Whether the bridge came before the embankment I cannot decide. Yet I think that the embankment came first; for the existence of Southwark--that of any part of South London--depended not on the bridge, but on the embankment and the ferry. Given, however, the embankment; the two causeways; the bridge; two ferries--one at St. Mary Overies and the other lower down, opposite the Tower: given, also, direct communication with Dover, with Thorney--thence with the midlands and the north: there could not fail to arise a settlement or town of some kind on the south of the Thames. Let us next consider the conditions under which the town of Southwark began to exist and to continue for a great many years. (1) There was no wall or any means of defence, except the marsh which surrounded it and prohibited the approach of an army except along the causeway. (2) The ground lay low on either side the causeway, and south of the embankment. Although the tide no longer ebbed and flowed among the reeds and islets of the marsh, yet it was covered with small ponds, some of them stagnant, others formed by the many streams which flowed towards the culverts on the embankment, through which at low tide they escaped into the Thames; until some kind of drainage was attempted, the place caused agues and fevers for any who slept in its white miasma. In other words, not an embankment only, but drainage of some kind, had to be undertaken before life was possible on the marsh. (3) There were no quays, no shipping, no merchants, no trade, on the south side. All merchandise coming up from the south for export at the port of London, all merchandise landed at the port for the south, had to be carried across the bridge. (4) The crowds of people connected with the trade of London--the porters, carriers, drivers, grooms and stable-boys, stevedores, lightermen, sailors foreign and native, the _employés_ of the merchants, their wives, women and children--all these people lived in London itself; they had their taverns and drinking shops; their sleeping places and eating places, in London; all the people employed in providing food and drink and sport, lived on the other side. South London had to be a place without trade, without noise, without disturbance of workmen, without broils among the sailors or fights among foreigners. (5) It stood on the south bank of a river swarming with fish. (6) The only parts on which houses could be built were along the line of the causeways, or along the line of the embankment. These were the conditions. We should expect, therefore, to find the place thinly inhabited; and to find that the houses were all built beside or along the raised ways. We should next expect to find along the causeways that the houses belonged to the wealthier class.