The Survey of London. Stow John
STREET WARD
FARINGDON WARD INFRA, OR WITHIN
THE WARD OF FARINGDON EXTRA, OR WITHOUT
LIBERTIES OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER
THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER, WITH THE ANTIQUITIES, BOUNDS, AND LIBERTIES THEREOF
GOVERNORS OF THE CITY OF LONDON; AND FIRST OF ECCLESIASTICAL BISHOPS AND OTHER MINISTERS THERE
NOW OF LEPROSE PEOPLE, AND LAZAR HOUSES
THE TEMPORAL GOVERNMENT OF THIS CITY, SOMEWHAT IN BRIEF MANNER
ALDERMEN AND SHERIFFS OF LONDON
OFFICERS BELONGING TO THE LORD MAYOR’S HOUSE
THE SHERIFFS OF LONDON; THEIR OFFICERS
OF THE MAYOR’S AND SHERIFFS’ LIVERIES SOMEWHAT
SOMEWHAT OF LIVERIES WORN BY CITIZENS OF LONDON, IN TIME OF TRIUMPHS AND OTHERWAYS
THE SINGULARITIES OF THE CITY OF LONDON
FITZSTEPHEN’S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON
OF THE MILDNESS OF THE CLIMATE
OF THE PASTURE AND TILLAGE LANDS
OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE AFFAIRS OF THE CITY ARE DISPOSED
INTRODUCTION
Stow’s Survey of London, from its first publication in 1598, has taken rank as the first authority on the history of London, but this very fame has been the cause of some injury to the unity of the work, owing to the additions of successive editors, whose words have often been quoted as if they were written by the original author, although often referring to occurrences long after Stow’s death.
What the reader of to-day wants, is the original work as it left the hands of the veteran antiquary, or as nearly as the change of spelling allows, because this gives him a vivid picture of Elizabethan London—the city in which Shakespeare lived and worked among a multitude of the men and women of those “spacious days,” respecting whom we are all eager to learn something more. The Survey is a masterpiece of topographical literature written by a Londoner of ripe experience, who was interested in everything that occurred around him.
Stow founded his work upon documents of great value collected by himself, and also upon the splendid series of manuscripts belonging to the city of London, to which he had access as “fee’d chronicler” of the corporation.
The great charm of the book to the general reader is to be found in the personal touches by which we are informed of changes and incidents which occurred in Stow’s own experience. Of this special feature several instances have been singled out, such as the boy fetching milk from the farm attached to the abbey of the minoresses, for which he paid one halfpenny for three pints; and the staking out by the tyrannical Thomas Cromwell of part of the gardens of Stow’s father and others in Throgmorton Street to be added to his own garden, which after his execution came into the possession