We beg leave in this place to make our grateful acknowledgments to several of the nobility and gentry, who have been pleased to favour us on this occasion with lists and accounts of their pictures, curiosities, &c. which have greatly enriched and added a value to our work; and being entirely new, cannot but be acceptable to the public. [Illustration: _S. Wale delin._ _J. Green sc. Oxon._ _The Abby Church of S^t. Peter’s, Westminster._] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ LONDON AND ITS ENVIRONS DESCRIBED, &c. † _Those with this mark generally derived their name from the ground landlord, who built the street, lane, or alley, &c._ * _From signs._ ☐ _From neighbouring places, as churches, &c._ ‡ _From trees formerly growing there._ ║ _From ridicule._ § _From their situation, as backwards, forwards, with respect to other streets._ A ABBEY _Church of St. Peter’s, Westminster_. Many have been the fables invented and propagated by the monks, relating to the original foundation of this ancient edifice; but the most probable account is given by those who place it under Sebert, King of the East Saxons, who died in 616. These say, that this Prince being converted to christianity by Austin’s discourses, and his uncle Ethelbert’s example, erected this church on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Apollo, in the island of Thorney, and caused Mellitus, Bishop of London, to consecrate it to St. Peter. As many ridiculous miracles have been related of its foundation, it is the less surprizing that its dedication should also be represented as miraculous, and that St. Peter himself, five hundred years after his decease, should be represented by the monks, as doing honour to the new fabric, by performing the ceremony himself. For according to the legend, the King having ordered Mellitus to perform the ceremony, St. Peter over-night called upon Edricus, a fisherman, and desired to be ferried over to Thorney, which happened to be then overflowed by the heavy rains that had lately fallen; the fisherman consented, and having carried over the Apostle, he saw him consecrate the church amidst a grand chorus of celestial music, and a glorious appearance of heavenly lights. After which the Apostle returning, discovered himself to the fisherman, and bid him tell Mellitus what he had heard and seen, and as a proof of his divine mission, gave him a miraculous draught of salmon, and then assured him, that none of his profession should ever want that kind of fish in the proper season, provided they made an offering of the tenth fish for the use of the new church; which custom, it seems, was continued by the fishermen four hundred years after.