68 London Stone. 



fashion ; the old Romans were accustomed to erect upon their roads 

 pillars to designate the miles ; London Stooe was without dispute on 

 an old Roman road ; therefore, it was a pillar to designate the miles. 

 But after Stow and after Camden, came the great fire of London, and 

 that revealed many things that had been concealed for ages ; and among 

 other things it brought to light the foundations of this old relic. Sir 

 Christopher Wren was employed to rebuild many of the churches 

 burned down in the fire, and his opportunities to examine London un- 

 der ground were exceptional and well improved. In his improvements 

 he uncovered the foundations of London Stone, and so vast and ex- 

 tensive were they, that he was forced to the opinion that they must 

 have supported a building or monument more extensive even than a 

 central milliarium ; and because of this extensive foundation it is stated 

 in the Parentalia " that it might in some degree have imitated the 

 milliarium aureum at Constantinople, which was not in the form of a 

 conical pillar as at Rome, but an eminent building ; for under its roof, 

 according to Cedrenus and Suidas, stood the statues of Constantine and 

 Helena, Trajan, an ecpuestrian statue of Hadrian, a statue of Fortune, 

 and many other figures and decorations." 



But it will be noticed that in all these surmises, no reason whatever 

 is given for a very curious state of facts ; the Londoners have rever- 

 enced this old stone for years, and even now protect the small piece that 

 remains with a jealous care ; does the fact that it is an old milestone, 

 whether patterned after the one at Rome or Constantinople, account 

 for this? they do not so reverence the Roman Bath in the Strand, nor 

 do they preserve under cover the piece of the old Roman wall discov- 

 ered on Tower Hill. Shakespeare in his history of King Henry VI 

 throws some light on this matter, and we need not fear to quote him, 

 because he has in this instance followed the history of Holinshed who 

 was a Londoner and knew whereof he affirmed. It was in 1450 when 

 Jack Cade arrived in England from Ireland and put himself at the 

 head of the great popular movement, at the time when the excitement 

 against the government was at its highest pitch. He assumed the 

 name of Mortimer and claimed to be a descendant of the Duke of 

 York. The men of Kent followed him and he led fifteen or twenty 

 thousand of them toward London. From the fields of Blackheath he 

 sent letters to many of the Londoners who favored his plans ; and 

 after much correspondence the king sent a detachment of the royal 

 army to attack the rebels. Defeating this detachment he made him- 

 self master of the right bank of the Thames, and from Southwark he 

 sent to demand entrance into the city of London. This was freely 

 granted to him by the Lord Mayor, and on the 3d of July Cade 



