We waited before a great gate until the striking of some forgotten hour, to visit the royal mews. You may walk through all these stables in slippers and in your daintiest gown, without fear. A stiff young man in black--a cross between an undertaker and an incipient clergyman in manner--acted as guide. Other parties, led by other stiff young men, followed or crossed our path. There were stalls and stalls, upon either side, in room after room,--for one could not think of calling them stables,--filled by sleek bays for carriage or saddle. And the ponies!--the dear little shaggy browns, with sweeping tails, and wonderful eyes peeping out from beneath moppy manes, the milk-white, tiny steeds, with hair like softest silk,--they won our hearts. Curled up on the back of one, fast asleep, lay a Maltese kitten; the "royal mew" some one called it. The carriages were all plain and dark, for the ordinary use of the court. In one corner a prim row of little yellow, wicker, baby-wagons attracted our attention, like those used by the poorest mother in the land. In these the royal babies have taken their first airings. The state equipages we saw another day at Buckingham Palace,--the cream-colored horses, the carriages and harnesses all crimson and gold. There they stand, weeks and months together, waiting for an occasion. The effect upon a fine day, under favoring auspices,--the sun shining, the bands playing, the crowd of gazers, the prancing horses, the gilded chariots,--must almost equal the triumphal entry of a first class circus into a New England town! CHAPTER IV. SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON. The Tower.--The tall Yankee of inquiring mind.--Our guide in gorgeous array.--War trophies.--Knights in armor.--A professional joke.--The crown jewels.--The house where the little princes were smothered.--The "Traitor's Gate."--The Houses of Parliament.--What a throne is like.--The "woolsack."--The Peeping Gallery for ladies.--Westminster Hall and the law courts.--The three drowsy old women.--The Great Panjandrum himself.--Johnson and the pump.--St. Paul's.--Wellington's funeral car.--The Whispering Gallery.--The bell. THE TOWER.