Leigh's new picture of London; or, A view of the ... British metropolis [ed. by S.C.].

HISTORY OF LONDON, TRACING THE ORIGIN and FOUN DATION OF THE City, WITH THE RISE and PROGRESS of its PRIVILEGES and IMMUNITIES; the GROWTH and CHARACTER of SOVEREIGN Power, Foreign and DOMESTIC; and THE GRADUAL EXTENSION of THE BRITISH METROPOLIS.

THE fables of Geoffrey of Monmouth with regard to the origin of London, are unworthy of the consideration of the well-informed antiquary; but, nevertheless, there is no doubt that it was a city or fortified hold of the Britons, before the Roman invasion. Cæsar's Commentaries mention Civitas Trinobantum, the district inhabited by the Trinobantes, or Trinovantes, and called so, it is imagined, from the situation of their country on the broad expanse of water formed by the Thames Ammianus Marcellinus, who calls London Augusta Tri

That London was founded by Brute, a descendant of the Trojan Eneas, and called New Troy, or Troy-novant, until the time of Lud, who surrounded it with walls and gave it the name of Caer Lud, or Lud's Town, &c., all which may be considered as mere romance.

nobantum, mentions it as an ancient town, once called Lundinium. Pennant adds many corroborating particulars, founded on the etymology of appellations still in use, particularly Dowgate, Dur, or Watergate, the traiectus, a ferry from Surry to the celebrated Watlingstreet, which is now believed to have been a British road before it was the Pretorian way of the Romans.

Some writers suppose the word LONDON to be derived from the British Llong, a ship, and Din, a town; but as the city was not then celebrated as being the resort of shipping, the prior appellation is with more probability deemed to have been Llyn-Din, or the town on the lake: Llyn being the old British term for a broad expanse of water, or lake; and such appearance must have been strikingly exhibited, when all the low grounds on the Surry side of the river were overflowed, as well as those extending from Wapping Marsh to the Isle of Dogs. The transition from Llyn-Din to LONDON would be of easy growth; and such derivation is supported by referring to ancient words, the meaning of which is known, as well as by the strong probability already pointed out. The name Augusta is evidently Roman. Antiquaries have said it was so called in honour of Constantine the Great's mother, or from the Legio Secunda Augusta, which is known to have been stationed in London; but it was, doubtless, on account of its becoming the CAPITAL of the conquered province, as Triers in Germany was, for the same reason, called Augusta Treverorum; Basil, Augusta Rauracorum, &c.

The first mention of London, by a Roman author, occurs in the annals of Tacitus, where that writer details the spirited revolt of the insulted British queen Boadicea, He says, "that about the year 61, Londinium, or Colonia Augusta, was the chief residence of merchants, and the great mart of trade and commerce, though not dignified with the name of a Colony." Dr. Gale, on the authority of Ptolemy, is of opinion, that the Roman London was on the south side of the Thames, the site of which is now beginning to lose the name of St. George's Fields. It is, however, well known that this spot remained a marsh almost within the present century, cer

« Назад Продовжити »

Книги

Leigh's new picture of London; or, A view of the ... British metropolis [ed ...