The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

170
the City and "Westminster became one ;
THE BEITISn ISLES.
their powerful neighbour by bands of houses ;
Greenwicli and Woolwich are attached to
and Croydon, Wimbledon, Putney,
Richmond, Kingston, Brentford, and other more remote towns and villages are on
the point of losing their individual character and becoming suburbs of the all-
devouring city. Wc smile now when told of the severe edict published
by Queen Elizabeth which forbade the erection of any building whatsoever within
3 miles of London and Westminster, and required the demolition of all sheds
constructed within the previous seven years, and of all buildings not then completed.
And yet in 1602, when the Queen, dreading the mischief likely to arise from a
further increase of the metropolis, sought to stop it for ever after by her edict,
London had not the fifteenth part of its present population. Actually the 25,000
streets of London, if placed end to end, would stretch across Europe and Asia as
far as the southern extremity of British India.
In the course of its expansion, at the expense of fields, meadows, and woods,
London, like Paris, has converted its streams and rivulets into covered sewers.
The Fleet has disappeared altogether, but its ancient course can stiU be traced by
following the low-lying streets in the western part of the City. The Old Bourne,
now corrupted into Holborn, was one of its feeders, and by its mouth the
Thames formed a smaU harbour. The winding rividet, on the banks of which
stood Tyburn Tree, so often referred to in the history of England, has likewise
disappeared for the greater part of its course, but it continues to feed a pretty
sheet of water in Hyde Park, In the heart of London we only meet with a few
trees to remind us of external nature, but the names of streets and districts, such
as Hatton Garden, Spitalfields, and others, recall a time when there existed
gardens famous lor their roses and strawberries, and preserves in which the Lord
Mayor and the Aldermen himted the stag.* Most of the modern quarters of the
town are laid out in such a manner as to enclose here and there a bit of veritable
country, with cliunps of trees, shrubberies, carefully kept lawns, and herds of
browsing sheep. To these parks f and squares, and to the thousands of gardens
attached to private houses, the town is indebted for much pure air and light. The
removal of the primitive fortifications which formerly engirdled the City has
allowed London to expand freely in all directions. Instead of raising tenement
upon tenement, as in Paris, houses of moderate size have been reared side by side,
and only in the business quarters has space been utilised to the fidl extent of its
capacity. Thus, though the population of London is only double that of Paris,
the area it covers is at least five times as great, and its inhabitants obtain a larger
supply of respirable air. On an average every house in London is inhabited by
seven or eight persons.
J
• Thornbury and Walford, " Old and New London."
t The tliii-teen parks of London cover an area of 2,223 acres—the West-end parks, from Whitehall
to Kensington, embracing 788 acres.
I
Average number of persons to each inhabited house in the metropolitan counties :
1851. 1861. 1871.
Middlesex 7-9 7-9 7'9
Surrey 6-3 64 6-5
Kent 5-7 6-8 5-6
England and Wales ... 5-5 5-4 6-3
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