THIS Survey of LONDON, having been so carefully and judiciously done by the Citizen STOW, (who for many Years had conversed with the City Records, as well as many other MSS. of English History) hath always been of great Reputation; and of no less Use to consult with upon divers Occasions, in Matters relating to the said City, the Wards, the Streets, the Bounds, or the Inhabitants thereof. And therefore having been long wanted, and the old Impressions gone off, it was very much called for. And at length, after a great many Years, a new Edition was determined. But the Difficulty of doing such a Work, as it should be, that is, with suitable Improvements, was soon apprehended: the former Book also requiring to be nicely reviewed and corrected, after Two or Three Editions, since the Authors Death: there having crept in a great number of Errors, as it happens in After-Editions:

And further, it was requisite, that Abundance of Additions should be made to the former Book, as it was capable of, to render it the more compleat and useful. As, beside the furnishing it with many more Antiquities, and Observations of Places, Men and Things, belonging to it in former Times; it was very necessary, that there should be a Continuation of the History of the City, in Stow's Method, down to the present Times: As of the Maiors, Sheriffs, and other chief Officers; of the great Enlargements of the Compass of the two Cities; of the Fire of London, and of the new Buildings thereof, with the new Streets, Courts, Monuments, Churches, and Alterations: likewise, a further and fuller Recital of the Laws, Orders and Customs of the City; which were commendably begun in the last Edition: Notice also was to be taken of the more modern Monuments of the Dead, erected in the several Parish Churches, Churchyards and othe Places of Burial. It was convenint that the several Wards of the City, with the new Parishes, and eminent Places lately builded in the Suburbs, should have Maps, Plans, and Representations, and such like Illustrations and Embellishments.

This Province, by the Desire of those concerned, hath fallen to my Lot; which I under- took; tho' (I was sensible) not so sufficient as such a Work requires; notwithstanding the Assistance of Men and Books.

Now then, to shew what hath been actually performed (after many Years Pains) in order to the preparing this Book for a new Edition, and such as might render it the more useful and acceptable: First, there hath been a careful Survey made of London and Westminster, divers Years ago by Mr. Lyborn and Mr. Bloome. And divers Maps of the several Wards and other Places were engraven. And of late Years a new Survey taken: according to which, divers Things in the former Maps have been corrected; and Additions made of some new Streets, Courts, and Places of Habitation, and some new Maps of whole Parishes, according to a further Extension of the Suburbs, both on the East and West Parts. There are besides, a considerable Number of Prints made of Places of Remark, as Churches, Buildings, Houses founded for Charity, Monuments, Statues, Vistoes for Ornament and Explanation, set in divers proper Places in the Book. So that besides the several Wards, which are digested into 17 several Maps, (one Map sometimes containing two smaller Wards) there be fair Plates, 20 in Number, of Parishes, being Places of greater Extent, situate either in Westminster, or the Borough of Southwark, and on that side the Thames. And many more Descriptions and delightful Prospects of eminent Places in and about London and Westminster; as the Palaces of Whitehall, St. James's, Somerset-House, the Churches of St. Paul, and St. Peter's Westminster, the Tower, the Guild-Hall, the Exchange, the Temple, the Hospitals, with other publick Structures and Monuments, to the Number of 25.

By another able Hand, a Member of the Heralds Office, are continued the Coats of Arms of all the Maiors from Sir Ralph Freeman the last Maior set down in the old Edition, Anno 1633. to this Time, and likewise the Bearings of the several Corporations, (as well as of the former in the other Edition) granted to each since that Time: Shields also both of Maiors and Companies, which are either wanting, or false and erroneous, in the old Book, are supplied, mended and rectified: Which were many, and some grossly mistaken.