BEFORE entering upon any personal details of the prisoners of historical notoriety who have been confined within the Tower, it may be well to present the reader with a brief description of its actual condition, and of the various Stores, Armouries, Prisons, Offices, and Chapels which are contained within its precincts, especially as many of them have of late years undergone considerable changes and restorations, subsequent to the publication of the work of Messrs. Britton and Brayley. Situated on the Middlesex side of the Thames, about one-third of a mile below London Bridge, and just outside the jurisdiction of the City, the Tower in its general aspects resembles a small fortified town, such as we find in many parts of Germany and Flanders. But it is so hemmed in by a large and populous suburb, that, although a stronghold against surprise by any riotous or insurrectionary assemblage, and even against an attack by regular troops, unless provided with heavy

A wide dry ditch, capable of being flooded at high tide, runs round the whole exterior of the Tower, commencing from the river at Tower Stairs, on the west, and running round the whole outer wall or scarp, till it again touches the Thames at Iron Gate Stairs, at the eastern extremity of the ditch. Between the outer edge of this ditch, and the open space of Tower Hill (the margin of which represents what in military language would be termed the " glacis "), there is a tolerably wide strip of pleasure-ground or garden, open to the chief inhabitants and residents, and managed by a committee of official gentlemen connected with the Tower and the Mint. The scarp or inner side of the Tower Ditch rises into an elevated wall, with bastions at its angles, and short, but heavy guns, distributed along the rampart, in the positions best suited for command of Tower Hill and its approaches.

The main entrance of the Tower of London is through the Middle Tower on the outer side of the ditch; then across a causeway bridge, and through the fine old arch of the Byward Tower, which leads under the rampart into the interior of the fortress.

The ramparts are " casemated," and contain Storerooms, Workshops, Magazines, Engine-houses, and Warders' quarters, being complete as far as the western and northern faces. The eastern face was, till lately, in a state

Immediately within the ramparts, and between them and the inner or " Ballium " wall (a military term of the middle ages), there was until lately a narrow street, known as Mint Street, with houses built at different periods, and without order or arrangement, against the rampart on the one side, and the " Ballium wall" on the other, rendering the rampart of little service, and disfiguring, as well as rendering useless, the ancient wall of the fortress. In this street were situated the Royal Mint, Workshops, Barracks, and Stores, with three or four warders' quarters, in a condition of ruin and dilapidation, forming a great contrast to its present appearance. Among other objections to Mint Street were two taverns, which former Lieutenant-Governors or Lieutenants had allowed to be erected, for the sake of the rents they received from them, amounting at one period to several hundreds per annum, either unknown or unnoticed by Government. The level of Mint Street, though higher by many feet than the outer ditch, is lower than the interior parade, in the middle of which is situated the White Tower, which was the donjon or keep of the ancient fortress, and is celebrated as the scene of some of the darkest tragedies of the Tower of London.

The " Ballium " wall is of great thickness and solidity, and of a height varying from thirty to forty feet. It has every appearance of great antiquity, and is probably of the same date as the White Tower, erected in William