ame of town. No less an authority than Julius Caesar
tells us that it was nothing more than a thick wood, fortified with a
ditch and rampart, to serve as a place of retreat from the inroads of
enemies. At that time, we may, therefore, imagine a clearing carved
out of the forest, extending probably from the site of St. Paul's
Cathedral to that of the Bank of England, the dwellings of the
Britons being spread about the higher ground looking down upon the
river, including Tower Hill. At the time of the revolt of the Iceni,
the Roman governor, Paulinus Suetonius, being unable to make a stand,
abandoned London to Boadicea, who entirely destroyed the city, after
having massacred the inhabitants. We find London holding an important
place in the Antonine Itinerary, Londinium being a starting point for
nearly half the routes described in the portion devoted to Britain.
Traditionally, Constantine the Great walled the city, at the request
of his mother Helena, who is said to have been a native of Britain.
Probably we should place the northern wall somewhere along the course
of Cornhill[5] and Leadenhall Street; the eastern in the direction of
Billiter Street and Mark Lane; the southern in the line of Upper and
Lower Thames Streets; the western on the S.W. side of Walbrook. About
the centre of each side might be placed the four main gates,
corresponding with Bridge Gate, Ludgate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate.

[Footnote 5: Perhaps somewhat to the north of the modern street. A
portion is to be seen in the churchyard of St. Giles, Cripplegate.]

The vision of Geoffrey of Monmouth of a great British city, Troy
Novant, founded by Brut, a descendant of Aeneas, must be relegated to
the limbo of myths. A more probable story is that one Belinus formed
a port or haven on the site of the present Billingsgate, though it
does not follow that he built a gate of wonderful structure, still
less that he built over it--as the story goes--a prodigiously large
tower. It should be noted that "gate" may not mean a gate at all in
the modern sense of the word, but only an opening or an entrance,
even as the "Yats" leading to the harbour of Yarmouth.[6] Mayhap this
settlement constituted the headquarters of Cassivellaunus, which were
taken and sacked by Julius Caesar. At all events, Tacitus (61-117
A.D.) the first Roman author who mentions London by name, speaks of
it as an important commercial centre. It had not, up to A.D. 61, been
dignified by the name of