An old writer says "it is now certain that the spot, (viz. St. George's in the Fields) on which the city was described to have stood, was an extensive marsh or lake, reaching as far as Camberwell hills, until by drains and embankments, the Romans recovered all the lowlands about the parts now called St. George's Fields, Lambeth etc. London never stood on any other spot than the Peninsular, on the northern banks, formed by the Thames in front; by the river Fleet on the west; and by the stream afterwards named Walbrook on the East. An immense forest originally extended to the river side, and, even as late as the reign of Henry II. covered the northern neighbourhood of the city, and was filled with various species of beasts of chase. It was defended naturally by fosses, one formed by the creek which ran along the Fleet ditch, the other by that of Walbrook. The south side was protected by the river Thames, and the north by the adjacent forest." In the reign of Nero the first notice of Londinium or, Londinum occurs in Tacitus (Ann xiv. 33.) where it is spoken of, not then as honoured with the name _Colonia_ but for the great conflux of Merchants, its extensive commerce, and as a depôt for merchandise. At a later date London appears to have been _Colonia_ under the name Augusta (Amm. Marcell.; xxvii. 8.) how long it possessed this honourable appellation we do not know but after the establishment of the Saxons we find no mention of Augusta. It has received at various times thirteen different names, but most of them having some similarity to the present one. However as it is not a history of England's Metropolis but _All about Battersea_[2] we write, we will at once commence at Nine Elms. [Footnote 1: The inhabitants of ancient Britain derived their origin partly from an original colony of Celtæ, partly from a mixed body of Gauls and Germans. None of them cultivated the ground; they all lived by raising cattle and hunting. Their dress consisted of skins, their habitations were huts of wicker-work covered with rushes. Their Priests the Druids together with the sacred women, exercised a kind of authority over them. Britain according to Aristotle, was the name which the Romans gave to Modern England and Scotland. This appellation is, perhaps derived from the old word _brit_, partly coloured, it having been customary with the inhabitants to paint their bodies. According to the testimony of Pliny and Aristotle, the Island in remotest times bore the name of Albion.