London Memories. By Charles William Heckethorn. (Chatto and Windus. Gs.)—This
is the second volume which Mr. Hecke- thorn has devoted to the subject of Old London. Doubtless he has matter enough far others. The subject is, indeed, almost inexhaustible, with so many branches, and such a multitude of details that it is not fair to blame a writer for omissions. The "Street-Names of the Past" might, for instance, be largely in- creased. If "Pudding Lane" is mentioned, why not "Pie Corner " ? "Field Lane" deserves a few lines, and so do the curiously unappropriate "Parks,"" Gardens," " Pleasants," and " Para- dises " that may be found. "Labour in Vain Yard," too, might have been mentioned; also, among "Extinct and Obsolete Trades," the fishing-tackle makers that were to be found within living memory in an alley near London Bridge. Our chief com- plaint against Mr. Heckethorn is the arrogant way in which he condemns the past. Our ancestors "were barbarians in manners, and in morals reprobates." Anyhow, they knew better than to write such arrant nonsense as "Nothing will elevate man but science." Mankind could have done witlio-uf 1Iome, but not
without the pulley. If the last product of the ages has been such a sciolist as this, and the Manchester warehouseman is, as Mr. Heckethorn seems to think, the consummate flower of existence, we may indeed despair.
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