170 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



the City and Westminster became one ; Greenwich and Woolwich arc attached to 

 their powerful neighbour by bands of houses ; and Croydon, Wimbledon, Putney, 

 Hichmond, Kingston, lirenttbrd, and other more remote towns and villages are on 

 the point of losing their individual character and becoming suburbs of the all- 

 devouring city. We smile now when told of the severe edict published 

 bv Queen Elizabeth which forbade the erection of any building wluitsoever within 

 3 miles of London and Westminster, and required the demolition of all sheds 

 constructed within the previous seven years, and of all buildings not then completed. 

 And vet in 1602, when the Queen, dreading the mischief likely to arise from a 

 further increase of the metropolis, sought to stop it for ever after by her edict, 

 London had not the fifteenth part of its present population. Actually the 25,000 

 streets of London, if placed end to end, would stretch across Europe and Asia as 

 far as the southern extremity of British India. 



In the course of its expansion, at the expense of fields, meadows, and woods, 

 London, like Paris, has converted its streams and rivulets into covered sewers. 

 The Fleet has disappeared altogether, but its ancient course can still be traced by 

 following the low-lying streets in ihe western part of the City. The Old Bourne, 

 now corrupted into Holborn, was one of its feeders, and by its mouth the 

 Thames formed a small harbour. The winding rivulet, on the banks of which 

 stood Tvburn Tree, so often referred to in the history of England, has likewise 

 disappeared for the greater part of its course, but it continues to feed a pretty 

 sheet of water in Hyde Park. In the heart of London we only meet with a few 

 trees to remind us of external nature, but the names of streets and districts, such 

 as Hatton Garden, Spitallields, and others, recall a time when there existed 

 gardens famous for their roses and strawberries, and preserves in which the Lord 

 Mayor and the Aldermen hunted the stag.* Most of the modern quarters of the 

 town are laid out in such a manner as to enclose here and there a bit of veritable 

 country, with clumps of trees, shrubberies, carefully kept lawns, and herds of 

 browsing sheep. To these parks f and squares, and to the thousands of gardens 

 attached to private houses, the town is indebted for much pure air and light. The 

 removal of the primitive fortifications which formerly engirdled the City has 

 allowed London to expand freely in all directions. Instead of raising tenement 

 upon tenement, as in Paris, houses of moderate size have been reared side by side, 

 and onlv in the business quarters has space been utilised to the full extent of its 

 capacity. Thus, though the population of London is only double that of Paris, 

 the area it covers is at least five times as great, and its inhabitants obtain a larger 

 supply of respirable air. On an average every house in London is inhabited by 

 seven or eight persons.^ 



* Thornbury and Walford, " Old and New London." 



t The thirteen parks of London cover an area of 2,223 acres — tlie West-end parks, from Whitehall 

 to Kensington, embracing 788 acres. 



X Average number of persons to each inhabited house in the metropolitan counties : — 



ISil. 1861. 1871. 



Middlesex 7-9 7-9 7 9 



Surrey ..... 6'3 6"4 G'5 



Kent ô"7 5-8 5"6 



England and Wales . . . oo ô"4 6'3 



