when he
died.

As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything
else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted
before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I
find something fresh in it every day."

Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey should
contain a regular and systematic perambulation of London by different
persons, so that the history of each parish should be complete in
itself. This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one in
which he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of this section
to warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in the
meantime it is proposed to select some of the most interesting of the
districts and publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to
the local inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the
interest and the history of London lie in these street associations.

The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great,
for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying
charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history with
the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her
history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the
series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain.
The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who
loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him,
and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links
between past and present in themselves largely constitute The
Fascination of London.

G. E. M.

Some attempt has been made in this volume to indicate the quality
of the district described by inserting one or two names of present
occupiers; but these names are only representative, and must not be
considered as constituting in any sense exhaustive lists.

MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA, AND BAYSWATER

Mayfair is at the present time the most fashionable part of London, so
much so that the name has come to be a synonym for wealth or pride of
birth. Yet it was not always so, as he who runs may read, for the
derivation is simple enough, and differs from most cases in that the
obvious meaning is the right one. In James II.'s reign a permission was
given for a fair to be held on the north side of Piccadilly, to begin on
the first day of May, and t