To chronicle the names and residences of all the great men connected with London would be a task beyond the powers of any mere mortal, at least if those who have lived in London at any period of their lives were to have a place in the hierarchy. If we took only the statesmen who have governed England, and who by virtue of their office have come to , their names would furnish forth many a volume. Clearly the area must be more circumscribed.

A lesser ambition might be to enumerate those who are in reality Londoners, men born within the limits of the great City, her own children, and not those adopted sons and daughters she has made her own by right of residence; by this means we should exclude such men as and Carlyle. Yet even so the task would be too great, the burden too heavy to be borne; selection must be made. Therefore, considering that this book is of London first, and of her history and her life, it has been thought advisable to choose men eminent for genius, who are Londoners in the most characteristic