By answering you publicly, I saved myself the trouble of separately answering many other country friends who likewise looked upon my love of London as a deplorable falling from grace. Thirdly, by this means, I save postages, and may actually induce a few adventurous moneyed persons to pay me for the work. Lastly, and most seriously, I lay hold on this occasion to publish the respect and gratitude I owe to you, and which I repay to the best of my ability by this small token of my friendship.--Sincerely yours, ALEX. M. THOMPSON. _P.S._--You will naturally wonder after reading the book--should you be spared so long--why I call it _Haunts of Old Cockaigne_. I may say at once that you are fully entitled to wonder. It is included in the price. INDEX PAGE AN EPISTLE DEDICATORY 7 LONDON'S ENCHANTMENT 15 LONDON CHARLIE 35 LONDON GHOSTS 57 THE MERMAID TAVERN 78 WAS SHAKESPEARE A SCOTSMAN? 87 FLEET STREET 116 LONDON'S GROWTH 135 A TRUCE FROM BOOKS AND MEN 152 A RUDE AWAKENING 161 LONDON PRIDE AND COCKNEY CLAY 188 MY INTRODUCTION TO RESPECTABILITY 202 PARIS REVISITED 215 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE BANKSIDE IN 1648 _Frontispiece_ STRAND CROSS, 1547 61 COURTYARD OF AN OLD TAVERN 81 A BARBER'S SHOP IN 1492 119 WHITEHALL IN THE REIGN OF JAMES I. 137 OLD HOUSE IN SOUTHWARK 141 THE STRAND, 1660 143, 144 WHITEFIELD'S TABERNACLE, 1736 147 GORLESTON PIER 155 THE LIFEBOAT 177 THE CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES 219 LONDON'S ENCHANTMENT I want the hum of my working brothers-- London bustle and London strife. H. S. LEIGH. Let them that desire "solitary to wander o'er the russet mead" put on their clump boots and wander. I prefer the Strand. The Poet's customary meadow with its munching sheep and æsthetic cow, his pleasing daisies and sublimated dandelions, his ecstatic duck and blooming plum tree, are all very well in their way; but there is more human interest in Seven Dials. The virtuous man who on the sunless side Of a romantic mountain, forest crowned, Sits coolly calm; while all the world without, Unsatisfied, and sick, tosses at noon-- may have a very good time if his self-satisfaction suffice to shelter him from Boredom; but of what use is he to the world or to his fellow-creatures?