It was my husband's ambition to be the historian of London in the Nineteenth Century, just as Stow had been in the Sixteenth Century, and he projected "The Survey of London," which was to be a record of the greatest, busiest, most wealthy, most populous city in the whole world, as it was from century to century and as it is at present.

From this history as a whole the portion relating to the Eighteenth Century has been chosen for present publication, not only on account of its intrinsic interest, but because of the fascination that the period had for the author. It will, I think, be pleasing to most readers to find that so much space has been devoted to the social life of the period—in fact, the book may be regarded as a Social picture of London in the Eighteenth Century, rather than as a consecutive history.

"The handiest, cheapest, and most useful book of the kind published."—"The best compendium of autobiographies of the world's leading men."—"Open it anywhere and your eyes will ever be opened."—"Invaluable! Indispensable!"—"The most compendious book of reference issued."—"When there is a conflict of authority it may generally be assumed that 'Who's Who' is right."—"'Who's Who' may be regarded as a sine qu non to a business man."—"As indispensable as a local directory in a business office. This excellent work is the nearest approach to an English Vapereau we possess."—"Almost as necessary as daily bread."—"A biographical dictionary which it would be difficult to do without: 1,500 pages chock-full of information. One of those books without which no reference library is complete."