There are thirty-six principal clubs in London, embracing, probably, not less than 20,000 members. Of course some individuals may be members of several clubs. These clubs, too, are in addition to the great number of literary and scientific associations in the metropolis, of which we shall have occasion to speak in treating of another class of London characteristics. The following clubs are in Pall-Mall: the Union, in Trafalgar square, Pall-Mall east; the University club, for members of the universities of Cambridge and Oxford; the Junior University club, nearly facing

the British institution; the Athenæum; the United Service, for officers-(the Junior United Service is in Charles street, St. James's square); the Travellers'; the Carlton: and the Reform club. In St. James's street there are Boodle's club, White's club, the St. James's, and the Junior St. James's; the West India club, Brookes's, the Cocoa Tree club, Arthur's, the Albion, Graham's, and Crockford's. In St. James's square, which lies enclosed between Pall-Mall and the east end of Piccadilly, there are the Wyndham club and the Parthenon. The Clarence and the Clarendon are in Waterloo place, close by Pall-Mall; the Oriental is in Hanover square; the Portland in Stafford place, Oxford street; the Royal Naval in New Bond street; the Alfred in Albemarle street; and the "Cercle des Etrangeres" in Regent street. Proceeding eastward, we find that the Westminster chess club hold their meetings at No. 101 in the Strand; the Garrick club in King street, Covent garden; the city Conservative in Threadneedle street; and the city of London club has a handsome club-house in Broad street.

CHAPTER XXIX.

EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL COMMUNICATION.

ONE of the most pleasing of the outside shows of London is that of the daily departure of the mail-coaches. They start every night at eight o'clock, from the postoffice, except on Sunday evenings, when they go off an hour earlier. A few of the mail-coaches, which start from the "west-end" of London, do not come up to the postoffice, the mails being conveyed to them in mail-carts. All the rest arrive, a short time before the hour of starting, from their respective inns-the Blossoms, Lawrence lane; the Swan with Two Necks, Lad lane; the Spread Eagle, Gracechurch street; the Belle Sauvage, Ludgate hill, &c., &c. Most of the names of these inns are ancient, and carry with them interesting associations.

The postoffice building is about three hundred and eight-nine feet long, one hundred and thirty feet wide, and sixty-four feet high; it is built externally of Portland stone, and, with the exception of the principal front, is entirely plain, and without any attempt at architectural display. The entrances to the building are through the central portico in the west or principal side, and by a corresponding doorway in the east front in Foster Lane. The space between these two points is occupied by the grand public hall, which is eighty feet long, by about sixty feet wide, divided into a centre and two aisles, by two ranges of six columns, these columns, which have corresponding pilasters, are of the Ionic order, constructed of Portland stone, and standing upon pedestals of granite. The centre of the hall is so much higher than the side aisles as to admit of the insertion of windows, by which it is principally lighted.

Entering from the principal front, the offices on the right hand are appropriated to the foreign letter and twopenny post departments, the receiver-general's, the accountant's, and the secretary's departments. On the opposite, or northern side are the inland, the ship-letter, and the newspaper offices. At the eastern, or Foster Lane end of this aisle, is a staircase leading to the letter-bill, dead, missent, and returned letter offices. In the eastern front, north of the centre, is a vestibule where the letter-bags are received, and whence they are despatched from and to the mails. The inland office communicates with this vestibule, and is eighty-eight feet long, fifty-six feet wide, and twenty-eight feet high. The letter carriers' office, which adjoins, is one hundred and three feet long, thirty-five wide, and thirty-three high. The letters to and from the West Indies, and the continent of North America, have an office expressly appropriated to them, and which is likewise on this side of the building. The comptroller's and mail-coach offices are also is this quarter.

It might occasion some confusion if the communication between the offices in the northern and southern divisions of the building were carried on through the public hall. This disadvantage is obviated by means of a tunnel, which runs under the hall, in which the letters are conveyed between the departments by the aid of ingeniouslycontrived machinery.

The basement is vaulted, and consequently fire-proof. It contains the armory and mail-guards' room, the servants' offices; and also an apparatus for warming the building by means of heated air, a patent gasmeter, and a governor for regulating the supply of gas to between seven hundred and eight hundred argand burners distributed through the offices and passages.

The board-room, which is thirty-seven feet long and twenty-four feet broad, the secretary's rooms and his clerks' offices, are all on the first floor, and communicate by long passages with the solicitor's offices, and some others of minor importance. The second and third stories are occupied by sleeping apartments for the clerks of the foreign letter office, who are obliged to be constantly upon the spot to receive the foreign mails, which arrive at all hours.

The building is altogether exceedingly well arranged for the convenience of the public, as well as the officers employed in its various departments, and is creditable to the taste and judgment of the architect, Mr. Smirke.

The London postoffice establishment comprises three principal departments, the

inland office, the foreign office, and the distributing postoffice. In connexion with the inland office is the ship-letter office, for receiving and despatching letters for the colonies and foreign parts by private trading vessels, the letters so conveyed being subjected to a less rate of postage than letters transmitted by packets in the pay of government. Letters passing to and from the colonies come, likewise, within the management of the inland office, in London; being received in the first instance at an outpost, generally Falmouth, whence they are forwarded by the local postmasters, in the same manner as inland letters.

The routine business of the inland office is necessarily divided among several departments. The principal of these, besides the ship-letter office, are the by-letter, the dead-letter, the returned-letter, the letter-bill, the accountant-general's, and the receiver-general's offices: the latter of these officers acts as a check upon the postmaster-general, and consequently the appointment of the receiver-general rests not with the postmaster-general, but with the lords of the treasury. The receiver-general holds his office by patent.

It will perhaps exemplify sufficiently our description of the various functions of the different officers employed in the postoffice, if we describe the ordinary routine followed in the receipt and despatch of letters to and from London in 1835.

In addition to the principal office in St. Martin's-le-Grand, there are several branch offices and receiving houses in different part of the town, where letters can be deposited by the public. These letters are collected by the letter-carriers at a stated period in the evening, which must of course be earlier than the hour to which the principal office is continued open; and they are conveyed in sealed bags-generally by carts to St. Martin's-le-Grand. The seals of these bags are broken by persons appointed for the purpose; and their contents are thrown out into great baskets, preparatory to their being sorted.

The first operation is that of stamping the letters: this is performed at several large tables, four or more persons, according to the pressure of business for the night, being employed at each table. This stamping is performed by messengers, or by the lettercarriers; and, as they are stamped, one person is employed to ascertain the number of letters that pass through the office in the evening.

When the letters are stamped, they are taken away to be assorted into about twenty divisions, on as many tables, corresponding with the lines of road by which they are to be sent. In this first sorting, all those letters are placed together which are intended for the same line of road, the different heaps being distinguished by numbers, as 1, 2, 3, &c.; and persons are employed continually in collecting together the corresponding heaps from all these tables in order to their being conveyed to other tables where other sorters are employed. A certain number of individuals are assigned to every road, and by them the letters are again assorted for the different places to which they are directed. By this division of the labor the work is much simplified. It would, indeed, be hardly possible to divide at one operation so great a number of letters, intended for so great a variety of places, as are brought together every evening in the London postoffice.

The next operation is that of placing the assorted letters in bags, previously to which, however, every letter is marked with the amount of postage to which it is liable; and an account is taken with the whole amount of postage, that the postmaster of the town to which they are going may be charged with the same. The bags are then sealed, and delivered into the custody of the mail-guards. Each of these guards, of course, takes charge of the mail-bags for every post-town through which the mail-coach, with which he travels, is to pass; and, to avoid confusion, he places the whole number of bags in a large sack, arranging them in the inverse order to that in which they are to be delivered. For instance, the Dover coach takes the mails for Welling, Dartford, Rochester, Sittingbourn, and Canterbury, as well as for the place of its ultimate distination. The Dover bag is therefore placed in the bottom of the sack-that for Canterbury next-then the Sittingbourn bag, and so on; the one for Welling, which will soonest be wanted, being placed nearest to the mouth of the sack. The coaches which travel to greater distances, and which pass through a great number of post-towns, must carry several of these sacks, which are always unsealed, for the greater convenience of taking out the bags on arrival at the different towns.

From the moment they are delivered into his custody, the guard is held responsible for the safety of the letter-bags. The box in the hind part of the coach, in which