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قراءة كتاب The Lure of Old London
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THE LURE OF OLD LONDON
BY
SOPHIE COLE
AUTHOR OF
"A LONDON POSY," "THE LOITERING HIGHWAY," ETC.
WITH 8 ILLUSTRATIONS
MILLS & BOON, LIMITED
49 RUPERT STREET
LONDON, W. 1
Published 1921
FROM MILLS & BOON'S LIST
—
BY CHELSEA REACH
By REGINALD BLUNT
With 24 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net
MY SOUTH AFRICAN YEAR
By CHARLES DAWBARN
With 30 Illustrations from Photographs. Demy 8vo.
10s. 6d. net
SOMERSET NEIGHBOURS
By ALFRED PERCIVALL
Demy 8vo. 8s. 6d. net
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
By FRANK ILSLEY PARADISE
With a Frontispiece. Crown 8vo. 5s. net
THE STREET THAT RAN AWAY
By ELIZABETH CROLY
With 4 Illustrations in Colour. Crown 8vo. 5s. net
LETTERS TO MY GRANDSON
ON THE WORLD ABOUT HIM
By the Hon. STEPHEN COLERIDGE
Crown 8vo. 4s. net
SWITZERLAND IN WINTER
By WILL and CARINE CADBY
With 24 Illustrations. F'cap, 8vo. 4s. net
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
- WAX EFFIGIES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH AND CHARLES THE SECOND 16
- From a photograph by D. Weller
- GREAT ST. HELEN'S 47
- From a photograph by the Autotype Company
- THE CHARTERHOUSE 50
- From a photograph by the Autotype Company
- A BIT OF OLD SMITHFIELD 57
- From a photograph by the Autotype Company
- DR. JOHNSON'S HOUSE IN GOUGH SQUARE 69
- GREAT CHEYNE ROW AND CARLYLE'S HOUSE 89
- From a photograph by Hedderley, circa 1860
- THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL 117
- From a photograph by the Autotype Company
- BERWICK MARKET 136
- From a photograph by the Autotype Company
TO
THE FRIEND WHO WANDERED WITH ME IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GEORGE AND MRS. DARLING
PREFACE
PEOPLE who are kind enough to read my stories sometimes tell me they like them on account of their London atmosphere. This is reassuring, because London is, to me, what "King Charles' head" was to "Mr. Dick," and when my publisher suggested that I should write this volume I mounted my hobby-horse with glee.
The objects of the journeys recorded were chosen haphazard. With a myriad places clamouring for notice, and each place brimful of interest, one takes the first that comes, reflecting that what one doesn't see to-day can be seen to-morrow, regretful only that, no matter how many to-morrows may remain, there will not be enough to exhaust the charms of London. London has moods for each hour and surprises round every corner. It may be the enchantress, or the "stony-hearted step-mother," but one part it can never play—that of the bore. "Strange stories," says Walter Thornbury, in his introduction to "Old and New London," "about strange men grow like moss in every crevice of the bricks." To people the streets with the shades of those "strange men" is a fascinating pastime which I owe, in large measure, to the guidance of that wonderful and inexhaustible book.
If, in this humble little volume of my own, I dared aspire to do anything more than please myself, it would be to share with some lovers of London those moods of curious happiness which one finds in the haunts of London's ghosts.
CHAPTER I
WHEN the Countess of Corbridge sent the quarterly cheque for fifty pounds to her brother, the Hon. George Tallenach, she always addressed the envelope to Carrington Mansions, Mayfair. As a matter of fact, the Honourable George lived in Carrington Mews, Shepherd Market, and derived a certain ironic pleasure from the contemplation of his sister's snobbishness. But then the