“ Gardens, a favourite tea-garden, and the church, and a few houses, form a little hamlet just connected with the other part of London by a single street, and further westward, north of Berkeley Square, are fields. ”

“ In those at the Tower it may be clearly seen that the man is filling the water-casks on the animals' backs with a ladle. This gives a glimpse into the discomforts endured by our ancestors before water-pipes were laid on as a matter of course to all houses. In the eighteenth-century reproductions of this map, oddly enough, in one instance this detail has disappeared, and in the other it is turned into a man driving cows into the water with a whip; thus doing away with all its significance. Far to the north in Spitalfields men are practising archery ”

“ We have to go far before we clear the houses to the east. Stepney and Bethnal Green are fairly thickly populated, and though surrounded by open ground, are connected by houses all the way from the City. But in the bend of the river by Wapping the chief area is occupied by market-gardens. Crossing over to the other side, we find the market-gardens very prominent; as London grows larger she thrusts her sources of supply further from her. ”

“ On the other side of the river, between London Bridge and St. George's, was a busy High Street with streets to right and left; the river bank was lined with houses from Paris Gardens to Rotherhithe; there were streets at the back of St. Thomas's and Guy's; Lambeth Marsh lay in open fields, and gardens intersected by sluggish streams and ditches; and Rotherhithe Marsh lay equally open in meadows and gardens, with ponds and ditches in the east.... ”

“ The exception above noted is the map known as Faithorne's, showing London as it was before the Great Fire; this is added for purposes of comparison with that of Ogilby, which shows London rebuilt afterwards. Besides the maps properly so called, there are some smaller views of parts of London, all of which are included in the Survey.
The atlas does not presume in any way to be exhaustive, but is representative of the different periods through which London passed, and shows most strikingly the development of the City. ”

“ Fleet Street is irregular in shape, the houses being nowhere in line; the courts of Whitefriars are still remaining. The Strand has all its great houses facing the river; their backs open upon a broad street, with a line of mean houses on the north side. On the south of the river there is a line of houses on the High Street, a line of houses along the river bank on either side, and another one running near Bermondsey Abbey. ”

“ Details.—It will be noticed that the sheet chosen for inclusion in this atlas shows very nearly the same area as the map of Ogilby which follows, but does not go quite so far eastward as the Tower. The City wall is clearly shown along the north side of the City, and the bastion near Cripplegate stands out; the town ditch can be traced just beyond this corner running southward. ”

“ Can we believe that after the Fire London was relieved of its narrow courts with this map before us? Look at the closely-shut-in places marked on the maps—'1 g., m. 46, m. 47, m. 48, m. 40.' These are respectively Jack Alley, Newman's Rents, Sugar-Loaf Court, Three Cranes Court, and Cowden's Rents. Some of these courts survive to this day. They were formed, as the demand for land grew, by running narrow lanes between the backs of houses and swallowing up the gardens. ”

“ The original is 19 inches by 123⁄4 inches. The bull- and bear-baiting pits on the Surrey side are quite conspicuous, and so is the royal barge, in very much the same position in the river as it is in Agas's map. Here is a detailed account of it in Sir Walter Besant's own words:
Details.—"This is in some respects more exact than the better-known map attributed to Agas. The streets, gardens, and fields are laid down with greater precision, and there is no serious attempt to combine, as Agas does, a picture or a panorama with a map. ”

“ THE FOLLOWING EXPLANATIONS ARE EXTRACTED FROM OGILBY'S KEY TO THE MAP IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM
We Proceed to the Explanation of the Map, containing 25 Wards, 122 Parishes and Liberties, and therein 189 Streets, 153 Lanes, 522 Alleys, 458 Courts, and 210 Yards bearing Name.
The Broad Black Line is the City Wall. The Line of the Freedom is a Chain. ”

“ Katherine stands beside the Tower, with its chapel, court, and gardens; there are a few houses near it, apparently farmhouses. The convent of Eastminster had entirely vanished. Nothing indicates the site of the nunnery in the Minories, yet there were ruins of these buildings standing here till the end of the eighteenth century. Outside Bishopsgate houses extended past St. Mary's Spital, some of whose buildings were still apparently standing. On the west side St. Mary of Bethlehem stood, exactly on the site of Liverpool Street Station, but not covering nearly so large an area ”

“ The Marshalsea itself is not marked. Dickens was yet to come, and it was only through his writings that it gained a sentimental interest. A great part of the Borough is very marshy indeed, and we note frequent ponds. ”

“ As became a man living in days of the Reformation, Agas does not point out the religious houses then falling into decay or occupied by laymen, yet what a number of them must have been still in existence! Standing on the White Tower, and looking north and to the right hand, there must have been visible outside the wall St. ”

“ To facilitate this Rocque has marked the houses bordering streets in white, and only blocked them in black where they line market-gardens and other parts indicated by a light surface. The map is a model of care and comprehensive detail.
Detail.—Beginning in the lower left-hand corner, we have the Royal Hospital, with its neatly-laid-out grounds. Close to it the Westbourne, whose irregular line determined the boundaries of Chelsea, falls into the Thames; higher up its course is through the Five Fields, now one of the most wealthy and popular districts of London—namely, Belgravia. St. ”