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London in 1731 by Don Manoel Gonzales
page 11 of 146 (07%)
corner, near which is the principal gate and bridge by which coaches
and carriages enter the Tower; and there are two posterns with
bridges over the ditch to the wharf on the Thames side, one whereof
is called Traitor's Bridge, under which state prisoners used to
enter the Tower.

The principal places and buildings within the Tower, are (1) The
parochial church of St. Peter (for the Tower is a parish of itself,
in which are fifty houses and upwards, inhabited by the governor,
deputy-governor, warders, and other officers belonging to the
fortress).

(2) To the eastward of the church stands a noble pile of building,
usually called the armoury, begun by King James II. and finished by
King William III., being three hundred and ninety feet in length,
and sixty in breadth: the stately door-case on the south side is
adorned with four columns, entablature and triangular pediment, of
the Doric order. Under the pediment are the king's arms, with
enrichments of trophy-work, very ornamental. It consists of two
lofty rooms, reaching the whole length of the building: in the
lower room is a complete train of artillery, consisting of brass
cannon and mortars fit to attend an army of a hundred-thousand men;
but none of the cannon I observe there were above four-and-twenty
pounders; the large battering-pieces, which carry balls of thirty-
two and forty-eight pounds weight, I perceive, are in the king's
store-houses at Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, and Portsmouth. In the
armoury also we find a great many of the little cohorn mortars, so
called from the Dutch engineer Cohorn, who invented them for firing
a great number of hand-grenades from them at once; with other
extraordinary pieces cast at home, or taken from the enemy.
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