Chapter I: Front Matter

SOUTH LONDON

WALTER BESANT'S LONDON BOOKS.

UNIFORM EDITION. Demy 8vo. cloth, 5_s._ net each.

LONDON.

With 125 Illustrations.

'What the late J. R. Green has done for England Sir Walter Besant
has here attempted, with conspicuous success, for Cockaigne. The
Author of "A Short History of the English People" and the historian
of the London citizen share together the true secret of popularity.
Both have placed before the people of to-day a series of vivid and
indelible pictures of the people of the past.... No one who loves
his London but will love it the better for reading this book. He who
loves it not has before him a clear duty and a manifest
pleasure.'--_Graphic._

'Sir Walter Besant knows and loves his London thoroughly, and his
beautifully illustrated book will call up in the minds of those who
bow to the spell a thousand delights of memory and expectation. He
contrives not merely to call back the old London, but to make the
London of the present more living than before.'--_Spectator._

WESTMINSTER.

With 131 Illustrations.

'Sir Walter Besant has told the story of the old city (London) and
its corporate life in a way which has never been surpassed--not even
equalled. The past of the mother of municipal life he has made to
live and breathe in a manner which reduces all other records of
London to the mere dryasdust category. But we like his "Westminster"
even better.... There is nothing but admiration to be expressed as
well for the plan as for the execution.'--_Daily Chronicle._

'Sir Walter Besant has here given us a worthy companion to his
charming book on "London."... From beginning to end the narrative
never flags, the illustrations never fail, and one rises from its
reading with fuller ideas of the historic interest of the place and
a greater veneration for the ancient Abbey and all its relics of the
past.'--_Guardian._

SOUTH LONDON.

With 120 Illustrations.

'To all Londoners who realise the absorbing fascination of the great
world they live in we cordially recommend it as a worthy sequel to
the author's previous volumes. It is written by an enthusiast who is
also an accomplished writer, by a student who is a close observer of
life; and it passes before the reader's imagination a series of
indelible pictures which clothe our prosaic and monotonous South
London with the romance which is its due.'--_Literature._

EAST LONDON.

With 55 Illustrations by PHIL MAY, RAVEN HILL, and JOSEPH PENNELL.

'Sir Walter Besant knows London as no one has known it since Charles
Dickens.... He has given a lifetime to the acquisition of his
knowledge of the great city. He was grey before he attempted to
write his monumental works on "London," "Westminster," and "South
London"--books which have earned him his title as the historian of
London--and he has postponed his book on "East London" until his
sixty-fifth year.... Crammed with antiquarian lore mingled with
human interest and saturated with genuine sympathy for the people is
this study of "East London."... A thoroughly masterly
book.'--_Literary World._

Crown 8vo. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

With 144 Plates and Woodcuts.

'A series of entertaining chapters, to which the droll illustrations
of George Cruikshank and the inimitable portraits by Daniel Maclise
lend additional effect.... The book is full of movement and colour,
and presents a vivid and interesting picture of the great reign of
Queen Victoria.'--_Speaker._

Small 8vo. cloth (in the ST. MARTIN'S LIBRARY), gilt top, 2_s._ net each; feather, gilt edges, 3_s._ net each.

LONDON. WESTMINSTER.
SIR RICHARD WHITTINGTON. JERUSALEM.
GASPARD DE COLIGNY.

London: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 St. Martin's Lane, W.C.

* * * * *

S^t. Saviour's, Southwark.]

SOUTH LONDON

BY

WALTER BESANT

AUTHOR OF 'LONDON' 'WESTMINSTER' 'EAST LONDON' ETC.

A NEW EDITION WITH AN ETCHING BY FRANCIS S. WALKER, R.E. AND 119 ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1912