This essay is about comparisons in fiction set in the city in Thomas Middleton's “A Chaste Maid in Cheapside” and Daniel Defoe's “A Journal of the plague year”. Both were based in London and the surrounding boroughs, offering glimpses into the places and lives of people in those times. Middleton's London was based in Cheapside, where since the 12th century the main street had been known to have been a market, the word 'cheap market', ever since a prosperous trading area. Many of the streets that feed into the main thoroughfare are named after the products originally sold in those areas of the market, for example Honey Lane, Milk Street, Bread Street and Poultry. the market there was called Westcheping. This neighborhood also begins on the east, on Walbrooke's course, at Bucklesbury, and runs on both sides to the great conduit at Chepe. “Strype (2007) (1) Cheapside was not cheap, as the name suggests, it was a long thoroughfare in a busy area, with the great conduit at one end and St Paul's Cathedral at the western end. It was a prosperous part of London, where royal processions passed and performances were held for the kings and queens of the time. Although trade was not considered very well thought of, but when they needed money the rich considered marriage suitable. The rich exchanged their good name for rich gifts. Additionally, from Bread Street to Friday Street, the homes and businesses were filled with gold merchants. This is where "Yellowhammer", one of the main characters in Middleton's play who was a goldsmith, "a pun on the name as a goldsmith hammers yellow". (14) Also where the play is sometimes set. A... middle of paper......vid Roberts. A diary of the plague year. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Defoe, D. (2001) Ed, John Berseth. A diary of the plague year. Dover Publication Inc. Mincola NYJohnson, M. (2001). Stuart London. Britannia.com http://www.britannia.com/history/londonhistory/stulon.html. [Accessed 11/29/10].Middleton, T. (2007). Ed, Emma French. A chaste waitress in Cheapside. Nick Hern Books, London.Pepys, S. (1981). Ed Robert Latham. Pepys' diary. Guild Publishing, Bury.Strype, J. (2007). An investigation into the city of London. hriOnline, 2007. http://www.The Stuart London Project, Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, Sheffield. Stripe, Survey of London (1720), [online](hriOnline, Sheffield). Available from;/stripe/tranformservlet?book 3-001[Accessed06/12/10].Stow, J. (2005). A survey of London. Sutton Publishing Limited, Stroud.