The city of Westminster, the western part of the town, comes next
under consideration which received its name from the abbey or
minster situated to the westward of London. This city, if we
comprehend the district or liberties belonging to it, lies along the
banks of the Thames in the form of a bow or crescent, extending from
Temple Bar in the east to Millbank in the south-west; the inside of
this bow being about a mile and a half in length, and the outside
two miles and a half at least; the breadth, one place with another,
from the Thames to the fields on the north-west side of the town,
about a mile; and I am apt to think a square of two miles in length
and one in breadth would contain all the buildings within the
liberty of Westminster. That part of the town which is properly
called the city of Westminster contains no more than St. Margaret's
and St. John's parishes, which form a triangle, one side whereof
extends from Whitehall to Peterborough House on Millbank; another
side reaches from Peterborough House to Stafford House, or Tart
Hall, at the west end of the park; and the third side extends from
Stafford house to Whitehall; the circumference of the whole being
about two miles. This spot of ground, it is said, was anciently an
island, a branch of the Thames running through the park from west to
east, and falling into the main river again about Whitehall, which
island was originally called Thorney Island, from the woods and
bushes that covered it; the abbey or minster also was at first
called Thorney Abbey or minster, from the island on which it stood.

St. James's Park is something more than a mile in circumference, and
the form pretty near oval; about the middle of it runs a canal 2,800
feet in length and 100 in breadth, and near it are several other
waters, which form an island that has good cover for the breeding
and harbouring wild ducks and other water-fowl; on the island also