The legend given by Harding is that "Lud, king of Britain, builded from London Stone to Ludgate and called that part Ludstowne." Here we get a clue to its name London Stone, and the idea accounts for its having been to some extent the palladium of the city, of which it seems to have been regarded as the sacred and immovable foundation stone. Stow says, "On the south side of the High Street near unto the channel is pitched upright a great stone called London Stone, fixed in the ground very deep, fastened with bars of iron, and otherwise so strongly set that if carts do run against it through negligence the wheels be broken and the stone itself unshaken." The lines from Fabyan which head this chapter refer to this same idea of stability, and evidently imply that the stone was looked on as a talisman. Strype says that before the fire of London it was worn down to a stump. But it is "now" handsomely cased with stone "to shelter and defend the old venerable one, yet so as it might be seen." An architect, writing to the _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1798, says: "It has often been called the symbol of the great city's quiet state, from its being always believed to be fixed to its everlasting seat." This idea of a stone of foundation has many parallels. It was evidently a monolith, and from what Shakespeare says of Cade sitting on it, it would seem in his time not to have been more than 3 or 4 feet high above ground. Wren's son says "London Stone, as is generally supposed, was a pillar in the manner of the Milliarium Aureum at Rome, from whence the account of their miles began, but the Surveyor [Sir Christopher] was of opinion, _by reason of the large foundation_, it was rather some more considerable monument in the Forum, for in the adjoining ground on the south side, upon digging for cellars after the great fire, were discovered some pavements and other extensive remains of Roman workmanship and buildings."[202] Wren was an expert observer with a perfect knowledge of the Roman level in the city, and Dr. Woodward says he had made a special observation of the Roman remains in the city and promised an account of them. His evidence must be held sufficient to prove that the stone was of Roman origin, but was no recognisable part of a building such as a column. It was Camden who first suggested that it was a "miliary like that in the Forum of Rome," being at the "centre in the longest diameter of the city." Grant Allen thought it was an early Celtic monument preserved by the Romans. As to Mr. Coote's view that it might have been part of FitzAlwin's house, which seems to be adopted also by Mr. Round, it has also to be pointed out that the house was certainly to the north of the street, while the Stone was on the south, and St. Swithin's Church intervened. * * * * *