_London_, as a City only, and as its Walls and Liberties live it out, might, indeed, be viewed in a small Compass; but, when I speak of _London_, now in the Modern Acceptation, you expect I shall take in all that vast Mass of Buildings, reaching from _Black Wall_ in the _East_ to _Tothill Fields_ in the _West_; and extended in an unequal Breadth, from the Bridge, or River, on the _South_, to _Islington North_; and from _Peterburgh House_ on the Bank Side in _Westminster_, to _Cavendish Square_, and all the new Buildings by, and beyond _Hanover Square_, by which the City of _London_, for so it is still to be called, is extended to _Hyde Park Corner_ in the _Brentford Road_, and almost to _Maribone_ in the _Acton Road_, and how much farther may it spread, who knows? New Squares, and new Streets rising up every Day to such a Prodigy of Buildings, that nothing in the world does, or ever did, equal it, except old _Rome_ in _Trajan's_ time, when the walls were Fifty Miles in Compass, and the Number of Inhabitants Six Millions Eight Hundred Thousand Souls.
It is the Disaster of _London_, as to the Beauty of its Figure, that it is thus stretched out in Buildings, just at the pleasure of every Builder, or Undertaker of Buildings, and as the Convenience of the People directs, whether for Trade, or otherwise; and this has spread the Face of it in a most straggling, confus'd Manner, out of all Shape, uncompact, and unequal; neither long nor broad, round or square; whereas the City of _Rome_, though a monster for its Greatness, yet was, in a manner, round, with very few Irregularities in its Shape.
At _London_, including the Buildings on both Sides the Water, one sees it, in some Places, Three Miles broad, as from St. _George's_ in _Southwark_, to _Shoreditch_ in _Middlesex_; or Two Miles, as from _Peterburgh House_ to _Montague House_; and in some Places, not half a Mile, as in _Wapping_; and much less, as in _Redriff_ [Rotherhithe].
We see several Villages, formerly standing, as it were, in the County and at a great Distance, now joyn'd to the Streets by continued Buildings, and more making haste to meet in the like Manner; for Example, 1. _Deptford_, This Town was formerly reckoned at least Two Miles off from _Redriff_, and that over the Marshes too, a Place unlikely ever to be inhabited; and yet now, by the Encrease of Buildings in that Town itself, and by the Docks and Buildings-Yard on the River Side, which stand between both the Town of _Deptford_, and the Streets of _Redriff_ (or Rotherhith as they write it) are effectually joyn'd, and the Buildings daily increasing; so that _Deptford_ is now more a separated Town, but is become a Part of the great Mass, and infinitely full of People also; Here they have, within the last Two or Three Years, built a fine new Church, and were the Town of Deptford now separated, and rated by itself. I believe it contains more People, and stands upon more Ground, than the City of _Wells_.