The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events

The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events

Different impressions of London on different passengers and mindsExtendibility of its interest to allLondon before the Deluge!Its origin according to the fabulous writers and poetsFirst historical mention of itIts namesBritish, Roman, Saxon, and Norman LondonGeneral progress of the city and of civilisationRange of the Metropolis as it existed in the time of Shakspeare and BaconGrowth of the streets and suburbs during the later reigns"Merry London" and "Merry England"Curious assertion respecting trees in the city. In one of those children's books which contain reading fit for the manliest, and which we have known to interest very grave and even great men, there is a pleasant chapter entitled Eyes and no Eyes, or the Art of Seeing.[1] The two heroes of it come home successively from a walk in the same road, one of them having seen only a heath and a hill, and the meadows by the water-side, and therefore having seen nothing; the other expatiating on his delightful ramble, because the heath presented him with curious birds, and the hill with the remains of a camp, and the meadows with reeds, and rats, and herons, and kingfishers, and sea-shells, and a man catching eels, and a glorious sunset. In like manner people may walk through a crowded city, and see nothing but the crowd. A man may go from Bond Street to Blackwall, and unless he has the luck to witness an accident, or get a knock from a porter's burden, may be conscious, when he has returned, of nothing but the names of 2 those two places, and of the mud through which he has passed. Nor is this to be attributed to dullness. He may, indeed, be dull. The eyes of his understanding may be like bad spectacles, which no brightening would enable to see much. But he may be only inattentive. Circumstances may have induced a want of curiosity, to which imagination itself shall contribute, if it has not been taught to use its eyes. This is particularly observable in childhood, when the love of novelty is strongest. A boy at the Charter House, or Christ Hospital, probably cares nothing for his neighbourhood, though stocked with a great deal that might entertain him. He has been too much accustomed to identify it with his schoolroom. We remember the time ourselves when the only thought we had in going through the metropolis was how to get out of it; how to arrive, with our best speed, at the beautiful vista of home and a pudding, which awaited us in the distance. And long after this we saw nothing in London, but the book-shops which have taught us better. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 42060
Author: Hunt, Leigh
Release Date: Feb 10, 2013
Format: eBook
Language: English