WILLIAM GRACE
Extract from The Picture of London, for 1813; being a correct Guide
to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects,
in and near London (1813)

[On pp. 160-61, the guide describes the view from the gallery at the foot of the lantern on St Pauls:]

The metropolis from that spot, has a kind of mimic appearance, like the objects in a fantoccini. The streets, the pavements, the carriages, and foot-passengers, have all the appearance of fairy ground and fairy objects. The spectator, contemplating the bustle of the diminutive throng below, is moved a little out of the sphere of his usual sympathy with them; and, as if they were emmets, asks himself involuntarily,‘in what are those little, consequential, eager animals engaged?’