Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom — John Shaqi
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United KingdomMackinder, Halford John
History
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Mackinder, Halford John
Great Britain
It would tire you were I to attempt to show all the bridges under
which we pass, but there is one which we must not omit. This is
Waterloo Bridge, architecturally the finest bridge in London, perhaps
the finest of all the buildings in London. The road, as you see, is
quite level, and it is carried upon a series of great stone arches.
The bridge is called Waterloo Bridge because it was completed soon
after the Battle of Waterloo. As we go through London you will find
that there are two famous battles--the Battle of Waterloo on the
land, and the Battle of Trafalgar on the sea--which are constantly
remembered by Englishmen. They were fought ninety and a hundred
years ago. Because Britain was victorious in them the British Empire
exists to-day. Therefore these battles and the men who fought them
are deemed worthy of commemoration in the metropolis of the Empire.
Beyond Waterloo Bridge we see on the slide a fine building known as
Somerset House, the office into which the taxes of the people of
England are paid for the government of the country.
[Sidenote: 15. The Embankment at Waterloo Bridge.]
[Sidenote: 16. Cleopatra’s Needle and Somerset House.]
[Sidenote: 17. The Thames Embankment.]
[Sidenote: 18. The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.]
[Sidenote: 19. Westminster Abbey from Dean’s Yard.]
Here we have one of the arches of Waterloo Bridge, spanning the
riverside road which is known as the Thames Embankment. The traffic
from north to south is carried, as you see, over the bridge, while
that from east to west passes under it. Here we have yet another
view of the Embankment, with Somerset House and Waterloo Bridge in
the distance. We can see Somerset House better in this view, because
the bridge is not in the way. In the foreground we have Cleopatra’s
Needle, a single piece of stone as high as a tower. It was brought
from Egypt in a specially built ship, having been presented to the
Queen of England by a former Khedive of Egypt. The next slide shows
the bend of the river, with the Embankment beside it. You see the
trees planted along the road--they are green in the summer, but in
winter the leaves fall and they are black. In the distance, showing
over the housetops, is the great dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. At
last we reach Westminster, and look across the water to two of the
chief buildings of London, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster
Abbey. The Houses of Parliament were erected in the beginning of the
reign of Queen Victoria, but Westminster Abbey was built more than
600 years ago. We have here a view of the Abbey from the land side.
[Sidenote: 20. The King opening Parliament--the State Coach.]
[Sidenote: 21. The same--the Procession.]
[Sidenote: 22. The Coronation in Westminster Abbey.]
[Sidenote: 23. The same, another view.]
[Sidenote: 24. The King and Queen at the opening of Parliament.]
[Sidenote: 25. His Majesty the King.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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