I have called this chapter THE BATTLE OF THE MUSIC HALLS, and well, I think, does the title epitomise the story I have to tell. It is a dual story. It shows Frederick Charrington himself going into the gravest personal danger, and fighting the most tremendous of fights with a few devoted adherents, and it also tells of efforts made in the newly-constituted forum which was to rule the destinies of London--the London County Council. I will begin with the "Battle of the Music Halls" proper. In connection with Mr. Charrington's campaign against the music-halls of the East End, and one in particular, one of the most sensational law cases upon record held the public mind for a considerable time. I shall shortly quote from those legal proceedings, shall draw upon a store of drama, unequalled in the history of Evangelism. And, as an introduction, I shall tell certain facts of the inner history of this affair which have never yet been published, and which I have wrung from Mr. Charrington, with his reluctant consent to use them. Let me begin, then. Mr. Charrington's attention was first called to the question of music halls by something that a poor man, to whom he was speaking one day, said to him. This poor fellow was in great distress of mind, and in the course of the conversation, he was asked if he was a married man. His reply was, "No; those reptiles at ---- ruined my wife." The man mentioned the name of a certain music hall, and his earnestness of demeanour, his profound sorrow, gave Mr. Charrington food for thought. He had known, of course, that the music halls of those days were centres of evil. Now he came to think that the evil might be even greater than he had previously imagined. It must be remembered that I am writing of a time quite remote from the present. I know little of the music halls of to-day, though once or twice I have watched a spectacle of shifting colour and extraordinary grace, accompanied by lovely music, at a certain palace of amusement in the West End. I know nothing more than this--personally--but, from inquiries, I am well aware that the music halls of to-day are very much improved for the better. And, as I read in my daily paper that His Majesty the King, accompanied by his court, has witnessed a performance at the chief music hall of London, it seems obvious that these places are nothing like what they used to be. So, in reading of this Homeric contest made by Frederick Charrington, you must transport yourselves into the past, and realise that I am speaking of old days.