STRANGE STORIES, SCENES AND REMARKABLE PERSONS OF THE GREAT TOWN. BY JOHN TIMBS, F.S.A. AUTHOR OF 'A CENTURY OF ANECDOTE' ETC. ETC. RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY. G454 129,455 MAY 3 1904 PREFACE. THE exhaustless interest and endless suggestiveness of Ancient and Modern London, have induced the author to collect in these volumes some of its more curious characteristics. His object has been more especially to present to the reader who enjoys the Past without underrating the Present, a collection of STRANGE STORIES, SCENES, ADVENTURES and VICISSITUDES, associated with London. Romance, we know, has been accused of corrupting the truth of history; but the romantic character which the following Narratives possess, has not been gained by a sacrifice of truth; since our Romance consists of marvellous incidents, verifying the saying that " Truth is stranger than Fiction." As in Nature, so in Art, "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view:" 66 but the "modern instances " in these volumes are as remarkable in character as the notable things of centuries ago. Whether we regard London as a walled town, as a labyrinth of courts and alleys, or as a majestic city, with 2,600 miles of streets, and 360,000 inhabited houses, we shall find, alike in every period, a succession of scenes calculated to excite curiosity and awaken wonder. This work ranges from the building of the first Bridge at London to the startling incident of a few |