ADVERTISEMENT. SOON after the original publication of this work in five volumes, it was suggested to the Editor, that a TOUR of the METROPOLIS and of the two UNIVERSITIES, with some account of the most fashionable BATHING and WATERINGPLACES, which were only casually noticed or wholly omitted in the previous volumes, would be a valuable addition. This hint he adopted; and has revised and enlarged the work acordingly. The list of market-towns, and their distances. from London, and the copious indexes, cannot fail to be useful and acceptable to every description of readers. TOUR OF 7 LONDON, BY THOMAS PENNANT, Esq. WHETHER we regard London as the emporium of the world, or the capital of the British empire, in every possible point of view, it will deserve and demand attention. Mr. Pennant, whose course is now honourably terminated; but to whose labours his country will ever be indebted, presented the public, some years ago, with the most popular description of this vast city ever written; and we have been proud to follow such a distinguished guide, as far as existing circumstances and the limits of our plan will permit. Our work indeed is intended for general use, and therefore it cannot reasonably be expected that we should enter into details, which in the particular historiaa are indispensably necessary. This we premise, less to gain the favour of our readers, than to obviate plausible objections which might be stated against our compendious account. At the time of Caesar's arrival in the island, London was the capital of the Trinobantes, or Trinovantes, one of the many small nations into which Britain was formerly divided. They had come so lately from Belgium, that they seem scarcely to have been firmly established in Britain, at the time of the first Roman invasion. For their new city, which soon after became so famous, was then so inconsiderable, that it is not mentioned by Cæsar, though he must have been within sight of the place where it was situated. The inhabitants submitted, however, to the conqueror: but soon became weary of extorted obedience to their new masters; and joined in the great revolt of the Britons under Boadicea, in the year 61, and shared very deeply in the miseries of that insurrection. From that time, the Trinobantes remained in peaceable subjection to the Romans, as long as they continued in the island. That sagacious people soon fixed their eyes on the new town of the Trinobantes; and observing its admirable situation for health, for pleasure, and for trade, great numbers of them settled in it, and gave it the name of LONDINIUM, from its situation, and of Augusta, from its grandeur. In the reign of Nero, as Tacitus informs us, London was become a city highly famous for the great conflux of merchants, her extensive commerce, and plenty of all things. No fewer than seven of the fourteen journeys (Itinera) of Antoninus, begin or end at London; which tends to corroborate the many proofs which might be adduced, that this city was the capital of Britain, even in the Roman times. An immense forest originally extended to the river-side, and even as late as the reign of Henry II. covered the northern neighbourhood of the city, and was filled with various species of beasts of chace. It was defended naturally by fosses; one formed by the creek which ran along Fleet-ditch, the other, afterwards known by that of Walbrook. The south side was guarded by the Thames. The north they |