Thousand-year-old observer of London

That I am a citizen of no mean city, is evident from the fact that I was born in London, where I have lived for nearly a thousand years, during which time I have seen many changes, and have improved in proportion to the improvements which have been made in the city. I have seen the Thames, which was once a dirty, shallow, and inconvenient river, become a broad, clear, and convenient thoroughfare, in which ships of the greatest size can easily arrive at, and depart from, the metropolis, in almost any part of the world. I have seen the city itself, which was formerly only a few miles in circumference, extended to a vast extent, and the number of inhabitants increased to nearly a million. I have seen the greatest improvements in the buildings, and in the streets