ocers; and
so forth. West Chepe is the place of shops where they sell the things
made in the City and all things wanted for the daily life.

On the other side of the Walbrook, across which there is a bridge where
is now the Poultry, is East Chepe, whither they bring all kinds of
imported goods and sell them to the retailers: and by the river side the
merchants assemble in the open places beside Queenhithe and Billingsgate
to receive or to buy the cargoes sent over from France, Spain, and the
Low Countries. One more open space there was, that round St. Paul's,
the place where the people held their folkmotes. But London was not, as
yet, by any means built over. Its northern parts were covered with
gardens. It was here, as we shall see, that the great monasteries were
shortly to be built.

[Illustration: LAY COSTUMES IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.]

14. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY.

PART II.

Outside the walls, he says, there were many places of pleasant resort,
streams and springs among them. He means the Fleet River winding at the
bottom of its broad valley: farther west Tyburn and Westbourne: on the
south the Wandle, the Effra, the Ravensbourne. There was a well at
Holywell in the Strand--it lies under the site of the present Opera
Comique Theatre: and at Clerkenwell: these wells had medicinal or
miraculous properties and there were, no doubt, taverns and places of
amusement about there. At Smithfield--or Smooth Field--just outside the
City walls, there was held once a week--on Friday--a horse fair.
Business over, horse racing followed. Then the river was full of fish:
some went fishing for their livelihood: some for amusement: salmon were
plentiful and great fish such as porpoises sometimes found their way
above Bridge.

Then there were the sports of the young men and the boys. They played at
ball--when have not young men played at ball? The young Londoners
practised some form of hockey out of which have grown the two noble
games of cricket and golf. They wrestled and leaped. Nothing is said
about boxing and quarterstaff. But perhaps these belonged to the
practice of arms and archery, which were never neglected, because at any
moment the London craftsman might have to become a soldier. They had
cock fighting, a sport to which the Londoner was always greatly
addicted. And they loved dancing with the girls to the music of pipe and
tabor. In the winter, when the broad fens north of the walls were
frozen,