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CHAPTEK II. 



THE LIBERTY OF ST. MARTIN's-LE-GRAND. 



If I can only boast of two hours' acquaintance with 

 the General Post-Office in Lombard Street, at any 

 rate I have spent twenty years under the roof of its 

 successor, and twenty more within the walls of the 

 second post-office in the Liberty of St. Martin's-le- 

 Grand. As for the third office, just completed, rooms 

 were prepared in it for occupation by the branch of 

 the department in my charge, but, although I saw the 

 building grow up under my eyes, I have never set foot 

 within its walls. 



The selection of St. Martin' s-le-Grand as the site of 

 the new Post-Office, gave great satisfaction to owners 

 of property there, and was approved on all hands. It 

 enjoyed, justly enough, the reputation of being one of 

 the worst parts of London. Those who recollect, as 

 I do. Seven Dials in its palmy days of dirt and 

 dissipation, of racket and rascality, will have no 

 difficulty in realizing the state of some parts of the 

 Liberty of St. Martin' s-le-Grand in the first years of 

 this century. 



