LONDON. 179 



and bank presents the least difficulties. It results from this that the centre of London 

 is continually gravitating towards the west. The Roman milestone which may still 

 be seen in the wall of St. Swithin's Church, opposite Cannon Street station, and which 

 probably marked the spot w^hence the roads from Londiniuni to the other towns of 

 Britain diverged, no longer occupies the centre of London, nor does the City. 

 As to the latter, it by no means presents that aspect of antiquity which might bo 

 expected. London is essentially a modern town, even in those parts w'hich 

 occupy the site of the Roman Londinium, six-sevenths of its area having been 

 devastated by the great fire of 1666, commemorated by a monumental column 

 near London Bridge. This fire destroyed over 13,000 houses, 85 churches, and the 

 Guildhall, and there now remain, independently of the Tower, only a few buildings 

 anterior in date to the seventeenth century. Most prominent amongst these are 

 St. Bartholomew's Church, portions of which belong to the time of Henry I. ; the 

 beautiful round church in the Temple, constructed between 1185 and 1240; and 

 St. John's Gate, which belonged to a hospital of the Knights of St. John. Another 

 old church is tliat of St. Saviour's, Southwark, near the southern end of London 

 Bridge. The old walls which formerly surrounded the City have likewise disap- 

 peared, the last remaining gate, that of Temple Bar, having been demolished quite 

 recently, on account of its impeding the traffic which flows through the Strand into 

 Fleet Street. It was on Temple Bar that heads of traitors were exposed to the 

 public gaze w'ithin the last century. The gate used to be closed whenever the 

 sovereign approached the City, the Lord Mayor waiting on the City side, 

 prepared to make over to him his sword of office, vvhich he was expected 

 graciously to return. 



The City, like the central quarter of Paris, contains a considerable number of 

 public buildings, but its most striking edifices are banks, warehouses, and offices. 

 These palatial structures of granite, marble, or brick, five or six stories in height, 

 are situated, for the most part, jn narrow and winding streets and alleys. 

 During the night many of them are left in the care of housekeepers or of 

 the police. Early in the morning thousands of men take the road towards 

 the City from all the suburbs of London, from the towns in its neighbourhood, 

 and even from Brighton. The trains deposit their freights in the stations 

 near the Bank, omnibuses contribute their due contingent of passengers, and 

 the streets swarm with life. More than a million of human being-s then crowd 

 this hive of industry. As the evening approaches the tide begins to retire. 

 Trains, omnibuses, and steamers fill once more, but this time they carry their 

 passengers away from the City. There remain then hardly over 70,000 

 residents, where only a few hours before commercial aflairs of interest to the 

 entire world had been dealt with. More than 2,000 houses stand almost 

 empty. The number of residents decreases with every decade, and the City is 

 more and more becoming exclusively a place of business.* But it is not merely 



* Population and inhabited houses of the Citv : — 



1801 . . . . 16,008 houses, 128,833 inhabitants. 



1861 .... 13,298 „ 112,063 „ 



1871 .... 5,309 „ 74,732 „ 



