"The first Settlement—London as it appeared before 1066—The Walls—Westcheap—Eastcheap—The
Bridge— Billingsgate—London in 1266—The Gates—New Suburbs—Houses on the Bridge
Billiter Square—Domestic Life—London in 1466—Improvements—St Paul’s—Costume—The
Variations of the Population.
Plague—Changes in 1666—The New River
LONDON once firmly established, girt
with an impregnable wall, and filled
with citizens who were men of enter¬
prise, very soon began to show signs
of growth. The few early names with
which we meet seem to prove that
Alfred chose among English, Danes,
French and German settlers, almost
indifferently. We cannot be quite sure
of this for the first few years, but the
conditions of citizenship did not neces¬
sarily imply birth, and wealthy adven¬
turous spirits, willing on the one hand
to cross even the terrible Bay of Biscay,
or the almost equally terrible German
Ocean, and on the other, to help as
BENNETTS CLOCK IN CHEAPSIDE