The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-04 00:00:00

INTRODUCTION.

London is a phenomenon so familiar that we scarcely
appreciate its greatness. It is only when we appeal to the
records of the past, gather together the scattered threads of
topography woven by local inquirers, and call in the aid of
statistics to the task, that we can fairly Estimate the cha-
racter of the wonderful aggregate of towns and villages
which we call London. We sometimes speak with amaze-
ment of the rapid growth of the cities of the New World,
of the development in a few years of a few huts in a Mis•
sissippi swamp or a Canadian clearing into a busy town;
but London furnishes an endless succession of such won-
ders, and we scarcely note the fact. The infallible cen-
sus returns make us acquainted with some surprising
matters. In 1851, London had a population of 2,362,230 ;
in 1861, 0f2,803,034, showing an increment in the decennial
period of 440,798. More people, therefore, live in London
than in the whole of Switzerland or Denmark • more than
twice as many as in Norway, Hanover, or Denmark;
and
nearly as many as in Scotland. When the census was
taken in 1851, there were 305,933 inhabited houses in the
metropolitan district; ten year& later there were 362,890;
the increase therefore was 66,95 T. A comparative view of
other large towns will best enable us to estimate the real
value of this enormous increase. In the number of inha-
bited houses, London has added to itself, within ten years,
nearly another Liverpool, Birmingham, or Manchester
(exclusive of Salford) ; four Nottinghams, Prestons, or
Glasgows ; nearly three Hudderefields or Salfords. The
increase of inhabitants has been very nearly equal to the
entire population of Liverpool, more than equal to that of
Manchester and Salford together, and considerably above
that of two Sheffields. We will put the increase-in a still
more familiar point of view, and say, that in respect otsiZe,
as indicated by the number of inhabited houses, London
adds every year to itself a Cambridge, or Exeter, or North-
ampton, or Plymouth, or Oxford, or Worcester; two
Budfords, or Durhams, or Lancasters ; and in respect of
population, a Coventry, or Derby, or Southampton, or York,
or Swansea ; two Canterburys, or Colchesters, or Lincolns,
or Shrewsburys. In short, nearly one-seventh part of the
entire population of England and Wales reside in the
metropolitan district.
Briefly, then, modern London comprises the old city,
the neighbouring city of Westminster, and six Parlia-
mentary boroughs—Marylebone, Finsbury, and the Tower
Hamlets on the north side of the Thames; and Lambeth,
Southwark, and Greenwich on the south, and several out-
lying districts, now part and parcel of the metropolis. The
city proper, that is, the old Ronsan Londinium and the city
suburbs, or parts without the walls, occupies an area of 725
acres, and contains 97 parishes "within" and 11 "with-
out." The city and Parliamentary boroughs together have
an area of 50 square miles ; and the extensive districts of
Chelsea, Kensington, and Hammersmith are not yet in-
cluded in a borough. Altogether, that agglomeration of
houses which we call Louden, including various suburban
districts, spreads over an area of 122 square miles, 51 of
which are in Middlesex, 36 in Surrey, and 35 in Kent.
Within the limits are comprised 36 registration districts
and poor-law unions, and 186 parishes. There are at least
6,500 streets and lines of road. The religious wants of
the population are provided for by about 470 churches and
episcopal chapels, and 6.50 places of worship belonging to
Roman Catholics, Jews, Protestant Dissenters, and other
denominations. Every day, or rather everynight, 17,000,000
cubic feet of gas are consumed, and 90,000,000 gallons of
water; though it would be unfair to assume that Londoners
are therefore the greatest water-drinkers in the world, for
ne less than 8,000 publichouses and beershops are devoted
to the supply of stronger drinks.
This wonderful aggregation of humanity—this immense
town growing so certainly and rapidly—deserves a better
history of its progress than has yet appeared. Very clever
and industrious men have entered partially on the task,
narrating the growth sof certain legalities, and exploring
ancient records and modern books of archaeological research
for sketches of manners and the architecture of different
epochs. But, as yet, London in its entirety has not been
sketched. We have tried, in the following pages, to bring
the diversified labours of many explorers into a focus, to
add ne slight amount of original research, and, by so doing,
tell a tale that all may read of the growth of the great
city. Starting from the first authentic traces of the British
town, we shall trace briefly, we trust not unattractively,
the history of the splendid Roman city, and how in due
time it included in its metropolitan area, stately Westmins-
ter and busy Southwark, the western fields to Chelsea,
Bayewater, and Hammersmith, the pleasant slopes of
northern Hampstead, merry Islington, Shoreditch and
Hackney, Bethnal Green, Stepney and Poplar, and
stretched even to the slopes of the Kentish and Surrey
Hills, including Greenwich and Camberwell in its vast
domain.

FIRE, PESTILENCE, AND ?'AMINE.

We must now recount some of the terrible calamities
which befel the City in these early days, and necessarily
hindered its progress. No town on the face of the globe has
experienced more appalling visitations. Earthquake ex-
cepted. there is scarce a form of human suffering which the
inhabitants of London did not endure during the four cen.
tunes after the Norman period. We are so accustomed to
hear of the terrors of the Great Plague of 1665, and the
Great Fire of the succeeding year, that we are induced to
ignora the previous fearful pestilences and conflagrations
which time after time almost depopulated the City and re-
duced it to ashes. The more terrible of these visitations
we shall now briefly enumerate. We have already men-
tioned several great fires previous to the destruction of St.
Paul's in 1086. In 1212 a fire broke out at Southwark,
crossed the river, and made fearful havoc. When the
flames had subsided, the charred bodies of 3,000 persons
were found. In 1483, Leadenhall, which was built in 1419
by Alderman Sir Simon Eyre, for a public granary, was
totally destroyed, with many other houses. Storms and
hurricanes, too, did their work. In 1090, 600 houses and
several churches were blown down. In 1439 many houses
were unroofed, and Old Change nearly demolished; and in
February, 1444, a great storm struck down the steeple of
St. Paul's. - -

We have records of eleven awful pestilences, which filled
the streets of the City with the dead and dying. In 1348,
50,000 deaths occurred, and the dead bodies were hastily
carted to spots in the suburbs. Sir Walter de Nanny pur-
chased a plot of ground at a place called Spittle Cross, near
West Smithfield, and gave it for a cemetery. In after
years the same Sir Walter de Nanny established there a
monastery for the monks of the Chartreuse, out of which
grew the present Charterhouse ; but for very many years
after the monks took possession a stone cross with a Latin
inscription reminded the passers-by of the plague-stricken
thousands who mouldered below. In 1361,th 0
e 1,100
0e
17-enswere carried off in two days, among them
Lan-
caster; and so great was the fright that King Edward
111. prohibited the slaughtering of .
in the streets, and
as the putrified blood and entrails 4
we Pestilence carried off,
contri-
bute to the sickness. Thies rrt
July, te57,374 persons; Paris lost
draining into the Thames, wore jus'tiln'gsupposed to
between January and
d. Five years later there was
50,000 in the same
period.
30,000 of the inhabitants were
another -visitation.
.., Henry IV., fled appalled to Leeds
1478, the plague again broke
In September,
months with terrible results. Anew
for 14
Castle,
Bent.off, an d the
out, and raged
ca appeared in 1485, known as the sweating
d ayors six aldermen, three sheriffs,
sickness.
ognseiftkhni
red
of
the
ands of the citizens fell victims to the ter-
form of pestTil
and many thous
.1.
ears afterwards 3
nt. Fi teen y , 0,000 persons
ribla visits
off
and floury VI
itlnislselsBtirothateedswtehaatitn
carried by plague; I. removed with
were carrsevuo 101 m t .
hissickness Once
more
were carried off. In 1521 and 1525,plague •
population . again
latteryear, Henryraged ; and, in the — -VIII. retreated to
C eurtt
appeared, Calms.an d
Eltham. Our last record refers to 1528, when, for the last
time, the fatal and mysterious sweating sickness again
visited London, with terrible results. Added to these
appalling calamities, were occasional famines, caused by
bad harvest,. In 1258, 20,000 died of absolute starvation
in the streets of London . and in 1270, so terriblo was the
want, that, if we may believe old Fleetwood, the horrors of
besieged Jerusalem were renewed in London ; for, says he,
"parents did eat their own children !"

IVOLSEY'S GATE-HOUSE.
Just through the Bar, on the right hand side of Fleet-
street (opposite the lane leading to Lincoln's Inn, and bear-
ing the name of Chancery), is the gate-house at the end of
the passage leading to the Middle Temple.. This gate-house
was built by Sir Amiss Panlet, as a fine imposed by Cardi-
nal Wolsey. When Wolsey was a young and a poor man,
parson of Lymington, he had offended tnr Amiss, who, say
the old biographers of the cardinal, put him into the stocks.
Fifteen years afterwards, Wolsey was the greatest man in
England, and ordered his old persecutor to come to London,
where he lived in a state of semi-captivity for six years. He
ornamented the front of the house With coats of arms, Car-
dinals' hats, and other devices ; and, not being possessed of
the spirit of prophecy, could
wa
not foresee that, in 300 years'
time, a hairdresser a hyely agiwtim would dignify his

penal house with the style of a "palace, of Henry VIII, and
Cardinal Wolsey."

AN ENGLISH SLAVE MART.
gThere wore two fairs held at Tothill Fields ; one, Meg.
len's fair, lasting three days ; and another, lasting, 31
d4l4.kastituted by a grant from Edward 111. These fairs
cl"
were oaditless scenes of great debauchery, winked at for
profit's sake by the chapter, who took the lion's share of the
proceeds. James 1., however, suppressed the fairs. In
1618 a Bridewell—much wanted in the neighbourhood, wa
should think—was erected in Tothill Fields. In earlier
times there had- been joustings and other sports ; wagers
of battle were held there, and sorcerers and witches
punished. During the raging of the great plague pest-
houses (standing about 40 years since) were built, and the
dead buried in great numbers; and in 1651 the Scotch pri-
soners, taken by Cromwell, were publicly sold in Tothill
Fields to several merchants, who sent them as slaves to the
Barbadoes ; not, however, until some 1,200 men, worn en,
and children, who had sunk under their sufferings, were
buried in theet'ields. We may mention, incidentally. that
somewhat to 'the west of the Sanctuary, stood, in Queen
Mary's time-, a storehouse of ordnance, and a narrow pas.
sage leading to it was named Storehouse Gate, since core
rup/entito Storey's Gate.
; • "
PRIMROSE-HILL OF OLD.
As we stand on the sumit of Primrose-hill, to the north
of the Regent's-park, it is not very easy to realize the idea,
that in the Saxon days a dense forest reached almost to the
city boundaries. This forest of Middlesex, as it was called,
was the lair of wild bulls, stags, terrific boars, such as the
adventurous hunter now meets with in the German or Po-
lish forests, and packs of wolves. It is a popular mistake
that the last-named animals were extirpated by King Edgar
in the tenth century. They were numerous in Britain for
centuries after that monarch's bones were laid in Glaston-
bury Abbey, and the citizens of Saxon London might
sometimes hear, in the stillness of the night, the long,
dreadful howl of the hungry beasts, as they prowled around
the fields lying between the city walls and the tangled forest
beyond. Thieves and outlaws, too, driven for their crimes)
from the abodes of civilised men, lurked in the forest ree
cesses, meet companions for the savage brutes around them.
It is supposed that the old Roman Watling-street had cut
a way through this wild district, and travellers frorn the
north might congratulate themselves if, having escaped
the fierce beasts of prey, they reached London with whole
skins and unrobbed pouches. There was fine hunting in
those days, we may be sure, when, with horse and hound,
brand and hunting-spear, the Saxon thanes and ealdermen
rode through the forest towards Hanae.stetkl, in pursuit of
stag or boar. Towards the end of the twelfth century,
Fitastephen a faithful chronickx, with a poetic taste, thus describes the north-western. suburb :—" On the north tare
cornfields, pastures, and delightful meadows, interrnixed
with pleasant streams, on which stand many a mill, whose
fullie
fcol ar ee
ofak
t i
etshxset oe
Ina
.7:esai
at f ut
ns
edll toobveet
ahr
ute:jeofafo
beasts
withsßt
se yawonnododdgtsahma
ve me:a,
satnaggroves,sm,
bucks,m e anns
afforested in 1218, about forty years after Fitzstephen
boars, and wild bulls." The forest of Middlesex was dis-
wrote ; but Hampstead was retained as a royal preserve,
andll the heath is mentioned in a proclamation by Henry
stime
pa for preserving game for the royal "disport and
."

ORIGIN OF " 1/AORNEY COACRII6."
Before quitting Hank:l/w, wo will devote a few lines to
the correction of a popular mi,take. Our young readers
scarcely know what a hackney-coach was like. They have
heard, of course, of the creaking, dirty, slow vehicles, with
many-caped drunken drivers, which flourished in Loudon
before Shillibeer invented the omnibus, or cabs were
known. It is very generally believed, and, indeed, stated
in standard histories of London, that these hired vehicles
were called hackney-coaches because they were first em-
ployed on the road to Hackney, in conveying genteel citi-
zens to their suburban homes. This is a great mistake.
Th
anie wordh hackneymay be
traced to the Dutch, -French,
Sp s, and Italian languages. In our own tongue it is
at least as old as Chaucer and Froissart, who borrowed it
from the French haquenee, a slow-paced nag. Froissart
says, in one of those glorious chronicles which fired the
blood of Claverhouse, " The knights are well horsed, and
the common people and others on litell hakeneys and gel-
dynges." The word subsequently acquired the meaning
of " let for hire," and was soon applied to other matters
than horses. In " Love's Labour Lost," Shakspeare says,
" Your love, perhaps, is 'a hacknie." In " Htnlibras" we
meet with " a broom, the nag and hackney of a Lapland
hag." Pope calls himself " a hackney scribbler." Addi-
son and Steele, in the " Spectator" and " Tatler," speak
of " driving in a hack ;" and we surely remember the
hackney-coach in which Sir Roger de Coverley went to
Westminster Abbey. Hogarth gave the expressive name of
" Kate Hackabout" to the poor harlot:whose progress ho
depicted. Cooper, in the " Task," uses " hackneyed" as
an active verb ; and Churchill employs it is an adjective.
So, there are authorities enough for the meaning of " hack-
ney ;" and the pleasant village, now the centre of a subur-
ban town, must be deprived of the honour of the invention
of hackney-coaches.
These will give some idea of the variety of matter
which the volume contains. It will be found in-
valuable by those who wish to have something
more than a mere vague idea of the rise and progress
of the greatest city in the world. It possesses an
excellent index ; and its extremely moderate price
will place it within the reach of all:

Bodge Podge. Routledge.
This is an exceedingly amusing little volume,
well calculated for the merry time of Christmas.
It consists of fairy tales, poetry, conundrums, jokes,
riddles, and humorous tales, and the price at which
it ie published will no doubt ensure it a very exten-
sive circulation. While the volume is cheap its
contents are unexceptionally good.

Hand Catalogue of Postage Stamps. Hardwicke.
In order to assist collectors of postage stamps
this book has bun compiled by S. E. Gray, Esq.,
and it will be found of great service to them, as it
contains a full description of every postage stamp
at present in existence.

KELLY'S POST-OFFICE DIRECTORY
FOR 1863.

Messrs. Kelly have just published the sixty-
fourth edition of the London Directory, and, like
all its predecessors, the volume still continues to
increase. Last year the volume contained no less
than 2,526 pages, but the present consists of 2,574.
Amongst the new features of the work, and one
which will be found exceedingly convenient, is the
introduction of a guide to the ready use of the
several divisions of the book; and such is the care
with which this improvement has been carried out,
that the required information can be obtained in a
few seconds. Another addition is the insertion of
a list of vestry clerks and a statement of the
populatiou of the several districts. The corrections
have been carried down until within a few days of
publication, so, while we have a book of universal
commercial importance, we, at the same time,
have one of remarkable precision, From the hasty
reference we have made of the volume we can tes-
tify to the correctness of its contents. The book is
a substantial and wonderful proof of the energy,
talent, and perseverance of its enterprising pub-
lishers.