alaces, theatres, prisons, and even
hospitals have, in a measure, given way to progressive change and
improvement.

Guy's Hospital, identified with letters from the very foundation of its
patron,--one Thomas Guy, a bookseller of Lombard Street,--dates only from
the eighteenth century, and has to-day changed little from what it was in
Dickens' time, when he lived in near-by Lant Street, and the fictional
character of "Sawyer" gave his famous party to which "Mr. Pickwick" was
invited. "It's near Guy's," said Sawyer, "and handy for me, you know."

On the whole, London is remarkably well preserved; its great aspects
suffer but very little change, and the landmarks and monuments which met
Dickens' gaze are sufficiently numerous and splendid to still be
recognizable by any who possess any degree of familiarity with his life
and works. Many well-known topographical features are still to be found
within the sound of Bow Bells and Westminster. Those of the Strand and
Fleet Street, of the Borough, Bermondsey, Southwark southward of the
river, and Bloomsbury in the north, form that debatable ground which is
ever busy with hurrying feet. The street-sweeper, though, has mostly
disappeared, and the pavements of Whitehall are more evenly laid than were
the Halls of Hampton Court in Wolsey's day.

Where streets run off from the great thoroughfares, they are often narrow
and in a way ill kept, but this is due more to their confined area than to
any carelessness or predisposition on the part of the authorities to
ignore cleanliness.

London possesses a series of topographical divisions peculiar to itself,
when one considers the number thereof, referring to the numerous squares
which, in a way, correspond to the Continental place, platz, or plaza. It
is, however, a thing quite different. It may be a residential square, like
Bedford, Bloomsbury, or Belgrave Squares, or, like Covent Garden and
Lincoln's Inn Fields, given over to business of a certain sedate kind.
These latter two are the oldest of London squares. Or, like Trafalgar
Square, of a frankly commercial aspect.

On the Continent they are generally more of architectural pretensions than
in London, and their functions are quite different, having more of a
public or ceremonial character; whereas here the more exclusive are
surrounded with the houses of the nobility or aristocracy, or what passes
for it in these days; or, as in the case of Trafalgar Square,--in itself
of splendid