<​Give my kind love to all the brethren and sisters; and tell them I should have been pleased to come over to England to see them, but I am afraid that I shall be under the necessity of remaining here for some time, therefore I give them a pressing invitation to come and see me. I remain Dr. Brethren yours affectionately Joseph Smith—​> [HC 4:232]

<​see Addenda page 1.​>

“ Octr. 28. 1840 Brothers and : As we consider it perfectly consistent with our calling, with reason and revelation, that we should form a knowledge of kingdoms and countries, whether it be at home or abroad, whether it be ancient or modern,— whether it be of things past, present or to come, whether it be in heaven, earth or hell, air or seas; or whether we obtain this knowledge by being local or travelling, by study or by faith, by dreams or by visions, by revelation or by prophecy, it mattereth not unto us; if we can but obtain a correct principle and knowledge of things as they are, in their true light, past, present and to come. It is under such a view of things that we are endeavoring to avail ourselves of every opportunity in our travels among the nations of the earth, to record an account of — — things as they pass under our observation; extracts of which we may forward to you from time to time, which may not be uninteresting to your readers. We will on this occasion make a few extracts. from ’s Journal, concerning certain places which we <​have visited.​>

On the 21st. of August 1840 we visited the — — — — monument erected in commemoration of the dreadful fire of , in the year 1666, built under the inspection of that great arctitect, Sir Christopher Wren. We entered a door at its base, — — — — — — — — — — — — and ascended 345 black marble steps, which brought us 200 feet into the air, about 150 feet above the highest dwellings; we stepped on the outside of the pillar; (surrounded by an iron railing,) when at once <​was​> presented to our view an indescribable scenery upon every hand. Here we were standing 200 feet in the air, upon <​one of​> the highest and finest modern columns in the world, and with the glance of the naked eye, we could overlook, and survey the largest, most noted, populous and splendid commercial city upon the face of the whole earth; — — — — — — — — — containing a million and a half of human beings, and such a grand scenery, and sublime prospect our eyes never before beheld. We were situated so as to overlook nearly the whole city. East of us, lay the — — — — — Tower of London and the Mint. North, the Mansion of the Lord Mayor — — — — — and the Bank of England. Northwest, St. Paul’s Cathedral. <​South​> West, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace &c. South lies the River Thames running from west to east, with five large arched bridges across it in full view, and another which is not seen from the Pillar, making six, namely Southwark, which — — — — — — — — — — — — is — — — of — — — — — — iron, — — — — — — — — — London, Blackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster and Vauxhall bridges [p. 1119]