Esoteric London

Barbican Estate, Beech Street, London, EC2. Photo © Roger Dean 2012

Curiosities of London; Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis: with Nearly Sixty Years’ Personal Recollections – John Timbs, F.S.A., 1867:

The mass of shipping, the vastness of the many-storied warehouses, and the heaps of merchandize from every region of the globe, justify the glory of London as “the great emporium of nations,”  and “the metropolis of the most intelligent and wealthy empire the sun ever shone upon, and of which the boast is, as of Spain of old, that upon its dominions the sun never sets.”