The prison so lately destroyed was designed by George Dance in 1770. A recent work on architecture describes it as almost perfect of its kind. Before it was completed it was attacked by the Gordon rioters, who released the prisoners and set it on fire. It was repaired and finished in 1782. Outwardly so imposing, inwardly it was, for a long period, one of the worst prisons in London, full of vice and villainy, unchecked, unreformed; while outside frequently gathered tumultuous crowds to see the condemned prisoners hanged. We might have visited also the debtors' prisons with Mr. Pickwick and other notables, if our minds were not surfeited with prison fare; and even followed the hangman's cart to Tyburn, to see the last of some notorious criminals. Where the Ludgate Railway Station now stands was the famous Fleet prison, which had peculiar privileges, the Liberty of the Fleet allowing prisoners to go on bail and lodge in the neighbourhood of the prison. The district extended from the entrance to St. Paul's churchyard, Old Bailey, Ludgate Hill, to the Thames. Everyone has heard of the Fleet marriages that took place in this curious neighbourhood. On the other side of New Bridge Street there was a wild district called Alsatia, extending from Fleet Street to the Thames, wherein, until 1697, cheats and scoundrels found a safe sanctuary, and could not be disturbed. Again, we should like to visit the old public gardens, Vauxhall and Ranelagh, in company with Horace Walpole, or with Miss Burney's _Evelina_ or Fielding's _Amelia_, and note "the extreme beauty and elegance of the place, with its 1,000 lamps"; "and happy is it for me," the young lady remarks, "since to give an adequate idea of it would exceed my power of description." But the pageant must at length pass on, and we must wake from the dreams of the past to find ourselves in our ever growing, ever changing, modern London. It is sufficient for us to reflect sometimes on the past life of the great city, to see again the scenes which took place in the streets and lanes we know so well, to form some ideas of the characters and manners of our forefathers, and to gather together some memorials of the greatest and most important city in the world. FOOTNOTES: [11] _Cf._ _Cathedral Churches of Great Britain._ (Dent & Co.) [12] _Cf._ Mr. Philip Norman's notes on a recent lecture by Mr. Arthur Keen. _Architect_, December 27th, 1907. INDEX Abbey, Bermondsey, ii., 46 Abbot of Westminster and monks in Tower prison, i., 59 ---- of Malmesbury, i., 159 Actor, Thomas Davies the, ii., 178 Addison at Wills' Coffee-house, ii., 178 Albemarle Club, ii., 110 ---- Monk, Duke of, ii., 75 Albus, Liber, i., 122 Aldermanbury, St. Mary, ii., 31 Aldersgate, i., 21 Aldgate, i., 24; ii., 39 Aldwych, ii., 208 Alfred Club, ii., 107 ---- the Great, i., 13, 19, 111 All Hallows Barking ii., 204 ---- Staining, Mark Lane, ii., 205 ---- the More, Church of, i., 230 Alpine Club, ii., 110 Alsatia, ii., 36