The Project Gutenberg EBook of Westminster, by
Sir Walter Besant and Geraldine Edith Mitton and A. Murray Smith

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Title: Westminster
The Fascination of London

Author: Sir Walter Besant
Geraldine Edith Mitton
A. Murray Smith

Release Date: May 31, 2007 [EBook #21648]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTMINSTER ***

Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

THE FASCINATION
OF LONDON

WESTMINSTER

_IN THIS SERIES._

Cloth, price 1s. 6d. net; leather, price 2s. net, each.

WESTMINSTER.

By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.

THE STRAND DISTRICT.

By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.

HAMPSTEAD.

By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.

CHELSEA.

By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.

[Illustration: WHITEHALL IN 1775.]

The Fascination of London

WESTMINSTER

BY
SIR WALTER BESANT
AND
G. E. MITTON

WITH A CHAPTER ON THE ABBEY BY MRS. A. MURRAY SMITH

LONDON
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
1902

PREFATORY NOTE

A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should
preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her
mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that
Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the
past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged 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."

He had seen one at least of his dreams realized in the People's Palace,
but he was not destined to see this mighty work on London take form. He
died when it was still incomplete. His scheme included several volumes
on the history of London as a whole. These he finished up to the end of
the eighteenth century, and they form a record of the great city
practically unique, and exceptionally interesting, compiled by