Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/625

 LONDON" 619 in 1874. The great Roman roads Watling street and Ermin street had their termini at the Roman milliarium or London stone. A portion of the stone still exists, and is insert- ed in the most prominent part of St. Swith- in's church, Cannon street. Under the Saxons London is believed to have become the capital of the East Saxon kingdom, and to have quickly recovered from the disasters to which it had been subjected after the departure of the Roman troops from England. Bede calls it even at that early period " a princely town of trade." St. Paul's and St. Peter's, West- minster, were founded almost immediately after the introduction of Christianity. Under Egbert London became the metropolis of the united Saxon monarchies, or of the consolidated kingdom, so that the metropolitan character of London has existed 1,000 years. The Da- nish invasion was disastrous to the prosperity of London, but it soon recovered under the glori- ous reign of Alfred. "William the Conqueror, to whom the city submitted after the battle of Hastings, granted it a charter which is still extant. A new charter was given by Henry I. in 1100, which is said to have served as a model for Magna Charta ; it restored the priv- ileges which the Londoners had enjoyed be- fore the conquest, and permitted them to elect their own magistrate. In 1191 the chief ma- gistrate was for the first time addressed by the court of aldermen by the title of lord mayor. The insurrection of Wat Tyler in 1381 produced a temporary alarm. In the wars of the roses, London sided chiefly with the house of York, in consequence of which the lord mayor and sheriff and a number of aldermen were knight- ed by Edward IV. after the battle of Barnet (1471). About this time Caxton introduced the printing press. Intellectual and religious zeal was powerfully fostered by the reformation ; educational and charitable institutions were in- troduced ; the refugees of the Low Countries naturalized their industrial arts and manufac- tures in London ; and the prosperity of the city advanced with rapid strides during the reign of Elizabeth. The chief part of the metropo- lis consisted then and during the reign of James I. of Newgate street, Cheapside, the Poultry, and Cornhill, and the crooked streets and dingy alleys leading from them to the river. Both sides of the Strand, toward Westminster, were flanked with houses. The south river side of the Strand was then the headquarters of the aristocracy. The other parts of London did not yet exist, except from Charing Cross to- ward Whitehall palace and Westminster ab- bey. There were but few buildings in Lam- beth and Southwark, and only a small num- ber of scattered houses from Horsleydown to Tooley street. A majority of the corporation took a decided part with the commons du- ring the civil war. After the restoration Lon- don began to revive, but the plague, which had already visited it in 1349 and in 1604, again raged in the city from June till the end of December, 1665, carrying off upward of 60,- 000 persons. Fire, which had nearly consumed the city in 893 and at various other periods, es- pecially 1077 and 1087, broke out a year after the visitation of the plague, commencing Sept. 2, 1666, in Pudding lane, Monument yard, and ending at Pie corner, Giltspur street, having lasted four days and nights, and reduced to ashes five sixths of the whole city within the walls. The city was however rebuilt within four years, and the calamity was commemora- ted by the monument previously noticed. The population was then .about 200,000. The first stone of St. Paul's was laid in 1675. In 1685 many French Protestants, whom the revocation of the edict of Nantes had driven from France, found an asylum in London, and settled in Spitalfields, introducing the silk manufactures which have since become of the utmost impor- tance. In the reign of Anne an act was passed (1711) for building 50 new churches, in con- sequence of the increase of the population. Clerkenwell, Soho, and other streets and dis- tricts were then annexed to the metropolis. Street lamps had been used as early as 1416, but the streets were first generally lighted un- der the reign of Anne. Some additions to London in the time of George I. were fol- lowed by important enlargements during that of George II. Grosvenor square, Westminster bridge, and new streets were then built, and great roads laid out in several directions. Ex- tension and improvement became still more the order of the day under George III. Black- friars bridge was built, and many new dwell- ings were erected on the Surrey side. The American war caused a suspension of activity, which however after the peace in 1783 was doubly increased. Owing to the increase of trade with the United States and other parts of the world, the ground near the water side was soon covered with buildings, and docks were constructed, while fashionable squares and streets soon sprung up in the west in rapid succession. From the regency in 1811 dates the astonishing progress of London in the elegance of its parks and new streets. Re- gent's park was then formed and surrounded with handsome terraces, and many improve- ments gradually took place. The discovery of gold in California, and at a later period in Australia, marked new eras in the march of progress, which in more recent periods has fur- ther advanced with giant strides. The great associations of London with the history and literature of England invest the quaint local- ities and buildings in the antiquated parts of the metropolis with varied interest. Hardly any of them can be passed without meeting with interesting curiosities and great memories of the past. Some of the streets teem with remembrances of Oliver Cromwell, Hampden, and Milton ; others with those of Bacon and Newton, Spenser and Shakespeare. In the same street (Bread street, Cheapside) where Milton was born stood the Mermaid tavern,