CHAPTER XX.
"This life is all chequer'd with pleasures and woes That chase one another like waves of the deep, Each billow, as brightly or darkly it flows, Reflecting our eyes as they sparkle or weep; So closely our whims on our miseries tread, That the laugh is awak'd ere the tear can be dried; And as fast as the rain-drop of pity is shed, The goose-plumage of folly can turn it aside; But, pledge me the cup! if existence can cloy With hearts ever light and heads ever wise, Be ours the light grief that is sister to joy, And the short brilliant folly that flashes and dies." "THE building before us," said Tom, "is the Tower of London, which was formerly a palace inhabited by the various Sovereigns of this country till the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Fitzstephens says, it was originally built by Julius Caesar; but I believe there is no proof of the truth of this assertion, except that one of the towers is to this day called Caesar's Tower." "It seems a place of great security," said Bob.
"Yes--William the Conqueror erected a fortress on part of its present site, to overawe the inhabitants of London on his gaining possession of the City, and about twelve years afterwards, in 1078, he erected a larger building than the first, either on the site of the former or near it.

This building, repaired or rebuilt by succeeding Princes, is that which is now called the White Tower." "It appears altogether to be a very extensive building," said Tallyho; "and what have we here?
(turning his eyes to the left)--the modern style of those form a curious contrast to that we are now viewing." "That is called Trinity Square, and the beautiful edifice in the centre is the Trinity House; it is a new building, of stone, having the advantage of rising ground for its site, and of a fine area in the front." ~306~~ "The Trinity House," reiterated Bob, "some ecclesiastical establishment, I presume, from its title ?" "There you are wrong," continued Dashall; "it is a Corporation, which was founded in the year 1515 by Henry VIII.

and consists of a Master, four Wardens, eighteen Elder Brothers, in whom is vested the direction of the Company, and an indefinite number of younger Brothers; for any sea-faring man may be admitted into the Society by that name, but without any part of the controul of its concerns.

The elder Brethren are usually selected from the most experienced commanders in the navy and the merchants' service, with a few principal persons of his Majesty's Government." "But what, in the name of wonder," inquired Bob, "have Sailors to do with the Trinity ?" "As much as other persons," was the reply; "if it is the anchor of hope, as we are taught, they have as great a right to rely upon it as any body else--besides, the names given to houses and places in London have nothing to do with their occupations or situations, any more than the common language of life has to do with nature; else why have we a Waterloo House in the vicinity of St.Giles's for the sale of threads, laces, and tapes--a Fleet for the confinement of prisoners, or the King's Bench devoted to the same purposes, unless it is, "That when we have no chairs at home, The King (God bless him) grants us then a bench." Though London contains a round of delights and conveniences scarcely to be equalled, it is at the same time a combination of incongruities as difficult to be conceived.