With the reference to the Plague and the Great Fire we may conclude this brief account of the later Stuart London. The picturesque, but dirty, houses were replaced by healthier and cleaner ones. The West End increased and extended its borders, but the growth to the north of Piccadilly was very gradual. All periods have their chroniclers, but no period has produced such delightful guides to the actual life of the town as the later half of the seventeenth century did in the pages of Evelyn and Pepys. It must ever be a sincere regret to all who love to understand the more intimate side of history that Pepys did not continue his _Diary_ to a later period. We must, however, be grateful for what we possess, and I hope this slight and imperfect sketch of Pepys's London may refresh the memories of my readers as to what the London of that time was really like. FOOTNOTES: [6] _Cal. State Papers_, 1603-10, p. 367. [7] During the time that the Jacobites were formidable, and long after, it was firmly believed that the Old Pretender was brought into this room as a baby in a warming pan, and plans of the room were common to show how the fraud was committed. [8] _Rariora_, vol. i., p. 17. [9] Originally the crosses were of a blue colour, but Dr. Creighton says that the colour was changed to red before the plague of 1603. [10] A full account of the fire and of the rebuilding of the city has still to be written, and the materials for the latter are to hand in the remarkable "Fire Papers" in the British Museum. I have long desired to work on this congenial subject, but having been prevented by other duties from doing so, I hope that some London expert will be induced to give the public a general idea of the contents of these valuable collections. THE OLD LONDON BRIDGES BY J. TAVENOR-PERRY "London Bridge is broken down, Dance o'er my Lady Lee. London Bridge is broken down With a gay Ladee."