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ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY

LONDON;

CONTAINING

NOT ONLY VIEWS OF BUILDINGS,

WHICH IN MANY INSTANCES NO LONGER EXIST,

AND

FOR THE MOST PART WERE NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED;

BUT

SOME ACCOUNT

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PLACES AND CUSTOMS

EITHER UNKNOWN, OR OVERLOOKED BY THE

Pontoon historians.

BY JOHN THOMAS SMITH.

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PRINTED BY J. M'CREERY, BLACK-HORSE-COURT;

PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY THE PROPRIETOR, JOHN THOMAS SMITH, No. 4, CHANDOS-STREET,

COVENT GARDEN;

SOLD LIKEWISE BY MESSRS. JOHN AND ARTHUR ARCH, CORNHILL; BOYDELL AND CO. CHEAPSIDE ; MR. BAGSTER, STRAND; COLNAGHI AND CO., COCKSPUR- STREET; MESSRS. PAYNE AND FOSS, PALL-MALL; MR. CLARKE, BOND-STREET; MR. BOOTH, DUKE-STREET, PORTLAND PLACE; MR. RYAN, OXFORD-STREET;' MR. SETCIIEL, KING-STREET, COVENT-GARDENJ AND MR. upiiam, BATH.

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PREFACE.

As long prefaces are seldom read, it might be adverse to my interest on this oc¬ casion to say too much. I shall therefore, solely indulge a hope, that the following pages will afford some amusement to my subscribers, particularly as the materials consist of extracts from works, which for the most part were not written professedly on London ; — of information communicated by friends never before published ; and of observations of my own, resulting from an investigation of each subject delineated in this work.

As the country has of late been inundated with histories of London, which have been stolen from each other, without adding a single record of new matter ; I have endeavoured to render the present volume as entertaining as my small share of research and slender abilities would permit.

Many documents afforded by the kind assistance of friends have been occasionally incorporated in my work; and I have omitted the mention of their names for no other reason, but that of preventing any of my own errors being placed to their account. I here request them to accept of my grateful acknowledgements.

Some apology may be expected, for the too frequent digressions in almost every page. But as they are on subjects in some degree connected with London, or the arts, and may possibly at a future time afford useful memoranda, I trust their curiosity in some instances will atone for their intrusion. Having experienced that Topographical books are frequently put aside by the inspector, as soon as the prints have been turned over, I have on the present occasion endeavoured, by the introduc¬ tion of a variety of subjects, to render this book an entertainment for the evening ; and fully trust it will be read and recommended, so that I may receive some reward for my industry, without being obliged to resort to a subscription to carry me through a lingering illness, or a wretched extension of existence — a case, alas ! too often the severe lot of even some of our first rate artists. Can we read the lives of industrious Stowe, or laborious Hollar, without emotion ? or can we think of the neglected Richard Wilson, the Leviathan of Landscape painters ; or of the aged widow of our Woollett ; without blushing for the times in which they lived ?

Under these considerations then, let me most seriously entreat the Sportive Critic to be tender with me — to recollect the fable of the Boys and the Frogs and to make my case his own.

No. 4, C hand-os Street , Covent Garden.

JOHN THOMAS SMITH.

SACRED ARCHITECTURE.

As there are many elaborate works concerning Sacred buildings, I shall decline entering at large on a subject which may be found in most of the Libraries of my subscribers ; and shall therefore only observe generally that the early religious houses, as well as all other structures, weie, as may reasonably be concluded, of the rudest construction; consisting of massy stones, little or no ornament, and short, heavy pillars, with plain plinths, capitals, and mould¬ ings. The arches were semicircular, and, in my humble opinion, in most instances, an imitation of the Roman manner. We find, that in the advanced stages, the plinths and capi¬ tals were ornamented with large single leaves or scrolls, and masks. The shafts in many instances were less heavy, and frequently rendered lighter in their appearance by twisted flutes, which were sometimes inlaid with brass, as may be seen at this day in Waltham Abbey, and among the ruins of Orford Church.

The arches received a repetition of members, with small projecting blocks, resembling those in a subsequent plate of this work, taken from the lower circle of the Vestibule of the Temple Church. What is commonly called the billet moulding, was frequently introduced round the arches, between pillars, and over windows. It consisted of a zig-zag round moulding, a specimen of which rude kind of ornament is now remaining in Westminster, at the south end of the present House of Lords, formerly the court of requests. I drew it for my work on Westminster; and as several of. my present subscribers do not possess that book, I again introduce a representation of it, engraved on wood by John Berryman, on the opposite page.

It is a tribute due to Mr. Carter, to give him credit for having produced a greater collection of successive specimens of English Architecture than any other artist. He has been during the whole of his life, as may be seen by his numerous productions, indefatigable in his researches ; and I must declare, though I never spoke to him to my knowledge, that he justly deserves every remuneration for his perseverance in handing down so rich a mine of Antiquity. Many of his plates are etched in a spirited manner, with a close attention to mutilation, a point seldom attended to by Artists. Topographical draughtsmen introduce more than they see, in order to make their productions picturesque ; which, however they

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may again be tricked up by the engraver, who gives them a silvery effect, are intrinsically not worth a farthing ; and I am sorry to say, that engravers in general of antiquarian matters, not only do too much to them, but frequently, in consequence of their ignorance in drawing, endeavour to disguise their defects by high finishing : — they give a polish to bodies which never had any, and make no distinction between crumbled stone and decayed wood, linen and metal. When we view the polished armour of Mark Antony, or the brightened skillet of Wille, we give the artists due praise ; but when we see the same sort of line and method of working used to produce the heavy leathern doublet of Oliver Cromwell, or the battered and rusty shield of Henry the Fifth, we no longer consider them as faithful representations of texture or accident. The clumsy round arch style of Architecture, continued long after the arrival of William the Conqueror; for the annexed plate will exhibit a specimen in the reign of Henry the First.

NORTH-EAST VIEW OF THE BACK OF THE ORIGINAL ALTAR OF ST.

BARTHOLOMEW THE GREATER.

This venerable church was founded by Rayer, or Rayhere, in 1102, the second year bf Henry the First. This man, as appears from a Legend, written by a monk belonging to the Priory, and preserved in the British Museum, among the Cottonian MSS., was originally a Minstrel, and a person of low birth, and was, notwithstanding* thb founder of this church and hospital. He was a person of relaxed morals, and a compleat time-server, adapting himself, in ail respects, to the pleasures, lawful or otherwise, of his superiors ; but at a more advan¬ ced period of life, he began to reflect, and became a convert to religion ; and, according to what was then esteemed one of its most essential duties, performed a Pilgrimage to Rome. While tarrying there, he was seized with some dangerous malady; so that conceiving him¬ self at the point of death, and yearning after his native country, he made a vow to the Almighty, that if he should be permitted to survive, he would build an hospital for the reception of poor men. He recovered however, and on his journey homeward, was favoured with a vision, in which St. Bartholomew appeared to him, to let him know his pleasure respecting the erection of a church; at the same time pointing out the scite, “ Smythfeld,” and promising his protection in the completion of the work. On- his return to London, he com¬ municated all these matters to his friends, and to the principal “ Barons,” who informed him, that as the scite pointed out, was within the King’s market, nothing could be done without his special permission. In pursuance of this advice, he presented himself to his Majesty, and having previously secured the countenance of a Bishop, accomplished his purpose.

Some authors say, that this Priory was new built in 1410. In 1553 it was made a parish church. It was originally much larger than at present, and was of the form of a cross, as may be seen by the remains of the South transept, which is now used as a burying ground. Many of the arches and pillars have been engraved at the expense of the Society of Anti¬ quaries, together with the Founder’s monument, which now remains entire on the North, side of the chancel, painted in proper colours'. The inside of this truly curious Church has often been exhibited in the modern works of London ; and in two of these publications, I observe the artist has cleared away the pews, in order, as he thought; to give it its original appearance ;

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but unfortunately he has not taken up the pavement to expose the plinths of the pillars, though he has, with as much oversight, introduced the modern pulpit, gallery, and organ

The seals of this Priory have been published by the Society of Antiquaries. The earlies is in the second volume of Vetusta Monumenta. The other is on plate 35 of the Appendix o

The rebus of Prior Bolton is carved under a window on the South side of the choir. It is a tun, with a bolt or arrow driven through it. Mr. Camden, in Ms “ Remaines, has the following remark on this subject : “ It may seem doubtful whether Bolton Vnorof St “ Bartholomew's in Smithfleld, was wiser when he invented for Ins name a bird-bolt through « a tun . or when he built him a house upon Harrow Hill, for fear of an inundation after a

“ great conjunction, ‘ of planets in the watery triplicity.’” 1C,

Mr. Douce, in “ Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners, Vol. 1. p. 164,

has introduced engravings of these bolts, of five different forms.

As St. Bartholomew the Less is so near, I shall be pardoned for inserting the following ex¬ tract from “Queen Elizabeth’s Progresses,” Vol. i. p. 40 and particularly as >t confirms a curious instance of funeral street-hangings. “ June the 2d. (1559) was W Little St. “ Bartholomew’s, the lady Barnes, late wife of Sir George Barnes, knight, some time lurch “ mayor of London. There attended the funeral, Mr. Clarencieux, and twenty clerks s . 8 “ afore her to the Church, all in English; all the place (i. e. her house , and the streets “ through which they passed, and the Church, all hung in black, and coats of arms.

The following extract is from p. 45. in the same volume of this highly interesting work ; and will shew the temper of the times towards every sort of Church ornament. 1559 A g “ the 24th being St. Bartholomew’s day, and the day before and the after were burnt all « the roods of St. Mary and St. John, and many other Church goods ; with copes, crosses, « censers, altar-cloths, rood-cloth, books, banners, banner-staves, wainscot, with much othei “ such goods, in London.” On the 24tli of August, St. Bartholomews day, it was former y a custom with the Booksellers to adorn their shop-fronts with Bibles and Prayer-books only, as appears in Vol. i. p. 279, of Brand’s “ Popular Antiquities.” The Author says In New «< Essayes and Characters, by John Stephens the younger, of Lmcolnes Inne, Gent. 8o. “ Lond. 1631. p. 221.” We read:

« Like a Bookseller’s shoppe on Bartholomew day, at London, the stalls of which are “ so adorned with Bibles and Prayer bookes, that almost nothing is left within, but heathen « knowledge.” In “ The Daily Advertiser for October 27,” 1731, is the following paragraph.

“ We hear that the curious new Organ, made by Mr. Bridge, for the Church of St. Bar- « tholomew’s the Great, is to be opened on Sunday next with an Anthem.” Mr. Bridge was a famous maker; he built that glorious one in Spitalfields Cliuich.

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WEST ENTRANCE TO THE VESTIBULE OF THE TEMPLE CHURCH, DEDICATED TO GOD, AND OUR BLESSED LADY, BY HERACLIUS, PATRIARCH OF THE CHURCH, CALLED THE HOLY RESURRECTION IN JERUSALEM.

We see by this specimen, as well as many others in England, that the round arch style continued to the reign of Henry the Second ; but was considerably augmented, and enriched in its members and ornaments, as well as improved by its more graceful, slender pillars ; not any two of their capitals, in this instance at least, being similar.

These pillars, and all their carvings, are of stone, and of their original sculpture; though since I etched my plate, they have been much disguised by plaistering. The ornaments of the arches are of plaister, and evidently of workmanship long subsequent to the carvings of the pillars. The shafts of the pillars measure in height, five feet eight inches and a half, and in breadth, at the foot of the shaft, eight inches and a half, in diminution from thence to the top, one inch and a half. The plinths are three inches and a half deep, and the capitals one foot three inches in height. The width of the doors is six feet ten inches by ten feet high, under the lowest arch. This curious porch, is the only remaining one of its kind, in London. There is another very fine one at the West entrance of Rochester Cathedral. Fortunately the great fire did not destroy this venerable building ; its escape was miraculous, as the flames came close to its East windows, as appears by a truly curious plan of London, in two large folio sheets, kind¬ ly lent to me by Thomas Lloyd, Esq. entitled, “ An exact surveigh of the Streets, Lanes, and “ Churches, contained within the ruines of the City of London; first described in Six Plats “ by John Leake, John Jennings, William Marr, William Leyburn, Thomas Streete, and “ Richard Shortgrave, in December, Anno 1666, by the order of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, “ and Common Councell, of the said City. Reduced here into one intire plat, by John “ Leake.” “ Wenceslaus Hollar fecit 1667,” at the right hand lower corner. As this plan is extremely rare, I shall be pardoned by my Subscribers, who may not possess it, for inserting the following particulars, arising from a minute inspection of it, which the liberal indulgence of its owner enabled me to make. First, I trace the boundary of the great fire, by beginning West of the Tower of London, the eastern extent of the fire. The whole of the Tower escaped the fire, which stopt at its Western entrance. It burnt to the water’s edge, at what was then called “ Brewer’s Key.” Its line of exfent was Northerly, along “ Tower Bank” to the east end of “ Tower Street,” on Tower Hill, leaving the Church of Allallowes Barking, and the old houses at its East end, entire. It consumed the houses West of this Church, and all those in a North-west direction, to Fenchurch Street ; so on Westerly to Leadenhall, which entirely escaped. It consumed the buildings on the scite of Messrs. J. and A. Arch, Booksellers (the SouthWest corner of Bishopsgate Street); and so on crossing the middle of Threadneedle Street, to Austin Friars’ Church, which it did not touch. It then went Westerly, to Bell Alley; from thence to Armourers’ flail, which it entirely burnt, at the North end of Coleman Street; and continued to St. Giles’s Church, Cripplegate, which it left entire. From thence, southerly, to St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate, which also escaped; then, Westerly, to Pye Corner; from thence, leaving a portion of Cock Lane, and consuming the whole of St. Sepulchre’s Church, it burnt the South end of Cow Lane ; from thence, South-westerly, crossing Holborn

Sacred architecture .

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Bridge, proceeding diagonally to the end of Fetter Lane in Fleet Street, leaving the three old houses (which are now standing) East of St Dunstan’s in the West, which remained un¬ burnt; from thence it crossed Fleet Street to the East end of the Temple Church, where it ended West. It consumed the whole of White Friars, and burnt from thence down to the water’s edge to the West entrance of the Tower of London; from whence this description com¬ menced. It entirely consumed the buildings over six arches of London Bridge at the North end.

The investigation of this print brought to my recollection an observation I had read some years ago, but in what author I am at present unable to state, that Churches do not stand due East and West, but immediately opposite to the sun, as it rises on the day on which the Saint died, to whom the Church is dedicated. Now, as this truly curious print, etched by the hand ot Hollar, from a plan taken by Six Surveyors, expressly for the City’s use, may be depended upon for its accuracy, I tried all the aspects of the Churches, and hardly found two of them to accord; indeed, in many instances, they varied many degrees. As to Westminster Abbey, and its close neighbours, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine in the Little Cloysters, which I have minutely measured for my plan of Westminster, they vary many points from each other; and we may, therefore, very reasonably conclude, that the ancient Architects had their reasons for thus deviating from due East and West.

Perhaps, no subject affords a greater diversity of opinion among Antiquaries than that of the origin of the pointed arch, commonly called Gothic ; every one entertaining in some par¬ ticulars an opinion of his own : and indeed even learned men have carried their differences so far, as to lose their temper in the discussion. It might therefore ill become me, even though I held a particular opinion on the subject, to offer it to the public ; and I cannot invite the reader’s attention to better observations, perhaps, on Gothic structures, than the papers presented to the Society of Antiquaries, entitled, “ Some Observations on the Gothic Buildings abroad, particularly those in Italy, and on Gothic Architecture in general ; by T. Kerrich, M.A. F.S.A. Principal Librarian to the University of Cambridge.” See “ Archaeologia,” Vol. xvi. p. 292.

I shall therefore content myself wdth introducing one fact, which seems of no small impor¬ tance, with respect to the application of the term Gothic to the pointed arch, and the supposed inventor of this architectural feature by the Goths. In the celebrated Manuscript of the Gospels, as translated in the fourth Century by Bishop Ulphilas, still preserved in the library ofUpsal, and supposed by able judges to have been written about the same time, there is a representa¬ tion in some of the margins, of a kind of portico or colonnade formed of round, or Roman arches, resting on pillars, such as were used by the Romans in the decline of the empire ; and, in all probability, borrowed by a comparatively barbarous people from a more enlightened one. Fac-similes of some of the pages in this celebrated Manuscript are to be found in a few of the works, which have been expressly written on it ; and the following cut is copied from Ihre’s “ Analecta Ulphilana, Upsal, 1769, 4to, page 12.

6

As it may still be contended that the Goths might, in posterior times, during their posses¬ sion of Italy, have introduced the pointed arch, I shall leave the discussion of the question to abler hands, expecting only that in order to maintain such a position, some good evidence be adduced of the existence of a building with pointed arches, in any part of the European conti¬ nent at such a period. In the mean time, it may be worthy of consideration, whether the term Gothic has not been used synonymously, however improperly, with barbarous , and merely in contradistinction to any architecture that was neither Greek or Roman.

PART OE THE VESTIBULE OF THE TEMPLE CHURCH.

The Vestibule is fifty-six feet, nine inches, in diameter, and is surrounded by fifty-four arches, or recesses, which might possibly have been used as stalls. They are raised upon a stone step six inches and a half higher than the pavement ; from the top of which step to the point of the inner arch, is six feet two inches. The distance between the pillars, which all vary in their capitals, is one foot, eleven inches ; the height of the plinth is six inches ; the shaft is three feet, five inches, the width of which is four inches and a half. These arches appear from their workmanship, to be some of the first of the pointed style in Englan . ey are certainly the only remaining specimens of their kind in London ; their mouldings are by no means regularly cut, nor are they truly struck ; and the attempt at decoration is extremely rude, as appears from the irregular distances, at which the blocks are placed m the mouldings; indeed these blocks, which are grossly unequal in their sizes, neither accord in their distances, nor in some instances in their number, on either side the arch.

These pillars, with their capitals, chiefly consisting of water, leaves, and all varying in their design, accord generally in form with those which support the round arch, at the entrance of this church, already described.

The heads round this Vestibule are fifty-six in number, and were by no means ill carved; but have lost the spirit they had, by the late plaistering of the church: howevei, I have secured drawings of several of them, many of which are ridiculously curious. As I was ac¬ companied by friends, when I made drawings of the monumental crossed-legged figures, on the ground of this Vestibule, commonly called Knight Templars, and as I have not etched them in this work as I intended, 1 consider it my duty to apologize for their omission, and feel myself happy in having it in my power, to state my reasons. Shortly after I had made my drawings, 1 found that my worthy friend, Stothard s eldest son, Charles, had an intern tion of drawing them for his publication entitled, “ MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES.

This work consists of the most early, curious, and splendid monumental figuies in England, executed in every instance by his own hand, and coloured according to the originals.

As the truly superior excellence of these plates will entitle them to the admiration of every eye of taste, I do most cordially recommend them to my friends who have not yet seen them, and trust that so inestimable an acquisition to the Library, will meet with national attention.

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PART OF THE VESTIBULE OF THE TEMPLE CHURCH.

This plate displays a segment of the upper part of the Vestibule, surrounded by forty-two small pillars, similar in their proportions, and general appearance of capitals, to those in the lower part just described. The pointed arch is here produced by the intersection of semicir¬ cles, and must have been erected subsequently to those of the foregoing plate. Of this mode of producing the pointed arch, there are many instances in England, though this is the only lemain ing one in London. The South East end of Canterbury Cathedral, the inside of the porch of Southwell Church, the base and second story of the tower of Malmsbury Abbey, and the Abbey gate of Bristol, afford examples of this style of architecture. There are many abroad. Mr. Kerrich has given two specimens in the sixteenth volume of Archaeologia, one from the round window at the west end of the Cathedral at Placentia, the other from the Cathedral of Parma. The organ of the Temple Church was built by Bernard Schmidt, usually called Father Smith, to distinguish him from his nephew, of the same Christian name. A very curious contest of skill between him and the younger Harris (Renatus) respecting the orsan for this Church may be found in Sir John Hawkins s History of Music, Vol. iv. p. 354. Mr. Francis Piggot was the first organist at the Temple. Father Smith also built the Organs for the Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Mary at Hill, St. Clement Danes, St. Margaret’s, Westminster, and at Whitehall. The last mentioned, which I have been informed was originally in the “ House in the Wood,” and brought to England by Queen Mary, was at first placed in Whitehall Chapel, on the West side; but during the late repairs, it has been erected at the South end, over the Altar, which was placed before the above stated alterations, against a screen, at the North end of the Chapel. Sir John Hawkins, with whose works every descrip¬ tion of readers will be amused, says, in his History of Music, Vol. iv. p. 508. “ The customary « place of interment for an organist is under the organ of his Church. In Purcell’s time, and “ long after, the organ of Westminster Abbey stood on the North side of the choir, and this “ was anciently the station of the organ in all Churches. In Hollar’s fine view of the inside of “ old St. Paul’s, in Sir William Dugdale’s History of that Cathedral, the organ is so situated, as “ it is at this day at Canterbury, and the king’s Chapel. The reason of it was, that the organist <( should not be obliged to turn his back to the altar. But this punctilio is now disregarded; “ and, which is extraordinary, even at the ambassador’s Chapel in Lincoln s Inn fields, where “ the organ stands at the West end, as in most Churches in this kingdom. Sii John, in the same volume, p. 351, after the following notice of James Cliffords collection of divine services, published 1664, gives the succeeding note concerning the Temple Church.

“ Brief directions for the understanding of that part of the divine service performed with “ the organ in St. Paul’s Cathedral, on Sundayes, &c.” The particulars most woithy of regard among these directions are the following : “ After the Psalms, a voluntary upon the “ organ alone. After the third collect, O Lord our heavenly Father, &c. is sung the fiist “ anthem. After the blessing, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. a voluntary alone “ upon the organ.”

“ This was the usage in cathedrals for many years ; but in some, particularly St. Paul s and “ Canterbury, and at Westminster the practice has been, and still is, instead of a voluntary, *f to sing the Sanctus to solemn music in. the interval between morning prayer, concluding

8

“ with the Benediction, and the second or communion service, which is certainly a change “ for the better. In the Temple Church, which, by the way, is neither a cathedral noi “ parochial church, a voluntary is introduced in this part of the service ; but at no other in “ London.”

The same author says, that organs became common in Europe about the year 826. There is only one organist now at the Temple, Mr. George Price, who is the Piano Forte Player at Drury Lane Theatre, an able musician, and truly respectable man.

PARTS OF THE NORTH AND EAST WALLS OF THE CONVENT OF

ST. CLARE, OR MINORESSES.

In 1796, my worthy friend, Mr. John Cranch, native of Kingsbridge, Devonshire, now residing in Bath, presented me with an interesting little picture, painted by himself, of some ruins which he had discovered. The following inscription is pasted at the back.

“ Last remains of an ancient Convent (nuns of St. Clare) now part of a warehouse “ belonging to Mr. Mansfield, a broker, situate the south side of Church Street, in the “ Minories.” •

• Soon after I had received this picture, a tremendous fire happened, March 23d, 1797, which consumed every thing but the stone walls of this once extensive Convent. In the following month I made drawings of them ; and trifling as the remains are, still they are interesting; and perhaps nothing would have been known of them had it not been for the research of my friend, and the accident above alluded to. Though we gain little from these ruins but fragments, yet they give us some idea of the unsettled constructions of the arches, and confused number of openings and recesses, some being nearly flat, others almost round, and the rest variously and rudely pointed. The walls above the foundations were in some parts three feet thick, and consisted of stones principally cut into squares of various sizes : these were irregularly placed, particularly in the lower parts of the building. As to the upper windows, they were more lofty in their forms, and evidently of workmanship decidedly long subsequent to the lower. I -was unable to discover the ground plan of this Abbey, or its extent, by reason of several of its parts still being under the foundations of houses now standing on its South and Eastern parts in Heydon Square. As to ornament, nothing was left, except a stone cross let into the lower part of the West wall, as given in my second plate of these ruins.

Crosses of this kind were not unfrequent in walls ; there was one West of the old gate of Bermondsey Abbey, which I have etched in my first work of London, published many years since. .

There was another, curiously ornamented, let into the external face of the East side of Westminster Hall, opposite to the spot now occupied by the Speaker’s staircase in St. Stephen’s Court, and formerly by the ruins of the Bell tower of St. Stephen’s Chapel. This Abbey was founded in 1293 by Blanch, Queen of Navarre, and her husband, Edward, Earl of Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby, brother to King Edward the First. It was erected on ground given by Thomas Breadstreet, for the service of God, St. Mary, and St. brancis, aud called Clare, from St. Clara, a native of Assisi, in Italy. Pope Boniface VIII. in a bull

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dated 1295, prohibited all Bishops’ sentences of excommunication or suspension against this Convent, or any of its members. It became very richly endowed by several gifts of an London, and was also much favored by Edward the Third. Richard the Second made^t free of arrest, except for treason, and felonies touching His Majesty s Crown. The «ueei Dowager of Edward the Second is said to have been of this order at hei deat , an been buried in the Grey Friars or Franciscans’ Church at London In 1419, theremar Lady Elizabeth Keryel were deposited here; and Elizabeth, Duchess of Noi o , of Thomas Howard, Duke, by her will bearing date November^ 6th, 1506, bequeathed body to be buried here. Weever, in his “ Funeral Monuments, p. 42o says,

“ was valued to dispend yeerely 4187. 8,. 5d. and was surrendred by »ame Elizabeth “ Savage, the last Abbesse there, and to King Henry the eight, in the 30th of his g • In the following year, 1540, Henry the Eighth gave it, by Act of Parliament, o r. er , who was soon after poisoned in Germany, but died in England, and was burie ere.

Edward the Sixth gave it to the father of Lady Jane Grey (the Duke of Suffo , w i beheaded 1553); it reverted to the Crown, and was used as a storehouse for or nance. n 1670, it became the property of the Legge family. In 1671, it was ca e ey on ou . Sir Thomas Chicheley, Knt. Master of the Ordnance, lived in it in 1673. It afterwards became the property of Sir William Pritchard, Knt. The scite is now occupie y shops and other buildings. For several other curious particulars respecting this Abbey, see

Dr. Fly’s account, printed in “ Archaeologia,” Vol. xv. p. 92.

The ground on which this Priory stood, had been a Roman burying-place, as were the

scites of its neighbours, White-Chapel, Goodman’s-fields, and Camomile Street.

In digging the foundations for the present workshops built on this ground many curious fragments of Roman pottery, as well as glass vessels, were discovered. Mr Cranch ob¬ tained two complete urns filled with bones, ashes, &c. which he has carefully preserved. They were taken up ten feet below the common surface. A vessel of singular construe ion was taken up whole; but an ingenious journeyman carpenter who found it, bro e o e curious spout of two feet long, and converted the body into a glue-pot. In discussing a subject so near to St. Botolph, Aldgate, my great veneration for the works of Roubnac will sufficiently apologize for my noticing in this place his beautiful statue o lr o in Cass. The eye of taste, that has not seen this spirited production, will be amp y iecom- pensed by proceeding to the north end of the Minories, where he will find the figure o Sir John, alluded to, in a niche of the School-house erected by him. t is remar a e ^ respect to the many productions of this Artist, that this is the on y one in e London publicly exposed. That of Handel in Vauxhall gardens, erected by Mr. Jonathan Tyers, at the expense of 3007. is the next nearest. The figure of Shakspeare, v nc i i carved for Mr. Garrick, is still at Hampton, and worthy of every commendation that can be bestowed on it. Sir Isaac Newton’s, at Cambridge, is, I believe, Ins fourth public s a ue, and these are all of that kind which were executed by him in Englan . e was mos y employed on private monuments, of which there are many by him in t is coun ly. Westminster Abbey there are six: viz. Mrs. Nightingale’s, Sir Peter Warrens, Hargraves, Flemming’s, Argyle’s, and Handel’s. The latter was his last performance; and what is

remarkable, the figure at Vauxhall was his first.

10

ANCIENT PARTS OF THE CHURCH OF ST. DUNSTAN IN THE EAST.

This Church stands at a short distance north of Thames Street. Its foundation is of great antiquity; but authors confess themselves ignorant as to the precise time of its erection; some conjecture it to have been full eight hundred years since. Thirty-three years before the great fire, in 1666, it cost 2,400Z. in repairs. It is denominated St. Dunstan in the East, to distinguish it from the church in Fleet Street dedicated to the same Saint. The following inscription, cut in a small stone placed over the South Porch, will compleatly confute those authors who assert, that this Church was thoroughly repaired in eighteenth months after the great fire.

“ This Church and Steeple after the dreadful Conflagration, Anno 1666, was re-edified “ and repaired Anno Dom. 1667, 1668, and 1669.”

The walls of the body of this Church having been not wholly consumed, were only repaired by Sir Christopher Wren ; but the Tower he built from the ground, the spite of which stands upon four perforated arches, or stilts, and is much admired for its lightness and taste: but Lord Orford’s remark is certainly just, when, enumerating the works of Sir Christopher Wren, he says, “ The Tower of St. Dunstan’s Church attempted in the Gothic “ style with very poor success.” See “ Anecdotes on Painting,” Yol. iii. p. 97, Strawberry- Hill Edit. There is a story current, that a high wind blew down all the steeples that Sir Christopher had erected, except this of St. Dunstan’s, and that it owed its preservation to the free passage of wind, which passed through its arches. The spire of Feversham in Kent is on the same construction. Lady Williamson laid out 4,000/. on these last repairs.

Little as the importance of this plate may be to the antiquary, yet it exhibits the form of one of the original south windows ; and though the munnions are deprived of their mould¬ ings, it affords a singular instance, in London, of a semicircle supporting a circle.

As to the Bells of this Church, I find the following note in Sir John Hawkins’s History of Music, Yol. iv. p. 154. “ In the year 1684, one Abraham Rudhall, of the city

“ of Gloucester, brought the art of bell-founding to great perfection. His descendants in “ succession have continued the business of casting bells ; and by a list published by them, “ it appears, that at Lady-day, 1774, the family, in peals and odd bells, had cast to the “ amount of 3,594. The peals of St. Dunstan’s in the East, and St. Bride’s, London, and “ St. Martin’s in the Fields, Westminster, are in the number.”

The same author, in continuation, says, “^The practice of ringing bells in change is said “ to be peculiar to this country, but the antiquity of it is not easily to be ascertained. There “ are in London several societies of ringers, particularly one known by the name of the “ College Youths: of this it is said Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of the court of “ King’s Bench, was, in his youthful days, a member.” Sir John also observes, in a note in the same volume, p. 108, “ According to the computation of ringers, the time required “ to ring all the possible changes on twelve bells, is seventy-five years, ten months, one “ week, and three days.”

In Seymour’s History of London we find, that in the reign of Edward the Fourth, certain Holidays were kept in this Parish; and that the expenditures, on two occasions, were as

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follow: viz. “ The Dedication of the Church, which was on the day of the eleven thousand “ Virgins, when the Church-wardens laid out for Bread, Wine, and Ale, in the Church, 15 d.

“ St. Dunstan’s Day, for Bread, Wine, and Ale, with Garlands ; 1 6d.”

As the walls of the present Church, and those of all others in London, are now destitute of their sacred sentences, I shall introduce a curious dialogue which took place between Queen Elizabeth and Dean Nowell, in St. Paul’s, on New Year’s Day, November 1, 1561; and which, it is said, gave rise to their introduction, extracted from “ Queen Elizabeth’s “ Progresses,” Vol. i. p. 65. “ She went strait to the vestry, and applying herself to the

“ Dean, thus she spoke to him.

“ Q. ‘ Mr. Dean, how came it to pass that a new service-book was placed on my cushion?’

“ To which the Dean answered:

“ D. ‘ May it please your Majesty, I caused it to be placed there.’

“ Then said the Queen :

“ Q. ‘ Wherefore did you so ?’

“ D. ‘ To present your Majesty with a New Year’s Gift.’

“ Q. ‘ You could never present me with a worse.’

“ D. ‘ Why so, Madam?’

“ Q. ‘ You know' I have an aversion to idolatry and pictures of this kind.’ .

“ D. ‘ Wherein is the idolatry, may it please your Majesty ?’

“ Q. * In the cuts resembling angels and saints ; nay, grosser absurdities, pictures “ resembling the Blessed Trinity.’

“ D. ‘ I meant no harm : nor did I think it would offend your Majesty when I intended “ it for a New Year’s Gift.’

“ Q. ‘ You must needs be ignorant then. Have you forgot our proclamation against “ images, pictures, and Romish reliques in churches? Was it not read in your deanery ?’

“ D. ‘ It was read. But be your Majesty assured, I meant no harm, when I caused the “ cuts to be bound with the service-book.’

“ Q. * You must needs be very ignorant, to do this after our prohibition of them.’

“ D. ‘ It being my ignorance, your Majesty may the better pardon me.’

“ Q. ‘I am sorry for it : yet glad to hear it wras your ignorance, rather than your opinion.

“ D. ‘ Be your Majesty assured it was my ignorance.’

“ Q. ‘ If so, Mr. Dean, God grant you his Spirit, and more wisdom for the future.’

“ D. ‘ Amen, I pray God.’

“ Q. ‘I pray, Mr. Dean, how came you by these pictures? — Who engraved them?’

“ D. ‘ I know not who engraved them, — I bought them.’

“ Q. ‘ From whom bought you them?’

“ D. ‘ From a German.’

“ Q. ‘ It is well it was from a stranger. Had it been any of our subjects, we should “ have questioned the matter. Pray let no more of these mistakes, or of this kind, be “ committed within the churches of our realm for the future.’

“ D. ‘ There shall not.’

“ This matter” (says the Editor) “ occasioned all the clergy in and about London, and

the church- wardens of each parish, to search their churches and chapels: and caused “ them to wash out of the walls all paintings that seemed to be Romish and idolatrous ; “ and in lieu thereof suitable texts, taken out of the Holy Scriptures, to be written. ’

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Of these sacred sentences there were several within my memory in the old church of Paddington, now pulled down ; and also in the little old one of Clapham. They are to be met with in many country churches, and are very common in Bedfordshire, Northampton¬ shire, and Westmoreland.

In an inside view of Ambleside church, painted by my worthy friend George Arnald, Esq. A. R. A. he has recorded several, which are particularly appropriate to their stations ; for in¬ stance, that over the door admonishes the comers in ; that above the pulpit exhorts the preacher to spare not his congregation ; and another within sight of the singers, encourages them to offer praises to the Lord on high. These inscriptions have sometimes one line written in black, and the next in red ; in other instances the first letter of each line is of a bright blue, green, or red. They are frequently surrounded by painted imitations of frames or scrolls, held up by boys painted in ruddle. It was the custom in earlier times to write them in French, with the first letter of the line considerably larger than the rest, and likewise of a bright colour curiously ornamented: several of these were discovered in 1801, on the ceiling of a closet on the South side of the Painted Chamber, Westminster, now blocked ,up.

Others of a subsequent date, of the reign of Edward III. in Latin, were visible during the recent alterations of the House of Commons, beautifully written in the finest jet black, with the first letters also of bright and different colours.

Hogarth, in his print of the sleeping congregation, has satirized this kind of church embellishment, by putting a tobacco pipe in the mouth of the angel who holds up the scroll ; and illustrates the usual ignorance of the country artist, by giving three joints to one of his legs. The custom of putting up sacred sentences is still continued in many churches, but they are generally written in letters of gold upon black grounds, within the pannelst of the fronts of the galleries..

LEADENHALL CHAPEL.

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The Leaden Hall belonged, in 1309, to Sir Hugh Nevil, Knt. whose widow Alice, made a feoffment thereof, by the name of Leadenhall, to Richard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, in 1362, and in 1380, the same was confirmed by Alice Nevil, widow to Sir John Nevil, Knt. of Essex, to Thomas Cogshall and others. In 1384, Humphrey de Bohem, Earl of Hereford, had the manor ; and in 1 408, Robert Rikedon, of Essex, and Margaret his wife, confirmed it, with all its appurtenances, to Richard Whittington, and other citizens of London. In the year 1419, Simon Eyre, a famous merchant and draper, and afterwards Lord Mayor of London, erected a common granary, on the soil of Leadenhall, of squared stone, together with a chapel in the East side of the quadrant, over the inner porch of which he caused to be written “ Dextra Domini exaltavit me,” the Lord’s right hand exalted me. Simon Eyre died the 18th of September, 1459, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Wolnoth, in Lombard Street. In 1444, the Parson and Parish of St. Dunstan in the East granted to Henry Frowicke, then mayor, the aldermen and commonalty, and their successors for ever, all the tenements, &c. called the Horsemill, in Grass Street, for the annual rent of four pounds, for the purpose of enlarging the before mentioned granary. This Hall, of which there is now only one arch remaining, stood on the South side o?

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Leadenhall Street, at the North-east corner of Gracechurch Street. It compleatly escaped the great fire, though the flames were close to its East, South, and West sides. It was a quadrangular building, consisting of two stories, and a loft, supported upon arches, of which there were nine in front toward Leadenhall Street, and from which the cart entrance was through the centre one, which was considerably lower than the rest. It was all of stone, with a tower at each corner, surmounted by a turret, up which a stair-case led to the floors. They consisted of long low rooms, with small windows close to the ceiling, and were originally filled with grain, but afterwards used for the painting of trophies, framing of triumphal arches for pageants, and storehouses for ammunition. Dr. Howell, in his “ Me- “ dulla Historic® Anglican®,” 3d Edit. p. 354, says, “ 1648, April the 9th and 10th, the “ London Boys made an Insurrection, seized the Magazine at Leadenhall, crying out for “ God and King Charles, but were quieted by Fairfax.”

Of late years it was used for the receptacle of leather and skins, as are indeed the modern warehouses lately erected on its scite. Above the roof, over the centre arch in Leadenhall Street, was a large bell, covered with a wooden top, similar in form to the corner turrets, though rather larger. What with the rusty iron bars within the small windows, and the dingy appearance of the building, Leadenhall looked latterly more like a Prison than any thing else.

The Chapel, of which the annexed plates exhibit all that I was able to secure during its late final demolition, was, says Weever, in his “ Funeral Monuments,” page 422, “ first “ built by Simon Eyre, before remembred, who left livelihood to the Drapers sufficient, and “ withall a charge, That they should within one yeare after his decease, establish perpetu- “ ally a Master or Warden, five secular Priests, sixe Clarkes, and two Queristers, to sing “ daily divine Service by note in the same for ever, which was never performed. Not long “ after this, in the yeare 1466. Ed. 4. 6. William Rouse, John Risby, and Thomas “ Ashby, Priests, founded a Fraternitie in the same Chappell, dedicated to the blessed “ Trinitie, for threescore Priests ; some of which, every market day in the forenoone, did “ celebrate divine Service, to such market people, as would repair to prayer.”

This Chapel, which was finally taken down in June, 1812, was entered from the East side of the quadrangle, under a large arch, over the centre of which were the blazoned arms of the founder. On either side of this arch, as may be seen in the opposite plate, was a per¬ forated screen of exquisite workmanship, the openings of which had probably been filled with stained glass. The chapel was an oblong square, with a large window at the East, and three on either side. The roof, which was pointed, had been supported by carved brackets, of chesnut, resting uppn corbels, let into the walls at those parts where the buttresses were placed ; but of these brackets only one fragment remained, as the roof had been often altered since its suppression, for various warehouse purposes : for it must be observed here, that the whole of this Chapel, for many years, had been a receptacle for leather.

Within the Chapel, at the South-west corner, there was a small door of oak, curiously pannelled and studded, opening into a small square place, formerly perhaps the Sacristy ; and against the fragments of its walls I discovered slight remains of painted figures. One exhibited a cheek, ear, side of the head, and long wavey yellow hair flowing on fragments of blue and red drapery, similar in their folds, to the productions of Martin Schoen, and Israel Van Meckenheim.

The shadows were painted with ruddle, and not unlike, in style of colouring, those pic¬ tures lately discovered on the walls of the House of Commons, executed in the reign of Edward

14

the Third, though in no part gilt, raised, stamped, or ornamented. The old custom of painting upon walls, appears to have been universal before the Reformation ; and though many thousand pictures were at that time destroyed, and also in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who regarded them, as she expressed herself to Dean Nowell, in the vestry of St. Pauls Cathedral, as idolatrous, yet many publickly remained in the time of Oliver Cromwell, who ordered them to be demolished all over England ; and at Oxford many hundreds were cut to pieces by his soldiers, as appears in Dr. Wilson’s interesting work, of “ Church Ornaments considered. In several places, some of the most curious were wainscotted up, or hid by tapestry ; for instance, those lately visible in the House of Commons, (formerly St. Stephen’s Chapel) those in the Chapter house of Westminster Abbey, (formerly the House of Commons) those at Stratford upon Avon, and that over the nave of St. Michael’s, at St. Alban’s.

The truly handsome manner in which my friend John Flaxman, Esq. R. A. ; has noticed the engravings of the pictures discovered on the walls of the present House of Commons, in the year 1800, in his Lectures delivered in the Royal Academy, invites me to conclude, particularly as I am unable to produce the names of the Artists who decorated the Chapel of Leadenhall, that the following selections from “ Antiquities of Westminster” will be acceptable to those readers who may not possess a copy of that work. I shall first introduce the engraving on wood by Mr. John Berryman, cut from a drawing, made on the block, by Thomas Stothard, Esq. R. A.; and which, fortunately for the numerous admirers of the elegant designs of that artist, escaped the flames, at Mr. Bensley's printing office.

15

It represents King Edward the Third on the 18th of March, in 1350, commissioning Hugh de St. Alban’s, John Athelard, and Benedict Nightegale, to collect painters for St. Stephen s Chapel, the rebuilding of which commenced in 1330, and not, as Stow says, in 1347. Not one of these artists appears to have been know n to Lord Orford, and therefore a list of them, with the wages they received, is here arranged according to their rank.

Hugh de St. Alban’s, master of the pain¬ ters, and designer of the pictures, at Is. a day.

John Barneby, whose wages were 2s. a day (probably the most skilful of the pain¬ ters), John Cotton, a painter (who frequent¬ ly assisted Master Hugh in preparing the drawings), and William Maynard, at Is. a day each.

John Elham, John Pekele, and Gilbert Pokeritch, at 10c?. a day each.

John Athelard, Henry Blecke, Henry Blithe, John de Cambridge, John Davy, John Exeter, Janyn Godmered, William Lincoln, Richard Norwich, John Oxford, Gilbert Prince, Thomas Ruddok, Lowen or Leven Tassyn, William de Walsyngham, at 9c?. a day each.

Richard de Croydon, Richard Forde,

John Palmer, and William Somervill, at 8c?. a day each.

Thomas Burnham, William Estwyk, and Thomas Jordon, at 7c?. a day each.

Adam Burgate or Purgate, William Hes¬ ton, William Larke, Benjamin Nitengale, Roger Norwich, Edward Pagnel, Peter Stockwell, John Tatersete, Ralph Tatersete, and John Werkham, at 6c?. a day each.

Peter de Cambridge, Edward de Burton, William Heston, John Leveryngton, Thomas Pritlewell (painter and colour grinder), and Thomas Shank, at 5c?. a day each.

Thomas de Cambridge (painter and co¬ lour grinder), William Cambridge, Thomas Davy (painter and colour grinder), Richard Lincoln (painter and colour grinder), Regi¬ nald de Walsingham (painter and colour grinder), and John York, at 41c?. a day each.

All these appear to have been Englishmen, and their productions were unquestionably in oil, as the following extracts from “ Antiquities of Westminster” will prove “ 18th July, “ (25 Edw. III.) Master Hugh de St. Albans, for four flagons of painters’ oil, for the painting “ of the Chapel, 16s.” p. 217.

Again, “ July 25th. To the same (Master Hugh de St. Albans) for thirteen flagons of “ painters’ oil, for the painting of the said chapel, at 3s. 4c?. a flagon, 21. 3s. 4c?.” p. 218.

Again, “ 19th September. Nineteen flagons of painters’ oil, for painting of the chapel, “ at 3s. 4c?. per flagon, 3/. 3s. 4c?.” same page.

Again, “ 19th March (27th of Edw. III.) Thomas Drayton, for eight flagons of painters’ “ oil, for painting of the chapel, at 2s. 6c?. a flagon, 1?.” p. 220.

Again, “ (31 Edw. III.) Master Hugh, for four flagons of oil, for the same, at Is. 11 id. “ a flagon, 7s. 6c?.” p. 221.

In addition to the splendid productions of these painters, who used the most vivid and costly colours, the quantity of the purest gold, of an uncommon thickness, was very considerable ; for I find the amount of the leaves used, as acknowledged in a few accounts of expenditures, to be twenty-three thousand six hundred and fifty. The silver leaves, specified in the same accounts, amount to one thousand. The names of the sculptors (13 Sep. 6 Edw. III.) were probably only two, viz. Master Richard of Reading, and William de Padryngton or Patrington. They worked by the task, so that their assistants’ names are not given.

16

GifllTpT “t twi|',1"’aw 7ere ,painte^ OVer by the fo,lowinS John Ell, an,,

Gilbert Pokerigh, William Walsmgham, Roger Norwich, and Edmund Pagnell p 201

The names of the painters and glass Stainers of this magnificent reign, must not be for-

fh h”ir 10US'f ,riS' T”’ that artlStS °f their Profession are entitled to little praise beyond the brilliancy of their colours. In my humble opinion, their best imitations fad far short of

a fine picture; and I really think it a folly to expend three thousand pounds in a glass copy

of a picture or a print and that a foreign production, when our own artists are in want cTf

“ H,St0r,Cal Pai"*erS; and W0Uld Pr°Juce a fine picture for atrd

GLAZIERS, 20 June, 25 Edward the Third.

Master John de Chester, was the prin¬ cipal designer of the Images for the win¬ dows of St. Stephen’s chapel, at Is. a day.

John Athelard, John Lincoln, Simon Lenne, John Lenton, and Hugh de Liches- feld, were also designers, at Is. a day each.

Godman de Linton had also Is. a day.

William Walton, Nicholas Dadyngton, John Waltham, John Lord, William Liches- feld, John Carleton, John Seines, Thomas Jonge, or le Yonge, John Geddyng, John Halsted, Robert Norwich, and William de Lenton, at Id. a day each. p. 191.

To these might be added many other names of glaziers of little importance, as they were mostly employed m cutting and fitting, at lower wages. It may be worthy remark that they prepared their own colours, and stained their glass on the spot ’ ^

In addition to the painters employed in the reign of Edward the Third are subioined the names of several other,, also painters in oil, who lived as far back as the’ twentieth year of Edward the First 1292, (150 years prior to the supposed invention by John ab Eyck and

: the °f the>s< st s« ^ ^ Orford : viz. ^ ° S phe"’ ab°ut U41> ; not one of whom has been mentioned by Lord

Master Walter, at Is. a day.

Andrew, and Giletto, (perhaps foreigners) at 8c?. *a day each.

John of Sonninghull, and Thomas of Flory, at Id. a day each.

William de Briddes Edmund, of Norfolk,

and Richard of Stock well, at 6d. a day each.

Roger de Beauchamp, Thomas Brimes- grove, John of Carlisle, Roger of Ireland, John of Soningdon, Roger of Winchester,

Master Thomas of Canterbury, who appointed master mason, and to treasurer and council, p. 181.

and Thomas of Worcester, at 5d. a day each.

John of Halsted e, Godfrey of Norfolk, William of Oxford, Richard of Oxford, William Ross, and Matthew of Worcester] at 41 d a day each.

Thomas of Clare, and John of Notting¬ ham, at 3 \d. a day each.

John of Essex, and Thomas, son of Master Walter, at 3 d. a day each.

Henry of Sodingdon, at 2 id. a day. p. 78.

came to Westminster 27th May, 4 Edw. III. was receive 6s. per week for his wages, by order of the Lord

17

The decoration of painting was not confined to Sacred purposes ; our Palaces were profusely painted and gilt, as appears in various orders preserved among the public records, many of which are printed in my “ Antiquities of Westminster;” from which work the following are selected as the most curious :

“ Henry the Third, in the twentieth year of his reign, ordered, that the King’s great chamber “ at Westminster should be painted of a good green colour, like a curtain ; that in the great “ gable, or frontispiece, of the said chamber, near the door, a French inscription, mentioned “ in the precept, should be painted; and that the King’s little wardrobe should also be “ painted of a green colour, in manner of a curtain.”

“ On the second of August, in the twenty-first year of his reign, he commands, that out “ of his treasury four pounds eleven shillings should be paid to Odo, the goldsmith, clerk of “ the King’s works at Westminster, for the purpose of making pictures in his chamber there.”

“ Another precept occurs in his twenty-third year, 1239, by which he directs his treasurer “ and chamberlains to pay out of his treasury, or exchequer, to Odo the goldsmith, and “ Edward his son, one hundred and seventeen shillings and ten pence, for oil, varnish, and “ colours bought, and pictures made in the Queen’s chamber at Westminster, from the “ octave of the Holy Trinity, in the twenty-third year of his reign, to the feast of St. Barnabas “ the apostle, in the same year, viz. fifteen days.”

“ In his twenty-fourth year, 1239, he, among other things, orders, that the chamber behind “ the Queen’s chapel, and the private chamber of that chamber, should be wainscoted, “ and the aforesaid chamber be lined, and that a list, or border, should be made, well “ painted with the images of our Lord and angels, with incense pots scattered over the list “ or border; and he also directs the four evangelists to be painted in the chamber aforesaid ; “ and that a crystal vase should also be made for keeping his relics.”

The following extract will prove that Henry the Third’s splendid encouragement of the fine arts, was not always guided by prudence :

“ The next mandate that occurs is singular, it bears date 27 Hen. III. 29- Oct. and “ directs John Maunsel, as the King had signified that he had not in his chapel wages to “ the amount of two hundred marks, to pawn the more valuable image of St. Mary, but “ under condition, that it should be deposited in a decent place.”

“ Ralph de Dungun, keeper of the King’s library, is also ordered, 25 Feb. 36 Henry III. “ to procure for Master William, the King’s painter, colours for painting the Queen’s little “ wardrobe, and for repairing the painting of the King’s great chamber, and the Queen’s “ chamber.”

“ In his fortieth year, the King states, that in the presence of Master William the painter, “ a monk of Westminster, he had ordered that a painting should be done in the wardrobe “ at Westminster, where he was accustomed to wash his head, of the king who was “ rescued by his dogs from an attack made on him by his subjects ; and Philip Luvell, “ his treasurer, is ordered, without delay, to disburse to the said Master William the cost u and expence of making the said picture.” — See “ Antiquities of Westminster,” pp, 55, 56. 57, and 74.

From a curious manuscript discovered in 1779, by Mr. Raspe, in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, it appears, that a recipe for the use of oil in common house painting was given in the eleventh century.

D

18

“ How doors are to be painted in red, and of linseed-oil.

“ If you want to redden your doors, you may do it with linseed oil, which is to be “ prepared in this manner.

“ Take linseed, and dry it over a fire, without any water; then put it into a mortar, and “ pound it into a fine powder, which must be heated afterwards with some water. Wrap it “ up in a piece of new cloth, and put it under a press for making olive-nut or poppy-oil. “ With the oil thus pressed from the linseed, you mix and grind your red lead, or your “ cinnabar, without adding any water to it; and then you may apply it on the doors or “ boards which you intended to redden. Let them dry at the sun ; paint them over a second “ time, and dry them in the same manner.” “ Eraclius (says Mr. Raspe) teaches nearly the “ same; for in his chapter How ivood and boards are to be prepared and grounded for “ painting, he says, after having covered and evened it well with wax, white-lead, and brick-dust, take white lead, grind it very carefully with oil, and apply a thin layer of “ it wherever a painting is intended. An ass’s brush made for the purpose, will be very “ useful for laying it on thinly. Then let it dry well in the sun. When dry, apply another “ and thicker layer, in the same manner, yet not too thick. Take care, likewise, that there be not too much oil in the mixture; for in either case the surface becomes wrinkled.” —See “ A Critical Essay on Oil Painting,” by R. E. Raspe, published 1781, p. 47.

The ancient room, formerly belonging to the old Palace of Westminster, and for ages known under the appellation of the Painted Chamber, and in which it is recorded that Edward the Confessor died, was so called from its being painted ; and I am perfectly satisfied, from my investigation of those walls during the time the scaffolding was up in the late repairs of 1801, that the paintings remain to this day under the white-wash. Though the Public are aware of my discovery, yet I would, on this occasion, presume to solicit the interference of the Lords Commissaries for repairs ; and hope that an able artist may be employed to investigate these walls, from which much may be gained highly deserving record.

THE SOUTH ENTRANCE OF DUKE’S PLACE.

The opposite plate exhibits the most curious parts, now remaining of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, or Chris t-Church, Aldgate, founded in 1108, by Matilda, wife to Henry the First; and conferred on Norman, the first canon regular in England.

It measured three hundred feet in length, and became so rich in lands and ornaments, that it surpassed all other religious foundations, and perhaps for that reason, was the first dissolved. Henry Fitz Alwine, the first Mayor of London, was buried in the church of this Priory, A. D. 1213.

Henry the Eighth, in 1533, gave it, with its appurtenances, to Sir Thomas Audley, who had been formerly Speaker of the House of Commons, but was at that time Lord Chancellor; of whom there is a fine portrait, presented by Lord Braybrooke to the Right Honourable Charles Abbott, tho present Speaker, who has placed it in an interesting picture gallery of his predecessors, founded by himself in his apartments at Westminster. Lord Audley offered the materials of the Priory Church for sale ; but, not finding a purchaser, he pulled

IMAWN A2TD) ETCHED J .T. SMITH .

SACRED architecture .

THE SOUTIEL ENHANCE OF DUKE’S PiLACJE .

Bjrawn ix August 1790

Tmsmsmeiij Skft® 15, 1814 by J.T.SMimuHJM.G-TMwA JBotxj»i.vo», ST Mahtjlws J.a.v*

19

it down; and the stones were so broken by carelessness, that they were sold for six-pence the cart load, and delivered free of any other expense to the purchaser, at his own door. His Lordship built, and dwelt at the Priory; and, in 1544, died there. At whose death, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk by marriage with Lord Audley’s daughter, became possessed of it; and in consequence of which, it was called Duke’s Place. Here his Grace resided in great splendor.

The Gate of this Priory here delineated, which stands in the Parish of St. James, Duke's Place, at the North end of Cree-Church Lane, now belongs to the City; as indeed does most of the Parish of St. James. The apartments, which had been built in more modern times over this Gate, were hired as the Ward School-rooms ; and the master, Mr. Merriman, informed me, that on the 4th of June, 1807, they were left for the new School-house, which stands on the East side of Mitre Street; formerly, and before the late fire on that spot, called Mitre Court. In this new School-room, there is a portrait of Mr. Alderman Combe, copied from a picture in the council chamber, Guildhall, painted when he was Lord Mayor. This highly respected magistrate, as appears from an inscription on the picture, received the public thanks of the City, for quelling the riots in Mark Lane. I am informed that he actually, (after being told by the police officers that they could not subdue the mob), went into the midst of the people, seized the ring-leader, and by his manly spirit dispersed the rabble. This Gate is called by some Historians “ King’s Gate” and “ Mopp Gate.” The short street leading North from the Gate, is called King Street, which may account for the title. The term, mop, might have arisen from the custom of hiring servants, possibly at this Gate; Mop signifying statute, as may be seen in some curious notes in Brand’s “ Popular Antiquities,” Vol. ii. page 316; arranged by Mr. Ellis, 1813. Dr. Plott, noticing statutes for hiring servants, observes, that at Banbury they call them the Mop.

The Gate is now in a ruinous and dangerous state ; and it is said that the city intend to take it down. This Parish of St. James is a privileged one, so that non-freemen of London may carry on business in it. It has but five constables, and the Lord Mayor is obliged to go to the Mitre Tavern to swear them in ; those of all the other Parishes in the City attend his Lordship at Guildhall. The square called Duke’s Place is inhabited by the Jews, with only one exception, and that is the sign of the Fishmongers’ Arms Public- house on the West side. The Jews formerly were a people much and often persecuted in England ; in the reign of Edward the First fifteen thousand of them were totally deprived of their property, and banished the kingdom. It appears in Tovey’s Anglia Judaica, p. 259, and Granger, Vol. iii. p. 158, that Manasseh Ben Israel, a learned Rabbi and Physician, who resided in the Low Countries (of whom there is an etching by Rembrandt, dated 1636) was an agent in their behalf with the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, for their settlement in England; for which it is said, through the interest of Hugh Peters and Harry Marten, he offered 200,000/. on condition that St. Paul’s Cathedral should have been their Syna¬ gogue. It appears that part of the money was received, and the Jews allowed to settle in Duke’s Place, in 1650. Their first built Synagogue after their 'return was that in Bevis Marks, 1703, belonging to the Portuguese Jews ; and the next was that in Duke’s Place, 1722, a magnificent building belonging to the Dutch Jews. They have four other places of worship in London, viz. Church Row, Fenchurch Street, built in 1724; Bricklayers’ Hall, Leadenhall Street, fitted up in 1760; Back Alley, Denmark Court, Strand, fitted up in 1765; and one in Brewer Street, of about two years’ standing. It is believed by several Jews with whom I have conversed, that Manasseh Ben Israel was the first person

d 2

20

who caused the Bible to be published in Latin and Hebrew, in 1639 ; but a learned friend informs me that this is a mistake, several polyglot editions of the Sacred Scriptures having been already published, the first of which is the celebrated one by Cardinal Xnnenes, first

printed in 1514. , . . ,

Within memory it was customary among the lowest classes of the populace to hunt the

Jews, and shamefully maltreat them; however, for the credit of England, these vicious practices are now hardly witnessed; and to the disgrace of those few who still incline to them, I must say, that in no instance during frequent walks in those quarters inhabited by the poorest sort of Jews, have I ever been treated by them otherwise than with the greatest

civility and good manners. . ,

As the inhabitants of Duke’s Place, and their customs, have been so little noticed by the

London writers, I shall insert a few particulars that may be deserving of attention. he Jews are, generally speaking, striking examples of industry, and have an old prover , viz. “ Give your son a trade, else you make him a thief.” They entrust their children at an early period with some saleable commodity, and the most broken down and age o something. Their mendicants never beg in public, nor are they seen in our streets ; a Jew- beggar confines his supplication to his own people. They traffic in merchandize, from the

most splendid and costly gem to the meanest offal.

There is a class of them that purchase old picture frames, burn off the gold, and make coke of the wood. There are some who buy the mud of the sweepwasher, from which they extract more gold; afterwards they export it to Holland to other Jews, who by a nicer process obtain a further quantity from it, by which they are amply repaid.

The sweepwasher is a person who buys the sweepings of the floors of the working gold and silversmiths, and also the water in which the workmen wash their hands; from this mass of dirt and slush he washes out the metal, and then sells the mud as above stated.

That the Dutch in many instances possess secrets unknown to the English, is generally allowed. The article Dutch Metal, for instance, made from copper, and principally used in this country in the decorations of play-house scenery, and in the gilding of gingerbread for fairs, is produced much brighter, and sold in London at a considerably less price, than that made in England. I purchased at an oil-shop in Long Lane, Smithfield, a book of twenty- leaves of Dutch metal for two pence halfpenny, enclosed in a paper cover, on which is a copper-plate engraving of the Ascension of our Saviour. The Dutch manufactuie a coarse copper gilt paper, stamped with coloured flowers, which is much used in our own country for the covers of cheap books for children. It is also cut into strips or narrow shreds to decorate the May-day trappings of our chimney-sweepers. The above metal being sold so cheap is not unfrequently mixed with gold-leaf in gilding, and a most glaring and shameful instance of this alloy is displayed upon the flanks of the Horse in Leicester Square, which are of a bright copper compared with the other parts.

In the month of Mnrch or April, according as Easter falls, there is a Fair held in Duke’s Place, called the Jews’ Fair, which perhaps is of the greatest antiquity, as it has been a custom with the Jews all over the world, ever since the hanging of Haman, to rejoice for their deliverance. Their gladness is thus recorded in Esther, Chap. ix. 18. “ But “ the Jews that were at Shusham, assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, (the “ month Adar) and on the fourteenth thereof, and on the fifteenth day of the same they “ rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.” The above fair may be regarded

21

as a kind of Jewish Carnival, and is more regularly denominated the feast of Purivn. It formerly terminated by imprecating curses against Haman, and invoking, with appropriate thanks, the Almighty’s blessings on Mordecai and Esther. Though the Jews have held rejoicings at this period in Duke’s Place ever since their re-establishment in England, yet they were not publicly sanctioned by the city until about fifteen years ago, when the Parish of St. James was allowed the privilege of letting out the ground in the square to the regular Bartholomew fair showmen for three days, though they generally allow them to- stay six, by which the parish makes about 27 1. All sorts of booths are now here erected, from the splendid Greek decorations, at present extremely fashionable at all fairs, to the accommodating parlour of the sausage-stall, in vogue in the days of Ben Jonson. Here the most favourite plays of Shakspeare are performed in fifteen minutes by the “ Grandest “ of all Companies,” many of whom strut in the discarded wardrobes of our London Theatres, and assume the names of our greatest performers. The Fire-eaters, Conjurers, Saltbox-men, and Harlequins, still continue to please the gaping multitudes ; but that ancient character, and truly merry fellow, Mr. Punch, is now banished the Stage, and has dwindled into a street-strolling puppet. He has not for these three years past been seen even at Bartholomew Fair; nor are we at present acquainted with the Mountebank, or the High German Doctor. Dr. Bossy was, I believe, the last of his profession who practised in the open streets of London. Previously to the Passover, which usually happens in the month of April, the Jews suffer Christians, as well as their own people, to erect stalls before their doors gratuitously, to sell earthen and tin ware, which the poor and middling classes of Jews buy with eagerness, in order to have every thing new for culinary use during that time. The respectable and opulent families keep plate purposely for the Passover ; and so strict are they during this period, that they import Rum for their particular use, which has had no other guage than their own.

In their public-houses, cloths are thrown over all other spirituous liquors, so that not a drop might fall on their garments.

They take Lemonade, Sassafras-Tea, and Coffee, and it is no unusual thing to find them at tea at one o’clock in the day. They are not allowed Porter during this time ; nor are the Jews at any period addicted to drunkenness. The friendly Mr. Solomon, of Pall Mall, informed me, that the quantity of Biscuit Bread of the finest Flour, and made in the same way as for the rich, distributed to their poor previously to the last Passover Festival, at one Synagogue, viz. that of Bricklayers’ Hall, and not the largest congregation, was enough to maintain nearly seven thousand souls eight days.

“ The Jewish wives, at the Feast of the Passover, upon a table prepared for that purpose, “ place hard eggs, the symbols of a bird called Ziz, concerning which the rabbins have a “ thousand fabulous accounts.” — Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. i. p. 145.

It is rather hard, as the Jews entirely maintain their own poor, that their places of worship should be subject to Parochial taxes.

PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE.

NORTH VIEW OE THE CELL IN THE SOUTH-WEST TOWER OF THE

TOWER OF LONDON.

This cell is at a considerable height from the lower street, or West entrance of the Tower, but is on a level with the ground of the Governor’s house, at the South-west corner of the high parade, formerly called the Green, West of the White Tower.

It is of stone, chalk, and flint, in many places seven feet thick, and strongly cemented, and is believed to have been erected in the reign of Henry the Second. It presents an early instance of the pointed arch in Public Architecture. This cell consists of four lofty recesses, divided by three piers, which probably had been faced with columns supporting the rudely carved capitals of cinquefoil and trefoil, from which the groins spring to the centre of the cell,— these groins are entirely flat and plain ; nor do they appear to have had any mouldings. They are united at the top by a crown of eight sprigs of trefoil. The whole of the recesses were originally of the depth of the one with the window, or opening, to the Thames, but three of the four have, for some strengthening purpose, been above half filled up. That these recesses were used as places of confinement may reasonably be conjectured, as they had but one entrance, and that immediately through a small winding passa-e from the Governor’s house. Precisely over this cell is another of the same size, with similar recesses, in which it

is well known Queen Elizabeth was confined.

These cells are contiguous to Beauchamp’s Tower (now used by the officers of the garrison) in which there are the names of several great persons, probably written with their own hands during their confinement: among which are the following : “Jane,” (supposed to be Lady Jane Grey) “ Arundel,” (supposed to be that of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel) “ Inggram Percy, Dr. Cook, and Hew Draper of Bristow.” Of this last person Colonel Smith in the thirteenth volume of the Archaeologia, p. 98, gives the following extract from “ The Records concerning the Tower of London.

“ Hugh Draper cornitted the 21st of March, 1560.

“ This man was brought in by the accusation of one John Man, an astronomer, a$ a “ suspect of a conjurer or sorcerer, and thereby a practise matter againste Sr William S‘ Lowe « an(j my ladie. And in his confession it aperithe that before time he hathe ben busie and “ doinge withe suche matters. But he denieth any matter of weight touchinge Sr William “ Sentlo or my ladie, and also affirmethe y1 long since he so misliked his science that lie “ burned all his bookes. He is presently verie sicke, he semithe to be a man of goode “ wealthe, and kepithe a tavern in Bristowe, and is of his neighbours well reported.”

In a writ dated at Windsor, 30th of October, in the thirtieth of Henry the Third, it appears that the sheriffs of London were commanded to provide a muzzle, and an iron chain, and a cord for the King’s white bear in the Tower of London, and to use the same bear to catch fish in the water of the Thames. — See Madoxs History of the Exchequer, p. 376.

On the 13th of September, in the thirty-sixth of the same King’s reign, by a writ dated at St. Edmund’s Bury, the Sheriffs of London were commanded to supply 4 d. per diem, for

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the maintenance of the King’s white bear, and his keeper in the Tower of London. — Vide Madox as above.

In the same work, p. 377, it will be found, in a writ dated 26th day of February, thirty- ninth year of Henry the Third, that the sheriffs of London are commanded to build a small house in the Tower of London, for the King’s elephant there, and to find necessaries for the same elephant and his keeper in the Tower of London : the house was to be forty feet in length, and twenty feet in width.

The following curious extract, kindly communicated to me by the late Thomas Bryan Richards, Esq. F. A. S. may probably refer to the same animal.

“ That the constable of the Tower of London should cause the bones of the elephant lately buried within the ditch of the same Tower, to be delivered, without delay, to the sacristan “ of Westminster, to make thereof what the King had enjoined him to do.”

Dated at Windsor, 9th of August, forty-third year of Henry the Third. — Vide Claus. Rot. in the Rower.

Of the above elephant there is a curious drawing in a miscellaneous volume of the thirteenth century, formerly belonging to the abbey of St. Albans, and preserved in the Cottonian library, in the British Museum, Nero D. I.

King James the First resided in the Governor’s house when he first came to London in 1603. “ The King’s first going abroad” (says Arthur Wilson, p. 12) “ was privately to visit some of his houses ; for naturally he did not love to be looked on ; and those formalities of “ state> which set a lustre upon princes in the people’s eyes, were but so many burthens “ to him : for his private recreations at home, and his hunting exercises abroad, both with “ the least disturbance, were his delights. While he remained in the Tower, he took “ pleasure in baiting Lions ; but when he came abroad, he was so troubled with swarms,

“ that he feared to be baited by the people. And the Parliament now drawing on, which “ was summoned to be the nineteenth of March, the King, the Queen, and Prince, four dayes before, rode from the Tower to Whitehall ; the city and suburbs being one great pageant wherein he must give his ears leave to suck in their gilded oratory, though “ never so nauseous to the stomach.”

In one of the apartments used by him, on the West wall, is still to be seen his bust, with the whole account of the Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes, who called himself John Johnson, was confined in the Tower. He did not there remain above two or three days, being twice or thrice in that space re-examined, and the rack only offered and shewed unto him, “ when the masque of his Roman fortitude” (says Thomas, Lord Bishop of Lincoln)

“ did visibly begin to wear and slide off his face; and then did begin to confess part of the truth ; and thereafter to open the whole matter.” The following lines were composed in the Tower by Sir Everard Digby.

“ From my Prison , this 2 3d of Jan. 1605.

“ When on my little babes I think, as I do oft,

“ I cannot chuse but then let fall some tears :

Me-thinks I hear the little Prattler, with words soft,

Ask, Where is Father that did promise Pears,

“ And other Knacks, which I did never see,

Nor Father neither, since he promised me.”

See the Bishop, of Lincolns Relation of the Gunpowder Treason , 1679, p. 261.

24

AN ARCH OF LONDON BRIDGE, AS IT APPEARED IN THE GREAT

FROST, 1814.

The annexed plate exhibits a North-east view of the sixth arch of London Bridge, from St. Magnus’s Church. It was drawn during the severe frost, February 5th, 1814. rom this point of view, the original groins of the arch are clearly seen, as well as the modern projection of its present case. The figures on the starlings are of two men, whose boat was so driven against them, that they were obliged to be drawn up with ropes to the top of the bridge. During this frost, a fair was held on the Thames, between Black Fnars and London Bridges, according to custom, whenever the ice permits. The Earl of Bes orougi, General Dowdeswell, and Alexander Hendras Sutherland, Esq. are in possession o im¬ pressions from a curious plate of a frost fair, in the reign of Charles the Second ; dated 1683. It was taken near the Temple stairs, looking towards London Bridge ; and represen s, among various booths on the ice, “ The Duke of Yorke’s Coffee house, The Tory Booth The Booth with a Phcenix on it, insured as long as the Foundation stands, The oas Beefe Booth, The half-way House, Coaches drawn by horses, Bull baiting. Drum-waggons &c ” This Etching is pretty well executed, of a small sheet size, but without name. In some of the rare Grub Street prints of the Frost Fair which commenced December 24th 1739, it appears that an ox was roasted on the Thames ; but this was done upon an elevated stand, holding the fire and the dripping pan full three feet above the ice. At this Fair there were letter-press and copper-plate printers, whose impressions are now and then to be met with. It is rather remarkable that two of our most famous London street characters should have lost their lives in the Thames, at this time; the original Jiddy Dolk of Bartholomew Fair, and Doll, the Pippin Woman, whose death is thus noticed by Mr. Gay, in the eleventh book of his “ TRIVIA , or the Art of Walking the Streets of London.

“ Ah Doll ! all Mortals must resign their Breath,

“ And industry itself submit to Death !

“ The cracking Crystal yields — she sinks she dies “ Her head, chopt off, from her lost shoulders flies.

“ Pippins, she cry’d, but Death her Voice confounds,

“ And Pip— Pip— -Pip, along the Ice resounds.”

In the late Fair, several trades and pastimes were exhibited; among others were fiddling, dancing, and throwing at cakes of gingerbread resting upon sticks stuck into the ice. A whimsical fellow, with a bag, mimicked an old clothes man, in the path-way leading from Bankside to London, which the watermen called the “ New City road.” An ox was to have been roasted, but a thaw came, to the great joy of the Londoners, In this fair there were also printing presses the following verses are copies of their productions:

The ICE was firm, which well you know, For PRINTING on it we did show, Near to Swan Stairs; for there you’ll find, Impressions neat and to your mind.”

“ Amidst the Arts, which on the Thames ap- “ To tell the wonders of this icy year, [pear, k Printing claims prior place, which at one “ Erects a monument of That and You.”[view,

The Holborn flying pyeman’s cry of Hot, Hot, Hot, was punctually echoed, by a needy Liquorpond Street Barber, with his cry of Hot water : his stand was a Fleet-market pudding- stool, upon which he actually shaved many hundreds of persons.

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The facetious pen of the late Rev. George Huddesford has noticed the trade, in a song- published in his “ Salmagundi,” of which the following is the first verse :

“ In Liquorpond Street, as is well known to many,

“ An artist resided, who shaved for a penny;

“ Cut hair for three halfpence, for three pence he bled;

“ And would draw for a groat ev’ry tooth in your head.”

The original bridge was a timber one, built by the Priests of St. Mary Overies; but in consequence of the frequent repairs, the Citizens and others gave their contributions, and a bridge of stone was erected. Howel, in his Londinopolis, page 21, says, that the timber bridge was standing in the year 994. About the year 1176, the stone bridge was begun by Peter of Cole-Church, who was architect and surveyor of the work, which was finished in 1209, by Serle Mercier, William Almaine, and Benedict Botewrite, Citizens of London — for Peter died four years before, and was, as a principal benefactor, buried in the Chapel on the bridge, dedicated to St. Thomas, of which Vertue has engraved two views, published by the Society of Antiquaries. There were houses upon this bridge, at a very early period. These, together with parts of the bridge, were often burnt ; and we are infinitely obliged to the industrious Hollar, for their general appearance in his time ; and, latterly, to the pencil of Samuel Scott, for the truly interesting picture, which he painted for his patron, Sir Edward Walpole. This picture is now in the possession of my honored friend, Edward Roberts, Esq. of the Pells. It has been admirably well engraved by Canot. There are earlier re¬ presentations of this bridge, than those by Hollar. Mr. Sutherland is in possession of an extremely rare sheet print of London bridge, taken in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by John Norden, but not published until twenty years after, as appears by his own declaration on the print. This curious view represents twenty arches, Traitor’s gate with fourteen heads upon it, and the East end of Nonsuch House; and is entitled, “ The View of London Bridge, from East to West.” This bridge is also very minutely engraved, in a view of London, extending from Whitehall to Wapping, on four sheets, measuring seven feet, one inch and a half, by one foot, four inches and three quarters, with the name of I. C. Visscher, but without date. This print, may be considered as prior to the productions of Hollar, from the following circumstances : The palace of Whitehall appears completely in its original state, before the Banquetting house, and York and Somerset water-gates were erected by Inigo Jones. That it represents London, at the time of James the First, appears evident from the Royal barge being surmounted with the Thistle. There are eight Latin verses at either corner, with the name of Ludovicus Hondius Lusitt. This view, which is extremely well executed, exhibits a windmill standing in the Strand, very near where the New Church now stands. In the above mentioned view there is likewise another windmill at the top of the water-works, at Queen Hytlie. For the means of describing this interesting print, and other indulgences, I am obliged to John Dent, Esq. M. P. who purchased it, at a most liberal price. It differs in some respects from another copy, which has the date of 1616, in his Majesty’s collection. I must here remark, that Yertue’s copy of the plan of London, said to have been engraved by Ralph Aggas, (attributed by some collectors to Augustine Ryther) is in many instances, unlike the original : Vertue has left out several houses, and inserted others. He has not introduced the Royal Exchange, erected in the year 1566, which is to be found in the original. It is also very remarkable, that he should have introduced the date 1560, and it is even more so, that many of the streets do not bear the same names as the original.

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I have not been able to discover, that Visscher was ever m England ; so drat possiblj this view might have been taken by his order for the purpose of engraving and P^lishm abroad. It is well known, that the heads to Birch’s Lives, were engraved abroad , does it appear that Houbraken, the engraver, was ever in this Country.

By an inspection of Hollar’s interesting view of London, after the great foe, it" seen, that the fire did not consume the houses on London bridge, eyon T’ett ,

arch ; and upon the scite of those so consumed, others were afterwards built. La y,

nearly in the middle of the bridge, there was a square space, called London Bridge q screened on either side by an iron palisado : which iron work, when the houses we. taken down, after 1755-6, was purchased by some of the most opulent mhabi an s o • Botolph, Bishopsgate, amongst whom the late Mr. Page was a liberal contributor, and placed on the dwarf wall, on the East side of the church-yard, where it still remains to be seen.

Ill the centre of the above mentioned square, there was a wooden cage, or place o con ne- ment, as appears in a curious print in the possession of the fiiendly W illiam ac ei, q From a foundation plan of this bridge, drawn by the late Mr. Pepys, assis an draughtsman to Mr. Dance, and kindly presented to me by my worthy friend, John Renton, Esq. it appears that this bridge, which had originally twenty arches, has now only nineteen, by reason of the ninth and tenth, from the South, being laid into one, which is now the greatest arch, and called the ninth from the South. Not two of the piers accord either in length or width ; nor indeed are they in any instance, equidistant, nor even parallel with each other. As it may be useful to future surveyors I shall give the name of each archway, or lock, as it stands in the plan, beginning at t e ou , viz. , « Shore lock;” 2nd, “ lock;” 3d, “ Rock lock.” It is said, that part of this bridge is built upon a rock : this third lock being so called, seems to confirm that repor . our *« lock,” 5th “ lock;” 6th, « Roger lock;” 7th, “ Draw lock.” Over this last there was a drawbridge, to allow vessels to come up to Queen Hythe. Eighth, onsuci oc . e was a large house over this lock, built of wood, in which it is said nails were not at all used. From the several views given of it by Hollar, it appears to have been in some respects similar to one of Henry the Eighth’s Palaces, called ‘‘ Nonsuch, of which there

is a scarce view, by Hofnagle. It is also engraven in Speed s maps . ,

Ninth, or “ Great arch;” 10th, “ Long entry;” 11th, “ Chapel Lock;” 12th, “ St. Marys lock;” 13th, “Queen’s, or little lock;” 14th, “ King’s lock;” 15th, “ Shore lock ;” 16th, “Index Wheel lock;” 17th, “Borough Wheel lock;” 18th, “second Wheel lock;” 19th, “first Wheel lock.

These four last belong to the London Bridge water-works. By the Morning Advertiser, for April 26th, 1798, it appears that Aldermen Gill and Wright, had been in partnership upwards of fifty years ; “ and that their shop stood upon the centre of London bridge, and “ their warehouse for paper, was directly under it, which was a chapel for divine service, “ in one of the old arches; and long within legal memory, the service was performed every “ sabbath, and saints’ days. Although the floor was always, at high water mark, from ten to “ twelve feet under the surface ; yet such was the excellency of the materials and the “ masonry, that not the least damp or leak ever happened, and the paper was kept as sate “ and dry, as it would have been in a garret.

INSIDE VIEW OF THE WATCH-TOWER DISCOVERED NEAR LUDGATE

HILL, MAY 1, 1792.

The fire, which happened on the premises of Messrs. Kay, Ludgate Hill, May 1, 1792, disclosed the fragments of the Barbican, or Watch-tower, represented in the opposite plate,

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27

which, piobably from the strength of cement, and difficulty of removing, the builders, after the great fire of 1666, were induced to consider as the best foundation or walls for the houses, which hid them until the period of the late fire. This tower projected fourteen feet Noith fiom the wall into the city ditch, and measured twenty-two feet from the upper stone of its i uins to the top, or present height of the wall ; probably, originally, the whole might have been of an equal height. It consisted of lumps of stone of different sizes ; some of the laigest A\eie ludely squared. These were all goggled together, and filled in with slush of hot lime, which cemented them so strongly, that the workmen, who lately took parts of them down, vveie obliged to drive in wedges to get them asunder, their pick-axes being turned or blunted at almost every stroke. The corner stones were all chopped nearly square of tw'O sizes, and placed alternately.

The small square holes represented in the sides of the tower in this plate, might either have been for the receptacle of the timbers of floors, or as peep-holes for the watch on duty. Possibly the entrance of this tower might have been through the gap from which the figure with the basket is descending ; and this conjecture is strengthened by the regularity of the face of the wall on either side of him. That part of the city wall, upon which the two fiaures stand, was about eight feet thick, and of much ruder workmanship (masonry it can liaidly be called). It consisted of large and small stones of irregular forms, together with quantities of chalk and flint;— the only bricks employed in this part of London Wall were evidently modern, and worked up on its South side as a neater boundary of part of Stone¬ cutter’s Alley, which leads westerly from the Broadway to the Crescent, formerly, and indeed within my time, called Fleet Ditch. From thence it continued southerly to the towei, ordered to be erected by Edward the First, which must have stood upon or near the spot now occupied by the East half of Chatham Place, which is situated at the foot of Blackfiiars Bridge. Upon the communication of my discovery of this tower to the late Richard Gough, Esq. he immediately produced a rare plan of London, by Hollar, not noticed in Vertues Catalogue, in which this tower is particularly delineated.

That this pait of London Wall was not of its original foundation, will be clear by the following extracts from Chamberlains “ History of London:” “ Edward the First ordered the citizens to erect a new wall, to run from Ludgate westward behind the houses in Fleet Ditch, and then South, as far as the Thames ; at the head of which was to be built a Tower for the reception of his Majesty.” “ Edward the Second, upon information that parts of the new London Wall, near Ludgate, and the Tower, were not finished, issued his Royal mandate to the Mayor and Citizens of London, enjoining them to use the utmost dispatch in completing the same.”

As I have frequently found persons inspecting the foundations of old buildings, with the hope of finding fragments of British workmanship, I beg leave to caution them, by inserting the following extract from Dr. Woodward’s letter to Sir Christopher Wren, dated “ Gresham “ College, 23d June, 1707.”

The Romans, at their descent here, found nothing that carry’d the appearance of a ‘ building; no not one stone upon another: nor so much as a brick in all the whole Island. And though some others may be easily pass’d over, I cannot but be somewhat surpriz’d to find a gentleman of the great dilligence and ingenuity of Mr. Somner, taking the Roman bricks, that he observ d in the Walls of Canterbury, for British bricks.”

e 2

28

PARTS OF LONDON WALL AND BETHLEM HOSPITAL.

The opposite plate presents short specimens of that great portion of London Wall, which extends seven hundred and fourteen feet westward from the ground which faces the North end of Winchester Street, nearly to the spot where Moorgate stood. The chief part of this great length of wall consists of three distinct characters. First, an inside one of chalk and flint, cased on either side with a rubble one of rag-stone, strongly cemented together. This wall is, in some places, about eight feet thick, and eight feet high from the present pavement where the mud-raker is (see the print); but it must originally have commenced at a depth considerably below him, as may be seen whenever the ground is opened. The third character is a tesselated, or party-glazed brick wall, surmounted with battlements coped with stone. It is erected upon two feet, three inches, of the cased wall, on that side next to the city ditch, and is in height from the top of the cased wall to the top of the stone coping, eight feet ; the space between the battlements is two feet, six inches. Upon clearing the dirt away from some parts of the top of the cased wall, I found that it had been covered with two layers of brick of an unusual size, measuring one foot, one inch and a half, by five inches and a quarter, and only two inches and a half thick. These bricks were of a rich deep red, extremely close and hard ; — they were, possibly, some of those mentioned by Stowe as having been made in Moorfields. There are, it must be observed, in many parts of the stone casing, pieces of bright red larger bricks, but not so thick as those just mentioned; and these are often looked upon by many persons as Roman. That the materials and arrangement of this portion of London Wall do not accord with that part described by Dr. Woodward, standing in his time South-east of Bishopsgate, is very evident. Chalk and flint, for instance, are no where mentioned by him ; however, there is a part of this wall within about one hundred feet of the scite of Moorgate, resembling, in some respects, the one inspected by the Doctor ; but this difference of materials may reasonably be accounted for, as some parts of the wall might have needed less repairs, which took place at various times; and provided the general character of the wall were held up, the exact disposition of the materials was not attended to. I fully expect, if the workmen dig to a considerable depth below the present street, that old materials will be found ; as it is reasonable to conclude, that in rebuilding a wall of strength, the hard fragments of the preceding one could not be better disposed of. As many learned writers are unsettled as to the foundation and early history of London Wall, I trust the above statement of the materials and measure¬ ments will be as much as can possibly be expected from me. Before I describe Bethlem Hospital, in Moorfields, I shall endeavour to trace it from its original foundation, North of the Church of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate. The old hospital and garden occupied the scite of the present streets, turnings, and houses, now, in nine instances, under the appellation of Old Bethlem, and which to this day remains the property of the hospital. The ground commences at the West of Bishopsgate Street, immediately behind the White Hart Tavern, and terminates in Broad Street Buildings, formerly called Deep Ditch. But as this ground is more particularly described in the deed of gift of Simon Fitz-Mary, printed by Howel in his Londinopolis, p. 65. I shall insert the following copy :

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To all the Children of our Mother holy Church, to whom this present writing shall come, Simon the Sonne of Mari/, sendeth greeting in our Lord, where among other things, and before other Lands, the high Altitude of the Heavenly Counsels, marvellously wrought by some readier devotion, it ought to be more worshipped ; of which things the mortal sickness (after the fall ot our first Father Adam) hath taken the beginning of this new repairing: therefore forsooth, it beseemeth worthy, that the place, in which the Son of God is become Man, and hath proceeded from the Virgin’s Womb, which is increaser, and beginning ot Man’s Redemption ; namely, ought to be with Reverence worshipped, and with beneficial portions to be increased: therefore it is, that the said Simon, Son of Mary, “ having special and singular Devotion to the Church of the glorious Virgin at Bethelem, where the same Virgin of Her, brought forth our Saviour incarnate, and lying in the Cratch, and with her own milk nourished ; and where the same Child to us there born, the Chivalry of the heavenly Company, sang the new Hymne, Gloria in Excelsis Deo. The same time the increaser of our health, (as a King, and his Mother a Queen) willed to be worshipped of Kings, a new Starre going before them, as the Honour and Reverence of the same Child, and his most meek Mother: And to the exaltation of my most Noble Lord, Henry King of England, whose Wife and Child the fo resaid Mother of God, and “ her only Son, have in their keeping and protection ; and to the manifold increase of this “ City of London, in which I was born. And also for the health of my soul, and the souls “ of my Predecessors, and Successors, my Father, Mother, and my Friends. And specially for the souls of Guy of Harlow, John Durant, Ralph Ashwye ; Maud, Margaret, and “ Dennis, Women: Have given, granted, and by this my present Charter, here, have “ confirmed to God, and to the Church of St. Mary of Bethelem, all my Lands which I have in the Parish of St. Buttolph, without Bishopsgate of London, that is to say, “ whatsoever I there now have, or had, or in time to come may have, in Houses, Gardens, Pools, Ponds, Ditches, and Pits, and all their appurtenances, as they be closed in by their bounds; which now extend in length, from the King's high street, East, to the great Ditch in the West; the which is called deep Ditch; and in breadth, to the lands 44 of Ralph Downing, in the North; and to the Land of the Church of St. Buttolph, in the South ; To have and to hold the aforesaid Church of Bethelem, in free and peqjetual Alms ; And also to make there a Priory, and to ordain a Prior, and Canons ; Brothers, and also Sisteis, when Jesus Christ shall enlarge his grace upon it. And in the same place, the Rule and order of the said Church of Bethelem solemnly professing, which shall bear the Token of a Starre openly in their Coapes and Mantles of profession ; and for to say Divine Service there, for the souls aforesaid, and all Christian souls; and specially to receive there, the Bishop of Bethelem, Canons, Brothers, and Messengers of 44 the Church of Bethelem for evermore, as often as they shall come thither. And that a Church or Oratory there shall be budded, as soon as our Lord shall enlarge his grace,

44 under such form, that the Order, institution of Priors, Canons, Brothers, Sisters, of the 44 visitation, correction, and reformation of the said place, to the Bishop of Bethelem, and 44 his Successors, and to the Charter of his Church, and of his Messengers, as often as they shall come thither, as shall seem them expedient ; no man’s contradiction not¬ withstanding ; shall pertain for evermore : saving alway the Services of the chief Lords,

44 as much as pertaineth to the said Land. And to the more surety of this thing, I have put myself out of this Land, and all mine. And Lord Godfrey, then chosen of the nobles of the City of Rome, Bishop of Bethelem, and of the Pope, confirmed then

30

“ by his name in England, in his name, and of his Successors, and of his Chapter of his “ Church of Betlielem, into bodily possession, I have indented and given to his possession “ all the foresaid Lands; which possession he hath received, and entred in form abovesaid.

“ And in token of sujection and reverence, the said place in London, without Bishop s- “ gate, shall pay yearly in the said City, a mark sterling at Easier, to the Bishop of “ Betlielem, his Successors, or his Messengers, in the name of a Pension ; and if the “ faculties or goods of the said place (our Lord granting) happen to grow more, the said “ place shall pay more, in the name of Pension, at the said terme, to the Mother Church “ of Betlielem. This (forsooth) gift and confirmation of my Deed, and the putting to of my “ Seal for me, and mine Heires, I have stedfastly made strong, the year of our Lord God, “ A thousand, two hundred, forty-seven, the Wednesday after the Feast of St. Luke the “ Evangelist, &c.”

Howel, in the same page, states, that “ King Edward the Third granted a protection, “ for the Brethren called Milites beatse Marise de Bethlem, within the City of London, the “ fourteenth year of his reign. It was an hospital for distracted people.”

Weaver says, p. 500, “ In the parish of St. Martin’s in the Field, there was an house “ wherein sometime were distraught and lunaticke people, of what antiquitie, founded by “ whom, or what time suppressed, saith Stowe, I have not read. But it was said, that “ a King of England, not liking such a kinde of people to remaine so neare his Pallace, “ caused them to be removed further off, to Bethlem without Bishopsgate of London, and “ to that hospital the said house by Charinge-crosse doth yet remaine.”

Howel says, p. 65, “ Stephen Gennings, Marchant-taylor, gave forty pounds toward “ purchase of the Patronage, by his Testament, 1523. The Mayor and Commonalty “ purchased the patronage thereof, with all the Lands and Tenements thereunto belonging, “ in the year 1546.”

Again, in p. 66, “ King Henry the Eighth gave this hospital unto the City. The “ church and chappel were taken down in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and houses “ budded there, by the Governours of Christ' s hospital in London. In this place, people “ that be distraught in their wits, are now (by the suit of their friends) received and “ kept as before, but not without charges to their bringers in.”

That this house must have been an early receptacle for lunatics long before Henry the Eighth gave it to the hospital, there can be very little doubt; otherwise Stowe, Weaver, or Howel, would have been able to have named the king who caused the removal of insane people from Charing Cross, had he been near their time.

“ Mayster Skelton,” in his “ Why come ye not to Court,” speaking of Wolsey, says,

“ He grinnes, and he gapes,

“ As it were Jacke Napes ;

“ Such a mad Bedlem.”

By the liberality of John Haslam, Esq. Apothecary to Bethlem and Bridewell Hospitals, I am enabled to give the following extract, and likewise several other curious particulars relating to old Bethlem, and the foundation of the present structure. 1 am also indebted to the same gentleman for the opportunities afforded me of inspecting the inside of the building.

Extract from the books of the hospital.

29th March, 1637. “ It is ordered by this court, that a particular of the houses at Charing

31

Cross, belonging to Bethlem, shall be delivered to the Right Honorable the Marquis of Hambleton; and of the particular valuations of the same, as they were valued to the Lords of the Council in Anno 1632.”

Mr. Haslam also informs me, that after much inquiry, he found that the spot of ground where the Golden Cross Inn now stands, was the situation; but when, how, or by whom Bethlem got possession, remains to be discovered. The old hospital, garden, houses, and tenements belonging thereto, were, in former days, called “ Bethlem Prison House;” and the patients, who sometimes exceeded the limited number of twenty, were called Prisoners. The first topographical instance lam able at present to produce, is an order, in 1577, to John Mell, to take charge of the two gates, — one next the street, and the other on the field side. In the same year the keeper complained of a nuisance arising from the White Hart (this is the house that had the date of 1480 painted upon it). In 1600 it was proposed that the Augmentation Office be searched to ascertain the precise boundary of the premises. February 26, 1619, it was proposed to have Mr. Middleton’s water conveyed to the premises.

In 1624, the prisoners amounted to thirty-one in number. They were, at various times, so unruly under this establishment, that the keepers were obliged to call in some of the neighbouring flax-dressers to subdue them.

It is worthy remark, that in many parts of London the trades remain upon their old spots, viz. Cloth Fair for drapers, Monmouth Street for clothiers, Bedford Street for gold lace men and mercers (Messrs. Robarts and Plowman, mercers to the royal family, have worn out ten shop bills), Long Acre for coachmakers (Oliver Cromwell’s carriage was built in Long Acre), Harp Alley for sign painters (here Barlow and Craddock painted signs), Paternoster Row for booksellers (this place was famous for publishers before the fire of London), and there are flax-dressers in Old Bethlem at this day.

I am enabled, by the kindness of Mr. Young, medallist, to present a few specimens of Bethlem Token inscriptions, copied by him from that truly valuable collection of coins in the British Museum, formerly the property of the amiable and much lamented Charles Barre Roberts, of Christ Church, Oxford, son of the Gentleman mentioned in p. 25.

“ e*e at Bedlam Gate, 1657,” Reverse, “ At the White Hart.” — “ G“A At the Old Prison,” Reverse, “ In Bedim, 1658.” — “ Hilton Will at black,” Reverse, “ In Bethlem, 1666, his halfpeny.” — “ Turner Henry Baker,” Reverse, “ In Bethelem, 1668, his halfepeny, HTM” — Badgett Ralph,” Reverse, “ Bethelam, 1668, his halfepeny, R®E” — “ H?s Neare Badlam “ Gat,” Reverse, “ At the Merefields.” — “ t. b. The sine of the half” Reverse, “ Moun in Bedlame.” — “ C^H At the three” Reverse, “ Tuns in Bedlam.” — “ Reddall James, at” Reverse, “ the Plow in Bedlam, ^g” — “ Peele Bartholomew at ye” Reverse, “ Black Swan “ in Bethelem, his halfpeny.” — “ Ground Elizabeth,” Reverse, “ in Bethlehem.” — “ Clitherow Ephraim,” Reverse, “ at the Sun in Bedlam, E?G” — “ Antkibus Will,” Reverse, in Bethlon.” On the 23d of January, 1673, and 8th of April, 1674, the benevolent Sir William Turner, Knt. and Alderman, took great interest in the concerns of Bethlem; and on the 8th of May following, it was proposed to petition the King for his consent for building a new house somewhere else. This was obtained; and the city, on the 25th of September, 1674, granted a lease for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, at twelve pence yearly rent, of seven hundred and fourteen feet of ground in length of the City ditch, extending from the postern nearly opposite to Winchester Street, to Moorgate.

This new building was to contain one hundred and twenty lunatics, and to be finished in four years. Mr. Hook produced two plans, and was ordered to make a model in pasteboard

32

of the intended hospital. Mr. Cartwright was mason, Mr. Titch, bricklayer, and Mr. Jerman carpenter.

The building was begun April 16th, 1675, and finished in July, 1676; it cost 17,000/.

October 17th, 1677. The Committee ordered that the two views which had been engraved of Bethlem, should be handsomely framed ; that one pair should be presented to the King, and another to the Duke of York.

SOUTH-WEST VIEW OE BETHLEM HOSPITAL AND LONDON WALL.

The annexed plate exhibits half the back front of Bethlem Hospital, and also the back, and part of the side, of the West wing, . erected by benevolent contributions, in 1733, for the reception of Incurables. This view commences from the scite of Moorgate, which stood much about the spot, where the bill-sticker stands (see the print). The other half of Bethlem was precisely the same, with the addition of a house for the Apothecary ; and ended at the Postern, which stood opposite to Winchester Street : this half was sold by auction, in various lots, and brought about 5000/. The back of this building stands nine feet distant from the City wall, which, in some measure, acts as a screen to it. The principal entrance is from the North, of brick and free-stone, adorned with four pilasters, a circular pediment and entablature of the Corinthian order. The King’s arms are in the pediment, and those of Sir Wm. Turner above the front centre window. Notwithstanding the melancholy purpose for which it was erected, it certainly conveys ideas of grandeur. Indeed it was for many years the only building which looked like a Palace in London. Carleton House, which is now by no means, even with its costly screen, so princely as might have been expected, was in my memory a mere lodging house in appearance. As for St. James’s palace, it looks more like a place of confinement, than a palace. London should have boasted such a build¬ ing as Hampton Court, for the town residence of our Sovereign. Before the front of Bethlem, there is a spacious paved court, bounded by a pair of massy iron gates, surmounted with the arms of the Hospital, viz. Argent, two Barrs Sable, a Labell of five points, throughout Gules, on a Chief Azure, an Estoile of sixteen points, Or, charged with a plate thereon, a Cross of the third, between a Human Scull, in a cup on the dexter side, and a Basket of Bread, i. e. Wasted Cakes, all of the fifth, on the sinister. Early mention is made of Wasted bread, by Chaucer, who says, speaking of the Prioress.

“ Of smale houndes hadde, she, that she fedde,

“ With rosted flesh, and milk and wastel brede.”

Some further particulars relating to Wasted bread, may be found in Mr. Douce’s Illustra¬ tions of Shakspeare and Ancient Manners, Vol. ii. p. 210.

These gates hang on two stone piers, composed of columns of the Ionic order, on either side of which there is a small gate for common use. On the top of each pier, was a recum¬ bent figure, one of raving, the other of melancholy madness, carved by Caius Gabriel Cibber. The feeling of this sculptor was so acute, that it is said he would begin immediately to carve the subject from the block, without any previous model, or even fixing any points to guide him ; and I have often heard my father say, that his master, Roubiliac, whenever city- business called him thither, would always return by Bethlem, purposely to view these figures. They have lately been conveyed to Mr. Bacon’s, to be cleaned, previously to their re-erection at the New Hospital, built upon the scite of the late Dog and Duck, St.

South-west vmw of bethuem hospitai. aw® lomjof waul .

JFraBMSHEn) Sk-pt l U. WPl. mr J.T. SMjnnn.M?18,C-T Mats Buinxmcs. §T Martins jlwk.

33

George’s Fields ; the expense of which building was estimated, as I am informed, at 150,000/. These figures have been drawn by Stothard, and engraved by Sharp.

With all due deference to Mr. Roubeliac’s admiration, and the estimation of many otheis, in my humble opinion, they have been overrated. Indeed had they been the productions of Flaxman, they could not have been rated higher. The following lines upon these figures were in the possession of an unfortunate gentleman, who died in this Hospital some few years since :

Bethlemi ad portas se tollit dupla columna ;

, Ei kovx run tflof, xuhi&of exlo ; e%ei.

Hie calvum ad dextram tristi caput ore re- clinat,

Vix ilium ad Icevam ferrea vincla tenent. Dissimilis furor est statuis ; sed utrumq. laborem,

Et genium artificis laudat uterq. furor.

At Bethlem gates two columns rise to view ; What’s feign’d without, in life within proves true :

On stones without, two kinds of grief are seen ;

Like dolorous passions obvious reign within. This, to the right, in dismal state Lolling leans backward his bald pate.

In doleful dumps, on inward light The visionary rolls back his sight.

That, to the left, his iron chain With difficulty can restrain.

His veins with fiery choler swell —

His anger a foretaste of Hell.

And what the sculptor here doth paint, Within, griefs similar represent.

Two statues diverse ills express Each equally remote from bliss :

As different as fire from frore.

That seems to whine, and this to roar. Eternal honour to the artist give :

And bid his fame and genius live. Ingenious toil that could devise One foaming fury, one as cool as ice.

Pope, in the Dunciad, has noticed these figures, in the following lines :

“ Close to those walls where folly holds her throne,

“ And laughs to think Monroe would take her down ; “ Where o’er the gates, by his fam’d fathers hand,

“ Great Cibber’s brazen, brainless brothers stand.”

For these figures, it is currently reported, that Cibber took the porter of Oliver Cromw ell as his model.

There is an excellent figure, by Cibber, of a Bag-piper, in the garden front of Mr Hincli- cliffs house, situate on the east side of Tottenham Court Road, No 178. It was his father’s, and stood for many^ears in his stone yard, in Long Acre.

The principal entrance to this Hospital, is above four semicircular steps, and where the Porter attends, at an iron gate, commonly called the Penny Gate: for it must be stated, though I confess to the disgrace of our ancestors, that formerly, nay indeed, until about forty years back, persons of every class, male and female, were allowed to walk through the wards of both sexes, as though the unfortunate maniacs had been wild beasts, by paying a penny at this gate, on their return. A perfect picture of this public exhibition of the most distressing of all maladies, is given by Hogarth, in his last plate of the Rake’s Progress. At present the visits of idle curiosity are strictly forbidden, and none are admitted but by leave ofthe Governors. Members of Parliament have free access, and the relatives of patients are never denied the privilege of seeing them.

F

34

The men and women, in old Bethlem, were huddled together in the same ward. In this Hospital they have different wards, and gardens for air and recreation.

On either side of what aie called the penny gates, the eye of taste is again arrested by a statue of a maniac, holding a money bottle; that on the right represents a man, and that on the left a female. They are excellently carved in wood, nearly the size of life, have lequently been painted in pioper colours, and bear other evidence of age. It is reported, t at they were brought fiom Old Bethlem. In tablets over the niches in which they stand, is the following supplication: “ Pray remember the poor Lunaticks, and put your Charity into the Box with your own hand.”

The passage in which these figures stand, opens into the Hall, under the south cornice of which is the following inscription, in gilt letters.

£ “ This Hospital was begun to be built in April, 1675, and was finished July, 1676,

£ William Turner, Knight and Alderman, President, and Benjamin Ducane, Esq. “ Treasurer- Sir Thomas Rawlinson, Knight, Alderman, and President of this Hospital,

gave 100/. to purchase 51. per ann. towards the repairs of this Hospital for ever, Anno “ Domini 1707.”

Round this Hall are eighteen tablets for the reception of names of benefactors, divided at top by Chei ubims heads, excellently carved in wood, and much resembling those by Grudin Gibbons, in the Choir of St. Paul’s. On the left hand, north of the Hall, is a room, m which the physician and apothecary examine the patients. The Royal arms adorn the c nnney-piece, and eighteen of the pannels, record the names of benefactors. In a corner

o t is room is pi eserved the production of a grateful patient, carved in wood and gilt ; of which the following is a copy :

O GOD • KEEPE • ALL DWELLING • IN THIS PLACE IN HEALTH AND WEALTH WITH • TRVTH AND GRACE • AMEN • I G

At the right and left of the hall there are large iron gates opening into the galleries, or wards for the patients. These wards are lit up from the North, and the cells, or sleeping rooms, are on the South side. The men were confined on the East half of the building, the women on the West. The staircase ascends from the South side of the hall, and is adorned with twenty-two pannels, containing the names of donors, surmounted with Cherubinis’ heads, similar to those in the hall. At the top of this staircase, there is a lobby, on the right and left of which there are iron gates, like those below, opening into similar galleries. At the foot of the gates, within the iron-work, on the female side, a horse-shoe has been let into the floor, as a protection from witchcraft ; a custom of considerable antiquity, and which continues in England to this day. There are several in London, fifteen, for instance, are on the fronts of the thresholds of houses in Monmouth Street, three in Bedfordbury, and no less than twenty-eight in Rosemary Lane, commonly called Rag Fair ; and within the memory of several of my friends, they were placed on the fronts of coal-barge cabins.

On the South of this lobby, there is a large handsome room for the governors, who meet every Saturday. It has a beautifully ornamented plaister ceiling ; and over the West chimney- piece is a curious three quarter portrait, of King Henry the Eighth, the founder of the lospital, painted on pannel, in a rich dress ornamented with precious stones. He has a glove m his right hand, and his walking stick in his left. This picture, in my humble opinion, was painted before Holbein practised in England, as it is destitute of the superior

35

knowledge of that great artist, both in colouring and effect. I think Holbein s splendid picture of him, in Barber-Surgeons’ Hall, will support my remark. On the South side of this room, is a portrait of that great friend to the Hospital, Sir William Turner, painted at an advanced age, and said to be the production of Sir Peter Lely. There is another portrait of him at Bridewell Hospital, by Beale. The other portraits preserved in this room, are of Edward, son of Rob. Barkam, of Lincolnshire, and Mary his wife. They gave a large estate in that county, to this charity, estimated at 6000/.

Between these pictures hangs a small oval frame, containing the arms of Bethlem Hospital, surrounded by those of the Presidents, from the year 1640 to the present day, of which the following is a list:

Sir George Whitmore, 29th January, 1640 Sir John Woolastone, 12th September, 1643 Sir Charles Packer, 9th November, 1649 Sir Richard Brown, 14th September, 1666 Sir William Turner, 22d October, 1669 Sir Robert Geoffry, 9th July, 1689

Sir William Turner, 28th August, 1690 Sir Robert Geoffry, 17th March, 1693 Sir Samuel Dashwood, 15th March, 1703 Sir Thomas Rawlinson, 22d September, 1705 Sir William Withers, 15th December, 1708

Sir Samuel Garrad, Humphrey Parsons, Robert Willmott. William Benn,

10th March,' 1720 5tli August, 1725 18th January, 1741 28th January, 1746

Sir Richard Glynn, 25th September, 1755 Sir William Rawlinson, 11th February, 1773 Brackly Kennet, 31st July, 1777

Brass Crosby, Esq. 7th June, 1782

Sir James Sanderson, 14th February, 1792 Sir Richard Carr Glynn, 1st March, 1797

Over the east chimney-piece there is a picture of the arms of England, surmounted by the initials, R. H. This and the portrait of Henry, over the other chimney-piece, are said to have been brought from old Bethlem. In this room there are four drawings in Indian ink, two of them large; one exhibits the North elevation of the Hospital, the other a plan of the first floor. The two others are of a smaller size, and represent the front and back view of the principal gates, with Cibber’s figures.

Above this court room, and the galleries already described, are other rooms, for the house-keeper and safer sort of patients. Those patients, who die poor, are buried at the expense of the Hospital, in a burial ground East of Golden Lane ; the spot is known by the appellation, of “ the Wooden World,” most of the houses consisting entirely of timber.

The Galleries are three-hundred and thirty feet long, sixteen feet wide, and fourteen feet high; independent of the additional wings.

From the numerous list of those who have contributed towards the support of this humane institution, the following names are selected as the principal.

	Lord Craven gave tow ards /.	s.	cl j		/.	s.	cl
	rebuilding; this house 100	0	0	1684 Dr. Garret .	100	0	0
1677 John Hobby, Esq. . . . 100	0	0	1689 Mr. Alexander Hosea . .	200	0	0
	The Countess of Devon . 100	0	0	1691 Sir James Edwards .	125	0	0
1678	Mrs. Philippa Brooke . 300	0	0	Jacob Lucy, Esq. . . .	100	0	0
1679	Mr. Richard Staples . .100	0	0	Mr. John Fowke gave a
1680	Sir Peter Vandeputt . .100	0	0	yearly rent of ...	190	0	0
	Mr. James Mawrais . . 200	0	0	Mr. William Pott gave the
1682	Sir John Moore, to Bride¬			manor of Barston, and
	well and Bethlem . . 500	0	0	other lands in Kent, of
	Mr. Robert Blanchard . .100	0	0	the yearly value of	111	0	0

f 2

36

l. s. d.

Isle of Thanet, of the yearly rent of ... . 100 0 0

and after that his whole estate.

Sir Robert Jeffery . . 200 0 0

1744 to 1747, Captain John Al-

dred gave to incurables 3,205 2 3

1772 Sir Watkin Williams

Wynne, Bart. . . . 200 0 0

Nicholas Nixon, Esq. of Mincing Lane, gave between Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals 10,000 0 0

And the late Benjamin Kenton, Esq. among other great gifts, left to Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals .... 10,000 0 0

The number of patients contained in this House, were, on the 3d of January, 1815, Men 51, women 70.

From a drawing by John Dunstall, kindly communicated to me by Mr. Richardson, Auctioneer, of King-street, it appears, that the outer gates of this Hospital consisted originally of wooden frames, with plain iron bars, and that the ground has been considerably raised in front, as there were four stone steps immediately under the gates.

The only plan which I have hitherto been able to meet with, that gives the distribution of the premises of Old Bethlem Hospital, is the rare one by Hollar, before noticed, in the pos¬ session of Mr. Lloyd. It is curious in other particulars, it exhibits Moorfields, then divided into quarters, with trees surrounding each division, the scite of the second Bethlem Hospital, then an uninterrupted space, and a cluster of five windmills standing on the scite of the

Noith side of Finsbury Square, a part of which ground was, within my memory, called Mill Hill. .

A VENERABLE FRAGMENT OF LONDON WALL, AS IT STOOD IN THE CHURCH YARD OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE.

This view contains the most perfect part of London Wall remaining within my time, as built in the reign of King Edward the Fourth, 1477 ; and which probably owed its preser¬ vation to its unexposed situation. But this curious piece of antiquity was doomed at last to meet its demolition, by reason of the frequent nuisances committed by some of the lowest class of people, who had been suffered to inhabit the adjoining premises; and in con¬ sequence of their depredations, the wall became so mutilated, that the Parish was induced to apply to the City for repairs; but finally, after some contest, it was settled by the City, that as they had no farther occasion to keep up their walls, the parish should be entitled to as much of London Wall, as bounded their church-yard. In con¬ sequence of this arrangement, the parish took down the fragments of battlements, and repaired the wall in a perfectly plain manner, as a safer screen from future innovation ; to perpetuate which, the following inscription cut in stone, was let into the wall: “ This wall was repaired at the expense of the Parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, Thomas Dolly, William Robson, Churchwardens, 1803.”

	1.	s.	d.
1692 Mr. Robert Hyett . . .	100	0	0
1693 Captain John Jones .	125	0	0
1698 Mr. John Brare .	250	0	0
Lord Craven .	100	0	0
Mr. Edward Bettison . .	100	0	0
Mr. John Land ....	100	0	0
1699 Mr. Edmund Burroughs .	333	15	0
Mr. John Edmonson gave,
to Bridewell and Bethlem
Hospitals, lands in the
Isle of Thanet of the
yearly value of . . . .	80	0	0
Mr. John Johnson .	105	0	0
1701 Mr. Freemantle ....	100	0	0
Mr. Deputy Gwyn . . .	100	0	0
1702 Sir Thomas Viner . .	200	0	0
1704 Henry Harbyn . .	150	0	0
Thomas Guy . . . . .	200	0	0

1705 John Parsons, a farm in the

37

This part of London Wall, bounding the church-yard, commences at the East, imme¬ diately from the back of Mr. Tylor’s, No 3, Cripplegate Buildings, and continues west- wardly to the foundation of a corner round tower. From thence it takes a southerly direc¬ tion to the back of Barber-Surgeons’ Hall, at which spot the church-yard terminates.

Fortunately I was passing when the workmen were taking down the wainscoting of the north porch, in 1812. On this occasion they discovered the original one, consisting of per¬ forated arches on either side, most exquisitely carved in wood, and variously painted ; the vermillion of which was as bright as when first put on, and the whole appeared to be of the reign of Henry the Fourth or Fifth. The lower parts of the belfry are by much the oldest of the Church, as may be collected from the rudeness of the workmanship.

In disrdns: a grave near the West entrance in 1813, a considerable undisturbed extent of

oo O o

pavement, consisting of ornamented glazed tiles, was discovered at about the depth of four feet from the base of the pillars of the nave, which proves that the body of the Church is a subsequent and elevated structure.

In the church-yard, near the middle of the South side, there is a large Yorkshire stone, measuring nine feet, eight inches, by seven feet, three inches, which covers the family vault of the late Sir William Staines, fcnt. This stone, large as it is, sinks considerably in magnitude when compared with its countryman, which is placed before the threshold of No. 16, on the West side of Bloomsbury Square, measuring eleven feet, three inches, by seven feet, eleven inches, and which cost upwards of 2,000/. on the following unfortunate occasion. A gentle¬ man fell over it on the evening of its arrival, and broke both his legs. He brought an action against the proprietor, and recovered 2,000/. damages. We have another large stone of black marble in the south cloister of Westminster Abbey, with the following inscription :

“ GERVASIUS HE BLOIS ABBAS, 1160,” measuring eleven feet, eleven inches, by five feet, eleven inches, which stone is commonly called Long Meg of Westminster.

From the information of the intelligent sexton of this Church, Mr. Richardson, I find that the skeleton discovered about twenty-five years ago, and generally believed to be Milton’s, was considered by some persons as the bones of a female. They were found in a leaden coffin, without any inscription, under the pews on the North side of the chancel, and nearly opposite to the pulpit, which stands as it did then, on the South side of the Church.

This supposed discovery induced the Father of the late Samuel Whitbread, Esq. M. P. to erect a mural monument to the Poet’s memory, against the second North pillar from the Altar, consisting of a Bust (not at all like Faithorne’s print, which was engraved from the life) and a tablet, upon which is engraved the following inscription :

IOHN MILTON,

AUTHOR OF PARADISE LOST,

BORN DECR 1608,

DIED NOVR 1674.

HIS FATHER, IOHN MILTON,

DIED MARCH, 1646.

They were both interred in this Church.

Samuel Whitbread posuit. — I. Bacon sculpt.

As the parishioners are not aware of the precise spot where he was buried, I was induced to see what the register said, but found nothing beyond the following entry :

November,

1674.

“ John Milton , Gentleman - - - Buried Nov. 12 - - - Consumption - Chancell

33

I also copied his Father’s register of burial, Maich, « j0]lu Milton, gentleman

1646.

but met with no better information. . 15’

Mr. Richardson informed me, that it is generally believed Milton died in Jewin-street.

It is said, that Milton at one time lived in Petty-France, Westminster, where the gardens come into the Bird-cage Walk.

It is also believed, that he lived in Bunhill-Row; and a Barber in Chiswell-street, close by the well that gives name to the street, maintains that he resides in Milton’s former habitation.

This part of the town has perhaps more Barbers’ shops than any other. In White-Cross¬ street, Moor-lane, Golden-lane, &c. you can hardly walk ten yards clear of them.

The Flying Barber is a character now no more to be seen in London, though he still remains in some of our country villages. He was provided with a napkin, soap, and pewter bason, the form of which may be seen in many of the illustrative prints of Don Quixote. He had also a deep leaden vessel, something like a chocolate pot, with a large ring or handle at the top. This pot held about a quart of water, boiling hot; and thus equipped, he flew about to his customers. These pots are now no longer made in London. The last mould which produced them, and which was of brass, was broken up for metal, after the sale of Mr. Richard Joseph’s pewter moulds, last January, in New-street, Shoe-lane.

The entertaining and venerable Mr. Thomas Batrich, barber, of Drury-lane, informs me, that before the year 1756, it was a general custom to lather with the hand; but that the French barbers, much about that time, brought in the brush. He also says, that “ A good lather is half the shave,” is a very old remark among the trade.

The old chandeliers of tlnee, four, and six branches, are now disused. Mr. Batrich has twro suspended from his ceiling ; he has also a set of bells fixed against the wall, which he has had for these forty years. J hese are called by the common people Whittington’s Bells. In his eaily days, about eighty years back, when the newspapers were only a penny a-piece, they were taken in by the Barbers for their customers to read during their waiting time. This custom is handed to us by the last E. Heemskerck, in an etching by Toms, of a Barber’s Shop, composed of monkies, at the foot of which are the following lines :

“ A Barber's Shop adorn’d we see,

“ With Monsters, News, and Poverty;

“ Whilst some are shaving, others bleed, And those that wait the Papers read :

“ The Master full of Wigg, or Tory,

Combs out your Wig, and tells a Story,

“ Then palms your Cole, and scraping, smiles,

“ And gives a Bill to cure the Piles.

In former days, it appears, that waiting customers beguiled the time with playing on a lute, or on the cittern, the latter being a musical instrument resembling the guitar. In one of Burton’s little books, entitled “ Winter Evening Entertainments,” published in 1687, with several wood cuts, there is a representation of a Barber’s Shop, where the person waiting his turn is playing on a lute.

On one occasion, that I might indulge the humour of being shaved by a woman, I repaired to the Seven Dials, where, in Great St. Andrew s-street, a slender female performed the operation, whilst her husband, a strapping soldier in the Horse-Guards, sat smoaking his pipe. There was a famous woman in Swallow-street, who shaved ; and I recollect a black woman in Butcher-row, a street formerly standing by the side of St. Clement’s church, near Temple Bar, who is said to have shaved with ease and dexterity.

Mv . Bati ich informs me, that he has read of the five Barberesses of Drury-lane, who shamefully mal-treated a woman in the reign of Charles the Second.

The Barbers’ poles, that were put down when the act passed for the removal of the London

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