when I wrote my last under dat of 2^1^9th I though[t]
it would be the last you would recceve from me by the hand of Elder Turley but having just returned to my room in company with Br's Kimball & Smith from an Interesting walk of 8 hous walk in visiting
many parts of the city of London & passing through such a scenery
of interest that it would require a volumen to do justice in speaking
of the subject yet I though[t] I would drop a few words to you
upon the subject. After spending several hours in vis^i^ting several
streets of the most splended part of the city of London, we passed
arougd [around] St Pauls church on the out side but did not go in we
shall visit it another day from top to Bottom & give you a descip-
tion of it, it is the Largest church in the world excepting one
at Rome ^The Vatian at Rome dedicated St Peter^ But to close the scenery of the day we visited the Noted monument standing in the city built in remembereance of the dredful
fire in this city in 1666 we entered at the Base & walked up 345 marble
steps which brought us 200 feet into the air whare we stoped on the out side of
the monument surrouged [surrounded] by an iron railing which gave us a perfect ^view^ of
nearly the whole city at one glance of the ey^i^e & such a sight I never
before witnessed, to stand upon the top of the highest monument
in the world & at one glance of the eye sur[v]ey the largest city &
population upon the face of the whole Earth ever [over] 1 500 000 souls
we had a clear view of the Tower of London, built by the romans
St. Pauls church, West minster Abbey, the house of partiment ^parliament^
& all the towers, steples, spires, & manesions ^mansions^ in the city or nerly
so & 6 tremendious Bridges [ader] ^over^ the River Thames with the
river all [alives] alive with human beings floating in Barges &c
19 King St, Borough, London, & (2 days later from London)
when I wrote my last under dat of19th I thought
it would be the last you would recceve from me by the hand of Elder
Turley but having just returned to my room in company with Br's
Kimball & Smith from an Interesting walk of 8 hous in visiting
many parts of the city of London & passing through such a scenery
of interest that it would require a volumen to do justice in speaking
of the subject yet I thought I would drop a few words to you
upon the subject. After spending several hours in visiting several
streets of the most splended part of the city of London, we passed
around St Pauls church on the out side but did not go in we
shall visit it another day from top to Bottom & give you a desciption of it, it is the Largest church in the world excepting one
at Rome The Vatian at Rome dedicated St Peter But to close the scenery of the day we visited the Noted
monument standing in the city built in remembereance of the dredful
fire in this city in 1666 we entered at the Base & walked up 345 marble
steps which brought us 200 feet into the air whare we stoped on the out side of
the monument surrounded by an iron railing which gave us a perfect view of
nearly the whole city at one glance of the eie & such a sight I never
before witnessed, to stand upon the top of the highest monument
in the world & at one glance of the eye survey the largest city &
population upon the face of the whole Earth over 1 500 000 souls
we had a clear view of the Tower of London, built by the romans
St. Pauls church, West minster Abbey, the house of parliament
& all the towers, steples, spires, & mansions in the city or nerly
so & 6 tremendious Bridges over the River Thames with the
river all alive with human beings floating in Barges &c
"Letter to Phebe Whittemore Carter Woodruff, 21 August 1840," p. 1, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed December 12, 2024, https://arts.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/wmVg