Mayfair, Belgravia, and Bayswater

Mayfair, Belgravia, and
Bayswater, by
by Sir Walter
Besant

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Geraldine Edith Mitton, Edited by Sir Walter Besant
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Title: Mayfair, Belgravia, and Bayswater The Fascination of London
Author: Geraldine Edith Mitton
Editor: Sir Walter Besant
Release Date: April 26, 2007 [eBook #21218]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The Fascination of London
MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA, AND BAYSWATER
* * * * *
IN THIS SERIES.
Cloth, price 1s. 6d. net; leather, price 2s. net each.
THE STRAND DISTRICT.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
WESTMINSTER.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMPSTEAD AND MARYLEBONE.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
CHELSEA.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
KENSINGTON.

By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMMERSMITH, FULHAM, AND PUTNEY.
By G. E. MITTON and J. C. GEIKIE.
* * * * *
[Illustration: HYDE PARK CORNER]

The Fascination of London
MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA AND BAYSWATER
by
G. E. MITTON AND OTHERS
Edited by Sir Walter Besant

London Adam & Charles Black 1903

PREFATORY NOTE
A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should
preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her mighty
buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that
Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the
past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when
he died.

As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything
else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted before.
I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I find
something fresh in it every day."
Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey should
contain a regular and systematic perambulation of London by different
persons, so that the history of each parish should be complete in itself.
This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one in which
he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of this section to
warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in the meantime it
is proposed to select some of the most interesting of the districts and
publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to the local
inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the interest and
the history of London lie in these street associations.
The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great, for
the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying
charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history with
the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her
history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the series
is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain. The
solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who loved
London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him, and
it was because of these associations that it did so. These links between
past and present in themselves largely constitute The Fascination of
London.
G. E. M.
Some attempt has been made in this volume to indicate the quality of
the district described by inserting one or two names of present
occupiers; but these names are only representative, and must not be
considered as constituting in any sense exhaustive lists.

MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA, AND BAYSWATER

Mayfair is at the present time the most fashionable part of London, so
much so that the name has come to be a synonym for wealth or pride of
birth. Yet it was not always so, as he who runs may read, for the
derivation is simple enough, and differs from most cases in that the
obvious meaning is the right one. In James II.'s reign a permission was
given for a fair to be held on the north side of Piccadilly, to begin on
the first day of May, and to last for fifteen days. This fair, we are told,
was "not for trade