VII 



^ I ""HE London of the past was full of fine old 

 mansions, the abode of the great noblemen who 

 lived there in a certain state. Formerly the custom 

 of hanging out hatchments, which is now so rarely 

 seen, was general. Probably the best description of 

 the significance of these picturesque survivals of a 

 stately age was that once given by an Irishman who, 

 being accosted by a comrade with, " Arrah, Pat, look 

 up ; what is that sign ? " replied, " Oh, botheration, 

 'tis no sign at all, at all, 'tis only a sign that some- 

 body's dead that lives there." 



A number of the aristocracy lived in Lincoln's Inn 

 Fields, which was planned and laid out in the time 

 of Charles the First, one or two of the houses being 

 designed by Inigo Jones, though the greater number 

 were completed at different times afterwards. This 

 square is remarkable from the circumstance that its 

 area is said to be of exactly the same dimensions as 

 the base of the great pyramid of Egypt ; and was 

 laid out of that size after Graves returned from 

 Egypt, and made those dimensions known. The 

 whole of this square, and everything that surrounds 

 it, were built upon St. Clement's Fields. 



Within our own times many of the great town 



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