CHAPTER VII.
Old London Bridge.
London, at the period of this history, boasted only a single bridge.

But that bridge was more remarkable than any the metropolis now possesses.
Covered with houses, from one end to the other, this reverend and picturesque structure presented the appearance of a street across the Thames.

It was as if Grace-church Street, with all its shops, its magazines, and ceaseless throng of passengers, were stretched from the Middlesex to the Surrey shore.

The houses were older, the shops gloomier, and the thoroughfare narrower, it is true; but the bustle, the crowd, the street-like air was the same.

Then the bridge had arched gateways, bristling with spikes, and garnished (as all ancient gateways ought to be) with the heads of traitors.