\paperw5085 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx3255\tx6525\tx9780\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 Towards the end of the 1500s many of the greater medieval towns began to
decline. City tax assessments were high, and there were too few rich merchants to pay them. At the same time, however, rural industries turned villages into new towns. Throughout the period, London was a rule unto itself, growing rapidly until it was
second only to Paris among west European cities. In \b \cf4 \ATXht13091000 Henry VIII\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 Æs reign 2.5 percent of the English population lived in London, but by 1650 the population had grown to 400,000, some 7 percent of the national total.
When an Englishman reached Persia in 1568 he found that the ShahÆs courtiers had heard of London, but not of England. Although the growth of \ATXnt901 London stimulated trade and industry\ATXnt0 , \b \cf4 \ATXht13111000 Queen Elizabeth I\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 and her successor King James I both feared that the flow of new immigrants would lead to overcrowding, riot and disease. However, the measures they took to stem the growth had little practical effect. Although poverty was indeed rife, the capital had
also become a centre for finance and trade. No building better symbolised this new Rome than the Royal Exchange, built in 1566-70 as a meeting-place for \b \cf4 \ATXht10371000 London financiers and merchants\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 .\par
