BYGONE LONDON.

Of this book 500 copies have been printed,and this is

No.......12

STOW'S MONUMENT, IN THE CHURCH OF ST. ANDREW UNDERSHAFT,LONDON.

BY
FREDERICK ROSS, F.R.H.S.,

AUTHOR OF
"LEGENDARY YORKSHIRE," "YORKSHIRE FAMILY
ROMANCE," ETC., ETC.

LONDON:
HUTCHINSON & CO., PATERNOSTER SQUARE.

1892.

Preface.

Notwithstanding the multitude ofbooks that have been written relating toits history and antiquities, the History of Londonstill remains to be written, a work that cannot,from its ocean-like infinitude of matter, beaccomplished by a single hand, but will requirethe combined action of a multiplicity oflabourers.

By London is here meant, not the vast aggregationof buildings and population spreading intofour or five counties but that small fraction lyingnorth and south of the Thames, which is underthe jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London—thatportion which was a considerable emporiumof trade under the Celtic Trinobantes; amilitary post and seat of commerce under theRomans, with roads, of which one still retains itsname of Watling Street, in the centre of London,all radiating from a central miliarium, which maystill be seen, a venerable relic of sixteen centuriesof age, in the wall of St. Swithin's Church; whichwas a capital city and place of great mercantileimportance under the Saxons and the Danes, andhas in the subsequent thousand years, graduallyexpanded its limits, and gathered population,wealth, and commerce, until it has become thecapital of the world, in magnitude and wealthunprecedented, to which the capitals of othernations are but as provincial cities: so vast andrich that Blucher might well exclaim, whenshewn its banks and docks, its warehouses andshops—"Ye gods! what a place to sack."

Notwithstanding the many books in existence,descriptive of the various phases of London, itappeared to the publishers there was still roomfor a small, handy, and compact volume, ofmoderate price, which should give a clear andcomprehensive view of some of the more salientfeatures of the bygone history of the old city,which they presume to hope may be found in thisvolume.

Contents.