make use of the natural features to heighten the effect of
the embellishments which the hand of man has added to what nature has
already given. London possesses these features to a remarkable degree, and
she should make the best of them, even if to go so far as to form one of
those twentieth-century innovations, known as an "Art Commission," which
she lacks. Such an institution might cause an occasional "deadlock," but
it would save a vast deal of disfigurement; for London, be it said, has no
streets to rank among those of the world which are truly great, such as
High Street at Oxford, and Prince's Street in Edinburgh, to confine the
comparison to Great Britain.

The author of this book has never had the least thought of projecting "a
new work on London," as the industrious author or compiler of Knight's
"Old and New London" put it in 1843, when he undertook to produce a
monumental work which he declared should be neither a "survey nor a
history." The fact is, however, that not even the most sanguine of those
writers who may hope to say a new word about any subject so vast as that
comprehended by the single word, London, could even in a small measure
feel sure that he has actually discovered any new or hitherto unknown
fact. In short, one may say that this would be impossible.

London's written history is very extensive and complete, and it is
reasonable to suppose that most everything of moment has at one time or
another been written down, but there are constantly varying conditions and
aspects which do present an occasional new view of things, even if it be
taken from an old standpoint; hence even within the limits of which this
section treats it is possible to give something of an impression which
once and again may strike even a supercritical reader as being timely and
pertinent, at least to the purport of the volume.

The latter-day City and County of London, including the metropolitan and
suburban area, literally "Greater London," has within the last few years
grown to huge proportions. From being a city hemmed within a wall, London
has expanded in all directions, gradually forming a connection with
various clusters of dwellings in the neighbourhood. It has, in fact,
absorbed towns and villages to a considerable distance around: the chief
of these once detached seats of population being the city of
Westminster. By means of its bridges, it has also absorbed Southwark,
Bermondsey, Lambeth, and Vauxhall, besides ma