LONDON
IIII
LONDON, ONT.
was burned in 1666 was finished in 1710; its dome is one of the largest in the world, and its bell is ten feet across. The tombs of Wellington and Nelson are in the erypt. The annals of Westminster Abbey reach back to the 7th century, though a large part of the present building was finished in the 13th. It is shaped like a cross. In Poets' Corner are monuments to many of the great poets of England. The University of London, University College, King's College, St. Paul's School, Charter House School, Westminster School and City of London School are among the numerous educational institutions. The British Museum, the largest in the world, South Kensington Museum, with schools of art and music and magnificent collections, and Royal Albert Hall, the Indian Museum and Soame Museum are worthy of mention. There also are large libraries in the British Museum, the East India House, the circulating library of St. James Square and others. The national gallery of paintings, national gallery of portraits, royal academy of arts, of which Sir Joshua Reynolds was first president, Dulwich Gallery and the Crystal palace at Sydenham are notable collections of art. The Tower of London is the only fortress in the city, and has barracks for several thousand soldiers. ' It contains the royal jewels; the traitor's gate through which Raleigh, Sidney and others entered the Tower, and the bloody tower opposite the gate are points of historical interest.
The main manufactures are silk, carriages, clocks, watches, jewelry, books and musical instruments. But enormous trade is what makes London the wealthiest city in the world. London now has 37 refrigerating stores, with a combined capacity of storing 2,780,500 carcases. Its imports of meat in 1906 were 5,119,061 carcases of frozen mutton, 3,680,831 carcases of lamb, and 1,449,673 quarters of beef. The principal markets of the metropolitan area number nine, Billingsgate, Leadenhall and Smith-field being the chief of these. London returns 59 members to parliament. In 1906 the city had 55 licensed theaters, 41 music halls and 250 concert-halls, the seating capacity being about 400,000. The yearly expenditure of the London county-schools now exceeds 25 million dollars, there being, in 1906, 967 public elementary schools, with 721,673 pupils and an average attendance of 663,371. The traffic receipts of the London transportation companies for the half year (Jan.-June, 1907), amounted to 250 million pounds. For its own use for food London annually requires 400,000 oxen, 1,500,000 sheep, 8=,ooo,ooo head of poultry, 400,000,000 pounds of fish, 500,000,000 oysters, 180,000,000 quarts of beer and 30,000,000 quarts of wine, and it burns 6,000,000 tons of coal. The best retail stores are on Regent Street, Bond Street
and the Strand, while there are large markets for meat, fish and provisions of all kinds. Billingsgate is the great fish-market, and has been known since the time of Elizabeth, while the Ragfair is a market devoted to the sale of old clothes. The foreign trade largely exceeds that of any other port in the world, and vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 18 million tons enter every year. The daily water-supply for the seven million inhabitants of London amounts to over 250 million gallons — a daily consumption of nearly 50 gallons per head.
London probably was founded in 43 A. D. by a Roman governor of Britain. It was burned by the Britons under Boadicea in 61 A. D. The walls and fortifications date back to Constantine (c. 300). From 369 till 412 it was the capital of Britain, and called Augusta. Bede calls it a "princely town of trade," when it was the capital of the east Saxon kingdom. The real founder was King Alfred, who so restored the city, that the Danes were never able to take it. The city grew slowly; but by the time of Edward III was rich and prosperous and sided with the House of York in the Wars of the Roses. The principles of the Reformation were welcomed in London, and the suppression of monasteries and the confiscation of their property under Henry VIII made him popular at first, though the same treatment of the guilds lost him the favor of the citizens. Under Elizabeth the silk trade, driven from France, was established in England, the coinage was reformed, and new openings for adventure in America and India gave a great impulse to trade. The city suffered from the extortion of Charles I, who seized the money of the goldsmiths deposited in the Tower and from many of Cromwell's impositions. It was almost ruined by Charles II, whom it had helped to restore to his throne. The plague, which had several times visited London, in 1665 destroyed one fifth of the population. The great fire of 1666, lasting five days, burnt 396 acres of houses. In 1694 the Bank of England was established; in 1760 the old walls and gates were torn down; and the streets were first lighted in the reign of Queen Anne. .In 1906 London had 27 borough councils returning 227 aldermen and 1,362 councillors to the civic government. Its police force in 1905 was close upon 16,000 men, and its fire brigade numbered 1,382. Population 4,522,961 in 1911, of Greater London (area 690 sq. miles) 7,252,963. See Old and New London by Cas-sell and Walks in London by Hare.
London, Ontario, a city of 46,727 (1910) in Middlesex County, is 121 miles west of Toronto. Railway car shops are located here. Western University ^ncl one of the pro-vincial normal schools attract many students. The main lines of the leading railroads pass
