tions; we shall prune away only the superfluous; we
shall condense anecdotes only where we think we can make them pithier
and racier. We will neglect no fact that is interesting, and blend
together all that old Time can give us bearing upon London. Street by
street we shall delve and rake for illustrative story, despising no
book, however humble, no pamphlet, however obscure, if it only throws
some light on the celebrities of London, its topographical history, its
manners and customs. Such is a brief summary of our plan.

St. Paul's rises before us with its great black dome and stately row of
sable columns; the Tower, with its central citadel, flanked by the
spear-like masts of the river shipping; the great world of roofs spreads
below us as we launch upon our venturous voyage of discovery. From
Boadicea leading on her scythed chariots at Battle Bridge to Queen
Victoria in the Thanksgiving procession of yesterday is a long period
over which to range. We have whole generations of Londoners to defile
before us--painted Britons, hooded Saxons, mailed Crusaders, Chaucer's
men in hoods, friars, citizens, warriors, Shakespeare's friends,
Johnson's companions, Goldsmith's jovial "Bohemians," Hogarth's
fellow-painters, soldiers, lawyers, statesmen, merchants. Nevertheless,
at our spells they will gather from the four winds, and at our command
march off to their old billets in their old houses, where we may best
cross-examine them and collect their impressions of the life of their
times.

The subject is as entertaining as any dream Imagination ever evoked and
as varied as human nature. Its classification is a certain bond of
union, and will act as an excellent cement for the multiform stones with
which we shall rear our building. Lists of names, dry pedigrees, rows of
dates, we leave to the herald and the topographer; but we shall pass by
little that can throw light on the history of London in any generation,
and we shall dwell more especially on the events of the later centuries,
because they are more akin to us and are bound to us by closer
sympathies.

CHAPTER I.

ROMAN LONDON.

Buried London--Our Early Relations--The Founder of London--A
distinguished Visitor at Romney Marsh--Caesar re-visits the "Town on the
Lake"--The Borders of Old London--Caesar fails to make much out of the
Britons--King _Brown_--The Derivation of the name of London--The Queen
of the Iceni--London Stone and London Roads--