We Britons had at that time particularly settled that it was treasonable to doubt our having and our being the best of everything; otherwise, while I was scared by the immensity of London, I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty.

London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

I opened the door-what a freedom was this, for in the hospital there was no liberty to come and go-and stood, for a minute, in the soft air, savoring its fineness and the sweet smell of woods, and seeing in the distance the nightglow of London, city of cities, my mother.