[Picture: Westminster Hall] Is thought to be the largest room in Europe unsupported by pillars, being two hundred and seventy feet in length, and seventy-four in breadth. The roof is of curious workmanship in oak, and reminds the beholders of a grove of trees, whose top branches extend toward each other till they unite. A great feast was held in this vast apartment, and other rooms of the palace, in the days of King Richard the Second, who is said to have entertained ten thousand guests, with his usual hospitality. This hall was the court of justice in which the sovereign presided in person. Hence the Court of King’s Bench took its name. Charles the First was tried here, and condemned to suffer death by his own subjects. The trial of peers, or of any person impeached by the Commons, has been usually held here; and the coronation feasts have been celebrated therein for many ages. The ground on which the hall stands is so near to the water, that on several high tides the Thames has overflowed the hall, the courts of justice have been broken up prematurely, and the people conveyed away in boats. 55. The Lamplighter. [Picture: The Lamplighter] Perhaps the streets of no city in the world are so well lighted as those of London, there being lamps on each side of the way, but a few yards distant from each other. It is said that a foreign ambassador happening to enter London in the evening, after the lamps were lighted, was so struck with the brilliancy of the scene, that he imagined the streets had been illuminated expressly in honour of his arrival. What would he have thought, had he passed through the lustre which is shed at present by the gas lights, from so many of our shops, and from the lamps in the streets? The Lamplighters are a useful set of men; and they are liable to many accidents while engaged in their dangerous occupation. In the winter, the foot-pavement is frequently so slippery, that they often fall and are maimed, by the ladder’s sliding from under them; or sometimes a careless passenger runs against the ladder and throws them down. But one of their greatest difficulties is a high wind. In October, 1812, a poor man, named Burke, who had been many years in that employment, as he was lighting the lamps on the east side of Blackfriars’ Bridge, was, by a sudden gust of wind, blown into the river, in presence of his son, a child of ten years old, and before assistance could be procured, he sunk to rise no more. 56. The Watchman. [Picture: The Watchman]