John Stow was most minute as a writer, and his attention to slight circumstances has caused some critics to make merry over his productions. Fuller, for example, spoke of him "as such a smell-feast that he cannot pass by the Guildhall but his pen must taste the good cheer therein." It is his consideration of minor matters that renders his book so valuable to the student of bygone times. We may quote, to illustrate this, a few lines from his _Survey of London_. After a description of the Abbey of St. Clare, he writes: "Near adjoining to this Abbey, on the south side thereof, was sometime a farm belonging to the said nunnery, at which farm I myself, in my youth, have fetched many a halfpennyworth of milk, and never had less than three ale pints for a halfpenny in the summer, nor less than one ale quart for a halfpenny in the winter, always hot from the kine, as the same was milked and strained. One Trolop, afterwards Goodman, was farmer there, and had thirty or forty kine to the pail. Goodman's son, being heir to his father's purchase, let out the ground first for the grazing of horses, and then for garden plots, and lived like a gentleman thereby." In about his fortieth year, Stow gave up his business as a tailor and devoted his entire life to antiquarian pursuits. Fame he won, but not fortune. In place of being wealthy in his old age, he, as we shall presently see, suffered from poverty. His principal works include his _Summary of English Chronicles_, first issued in 1561. In 1580, his _Annals; or, a General Chronicle of England_ was published. His most important work was given to the world in 1598, under the title of a _Survey of London and Westminster_. Besides writing the foregoing original books, he assisted on the continuation of Holinshed's _Chronicle_ and Speght's edition of Chaucer, and he was employed on other undertakings. [Illustration: JOHN STOW'S MONUMENT.] Many a long journey Stow made in search of information. He could not ride, and had to travel on foot. In the midst of great trials it is recorded that his good humour never forsook him. In his old age he was troubled with pains in his feet, and quietly remarked that his "afflictions lay in the parts he had formerly made so much use of."