The more things change, the more they stay the same. That said, you either love it or you hate it, and I for one think London's a great place.

Julian, Twickenham, UK

The only difference between then and now is that we have got a bit more civilised and moved forward a bit in the evolution chain. The lawliness, the violence, the terrible food is all still there. I wonder what the name for a chav was in those days?

kim, london,

Perhaps you should all wait and read the book before casting judgment?

And remember that her letters were written with a specific audience in mind.

Jenni, Manchester,

I suppose she was a very dour person with a dismal outlook on life. But, if you had to look at that face in the mirror every day of your life, how would you feel?

brian keating, agde, france

I don't get it - why is everyone so against London? I moved here 2 years ago from the beautiful Sydney, and I have only great things to say about London. No matter who you are, what you do, how you dress or what you think, in London there is a place for you. Where else in the world does that apply?

Jess, London, UK

So, no change there then!

Walter Wall, Amsterdam, NL

So nothing's changed much!

Graham, St. Albans, uk

Somethings never change...

Allegra, London,

The big picture hasn't changed really.

Andreas , Cyprus,

Nobelwoman?!?!? (See the 'Times Recommends' for this on the front page.)

Calista , cambridge,

I agree with David, ship the backwards preachers off home! That would help cut taxes as they all have about 10 ktds each all sponging off the state.

Mark, Leeds,

How odd...excluding the corpses and carrots observation it read similar to an email I sent friends only March this year whilst passing through London. Fortunately I enjoyed the beer, pies and bonhomie.

Shane, Freomantle, Australia

Yeap, this is a very conservative place.

Fabio C, London, uk

She was the agent of an enemy power - both church and state and no doubt looked down on the English as hethens. Could her obserations be concidered balanced.

Mike Shea, Nagoya, Japan

David, Edinburgh:
You reveal an amazingly partisan, religious-centred view of 17thC history. Within Europe, Britain truly was a brutish, cultural backwater. And Britain's religious biggots did plenty of torturing and stake-burning of both catholics and protestants according to who was in power.

Jim McLaughlin, Calgary, Canada

so she obviously was not a beer and pie girl on a friday night.

sasha, melbourne, australia

David, they were all as bad as each other, the 'English reformation' was forced on the people by the use of torture, fines, punishments and the gallows. Many thousands of Englishmen and women died for being Catholics. Just look at what happened in the West country or in the North of England.

Mark Jones, Cardiff, Wales

I'm sure she wouldn't have felt welcome in England, being the agent of an unenlightened regime inflicting torture on anyone who disagreed with their narrow minded and outdated religious views. Perhaps this is how we should make Saudi trained clerics feel when they come to Britain.Then they might go.

David, Edinburgh, U.K.