Transcriber's Note:
Sundry missing or damaged punctuation has been repaired.
Both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants of some words occur in this book. All have been retained.
Any illustration which interrupted a paragraph has been moved to a more convenient location, between paragraphs.
Page 7: 'chepe' (cheap) comes from an Anglo-Saxon word (cēap), with a meaning of 'market'.
See 'THE HISTORY OF LONDON' BY (Sir) WALTER BESANT (Project Gutenberg e-book 27995)
(p. 47)
Most fortunately, there exists a document priceless and unique, short as it is and meagre in many of its details, which describes London as it was in the reign of Henry II. It is written by one FitzStephen, Chaplain to Thomas (à) Becket. He was present at the murder of the Archbishop and wrote his life, to which this account is an introduction.
(p. 49)
13. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY. PART I.
(translation from Latin)
"... Cheapside preserves the name of the Chepe, the most important of all the old streets. Here, every day, all the year round, was a market held at which everything conceivable was sold, not in shops, but in selds, that is, covered wooden sheds, which could be taken down on occasion. Do not think that 'Chepe' was a narrow street: it was a great open space lying between St. Paul's and what is now the Royal Exchange, with streets north and south formed by rows of these selds or sheds. Presently the sheds became houses with shops in front and gardens behind. The roadway on the south side of this open space was called the Side of Chepe...."
Page 38: 'Samual' corrected to 'Samuel'.
"Samuel Pepys watched the pageant...."
Page 57: "... that no Englishman knew how to enter a room, nor any Englishwoman how to dress, nor English cooks how to prepare a dinner, nor English coachman how to drive,..."
... is as printed, and 'coachman' is probably correct, in the context, though 'cooks' may be questionable....
Page 76: 'castle' corrected to 'castles'.
"... though the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling were majestic, they were...."
Page 79: 'seige' corrected to 'siege'.
"... sustain a siege of many months in 1304."
"... Edward Bruce, who was conducting the siege,..."