" I have a theory that however much you rebuilt
it, you can never eradicate from any part of London the influence of its past associations." The words occur in St. John Adcock's posthumous London Memories (Hodder and Stoughton, 7s. 6d.). Adcock was a Londoner-perhaps, with the late Pett Ridge, the last of his kind-in the tradition of Johnson, Lamb and Leigh Hunt. So intimate was his know- ledge of London, and so steeped was his imagination in its history-particularly its literary history-that its famous ghosts easily survived for him the destruction of their old haunts. So rapidly, however, has London grown of recent years, and so revolutionary have been the alterations which it has undergone, that the average man becomes increasingly dependent upon books for the imaginative reconstruction of its past. Among the works available for the purpose, London Memories should take high and permanent rank. Into its chapters-dealing with London period by period, from the Middle Ages to the present day-Adcock has con- centrated the 'enthusiasm and the study of a lifetime ; Viand the book, illustrated by his brother, Mr. Frederick Adcock, forms a fitting and delightful monument to his memory.
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