We are too sensible of the load of public debts, not to wish that all proper methods may be taken to lessen them: and it is an infinite concern to us, that the payment of a great sum towards them (which was expected from the late scheme) is now rendered extremely difficult, if not impracticable; and yet, as a cloud, hanging over the heads of the present unfortunate proprietors of the South-Sea Company, and a great damp to public credit. We will not presume to mention in what manner relief may be given in this arduous affair; but most humbly submit it to the consideration of this Honourable House. Your petitioners therefore most humbly pray this Honourable House will be pleased to take such farther measures as they, in their great wisdom, shall judge proper, that trade may flourish, public credit be restored, and justice done to an injured people.
DEFOE'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON (1725).
This account of the capital is useful, as indicating its extent and dimensions two centuries ago. Defoe was an accurate observer, and had noticed the rapid expansion which had taken place even during his own day. As trade and commerce increased, the boundaries of London were extended farther and farther, and it would appear that the questions with which this extract concludes are as far from being answered as they were when Defoe asked them.
Source.—A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain,
1724-1727, vol. ii., pp. 94-97.
London, as a City only, and as its Walls and Liberties live it out, might, indeed, be viewed in a small Compass; but, when I speak of London, now in the Modern Acceptation, you expect I shall take in all that vast Mass of Buildings, reaching from Black Wall in the East to Tothill Fields in the West; and extended in an unequal Breadth, from the Bridge, or River, on the South, to Islington North; and from Peterburgh House on the Bank Side in Westminster, to Cavendish Square, and all the new Buildings by, and beyond Hanover Square, by which the City of London, for so it is still to be called, is extended to Hyde Park Corner in the Brentford Road, and almost to Maribone in the Acton Road, and how much farther may it spread, who knows? New Squares, and new Streets rising up every Day to such a Prodigy of Buildings, that nothing in the world does, or ever did, equal it, except old Rome in Trajan's time, when the walls were Fifty Miles in Compass, and the Number of Inhabitants Six Millions Eight Hundred Thousand Souls.
It is the Disaster of London, as to the Beauty of its Figure, that it is thus stretched out in Buildings, just at the pleasure of every Builder, or Undertaker of Buildings, and as the Convenience of the People directs, whether for Trade, or otherwise; and this has spread the Face of it in a most straggling, confus'd Manner, out of all Shape, uncompact, and unequal; neither long nor broad, round or square; whereas the City of Rome, though a monster for its Greatness, yet was, in a manner, round, with very few Irregularities in its Shape.
At London, including the Buildings on both Sides the Water, one sees it, in some Places, Three Miles broad, as from St. George's in Southwark, to Shoreditch in Middlesex; or Two Miles, as from Peterburgh House to Montague House; and in some Places, not half a Mile, as in Wapping; and much less, as in Redriff [Rotherhithe].
We see several Villages, formerly standing, as it were, in the County and at a great Distance, now joyn'd to the Streets by continued Buildings, and more making haste to meet in the like Manner; for Example, 1. Deptford, This Town was formerly reckoned at least Two Miles off from Redriff, and that over the Marshes too, a Place unlikely ever to be inhabited; and yet now, by the Encrease of Buildings in that Town itself, and by the Docks and Buildings-Yard on the River Side, which stand between both the Town of Deptford, and the Streets of Redriff (or Rotherhith as they write it) are effectually joyn'd, and the Buildings daily increasing; so that Deptford is no more a separated Town, but is become a Part of the great Mass, and infinitely full of People also; Here they have, within the last Two or Three Years, built a fine new Church, and were the Town of Deptford now separated, and rated by itself, I believe it contains more People, and stands upon more Ground, than the City of Wells.
The Town of Islington on the North side of the City, is in like Manner joyn'd to the Streets of London, excepting one small Field, and which is in itself so small, that there is no Doubt, but in a very few years, they will be intirely joyn'd, and the same may be said of Mile-End, on the East End of the Town.
Newington, called Newington Butts, in Surrey, reaches out her Hand North, and is so near joining to Southwark, that it cannot now be properly called a Town by itself, but a Suburb to the Burrough, and if, as they now tell us is undertaken, St. George's Fields should be built with Squares and Streets, a very little Time will shew us Newington, Lambeth, and the Burrough, all making but one Southwark.