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one house ; empty houses built within seven years were not to be 

 let; and unfinished buildings on new foundations were to be 

 pulled down. (A good way to prevent overcrowding and specu- 

 lative building ! !) In spite of these restrictions, London continued 

 to grow. St. Giles was literally a village in the fields ; Piccadilly 

 was the "way to Reading;" Oxford Street the way to Uxbridge; 

 Covent Garden an open field or garden. Citizens went to Holborn 

 or Bloomsbury for change of air. The Strand was filled with 

 noble mansions washed by the waters of the Thames, but the 

 street was Httle used by pedestrians. Londoners frequented the 

 river, which was the great highway. The banks were crowded 

 with stairs for boats, and the watermen of that day answered to 

 the chairmen of a later date, and to the cabmen of to-day. 



In the Stuart period, from the accession of James to the death 

 of Queen Anne, greater changes occurred than at any other period. 

 In the early years, much of the life of the time was in the city ; 

 but in the later years, at the beginning of the i8th century, social 

 life had permanently shifted to the West-end. The civil wars and 

 the fire changed the whole aspect of London. For years past the 

 sanitary condition of the houses must have been most deplorable, 

 and the plague and other diseases were constantly appearing, until 

 the great fire cleared away all the abominable buildings, which 

 were the centre of infection. 



Befor leaving the reign of James I., it is interesting to note one 

 or two social matters. The Moorfields had been drained and laid 

 out, but beggars frequented the place, and travellers to London 

 passed over it as rapidly as possible. Fleet Street was the show 

 place of London puppets, wild men, and wild beasts. The great 

 meeting place for Londoners was the nave of old St. Paul's. 

 Crowds of merchants with their hats on transacted business in its 

 aisles, and used the font as a counter on which to make payments ; 

 lawyers received clients at their several pillars; and masterless 

 serving men waited to be engaged on their own particular bench. 

 Besides those who came on business, there were gallants in fashion- 

 able finery, so that it was worth a tailor's while to stand behind a 

 pillar and take notes. When the cathedral was being re-built. Sir 



