A Little World in Itself

Come to London, to plaguy London, a place full of danger and vanity and vice. John Donnes damning description of his native city was perhaps a little harsh, but he was writing in August 1607, when fear of plague had sharpened his revulsion. Most visitors were favourably impressed, rather than dismayed or repelled. Such contrasting responses reflect the difference between someone who knew London intimately and those who were visiting, perhaps for the first time.

Visitors inevitably gained a snapshot impression, seeing the metropolis over a relatively short period. The problems and tensions that are part of the life of any great city were not so obvious to them as they were to Londoners themselves, and to their rulers. Those who lived there were also more aware of its diversity, its many facets and the varied districts and neighbourhoods. They were conscious, too, of the changes which the city was experiencing, which were not always welcome, to them or to the government.

During the four decades in which Shakespeare knew London, from the 1580s until the 1610s, it was a bustling, teeming metropolis that was by far the largest and richest city in the British Isles and one of the biggest in Europe. The descriptions of visitors, comments by its citizens, official orders and administrative records together provide insights into the life of the metropolis, seemingly stable and yet growing and changing. Its streets and buildings showed the pressures, with the infilling of open spaces, change of use of buildings and the growth of the suburbs, not only within living memory but apparently taking place before the citizens eyes. Yet there was social and political stability, both in the neighbourhoods and in the city as a whole.

Growth was fuelled by immigration. The city was drawing in migrants, from Britain and the continent. Its inexorable expansion created concerns for its rulers, with anxieties about overcrowding, congestion, public health and disorder. The stranger communities attracted attention and the numbers of immigrants were counted, yet it was domestic migration that was providing the largest numbers of incomers. The government followed a policy of containment, attempting to prevent new buildings and the subdivision of existing ones. One spur to controlling growth was the fear of plague, the worst outbreaks of which killed up to one-fifth of the inhabitants. Polluted air and a foul environment were thought to be among the causes of disease and they were worsened by the overcrowding in such a large city. Yet people continued to be drawn to London, some because it was the national capital and the place where the court was resident for most of the year, providing opportunities, for influence, income and patronage. And the proximity of the monarch and government gave Londoners a feeling of being close to the centre of affairs. They reacted to both foreign and domestic issues and often expressed their opinions somewhat stridently.

The growing population generated greater demand for food, water and fuel, which altered the way in which goods were sold. It produced, too, problems of distribution, with traffic congestion another issue that prompted intervention and regulation. The incomers were drawn by Londons expanding economy and growing prosperity, which produced a market for luxury goods among the wealthy citizens and the courtiers. This was supplied by Londons burgeoning overseas trade. But the city had a broad and developing economy; it was an economic powerhouse, a great commercial city. Some of her merchants grew to be very rich. They were at the top of a pyramid of wealth in a city which contained a range of manufacturing and service trades, members of the professions, and a body of skilled and semi-skilled workers, some of whom periodically slipped into poverty.

Londons rulers feared social instability and unrest, produced by an increase in the number of paupers and those seemingly without a stake in the urban community. Indeed, an important concern was to provide enough charitable help for the poor, to replace that previously channelled through the religious houses, and charitable giving did keep pace with their needs. But life could be insecure and short. Accidents, violence, theft, impoverishment and fraud could mar the citizens lives. Yet Londoners also enjoyed a rich cultural life, with civic ceremonial and a variety of entertainments, including those at the new theatres, which grew and developed during the forty years that spanned the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.