PREFACE
'History! What is history but the science which teaches us to see the throbbing life of the present in the throbbing life of the past.'—Jessopp's Coming of the Friars, p. 178.
THERE can be no doubt that our interest in the dim past is increased the more we are able to read into the dry documents before us the human character of the actors. As long as these actors are only names to us we seem to be walking in a world of shadows, but when we can realise them as beings like ourselves with the same feelings and aspirations, although governed by other conditions of life, all is changed, and we take the keenest interest in attempting to understand circumstances so different from those under which we live.
The history of London is so varied and the materials so vast that it is impossible to compress into a single volume an account of its many aspects.
This book therefore is not intended as a history but as, to some extent, a guide to the manners of the people and to the appearance of the city during the mediæval period.
An attempt is here made to put together some of the ample materials for the domestic history of the city which have been preserved for us.
The City of London possesses an unrivalled collection of contemporary documents respecting its past history, some of which have been made available to us by the late Mr. H. T. Riley, and others are being edited with valuable notes by Dr. Reginald Sharpe.
