Medicated Baths 181 Cabs 182 Hints to Strangers 183 Commissionaires or Messengers 183 THE GREAT INTERCEPTIVE MAIN DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF LONDON 184 INDEX 185 HOTEL CHARGES. THERE is only one class of hotels in and near London of which the charges can be stated with any degree of precision. The _old_ hotels, both at the West-End and in the City, keep no printed tariff; they are not accustomed even to be asked beforehand what are their charges. Most of the visitors are more or less _recommended_ by guests who have already sojourned at these establishments, and who can give information as to what _they_ have paid. Some of the hotels decline to receive guests except by previous written application, or by direct introduction, and would rather be without those who would regard the bill with economical scrutiny. The _dining_ hotels, such as the _London_ and the _Freemasons’ Tavern_, in London, the _Artichoke_ and various whitebait taverns at Blackwall, the _Trafalgar_ and _Crown and Sceptre_ taverns at Greenwich, and the _Castle_ and _Star and Garter_ taverns at Richmond, are costly taverns for dining, rather than hotels at which visitors sojourn; and the charges vary with every different degree of luxury in the viands served, and the mode of serving. The hotels which can be more easily tested, in reference to their charges, are the _joint-stock_ undertakings. These are of two kinds: one, the hotels connected with the great railway termini, such as the _Victoria_, the _Euston_, the _Great Northern_, the _Great Western_, the _Grosvenor_, the _Charing Cross_, the _Midland_ and _Cannon Street_; while the other group are unconnected with railways, such as the _Westminster Palace_, the _Langham_, the _Salisbury_, the _Inns of Court_, _Alexandra_, _&c._ COLLINS’ ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO LONDON. Whether we consider London as the metropolis of a great and mighty empire, upon the dominions of whose sovereign the sun never sets, or as the home of more than three millions of people, and the richest city in the world to boot, it must ever be a place which strangers wish to visit. In these days of railways and steamers, the toil and cost of reaching it are, comparatively speaking, small; and, such being the case, the supply of visitors has very naturally been adjusted to the everyday increasing opportunities of gratifying so very sensible a desire. To such persons, on their arrival at this vast City of the Islands, we here, if they will accept us as their guides, beg to offer, ere going into more minute details, a GENERAL DESCRIPTION.