The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great, for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history with the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain. The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him, and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links between past and present in themselves largely constitute The Fascination of London. G. E. M. CONTENTS PAGE PREFATORY NOTE v PART I SOUTH OF VICTORIA STREET 1 PART II NORTH OF VICTORIA STREET 24 PART III THE HEART OF WESTMINSTER 40 INDEX 93 _Map at end of Volume._ WESTMINSTER PART I SOUTH OF VICTORIA STREET. The word Westminster used in the title does not mean that city which has its boundaries stretching from Oxford Street to the river, from the Broad Walk, Kensington Gardens, to Temple Bar. A city which embraces the parishes of St. George's, Hanover Square; St. James's, Piccadilly; St. Anne's, Soho; St. Paul's, Covent Garden; St. Clement Danes; St. Mary le Strand, etc.; and which claims to be older even than London, dating its first charter from the reign of King Edgar. But, rather, Westminster in its colloquial sense, that part of the city which lies within the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John. When anyone says, 'I am going to Westminster,' or, 'I am staying in Westminster,' it is this district that he means to indicate. The parishes of St. Margaret and St. John include the land bounded on one side by the river; on another by a line running through the Horse Guards and diagonally across St. James's Park to Buckingham Gate; and on the third by an irregular line which crosses Victoria Street to the west of Carlisle Place, and subsequently cuts across the Vauxhall Bridge Road near Francis Street, and, continuing at a slight angle to the course of the Bridge Road, strikes the river at a spot beyond the gasworks between Pulford Terrace and Bessborough Place. There is also another piece of land belonging to St. Margaret's parish; this lies detached, and includes part of Kensington Gardens and the Round Pond; but it is only mentioned to show it has not been overlooked, for the present account will not deal with it. The triangular space roughly indicated above is sufficient for one ramble.