A CLASSIFIED COLLECTION OF THE CHIEF CONTENTS OF THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE FROM 1731 TO 1868. EDITED BY GEORGE LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A. ENGLISH TOPOGRAPHY, PART XV. G. 4. Gomme, ed. (LONDON—VOL. I.) LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1904. HE London comprised in these collections from Gentleman's Magazine is the county of London created in 1888. It includes the City of London and portions of the old counties of Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey-the whole of the area, in fact, within the jurisdiction of the London County Council. This London was unknown to all the writers in the Gentleman's Magazine. It was scarcely dreamed of by them, not even by the latest of them. But it is more convenient to make the London volumes perfect according to what London now is than to break them up into other divisions which have long ceased to have any definite meaning except as parts of London. And it is more historically true. We see by this means London in the making. We can almost dramatically watch the gradual encroachment of bricks and mortar upon green fields, even green fields where "fairy circles" once appeared. We can perceive, too, the careless, wanton destruction of the historical parts of London when there were only a few voices, notably that of James Carter, the architect, to protest against this useless and wicked extravagance and folly. The story of the growth of London is not altogether pleasant reading, for it proclaims too loudly the indifference of Englishmen to the art and history of their island home. London will occupy three volumes of the series. The first volume takes us only through a part of the City of London itself. Naturally, the City occupies the foremost place among the writings of those who contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine. It will be concluded in the second volume, which will also contain that portion of London outside the City which was formerly in the county of Middlesex. The |