LONDON.
LONDON, the capital of the British Empire, is situated on the Thames, about 40 miles as the crow flies from the mouth of the river, or 60 miles by the windings of the stream. The name 'London' has no single fixed and definite meaning, but in its widest significance it denotes a huge province of houses, to which there is no parallel in the world, except perhaps Greater New York with its six millions of inhabitants. London, whether by that term we understand the legally defined County of London or the very much larger area known vaguely as Greater London, is roughly divided into a north half and a south half by the river, which flows through it from east to west, though with many curves. Of these, by far the more important for the tourist is the north half; and in both halves the interest diminishes as we recede from the river.
The conventional division of London to the north of the Thames into 'the City' and 'the West End,' though still current, is no longer adequate and is therefore puzzling to the stranger. London is too complex to be contained in so simple a formula, which ignores the growth of the metropolis to the north and to the south. The City, moreover, has extended its commercial influence far beyond its historic limits both to the west and to the east. The Strand and Holborn have more in common with the City than with the West End to which they formally belong, and the East End is larger than the City itself. Bloomsbury and Soho, though topographically in the West End, belong in character neither to it nor to the City; they are districts by themselves. A line drawn due north from Charing Cross to Holloway may be regarded as dividing London to the north of the Thames (apart from the outer suburbs) into a west and an east half, differentiated from each other in character. To the west, speaking generally, lie the residential and fashionable districts; to the east, the commercial and manufacturing districts. This division is adopted in the present guide and is perspicuously shown in the Table of Contents.
London to the south of the Thames, 'the Surrey side,' includes a number of separate districts, not grouped under any common title, but generally referred to by their district names: Southwark, Lambeth, Battersea, etc., and (farther to the south) Camberwell, Peckham, Brixton, etc.
On all sides except the north-east and east London is fringed by agreeable suburbs-such as Hampstead on the north, Dulwich on the south-each with a character and attraction of its own. These for the most part are included within the boundary of the County of London, and there is little or no break in the continuous series of streets and houses that connects them with central London. The decreased volume of traffic and a wider spacing of the houses, with larger or smaller gardens, announce their suburban character.
Farther a field, separated from London by a zone of more or less open country but essentially portions of the great community, are the farther environs-Richmond, Hampton Court, Croydon, Epping Forest, and the rest.
Besides the officially recognized administrative areas in London there are various districts with vague limits but with well-known names (Pimlico, Soho. St. John's Wood, Mayfair, etc.), a knowledge of which is as necessary for the 'compleat Londoner' as a knowledge of the whereabouts of the various taverns (Elephant, Angel, Britannia) that mark important stages on the omnibus-routes. The most important of these are mentioned and located in the text of this guide.
