Considering that there are nearly 500 carved stone statues in and about this sumptuous building, besides stained-glass windows, and oil and fresco paintings in great number, it is obvious that a volume would be required to describe them all. In the _Queen’s Robing Room_ are painted frescoes from the story of King Arthur; and in the _Peers’ Robing Room_, subjects from Biblical history. The _Royal Gallery_ is in the course of being filled with frescoes and stained windows illustrative of English history. Here, among others, specially note the late D. Maclise’s stupendous fresco, 45 feet long by 12 feet high, representing “The Meeting of Wellington and Blucher after the Battle of Waterloo;” and the companion fresco, “The Death of Nelson.” Westminster Hall.—Although now made, in a most ingenious manner, to form part of the sumptuous edifice just described, _Westminster Hall_ is really a distinct building. It was the old hall of the original palace of Westminster, built in the time of William Rufus, but partly re-constructed in 1398. The carved timber roof is regarded as one of the finest in England. The hall is 290 feet long, 68 wide, and 110 high. There are very few buildings in the world so large as this unsupported by pillars. The southern end, both within and without, has been admirably brought into harmony with the general architecture of the Palace of Parliament. Doors on the east side lead to the House of Commons; doors on the west lead to the _Courts of Chancery_, _Queen’s Bench_, _Common Pleas_, _Exchequer_, _Probate_, _and Divorce_, &c. No building in England is richer in associations with events relating to kings, queens, and princes, than Westminster Hall. _St. Stephen’s Crypt_, lately restored with great splendour, is entered from the south end of the Hall. Somerset House, in the Strand, was built in 1549 by the Protector Somerset; and, on his attainder and execution, fell to the Crown. Old Somerset House was pulled down in 1775, and the present building erected in 1780, after the designs of Sir Wm. Chambers. The rear of the building faces the Thames, its river frontage being 600 feet long, and an excellent specimen of Palladian architecture. In Somerset House are several Government offices—among the rest, a branch of the Admiralty, the Inland Revenue, and the Registrar-General’s department. More than 900 clerks are employed in the various offices. The rooms in which Newspaper Stamps are produced by ingenious processes, and those in which the Registrar-General keeps his voluminous returns of births, marriages, and deaths, are full of interest; but they are not accessible for mere curiosity. The learned Societies are removed to Burlington House, Piccadilly. [Picture: Somerset House, King’s College, Waterloo Bridge, &c. (St. Clement’s and St. Mary’s Churches in the distance.)]