To
S. D. W.
CONTENTS
[THE NEW ROMANCE]
[WHERE THE EAGLES SLEEP]
[ORIENTAL (Petticoat Lane)]
[SHIPS COME HOME (The Docks)]
[TREASURE TROVE (Caledonian Market)]
[CENOTAPH]
[ROMANCE ON WHEELS]
[GHOSTS OF THE FOG]
[BATTLE (Free Cancer Hospital)]
[BABIES IN THE SUN (Kensington Gardens)]
[FACES IN THE STRAND]
[WOMEN AND TEA]
[AN OPEN DOOR (St. Martin's Church in the Fields)]
[A BIT OF BAGDAD (Club Row)]
["PRISONERS ONLY" (Bow Street)]
[BOYS ON THE BRIDGE]
[NIGHT BIRDS]
[AT THE WHEEL]
[UNDER THE DOME (St. Paul's)]
[HEARTBREAK HOUSE]
[MADONNA OF THE PAVEMENT]
[SWORD AND CROSS (Temple Church)]
[KNOCKOUT LAND]
[GHOSTS (Soane Museum)]
[ALADDIN'S CAVE]
[THAT SAD STONE (Cleopatra's Needle)]
[SUN OR SNOW]
[ROMANTIC MUTTON (Shepherd's Market)]
[LONDON LOVERS]
[IN UNCLE'S SHOP]
[HORSEY MEN]
[FROM BOW TO EALING]
[MARRIAGE]
[KINGS AND QUEENS (Westminster Abbey Waxworks)]
[LOST HEIRS (Record Office)]
[FISH (Billingsgate Market)]
[HAUNTED (Old Devonshire House)]
[ABOUT HOMES IN BONDAGE]
[ROYAL SATIN (London Museum)]
[AMONG THE FUR MEN]
[APPEAL TO CÆSAR (Privy Council)]
[TONS OF MONEY (The Royal Mint)]
[WHERE TIME STANDS STILL]
[MY LADY'S DRESS]
[ST. ANTHOLIN'S]
[NOT FOR WOMEN]
[OUR ROMAN BATH (The Strand)]
[LEFT BEHIND (Lost Property Office)]
[THE "GIRLS" (Piccadilly Circus)]
LONDON'S GROWTH
Here Herbs did grow
And Flowers sweet
But now 'tis called
Saint George's Street.
—An 18th century inscription on a London tavern
NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION
These essays were written day after day, week after week, to keep pace with the relentless machines of the "Daily Express." Since this book was published many kind unknown friends have written to tell me that here they have found something that is London; but they should not thank me: they should thank the great city which, written to death generation by generation, is an undying topic, discovered age by age is still inexhaustible; stripped bare of mystery by many writers has never lost its magic.
H. V. M.
LONDON
When a man is tired of London he is tired of life: for there is in London all that life can afford.