London and the 17th Century: The Making of the World's Greatest City, by Margarette Lincoln
£25, 384 pages, Yale University Press
Margarette Lincoln is a rare phenomenon, an academic who is never in danger of becoming a bore. With impeccable scholarship, she has created a brilliant multi-coloured tapestry which vividly conveys not merely the tangled politics of 17th-century London, but also the dangers, joys, horrors and satisfactions of living in the city.
Her writing, always clear, is delightfully spiced with anecdote. Thus, in dealing with the Cromwellian regime in London, she does not disdain to tell us that the Protector, while selling much of Charles I’s magnifi cent picture collection, retained the King’s padded red velvet close-stool.
