Variety Theatres, The performances begin rather earlier than at the Theatres, a night. Smoking is permitted. Recent years have seen a marked increase in these, nearly every district of importance now having its local house of entertainment. The newest houses equal in comfort and class of performance many of the West End theatres, and the prices are considerably lower. We have labelled as "suburban" all theatres not in the proximity of Charing Cross. Alexandria, Stoke Newington Road, N. Borough Theatre and Opera House, Broadway, New Cross Road, S.E. Coronet, High Street, Notting Hill, W. Elephant and Castle, New Kent Grand, High Street, Islington, N. King's, Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E. New National Standard, 204, Shoreditch High Street, E. New Pavilion, 193-5, Whitechapel Road, E. New Sadler's Wells, Arlington St., E.C. Paragon, 95, Mile End Road, E. Shakespeare, Clapham Junction, S.W. Stratford Theatre Royal, Stratford, E. West London, 69, Church Street, Edgware Road, W. MUSIC HALLS, ETC, Music Halls, etc. 73 "Millbank "Wh usually at 7.30. A growing practice is to give two performances USUAL CHARGES. Fauteuils and grand circle (reserved), 7s. 6d.; stalls Fauteuils (reserved), 7s. 6d.; box stalls (unreserved), From 6d. to 7s. 6d. All seats may be booked in From Is. upwards. Children half price. From Is. upwards. From is. to 5s. Varieties From 6d. upwards. Varieties From Is. to 5s. Suburban Music Halls. It is impossible to mention all of these, but the average visitor to London will probably be more than satisfied with the following selection. Prices range from 3d. to 5s. In many cases there are two performances nightly. Bijou Theatre of Varieties, The Cause way, Wolsey Road, Teddington. Collins's, 10 and 11, Islington Green, N. Granville Theatre of Varieties, Broad- Holloway, Holloway Road, N. 1 Photochrom Co., Ltd.] [London. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND WESTMINSTER HALL. A HISTORICAL SKETCH. N exhaustive history of London would be that of the kingdom of which it is the capital; and it is of course impossible to find room for anything of the kind here. But there are points in the annals of the city which must be noticed in any Guide to London. The name is probably derived from the Celtic Llyn, a pool or lake (the river at an earlier period expanded into a considerable lake the part immediately below London Bridge is still "the Pool"), and din or dun, a hill, fort, or place of strength. The "hill" may have been that on which St. Paul's now stands, or Cornhill. When the Romans conquered Llyndyn they Latinised the name as Londinium. It grew to be a splendid city, one of the nine colonia of Britain, but inferior in importance at first to Eboracum (York) and Verulamium (St. Albans). Great military roads radiated from the city to various parts of Britain, and distances were measured from the lapis milliaris in the Forum of Agricola, in the heart of the Roman town. The stone, now known as the London Stone, may still be seen in the wall of St. Swithin's Church, Cannon Street. In the first half of the fourth century, London became a walled city. The direction the London Wall took is well known, and can be traced by the modern names of streets. Indeed, considerable fragments, composed chiefly of Kentish ragstone and large Roman bricks, may still be seen in London Wall, between Wood Street and Aldermanbury (a tablet marks the place), in the churchyard of St. Giles', Cripplegate, at the northern boundary of the Post Office, Aldersgate Street, and at the foot of Jewry Street, Aldgate. At the eastern end, by the river side, was a strong fort, succeeded later by the White Tower. Thence, the wall followed the line of the Minories to Aldgate; then it curved to the north-west, between Bevis Marks and Houndsditch ("a ditch beyond the wall ") to Bishopsgate, whence it followed the line still known as London Wall" to Cripplegate. It next took a southern course to Aldersgate, and behind St. Botolph's Church to Newgate; and thence to Ludgate and along Pilgrim Street to the Fleet river (which then flowed in the valley now known as Farringdon Street). It skirted this stream to its junction with the Thames, where another strong fort was erected.* There were three Gates, Aldgate (Ale-gate or Allgate, i.e., open to all), Aldersgate and Ludgate (Lydgeat, a postern); and afterwards a postern (Postern Row still marks the spot) on Tower Hill. On the northern side was an outwork or barbican (the modern street, Barbican, preserves its memory). Later, other gates were added, the names of which are still preserved in Billings-gate, Bishops-gate, Moor-gate, Cripple-gate (from the Anglo-Saxon crepel-gate, a covered way), New-gate and Dow-gate (Celtic dwr, water). Under the Saxons London became the metropolis of the king dom of Essex. Bede, writing in the early part of the eighth century, refers to London as the "mart of many nations resorting to it by sea and land." The city was constituted by Alfred the Great the capital of England, York and Winchester having previously enjoyed that dignity in succession-the former under the Romans, the latter under the Saxons. In 994, the first bridge across the Thames was built. The White Tower, in the Tower of London, was erected by William I in 1078, on the site of the Roman fort already noticed. The same king granted a charter to the city (see p. 13) con *This line corresponds almost exactly with the present boundaries of the City of London, with the exception of the "liberties," or wards, still known as " without," added at a later time. firming the burghers in the rights enjoyed by them under Edward the Confessor. William Rufus, in 1097, founded Westminster Hall. King John granted the citizens several charters, and in Magna Charta it was expressly stipulated that London should have all its ancient privileges and customs as well by land as by water. Wat Tyler's Rebellion took place in 1381, and every schoolboy is familiar with the picturesque part played by the Lord Mayor of that time. Reference must also be made to Jack Cade's Rebellion (1450), immortalized in Shakespeare's Henry VI: "Now is Mortimer lord of this city! cried the insurgent leader, when he struck his sword on the London stone. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so rapid had become the increase of London, that both Elizabeth and James I issued proclamations against any further extension of the city. In the Strand, between London and Westminster, were many splendid residences of the nobility, with fine gardens reaching to the Thames. The names of some of the streets in the Strand -such as Essex, Norfolk, Burleigh, Buckingham and Northum berland-still preserve these aristocratic associations. The reign of Mary witnessed the burning of heretics at Smithfield and that of Elizabeth the patriotic rally of the citizens in defence of the country against the Armada. During the Civil War, London sided with the Parliament, and the fateful January 30th, 1649, saw the execution of Charles I at Whitehall. In 1665 London was desolated by the Great Plague, which carried off nearly a fifth of the inhabitants; and, in the following year, the Great Fire occurred, destroying more than 13,000 houses, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Royal Exchange, and most of the churches and guild halls. The damage was estimated at £10,730,500. The place where the fire broke out is marked by the Monument near London Bridge; where it ceased, by an inscription near Smithfield. The Tower, Westminster Abbey and Hall, the Temple Church, and a few other city churches, were the only buildings of importance spared by the conflagration. Sir Walter Besant well said : 'If, as some hold, the cause of the long-continued plague, which lasted, with intervals of rest, from the middle of the sixteenth century to 1665, was nothing but the accumulated filth of London, so that the ground on which it stood was saturated many feet in depth with poisonous filtrations, the fire of 1666 must be regarded in the light of a surgical operation, absolutely essential if life were to be preserved, and as an operation highly successful in its results. For it burned, more or less, every house and every building over an area of 436 acres out of those which made up London within the walls." |