centre of the life of the city--as was
Silchester so was London.

[Illustration: _Walker & Boutallse._

ROMAN LONDON.]

Outside the Citadel the rude British town--if it was still a rude
town--disappeared rapidly. The security of the place, strongly
garrisoned, the extension of Roman manners, the introduction of Roman
customs, dress, and luxuries gave a great impetus to the development of
the City. The little ports of the rivers Walbrook and Fleet no longer
sufficed for the shipping which now came up the river; if there were as
yet no quays or embankments they were begun to be erected; behind them
rose warehouses and wharves. The cliff began to be cut away; a steep
slope took its place; its very existence was forgotten. The same thing
has happened at Brighton, where, almost within the memory of living man,
a low cliff ran along the beach. This embankment extended east and
west--as far as the Fleet River, which is now Blackfriars, on the west,
and what is now Tower Hill on the east. Then, the trade still
increasing, the belt of ground behind the embankment became filled with
a dense population of riverside people--boatmen, sailors, boat-builders,
store-keepers, bargemen, stevedores, porters--all the people who belong
to a busy mercantile port. As for the better sort, they lived round the
Citadel, protected by its presence, in villas, remains of which have
been found in many places.

The two things which most marked the Roman occupation were London Wall
and Bridge. Of the latter we will speak in another place. The wall was
erected at a time between A.D. 350 and A.D. 369--very near the end of
the Roman occupation. This wall remained the City wall for more than a
thousand years; it was rebuilt, repaired, restored; the scanty remains
of it--a few fragments here and there--contain very little of the
original wall; but the course of the wall was never altered, and we know
exactly how it ran. There was first a strong river wall along the
northern bank. There were three water gates and the Bridge gate; there
were two land gates at Newgate and Bishopsgate. The wall was 3 miles and
205 yards long; the area enclosed was 380 acres. This shows that the
population must have been already very large, for the Romans were not
accustomed to erect walls longer than they could defend.

4. ROMAN LONDON.

PART II.

We must think of Roman London as of a small stronghold on a low hill
rising out of the river. It is a strongly-wal