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Illuminations– Except in the event of some extraordinary occurrence, such as the proclamation of peace after the Crimean War, or the recovery of the Prince of Wales from his almost fatal illness, the occasions of general illumination are two a year: the first being the Queen’s birthday, which falls on the 24th of May, but is observed on a day specially selected for that purpose in each year; and the second, the Prince of Wales’s birthday, on November the 9th. Although a couple of skeleton gas-jet initials, a few Chinese lanterns, or an arrangement in tiny oil lamps, may here and there be dotted at wide intervals north of Oxford-street, south of Trafalgar. square, or east of where Temple Bar once stood, illumination proper is practically confined to the principal clubs and to tradesmen patronised by members of the Royal Family and their households, whose shops are situated in a few of the chief West-end thoroughfares. The most comprehensive route for the sight-seer is from Cockspur-street, Charing-cross, and Pall Mall-east, up Waterloo-place and the right-hand side of Regent-Street to Oxford-circus; to the right for a short distance up Oxford-street, and returning on the reverse side of the way down Regent-street to New Burlington-street thence through Savile-row and Burlington-gardens into Old Bond-street, down St. James’s-street, and along Pall Mall to the original starting point. Strangers must be prepared to encounter an enormous throng of people, many of whom indulge in somewhat rough but usually good-tempered horseplay. The vendors of cheap gingerbread, “jolly noses,” “back scratchers,” and other catchpenny articles de luxe, drive a thriving trade on these occasions,and “scent fountains” in especial are sold by thousands. These latter abominations consist of narrow metal tubes, by compressing which a jet of the so-called scent they contain can be thrown for several yards; and as they are in the hands of about seventy-five per cent, of the mob, they are relatively as troublesome as the confetti in a Roman carnival and are much more dangerous to the eyes. Timid and nervous people can avoid a great deal of this nuisance by seeing their illuminations from a cab, or, still better, from an open carriage; but for those who do not object to the annoyances incidental to a huge multitude walking is undoubtedly preferable, since the slow rate at which vehicles are compelled to proceed renders riding somewhat tedious.

Independent Places of Worship.—The following information has been kindly furnished by the respective ministers, the  “terms of membership” being given in their own words:
BOROUGH-ROAD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Borough-road, Southwark, S. E.—Terms of membership: “Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour, and willingness to confess Him.” Seat rents 2s. 6d., as., 1s. 6d., and 1s.    per quarter. The weekly offering and general collections also adopted. The amount raised from all sources for the church and its 16 institutions last year, £1,500; number of members, 400.
INDEPENDENT FREE THOUGHT CHURCH, Newman-street, Oxford. street, W.C.—Terms of membership: “All who believe in God, responsibility, immortality, and the moral duties of life.” Seat rents, £1 per annum, paid quarterly. Established and registered 1861.
MILE END-ROAD CHAPEL. — (No terms stated.) Services: Sunday at 11 a.m. and 6.30 pm.; Prayer meeting, Monday, 7.30 p.m.; Young Men and Women’s Class, Wednesday, 8 p.m.
OLD GRAVEL-LANE CONGREGATIONAL CHAPEL (Meeting-house). —Terms of membership: “Faith in the fundamental truths of the Gospel.” Seats free.
PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, Regent’s-street, City-road.— (No terms stated.) Services: Sunday at 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m.; Thursday 7 p.m.
WOODBRIDGRE CHAPEL, Woodbridge-street, Aylesbury. Street, Clerkenwell.— Terms of membership: Rule, “That every candidate do satisfy our minister as to his or her spiritual state. We hold and proclaim the distinctive doctrines of grace, as recorded in the 17th Article of the Church of England.” Seat rents, per quarter, 5s., 4s., 3s. 6d., 3s., 2s. 6d., 2s., and free.

India,.—The office of the Secretary of State for India in Council is in St. James’s-park, S.W. The departments are the Council, the Correspondence Department, that for Military Funds, for Registry of Despatches, for Stores, and the Accounts Branch of the Financial Department. There is also a Medical Board and an Audit Office. NEAREST Railway Station, Westminster-bridge; Omnibus Routes, Whitehall and Strand; Cab Rank, Palace-yard.

India Museum, South Kensington—Open daily, free, except on Thursdays, when an order from a member of council or head of department in the India Office is necessary. It contains specimens of the vegetable productions of India, in cereals, starches, oils, fruits, fibres, &c, also of animal productions connected with manufactures, and of textile fabrics. There are also numerous cases of weapons, jewellery, works in gold and silver, dresses, Cashmere shawls, Dacca muslins, and carvings in ivory, horn, and wood; with a large collection of clay figures, illustrating the races, castes, and employments of the people, and originally prepared for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The mythological collections are considered the most complete of their kind in Europe; and there are interesting models of the Car of Juggernaut; Runjeet Singh’s golden chair of state; with a large collection of Hindu idols in precious metals, and Lahore gauntlets of elaborate workmanship. NEAREST Railway Station, South Kensington; Omnibus Route, Kensington-road; Cab Rank, “Bell & Horns,” Cromwell-road.

Inland Revenue, Somerset House—Hours 10 to 4. A great department, covering, like the Home Office, a vast amount of ground. The principal branches are the Receiver-General’s; the Accountant and Comptroller-General’s; the Chief Inspector’s (Excise Branch); the Chief Inspector’s (Stamps and Taxes); that for Legacy and Succession Duties; the Companies’ Register Office; the Stamp Allowance Office; the Department of the Comptroller of Stamps and Registrar of Joint Stock Companies; the Stamping Department; Surveyors of Taxes and Special Commissioner of Income Tax (west wing, Somerset House). NEAREST Railway Station,Temple; Omnibus Routes, Strand; Cab Rank,Catherine street. 

Inns of Court (The) are four in number, viz.: Inner and Middle Temple, Lincoln’s-inn, and Gray’inn. The word inn, like the French hotel, signifies a mansion. Each of these inns is governed by a committee, generally formed of Queen’s Counsel, called benchers, who are a self-elected body. The inns consist of shall a chapel, a library, a suite of rooms devoted to the benchers, and a number of buildings divided into sets of chambers, occupied, for the most part, by barristers and solicitors. Each inn has the privilege of calling students to the bar and of dis-barring a barrister, subject to an appeal to the judge. Formerly, when a barrister was appointed serjeant or a judge, he forfeited his membership of his original inn and became a member of Serjeant’s-inn. As this society has been lately abolished, each of the four inns has re-admitted such of its members as have been raised to the bench.
GRAY’S-INN stands on the north side of Holborn, and was formerly the property of the Grays of Wilton, whence the society derives its name. Ln the time of Edward III began to be an inn of court. Nowadays the society possesses South square, Gray’s-inn-square, Field court, Gray’s-inn-place, Raymond buildings, Verulam-buildings, and the garden. The chambers are spacious and well adapted for permanent habitation, and are cheaper than those belonging to the Temple and Lincoln’s-inn. The hall, which is the smallest of the four, is nevertheless an imposing chamber, and is the oldest but one. The roof is of carved oak, divided into six compartments. The screen another magnificent specimen of carving, supported by six pillars of the Tuscan order, with caryatides supporting the cornice. Amongst the paintings which decorate the hall are portraits of Charles I., of Charles II., an James II.—both cut down to half their original size - Bishop Gardiner, Lord Coke, Nicholas Bacon, and Lord Bacon. In the windows there is magnificent stained glass, one pane is dated as early as 1552. The latest bears the escutcheon of Mr. Justice Manisty, 1876. The name and dignities of the late Lord Chelmsford are emblazoned on a window near, and so are the name and crest of Mr. Justice Lush. The library consists of three cosy rooms, in the largest of which is another portrait of Lord Bacon. The chapel, which is an ancient structure, was completely modernised in the last century; but the east window is gorgeous with the arms of several eminent divine preachers of the society. The are some eighty students attached to Gray’s-inn at the present time which means that the honourable society is becoming more popular than of yore. Lord Burghley, S Philip Sidney, Lord Bacon, and Sir Samuel Romilly, were members of the inn.
LINCOLN’S-INN became an inn of court about the year 1310, after the death of Harry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, from whence the name of the society is derived. The principal entrance in Chancery-lane was built in the reign of Henry VII and over this gateway Oliver Cromwell is said to have lived for some period. In the erection of the wall, commenced in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Ben Jonson is said to have assisted as a brick-layer. The chapel is built upon a cloister of six open arches, under which are buried Thurloe, Cromwell’s secretary, Brome, the songwriter, and others. These cloisters served as a promenade in wet weather for the wives and daughters of members of the inn when barristers used to reside in the chambers in Lincoln’s-inn. The chapel would not be particularly remarkable but for the stained glass, on which are represented the arms of deceased worthies and fancv portraits of the saints and biblical heroes. The bell which hangs in the south-west turret was brought by the Earl of Essex from Cadiz after the capture of that town in Elizabeth’s reign. The hall, commenced in 1843, and finished in 1845, is the finest London, with the exception of Westminster-hall, being 120 feet in length, 45 in breadth, and 64 high. The oak roof is a remarkable feature in its construction, divided as it is by trusses into seven compartments. The screen is also a sumptuous piece of work. The windows are chiefly composed of stained glass containing the armorial bearings of distinguished members of the society. At the northern end is a fresco painted by Watts, R.A., “The Law givers,” a magnificent work, which is now unfortunately fading. The artist contributed this important addition to the decoration of the hall gratuitously; but when the fresco was finished the Inn presented him with a gold cup containing eight hundred sovereigns In the rooms used by the benchers are a fine collection of paintings and old engravings. Hogarth’s ‘Paul before Felix” occupies here an important position. Two hundred pounds were paid for the picture and in a frame, below the painting is an autograph letter from the artist acknowledging the money. Above the doorway is Gainsborough’s portrait of Pitt in excellent preservation. The society also possesses a large work by Giorgione a portrait of Lord Chief Baron Kelly, which has lately bee painted; and a water-colour drawing of Her Majesty and the Print Consort opening the new hall on the 13th October, 1845. On that occasion Prince Albert was made a barrister and a bencher of the inn and the Queen took luncheon in the hall. The Prince wore a field marshal’s uniform, and Her Majesty was attired in a dress of Limerick lace, a blue bonnet and feather and a scarlet shawl with a broad gold edging. The library which is attached to the hall is a comfortable building, in which space has been economised in many ingenious ways. There are many thousands of books on legal and other subjects. In the gardens close to the entrance of the hall is an iron railing of delicate workmanship; on it are embossed the name Brewster, and the letters I.C.R.V. twice. The work stands as a memorial to Lieut Col. Brewster, late commandant of the Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers —familiarly called the “Devil Own.”
The TEMPLE, in the reign of Henry II., became the home of the Knights Templars, who built their church in imitation of the temple near the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In the reign of Ed ward II. the order was suppressed and the Temple subsequently became the property of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. These worthies are believed to have let the space to professors of the law for the rent of £10 per annum; at all events, in the reign of Richard II. It is clear that lawyers were firmly established in the home which they have never since quitted. In Henry VIII.’s reign the two societies became tenants of the Crown, and in the sixth year of James I. received a grant by letters patent of the mansion of the Inner Temple at the sum of £10 yearly. The same amount was exacted for the Middle Temple. The Inner Temple hall is a modern building only a few years old. It is considerably larger than the old one, and better and more spacious as regards its offices and ante-rooms. A luncheon-room for the use of members of the inn is a welcome addition. The principal portraits are William and Mary Queen Anne, Sir Thomas Littleton and Lord Chief Justice Coke. The arms and crests of the treasurer of the inn surround the hall, which is replete with all the latest contrivances in the way of ventilation and illumination. The library consists of a series of apartments leading one into another. It is perhaps the snuggest and quietest of all the four, and contains a number of books on general, besides legal subjects. Sir Christopher Hatton, Sir Edward Coke, Lord Tenterden, and Wm. Cowper, the poet, were members of the inn. Charles Lamb was born within its precincts, and Dr. Johnson lived there for some time. The gate leading into the Inner Temple from Fleet-street was built in the reign of James I.
MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL was commenced in 1562, and is one of the grandest Elizabethan structures in London. It is about 100 ft. long and is conspicuous for the massive beauty of the dark oak roof. The windows and walls are decorated with the arms of members of the inn, and the screen and the inns gallery are of dark oak elaborately carved. Over the dais is a portrait of Charles I. on horseback, by Vandyke, one of the three original paintings of the monarch painted by that master; one of the other two being at Windsor, and the other at Warwick Castle. Portrait of Charles II., James II., William III., Queen Anne, and George II are also to be seen, besides marble busts of Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell. Royal personages have frequently visited Middle Temple Hall; the Prince of Wales dined there some years ago, and the benchers took the opportunity of calling His Royal Highness to the bar and electing him a bencher within a few minutes’ time. Some seventeen years ago the new library was opened, a handsome building standing near the river, at the south-west corner of the garden. It is larger than the Inner Temple library, but is perhaps not so we adapted for close study. Besides producing many eminent lawyers, Middle Temple has called to the bar many celebrated poets and dramatists, amongst them Forde, Rowe, Wm. Congreve, Shadwell, Southerne, Sheridan, and Tom Moore. Sir William Blackston who wrote the “Commentaries on The Laws of England” was educated at the Middle Temple. The most interesting object in the Temple, however, is the church which was dedicated to the Virgin by Heradius, patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1185. It has suffered from fire and rioters on several occasions —but at the present time it is one of the most beautiful specimens of early Gothic architecture in country. It has been thoroughly restored, and new marble column have been added, and the tombs of the Knights Templars been renovated and embellished. The are two services on Sunday. Admission to the morning service may be obtained by an order from a bencher of either Temple. Admission to the afternoon service practically free. A barrister has the right to introduce one friend.

Invalid Carriages and Chairs are supplied in endless variety, and with every sort of ingenious appliance; and for the convenience of those who fortunately have only temporary need of such assistance, arrangements are also made for their hire. A self-propelling chair can be obtained at from 32s. to 42s, a mechanical invalid’s bed at from 42s. to 63s. and a bath-chair at 42s. per lunar month. There are but few houses in the trade, who names will be readily found in the Post Office Directory.

Irish Office.—The office of the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant is at 17 and 18, Great Queen-street, S.W., and the hours are from 11 to 5. NEAREST Railway Station, Temple; Omnibus Routes, Holborn, St. Martin lane, Chancery-lane, and Strand Cab Rank, Lincoln’s-inn-fields. 

Ironmongers (The)  possess a broad frontage in Fenchurch street, and a large though somewhat gloomy hall. In the courtroom a number of the original charters of the company are to be seen hanging on the walls, together with an autograph letter in the notorious Judge Jeffrey. In the hall is a portrait of Isaac Walton, and among other interesting paintings are a likeness of Mr. John Nicholl, who wrote a history of the company, and Gainsborough’s portrait of Lord Hood. Mrs. Margaret Dane is also represented. This worthy person bequeathed to the company a sum of money, the interest of which was to be spent in the purchase of faggots for the burning of witches. Nowadays the Ironmongers do not advocate extreme measures, and the money is devoted to the warming not the burning of the poor. The most admirable thing in the Ironmongers Hall is the wood-carving round and about the fire-place——date about 1747.

Isle of Dogs,—An uninviting title euphemistically derived from “Isle of Ducks,” and applied to what was till lately about the best imitation on a small scale of the Great Dismal Swamp to be found in England. The place, it may be observed en passant, was not until late years an island at all, but simply a peninsula jutting out into the river between Limehouse and Blackwall. Just at the beginning of the present century, however, the Corporation, which had long been exercised by the demands of enterprising engineers for permission to put the river straight and take possession of its old Scamandering bed for docks, took heart of grace, and cut a canal through the neck of the “unlucky Isle of Doggs,” as Master Pepys hath it, and so opened a short cut for ships bound up or down the river. Apparently, however, the new road was not found satisfactory, for it has been long since closed and sold to the West India-dock Company, who now use it as a timber dock. The isle itself is pretty well covered with shipbuilding and engineering yards, and was a few years since one of the busiest spots on the river bank. Strikes and trade quarrels have for the last few years considerably mitigated its prosperity, and the Isle of Dogs has at present a decided air of having been gathered to its godfathers, which, let us hope, it will soon again lay aside.

Islington– a large district on the extreme north side of London. Soil, London clay. Houses here are very cheap, and in the northernmost portion of the district including the new streets and crescents about Barnsbury and Canonbury Parks, are often roomily and comfortably-built, and of a fair size. About Holloway and the northern portion they are commonly of a rather old-fashioned type, and often small. As it was in Tom Pinch’s time, Islington is still a quiet neighbourhood as to its back settlements. But High-street and Upper-street have grown to be amongst the noisiest and least agreeable thoroughfares in London. NEAREST Railway Stat., King’s-cross; for northern part, Barnsbury and Highbury; Omnibus Routes, Pentonville-road, Caledonian-road, Liverpool-road, City-road, Upper-street, and Essex-rd.

Italy.—EMBASSY, 35, Queen’s-gate, S.W. NEAREST Railway Station, Gloucester-road; 0mnibus Routes, Fulham-road and Kensington-road; Cab Rank, Kensington-road. CONSULATE, 35, Old Jewry. NEAREST Railway Stations, Mansion House and Moorgate-street; Omnibus Routes, Cheapside and Moorgate-street; Cab Rank, Lothbury.