It remains to chronicle two events in the history of the great fortress in the reign of Queen Victoria. The ugly Armoury which had been begun by James II and completed by William III caught fire on October 30, 1841, from the Bowyer Tower, on which it abutted. The latter building was set ablaze by an overheated flue. The whole building was destroyed, as were 150,000 stands of small arms piled up within it. A policeman named Pierce, at the risk of his life, broke the bars of the cage in which the regalia were kept and handed them out, with the result that not one was missing, though the cloth in which some of them were wrapped was charred. The only relic of much interest which was destroyed was the wheel of Nelson’s ship _Victory._ The site is now occupied with the barracks, built under the direction of the Duke of Wellington, and reaching from the end of St. Peter’s Church to the East Wall, loopholed for musketry, and capable of holding a thousand men. The Iron Duke’s primary idea of the place was as a fortress. On January 24, 1885, a plan was concocted by Fenians for a simultaneous threefold outrage in London. Explosive packages were placed at 2 p.m. in St. Stephen’s Chapel, the Inner House of Commons, and the Tower of London. In the first case a lady saw it, and, suspecting mischief, told a constable on duty. Constable Coles rushed into the chapel and picked up the packet, but almost as soon as he reached Westminster Hall he was obliged to let it fall, and it went off with a terrific explosion, blew holes both in the floor and the roof, and smashed windows. In the House itself a few minutes later the explosion tore off doors and brought down the Speaker’s and Peers’ gallery, and injured two constables badly. At the Tower the miscreants chose the middle storey of the White Tower, used as a storehouse for modern arms. The chief damage was done to the large Hall and St. John’s Chapel. The Armoury caught fire, but it was extinguished in about an hour. Two boys and three girls were badly injured. The perpetrator in this case was caught, and proved to be an old hand at like outrages. He was sentenced to fourteen years’ hard labour. * * * * *