all that they had seen.

Asking the landlord how he would recommend them to pass the
afternoon, he said that they could do no better than take a boat at
London Bridge, and be rowed up to the village of Chelsea, where
many of the nobility did dwell, and then coming back to Westminster
might get out there, see the Abbey and the great Hall, and then
walk back along the Strand.

The lads followed the advice, and were soon delighted and surprised
with the great river, then pure and limpid, and covered with boats
proceeding rapidly in all directions, for it was at that time the
great highway of London. Tide was flowing and the river nearly
full, and having given their waterman the intimation that time did
not press, he rowed them very gently along in the centre of the
stream, pointing out to them, when they had passed above the limits
of the city, the various noblemen's houses scattered along the
banks of the river. Off Westminster the waterman ceased rowing, to
allow them to view the grand old Abbey; and then as they went on
again, they marvelled at the contrast of the low, deserted marshes
of Lambeth and Bankside, which contrasted so strongly with the
magnificence and the life they had left behind.

At Chelsea they admired the grand palace for the reception of old
soldiers, and then--for the tide was turning now--floated back to
Westminster. So long were they in going round the Abbey, and
examining the tombs of the kings, that it was getting dark when
they started eastward again, up past the Palace of Whitehall, and
then along the Strand. Already the distance between the city and
Westminster was connected with houses, and the junction of the two