Paddington: Past and Present

PAST AND PRESENT.
WILLIAM ROBINS.
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”— Milton .
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY ARTHUR AND WARREN HALL, CAXTON STEAM PRINTING OFFICES, 10, CAMBRIDGE TERRACE, CAMDEN TOWN, AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.
History is valuable, not merely for the facts which it records, but in a much higher degree for the lessons it teaches; for the Future will be benefited by the Past and the Present, more in proportion to the amount of truth developed and error eradicated by their teaching, than by the number of circumstances preserved.
To judge of the facts of history, it is necessary to have the liberty to know them; but it has often happened that historical facts have been so discreditable to the actors of the history, that the facts have been hidden, and fiction put in their place; and liberty to know has been refused to all, except the few who were to become participators in the actions.
There may be a few who know the history of Paddington well; but by far the greater part of those who now live in this parish have no clear notion of those circumstances which have influenced its past, and which affect its present condition. That Paddington has been transformed into a city of palaces, from a quiet rural village, is known to all; but by what agency that change has been effected—how the profits of that change have been dispensed, and who have the greatest moral, if not legal, right to the chief share of those profits—is not so clearly understood.
In giving utterance to the facts contained in the following pages, I have argued freely, according to my conscience, on the effects produced on my own mind by the facts I have recounted; and I have not failed to shew how the rights of the people have been invaded, at almost every step, in the various changes which have occurred in Paddington. It is true that the facts contained in this Work, have not been collected under the superintendence of the lords of the soil; neither are they now published under their patronage. My sketch might have been more attractive, had the records in the possession of the Bishop of London and the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, been consulted; but I had no desire either to be refused the favour of inspecting them, or to have my hands tied by accepting it.