Thus the atmosphere was clearer and lighter, and served as a finer medium to reveal objects which would now be lost at a quarter the distance.
Fair, sparkling, and clearly defined, then, rose up Old London before Jocelyn's gaze.

Girded round with gray walls, defended by battlements, and approached by lofty gates, four of which--to wit, Cripplegate, Moorgate, Bishopgate, and Aldgate--were visible from where he stood; it riveted attention from its immense congregation of roofs, spires, pinnacles, and vanes, all glittering in the sunshine; while in the midst of all, and pre-eminent above all, towered one gigantic pile--the glorious Gothic cathedral.

Far on the east, and beyond the city walls, though surrounded by its own mural defences, was seen the frowning Tower of London--part fortress and part prison--a structure never viewed in those days without terror, being the scene of so many passing tragedies.
Looking westward, and rapidly surveying the gardens and pleasant suburban villages lying on the north of the Strand, the young man's gaze settled for a moment on Charing Cross--the elaborately-carved memorial to his Queen, Eleanor, erected by Edward I .-- and then ranging over the palace of Whitehall and its two gates, Westminster Abbey--more beautiful without its towers than with them--it became fixed upon Westminster Hall; for there, in one of its chambers, the ceiling of which was adorned with gilded stars, were held the councils of that terrible tribunal which had robbed him of his inheritance, and now threatened him with deprivation of liberty, and mutilation of person.

A shudder crossed him as he thought of the Star-Chamber, and he turned his gaze elsewhere, trying to bring the whole glorious city within his ken.
A splendid view, indeed! Well might King James himself exclaim when standing, not many years previously, on the very spot where Jocelyn now stood, and looking upon London for the first time since his accession to the throne of England--well might he exclaim in rapturous accents, as he gazed on the magnificence of his capital--"At last the richest jewel in a monarch's crown is mine!" After satiating himself with this, to him, novel and wonderful prospect, Jocelyn began to bestow his attention on objects closer at hand, and examined the landscapes on either side of the eminence, which, without offering any features of extraordinary beauty, were generally pleasing, and exercised a soothing influence upon his mind.

At that time Stamford Hill was crowned with a grove of trees, and its eastern declivity was overgrown with brushwood.