I am writing of the city of London, situated on the banks of the Thames, in the county of Middlesex. The London of the New World is a Lancashire village, compared with its namesake of the Old World. It is a rural-looking semi-civilized spot, with a clownish population, for the most part, that have none of the wit or discipline of a London mob in England.

The city has only been incorporated fifteen years, yet it boasts of two daily newspapers, which, speaks well for the tastes of many of the community. The population is about twelve thousand, the great majority of whom are Protestants.

London, which is also called the Forest City, is the centre of an extensive agricultural district. The streets of the city cross each other at right angles, and the shops and houses are chiefly of one or two stories, although there are several fine buildings and many averagely so. There is no doubt that London will eventually become a fine city, but the absence of shipping will always operate against it. As Cuzco was to Peru, so will London be hereafter to Western Canada. I strolled round the city on the night after the reception, to see the illuminations. I passed through Pall Mall and Piccadilly, and had a good look at Westminster Bridge, and after that at Blackfriars Bridge, both spanning the Thames, which is here less than two hundred feet wide. But I saw in them no splendid thoroughfares, no monuments of stone-work or triumphs of engineering skill.