THE

HISTORY OF LONDON

BY

WALTER BESANT

AUTHOR OF 'LONDON' 'CHILDREN OF GIBEON' ETC.

SECOND EDITION

LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

1894

All rights reserved

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CONTENTS.

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@27995@[email protected]#Page_63" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">63 19. The Pilgrims 67 20. St. Bartholomew's Hospital 70 21. The Terror of Leprosy 74 22. The Terror of Famine 78 23. St. Paul's Cathedral (I) 82 24. St. Paul's Cathedral (II) 86 25. Paul's Churchyard 91 26. The Religious Houses 95 27. Monks, Friars, and Nuns 100 28. The London Churches 103 29. The Streets 106 30. Whittington (I) 110 31. Whittington (II) 115 32. Whittington (III) 118 33. Gifts and Bequests 121 34. The Palaces and Great Houses 124 35. Amusements 127 36. Westminster Abbey 131 37. The Court at Westminster

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">134 38. Justice and Punishments 137 39. The Political Power of London 140 40. Elizabethan London (I) 144 41. Elizabethan London (II) 147 42. Elizabethan London (III) 151 43. Trade (I) 155 44. Trade (II) 158 45. Trade (III) 164 46. Plays and Pageants (I) 168 47. Plays and Pageants (II) 170 48. Plays and Pageants (III) 173 49. Plays and Pageants (IV) 177 50. The Terror of the Plague (I) 180 51. The Terror of the Plague (II) 183 52. The Terror of Fire (I) 187 53. The Terror of Fire (II) 192 54. Rogues and Vagabonds 197 55. Under George the Second (I) 201 56. Under George the Second (II) 206

57. Under George the Second (III) 210 58. Under George the Second (IV) 214 59. Under George the Second (V) 218 60. The Government of the City (I) 222 61. The Government of the City (II) 226 62. The Government of the City (III) 228 63. London 230 Notes 235

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@27995@[email protected]#Page_54" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">54 18. Old London Bridge 57 19. The Tower of London 61, 64 20. A Bed in the Reign of Henry III. 67 21. Interior of the Hall at Penshurst, Kent 71 22. The Upper Chamber or Solar at Sutton Courtenay Manor-house 73 23. The Lepers Begging 77 24. London before the Spire of St. Paul's was burned; showing the Bridge, Tower, Shipping, &c. 83 25. Old St. Paul's, from the East 85 26. Old St. Paul's on Fire 87 27. West Front of St. Paul's Cathedral Church. (Built by Sir Christopher Wren) 89 28. Paul's Cross 92 29. Bermondsey Abbey 96 30. Ruins of Gateway of Bermondsey Abbey 97 31. Christ's Hospital 99 32. Chepe in the Fifteenth Century 108 33. Large Ship and Boat of the Fifteenth Century 111 34. A Sea-Fight 113 35. Durham, Salisbury, and Worcester Houses 125 36. Bear-baiting 128 37. Shooting at the Butts with the Long-bow 129 38. Tomb of Edward III. in Westminster Abbey 132 39. The Embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover, 1520 141 40. Coaches in the Reign of Elizabeth 148 41. The City from Southwark 150 42. South-east Part of London in the Fifteenth Century, showing the Tower and Wall 153 43. King Edward VI. 159 44. Sir Thomas Gresham 161 45. First Royal Exchange 162 46. Shipping in the Thames, circa 1660 166 47.

Sir Francis Drake, in his Forty-third Year 167 48. The Globe Theatre 179 49. Civil Costume about 1620 181 50. Costume of a Lawyer 181 Ordinary Civil Costume; temp. Charles I.: 51. A Countryman 185 52. A Countrywoman 185 53. A Citizen 187 54. A Citizen's Wife 187 55. A Gentleman 189 56. A Gentlewoman 189 57. Lud-gate on Fire 190 58. Paul Pindar's House 191 59. London, as Rebuilt after the Fire 193 60. Coach of the latter half of the Seventeenth Century 195 61. Waggon of the second half of the Seventeenth Century 195 62. Ordinary Dress of Gentlemen in 1675 197 63. Dress of Ladies of Quality 199 64. Ordinary Attire of Women of the Lower Classes 199 65. Group showing Costumes and Sedan Chair, about 1720 202 66. Temple Bar, London 203 67. Fleet Street and Temple Bar 205 68. A Coach of the Middle of the Seventeenth Century 207 69. View of School connected with Bunyan's Meeting House 209 70. Grenadier in the time of the Peninsular War 211 71. Uniform of Sailors, about 1790 213 72. Costumes of Gentlefolk, about 1784 215 73. Vessels unloading at the Customs House, at the beginning of the Eighteenth Century 217 74. The Old Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, 1803 221

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LONDON

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1. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON.

PART I.

'In the year 1108 B.C., Brutus, a descendant of Æneas, who was the son of Venus, came to England with his companions, after the taking of Troy, and founded the City of Troynovant, which is now called London.

After a thousand years, during which the City grew and flourished exceedingly, one Lud became its king. He built walls and towers, and, among other things, the famous gate whose name still survives in the street called Ludgate. King Lud was succeeded by his brother Cassivelaunus, in whose time happened the invasion of the Romans under Julius Cæsar. Troynovant, or London, then became a Roman city. It was newly fortified by Helena, mother of Constantine the Great.'

This is the legend invented or copied by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and continued to be copied, and perhaps believed, almost to the present day. Having paid this tribute to old tradition, let us relate the true early history of the City, as it can be recovered from such documents as remain, from discoveries made in excavation, from fragments of architecture, and from the lie of the ground. The testimony derived from the lie of the ground is more important than any other, for several reasons. First, an historical document may be false, or inexact; for instance, the invention of a Brutus, son of Æneas, is false and absurd on the face of it. Or a document may be wrongly interpreted. Thus, a fragment of architecture may through ignorance be ascribed to the Roman, when it belongs to the Norman, period—one needs to be a profound student of architecture before an opinion of value can be pronounced upon the age of any monument: or it may be taken to mean something quite apart from the truth, as if a bastion of the old Roman fort, such as has been discovered on Cornhill, should be taken for part of the Roman wall. But the lie of the ground cannot deceive, and, in competent hands, cannot well be misunderstood. If we know the course of streams, the height and position of hills, the run of valleys, the site of marshes, the former extent of forests, the safety of harbours, the existence of fords, we have in our hands a guide-book to history. We can then understand why towns were built in certain positions, why trade sprang up, why invading armies landed at certain places, what course was taken by armies, and why battles have been fought on certain spots. For these things are not the result of chance, they are necessitated by the geographical position of the place, and by the lie of the ground. Why, for instance, is Dover one of the oldest towns in the country? Because it is the nearest landing ground for the continent, and because its hill forms a natural fortress for protecting that landing ground. Why was there a Roman station at Portsmouth? On account of the great and landlocked harbour. Why is Durham an ancient city? Because the steep hill made it almost impregnable. Why is Chester so called? Because it was from very ancient times a fort, or stationary camp (L. castra), against the wild Welsh.