“The walls had long since ceased their original function, of protecting the City against siege and attack, and seventeenth-century London was expanding in all directions.
The City proper was densely populated, with narrow streets and medieval wooden buildings blotting out the sky with overhanging storeys. A mass of small shops sold goods of every description.
Noise was everywhere, with hawkers and apprentices bawling the merits of their wares, and the wheels of coaches and carts creating a constant rattle on the cobbled streets.
Hackney coaches abounded, and their drivers would often brawl with each other and aggravate the footmen of the richer residents. Traffic congestion was terrible, beaten only by the smell of the city. Sanitation was primitive in the extreme.”
From Robert King’s Henry Purcell. |
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