrated Rev. J. Cumming, D.D., whose preaching attracts large congregations. Of the dissenting chapels in London, by far the most remarkable is Mr. Spurgeon’s _Tabernacle_, built at a cost of about £30,000, at Newington, near the Elephant and Castle; everything, within and without, has been made subservient to the accommodating of 4000 or 5000 persons, all of whom can hear, and nearly all see, the celebrated preacher. The principal _Jews’ Synagogue_ is in Great St. Helen’s, near Leadenhall Street—remarkable rather for the ceremonies, at certain seasons of the year, than for anything in the building itself. A synagogue exists for the Jews residing in the western half of the metropolis, in Great Portland Street.

Cemeteries.—Intramural burial is now forbidden in London. The chief cemeteries are those at Highgate, Finchley, Abney Park, Mile-End, Kensal Green, Bethnal Green, Ilford, Brompton, Norwood, Nunhead, and Camberwell. There is a very fine view of London, on a clear day, from the first-named. Kensal Green contains the graves of many distinguished persons. Princess Sophia was buried at the last-named cemetery; and a sedulous visitor would discover the tombs and graves of Sydney Smith, the daughters and a grandchild of Sir Walter Scott, Allan Cunningham, John Murray, Thomas Hood, Liston, Loudon, Callcott, Birkbeck, Brunel, Thackeray, and other persons of note. Cardinal Wiseman lies interred in the Catholic Cemetery adjacent to Kensal Green. The _Great Northern Cemetery_, near Colney Hatch, lately opened, has special railway facilities from the King’s Cross Station. The _Woking Necropolis_, in Surrey, is too far distant to be included within London; nevertheless, the admirable railway arrangements, from a station of the South-Western, in the Westminster Road, make it, in effect, one of the metropolitan cemeteries. If the old burial-grounds are no longer attended to for funerals, many of them are deeply interesting for their memorials of the past. _Old St. Pancras Churchyard_ has already been named; and another worthy of attention is _Bunhill Fields_ burying-ground. It has been called the ‘Campo Santo’ of Dissenters, for there lie the remains of Daniel Defoe, John Bunyan, John Owen, George Fox, (who founded the sect of the Quakers about 1646,) Dr. Isaac Watts, and many a stout defender of nonconformity.

BRITISH AND SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUMS; SCIENTIFIC ESTABLISHMENTS.

British Museum.—This is a great national establishment, containing a vast and constantly-increasing collection of books, maps, drawings, prints, sculptures, antiquities, and natural curiosities. It occupies a most extensive suite of buildings in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, commenced in 1823, and not even now finished. The sum spent on them is little less than £1,000,000. Sir Richard Smirke was the architect. The principal, or south front, 370 feet long, presents a range of 44 columns, the centre being a majestic portico, with sculptures in the pediment. Since its commencement, in 1755, the collection has been prodigiously increased by gifts, bequests, and purchases; and now it is, perhaps, the largest of the kind in the world. The library contains more than _eight hundred thousand_ volumes, and is increasing enormously in extent every year. The Reading-Room is open only to persons who proceed thither for study, or for consulting authorities. A reading order is readily procured on written application, enclosing the recommendation of two respectable householders, to “the Principal Librarian.” It is open nearly 300 days in the year, and for an average of eight hours each day. No general inspection of this room by strangers is allowed, except by a written order from the secretary, which can, however, readily be obtained on three days in the week. The porters in the hall will direct to the secretary’s office; and strangers must be careful to observe the conditions on which the order is given. The present reading-room, opened in 1857, and built at a cost of £150,000, is one of the finest apartments in the world; it is circular, 140 feet in diameter, and open to a dome-roof 106 feet high, supported without pillars. This beautiful room, and the fireproof galleries for books which surround it, were planned by Mr. Panizzi, the late chief librarian.

The portions of the British Museum open to ordinary visitors consist of an extensive series of galleries and saloons on the ground and upper floors, each devoted to the exhibition of a distinct class of objects. Among others are—terracottas, Roman sculptures and sepulchral antiquities, Sir T. Lawrence’s collection of casts, British antiquities, ethnological specimens, Egyptian antiquities, several saloons containing the Elgin and Phigalian Marbles, Nineveh and Lycian sculptures, &c. The rooms containing objects in natural history and artificial curiosities are handsomely fitted up with glass-cases on the walls and tables. Days may be spent in examining this vast assemblage of objects; and to assist in the inspection, catalogues for the entire Museum may be purchased at the door at a cheap price. [Picture: Reading Room, British Museum] The following will convey an idea of the order in which the general contents of the Museum meet the eye. Outside the building, in unsightly glass sheds under the porticos and colonnades, are ancient Greek sculptures from Asia Minor, chiefly from the famous Mausoleum of Halicarnassus; they are temporarily so placed until room can be found for them elsewhere. On entering the hall or vestibule, and ascending the staircase, the galleries of natural history are reached—stuffed quadrupeds, including a _gorilla_ purchased from M. Chaillu; stuffed birds; birds’ eggs; shells in immense variety and of surpassing beauty; minerals; and fossils. These occupy the eastern, northern, and part of the southern galleries. The western, and the rest of the southern galleries, are occupied by numerous antiquarian and ethnological collections—including Egyptian mummies and ornaments, Greek and Etruscan vases, Greek and Roman bronzes, ancient and mediæval porcelain, ivory carvings, and specimens of the dresses, weapons, instruments, &c., of various nations. On the ground-floor, to the right of the hall, visitors are admitted to a room containing a curious collection of manuscripts, autographs, and early printed books; and to the King’s Library, a beautiful apartment, containing the books presented by George IV. This room also possesses a small but extremely choice display of Italian, German, and Flemish drawings and engravings; together with a few _nielli_, (black engravings on silver plates.) The west side of the ground-floor is occupied by the ancient sculptures—Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian, Lycian, Roman, &c.—A refreshment-room for visitors was opened in 1866, and is situated in the western basement.

The British Museum is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the whole of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun weeks. It is closed on the first week in January, May, and September, and on Christmas-day, Good-Friday, and Ash-Wednesday. The hour of opening is 10 o’clock; that of closing varies from 4 till 6 o’clock, according to the season of the year. During many years past there have been newspaper controversies and parliamentary debates touching the disposal of the rich contents of the Museum. Almost every part is filled to overflowing; but much diversity of opinion exists as to which portion, if any, shall be removed to another locality. Burlington House and the South Kensington Museum, each has its advocates. Immediate removal of part of the contents has been decided on.

[Picture: Kensington Museum]

South Kensington Museum.—This very interesting national establishment is situated at South Kensington, near the Cromwell and Exhibition Roads, on ground bought out of the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The varied contents have been either presented to, or purchased by, the nation, with the exception of a few collections which have been lent for temporary periods. They consist of illustrations of manufactures and the useful arts; models of patented inventions; collections of raw produce, derived from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; a museum of educational appliances; casts from sculptures and architectural ornaments; objects of ornamental art, both mediæval and modern; naval models, &c. Besides these, there are the fine collections of paintings presented to the nation by Mr. Sheepshanks, and other liberal donors; and a portion of the Vernon collection, the rest being at the National Gallery. Turner’s pictures, bequeathed to the nation in his will, were kept here for some years, but were removed to the National Gallery in 1861. There are, among the group of buildings, some devoted to the Government Department of Science and Art; but the Museum generally is, so far as concerns the public, distinct. The Gallery of British Art contains many hundred pictures, including choice specimens by Turner, Wilkie, Mulready, Landseer, Leslie, Hogarth, Wilson, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Lawrence, Constable, Loutherbourg, Callcott, Collins, Etty, Stanfield, Roberts, Uwins, Creswick, Maclise, Webster, Eastlake, Ward, Cooke, Cooper, Danby, Goodall, &c. The rooms containing these pictures, planned by Captain Fowke, are remarkable for the admirable mode of lighting, both by day and in the evening. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, the admission is free from 10 A.M. till 10 P.M.; on the other three days, called _students’_ days, 6d. is charged from 10 A.M. till 4, 5, or 6, according to the season. This is one of the very few free exhibitions open in the evening (thrice a-week) as well as the daytime.

Bethnal Green Museum.—This is really a branch of the South Kensington Museum, and is situated not far from Shoreditch Church. It is accessible by omnibus from most parts of the City and the West End, and is not far distant from Victoria Park. It was formally opened, in 1872, by the Prince and Princess of Wales. At the present, its great attraction is the picture gallery; but it promises to become as popular as any museum in London, especially as technical information will become an essential feature of its future existence. It is open under the same regulations as are observed at the South Kensington Museum.

Museum of Economic Geology.—This small but interesting establishment, having an entrance in Jermyn Street, is a national museum for the exhibition of all such articles as belong to the mineral kingdom. It was built from the designs of Mr. Pennethorne, and was opened in 1851. Though less extensive than the British and South Kensington Museums, it is of a very instructive character. Besides the mineral specimens, raw and manufactured, it contains models, sections, and diagrams, illustrative of mining, metallurgy, and various manufactures. It is open, _free_, every day, except Friday.

Museum of the College of Surgeons.—This building, on the south side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, can be visited by strangers only through the introduction of members of the College. The Government, about seventy years ago, bought John Hunter’s Anatomical Museum, and presented it to the College. The contents of the museum are illustrative of the structure and functions of the human body, both in the healthy and the diseased state; they have been classified and arranged with great skill by Professor Owen.

United Service Museum.—This is situated in Whitehall Yard. Admission is obtained through the members of the United Service Institution. The contents of the museum consist of models, weapons, and implements interesting to military men. Here see the robe worn by Tippoo Sahib, when killed at Seringapatam, in 1799. Also observe Siborne’s extraordinary model of the battle of Waterloo; and notice the skeleton of the horse which Napoleon rode at that battle.

East India Museum.—Near the building last noticed, in Fife House, Whitehall, is deposited the collection known as the East India Museum, formerly deposited at the India House, in Leadenhall Street, and now belonging to the nation. It comprises a very curious assemblage of Oriental dresses, jewels, ornaments, furniture, musical instruments, models, paintings, tools, implements, idols, trinkets, &c. Among the rest is the barbaric toy known as _Tippoo’s Tiger_. It consists of a figure of a tiger trampling on a prostrate man, whom he is just about to seize with his teeth; the interior contains pipes and other mechanism, which, when wound up by a key, cause the figure of the man to utter cries of distress, and the tiger to roar. Such was one of the amusements of Tippoo Sahib! The museum is open free on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 10 till 4.

Royal Institution.—This building, in Albemarle Street, is devoted to the prosecution of science, by means of lectures, experiments, discussions, and a scientific library. It has been rendered famous by the brilliant labours of Davy and Faraday. Admission is only obtainable by membership, or by fees for courses of lectures.

Society of Arts.—This institution has existed in John Street, Adelphi, for a long series of years. Its object is the encouragement of arts, manufactures, agriculture, and commerce. Under the auspices of the late Prince Consort, it was mainly instrumental in bringing about the two great International Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. The lecture-room contains six remarkable pictures by Barry, illustrative of ‘Human Culture.’ Every year there are free exhibitions of manufactures and new mechanical inventions.

Scientific Societies.—There are many other Scientific Societies which hold their meetings in London; but only a few of them possess buildings worthy of much attention, or contain collections that would interest a mere casual visitor. The _Royal_, the _Astronomical_, the _Geological_, the _Chemical_, and the _Linnæan_ Societies, the _College of Physicians_, the _Institution of Civil Engineers_, and others of like kind, are those to which we here refer. Many of these societies are at present accommodated with the use of apartments at the public expense, in Burlington House, Piccadilly.

NATIONAL GALLERY; ROYAL ACADEMY; ART EXHIBITIONS.

National Gallery.—This building, in Trafalgar Square, is the chief depository of the pictures belonging to the nation. In 1824, the Government purchased the Angerstein collection of 38 pictures, for £57,000, and exhibited it for a time at a house in Pall Mall. The present structure was finished in 1838, at a cost of about £100,000, from the designs of Mr. Wilkins. Since that year till 1869, the Royal Academy occupied the eastern half, and the National Gallery the western. In the last-named year, the Royal Academy was removed to Burlington House; and the whole of the building is now what its name denotes. This National Gallery now comprises the Angerstein collection, together with numerous pictures presented to the nation by Lord Farnborough, Sir George Beaumont, the Rev. Holwell Carr, Mr. Vernon, and other persons; and, most recent of all, the Turner collection, bequeathed to the nation by that greatest of our landscape painters. Every year, likewise, witnesses the purchase of choice old pictures out of funds provided by Parliament. The grant annually is about £10,000. To accommodate the constantly increasing collection, the centre of the building was re-constructed in 1861, and a very handsome new saloon built, in which are deposited the choicest examples of the Italian Schools of Painting: forming, with its contents, one of the noblest rooms of the kind in Europe. To name the pictures in this collection would be to name some of the finest works of the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, and French schools of painters. Some of the most costly of the pictures are the following:—Murillo’s ‘Holy Family,’ £3000; Rubens’s ‘Rape of the Sabines,’ £3000; Francia’s ‘Virgin and Child,’ £3500; Sebastian del Piombo’s ‘Raising of Lazarus,’ 3500 guineas; Coreggio’s ‘Holy Family,’ £3800; Perugino’s ‘Virgin and Child,’ £4000; Claude’s ‘Seaport,’ £4000; Rubens’s ‘Judgment of Paris,’ £4200; Raffaelle’s ‘St. Catherine,’ £5000; Rembrandt’s ‘Woman taken in Adultery,’ £5250; Correggio’s ‘Ecce Homo,’ and ‘Mercury instructing Cupid,’ 10,000 guineas; and Paul Veronese’s ‘Family of Darius,’ £14,000.

Royal Academy, Burlington House.—The Academy was established in 1768, for the encouragement of the fine arts. Until the finishing of Mr. Wilkin’s building, the Academy held its meetings and exhibitions in a small number of rooms at Somerset House. Students are admitted on evidence of sufficient preliminary training, and taught gratuitously; but so far as the public is concerned, the Royal Academy is chiefly known by its famous Annual Exhibition of modern English pictures and sculptures, from May to July. This Exhibition is a very profitable affair to the Academy. Royal commissions and parliamentary committees find a difficulty in investigating the revenues, privileges, and claims of the Academy; it is known, however, that the schools are maintained out of the profits. Concerning the building in Trafalgar Square, most persons agree that the main front is too much cut up in petty detail, and that one of the finest sites in Europe has thus been comparatively neglected. Some have humorously nicknamed it “The National Cruet Stand.”

National Portrait Gallery.—This infant gallery, established by the nation in 1857, is now at Exhibition Road, South Kensington. The object is to be strictly confined to the collecting of a series of national portraits of persons of any note, whether of early or of late days. A sum of £2000 a-year is voted for this purpose. The collection is yet only small, but very interesting, and is yearly increasing. Open free on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Soane Museum.—This closely-packed collection, presented to the nation by the late Sir John Soane, the architect, occupies the house which he used to inhabit, at No. 13, on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Every nook and corner of about 24 rooms is crowded with works of art—sarcophagi, ancient gems and intaglios, medals and coins, sculptures, sketches and models of sculptures, books of prints, portfolios of drawings, Hogarth’s famous series of pictures of the ‘Rake’s Progress,’ and numerous other examples of _vertu_, some of which cost large sums of money. The place is open every Wednesday from February to August inclusive, and every Thursday and Friday in April, May, and June, from 10 till 4. Still, these are very insufficient facilities (only 56 days out of the 365 in the year) for seeing a fine collection of treasures. Orders for admission are sent, on application, by post.

Art Exhibitions.—There are always numerous picture exhibitions open in the summer months—such as those formed by the _British Institution_, the _Society of British Artists_, the _Society of Painters in Water Colours_, &c.; concerning which information can be seen in the advertisement columns of the newspapers. At the British Institution there is a spring exhibition of modern pictures, and a summer exhibition of ancient. The price of admission to such places is almost invariably One Shilling. Other exhibitions, pertaining more to entertainment than to fine arts, are briefly noticed in a later section.

COLLEGES; SCHOOLS; HOSPITALS; CHARITIES.

London, as may well be imagined, is largely supplied with institutions tending to the proper care of the young, the aged, the sick, and the impoverished. A few of the more important among them are worthy of the attention of strangers.