These essays were written day after day, week after week, to keep
pace with the relentless machines of the "Daily Express." Since this
book was published many kind unknown friends have written to tell me
that here they have found something that is London; but they should
not thank me: they should thank the great city which, written to
death generation by generation, is an undying topic, discovered age
by age is still inexhaustible; stripped bare of mystery by many
writers has never lost its magic.