which bank the conflagration is raging. Nevertheless we imagine that
the northern part of the town could be advantageously superintended
from such a height, whilst the southern half might rest under the
surveillance of one of the tall shot-towers on that bank of the
Thames. The bridges themselves have long been posts of observation,
from which a large portion of the river-side property is watched. Not
long ago there was a pieman on Londonbridge, who eked ont a precarious
existence by keeping a good look-out up and down the stream.

Watling-street was chosen as the headquarters of the Fire Brigade for
a double reason: it is very nearly the centre of the city, being close
to the far-famed London Stone, and it is in the very midst of what may
be termed, speaking igneously, the most dangerous part of the
metropolis--the Manchester warehouses. As the Fire Brigade is only a
portion of a vast commercial operation--Fire Insurance--its actions
are regulated by strictly commercial considerations. Where the
largest amount of _insured_ property lies, there its chief force is
planted. It will, it is true, go any reasonable distance to put out a
fire; but of course it pays most attention to property which its
proprietors have guaranteed. The central station receives the
greatest number of "calls;" but as a commander-in-chief does not turn
out for a skirmish of outposts, so Mr. Braidwood keeps himself ready
for affairs of a more serious nature. When the summons is at
night--there are sometimes as many as half-a-dozen--the fireman on
duty below apprizes the superintendent by means of a gutta percha
speaking-tube, which comes up to his bedside. By the light of the
ever-burning gas, he rapidly consults the "London Directory," and if
the call should be to what is called "a greengrocer's street," or any
of the small thoroughfares in bye-parts of the town, he leaves the
matter to the foreman in whose district it is, and goes to sleep