charter; and even under his stern rule, the inhabitants enjoyed peace and prosperity. In 1078, was erected that part of the Tower of London called the White Tower, for the purpose of intimidating the citizens, they having evinced some dissatisfaction at the new government. In 1087,

another destructive fire took place, in which St. Paul's was burned down. The king, about the same period, deprived the bishops of all judgment in civil causes; submitting them to the decision of twelve men of the same rank as the prisoner.

Richard I., in consideration of 1500l. paid by the citizens, granted them a charter, establishing their claim to the conservancy of the river Thames.

John granted the City several charters, which considerably increased its importance. Among them was one, "empowering the barons of the City to choose a mayor annually, or to continue the same person from year to year, at their pleasure." In this reign was signed Magna Charta, which, among other advantages, secured to the City all its ancient privileges and free customs.

In the reign of Edward the First, the City was divided into twenty-four wards, to each of which an alderman (chosen by the livery) was assigned; to be assisted in his duties by Common Councilmen, chosen, as at present, by the freemen of the City,

At this time, the Thames flowed up to Holborn-bridge, under which it communicated with the ponds at Clerkenwell. Holborn itself was a small stream called Old bourne. Farringdon-street was the course of the river Fleet; Walbrook was a winding stream through the City, and emptying itself into the Thames at Dowgate: these streams are now all arched over, and form serviceable sewers to receive and carry into the River the contributions from the numerous smaller ones.

The first bridge was thrown across the Thames, about the year 1000; it was of wood, and having been burnt, in 1176 was begun a stone bridge, completed in 1209.

Little alteration seems to have taken place till the reign of Edward IV., when bricks were first made, and used for

:

building but what renders this reign ever memorable is, the first introduction of the art of printing, by William Caxton, citizen and mercer, by whom the first printing-press was set up at Westminster, in 1471.

In the reign of Henry the Eighth, many improvements were made, owing to the internal quiet of the kingdom, which was now fast rising into importance. By the suppression of the monasteries, many extensive buildings and valuable properties were transferred to more active industry: thousands of unwilling captives were set free, and gave an impetus to trade; police regulations were established, nuisances removed, the streets became partially paved, and measures were taken for the better provisioning the town, now rapidly increasing in population.

After this reign, no change took place in the external appearance of the City for a considerable time, every precaution being taken by government to prevent its extension. To these absurd restrictions, the inhabitants were mainly indebted for the quick succession of plagues by which they were visited in subsequent reigns. The last of these, "The Great Plague," which occurred in the reign of Charles II. was the most deplorable in its effects. It broke out in 1665, and raged for thirteen months; families were swept away, whole districts disappeared, desolation spread abroad, the gay and the grave, the proud and the humble, the rich and the poor, were carried off together. Business was at an end, the doors were all closed, and death reigned triumphant through the streets, the silence of which was only broken by the chilling cry, "Bring out your dead!" In the middle of September, more than 12,000 died in one week; in one night, 4,000 died; and altogether 100,000 persons are stated to have perished during this dreadful visitation.

Fortunately for succeeding ages, this was immediately followed by what is emphatically called "The Great Fire" of London, which broke out on the second of September, 1666, and lasted four days, consuming 13,000 houses and eighty-nine churches, or five-sixths of the whole City. It is commemorated by "the Monument," erected on Fish-street-hill.

In little more than four years after "the Great Fire," the City was again rebuilt, in a far better style. Till this period, the houses had been constructed of wood, and thatched with straw, each story projecting as it rose, so that the upper stories nearly met at the top, preventing that free circulation of air which is so necessary to the health of a great town. At the same time the sewers were in a very bad state, and the streets, which were very narrow, and but partially paved, were constantly strewed with filth, engendering noxious and pestilential vapours, that vainly sought an outlet above. This lamentable state of things could hardly have been remedied by any milder influence than the sweeping destruction of this Fire, and therefore we have given it the epithet fortunate.

As after this period London rose rapidly, and extended itself, unchecked by plagues or fires, we shall review it, as presented to us by a map of the reign of Elizabeth, which represents the City (then declared already too large) and its outskirts, with those then distant villages which have since become integral parts of the Metropolis. The present site of St. Katherine's Docks appears to have been its extreme east, Tower hill lying open to the country; the Minories was only built on one side fronting the Wall; Goodman's fields were pasture-grounds, divided by hedge-rows from Spitalfields; Houndsditch consisted of one row of houses, fronting the Wall; and though Bishopsgate-street, Norton-falgate, and Shoreditch, contained rows of houses as far up as Shoreditch church, they were unconnected by any cross streets; Moorfields divided London from Hoxton; and Finsbury fields, extending to Whitecross-street, were dotted with windmills; St. Johnstreet extended only as far as the old Monastery of Clerkenwell: and Cowcross-street opened on the fields. Holborn was at this time a distant village, connected by a line of houses, the backs of which opened on fields, crossed by a part of Gray's-inn-lane. High Holborn was not built, and St. Giles's was a detached village "in the Fields." The whole space between Holborn and the Strand, with the exception of a small portion at the lower

end of Drury-lane, which contained a few houses, was field and garden ground; and from the mansions on the south side of the Strand, the gardens generally extended to the water-side. The site of the present Covent-garden was a garden belonging to the Convent at Westminster, and extending to St. Martin's-lane; the street now called the Haymarket was bounded by fields; Pall-mall, St. James's-street, Piccadilly, with the constant succession of streets, squares, &c., in that part of the town, had no existence; and Westminster was a small town to the south and south-west of St. James's-park. On the opposite side of the River there were very few houses: Southwark extended but a short way down the High-street; along Tooleystreet to Horslydown, the buildings were thinner; the Abbey of Bermondsey was the most important knot of buildings; while London-bridge had a great number of houses on each side, hanging over the water.

Comparing the present aspect of London with the foregoing outline, we cannot help smiling at the narrowminded policy that would have continued it within such limits; yet such was the infatuation of that and succeeding reigns, that it required all the powerful causes which arose out of the times to burst its bounds and extend it into importance.

The increase of commerce by a junction with the Hanseatic Confederacy, the opening of a trade with the Muscovite merchants, the first formation of an American settlement, the establishment of an East India Company, as also a company to trade with Turkey and the Levant, all tended to raise London into considerable importance, and render it the resort of merchants from all quarters.

The religious persecutions in France, and the civil dissensions throughout Flanders, induced thousands to emigrate to London, and its population now rapidly increased. About this time, the first Royal Exchange was built, by the liberality of Sir Thomas Gresham.

It was now found requisite to extend the suburbs, to avoid the evils of a too dense population. Proclamations were set at defiance, and the north-east end became

covered with buildings: Spitalfields were infringed on, West Smithfield became a populous neighbourhood; and the buildings spreading over Clerkenwell, soon formed a junction with Holborn and St. Giles's.

After the fire of 1666, London increased still more rapidly. The greatest portion of the old town having been destroyed, a new plan was adopted; houses were no longer allowed to be built of wood, and the streets were laid out more regularly and of greater width. Buildings rose thickly in the neighbourhood of Bishopsgate, and Goodman's fields; and the western side of the Minories, or what had been the ditch bounding the ancient wall, was now built.

In the reign of James the Second, the treaties that followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. drove 80,000 French Protestants to England: of these, 13,000 settled in London, in the districts of Long Acre, Seven Dials, Soho, and Spitalfields; all which localities in consequence, rapidly extended.

The parish of St. Ann, Soho, and the streets connecting the east end of Oxford-street with that of St. James's, were the principal additions of importance made to the Metropolis during the reign of William III. But the number of inhabitants, and consequently of private buildings, may be conceived to have been greatly increased in the following reign, from a proclamation in 1711 for the building of fifty new churches in London and its suburbs, to meet the exigencies of an increased population.

From this time houses and public edifices rose in quick and almost marvellous succession, over an incredible extent of hitherto unoccupied ground. The whole of the extensive space from Goodman's fields to Stepney, over Whitechapel-road to Shadwell, became covered with buildings. The London, the St. Katherine's, the East and West India Docks, and the new Victoria Park, have been formed; and the space to Hackney, Bethnal-green, and Mile End, built upon. On the opposite side of the River, the buildings now extend fiom Deptford to Camberwell, Kennington, and Stockwell; to Lambeth, Westmin