THE HEART OF LONDON BY H. V. MORTON _An ever-muttering prisoned storm, The heart of London beating warm._ John Davidson, "Ballads and Songs" THIRD EDITION METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published ... June 11th 1925 Second Edition ... January 1926 Third Edition ... 1926 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE SPELL OF LONDON THE LITTLE GUIDE TO LONDON THE LONDON YEAR To S. D. W. CONTENTS THE NEW ROMANCE WHERE THE EAGLES SLEEP ORIENTAL (_Petticoat Lane_) SHIPS COME HOME (_The Docks_) TREASURE TROVE (_Caledonian Market_) CENOTAPH ROMANCE ON WHEELS GHOSTS OF THE FOG BATTLE (_Free Cancer Hospital_) BABIES IN THE SUN (_Kensington Gardens_) FACES IN THE STRAND WOMEN AND TEA AN OPEN DOOR (_St. Martin's Church in the Fields_) A BIT OF BAGDAD (_Club Row_) "PRISONERS ONLY" (_Bow Street_) BOYS ON THE BRIDGE NIGHT BIRDS AT THE WHEEL UNDER THE DOME (_St. Paul's_) HEARTBREAK HOUSE MADONNA OF THE PAVEMENT SWORD AND CROSS (_Temple Church_) KNOCKOUT LAND GHOSTS (_Soane Museum_) ALADDIN'S CAVE THAT SAD STONE (_Cleopatra's Needle_) SUN OR SNOW ROMANTIC MUTTON (_Shepherd's Market_) LONDON LOVERS IN UNCLE'S SHOP HORSEY MEN FROM BOW TO EALING MARRIAGE KINGS AND QUEENS (_Westminster Abbey Waxworks_) LOST HEIRS (_Record Office_) FISH (_Billingsgate Market_) HAUNTED (_Old Devonshire House_) ABOUT HOMES IN BONDAGE ROYAL SATIN (_London Museum_) AMONG THE FUR MEN APPEAL TO CÆSAR (_Privy Council_) TONS OF MONEY (_The Royal Mint_) WHERE TIME STANDS STILL MY LADY'S DRESS ST. ANTHOLIN'S NOT FOR WOMEN OUR ROMAN BATH (_The Strand_) LEFT BEHIND (_Lost Property Office_) THE "GIRLS" (_Piccadilly Circus_) LONDON'S GROWTH _Here Herbs did grow And Flowers sweet But now 'tis called Saint George's Street._ --An 18th century inscription on a London tavern NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION These essays were written day after day, week after week, to keep pace with the relentless machines of the "Daily Express." Since this book was published many kind unknown friends have written to tell me that here they have found something that is London; but they should not thank me: they should thank the great city which, written to death generation by generation, is an undying topic, discovered age by age is still inexhaustible; stripped bare of mystery by many writers has never lost its magic. H. V. M. LONDON _When a man is tired of London he is tired of life: for there is in London all that life can afford._ --Dr. Johnson THE HEART OF LONDON The New Romance When eight million men and women decide to live together on the same spot things are bound to happen.