line of the
wall.

[Illustration: THE GATES OF THE CITY: LUDGATE AND NEWGATE.]

To the old gates must now be added one more--namely, Ludgate. "Ludgate"
or "Lydgate" is like Crepulgate, a Saxon term, and signifies a postern,
perhaps a kind of trap door opening with a lid. The exact date is
unknown, but the building of a new street across the Fleet, with a
bridge of access, is evident from documents mentioning the names of
persons who dwelt "ultra fletam," which are found early in the reign of
Henry I. Another gate was subsequently added--namely, Aldgate--in or
about the beginning of the twelfth century. The names of both these
gates have been subjects of much guesswork, not only by such
topographers as Stukeley, but even by Stow. Ludgate was, of course,
assigned to an imaginary King, Lud, celebrated in the great poem of the
Welsh bard, who made London the foundation of descendants of AEneas of
Troy. Much of this was extensively believed in the Middle Ages; and some
of us imagined that Ludgate might have been called in honour of one of
the heroes of the poem, until the real meaning of the word was pointed
out. With regard to Aldgate, a meaningless name, we always find it
spelled without the "d" in old manuscripts, and usually with an added
"e." Stow perceived that to be consistent he must put the "e" in; but he
did so in the wrong place, with the result that Alegate or Allgate,
perhaps meaning a gate open free to all, is turned into Ealdgate, and
has its age wholly mistaken. It was, no doubt, built when the Lea was
bridged, traditionally by Queen Maud, about 1110. Previously the paved
crossing, the Stratford, was reckoned dangerous, and passengers went out
by Bishopsgate and sought a safer crossing at Oldford. The last of the
city gates, Moorgate, was not opened till 1415. It was erected for the
convenience of citizens passing out among the fields. It is evident that
fortification had become a secondary object. Accordingly, it is often
described as the most spacious and handsome of the city gates.

The others, especially Ludgate and Newgate, were, we may be sure,
judging by Roman and mediaeval fortifications elsewhere, narrow and
inconvenient. There was probably an overlapping tower in front of the
exit, and the pathway described a semicircle, as we know was the case at
the Tower, where the present arrangement, by which a vehicle can drive
in, was not possible till the Lion Tower and its overlapping defence,
the Connin