pencil, of picturesque buildings, threatened with destruction. He has also hunted up old documents relating to them, and has carefully checked any statements on the subject by previous writers. The result of what has been to him a labour of love may perhaps have interest, even value, for the public. This must be his excuse for adding to the already long list of publications on old London.

The buildings alluded to in this work are widely scattered: they must be looked upon as a selection only of what we are losing, for in no single volume is there space, and no man alone can have had time and energy, to deal with a tithe of the interesting structures, from Mile End to Hammersmith, which either still drag on a precarious existence or have not long passed away. The letterpress is divided into chapters, beginning with the east and south east, progress being made by easy stages to the west, so that what has been written takes more or less the form of an itinerary, but the requirements of the subject make it impossible to follow absolutely any fixed plan. Southwark, which forms the subject of the opening chapter, was studied by Mr. Norman long ago in

conjunction with the late Dr. Rendle. The result first appeared in a volume on the inns of that early settled district, which was issued in a limited edition, and has long been out of print. On the old houses in the City and west end he wrote and illustrated two articles for the English Illustrated Magazine, when it was so admirably conducted under the ownership of Messrs. Macmillan, and a third during the reign of Messrs. Ingram. On other City subjects, which here occupy his attention, he has written in the publications of the Society of Antiquaries, and of the Surrey Archæological Society, also for the Burlington Magazine, and the Home Counties Magazine, known in its earlier days as Middlesex and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries.

To Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, C.I.E., and others who have been, or are, connected with the Board of Education, he tenders his hearty thanks for permission to reproduce the water-colour drawings by him which for the present at least have found a home in the Bethnal Green Museum, and for their kindly help in other respects. He is also grateful to the authorities of the Art Gallery, Guildhall, to the Hon. W. F. D. Smith, M.P., to Miss Jones,

to Mr. J. J. Hamilton, to Mr. E. Norman, and to Mr. J. Ritchie, for allowing water-colours in their possession to be reproduced.

In his views the writer has made truthful record the first consideration, combining this, to the best of his ability, with pictorial effect. If it be objected that houses of entertainment have had too much attraction for him, he would point out that those which he knew best were of rare beauty and interest; besides, it was their outward appearance, not the interiors, with which he was oftenest familiar. Of the seventy-five illustrations here given, about sixty represent buildings which have entirely disappeared, a notable number while this book was in progress, and only some half-dozen of the subjects remain altogether unchanged.