Picturesque Sketches of London, Past and Present. Thomas 1839- Miller

65 St. Michael’s Church, Cornhill 68 Lombard Street 71 St. Mary’s Woolnoth 73 Old Billingsgate 83 St. Dunstan’s-in-the-East 92 Silver-gilt Shrine 95 Tippoo’s Elephant Howdah 97 Ajunta Caves 99 Tower of London 107 Queen’s Diadem, Queen’s Coronation Bracelets, Prince of Wales’ Crown, Old Imperial Crown, Queen’s Crown, Spiritual Sceptre, and Temporal Sceptre 115 Imperial Orb, Ampulla, Golden Salt-Cellar of State, Anointing Spoon, and State Salt-Cellars 117 Mast-House, Blackwall 129 London Docks—Outer Basin 140 Butcher Row, Whitechapel 143 The Four Swans’ Inn Yard 151 St. Giles’s, Cripplegate 165 Old Staircase in Christ’s Hospital 171 Christ’s Church 172 Smithfield 179 Newgate 185 Somerset House 204 Church of St. Mary-le-Savoy 205 Interior of the Savoy Church 206 Westminster Abbey 218 Horse-Guards 222 The Rookery, St. Giles’s 231 Queen Anne’s Bath 241 Street Performers 258 Highgate Cemetery 271 One-Tree Hill, Greenwich Park 284 Old Pensioner, Greenwich Park 285 Telescopes, Greenwich Park 286 Gipsies, Greenwich Park 287 Greenwich Park 289

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       Table of Contents

      THE greater portion of the following work originally appeared in the columns of the Illustrated London News. The beauty of the sketches, and the permanent interest attached to them, led the proprietors of the National Illustrated Library to believe that a reprint of them would form a valuable and welcome addition to that series of illustrated works. The various articles have accordingly been carefully revised by the author; many additions have been made, and curious extracts from rare old works have been introduced, more completely to illustrate the various scenes and objects described.

      The engravings, which consist chiefly of views of churches and other public buildings, of antiquities, views of streets and markets, sketches of street scenes, &c., have been carefully executed from original drawings.

      The work is not to be considered as a guide-book, but as a series of sketches in “poetic prose” of various parts of London, in which, while perfect accuracy is preserved, the dulness of a mere itinerary is avoided; in which London of the present is sketched from constant personal observation, and London of the past from the rich historical and legendary lore that exists regarding it, and in which the thoughts that arise in “a free mind and loving heart,” from a contemplation of the various objects and scenes described, are expressed in eloquent and forcible language.

      Nor must the work be considered as exhaustive of the subject. The places and scenes chosen for “Picturesque Sketches” are chiefly in the eastern or older part of London. To have included the whole of the metropolis would have required not one volume, but many. Nevertheless, it will be found that the subjects to which chapters are devoted are the most interesting in London, and that though the work is not complete as regards the whole of this mighty city, yet each chapter is complete as far as regards its individual subject.

       227 Strand, July 1, 1852.

PICTURESQUE