Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/599

LONDON 593 the latter separating it from St. James's park on the left. Beyond Whitehall is Charing Cross, where the line, bending E. with the riv- er, unites with the Strand. Among the streets running from N. to S., the principal and most westerly is the Edgeware road with its continu- ations, Park lane, Grosvenor place, and Vaux- hall bridge road, which for the most part form the western boundaries of the metropolis. The second line of street proceeding eastward is the thoroughfare formed of Portland place, Eegent street, and Waterloo place, extending between Regent's and St. James's parks ; a little north of Piccadilly it curves through the Quadrant, and continues northward to Oxford street, where it expands into a circus, and then, resu- ming its former dimensions, proceeds to Lang- ham place, where by a slight curve westward it continues into Portland place, Park crescent, and Park square, leading to Regent's park. The third great line is a continuation south- ward of the road from Hampstead, passing through Tottenham Court road to the E. end of Oxford street, from which point it proceeds through narrow streets down St. Martin's lane to Charing Cross. The chief 1ST. line connect- ing the city with its northern suburbs is com- posed of Gray's Inn lane, which runs from Hoi- born hill to the Euston, formerly the New road ; Aldersgate street and Goswell street, leading in a direct line from the post office to Islington ; and the street commencing at the Regent's canal on the north, successively called Kingsland road, Shoreditch, Norton Folgate, Bishopsgate street, and Gracechurch street, connecting Kingsland and Hoxton with London bridge and South- wark, the street line passing at the S. end of Gracechurch street over London bridge, and thence prolonged for some distance through the Borough, the main thoroughf are of South wark. Another line connects Finsbury circus with London bridge ; and Cannon street extends from King William street to St. Paul's, and connects with the same bridge. Vast lines of street on the north proceed from TJxbridge road to King's Cross, St. Pancras, and thence to Fins- bury square, and extend under the names of New road and the City road almost completely round the north and east of the metropolis. On the South wark and Lambeth or Surrey side six great roads converge from the different bridges to the Elephant and Castle tavern. From this point the roads, the principal of which is the Blackfriars road, again diverge, the Kent road leading to Greenwich, the Ken- nington and Newington roads to Brixton and Tulse hill, and the road southward to Syden- ham. Many new thoroughfares have sprung up near the Holborn viaduct, one of the most mag- nificent recent improvements. The new Queen Victoria street is the eastward continuation of the northern embankment through the heart of the City. A broad thoroughfare was opened in 1871 from High street, Whitechapel, to the Commercial road, connecting the City with the East and West India docks and Blackwall ; and many others have been opened or are in pro- gress. The principal E. and W. lines of street run from Mile End road to Hyde Park corner, through the heart of the City (the great land- marks of which are St. Paul's, the bank of England, the royal exchange, and the mansion house), through Cheapside, Fleet street, the Strand, and Charing Cross ; or on the north of Cheapside along Newgate street, the Holborn viaduct, and Oxford street. N. of these lines sweep the Euston road (the longest road of London, nearly 3 m., leading to Regent's park), St. John's Wood, and the Edgeware road and City road, which run from the Angel tavern at Islington to Finsbury square. Another line of traffic of vast extent passes over London bridge, already mentioned. Just below the bridge is the Pool, with its fleets of colliers moored in the stream ; above it are the stairs of the penny and twopenny steamboats. At the foot of the bridge is Fishmongers' hall. Fish street hill, nearly opposite, contains the most picturesque of all metropolitan monuments, erected in commemoration of the great fire; and at the entrance of King William and Can- non street is the statue of William IV. Among the most bustling streets are Upper and Lower Thames street, with the custom house, Bishops- gate street Without and Within, Gracechurch street, Leadenhall street, Fenchurch street, Cornhill, Cheapside, and Queen Victoria and other new streets. At the intersections of Gracechurch with Cornhill and Leadenhall streets and Lombard and Fenchurch streets nearly 60,000 persons cross in the aggregate in the course of nine hours during the day; at the junctions of streets around King William IV.'s monument, King William street, the traffic within the same space of time is estimated at over 40,000 persons, and between the bank of England and the mansion house at nearly 60,- 000. These are the most dangerous crossings in the City. It has been ascertained that more than 700,000 persons enter the city of London every morning and leave it again every evening, and that 60,000 vehicles enter it every 24 hours. The by-streets of Cheapside are filled with Manchester wholesale houses, and the street itself as well as Cornhill displays a variety of jewellers', goldsmiths', watchmakers', saddlers', and other shops. St. Paul's churchyard, Lud- gate hill, and Fleet street are also popular lo- calities for shopping ; and from the most dis- tant parts in the East End almost all the houses contain shops, which increase in attractive- ness in proportion as they advance westward. Cheapside has long been famous for its traffic. Tournaments were formerly held there> and along it still proceeds annually the antiquated and grotesque turnout on lord mayor's day. One of its cross streets, King street, leads to the guildhall, and Queen street leads to South- wark bridge. The mansion house, the official residence of the lord mayor, is bounded E. by the Poultry (enlarged in 1874), which is a con- tinuation of Cheapside, and the new Queen