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Show THE BEGINNINGS OF LONDON. A Town In the MNdat of Blanhrs With Smallj Propectfc i Let us go baclt to the beginning of all things writes Walter Besant in Harpers monthly!-to tho lay of the land in which Londofc was planted. The reader, if he will' consult that very admirable ad-mirable book, "Loftio's History of London, will lind a most instructive map. It shows the terrain before the city was built at all. The river Thames, between Mortlake on tho west and Hlackwall on the east, pursued a serpentine ser-pentine way, in the midst of marshes stre'ehing north and south. There were marshes all the way. At spuing tides nnd at all tides a littlo above the common com-mon these marshes were under water: they wero always swampy and covered with ponds; half a dozen tributary brooks flowed into them and were lost in them. They varied greatly in breadth, being generally much broader on tho south side than on the north. On this side the higher land rose up suddenly in a cliff or steep hill from twenty to fivo-and-thirty feet in height. This cliff,' followed from the east, approached ap-proached the river, touched it at one point and then receded again as it went westward. This point where the clitt overhung tho river, was the only place where tho city could havo been founded. I call it a point, but it consisted of two hillocks, each about thirty-five feet high, standing on either side of tho littlo stream of Walbrook, where it flows into the Thames. On one of these hills, probably that on the west, was a small fortress of the Britons, constructed after the well-known fashion of hill forts, numberless examples of which remain scattorod about tho country. On tho other hillock tho Roman city was first commenced. Hero wns tho beginning of tho city; here was instituted very early a ferry over the river. On tho eastern hill the Romans built their forum and basilica with the official houses and quarters. When foreign trade began to increase, the merchants woro obliged to spread themselves along the bank; they liilt quays and river walls to keep out tho water, and tho city extended laterally to east and west just as far as was convenient for tho purposes of trade; that is, not farther than Fleet street on the west, nnd the present site of the Tower on the east It than began to spread slowly northward, but slowly, because a mile of river front can accommodate accom-modate a great working population. |
