\ ' f'. Olorn^U Hntupratty 2Itbrarg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GJFT OF 1891 \.3oo..^M \3pQ^S 9306 Cornell University Library DA 685.S73R39 Old Southwark and its people. 3 1924 028 066 847 573 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028066847 "SOUTHWARICKSURRY'ICIRCA 1542. DucHYOF Lancaster Records, Maps & Plans^N°74. Facsimiled and reduced from the original in the Record Office. ^J^ocrr^ '■'FE END OF PREFACE. Way k Mewi-ngtan l>ii 'B\a.ckm.<,.n ^L (,0 SI ^/torS^/'^jviA'" M>0x^\ifjyi-6 ^>vj^-T,M^/ Z2w^^ ^' .}<4 - 1- is U ^ er mo-n.^ S, e. ■^ ^tvtt^ Ly OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE, BY WILLIAM ^NDLE, F.R.C.S., Honorary Surgeon to the British and Foreign Training College, ■Borough Road, and at one time Scholar there ; formerly, SURGEON TO THE POOR, AND MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, ST. GEORGE -THE-MARTYR, SOUTHWARK. Printed WV^s For And Sold by W. DREWETT, 43, High Street, Southwark. 1878. [A// rights rcsci'jcd. ] A" Pi.?,o^'tvf\ I. THIS BOOK TO TWO RICHARDS, VERY DEAR TO ME : MY SON *IN QUEENSLAND, MY NEPHEW IN BURMAH. " I have a story ready for our need. If ye will hear it, though perchance it is That many things therein are writ amiss, This part forgotten, that part grown too great. For these things, too, are in the hands of fate.'" Morris's ' Earthly Paradise. {March.) PREFACE. The best explanatory introduction I can give to this venture is to reprint here as much as may be necessary of a circular first issued by me, foreshadowing my hopes and intentions as to a quasi- history of the old Borough of Southwark. Notice as to the intended issue of a Paper or Papers relating to Old Southwark. I have long intended, and indeed have been somewhat urged, to show at least a specimen of the work I have for some time had in hand. It is therefore proposed to issue very shortly a paper of some extent, to be named ' Old Southwark and its People.' I have been so fortunate as to find in the Record Office, through my friend Mr. Halliwell Phillipps, a sketch or rough map of Southwark, or of the greater part of it, very suitable to a first essay in this direc- tion. This map or plan may have been intended for official uses only — what we might call an office copy. In the Appendix to the thirtieth Report of the Deputy -Keeper of the Public Records, p. 39, the map is listed among plans which were, it is said, chiefly made for the purpose of elucidating claims of parties in disputes pending in the Court of the Duchy of Lancaster. The particular disputes for which this plan was made I have not as yet been able to find. The rudest possible indications of places, most of them known, and many of them remarkable, appear in this sketch of, say, 1542. The names, in the quaint hand and spelling of the time, have been traced for me by Mr. Ashbee, a skilled professional hand. I affixed them to the map (a tracing of my own) and have had the whole reduced to the size of the book to which it stands as text. It is trustworthy, very fairly exact, and will serve well as the basis or text for this account of ^Old Southwark. It will moreover enable I VI PREFACE. me to introduce details promising to be very interesting to those who like such matters, and it will make them very well acquainted with Old Southwark. To take only six of the inscriptions as speci- mens of what the sketch or map contains, here are Bartholburch (Battle Bridge of Tooley Street), The Tabete (Tabard), Marye Madelene Church (Bermondsey), Synte Toulus Church (St. Olave's), The Maner Place (Brandon's Palace). A boundary in three or four places, thus indicated— Hyer endeth the lyberte off the mayre and beghinneth the the {_dc in one] kyng, which explains itself. One more— Dedmeplace (Deadman's Place), the earliest notice in Cunningham being 1604. The venture is in the nature of an experiment — that is, whether now the people of this utilitarian age^ feel a sufficient interest in historical, biographical, and topographical sketches connected with the past of this very old borough ; and whether I possess the qualities needful to enable me to set the matter forth in a suffi- ciendy attractive form. In the midst of a busy practice it has always been to me a labour of love, as well as a relief, to gather up as they came in my way any literary or pictorial illustrations of the Borough in which I have lived and worked since 1815, and this pleasure or the results of it I should like to pass on to others. As for myself, I will say at once that, although I cannot undertake to satisfy the fastidiously learned, I may hope to do better with the intelligent reader who seeks pleasure and information together, and who will be content to moderate his expectations. Nothing known to be fictitious is allowed to appear as true, otherwise than as a literary illustration. This is dwelt upon because in preparing such a work it is a wie qua non to be trustworthy and, as nearly as possible, exact. When we consider how ancient a place our Borough is — how many most noted people have lived and acted in it — what stirring events have taken place in Southwark, whether we are locally con- nected with the place or not, we cannot but feel somewhat interested ' Which has made it possible lo skirt \\ ith a gigantic and ugly thundering iron trough one of the loveliest of the old churches, St. Saviour's, Southwark. And this trough might, as I heard was intended, so easily have gone further south. Outer (or ultra) barbarians ! as the Chinese might, with show of reason, call us. PREFACE. vii in its past history. Southwark has generally felt and reflected, earlier than most other places, the working- and moving toward necessary changes. Moreover, some of the very master men and masterpieces of early English literature were either first seen among us or connected closely with us ; let me name, for example, Gower and Chaucer. The earliest complete English Bible printed in England was printed here in iS37. 'Justification by Faith Only,' by William Tyndale, was printed here in 1536. Many another fine specimen of early printing came from the presses of " St. Thomas's Hospitale," and of other places " in Southwarke." It appears to me, therefore, that our Borough has been somewhat overlooked. The plays of Shakespeare were, many of them — may I say most of them ? — written for the Globe, on the Bankside. Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Ben Jonson, and a throng of others of the time of Elizabeth and James, were among us, some- times on the Bank, sometimes in our debtors' prisons.^ Further, to show what subjects of interest there are closely connected with Old Southwark, many of which might each fill a paper, and perhaps may, let me name a few. — The records yet in existence of the parishes of St. Saviour, St. Olave, St. George, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Thomas. — The Brandons of Southwark, one of whom, Duke Charles, had to wife Mary, the Bonne Saur of Henry VIIL, and had his palace opposite St. George's Church (the Maner Place of our map), with its park behind. — Bankside, its theatres and bear-gardens, with its houses of convenience carefully regulated and licensed by the Bishops of Winchester, with the Clink, the Cage, the Cucking Stool, and the Whipping Post, their complementary adjuncts, all close at hand in case of need. — The illustrious roughs, for instance, Marlowe, Greene, and Chettle, who wrote or acted for the Bank Theatres. — Chaucer, and the Tabard. — Bekkets Spyttell (the hospital of St. Thomas k Becket). — South- wark Fair and Hogarth. — Bermondsey Abbey, with Sir Thomas Pope, who procured it, and the many great people, kings, queens, and nobles, who lived there. — The old prisons. Clink, White Lyon, Marshalsea, Bench, Counter, which drew within their walls the best and the worst of people. — Sir John Fastolf, whose almost * See Henslowe's Diary for many instances. b 2 viii PREFACE. "Royal Palace " was in Southwark, and who, to some extent at least, served as the butt or model of the Shakespearian character. — St. George's Fields, with its great gatherings of kings and queens, and of commoner folk for musters, its butts and archery, its cruel executions, its dissolute places of resort, and much else ; — for all this and more there is abundance of excellent material ready to my hand, which is ever, and too fast, increasing. The subject of each paper, if there should be more than one, will be, as far as possible, complete in itself ; each will have an appropriate and not hackneyed illustration — one or more. Should the work simply repay the actual outlay — profit being neither desired nor refused — it will be continued. If otherwise, it will very properly stop at this first issue. A second and more definite announcement was made, as follows : — " Old Southwark and its People. To be shortly pub- lished, in one volume, complete in itself, illustrated. Price to subscribers, nine shillings." The conditional promise of fifty large- paper copies could not be carried out on account of expense. One size of quasi-large paper has therefore^been adopted. Notice of the publication was sent to many friends and inhabitants of South- wark, with this result — that about 260 copies are ordered, more than I expected, but not nearly enough to defray the actual outlay. It was suggested to me to extend the first notice, and to explain more particularly the intended scope and contents of the book. Well, the subject of it is the first known map of Southwark, of the time immediately after the surrender of St. Mary Overie's Priory, of Bermondsey Abbey, and of St. Thomas's Hospital, and after the uniting of St. Margaret's parish with that of St. Mary Magdalen Overy to form St. Saviour's. The scope of the book is an account of early Southwark. Then follow particulars, which, as they are comprised in the book now in the hands of the reader, need not be reprinted here. The illustrations are— i. The map or plan, 1542. It will be understood that the actual words of the map are in the writing of the period, and that some modern words are added by me to make matters more clear. — 2. The Southwark part of Norden's map, Vanden Keere, i S93, by favour of Mr. Furnivall for the purposes PREFACE. ix of this book. — 3. Plan of St. Saviour's, ciiiefly after Tiler, 1762, with which is adapted a plan of conventual remains, after Carlos and Dollman, in situ, and an elevation of the same from the ' Anti- quarian Itinerary.' — 4. Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, in illustration of those set up in the churches at the time, from the Fhilobiblon Broadsheets and Ballads; Huth collection. A very faithful copy of the original. — S- The Cucking Stool, in use for scolds and olhers, from Mr. Halliwell's Broadsides. Probably this is a South- wark picture, free as for a broadside, of a cucking stool known to have been in use by and in the stream behind Winchester House. — 6. The locality of the stream, with an indication of the cucking stool, from the ' Countreyman's Guide,' a map of the time of the Commonwealth, 1653. — 7- The Lock Bridge, at the end of Kent Street, now underground, and forming part of the sewer. — 8. The locality of the Lock Hospital or Leprosery, and the Bridge just noted. — 9. The armorial device of the Borough of Southwark is at the end of the book.^ I must remark that the same words will be found now and then to be diversely spelt. They are so in the originals; in fact, the diversity in spelling is very common, sometimes to be found even in the same sentence. I have not affected to make them uniform in this book, which is intended to reflect as much as is reasonable of the old times. I am afraid that some too exact repetitions will be met with ; generally, the repetition is perhaps justified in this — that it is to some extent needful in most of the instances to make each episode more clear. I cannot defend myself further, and shall submit with melancholy pleasure to adverse criticism. I am under much obligation for kindly help — first of all to Mr. J. O. Halliwell Phillipps, without whose most liberal literary aid this book, whatever its merit may or may not be, could not have appeared ; to Mr. Furnivall, for valuable advice and help ; to my two Cambridge friends, Mr. Flather, of Emmanuel, and Mr. Northcott, of St. John's, who have given themselves much trouble ' All the copies I have seen of this device, although in the main the same, vary a little in minute points, I have not seen a copy authoritatively exact, nor do I know of one. X PREFACE. in looking over my proofs ; to the Vestry of St. Saviour's, for the very great facilities they have, through their Vestry Clerk, Mr. Diggles, always given me for the inspection of their most valuable papers ; to Mr. Selby, so often ready with real help in my researches at the Record OfiSce ; to Mr. Overall and his second in command, for help cheerfully afforded at all times. Per contra, I am very sorry that the authorities of Magdalene College, Cambridge, could not find it in their hearts to let me gather some of the rich fruit which now, alas ! lies almost buried in the " Bibliotheca Pepysiana," — which collection is, I believe, really entrusted to the college authorities for a reasonable public use. WILLIAM RENDLE. Treverbyn, Forest Hill, 1878. NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. COPIES Mr. Abbott, 141, High Street, Borough i „ Aishton, Newcomen's School, King Street, Borough . . .1 Messrs. Anderson & Cattley, Soap Works, Great Suffolk Street . . 3 Mr. Arber, F.S.A., Southgate i „ Ashby, 42, High Street, Borough 2 Mr. Baker, F.S.A., II, Sackville Street i Messrs. Barclay & Perkins, Park Street i Mr. Barkby, British and Foreign School Society, Borough Road . i Dr. Bateson, 116, St. George's Road, Southwark r Mr. Bayles, 81, Newington Causeway i „ Bayley, 42, Newington Causeway i „ Bear, 128, Great Suffolk Street i Rev. Mr. Benson, M.A., St. Saviour's, Town Hall Chambers . . i Col. Beresford, M. P., 75, Victoria Street i. Mr. Bevan, A. H., Anchor Brewery, Park Street i „ Bevington, J. B., Merle Wood, and St. Thomas's Street . . 6 Major Bevington, The Neckinger Works 2 Mr. Billings, Surveyor, Guy's Hospital i „ Birt, D., Vestry Clerk, St. George's, Southwark, 10, Blessington Road, Lee i „ Birt, D., junr.. Town Hall Chambers, Borough . . . . i „ Blanch (History of Camberwell), 55, Denman Road, Peckham . i „ Boulden, Warden, St. Saviour's, 31, Union Street, Borough . i „ Boutcher, E., 9, Leather Market, Bermondsey . . . . i Mrs. Breillat, Blackman Street i British and Foreign School Society (Mr. Bourne) . ... 3 Miss Broster, Canterbury Road, Catford i Mr. Brown, Percy, Davis's Wharf, Tooley Street . . . . i „ Burney, 27, High Street, Borough i NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. Dr. Carpenter, 169, Kennington Park Road. Mrs. Cattel!, Canterbury Road, Catford Rev. Mr. Chancellor, M.A., Westwood House College, Forest Hill Mr. Chappell, F.S.A., Oatlands Mrs. Chatterton, The Hawthorns, Clapham Road Dr. Chester (LL.D.), 124, Blue Anchor Road City Library, Guildhall Dr. Clapton, St. Thomas's Street Mr. Cock, F.R.C.S., Dean Street, St. Thomas's Street ,, Coleman, High Street, Borough „ Coleman, Trevanger, Hamlet Road, Upper Norwood . „ Collier, Gothic Hill, Stamford Hall, and 15, New Broad Street „ Cooper, Eshholt Royd, West Croydon .... Miss Corner, A. E., Longton Grove Villa, Weston-super-Mare „ Corner, M. L., Longton Grove Villa, Weston-super-Mare Dr. Cornwell, Purbrook, Sydenham Hill Mr. Cosens, 27, Queen's Gate, Kensington Mrs. Cox, WynelT Road, Forest Hill . Mr. Creak, 17, Clapham Road „ Creak, King's Ai-ms, Horslydown . „ Crookenden, "jo, Bankside „ Crossley, Beaufort Street, Chelsea Rev. Mr. Curling, M.A., St. Saviour's . Mr. Davis, C, New Weston Street, Bermondsey Davis, R., New Weston Street, Bermondsey Dawson, Queen's Head, Borough . Day, Vestry Hall, Borough Road . Diggles, Vestry Clerk, St. Saviour's, Hibernia Chambers, London Bridge Dodson, Penge DoUman, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi Dowman, 29, Shakespeare Street, Ardwick, Drapper, 16, Union Street, Borough Drewett, F., Church Street, St. Saviour's Drewett, W., 43, High Street, Borough Dunn, Andrew, 38, Southwark Street . Dunn, W., 37, Newington Causeway Mr. Eastwood, 79, Holland Road, Kensington Mrs. Ellis, Worth, Sussex .... Manchester NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. XlU Dr. Fagge, II, St. Thomas's Street Mr. Falconer, Judge of County Court, Monmouthshire (Usk) ]\Iiss Farley, 22, Bolton Gardens Dr. Farr, F.R.S., Somerset House Mrs. Faulkner, Mayo Road, Forest Hill Mr. Field, North Frith, Forest Hill „ Fisher, 31, Maze Pond „ Fitch, J. G., one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, 5, caster Terrace, Regent's Park ...... „ Fitch, J. P., Phoenix Wharf, Clink Street, Southwark . „ Forster, F.R.C.S., 29, Upper Grosvenor Street . ,, Foucard, 162, Tulse Hill, and Three Crown Square, Boroug „ Franklin, Architect, Adelaide Chambers, London Bridge ,, Furnivall, M.A., 3, St. George's Square, Primrose Hill Mr. Gainsford, High Sti-eet, Borough „ Gallant, Horse Shoe, Stone's End „ Gardner, South Eastern Bank, Tooley Street „ Gill, loi. High Street, Boroligh „ Gooch, 113, Nevvington Causeway Dr. Goodhart, 27, Weymouth Street, Portland Place Mr. Goodwin, Great Guildford Street . Miss Goudge, 7, Kidbrooke Park Road, Blackheath Mr. Green, J., Calvert's Buildings, Southwark „ Gregory, High Street, Borough „ Griffith, 164, High Street, Borough „ Grut, 9, King Street, Borough Mrs. Gwilt, Moonbeam Villa, i, The Grove, New Wimbledon Mr. Hawkins, 126, London Road, Southwark „ Hemmerde, London and Westminster Bank, Southwark „ Heslop, Clerk, St. Olave's, 86, Queen Elizabeth Street, Horsly- down „ Hillstead, 25, High Street, Borough „ Hilton, J., F.R.S., 10, New Broad Street „ Hilton, R. C, Paragon, New Kent Road „ Hilton, T., Great Suffolk Street . „ Hocken, Polperro, Cornwall . „ HoUiday, Jno., Alderley Edge, Manchester „ Howse, F.R.C.S., 10, St. Thomas's Street „ Hunt, 42, Southwark Bridge Road COPIES I Lan- XIV NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. Mrs. Ingle, 6, Morden Road, Blackheath Park COPIES I Mr. Jackson, W. G., Distillery, Dockhead . „ Jarman, New College, Southsea „ Jarvis, J. W., 19, Charles Square, Hoxton „ Jarvis, M., 19, Charles Square, Hoxton „ Jones, Clerk, St. Saviour's Guardians . „ Jones, Geo., 97, High Street, Borough . „ Joy, 164, Clapham Road Mr. Kedgley, Hibernia Chambers, London Bridge „ Kennard, 177, Old Kent Road Mr. Larkin, M.R.C.S., Trinity Square . „ Ledger, Potter's Fields, Horslydown „ Legg, Cyrus, Metropolitan Board of Works, and mondsey Street „ Lewin, 11, The Terrace, Chapel Place, Long Lane „ Lewin, junr., 11, The Terrace, Chapel Place, Long Lane „ Locke, John, M.P., 63, Eaton Place London Library, Mr. Harrison, Sec, 12, St. James's Square Mr. Lowe, Great Dover Street .... Mr. Macgillivray (Macnaught, Robertson's), Bank End „ Malthouse, 118, Walworth Road .... „ Marsland, Surveyor, Three Crown Square . „ Millar, Churchwarden, St. George's, Newington Causeway „ Mitson, Chairman of Guardians, St. Saviour's Union Dr. Moxon, Guy's Hospital, 6, Finsbury Circus . Mr. Narraway, Sunderland Lodge, Forest Hill . „ Neal, Mark Brown's Wharf, Tooley Street . „ Newsom, i. South Hill, Forest Hill „ Northoott, Dorcas Terrace, Kensington Mr. Oakey, J., Westminster Bridge Road , „ Overall, Principal Librarian, Guildhall , Mr. Paine, C, g, Lewes Crescent, Kemp Town, Brighton „ Palmer, W., Market Street, Bermondsey „ Paul], D., 20, St. George's Road .... 192, Ber- NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. XV COPIES Rev. Mr. Pearson, M.A., Ardwick Lodge, Beverley Road, Hull . . i Sir H. W. Peek, Bart., M.P., Wimbledon i Mr. Perkins, A. F., Anchor Brewery, Park Street . . . . i „ Philcox, 141, Bermondsey Street I „ Phillipps, J. O. Halliwell, F.R.S., HoUingbury Copse, Brighton . 3 „ Phillips, B., 280, Kennington Park Road i „ Phillips, H. L., 18, Kennington Park Road I „ Pocock, A., Metropolitan Board of Works, and 235, Southwark Bridge Road 6 „ Pope, M., Belle Vue, Thurlow Hill, Lower Norwood . . .1 Miss Putley, 48, Trinity Square I Mr. Rabbits, W. H., The Hall, Dulwich 2 „ Rabbits, W. T., High Field, Forest Hill 2 Mrs. Rabbits, E., The Hall, Dulwich i Miss Rendle, Polperro, Cornwall i Mr. Rendle, Richard, F.R.C.S., Brisbane 3 „ Rendle, Frank i „ Rider, F., Outram Road, Croydon i „ Rider, S. C, 143, Great Suffolk Street i „ Rider, T. F., 181, Union Street i „ Robertson, James (Lectures on Southwark), Bank End . . i „ Robins, Churchwarden, St. George's, 228, Old Kent Road . . i „ Rockley, 155, High Street, Borough i „ Rogers, E. Dresser, Hanover Park, Peckham . . . . i „ Rose, J. W., Old Hall, Reedham i „ Rowett, R., Polperro, Cornwall I „ Rowett, R., Rangoon, Burmah 3 Rev. Mr. Sach, M.A., Lee Lane Farm, near Bagshot . . . . i Mr. Saunders, J. Ebenezer, 9, Finsbury Circus 2 „ Scriven, J. B., Anchor Brewery, Park Street . . . . i „ Searle, Anchor Brewery, Park Street . . . . . i „ Sells, 13, Morland Road, Croydon . . . ... .2 „ Shaw, 35, Green Street, Pocock Street i „ Shears, W., 25, Bankside i „ Shelley, 65, Blackman Street 2 „ Simpson, 9, Three Crown Square i Rev. Mr. Sinclair, London School Board, and Alfred Street Hall, Bermondsey Street i Mr. Sinden, 14, Newington Causeway 3 XVI NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. COPIES Mr. Smith, M.R.C.S., 40, Newington Causeway 2 Miss Smith, 8, Norfolk Terrace, Brighton Mr. Snell, 78, Falmouth Road „ Stevens, 191, Lower Road, Rotherhithe Dr. Tanner, 118, Newington Causeway Miss Taylor, Helen, School Board, and 10, Albert Mansions, Vic- toria Street i Mr. Taylor, C, Repository, i, St. George's Road .... „ Taylor, W., 59, King Street, Borough Dr. Taylor, Fredk., Guy's Hospital, and 15, St. Thomas's Street „ Thompson, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge Mr. Tolhurst, 60, Tooley Street „ Treadwell, Great Dover Street Mr. Walford, Cornelius, 86, Belsize Gardens „ Walker, J. H., The Grove, Guildford Street . „ Wallace, Jas., 160, Long Lane, Bermondsey „ Walters, 22, Ladbroke Grove Road, Netting Hill. ,, Walton, C, Manor House, East Acton, and 22, Newington Butts Sir Sidney Waterlow, Bart, M.P., Fairscat, Highgate Mr. White, J., 4, Barkham Terrace, St. George's .... „ Wilcocks, H. S., Stoke Cottage, Stoke, Devonport Dr. Wilks, F.R.S., 77, Grosvenor Street . .... Mr. Wingham, 90, Borough Road „ Winkley, M., 4, Southwark Street . .... Mr. Youngman, 416, Old Kent Road i PLAN OF SOUTHWARK, 1542. First in order naturally comes an explanation of the map or plan which has so opportunely turned up for our purpose, and which faces the title. Many maps dealing largely with early Southwark have come down to us. It is easy to see that fancy has dealt somewhat freely with the seventeenth century maps of Hollar and others; at the same time it must be said that truth, with a difference, underlies them all. The same may be said of the pictorial map of Van den Wyngrerde, dated 1543, now in the Bodleian. Our plan from the Record Office,^ the text for this book upon Old Southwark and its People, although limited and very roughly drawn — in fact, nothing more than a rude skeleton of a map — is, to my mind, so far as it goes, worth them all as to matter-of-fact authenticity. It gives a fair idea of the lines of the old Borough, and the approximate sites of those old places, the names of which so ring in our ears, and which were of local importance in 1542. The map will also serve as some sort of test by which to judge other and more formal maps. There are, of course, good early maps, — for instance, that of Agas, 1560,^ — Braun's, 1572,' — a rough one in the Sloane MS., 1588, — Vanden Keere's, that is, Norden's, 1593,^ — and Visscher's, ' Duchy of Lancaster Records, Maps, and Plans ; dimensions, 334 in. by 24 in. Mr. Selby, of the Record Office, to whom I am much indebted for help, thinks that a part of the plan, a southern portion, has been cut off. ' This map has just been edited by my excellent friend, Mr. Overall, the Librarian of the City Library. ' Braun's, indeed all of these maps, of which there were various editions, must be compared and intelligently examined, especially the later impressions, before implicitly receiving them, A beautiful copy of this map is given in the ' Illustrations of the Life of Shake- speare,' by Mr. J. O. Halliwell Phillipps ; another is given with Harrison, edited xviii PLAN OF SOUTHWARK, IS42. 1616. These appear to be fairly trustworthy, and they mutually illustrate each other. One or other or all contain names of places and features of the locality familiar to us — so with a little pleasant study we can build up the old town for ourselves, can see it very much as it was in the old days, and can, with a natural fancy, see the people whose names are household words to us moving to and fro in our streets. No date is affixed to the map in the^Record Office, but it contains enough of internal evidence to make its date clear. The Act uniting the parishes of St. Margaret and St. Mary Magdalen Overy was passed 32 Hen. VIII., 1S40-41. From this time the church of the united parishes was named St. Saviour's, as in the map, which must therefore have been sketched after 1541. Sir Thomas Pope's name appears on the site of Bermondsey Abbey, This abbey was dissolved, and became the property of Sir Robert Southwell, in 1541, who the same year passed it on to Sir Thomas Pope. From this and some other internal evidence I venture to fix the date of it about 1542, or very soon after. The modern words on the map are placed there to make some matters clearer, that is, as to places of note not actually named on the original map, but which were in existence about 1542 — before or after. I have also affixed figures against the old names, — what now follows will show why this was done. I. Baptys House. 2. Fowler or Fowle. 3. Beere or Bear Alley. 4, 5. Gates to the Close, afterwards Montague Close. 6. Pepper Alley. 7. The Church door, the west door of St. Saviour's. 8. St. Saviour's Church, g, 10. The West and East Chain Gates of St. Saviour's Churchyard. 11. Wytwent House (?). 12. The GreenDragon. 13. The Bull's Head. 14. "Winchester House. 15. I am at a loss here ; it may be Waverley or Naverley House, a better authority says Norwyche House. 16. The way to the Bankside. 17, 19. Foul Lane. 18. West Lane. 20. Cross's" Brewhouse. by Mr. Furnivall, for the New Shakspere Society. The Graphic newspaper published last year a copy from the same block. Mr. Wheatley has an admirable monograph upon Norden and his map of London, some eighteen pages, in the edition of Harrison — N. S. S. * John Crosse, a leading man of St. Margaret's parish, 1534. Locally appointed with others to oversee as to church goods, St. Saviour's, 1548-1552. PLAN OF SOUTHWARK, 1 542. xix 21. Froget's^ House. 22. The Court House. 23. The Market Place. 24. The Pillory and Cage. 25. St. Olave's Church. 26. The Brust House (Brewhouse or Bridgehouse). 27. The Ram's Head. 28. Here endeth the liberty of the Mayor and beginneth the King's. 29. Smith's Alley. 30. The Berghene or Petty Burgundy. 31. Pillory and Cage. 32. Battle Bridge. 33. Bermondsey Cross. 34. Glen Alley. 35. Here endeth the Mayor and here beginneth the King. 36. Probably the Boar's Head. 37. Probably the Black Swan, 38. The Hospital Church Door (St. Thomas). 39. The Gate of St. Thomas's Hospital 40. I am quite uncertain as to the name of this evidently impor- tant building ; possibly it may be meant for the Hospital itself, or perhaps for the noble Inn of the Prior of Lewes. 41. The King's Head. 42. The White Hart. 43. The George. 44. The Tabard. 45. Probably the Inn of the Abbot of Hyde. 46. The Crowned or Cross Keys. 47. The Christopher. 48. The Spur. 49. The Horse Head or Nag's Head. 50. The Marshalsea Prison. 51. Probably the Mermaid. 52. The Blue Maid End.'' 53. Probably the Half Moon. 54. The King's Bench Prison.^ 55. Probably the White Lyon Prison (Golden Lyon Court and Angel Alley, in Stow's Map, 1720). 56. St. George's Church. 57. The Well. 58. The Bull Ring. 59. The Sink. 60. Bostock House,'' &c. 61. Kent Street. 62. Jan Jonck House (Yngellis : probably Jan Jonck was naturalized or Anglicized?). 63. Long Lane. 64-64. Dycks (Dikes). 65. Sir Thomas Pope. 66. St. Mary Magdalen Church, Bermondsey, 67. Here endeth the King's liberty. 68. Mr. Goodyere's House, 69. A Bridge. 70. Park Gate {i.e., of Suffolk Park). 71, 74, 77. The Liberty of the Manor {i.e.,Q>i Brandon's or Suffolk Manor). 72. The Park (Brandon's). 73. The Manor Place (Brandon's Palace). 75. The Clement. 76. The Goat. 78. The Salutacion. 79. Deadman's Place. 80. The Park Gate. ^ Rychard Frogat or Frogatt, Churchwarden, St. Saviour's, 1548-9. ' Endyt : Danish form of the word. For instance, Mile End, and the like. ' The words Lirtate Barmese mean, I thinl<, that this was the prison of Lirtate (Liberty) — a scribe's mistake —and Barmese (of Bermondsey). ° A liberty is named, but I cannot decipher the word. Mr. Selby thinks the map has been at this part cut. East of " Bostock House " was known as the Great Liberty Manor, " the King's " possibly, when he seized it. SOUTHWARK FROM NORDEN'S MAP, i593- norden's map of southwark Along the City marg-in of the Thames are the following, named and placed as Leicester howsc The temple White friei s Bryde we I Black friei s Baynardes castle Paules wharfe Qiiene hythe Three cranes I have been favoured by Mr. Fumivall with a cast of this SoUTHVifARK Part of Norden's Map, 1593. Although much of it lies outside my imme- diate subjects, it is an important addition to the book. Vanden Keere, whose name is on the map, engraved it after a drawing by John Norden, the ablest surveyor of his day. It is, says Mr. Halliwell, extremely curious and valuable, and gives a fair idea of the locality about the time Shakespeare was at the Globe. Passing along the map from west to east is Lambeth marsh, and next an irregular square plot of ground, — the old Paris Garden Manor, approximately the parish of Christcliurch, so constituted by Act of Parliament in 1671. The lane bounding this, east, leads to Paris Garden Lane and Stairs, and about 1,380 feet south from near Bridewell, close to the lane, was the Old Play-house, the Paris Garden Theatre, probably the Swan. Near to this Theatre many actors and others of the Shakespeare time lived ; among the rest, Henslowe, AUeyn, Cooke, Kemp, Lowin, and Sly. Close to the river margin, marked Banckes syde, was the Falcon Inn, Stairs, and Ferry ; and near Bankside, easterly, the Stews-bank, about which were houses held by loose persons under a sort of jurisdiction of the Lord of the Manor — the Bishop of Winchester. East of the lane commences the Clink, or Bishop's Liberty, comprising also Winchester Park and grounds, and extending to Winchester House, — all this was once part of the parish of St. Margaret's, Southwark. In this liberty were the Theatres which are interwoven with our literary history, notably of the times of Elizabeth, James, and Charles ; to which we might go, as in a dream, in reality all the same, and see Shakespeare, Burbage, and all their satellites, — Henslowe, Alleyn, and all their satellites, — Ben Jonson, Inigo Jones, Spenser, Beaumont and Fletcher, Marlowe, and many anolher only a little less renowned ; and coming and going the Kings and Queens of the lime, — the Ambassadors, one of them personally conducted by Sir Walter Raleigh, to see the sights on the Bankside. AND A COMMENT UPON IT. ^ Norden's complete map; that is, exactly opposite the corresponding- places south. The ^"stUliarde S Kalherynes The Bear Garden, otherwise the Hope, was situate due south about i,ooo feci, in a direct line from Stew Lane Stairs, Queen Hithe west. — The Rose, Norden's "play howse," just built, due south about 940 feet from Queen Hithe east. — The Globe, not built until 1599, i.e., after the map, due south about 1,200 feet from the north-west corner of the site of Southwark Bridge. The measurements, which are, of course, approximations, are all taken from the river-line City side. Further east is the stream, immediately west of Winchester grounds, leading up to the river and to the Clink prison ; on this was the cucking stool, which the Bishop employed for the punishment of scolds and others. Next was Winchester House, Grounds, and Gardens (20). On this same spot were Rochester House, Waverley House, which, with Winchester House, were all residences of eccle- siastics of these names. Close to the river and to London Bridge are Montague Close, spoils of the Priory of St. Mary Overy, which fell to the Brownes or Montagues, — St. Mary Overy, now St. Saviour's, the scene of many a noted sermon and cruel judgment. The word Southwarke marks Long Southwark in the High Street, in which is seen the Pillory. East of the Bridge is S. Towleyes, St. Olave's Church. The Abbot of St. Augustine's, and the Abbot of Battle at Battlebridge, have their inns by the river, with the Bridge House, Brew-house, or Brust-house, between them and the Abbot's gardens, the Maze opposite. The Abbot of Lewes has his inn south, opposite the church ; near to which were the Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth and the buiying-ground appropriated for the use of Flemish refugees, and near at hand a sort of liberty called Little Burgundy. Bermondsey Street (22) is the way to the Abbey, to which many a- pilgrim went to be cured of disease, or female pilgrim to be cured of celibacy by the aid of St. Saviour at the Abbey, as the Paston Letters lell us. HEADINGS OF CONTENTS. Early Appearance of Southwark. Dikes and Ditches SOUTHWARK BEFORE THE MayOR .... The Lords of early Southwark .... London Bridge, Long Southwark, and St. Margaret's Hill The Inns of Southwark ..... St. George's Church ...... The Prisons of Southwark ..... St. Margaret's Church, St. Margaret's Hill St. Thomas's Hospital ..... Explanation of Tiler's Plan of the Church of St. Saviour The Church of St. Mary Overy, afterwards St. Saviour's The Neighbourhood and Associations of St. Saviour's (Winchester House, &c.) Deadman's Place .... Montague Close .... St. Olave's Church .... Smit's Alley and Walnut Tree Alley Grammar Schools, St. Olave's and St. Saviour's The Flemish Burial-ground . Goodchepe's Key Berghene, i.e., Petty Burgundy The Inn and Gardens of the Abbot and Batxlebridge Barmese Cross Bermondsey Street The Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Sir Thomas Pope and Bermondsey Kent Street . OF Battle, the Maze, Bermondsey 1 3 5 12 33 68 91 no 159 196 224 227 238 244 2SI 262 267 271 272 277 278 282 292 30s OLD SOUTHWARK. EARLY APPEARANCE OF SOUTHWARK.— DIKES AND DITCHES. We who see Southwark in 1878 with its widely spread acreage of dwellings, shops, and warehouses, with its population of I40,0(X) people, can scarcely realize its early condition, when it was a forest of trees, " so dark in Paris Garden that the eyes of a lynx or a cat were needed to find a man,"^ — when the broom men of Kent Street gathered their broom near at hand, in Sayes Court Wood, — when dwellings were almost confined to the neighbour- hood of the bridge and to the main central thoroughfare,^ and when Royal visitors at Suffolk House hunted in the park between St. George's Fields and the river. Then the ground was inter- sected with open streams and ditches crossed by smaller or larger bridges, of which there were many scores in Southwark. Gerard in his 'Herball,' 1S97, tells of "the hedgehog grasse growing in watery ditches by Paris Garden Bridge and in St. George's Fields; of the frogbit found floating in almost every pool ; of the crowfoot found in lakes and slowly running or stand- ing waters, mostly in St. George's Fields ; of the bitter-sweet in the ditch by the house of the Earl of Sussex in Bermondsey, in ' Cal. Dom. 1578. " This condition of things continued down to nearly my own time. In 1818 a house was built for my father in the midst of a field within eight minutes' walk of London Bridge. E 2 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. a court which is full of trees by the farm-house in the Grange." The whole place was mostly a swamp or a marsh, kept above water by extreme care of the river banks, which, uncared for, would have led, as it did more than once, to the temporary drowning of the lands of Southwark and Bermondsey. Diseases consequent upon a moist and foetid atmosphere were common and deadly. Diseases such as dysenteries, agues, plague fevers, and sweating sickness, abounded — now with the causes gone or almost unknown here in England. The word " dyck " appears in the map twice (64, 64) ; the words would have been all over it had it been the purpose of the clerk to represent every feature of the district. In my own collection, and in that of Guildhall, are certain parch- ments, "Sewars Presentments" of 1620 and 1640. They give with tolerable exactness the condition of the sewars ; in other words, the ditches of the time, now represented by channels carefully covered over, but which I have seen, within the last thirty or forty years, as open ditches, running between or behind the houses. The bridges in the map (32, 81) crossed such streams, and, as I have said, there were scores of them. 15 18. The Court of Sewars levy 4d. per acre within one level ; the Queen, the Duke of Suffolk, and others liable are noted by name.^ 1620. A Jury meet at St. Margaret's Hall in Southwark, and " super sacra- mentum," and on their oathes say, e.g., that Copley and his tenants in the Maze should amend two poles and a half of the bancke of the Sewar there,— the Sewar from Fostall Place,^ west side of Stonie street, is to be cast and clensed,"'— the Sewar by Rochester house " is plagued with a filthy house of ofRce." Another Session of Sewars, held in the same place in 1640, pre- sents — obstructions to the sewar in Deadman's place; hogs, a very frequent presentment, are kept within forty feet of the stream ; every one along St. George's fields. Leg of Mutton fields, Prince's meadow, &c., is to cleanse his part of the stream,— in the " 'Letters and Papers,' Henry VIII. (Brewer), Vol. II., p. 2. * Sir John Fastolf, the Shaksperean Falstaffe (1st Part, Henry VI.), had his palace in Stoney Lane. ' Note, now and always, "" are omitted where the old spelling, or a quotation, is sufficiently obvious without them— i-. ^., sewar for sewer ; maner or mannor for manor ; dike for dyke, &c. SOUTHWARK BEFORE THE MAYOR. 3 Maze a house of office over the sewar must be removed, — in Crucifix lane, Horslydown lane, hogs are kept ; so that, to use a phrase of the time, the Sewar is annoyed, — Gallie wall against Lowsie mead needs repair ; in 1 599, there was a lowsie meade's stile in the Grange. A cross ditch belonging to the* cordwayners and a black ditch in St. Olave's are noted. The expences or rates levied are \2d. per acre in the levels of Duffield sluice, a Bermondsey sewar; 2.?. per acre for whiting ground; lorf. upon every tenant in the level,— "whoso refuses shall within fourteen days forfeit as much more in nomine poenae." Any one may form a fair notion of the course of these ancient ditches and water- ways by studying a modern map of sewars ; these streams vary so little from age to age. It will be observed in these sewar presentments that the contents of the " Houses of office," Trade refuse, "Lay stalls," "Sea cole ashes and dust," and, in short, any and every thing found its way into the ready watercourse, which was then the only drain for a swampy district. The banks of the sewars when artificially made up, or in any way used, are known as wharfs, e.g., "Tenements on wharf of sewar, Tenter Alley in the Maze"; "the company of Cordwayners are to wharfe with piles, and boarde the banks of the cross ditch in Mayde Lane"; "the wharf of Duffield Sluce in Bermondsey." St. Margaret's Hall, in which the sewar dignitaries met, was no doubt the same as the Court-house of the map (22), which had probably been part of the suppressed church of St. Margaret, and was the precursor of the modern Town Hall. SOUTHWARK BEFORE THE MAYOR. Thrice in the map is repeated (28, 35, 67), with slight variations, "Here endeth the Mayor and here beginneth the King," showing the boundaries of jurisdiction at the time. At the time, I say, because from frequent forfeitures and grants the boundaries were continu- ally shifting. Whenever any disputes or difficulties arose in Southwark the King was always found to be lord paramount; certain grants were however continually made, of rights only just short of the King's latent and original right, to those whom for the time the King delighted to honour. The liberty of the Mayor is seen to be bordering the Thames and about London Bridge; the King's B 2 4 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. liberty nearly all the remainder ; for just now the dissolution of the monasteries had thrown the lands of the Priory of St. Mary Overy and of Bermondsey Abbey into the King's hands, the latter in 1536. The liberty of the Maner (map 71, 74, 77) had belonged to Brandon, who married the King's sister ; in 1535 this also became the King's. Private acts were passed for the purpose, and the lands were afterwards granted away again. Winchester House (map 14), and the Bishop of Winchester's liberty, always known as the Clink, were not interfered with. The Clink is not seen here. In a claim made by the Mayor and citizens of London in 1566 it is recited " that John Stretford, Archbishop of Canterbury, was seized in fee of the Borough, Lordship, and Maner of Southwark, by letters patent, i S April, 3 Edward IV. ; and was entitled to all fines and forfeitures, &c., arising within the same and the liber- ties thereof ; that one Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canter- bury, afterwards, in the time of the late King Henry VIII., surrendered the said Borough, Lordship, &c. (by Deed enrolled), into the hands of his said late Majesty, King Henry VIII., by virtue of which surrender the said King became seized in fee," &c.' It will be interesting to know a little more of the state of SOUTH- WARK BEFORE THE MAYOR, and how he came over the river to have rule south of it. There is much evidence of a most interesting kind, from Roman remains found in Southwark, of extensive Roman occupation and burial, and of an important settlement here. Remains have also been found, which, by remote inference, might be supposed to point to lake dwellings ages before the Roman occupation. These do not now concern us ; but Saxon and Norman Southwark may well demand a few words, which will be a fitting introduction to those which come after. Thanks, chiefly to Mr. Corner," this design is easily carried out. After the first William had conquered England, he caused a record of his gains to be made, i. e., in what is called the Domesday Book, a marvel of brevity and comprehensiveness. In this survey Southwark is thus noted: — "The Bishop (of Baieux) has in " 'Hilarii Prcecepta,' 9 Eliz., Rotulo 1. ; Ut: Halliwell-Phillipps's papere. ' Our late most excellent antiquaiian, in ' Archa?ologia, ' Vols. XXIII., XXV., and XXXVIII, THE LORDS OF EARLY SOIJTHWARK. J Southwark one monastery and one harbour. King Edward held it on the day he died. Whoever had the church held it of » the King. From the profits of the harbour, where ships were moored, the King had two parts. Earl Godwin the third. The men of Sudwerc testify that in the time of King Edward no one received toll of the strand on the bank of the river except the King ; and if any committed forfeiture, and was then sued, his fine went to the King." Before riverside Southwark and chiefly St. Olave's became the liberty of the Mayor, it was the vill or burgh of Southwark. Here grew up the south outwork of the city, and hence our name of Suthweorce, which some modern folk affect to call Siitherk. Those who would like to know in how many different ways the name may be spelled, may see, in Ralph Lind- say's little book, 'Etymology of Southwark,' two or three score specimens, from Sudurvirke to Sawthwarke and Southwark. As time goes on, we have to note many liberties and manors — the manor of the Maze ; the liberty of my Lord of Barmsey, i. e., of the Prior or Abbot of Bermondsey ; of the Archbishop of Canter- bury; and Brandon's palace and park, which was the Suffolk Manor. The extent and the names of them changed with the owners, who, with the times, the people, and their forms of religion, were often changing. Keeping this fact in mind, we shall not be so dis- tracted, as we should otherwise be, by difficulties of identification. Earl Godwin of the Doomsday Book, the most powerful of English nobles at the time, was the local lord of Southwark, and had his mansion here — a sort of king-maker in his way. The king so made, the Confessor, rewarded the strong man by marrying his daughter. THE LORDS OF EARLY SOUTHWARK. Probably the connexion of the Godwins with Southwark, they being the great enemies of the Conqueror, may account for the special resistance he met with here, and for the fact that he cap- tured and destroyed it by fire in 1066. After this, Odo, the half- brother of the Conqueror, was the lord, as the Doomsday Book shows, and after him William de Warren. In Odo's rebellion, 5 The Confessor. 6 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Warren stood by the Conqueror, and was in consequence created Earl of Surrey, and became lord of Southwark, and had his great town house here, probably Godwin's house before he had it. The Warrens appear continually in this earlier time, sometimes in connexion with considerable benefactions to the church, — to St, Olave's, to St. Mary Overy, and to Bermondsey. This early lord of Southwark, William de Warren, one of the loyal young vassels of the Conqueror, was rewarded with some three hundred manors, as his share of the spoil after the invasion — evidently a favourite, in that he became the husband of Gundred, the daughter, or step-daughter, or daughter of the wife of the Conqueror." In his charter to the Priory of Lewes she is named "matris uxoris mese."^ Gundred was Countess of Warren ; her husband was created Earl of Surrey after her death ; and the wife of her son, Isabella de Vermandois, was Countess of Warren and Surrey. Taking all this together, it is no stretch of imagination to fancy we see the Conqueror visiting his daughter Gundred at the house of the lord of Southwark in Tooley Street. In fact, Southwark was a very aristo- cratic neighbourhood ; abbots and princes, lords and knights, had their great houses here for many a century after this time. The Warrens were great patrons of the Cluniacs ; one of the family gave material help, in 1098, to their, monastery at Bermondsey. In the charter to Lewes, William de Warren relates how he set out with his wife, Gundred, to Kome, and were so hospitably enter- tained at the Abbey of Clugni, in France, that they introduced this ascetic and then reforming class of monks into England, first at Lewes ; a great priory of the same Order being soon after estab- lished at Bermondsey. The Abbot of Lewes had his house in Southwark, close to the site of Earl Warren's, as we upon good evidence believe. Although a good benefactor of the church, this lord was not in the favour of all monks. In the register of Ely it is recorded that Earl William violently withheld certain lands ; that, admonished, he still held them ; that in consequence he not only died miserably, but that the Abbot actually heard the devil " For much of this I am indebted to 'The Conqueror and His Companions,' by J. R. Planche. ' So Planche says ; Freeman accepts the idea ; and the charter is above suspicion. BEGINNINGS OF THE CITY JURISDICTION. / carrying away his soul, and the unfortunate man's cry, " Lord, have mercy upon me ! " By way of corroboration, the Earl's wife sent (saying he was dead at the very time) a hundred shillings to the monastery, which were refused upon the reasonable plea that money could not be taken from a damned soul. This is however only a monkish legend, one simple objection to its truth being that the wife had been already three years dead before the hundred shillings were sent to the angry monks. When Southwark was vested in the Earls of Warren and Surrey,'' the Earl's bailiff and the King'sJiad a common box for the toll collected. The King's bailiff had the box and the Earl's bailiff the keys. At each division of the toll, even in Earl Godwin's time, the King had two- thirds and the Earl one-third. The very limited jurisdiction of the Mayors was in after-time known as the Gildable Manor,' but in 1281 it belonged to E^rl Warren, whose town house was here. In a deed of the period the Earl releases Nicholas, Abbot of St. Augustine in Canterbury, from suit to his court in Southwark for a messuage and houses situate upon the Thames bank between the Bridge House and the church of St. Olave's,* and it so remained, — the town of Southwark being vested in the De Warrens until the death of John Plantagenet, in 1347. In 1325, or 1327, commenced a quasi jurisdiction of the citizens of London in Southwark. They petitioned the King, stating that certain persons who in the City committed manslaughters, robberies, and divers other felonies, privily departed into the village of Southwark, and were openly received there, and so could not be apprehended and brought to justice. The citizens besought the King, for the more effectual bridling the naughtiness of the said malefactors, to grant them the said village for ever at a rent to be paid into the exchequer. The petition was ' Temp. Edward I., in quo warranto, the knights summoned say upon their oaths that the Earl and his ancestors had these Uberties. ' The Gildable Manor, says Comer, comprised the ancient town of Southwark, extending from the dock, west of St. Mary Overies, to what is now Hay's Wharf and nearly to St. Margaret's Hill, but except at the west the map gives the boundaries with more precision ; still, as Corner probably did not see this map, he is singularly correct. * Stow Thoms's ed., p. 155. 8 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. granted.' In many ways this grant proved ineffectual ; the juris- diction so given was but partial. The early grant did not prevent the Earl, the lord of the Gildable Liberty, that is, of old South- wark, from appointing his own bailiff in his own liberty. Opposite the church of St. Olave's there was a gate-house and a cage, one of them probably the prison of this limited Southwark ; with this the City had nothing to do. In 1397 the Earl of Arundel, who was now lord of Southwark, was attainted ; the bailiff who had been appointed by the Earl was now appointed by the King. All this proves the exceedingly limited power of the City in South- wark. The people of Southwark evidently had no affection for the City ; they are charged with openly receiving its enemies. Further the land south of the river was densely wooded; was swampy and full of ditches; St. George's Fields were handy; there was a ready passage across the river — the silent highway — at all times ; the houses were few, and on the outskirts widely distributed ; in fact, the escape of malefactors was easy, and their concealment after also easy ; moreover the Southwark people were quite willing to let them escape, perhaps to aid them. The jurisdiction granted thus early is shown in that part of the map called the liberty of the Mayor, and even to that extent it was not complete. It could not be therefore effectual for its purpose. In 1377 the citizens endeavoured to strengthen their hold of Southwark. They besought the King to confirm their liberties, and to give them power to punish misdemeanours there, and that the King's marshal should not intermeddle with the part which was Guild- able. This was refused : " the King could not do it without wrong to others." Whether the Marshalsey Prison was as yet in South- wark I cannot tell ; but all the same the jurisdiction of the King by his marshal was paramount within some twelve miles of the King's palace, and there were no doubt private interests ; there always were. Further, as the Southwark people objected, they no doubt used all their influence against the citizens. In the second year of Edward IV., 1462, the citizens were more successful. They had now discovered divers doubts, opinions, ambiguities, controversies, and dissensions, for want of clear declaration and expression in '' A copy of the charter is in Norlhouck's 'London.' THE CITV and SOUTHWARK. 9 the charter of Edward III. A new charter was now granted ; the City was empowered to take the goods and chattels of fugitives outlawed, goods disclaimed and found in the town, " as fully and as wholly as if the town were in our hands." They had the assize of bread, wine, beer, and ale, and all other victuals saleable in the town; and they had power to punish and correct malfeasing dealers ; they had the issue of writs, and might take thieves and place them for safe keeping in their own gaol of Newgate. A fair, Our Lady Fair of Southwark, was granted in 1462, and the city dignitaries opened it with much ceremony in the September of each year. The Mayor, commonalty, and citizens now had, or thought they had, "in the town aforesaid, all liberties, rights, and privileges which the King would have had if the said town had remained in his hands, paying only to him 10/. for the ancient farm rent of the same, and without disturbance by the King or his heirs or officers, saving, however, the rights, liberties, and franchises belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury and of other persons there."" This was in 1462. The rights of the Archbishop had about the time of our map passed away ; Cranmer had sold them to the King. We read therefore instead of the Archbishop, " here beginneth the King." That is to say, some manors, or parts of manors (the result of purchase, as in the case of the Archbishop ; of exchange, as with Brandon ; of forfeiture, as in the case of the religious houses), nearly all of Southwark had come into the hands of the King. The citizens were not asleep. The Bishop's Manor and the Great Liberty Manor belonged to the King. The citizens petitioned for a grant of them, but without success. The map reveals the status in quo just after the dissolution, the Mayor in his corner by the river, and with no further hold on Southwark as yet. But in ISSO, 4 Edward VL, the citizens were more successful. I use Mr. Corner's words.' The King in con_ ^ Comer, 'Statement,' 1836. ' 'Statement of the Inhabitants,' 1836, p. 8. See copy of this charter in Maitland's ' London, ' Vol. I., p. 242, ed. 1775, which recites names of places, inns, &c., very interesting to the local student, as, for instance, Moulter's Close, Broad Gates, the Antelope, the Swan, Mennaid, Helmet, Horsehead, the Gleyne, the Rose, the Cock, Lamb, Ball, Flower de Luce, Tipping in the Hole, White Hart, lO OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. sideration of 647/. 2s. id. granted to the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of the City of London a messuagfe next the King's mansion, late belonging to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in Southwark, and much other land and houses which the King (Henry VIII.) had purchased of the Duke ; Southwark Place, the Maner Place, over against St. George's Church, — the King's park in Southwark excepted, — with other exceptions chiefly relating to prisons and individual rights. Further this King granted to the Corporation , the Borough, Lordship, and Manor of Southwark, together with all fines, issues, forfeitures, felons' goods, &c., arising and to arise within the same, the liberties and precincts thereof, to hold and enjoy the same in as full and ample a manner as the said King Edward VI., King Henry VIII., or any Archbishop, Bishop, Abbot, &c., ever held or enjoyed the same, &c. In the ninth year of Elizabeth a formal claim had been made, and the Attorney-General, party on behalf of Crown, " doth not deny or say anything in bar of the said claim, but confesseth the same," and the judgment of the Court followed for the City.* Directly after the grant of Edward VI., the citizens proceeded to act upon it by appointing the surgeon. Sir John Ayliffe, as Alderman within the " Burroughe of Suthwerke," which is noted the week after as the " Brydge Warde Without, albeyt that thytherto there had not been any suche warde or alderman within the citie." The citizens now feel charged with "the rule, survey, and governance, not only of the inhabitants within the towne and burroughe of Suthwerke, but of people repairing thither, and of all liberties, francheses, and pryveleges granted by the King." " Notwithstanding the grants and charters look at first sight strong enough, there appear on closer inspec- tion too many exceptions, to make the governance of the city secure or agreeable, especially over a people more inclined to be adverse than otherwise, and in the face of the supreme govern- ments so constantly varying in affection for the City. Blue Mead, an extensive plot known as St. George's Dunghill, and divers parcels in the field called St, George's Field. Many of these names will turn up from time to time. ' 'Hilarii Praecepta,' 9 Eliz. ; from Mr. H.-iUiwell-Phillipps's notes. " 'Records of Common Council,' cited by Corner, p. 9. DECLINE OF THE CITY JURISDICTION. II I shall go no further this way than to cite some points of an important judgment — 1663 or 1664 — which qualify' very much the power of the City over Soutliwark.' The point was, whether the City had power by virtue of charter to hold separate sessions of the peace in Southwark independently of the justices of the county of Surrey. The judgment was against the City ; and in like disputes since that time, notedly that in connexion with the Dog and Duck in 1787 — the King against Sainsbury,^ the principle of the adverse judgment has been confirmed ; as a consequence, — the hold of the City has little by little become relaxed, and its power over the Borough of Southwark is, as nearly as possible, at this moment a nullity. The judgment recites the terms of the charter of Edward VI., the power of the City to choose two coroners, the Mayor to be clerk of the market in the Burgh ; that any Mayor, or Alderman who had been Mayor, and the Recorder, shall be Justices, to do and execute justice in the county of Surrey, that is, in Southwark, "in accordance with the laws and statutes of the kingdom of England." The question raised was, "Are the inhabitants of Southwark subject to the Lord Mayor, &c., or to the Surrey Justices, or to both ? " The answer given was that " the City had no government other than a Warden of a Company or Alderman of a Ward had, and not as Justices of the Peace." " Soe it is very unlikely that the ancient Borough, having Burgesses chosen in Surrey by indenture to the Sheriff of Surrey to y° parliament, should be reputed to be suburbs to, and a subject member of, the City, being as ancient as London itself." They further say, "as the City had grant of fines, it would be repugnant to reason for them to be judges and set fines in their own case." The very decided judgment is further elaborated, but I need not to go on with it, notwithstanding, v/ere there space, the whole of it is well worth reprinting. ' "The case concerning the Borough ot Southwark between the Citty of London and County of Surrey," coming out of Orders of Council, 1662 and 1663, and referred for decision to the two Lord Chief Justices and the Lord Chief Baron, or any two of them, November 18, 1663. Harleian MSS., 6166, p. 292. ' ' Morgan and Concanen, 'St. Saviour's, 1 795) p. 27, et seq. 12 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. LONDON BRIDGE, LONG SOUTHWARK, AND ST. MARGARET'S HILL. A small part only of London Bridge is shown in our plan, in- tended no doubt roughly to represent that part of the bridge which was in Southwark. So late as i73S,^ a list is given of some thirty- three of the inhabitants of houses on London Bridge belonging to the parish of St. Olave Southwark, and the amount of poor-rate due from each, assessed by Cornelius Herbert and James Brooke, ancient inhabitants. It is noted that the whole of the bridge, in- cluding the houses on each side of the bridge foot on the South- wark side, as far as Tooley Street on the east and Pepper Alley on the west of the High Street, was part of Bridge Ward, wMin the City of London. The fact of part of undoubted Southwark being included in the Bridge Ward Within, adds another proof as to the confused relations of the City and Southwark, and the shift- ing authority of one over the other. Notwithstanding the words on the plan, " Here endeth the Mayor," showing the City jurisdic- tion over all the immediate approaches south of the bridge, it will be seen in another part of this work that the King had been sole lord, and was more or less always paramount. " Bridge Ward Within,^ is so called of London Bridge, which bridge is a principle part of that ward, and beginneth at the stulps on the south end by Southwark. All the bridge is replenished on both sides with large, fair, beautiful buildings, inhabited for the most part by rich merchants and other wealthy citizens, chiefly Mercers and Haber- dashers." It is noted under the head of St. Thomas's Hospital that Edward Osborne was apprentice to the Lord Mayor, Sir William Hewet, on London Bridge ; and that he leaped from a window into the Thames and rescued his master's child, who became by-and-by his wife. Thomson ^ tells of many shop bills and tokens of traders living on the bridge ; one, of the sign of the Breeches and Glove, facing Tooley Street, announcing that " all sorts of leather breeches, leather gloves, &c., were sold there at reasonable rates, wholesale and retail." Another, a tobacco paper with a coarse picture of a ' O. R. Corner, Notes and Quci-ics, 1859, 1st series, vol. viii. p. 142, ■" Stow, ' Survey,' ed. 1720. '' 'London Bridge,' ed. 1827, p. 379. SHOPS UrON LONDON BRIDGE. 1 3 negro smoking, and others packing tobacco ; and beneath, " John Winkley, Tobacconist, near y° Bridge, In the Burrough, South- wark." Of copper tokens" one is shown with a bear, " Abraham Browne, at Bridg foot, Southwark, His Halfpeny." Others, " at y° Lyon on London Bridge " ; "at the Sugar loaf on London Bridge," &c. Numerous books are published from the bridge. Some by Coclcer the arithmetician, of St. George's, "at the Looking Glass " ; " The Life and Sudden Death of old John Overs,"' printed for T. Harris, at the Looking Glass, on London Bridge. The Three Bibles, the Angel, y° Anchor and Crown near the square on London Bridge, and many more, are mentioned. Many views show houses on the bridge down to their demolition in 1758. One penny token has " London Bridge, the first of stone compleated 1209. The houses on the Bridge taken down and the bridge re- paired 1758"; on the edge, "I promise to pay on demand the bearer one penny." It is noted, 1757, that the workmen found, on pulling down the houses, three pots of silver and gold money of the time of Queen Elizabeth. In 1697 an Act was passed for widening the street at the south end of the bridge, the corporation having already nearly rebuilt the houses and widened it ; it had, in fact, been widened from 12 to 20 feet. Can we now realize the idea of widening London Bridge from 12 to 20 feet ? The cross of St. Paul's had been cast in Southwark, but, from the narrowness of the way above, and the small height of the arches below, it had to be" conveyed another way.* With a width of forty feet spoken of, it seems hard to understand the joust, or passage of arms, in 1 390, between Sir David Lindsay and Lord Wells on the bridge, in which the English champion was worsted and nearly killed. The extent of Southwark on the bridge itself is shown by the dotted boundary line north of St. Olave's, in Stow's map of the parish. The drawbridge, which was our extreme north boundary, ^ 'London Bridge,' ed. 1827, p. 355. ' The mythical ferryman of St. Mary Overy. * Thomson's ' London Bridge ' is here generally cited, and is an almost inex- haustible work on the subject. Admirable, nay, perfect as it is, the balance sheet which is bound up with the author's own copy, in my possession, is a warning to local antiquarian writers. It shows so sad a deficit that I could not disregard the absolute need of publishing my more humble work by subscription, 14 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. was, as its name implied, movable for the passage of vessels ;• that is to say, it had been so to the end of the seventeenth century, then it got out of repair.' It was the seventh of the twenty arches of the bridge, from the Southwark end. One lock, the third, was called the Rock Lock. The so-called rock was visible at low water, and made the passage dangerous ; it was probably a por- tion of the bridge which fell in 1437, and, not removed, became encrusted and like a rock. The usual passages under the old bridge were anything but safe, hence a proverb that London Bridge was made for wise men to go over and fools to go under. A foreigner, in 1663, narrates how the passengers had to leave their boat, cross to the other side, and re-embark. The struggling people in the water, and boats overset, which appear in Norden's map of the bridge in 1624, and the burials of drowned people at St. Olave's, tell the tale. In my own recollection, we who had to pass the bridge in a ship's boat disembarked, and an experienced waterman, " shooter of the bridge," took the boat through and received us again. And in quire another sense over the bridge was better. A good lesson might have come out of the well-known fact that the plague mostly spared the bridge people, could they have only read in this the saving value of fresh air and plenty of it. It was unfortunately the custom then more than now to attri- bute such calamities to God's wrath rather than to the neglect of His obvious laws ; and the religious teachers of the time fostered the pernicious notion. Still nearer to Southwark was the Bridge Gate, the scene of many a bloody conflict ; it was often garnished above with the heads of offenders; ten, twenty at a time. Here, in 1263, Simon de Montfort met the King, Henry III., and, after a conflict, gained the City, notwithstanding the gates had been locked by a king's friend, and the keys thrown into the Thames. In 147 1, the Kentish mariners under the bastard Fauconbridge, burned the gates and some fourteen houses on the bridge.' The care of the gates was entrusted to the Brethren of St. Catherine, near the Tower, and the trust was made known by the King, Henry III., in 1265, to the Brethren and Chaplains ministering in the chapel pf St. Thomas, " Strype's Stow, b. i., p. 58. ' Stow, 1720, vol. I, p. 22. THE BRIDGE GATE (TRAITORS' GATE) SOUTHWARK. 1 5 upon London Bridge, and to the other inhabitants there. This chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas h Becket of Canterbury, and called St. Thomas of the Bridge, was situate in the tenth pier, and consisted of a crypt, or lower chapel, and an upper chapel. It is beyond my scope to note this further, but four very clear pictures of this handsome little Gothic building may be seen in Thomson.' The Bridge Gate, says Stow, is called of London Bridge, where it standeth. This, he says, was one of the four first and principal gates of the city, and was long before the Conquest, when stood there a bridge of timber. It is the seventh gate mentioned by Fitzstephen. It was a weak structure, and often repaired. Divers citizens had, from time to time, given large sums of money for these repairs, as for instance, Robert Large, once mayor, lOO marks ; Stephen Forster, 20/. ; Sir John Crosby, 100/. In 1437, this gate with the tower upon it fell suddenly into the river, with two of the arches. Stow remarks that "no man perished in body, which was a great worke of God." Out of this ruin came the obstruction which gave the name to the Rock Lock. It had been of old the custom to place the heads of traitors, or of persons convicted of that which from time to time was called treason, in public places, and notably over gates. Until 1577 the north Bridge Gate was chiefly so used, but that gate becoming ruinous, the heads were taken down and set up on the gate at the Southwark end of the bridge, which was henceforth known as the Traitors' Gate. The north gate was not at any time exclusively so used. In 1416 an ordinance is put forth that the head of a traitor is to be set upon London Bridge, at the place called the Draw brugge ; * and Harrison says, 1576,'' " the tower, or the drawbridge, upon London Bridge is in April taken down, being in great decay ; and soon after made a pleasant dwelling house ; and whereas the heads of such as were executed for treason were wont to be placed upon this tower, they were now removed and fixed over the gate which leadeth from Southwark into the City." Hentzner in 1598 counted above thirty heads upon the bridge. In the rare or unique " ' Chronicles of London Bridge, ' pp. 84-87. ' Riley, ' Memorials of London, ' p. 640. ■* New Shakspere Society, 2nd part, p. Ivi. l6 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. copy of Norden's map, 1600, and in Vischer's, 1616, heads are displayed over the Southwark Gate. Some of the sufferers may be noticed— James, Earl of Desmond, a principal leader of the Irish Rebellion, temp. Elizabeth, was taken, secretly wandering in Ireland; his head was cut off and sent to London, and put on London Bridge as that of an arch rebel.' The Desmond family is supposed to have had a house in Southwark, and to have given the name to Deadman's, otherwise Desmond, Place.* The Romanists supplied a sad list for the Traitors' Gate ; among others John Nelson, in 1578, for den)ing the Queen's supremacy, and Father Garnet, the principal of the English Jesuits, in 1606, for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. In 1594 Elizabeth's ministers are informed that Irishmen, Papists, and others of Her Majesty's enemies are giving much trouble, and that they abide for the most part about Southwark.'' The last head exhibited here was that of Venner, the fifth monarchy zealot, in 1662. In mitigation of the Papist charges against Elizabeth we must not forget the dangerous provocation of the Bull of Pius V., denouncing and "dethroning" her, a copy of which was found hanging at the Bishop of London's palace gate one day in 1570,' and the continual prophecy and talk of assassination. About the time of removing the decaying fragments of the gate, several alterations were effected, and the Lord Mayor soon laid the stone of another building. In 1579 this second Southwark tower and gate were finished, chiefly with wood and ornamental work, and the width of the carriage-way was extended to forty feet, probably at certain parts only. In 1725 a fire, which began in Tooley Street and extended over the two arches of the bridge to the gate, so damaged it that it was taken down in 1728, and a new one built, with two posterns for passengers, instead of one as it had been before. This last of the Southwark gates was taken down in 1760 and the materials sold. About this time Axe and Bottle Yard gave place to King Street, and soon after — about 1 768 — its opposite = .Stow, 'Annals,' 13th December, 1583. " It could not have been from this Desmond as stated in Strype's Stow App. 2 ; the n.ime being in our map of 1542, i.e., as an older name. 'Rolls Series, Dom. 1594, ' Hallam. FIRES AND CONFLICTS ON LONDON BRIDGE. 1 7 neighbour, the Greyhound Inn Yard, was transformed into Union Street. The bridge gate materials were used in effecting the former alterations; indeed, one relic, the arms which had adorned the gate, form now the sign of the King's Arms in the narrow way of King Street. These arms, as they were first placed, may be seen in pictures of the Southwark aspect of the Bridge Gate. The three successive gates are shown in Thomson's ' London Bridge ' — the first, p. 339; the second, p. 343 ; the last, from the frontispieee of Maitland's 'London,' with the coat of arms and the sun-dial high at the top, at p. 487 ; and Thomson is so trustworthy that the curious need look no further. The old bridge was often troubled with fires ; it was of course the usual thing in the times of wooden houses, overhanging and close together. In 11 36 the part towards Southwark was so destroyed. In 12 13 a most lamentable fire destroyed much of the borough, and catching the bridge at either end, the people upon it were hemmed in and perished, altogether in this fire to the number of about 3,000. Other fires are recorded in 1632-3; in 1665, chiefly at the City end. The Southwark part of the bridge has been the especial scene of many great conflicts. Often the defeated people were pro- nounced to be traitors and rebels, and were put to death with much cruelty ; yet very often, as appears by later light, these were but conflicts of might with right, springing from well-grounded dis- content. Southwark always appeared as the sturdy, or at least half-willing, entertainer of the rebellious folk who came to the bridge gate by way of enforcing some desirable reform. In Wat Tyler's time, 1381, Southwark was becoming impatient of City rule, and this feeling had always more or less effect in the passive if not active welcome given to those who were marching upon the City or on the Government, through Southwark. The effect of the laws upon the labour class was in Wat Tyler's time most oppres- sive. Then people were forbidden to quit their parishes to seek employment, and so for the most part work, wages, master, and locality were fixed for them, not, of course, to the advantage of the worker. Now arose an indiscriminate hatred of the oppressor, and the innocent as well as the guilty suffered on reprisal. In one of the many risings the people killed lawyers and clergy as they C 1 8 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. could catch them. In another, 1341, "Jack Sharpe " promised priests' heads at ten a penny. Taking all the conditions John and his people were not so far wrong-. " Falseness and guile," said one, in half-poem, half-proverb, " have reigned too long." " True love is away, and clerks for wealth work woe." These outbreaks, notably Tyler's, were revolts of peasants and labourers. The serfs " with their litter," that is the family, were still passed on by their owners, or sold.^ This being the state of things, Tyler is in Southwark in search of redress with the commons of Kent at his back, some 100,000 men. The energetic Mayor, Walworth, pulls up the drawbridge, and closes the way over the bridge with a huge iron chain across. But the best of all fortifications, stout- hearted men, were not there to back up the Mayor ; the commons cry to the warders to let down the drawbridge that they may pass, or " we will destroy you all." One may imagine the tumult and noise at the Southwark end of the bridge. The obstructions were removed, and way was made into the City. What Tyler's folk did there is beyond my story. Before this they had not been idle in Southwark. The industrious Flemings there, interfering they said with trade and the English worker, were put rudely to the test ; the bread and cheese test was put, and those who failed to say the words after the English manner were summarily dealt with. The wild people broke open the prisons, loosed the prisoners, took the Marshal of the Marshalsea even from sanctuary, and put him to death. They broke down the stews of the Bankside, which were farmed by certain rich people, the owners, to Flemish people, and which places were countenanced and ordered by the Bishops of Winchester, in whose liberty they were. The froes of Flanders, who managed the stews, were maltreated or killed outright ; the rabble broke down the houses of the jurors and questmongers, and in short dealt in the rudest way with authority. It is known to all how Tyler was killed, and how the rising once so formidable melted away and came to nothing, except, perhaps, that no wave like this leaves the shore it has invaded exactly as before. In 1450, a different man altogether, with quite other causes of complaint, found his way with his followers to the Bridge Gate in " Green's ' Histoiy of the English People, ' p. 238, Sic. A book for every house. CONFLICTS AT LONDON BRIDGE. 19 Southwark. He had come from Blackheath with about 20,000 men to enforce the "Complaint of the Commons of Kent." This they laid before the Royal Council. It is of great value as to the light which it throws on the condition of the people. The old social discontent seems to have subsided ; the question of villeinage and serfage of 1381 finds no place in this "Complaint " of 1450.^ With the exception of a demand for the repeal of the Statute of Labourers,' the programme of the commons was not now social but political, it involved economy, freedom of election, and a change of ministers. But this story of Cade is told under ' Inns of Southwark, the White Hart,' and needs not to be further repeated here. In 1554, a nobler man and again a very different cause are before the Bridge Gate. The people were now afraid of the Spanish marriage of Queen Mary, and of the influence of the Spaniards to come after. The great revulsion, ultra-Protestant to ulti-a-Papist, sadly disturbed many. Accordingly, Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of the Sir Thomas whose name stands so well in the literature of his age, was persuaded to head the irrepressible Kentish men ; not, as the poet ^ says, to levy war against the ' Green, edit. 1877, vol. i. pp. 5S5~6- " The Statute of Labourers was an attempt to fix work and wages dead against the natural law of supply and demand. See Knight's ' Popular History of Eng- land,' vol. i. p. 471, for a clear and excellent account of this statute, and of its ultimate failure. A curious instance, illustrative even to the time of Elizabeth, I copy from MS. orders of the weekly court of the governors of St. Thomas's Hos- pital, held 2nd October, 1570 ; present, Sir William Chester and fourteen others : " At this Cowrtt yt ys agreed y' James Lynche was a suter unto the governors for his ifreedome, in cosyderacion of his longe svys [service] unto this hospitale yt -was grauntyd hym by cosentt of the hole Cowrtt y' y" governors wold be suters unto my lord mayor for hym for the same upon this codyssyon [condition] that the sayd James lynche shall sarve w' his ij apprentysses beyng of the Age of xviij yeres & upward for the fyrst yere by the Day so often as the Do work vj" a Day and for the ij yere vij'' by the Day, & for the iij yere viij'' by y" Day, and for the iiij yere x*" by the Day, and for his one pson [person] he shall have xij'' by the Day, & to be bound to sv [serve] this howsse for the same wayge for Ever." 1350, masons' wages were 5^/. a day, carpenters', ^li., plasterers', S'^-t labourers', 3d. and 3411? " Who takes more shall go to prison for 40 days " (Riley, ' Mem. Lond.,' p. 253). But we must not forget the price of provisions at the time ; 1?.^ , in 1 309 a carcase of beef was 18s., a hog, 3s. 3d, a sheep, 2s. (Henry, ' Histoiy '). ' Tennyson, 'Queen Mary.' C 2 20 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Queen's grace, but to save her from herself, and from Philip, and from Spain. The poet tells us the issue in this last line — " I '11 have my head set higher in the State ; Or— if the Lord God will it— on the stake." And stake it was, at last. Arrived at Southwark he divided his followers, some going by St. George's Church towards the bridge, some, himself at their head, by way of Bermondsey Street, Wyatt with some dash could have crossed the bridge, — and then ? — We know how near it was to a different issue ; how the struggle might have ended, and with it spared us the Marian cruelties and scandals. The hesitation before the Southwark Gate probably lost Wyatt the victory. The Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas White, had cut down the drawbridge and had thrown it into the river ; the bridge gates were shut ; ramparts and fortifications were raised around them, and ordnance was planted.^ The Queen, energetic and courageous," was at Guildhall, and Lord William Howard was on her behalf Lieutenant of the City. Wyatt had some trouble in Southwark. This appears to have inflamed his followers ; it led unfortunately to the sack of Winchester Palace, and the destruction of the Bishop's library there. Instead of daring an advance at the actual time, he appears to have looked to defence and to . have dug extensive trenches, one at the southern end of the bridge, one at St. George's, one in Bermondsey, and one towards Winchester House." Not deficient in personal courage, he was for a leader not daring enough. Breaking down the wall of a house adjoining the Bridge Gate he ascended the leads, and came down late at night, at eleven, into the porter's lodge. He found the porter asleep, his wife and others watching by the fire. He saw further on the Lord Admiral, the Lord Mayor, Sir Andrew Judd, and one or two more. After careful observation, he returned unseen and in safety. The Southwark people, knowing what preparation had been made, — how the Tower ordnance were ' Thomson. 5 She made proclamation that Wyatt and his people v.'eve rank traitore, and that all who did take his part might go to him, and should have free passage to South- wark. Grafton. ° ' Chronicle of Queen Jane,' &c, Camden Society, PHILIP OF SPAIN AND QUEEN MARY IN SOUTHWARK. 21 pointed at the churches of St. Mary Overy and St. Olave — besought him to leave them. "Sir," they said, " we are like to be utterly undone and destroyed for your sake ; for the love of God take pity on us." "So in speedy manner he marched away," telling them " that they should not be killed or hurt in his behalf."' The people had, in fact, while it was safe for them to do so, done their best to entertain Wyatt and his followers. The end came, and then trial and execution ; the prisons were filled, and many were kept in churches ; gallows were erected in the highways, at Pepper Alley Gate near the bridge, at St. George's Church, in Bermondsey Street, and elsewhere ; and, according to the custom of the time, dead bodies hanging on the gibbets were before the eyes of the people in the common thoroughfares of Southwark. Wyatt was beheaded on Tower Hill, and portions of his body put up, one at Pepper Alley, one at Newington just beyond St. George's, and one at St. Thomas-a-Watering in the Kent Road. Alarmed and broken, the offending people yet spared, sued for pardon, throwing up their hats and shouting with joy, "God save Queen Mary." Now Philip of Spain was coming to marry the Queen, so the streets were made pleasant, and the cruel sights were all cleared away by the fourth of June. Philip now come, a different scene presents itself at the draw- bridge. The whole is worth repeating from John Elder's letter in the Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary. " On Friday, August 1 7th, the King and the Queen landed at St. Mary Overie's Stairs, on the Southwark side, and every corner and way was Jined with people to see them. They passed through Winchester House, my Lord Chancellor Gardiner's, and slept that night at Suffolk Place, the "Maner Place" of the map (73). From Suffolk Place they made a noble and triumphant entry into the City, stay- ing awhile at the drawbridge to witness or submit to the infliction of the " vaine spectacle set up : two images presenting two giants, Corineus and Gogmagog, holding between them certain latin verses, too flattering to be given." ° Afar other display took place in 1588, in September, during ' Thomson. * Thomson citing Holinshed. 22 OLD SOUTIiWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Southwark Fair, when Long Southwark and St. Margaret's Hill were full of people. The great defeat of the Spanish Armada having been achieved, the standards taken were displayed over the Southwark Gate toward the fair. One may faintly imagine the tumultuous joy of the people at the great deliverance. In 1647 another scene. The Parliament sends Colonel Rains- borough to possess Southwark, which he effects after one night's march, despite works and forts. He found the bridge gates shut, the portcullis lowered, and a guard within ; but by the persuasion of two pieces of ordnance against the gate the great fort was sur- rendered, and he was master of the City. The Southwark people were willing, and even aiding. Accordingly, the two members for ■ the borough," Colonel Thompson and Master Snelling, are directed to return the thanks of the Houses for the late favourable action of the forces, soldiers, and inhabitants of the Borough of Southwark. I have tarried somewhat long at the gate, but the deeds done here are events in our national history, and they tell with much consistency the spirit of the Southwark people. Passing on to quite other matters,^ mills were here for grinding corn, at the south-western end of the bridge, — "A long shed formed of shingle or thin boards, erected on three of the sterlings, a covering, as the citizens intended, for water-wheels." Indeed, some of the arches on the Southwark side — I am only concerned with them — were so narrow that they suggested water-wheels as their only use ; three of them were each seventeen feet wide, and two only fifteen feet. With a swift stream and a fall on the eastern side, it would not be nice to " shoot " such a passage in a boat. The custom of doing so should have suggested the appointment of a coroner for the bridge. Water- works were established here, to supply South London with water. A picture of these works may be seen in Thomson. The earliest supply must have been from wells and streams, so many of which were ditches intersecting the ground in all directions, and receiving, much as the Thames did later, the contents of houses of office and innumerable sties, these forming, as I have said, a prominent feature in sewers present- ments. As to this water supply, the passage in Strype's Stow, " Rusliworth, vol. ii. p. 772, ' Tliomson. WATERWORKS AT THE BRIDGE FOOT. 23 1720, p. 27, vol. i., is interesting. — "The City revived an old act whereby they had power to have water on all sides of London, five miles about. Accordingly, on the Southwark side, for the furnishing that Borough with good water, some gentlemen took a lease of the City for waters arising that way at 550/. fine and 250/. a year. But after all their pains they were unable to find water sufficient for their purpose, and the Lord Keeper discharged them upon their inability. Southwark chiefly useth the waters of the Thames that fall into a great pond in St. Mary Overies, which drives a mill called St. Saviours Mill. The revenue is supposed to be 1,200/. a year." Not long after this the parish leased some land close to the Thames, at Bank End, to Henry Thrale, roughly about 180 feet by 54, at a rent of 22/. lOs. Upon the enormous (!) outlay of this very limited concern the Company seems to have delivered water through a six-inch pipe to parts of Southwark, and to have realized, as they said, only two per cent. But this is later on than my appointed time. Enough has now been said about the small part of London Bridge pertaining to Southwark. From the bridge gate looking south, immediately before us is the great highway called Long Southwark, which reaches as far as St. Margaret's Church, or the Court-house (map, 22); thente along St. Margaret's Hill as far as St.George's Church (map, 56). "We modern thinkers and imaginary spectators are standing by the stulps, and looking along this highway. Allowing for modern work and older rudeness in this respect, the polished granite posts now at the west front of St. Paul's would be stulps. Richard Chaucer, a vintner, probably the grandfather of Geoffrey Chaucer, buried it is be- lieved in St. Thomas's Church, Southwark, devised certain houses near these " stulps " to a City church. In the churchwardens' ac- counts of St. Margaret's (fifteenth century), some 15^. are gathered or expended at stands " against the stulpes at the church style." We read of the hard fight on the bridge, how Cade's people " drove the Londoners to the stoulpes at St. Magnus corner, and sodaynly agayn the rebels were repulsed and driven back to the stulpes in Southwarke," from pillar to post, as the proverb says. In this highway the market of the borough was held, in the churchyard of St. Margaret's also (map, 23); this was, indeed, an old custom ; moreover, the churchyard was open, and in the public 24 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PKOPLE. way. In old pictures the market is shown in this public street, notably in that of Visscher, by Hondius, 1616. I am looking at this excellent bird's-eye view of Southwark now. The bridge gate has some eighteen human heads on poles at the top, a common sight, as no one appears to be regarding them. Groups of people are standing about, chiefly at inn doors; two are seated on a bench outside one of the inns, for beer and gossip, apparently. A man on horseback is stopping for refreshment, and a jug is being held up to him ; a child with a hoop is running across the street, near to where Thomas's Street is now ; a boy is running behind a waggon which is just disappearing down Tooley Street, by the convenient corner there : a covered coach open at the sides is standing by Pepper Alley : a man with a heavily laden barrow is crossing ; a woman standing by a large basket in the middle of the highway is dealing; three large tables covered with articles for sale are standing nearly end to end along Long Southwark, at which many people are dealing, men and women : a man is stand- ing with oxen near to Pepper Alley. This is the Borough Market of 16 16. A market had been held on London Bridge, for in 1276 it is forbidden, and moreover the people of the City are not to cross into Southwark to buy cattle. In 1283 "the bridge masters make complaint that traders had with- drawn from the regular markets which paid toll to London Bridge, and had erected stalls in the king's highway and other adjoining places, and had sold their flesh and fish. Butchers and fishmongers are especially specified. The traffic in beasts appears to be consider- able, and, as in 1676 the churchyard of St. Saviour's is not protected, the vestry orders that posts shall be put up to keep bullocks and horses from going through. In churchwardens' accounts and vestry proceedings (St. Saviour's) are some items which show the state of the people and some incidents of the times : — "1598. P'* to the poor woman that was brought to bed in the meale market, to set her going out of the parish, ij'. "1605. To bury the child, x'' — and to the woman which was brought to bed under the butcher's stall, xij*. " 1621 . The coroner shall be sent for to view the bodies of " Riley, 'Liber Custumarum,' THE BOROUGH MARKET; SOUTHWARK. 25 two persons that died in the street about a week ago, and have laid in the carte, for which purpose the bodies are to be digged up again («ir)." Dues were paid for standings at the gates of St. Thomas's Hos- pital.' Butchers, one of whom paid 20' for his stand, another 10'. Tanners had stands at these gates, and sold the " calf skynnes and hydes " in the open street, paying so much per dozen to the governors. A meal market was here near Fowle Lane, which was totally destroyed in the fire of 1676. The market-place of the map (23), on the site of the churchyard of St. Margaret's, would imply that the old custom had held in this case. It was a convenience in the old time to have markets near churches, and to deal on Sundays and holidays. Travelling was not only inconvenient but dangerous ; the roads were soft and miry ; people were their own protectors ; in every way it was more convenient for the good wives to market at festivals, when many would be wending the same way, the services of the church being attended at the same time, and so they made the best of both worlds. So early as 1285, 13 Edw. I., these churchyard markets were forbidden. In 1448, 27 Hen. VI., all showing of goods and mer- chandise, except necessary victuals in fairs and markets, was to cease on the great festivals of the church, and on all Sundays ex- cept the four Sundays in harvest, — the holding fairs and markets for any purpose on Sundays was prohibited in 1677.* But now, 1877, many parts of London in the poorer districts have on this day all the appearance of fairs and markets ; so crowded that the old people of the past would wonder how it was possible their children should have so multiplied, London and its vicinity alone containing probably as many people as all England did then. But to return to our market. We see that Southwark was provided far back in the misty times of no settled date.. Henry III., a tolerably oppressive and hard-handed man, among his other troublesome ways with the City, ordered close inquiry as to the customary tolls — dues upon sale of goods or transit of cattle in Southwark. The answers given are — for instance, an ox, one 'MS., St. Thomas's Hospital, 1569, 1574. * Penny CyclopEEdia, art. 'Market.' 26 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. obolus ; a cow with calf, one denarius ; four sheep, a denarius ; if a man be let out with merchandise, one obolus ; and so on : that the customs are worth to the King, per annum, with all departures, gifts, and perquisites, lol. (Riley). More to the point. Edward III. promised the citizens that he would grant no charter for a market within seven miles of them. He granted to them Southwark, including, no doubt, any right of market which had been held before. Indeed, Edward IV., to remove "ambiguities," granted right of assize and assay of bread, wine, beer, and ale, and all other victuals and things saleable in the borough, with punishment and correction of offenders in selling the same ; and, further, right of all that pertained to the office of clerk of the market. These grants were amplified and confirmed by Edward VI. A curious custom, not quite extinct even now, was then of sufficient importance as to be noticed in the " orders : ' ' the earnest penny given on a bargain — " God's penny " when it was given to the saints or for tapers in the church' — luck penny when it was received, say, first in the morning. So Misson, about 1 700, relates this in his travels in England : — " A woman that goes to market told me t'other day that the Butcher women of London, those that sell fowls, butter, eggs, &c., and in general most trades- people, have a particular esteem for what they call a handsel; that is to say, the first money they receive in a morning; they kiss it, spit upon it, and put it in a pocket by itself." An Act of 1754 as to the market recites that Edward VI. granted to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London the market or markets within the Borough of Southwark for ever ; that an Act, 29 Charles II., enacted that the market should be kept where it had been anciently, and in no other place, namely in the High Street, from London Bridge to St. Margaret's Hill. The Act which recites these Acts, 28 Geo. II., 1754, says the way has become a great thoroughfare for the counties of Surrey, Kent, and Sussex," the market much obstructs trade and commerce, and ■' An indication at least of the proximity of the markets or dealing-places to the church, and how customs kindly to the church grew out of this fact. " The list of inns for waggons and travellers hereabout is veiy extensive. P'lWi: ' Carriers' Cosmographie, ' Taylor, 1637 ; and later (ind more pertinent to the Act, ' New Remarks of London,' 1732, .and Strype's Stow, 1720, second Appendix. soUtiiwark market, punishments. 2^ the City is desirous of giving up the said market. It is enacted that from and after the 2Sth March, 1756, no market whatever shall be held in the High Street ; and that no person shall use any stall, trussel, block, or other stand in the High Street, or expose to sale upon any such stands, peas, beans, herbs, victuals, or other commodities. Another Act, 28 Geo. II., 1754, takes note of the resignation of the City, " for the convenience and accommodation of the public," and appoints Commissioners, naming a great number, who are to acquire land and set out the market. It has now become modern, and must be left as no longer within the scope of my paper. In the olden time trial and punishment were necessarily provided in a ready way for offenders at markets, and at fairs which were at first merely periodical markets. The owner of a market was bound to have and hold a court'' close at hand for the purpose ; and, as it was for people on the move, it was called of pie powdre {pies pourdreux), dusty feet. In this court offences were tried the same day, and the parties punished in the stocks or at the whip- ping-post the minute after condemnation. The orders connected with that at St. Bartholomew's Fair are given in Maitland, Vol. ii., p. 1213. The punishment had now come to be imprisonment or fine, but it was not so formerly. Then, offenders even of apparent position often paid in person. The instruments were at hand, plenty enough. The ominous looking erection (map, 24) opposite Foul Lane was a warning ; this was the Southwark cage and pillory for ready use in case of need. Probably a whipping- post accompanied it ; if not, there was one^ in St. Saviour's church- yard, and a private one in the yard of St. Thomas's Hospital; indeed every parish had, by order, its stocks and whipping-post. The pillory appears to have been movable, such punishments being recorded as inflicted in different parts of the borough- opposite Foul Lane, opposite St. George's Church. A structure, which I believe to be nothing other than a cage and pillory, is plainly shown in the map ( 3 1 ) at the Berghenb, in Tooley Street ; an ' Pipowder Court, ' Penny Cyclopcedia. ' « December, 1598. — " Ordered that a whipping-post shall be set up before the church wall in the most convenient place," Vestiy Proceedings, 28 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. oak cag-e, as I surmise. Such things were common, and attracted the attention of the foreigner. " Visible in the streets were pillories for neck and hands, stocks for feet, chains for streets to stop them in need ; in the suburbs, oak cages for offenders and pounds for animals."" Let me note a few examples, which are either of Southwark or the City.^ In 1 320, a man put in the pillory for cheating-, from tierce to vespers, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ; in 1414 another so placed on three market-days for cheating a pellerer in Southwark ; several other early cases — a butcher, for selling putrid meat, was placed in the pillory, and the meat burned below him — ^severe, if the wind was toward him ; a vintner, for selling bad wine, some he had to drink, and the rest was poured upon his head while he was under- going his punishment. Bakers are very frequently punished— the doubtful loaf hung round the neck. In 1550 a man named Grig is in the pillory in Southwark for pretending to cure diseases by words and prayers. Grig, who was taken for a prophet, was set on a scaffold with a paper on his breast, whereon was written his deceitful and hypocritical conduct. On the 8th of September he was set on the pillory, at the time of our Lady Fair in Southwark. The Mayor and Aldermen riding through the fair, he asked them all forgiveness. "Thus much for Grig," the chronicler says. In 1 560 a skinner of Southwark is pilloried for soothsaying and immoral practices; in 1561 a gentleman of the King's Bench, for giving divers ladies and gentlemen nosegays, and telling them they should be married. ' Machyn's Diary,' sixteenth century, is full of instances of this punishment. It was light or severe, a condemnation or an ovation, as the popular feeling might go. In J 780 a coachman in Southwark died in the pillory before the time of his sentence had expired ; there are numerous instances of very serious maltreatment. I have a picture of Titus Oates, exagger- ated no doubt, as the air seems almost darkened with cabbage stalks, dead cats, and the like. The pillory, cage, the whipping-post, and the stocks were of course in accord with the ways of the time, and were often all four " ' Diaiy Venetian Embassy, ' London, lemp. James I. ; ' Quarterly Review, '1857. ' Stow, Riley, Brand's 'Popular Antiquities,' vol, iii. S;c. PILLORY, WHIPPING POST AND CAGE. 29 together in the same place. That at the Ber-ghen-e is, I think, an instance. The pillory and the cage in the High Street, the ducking- stool behind Winchester House, the whipping-post in the church- yard,, and the stocks near at hand, the "Cross," or whipping-post, within St. Thomas's Hospital precincts, — these and others known, suggest much of the unknown, and altogether give one the idea that honesty and good manners came by fear and force rather than by persuasion. Really the way in which our ancestors taught religion, to speak of nothing else, was more like Hood's picture of driving pigs to market than by any method approximating to the Divine. Here now is " an innkeeper's wife pilloried for eating flesh in Lent " — a wilful case, probably. But all do not suffer for righteous- ness' sake : " four women are set in the stocks at night till their husbands did fetch them home " — out for a frolic, no doubt.'' The governors of St. Thomas's Hospital appear to have had trouble this way with their sisters, especially in fair time, when the fun and frolic were at their gates. Passing further south to St. Margaret's Hill, in the highway, we should have to go over the old churchyard of St. Margaret's, and should so come to the Well (map, 57). If the people drank freely of this well, the prevalence of certain diseases named so frequently in the early burial registers is explained, not excluding other like causes which were then common and almost disregarded. The subsoil of Southwark has always been porous enough some twenty feet or so down, being of made earth, sand, and gravel, — the effect a more or less free passage for the contents of burial places, cesspools, and the like to wells in the vicinity, and this I, as officer of health some twenty years back, found to be so ; tracing, as I was able to do, evidences of most offensive and dangerous percola- tion into the drinking water. To think this out is to see that the supply in Southwark was in the old "times almost wholly of this character ; true the population was, except near the river, sparse, and the ditches were not all " black." ^ But Southwark was charged with open ditches which received — well, everything which could pass into ditches. The overfilled churchyard was north of our well, not far off ; on the south " the syncke " ^ 1563. ' "The black ditch,'' often noted in early sewers presentments. 30 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. (map, 59), on a large scale. The entry,^ 14S6, " Paid to the Pavyre for mendyng abowte the well, xxij'," shows that the wardens of St. Margaret's kept it in repair ; and a small item of income appears in the shape of 4d. for a standing at the well, pro- bably in fair or market time. The chief highway, what with market, pillory, and churchyard, is rather objectionably occupied; and now here is the bull-ring (map, S8). The bears and bulls of the Bankside were a permanent institution, and the boats by hundreds were always passing to and fro with people from Westminster and the City. This bull- ring was for the special delight of the Southwark people. Bull- rings in the high streets of towns, market towns chiefly, were not uncommon. There was a bull-ring in the High Street, Tutbury, instituted by John of Gaunt, Chaucer's friend. One part of the main street at Horncastle is called the Bull-ring — the name is perpetuated yet on the walls of the houses. These sports were almost universally practised in the towns and villages of the king- dom, and were of course attended, notably in high streets, with great riots and confusions.' Evidently there were nuisances of this sort in and about London, to be provided against. In Calthrop's reports ° as to the ' Cus- tomes AND Liberties OF the City of LONDON ' a statute is noticed that " No man shall bait Bull or Bear or Horse in the open street, under pain of twenty shillings." The old Lord of South- wark, Earl Warren, was a patron of the sport. He was the first Lord of Stamford, and at Stamford, in 1389, the guild of St. Martin state that they have a bull which is hunted, not baited, by dogs, and then sold, " whereupon the bretheren and sisteren set down to feast." The origin of the bull -ring at Stamford, how the Earl saw two bulls fighting, how he liked the sport amazingly, how he gave the Castle Meadows where he saw the bulls fight to the butchers of the town, is all told in Brand. King John was a patron. ■* Churchwardens' Accounts, St. Margaret's Southwark. ^ " Authorities; — Strutl's 'Sports and Pastimes,' ed. iSlo ; 'English Gilds,' p. 192; Pegge, 'Archzeologia,' vol. ii. ; Brand, 'Popular Antiquities,' vol. ii, Bohn's ed. « 1676 : p. 189, THE BULL RING AND SPORTS. 3 1 and the tastes of Queen Elizabeth ran a little this way.' " Her Majesty," says Rowland White, in the Sidney Papers, "says she is very well ; this day she appoints a Frenchman to doe feates upon a rope in the Conduit Court ; to-morrow she hath commanded the beares, the bull and the ape to be bayted in the tiltyard." One of the treats in store for foreign ambassadors and visitors was the sports with the bulls and bears on the Bank. It was indeed the acknowledged sport, and drew most people, high or low. Even the parson is supposed to gabble over the service, that the sports may not be hindered and his people kept from the baiting.^ " If there be a bull or bear to be baited in the afternoon the minister hurries the service." An indenture, 17 April, 3 Eliz., 1561,^ corroborates the fact of our bull-ring. Christofer Rolle, of London, gent., sells to George Thompson, of St. Georges, Southwark, carpenter, and Johane, his wife, " all those fourtene tenementes, or cotages and gardeyns, commonly called the Bulryng, sett, lying and beyng on the streyte syde, by the alley called the Bullryng, in the Parishe of St. George, in Southwark, that is to sale, betwene the mesuage or late inn called the George, nowe in teanure of Rychard Bellamy by leasse on the south parte, and the parke there on the west parte, and the landes of the said Christofer Rolle now called' the Pewter Pott in the Hoope on the north parte, and the Kynges Highe Streete of the Borough of Southwark on the East parte." Some signs of inns must have come out of this sport, for instance, the Chained Bull, the Bull and Chain, the Bull and Dog, and the like, which were everywhere about. The Bear passant with a collar and chain, the token emblem of the Bear at Bridge Foot, South- wark, shows another phase of these rude sports. These animals were in fact reared and trained for the purpose, as the dogs were, the bulls being called game bulls. So general was the custom that, in some places, bulls were ordered to be baited before they were slaughtered.' It must seem very strange to most of us that bulls were once baited and people burned and otherwise cruelly treated, ' Continuation of Henry's History by Andrews, vol. ii. p. 324. « Stephen Gosson, 1579 ; Thomas Cartwright, 1572. " Original said to be in Warwick Castle : Mr. Halliwell's Notes. ' Pegge, Fitzstephen, 1772. 32 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. even to death, in some sort as a spectacle, and this just in the line of our every-day walk to and fro upon our peaceful work. Sights quite other than these were every now and then before the eyes of the people ; so much was done before them openly, whether in punishment, sport, or pageant. In 1 522 Charles V. is received in the public way with many ceremonies, — the clergy, with copes, crosses, and censers, line the way ; opposite the King's Bench and the Marshalsea, in the High Street, the Emperor stays to desire pardon for the prisoners. In 1518 Cardinal Cam - peggio passes along with the cross borne before him, his servants in red come after ; Wolsey's servants upon two hundred horses, all in one livery, with red hats, are on both sides the streets ; the clergy with copes of gold, crosses, and censers, " Sensing the Cardinal with great reverence as he went through the streets of Southwark." Another time the Bishop of Winchester, Waynflete,'' considering the fatal distemper of 1467, raging in Southwark among innocents and children, to be on account of sin, thinks it best to meet it with pub- lic processions, prayers, and litanies. He accordingly orders the clergy of Southwark to meet him at eight in the morning, to go in solemn procession through the public street by the door of St. Margaret's and St. Olave's, to the monastery of Bermondsey, sing- ing the litanies as they went. At the funerals ofJHenry VII. and of Gardiner, melancholy pageants passed along the borough, with horsemen, torches, and much other pomp. Another time, along the street from St. George's to the bridge, passed with open ceremony and pageant Queen Mary, with her husband Philip of Spain. This was the highway to Canterbury, and hosts of pilgrims like to those of Chaucer and the landlord of the Tabard were often passing along. Southwark streets have witnessed some grand as well as awful sights, of which our present life gives not the slightest hint, — battle and tumult, and the frequent brawl ending in death ; dead bodies drawn naked at horsetail ; condemned people on hurdles and in carts going to execution ; people publicly flogged or carted; the quarters of others exhibited, bloody and horribly mutilated ; some people standing for hours in the pillory, — all in the way of the people going to and fro on daily duty. Let us be thankful for ' Cassan, ' Bishops of AVinchester. ' PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INNS. 33 the chang-e, and that we live in this time rather than that,. and in this country rather than in others where, even now, Iil<.e horrors are perpetrated. I mig-ht here notice the busy and uproarious throng- of South - wark Fair, which yearly, in September, for about 300 years, filled the Hig-h Street and its purlieus from St. Margaret's Hill to St. Georgfe's Church. But that subject claims a paper to itself, for which I have abundant material, and may, if this book should prove acceptable, put it forth with much more not less interesting. THE INNS OF SOUTHWARK. Fynes Morison ^ says, " the world affords not such inns as Eng- land hath, for as soon as a passenger comes, the servants run to him ; one takes his horse and walks him till he be cold, then rubs him and gives him meat, but," says he, "let the master look to this point" ; possibly an unworthy suspicion ; " another gives the traveller his private chamber, and kindles his fire ; the third pulls off his boots and makes them clean ; then the host or hostesse visits him — if he will eat with the host, or at a common table, it will be ^. or 6id^ If a gentleman has his own chamber, his ways are consulted, and he has music too if he likes — moreover if any of his supper is left he has it for his breakfast," &c. Fynes Morison says further, " a man cannot more freely command at home in his own house ; and at parting if he give a few pence to the cham- berlain and hostler, they wish him a happy journey ; and what can a man want more ? " This description is no doubt rose-tinted. Morison must have been in a good temper, and been treated well. Adverse accounts may, however, be read, the balance being in favour of the old English inns. Let us observe the map, — the words are not many, but not less than fifteen of them are the names of inns, some well known and represented at this day. "To good and bad the common inn of rest." "In Southwark," says Stow, "there be many fair inns for tra- vellers." He names the Spurre, the Christopher, the Queen's 3 'Itinerary,' 1617, on English Inns. ■" Multiply perhaps by eight for present value. 34 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Head, he Tabarde, the George, the Hart, the King's Head, and others. The word inn was not however confined to houses for travellers ; there were inns, that is, resting places, temporary residences, or town houses of important folk. Many of these were in Southwark, among the rest the Bishop of Rochester's inn, west of Foul Lane ; the Abbot of Hide's, within the Tabard ; the Abbot of Battle's, and the Abbot of Augustine's, by the river. But of these another time. Southwark was the great highway into London, through which came great dignitaries with their people, some to abide in it, as at the Duke of Suffolk's Place ; at Bermondsey Abbey ; at Win- chester House, or at Fastolf Place, in Tooley Street ; and the retinue would sometimes fill the inns about.^ There are also inns of a lower caste. In 1631, when Southwark was of small dimen- sions, the question of too many alehouses came up ; 228 were counted, and of these 43 had to be suppressed, — 2 1 in Kent Street, partly because of the plague, partly from their excessive number and evil repute. In connexion with these proceedings 300 vagrants had been punished and passed on within three months. In 1619 the inhabitants state that Southwark consists chiefly of ians, and they petition against any new ones, notably two on the Bankside. Not only was Southwark a highway, but it was a sort of Alsatia, a place of resort for the worst of people, — the passage of the river, from any other places too hot for them, was so easy. Many dis- reputable houses had been, from this cause, suppressed in 1574. These old inns were the first places for theatrical entertain- ments ; the models upon which modern theatres have been con- structed. Many of the old inns of the borough had the court- yard, a kind of pit for the groundlings ; rooms round which imply boxes, and galleries in tiers around and above the yard." At the Angel Tavern (Angel Court), next the King's Bench, the ' Faith- ful Couple,' or the ' Royal Shepherdess,' was later on performed by Pinkethman and others.' The Catherine Wheel, the Mermaid, and = "For five of my Lord's [Henry VIIL] servants dinners when he dined with the Duke of Suftolk in Southwark, 12*." Rolls Calendars, 1519. " More cf this, if I am permitted to write a paper on Bankside and the Theatres. In 1722. PUBLIC INNS AS PLAYHOUSES. 3$ Other of the old inns, all now passed or passing away, show by their construction that they were often used as theatres. I have an abun- dance of old advertisements to that effect. The first taste here for theatrical representation came out of the religious and other plays which were periodically performed in and about the churches, as already shown in the notice of our own old St. Margaret's Church. Southwark, in Queen Elizabeth's time, must have been full of carriers' inns.* In the yards of some a stage was erected and dramatic pieces performed. In 1664 like remains were to be seen in the yards of the Cross Keys Gracechurch Street, and of the Bull Bishopsgate. Stow's ' Continuator,' 1570 to 1630, speaks of " five innes or common osteries turned into playhouses." In 1602, " Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor, granting permission to the servants of the Earl of Oxford and the Earl of Worcester to play at the Boar's Head in Eastcheap."* Lord Hunsdon,^ iS94, speaks of his " noo companie of players who plai this winter at the Cross Kayes in Gratious Street," and he asks the Lord Mayor to permit them to do so ; that they would " begin at 2, and have done betwene fower and five, and will nott use anie drumes or trum- pettes att all for the calling of people together, and shal be con- tributories to the poore of the parishe where they plaie, according to their habilities." This contributing to the poor is several times noticed in the parish records of St. Saviour's. In 1599 it is ordered " that the churchwardens shall talk with the players for tithes and money for the poor, according to the order taken with the Master of the Revells." Another time Mr. Henslow and Jacob Meade "shall be moved for money for the poor," but this refers to the players at the playhouses. Brewers and breweries meet one at every turn in the old maps and records. Brewers were men of influence in St. Olave's and St. Saviour's. The Leakes, the Weblings, Hall, Monger, Child, Maylin, and Richardson of Bermondsey, were among the older * The water poet Taylor's ' Carriers' Cosmographie, ' &c. Except by inference from the known after use of these places during Southwark Fair, I have no proof of earfy-plsys at Southwark Inns, but there is no doubt of the fact. » "Remembrancia," City Records, 1878. > 'Illustrations,' J. O. Halliwell, pp. 31, 32. D 3 36 OLD SOUTI-IWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. ones. Colonel Pride of the Cromwell times, well known in South- wark, had been a brewer's man. Dr. Meggott, a noted Rector of St. Olave's, was son of a brewer in that parish. In our map is Cross's brewhouse, near to Foul Lane. Cross was an important man of his parish, St. Margaret's, Southwark. A place of inns and o breweries, its ales were noted enough. Chaucer makes a frequent joke of it, and his pilgrims knew the taste and the effects well : — ' ' The nappy strong ale of Southe worke Keeps many a gossip from the Kirke." The cook's apprentice, like many another, " loved bet the taverne than the schoppe"; and the miller, before he begins his tale, deprecatingly tells that he is "dronke," or he infers it with all drunken gravity from the sound of his own voice ; not his own fault : — " Wyte it the ale of Southwerk I you preye." In the Roxburghe and other collections of ballads we find ourselves among the actual scenes. Rude pictures head many of these old ballads ; there behind the lattice^ the idlers take down ' ' The barley broth, Which is meat, and drink, and cloth." ^ and may be seen carousing and dicing and singing their ditties.* ° A screen for the otherwise open window, giving ventilation and sufficient privacy. "Red Lattice phrases," z>., public-house talk (' Merry Wives, ' act ii. sc. 2). "The red Lettice in Southwarke shall bid thee welcome " (' A Fine Com- panion,' 1633). ' The ballad of the 'Three Merry Coblers." ^ One, a quaint specimen in praise of ale, in the Roxburghe collection, is as follows ; — ' ' Three Gallants in a Taueme did brauely call for Wine ; But he that loues those Dainty Gates is sure no friend of mine ; Gwe me a cup of Barley broth, for this of truth is spoke. These Gallants drunke so hard that each was forct to pawne his Cloake ; THE BEAR AT THE BRIDGE-FOOT. 37 Some of our alehouses and taverns deserve extended remark, as will be seen. On the map (3) is " Beere," that is Bear Alley, where the noted Bear was — "Ursa major at the Bridge foot," "the first house in Southwark built after the flood.'" The earliest notice, "after the flood,'' in 1 3 19 records that — "Thomas Drynkewatre, taverner of London, has built a place, the Bear, at the head of London Bridge, in the parish of St. Olaves." James Beauflur, who has taken it, has expended much money, and engages to sell no wines but Drynkewatre 's, who is to find handled mugs of silver and wood, curtains, cloths, and other things necessary for the Tavern." This is very much like some modern arrangements, as when a man has not quite money enough, it is to some extent provided by the distiller and the brewer. " The maddest of all the land came to bait the Bear," and, among the rest, the jovial parson, who on the week days learns of his companions, and " on Sundays does them teach." At the Bear, says one, " I stuffed myself with food and tipple till the hoops were ready to burst." But grave people also came here; the church- wardens of St. Olave's in 1568, and not in 1568 alone. The parish books tell us this. " It'm for iiij dinners at the Visitation, whereof one at the church hows and three at the Beare viij"xiij'" — fifty pounds now, at the least. "It'm p'd for drinkynge at y" Beare w*" Mr. Norryes P'son and certain of the Auncients of the parishe ; — The oyle of Barley neuer did such injmy doe to none, So, that they drinke what may suffice and afterwards be gone. " The burden is very absurd, but ends in the old way : — "There was a Ewe had three Lambes, and one of them was blacke ; There was a man had three sonnes, leffrey, lames and lacke ; The one was hang'd, the other drown'd, the third was lost and never found, The old man he fell in a sownd ; — come fill us a cup of Sacke." * ' Search after Claret,' 1691. ^ In all probability the Bear at the bridge foot, a famous house, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Riley, 'Mem,,' pp. 132-3. 38 OLD SOUTIiWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. and another tyme at the same place for the lyke drynkynge v' iiij''." Amongst the St. Saviour's records are some quaint bills of about Shakespeare's time. The player, Edward AUeyn, who was a man of note, was then churchwarden and vestryman of the parish. Here is a bill of a vestry dinner : ' P"" for 3 Geese, 3 Capons and one Rabbit ... 00 14 08 3 Tarts 00 12 00 a Giblett pie makyng 00 02 08 Beefe 01 02 06 3 leggs of mutton 00 8 00 wine and dresing the meat and naperie, fire, bread and beere 02 11 00 18 oz [?] Tobacco and 12 pipes^ 00 01 02 12 Lemmonds and 18 Oranges 00 03 00 OS IS 00 At the bottom are the words " taken the money out of the bagg to pay this bill." Other bills tell of "Sugar and Rosewater," " more for wine," " for a green goose," " Clarratt wyne." Another has a charge for " boiling of your Chickens and mutton," " for a quart of Sacke and a pint of white," "for naperie and sweet watter," and so on. The Bear was very handy ; it overlooked the river. A boat could be had at once to take you anywhere along the great high- way, which the Thames, with its hundreds or even thousands of boats, then was. It was a pleasing alternation from the vexations of parish business, but public-house pleasure does so encroach. The dignitaries of St. Saviour's seem to have felt this. In 1618 is this entry : " The vestrymen have been wont at the parish charge to have a dinner this day, but every man shall spend his own money at this dinner, and he who does not come shall pay 4''.'"' 1614, May 23, " it is ordered that there shall be a drinkinge on the ' Without date, but probably from 1600 to 1630. ' In my own earlier time I have heard a long pipe nicknamed a church- warden. " I should think this came from Edward AUeyn ; it was in his careful style. He had been just elected a vestryman, and later on he was auditor. THE BEAR AND ITS LANDLORDS. 39 p'ambulation day, for the company, according to the ancient custom, yet sparinglye because the corporation is indebted." Long before, in 1463, " Jockey of Norfolk," Sir John Howard, comes to the Bear to shoot at the Target and drink wine ; and the one acting probably on the other, he lost xx*. In 1554, 2 Philip and Mary, " Edmund Wythipolle conveys a quit rent out of a tavern called the Beare, to Henry Leke, Berebrewer, together with the Dolphin and its wharf, to the Thames, for i6l. i^s. \d. per annum." There are extant^ two tradesmen's tokens of the century 1600 to 1 7CX), issued by occupiers of the Bear. One has on the obverse a bear with a chain, and the inscription, " Abraham Browne,^ at y"," and on the reverse, " Bridg Foot, South- wark"; in the centre, "his halfpenny." The other has on the obverse a bear passant with collar and chain, and the inscription, " Cornelius Cooke " ; on the reverse, "Beare at the Bridgefot." , This Cooke was j^ noted man ; he is mentioned in the St. Olave's \^" parish accounts "ad overseer of the land side as early as 1630 ; he was afterwards a soldier and captain of train bands ; he rose to be colonel in Cromwell's army, and was one of the commissioners for the sale of king's lands. After the Restoration he seems to have settled down as landlord of the Bear.lnPepys, 1666-7, notices the house ; the landlady, afflicted with melancholy, had drowned herself in the Thames ; the jovial secretary is the more troubled about it because " she was a most beautiful woman as most I have seen." Here the Duke of Richmond stole away Mrs. Stewart, the king's lady and perhaps the model of our figure of Britannia. " By a wile the Duke did fetch her to the Beare, where the coach was ready, but people think it is only a trick." Enough, except to say with Taylor, the water poet, — "No ravenous, savadge, cruel Beares are these, But gentle, milde, delighting still to please, And yet they have a trick to bite all such As madly use their company too much "; and to say with Corner that the house continued to entertain all ' Comer's ' Inns of Southwark, ' p. 22. " The name had especial interest in Southwark ; the Montagues were Browns, and in connexion with a great trial in our own time, "the Montague Peerage," the Browns of Southwark have been well looked after. 40 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. who could pay until 1761,' when the bridge was widened, and this and other houses thereon pulled down. On the demolition, many gold and silver pieces of Queen Elizabeth's time, and other moneys of much value were found. The Ram's Head (Map, 27), by the river, once the property of Sir John Fastolf, is noted by the searcher after claret, who finds food and sleeping there. He does not stay long, but hastens on " to the next bush," ^ the sign of the Leg in Boot. A token of the Ram's Head is known .^ The Green Dragon (Map, 12), the inn or hostel of the Cobhams who were great people of the time. The Lady Cobham, in her will, 1 369, directed her " body to be buried by the south door of St. Mary Overy, before the door over which the blessed Virgin sitteth on high." In 143 1 the Green Dragon Inn, Southwark, is left by Sir R. Cobham, and is probably the same that is referred to in the will of Joan Cobham as her inn or hostel. In iS77j there is a dispute as to title. In 1637 " there cometh every week to the Green Dragon in Fowle Lane, near the meal market, a carrier from Tunbridge." In 1680, the vestry deals with it and makes some orders ks to water running from it over the churchyard. In 1 700, the watercourse from the Dragon to Chain Gate is still troublesome. In 1732, " the South- wark Penny Post is kept in Green Dragon Court, near St. Mary Overy's Church, which collects, receives, conveys, and delivers letters and parcels to and from the following and adjacent places,'"* besides its own proper district in Southwark and London. Between the Green Dragon and the Chain gates of St. Saviour's is "The Bullhead, and many more places that make noses red," as says Satyrical Dick in the ' Last Search after Claret,' in 1691. It is noted in 1698 as being near the church porch, the vault reaching to a brewhouse at hand ; 1 706, it is connected with an " On the trial of Margaret Clark, 1679, a soldier accused said he was only at the Bear to eat a barrel of oysters with his fair neighbour of next door to his lodging in the Seven Dials. ■■ "Good wine needs no bush." Bush, a sign at the doors of such places. '' A list of tokens will, if space allows, be placed at the end of this article. ' Noting ' ' Balam, Battersea-iyes, Burntash, Loughbeny house, Peckham town and Rcy," and some sixty other places from Woolwich to Clapham. New Remarks, 1732. SOME INNS OF SOUTHWARK. 41 extension of the churchyard, which is continually becoming full, and running-, as it were, out over. There are, the old churchyard, a new churchyard, the " bull -head churchyard," and two more not far off. The walls and gates of the Bullhead churchyard are taken down in 1 706, and iron rails are put up. In 1 73 3 this inn is leased at 11/. per annum. The Bullhead was one of the resorts of Edward AUeyn, as were also the Dancing Bears in Paris Garden, the Paul's Head, the King's Arms, the Red Cross, the Three Tunns in South- wark, and the Dolls next the Rose. A pleasant convivial man was AUeyn, and a man much liked, who apparently could touch pitch, and plenty of it, and not be defiled. In 16 19 he wishes to retire from the vestry ; he is living away. It is recorded in the minutes, that the vestry must leave it to him either to go or stay, " but they desire his company rather." (The Bolles Head, Map, 13.) The Salutation (Map, 78) is one of the many signs of houses bearing upon religious belief and usage ; referring that is to the Salutation of the Virgin. The St. Clement, here one and another in Tooley-Street. In St. Olave's Church, among other aisles and altars, was one to St. Clement, a saint suitable to a waterside parish, as one specially a helper of sailors and blacksmiths. (Map, 75.) The Christopher (Map, 47). This saint was a patron of travellers and pilgrims. A pilgrim of Chaucer's had " a Christofer on the breast of silver schene," it might be as a charm or amulet. The saint is seen in pictures fording a river, with the infant Christ on his shoulder, and leaning on a flowering rod. Christopher is a lucky saint. "The day that you see St. Christopher's face That day shall you not die an evil death." A fine painting of the legend of St. Christopher, carrying the Christ- child, is in our National Gallery, the gift of the Queen. The Gotte (Map, 76), near to the Market Place and Court House. The Copleys of the Maze, by their factotum, Donald Sharpies, have business here in 1575, on behalf of certain Papist prisoners in the White Lyon, whom the lords of the Maze desired to help. The King's Head (Map, 41 ), next the hospital gate, was burnt in the fire of 1676. The rent had been 60I. per annum, but it was 42 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. now desired that the landlady, Mary Duffield, should build a good substantial inn and buildings/ and in consideration of her doing this the rent should be 38/. instead of 60/., and the tenure extended to 48J years.' Taylor, in his 'Carriers' Cosmographie,' 1637, notes this as one of the inns and lodgings of the carriers " which come into the Burrough of Southwarke out of the countries of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey ; from Reygate to the Falcon ; Tunbridge, Seavenoake, and Steplehurst, at the Katherine Wheel ; and others from Sussex thither, Darking, and Ledderhead to the Greyhound " [where now is Union Street, the opening of which was the Greyhound and yard) ; " some to the Spurre, the George, the King's Head ; some lodge at the Tabbard, or Talbot ; many far and wide are to be had almost daily at the said inne, the White Hart." The Water Poet directs his little book to all good fellows. " The Tavernes are," he says, "of mine own finding and the vintoners my own friends " ; it is " welcome gentlemen ; a crust and what wine will you drink ? " And that you may not be at a loss in the Borough, he commends you to among others the Harrow ; the Horse, near the bridge ; the King's Head ; the Salutation in Bermondsey Street ; some at Rederhith ; and to the Mermayd, the Sun, and the Rose. In 1522, when Charles V. came over, note was taken of the capabilities of London this way : the return was 1 1 wine merchants, 28 chief taverns, and the total of wine avail- able, 809 pipes. The White Hart (Map, 42) was, except the Tabard, our most noted inn; it has many old associations. Partly burnt in 1669, it cost 700/. to repair ; the rent was then 55/. In 1676 it was entirely de- stroyed ; the leaseholder now rebuilt it at a cost of 2,400/. The old old premises had, like most other inns, become to some extent tene- ments ; the result of the gradual process from large roomy inn- yards to poor tenements is seen in the numerous courts, named of the old inns, which once entertained the highest folk, but which are now occupied by the poorest people, mostly leaning upon the relieving officer and the parish doctor in time of trouble and ill- ness. Another change is now going on ; the squalid courts are in ' " The freehold property known as the King's Head Inn, with its buildings, some 35,000 feet, has been now sold for 35,000/.," Echo, August 29th, 1876. « Fire Decrees, Guildhall, Court of Judicature, 1677. THE WHITE HART. 43 their turn disappearing-, and magnificent warehouses are taking their places; the Catherine Wheel, the Spur, and even those of great and old associations, such as the White Hart, the George, and the Tabard, are undergoing, or have undergone, this great transformation. The history of our inns furnishes landmarks of great social changes. The White Hart of our day is no part of it more than 170 years old ; a drawing of it was made by Fairholt for Corner's ' Ancient Inns of Southwark,' which, with a like one of the George, forms the frontispiece of his charming little monograph. These pictures are worth a thought ; the form which suited these places at the time they were used for plays and spectacles is so well seen even in these modern representations — the pit, gallery, and boxes, as it were. A verbal picture, done from the life, of the White Hart, is given with all the marvellous skill of Dickens in his Pickwick Papers, and he also gives a picture of the inn as it appeared " on the particular morning in question " when Mr. Pickwick's servant the unique Sam was there at his work. The White Hart dates back to 1400, and is known to the readers of Shakespeare and of history as the head-quarters of Jack Cade. Some rough work was done here then. One Hawarden, of St. Martin's, was beheaded at the White Hart ; the head of Lord Say was stricken off at the Standard in Chepe, put upon a pole, and borne before Cade's people, the body drawn at horse-tail upon the pavement from Chepe into Southwark to the captain's inn, after which doings the head was put on London Bridge and the body in quarters dis- tributed as sights for the people. Sir John Fastolf is mixed up with this affair, and the story of his servant, John Payn, is worth note.' Sir John is at this time living at his place in Southwark,^ and is a member of the King's Council ; accordingly his servant Payn is sent to Blackheath to know what "the captain " wanted. Cade denounces Fastolf as the greatest traitor in England ; his man Payn is treated as a spy, he is shown the axe and block, and is threatened, but is sent back to Southwark ' ' Paston Letters, ' a most remarkable collection, illustrative of the period. Knight's edition, 2 vols., 1840 ; another more extended and complete, with valuable preface and notes, is Arber's edition, by James Gairdner, 1874. ' Fastolfs Place, Stoney Lane, St. Olave's. 44 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. to array himself in- the best wise he could, fitting him to help Cade and his people. The servant does not forget his master, but counsels him to put away his habiliments of war, and get away with his people from SouthwarV which Fastolf did readily enough. This mode of proceeding does not appear to have satisfied Cade ; the man had not quite done what was expected of him ; he is accordingly taken to the White Hart, and there by the Captain's orders is despoiled ' and threatened with death, but is saved by a man of note and family, Poynings, who is somehow sewer and carver to Cade, and had enlisted outlaws and' others in Southwark for the captain.* As it is, Payn's property in "Fastolf's rents" is pillaged, his wife' and children threatened to be hung, and he thrust into the battle in London Bridge and nigh killed there. This is his catalogue of griefs, for which he sought some compensation afterwards. This story of Cade and the White Hart would be without its use or its moral, and so far the mere antiquarian would be but a babbler concerning the past were he not to note somewhat the inner story of this outbreak. Authorities ' of the best are at hand to tell us all about it. The ruinous issue of the great struggle with France in the Joan of Arc time roused England to fury against the wretched government. De la Pole and the Bishop of Win- chester, the ministers concerned, were put to death. The words of Cade to Fastolf's servant — that " his master was the greatest traitor in England or France,' and had so minished the garrisons of Nor- mandy and Manns and Mayn as to lose the King his right of ^ He appears to have been "a pradent soldier." ' Of a fine gown furred with beavers, one pair of brigandines covered with blue velvet and gilt nails, with leg harness. Brigandine — a jacket quilted in with pieces of iron, usad by archers, enriched, as Payn's was, for pereons of more dis- tinction. ■* This may refer probably to the prisoners of the ' ' Kynges Bench and Mar- chelsay delyveryd owte by Jake Cade's comniandement " (' Grey Friars Chronicle '), which Poynings at home in Southwark had no doubt previously prepared, both inside, and in the purlieus^outside the prisons. '' They leave the poor woman ' ' nothing but her kirtle and chemise. " o Green, ' Histoiy of the English People, ' p. 275 ; and Durrant Cooper's ' Papers on Cade's Rebellion. ' 7 Paston, Letter XXX., Knight's>dition. SIR JOHN FASTOLF. FIRES. 4S heritance beyond the sea " — these words were as evidence of what was uppermost in the public mind. They must have rung- out in Southwark ; and it is easy to conceive that the feeling was handed down and felt even in Shakespeare's time, and that there would be nothing too bad to be said of Fastolf, or Falstaff ; and this theory would account for his adoption, after the suppression of the name of Sir John Oldcastle, the first " fat knight," — probably from Papistical sources the prototype' of Falstaff; and there is, prejudice apart, a little more likeness in the character Falstaff to the man Fastolf than is allowed. But, to go a little further with our historian, it was not a rabble which followed Cade. " The captain " had been a soldier in the French wars ; he drew to himself some " tall men " of the country, and with some 20,000 men he marched from Blackheath into Southwark. " The complaint of the Commons of Kent " was laid before the Council. It demanded administrative and economical reforms, a change of ministers, and a restoration of freedom of election. Most important men resident in Southwark were with Cade or on his side : Richard Dartmouth, Abbot of Battle and of Battlebridge in Southwark, almost next door to Fastolf 's ; John Danyel, Prior of Lewes, another neighbour ; Robert Poyning-s, uncle of the Countess of Northumberland, and husband of Margaret Paston, who had people come to him in Southwark, aiding and encouraging. When the pardon time came, a most goodly list of names were recorded with which it was wise to deal leniently, and among the rest were " Holy Water Clerkes." We have had many fires in Southwark, especially fatal to the inns. They have been generally fastened upon some unlucky scapegoats; that in 1508 upon certain Scots and French ; that in 1667 upon three Frenchmen, who fled. In 1689 there was a great fire ; " how it began no one knows, but there was one man very liberal of his tongue ; he was seized and brought before Mr. Justice Evans, who found him to be a Roman Catholic, having crucifixes, beads, and other trinkets about him. He was accordingly committed to the Marshalsea." ' But the most destructive fire was that of 1676. The scandal runs thus: — " Grover and his Irish » Broadsheet, Guildhall Library. 46 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. ruffians burnt Southwark, and had i pool, for their pains. Gifford, a Jesuit, had the management of the fire.'" We have had to remove a like scandal from the base of the Monument as to the fire of London. I shall give the substance of a broadsheet published at the time.' The lamentable fire of Southwark, Friday, 26th May, 1676, whereby those eminent " innes," the Queen's Head, Talbot, George, White Hart, King's Head, Green Dragon, together with the prison of the " Comter," the Meal Market, and about 500 dwell- ing-houses were burnt down, blown up, and wholly destroyed. It began at an oil-shop between the George and Talbot, the young people in the house with difficulty escaping through some back windows into the Talbot. Soon it caught an old timber house opposite ; the road, highway as it was, was narrow ; the houses at the upper part projected toward the road, were chiefly built of wood, and were now most of them old. Houses were now blown up, the Court House and the " Comter " among the rest, which pro- cess, although it failed to stay the progress of the fire toward St. Saviour's and the Hospital, saved the streets behind. St. Thomas's Hospital was saved by a change of wind ; the same happy wind saved the Church of the Hospital, as well as St. Saviour's, which must else have been destroyed. The George had been not long before rebuilt. The broadsheet proceeds, — " Three Crown Court is rubbish and ashes, the Meal Market standing in the middle of the street is consumed, and no sign is left to know where it stood. The Porch of the Hospital is broken down. St. Mary Overies took fire twice or thrice, but it was put out. The little Chapel at the east end is much pulled down and ruined, the houses near it were blown up ; but for this and the change of wind already referred to, the church must have been utterly destroyed. Front- ing south and to the east and west the church was enveloped in flames. All Foul Lane, the churchyard buildings, several alleys, one side of street over to St. Mary Overies Dock are gone. Twenty or more people are killed and many wounded." Corner gives another reason why the fire spared St. Thomas's Hospital : the building was substantial, and had been recently erected." The tablet ° Corner, ' Inns of Southwark,' citing the Diary of tlie Rev. John Ward. ' I'liblished by permission, Roger V Estrange, Guildhall Libraiy. * Only partially. " 1694. The Hospital is very old, low, and damp ; we have spent 2,000/., and cannot go on with it." — MS. 2734, British Museum, THE FIRE OF 1676. 47 over the door of the old court-room gives thanks for the mercy : — " Laus Deo. " Upon the 26th May, 1676, and in the 28th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles II., about three of the clock in the morning, over against S* Margarets Hill, in the Borough- of Southwark, there happened a most lamentable and dreadful fire, which, before ten of the clock at night, consumed about five hun- dred houses. But in the midst of judgment God remembered mercy, and by his goodness in considering the poor and distressed put a stop to the fire at this home, after it had been touched several times therewith, by which, in all p'-obability, all this side of the Borough was preserved. This tablet is here put, that whoso readeth it may give thanks to the Almighty God, to whom alone is due the honour and praise. Amen." One must admire the sentiments here expressed, but one would like ,to add, " another time take more care in building, widen the streets, provide for plentiful water, and be very careful as to domestic fires and lights. In short, respect the laws of the Almighty if you- would wish to be preserved." Some regulations of the hospital, 1647, show how the governors estimated the dangers of fire.' The precautions in a city of wooden houses and narrow streets were as curious as those of the hospital governors — " a barrel of water before each house." * The St. Saviour's vestry are busy, so the parish papers say. I note that .the roof and east part of the chapel are burnt and demolished ; the chaplain is burnt out, and needs a house and a little money. There are negotiations for " a water-house to be built in the park near at hand." 16S2. They agree with " Mr. Jackson, master of the Water House in Horsleydown, for a ffirecock at the place where the meale market stood, and another elsewhere," and next year the well-house is seen to. The ruin was so great, so complete, that the landmarks were lost, and it was found necessary to make, 29 Charles II. c. 4, "An act for erecting a judicature to determine differences touching houses burnt ' The orders for prevention seem ludicrous : ' ' Fire is not to be carried from one place to another in bottles or any wooden vessel." MS. 2734, B.M. ■* I own the prompt use of a barrel ai the door might stop a fire in its birth. 48 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. and demolished by the late dreadful fire in Southwark." The names of the commissioners, some twenty-one, besides judges and aldermen, are given in Corner's ' Inns,' p. 13, and comprise the two members for the Borough, Richard Howe and Peter Rich. A few items from these decrees are interesting." The Compter occupied part of the old church site of St. Margaret's. " The Mayor and Commonalty did in 1664 demise the Compter and a ten' adjoining, to W" Eyre as Bayliffe of the Libertyes and manner of said Mayor, &c., and as keeper of the gaol and prison called the Compter, at a rent of 50/. The city does not surrender lease, but will not rebuild a prison there, will grant reasonable terms for other buildings ; the bayliffe may surrender, if he will surrender his office too." Very much property belongs to the Browkers, an old name in St. Saviour's. The Browkers appear to be going down ; one of them is in the Marshalsea ; and the Hows, rich people of Christ Church parish, often appear as owners instead. The Overmans are large owners, especially about Montague Close. Much gunpowder was used ; many houses have the words " blown up," or " shattered by explosions." " Property next the West Chain Gate over against the stables of the house, sometimes called Winchester House," is noted. In the decrees is note of a rather dis- creditable and general attempt at encroachments, opportunity taken for a general scramble to place posts some two or three feet in advance of the " ancient posts," even obstructing the way to market ; detected by being beyond the old foundations. A long judgment follows, declaring the old boundaries. Not many inns remain to be noticed, and of these, only two, the Tabard and the Boar's Head, require many words. The George (Map, 43), an inn described by Stow as north of the Tabard, some angry poetaster denounces for its bad sack. He says : — "The Devill would abhorre such posset-drink, Bacchus, I'm sure, detests it, 'tis too bad For Hereticks ; a Friar would be mad 5 I have met with much courtesy in the City. I was permitted to copy what I desired of the fire decrees from the volume in the Town Clerk's office ; further I most warmly thank Mr. Overall, and his Assistant, for uniform help and kindness. INNS WITH RELIGIOUS SIGNS, &C. 49 To blesse such vile imconsecrable stuffe, And Brownists would conclude it good enough For such a Sacrifice." ^ The poet had taken a surfeit at the George, and this is the way he vented his wrath. In 1670 the inn had been nearly burnt. In the decrees it is noted that the rent had been 150/., but after the iire the landlord rebuilt it, and his rent was reduced " to 80/. and a sugar loafe " ; now totally destroyed, he again rebuilds, and his rent is "50/. and a sugar loafe." The Cross Keys, Crowned or Cross'd Keys, like its neighbour the Christopher, named after holy emblems; thisfrom the arms of the papacy. In 1518,1521,^ andagain, are entries of 40", a half year's rent paid to Edward and Sir Edward Poynings' for the Crowned Keys in Southwark. Elizabeth Poynings,' Sir Edward's mother, and widow of Robert, Cade's sword bearer and carver, writes ( 1470) from one of her residences in Southwark that her property is in some danger from relations and friends, and she is making a stout fight about it. The Holy Water Sprinklers, The Three Brushes, were signs of houses, and like the Cross Keys were probably, as those of the Saints, Saluta- tion, and like names, given before the dissolution, when the land- lords generally belonged to abbeys and other ecclesiastical foundations. The Spur (Map, 48) — Mr. Corner saw deeds of this inn so early as 1596; our Map shows it long before that. The Horshead becomes The Nag's Head ; The Blue Maid becomes The Blue-Eyed Maid (Map, 49, 52). The last name often turns up in the Southwark Fair frolics : Lee and Harper's booth is on the Bowling Green at the lower end of Blue Maid Alley ; Mr. and Mrs. Yeates' for the Beggar's Opera, at the great tiled booth, tickets are to be had at the Blue Maid and the Faulcon. " Mrs. Yeates intreats those Ladies and Gentlemen who intend to honour her with their company to come early, being determin'd to begin at the Time prefix'd ; and she begs Leave to assure them, that the whole will * Musarum Delicise, vol. i., p. 46. 1656. (Reprint.) '.Calendars, State Papers. " I notice many Southwark names besides this of Poynings in the Shakespearean Plays. Poynings was Lord Deputy of Ireland, and died of a pestilential fever in 1522. ' ' Paston Letters,' p. 249, Knight's ed. 50 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. be conducted with the utmost Decorum," not at all an unnecessary notice, the particulars of some of these littie play bills ^ being exceedingly free. The White Lion inn was near the bridge, where the north wing of St. Thomas's Hospital yet stands. Among the records of the Court of Augmentations, 36th Henry VIII., IS44-5, are the particulars of a grant by the king to Robert Cursen, as part of the possessions of the dissolved monastery of St. Mary Overy, "The Whyte Lyon" in the parish of the blessed Mary Magdalen '^ in Southwark. It was (29th Henry VIII.) in the tenure of Henry Mynce, and was by indenture demised to him from Christmas Day the last, for the term of thirty years, at the yearly rent of sixty shillings, repairs at the king's charge, except the glazing and emptying the privies and cesspools. The White Lyon Prison, which has been confounded with the inn by reason of Stow's words that the prison had been an inn, was far away, near to St. George's Church. THE TABARD, made immortal by the name and tales of Geof- frey Chaucer, cannot be passed with short notice ; to do it justice would require a paper all to itself, which, if money were unlimited or subscribers numerous, it should have ; but the law of necessity must be obeyed. The story of the Canterbury Pilgrimage has made the place " and the inn famous, and as time goes on we be- come more familiar with Chaucer and the Tabard. It is repre- sented, how one morning in May, a cavalcade of pilgrims was waiting at the inn ready to start for Canterbury, the host of the Tabard being their leader, and " Sir Geffery Chaucer " their chro- nicler, the rest made up of typical people representatives of the time. To beguile the way each one, fit or unfit, was to tell a story : — "This is the poynt [says the host], to speken schort and playn, That ech of yow to schort-e with youre weie, In this vi-age, schal tell-e tal-es tweye, • Of which bills and advertisements I have about fifty, from Fillingham's collection. ' Note, the then small parish was not St. Mary Overy, but St. Maiy Magdalen. ' It is even possible thai at some future time friends in their talk may say, " Southwark ? why that 's the place where Chaucer was with his pilgi-ims at the Tabard Inn, wasn't it ? " So we may be known ! CHAUCER AND THE TABARD. 51 To Canterburi-waid, I mene it so, And home-ward he schal telleii other two, Of aventu-res that ther hau bifalle." The pilgrims settled all this the night before, and the one who best performed his task was to have a " soper " at the cost of the others. They are of glad heart, they like his plan, they ask him to be their goi'ernour, to judge of the tales, and, prudent people, to set the soper at a certain price. All this business was arranged at the Tabard ; " then they dronken and wente to reste." When the day beg-an to spring-, the host, like the cock which crowed in the morn, was up ; he gathered his flock, and out they rode together. The poet describes hh feelings, how it all came about ; and, whe- ther his company be visionary or not, with him it was a picture from the life. An intense lover of nature, he begins with " April and the rain, which had softened old March, with his cold windy ways piercing to the root, and had bathed in sweet liquor the flower, — how the pleasant zephyr with his sweet breath had ushered in every holte and heathe the tendre croppes, how the birds made melodie, how, in short, nature had given courage to every living thing, and what with the pleasant ways and the new made liveliness of man and woman answering to nature, it made them all longen to go on pilgrimage." The machinery of the story is as true to nature as it is apt and beautiful. The pilgrims who are supposed to start from the Tabard are types of every class, bad, good, and indifferent, which then formed all but the highest and the extreme lowest of English society. None of them is very reticent ; they speak out after their kind. Chaucer's verse may seem difficult and repulsive at first, but after a little study of the mode of pronouncing so as to preserve the rhythm, all is well. Some of our best poets have essayed to imitate and modernize, but mastering, as is easily done, the original, no one would read again the best of the paraphrases. Mrs. Haweis,^ with a little par- donable hero-worship, tells us he is a religious poet ; that all his merriest stories have a fair moral — that even the coarse' are rather naive than injurious ; how his pages breathe a genuine faith ■* ' Chaucer for Children ; a Golden Key. ' ■' With an exception or two. E 3 52 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. in God, and a passionate sense of the beauty and harmony of the divine work. So far for his character and works. Let us now see the man. I dare say he is faithfully represented in that portrait of his in the British Museum," and Mr. Furnivall has helped us to Greene's vision of him.' Description of Sir Geffery Chaucer. " His stature was not very tall ; Leane he was ; his legs were small, Hosd within a stock of red ; A buttond bonnet on his head, From under which did hang, I weene, Silver haires both bright and sheene. His beard was white, trimmed round ; His countenance blithe and merry found. A sleeveless jacket, large and wide, With many pleights and skirt-es side, Of water chamlet, did he weare ; A whittell by his belte he beare. His shooes wei-e corned broad before ; His Inckehorne at his side he wore, And in his hand he bore a booke : Thus did the aimtient Poet looke." William Bullein gives in iS73 a more poetical description of the poet. "Wittie Chaucer," says he, "satte in a Chaire of gold covered with Roses, writing prose and risme, accompanied with the Spirites of many kyngs, knightes, and faire ladies." He was born about 1340, and was the son of John Chaucer,* vintner, in Thames Street. There are many other Chaucers about : Richard, 1 320, buried in the Hospital of St. Thomas, who had houses in St. Olave's, near the Stulps ; William Chaucer, churchwarden of St. Margaret's long after. Geoffrey is. a student of the Bohemian type ; a disciple of Gower perhaps, but a disciple of Venus certainly.' The vintner's shop was, no doubt, what we call " select," or the youth might not so soon have found his way up. He soon becomes ' Harleian MS., 4866, so charmingly photographed for Mr. Furnivall's 'Life Records of Chaucer,' Chaucer Society, 1876. ' Greene, 1592. * Not Richard, as in ' Memorials of London, ' xxxiv. " As the deed of release between him and Cecilia Champaigne, 1379, may, with much probability, show ; and his address to his pitiless mistress also. CHAUCER. 53 page to the wife of the King's son Lionel, and gets his livery of a short cloak, pair of red and black breeches, and shoes, with 3^. 6(/. in his pocket for necessaries. About nineteen he becomes a soldier and a prisoner, and is ransomed by the King's help ; by-and-by he is valet to Edward III. ; then he is yeoman of the King's chamber, — his duty to make beddes, hold torches, set boards, watch the King, and go on messages,^ his salary ^ about 20 marks' by the year. About 1360 he marries Philippa Roet, one of Queen Philippa's maids,^ who is sister to Margaret Swynford, the mistress, governess, and wife of John of Gaunt. He fills the various stations of valet, soldier, esquire of the King's household, an envoy on many foreign missions ; he is comptroller of the customs for wool, wool-fells, and hides, which must have brought him into frequent contact with Southwark. He was also Clerk of the Works, and a Member of Parliament. In 1 390 he is a sort of sanitary commissioner, looking after ditches, sewers, and outfalls. The income of the husband and wife in Edward III.'s time was about 40I. per annum ;^ i394, about 30/.; after 1398, 61Z. 13^. 4^. ; and these sums mean now about ten times the stated amount. They have allowances of wine, a daily pitcher in 1374, cloth for mourning in 1369 for Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa Chaucer on the death of Queen Phillipa — three elles for him and six for the lady, an allowance of some one or two pounds a year for clothes, and gifts and some consideration from higher friends. In 1386 he is Knight of the Shire for Kent, and has eight shillings a day for his wages. Some inquiries into abuses — "a terrible list" — were set on foot by the so-called " Merciless Parliament," ^ and soon after Chaucer is dismissed from his office. As some of his work was done by deputies, and some appears to have been of the nature of sinecure, and as his patron, John of Gaunt, and his friends, were not always popular, it may not have been that any actual corruption was charged. One must think well of the three — Wiclif, the ' Fumivall, 'Life Records.' ' Nicholas. ^ A mark, 13^. /[d., equal about to a purchas"e of 6/. 12s. now. ' "Phillippa Chaucer una Domicellanim CamerEC Phillippse Regince Anglic." = SirH. Nicolas, 'Chaucer.' ^ Green, 54 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. greatest of the new prose writers, Chaucer, of the new poetry, and John of Gaunt, their fast friend/ In 1388 he feels the pinch in his fortunes, and anticipates money on his pensions, and now begins his " Canterbury Tales " ; 1 389, things mend a bit— the King makes him Clerk of Works, at 2s. a day; in 1391, this office ends, and he has to make the two ends meet irpon say 2s. a day, which means, as to what it would purchase, i/. In 1394 he is, for him, very poor ; he borrows money, and the brother-in-law of the Duke of Lancaster has to anticipate his income by little instalments. But he is not quite forgotten ; the King gives some work and some help, and, significant fact, he is allowed protection from arrest. The poet lives some few years after this, dying, it is said, on the 25th October, 1400, at the age of seventy-two. He seems to take his reverses philosophically, one time, saying — ' ' All that is given, take with cheerfulness ; To wrestle in this world is to ask a fall. Here is no home ; here is but a wilderness ";' another time, in grim humour, apostrophizing his empty purse — ' ' To you, my Purse, and to none oth A wight, Complayne I, for ye be my Ladie dere ; I am sorie now that ye be light, For certes now ye make me heavie chere ; Me were as lefe laide upon a bere, For which unto your mercy thus I crie, Be heavie againe, or else mote I die. Ye be my life, ye be my hertes stere ; Queen of good comfort, and of good companie.'' He says, still addressing his empty purse, that he is shaven close as any frere, and appeals unto the courtesie of his purse to be heavie againe, or else he must die. My scope will not allow sketches of the pilgrims who started that May morning for Canter- bury. The rich church of St. Margaret's was opposite, with its gild of brotherhood. It was one of the duties of gilds " to give help ' The more so as Chaucer satirizes the monk who loved venerie ; the prioress simple and coy ; the friar, wanton and meriy ; the sumpnour, with his fire-red face ; the pardoner, who went about wtth his "pigges bones as relics "; and yet gives that divine picture of " the poore parson." ' Mrs. plaweis's version. » 'English Gilds,' p, 157: releasing the pilgrims' contributions to the gild; THE ABBOT OF HYDE, AND THE TAlBARD. 5S and countenance to pilgrims. No doubt some would go across the way for a last service and for the benediction of the brotherhood at St. Margaret's ; and they might get a few cheering words from the Bretheren and Sisteren at St. George's in their way. Be that as it may, we see them through Kent Street, as far as St. Thomas a Watering, the outermost boundary of Southwark that way, and so leave them.^ But what of the famous inn and its sign, the Tabard at first; the Talbot about 1676, changed by fancy, or because one word slips phonetically so easily into another ? Aubrey, whose authority must be carefully taken, puts the change down to an ignorant landlord reading Talbot a dog, for Tabard a coat ; in our Map (44) it is, however, Tabete for Tabard, called after the herald's coat, or a coat ornamented and used by kings at coronations or by noblemen in the wars, or not so ornamented by a clown— a sort of jacket or ordinary coat ;" and so the inn got its name.' The inn was the pro- perty of the Abbot of Hyde, near Winchester, who had his town house here (Map, 45 ) . In 1 304 the Abbot and convent purchase two houses in Southwark, for which a rent and suit to the Archbishop of Canterbury's court in Southwark was due ; value clear, 40s. In 1 307 the Bishop of Winchester licenses a chapel at the Abbot's Hospitium, in the parish of St. Margaret, Southwark. At the Dis- solution this inn, with other possessions of Abbot Salcote or Capon, was surrendered, and was granted by the King to Thomas and John Master. It is noted in the surrender as " one hostelry, called the Taberd, the Abbot's place,, the Abbot's stable, the garden belonging, a dung-place leading to the ditch going to the Thames." The same ditch is apparently represented in the sewer maps of so late as a hundred years ago in the rear of the inns, emptying into 177, to help pilgrims; 180, to go a little way with the pilgrim, and give him something toward his journey ; 231, to keep a house and beds for poor pilgrims. ' .So far chiefly indebted to Sir H. Nicolas, and to Mr. Fumivall, the foimder of the Chaucer Society. ' At the coronation of Henry VII. was put on the King a taberd of Tarteiyn, white, shaped in the manner of a dalmatick (' Rutland Papers '). — A dispute, 1276, about vesper time ; one killed another with a knife ; the murderer's goods were one tabard, value lod., one hatchet, one bow and arrows, value 2d,, &c. (Riley), ' Comer's excellent account, ' Inns of Southwark. ' S6 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. the Thames at the Bridge Yard sluice.'' The inn and buildings were represented as one arrow-shot from His Majesty's house and park in Southwark— the Maner Place and Park of the Map. The annual rent of the inn is fixed in 1539 at 9/. for a term of forty-one years. The Abbot of Hyde, like many another, was re- warded for facile behaviour toward the King. He had the Bishopric of Salisbury, and he held it until 1557. In 1636, in the St. Saviour's records, it is the Talbutt, owned by William Garfoote, gentleman, dwelling at Ingerstone, and is undergoing the process toward tenements : before this, 1634, it is returned as a new building of brick, built some six years past upon old foundations. There are many pictures of the Tabard — of the ancient timber house,^ probably as old as Chaucer's time, entirely destroyed in the great fire of 1676,^ and of the one then built. It is recorded in Speght's ' Chaucer,' 1598, that the old house, that is the Tabard of Chaucer, " was much decayed, and that Master J. Preston had newly repaired it, with the Abbot's house adjoining ; had also added convenient rooms for the receipt of many guests." Inns, it is said, bring, one way or another, plenty of sorrow. A little quaint fun the other way may be culled from " John Taylor's' travels through more than thirty times twelve signs." He found the twelve : Aries and Taurus in the Rams and Rams' Heads, the Bulls and the Bulls' Heads ; Scorpio, no doubt, in the Green Dragon ; Ursa Major at the Bridge Foot St. Olave's, and so on ; the Anker, in St. Olave's and at the end of Bermondsey Street. The poet commits a little doggrel about each one : — ' ' Some men have found their Ankers veiy able To More them safe & fast without a Cable. A man may Load himself, and Sleepe and Ride Free from Storms, Tempests, Pirats, Wind and Tide." * Gwilt. ' In Urry's 'Chaucer,' fol. 1721, in a copy in iht Mirror, vol. xxii., and in Saunders's nice paper. Knight's ' London,' vol. i. It had a swinging sign over the road. « Corner. See also an admirable article. Builder, July 5, 1873. ' The works of John Taylor, the 'Water Poet, not included in the folio vol., 1630. Spencer Society, 1876, THE WATER POET ON THE INNS. 57 The Bell, at St. Thomas's, in Southwark ; — ' ' These bels are never tol'd with Rope in Steeple, Yet there 's od Jangling 'mongst od kind of people ; And all these Bels at once are dayly Rung With 2 strange Clappers, Pewter and the Tongue." The Bull Head, in the Borough of Southwark ; Bull blacke : — " These Bulls were never Calves, nor came of Kine, Vet at all seasons they doe yeeld good wine ; But those that suck these Buls more than they ought Are Waltham Calves, much better fed than taught." Cardinall's Hatt : — ' ' We are much better pleas'd with the bare Signe Than with the Hat or Card'nale — There 's good Wine." The Christopher : — " I Read that Christopher once usde the Trade, A Mighty dangerous river ore to wade ; And, having left the Water, 'tis thought meet To set him here for Wine in this our street. '' Dragon, in Southwarke, neere St. Georg's Church ; — " These Dragons onely bite and sting all such As doe immod'ratly haunt them too much ; But those that use them well, from them shall finde Joy to the Heart, and Comfort to the Minde." He notices the Faulcon, which did never " stoope to the Lure, nor mire, nor droope "; the " Flower de Lices," which sell French wine, very likeable on trying. The White Hart :— " Although these Harts doe never runne away. They '11 tire a Man to hunt them eveiy day ; The Game and Chase is good for Recreation, But dangerous to mak't an occupation." The King's Head, in Horsey Downe : — " The sight whereof should men to Temp'rance win ; To come as sober out as they went in." 58 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. The Lyon, near St. George's Church, in Southwarke, and another near the Water Gate, St. Olave's : — ' ' These Lyons are exceeding milde and tame ; Yet oft, in least, tliey 'II claw a man starke lame. Play with them temperately, or looke to find A Lyon in the end will shew his kind. " The Lamb : — "They yield us cloathes to weare, and meat to live ; But nothing else but drinke this Lambe doth give.'' The Mermayd in the Burrough of Southwarke : — " This Maytl is strange in shape ; to Man's appearing Shee 's neither Fish or Flesh, nor good Red hearing : What is shee then ? a Signe to represent Fish, Flesh, good Wine, with welcome and Content.'' The Ram's Head in St. Olave's, in Southwarke : — ' ' At Ram or Ramshead be it knowne to all Are Wines predominant and Capital], To set a Horseman quite beside the Saddle And make a Footman's Pericranion Addle. '' He notes many others, but I forbear the rhymes, and finish with the Windemill : — " No Mealemouth'd Miller keeps this Mill, I know ; And let the wind blow either high or low, Hee 's kindly taking Toll ; and at his Mill Is Wine exceeding good, and Welcome still. " That is pretty well for John Taylor, waterman, writer of plays, and censor of morals. He has his play at the Hope' — "The lustre of all watermen | to row with scull, or write with pen." | O had he still kept on the water, | and never come upon Thekter, | he might have lived full merrily, | and not have died so lowsily. | O 'twas that foolish scurvie play | at Hope that took his sence away." | He lives handy by St. Saviour's ; " two plasterers at work for me at my house in Southwarke." And he seems to know Sir Edward Dyer the poet, at the Warden's Gate. In his capacity of water- » Works, 1630, p. 161. » Ibid., p, 153. FASTOLF AND THE BOARS HEAD. 59 man he lands an old fellow at the "Beares Colledge " on the Bankside, alias Paris Garden ; but here he is among the stews, and his writing- tastes of the locality. But one more of these inns remains to be noticed — the Boar's Head in the Map (37), immediately north of St. Thomas's Hospital, probably one of the two unnamed. Boar's Head Court, which represented the old inn, was situate between Nos. 25 and 26 of the old High Street, and was cleared away for the London Bridge approaches about 1830. Its site was after that included in the frontage of St. Thomas's Hospital, and is now covered by the rail- way approaches. Almost equidistant from the City end of the old bridge, as this from the Southwark end, was the Boar's Head of Shakespeare's plays.^ It is curious that the City inn was the scene of the revelries of Prince Hal and his fat friend, Sir John Falstaff ; and that the other, the Southwark inn, was the property of a Sir John Fastolf. In 1459 Henry Wyndesore, one of Fastolf's household, reminds Paston" to ask his master whether the old promise shall stand as to the Boar's Head in Southwark, as but for that promise he would, he says, have been in another place. Wyndesore seems uneasy about it, and well he might be, as Fastolf was mean to his servants: "get all and give little" might have been his motto, and he allowed them to hope on. In the church- wardens' accounts, St. Olave's, 16 14- 15, is noted, that John Barlow, " who dwelleth at ye Boar's Head in Southwark, pays 4^ a year for an encroachment at the corner of the wall in ye Flemish church- yard." Mr. Halliwell had a rare brass token — "At the Bores Head — In Southwark, 1649 " ; in the field " ^^ " : there is another in the Beaufoy collection. No. 895 . The point of interest about this inn is centred in the fact that its owner was Sir John Fastolf, of ' In a new selection from City records now being published, is a most interest- ing fact connected with the Boar's Head in East cheap — a license for the performance of plays there in the thick of the Shakspearean time, 1602. "The Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor," "granting permission to the servants of the Earl of Oxford and the Earl of Worcester to play at the Boar's Head in Eastchepe " ('Remembrancia,' 1878). The back of the City inn looked upon the burying- ground of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, as that of the Boar's Head in Southwark looked upon the Flemish and parish burying-ground east of the inn. The statue of William IV. nearly marks the site of the former. ' ' Paston Letters,' 122, Knight's edition. 6o OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Stoney Street St. Olave's Southwark, and of Caistor Castle, Norfolk." The old knight's house, " Fastolf 's Place, in Southwark," was grand enough to receive distinguished nobles. It was a place of such pretension as to be called a palace, and was coveted, in the after-scramble for the knight's property, by the Duke of Exeter In 1459. Here the mother of the Duke of York, afterwards Edward the Fourth, and her family were lodged once on occasion. Again, William of Worcester, a distinguished chronicler of the time, and Fastolf's retainer, says, the Parliament being dissolved, the King, Henry VI., held the feast of Christmas at Leicester ; but James Ormond, Count of Wiltshire, remained at the same feast at the house of Sir John Fastolf, in Southwark. So late as 1620, in a Sewars' Presentment, the officials " saie that the sewar or pissen from ffostal place all along the west side of Stonie Lane to the head thereof ought to be cast and clensed, and the wharfes repaired ; every one makinge defaulte to forf for everz'^ pole, v°." In the Cade rebellion the house was filled with soldiers and munitions of war, for which, said the rebels, " Sir John's house in Southwark should be burned down and all his tenuries." It was known that he had large possessions in Southwark. No less than 377 deeds relating to them are at Magdalen College, Oxford. There were goods " known only to two or three at Bermondsey Abbey." In 1470 Paston his relative and manager had after his death to deliver up his deeds at the Priory of St. Mary Overy, to be kept there in safety, in a chest having two locks and two keys. The Bishop (Waynfiete) living as it were next door, namely at Winchester House, and being Fastolf's executor, is to have one of the keys and Paston the other. Among these properties of his in Southwark are noted : — " the High Bere House, le Boreas Head, le Harte Home, alias le Bucke Head, Watermills, Dough Mills, tenements and gardens called Walles and le Dyhouse." In 1 72 1 Magdalen College does not give a good account of the benefactions they had at the death of Sir John Fastolf. It is, however, clear that they had various tenements : one, the Old Boar's Head Inn, was part of Sir John's gift and brought to the " Other Fastolfs appear in Southwark: John, 1437-1439 ; Richard, "aTayl- luur"; and Thomas, "a Soiidiour," 1460-1470. FASTOLF AND SIIAKESrEARE's PLAYS. 6l College 150/. per annum. Timbs, an old inhabitant of Southwark, and a diligent antiquarian, says this is true ; * that the Boar's Head Court was for many years let to his family at 150/. per annum, and was by them sublet chiefly to weekly tenants. It had, in his time, two rows of tenements vts-A-vis, and two at the east end, with galleries to the first floors, eleven in all, fronted with strong weather-boards. The balusters of great age, and beneath the whole extent of the court was a finely vaulted cellar. Sir John was a general, distinguished more or less in the French wars of the time of Joan of Arc. It is said that he had a some- what superstitious dread of her; he seems to have been weak that way, and that was the cause of the apparently pusillanimous conduct which brought upon him the imputation of cowardice, and the disgrace which followed. Sir John is a prominent character in the ' Paston Letters '; he is a friend of Bishop Waynfiete of Winchester House, close at hand ; he is a patron of Caxton, the printer ; and through the Bishop, a magnificent donor at least in intent, to Magdalen College, Oxford,' the Bore's Head being part of his benefaction. The name, if it does nothing more, inevitably suggests Falstaff. The character of Falstaff is one of the most wonderful of Shakespeare's creations; and the question, Was there a living model ? has occupied the literary world from Fuller and the writer in the 'Biographia Britannica' down to our more modern notables, Halliwell, Gairdner, and others. Was there a type at all ? Or was the character the creation of the poet's brain, with some misty aftershadowings from the life ? The leading character of a play called ' Sir John Oldcastle,' which before occupied the stage, was Sir John himself, changed into a Falstaff. It is thought that some remonstrance was made as to the taking the name of such a man as the type of a low buffoon ; be that as it may, the best authority, Shakespeare himself, disowns such an adoption, "One word more," he says," "if you be not too much cloid with Fat Meate, meaning the fat knight with the great belly doublet, * Notes and Queries, second Series, vol. v. p. 84. Signed, J. Timbs. ' It is said not ; but I suppose much of Fastolf s property did reacli tlie college through Waynfiete, Fastolf 's executor, and founder of the college. ^ Epilogue to the second part of King Heniy IV. 62 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it, where Falstaff shall die of a sweat. OUcastk died a martyr; and this is not the man.'''' Probably the adoption, in the first play, of ' Sir John Oldcastle ' was a touch of spite on the part of some Jesuitical person to kill the reputation, as they had cruelly killed the man, Oldcastle, or Cobham, a bright name in our history, was burnt to death slowly for being a Christian, — that is, of an active and troublesome turn, — -for Lollardy after the reforming manner of Wickliffe; but \\Q."was not_ the man."'' That Falstaff should be Fastolf, and conversely, is almost too obvious to be believed, and no doubt it cannot be that this knight was the complete type ; but there is far more ground for the supposition than in the other case, and that Fastolf dwelt much in Shake- speare's mind— the Fastolf of Southwark I mean — is evident. He was in his own name introduced in the first part of ' King Henry VI.' as the " man who played the coward and left Talbot to be taken." Whether Shakespeare wrote this character or not, it is so placed in (he first edition of Shakespeare's works, printed in 1623, by his friends, Heminge and Condell, soon after his death. Well, I do not say that Falstaff was Fastolf; that I cannot quite do. Falstaff was very much a caricature or invention of the poet for stage purposes. But there are so many points of similarity justifying in some degree the use of our Fastolf as a type, that it may be interesting to note them, if only as a study. It will also afford opportunity for executing a little justice on a subordinate historical character that has had a little too much false gilding.^ ' Fuller, ed. 1572, p. 253. "The stage hath been overbold, making him a Thrasonical puff and emblem of mock valour. True it is, Sir John Oldcastle did iirst bear the brunt of the one, being made the make-sport in all plays for a coward. It is easily known out of what purse this black penny came. The Papists railed on him for a heretic, and therefore he must also be a coward. I am glad Sir John Oldcastle is put out so ; I am soriy Sir John Fastolfe is put in. Nor is our comedian excusable," &c. The play of 'Sir John Oldcastle' w.as printed in 1600, and was written by Anthony Mundaj', Drayton, and perhaps others (Malone). ' "His valour made him a terror in war ; his humanity made him a blessing in peace." "The streams of his treasure that fed the fountain of his munificence were numerous and plentiful." " Sir John Fastolf, the brave experienced soldier, the wise and able statesman, the steady patriot, the generous patron, the pious THE CHARACTER OF FASTOLF. 63 The loss of France dwelt much in the public mind ; " so many had the managing' that they lost France and made our England bleed." So says the chorus in 'Henry V.' ; and (his strong impression was spoken out by Cade," and is noted in other parts of the plays. Of "the many managers " who had a hand in it, some, the Bishop of Chichester or Winchester and De la Pole,^ were put to death ; others, as Fastolf, dwelt in the public mind as traitors or imbeciles who had tarnished the fair fame of England. With this view, it would not surprise any one to find the name picked out for obloquy in an historical play. The time was not so long since these deeds were done that they and the personages which figured in them should be forgotten. Shakespeare was a reader of ' Hall's Chronicles,' and Hall says''': — From this battle'' " departed, with- out any stroke stricken. Sir John Fastolf, the same year for his valiantness elected into the Order of the Garter. For which cause the Duke of Bedford, in a just anger, took from him the image of St. George and his Garter ; but afterwards, by means of friends and apparent causes of good excuse iy him alledged, he was restored to the Order again, against the mind of the Lord Talbot." Noting my italics, it will be seen what was in the mind of the chronicler. The discovery of the ' Fasten Letters ' was a great boon, giving facts as they were generally believed by the best people of the time, and they seem to open up some truths about Sir John Fastolf. He marries the mother of Stephen Scrope, and between them the unlucky heir is kept from his inheritance ; Scrope is his ward, to be made a profit of according to the times ; the wardship and marriage were sold for a good round sum, "sold like a beast," benefactor." — William Oldys, 'Life of Sir John FastolfF,' by Gough, fol. 1793. Let all this be kept in mind -when I note the passages from the ' Paston Letters. ' ^ And Cade had been a soldier in the French wars, and probably Icnew the feeling among his fellows. ' He married Alice, daughter of Thomas Chaucer. The captain who kills him at sea plays on his name, tells him he is the pool whose filth and dirt troubles the silver spring where England drinks; but there is a 'Paston Letter,' xxvi., Knight's Edition, which shows the Duke in quite another, a vciy pious and very noble, character. " See edition 1809, p. 150. ' Of Patay ; Joan of Arc was present, and Talbot was taken prisoner. 64 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. says Scrope, who had to be taken back again, and was kept in penury. The wardship of Thomas Fastolf was bought of the King; there was much wrangUng over him. Fastolf is a lender of money ; the Duke of York pawns jewels to him ; he has lent money to Lord Rivers ; others are indebted ; and it appears at least probable that his great influence in this way stood him in good stead in the restoration of his good name, his rehabilitation, as we call it. He has frequent troubles, and law is sought; but he can influence the judges, or try to. He, prays for a continuance of favour from a judge before whom is a case of his, and hints that he will keep it in mind. Some people at Caistor offend him — " if they continue in their wilfulness he will be quit on them, by God or the Devil he will." At a dinner at Norwich, 1454, many gentlemen present, — they throw scorn upon him as a boaster, and as one who takes advantage of others ; he wishes to know secretly who they are, and then . Henry Wyndesore, the servant who sought the fulfilment of a promise as to the Boar's Head, says of him, " It is not unknown that cruel and revengeful he hath ever been, without pity or mercy "; and obscurely he hints at other matters, about which it would perhaps not be safe for him to speak out. William of Worcester, a distinguished chronicler of the time, was secretary, factotum, and apparently also physician to Fastolf ; he complains bitterly how he is kept out of wage ; he had little or no salary, but had plenty to eat and drink, was treated like a menial, not as a gentleman or scholar, and was always kept up with hope ; his master wished him to be a priest, and to have had a benefice— that is to say, "another man must give it"; he has but five shillings yearly to help to pay for the bonnets he loses, and speaks of his master's " unkyndnesse and covetisse." Paston also, his man of business, was a waiter on the future ; he did not get his costs other than in expectation ; " He never had of the seid Sir John Fastolf fee ne reward in his lyf," Fastolf's servant Payn is sent from Southwark to Cade's people at Blackheath. Fastolf is denounced by Cade as the greatest traitor that was in England or France ; that it was mainly owing to him that the King lost his title and inheritance beyond the sea ; and that he had so provided in Southwark as to destroy the com- mons ; and that he should be requited. The servant is permitted SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 65 to go to his master and persuade him to put away his soldiers and habiliments of war from Southwark, Fastolf did so, and went, he and his men, to the Tower and was safe.' Fastolf does not appear to have taken any part in the struggle fought unsuccess- fully by Cade with the City people. True he was now old ; but his servant Payn is, like Uriah, put in the forefront of the battle, and is hurt near hand to death. The unfortunate man fares no better on the other side ; he is expected to tell of such matters as might impeach his master of treason, and failing is put into the Marshalsea, despoiled, and threatened to be hung, drawn, and quartered ; and as he says, it does not seem now fifteen years after that he has been recompensed his bare losses. No wonder when Fastolf dies that there should be a general scramble for the immense riches he is known to have left behind him ; and it is not unnatural that he might be chosen as one upon whom fittingly to exercise some wit and satire. Whether the expression, " My old lad of the castle,"^ might by poetic licence be brought in as re- ferring only to Sir John Oldcastle, or to a man known in Southwark as the owner of Falstof Place and the Boar's Head, who had set his mind upon the building of a huge castle at Caister, I cannot say. Fastolf s doings at Caistor might have well given him this nickname. He, the Southwark man of Stoney Street, had built an enormous castle, each side 300 feet long, with a large and lofty tower at each corner, one of them 100 feet high ; a castle which had been besieged in the Wars of the Roses, and had been the subject of an immense deal of cupidity and fuss. At length the old one-third warrior, one-third shrewd man of the world, one-third knave, is almost at his last ; he is beyond fourscore years. Now in reality his time is come, when he must before he is "out of heart and without strength," prepare for his soul. He wishes " the leisure to dispose himself godly, and beset his lands and his goods to the pleasure of God and the weal of his soul, that all men may say he dieth a wise man and a worshipful." " He had so managed ■• Here are, to some extent, repetitions of previous passages, but in each case, it seems essential to the story. * Shakespeare, 1st part ' Henry IV.,' Act i. sc. 2. ^ He had, indeed, taken thought about this. A practised writer liad been employed to write a history of the valiant exploits that Sir John Fastolf did while F 66 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. matters as to be very rich, to possess property — manors far and wide. The list of them almost takes away one's breath. There is a suspicion that he was wary and cunning, and that he had managed to scrape a great deal together ad misericordiam, and by pertinacity. This is continually shown in the Shakespeare character in small things. In larger things see his " Billa de debitis Regis in partibus Franciae, Johanni Fastolf, militi, debitis, 4,083/. i^s. y^d."'' — to the farthing ; this means at least some ten or twelve times in value the named amount. Accordingly lawsuits and scrambles occur after his death. The Duke of Exeter claims his place in Southwark. The Duke of Norfolk seizes by force of arms the great castle at Caister. In fact, a general infringement of the tenth commandment ensues. Fastolf was a merchant at Yarmouth, and complains how ill that answered.^ He was employed in France during the time of Henry V., and for this he was well rewarded. But the time is come. He is superstitious, childless, and anxious and timid as to the future ; now at last he must really care for his soul. After the manner of the times, he takes counsel with the Church ; that is, with his friend Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. He has made the best of this world, but can now no longer enjoy it, but charity he thinks will make everything straight for the next. A heavy duty devolves upon his friend, — affairs are in great confusion, and every one is pulling a different way for his own benefit. One ruling passion is still apparent. Fastolf is much set upon the foundation of his college, he knows what he is, but he wishes his memory to be fragrant, and he is aware what the general teaching is, that at the last a man may with sufficient largesse (of which he has plenty and which he can no longer enjoy) make everything square, so to speak, and be even " a saint," however he may have revelled in St. George's Fields or elsewhere. The bishop is moved to obtain the licence without any "great fine." The ruling pas- he was in France ; and the writing had been delivered, together witli a Chronicle of Jeiiisalem — some -twenty bundles of paper — "to the Secretary, William of Worcester, and none other" (Knight's 'Paston,' vol. i. p. 152). And yet William of Worcester considered his master a mean man, to be rather derided than honom-ed. ' Knight's 'Paston,' vol. i. pp. 71-74. ' Knight's 'Paston,' vol, i. p. 81. THE END OP SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 6"] sion to the last, but there was some reason here, as it was usual then to charge a fifth of the sum bestowed for amortizing, that is for set- tling in mortmain. But his lawyer nephew says they will not do it for less.' Knowing-, I suppose, his uncle's frailty, he seems to insinuate that my Lady Abergavenny (another Southwark poten- tate, if I am not mistaken) hath in divers abbeys in Leicestershire seven or eight priests singing for her perpetually, and that they had agreed for " money," and had given 200 or 300 marks, as they might accord, for a priest. And (simple souls as to perpetuity) they, for a surety that the prayers should be sung in the same abbeys for rcer, left manors of great value, — left so that the said service should be kept. To this effect the wily nephew wrote to his wor- shipful uncle. Accordingly the fearful and superstitious sinner near his end leaves in his will bequests far and wide ; he remem- bers divers matters for the '' wele of his sowle "; poor men and priests have bequests to pray " in perpetuite "; 4,000 marks are to be bestowed, for the sowle of Sir John Fastolf ; chantry priests in St. Olave's, priests here, there and everywhere. Great things were devised for the soul of Sir John Fastolf, but it ended in squabbles, a general snatching up of what each could get, and a patched-up agreement between the contending parties. Wayn- flete agrees that they shall take some, and he shall be free with the rest for his church and college; When Henry IV. came in 1399 Fastolf must have been 22 or 23, and when the King died 36 or 37. When Henry V. died, he was probably 45 or 46; his own death was in 1459, at the age of 82.^ All this coming out of the '\ Bore's Head " and its owner may appear tedious, but I could not bring myself to say less of so distinguished a character, of Shake- speare's it may be, but of Southwark certainly. It may be inte- resting to know the result of all Fastolf's care for his soul, but I have no better authority than the Hostess, in the first act of Henry V. In this case I may be allowed to mix fact with fiction a little. The Hostess mixes this world and the next humorously enough. FalstafI is dead ; — Bardolph is touched ; he would be with ' The other way, I think ; — ^but can it be ? — " they ask for eveiy 100 marks ye would amortize, 500 marks." Letters, vol. i. p. 91. ' Or 83. Grainger. F 2 68 OLD SOUTinVARK AND ITS PEOPLE. his old master, "would I were with him wheresomere hee is, eyther in Heaven or in Hell." " Nay, sure," says the Hostesse, hee 's not in Hell ; hee 's in Arthur's Bosome, if ever man went to Arthur's Bosome : a made a finer end, and went away and it had been any Christome Child." ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH. . In the picture of Hogarth's ' Southwark Fair,' of which many engravings are about, amidst the tumult of the fair and the booths, the top of the tower of OLD ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH (Map, S) is to be seen. The stone tower is square and embattled, and with a turret ; on the top, people are engaged in the sports of the fair, watching and assisting the mountebank in his flight down the rope from the tower to the ground.'' A goodly clock is shown, the time near half-past eleven. This sketch was probably taken not long before the old church was pulled down and the new one built.^ The old church was no doubt of great antiquity ; the same; indeed, allowing for repairs and renovations, as that in which Roman Catholic services had, up to the time of our map, always been performed. In all the old maps I have seen, the church appears with a square tower, and practically on the same site as the present one. It was no doubt first founded when the parish first took shape, but there is no evidence as to the exact time. The steeple and gallery were repaired, new pewed, and beautified in 1629; the fact, recorded on glass, was in one of the windows remaining in 1708. Another inscription, on the key-piece of the west inner door-case, recorded another important repair, in 1682 ;" and as time was evidently telling upon the old fabric, the steeple was again repaired in 1705." ■' This man was Robert CacUnan, or, in a. magazine of the time, Thomas Kidman, wlio brolce his neclc in a more daring fliglit from the spire of St. Maiy's, Shrewsbury, in 1740. This sensational kind of flight from a church tower was not new or uncommon ; an instance at St. Paul's, in 1547, is graphically noted in the Grey Friars' Chromck. ' The first stone laid, St. George's Day, 1734. ■* On one of these occasions, probably 1629, the south ilc was enlarged half the length, on the ground of the churchyard. ■' We might have had a more complete record of the old church, but unfortu- nately, in 1776, the parish papers and docyments were sold in a lump, at the rate THE ANCIENT ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH. 69 The oldest record I know of concerning the church is from the 'Annals of Bermondsey.' * "In the year of our Lord 1122, Thomas de Ardern and Thomas his son gave to the monks of Bermondsey the church of St. George in Southwerk, which gift was confirmed by the King, Henry I. It had, therefore, existed some time before that. In pulling down the tower in 1733 was dis- covered a part of the material of which it had been built, a square stone, with an inscription;' which was engraved and explained in the ' Archaeologia,' Vol. II. p, 189, and in other journals. It appears to have been a quasi-Roman inscription of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and seems to imply, says one, that an Alderman of London laid the first stone ; another hints that it was probably an old Roman stone with an inscription, used in building the first church. There were in fact many Roman villas up and down the High Street, near to the site of St. George's Church. Whatever the meaning of the inscription may be, it is Englished thus in the ' Archaeologia ': — " R. Codam raised this ; be not thou he that will suffer it to be defaced at any feast of Mannus," which looks like an attempt to explain the unexplainable.' In 1733 this stone was in the hands of the clerk of St. Thomas's ; afterwards it was with the Rev. Jno. Lewis, of Margate, and so mutilated that the letters could be with difficulty made out. Suffice it to say, it appears to be good evidence of the great antiquity of our church, and was probably taken from the remains of a Roman villa near at hand. An old and somewhat beautiful font belonging to the church is figured, and an account of it given in the Gentleman's Magazine, April 1840. It appears that it was removed in 1736, and was afterwards used in the Workhouse in beating oakum ; but, being thrown aside, was preserved by an old parishioner. It was probably of the time of Henry VIII., was octagonal, with a panel in each face, enclosing a small flower. of i4 xl ^ dayes of pardon. " The sunime of the masses that is sayd &" song within the same parysshe churche of saynt George is a M andXLIlIl. God save the Kynge." There were, of course, very many such briefs. 15 ii,* Gild of St. George, Southwark. " Protection for one year to the deputies of the Gild of the Virgin Mary and St. George, in the Church of St. George, in Southwark, sent to various parts of the country to solicit and collect alms." Another, 15 13, examined by Doctour Collet, Dean of Poulles.' It may be noted that Gower, the poet, 1408, remembers this with the other Southwark churches, leaving in his will 13^. 4^. for ornaments and lights, and 6s. &d. to the resident priest or rector to have prayers said for him. Less dis- tinguished people, many of them, no doubt did the same. People devoted to the church, in confederation of brotherhood and sister- hood, must no doubt have been a great help in keeping off the evil day which, however, at length overwhelmed both church and gild. It is worth the trouble of comparing in imagination that St. George's and its services and this present one. Protestant and lover of religious freedom as I am, I cannot but own that our cold occasional affairs are not in every sense better than the somewhat attractive and almost perpetual life and bustle in the old church. For myself, I would rather be without both than have either, and I trust I am not the less a Christian for that. There can be a warm and heartfelt service without gorgeous ceremony, posturing, and superstition. The gild of St. George's, South- wark, had long been noted, and had gifts and offerings accordingly; for example — " To the fraternitee of Saint George, in Southwerke, ■• Wolsey. ' 124,040 days ; something worth obtaining by those who are acutely sensitive to pain, but of not much moment if the trouble is to have no end. " Rolls Publications, 1511 ; Greenwich, 3rd July, 3 Heniy VIIL ' Knight's Colet, 1724. THE GILD AND ITS DUTIES. 73 Ss.,^ 1509, iSio, iSii, 1512. — King's "offering's to St. George's Gild, Southwark, i^s. ^d. each time. Many others are noted in following years of gifts on St. George's Day, e.g., to St. George's Gild, Southwark, 1 3^. 4c?. ; to the fraternity of St. George's Gild, 1 3^. 4^. ; IS 19, my Lord's^ offering to St. George, in Southwark, 4^/. ; the same as at the Savoy. St. George's Day, even after the destruc- tion of the gilds under Henry VIII. and Edward VI., was a great festival. In 1559 the crafts of London, in coats of velvet and chains, with guns, pikes, and flags, muster before the Lord Mayor in the Duke of Suffolk's park, opposite St. George's, when, after bread and drink, they move to St. George's Fields ; and, after lO of the doke, therein before the Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich, and to games.'' We are not, however, without a more complete clue as to the inner meaning of a Gild of St. George. There was one at Lynn, the records of which are preserved ; ^ this was, however, so early as 1 376. Probably our St. George's Gild, noted as it had now become, \yas of as early foundation. The rules of this gild of St. George at Linn were : — A priest to serve at the altar of St. George ; to find candles and torches for service and burials ; services for the dead and offerings ; masses for souls ; help to poor bretheren and sisteren; four meetings every year under penalty ; the gild to go to church, from their gild house, in hood of livery ; every feast to be begun with prayer, the gild light burning the while, and always without noise and jangling ; members admitted at general morun- speche (general mornspeech, or meeting) ; the affairs of the gild not to be disclosed. From the few words of the brief, this may be taken as an analogous gild to our own. It would be pleasant to me could I but see a service of bretheren and sisteren in livery on St. George's Day in our old church. The gild house was usually close to the church ; it was so in St. Olave's, which was known as Jesus House. In 1519" the ' Gild Alle ' in Southwark ' '* is mentioned ; but whether pertaining to this gild, which was then ' 1502. Elysabeth of York, Queen of Henry VII. (Nicolas). » Henry VIII. ' My Lord Cardinall Wolsey, Rolls Publications. ° Machyn's 'Diary,' 1559. ' 'English Gilds,' Toulmin Smith, p. 74. ■* Rolls Publications, 1519, vol. iii. part i, page 127. 74 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. distinguished enough to receive offerings yearly from King and Cardinal, cannot be told. A scene which took place here tells, alas ! quite another, and a dreadful story. On the 25th May, i SS7, Stephen Gratwick is before Dr. White, Bishop of Winchester, at eight in the morning, in St. George's Church ; he is condemned, sent to the Marshalsea, and with two others burnt to death in St. George's Fields ; the same day, Richard Woodman from the Marshalsea, appears before certain bishops and priests sitting in St. George's Church ; he also is afterwards condemned. This is in the Marian period, and was part of the cruel doings of that time, which happily was short. Another scene. Now the victims are Romanists and the Queen a Protestant.^ John Rigby is in the White Lyon Prison, a few doors north of the church ; he had conformed, but now avows himself ; he appears at the sessions, St. Margaret's Hill, and will not go to church. He is condemned to be hanged and quartered at St. Thomas a Watering. The hurdle awaits him in the yard, and, as he goes along, the minister of St. George's offers his aid ; the condemned man thanks him, but will not. Friends meet him on the way, and before long his head and quarters are set up in and about the public ways of Southwark. Some others like him meet with the same fate in the same reign. It is said that the St. George's bell, within our century, was nightly rung :' a tradition of the curfew, for fires to be. put out, cattle to be locked up, apprentices to go home, and the like. It rang when prisoners were placed on the hurdle for execution in 1803, as it probably did before. Up to within our own day the neighbourhood of St. George's Church " Without attempting in any way to apologize for cruelty, we cannot but blame the bull of Pius V. deposing Elizabeth, for much of the cruelty practised toward Catholics in this reign, and perhaps we owe to this bull more or less, the fact that ours is a Protestant country. The Act of Elizabeth 13, ch. 2, was the answer forbidding any such publication, and making that and other Romish practices treason, and for the time, at least, it forbade peace with Rome. And was not, then, this severity natural ? There was published in 1588, in English, for circu- lation, ' A Declaration of the Sentence and Deposition of Elizabeth, the Vsurper and pretended Quene of Englande,' eighty-one lines. Such a document was sure to recoil upon its advocates. A copy of this rare paper was sold in 1862, in London, for 31/. ^ Syer Cuming, Archaolog. Journal, April, 1848. PUTTING TO DEATH. 75 was fruitful in executions. In the older times some chief prisons were near; there was always a tendency to draft many of the chief criminals of the country into Southwark. People were executed within the prisons, and buried at St. George's ; the way to one place of execution was by the church. In the records which are left of St. George's, entries of this dreadful sort occur : — 1631. "Mary Bishop, Jane Gold, Joane Dobridge, executed, out of the White Lyon." 1610. "Michael Banks, out of the King's Bench, executed; did revive again, was in the old vestry three hours, and was then carried back and executed again." It was not uncommon, apparently, to have to wait for a better rope — to be hanged again. 1630. " Richard Lade, A.M., executed ; hong." 1603. Many this year "hong" — two or three a day some- times, from the White Lyon and the Bench Prisons. The habit of the time was violence, but the executions only brutalized ; thrice in eight weeks, in this same century, the minister of St. George's preaches from the text, " Do violence to no man "; it must have been always before him. A foreigner,' about 1580, tells how executions were managed. " For hanging," he says, " the English have no regular execu- tioner : a butcher or any other one is called to perform it. The criminal seated in a cart, one end of...rope round his neck, the other fastened to the gallows ; the cart moves on, and the con- demned wretch is left hanging. Friends and acquaintances pull at his legs, that he may be strangled the sooner." Our church, like others in those irregular and half lawless times, was a sanctuary for wretches fleeing for their lives ; that is, from summary revenge or summary justice, lynch or otherwise. One such case at least is known,' a man had killed his benefactress a widow sleeping in her bed, and had fled with such jewels and other stuff of hers as he might carry, but was so hotly pursued, that for fear he took to the Church of St. George in Southwark, and had allowed privilege of sanctuary there. Afterwards, in his way out ' ' England as seen l)y Foreigners,' W. B. Rye, p. 89. « Stow, Thorns' ed., p. 157. 76 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. of the land — which mercy the privilege allowed him — he was set upon by the friends and neighbours of the murdered widow, and killed in the street. A touching picture of a hunted wretch, who had just reached sanctuary, and was clinging to the altar, followed closely by a howling crowd, all which I see now, was exhibited at the Royal Academy last year. Another scene at St. George's. Certain crimes, deserving somewhat less than execution or pillory, were often punished with penance, which in some cases meant standing bareheaded and barelegged, in a white sheet, openly before the people ; some- times in the market-place, sometimes in the church, or in the church-porch from bell-ringing to divine service, or upon a stool in the middle aisle before the congregation until service was over. 1549. Only as an instance, a conjuror during preaching, was standing with the scripture, that is the written offence on his breast." Sometimes this was done privately, for a less offence or to spare the individual. I have note of one at St. Saviour's, 1637, presented by the churchwardens of his parish for loose con- duct ; of another at St. Thomas's, 1732, for scandal;' of another at St. George's, 1736, when "an eminent attorney did private penance for slandering a woman in the Mint." From what I know of the Mint, even in these days, the eminent attorney must have spoken very strong words indeed to have deserved penance for a lady of the Mint. But a few years before, the Mint had been an Alsatia, or acknowledged and privileged resort for the vilest people, to be cured only by a special Act of Parliament, 9 Geo. I. It may be that the place was struggling into virtue, and the attorney was hindering the process. More than a hundred years afterwards the place was known to me, its medical officer, as a wholesale resort of doubtful people. In 1 364, any one forswearing himself was to stand on a high stool in full busting, and the cause made known.' In case of incest or incontinency, the penitent did open and public penance in the parish church or market-place ; Bishop Grindal ordering the offender " to be set over against the pulpit during the sermon or ' 'Grey Friars' Chronicle,' p. 63. ' The official document, p. m., signed by the minister and parish officials. * Riley ' Mem. Lond.' VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF. T] homily, in a sheet, and on a board, a foot and half at least above the church floor .^ In visitation articles, 1637, the churchwardens (Canterbury) were to provide a sheet and white wand for this purpose. It was a way they had, in their punishments openly to disgrace people, barring the way back to repentance and respect among those who had " been in trouble " ; and so the people were brutalized, and the exhibition of mutilated remains of the condemned, or of people burnt to death, in the highways, was found to produce only a passing sensation. I copy from this day's Times'^- — human nature under adequate neglect appears to be always the same — " Two men (Bulgarians) are hanged ; they stand on chairs while the rope is being adjusted, and ten minutes later the men are there hanging ; a small crowd seems moved with a vague curiosity ; but all the business of the bazaar is being carried on within twenty yards as regularly and quietly as if nothing unusual had happened." But I must go back to St. George's. Our church, like all others, was itself very impartial as to the creed or practice of the preachers admitted to its pulpit. The fabric alone was impas- sive ; to-day the people are Papists, to-morrow Puritan, Church, Presbyterian, Independent, or Catholic, each and all, adequately persuaded or incited, willing to coerce or persecute the other. A church so distinguished as specially to figure in the g'ift-books of the King and next highest in the land, once a year at least on the festival days of the saint, is likely to have had men of note in its pulpit, and people not less distinguished to listen. Out of the flock of abbots and priors living close at hand, surely one now and then appeared. As the church belonged to the Abbey of Bermondsey, its abbot or a selected monk must have on occasion preached to the people here. One very much dis- tinguished there was. Bishop Bonner, who came here, but it was to be buried at night in silent and disgraceful manner, but whether he and his fellow Gardiner ever appeared in our pulpit, I know not; as they preached in neighbouring churches, notably St. Saviour's, no doubt they did so here. It is something to be able '3 N^otes and Queries, 1875, p. 278. * August 7th, 1877, p. 8, 78 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. to close the eyes and indulge in a living- picture of the past ; our little church, with its rich stained glass windows, with incense, music, and gorgeous ceremonial ; the gathering of the quaintly dressed brethren and sisteren of the gild on St. George's Day ; or perchance a differential believer or heretic, as was the custom, sitting in conspicuous place, to be preached at, before being delivered over to the secular arm, to be judicially murdered for a matter of conscientious opinion. As hearers, there were the inmates of the royal and ducal mansion opposite the church, or unfortunate people of distinction, in debt, and in the rules within which the church was ; — the chief officers of the Bench — Lenthall, and others — are known to have worshipped at St. George's Church. From the time that Arderne and his son gave St. George's to the Priory of Bermondsey until the final winding up, the appoint- ment of the rector was with the Priory,^ unless it happened that there was trouble with France or with the Pope ; then the alien, or French Priory, fell, for the time, into the hands of the King, and the appointment with it." So Thomas Profete, in 1369-70, was appointed by the King rector of St. George's. It may be imagined what different doctrines were preached here in the disturbed times ; — in the early time of Henry VIII., before the quarrel with Rome ; — in the later, when ministers were drawn through Southwark to St. Thomas a Watering, and there executed for the "supremacy";' time Edward VI., when, 1547 "all the images are pulled down," and when in 1533, in Mary's time, " the altars are set up again," — and so on. Under Elizabeth, one rector with the congenial name of Lattymer appears in St. George's pulpit. In 1625, the preacher here dies of the plague — dies on duty. More than 3S,000 died of the plague this year in London, ° In this period appears as rector, Carmelianus, poet laureate. Caxton printed six epistoloe, which Carmelianus had put into elegant Latin. A copy of one precious fragment of his I saw at the Caxton Exiiibition, No. 94, Catalogue. " \\hcn first founded Fermondsey Priory was an offset and dependent of the French I'liory, and the appointment of prior at least, was with the foreigner ; hence it was known as alien. ' Stow's 'Annals,' 1533. The King, and not the Pope, supreme head of the C'liurch. THE CLERGY IN THE TIME OF THE PLAGUE. 79 and among them, in the neighbouring parish of St. Saviour's, Fletcher, the great dramatist. 1665, another St. George's preacher dies of the plague ; — from 70,000 to 100,000 people die of the disease this year. No fate more noble than to die on duty in the midst of such a work. In another page^ is narrated, how with honourable exceptions, some hospital doctors fled. Some of the clergy also were terror-stricken ; the regular clergy, in some instances, got their places supplied." Archbishop Neile writes to Laud, " he had hoped to have brought his report of his province, but the lingering of the infection about Winchester House makes him afraid."^ 1665. "Most of the clergy have fled, and the ejected ministers volunteer and supply the pulpits " ; notably in South wark, Janeway, Vincent, Chester, Turner, Grimes, and Franklin.^ Now came out some broadsheets, jeering, well deserved, — " Again,- ' A PULPIT to be let. Woe to the idle Shepherd that leaveth his flock. " " No morning mattins now, nor evening song. Alas ! the Parson cannot stay so long." Again, of both laity and clergy, — "The Plague will follow sin, be where it will ; Without repentance it a man can kill." And many another caricature lashing the evils of the day. ■ Another kind of scene. Petition of Wm. Freake, curate of St. George's, a prisoner in the Bench, to Laud. The under-bailiff of Southwark had arrested him as he was coming out of church on Sunday, in the very act, as he says, of going to visit the sick, and pray with them. The story looks almost too good ; but it was not uncommon to take such an opportunity to get at shifty people ; besides, now and then, people would take the law in their own hands, and disregard the sanctuary. In 1478, the servant of John Vide ' St. Thomas's Hospital. ^ ' Archteologia, ' xxxvii. ' 'Rolls Dom.,' 1636-7, p. 410. " Neal, ' Puritans,' vol. ii., p. 652, ed. 1754. 2 Lemon, Catalogue Antiquarian Soc, pp. 131, 132. 8o OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Paston, well known in South wark, writes to please his master with the intelligence that he had served a subpoena for him on a Trinity Sunday during service, and before the people.* In 1444, a sheriff's officer, on behalf of some high-handed people, had arrested a man in the church during mass. It seems worse as to St. George's, because, until the abolition of the rules or privileged place, within which it was situate, the church was so to speak peculiarly a debtor's church. But "worse remains behind." In 1641, Mason, curate here, permits a Brownist^ to preach for him in St. George's pulpit. In the Guildhall Library is a copy of " The Cobler's eiid (or his lasf) Sermon, preached in St. George's Church Southwark, by a Cobler, last Sabbath Day 12 Dec. 1641." His text was, "The fire of hell is ordained from the beginning ; yea, even for the king is it prepared." Other discourses after the same kind were given for about three weeks. Those who heard the papistical Book of Common Prayer, those who would admit bishops and priests, were damned; and vlie preacher added to the emphasis by every now and then ("ever and anon ") crying out " Fire ! fire ! fire ! " The end was a tumult over the pew -backs." So the churchwardens, especially Sir John " Lentle,'" justice of the peace, commanded that the preacher should be apprehended, " and he is now to answer at the Common Council." Taylor, the Water Poet,* who was rather warm in these matters, and not too nice in his phrases, speaks of the notorious predicant Cobler^ whose body was buried in the highway," his funeral sermon being ■' ' Paston Letters. ' 5 Brownists, specially church reformers, named after their leader ; but in this case apparently, a ranter and firebrand. " The modern word is "row." I have, in my own time, before the time of the present vestries, witnessed similar disgraceful scenes in St. George's Church. ' Lenthall. We may learn from the constant variation in' the spelling of names, in what way Avords were pronounced by different people in those times ; and this may serve to show phonetic people how they may have frequently to alter their spelling, according as fashion, caprice, or ignorance may take to pronouncing words. 8 'The Brownist's Conventicle,' 1641. » yl props, from the parish register, " 8 May, 1623, Thomas Apsley, a Browning or Anabaptist, being excommunicated, was buried by soiire of his own sect in St, George's Field." RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS IN SOUTHWARK. 8 1 preached by one of his sect in a brewer's cart. He speaks of " hubbubs and strange tumults in the churches, violent hands laid on the minister ; his master of arts hood rent from his neck ; his surplice torn to flitters on his back ; and this while the psalm was singing, — the communion table was chopped in pieces and burnt in the churchyard." I expect this is a little exaggerated ; the truth is below.^ Sir John Lenthall, the Marshall, who figured in his own church St. George's, visits a "nest" of the same sort of people at Deadman's Place, and sends several of them to the Clink ; so that Sir John's " blood is up." Southwark, as a very nest of sectaries, is in a very warm condition just now. The prentices took to assaulting and troubling, even to pulling down, some of these troublesome Brownist conventicles. The rioters who pulled down the rails in church, paid for their zealous freak ; they were committed for six months to the Bench, to stand on a high stool openly on market day for two hours, in Cheapside and in Southwark, to pay 20/., and find sureties. The evil had not been, however, all on this side. The member for Southwark, Mr. White, a good lawyer, one of the best members our. borough ever had, was appointed chairman of a Committee of the House of Commons to inquire into scandalous immoralities of clergy ; and very soon, partly, no doubt, from very warm zeal, and perhaps antipathies, some 2,000 petitions were brought before the Committee.^ But not to wander too far away from my parish church, I will now speak of, perhaps, the best man that had ever occupied its pulpit, Henry Jessey, a most learned and conscientious divine, humble, pious, and a good preacher. He had been at St. John's College, Cambridge, and had become proficient in the languages and learning needful, for the elucidation of the Bible, " notably Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, and the writings of the Rabbins." He studied physic, but I am not aware that he ever practised it. Coming into actual life, his nonconforming opinions kept pretty continuously in his way. He was ejected from one living for not using the ceremonies, and for ' It was the fact that the rails were torn down, and there was a riot at the communion at St. Olave's and at St. Saviour's. ' Lords' Journals, 1641.' The parson at St. Olave's could not be got at by the remonstrants, so friendly church- wardens took the rails down and sold them, and got into trouble for so doing. " Neal, 'Puritans,' ed. 1754, vol. ii. p. 18. G 82 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. presuming to take down a crucifix ; this was in Laud's time. In London his congregation at Queenhithe, 1637-8, was seized and dispersed by the bishop's officers. In 1641, Mr. Jessey and five of his congregation, not of St. George's, were committed to the Compter. While at St. George's, where, Wilson^ says, he seems to have been rector, he divided his labours, preaching in the morning at the church, afternoons among " his own people," ^ once a week at Eley House, and in the Savoy to wounded soldiers. He was engaged upon a new edition of the Bible, when the restoration of Charles II. stopped the work. The archbishop of the time is said to have altered parts of this projected work, so as to make it speak the language of prelacy. In 1660 he was ejected from St. George's, and silenced. A very lovable man he must have been; he kept unmarried that he might have more free scope for good work ; some thirty families were more or less dependent on him. It appears that his congregation was too numerous, and was accordingly divided, one kept with himself, one went with the well-known Praise-God Barebones, preacher, leatherseller, and parliament man, afterwards very busy among the sectaries of our fermenting borough. Jessey' spent much of his later time in prison on account of his nonconformity ; his faith and natural good- ' ' History of Dissenting Churches, Southwark, ' vol. i. ' Where they met is not certainly known ; it is not likely, having this other duty, that Jessey was then rector of St. George's ; he was probably lecturer or curate ; as lecturer it was perfectly consistent that he should have another con- gi-egation elsewhere. In Manning and Bray's List, ' Surrey, ' vol. iii. p. 654, William Hobson appears, 1639 to 1688. During these yeara were gi-eat troubles and changes, and Hobson was, no doubt, deprived. A deprivation is recorded ; somebody is "sequestred," but the name is not given. In the parish books during this interval appear marriages by Robert Warcup and Samuel Hylands ; lay maiTiages, these two being members for Southwark in Oliver's parliament. In 1654 Thomas Lee and Thomas Vincent officiated. In 1656 Christopher Searle. I have not as yet seen Jessey's name. Thomas Vincent was or had been chaplain to the Earl of Leicester, was dispossessed of his City living for noncon- formity in 1662. He left his chapel 1665, telling his colleague that he would devote himself chiefly to the visitation of those sick of the plague, which dangerous service he performed, and suffered nothing. He was much loved and followed ; indeed, it became a common inquiiy, "Where will Mr. Vincent preach next Sunday ? " ' Most of this is from Wilson's ' Histoiy of Dissenting Churches,' vol. i. p. 45, and from 'Baptist Histories,' Crosby, Cramp, &c. HENRY JESSEY OF ST. GEORGE'S. 83 ness,' however, served him in good stead, and he does not appear to have been unhappy. He died in prison, or of some distemper soon after imprisonment, in 1663. A busy man, too busy to be needlessly interrupted, Jessey inscribed over his study door this kindly warning to troublesome friends : — " Whatever friend comes hither, Despatch in brief or go, Or, help me, busied too." White, our member, was chairman of a committee appointed to search for incompetent and negligent ministers. Carlyle '' says of this proceeding, " The Lord Protector takes up the work in all simplicity and integrity, intent upon the real heart and practical outcome of it ; — that is, thirty-eight men are chosen, the acknow- ledged flower of English Puritanism, to be known as the supreme commission, but better known as ' Triers,' for the trial of public preachers." Jessey was a Trier. " Their duty was to inquire into scandalous, ignorant, insufficient, and other unfit cases, judging and sifting till gradually all is sifted clean, and can be kept clean."^ In such times as these it was but natural to have irregularities in church discipline at St. George's. In 1603 the bishop admonishes Rowland Allen, the curate ; he had married people not of the parish, and had baptized the children of light and unknown women. He had actually endeavoured to bring the sinner into the sanctuary ! Allen is henceforth to marry only such, or at least one of them, as are dwellers ; and to baptize no child of an unmarried woman unless she would abide and do open penance for the sin." He is also to make note of their names. The vestry obliged the curate to sign a profession that he would obey the bishop's order .^ In 1650 appear practices much akin to the well-known Mint or Fleet marriages. " Complaints are made of disorderly marrying within this parish, either the man having another wife living, or the * It must, however, be admitted that there is a rather intense glow of satis- faction at the miseries, of those adverse to his own people. Granger. ' Cromwell, 'Letters,' &c., vol. iii. p. 323. 8 Ibid., pp. 323-4. ' 1665, 1684. A woman did penance in the church for a Register. ' Manning and Bray, vol. iii. p. 638, citing certain parish books which are, I believe, mislaid or destroyed. G 2 84 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. woman another husband ; marrying in dwellings, and at other places out of the church It is therefore in Vestry this day agreed that there be no marriages in the parish hereafter but such as are first published and in all other points performed according to the Directory." ' I have already noted the names of the members for Southwark certifying to marriages at St. George's about this time. The parish records yet remaining throw some light upon this. Many who desired to be married other than among their familiars, took lodgings in St. George's and elsewhere so as to comply with the law. Pertinent to this is an entry in 1654, — Frauncis Hyde, of Pangbourne, Esq., and Ann Carew of the same parish, " lodgers." Something interesting lies behind this, but I have not been able to get at it yet. In 1653, January 23, George , Ann , the Christian names only. This I believe refers to a distinguished man in England, who ought no doubt to have been married before, George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, and Ann Clarges, now his wife. The writing of these registers is uniform, and is no doubt copied in from a rough book, and as it was not thought discreet, considering the circumstances, to give the illustrious name, the Christian names only are given in this case. The absence of the names justifies the belief as to the facts connected with George Monk when off duty. Another Monke catches the eye, but I am not aware of any other connexion between the last entry and this, — 1653, May I, John Monke and Isabell Blunt. St. George's was not unknown to the Puritan soldiers ; e.g., an old soldier of the Protector's regiment to ; one of Colonel Pride's soldiers to ; and, as seen in Monk's case, the official register did not always show the names, and apparently oftener still not the real names. It looks as if a little pressure was being put on by the Puritan preachers against free living, and indeed it is so stated in accounts of the life of " Honest George." It is said he married in 1649, and only declared it by this entry at St. George's in 1653. Be this how it may, the quotation from Manning is fairly illustrated ; ^ /(/., citing parish books. Ordinance, 1644, that the Booli of Common Prayer shall be no longer used, but the ' Directoiy of Public Worship. ' The Act was passed in 1653 (Burns's 'Parish Registers,' pp. 25, 26). In 1645 is this entry in the parish books of St. George's — "This month the Directions went forth," MINT MARRIAGES. BURIALS. 85 as it is also by other records, which, although of after date, indicate the previous practice of the place. In the register of Mint marriages later on, 1734, &c., now at Somerset House, I find couples married, — at Mr. Blanche's ; at Mr. Johnson's, at y' Compasses ; at the Ram and Harrow, Mint Street ; at Mrs. Emerson's, the Raven and Botde, in Lombard Street ; at Mr. Bubb's, the Coach and Horses, attended ly the overseers of the parish ; so that these Mint marriages were recognized by the officials. Again, at a woman's lodging. Bell's Rents, corner of Cheapside in the Mint ; at a cook's shop in Mint Street, over against Mr. Evers- field's, a tallow-chandler ; at Mr. Silver's, a brandy shop by the Harrow Dunghill ; at the Tumbledown Dick, Mr. Halifaxe's, in the Mint; and last, a Genoese mariner and a widow. Christenings were done in like manner — at the father's lodging, South Sea Court, Mint ; at y° sign of the Labour in Vain, in the Borough ; and one at the King's Bench, where, as the clergyman ruefully says, there was " no payment for anything." There were some quaint monuments in the old church, in the same style, but not so remarkable, as those in St. Saviour's ; one to the memory of the wife of Sir George Reynell, I may note, commonplace as it is : — " Etheldred Reynel. 1618. Modest, humble, godly, wise. Pity ever in her Eyes, Patience ever in her Breast ; Great in Good, in Evil least, A loving wife, a mother dear. Such she was who now lies here.'' And there was need of all these virtues in the wife of a prison- keeper. Sir George Reynell was the Marshall of the Bench, the prison was but a few doors from the church. This Reynell was not very creditably mixed up with Lord Bacon's downfall.' ' The case is thus, according to Lord Bacon's answer to the charge : — "My servant delivered me 200/. from Sir George Reynell, my near ally, who had received former favours of me. " The fact is, however, that something not very creditable was going on in the cause of Reynell and Peacock, in which Bacon was judge. Etheldred, Reynell's wife, " the great in good, in evil least," was the daughter of one Peacock ; but the good angel was dead now, or of little inflnence over such a nature as his, and so Reynell is free to persecute simple zealots and to 86 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Like the next marshall, Reynell was not very tolerant of zealots. In 1616 a petition conies from one, alleging that Sir George Reynell has long plotted to have him destroyed in prison (it vsras easily to be done ; on the principle of killing no murder, it was only to put him, like Uriah, in the forefront of the battle with the causes of death). However, the petitioner dares not, as he says, but continue his heavenly profession, " five years buried in the King's Bench Gaol." * Sir George himself died, and was buried at St. George's in 1628. To proceed with our epitaphs, here is one, 1588 : — " Here under lyeth buryed — ^James Savadge, that late was | The Yeman of the Mule Saddels [ unto our good Queen's grace. | Two Wyves lie had and manyed | while God did lende him lyfe, | The fyrste was calde Elizabeth; | Ann was his latter wyfe. | Of whom fyve Children he begat, | two Sonnes, and Daughters three, | Who with hym and hys former Wyfe, | from hence deceesed bee. | Hee dyd depart this mortal Lyfe | the eight and twentie daye | Of March last past ; wee hope to God | with him to rest for aye.'' He left some " Angel Rents " to the poor. Master William Evance, 1690, a charitable donor. On a large stone monument, against the south wall of the chancel, is a quaint inscription, reminding the people — "See now, all ye that love the Poore, how God did guide his wayes, Ten score and eight are served with bread in two and fifty dayes. More than many would have done, to have yielded any share i Praise God ye Poore, who gave to him so provident a care." Another, 1695, to the most ingenious mathematician and writing master, John Hawkins, who lived near St. George's Church, now ' ' Reduc'd to dust, screen'd here from mortal eyes, Resting 'till the last Trximp sounds. Dead, arise ! " Some think that Hawkins was alter ego for Cocker the arithmetician, whose name has come down as a proverb to us : to be right in our figures is to be " according to Cocker." I am told by the sexton, bribe judges. A diamond ring, value 500/., was given to Lord Bacon, who after his troubles, in his last will, says, "the great diamond I would have restored to Sir George Reynell." Spedding's ' Lord Bacon,' vol. vii. pp, 228, 258. * Roll's Publications, Dom. Add. 1580-1625, p. 552, EDWARD COCKER, AND HAWKINS. 87 says Hatton/ " that at the west end, within the church near the school, was buried^ the famous Mr. Edward Cocker, a person well skilled in arithmetic." Pepys ' cannot find a man skilled enough to engrave the silver plates of his sliding rule, " so I got," as he says, " Cocker the famous writing master to do it and I set an hour by him to see him design it all ; and strange it is to see him, with his natural eyes to cut so small at his first designing it, and read it all over without any missing, when for my life I could not with my best skill read one word or letter of it ; but it is use. I find the fellow by his discourse very ingenious : and among other things, a great admirer, and well read in the English poets, and undertakes to judge of them all, and not impertinently." As Pepys saw him as Cocker and not as Hawkins it must be so, unless Cocker, who appears to have been a disciple of Bacchus as well as of the Muses, found it convenient after to live close by the Mint (a refuge for people in difficulties) as Hawkins.' The second edition of the arithmetic is subscribed John Hawkins, n' St. George's Church. The first edition, i2mo., 1678, of which only three or four copies are known, sells for a very high price : one has fetched 8/. los. ; another in 1874 sold at Sotheby's for no less a sum than 14/. los. There was a fifty-sixth edition in 1767. Many distinguished and titled people seem to have been buried at St. George's, but so many of them came from the gaols close at hand that the presumption is they were either no better than they should be, or they were under some misfortune ; for instance, John Tod, who had been Bishop of Down and Dromore, 1607, now comes out of the Marshalsea to be buried. Formerly a Romanist and a Jesuit, but professing himself a Protestant, obtained promotion ; called to account for malpractices, he at length resigned his bishopric, and departed the realm without licence f the result was he went to the Gatehouse first, then to the Marshalsea, and died there in 1615. Sir Edward Tarbuck, King's Bench, 1617; Sir ' 'New View of London,' 1708. 8 About 1677. ' 'Diary,' 1664, August loth. ' My copy of Cocker's Dictionary, by Hawkins, was printed at tlie Looking- Glass on London Bridge. » H. Cotton, 'Fast. Eccles. Hibern-' 8 8 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. W. Bodham, 1619; Sir Charles North, K.B., Lord Peaseley and Lady Pasley, 1664; 1686, Sir George Walker, K.B., i.e., King's Bench ; 1690, Richard Atkyns, buried by his friends, ruined on the King's side, and for his loyalty in debt in the Marshalsea, where he died. John Rush worth, 1690, aged eighty- three, outliving mind and memory, is buried here. A sad fate his ; but the historian says, he, so unlike the people of his time, did not avail himself 0/ the situations he held. A member of Cromwell's Parliaments, secretary to Fair- fax, greatly mixed up in confidential matters, he was author of the ' Historical Collections,' " with their infinite rubbish and their modicum of jewels."^ Sir Charles Manners, "eldest knight of England," from the King's Bench. Lord Ruthin, and other " unfortunate noblemen," are also among the dust of St. George's, Southwark. The Lenthalls are much too big to be overlooked. Aubrey says that on the south wall of the chancel of St. George's Church was a large painting on wood, in memory of several of the family, nineteen of them, — at the head Sir John Lenthall, Knight, and Marshall of the King's Bench. The most noted of this family was the Speaker of the House of Commons, William Lenthall. Like the rest of his family, anxious and successful in money-making ; and among the money-making contrivances of the time the ofBce of Marshall of the Bench, or farmer of any prison, was for any unscrupulous hard man a very rich one. The office " was in the Crown; soon after 1617 it became vested in William Lenthall with an enormous mortgage against him ; this mortgage went on increasing against the family, until in 1753 it was more than 30,000/. ; evidently not a very good thing for the creditors, as it was agreed to take, as we should now say, 6^. 6d. in the pound. This condition of things involved extortion, terrorism, and cruelty to the prisoners; "get much, give little," was the proved and practised maxim. Accordingly, the Lords (Calenders) ' tell us how complaints thickened, and that a climax came in 1640-1 — charges of cruelty, leading even to death. Formidable petitions of all the ' Carlyle's 'Cromwell,' vol. iii. p, 12. ' Manning and Bray, vol. iii, App. xx. = Historical MS. Commission, 4tli Report, see Index, Lenthall. SIR JOHN LENTHALL, AND BONNER. 89 poor prisoners in the common gaol of the King's Bench, being sixty-six in number, came, complaining of the cruelty and oppression of Sir John Lenthall, Marshall, and other officers of the prison, and praying inquiry, giving names of petitioners, statement of grievances, and lists of witnesses who could swear to each particu- lar. Lenthall was loose in his management of some prisoners, for a consideration, no doubt, and very hard with others. One in- teresting incident among the rest shows this.^ Anthony Browne, one of the Montagues of the Close, in 1641, petitions that Sir John Lenthall may be called upon to answer, for that he allows one Joyners, imprisoned for debt to him, to go about and spend money prodigally, leaving the honest debts of his creditors unsatisfied. Sir John is very active against sectaries, and, truth to say, some of them were violent and indiscreet enough to give one inclined to persecute ample excuse. Pepys ° says, in his man of the world kind of way, " yesterday Sir J. Lenthall, in Sowthwarke, did apprehend about 100 Quakers and other such people, and sent some to gaol at Kingston." Afterwards, in 1664, touched by a like scene, he says, " I saw several poor creatures carried by for being at a conventicle. I would to God they would be more wise, and either conform or not be catch'd." All this made it at length too warm for Sir John, and, notwithstanding his relative the Speaker, certainly not too scrupulous when money was to be had, he is now, 1641, spoken of as the late keeper, and Sir William Middleton is the Deputy- Marshall. Not a nice family these Lenthalls, upon the whole. In 1560 Seth Holland, a celebrated divine, is buried here. Last, but not least, Bonner. He and Gardiner the wolf and fox of the Church. The fox, who had done as much or more in the way of atrocity, died opportunely, and was buried with honour, but, as Hallam says, " certainly not an honest man." Bonner now at last, in 1569, is dead in the Marshalsea, where he had been ten years ; he was hastily buried at night for fear of the people's fury, and in the ground outside St. George's Church. One would have thought he might have been forgotten in ten years. First in full power, busy making proselytes by terror and torment, then deprived and in the Marshalsea ; then 1553 — but I must copy the words of the * Grey * Lord Calender's Hist. MS. Com. 4th Rep. p. 114. * August, 1663. 90 OLD SOtJTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Friars' Chronicle': " The 5th of August, at seven o'clock at night, came home Edmund Bonner from the Marshalsea, like a bishop ; all the people by the way bade him welcome home, man and woman, and as many of the women as might kissed him." In 1 5 59 again and finally to the Marshalsea, and to the churchyard of St. George's close at hand by night, with other prisoners. I have a note of a miserable squabble over prison necessaries denied to him ;' but on other and good evidence he was on the whole humanely treated, and indulged with as much liberty as might be had in that pestilential place, the Marshalsea. Some other burials may be noted without comment, as for one reason or another interesting. Robert Webb and Thomas Acton, i6t,i, prest to death ■' James Staplehurst, 1651, killed by the falling of the earth at y« Fort (in Blackman Street) ;' a Chrysome ^ from the thatched barn in St. George's Fields. There are many entries of Chrysomes. 1664, October 6, Ann, the wife of Robert Dixon, drowned in the Thames. A sad story follows. October 14, Robert Dixon drowned in the Thames. Abigail Smith, 1666, poisoned herself, buried in the highway near the Fishmongers' Almshouses,^ i.e., by the ° " 1549. Edmund Boner, beynge prisoner in the Marchelse the viij day of January, the knyght marchalle takynge away hys bedde, and soo that he had no more to lye in but straw and a coverlet for the space of viij days, for because he wolde not geve the knyght marchall xli or a gowne of that price." — ' Grey Friars' Chronicle.' ' Old Hobson, the Londoner, 1607, says — and "as he were pressed to death he cried more weight, " — he wanted to be out of his miseiy. Two or three days, which it often took slowly to kill a 'man in this way, was a long refinement of agony. ' In the troublous times of the first Charles and his parliament, London was surrounded with walls and forts. This refers to the one in Blackman Street, probably minous and not yet cleared away. See for plate and description of this and others in Southwark, in Kent Street, at the Dog and Duck, and at St. George's Fields. — Manning and Bray, vol. iii. 657. ' Children dying within a month of birth, and buried in the anointed baptismal cloth or crisom ; hence, for shortness, the children were ' ' Chrysomes. " ' My friend, Dr. Iliff, lately found some remains of a youth or female, which might have been buried even so long ago as Abigaill Smith was, but the remains lately found had been mutilated ; the hands and feet had apparently been rudely chopped off, whether before or after death caimot now be told ; the bones were small, delicate, and light, and there were fragments of very poor clothing, and a BURIALS AT ST. GEORGE's. PRISONS. 9 1 Elephant and Castle; "Ann Digwid, widdow, who lived 10 1 yeards, having had 7 husbandes," buried September, 1654 (no apparent deceit, but not verified); one drowned in a well in the Mint ; Roger Dombey hanged himself, and was buried by special licence of the Ordinary ; Glory Kilborne hanged himself in Hol- lands House, in a silk hose, and was laid in the churchyard. So there was some distinction made even among suicides. Showing the saintly nomenclature of the time, the three daughters of Ezekoill Braithwait, Faith, Hope, and Charity, are buried in 1666. Joane, Alice, Judith, Dorothy, Margery, and even Silence are common names. 1625, August, the plague destroys 471, the monthly average being 30 ; 1636, September, 301, the monthly average 20. 1665, August, burials, 413 ; September, 728. What must the prisons have been like just now, bounded by open ditches, and the people lying close in much filth and privation. No wonder they cried out, and that to be imprisoned in these foul dens of the Borough was often certain death. The registers of St. George's tell this sad tale only too surely. THE PRISONS OF SOUTHWARK. It is a not unnatural transition to pass from the half-brutal but respectable marshals to their prisons, just noted, all close at hand. The White Lyon a few doors off; almost next door to that, the King's Bench ; further on, the south-west end of where King Street now is, the Marshalsea ; the Compter, where St. Margaret's Church had been ; and within a couple of stones'-throws of that, the Clink, which last does not, however, concern us now. As to the word half-brutal,^ — 1606, Draft of an Act for reformation, &c., recites that by the ill-conduct of the officers called Marshalls, the court is scandalized and the subjects oppressed ; court and prisons one mass of corruption and cruelty. THE WHITE LYON, Stow says, had been a common hosterie for travellers, and was first used as a gaol about 1558; Corner knife. 1 give no oplni&n as to fact, but as to possibility, it might even have been Abigaill Smith herself. A tragic story anyhow was connected with those pitiful remains. ' 'Hist. Man. Commission,' App. 4th Report, p. n8i 92 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. says 1538, but he mistook Stow,' who says, ed. 1593, "within forty years last." This prison was within a few houses of St. George's Church, upon or close to the site of the new Marshalsea at the beginning of this century; the premises are now, 1877, occupied by a cheesemonger. The White Lyon prison must not be mistaken for the well-known inn of the same name, the site of which is now covered by the railway approach near London Bridge.^ In 1 569 Mr. Cooke, the keeper of the White Lyon, is paid charges for three prisoners by a charitable Papist gentleman ; and in the following year this Mr. Copley, who is abroad for his own safety, pays more charges for fellow religionists. _ The exact site of the Whyte Lion is shown in some passages of Thomas Hospital MS., 1 568-1 571,'' in which Thomas Cooke asks repairs of a gutter between the Black Bull and the Whytt Lyon prison ; afterwards a lease is granted of this Black Bull public-house by the governors to the keeper of the prison. The Black Bull, No. 149, was until lately next door north of the prison. This fixes exactly the site of the prison, and also makes the fact clear that this White Lyon was the prison in 1568. The prison was a criminal prison, the appointed gaol for the county of Surrey ; it was much occupied by, among the rest, religious people suffering for conscience' sake ; Udall, a fierce enemy of the bishops, was here in 1593 ; "if they silence me," he says, "I shall have more leisure to write, and then I will give them such a blow as will make their hearts ache." ' He was apparently one of the fierce Marprelate men.^ Alas ! the good man's own heart suffered most in the contest: he asks from his prison to be allowed to hear sermons, and to walk in the fields ; he is getting dreadfully weary of the White Lyon, " three years I have been in durance, allow me my liberty," he says, " and I will go away to Syria for two years "; but he dies in prison, for his constancy to his friend Penry as much as anything, and is buried in the churchyard of St. George's. A ' Thorns, ed. reprint, 1593. * See Corner, ' Inns of Southwark,' who is uncertain, but there can be no doubt now. * In my possession. - *Di sraeli, ' Calamities of Authors.' ' Dr. Waddington says no, and Udall denied it. THE WHITE LION PRISON. 93 gross judicial iniquity, says Hallam. What wonderful testimony could this old churchyard, amidst the prisons of Southwark, give^ if we had but its old records ! 1599. John Rigby, a Roman Catholic gentleman, is here, and, because he will not go to church, he now goes to a most cruel death at St. Thomas a Watering. A poor woman, 1628, is in for petty stealing, condemned to death is reprieved, but nearly meets the same end by starvation in prison. In 1640 comes to the House of Lords a petition of Nathaniel Wickens, late servant to Mr. Prynne ; three years since he was apprehended, and made close prisoner in the White Lyon ; he was required to tell the secrets of his master ; he did not, however. The three years have not tamed him, nor the fine of 1,000/. ; he prays liberty, that he may better agitate and demonstrate his grievances.' His master's case is worth thinking over ; William Prynne's obstinacy and Laud's cruelty may be read in common histories, notably in Green's ' History of the English People.' Now in 1662 there is a fierce squabble between the two prison - keepers, Harris and Hall. Harris boasts that he arrested Hugh Peters,^ and is busy in his office. Hall takes the opportunity to let out some Quakers, while as he says, his partner " is gone out man- catching." Hall will not work with Harris, — in fact, one may have a suspicion that Hall is designedly here to help his religious friends. Arthur Fisher, a Quaker, and some forty-six others, are liberated. Whitehead, another Quaker, petitions, stating that " he is imprisoned for meeting in the worship of God." Harris cannot go on with his partner, and at length procures his removal because he is " not faithful." Sewell ^ tells the story ; he says, " The Quaker meetings are now, 1662, greatly disturbed ; some, notably Arthur Fisher, and his friends-, are taken to the White Lyon, and after some weeks there are brought to the bar to plead to the following indictment : " The Jurors do present upon oath that Arthur Fisher, late of the parish of St. Olave, Southwark, yeoman, Nathaniel Robinson, and John Chandler, are wicked, dangerous, and seditious sectaries and disloyal persons, and above the age of 16 years ; that they have obstinately refused to repair to some church, chapel, or * 'Hist. MS. Commission,' 4th Report, App. 31. * Secretary to Cromwell. ' 'Hist. Quakers,' ed. 1834, vol. ii. pp. 14-15. 94 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. usual place of common prayer. After this they are found present at an unlawful meeting or conventicle, under colour and pretence of the exercise of religion." They are imprisoned without bail, and unless they submit, to abjure the realm in three months. 1665. Some fierce Anabaptists are here, forty of them making much noise, and with pistols on the table ; well backed up apparently, as they have a costly chamber to themselves. South- wark is full of " sectaries "; they make the keeper's life uncom- fortable, although he had apprehended Hugh Peters, and forty or fifty of His Majesty's enemies in a day. He says he has quite lost his trade among the factious people of Southwark, and he is labell'd with the name of "Saul the Persecutor." by these malicious folk ; but the King, Charles the Second, " divinely set over the people," ' is with him, and for his activity, loyalty, and diligence, commends his appointment to the keepership of the White Lyon. The King's impression took active shape : " The justices of Southwark are required, 1662, to take orders for the suppression of frequent unlaw- ful meetings of Quakers and Fifth Monarchy Men in St. Olave's, and to send note of it to the Council "; and even this — " No one not well affected is to keep an alehouse or victualling-house." Further, December 1662, one Harte alias Gregory, living in Five Foot Lane (Russell Street now), is agent to engage disaffected persons. He is a leather dresser in Five Foot Alley. Harris 'must go and apprehend this quarter-master and captain-lieutenant, who goes by four names, and was one of Cromwell's people. It is noted that the wife lives in Southwark. On December 19th, 1663, Gregory with all his aliases, is in the Tower.' Imagination founded on rigid fact is a gift. One can see squabbles and meannesses, aims after good, and sturdy obstinacy for the right, cooped up together in these mean, pestilential, filthy dungeons; and without any imagination it can be seen how all this helped to form the best side of the English character. The old prison is now, 1681, getting ruinous ; the prisoners are not safe there. It might be repaired ? No ; it is too ruinous. It must be sold, and a new prison built. 1694. Nothing done ; the 2 Form of prayer and thanksgiving, 29th May. Prayer-Boole, 1662, ' Rolls Dom. 1662-3. THE WHITE LION AND NEW MARSHALSEA. 95 prisoners had been for some time kept for safety at the Marshalsea, and the old place had been used as a Bridewell, or House of Cor- rection. Moreover, at length some repairs had been done. Mr. Lowman, of the Marshalsea, had been " agreed with " to keep the prisoners, and had been allowed the use of the White Lyon. In the maps of the locality up to 1746 (Rocques), the name of the spot is Bridewell Alley. In 1 799, Layton's Yard, and Angel Court and Alley appear instead ; the last, as the successor of a Bride- well or House of Correction, is very significant, suggestive indeed of a casting out of devils, that the angels might come in. A "distillery," in 1746, gives place to the new Marshalsea, which we see in Horwood's map, i799- In 1695, private people hold the lease of the White Lyon, and will not give it up under 250?. ; too much the magistrates say ; so the prisoners are, as it were, farmed by Lowman at the Marshalsea, he giving security ; accordingly, the Marshalsea is for the time the prison for the county ; Lowman having granted to him in 1 596, a lease for a term of fifty-nine years. In 1772 the' House of Correction is too bad even for correction ; but it is suggested that there is the appro- priately named " Hangman's Acre," White Lion estate too, at the east corner of what is now Friar Street and Gravel Lane, which figures at length as " the soap manufactory." Accordingly a new House of Correction is built on the Hangman's Acre, at a cost of 2,500/. ; the name may be seen in the maps. A rather curious difficulty appears ; the new place is in St. George's Fields, and there are numerous rights of common belonging to the inhabitants ; this or a like difficulty also occurred in building the Magdalen, not far off, and Acts of Parliament had to be obtained in each case.^ In 18 n, and this finishes my notice of the White Lyon, the^site of the old public house and prison is bought, and 8,000/. is spent in building the new Marshalsea in the same place. This has now in its turn disappeared, but it is immortalized by Dickens in ' Little Dorrit,' and the Father of the Marshalsea eclipses, at least in sentiment, the Marshals. Southwark has generally been a very marked specimen of the prevailing character of the time. When rough, here were the ■* Manning and Bray, vol, iii. App. xii., and 'Report of Charities,' re Magdalen. g6 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. roughest ; when the Papal church was uppermost, here was a nest of abbots and priors; when rollicking ways and rude sports, no place like the Bankside ; when religious independence was stirring, here was the nest of sectaries ; and now trade is lord, it is becoming famous for trades and for its numerous fine ware- houses and wharfs. The Brandons, some of whom were Southwark Marshals — one of them, Duke Charles, of the Marshalsea and the King's Court, others of them of the King's Bench — were essentially Southwark people, of the man-at-arms or fighting sort. 1443, Sir Walter Manny was Marshal of the Marshalsea. 1469, one of the Brandons (Edward) was Marshal. There was an Edward Brandon, to whom was left 1 3^. 4d. in the will of William Bur- cestre. Knight of St. Olave's ; but this was sixty-two years before. But it is enough to show that the Brandons were rising. As the Brandons were the most notable Marshals of the King's Bench, this brings me to the prison. Close to the White Lyon, and north of it, were the old Bridewell (that is White Lyon) Alley, now Angel Court"; Leyton's Buildings, the site of the Old King's and Queen's Bench Prison: King's Bench Alley, now or lately known as Leyton's Grove. Leyton's Buildings still preserves very much the shape of the prison and its grounds. In Rocque's map, 1746, it is shown as extending with its gardens and trees east, almost to Crosby Row, as the Marshalsea further north also did. As might be expected, there was the " common jayle," and the "Upper Bench." The common gaol might be known by the de- scription of G. M.' of Graye's Inn, Gent., who is unlucky enough to be a prisoner here. His description might be supposed to come out of the spleen of a disgusted prisoner ; but afterwards, and from other testimony, it appears to have been nearly if not quite as bad as he says. A rude frontispiece of a wicket gate and a gaoler introduces us. "As to health," he says, " it hath more diseases = Doggett, the player, 1 670-1 721, the friend of watermen, lived at the Angel next the Bench, which sign, no doubt, accounts for the Angel Alley here — indeed, most of the courts up and down the Borough were named of inns, at one time or other on the site of each. " Geffray Mynshull, writing to his uncle, Mathew Manwaring, from the King's Bench Prison, in Southwark, 1618. DISEASE AND DEATH IN THE MARSHALSEA. 97 predominant in it than the pest-house in the plague time." This is a matter of course, for the place " stinks more than the Lord Mayor's Dog-g-e-house or Paris Garden in August." ' As to tem- perance, " it is nothing els but a great alehouse, for every chamber is nothing els but a continuall drinking room"; as to charges, " it is more chargeable than the , and will consume thee, and will do anything for money " ; as to accommodation, it is " a full sea when three men are forced to lie thrusting in one bed." Some prisoners if pleasant, plus " other considerations " might go outside a bit, so when they or some of them to whom the privilege can be accorded desire to go abroad, there are " keepers to go abroad with them." By way of corroboration, as to health and foulness and straitness of room, — ' About the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign many were committed for debt, trespass, and other causes ; "by reason of which streightning and pestering one another, great Annoyances and Inconveniences grew among the Prisoners, that occasioned the death of many. So that within six years well near a hundred prisoners died, and many were sick and hardly recovered, some are still sick and in danger of their lives through a certain contagion called the Sickness of the House, and this happened chiefly, or rather only, of the small or few Rooms and the many persons abiding in them, and there by want of Air breathing in one another's faces as they lay, which could not but breed Infection ; especially when any infectious Person was removed from other Prisons thither. And many times it so happened, namely in the Summer Season, that through want of Air and to avoid Smoldring (smothering) they were forced in the Night time to cry out to the Marshal's Servants to rise and open the Doors of the Wards, whereby to take Air in the Yard for their ' "Paris Garden, remarkable for ditches, is a place for City refuse and other matters, in accord with such associations." "Paris Garden is the place on the Thames Bankside where bears are kept and baited, and was antiently so called from Robert de Paris, who had a house there in Richard II .'s time, which King, by proclamation, ordained that the butchers of London should have a con- venience in that place for receipt of their garbage and entrails of beasts, to the end that the City might not be annoyed thereby." Notes and Queries, 2nd S., iii., 417, citing Close Rolls. Roughly, Paris Garden is now Christ Church Parish, Blackfriars. « Strype's Stow, temp. Q. Eliz., B. 4, p. 18, H 98 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. refreshing. A Petition" went up shewing further, that their place of prayer was a common room, with a continual passage through. Sir Owen Hopton Lieutenant of the Tower, Fleetwood the Re- corder, and several Aldermen and Justices certify to the truth of the statement, and that there was not one convenient or spare room in the whole house ; even they, the judges, were obliged to use a little low room or parlor adjoining the street, — in fact, but for other compassionate considerations toward the prisoners, they would be content to tarry from thence." The petitioners remind Her Highness, that the Marshal is answerable for a yearly rent, and that it is her principal gaol. Further, the doctoring when any was vouchsafed, was of the rudest. G. M., already cited, tells of the barber's shop and the wounded man carried there to be dressed ; but that was the time of the College of Barber-Surgeons.^ "What happened from this state of things may be seen later on in the burial registers of St. George's. St. George's was so much the centre of the gaol district that it can scarcely be imagined what we have lost in the destruction of the old parish records. But one or two striking incidents from other districts will tell us all about it. Prisoners, alive after a gaol fever has done its worst, sea- soned or unsusceptible, are yet able to convey disease to others, and in its most deadly form they sometimes bring the disease into Court. At Oxford in 1577 ^^1 oi" nearly all present judges, and sheriffs included, about three hundred persons, died. In i730j at Taunton, a judge, sergeant, sheriff, and some hundreds more died. In 1750, two judges, the Lord Mayor, one alderman, and others died of fever ; and so the people in the gaols revenged themselves." Again, as to temperance, during one Sunday six hundred pots of beer are brought into a Southwark gaol.' The common side at the back of the prison drew its five hundred butts a year.^ Out of common gratitude and mutual good fellow- ship, the Brewer Halsey could say of the Deputy -keeper Acton " The prayer of poor prisoners for- air, the original much obliterated. Lans- downe MS., 108 (21), B. M. ' Smollett, who was an inmate of a later gaol in Southwark, gives a picture of the Barber-Surgeons in ' Roderick Random.' ' Howard on Prisons, 1777. ' Howard. ■" Key to the King's Bench, 1793. PRISON MISERIES. 99 — then on trial for cruelty ending- in death — that he was a man of very good character, honest and punctual in his dealings/ which was in this case, as we should say, a little too strong ; and the Marshal ° could threaten with close confinement those of the free benchers who would not vote for Halsey, — " log-rolling " the Americans call this process. A celebrated prisoner Tate, of Brady and Tate celebrity, is said to have written Halsey's address ; but for all this Halsey lost the election. Further back, 1641, came this suggestive petition' from Sir Arthur Gorges, now a prisoner in the King's Bench : — " On the i8th, in the house of Sir John Lenthall, the servants of the new Marshall drag the petitioner by the arms and legs into a room in the prison, fitter for a rogue than a civil man, and so left him for the night, and this because he refused them money for drink."^ By way of introduction to the Queen's Bench or to the Marshalsea, the debtor if his debt be but a trifle, is at once called upon — for turning the key, 14^. 4^.; garnish, 2s. 6d.; chamberlain and nurse, 4^. If these payments are not .-nade he has no help but to go to the common side, where bare boards, bare walls, and nothing but the alms-basket to live upon await him.' But he has besides to run the gauntlet of the other prisoners, the gaol birds themselves ; the garnish must be paid ; it is either pay or strip, the fee or some of his clothes. The marshall and his officers do the rest, if any " rest " there is. If not, as there was little or no provision for bed or food, it was very much a preparation for death by starvation or pestilential disease. In one report " the prisons are lousy and with- out the usual offices." The piteous prayer of some fiftie poore men in another gaol tells the sad story — "they are lying upon the bare boordes languishing in great neede, colde, and miserie, almost famished and hunger starved to death, and so they pray Christian and Godly charitie against this holie and blessed time of ' Trial of Acton, 1729. ^ Memoirs of Mint and Queen's Bench, 1712. Halsey was a candidate for Parliament. ' Hist. MS. Commission, 4th Report, App. p. 102. * Lords' Journals, cited in Report. ° Manning and Bray, vol. iii. App. xxv, H 2 lOO OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Easter." 1 In this lower depth a lower still — the Hell, or Hole, as it was called, for those who could not pay anything. Charitable people left- money and bread for poor prisoners. Almost numberless instances appear of people leaving in their wills bread and money for poor prisoners. Nell Gwyn, more respectably Mrs. Margaret Symcott, leaves to the poor debtors in Southwark 65 penny loaves once in eight weeks ; the Drapers' Company 60 penny loaves in December; Thomas Cottle, of St. Dunstan's, a fore quarter of beef, 27st. 61b., and a peck of oatmeal at Midsummer; Sir Thomas Gresham, 2/. los. quarterly, all for this prison ; with many another gift, as might have been seen in the list hanging up in the prison in 1802. Another resource was " the Basket," which the appointed " Basket Carrier" carried about the streets in which to receive food or other gifts for the poor prisoners. Brownists in 1632 are " living on the basket "; and so body and soul were some- times kept together. All this was consistent ■B'ith great lenity, on certain conditions tending to enrich the officers. In 164 1 a creditor complains how a prisoner walks abroad at pleasure, and does not pay his debts ; and the conditions of the rules much later showed often enough that rich men could live there in quasi-thraldom and not pay one farthing of their debts. One of these, a rich man — there is no accounting for tastes — was mean enough and dishonest enough to shoot himself rather than pay. Now the Marshals were kings in this miserable kingdom, and they learned to solve an almost insoluble problem — how to skin a flint, or to get a shirt off a naked man, as the saying is. As we have seen, they made no inconsiderable revenue by procuring satis- faction for thirsty souls. The Brandons, low in their origin, became great lords in South- wark. They were ready to fight, and were not very scrupulous ; with an exception or so they quite suited the times in which they lived. Sir William Brandon, in 1485, sends in his petition, stating how he had been Marshal, lawfully possessed ; the gift of the great Duke of Norfolk the Marshal of England, to whom the office at every voidance belonged ; that he. Sir William, had fled to sanctuary, to avoid the fury of the King, Richard III., and that he had been despoiled of his office. He is accordingly reinstated. Not long ' Colkclion of Ballads and Broadsides, 1559-1597, Guildhall Libraiy. THE BRANDONS OP SOUTHWARK. lOI after he is the standard-bearer at Bosworth Field, and is cloven down and killed by his old enemy. He was the father of Duke Charles." His brother, Sir Thomas Brandon' is a great man at jousts, a man with a presence, who appears with much splendour and in a gold chain of 1,400/. value at the marriage of Arthur and Katherine of Arragon, the princess having to be met in St. George's Fields, and to be conveyed straight through Southwark, over London Bridge, to St. Paul's. In 1509, Sir Thomas is Mar- shal of the King's Bench, and uncommon in such times, dies hold- ing the office.* Duke Charles, son of Sir Willliam, and nephew of Sir Thomas, holds the office of Marshal of the King's Court and of the Marshalsea. He is a principal landlord, and is also Steward of Southwark. Like his master Henry VIII., he had several wives, and apparently not always in succession. He had not, however, the power as his master had, of beheading and marrying again a few days after. One of these Brandons (I cannot explain further) disgraced a family that he had entered ; to use the phrase of the time, " he had eaten the hen and all her chickens, and the King was like to have hanged him for it."^ The Duke Charles was not, or rather he was, remarkable for his spelling, which was phonetic, and varied as his ear varied. A simple sum in arith- metic was beyond him ; but he was courageous and strong, and fine to look upon, as indeed the King's sister thought. At a joust in France, when they sought to manage the duke by bringing a specially strong Alman^ — unfairly, as was thought — against him, he proceeded in quasi-English style, and the Alman, all man as he was, reckoned without his host. The duke in fact behaved thus : — " At last, by pure strength, he tooke his adversary about the necke, and pomeled him so about the head, that the blood issued out of his nose, and then they were parted," — If I might use a modern phrase of the ring, the Alman was " in chancery," — happily for a short time only. Of the duke, it must also be said, "^ Charles Brandon, who married Mary, sister to Henry VIII. Stow's 'Annals,' 1631, p. 483. The names vary; the 'Annals' say Thomas, another authority Robert. ■* Rolls Papers, Henry VIII., 1515. ' Paston, Knight's ed,, vol. ii. p. 128. ^ A German. 102 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE, that he was a very goodly man with the ladies, on account of his noble and manly presence ; but he was, so to say, of no account with diplomatists. In the great trial of his life, when but for for- tunate circumstance's, he might have lost his head, his lady was the diplomatist. She tells the King of France, while he, the King, is actually courting her, " Sir, I beseech you, let me alone, and speak no more to me of these matters, and I will tell you my whole mind." And what was her whole mind? She told him, and moulded the simple king like wax. She also moulded a king that was not simple, like wax — her brother Henry, who was so hard to other women. After a word or two on the point, how that her brother had agreed if she would marry the French King, she should afterwards, in case of his death (he was sickly), marry as she liked, she writes, " Whereupon, sir, I put my Lord of Suffolk (Charles Brandon) in choice, whether he would accomplish the marriage within four days or else never"; and so she a^ks her brother, inspired by loving impudence, " have compassion on us both, pardon our oilences, and please your grace, write to me and my Lord of Suffolk some comfortable words." What could he do after this but celebrate the nuptials with great pomp at Green- wich, and keep these two attractive people so far as could be, always about him. This loving woman, having the only bit of tender kindly nature among all concerned, proved however an exacting tyrant to her husband. He excuses his absence from the Council and to Wolsey ; he was twice in London, but had to return. His wife was evidently very ill, and deeply attached to Brandon, would not suffer him to be away. Now I come to look at this episode ' of the Marshal of the Bench and his wife, it is evidently a long way off from the prison ; but it is at least a set-off against the picture of that most miserable den. I have already noted another Marshal, Sir George Reynell, and that other, Lenthall, neither of them worth a thought as people of mark in history, both of them able to do the best for themselves in their sinister office. Lenthall, like Brandon, had a great interest in Southwark. Corner^ tells us that Margaret Lenthall, the wife ' Brewer's inimitable Pajsers generally for this. Lettere and Papers, Henry VIII. Rolls publications. ' ' Archteolog, ' vol. xxv. "HELL IN EPITOME." I03 of Roland Lenthall, ancestor of Speaker Lenthall, was (fifteenth cen- tury) a co-inheritor of rents tolls and rights in Southwark part of the restored estates of an Earl of Arundel. Title to the office of Marshal of the King's Bench among- the Lenthalls was therefore colourable. In such a disturbed place as Southwark was in the early time the prisons were far from safe. The old Borough laid quite in the way of any attack upon London and the Court, and Southwark was not always unfriendly to the lawless invader. Here I do not confine myself to the Bench, as the prisons mostly suffered alike. In 1376 the Marshal of the Marshalsea had infringed the City liberties, so the citizens took to lynch law, broke open the gates of the prison, and, luckily for the Marshal, did not find him. Then John of Gaunt annoyed the shipmen by too great leniency to a certain squire now in the Marshalsea,' who had killed a comrade of theirs ; so the shipmen broke open the prison, took the prisoner out, " sticked him as he had been a hog, and, having hanged him, they caused the trumpets to be sounded before them to their ships." In 1381, during Wat Tyler's insurrection, the King's Bench and the houses of the jurors and quest-mongers were broken down. In 1450, Cade recruited from the gaols. In 1504, " more part of the prisoners in the Marshalsea brake out. Some were taken and executed, especially two sea rovers (pirates), who were hanged on a tree by the Thames, and were to be seen there long after." ^ In other cases there was some leniency, — in 1507, in Lent time, the King let out many prisoners in for forty shillings, and some even who were in prison for ten pounds. In connexion with evils complained of, which could not now be even imagined, but which then had no remedy, what could be expected but outbreaks. In 1592 there is a riot in Southwark. It is chiefly the feltmakers. They meet at a play under pretence, the real object being to rescue a prisoner in the Marshalsea. The prisons are much alike, except that the Marshalsea had one time earned the name of " Hell in Epitome," long after endorsed by John Wesley, who says in his journal, 17S3 : — " I visited one in the Marshalsea Prison, a nursery of all manners of wickedness. Oh, shame to men," he says, " that ' Strype's Stow, 1720, vol. ii., B. 4, p. 19. ' Stow's 'Annals.' 104 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. there should be such a place ! — such a picture of hell upon earth !" There is a most serious tumult in 1592. The Mayor speeds over, and hears how the Marshal's men deal hardly and roughly with the people, provoking them with hard dealing ; and he observes how the Marshal's men come out with daggers drawn, and bastinadoes^ in their hands beating the people,' and some of the people were slain. An appeal to the Earl Marshal was made. He, however, was offended that his people had been touched ! The result was that the aggressors were liberated, and those who had been assaulted were kept in prison. It needs not here to discriminate as to the people, some noble, and giving lustre to the English name ; some the lowest and vilest, who were prisoners in Southwark. It would be an intelligible key to the manners and crimes of the periods and to the history of the nation, to recount the prisoners and why they were in prison. Some have been noted, and others will be where it may tend to illustrate or to entertain. May 3rd, 1653, a list of prisoners is given in by Sir John Lenthall, Marshall of the Upper Bench. Colonel Pride, the author of ' Pride's Purge,' a political medicine, was one of this committee. This list comprises some in the common prison, mean people who are in for petty offences or for small sums, and who are poor and of no distinction ; some in the rules — there were rules in 1653; — these political and other offenders were in for large sums, — Earl Rivers, for 60,000/. ; Lord Monteagle, 7,000/. ; Sir Arthur Loftus, 2,000/., whose son is buried in St. George's in 1659 ;* Adam Loftus, 13,600/. Among the knights. Sir Charles Manners in 1652, 700/. ; altogether 393 prisoners in for 976,122/. The return notes R., Rules ; P. H., Prison House ; C. P., Common Prison ; and C. G., Common Gaol. Just now, 165 3, there is an effort on the side of humanity in an act for the relief of poor prisoners really unable to pay their creditors, and of another prison it is stated that many had sworn and gone out. The Marshalsea, another prison nearer ^ This bastinado was a curious instrument, known to be chiefly used among the Turks, and often referred to in the ' Arabian Nights Entertainments.' One of the barber's brothers suffered severely from it. ' Strype's Stow, B. 4, p. 20. * Parish Records. The burial lists often point at names of ruined families, noble and gentle, living in the purlieus of the prisons. PRISON PLEASURES. 105 the bridge, will not need a detailed account, as many matters already noted are common to them all. That this prison was not better than other places of the kind came out on inquiry. The keeper had loaded with irons, and had tortured and destroyed prisoners who were for debt under his care. The horrors of " the common side " far exceeded those of the Fleet." Complaints came that some were treated with laxity if not luxury, as though the prison were no prison. One debtor thus served will illustrate this phase, as the parliamentary inquiries and the trials did the other. Among the Rawlinson MSS., Oxford, is a journal of some SOO pages, by a musician, prisoner in the Marshalsea for debt, from 1728 to 1729. The journalist had travelled much, and had published his travels ; he had also published some music ; had kept himself by playing at entertainments, and getting up concerts — no doubt, considering his talent, a very pleasant acquisition for such a place as the Marshalsea. This is how he went on in the prison : "Monday, 1 0th June, got up exactly at five, walked up and down the ' castle ' till six; waked Mr. Elder, and then went and drank coffee at Mother Bradshaw's ; from thence came to Mr. Elders chamber, and drank sage tea ; sent for mackerell, which we ate for dinner ; Perry dined with us ; after dinner was sent for over the way at Bradshaw's, where I found a mighty agreeble young lady, who was so kind as to treat me with a bowl of punch. When she went away I came over to the Park, where I drank a little with Mr. Elder and a few more of the select fellow prisoners. About S or 6 Mr. Acton, our governor, invited me to take a glass of wine with him and some friends. We drank very hard till about ten, and when the prisoners were locked up, I gave Mr. Acton and his friends a tune or two on the trumpet. We set laughing, telling stories, singing, and drinking till about 3 in the morning. So we went to bed." Another entry tells how all this was going on at the time of the Commons' inquiry as to Acton's cruelty to prisoners. "Friday, 19 Sep., 1729, to see Mr. Acton in order to know how matters went on with regard to his bail.'" Curiously the foreman of the grand jury in this trial was a " Lord Palmeston." ' Knight's ' Popular History,' vol. vi., p. 65, in which there is a picture, after Hogarth, of a man suffering from one of these dreadful instruments. * Mr, Halliwell-Phillipps's Collection. 'Letters of Authors,' vol. iii. 2f, I06 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. The select prisoners were by no means destitute of amusement. 1 718. There is a leg of mutton treat in Axe and Bottle Yard; games of bowls are often noted. In 1603. " At the Marshalsea at bowls." 1753. A tennis court and booths are on the Bowling Green behind the Marshalsea during the fair. The bowling green was soon after this turned into a cabbage -garden. The names of Bowling Green Lane, and the more recent Tennis Court are thus explained In the little book, ' Hell in Epitome^ or a description of the Marshalsea, 17 18, pleasant names are facetiously given. The walks of the prison are, the Elysian Fields, the Cloystered Grove, the Park an enclosure so called. " If the prisoner has no food of his own, he is at liberty to chew the bars." Or it may be — Good relief he knows, Not in his creditors or foes, But in the scraps, which overflows The Basket ; But basket victuals, each man knows, Is leanly. Whether they get it or not, With notes loud as St. George's chimes, He knows the punctual hours, and climbs, For dinner.' To match this is a " King's Bench Litany," ribald enough, but worth notice as the recreation of some prison-bound rhymester — From creditors when cruel grown, From bailiffs and their crafty scent, From dining often with the Duke,' From paying homage to the pump, From taking of the ten pound act. From being overcome by drink. From lodging near a boghouse stink. From having stomachs and no chink. From asking food to be denied, From being turned to the common side — Libera nos Domine. ' ' Fragmenta Carceris,' 1675. ' " Duke Humphrey," ?. e. having nothing to eat, or " dining upon air." PRISONERS. 107 From being sent to the Lion White, ^ From mouldy scraps in basket laid, From making pegs, ' that humble trade, From wooden blocks, to rest one's head, From all or any King's Bench bed. — One cries, I 'm cutting pegs all day. And others at the gate did pray. Duke Humphrey is the Master of the King's Bench Hall ; his court consists of some | who come with shoes that fear to touch the ground | some with half hose to shew their shins are sound, ] some with half sleeves poor souls, but ne'er a shirt | — and, as a sly hint at the state of the skin — Some so attended in their wretched state \ thousands did hourly round about them wait | . A mock sermon for the absent dinner — Fasting, says the parson, helps a man to be divine, in former ages since the world began | he that could fast was held an holy man | — and much more of the same sort, by Samuel Speed, a member of the royal society ; — these were of the free and easy and ribald sort. Great and distinguished people came, perforce, to live in these our Southwark dens. If it be not more or less a myth, for the circum- stances are not formally recorded in the old chronicles, Henry V. was a prisoner for assaulting the judge on behalf of his boon companions. The Falstaff time was full of traditions, which appeared after in the popular mind, and this, fact or no fact, was one. Beside "rovers," who came in flocks, and debtors, very many were in for " religion " — no matter which, for any that was not uppermost at the time. Robert Recorde, 1558, a good writer and physician — ' The Ground of Arts ' was his ; — he was in for debt, and died in prison. In 1540 some were in for the " supre- macy " ; and many went from prison to death for this cause. In ■^543 Marbeck was a prisoner, chiefly for presuming to write the first English Concordance,'' making people so strangely and objec- tionably familiar with the Bible ! " His wife may see him in the 8 "A lower depth." ' A prison occupation, by which to earn a few pence. ^ 'The Concordance,' first in English, Marbeck's. London, Richard GraftSn, printer, folio, 1560. In August, 1877, this precious volume (No. 812 in the Catalogue) was to be seen at the Caxton Exhibition among other wonderful treasures of the kind. I08 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Marshalsea, but she must be searched going in and out." In iSS7 Richard Woodman, examined in the presence of 300 people at St. Mary Overies, who, weary or led that way, cried out " Away with him, and bring us another ! " and so he was carried again to the Marshalsea. Thomas Rose, who speaks to the godly, is soon in ; but he goes to the Clink in the Bankside. 1558, Bishop Sandys is in, and, with other preachers, will not come out when Wyatt opened the prison and besought them. The scene changes, and Bonner is in and out again. In 1561 he is here for the last time, until, in 1569, he dies in prison. 1567, Protestant Dissenters. 1573) the prisons are full of preachers and people. iS8o, mostly for "Papistry." 1581, for not going to church. 1584, Brownists and Papists, the two extremes of opinion, in together. 1593, the so-called Marprelate men . i S92, friends of prisoners — these are not here for religion but meet at a play to concoct a rescue. 1623, Sir John Eliot, a great man in the Commons, and a most troublesome patriot, is in the Marshalsea, and ultimately dies in another prison. Selden touches the divine right of the priests, refuses to give bail for good behaviour, and is accordingly lodged in the Marshalsea, but, wiser than Eliot, does not think it necessary to die in prison. Baxter, 1686, for sedition and a hatred of episcopacy, found in his paraphrase of the New Testament, is badgered by Jeffreys, and lies in the King's Bench eighteen months. And so it goes on. An amazing number of literary celebrities one time or another have prison lodgings in our borough, some even writing their books in prison, — making hay whether the sun shines or not. A very touching episode, which must not be overlooked, is the imprisonment in the Bench and the sad fate of John Penry, who was said to be one of the violent anti-bishop or Marprelate writers. From Wales, he came to live in Long Lane and in the Borough Prison, , and so most unhappily, became one of our Southwark people. No doubt he was a bitter enemy of the Church, and, for himself, an indiscreet one. One wishes almost, as Pepys says, that he had " conformed or not got catched." His death was little less than a judicial murder. No doubt he was loyal according to his light, and suffered only for religion. The usual evidence was wofully strained to obtain a conviction. Courageous to the last, willing to die, but in no sense acquiescing in the justice of it, he leaves a wife WRITERS AND PLAYERS IN PRISON. 109 and four children unprovided for. There is not a shadow of a cloud upon the purity of his character ; but he was hurried to his death indecently, and passed from his prison through Southwark to be hang-ed at St. Thomas a Watering. The players of Shakespeare's time get into debt and into prison. They give Henslowe and other money-lenders a great deal of trouble. George "Wither is in for " abuses stript and whipt." Massinger and Nat Field, — and if they are not got out the new play cannot go on. Ben Jonson anticipates his earnings, has to be paid piecemeal for plays yet to be written, and is now and then for debt or violence in prison. A few entries from Henslowe's Diary' are worth thought. "To discarge the areaste or Langleyes, 13^.4^^. To descarge Bird, alles (alias) Borne, out of the Kynge's Benche, 3/. To lend unto harey chettell, to pay his charges in the Mar- shallsey, 303'. Lent unto Francis Henslow, to discharge himself out of the White Lion, 5/." Continual entries appear of moneys advanced to writers whose names stand well in English literature. There are some remarkably good views of the Marshalsea within and without, notably some in Manning and Bray, and one with a plan of the locality in Wilkinson's ' Londina.' This prison was situate exactly opposite May Pole Alley in the High Street, occupying the ground now known as Messrs. Gainsford's. 1746, the time of Roque's map, which so well gives the unchanged con- dition of these places,^ King Street was not, nor Union Street. King Street was Axe and Bottle Yard, and Union Street was the Greyhound Inn Yard. Between Mermaid Court and Axe and Bottle Yard was the Marshalsea, extending back a long way. In the evidence at the trials we find noted a most unsavoury neighbour to the prisoners, the sewer now covered, which passes opposite the Tennis Court toward the Thames. My collections as to Southwark Fair " tell of the " great booth, ^ Printed for the Shakespeare Society, 1845. Henslowe was veiy iUiterate, his spelling was very bad, even for the time. ■• Very true and very picturesque maps of London and its environs, the best medium picture I know between the present and the far-off past. ^ Formerly belonging to a wonderfully eccentric lover of old London, J. Fillingham. In one of the books I bought at his sale, now before me, is this no OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. the lower end of Blue Maid Alley"; of Robin Hood and Little John, on the Bowling Green behind the Queen's Arms, next the Marshalsea Gate ; the two great booths on the Bowling Green behind the Marshalsea Prison. " We hear that at Lee's Booth, the lower end of Mermaid Court, behind the Marshalsea Gate, leading to the Bowling Green, they are getting ready to perform, during the time of the Southwark Fair, ' Bateman; or, the Unhappy Marriage,' to which will be added the 'Harlot's Progress.'" Did these booth-plays suggest anything to Hogarth, who was quite at home in Southwark Fair ? I think they did. No doubt Southwark Fair, like all similar rough outings of his, was full of suggestions for his wonderful pencil. I note further from Fillingham's scraps, — behind the Marshalsea, down Axe and Bottle Yard, the New Theatre on the Bowling Green ; ' A Changeling Girl,' to be seen at the Mermaid, near the King's Bench, in Southwark. The ' Siege of Troy,' at the Queen's Arms, next the Marshalsea Gate. In 1 743 the fair became so limited that the customary contributions in the booths for the prisoners were withheld, they resented it, and threw stones over on to the Bowling Green, so that several were wounded and a child was killed. Such is the epitome and true story of the MARSHALSEA Prison, in Southwark. ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH. The triangular space situated at the north end of St. Margaret's Hill is best known as the site of the modern Town Hall of South- wark (Map, 22, 23). At the south end is St. George's Church (Map, 56). The way from London Bridge to St. Margaret's Church was called Long Southwark, and from St. Margaret's to St. George's Church, St. Margaret's Hill; altogether a most busy thoroughfare now and always. The church dedicated to St. Margaret was, until 1S40, the parish church, and the parish com- prised much of the Borough, together with the Clink and Paris Garden Liberties. From 1540 to 167 1 it was united with the small parish of St. Mary Magdalen Overy, and became St. Saviour's parish. In 167 1, the Paris Garden Liberty of St. rough inscription in his own handwriting, "Vita hominis sine literis, mors est: vita hominis cum stupiditate, damnalio est." One may judge of the man by that more than by a most elaborate memoir. ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH. Ill Saviour's parish was, by Act of Parliament, cut off from St. Saviour's and made a separate parish, and named Christchurch. In this small triangle was nearly to the time of our map, a parish church now ruined or adapted, a courthouse (Map, 22), a place of justice, a prison, a sort of town hall, perhaps to some extent the same building, having diverse uses, — and a market place (Map, 23). St. Margaret's must have been a church of note in its time. The parish extended westerly to the Thames, and included the stews of the bank, as well as the Manor of Paris Garden, The earliest notice I find is when the church was given to St. Mary Overies, between iioo and 1 135. In 1372 licence was given that the inhabitants of Southwark might build near to St. Margaret's a house for the Court of the Marshall of the King's household ; this would probably prefigure the cowrt-house of our map. In April, 1833, while digging for the purpose of forming a new sewer, the workmen found under the foundation of a wall, near the site of St. Margaret's Church, a slab of marble, which had evidently covered a grave in the old churchyard ; it was some 4 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 5 in. in dimensions. Round the stone was an inscription, with the name of Aleyn Ferthing, a burgess of Southwark, who represented this borough in 1337, and again in 1348. The stone rescued by Mr. George Corner is still, I believe, to be seen in the floor of the Lady Chapel of St. Saviour's. A gild fraternity or association, of the Assumption of our Blessed Lady, was by Letters 27th Henry VI. attached to this church, and was authorized to purchase and hold lands to the value of 20 marcks per annum. This church, like that of St. Mary Overies, had its Lady Chapel, as it also had its Seynt Thomas's Chapell. I find no record of the doings and rules of this especial gild, but the rules of a like ancient gild of the Blessed Mary, at Chesterfield, given in Toulmin's valuable monograph, will tell us of its ways. This of Chesterfield was begun on the day of the commemoration of the Circumcision of our Lord, in a.d. 12 18. The brethren were to uphold the rights of the Church ; to guard the liberties within and without the town ; to do honour in the burial, and to provide masses for the souls, of the brethren ; to help the poor brother who had not come to his poverty through 112 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. lust, g-luttony, diceplay, or other folly ; if a brother, through age or leprosy, should come to want, to provide him needful food, or find him a house of religion where he might stay during life ; if one brother wronged another or used foul or backbiting words, the brethren were to see to it ; any who made known the affairs of the gild should, on proof, be put out of the brotherhood as perjured, and the example held up to everlasting scorn, and so on. With such bodies attached to almost every church, violent wicked- ness, rudeness, and overbearing authority must have been some- what held in check, at a time when it was vital to hold then in check.' Among the papers still remaining with the authorities of St. Saviour's is a most shabby-looking but interesting relic — the parish records of St. Margaret's from 1444 to 1536, which have been printed and explained by a competent hand, J. P. Collier, in the British Magazine for 1847-8. These records, having myself tested them here and there, I shall draw upon freely. The church has its west door — its chyrch durre — the church style and the stulpes, or short posts at the style, just like any country church now ; its chyrch yerd walle, the pale in the chyrche yerd, and the locke to the pale. It had a stepyle, pewis, and glas wyndowes, which must have been of fine stained glass, as in 1447 a new window is put up at the expense of 10/. Very great artists in stained glass lived now, the palmy time of the art in Southwark, and they made windows with stories in orient colours, and with lead, at say a cost of 1 8;^. per foot. A window with a good story, in fine colours, could no doubt have been supplied "for 10/. And let it be recollected that the money value at this time must be multiplied by eight or ten to make it represent the present value. Within the church were gorgeous properties — the high altar with its table, the sepulcre, and the chapels. Frequent notices of repairs occur — tylyng of the chyrche, sowdyng of the gutters of the chyrch. In this common highway filth accumulated, so they are frequently paying for a modicum of cleanliness. " For carying away of the church dung vij(^.— carying of dung be hynde « Sec 'English Gilds,' Early English Text Society, 1870, a veiy good full book ; and the Gentlemmis Magazine, 1835. THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. MARGARET'S. II3 the chirche, vj lodis, ix^.' — ledyngf a wey of dunge vnder the chirche walle atte the streete side vnjd., peid for makyng- dene of the charnel, and carying of the erthe to bermondsey." The church- yard is in the public way, and is at length very much in the way in another sense. An Act is passed, 28 Henry VIIL, for enlarging St. Margaret's churchyard, in Southwark. The account of this is in many respects most interesting. The words of the recital of 1534 are : " Be yt knowne by thys present Record, that in the yere of oure Lorde Gode M i v° xxx iv then be a consent of the inha- bitans of the Parysshe of saynt Margaretes in Southewerke lowenly by ther good wysdom bought and purcheased of one Thomas Onley Esquier and his Wyife a certain olde place with the ground be longing to the same, some tyme called the Lorde Ferrers place, sett and beying within the said parishe, the byers thereof, Thomas Bulley,' John Smyth, Wm Rutter, John Ketton, Raffe Copwood, John Garner, John Crosse,^ Rob' Petty, Wyllyam Jeffrason, William Chaundeller, Nicholas Stoxbrydge, John Sparrow,' wyth the ayde of all the hole body of the parisshe for the somme of one hundredhe and ten poundes sterlyng, wyche was gathered amonge the forsaid byers and the inabbytors of the same parysshe, with tene pound that the pryor of Saynt rnarioverais gave to the same purches. And all they wyllyng to make a Churche yerde, they havyng so small & skant Rome in the tyme of necessitie, that they ware fane to berry thre or fore ded bodis withione one Sepulker, one apone another. The wyche churche yerde was adjoint and halowed the xxv'" day of Septembare in the yere of oure Lorde God Mjcccccxxxvj. Fare ther more it ys to be knowen by this Recorde, that oure Soueraine Lorde Kyng Henry the eight, supreme hede in the Erthe vnder God, of the Churche ' Yeoman of the Crown, one of the King's guard, and Member for Southwark, 1511, 1521, 1536, as Thomas Bulle, Thomas Bullay, and Thomas Bulley, church- warden of St. Margaret's. At other times the family seems to have been known as Boll, BoUe, and Bulli. ' Probably the owner of the "Crosses Bnihouse," north of the courthouse (Map, 20). ^ These are given as specimens of names of the time, of churchwardens and others. I will only add, as one of them, a William Chaucer was, 22-23 Heniy VU., a churchwarden of St. Margaret's, and another, John Milton of a Milton family living in the parish, I 114 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. of Englond, and the xxvij" yere of is most noble Reigne, set a Perliament holden at Westmynster with his Lordes spiritual and temporall and his Comonalte, at the wyche parliament then beyng one Thomas Bulley, yeoman of the Crone, and the kings moste honorable garde, then beyng Churchwardens the same tyme Thomas Bulky & Wylliam Chaundeller, and then the saide Thomas Bulley then beying burgess of the parliment gatt graun- tyde & gevyne by the saide parliament, by the Lordes spirituall & temporall and the Comon Hows in Mortmane for ever to the parisshe churche of Saynt margaretes in Southewarke, under the kynges letters patynd and ye brode seille whyche Remeyneth in a Chist withinne the same Churche of saynt Margeretes, for the saffe and sure kepyng of the same. And so the same Thomas Bulley beyng churchewarden for ij yeres full. " God save the kyng. W. TOMSON." A recital, i6 Elizabeth, further notes that the churchyard ot St. Margaret was situate in the middle of the common strete, the king's highway, and that there was not room for burial, " to the right perilous danger and pestiferous infection of the air, en- gendering grave mortality and infection " ; and that the wardens had been made a body corporate " in the Lawe," with a common seal, and that the land taken of Onley for the churchyard was about an acre ; and that there were " certeyne olde Howses in verye extreame Ruin and Decaye and daylye lykely to fall downe to the ground." The wardens and the people, at their " sad- discretions," were to cause a convenient churchyard to be made " where nowe gardeins be." Within this church the Cade insur- rection came to its ending. After the indecisive fight of the 5th July, 1450, on the day following, a conference was held here. The Chancellor Kempe Archbishop of York, and Waynflete Bishop of Winchester (Fastolf 's great friend), on the one side, and Cade and some of his people on the other. A charter of pardon " to the said John and all others who had so associated and congre- gated " 1 was shown. The people shortly after dispersed, and Cade was at length slain. I have said that Cade's was a respectable ' Durrani Cooper, ' Paston Letters,' &c., and Green's 'History.' CHURCH TREASURES AND FURNITURE: 1485. Ilj and really creditable rebellion, that his people were in no sense a disorganized mob, but largely consisted of yeomen and shop- keepers ; in Southwark he had many strong friends, notably Poynings, Richard Dartmouth, Abbot of Battle ; John Danyel, Prior of Lewes ; and many "Holy water clerkes" beside. Probably on account of so many big people behind, no bloody retaliation followed on the death of the chief of this revolt. In 1S40, not long before our map was drawn, Maundeveld Collens and one other were examined in this church ; they were Anabaptists, and were on the 3rd of May burnt to death in the highway beyond Newington. An execution by slowly burning men to death in the public highway ! We have much reason to be thankful that we live now in 1878, especially those of us who, having a reforming tendency, wish to improve as we go. Not long before this. Sir D. Godson was drawn through South- wark to St. Thomas a Watering, and there executed for the King's supremacy; that is, for questioning it. But these are merely and only instances of physical cruelties practised then, and which, in a less revolting degree, came down to the end of the time of our George III. One sometimes becomes ashamed of one's species, asking with wonder, are we the people for whom the Sermon on the Mount was intended ? For various purposes and at different times lists of the rich possessions of the churches were made out. Here is one of St. Margaret's for 1485, the valuation by Wni. Perfett, W. Arnold, W. Webbe, W. Marshall, John Seynt John, John Middevale, Robert Bousan, and W. Charle. "Antypliene, Jenkyn Welles gave, psxx//. — Anoder grett antiphene, with sertyn Revlys (rules) in the ende, ps xxiij //. — Legend Santorum, ps x marke. — Anoder legend temporall, ps v marke, the weche Will"" Boddle and emot hys weyff gave. — ij presesynars of xxs. a, pese. — a benyte book, xiijj. iiijrf. — a mane- vell (manual), xxj. — another manuell, pries iijj. iiijr/. — grett masboke that Pers Avery gave, ps, x li. — Anoder that Rychard nevyll gave to oure ladey chapell, ps X marke. — ij grett graylys. — a lytyll grayle. — pystyll boke. — ij quayers of the storey of sen anne, ps m]s. — anoder that Wm. Povey gave. — anoder with dyvyrs salfe festa dyes ther. — a prykyd song boke of parchement that Syr John Docheman gave.— a lytyll boke called a pey, ps ijj.— Crosse of sylvyr and gylt with images of Mary & John.— Coope (cup) of Copyr for the sacrement.— Sensar of sylvyr with» a shyppe of sylvyr.— Paxbrede of sylvyr & gylt.- borall of sylvyr & gylt with a borall stone.— Crevettes of sylvyr.— a sonne of sylvyr & gylt for Corpus Xpi day.— I 2 Il6 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Dobul Crosse with rclykes. — a four square box, cont« a relyke of our ladey, of St. Annys, of St. John the Evangelyst, a stone of the Mount of Syon and oer relykes (no price).— a chalys, on fotc JHS (on foot Jesus). On patent JHS settyng on the rainbow. — a Chrybmatery. — a bason of laton for the paskall, ix bannerettes therto of talbottes and estryge fedyrs. — image of oure Lord, gylt for ester day.— other Jewells not in the old inventare." To our Lady, enumerating various properties of like kinds. Again,— " In die ste ^'aIenlyne xiij die Febmar Ao dni Mi iiijclyj. Item a remem- braunce that Pers Saveryn hath freely graunted and goven to god & to the chirche of Seynt Marget, A Sewte of vestementes, the whiche cost jc//.xvij/2. (117/.) — Wm. Povey .... x\x/i. — a chesebull of Blew felwett with a Red Crosse of Bavdekyn for Synt Nycol's ys day, piys xvjj. vn]d. — a tonakull of Rede with Ross of Gold and with a kocatryce, ps vjs. viijd. ; Ester day 32.?. i)d. ob; and special gatherings upon special occasions. On dedication day, the anniversary of St. Margaret, a day of much festivity, 5^-. iid.; the Mynstrell was paid xvjJ. ; the singers " atte same tyme " 2^. ; for their dyner 2i. ; g-arlands 4^. ; enough money and fourpence to spare. An old rhymer deep in such lore ' tells us, — "The Dedication of the.Church is yerely had in minde, — From out the steeple hie is hangde a crosse and banner fayre, The pavement of the temple strowde with hearbes of pleasant ayre, The pulpets and the aulters all, that in the church are scene, And every pewe and piller great are deckt with boughes of greene, The tabernacles opned are, and images are drest But chiefly he that patron is doth shine above the rest. " In this way the people glorified the saint after whom the church was named. The Abbot of Hyde, a near neighbour whose inn was at the Tabard, gives 6s. 8fZ. on Seynt Volantyn day. Sometimes gifts in kind come in : " my Lorde Ponynges brasse to the value of vij/z'." — 7/. In 1458 is the entry ; gathered in the street, wood for St. Margaret's fire. Money comes in from Southwark Fair. The stondyng at the welle, 4a'. The well may be seen in the High Street (Map, 57). " Nicholas Maier and William Bulle late war- deyns bryng in affor the parysshens, of the money resseyved at our lady Fayre for Standyng uppon the Church Grownd in their tyme which was forgot 6^. 6rf." As an illustration, 1499, at Reading. " It. rec. at the fayer tore stonding in the church porch 4^." There are also other methods of obtaining money for the church which would now seem especially strange to us. One entry, 30-34 Henry VI., " receaved in dawnsyng mony of the Maydens, 3^. M." — probably a morris dance and a collection after, much as I have often seen the sweeps dance in our streets on the 1st of May, the brass ladle taken round afterwards for money; and as the dance was good or humorous, or as in our instance for a sacred purpose, no doubt the money came in freely. Another entry in 1450, " Hoke mony, Gaderyd by the men ^s. ; by the women 14^." In most if not all of these entries, the women ^ In Brand, ' Pop. Antiq.,' ed. 1849, vol. ii. Il8 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. attracted or extracted the coin with much more success than the men. No doubt. Our own fancy fairs tell us how this is. This Hock custom was interesting, and no doubt very good fun beside. It will bear some explanation. It must have often led to something worse than fun between the men and the women, else why, in 1406, 7 Henry IV., should it be forbidden by proclamation within the city and suburbs for any person to take hold or constrain another within house or without, Monday or Tuesday next called Hokkedayes. Not the less we see the church keeping it up in 1456 ; but possibly they moderated the sport. In 1505, among the privy purse expenses of Henry VII., is this, "For the wyfis at Greenwich upon Hock monday y. 4^.," the parsimonious king permitting himself fun with the wyfTs at Greenwich to the amount of T,s. 4d. In I4S3, in the St. Margaret's accounts, still to be seen at St. Saviour's, are the words, " peid for hokis pynnes and corde, 6d." One day the men would fix the pins on each side the public way, say from St. Margaret's to the Tabard, the cord fastened to the pins temporarily to stay wayfaring contributors. Women, churchwardens' wives or others, would have their day, and would pleasantly compel contributions for the church, for the repair of which the money was mostly used. Hoke Monday for the men, Hoke Tuesday for the women, with exceptions. On these days the men and women, alternately, with great merriment would, with ropes, obstruct the public roads, and, pulling passengers to them, would exact from them money. Similarly in the Lambeth book, " Item, of William Elyot and John Chamberlayne for Hoke money gydered in the pareys, 3^. gd. — and the gaderyng of the Churchwardens wyffes on Hoke Mondaye, 8s. id." In the accounts of Magdalen College, Oxford, an allowance appears, pro mulierilus hocantibtis, of some manors where the men did hoc the women on Monday, and the women the men on Tuesday.* Beside these gatherings and contributions, the church, like as other churches, had ever and anon rich presents, as the storey of Saint Anne that Wm. Povey gave, the pricked song book of parchment that Syr John Docheman gave, the great mass book that Pers Avery gave, worth 10/., and another that Richard Nevill •* Brand, 'Pop. Anliq.,' ed. 1853, vol. i., jd. 184, where the subject is fully treated. MYSTERIES OR SACRED PLAYS. II9 gave, worth lO marks (a mark, 13^. 4d.), the Antiphone that Jenkyn Welles gave, worth 20?.," and the legend temporal, worth lO marks, which William Boddle and Emot his " weyff " gave. In so many tributary streams did money and money value come in. It will be interesting to see how it went out at St. Margaret's, Here are some of the outs : A play on St. Margarets day, "js. In 1444, a pley upon Seynt Lucy day and for a pley upon seynt Margrete day, 13^. 4^. Again in 144S, a pley upon the days of the two saints, 13^'. 8d. In 1456-7, payd to Harvy for his Chyldren upon Seynt Lucy day, 20d. In 1449-50, Seynt Lucy day, to the Clerkes for a play 6.f. 8d. It will be observed that professionals and clerkes assisted at plays in the churches. Something now by way of elucidation, not in any way meaning to play upon the words Seynt Lucy Day ; but the sound is so similar that I am bound to disown the levity. Of course, dramatic representations of sacred stories are not to be condemned. It was a time when something of the sort seemed to be required. Certainly no more fitting place for a decorous sacred play could be than the churches or the churchyards, when as yet playhouses, as such, had no existence. It was customary for the parish clerks of London to play the mysteries or sacred plays — that is, sacred stories, such as the Creation, the Life of our Lord, the Descent into Hell ; and, possibly, with a little less intolerance and bigotry, and a little more encouragement in the decorous playing ®f sacred stories, the worst vices of the playhouses of the time of Elizabeth and James might have been averted, or at least postponed. There was at St. Margaret's, as I have said, a gild of our Lady. Sometimes these gilds had charge of pageant or play ; so the gild of the Lord's Prayer at York had " a play setting forth the good- ness of the Lords prayer," in which play all manner of vices were held up to scorn, and the virtues to praise. This play met with so much favour that many said, " Would that this play could be kept up in this city, for the health of souls and for the comfort of citizens and neighbours " ; and henceforth the main charge of the * The value of this antiphone may be estimated by this, from the acco^mts at St. Margaret's : "Wages of a tiler a day and a half 8(f. His man 4^. Meat and drink for both Jd. A Carpenter 4d. A Dauber— z'.f., Plasterer — ^d., and a dinner to Sir Thomas Tyrrell at Westminster is. 6d." 120 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. gild was to keep up the play. These plays were sometimes acted in dumb show, in processions along the streets. This most wonder- ful gild at York ought to be revived or imitated now ; that is, in improved meetings of city companies— indeed, of all companies, limited or unlimited. In their records they said, " because those who remain in their sins are unable to call God their father, therefore the brethren of the gild are, FIRST OF ALL, bound to shun company and businesses that are unworthy, and to keep themselves to good and worthy businesses."' There were pro- cessions on saints' days, and St. Margaret had hers. Twenty shillings appear in the accounts for a great procession upon St. Margaret's Day. A procession involved minstrells, flags, garlands, and torches. On these occasions most likely the morris dance of the maydens was displayed which brought in 3^. Sd. in 1451- The riches of the church were displayed along the open street ; banners of rich colours, silk embroidered, as of our Lady and her Son, of the Trinity, of the Deity in the triangular emblem ; these, with music and singing, swinging of censers, and waving of richly embroidered banners, such as were often displayed in the old Southwark highways, and in the presence of men of awe and influence, must have been exciting almost to ecstasy. But there are other costs to be noted: A pair of new organs, in 1446, 5/. 6s. 8d. ; a cross of silver and gilt, 20/. ; the setting up a painting of St. George and St. Christofer, 3^. 4d. ; mending the welle, which, it should be observed, was not so very far from the overfull churchyard, 22s. ; in 1449, for those who had to watch the sepulchre,' coals, bread, and ale, 6d. At Christmas there are " charges for holm and ivy," as we have in some places now, and " garlands upon the saints' days." True, the saints' days came at length rather too often. Harison ' says, " Our holy and festival days are well reduced — not long since we had under the pope, " ' English Gilds,' p. 137. Sanger and his animals and much of modern trade are a long way off this. ' " It was customaiy on Good Friday to erect a small building to represent the Holy Sepulchre. In this the Host A\as put, and a person was to watch it night and day. On the following morning the Host \\as taken out. Christ was risen." ■ — ' Pop. Antiq.,' vol. i. * ' Description of England,' 1587. Sec edition of the New Shakspere Society, edited by Mr. Furnivall. WAKES, ALES, AND GANG DAYS. 121 fourscore and fifteen called festivall and thirty Pro/esli beside the sundaies ; they were all brought unto seven and twenty ; and with them the superfluous numbers of idle wakes, g-uilds, fraternities, church ales, help ales, and soul ales called also dirge ales, with the heathenish rioting at bride ales, are well diminished and laid aside."' He notices also the gorgeous apparel and movements and bridlings of the clergy of the time as of ludicrous resemblance " to the peacocke that spreadeth his taile when he danseth before the henne." So much for the saints' days. On Gang Monday the bounds of the parish were " walked" or " beaten," — " beating the bounds." This custom involved expense, as, indeed, all customs do ; but it was full of quaintness, well to be remembered. The maids wore the "Gang Flower"^ in these processions. Sermons were preached at the crosses in the way, iind generally the occasion was improved as to the inviolable character of landmarks. Unwitting people in the way of the procession were liable to be bumped, that they might not forget the fact and the place. On one of these occasions the authorities of St. Saviour's are touched on behalf of their parish, so. May 23rd, 16 14, it is ordered " there shall be a drinkinge on the p'ambulation day for the company, according to the ancient custom, yet sparinglye because the corporation is indebted." Workmen as well as vestry- men were then, as now, thirsty. Items occur, " workmen to drynk,' ' " for drynkyng " — this one apparently while they were " whyght lymyng the Chirche," in 1456. As the old gospeller said, " up- landysh processions and gangynges about and spendings in ryotyng and belychere " were far too common. These particulars must no doubt interest us, and at the same time they do, to some extent, make us acquainted with the old church at St. Margaret's Hill. But now, in 1539, comes the dissolution and the surrender of religious houses, and among the rest of the Priory of St. Mary Overy. Partly that St. Margaret's is in the way, partly that its churchyard is a nuisance and in the public highway from London to the South, partly that there is the Priory church too large for any one parish, to be disposed of ; an expensive fabric without its ' See Brand's ' Popular Antiquities. ' ' Flowers now in prime. 122 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. ancient revenues. St.Margaret's Is therefore disused, and the parish is united to another. This is done, 32 Hen. VIII., by an Act passed for uniting the parishes of St. Margaret and St. Mary Magdalen, to be henceforward called St. Saviour's, and the parishioners are to be incorporated in the name of the wardens of the parish of St. Saviour's. Ten years before our rude map was made, the church was St. Mary Overy, now it is St. Saviour's ; St. Margaret's Church disappears, and henceafter the site is used, as I have said, for other purposes. There are some apparently contradictory statements about this — that the church itself was used for the secular purposes,^ that a Town Hall was built in 1540,' that the church was pulled down and the site granted to John Pope in 1546.* Probably the truth lies among them all, that there was some rebuilding, some use, and some adaptation. The illustration is a sketch of the spot as it appeared in 1600. The original from which it is copied is rare, probably unique. The house, the principal feature at the divergence of the roads, may probably be a Town Hall in the "marche" or Market Place. The High Street, Southwark, forms the centre of the foreground, and almost every house on either side seems to be pro- vided with a sign-board. Posts and rails appear in front of each door, no doubt (the roads were ^ Stow, ed. 1842, p. 153. '' Manning and Bray, Surrey, iii., "• Ibid. 552. THE COURT HOUSE, ST. MARGARET'S HILL. 1 23 then narrow) to divide the footpath from the road. In the middle of the street are figures, i. A woman in a high-crowned hat, rufHe, and long-pointed waist, coming towards the country. 2. A man in hat and cloak. 3. A man on horseback. 4. A man and woman. 5. A covered van drawn by two horses. 6. A man going toward St. Mary Overie's Church.' Our plan has " theCourt House," which was therefore here in 1 542, and adjoining is the " marck-place" (Map, 22, 23). A subordinate court for the recovery of small debts was held here ; how early I do not know, but in 1604,^ on the proposal for a new Act, it was stated that such courts already existed in Southwark, and up to 1815 they appear to have been always held at this Town Hall.' The Admiralty Court was here. A strange scene, as we should think now, but common enough in the sixteenth century, is suggested to me. On August 4th, 1559, some fourscore rovers (pirates), with their captain, Strangeways, were landed at the Bridge House Stairs, in Tooley Street, and marched off to the Admiralty prison, the Marshalsea. Some of them were arraigned at this Town Hall, and "cast to suffer"; new gallows were erected at low water at Wapping and at St. Thomas a Watering; and on October 4th the rovers were all to be hanged ; a respite came, however, and they fought for the Queen instead. A new ballade of worthy service of Maister Strangewise is extant. The rover captain was at length killed, the ballad says, in an attack on a French port, about 1563. The "Pyrates" were not always so lucky. An old black letter tract, 1609, shows " the Lives, Appre- hensions, Arraignments, and executions of the 19 late pyrates, ° The title runs thus : "This description of the nioste Famous Citty London was performed in the yeare of Christe, 1600, And in the yeare of the Moste Wished And Happy Raigne of the Right Renowned Quene ELISABETH, The Fortye And Two. S'. Nicholas Mosely, Knight, Being Lorde Maior. And Roger Clarke And Humphrey Wylde, Sherifes of The Same. By the industry of Jhon Norden. Cum privil R Ma.'' I know of no other picture or plan of the old church or courts, but of the building erected after the fire of 1670 there is a very good one in Wilkinson. ^ ' Cal. State Papers, ' Dom. ' The Court of Requests, the Court of Conscience, the Court for the Recovery of Small Debts in Southwark — here first ; then, in 1815, at the Methodist Chapel, Crosby Row ; and now it is the County Court, in Swan Street. 124 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. namely, the five Captains, Harris and others, and their companions, how they were indited on S\ Margrets Hill in Southwarke on the 22 of December last and executed the fryday following." A celebrated trial for treason took place here in 1 746 — that of the celebrated "Jemmy Dawson," the hero of Shenstone's sad ballad. These are but incidents of the cruel butchery always going on in those times. So, turning over my papers,* I see, 28th May, 1557, "The same morning burned beyond St. George's Parish, this side Newington, three men for heresy. i8th June, two more, at the same place, for heresy and other matters. 1561, lOth April, two men, mad people, were cruelly whipped ; one came out of Bedlavi, and said he was Christ ; one out of the Marshahey, who said he was Peter that followed Christ." The old diarist seeming almost to make a joke of it. And, indeed, what must one think of the people and the times when coming across such a contrast as this : — " Five men and two women in the morning to Smithfield to berne — they were all bornyd by nine at three posts " — and a jolly maygame in Fenchurch Street, with drums and guns and pikes, the morriss dance, and the Lord and Lady of the May — the tragedy and the farce enacted in the public streets in the good old times. There were moreover gorgeous processions in time of great sickness or distress, or on reception of some noted per- sonage ; and so the people were taught, overawed, and brutalized. But these are digressions, showing, however, the spirit of the times when St. Margaret's was passing away. Afterwards, when Pepys was Secretary to the Admiralty, he makes a visit here, as he must often have done, and records it after his manner. To St. Margaret's Hill, he says, " when the judge of the Admiralty came, whose commission of oyer and terminer was read, and the charge given by Dr. Exton — that being done and the jury called, they broke up— and to dinner to a tavern hard by." The Town Hall was, of course, a place for all kinds of public business. Here the Court of Sewers met, for the presentment of nuisances and local conditions requiring notification and remedy. One, in 1640, was held in St. Margaret's Hall, before Sir Thomas " Machyn, 'Diary.' THE END OF THE COMPTER, I25 Crymes, Sir John Lenthall, Sir George Chute, Sir George Crymes, Sir Ewd. Bromfield, Daniel Featley, Doct. Theol.; Justices of the Quorum — names well known, most of them. A prominent feature are hogs — a multitude of them are presented. Broken and decayed wharfs {i.e., margins of open ditches, &c.), sinks, houses of office, and the like are presented. One case shows how polite and yet how firm the commissioners could be. " Also the said Jury say that our Sovereign Lord the Kings Majesty did not cause the Thames Wharf & Bank against his Highness pike Garden and house on the Bankside in the parish of St. Saviour's to be repaired and amended, being much ruinated and decayed wherfore he hath forfeited xb." His Majesty or his officers take no notice. It is again ordered that His Majesty would be pleased, &c., and if he did not, fine 4/. The word " done " follows in margin. At length came an effectual clearance in the shape of the great Southwark fire of 1676. The meale market, most of Comter Lane, of Fowle Lane, with the Compter itself, were destroy'd, some with gunpowder, some by fire. This comes out of it : the end of the prison here. " The City do not intend to rebuild, but will grant reasonable terms for other buildings but not for a prison."' " Other buildings, not a prison " were erected — the Town Hall, first in 1686, and again in 1793, of which first is a good plate in Wilkinson, and of the last, many but notably one by Ackermann. Here was in times almost to our own a bank, that of Sanderson, Harrison, Brenshley, Bloxham & Co., and again of Wilkinson, Pollhill, Bloxham, Pinhorn & Bulcock. The old buildings were all cleared away in 1833 for the bridge approaches ; and now, on nearly the exact site of the old church and its incongruous children, stands a branch of the London and County Bank. ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL.' Before the year 1213, within the precincts of the priory of St. Mary Overy, by London Bridge, there was a building especially devoted to the use of the poor. Here certain brethren and sisters ' ' Fire Decrees, Court of Judicature, 1677,' with the Town Cleric of London. ' Generally, the authorities are Corner — various papers and a MS. of his — Manning and Eray's ' .Surrey,' 'Annals of Eermondsey,' Goulden's ' St. Thomas's Hospital,' Calendars, Rolls Series ; and MSS., ' St. Thomas's Hospital.' 126 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. were maintained ; and Amicius, Archdeacon of Surrey, was their custos or superintendent. On the 12th of July, 1212, a great fire began in Southwark, and spread over London Bridge to the City. On this occasion more than 1,000 people were destroyed, many of them drowned in the Thames, being hemmed in between the fires at either end of the bridge. The building referred to, the priory church, and a great number of houses were burnt. The canons of St. Mary Overy soon erected a temporary building for the poor, at a small distance from the priory. About the same period, but after this foundation for the use of the poor within the precincts of St. Mary Overy, Richard, the Norman prior of Bermondsey, in 12 13, built, on ground adjoining the wall of his priory, an "almery" for the reception of converts and poor children. The Bishop of Winchester, Peter de Rupibus, disliking the foundation of the one on account of the straitness of the place and the scarcity of water — of pure water, I suppose, for there was plenty of another sort — and disliking the Bermondsey foundation as too limited in its operations, refounded both upon land belonging to Amicius, the custos at St. Mary Overy's, which had the advantages of good air and water. This hospital was for canons regular, and, it is said, was endowed by him with the then very munificent sum of 344/. per annum ; and it was dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr. This was the first parent of the modern St. Thomas's Hospital. The circumstances are stated in an indul- gence for twenty days, granted by the bishop to those who should contribute to the expense of the new hospital, " the old hospital for maintenance of the poor, long since built, having been destroyed by fire and utterly reduced to ashes." The ground upon which this hospital was built had been occupied long before by quite other people. In the spring of 1840, on digging the foundations of new wings, evidence of a Roman dwelling was discovered — the tesselated flooring of a room, with walls and passages leading to other apartments, all built on piles ; and a little north, coins of Gratian, Claudius, Domitian, and Valens were found, together with a lamp and pottery ; and on the floor, showing the probable time of occupation, coins of the Constantino family.' ' 'Arclincologia,' vol. xxix. p. 166, contains description and a plate. ST. THOMAS S HOSPITAL. 1 27 But I will not proceed further with the Roman occupation, of which there were abundant instances in Southwark. The provisions of the new hospital, among; which was the proviso that no hospital was to be built on the old site, seem to have satisfied the canons of St. Mary Overy ; but a disagreement soon arose as to a burying-ground belonging to the brethren and sisters, the ecclesiastics of the neighbouring parishes considering it an in- fringement of their rights as to fees. The difficulty was got over by a payment to the complaining parishes, and an engagement that the fraternity would bury none but of their own precincts, or in exceptional cases.' The brethren and sisters had at their new gates the right of market for corn and other commodities which they had at their old gates. Many instances of this right, in the sixteenth century, after the forfeiture, may be seen in the hospital records of the time. In 1238 the Archdeacon of Surrey had a hall, chapel, stable, and residence for life within the precincts.* The hospital was held of the priory of Bermondsey, and so con- tinued until 1538, at which time it was valued at 266/. 17^. 6d.; and it was about that time surrendered to the King. The Bishops of Winchester claimed and often exercised the right of visitation. Disputes arose. In 1252 there was discord between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester as to the advowson of St. Thomas's Hospital. In 1323 the Bishop ot Winchester held a visitation, and ordered strict rule of obedience, chastity, and poverty, and that the master should eat with the brethren.' In 1528 the rights of appointment and of visitation are with the Bishop of Winchester." Accordingly, the visitation and fees of the legate, in 1524, were respited at St. Thomas's Hospital and at St. Mary Overy's. There appears, however, to have been an authority from the King which might override the bishop's right. In 1528 the master of the hospital is old, blind, and feeble. The King, Henry VIII, , knows that Wolsey is legate and bishop, ^ Some noted persons were — that is to say, much later on— buried here ; among the rest a Richard Chaucer, who had proinerty close at hand, by the stulpes at London Bridge, south. — Riley, 'Memorials,' xxxiv. ■■ Manning and Bray, vol. iii. p. 615. " Manning and Bray, vol. iii. p. 616. " Brewer, Rolls Series, vol. iv. 128 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. and may appoint a coadjutor. The King would like it for his own chaplain, Mr. Stanley. For reasons — that is to say, Stanley is a gentleman born — the King wants to be rid of him, and to have a more learned man in his place.' Edward VI. provides for the appointment of visitors, when needed ; and there was need. Corruption was often finding its way in. Many instances -are given ^ of governors having preference as to lands and tenements belonging to the hospital. Goods were often supplied by them ; and the facts becoming known, and being troublesome, orders appear in correction of the abuses in the reports of the meetings of governors. In 162 1 James I., by sign manual, appoints Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, and others, " by right always reserved to appoint visitors." They had ample powers given them to inquire as to what had been done amiss, to thoroughly rectify it, to have the delinquents before them, and, if they thought proper, to remove them summarily. None in the hospital was exempt from this juris- diction. In 1663-4 the King interfered for the appointment of James Molins as surgeon. I have been permitted to see and copy some original letters to the officials, and to trace the autograph signatures. In 1579 Queen Elizabeth wills and commands the admission of an "almesman," to have room, with suite and allowance, in the hospital. In 1634 Charles I. wills the appointment of Enoch Bostock as chirurgeon, and doubts not " of your Readiness to give us satisfaction." 1649, Oliver Cromwell is " glad itt falls in my way to accommodate both you & soe good a friend of mine as y' bearer hereof Mr. Barth Lavender." If they accede, " I shall be a Debtor to you of for y' condescention (I meane thanks)." He continues, "Trust me (Gentlemen) did nott y" abilities and worth of y= man intercede with me, I shoulde nott have moved you on his behalfe. Butt havinge a man thoroughly tried in y" service of the state & found able and faithfull in his profession, I coulde nott reasonably denie him my best assistance in soe faire a motion as to obtaine y° reversion of a Chrurgions place with you in y"^ Hospitall, wherein if you shal please to gratifie him & me, you neede not feare butt of our gratification herein will soone become y' owne, w"" notwith- ' ]5rewcr, Rolls Series, vol. iv. p. 1806. ' MS., ' St. Thomas's Hospital,' sixteenth and seventeenth centuvies. ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL. 1 29 standinge I doe nott mention or intend as a consideration for y' favo'." — " Your very loving-e freind O. Cromwell." Another : " Gentlemen. The Bearer hereof Mr. Thomas Crutchley, Chirur- gion having- for a long time served in my owne Regim* (of whose abillity I have had sufficient Evidence). My desire is that you would looke upon him as a person deserving and be pleased" that he may be admitted into the next Chyrurgions Place that shall voyd in the said Hospitall for w"" you will very much oblige youre humble servant, O. Cromwell." To go back. At St. Thomas's, as in most religious houses, there was a sanctuary — a most blessed refuge against summary vengeance in lawless times. So, 1378, there is " a chapel within the sanctuary of St. Thomass in Southwark." The small parish of St. Thomas — the precincts, in fact, of the hospital — became known as "The Parish of the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwark," and was quasi independent of external jurisdiction, often however disregarded, as already shown. The governors were, on occasion, fond of liberal feasting. It must, however, be admitted that this was a custom of the time. In 1680 occurs the item 8/. \s. od. — meaning now a much larger sum — the cost of " dressing " a dinner for the governors. 1682, a dinner is ordered for the governors, after a general court, at the Amsterdam Coffee House, in Bartholomew Lane. A bill is before me for a treat of the same kind for opposite neighbours, the vestry of St. Saviour's; the amount 5/. iSs. od., equal to at least 30/. This without wine, as I find in another bill, " a quart of sacke, clarrat and white, and for naperie and sweet watter"; and the mem. at the end, "taken the money out of the bagg to pay this bill," meant the parish bag, no doubt. St. Thomas's, not as yet the hospital in a charitable form, but as a religious foundation, falls with the others at the Dissolution. In 1538 it is surrendered to the King : according to one, by Richard Mabbot, clerk; according to another, by Thomas Thirleby. Rymer says, December 23rd, 1539, Richard Mabot is dead, and 5 The original word, in the official hand, was "order." That is crossed out, and the softer word put in Cromwell's own hand. There are other letters to the same effect, signed Jo. Bradshawe and T. Fairfax, dated 1649. K 130 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Thomas Thirleby is presented in his stead as master to the hospital of Thomas Bekket, in Southwark, commonly called " Bekkets Spyttell." At this time there were a master and brethren and three lay sisters. They made forty beds for poor infirm people, who also had victuals and firing-. The revenues were 266/. 17^. 6d. ; but by a MS. value in the first fruits office, 347/. 3J. 4 27 Henry VIII., there was a great procession by the King's command, at which were the canons of St. Mary Overy, with crosses, candlesticks, and vergers before them, all singing the Litany.' Our Lady Chapel was no doubt part of the church built in the reign of Henry III. by Bishop de Rupibus. It was probably then open to the church, forming a most complete and tasteful finish at the eastern end, with a vista of 250 feet. " Except the Temple," says Carter, " there is nothing so perfect as the Spiritual Court.' One of the most chaste and elegant specimens of the early pointed architecture of the thirteenth century in the country ; for soon after the simplicity of design became florid and overlaid " : — ^ ' Church of our Fathers,' vol. iii. p. 465. ' ' Leprosy and Leper Hospitals, ' by Dr. .Simpson, Edinhn-gh Med. and Surg. Journal, 1841. ' Manning and Bray, vol. iii. p. 560. 3 The modem designation of the Lady Chapel. It is the only one in the diocese of Winchester ; this, of course, before the recent change. 170 OLD SOUTPIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. " In the solid pillars and acute arches, in the lancet windows and simple groined roof, may be viewed an unaltered building of the thirteenth century.* The groins of the chapel are perfect, and extremely beautiful. The whole scene is solemn and impressive. The exterior is remarkable, unique as to its fine gables, which, with its pinnacle at the north-east angle, are now, except as to its existence in a pit, to be seen in perfection. Corresponding to these four gables were, within, four aisles — the outer ones continuous with the north and south aisles of the church — and from east to west three aisles." Under the window in the last north division was a Tudor- worked monument, with the statue of a skeleton — a sort of memento mori, and common in churches. I saw one lately in Exeter Cathedral. " No one in particular," said the custodian, in answer to my question as to whom, it might represent ; " only a common emblem of death." At the east end a small chapel was run out in two divisions. It had tracery windows — two of them stopped up, and one altered to place there a monument of James I.'s reign, i.e., for Bishop Andrewes ; also two very ancient stone coffins were here pre- served. This, called the BISHOP'S CHAPEL, was constructed later than the Lady Chapel. It is joined to it, and runs out from it due east. A woodcut '" shows how the second division, south-east of the fan and window, was altered or taken away, to connect the Lady Chapel with its newer annexe. The architecture of the later chapel was in the style of temp. Henry III., and was, therefore, built not so very long after the older one was finished. If this chapel was at first part of the continuous church, without screen or interruption, then probably the Bishop's was the original Lady Chapel. It was, as I have said, built long before it was appro- priated for the tomb of Bishop Andrewes. The Bishop dying in Winchester House, his tomb being so sumptuous, and taking up so much of the small space, no doubt gave it the name of the Bishop's Chapel. However this may be, the chapel and the remains were all removed together in 1830. The interior of this chapel was in dimensions about 33 feet east and west by 19 feet north and south, ■* Carlos, Gent. Ma«., 1832. '- Brayley, ' Graphic lUustrEitor,' p. 17. BISHOP fox's altar SCREEN. 171 making the length of the whole edifice from west to east not much less than 300 feet. The proportions will be seen in the ground- plan. A view in Moss gives the interior communication ; that in Brayley, the exterior ; and a very excellent cut in Wilkinson's ' Londina,' the exterior view complete. Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester 1500-1528, a Httle before the time of our map, I have already noticed in connexion with Winchester House, the Southwark palace of the Bishops of Win- chester. The bishop was a man ot great taste, was devoted to the church and very liberal to it. He adorned his own cathedral of Winchester with a most beautiful altar-screen of stone, having canopied niches. He most munificently erected a similar one in this his quasi-cathedral of St. Saviour's in Southwark. It was on the same plan, probably by the same designer. It is therefore fairly inferred that Bishop Fox did this good work. An altar-screen is defined to be a back wall to the choir of a church, separating it from the presbytery or lady chapel behind it ; so here, on the occa- sion of the restoration of the choir by Mr. Gwilt, an altar-screen of wood and plaster, probably of Wren's time, was removed. Then were discovered canopies which had been very badly used, probably with intentional and conscientious barbarity. But, even after all this, a work of great beauty was disclosed — a series of niches with canopies, which, says Carlos, was no doubt erected shortly after the Winchester screen was put up. The two screens agree not only in the arrangement and general design, but in the number of the niches. The design has a height of three stories, again divided in accord with the sacred figure 3, so much used in the architecture of St. Saviour's. In the centre of the lower division, room is left for the altar-table. Grotesque carvings were about, of human beings chasing some animals, and in the centre a fool with his bauble ; these peculiar to this screen. The upper cornice was ornamented with the paschal lamb and the pelican, with foliage of the oak and acorns interspersed. The cornice of the second compartment had, as in the upper one, the paschal lamb and the pelican ; but the foliage was varied to roses, lilies, and twisted thorns, interspersed with heads of the Saviour and St. John of most exquisite workman- ship. "The so-called restoration of Bishop Fox's altar-screen took place under the direction of Mr. Robert Wallace, as did also 1/2 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. the rebuilding- of the north and south transepts in 1830.'" Mr. Carlos, to whom we are so greatly indebted, had an article as to this screen, with a picture of it, in the Gentleman's Magazine, Feb- ruary, 1834. So the fine gift of Bishop Fox may be understood and appreciated/ About IS 59 the governors of the parish appear to have felt the screw of debt, and became in some respects rigid economists. This church was always needing repair; the graveyards soon became filled, and new ones had to be found or extemporized. One curious saving seems to have been effected by packing away the bones, and so making room for new comers. Accordingly, F F F in the ground-plan represent " bone-houses," i.e., external niches or closets for the reception of bones. I find in the church- wardens' accounts, 1598, an item, "P* to the gravemakers for burying the dead men's bones, viij*." In " I5S9, Popish vestments are to be sold for repair of this church." This same year, August 13, 1SS9, a new school-house is to be built; so the church- wardens and vestrymen resolve " it shall be done where the old church-house in the parish of St. Margaret was, and the old chapel behind the chancel," — what we now call the Spiritual Court, — " shall be let for the benefit of the school." The writer in Stow, 1 720, R notices this with proper indignation, how " the 30 vestry- men and churchwardens leased and let out the old Lady Chapel, and made the House of God a bakehouse. Two very fair doors that form the two side aisles of the chancel went into it, were lathed, daubed, and dammed up ; the fair pillars were ordinary posts, against which they piled billets and bavins (brush faggots) ; in this place they had their ovens, in that a bolting-place, in that their kneading-trough, in another (I have heard) a hog's trough. It was first let by the Corporation to one Wyat, after him to one Peacock, then to Cleybrooke, and last to one Wilson, all bakers ; and part of the building was used as a starch-house." In the parish records, May, 1579, "The wardens are to treat with Peacock the baker about surrendering up part of the premises he holds, and to . G. Gwilt. ' Concanen and Morgan, ' St. Saviour's,' p. 77. I am a little puzzled by this passage. 1618, 15 Jac. I. "The screen at the entrance of the chapel of the Virgin Maiy was this year set up." BAKERS AND PIGS IN THE LADY CHAPEL. 173 let him a lease of the Spiritual Court, which he occupies as a tenant at will." Accordingly, Oct., 1579, ^ le^-se is granted to John Pea- cock for 2 1 years, for a fine of 20/. and a rent of 5/. a year. " He is to keep it sweet and clean, and in sufficient repair." About this same time they go to the expense of a new door, the other side of the church, into my Lord Montacute's house. Pigs at one end, and my Lord at the other.— 1607. One of the tenants finds him- self inconvenienced by a tomb " of a certain Cade," and asks the vestry to allow him to remove it; this is, in a very friendly manner, consented to, "but it must be made up again in any reasonable sort."^ Later on the vestry proceedings show a meal- shop cellar burrowing its way to the church ; how a place is made up at the west end of the church for coal storage ; how " houses of office" openly leak into the channels immediately about the church ; how one part after another abutting on the church, south and north and east, are, when the older places become full, taken in to eke out burial space.' After about seventy years it seems to occur to the vestrymen that the occupation by bakers and their pigs is not a decent use of the Lady Chapel, and possession is once more in the hands of the vestry. It is now cleansed, repaired, and restored at an expense of 200/., some zealous persons lending a helping hand. In 1625 one aisle is paved at the cost of John Hayman, merchant taylor, whose monument is noticed. A few very interesting incidents may be related here; the laying a small knife on a tomb in the church, as a ratifying token of a grant by one of the Warrens, has already been noticed. Twelve acres of land were left by another and a lamp was kept always burning in the church as a token of the gift. In 1272, John Tuatard and John clerk to St. Mary Magdalen are playing at " tiles " " quoits " in the churchyard of St. Mary, Southwark, and the first John is killed by a blow on the head. John the clerk passes info the church of St. Mary Magdalen, probably as sanctuary, and is seen no more for the present. — 1352. A Bishop of Rochester, John de Shepey, is here consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester. In ISS4 the Lord Chancellor did consecrate six new bishops before ^ Manning and Bray, vol. iii. p. 570. " Parish Records. 1/4 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. the high altar at St. Mary Overy ; then to the palace at hand, " to as g-rete a dener as youe have seen." Gardiner had just before, as chief member of a commission, deprived their predecessors.^ In iSSS) Winchester, and other bishops, had commission from Cardinal Pole as to preachers and heretics ; the same day they sit in judgment in St. Mary Overy's church. This January the tribunal sat four times in Southwark, and before them was Bishop Hooper, the learned translator of the Bible ; Matthews, that is Rogers ; and some nine others ; most of whom were degraded, if that word can be used, and condemned to the fire. Some " to as gfreat a dener as you ever saw," some to death by fire!— all for opinions which are for ever fluctuating. In 1 5 S 7 a heretic is brought into the church, to be preached at before the people, — a common custom. In 1553, Feckenham, chaplain to Bonner and to Mary, the author of 'Caveat Emptor,' i.e. "beware how you buy Abbey lands," &c., preaches before the Earl of Devonshire, Sir Anthony Browne, and other nobles, at the church of St. Mary Overy. Gardiner preaches here often ; one time just before the Priory is suppressed. Another time he preached here a celebrated sermon, which had something to do with raising dangerous questions and exciting obstruction, as his clever manner was ; for which he was presently deprived. One other time, 1547, he orders a great and solemn service, a dirge for the late King.'' But now there was a new king who knew not this Joseph ; so the dreaded Bishop is jeered at. The 'State Paper,' February s, 1547, runs thus: "Stephen Gardiner to Paget, — intends to have a solemn dirge and mass for his late master " ; at the same time the players in Southwark announce " a solemne playe to trye who shal have most resorte — they in game, or I in ernest " ; he requests that the Lord Protector will interfere. In 1587 the pulpit is occupied with another controversy; Cooper, now Bishop of Winchester, had offended the Marprelate men,^ " before hundreds of people at Marie Oueries last Lent," who in return, assail him and his " as impudent, shamelesse wainscote- ' Machyn. = Hemy VIII. -■' For a good, easily attainable account of tliem, their secret printing-presses, and tlieir intense hatred of bishops, see Isaac D'Israeli's 'Calamities of Authors,' SERMONS, MARRIAGES, AND FUNERALS. I7S faced bishops." Another conflict with the players from this pulpit. Mr. Sutton, the preacher at St. Mary Overies, 1616, denounces the stage. Nathan Field, son of a minister, and a noted actor of Shakespeare's period and of his plays, retorts in no measured terms.* " I beseech you understand," he says, " that you many tymes from the Holy Hill of Sion, the pulpitt, a place sanctified and dedicated for the winning not discouraging of soules, have sent forth bitter breathinges against that poore calling it hath pleased the Lord to place me in, that my spiritt is moved, the fire is kindled and I must speake," and so on. By way of change, — some great marriages took place at St. Mary Overies. 8 Henry IV., Dame Lucy, sister to the Duke of Milan, comes to London, and is married here to Edmund Holand, Earl of Kent. She had, says Stow, 100,000 ducats for her portion. James I. of Scotland had long been a prisoner in England. By way of a graceful winding up, he was married at St. Mary Overy's, in 1424, to the niece of the rich Cardinal Beaufort. The marriage feast was kept at Winchester House — next door, as it were. The grandeur of the feast may be inferred from the character of the Magnificent Cardinal, as Shakespeare describes him — good at a feast no doubt, as at a fray. Then there are very grand obsequies. Machyn, a diarist, 1550 to 1563,^ is good at funerals, and seems greatly pleased if there is only sufficient grandeur. In 1554 the Duke of Norfolk, at St. Mary Overies, a hearse made with timber and hanged with black, his arms, four goodly candlesticks, gilded, and four great tapers, and all the quire hanged with black, and arms. A dirge and mass on the morrow. Gardiner is the chief mourner, and at the dirge my Lord Montague and others, and a great ring- ing two days ; that is the Sth October. On the 29th the famous Captain Sir Thomas Audley is buried; sixty great people, knights, and others attend the funeral. Other Audley s appear to have been buried at this church: Lord Audley, who died in 1SS9-60; a Lady Audley, in 1 544. Holbein has a likeness in colours of a very * " Field the Player's Letters to Mr. Sutton, Preacher at St. Mavy Overy, 1616." In Halliwell's Illustrations, Life of Shakespeare, 1st part, Appendix xxiii. 5 Camden Society. 176 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE, lovely Lady Audley, who was buried at St. Mary Overys.' But the funeral and obsequies of Bishop Gardiner, noticed under "Win- chester House," in pomp and grandeur effectually eclipse them all. 43 Edw. 3rd, August 13, 1369, Lady Cobham in her will directs that her body shall be buried in the churchyard of St. Mary Over- there^ before the door where the Blessed Virgin sitteth on high ; a plain marble stone to be laid over her grave, with a cross of metal thereon, and on it the words, " Vous qui per ici passietz, pur I'alme Johane de Cobham prietz." Before everything else, immediately after her death, 7,000 masses are to be said for her soul, and for the service she leaves 29/. 3^. /^d. She also leaves legacies " to the priests, to the sisters ministering in St. Thomas's Hospital, to side persons lying there, and to the prisoners lying in chains and fetters near to St. George's, Southwark." The Green Dragon, close at hand, was the inn or hostel of the family, and is so referred to in the will of Joan Cobham. (Map, 12.) Soon after the battle of Northampton (wars of the Roses), 1460, in which the king was taken prisoner, a very tragic event took place hard by the church. The victim was the King's Captain in London. I tell it much as the old chronicler does. Lord Scales was flying for refuge to Westminstre, probably for sanctuary, but was discovered by a woman, and was set upon by the watermen of the Counts of Warwick and March, on the river bank, close to the wall of the house of the Bishop of Winchestre. He was killed, stripp'd, and his body left naked by the portico of the church of St. Mary Overy, where it remained exposed for some hours ; but was the same day buried by those who knew him, and had before been his companions — /. e., by the Earls of Warwick and March and others. Another tragic event at our church happened in 1532 ; this time connected with charity. In those old times it was not unusual for persons naturally dis- posed to kindness, or for others, who on approaching death were seized with terror, and hoped haply to atone for the past by gifts, to leave very much in charities. One kind was called a dole, and as illustrative of the fatal dole at St. Mary Overy's I note some in- * 'Imitation of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein,'— a book which is worth a journey to the British Museum to see. ' Qy. Over'the-re. A FATAL DOLE AT ST. SAVIOUR'S. 1 7 Stances. Joan, Viscountess Lisle, bestowed 300 shirts and smocks fo poor folk. The Countess Salisbury, to four score poor men, womer and children bedridden, each vj.r. vu]d.^ Stow says : "In m youth I remember devout people, especially on Fridays, weekl bestowing alms on poor men and women bedridden, lying- withi their windows on a bed ; a clean linen cloth and beads lying i the window to shew that a bedrid body was there." A parse who craved the good will of his fellow -creatures left " one ob 1 every purman at the kyrk door when the messe es done at h byrying." A brewer, not uncommon, leaves " quatuor lagenas c meliore servisia pauperibus pro anima mea," &c. A drop of goo beer for that purpose ! The crowds so gathered choked the gates ( the great monasteries. Sir Thomas More (iSS7) was on one sue occasion fain, because of the press of the people, to ride anothe way. What happened at St. Mary Overy's was this. A dole Wc being distributed at the church ; the crowd was so great that foi men, two women, and a boy were smothered" — a fact very sug gestive of the state of the poor in 1532, and of the demoralizin effect of these doles. In 1577 another condition was illustrated at St. Mary Overy' This time it was a wizard in trouble. He was apparendy terrifie to death. There was much to be said for the wizards ; the pn fession of medicine was much mixed up with astrology. Grei people, and even the State, dealt with them ; even a Bishop Winchester, Home, in 1577 sought their opinion as to a com« "God's Judgment" upon Symon Pembroke took place 17 January, 1577. The ballad says,— " Of late in Southwarke there was knowne Example of the same When Gods owne judgement fell upon Simon Pembroke by name. He was a noted Conjurer livde neare unto the Clinke. He was so famous in that place to him did folkes resort — Within the church the court was held St. Saviour's near the bridge." ' Rock, 'Churchof our Fathers.' 9 Stow, Chronicle. 178 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. The death came about in this way. Simon was busy entertaining- a proctor. He had money in his hand — significant that — and, leaning his head upon a pew wherein the proctor stood, he straight- way fell down, rattled a little in his throat, and spoke no more. The judge said it was a just judgment of God to those who used sorcery, and a great example to admonish others. Now I am inclined to do battle as to my parish, St. George's, having a right to this man. The ballad says he dwelt, by the Clink; but Hoi - Unshed says " he dwelt in St. George's Parish in Southwark, and being a figure-flinger, and vehemently suspected to be a conjuror, had to appear at the court at St. Saviour's." Now Lilly, the prince of this sort of people, was of St. George's. In 1627, the parish register notes that this great conjuror married his master's widow. Lilly was consulted by high folk, even about State affairs. There was also a Simon Read, professor of medicinfe in St. George's, who practised invocations and conjurations by wicked spirits — Cacodsemones. The names of the wicked spirits with whom he did business are given. Read went too far, and was "cast " by the College of Physicians in 1602. Kelly, the Sidrophel of ' Hudibras,' was a brother of the craft living also in St. George's. My parish had a great character for conjurors, and so Pembroke cannot be spared. Let this suffice for general illustrations of the old ways at St. Mary Overie's. I must not overlook the parish bells. The church has been always remarkable for its bells, which have their special warden. So important was this bell-ringing that gilds were formed for its encouragement and practice.^ Very few days could have passed by without their music ringing out over Southwark and the river and London Bridge. — 1607. Edmund Shakespeare is buried, with a forenoon knell of the great bell. — 1608. Lawrence Fletcher, with an afternoon knell of the great bell. — 1615. Philip Henslow, with the same. At the obsequies of Gardiner the knell began on the 13th, at six, and kept ringing on the morrow. On this occa- sion there was a knell at every church in London. A rare broad- sheet at the Society of Antiquaries tells us the particulars of the charges of the churchwardens of St. Saviour's for their Lady Bell, Rock. ST. saviour's bells and chimes. 179 their great Bell and their Lesser Bell. The tenor bell rang the people to church, — " I ring to sermon with a lusty boome That all may come and none may slay at home." Certain " youths," the college youths, those named of old London, of Cumberland, have done great deeds upon these bells. One per- formance, March 12th, 1758, was the "greatest ever done on twelve bells." Again, a complete peal of Bob Maximus, 6,336, in five hours and thirteen minutes — the greatest ever done by this method. There were two other performances, 1766, 1784, each the greatest performance ever done on twelve bells — of the kind, I suppose. In 1424 each bell had its Christian name, and had been baptized. In former times the bells had this privilege here ; in some countries even now. It is comforting to know that if the bell is pro- perly baptized the Evil One flies at the sound of it, and that so far as the sound extends is the boundaryline within which the tormenting spirit cannot come to disturb the departing soul. Chimes, dials, clocks, and weathercocks figure in the Vestry minutes, and notices of repairs,^ recastings and the like often occur ; but they need no further mention other than this perhaps, that among the numerous pictures of the church, one has a prominent sundial on the south transept ; in others the antiquated sundial gives place to the clock.^ Vestry minutes, i6th November, 1679 : — " A new sundial to be put up over against the freeschool." 1689. — " New vanes or weather- cocks on the pinnacles." 1691. — "Chimes to be put into good tune and condition." 1710. — " John Lade "* warden for the bells. The charge then was 2d. for a "passing bell," and "4c?. for an hour's knell." 1737.' — The old bells are recast; a faculty is obtained for a new peal of twelve. 1 738. — A new clock is ordered, the old is not fit, and so on. At one time in the south transept was a stained glass window of ' Wages, 1594, repairs, a master self, i6d. a day, my man lod., labourer lod. Vestry Papers. » The picture in Maitland has the sundial and no clock ; they used an old print of it. Tiler's, 1761, has the clock. The clock was placed in 1735. * Sir John Lade was an M.P. for Southwark. This or another of the family was chief in a corrupt select vestiy. A kind of parish revolution in St. Saviour's, in 1730, got rid of Lade and his people. N 2 l8o OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. some pretensions. No one knows how it went ; but there is a copy in the British Museum, copied again in Taylor's ' Annals.' It represents three Norman knights : Marshall, Earl of Pembroke ; Lacy, Earl of Lincoln ; the third bears the Warren arms, sup- posed to be those of Reginald de Warren, a great benefactor of the church. In the same collection are arms of other distinguished personages, which were once in St. Mary's windows. Of these no remains are known. But we know that the church of St. Mary Overy was full of illustrious memories. A long and interesting bill for repairing the glass in St. Saviour's Church is among the parish papers. In the vestry records is a note, "2 March 1569 money to Garratt Hone for glazing the church." Now, in 18 Henry VIII., 1526, "one Galyen Hoone of St. Mary Magdalen next St. Mary Overy Southwark Glasyer," is associated with James Nicholson, printer of a first Coverdale Bible, in St. Thomas's Hospital parish, also a glasyer, to make and place the almost innumerable windows at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, which are still there. I have little doubt but that this refers at least to the same family name, if not to the same man, in both cases. We know there were noted monuments in this church. Most of them must have long ago disappeared, and the names also of all but a few. We know of the Warrens, among the earliest Normans ; the Browns, of the Montague family ; the Brandons, at first but fighting people, at length great lords in Southwark ; the Audleys, one a lord chancellor to Henry VIII. The palace of the Bishops of Winchester was here, so the remains of some of the bishops were deposited in the church. In 1579 Home — or part of him, his bowels — in the choir. In 1S9S Wm. Wickham, near the altar. In 1626 Andrewes, in the eastern chapel. Others of a different stamp ; the illiterate employer and patron of the players of Shakespeare's time, Philip Henslowe, respectable and shrewd, a money-making man of much local note and trust, who fills the highest parochial offices, is buried, 16 15, with some honour in the chancel : also one of the Shakespeares, Fletcher, and Massinger, and many another noted name. I have seen in the church books the names of scores of men, women and children, of the players of Shakespeare's time. But of these another time. There are other records, suggestive of other kinds of people who rested here — the JOHN OVERS AND HIS DAUGHTER MARY. l8l figure of a knight ; stone coffins, which were in use in the time of Henry VIII. ; cadaverous figures, part of a prevailing fancy which put death's-heads on rings, or surrounded information and exhor- tation in time of sickness with death's-heads and cross-bones ; an altar-tomb and canopy and legend of brass, whose not known ; well-preserved mummies, found in the great vault in 1817, one of them with a bullet-hole in his chest — all of them interesting and suggestive.^ One of these is supposed to represent the old ferry- man, John Overs, whose daughter was a chief foundress of the priory, St. Mary Overs. The whole of the legend looks like a mythical representation of facts, and is so, no doubt. A kind of chap-book, the ' Life and Death of John Overs,' printed for T. Harris, at the Looking Glass, on London Bridge, 1744, is before me. It is worth reading, if only to see what people might believe of the origin of St. Mary Overy's. Here, in the very words of Bartholomew Linsted, the last prior, we read of a ferry just where London Bridge afterwards was, — which " ferry was left to Mary, the daughter of the ferryman, who, with the great substance left her by her parents, and from the daily profits of the ferry, built a house of sisters, on the spot where now standeth the east part of St.. Mary Overs Church, and where she was afterwards buried. In process of time the house of sisters became a college of priests, who builded the first London Bridge of timber." Strange changes have taken place among the tenants of these tombs. The knight was removed to make room for Lockyer, the quack doctor, and his grand monument ; Cure for some one else ; one of the old priors for a vestry dignitary, Bingham. When death came to multitudes through pestilence, and when yet burials were always in and about the churches, except when it became a necessity to extemporize pits for the purpose, one tenant had to give place to another before decay had done with him. " Our churches," says the report of the College of Physicians, in 1637, "are overlaid with burials, that many times they take up some to make way for new." In 1402 Gower was buried here. The poet had been a good friend to his old church. About 14OO he had contributed largely to the restoration or rebuilding, and with his nurse-wife, to whom ^ A goodly list is given in Manning and Bray of many titled and distinguished people who lived or died hereabout, 1 82 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. he was married when he was old, retired within the monastery. His home was afterwards in the Montague Close. His fine monument, lately restored by the munificence of a modern namesake, of the noble Gower family, is known by the almost innumerable pictures of it. It was Gothic, of three arches, with the statue of the dead poet in purple gown, with roses in his hand, and the effigies of his great works under his head. The figures of Charity, Mercy, and Pity were depicted, each with a device, one Englished thus, — " For thy pity, Jesu have Regard, And put this Soul in Safegiiard." " O good Jesu shew thy Mercy to the Soul whose Body lies here.'' And another, — "In Thee who art the Son of God the Father, be he saved that lyes under this stone. " Of his works, the ' Confessio Amantis ' is the principal, and is a dialogue between a lover and his confessor. Every evil affec- tion tending to clog or impede is noted, and its fatal effects exemplified by stories from classics and chronicles. An early copy of this work was sold at Sotheby's last year for no less than 175/. .In an old book is related how John Gower prepared for his bones a resting-place in the monastery of St. Mary Overy in the chapel of St. John there, and an obit yearly for his soul was performed on the Friday of the Feast of the blessed Pope Saynte Gregorie, and 1,500 days of pardon were promised to those who should pray for him. Father of English poetry we may call our "moral Gower "; but probably no living person, or dead either, perchance, has read his three books, the ' Speculum Meditantis,' the ' Vox Clamantis,' and the ' Confessio Amantis.' Not the less it was a great work in those days. Gower was a fast friend of Chaucer's, and that says something for the real character of the writer of the free tales of the Canterbury Pilgrimage. In 1 368 Gower acts for his friend in his absence, and appears in the courts of law on his behalf. Becoming old, and wanting care, he in 1397 procures a special marriage licence from William of Wykeham, and in St. John's Chapel, St. Mary Overy, marries Agnes Groundolf, and makes her his nurse-wife. Soon after he becomes blind. He appears to have ample apartments in the priory, and lived there to the end of his days ; that is to 1402. The brethren honoured MOXUMENTS — GOWER'S, EMERSON'S. 1 83 their great benefactor with a painted window and the magnificent tomb already noticed. In Gower's will, printed at full length," bequests appear to the priests and others at St. Mary Overy ; to every valet within the gates, 2^. ; to every servant boy, i2d.; and 40s. for lights and ornaments for the church. Further, for lights and ornaments, and for the parish priests or rectors of St. Margaret, St. George, St. Olave, and St. Mary Magdalene, certain other sums ; to the hospital of St. Thomas, 40^^. ; to priests, sisters, and nurses, other sums, all of them being desired to pray for him. For the service of the Chapel of St. John, in which he was buried, were left two vestments of silken cloth, one missal, large and new, and one new chalice. To Agnes, his wife, 200/., various silver, beds and chests, and the furniture of hall, pantry, and kitchen. He had then ample apartments and an oratory within the priory. Besides the 200/., which would represent of our present money some 2,000/. or 3,000/., he, wishing to deal liberally and amicably by her, " tunc ipsa libere et pacifice," left her the rents of his manors, "Dat infra Prioratum beate Marie de Overes in Sut- werke." Some other monuments, more or less interesting, may be noted. William Emerson, died 1575, who "lived and died an honest man." Here is impressively put before us a recumbent figure, a diminutive effigy of a man in a winding sheet, emaciated, with the words, VT SVM SIC ERIS. He lived to ninety-two ; so, from his own point of view, the ghastly memento was scarcely justified. He, with Thomas Cure, was among the earliest vestrymen of the parish. The name is also noticeable as one of a kindly and muni- ficent family. Thomas Emerson's name often appears as a leading vestryman, with Humble, and Browker, and Broomfield. The grandson, Thomas Emerson, left, in 1620, money to the poor, and an estate in Maiden Lane. Humphrey Emerson had before, in 1603, left money to the poor and a garden platt in Mayd Lane to the Grammar School, and to the governors of the school 20^., "to make merry with all after my burial." Much more might be said of the kindly charity of this family, women and men ; this may by-and-by be comprised in the charities of Southwark. « Taylor's ' Annals of St. Mary Overy,' p. 79. 1 84 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Thomas Cure, buried here in 1588, was a local magnate of the highest class. He was warden of the parish. His name stands among others for his own parish in the conveyance from the authorities of St. Margaret's — BuUe and others — to the authorities of St. Mary Magdalen Overy, the two parishes to be henceforward one — St. Saviour's. Thomas Bulla, or Bulley, yeoman of the Crown, one of the King's guard, churchwarden of St. Margaret's, also the member for Southwark in i S 36, was one of the St. Margaret's people. Thomas Cure, the sadler, was member for South wark in 1562-3, and again in 1570-71 j in 1585-6, a warden of St. Saviour's and a chief in parish affairs, he with others represented his parish in that transaction. Evidently he was a good as well as a prudent man, dwelling apparently in the outworks of religion, where people were not harried and burnt ; and so he contrived to purvey the saddles, or perform his duty, whatever it was, for three such different people as Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. So that he seated them properly, he does not appear to have gone out of his way to court persecution or to manifest offensively his especial belief, if he had any. His name appears with especial consideration and respect in my MS. notes of St. Thomas's Hospital, 1569 to 1574. Noted one week, — " a remembrance for Mr. Cure " ; another for the prompt removal of a nuisance which annoyed him. After serving Edward, he served Mary ; and, whether "Vicar of Bray" or no, he served Elizabeth also. The confidence of the latter in him is shown strongly enough in his being appointed, in 1584, as one of four commissioners to search the houses in St. Mary Overies Close for Papists. It is shown — Dom. Eliz., 1584, Public Records — how he found fifteen persons in Mr. Browne's house, in the close ; in another house a servant to "Sir Phillipp Sidney"; in another "Mary More and Grace More, Drs. of Thomas More, prisoner in Ihe Mar- shalsea"; and how he visited Mr. Trehearne's house, on the Bank- side. At the dissolution one of the possessions of Waverley Abbey — Waverley House close by those of Rochester and "Winchester — passed to the Brownes or Montagues, as most of the possessions of the religious houses in this corner did. Thomas Cure turned this condition of things to such good account that now, in our day, his bequest is a large and liberal parish charity. Here is the testimony of his friends and neighbours : " 1621, It is ordered by the Vestry THOJIAS CURK. 185 that a fitting inscription is to be set over the new Gate leading into the College churchyard in Deadman's Place, that ' Thomas Cure was a good benefactor in building the said College andAlmshouses.' " It is a pity, if it be true, that the Charity Commissioners have done away with this modest testimony. A Cambridge friend has favoured me with the following version of the inscription, which is far too good to be omitted. There must have been some humour about the man, if he had to do with his own epitaph, in which is a play upon his name, variously inflected, as Cure, Curus, Cura, Curo. Elegy on Thomas Cure, of Southwark, Esquire : " Cure, whom yon . stone covers, served thee, Elizabeth, as master of the saddle-horses. He served King Edward, and Mary his sister. To have had the favour of three sovereigns is a great glory. He lived beloved with all. The state was ever a care to Cure ; the welfare of the people was (a care) while he lived. He provided that for the maintenance of old men houses should be assigned, to meet the disbursements of money his yearly doles." ' He died on the 24th -of May, a.d. 1588. The lands and tenements of the Abbot of Waverley, next Winchester House, forfeited at the dissolution, and granted to Sir Anthony Brown, were granted by Lord Montague, a Browne, to Mr. Cure for the purposes of his college. The ordinances of the charity, published from the old copy by the parish, is a formidable and interesting document. The partakers of his charity were to be elected by parsons, of whatsoever name called, but actually in- cumbent and resident, and by churchwardens, and twelve of the " aunscientest and discreetest vestrymen, if there shalbee any suche." The method may be inferred from a vestry entry, June 20, 1625 : " This day Thomas Bromley who coulde saye the Lord's prayer the Creede and the tenn comaundments was chosen by general consent to be one of the college." As a gloss upon this, Latimer, in one of his wonderful sermons upon the Lord's prayer, says, "Whan we bee disposed to despise a man and call hym an ignoraunt foole, we say, he cannot say his paternoster." The test was, therefore, according to the usages of the time, in every way appropriate. We have a handsome tomb to the memory of the Humbles ; chiefly to Richard, d. 1616, and Margaret, his first wife. Behind 1 The original, in Latin, is in Tiler's ' .St. Saviour's, ' p. 29. 1 86 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. these kneeling figures is one of a younger and, indeed, jaunty- looking woman — Isabel, his second wife. The Humbles were busy, prominent people. Richard was an alderman of London, and foremost in the affairs of St. Saviour's parish. To some extent they were charitable ; but as it consisted of charges, and not a growing estate, the amount is now as it was — about 5/. The inscription duly sets forth the small charity and the family proceedings as to wives and children, and who the wives were. The tomb was to be kept clean, and 4^. a year was left for the purpose. The parish has done its duty, and Humble, with his humble bequest, is well kept in mind ; while the name of Cure, with his princely charity, is nearly blotted out. Humble's tomb is noted for the very quaint lines, "Like to the damask rose you see"; possibly Quarles's, but probably common property. Similar lines of Beaumont's appear; and, with slight variations, they were adopted in the memento mori broadsheets of the time. These sheets were orna- mented with black borders, death emblems, &c., circulated to the terror of the nervous, and no doubt to the frightening to death a large number of people. The actual inscription is in Tiler and Taylor ° and other accounts of the parish. This broadsheet ver- sion " is nearly word for word with it : — ' ' Like to the Damask Rose you see, Or like the blossom on the tree, Or like the dainty flower of May, Or like the morning to the day, Or like the sun, or lilce the shade, Or like the gourd that Jonas had — Even such is man, whose thrced is spun, Drawn out and cut, and so is done," &c. Even this memento mori was parodied in the ballads of the period.^ Richard Humble's name appears prominently in the vestry pro- ceedings of the parish. In 1593 it stands with those of Bromfield, Brooker, and Emerson. In 1598 he is appointed, with others, to » ' St. Saviour's.' » "Lord, have mercy upon us." A black-letter broadsheet, 1636. British Museum, ^^ ' ' Pretty Comparisons.' Roxburghe Ballads, by W. Chappell, F.S.A. "Like to a pistol and no shot," &c, OTHER MONUMENTS, ST. SAVIOUR'S. 1 8/ petition the Council that the playhouses might be pulled down. Of little effect, as almost immediately after the noted playhouse people, Henslowe and Alleyn, take a lead at the vestry. The family name does not seem to have influenced Richard Hunible, as in 1600 he — a great person at the vestry — offers to lay a wager that the parish will not get its dues from Lord Montague, Mr. Langley, and others, and he calls the churchwardens " Knaves and Rascalles." It appears that he was an ancestor of the .family of Dudley and Ward.^ The monument of the Trehearnes. John, died 16 18, was chief gentleman porter to James I., as his son, who also was buried here, was chief clerk of the kitchen. The wife Margaret, who lived some twenty-seven years after her husband, and the children, are represented on the tomb. The epitaph implies that Trehearne died because his master the king was powerless against the greater King, but that he passed from one king's court to a greater in heaven. John Symons, a white baker of London, ob. 1625. His monu- ment is of black marble, with the inscription, " Monumentum Viri Justi," — particularly well to be mentioned as a set-off against the charges against the bakers and the remarkably severe sentences against the unjust among them, — "To live and die well was his whole endeavour- He in assurance dy'd to live for ever, '' He left money for the poor of St. Saviour's, St. George's, and St. Mary Newington. John Bingham, saddler to Elizabeth and James, died 1625. His remains rested where before was placed a prior of St. Mary's. He gave the lamp acre and a windmill in St. George's Fields, of some benefit to his native parish, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, of little to St. Saviour's, so that at length it was handed over to St. Martin's for lOo/.' Susannah Barford, died 1652, set. ten years and thirteen weeks. " The nonsuch of the world for piety and vertue in soe tender yeares." The monument was adorned with a death's-head and ' Taylor, 'Annals of St. Mary Overy, ' p. 1 00. 1 88 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. cross-bones on one side, and a winged hourglass at the other, and under, these charming words, — " And death and envye both must say twas fitt Her memoiy should thus in brass be writt. Here lyes interr'd within this bed of dust A virgin pure not stain'd by carnall lust : Such grace the King of Kings bestowd upon her That now shee lives with him a maid of honour. Her stage was short, her thread was quickly spunn Drawne out, and cutt, got heaven, her worke was done. This world to her was but a traged play Shee came and saw 't, dislik't, and pass'd away." The arrangement of some of the letters in this inscription is noticeable; for instance, DRAWNE OVT, AND CVT. A tablet of black marble is here to Mrs. Margaret Maynard, who died 1653, aged thirteen years, ten months, and fourteen days, says the very accurate inscription. Originally in the south aisle of the choir was a spacious monument of stone, adorned with two pilasters with comish and pediment ; between the pilasters a rock, whereon was an angel pointing toward the sun, with the motto " Sol Justitiae " ; out of the rock issues a stream. There is a scroll with Petra erit Xtus, alluding to our Saviour, who is here styled a Rock ; and the stream of blood from His side, whereby the thirst of all believers is quenched. A snake, as emblem of the serpent lifted up in the wilderness. The motto " Nemo sine Cruce Beatus." Much more may be read in Tiler and Taylor. William Austin, gentleman, whose stony pageant all this is, died January i6th, 1633, set. 47. He appears to have been fanciful and sensational — what we now call morbid. He wrote Divine meditations on particular subjects, as, for instance, the Conception, and on persons, as St. Thomas. He wrote " The Authors owne Funerall made upon Himselfe," the motto a text in these words : — " Mine age is departed and removed from me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off like a weaver my life ; he will cut me off with pining sickness : from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me." In this discourse, referring to his first wife and children, he says, " The fellow of my bed, the playfellows of my house, the joy of my heart, and comforts of my life are either clean gone or much impaired ; I am indeed Austin's monument. 189 but half alive, and half dead, for (like a blasted tree) half my body (the more loved part) is dead, and half my branches (the youngest and tenderest) are withered, cut off and buried with her." As a tribute to the living- wife, it must not be forgotten that she, after her husband's death, published this exordium upon her pre- decessor. Depressing as his tendencies were, he seems to have been favoured of women. It is so sometimes : the interestingly unsociable draw sympathy. Not to be wondered at, for — another reason — he seemed very much to admire them, as his little " essaie " "on the excellency of the creation of women ' ' proves. The engraved title-page of his meditations is a work to be thought over. Eleven little pictures, each embodying the subject of a meditation — the Conception, the Crucifixion, and the like. Below is his portrait on a small oval, standing on steps, and below, on each side, a skeleton sitting. In his Epicedium, quaintly, but in the same vein, he says, " Shall we " Grieve to lay downe them Rags, for earth to keepe, That we a while may take a Nap of Sleepe ? " Here, from the same, is something perhaps of a little better quality, — " Change but this aire, and think upon thy end, Thy sinne will lessen and thy soule will mend. For as at sea when clouds i^ut out the stars ^^^len winds from heaven, and waves from earth makes wars, And mad brain'd saylors, all the decks orewhelme, The Pilot (sadly sitting at the helme) Better directs the ship, where it should goe Than all their wUd endeavours can, — Ev'n so (When through the world's dark storms, to heaven we tend One quiet pilot sitting at the end) One thought of death, our course more, right doth guide Than all the vaine workes of our life beside." Some monuments in the church were of the same allegorical cast as this, — notably Gower's with its figures and mottoes. Sutton, who squabbled with Field, the actor, worked in the same tone. His ' Christian Jewell ' had for title-page a counterpart of Austin's, even to the little pictures of the Circumcision, Baptism, &c., and with an oval of Sutton,—" The patterne of a Pastour true." Mr. Austin, and the Lady Joyce Clark, his mother, go together in the IQO OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. token books in paying those dues. This family were friends of Alleyn, who, in accord with kindly custom, sends a New Year's gift of silk stockings to Lady Clark and Mr. and Mrs. Austin. Stow records that " the Lady Clark, mother to Master William Austin, gave a very fair communion table, railed about, where sixty may kneel to receive the sacrament, with a fair carpet for it, and the rails hung about with the same, embroidered; and Master William Austin gave a fair silver chalice and a dish for the bread to the value of almost 40/. Further, his wife that now is, the relict of John Bingham, Esq., gave two very fine silver flagons of the like value." Thus far for these kindly people. Of less demand upon my space is Gerrard, " Who did the church frequent whilst he had Breath, And wished to lie therein after his Death." He was of the Grocers' Company ; hence the quasi-fitness of the words, — ' ' Weep not for him, since he has gone before To Heaven, where Grocers there are many more. " John Hayman, died 1626, he came to the rescue of the Lady Chapel from the bakers and their pigs, and helped to make it a place of worship again, paving at his own cost one of the aisles. Robert Buckland, died 1625, noted only for the common inscrip- tion, — " My course so short, the longer is my rest. God takes those soonest whom he loves the best ; For he that 's born to-day and dies to-morrow Loseth some time of rest, but more of son-ow." Lancelot Andrewes, a man of great influence and distinction, a master in his time, was buried in the little eastern chapel, which was hence called the Bishop's Chapel. The tomb, of which there are many pictures, was of black and white marble, with an image of a Prelate of the Garter in his robes. The bishop had been successively Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Chichester, and, as the chronicler says, was translated to Ely in 1609, and was then almoner;— to Winchester in i6t8, being Dean of the Chapel Royal and Prelate of the Order of the Garter. " Thence translated to Heaven on the 21 September, 1626." He died in his palace of Winchester House, close at hand. A very fine portrait of him, by BISl-IOP ANDREWES. I9I Hollar, is to be had; and there are others. It must be said of him that he was a most pious and learned prelate, to be ranked with the best preachers and completest scholars of his time. He may have been attractive in the pulpit, being- a man of lively conversa- tion and abounding in wit ; but the Latin quotations, and the often trivial wit, taking sometimes the form of puns, do not now in reading them tell much for him. He is said to have understood fifteen languages, and, creditably, that all his preferments became the better through him. Fascinating, the great scholar Casaubon, who lodged with him, could not tear himself away from his friend ; their time spent in literary and theological discussions, — no doubt somewhat pedantic, he suited his master, James, and could talk and pun with him to his satisfaction. In the sermons of the time, when a hit was made, applause was not unusual, and was, indeed, often waited for. It is said that in Bishop Andrewes's sermons such stops may be discovered.' One witty passage I may note : " Pilate asked, ' What is truth ? ' and then some other matter took him in the head, and so up he rose and went his way before he had his answer. He deserved never to find what truth was." If he paused upon this passage, I can quite fancy the audible hum of assent and admiration which followed. We may, however, be permitted sometimes to regret the doings of even very good men. It appears to have been so with Andrewes. He was the master of Laud — might almost be said to have been, as to Laud, what we now call a wire-puller. He seems to have held by the distin- guishing points of the Romish Church. He believed in the real presence; that ministers have the two keys of knowledge and power ; that whose sins soever they remit are remitted in heaven. He desired auricular confession. He died a bachelor, and, from his epitaph in Winchester Cathedral, may be supposed to have obtained a higher reward in heaven on account of this abstinence. A joint letter of James and Andrewes, in the epistles of Casaubon, seems to prove that, had it been convenient, these two were quite ready to go over to Rome.^ I may adopt the words of an authority : " No one in the English Church seems to have contributed so much ' Notes and Queries. " Lord Aeton, Times, Nov. 24tli, 1874. 192 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. toward the relapse into superstition as Andrewes, Bishop of Win- chester, the founder of the school in which Laud was the most prominent disciple." " He may fairly be held as a saint and father by the ritualists of the present day. He was, however, apparently more prudent than these modern followers of his are, and did not, at least, himself sacrifice the solid and the weighty for comparative trivialities. One stone in the church is to a Brewer who had married a Rundel, 1 569, and records quaintly, — " Under this stone lies three, Joined by consanguinity. The father he did lead the way ; The sons made haste, and could not stay : The eldest son the next did go, The youngest son could not say no ; But as they did receive their breath, So did they go away from earth. " To soften the rhyme, it must be said that in some west-country places now it is not unusual to pronounce earth, aath. The Overmans, connected with the Shaws. One of them, Alice Shaw Overman, having married an Overman, is further known by a liberal foundation of almshouses, and as an owner of Mon- tague Close and other property near. James Shaw, died 1670. His name stands in this year for a gift of lOOl. In the vestry pro- ceedings of 1 67 1 is noted Alice Shaw's gift ; and again, as evidence of her great desire to have everything done decently and in order, she gives " of her own free will a large velvet pall, edged with white sarsenet." Apparently connected with this, and a few days after, is an order of vestry that parishioners using pall, capp, and gowns shall pay ioj., and strangers not of the parish i^s. One of this family, a saintly woman, and much loved, has the tribute of a small volume to her memory. ' A sermon made, but no sermon preached, at the funerall of the right vertuous Mrs. Mary Over- man.' A noted preacher of the time, Benjamin Spencer, now ejected, was seized by soldiers to prevent what to the powers then uppermost were objectionable rites. Preacher at St. Thomas's, and a loyalist, he was sequestered and imprisoned. His sermon, ° Green, and Hallam similarly. THE OVERMANS AND LOCKYER. 193 * Live Well and Die Well,' which could not be delivered, was printed, 1646, and accompanied by ' Memoriale Sacrum : a speech written, not spoken, by her sorrowfull husband, Thomas Overman ' ; and in it he refers to the prevention of the rites by those of the " factious conventicle." " But," he says, " God forgive them (I doe) this unseasonable malice to my dearest spousesse, whose death gave life to this funeral sermon." The condition of affairs just now will be known by the facts that at this very time Fairfax was be- leaguering Oxford, Leicester had just been stormed — John Bunyan was fighting in the ranks, and was taken prisoner there — and the King, Charles L, was being driven from place to place.' I have now to note the remarkable monument of a famous empiric of the time of Charles II., or, as he calls himself, Lionel Lockyer, licensed physician and chemist. In the vestry proceedings of 7th February, 1672, the wardens approve the proposition of the executors, and permit the erection of the monument ; and, as old things give place to new, no less than so distinguished a resident as the remains of an old knight, possibly a founder, have to give place to the great pill-maker. There was no unbecoming modesty in his epitaph. " His fame speaks few competitors ; it may scorn Inscriptions which do vulgar tombs adorn. His virtues and his pills are so well known That envy can't confine them under stone ; But they '11 survive his dust, and not expire Till all things else, at the universal fire — This verse is lost — his Pill embalms him safe To future times without an epitaph. " " He deceased April 26th, a.d. 1672, aged seventy-two." It would no doubt vex his spirit to know that, desiring to be practical at a lecture I was giving at the Borough Road College, I took some trouble to obtain some of his pills to exhibit, not internally, on that occasion. But no one in the trade had heard of them. All memory of the famous pills had altogether disappeared. The likeness of the doctor, prefixed to his advertisement concerning these most excellent pills, might almost be taken, in long wig and facial expres- sion, for Charles II. The name of the pills is enough : " Pilute 6 Thomas Carlyle, 'Cromwell.' 194 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Radiis Solis extractee." The tract of advertisements, published 1670, is very perfect, and might be a model to modern advertisers of pills. The " courteous reader ' ' is informed that, " by the blessing of God (from whom alone cometh every good and perfect gift)," Lockyer had been successful in curing maladies that had become the shame of physicians ; and this he did by long study and many experiments. " Taken early in the morning, two or three in number preserves against contagious airs." " Sometimes by degrees, some- times suddenly, even to amazement, they vanquish all m.anner of distempers." They will cure ; but also " they that are well and desire to be so, let them take the pills once a week." " The medi- cine will keep an hundred years." " Chirurgeons in ships and in camp should provide themselves." He lived until seventy-two ; and how came this about ? "I take the pills once in a week, though I am not troubled with any disease, only for my health's sake." "The goodness of God," "the blessing of God," is on every page— five times on page 4. How necessary it is not to boast ! The doctor died almost immediately after he published this exordium. Seventy-five cases are given, from the man who thought ill of them after one box, and would not go on, but was prevailed upon, and was marvellously cured; the senseless opposition of this man at first vexed the doctor. All such, he says, should let alone his pills, and keep their money and their diseases too. The seventy-fourth case was " Mr. Hammond, of Chesham, left in- curable, but was cured of a Regement of diseases, as Surfeit, Dropsy, Scorbute, and only by these pills." "The price of a whole box was 4s. ; half a box, 2s." — that is, " according to their bigness." And to prevent mistake or deceit, the box — a " latten box" — was wrapped in white paper, and sealed with the doctor's arms, three Boars' Heads, and the arms of Thomas Fyge, which are six Flower de Luces and three Spur Rowels. They are— that is, were— sold by Tho. Fyge, at the Sugar Loaf, without Bishops- gate, and by John Watts, in St. Thomas's, Southwark, which last was his nephew, and operator in his house. To revive these pills, and reprint the pamphlet, might make a fortune even now. In the Guildhall Library is a picture of Lockyer on horseback among a crowd of people, and his man selling the pills. As empirics and mountebanks now and then got into trouble, it is probable that the PORTRAIT OF QUEEN Elizabeth, n^o^ ANCIENT BALLAD?^ PHI1,0NIBL0N ,«>OCJlF,Tr. HUTH COLLECTION. QUEEN ELIZABETH'S PORTRAIT. 195 name " Lionel Locker," a prisoner in the White Lion, refers to this man. This rather elaborate, if not tedious, notice of the locally illus- trious dead, of so many different shades of character, will no doubt suffice. A monument of the dead of another type must be noted. It was common to put up a picture of the Queen Elizabeth in the churches, with laudatory verses. The poets had exercised their fancy and loyalty on the theme. Shakespeare's " Fair vestal thronfed in the west." Spenser's' " O where shall I in all antiquity So faire a patterne finde, where may be seene The goodly praise of princely curtesie As in yourself, O Soveraine Lady Queene ? " A contemporary broadside, with a careful portrait of the Queen, has these lines ' : — " Loe here the pearle, Whom God and man doth loue : Loe here on earth The onely starre of light : Loe here the queene, Whom no mishap can moue To chaunge her mynde From vertues chief delight ! ' Loe here the heart That so hath honord God, That, for her loue. We feele not of his rod : Pray for her health. Such as good subjectes bee : Oh Princely Dame, There is none like to thee ! " A proclamation, undated and in draft, in the State Paper Office is noted, prohibitingf payntors, pryntors, and gravors from drawing- the Queen's picture until some mete person shall first make a natural representation of Her Majesty's person as a pattern ; this was " probably never issued." Our portrait was put forth, in 1552, by a celebrated ballad printer, Richard Lant. Here, in St. Thomas's, Southwark, and elsewhere was the Queen's portrait, with verses : — " St. Peter's Church, in Westminster, Her sacred Body doth inter ; ' ' Faery Queen, ' 6th book. " Huth Collection, Philobiblon Society, from which, with Mr. Huth's consent, the happy portrait published with this book . is taken. ' ' The ' Pycture of quene Elyzabeth ' was entered to Gyles Godhed in the books of the Stationers' Company 1562-3, "perhaps republished from 1552, 3 196 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Her Glorious Soul with Angels sings, Ilcr deeds live Patterns here for Kings ; Her love in eveiy heart hath room ; This only shadows forth her Tomb."' St. Michael Bassishaw : — " Queen Elizabeth both was and is alive — what more can be said ? — In Heaven a Saint, on earth a blessed maid." Alas for even such glory as this ! The following is an entry in the vestry proceedings, St. Saviour's, 21st July, 1699: "Ordered, that Queen Elizabeth's picture, at the east of that part of our church formerly the parish church of St. Mary Magdalen Overy, be taken down, and the place made good " ; and they coolly pro- ceeded on to the report as to the state of the house by the Park Gate. Here for the time I take leave of St. Saviour's, Southwark. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD AND ASSOCIATIONS OF ST. SAVIOUR'S. Looking at our map, we see St. Saviour's Church in the midst of a space, bounded north by " Peper ally " (Map, 6), south by " the foule lane " (Map, 19), east by the King's highway, with its chain gate (Map, 10), west by the space before Winchester House, with its chain gate (Map, 9). This comprises the church- yard and a little more. The chain gates are noted in passing, as indicating one of the common open boundaries of the time, chains and posts, e. g., St. Paul's Chain and the like. In January, 1555, there came from the Clink,^ through these chain gates, two of the noblest men known in English history. Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, to be done to death at Gloucester, and Rogers, the father of our English Bible, to Smithfield, for the same dreadful purpose. The actors on the other side in this tragedy were the Lord Chancellor Gardiner, the Bishops of Durham, Ely, Worcester, Chichester, and Carlyle, the Lord William Ploward, Lord Paget, Sir R. Southwell, the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Anthony Montague, and Secretary Bourne. These men sat in " Stow, 1720, vol. ii. p. 13. ' A prison, belonging to the Bishop's liberty of the Clink, situate immediately north-west of the Bishop of Winchester's palace and grounds. MARTYRS AT ST. MARY OVERY's. 1 97 Winchester House and in the church of St, Mary Overy, and before them were brought on one occasion the preachers, Bishop Hooper, Crome, Tomson, Rogers, and divers others, in all eleven.^ On another occasion a great multitude was present, some 300 people in the church ; on another, animated by the same spirit as these judges were, as the ancient Roman people at their shows were, and as the modern Spaniards at theirs, the people's appetite whetted for cruelty, they cry out, when the examination of one became tedious, " Away with him, and bring us another." It was a great public sensational show ; the church, and even the adjoining street was often full of people, drawn together to see what was going on. The proceedings seem to have been made as harassing to the accused as might be ; on the last occasion Hooper and Rogers are brought from the Compter^ in Southwark, at nine in the morning, condemned, and then sent to the Clink. In the evening, after dark, they were, with due guard of bills and other weapons, brought out thence, through the Bishop's house, across the churchyard into Southwark, and over the bridge to Newgate ; Master Hooper going before with one of the sheriffs, and Master Rogers coming after with the other ; the " cruel sheriff," Wood- roffe probably, and Chester the other, both names figuring among the governors of St. Thomas's Hospital. Hooper looking back, and'as Rogers drew near, saying " Come, Brother Rogers, must we, too, take the matter in hand, and fry these faggots ? " " Yea, by God's grace," said Rogers ; " doubt not but that God will give us strength." So they went forward amid the press of people in the streets, the way lighted with torches. Hooper, a great and diligent preacher, and one of the truest of men, yet in the opinion of even his admirers unduly punctilious in small matters, such as the priestly dress. Rogers was Matthew, his assumed name as the editor of that English Bible which has become the type and model of all since. This I have noted more at large under " Saint Thomas's Hospital." Within and without the barriers known as the chain - Jlaitland, Strype. ' The Compter, a prison established on the site of the old St. Margaret's Church, opposite the Tabard, destroyed in the great fire of 1676. 198 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. gates were houses and shops, some named in the map. The token-books of St. Saviour's* notice about thirty persons living within the " cheyne gate." Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, who figured on the cruel side in the religious persecutions, one of the judges at St. Mary Overies in ISSS, lodged, when he came to London, by the chain gate. In 1600 is an entry in the parish minutes as to a tenement in the churchyard, called the Windmill. I especially note this because Taylor'' speaks of it as a windmill in the churchyard, which it was not. March 21, 1599, "The doures from the Windmill into the churchyard are to be made up again, and no more water to be brought out of the Windmill and poured out in the churchyard." This, with a matter-of-course dunghill by my Lord Montague's, paints for us the filthy locality, which now and then exercises the minds of the not too fastidious vestrymen. The dead of the parish were buried hereabout, and the air must often have been reeking with pestilential vapours. One little churchyard is filled, another spot close at hand is taken in and filled in its turn, and so on, as the dead gradually become too many for the living. In 1573, the churchyard is enclosed with a substantial pale. 1 594, " the new churchyard.' ' 1 620, " the church- yard within the chain gate." The Vestry seem to be often looking about for burial places, and they always select ground close at hand. Curiously illustrative of the subject is a broadsheet in the . collection of the Society of Antiquaries, which I was permitted to copy, the date, 161 3. It is a rate of duties put forth by the Cor- poration of the churchwardens of the parish of St. Saviour's South- wark, that is, of charges for burial, which are as follows : — " In any churchyard next the church, with a coffin, 2j. 2>d. ; without a ■* Token-books from 1598 to 1630 still remain among the parish papers of St. Saviour's, except some of the Shakespearean time, which are lost. They are rough books, comprising the names of persons, the places in which they live, and the amount of token-money paid by each. They appear to come out of a house to house visitation, for the purpose of admitting, perhaps forcing, people to the sacrament. Among the names in these token-books are many of distinguished actors and writers contemporaiy with Shakespeare. I have seen about twenty, many of them named in the first edition of the plays published by Heminge and Condell.in 1623. ' 'Annals of St. Mary Oveiy,' p. 129, PESTILENTIAL AIR ABOUT THE CHURCHES. I $9 coffin, 20d. For a child, with, Sd.; without, ^d. The CoUedge churchyard, with, i2d.; without, 8d.," and so on. In 1698, " the Bull Head churchyard, by the south door of the church." In 1703, a large vault for burial is to be made in the middle aisle of the church, and, showing the ignorance still existing, " ihe same very well liked arid approved of.^'^ In 1726, the Bull Head churchyard, if not so clean as it might be, is in future to be cleansed twice a week, the salary for this work 40^. a year. In 1 78s burials are going on freely and simultaneously in the College yard, in the Church, in the Bull or Green churchyard, and in the new churchyard. The fees always appear a prominent question in all places. This source of income belonging to the clergy was, no doubt, one great nail that so long fixed upon us the dreadful prac- tice of burying in and about our churches. It became an affair of "rights" and of "revenue." In 1793, Robert Kent, an eminent surgeon, speaks of the smells and danger of the great vault which had been " so well liked and approved of." It is accordingly ordered that scientific men shall examine and report upon it. I make no apology for coming down later than the time in discussing this great question of burials and health. In 1676, after the great fire, things are in general disorder. Posts and bars are to be put up at the west chain gate, to keep bullocks and horses out of the churchyard. Lock-posts are wanted after that, the beasts still coming into the churchyard. In 167 1 racks, hooks, and spikes, for hanging up meat within the chain gate, trouble the vestrymen. I am led on to show troubles of the same sort, coming down much later on. In 17 18 it is ordered that no part about the chain gate shall be let to any who incumber or stop up with herbs. A door is noted as leading to the gate from a slaughter-house ; but this is nothing. There is a " house of office," which actually empties itself into the channel of the gate- way. " The chain gates in the church way " figure in the ' New ^ The parish to which I was ofEcer of heakh, St. George's, close at hand, was quite as bad or worse, for in the course of my 'duties I had to arrange for the effectual burial of several hundred coffins . I shall not soon forget my walk along the narrow path in. the church vaults, with coffins piled on either side, six or seven, one over the other. There had long been vents from these well-filled vaults directly into the church. 200 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS l^EOPLE. Remarks of London,' by the Parish Clerks, 1732. In my own earlier time respectable old-fashioned houses,some with gable fronts, some with garret windows on sloping roofs, abut on the church- yard. It was almost a semi-fashionable haunt of noted doctors. So late as fifty years ago, facing the church, south, was the grammar school founded by Queen Elizabeth, of which there are many pictures in Wilkinson and elsewhere. Now these ghosts of the past are effectually laid by the new London Bridge purlieus and the ever-increasing Borough Market. The way to the Banck (Map, 16) is very suggestive to those who know what Bankside and Paris Garden meant. Passing behind the Bishop of Winchester's house and grounds ; by the stream afterwards called the sewar, selecting one of the small bridges over it (the old maps give several) ; by the cucking stool j by the Clink Prison, we arrive at " the Banck." The Globe and other theatres, properly so called, were not yet. But at Paris Garden, on the Banck, and in the High Street there were bear-baiting and other rude sports from very early times ; and generally there was much lively and somewhat loose work going on about the riverside. Our road was one way to it, the chief way being the river and the numerous boats ever going to and fro. In the way to the Banck was now and then to be seen in actual operation the punishment of the Cucking Stool. These illustrations will show both the place and the me- thod. This scrap from the ' Countrey- man's Guide" indi- cates the exact spot behind Winchester House. The other cut represents, pro- bably, one of the " Sisters of the Banck," or "light IS.Sarioim \' ' Map, UmJ>, Charles I,, Guildhall Libvaiy. THE CUCKlNG STOOL, PILLORY, AND CAGE. ioi Huswife of the Bankside," in trouble, and is a rough pictorial heading of a rigmarole story of St. George's Fields.^ One is fixed, the other movable. In Bankside society, probably, both might be needed ; and no doubt the Bishop's officer had enough to do. Foule Lane — Fowle, Foul, or Ffowle in the varying nomen- clature of the time. According to the practice of our forefathers, the most obvious characteristic of the way, however immoral, however offensive, was made clear by the name.' Foul Lane (Map, 17-19) extended from the High Street, in Long Southwark, and took the passenger on his " way to the Banck." It was not much additional danger to St. Thomas's Hospital that Foul Lane was exactly oppo- site its gate, albeit the high road was much narrower than now ; for indeed open ditches, dirty wharves, swarming with pigs and houses of office, were everywhere about so late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and very many later, even down to my own early recollection. At one end of Foul Lane was the Pillory and Cage (Map, 24), at the other the Bishop of Rochester's town house, side by side almost with the great palace of the Bishops of Win- chester. In the great fire of 1676 the houses here were most of « ' Catalogue of Chap-Books,' by J. O. Halliwell. ^ So not far off was Sluts' Well, Thieves' Lane ; and very close at hand was ,. , implying a veiy loose "nest" indeed. The Act to hold a market, so late as 1 7SS, names the boundaries of the new market thus : A convenient place in a spot called the Triangle, abutting on a place called the Turnstile, on the back- side of Three Crown Square, on Fowle Lane, on buildings in Rochester Yard and Dirty Lane, and towards Deadman's Place. With such surroundings, to people who believe in omens the new market would be doomed, 202 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. them destroyed. In 1 8oo the vestry orders Foul Lane to be widened, the houses on the south side to be bought for the purpose. After this alteration the name must have been changed, as Weston, the banker, in 1803, is to have a lease of a house in " York Street." The present aspect of the locality shows that the greatest part of the old Foul Lane has been absorbed into the ever-growing Borough Market. In the token-books of St. Saviour's, 1600 to 1630, Rochester House is frequently noted as " over against the parke," " opposite the parck gate," somewhat further on the way to the Banck, and near to the Clink Prison. In a presentment of sewers, 1640, already noticed, the owners of certain houses running along by the Bishop of Winchester's garden, by the house called Rochester House there, are presented for some default. It is not known who erected the house ; but here the Bishop of Rochester had his inn, or town lodging. In 1543-4 an Act was passed for an exchange of tene- ments between the Lord Admiral and the Bishop of Rochester, whereby the latter obtained the house of St. Swithin, in Southwark. The site was therefore the same as that held before by the prior of St. Swithin ; and in this way, it appears, the Bishop of Rochester came first to live in Southwark. Up to 1558 the bishop was here, as he is now reported dead at his house in Southwark.^ In the time of Elizabeth it is a great house, with a garden. Soon after this the bishop must have left it, as in 1 597 a question is before the vestry — Shall Rochester House pay tithes ? and in 1600 the tenants compound and pay. In 1634 John Donne has a lease ; and about now there are no less than sixty-two tenements on the site. Judging by the number of names in the token-books, there would be an average of from fifteen to forty persons admitted to the sacrament from Rochester House during the years 1600 to 1630. One con- tinuator of Stow says that Rochester House had before been Waverley House, the town residence of the abbot of Waverley. This was probably not so ; and, indeed, I make out that the houses were distinct, and in different places. Further, Stow him- self does not say so. His words are, " The place of the Bishop of Rochester's, certain houses near by Winchester Place that had ' Machyn. WINCHESTER HOUSE, BANKSIDE. 2O3 been given him for a palace." This refers, no doubt, to the ex- change before referred to. It had been parcel of the possessions of the priory of St. Swithin, and was now, 1 720, divided into many small dwellings. Rochester Yard, in the older maps, was so called of the Bishop of Rochester's house there. It had then a passage into Deadman's Place, and was a sorry place, with old houses ; and, except as something lilie slums, it appears after a time to have been entirely disused. It has long since disappeared, absorbed into the Borough Market.'' Once more regarding our map. At the north-west corner of Montague Close is seen no doubt a water-gate, abutting on the Thames and on the creek known as St. Saviour's Dock, between the close and Winchester House. This dock appears in the very earliest maps,^ and still exists as a ready means of landing goods. It was generally neglected and a nuisance, an(J must have been very much larger than we have known it to be. So late as 1791 the vestry notes that it is filthy, smells very badly, and annoys the people. Accordingly it is to be filled up to no feet; and some other work is ordered. To this mode of improvement the bishop objected. The vestry rejoins that he has no exclusive right.^ WINCHESTER HOUSE and grounds (Map, 14) bordered this inlet to the south and west. It was a very famous and interesting palace, and will require an extended notice, inhabited as it often was by men of the highest mark and influence. The views of the palace, and of the remains of it, are very numerous, some, no doubt, rather pictorial than exact ; but, comparing one with another, we may form a good idea of this great palace. In the best old maps — notably Agas, 1 560 ; Vanden Keere, 1 593 ; Visscher, ' Stow, ed. 1720. ^ In the plan of 1542, apparently closed; but the inlet was always open to the Thames. ■" There has been some squabbling about this creek. The bishop, like his brother, the late Romish Primate, was for a strong grasp of a bishop's tem- poral kingdom, and insisted that he had rights in the dock. The parish thought it was free to the parishioners, indeed to all — that is n free dock ; and they have now, 1877, a board placed over it on the wall to that effect. This decision appears to be in every sense right, as the St. Mary Overie's Dock is clearly east of the old bishop's manor, the Clink. 204 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. 1615 ; and Hollar, about 1649— are very defined plans, showing buildings and grounds of great extent. George Gwilt, whose name is favourably known in connexion with the fine restoration of the Lady Chapel in 1832, and who had been some time surveyor to the parish, took much pains in describing the place from its remains.'^ In its pristine state it consisted of ten courts, bounded on the south and west by a fine park of some sixty or seventy acres. The splendour of the whole may be inferred from the authentic pictures of the great hall given by Gwiltp Carter ,° and others. It was in extent about 150 feet by 40, of massive build — the whole character of it shown by the exquisite circular window at the east end, said by a competent " observer " ' to have been the remains of the finest window in the kingdom. Winchester House was built, about 1 107, by Bishop William Gifiard, as a residence for himself and his successors. A more ancient people had, how- ever, been building here before the bishop. " In the park abutting on the south of Winchester Palace Sir Wm. Dugdale, in 1658, as his workmen were sinking cellars for some new buildings, dis- covered a very curious tesselated pavement, with a border in the form of a serpentine column." ^ This, with the elaborate Roman work noted elsewhere " as below the foundations of St. Thomas's Hospital, close at hand, shows plainly enough that there were in Southwark numerous Roman habitations, replete even with the conveniences of luxury. These remains were found usually some eight, ten, to twenty feet below the ground level. Older still, and within a stone's throw, at the corner of Clink Street, an ancient jetty was discovered, about sixteen feet deep ; ^ and further south, in the line of the new Southwark Street, deep down, groups of piles pointed below, each five to thirteen feet long and nine inches square, with debris of oyster shells, bones, SiC." I will leave to others my own conjectures as to what these remains might mean. ■> 6V«/. yl/rt^., 1815. " Especially Carter, GeiiL yMr^'., Dec., 1814. ' Hid. ' ' Antiquarian Itinerary, ' vol. i. " Page 126. ' An/iiiological Journal, vol, ii. p, 79, ' ibid., vol. ii. p, 44C. WINCHESTER HOUSE AND PARK. 20$ It implies quite a different depth of bed to our river. It is worth some consideration in connexion with very ancient remains ' found in many places having no connexion with Southwark. Winchester House was built upon ground belonging- to the Priory of Bermondsey . In 1366, the See of Winchester being vacant, an order is made upon the King's exchequer for a payment of 8/. to the monks of Bermondseye for the house of the bishop in Southwark ;^ and they had other possessions near at hand. Bermondsey was not at that time part of the Borough of Southwark. In 1249° there were dealings and a dispute as to land near the Tabard, held by " Ralph the Tymbermonger," the payment for which was 2s. 6d- per annum, at the feast of St. Michael. The monks of Bermondsey did not, however, have it all their own way. In 1276 the bishop claims entertainment on his visitation. The convent, pleading exemption, agreed on the first coming of every Bishop of Win- chester to Bermondsey, to meet him in procession and pay in lieu of entertainment 5 marks of silver at his house in Southwark, and on every succeeding year 2\ marks at Michaelmas, and to receive the bishop in procession on every return from beyond sea." The appearance on the map, rough as it is, implies a grand place, with high walls and a chief entrance, opposite the chain gate of the churchyard and the western church door. In 1598, Stow says, " there was a fair house, well repaired, and with a large wharf and a landing place called the Bishop of Winchester's stairs." The principal frontage is supposed to have been toward the River Thames. On the south the palace was bounded by beautiful gardens, decorated with statues and fountains, and by a spacious park, called Winchester Park,^ which extended west to the manor of Paris Garden, now the parish of Christ Church. In 18 14, a very destructive fire here among the warehouses surrounding ' That is to say, many thousands of years ago. ■* This priory was becoming enormously rich. For a list of the gifts, and the rapidity with which they fell in, see 'Annals of Bermondsey,' Rolls Publications. ^ 'Annales.' * Wilkinson. ' 'Antiquarian Itinerary, ' vol. i., 1815. A well-finished print after Hollar's six-sheet view, temp. Charles I., bears out this description ; but no doubt some little Jtllowance must be made for pictoriaj effect. 206 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. the old palace opened up the remains of the ancient walls for observers, clearing away as it did most of the more modern buildings. The principal length, says the observer, is from east to west, and seems to have been part of the hall and of other state apartments, probably with views toward the river. "The beautiful window, now exposed, has a number of triangular compartments, centred by a hexagon. Within each triangle is the cinquefoil ornament ; and the hexagon contains a beautiful star. Beneath this window are the three ancient entrances into the hall. On the south side the walls are nearly entire, and present some lofty windows. The north front has been almost entirely destroyed. Two sides of one of the quadrangles, partly remaining, known as Winchester Square, are now patched up as warehouses and stables. An abutment of one of the ancient gates was until very lately to be seen in an adjacent street. In most of these fragments the remains of windows and arches may still be traced, which suffi- ciently mark their connexion with the palace." It must be re- collected that this is 1815, and that now, in 1878, no one would ever dream that so noble a palace had ever been there. We have in our time seen most distinguished people, whose visits were to the State, entertained at the great mansions of noble and rich persons. Winchester House, at the end of the highway into London, always enjoyed these great and costly privileges. Close at hand were many landing stairs,^ and almost innumerable boats at the numerous stairs close at hand were always ready for passengers ; indeed it was the common and most ready way ; it was either horse, or foot, or river. One bridge only crossed the Thames, and, as Taylor,^ in his doggerel way, says, — ' ' When Elizabeth came to the crown A coach in England then was scarcely known. " On the bankside was every kind of amusement— bad, good, and indifferent. The sculler was always ready with his wherry ; so Winchester House was the very place for a distinguished stranger. " For instance, the stairs named after Pepper Alley, The Bishop's or St. Maiy Overy's, Bank End, Horse Shoe Alley, Paris Garden, Holy Ghost Stairs, and by the old Barge House ; and there were many more. 5 'Water Poet,' waterman, poet and dramatic writer, 1580-1654. FESTIVITIES AT WINCHESTER HOUSE. 20/ In 13s 3 -4 a Polish Palatine comes hither by water, and remains most of his time. In 1424, James Stewart, King of Scots, comes from his prison, and is married in the priory to the Lady Jane, daughter of Clarence, and they hold the wedding feast at Win- chester House ; her uncle, the rich Cardinal Beaufort, being then Bishop of Winchester. In 1427 the Cardinal, returning from beyond sea, is met by the mayor, aldermen, and citizens on horseback and is brought with much pomp to his palace in Southwark. In ISS3-4 the Ambassadors of Spain and the Queen's Council hold a great feast here with my Lord Chancellor, the Bishop of Win- chester. The same year new bishops are consecrated at the high altar of St. Mary Overie's, and then to " as grett a dener as youe have seen," with my Lord Chancellor.^ Next year Gardiner is dead. There are grand obsequies, a sermon, and a mass, and the folks "all went to his place to dinner." In 1558 the ambassador from Sweden, and fifty persons well horsed, are lodged and enter- tained at the bishop's house in Southwark. Next year the Prince of Sweden himself rides over the bridge to the palace, which was richly hanged with cloth of arras, wrought with gold and silver and silk, and there he remained. These are but a few specimens of the lively grandeur of our old Winchester House. Southwark being so often the temporary headquarters of the disaffected, this conspicuous house by the bridge of course invited attack. In Wyatt's rebellion the house was sacked, and a great destruction of goods and books ensued. Some note may now be made of great or noted people who lived in Winchester House. — Bishop Giffard, who built it in 1 107. The same bishop no doubt founded the Priory of St. Mary Overy and that of Waverley, near Farnham. This last fact accounts for the position of the Inn of the Abbot of Waverley close to this bishop's house ; as it does also for the fact that the town house of the Prior of St. Swithin' of Winchester was here, both kin foundations to that of St. Mary Overy, and reared and protected by the same friendly hands. Bishop Peter de Rupibus, or de la ' Machyn. 2 St. Swithin himself is said to have been Bishop of Winchester ; but tliat was long before Bishop Giffard built his palace in Southwark, 208 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Roche, was in 1207 a great benefactor to the Church, he built the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen Overy south of the priory, the same that afterwards became the parish church. This bishop was also, after a very destructive fire, the refounder of the charitable foun- dation which became at length the Hospital of St. Thomas k Becket, or St. Thomas's Hospital. A very distinguished man was Bishop Peter, a good benefactor here, but one whose influence over his country might perchance have been malign and lasting. A favourite minister of John, his Chancellor in 121 3-14, his Chief Justice in 1214-15, he counselled the rejection of the Magna Charta, and appears to have been, more or less, an approver of the vilenesses of the next King. A brother of Henry III., Aymer, de Valence, was bishop here in 1250, a struggle between the Pope and the King staying his earlier residence. Bishop John Sandall died here in 1319.J Wm. de Edyngdon, 1 345, was made Prelate of the Order of the Garter, which office has remained with the Bishops of Winchester ever since. A far more important man comes now, — ^William of Wykeham, bishop in 1366, priest of the chapel in Southwark to his predecessor ; a man so much in favour with the King that " every thing was done by him and nothing was done without him." He had a large capacity for the reception of good things ; a great pluralist, he held no less than fourteen distinct benefices. He had need of all, having ten or twelve castles, manor houses, and palaces to keep up. Advanced in the State as in the Church, he held the highest offices, among others that of Lord Chancellor in 1369. A man whose hand was in everything naturally made many enemies, and one most power- ful, John Duke of Gaunt, pursued him, and at last drove him from his palace in Southwark and from power. Favoured, like as another Bishop of Winchester of our own time, by a King's mistress (in Wykeham's case by Alice Perrers and by a powerful party), he soon regained his position, and came back to his place in Southwark. The bishop, like his modern successor, was personally a good sort of man ; he left money for poor prisoners in the Marshalsea and other prisons ; to the prior and ' To those interested in the long hnc of these bishops, C.issan's lives of them may be well consulted. CARDINAL BEAUFORT. 209 convent of St. Mary Overy 40/. for the repair of the church and to pray for his soul ; to the brethren and sisters of St. Thomas's Hospital'' for the like purpose — i. e., to pray for his soul. He was a charitable man, as well he might be with such revenues. He founded most munificently two colleges, one at Oxford, one at Winchester. He rebuilt his cathedral at great cost, — nearly all his own work. His origin was humble, his parents were poor ; but, nevertheless, he became one of the chief men of his time, and he was certainly very far from being one of the worst, as his intercession for Lollards, when Lollardy was, let us say, not popular, shows. As a contrast to this once poor man of low estate comes, as the next Lord of Winchester House, a man rich in money, titles, and associations — "the proud Cardinal," Henry Beaufort, illegiti- mate son of John of Gaunt. He plays an important part in Shake- speare's ' Henry the Sixth,' — his gospel clearly" more of the sword than of the Word." Great feuds spring up between him and the uncle of the King, the protector Gloster. His character is fore- shadowed, " If once he come to be a Cardinal, He '11 make his cap coequal with the Crown " ; which the mayor puts afterwards in plain words, "The Cardinal is more haughty than the devil." In the Shakespearean quarrel, Gloster exclaims, in anger, "Winchester goose. "° " Thou that giv'st .... indulgences to sin." All this is no doubt a poetical account of facts as they were. " The city of London was moved against this bishop and would have de- stroyed him in his inn in Southwark, but the gates of London Bridge were shut."' Sir Joshua Reynolds, in a hideous picture, now at Dulwich (showing how the beautiful only was natural to his pencil), endeavours to portray the scene in Shakespeare where * He had held a visitation of the hospital in 1473, as was often done by the Bishops of Winchester, afterwards, for instance, by Andrewes, to investigate and judge as to serious charges. " This refers to licensed houses on the bankside in Southwark . The original manuscript of the Winchester rules and regulations of these places, supposed to have been written in 1430, is now in the Bodleian, and was, it is believed, preserved in the Bishop's Court, in whose jurisdiction the Stews of Southwark were. ^ ' English Chronicle,' Camden Society, p. 53. Inn, residence, as the abbot of Battle's Inn, the Bishop of Rochester's, and the Abbot of Hyde's by the Tabard. P 2IO OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. the King contemplates the dying Cardinal. "So bad a death," says Warwick, " argues a monstrous life " ; — and the King in these magnificent words reproves the harsh judgment, — " Forbear to judge, for wc are sinners all. Close up his eyes, and draw the curtain close ; And let us all to meditation. " Here, as in the case of Fastolf, the poet has exaggerated and cari- catured the bad qualities of once living historical personages. In the church of St. Saviour's the arms of the Beauforts were restored, carved in stone on a pillar in the south cross aisle ; and by the old remaining sculpture, on each side there appear strings pendent and plaited in a true lover's knot, with a cardinal's hat placed oven' Another distinguished bishop, William Waynfleet, 1447- 1486, the time of Cade's rebellion. He took part in promoting peace and mercy ; a great character in a time of rudeness and coarse cruelty. Friend of the remarkable Fastolf, he becomes chief executor, and has trouble enough to keep the wolves ofT the rich prey, and only succeeds by throwing much of the cargo over- board, in saving some at least for his college at Oxford. The con- duct of the bishop, as portrayed in the Paston Letters,' shows great honesty and discretion. In the quarrel of the Roses the Yorkists are against him. On one occasion he exhibits before them the writing of his appointment as bishop " in Le Peynted Chambre in his Manor House' in Southwark." Fond of processions and prayers in time of trouble, fond of anything which might make suffering less, in 1452 he orders the clergy of Southwark to be assembled at eight in the morning, to go in solemn procession by the doors of St. Margaret's-on-the-Hill, and St. Olave's in Tooley Street, with litanies and banners, through the public streets as far as the Monastery of Bermondsey, for the welfare of the Church and for the King's prosperity. In 1467 he considers the fatal distemper which rages in Southwark, among innocents and children, to be on account of sin, and, as in the other case, he orders public proces- ' Concanen, ' St. Saviour's,' p. 74. ' Paston Letters, invaluable as to the time in which Waynfleet and Fastolf lived. ° Not the Maner House of our map, which was not yet built, but the Manor House of the Bishop, Winchester House. As to the quotation, see Cassan. BISHOP WAYNFLEET. 211 sions, with prayers and litanies, as a remedy and warning. A Christian man, merciful, peaceful, and loyal, he has regard also to the conditions of his neighbourhood, building in 1473 a " stone bridge " in Bermondsey Street over a stream there. He met Cade in St. Margaret's Church, and, by his astuteness, he managed to loosen the hold of the captain over his followers, and to bring to nought that formidable outbreak. The story is told, remotely consistent with historical truth, in the second part of Shakespeare's ' King Henry VI.,' and I have noted it before. The next remarkable occupant of Winchester House, of very humble origin, was Fox, bishop from 1500 to 1528, Lord Privy Seal, 1516; Minister to Henry VII. and VIII. Able as one trained under Henry VII. was likely to be, he did not long suit the son and successor, and soon retired from his high dignities to do good in a less prominent way, partly supplanted by Wolsey, but chiefly because he was devoted to his better work. His memory comes down to us Southwark people chiefly as the constructor of the very beautiful altar-screen of St. Saviour's. He was also a great and liberal restorer at Winchester, founder of Corpus Christi College at Oxford, and of free schools, Taunton and another. As the executor of Margaret Countess of Richmond, he had much to do with the founding that great college, St. John's, Cambridge. He was not, like so many of his prede- cessors and contemporaries, or like the courtiers generally, a seeker after " maners " and other spoil, so readily to be had in those changing tumultuous times. In 1 528 he owes money — 100 marks — to the King, and is reminded of it, but pleads that he is poor, and has spent much in the repair of ruinous houses in Southwark.^ He does not give a very good account of his neighbours, as he reports to Wolsey that, except in Southwark,^ which is under the Arch- deacon's jurisdiction, there is as little known crime as in any diocese of the realm. In a fine portrait of Vertue's he is repre- sented blind, a calamity which befell him late in life. Not a shade of the sinister is to be seen in the face of this good bishop. Wolsey, chaplain to Fox, supplants and succeeds him, not so ' ' State Papers, ' Brewer, sub dat. " No other result could be expected ; Southwark was known as the place appointed for the reception of refuse, physical and moral. P 2 212 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS TEOPLK. far as I can see a resident in Winchester House; still he was not unmindful of the neig-hbourhood. He appears as a contributor " to the gild of bretherne and systers of the fraternite of Saynt George the Martyr," and he is at first a good friend of the Duke of Suffolk and the French Queen his wife, who live at Suffolk Place (Map, 73). This friendship was soon done with. Wolsey often presses the duke for moneys due to the King, and it is well known that Suffolk, in his turn, took an active part in Wolsey's fall. The following is a significant incident as connected with this change. Paulet to Wolsey, — " informs him of his three weeks court held in the Clynk, his bishop's manor." Power is, however, waning, the bailiff is refractory, and says he is my Lord of Suffolk's servant. Soon after this, Wolsey is deprived, the Clink Manor is in the hands of the King, and a new grant of the office of bailiff is made. The bailiff and keeper of the manor so appointed by the King is to have 2d. a day.^ If high distinction comes, as too often it appears to do, per fas et nefas, then Stephen Gardiner stands the most distin- guished and most astute of all the lords of Winchester House. " He was certainly not an honest man ; and he had been active in Henry's reign, against his own real opinions." ^ His long residence in South wark, his liberality in the restoration of St. Saviour's Church, and his importance in the state, call, even in this local history, for an extended notice. Some there are who approve even of Gardiner. Either by way of apology or paradox, it is the custom now and then to whitewash doubtful reputations of the past, Gardiner's among the rest." He was well connected, probably the nephew of Elizabeth Woodville, the queen of Edward IV. In 1531 he was made Bishop of Winchester, and made the house in Southwark his residence, occupying it until his death in 1554, often preaching in the neigh- bouring church of St. Mary Overy before and after the suppression of the priory. He was the arch-schemer of his time. He would thwart, says his co-worker, Bonner, everything which did not origi- nate with himself. No man now alive, he says, excels Gardiner in ' ' State Palmers,' Brewer, Nos. 6438 and 6803. ■' Hallam, 'Constitutional History of England.' ° ' Biographia Britannica ' ; Saturday Ri.-i'k-LV, }v\^ 2'!fii, 1874; ' Essays on tli8 Reformation,' by Maitland. BISHOP STEPHEN GARDINER. 213 gaining- his end by secret and circuitous methods. He was an able lawyer, and wonderfully shrewd, the very man to govern others. Cruel as courageous, courageous as cruel, he aimed at the highest. It is said that the last wife of Henry barely escaped his plottings. Accused of heresy, she might, but for the royal ruffian's death, have followed his other wives. Be it as it may concerning this one, that other most excellent lady much connected with Southwark, Catherine Willoughby, the fourth Duchess of Suffolk, the friend of Queen Elizabeth, and "my most gracious Lady" of Latimer, probably saved herself from the usual cruel death by flying from the kingdom, and remaining out of it until the deaths of Mary and Gardiner. Holinshed relates an interesting scene between Gardiner and her husband Bertye, who had been commanded to appear at Winchester House. The Bishop comes out of the gallery into his dining chamber in great rage. I have appointed to-day, he says, for devotion according to the holiness of the same, and will not trouble myself further with you ; but he said further. Depart not Vi^ithout leave, and present yourself again at seven in the morning. Bertye was questioned, " Is the lady your wife as ready now to set up the mass as she was before to pull it down ? You say she is easily to be persuaded. Can you persuade her ? " It was clear what she had to expect ; so, as " Mistress White," she fled at five one morning across the sea, with her infant child, and so saved -^rself. A very old ballad,°'The Duchess of Suffolk's Calamity/ Prelates in doggerel how " The Duchess of Suffolk seeing this, Whose life liliewise the tyrant sought, For fear of death was fain to fly, And leave her house most secretly.'' Her adventures, as interesting as any romance can be, merit another and a more lengthy paper, if I am permitted by-and-by to notice the " Brandons of Southwark." It is true, the spirited duchess gave Gardiner such provocation as might have troubled a saint to forget or forgive ; and he was by no means a saint upon the pattern of Matthew xviii. 22. How she had troubled him is amusing to tell. At a great feast she wishes to go up to the hall ^ ' Roxburghe Ballads, ' with a rude woodcut — the duchess and her husband escaping, and an execution by fire in the background. 214 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. with her husband. It is explained to her that it cannot be. She accordingly takes Gardiner, with the provoking remark that if she cannot have him she loves best she will go with him she loves least. Again, when Gardiner was immured in the Tower, the duchess observes him as she passes in her boat, and accosts him, " Ah ! Bishop, it is merrie' with the lambs now the wolf is shut up " ; and, as if that were not provoking enough, she had a dog dressed in a rochet carried before her, called after Gardiner's name. Bertye said the dog affair was wrongly interpreted ; any way, it was only a sprightly trick of a spirited lady, but not to be revenged by a cruel death. The desire shows the mean and implacable nature of the man. It is well to know truthfully the real undisguised character of our historical great ones. Macintosh ' says this : " On the 28th January, ISSS, a commission, at the head of which was Gardiner, Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Winchester, sat in the church of St. Mary Overy's, in Southwark, for the trial of Protestants. His great abilities, his commanding character, and the station he was now chosen to fill, do not allow us to doubt that he, at least at the beginning, was the main author of these bloody counsels .... although at the first he may only have intended to touch the leaders." Winchester House is a sort of prison house, and evil suspicions of the cruel deeds done there creep about. " Was not one," says a writer of the period, " within these two years murdered in the Bishop of Winchester's lodge, and the matter forged that he had hanged himself ? " ^ The lodge seems to have been a place of detention, a supplementary Clink. There is Marbeck's case. He had written a Concordance to the Bible." He is ordered to the Marshalsea, but to be well treated. He is to and fro to Gardiner's house, " to the Bishop's Hall." He evidendy gives no satisfaction, and comes back to irons instead of " to be well treated." His wife comes, with her child, and entreats Gardiner " for the love of God, and if ye came of woman, put me off no longer, but let me go to ' ' Histoi7 of England,' vol. ii. pp. 319-20. 'An adverse writer. Brinklow's 'Complaint,' 1 542, p. 29, Early English Text Society. ' The first Concordance printed in English, Grafton, 1550. GARDINER AND BONNER. 21 5 my husband.'" After that she was allowed ; but she was to be searched every time. Marbeck at last obtains the King's pardon, the King telling the bishops that Marbeck had employed his time much better than they had theirs. It must be allowed that Marbeck was a zealot, capable of giving open offence, as the title of a work of his shows.' I have already noted how the underlings flouted their masters when times were changing ; how the Clink bailiff derided his master, as much as to say he was Suffolk's servant, not his ; and so on. And now it is Gardiner's turn to be flouted. Henry is dead, and Edward reigns — a quite opposite state of things. Gardiner wishes to do honour to the memory of his old master, and arranges for a solemn dirge in honour of the late King at St. Mary Ovaries. The players of the Bankside hear of this ; and they venture to announce that " they will act a solemne playe, to trye who shal have most resorte, they in game or he in ernest." He is fain to ask the Lord Protector to interfere ' between him and these vagabond players. I make no apology for repeating the note in this place. But these are only petty vexations. The next year he preaches some objectionable sermons, adverse to the existing powers — one at "Whitehall, which takes him into trouble, and a finer and more clever one at St. Mary Overie's in 155 1. He comes from Kingston in his barge to his house, and is seen walking up and down his garden discussing the matter. A session is held in the Marshalsea as to Gardiner, and for the time Winchester House is his prison. Soon, however, he leaves it, is deprived, and spends all the rest of Edward's reign in prison. During the whole reign Bonner is in the Marshalsea in South- wark ; and Gardiner is imprisoned in his own house, in the Fleet, or in the Tower. It was while he was in the Tower that the Duchess of Suffolk jeered at him, which offence, when his time came, he warmly remembered. Now soon the scene changes ; Mary is Queen, — herself liberates "her own prisoners," kissing Gardiner, and making him her Lord Chancellor. He is now con- ducted with much honour by Lord Arundel to his place by St. ' Herbert's 'Typography,' vol. i. p. 531. * ' A Ripping Open the Pope's Favdell,' 1581, Handbook, by W. Carew Ilazlitt. ' 'State Papers,' February 5th, 1547. So that solemn plays were enacted on the Bankside so early as 1547. 2i6 OLD SOtJTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Mary Overie's, and afterwards to dinner at Bath Place. Divers bishops bring Bonner also from the Marshalsea, to his own place at Powles. Winchester House is now in its glory, much feasting goes on, the ambassador of Spain and the Queen's Council have a " dener as great as could be," at my Lord Chancellor's. New bishops, ap- pointed instead of those Gardiner had just assisted in depriving, are consecrated at the high altar of St. Mary Overie's— and then to dener — and so on. Now Pole is in full conference with Gar- diner, at Winchester House and elsewhere, for the thorough con- version of England to the old faith. Lists of all who do not con- form are by order made in the parishes ; and now come, fast and furious, examinations tending to cruel pressure and punishment. Some of these quasi-judicial proceedings take place in private houses, in my Lord Montague's in the Close, some in Winchester House, some in the churches. Three examined in St. George's church are condemned, and almost at once burned to death in St. George's Fields. The Clink, the Marshalsea, and other prisons are soon full enough, and burnings go on, with what result the next reign is soon to show. Gardiner is even now not happy. Things do not go smoothly with him ; he comes from the gallery to his dining-chamber, and will attend to no one, and so in great anger dismisses the whole press of suitors. Happily for the people Mary's reign was short. Much to the perplexity of those who thought deeply of religious matters, change — and that a complete change — comes again. With par- tial intervals, during all these four reigns, the religious world of England, notably in Southwark, as the prisons here amply testified, is more like pandemonium let loose than like a Christian kingdom. True, in the order of nature or of providence these things cure themselves, Forms of religion, religious ceremonies not of the essence, and all the devices of man or of priest, when no longer suitable, give place to something better, or to something more adapted to the times and the people. Elizabeth, after many a narrow escape, is Queen. Gardiner is dead, and Bonner passes finally to prison, once more to the Mar- shalsea, and comes no more out until he comes out in 1569, dead, to be buried obscurely by night in the churchyard of St. George GARDINER AND BONNER. 21/ the Martyr, dose at hand. A fitting end for such a coarse and cruel man. A question naturally arises, Were these two men, who spent so much of their time in the palace and prison of Southwark, as cruel and bloodthirsty as they are represented to have been ? It does not concern us very much to attempt to decide this ques- " tion. Let us concede that Dr. Maitland's* whitewash is genuine — that a large discount is to be taken off the statements of the good but credulous historian of the martyrs,' that it was the custom and spirit of the time to be cruel and vindictive toward opponents in religion ; well, what does it all resolve itself into ? The entire for- getfulness of the fact that everything human is liable to err, and that the best formed opinions may have to be reviewed and revised. The question may be once more asked, can opinion be formed by persecution and fear ? The best and truest natures fly, or go to their deaths ; the complying, the timid, and the indifferent, change with the time ; the result, not a conversion to truth, but the pro- duction only of hypocrites and timeservers. We are nowhere taught to believe that the kingdom of heaven is peopled by such, and the cruel process produces no other. The whole affair is an absurdity. It is impossible to agree with the Saturday Reviewer ^ that " there is no evidence whatever that either of these prelates was harsh or bloodthirsty in enforcing the law " as it was enforced in Queen Mary's reign — that " there is much evidence to the con- trary, and this especially true of Gardiner." This reviewer quotes Sir James Macintosh ' in support, and I do no more in confutation than quote a passage ^ by the same authority, overlooked by him, in which Gardiner is denounced as " the main author of these bloody counsels " — as one " who afterwards reached a place in English his- tory more conspicuous than honourable." Note also the brutality of the man to Rogers, who went to his death from Winchester House and St. Mary Overie's. It is said that his diocese was one of the * 'Essays on the Reformation.' ^ Fox. See also 'Fanaticism,' by Isaac Taylor, as to the effeit of an enforced festering celibacy upon this abomination. 8 Art. ' Bloody Gardiner,' July 25th, 1874. ' 'Hist. England,' vol. ii, ' Il/id, vol., ii. pp. 3I9-20, 2l8 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. bloodless class ; the condemnation of the proto-martyrs and others in St. Mary Overie's, not only in his diocese, but as it were next door to his palace, only shows that they were condemned here and burnt elsewhere. Cruelty, under any pretext, among- any people, and at any time, demands that every rational person shall frown it down with all his power and influence. It is simply an animal act of the ferocious kind, and has no connexion whatever with any hig-h or noble principle. This feeling- in me is so strong that it must serve as my apology for this episode in ' Old Southwark.' In I5S5) Gardiner is dead, — the leading pilot in most troubled times strangely enough arrives at death peacefully at Whitehall, and" is brought the same day to his own place by St. Mary Overies. The knell is begun, and at dirge and nones the bell is kept ringing ; inside our church is much of solemn grandeur ; a hearse of four branches, with gilt candlesticks and two white branches ; 60 staff torches and all the quire hanged with black and arras. A dirge was sung and the morrow mass of requiem, bishops, and lords, and gentlemen present; my Lord Bonar of London, wearing- his mitre, did sing mass of requiem ; and Dr. White,^ Bishop of Lincoln, did preach at the same mass — and after all they went to his place to dinner. The same afternoon was a dirge at every parish in London. On the 21st November a great company of priests and clerks brought his body to St. Mary Overies Church, and afore the corse the King of Harolds with his coat and with five banners of his arms and four of images wrought in fine gold and oil. There was the morrow mass ; three, one of the Trinity, one of our Lady, and the third requiem for his soul, and after to dener. The body placed in a herse till a day that he shall be taken to Winchester to be buried there. On the 24th February, 1555 -6, his obsequies are performed with much cere- mony at St. Mary Overies. My Lord Montague and very many were there, and after mass to dener at my Lord Montague's." At * Machyn, ' Diary,' and Stow, 'Annals.' ' The last of the Catholic bishops of Winchester, 1556, deprived, ISS9; he had before been consecrated as Bishop of Lincoln, in St. Maiy Overies, by Gardiner. ' In the Close there v/as, by order of the Vestiy, a special door leading from the church to my Lord Montague's. THE FUNERAL OF GARDINER. 219 his gate the corse was put into a wagon with four wheels, covered with black, and over the corse a picture made with his mitre on his head, arms, and five gentlemen bearing his five banners, in gowns and hoods ; then two harolds in their coat armour. Garter and Rouge Cross ; then came the men riding, carrying sixty burning torches, the mourners in gowns and coats, two hundred before and behind. With a little imagination we may picture to ourselves this magnificent funeral. From the gates of Winchester House and St. Saviour's they proceed along St. Margaret's Hill, past the prisons the deceased bishop had helped to fill ; the procession stays awhile at the old square-towered church of St. George, a church then of rich stained-glass windows, rich services, and ofTer- ings far and wide. While they stay at St. George's come priests and clerks with cross and censing ; and at this church they are furnished with great torches. The black cavalcade is soon lost in the distance, and they proceed to their destination, Winchester. From the semi-sublime, at least in audacity, to the almost ridi- culous, we pass from Gardiner to Home. Had Winchester House a household spirit, how he would have wondered at the diversity of his masters ! In 1577 the Bishop of Winchester, now Home, sends word that he would gladly know the opinion of the astrologers relative to the tayled star. Either from wit or banter he thinks they may know as to the lower heaven — " to the higher they will never go " ; but not the less he consults them. He dies in Winchester House, 1579. In Bishop Cooper appears every way a little more of a man. He is well known as a reasonable writer against the vexa- tious Marprelate people,' hence the name of a well-known tract, 'Hay any work for the Cooper,' after the manner of a street cry. In " an epistle to the terrible priests," * Oh, read over D John Bridges,' 1589, a few quaint words of warning are addressed to this Bishop of Winchester, that he shall not imprison laymen for not subscribing, and that, if any Mordecai should stoop to gracious Hester — i. e., Queen Elizabeth, it would not be well for his square ' Isaac D'Israeli, in the easily-got book, ' The Curiosities of Literature,' tells Concerning them all that is interesting to the general reader. For other readers there are other works, notably W. Maskell's, 1845. 220 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. cap, and reminding him of what he had lately said at St. Mary Overie's Church, in which he had put the Book of Common Prayer side by side with the Bible. Wainscote-faced bishops, swine, dumb dogs, non-resident journeymen hedge-priests, are some of the words freely cast about in this Marprelate tract. Whether Cooper died at his Southwark palace or no I am not aware. He was followed by a Montague, a Privy Councillor, and one of a name connected with the locality. Now comes one demanding more notice — Bishop Andrewes, a man distinguished and of great influence. It is said that Laud was his disciple ; that, indeed, Andrewes was almost a Romanist, under the guise of a Protestant bishop — " the model of those who were apeing Roman ceremonies, cautiously and tentatively introducing Roman doctrine, and at the same time preaching passive obedience to the most kingly tyranny."'' That enlightened Catholic, Lord Acton, gave in the Times, November 24th, 1874, the titles of documents showing that " there were proselytes (to Rome) less likely than James L and Bishop Andrewes." Hallam'^says Andrewes taught that contri- tion, without confession and absolution, was not sufficient ; that he attempted to bring in auricular confession and other like customs, which, had it been successful, would have seriously undermined the Protestant Church. Andrewes was chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, and was by her made Dean of Westminster. It was not until 16 18 that he became Bishop of Winchester. He must have been well acquainted with Alleyn and Henslowe ; and, as they were agreeable and influential people, was no doubt discreetly civil as to the bear-gardens, the bankside, and all the rest of it. Alleyn was a great man here just now. In 16 19 he tells the vestry that he is no longer oneof the parish, and that it will be well to choose another representative for the Clink, the bishop's jurisdiction ; but the vestry like him, and tell him politely to go or stay, but they desire rather his company. Shakespeare had died shortly before ; but it is likely that Andrewes knew him. The bishop was an astute man ; he was one of a commission that forced Selden into a retractation of his History of Tithes. He was more than once autho- rized by Royal commission to inspect St. Thomas's Hospital and ' Green's ' History of the English People,' ed. 1875, pp. 488-9. ^ ' Conslitutional History.' BISHOP ANDREWES. 221 correct abuses. His form for consecrating cfiurch plate (!), censers (!) , and candlesticks (!) became the model ; indeed, he contributed largely, more than did any other English Churchman, to the relapse into superstition ; and this condition of things caused trouble, and, as we shall see, riotous proceedings in the churches, notably at St. Saviour's and St. Olave's in Southwark. Bishop Andrewes was learned and witty, introducing puns and witticisms, provocative of applause, into his sermons. This was not, however, unusual or even unexpected in those times, and one cannot in a moment say it was altogether wrong or unseemly. The best instance of this old sermon wit was Dr. South's, before the Merchant Taylors, from the text, "A remnant shall be saved." The bishop was learned ; but his meaning was smothered under a load of verbiage. With all his failings, he must have impressed others with his piety and worth. His friend Casaubpn, who lodged with him, could scarcely tear himself away. They spent their time in literary and theological discussions, in all which Andrewes was no common master.' He knew many languages, and was to the very end of his life a diligent student. Nevertheless, he is an instance of the exceeding mischief which the best and most learned of men may do, as no doubt his disciple Laud felt when his troubles came thick upon him. On the 25th September, 1626, the bishop died, the last of those who died at Winchester House.' He was a great benefactor to the parish — in truth, a most liberal man. The people testified as to the respect in which he was held. The house mourners made an offering of some ill. to the chaplain; and the church and chancel were hung with 165 yards of baize. The Bishop of Eky preached the funeral sermon. The monument in the Lady Chapel is but part of the original. The fair canopy, supported by black marble pillars, and the epitaph, were destroyed in the great iire of 1676, the roof of the Little or Bishop's Chapel falling in upon the monument. It is said that the bishops continued to occupy Winchester House until the civil wars of 164 1 ; but I find in the token-books of the ^ 'Isaac Casaubon,' Pattison. See also pp. 190, 191. The last bishop who lived hgre was Andrewes, — Ctmningham, 222 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE, parish, under the date 1600, the name of Sir Edward Dyer against Winchester House. Sir Edward Dyer was the friend of Sir Philip Sydney. He was a man of some little poetic reputation — a kindly natured man, who gave a buck once a year for a parish feast ; and he managed somehow or other to lose much of his possessions. Taylor, the water poet, notes " Sir Edward Dyer at the warden's gate." The gift of the buck was rather costly to the parish. In the churchwardens' accounts, 1602, is this entry : Charges at the eating of Sir Edward Dyer's buck, 3/. i6s.; and given to him who brought the buck, 2s. 6d. There evidently had been some words over this extravagance ; and an entry appears, that at any future dinner for the vestrymen and their wives at the eating of Sir Edward Dyer's buck, no more should be expended than 5 marks, beyond the 20s. which Sir Edward used to give. This entry was in 1600, showing how little effect the vestry minute had, and that the parish capacity was larger than his generosity. I have some evidences of the extent of the vestry's convivial feasts.^ The bills are quaint, and may appear later on. In 1642 the old palace was, by order of Parliament, turned into a prison. Among other illustrious prisoners were Sir Francis Dodington and the mystic Sir Kenelm Digby, who in his portraits appears intensely fat. This condition may explain Selden's pleasantry concerning Sir Kenelm in prison. " I can," he says, " compare him to nothing but a great fish that we catch and let go again ; but still he will come to the bait. At last, therefore, we put him in some great pond for store." The Parliament were not unmindful of the prisoners, so they ordered some orthodox and godly minister, well affected to the King and Parliament, to preach to them. After the King's death, Winchester House and its surroundings were sold — the South Manor and Winchester House to Thomas Walker, of Camberwell, for 4,360/. 8^. id. On ' It is, in fact, recorded in the vestry minutes how one of their number, Mr. Humble, had said that the wardens were "knaves and rascalles." It appeared, whether this was so or no, that they must have dinner, the vestiy and their wives, with the churchwardens, at the parish cost. The same year, 1602, are these entries in the parish accounts: Dinner on Easter Day, iSj-. ; Audit, 5/. l6s.; Ambulation, i/. los, 6d.; Visitation, i/. 8j-. 6cf.; and another Visitation, 2/, is. 8d. with- out. Entering then the principal "gate to close " (Map, 4), a fine Gothic archway once,° we may reasonably fancy ourselves among the old buildings and among its ghostly residents. With a little further fancy, not fabulous, but of the true past, we may see Gower and his friend Chaucer pacing the cloisters together ; we may meet the poet, now blind, led by his wife Alice, greeted by all as their most kindly and liberal benefactor, yet living among them. We may see Fastolf, a neighbouring lord in the 15th cen- tury, conferring with Bishop Waynfleet as to the disposal of his vast possessions in charity, and for the welfare of his soul. According to a common provision of the time, donors sometimes secured to themselves a retreat, if wanted ; for instance, the prior and convent of St. Mary Overy were obliged to iind competent entertainment for the Earl of Gloucester and his heirs, when they should come thither .' At length, in 1539, the priory perishes along with other, reli- gious foundations ; everywhere Cromwell's agents are examining and making the most of the undoubted vilenesses which had long been known, but were now discovered openly. The good went with the bad, but no scandal appears against St. Mary Overy, — more remarkable because there was very much scandal against the neighbouring monastery at Bermondsey, notwithstanding its much more strict rules of life, — perhaps the unnatural tying down " Wilkinson's and many other plates. ' Manning and Bray, vol. iii. 563, 230 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. made the rebound more inevitable, for indeed sooner or later in most cases nature will have its way. Bermondsey Abbey, says Taylor, the water poet, rivalled the stews of the bank ; he naively remarks that " the Prior of Bermondsey had no more but twenty.'" Now came a grand scramble. Ben Jonson, who knew South- wark well, puts into the mouth of a character in the ' Poetaster' : " Ay, remember to beg the land betimes before some of the hungry court lords scent it out." "Begg'd some cast abbey in the churches wane," says Bishop Hall, in 1597. The scramble is well illustrated at St. Mary Overy and at Bermondsey Abbey. Sir Anthony Browne, 26 Henry VIII., requests to purchase demesne lands of the late priory of St. Mary Overy, with farms belonging thereto in Southwark, and he was a courtier close about the king. The particulars of the sale are at the Record Office in three parch- ments. The grant soon came of " the whole site of the enclosure encircling around the late Monastery or Priory of the Blessed Mary Overy in the county of Surrey, with the precincts, late in the tenure of Henry Delynger and others, and the brewhouse and houses in St. Mary Magdalen." This with much else was bestowed upon Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse, stan- dard bearer of England, and a special ambassador. Among the rest he had Waverley House, close at hand, which became saddler Cure's for charitable purposes, and is noted in connexion with the almshouses founded by him. In 1539, at the time the priory and its precincts changed hands — from the ecclesiastic to the layman, — it was the custom to reward those who submitted quietly ; sometimes the way was prepared by the appointment or encouragement of complying people, so to create as little adverse friction as possible. Accordingly Bartho- lomew Linsted, otherwise Fowle or Fowler, Stow's informant, who was elected prior in 1513, appears to have quietly surren- dered the priory and its possessions to the king, and is accordingly allowed to finish his life in ease and peace. " The Commissioners ' Those who ^^•ish to see this from the point of rigid truth should read atten- tively Isaac Taylor's 'Fanaticism,' ed. 1833, pp. 126 et scq. They will see the cruelties and other vices which in some natures inevitably spring from the unrest coming apparently out of the enforced celibacy of the clergy. The book of nature and the book of revelation MUST be read together. OLD REMAINS, MONTAGUE CLOSE. 23 1 assigned to Barthelmew ffowle,^ late prior, 100/., and to others from 8/. to 61. each, in all 1 70/. per annum, to be paid every half- year commencing at the feast of the annunciation of our Lady. It was also appointed that the late prior should have a house within the close, wherein Doctor Mychell now dwelleth, for the term of his life." Our map was made about the time of this arrangement, and no doubt the house (Map, 2) is the one referred to. If so, no extra suavity was shown in marking the bare word " fowler," pointing out the final retreat of the late prior. The Baptys House, near at hand, I cannot at present explain ; if any one can, I shall be glad to hear. Very interesting discoveries have been made here in Montague Close, even in the present century. Enough has been found of the remains of conventual buildings to give us a fair idea of the old priory. Happily for us who desire now and then to take a look into the past, to see what our fathers were about, and how they did their work, the remains were noted and described by competent observers — Carter, Carlos, and others ; and long since, in deep excavations, the workpeople came across curious old remains — ■ channels of remarkably good brickwork, in which, as I have been told, a man might get along. In 1797, and again in 1808, John Carter carefully inspected the remains of certain conventual buildings here. At this last date much change had come. The remaining priory buildings, in which the monks had dined and slept, had now become stables, stores for coals and for other rough goods ; or they were hidden behind rude erections for the same purposes. Carlos describes them in his paper in the Gentleman's Magazine, June, 183S, which is illustrated with lucid plan and plate. He describes an ancient crypt and foundations close to and extending from the north transept, in the same line ; the base- ment of a hall or gallery, probably the refectory of the priory, with a way now bricked up, between it and the cloisters, and with dormitories near. He considers this crypt ' to have been the one ' Double letter used as a capital, fif for F. ' Vide the ground-plan and elevation of conventual buildings in the plate at p. 157. There are also external views of the buildings, alteredand mutilated, but still characteristic, in the plate referred to, from the 'Antiquarian Itinerary,' and in Moss, So they have remained down very near to our own time, 233 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. side of the court or quadrangle ; west of it were cloisters, probably embattled, and very early buildings ; the north front was open to the river. This building was 2 1 feet S inches from the transept of the church, the intervening space being used as a stable, divided transversely by a wall shown in the plan. Here were seen the remains of two arches of the time of Edward IV. The length of the building, north and south, was 95 feet by 33 wide.^ The hall, which was part of it, and above, had in 1795 an oaken roof, carved with representations of angels, a lantern light in the centre of the roof, and a large window at the end. The walls seem to have had paintings thereon. The vaults were supported by a rang^ of pillars, which, as they rose, formed angles in the roof. The roof was of small square stones. An old foundation, at a short distance east of the church, was discovered on the demolition of the houses for the approaches of the new bridge. West of the crypt was a wall extending westward 100 feet, and near it a well, bricked round and domed over. At this time of breaking up, fragments, Norman and of various later times, were discovered ; among the rest, an arch of a fireplace of the Tudor period. Here was probably the prior's house. The article in the Gentlemati's Magazine by Carter will well repay perusal. I have been so fortunate as to see a corrected ground-plan of this priory building, by Mr. Dollman, a skilled architect and an intelligent admirer of the old place, whose expected monograph of St. Mary Overy will be most cordially welcomed. In proceedings of the vestry, 1595, Mr. Brooker says he has the copy of the purchase of the parsonage lease and of the close by Lord Montague at the dissolution — a mistake of Mr. Brooker's, as Sir Anthony was the purchaser or recipient. It was his son who was, in 1554, created Lord Montague.'' It is now clear how the place came to be called Montague Close : close, from cloister ; Montague, from the family who obtained it. The local name is Montague, Montacute, or Monteagle — somewhat confounded although not always the same families. No one who reads the old manuscripts of the time, on phonetic principles, but will recog- ' Tiler, p. 10. ° Montague Peerage Claim, Mouse of Lords, 185 1, SIR ANTHONY BROWNE, THE MONTAGUES. 233 nize the spelling, diverse, much as it might strike the ear of the listener, without surprise. The Offleys, or Hoffleys, for instance, as the H was put in or left out. Even Shakespeare's name is spelt in very many ways ; and these diverse spellings sometimes by the people themselves. The Montagues probably used the site of the prior's house, and no doubt, at first, much of the house itself ; and for some time the family had their town residence in the Close. In 1551 Sir Anthony Browne, the son, is sent to the Tower for mass. Time and the ruler change however, and Sir Anthony, as Lord Montague, is chief mourner to one who had been his next neighbour — Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, of Winchester House. In 1556 Lord Montague is dating letters from Southwark. In 1575 the vestry of St. Saviour's is debating as to the dunghill at his lordship's gate. In 1584 the saddler to the Queen, Thomas Cure, and others make a search in the Close. In Mr. Browne's house they find a lord and lady and servants, fifteen in all, and many others near at hand. The Lady Vaux just before this, in 1582, is reported at mass at her lodgings in St. Mary Overie's. Some time after Lord Monteagle heads the list of subscribers for the poor Papist prisoners in the Clink — a prison not much more than a stone's throw from his own house. In 1 592 information is given, by one who afterwards went to it, of mass in Lord Montague's house at St. Mary Overy. In 1593, no doubt by way of making things pleasant, the vestry orders that a new door shall be made in the church wall, entering into my Lord Montacute's house, instead of the old door, which was stopped by some of the churchwardens without the consent of the rest.' This desire of the vestry was no doubt justified. The family are earnest, and true to their principles. I note a " booke of ordres and rules, established by me, Anthony Viscount Montague, for the better direction of my howsholde and family, together with the general dutyes and charges apperteyninge to myne officers and other servantes."* In 1597 Mr. Graye, a priest, was buried from the ' This probably refers to the doorway, closed up, which led formerly into the west side of the cloister, anji after, when reopened, into Lord Montague's house. This doorway was Norman, and was probably part of the ancient structure — the prior's way into the church. See plan of St. Saviour's. ■• Notes and Queries, 1st series, vol. viii. p. 540, 234 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. olde Lady Montacute's house. In this year it is reported to the Government that Southwark is dangerously infected. In fact, this is mostly the normal state of Southwark under every dispensation. In 1598 there is void ground, " by the docke " and a tenement of Lord Montague's. In 1599 search is made in the house of the Lady Montague, a widow, but inhabiting the old place in the close, for gunpowder and arms ; but nothing is found. In 1600 the name of the Montagues comes in unpleasantly at the vestry. Mr. Humble, who appears to have been, contrary to his name, a hot-headed man, offers to lay a wager that the parish will not recover tithes of Lord Montague and other noted people ; and rather carried away by his feelings, he calls the churchwardens "Knaves and Rascalles."' Probably there was something in it, as on January 4th Mr. Browker speaks to the steward about the tithes of the Close. Matters do not mend with this family. No doubt they were getting poor. They seem to be much too uncompromising to be lucky." In 1624 an Act is obtained for raising a portion for a daughter, and for pay- ment of debts. The family does not prosper ; and soon after they disappear as Montagues in Southwark. But, as may be seen in the Montague Peerage Claim, many Brownes turn up. I note, in the handwriting of Mr. Corner, the solicitor to the claim, and the greatest local antiquarian we have had, the following : John Browne, a drysalter in 1672 ; Nathaniel Brown, an overseer in 1676, and vestryman in 1687 ; John Browne, scavenger of the Clink in 1 700 ; Eleanor, seeking a pension in 1 702 ; Charles, the same year a candidate for the office of beadle ; and one of more consequence than any, through whose unconscious arteries the blue blood is supposed to be still running, by this time much mixed and diluted, Charles Browne, the "dear Charles" of Eliza Montague, who writes to him as Monsieur de Brown, Rue Marchand de Poisson, le Fauxbourg de Southwark — in plain English, Mr. Brown, of Fish- ^ Vestry minutes. " The Dowager Jane Montague, whose husband Anthony died at Montague House in 1629, petitioned the Lords in 1645 (Journals), when her recusant, " Papist, and malignant" son was abroad, stating that she was a Protestant, and had always shown good affection to the Parliament. Her husband and son appear to have been indiscreet Catholics. She did succeed, however, with much tact, but with difficulty, in saving some of the family estates from sequestration. — 'Montague Peerage Claim,' pp. 5, 6, 88. MONTEAGLE HOUSE AND THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 235 monger's Alley, Southwark. All these were presumably of the Montague family, and all lived in St. Saviour's, Southwark. The name of Brown is not very uncommon, but I may give, among the rest, Robert Browne, a player, and Elizabeth his wife, 1600 ; Edward Browne, a player, 1596, of Shakespeare's time, who no doubt saw him face to face. By the middle of the seventeenth century, or before, the Close must have become unfit for the Montagues, even in their faded fortunes. In accordance with inevitable change, the house became at length divided into many tenements. The picture and a ground-plan, in Wilkinson, ' Lond. Illust.,' will show its appearance, extent, and position early in this century.' In the token-books^ of the parish, 1600, against Pepper Alley, twenty-four names appear of persons attending the sacra- ment ; from the Close, forty -five ; Waverley House, seventy-seven, and so on. In 1612 many names appear from Montague House. In 1624 are noted new brick tenements ; dye-houses, two new and two older, and another dye-house and a wood-yard in Montague Close. Pepper Alley, Montague Close, and like places back from the great thoroughfares were places of refuge for people flying for religion's sake, mainly French and Dutch, who in these parts bided quietly and practised their callings. Searches were often made, and lists given of these refugees. Ihave noted three only, in iS7i, 1S84, and 1586. There are many such at the Record Office, Fetter Lane. A story got about, and was generally believed, that Monteagle House became celebrated, as the place to which the message was sent discovering the Gunpowder Plot, and that the Close as a sanctuary or privileged place was made so on account of this dis- covery. The Monteagle House to which this story refers was of the time of James I. ; the one referred to as taken down in connexion with the approaches of the new London Bridge, in 183I-2, was not more than about a hundred years old. ' And in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1808. ' Token-Books, St. Saviour's. That for 1588 notices people "caught Drinkinge at Servis Tyme.'' 1628. "Names of communicants and tokens delivered." 1596, and after years, John Fletcher's name appears with many another actor and writer of Shakespeare's time. These valuable records are becoming — some lost, others imperfect, and many mutilated. I hope to be per- mitted to go through them and to write a short paper as to their most interesting contents, 236 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. It is not quite clear when the property here passed from the Montag-ue family, although the process of their insecure holding, on account of religious and other suspected disaffection, is clear enough. In 1642-3, the Parliamentary leaders voted a committee for sequestrations, and wherever power or fair excuse gave them warrant, they seized the estates and revenues of the King's party. Lord Montague, being a Catholic and a Royalist, came under the operation of the vote. It is not likely that his house in Southwark escaped. In 1653 the estates were again sequestrated; the dow- ager countess with much difficulty saving some, by having leases made to herself,' and by professing loyalty to the power in esse. The Overmans were now becoming a prominent family in South- wark, witness the sermon already noticed, ' Live Well and Die Well,' written for the burial of Mrs. Mary Overman in 164^. The seizure of the preacher and the prevention of the funeral sermon, published 1646, was one of the squabbles perpetually turning up on religious matters in these disturbed times. In this case the sec- taries are uppermost, and the High Church, if so we may call it, to which Benjamin Spencer belonged, was down. But it was " all alike." The Puritans proved as intolerant and as intermeddling as Laud, says Hallam, and may I add. Laud as the Puritans. My Southwark notes show Papists, Puritans, and any others who made themselves very prominent in times adverse to their particular forms, immured in the Southwark gaols, or passing along our High Street, to hanging at St. Thomas a Watering, or to burning in the highway or in St. George's Fields; the principle of the times being conversion by fear as opposed to the new command- ment which our Lord Himself taught. The Overmans left their mark' : out of their property hereabout, which comprised about sixty houses and four wharfs, almshouses were founded and left, and ° Montague Peerage Case, 1851. ' Manning and Bray. I add from the Fire decrees, re fij\\ 1677. jVrontagiie Close, 1678. Great gates, privy, pumpe, shedd, warehouses ; Thomas Overmans, Hester Overman, widow. Thomas Ovennan, gentleman, did demise to Chris- topher Marshall the above, with a cartway. Mai-shall did pull down old and build new warehouses, at a cost of 150/. Six of the messuages were shattered by blowing up the neighbouring premises ; we see how near to danger the church was. The repairs cost 70/. Overman will not contribute. Judgment, that he is to contribute two-thirds of the cost. MONTAGUE CLOSE A SANCTUARY. 237 these still remain, a quaint old fact among; the new, in their queer corner down below by the Lady Chapel of St. Saviour's. One wonders why the poor almspeople are still kept in this dismal corner, between the cheese warehouses, on the one hand, and the church on the other, when convenient arrangements, so much better for all parties, might be made. "By an established law founded on very ancient superstition, the precincts of a church afforded sanctuary to accused persons." ^ This, and not the fancied connexion with the Gunpowder Plot, was the origin of the sanctuary customs of Montague Close, " pre- tended privileges altogether scandalous and unwarrantable," as late Acts (8th and gth year William III., and 9th year of George I.) designate them. So early as the 13th century a man who had killed another took refuge here in the church of St. Mary Magda- len Overy.' In 1656 John Smith, Gent., sends forth ' The Mysterie of Rhetorick unveiled,' " from my chamber in Montague Close, Southwark." Possibly, as a scholar, this privileged retreat might have been for him quiet and secure, from troublesome creditors as well as from distracting noises. In a quaint book, 1623, by Thomas Powel, entitled, ' Wheresoever you see mee, Trust unto yourself — or the Mystery of Lending and Borrowing,' the im- poverished man is made to say, " I can stay no longer here (some- where in the city) with good name and fame, and therefore I returne to my waterman attending all this while, who is to set me over to Southwarke, and land mee at an excellent hold indeed, commonly called Montague Close, sometime the scite of the monastery of St. Saviour's near the Bridge." This is one of the many very handy refuges noted in the book, to be easily got at by boat landing you at Pepper Alley Stairs. There were many authors in the Mint, in Whitefriars, and elsewhere. Pro- bably then John Smith, Gent., was an impecunious author at his lodgings in Montague Close. Cold Harbour, opposite, was a refuge of the same sort. Powel's book tells of " the sundry waies and weapons with which the debtors fence with their creditors." He gives a list of many noted places of temporary retirement. = Hallara, ' Middle Ages. ' ^ Riley, 'Mem, Lond.,' p. 3, 238 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Page 176 tells of watch and ward to prevent surprise, which watch and ward was, in modern phrase, a " caution " to intruders. Page 202, How the cautious debtor hath a list of all the taverns, espe- cially by the water side, with back doors. Page 29, he gives good account of the supplies here, " no whit inferior to Ram Alley," which was saying a good deal, as Ram Alley, in Fleet Street, was, in 161 1, reputed to stink with cooks and ale. There were in those times many good places of resort for folks with scanty credit, and it was by no means easy to pick up a debtor who did not wish to pay. Even the officers of the law were hardly treated, buffeted, that is, pumped upon, and, as credibly reported, made to kiss a filthy brick, and swear upon it, to come no more thither without leave.* SAINT OLAVE'S CHURCH. In the map (25), synte toulus ; and in the various wording of the times, Sentt Tollos in 1558; S. Towleyes in John Norden's map, 1 593 ; and so on, spelled any way, but mostly as it might strike the ear of any one. The church was dedicated to Saint Olaf. Its corruption into Tooley may be at once understood by pronouncing the words St. Olaf quickly. In like manner, the lane along which the processions went to the shrine of St. Audrey, in Ely Cathedral, became known as Tawdry Lane. So Saint Olave became Tolave, or Tooley ; Saint Antony became Tantony ; Saint Alphyns (Alphage), Taphyns ; Sentte Anne, Tanys, &c. This Olaf was a Northman, and ally of our King Ethelred — a soldier of fortune, who became King of Norway. A great exploit of his, connected with a battle of Southwark,^ in 1008, is thus related : " Olaf the King and his Norsemen having rowed their ships close up to the Bridge [London], made them fast to the piles with ropes and cables, with which they strained them ; and the tide seconding their united efforts, the piles gradually gave way, and were withdrawn from under the Bridge. So it brake down, and ' ' A True Description of the Mint,' where this hunting of the officers took place. ' ' ' Upon the other side of the river is situate a great market called Southwark — Sudui-virke in the original — which the Danes fortified with many defences. " — Icelandish authority cited in ' Chronicles of London Bridge,' by R. Thomson, ed, 1827, p. 21, SAINT OLAF OR OLAVE. 239 involved the ruin of many. And now it was determined to attack Southwark ; but the citizens, seeing their River Thames occupied by the enemies' navies, were seized with fear, and, having surren- dered the city, received Ethelred as King." This soldier of fortune, Olaf, was a Christian missionary, after the manner of his time. Unconscious of this as he probably is, he has the honour of a somewhat laudatory sketch at the hands of Thomas Carlyle.' His adhesion to the Christian faith was intense. Deeply pious, he laboured and succeeded in spreading Christianity, and abolishing Viking practices and idols ; but, as his method was by no means soft, the people lapsed, and at length killed him. Awaked from a dream, while on the last step of the imagined ladder, and about to enter heaven, he had to make ready for his last fight, which he began with religious services — " a matin wor- ship such as there have been few." The fight went against him, and he was killed. His body was carried to an outhouse of a neighbouring farm. A blind beggar crept in for shelter ; and, as the miraculous influences had already begun, the beggar received his sight. Many miracles were done in Olaf's name, not in Norway or all Christendom only, then and for a long time after. " This holy friend of Christ, this most innocent King, was murdered in the year 1030 ; and it was commanded that he should be honoured as a saint, with the title of Martyr."' A modern critic in the Athenaum thinks that Olaf was not much better than "a lawless ruffian," who, in a holy cause, plundered and destroyed the pagan peoples. We must not expect too much. Olaf and his like were but men and women, after all. The lives of the saints are, with the most charitable judgment, not too often in accord with the Sermon on the Mount According to the lights of the time, and what was believed of this saint, nothing is more natural than that churches should be built in his honour, and that his life should be acted or read upon his saint's day,' and his statue set up.° Such was St. ^ ' Early Kings of Norway,' Fraser's Mag., 1875. ' Newcourt, cited in Thomson, ' London Bridge, 'p. 27. » In the year 1577, at the church in Silver Street, on the holiday of St. Olave, its patron saint, "the miraculous life of St. Olave" was celebrated, with great solemnity. The celebration began at eight in the evening, and continued for four hours. — Hone, ' Every-Day Book,' June 2nd. ' The statue of St. Towle was removed from the church in Southwark at the 240 OLD SOUTHWARK AND iTS PEOPLE. Olave, to whose memory no less than four churches in London are dedicated. It is impossible to say when the first church was built ; but Peter Bishop of Winchester, who g-overned the see in 1205, appropriated the church of St. Olave's, Southwark, to the Prior and Convent of St. Pancras, of Lewes, for the purposes of hospitality.^ It is noted in a grant of an Earl Warren to the Abbot of St. Augustine, Canterbury, made in 128 1. Another passage '^ : " It was confirmed by William, second Earl of Warren and Surrey, to the Prior of St. Pancras, at Lewes, by a charter to which the name of Gundulph, Bishop of Ro- chester, appears as one of the witnesses." The church of St. Olave's was from time immemorial an ecclesiastical rectory. In the taxation of Pope Nicholas, 1 291, is an entry implying that Earl Warren had bestowed the advowson on the alien priory of Lewes. In the general ecclesiastical survey, 1535 — that is, about the time of our map — the Rectory is returned thus : " George Wyndham, Clerk, Rector there. It is valued clearly by the year, with all its profits and commodities, besides "js. y^d. paid to the Bishop of Winton for Sinodals, ys. y\d. paid to the archdeacon of Surrey for procurations yearly, and 4/. paid to the prior of Lewes for a • certain annual and perpetual pension of the said Rectory, due at Easter, 68^. 4s. gd. Tenth thereof, 6/. i6s. sf(f."' The church had four aisles and chapels, dedicated to our Lady, St. Clement, St. Anne, and St. Barbara ; and altars — among the rest, one to St. John. One of the four aisles, which fell down in 1736, was called St. Anne's aisle ; and in it was a chapel and an altar dedicated to the saint. Religious associations of brethren and systars were attached to the church. The systars of Sentte Tanys gave a challys of 1 1 onzys, qtr. and d,qtr. Of these fraternities I shall presently speak more particularly. Reformation, and was restored in the time of Queen Maiy. In the churchwardens' accounts, 1556-1558, are these entries : It'm, paid to John Carowe for making a septor and an axe for S'. Towle, iijj-. viij^. It'm, paid to Modyn for Saint Olyff, XXXJ-. It'm, p" more for din'^ when he set hym up, \]s. vn]c/. 1466, John Burcestre, 1-cnight, in his will bequeaths and recommends his soul to almighty God and the blessed Lady, and his body to bo buried in the wall beside the holy King, S'. Olave. ' Archtvologia, vol. xxiii. ^ Ibid., vol. xxxviii. p. 39, vol. xxiii. p. 299. ' MS. Additional, 24327, B. Museum, OLD CHURCH PROPERTIES, ST. OLAVE'S. 24 1 At the Reformation the accumulated riches of the church were confiscated ; commissioners were now appointed, and inventories of church properties were made from time to time. 6 Edward VI., 16 May, 1552, a commission was issued for an inventory of all goods belonging to churches, chapels, gilds, brotherhoods, or fra- ternities, comprising jewels, vestments, bells, and the like, and that the same should be in safe keeping of persons who should produce them. Much was embezzled, or, as the owners might say, saved out of the fire. In this inventory of 1552 are 700 ozs. of plate, and notably a pix, chrismatory, cruet, pax, cross, chalice, candlesticks ; a gospeller book garnished with silver, parcel gilt with Mary and St. John, a pistiler book with Peter and Paul, copes blue and red and ornamented with gold ; vestments — among others one of red velvet with Jesus in gold, altar cloths of blue velvet and gold, and of white damask, and five great bells hanging in the steeple.^ In that of 1558 also are items most curiously interesting.* This in- ventory was made by the old Chyrehe wardyns of the paryshe of Sentt Tolos in Sothewarke for the new wardens, among whom was Oliff Burr, twice a member of parliament for Southwark, 5th and 14th Elizabeth, and a first governor of St. Olave's Grammar School. In this list is noted a vestment given by Sir Anthony Sel- lynger. Knight (St. Leger) (whose name is preserved to our own time in Sellinger's Wharf) ; a sute of vestments of red velvet wrought with angels and spread eagles, which were Mr. Lek's (a brewer of German descent, who more than any other was the founder of the Grammar School) ; altar cloths, one with a cru- cifix, the ruthar w'' Sent Clement and ankers. There was a fra- ternity of the Brotherhood of St. Clement of this church, and one of the four aisles, in which were a chapel and altar, was dedicated to this saint, the saint of blacksmiths, notably of mariners' black- smiths,* likely to be adopted in St. Olave's, a parish at the time particularly connected with the sea and the trades dependent thereon. In C. R. Smith's collections is a token with an inscrip- tion, " Will Ellis at the St. Clement in Tooley Street '' ; it has a St. * ' Surrey Archaeological Collections,' vol. iv. "■ G. R. Comer, Gent, Mag., May, 1837, where may be seen also an explana- tion of the terms used in the inventories. * Hone, 'Every-Day Book,' vol. i. pp. 1497-8. R 242 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Clement seated, wearing a mitre, resting on an anchor and hold- ing in the right hand an episcopal staff. In the parish books of St. Olave's (date before the Reformation) is frequent mention of our Lady's brethren, St. Clement's brethren, St. Anne's sisters, and others. Anthony Michael, of the parish of St. Olave the King in. Southwarlc, in i SOO, gives by will to the fraternity commonly called of the Virgin Mary, i2d. ; of St. Anne, 8d. ; of St. Clement, Sd. ; of St. Barbara, a book called the Life of Jesus, to remain in the chapel of St, Barbara, for the use of the brethren of the fraternity willing to read therein.' In 1526, a will of Will Sharparowe, of Southwark, miller, orders, that he is to be buried in the St. Anne's isle, within St. Olave's Church — a marble stone is to be set over him, with latten or copper images of himself, his wife, and children. Bequests are left to the altar of the church, to the brotherhood of Our Lady and St. Clement, and to St. Anne's sisterhood, and to the rood-light. Further bequests for three trentals of masses, two at St. Olave's — for a priest to say masses for a year at St. Olave's, for himself, his father, mother, and chil- dren, yl. 6s. 8d. The gilds, or brotherhoods, were for diverse purposes ; but usually they were associations for mutual help in temporal and spiritual matters, and for the welfare of the church. They were commonly necessary in times when individuals were weak, when the law was weak, and when certain classes were strong and almost lawless. The gilds, first founded in England in the eighth century,' were the precursors of benefit societies, burial clubs, modern class meetings, trades' unions, city companies, and what not. At length, becoming tainted with riches, and with that which follows, i.e. corruption, and, from their secret ramifications and power, troublesome, they were at the Reformation shaken to pieces." A Society of Jesus, already noted, was a power in St. Olave's. This society was founded for the maintenance of a chantry priest to pray for the brotherhood, and for other purposes, It no doubt extended its duties outside that ' Manning and Bray, ' Surrey, ' vol. iii. p. 607. Edinbiirglt. Review, 1871. ° For indications as lo their wealtli, position, and influence, see a charming worlt by the late Toidmin Smith, edited by his daughter, ' English Gilds,' pub- lished by the Early English Text Society, 1870, FITFUL CHANGES IN RELIGIOUS FORMS. 243 limited scope. Machyn, ' Diary,' notes at a burial, in 1558, " alle the bredurne of Jhesus, in saten hodes, and Jhs apone them." It was the custom of the gilds to join, under penalty for defaults, in the burial service on the death of brethren and sustren, and to make offering's. Jesus House, in St. Olave's, is already noted. One day at least in the year was devoted to festivities, usually the day of the saint to whom the gfild was dedicated. The brethren and sisters — for women were admitted, and held not unimportant positions in them — being all assembled, worshipped together,' gave their alms, and feasted, "for the nourishing of brotherly love." This, partly at the church, partly at their gild-house or hall, or at each other's houses. A Gild of Our Lady was established at St. Margaret's and at St. Saviour's, and a Gild of Brethren and Sisters at St. George's — all in Southwark. The constant changes in con- nexion with religion just now must have seriously perplexed the people : under Henry, a doubt as to which way it might go — for Popery, or ' against it ; under Edward, for a short time, a severe run against Popery ; under Mary, as severe a run in favour ; under Elizabeth, a severe run against any who attempted, under religious pretexts, to damage the authority of the Queen, or to threaten her with peril ; this with an especial leaning toward severity against Papists after the promulgation of the Pope's bull against the Queen. How often we notice scenes of violence and absurd manifestations of changes of opinion in connexion with these old forms of religion ! ' Take, for instance, as specimens of like worship, "Also we sal beseke for y frutte y' is on ye herthe yat God send it soche weduiynge y' may tm-ne cristen men to profyt, and ffor schippmen and for al men yat trauayle, be se and be land : also beseke Jhesu mercy for oiire fadere saules, and for oure modere saules, .... and for al ye brethere saules and sisturres yat to yis fraternitee longes, and mayn- teynen in ye worschipp of oure Lady Godes helpe be among us. Amen. " This brotherhood consisted of thirteen brothers and fifteen sisters — seven of them men, and their wives, and one Elena Williams, Ji/ia. The object of one gild was to obtain, by the prayers of holy Church, the safety after death of the souls of the faithful ; of others, to favour education and to found schools ; of another ( Geni. Mag., February, 1835), to admit into the gild the souls of persons deceased — a beautiful idea, that our friends are, even after death, with us on festival occasions ! It was usual on admission that a brother or suster should, in token of love, charity, and peace, "kusse" every other of the gild that be there. Among gild sports may be noted the hunting of the Gild Bull, at Stamford.—' English Gilds,' p. 192. R 2 244 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Among- the rest, in 1560 the minister Harold, at St. Towley's, did christen a child without a godfather ; and the midwife asked him how he could do it, and he said it was but a ceremony.'' No- thing but a general ecclesiastical confusion could have given rise to a scene like that, unless, indeed, which might be pro- bable, such a Gallio was safer than true and sternly conscientious believers. By the side of the church, between that and the bridge, was Saint Towley's Stairs. Here as elsewhere, I note a common occur- rence — the landing of pirates, to be in due course executed ; and I note the frequent landing of drowned people. In 1SS2, " six men drowned, buried at St. Towllys Churchyard." In a view of London Bridge — Norden's, temp. Elizabeth — boats are seen "shooting" the narrow and dangerous channels and falls of the bridge. People are seen struggling in the water. In 1429 the Duke of Norfolk is passing from St. Mary Overie's Stairs through London Bridge, at four or five at night. His barge stuck on the piles. Thirty were drowned, the duke and two or three more escaping by ropes let down to them.' Down to the last days of the old bridge, in our own time, like accidents were common. One look at pictures of the old bridge explains it all. There was a very touching and picturesque scene at St. "TowUy's" on the 29th March, 1563,* which I cannot pass over. " The Lady Lane, brought from the late abbey of St. Saviour's, Bermondsey, ded in childbirth. The corpse was borne by six women ; and many mourners, and much pomp ; and the sermon was preached by Master Coverdale." SMIT'S ALLEY AND WALNUT TREE ALLEY. The imposing -looking building by Smit's Alley (Map, 29) was no doubt a place of importance. It may have been the house or inn called the Gatehouse, which was mentioned in deed after deed from the time of Edward III., and was vested in the Gild of Jesus. Ultimately falling to the parish, it became a vestry hall and grammar school. " In 1509 William Aylove and Ethelred his wife '■' Macliyn, 'Diary.' •■ Stow, 'Annals.' ' Machyn, p. 303. CHURCH YARD ALLEY. 24S held Smythes Alley, in Southwark";^ and no other Smith's Alley is noted. The locality soon becomes confused, and the names often changfe : such as Church Yard Alley, Walnut Tree Court, and the like — all significant as connected with places and buildings of importance then and in the after-time. A piece of ground here, which was consecrated, was in 1520 conveyed by Richard Panell and others to Richard Denton, clerk and rector of St. Olave's, for the use of the church and for a cemetery. Hence, no doubt, the name of Church Yard Alley. One advantage the old names had, that they called a spade a spade, and we know the uses and characteristics of the spot — a Dirty Lane, a Thieves' Lane, or a " Nest " not far off, which by its title must have been a very immoral nest indeed, but which even so late as Rocque's Map, in 1746, is named after the occupa- tion of its female inhabitants. This grant of ground to Richard Denton was confirmed i Edward VL The actual grant is lost ; but the parish books show that the land was in possession in 1546 ' — the time of our map. The older burying-ground abutted on the Thames, and is shown, with its picturesque tombstones, in a plate of the church published so late as 18 14. In a grant of the White Lyon, not the prison, to Robert Curzon, the new cemetery is noted as a boundary — " the White Lyon, between the cemetery and the High Street." Robert Curzon is the same man who gave lOO marks for tenements in the Berghene — properties forfeited and sold in the general break-up of ecclesiastical possessions. What associations are suggested, now effectually covered by the railway buildings and approaches ! So the times pass and change ; and instead of splendid shows, grim warriors, gorgeous ecclesiastics, miracle plays, and processions in the streets, with here and there bull-rings, pillories, and gibbets, which were more or less always before the eyes of the people of Southwark, we have a throng of thousands marching over the spot for daily and peaceful business. The small spot of ground, comprising about 120 yards square, ^ 'Rolls Calendars,' 1520; Archceologia, vol. xxxviii. The authorities chiefly used for this article are Stow, ' Survey ' ; Aj-chceologia, vols, xxiii, xxv, xxvii. , articles by Gage Rokev^oode, Gwilt, Jun., and Comer, 246 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. opposite St, Olave's Church, across the street to the south, may well claim our attention, as full of historical associations, very old and very interesting. It is quite covered up now — in some parts far below the surface and out of sight, under the houses running up from Tooley Street to the present London Bridge, and under the highways which lead up to the railways. This space was once occupied, northerly, by the White Lyon Inn, by the Boar's Head — Sir John Fastolf s — by the Chequers and the Ship ; earlier far, so say our best authorities, by the great dwelling of Earl Godwin, which, with the township, fell to the Warrens at the Conquest, when they became lords of Southwark ; by the prison of the liberty, then little more than St. Olave's parish, which liberty was then the Borough ; by the gild-house of the Brothers and Sisters of Jesus of St. Olave's ; by the first Eliza- bethan Grammar School of St. Olave's ; by the additional church- yard for the parish, and the burial-ground for the Flemish and other refugees, from whom it had the name of the Flemish Burial- Ground. From Earl Godwin's house to the Flemish Ground it was all in or about Smit's Alley. Then the Abbot of Lewis had his London lodging or inn here, his gardens extending to the White Lyon. This house was in Walnut Tree Alley, which alley became afterwards Carter Street. Between Church Yard — that is, Smit's Alley — and Walnut Tree Alley was the Cage, which became Beston's Ground in iSS4- This Adam Beston was, in 1SS4, con- cerned with lands which afterwards fell to the school. Walnut Tree Alley* was situate exactly midway opposite and south of St. Olave's Church, across Tooley Street in Short South- wark. The alley was so called from a number of walnut trees which stood hereabout, and from a common hosterie for travellers which had this sign in 1598. Here was or had been the town lodging of the Prior of Lewes — town lodging, as Stow says. According to our modern notions, lodging is a modest name for a great house built of stone, with arched gates — " my poor house," as the prior might smilingly say in the manner of the time. The " MS. 'Thomas Hospital,' 9th June, 1572. "Mr. Ware is ordered- to survey Ihe gardeyns of Mr. Wylson, to se what Irespasse he hath comytted by cutting downe of a walnut tree or other trees there." Walnut Tree Alley adjoined the hospital easterly. WALNUT TREE ALLEY AND INN. 247 architectural remains — beautiful, solid, and strong — which have been brought to light, and explained by most competent modern observers, make this spot a most interesting study. In 18 13 the crypt of the prior's house was used as a cider cellar or warehouse. In 1 83 1 a foot of one of the piers of the gateway was found east, in Carter Lane ; and sp, ex pede Herculem, we may judge of the whole. The remains were found in the square of a site bounded west by the old High Street, north by Tooley Street, east by Joiner Street, and south by the Ship Inn Yard. This spot, with these boundaries, cannot be seen in the present maps ; but in those before 1830, and especially in Horwood's, 1799, it may be clearly made out. The Prior of Lewes had no town house in 1 180. The Anglo-Norman buildings (described by Mr. Rokewoode, vol. xxiii. Archaologia) on this spot point to the original mansion or manor- house of Earl Warren and Surrey, the lord of Old Southwark. From its Norman style it was probably built by William, the first earl, or his son. Earl Godwin, temp. Edward the Confessor, had a place here. These possessions, like as a large part of the kingdom, in time passed into the hands of the Church.^ The process was general, and the causes natural enough. Afterwards, at the general dis- gorgement — that is, at the dissolution — this property passed in fee to Cromwell, the destroyer of the monasteries. The hostelry of the Walnut Tree was then valued to the king at 8/. yearly. On the fall of Essex the hostelry seems to have been parcelled out by the Crown to, among others, in 1554, Adam Beston, from whose family it passed, in 1 582, to a City company and to Robert Curzon, noted under Smit's Alley. The Walnut Tree Inn occupied the east side of the hostelry. The building to the west, surveyed by Mr. Gwilt (^Archaologia, vol. xxv.), was afterwards purchased by the parish for the use of the grammar school, which was founded the 1 3th Elizabeth. As to the old remains,' — in consequence of more extensive ap- ' In 1085 it was found that England contained property known as knights' fees 62,215, ^"'i th^' 'lis Church held of these 28,015. This went on increasing, until at length nearly half the land of England was in the hands of the Church, and the statutes of mortmain became necessary. — Hallam, 'Middle Ages,' ch. vii. &c, 248 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. proaches required for the new London Bridg-e it became necessary to level these buildings. At this time Mr. Rokewoode's careful draw- ings were made. The massive character and circular style imply that the buildings were here before 1 170. He describes a porch of nineteen feet or more, a vaulted chamber of forty feet, with strong pillars and arches, and a hall above — all with evidences of great strength, with some beauty of form and with architectural details, and with ornaments of the earlier Saxon or Anglo-Norman period. It was so arranged as apparently to guard against river-floods, which, from imperfect embankments, were not uncommon,' the entry steps of the porch being at a level above the floor of the vaulted chamber. The details are clearly illustrated by finished engravings in the paper, Archaologia, vol. xxiii. — a book easily to be seen at the City and other libraries. Roman tiles, relics of a time long prior to this, were found worked in the building, among other material, Roman coins and tradesmen's tokens of late dates were found in the rubbish under the schoolroom. The school building was at the south end of Church Yard Alley— the " Smits Alle " of the map. North in our selected site, and opposite the church, was " The Cage." A house called the Cage, with one acre and three roods of land belonging, 22 Richard II., to the office of earl's bailiff in South- wark, was no doubt the town prison, or at least a house of deten- tion. And part of the one acre three roods became ultimately the Flemish burying-ground. " A cage " would imply a temporary or local prison, or a secure standing-place for safe keeping, or even for exposure, of the culprit. In editions of Fox is a picture, iemp. 1 5 5S) of a cage and stocks on London Bridge, within it a sturdy woman, standing and facing the people. Her offence was, she refused to pray for the Pope, for, said she, he is cleane himselfe ^ In the ' Bermondsey Annals,' in Stow and others, is frequent mention of floods, e.g., 120S, Bermondsey overflowed ; 1242, floods drowning houses and fields ; 1555, people travelling by boats from Newington to St. George's. And as we ourselves know something of it, what must it have been when houses were built some ten feet below the present surface, and when we find a landing or jetty from the Thames some feet below even that ? The embankment was, howevei-, carefully watched. An engraving, in possession of the Antiquarian Society, of the time of Edward VI. rudely shows a veiy high river-wall in Southwark, THE CAGE AND GATEEEOUSE, ST. OLAVE'S. 249 and can forgive us, and needeth not my prayers. In 1503, cages and stocks were ordered to be set up in every ward of the City. In 1592, " William Cuckoe " ('KindHartes Dreame ') hears "a counter tenor singing by the Cage in Southwarl<.e." In 1620, the Commission of Sewars, reporting of the Clink, orders a grate of iron between the Cage and the passage there. In 1732 the St. Saviour's vestry resolve that the place fixed upon for building the Cage is inconvenient, and in certain deeds which I was permitted to see at the Brewery in Park Street, " a gate house " near to the Globe Theatre is noted. Cages were everywhere handy. The Cage, however, either merged into, or only supplemented the " Gatehouse," which was, we may fairly presume, the Southwark prison long before the time of Taylor, the water poet. In 1630, a time of more advanced civilization, and therefore requiring, as it seems, more prisons, he tells us that now "Five Jayles or prisons are in Southwarke placed, I The Counter (once St. Margret's church defac'd), | The Marshalsea, the Kings Bench, and White Lyon — | Then ther 's the Clinke, where handsome lodgings be | And much good may it doe them all, for me. | In London and within a mile I weene | There are of Jayles or prisons full eighteene, | And sixty whipping posts and Stocks and Cages | Where sin and shame and sorrow hath due wages." | So that Southwark had its full proportion in 1630. The Gatehouse, or first prison proper of Southwark, was within our selected site. A house, date 1632, with its garden and trees, is shown in an illustration of Mr. Corner's, from Vanden Hoeye -^ and this is probably identical with the remains of the gateway across Carter Lane. The house called the gatehouse in the parish of St. Olave is granted, 50 Edward III., upon payment of one penny at the feast of the nativity of the holy Baptist. It goes, 6th Henry IV., for 9 marks per annum. Alexander Fairford, who repre- sented Southwark in parliament, appears to have been tampering with the deeds — he was charged with forging them, — be this as it may, 12th Edward IV. he released the property containing the Gatehouse to the Bishop of Lincoln. ' Archaologia, vol. xxxviii. p. 46, 250 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. A similar gatehouse, with a similar gate, not of Southwark, is pictured and explained in the Gent. Mag., 1836. This, as I have no further record of the Southwark Gatehouse, will be interesting. The one I refer to is noted by Stow, 1S98, as near Westminster Abbey, and as a prison not only for debtors but for traitors, thieves, and other criminals. Here Colonel Lovelace wrote the song, — " stone walls do not. a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. " Sir Walter Raleigh was here confined. 1S96, Edward Phillipps, preacher of St. Mary Overie's, was here for some ecclesiastical offence — keeping a fast on the wrong day, or something of the sort (Lansdown MS.). Later on it is noted how, at Ludgate, the Gatehouse, and at other prisons, baskets were let down to receive provisions and other relief for the prisoners, with " Pray remem- ber the Poor." In process of time our gatehouse or its belongings became the property of a religious gild or fraternity, the Brotherhood of Jesus of St. Olave's. The Richard Panell and others who took part in the transfer of the land, in 1520, to James Denton, parson of St. Olave's, for a cemetery, were no doubt masters and wardens, or otherwise connected with the brotherhood of Jesus. Upon the suppression of the gilds, this land, probably by the act of Richard Panell and the others, came into the hands of the parish of St. Olave's, and was converted, part into a cemetery, part into a ves- try hall and a school. Entries in the church books, 1552-1554, show the connexion : — It'm — p'd in Jesus Hows for fyer and drynk at a Vestrie, w.]d. It'm — p'd in Jesus Hows at a Vestry and for auditing accounts, \\i]d. Temp. Mary, the wardens and brotherhood of Jesus, no doubt en- couraged by the more promising appearance of affairs for such as they, made an appeal to the churchwardens that they might regain their property and position. The vestry said the rents must remain to the use of the parish, but the brethren might de- clare, between Christmastide and Hallowtide, how much they would give as a fine for rebuilding " the Church Hows," that is, for the Vestry Hall, which was, in fact, rebuilt about this time, and OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 25 1 what yearly rent they would pay for its use at their feasts and quarter days. At length Walnut Tree Alley became Kater, i.e. Carter, Lane. Here for a time was Carter Lane Chapel, built 1789, with the largest Baptist congregation in London.' Two men, Rippon and Gill, were ministers here for nearly lOO years. After the demo- lition, for the new London Bridge approaches, the congregation met in new Park Street Chapel, after that at the Surrey Gardens, and lastly at the Tabernacle. It would more than astonish the old pastors could they be present now at a service at the Tabernacle. GRAMMAR SCHOOLS,— ST. OLAVE'S AND ST. SAVIOUR'S. Looking back from our present knowledge of social health conditions, of the most common-sense kind, I am much struck with the carelessness or ignorance of our early people, as to the most obvious precautions. Shrewd men, selected men, the wisest of their times, governors of a royal hospital,' appear to recognize even the casting of night slops, perhaps out of the windows, into the open courts of the hospital, as a custom which might be allowed under certain conditions. The general feeling of the people and of their teachers, with now and then an exceptional voice (like as that of Erasmus) crying in the wilderness, was that pestilence and death came from moral sin and erroneous opinion, needing chiefly religious humiliation, processions, and the like. They did not recognize plainly that the punishment of disobedience to physical law, and a disregard of the conditions of existence, brought punishment more heavy than did sin, which mostly touches indi- viduals, as the former communities. Here, now, is our grammar school, down Smith's Alley, south of it by Tooley Street. Against ' See an interesting little book upon this subject by Mr. Spurgeon, ' The Metropolitan Tabernacle ; its History and Work.' 1876 (illustrated). ^ Orders, 1647. Refuse of all sorts from the wards is cast out into the yards ; ordered, — " after the casting to be clean swept." " No man shall cast urine or ordure into the streets afore the hour of nine in the night. Also he shall not cast it out, but bring it down and lay it in the channel," &c.— Calthrop's 'Reports,' 1670, pp. 164-5. 252 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. its very wall was the Flemish burial-ground,' north of it, close also, the new parish burial-ground, north of that just over the way the old churchyard, now too full to serve any longer. The St, Saviour's Grammar School bordered the well-filled churchyard of that parish, and in my own day at St. George's the parish school was the boundary in one direction of ground which had received the dead of the parish some eight hundred years at least. It was the custom to distribute at funeral ceremonies rings with mottoes, " Think on Death," skulls, cross-bones, and the like ; this burial-place before his eyes was, perhaps, a. mefnenio mon'ior the school-boy at the beginning of life, the tombstones always looking in upon him at his lessons, and the atmosphere charged with depressing particles. The schools of St. Saviour's, St. George's, and Bermondsey were all within a few yards of these churchyards. ^In 1560, Henry Leeke, of South wark, beer brewer, who lived at the foot of London Bridge, by Pepper Alley, gave by will certain money towards setting on foot and maintaining a free school in St. Olave's parish, or in St. Saviour's. He may be, therefore, considered the founder, or rather the first to propose the foundation of the school. He probably moved the parish in the same direction. So, 13th November the same year, the vestry resolved that the churchwardens and others should seek to know the goodwill and benevolence of the parish, what they would give toward setting up and maintaining a free school. Fair response resulted, gifts in perpetuity among the rest. Another liberal brewer, out of lands at Fastall Place, in St. Olave's, gave 4I. a year, and lOs. for an annual sermon. The vestry now, 22nd July, 1 56 1, orders that the churchwardens should receive Mr. Leeke's gift, and " prepare a schoolmaster to teach the poor men's children to read and write and cast accounts, to prepare and make ready the church hall with benches and seats and all things necessary against Michelmas next." The church hall appears to have been the old Jesus Gild Hall, and the vestry of the parish." It ' See the old school and Flemish gravcj-ard.— Wilkinson's plate, ' Lond. Illust.' * Comer's ' Short Account, ' 1851 ; and Gentleman' s Magazitie, 1836. ' Wilkinson's plate and account. St. olave's grammar school. 253 would appear, allowing- for individual liberality, that the " ancient inhabitants of St. Olave's" were at the chief cost and trouble. In 1567 the vestry resolves to make it a "free" school to be established by authority; an act could not be obtained, so the Queen, by letters patent, iS7i, orders that from thenceforth there shall be a grammar school, to be called "The Free Grammar School' of Queen Elizabeth of the parishioners of the parish of St. Olave, in the county of Surrey." The patent recited that the inhabitants of the parish had, at no little cost, labour, and charge, ordained that children of inhabitants, as well rich as poor, should be instructed in grammar, accidence, and other low books — that sixteen of the most discreet and honest inhabitants should be governors, the first named being Anthony Bushe, clerk, parson of St. Olave's, William Bond, clerk, minister thereof, William Willson,' Charles Pratt, John Lamb, Olave Burr,' Thomas Poure, Thomas BuUman, William Lands, Richard Harrison, Thomas Harper, John Charman, Robert Cowche, Christopher Wood- ward, James Heath, and Thomas Pynden ; these were first chosen in vestry. Here was a body corporate, capable of holding lands and having a common seal,' which the Queen granted without fee. This was very liberal of Her Majesty, as she was usually far * The dissolution of the monasteries suddenly destroyed many schools, — tlie wheat often perished with the tares ; it was said that this would be provided for, and in some instances it was so, but it took time to build up what had been so quickly and ruthlessly pulled down ; the most of the spoil fell into private hands, and that condition was not favourable to schools or public benefits. True, just before much had been done for education : from 1502 to the Reformation, say in about thirty years, some twenty grammar schools had been founded for the youth who had been previously instructed at the monasteries (Warton's ' Life of Sir Thomas Pope,' 1772, p. 137), and, as we see, some were from time to time established after. ' M.P. Southwark, Sth and 14th Elizabeth. « M.P. Southwark, 13th Elizabeth. ' The common seal bears date 1576, and represents the master with the birch before him, the corpus vile in the shape of boys at hand, and the encouraging text, " Qui parcit Virgam odit filium,'' common on the seals of many of these grammar schools. It appears to have been a fundamental maxim of the time that the knowledge should be got in at one end or the other — and if we may credit the ' Fasten Letters,' and the experience of Lady Jane Grey, who is punished " in waies she will not name, " they treated the gentler sex much in the same way. 254 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. more ready with blessing than with money. For several years after, the school was maintained out of the general funds of the parish, but it was considered advisable to vest property sufficient for its support in the governors. In 1579 *e vestry agreed that "Thomas Batte, Willson, Burr, Harper, Rye Denman, and Rye Pynfold should take order with Mr. Goodyer and Mr. Egglefelde, to pass over Horsey -downe to the use of the schole." At the time this was ordered the horsedowne was used by the parishioners for pasture, for digging sand and gravel, and here were the parish butts for archery. Subject to these privileges it was let to one Alderton at 61. per annum. Mr. Corner says, Nov. 1836, it produces 2,000/. per annum, and the whole income reported in 1868, Lord Montagu's return, is 4,813/. 4^. 2d. The Ti??ies, 1877, says s,ooo/. In 26th Charles II. letters patent were granted, confirming the former and making some additions ; such as University exhibitions for deserving scholars, power to hold lands to 500/. a year, &c. The governors had in the early time some 'trouble in law about Horsey- downe.^ Some items of the charges are curious : " To searche in the Courte of Augmentacion for the surveay of the Abbey of Bermondsey, 1 1'. Spent the 19 day of Nov' at breckfaste upon o' lawyer, 1 1'. S*, and business with Mr. Goodyer. Expended in takinge possession of the Downe the 27"' daye of Januarye 1586, upon lOves of bread for boys, 12* ; and for a dynner the same day in Fyshe Streate for certain of the P'ishe." Certain lands of this once troublesome estate in Horslydown were, by indenture, 1656, made to trustees, which so continued until 1783, and since that to the parish. This is known as the Red Rose Estate in Fair Street and Parish Street, and is held at the yearly rent of a red rose.^ These parishes, St. Olave and St. John, are rich in charities ; a list of them has been published in the form of a small book, the best I have seen of its kind : it shows the rental, and gives plans and a ' 1615, Trespass ofWilliam Knight, brewer. 1632, as to title with Anthony Thomas ; a Thomas Gainsford, cousin of the Abdys, afterwards appears. ^ Paid thus, previous to the annual sermon, 17th November in each year,— to the warden a bunch of roses, to each governor a bouquet of dried flowers with a. rose in each. st'olave's grammar school. 25s particular account of the lands and tenements of the Free Grammar School. Some early notices, chiefly from the churchwardens' accounts, as to the schoolmasters, are very interesting-. In 156 1, It. p* to Mr. Tyllar, Scolle Master the is'" daye of february for a quarters wagys dewe to hym at Candylmas last paste, vli. : in iS7i, Itm to the "Scholemaster for ij yers wag-ys xxvjVz'. xiijj. ; Itm for fyndinge his hussher one quar xxxi. ; in 1577, Itm to John Nashe Scholem' for his wag-es xiij/z'. vjj. s\\]d. A scene at the vestry, 4th January,' 1571, with Christofer Ocland, is worth notice. "At this vestry came Christofer Ocland with one lettre from the reverent father in God the Lord Bysshop of Wincester, and an other Lettre from the worshipful Mr. Fletwood Recorder of London, commending in these Lettres unto us the said Cristofer Ocland to be our Scholem', whereunto the hole Vestry gave their consente, and agreed with the sayd Ocland for wages, namely that he should have twentye marks by the yere, and to teache so many gramaryens as we think shall be found meet for the same, viz. x or xij at the fyrste, and also he to helpe the husshers to teache the petytes, seying we muste keep such an hussher as. ys abell to teach wrytinge, who cannot do bothe hymselfe without the Master do helpe to teache the petytes. Further yt was agred that yf Rye' Marlow which ys now Scholemaster will not tary here as hussher and teache wrytinge and helpe to teache the petytes, then the sayd Ocland to have the hole wages, and to fynd his hussher him selfe and to teache gramer, wrytinge, and petytes, accord to the erection of our sayd Schole ; also yt was agred, for that twentie marks was not sufficiente lyving for the sayd Ocland, that therefore he should have leve to take vj or viij Schoilers for his owne preferment ; also he was wylled by us to repayre to Mr. Doctor Rushe, our parson for the obteyning his good wyll herein. And so he did, and came to us agayn the xj day of Januarye, and brought the parson's Lettres, he givinge also his consent to oure doyngs ; but the said Christofer Ocland, for that he coulde not enter presentlye, by and bye he sayd that was not for hys purpose, or wolde not serve his turne, whereunto he was answered by them beyng presente, that yf he would not tarye untyl our Lady Daye he should enter at the halfe quarter which was not full xiij dayes to 2^6 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. come. He refused our offer and went his way, beinge angrie, and set the matter lighte. Ther being present Wm. Bond, Tho. Batts, Mr. Willson, Olyfe Burr, Thos. Bullman, Thomas Harp, John Chapman, Thomas Pynden, and other more.'" This is all the notice of Christofer Ocland.* According to another minute John Payne was elected schoolmaster of St. Olave's School, 27th January, 1571. He was told that if he lacked abylyty in lernlnge or honestie in his lyfe or conversation, he should not loke to 'contynew, by which I judge that these gentlemen were perhaps short or rude to Ocland, so that he " became angrie and went his way." From 1589 to 1592, Robert Browne, domestic chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk, a reformer, religious leader, and founder of the Brownists,' was master at St. Olave's School. Fuller, whose statements are, however, often intemperate and partial, says, in his epigrammatic way, that Browne had a wife with whom he never lived, and a church wherein he never preached. Some said he beat his wife ; he, answering the charge, says, " I do not beat her as Mrs. Browne, but a curst cross old woman." This was, of course, after he left St. Olave's. He closed his life in a prison, not for his opinions, but for his brutality to a constable ; and his boast was, that during his warfare with the religious authorities of the Church of England, and of Rome, he had been in at least thirty-two prisons. At the school he could not have been a very pleasant man to deal with, and one may even vent a little pity upon the scholars from 1589 to 1592. The school continued in Churchyard Alley, where it began, until the railways and the new London Bridge drove it from place to place,' and paid well ' Ellis's 'Letters of Eminent Literaiy Men. ' — Camden Society. The spelling varies in a point or two from the original, but only in quite unimportant particu- lars, so I have not altered the Ellis Letters. ' Ocland, a remarkable writer ; some of his books " to be read in all schools, in place of the heathen poets," 1582. * Brownists, fanatical opponents of the then legal ministry ; they were classed among Puritans. — Hallam. « For pictures of the successive schools, see Wilkinson ; Gentkinan's Magazine, 1836, article by Mr. Corner ; and the Builder, March 1st, 1856, &c. The first Report of Commissioners on the Education of the Poor and the Appendix, 1819, may be consulted. ELIZABETHAN GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 257 each time for so doing. It is said, and really appears to be one of the best conducted schools in the kingdom ; and instead of the few boys and petytcs first admitted, has now nearly 600, soon to be increased to at least 700, children. We may hope that the education of girls will be allowed fair play in this magnificent institution. It will be convenient here to leave our chosen plot of ground in St. Olave's, and step across the High Street to the then grammar school of the next parish, St. Saviour's, which is also one of Queen Elizabeth's chartered schools, and is also opposite a graveyard. It is not so fortunate nor so rich as that of St. Olave's, and it is in some respects a somewhat subordinate affair — now, in 1878, very much so, I am afraid. I cannot help thinking that the corrupt management of the parish affairs, as at last developed during a sort of parish revolution in 1730, had something to do with this. At this time, "books were lost," "it was difficult to fix anything," "conduct inscrutable," "entertainments were frequent and splendid." Such are the phrases I saw in the vestry minutes of the time; and the supposed wrong-doers, after a hard fight, gave way before the Ecclesiastical Court, and proceedings were only in this way stayed. In June, 1562, Queen Elizabeth signed the charter for "the free grammar school of the parishioners of the parish of St. Saviour in Southwark," — ^the name she sanctioned. The first names in the charter must here be given ; — honour to whom honour is due, — they are William Emerson, John Sayer, Richard Ryall, Thomas Cure, John Oliff, Thomas Pulter, Thomas Biff, William Browker, Christopher Campbell, and William Gifferon ; of these, Thomas Cure, the Queen's sadler, appears as the chief mover. These had " lately " designed and erected a grammar school in which the children of the poor and rich might learn grammar. The vestry books throw light upon this. 13th August, I5S9, it is ordered that a new school -house be built upon the spot where the old church-house stood, in the parish of St. Margaret, and that the old chapel behind the chancel shall be let for the benefit of the school. This was not done, but the school had apparendy begun, and a house was taken or rented. In 1562— a few days before the grant of the charter— it is ordered that "42/. be paid to Matthew Smith, for the purchase of the 258 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. school-house." Matthew Smith seems to have thought that he did not get enough out of this transaction ; he " repents his bargain, and will give 61. i2,s. ^d. to be relieved of it"; to use a modern and very expressive phrase, he is trying it on. The vestry did not respond as he expected, but agrees to take his forfeit money. In November it is noted that Matthew Smith does not pay the 61. 13J. ^d., and so the bargain stands. Now, in 1562, rules and regulations are made, which in words at least appear to be wise, and they have the sanction of the Bishops of Winchester, Robert Home and Thomas Bilson. These quaint rules are very instructive and interesting as to the past ; that is, of the times of 1562 and of 1614. I shall, therefore, quote them freely. The scholars are to be of the parish, but others are to be admitted, in all, to the number of 100 ; they are to be of that age and towardness as to read English well, to write a legible hand, and to be fit to be entered in accidence or grammar, or in Latin, at the least ; the boy's friends must engage to provide for him all things fit for his learning — a little Bible or Psalm-book, other books, paper, pens, ink, satchel, candles in winter, whole- some and handsome clothing beseeming his estate, and to take care of his body ; they are to let the master know if he cannot come, that the school and masters may not be blamed for the parents' fault ; and lest it should cause the undoing of the child, the parents are reminded that the care of him at dinner-time/ supper-time, &c., rests with them; that he must not frequent naughty company, which may infect his conversation and hurt his body or health; if they neglect this, he will lose the master's virtuous directions, and will learn to take no care, nor make conscience of any nurture. They are to manage with great discretion and severity at home, which will make him love his school. The next may be written in letters of gold, " For the master may do much, but good and discreet government at home makes all sure, and doth the greatest good." The child shall not bring money nor buy and sell at school. Two-and-sixpence is to be paid to the master on entrance, and twopence every quarter tmvards broovis and rods; to the usher fourpence a quarter ; and the week after Michael- mas one pound of good candles, for the winter studies. All this agreed to and done, John Thompson, the selected name, signs this state- ST. saviour's grammar school. 2S9 ment : '• I, J. T., son (first, second, or third, as the case may be) of Richard Thompson, Chandler, of the age of seivii years and three months, reading and learning in the Accidence' and entering into Propria qua Maribus, &.C., and also Tully his second epistle, among- those gathered by Sternius, and Corderius' Dialogues," &c., was admitted, &ic? In i6n. From the ist March to ist September, the child is to come at 6 in the morning, and be at school until 1 1 . Again at i, and tarry till 6; the rest of the year he is to begin in the morning at 7, and leave at 5 in the afternoon. The Maister shall not give leave to play but once a week. He shall be a Master of Arts, sound in the Christian religion according to the law of the land, and sound in body and mind, in conversation gentle, sober, honest, virtuous, and discreet, skilled in the Latin, and able to teach grammar, oratory, poetry, and Greek, as also the principles of Hebrew ; he shall have a good facility and dexterity in teaching and profiting children, (here comes a saving clause) "if such may be gotten," — he is to be of a wise, sociable, and loving disposition, not hasty or furious, nor of ill example ; he shall be wise and of good experience, to discern the nature of every several child, (here again) " if such may be got." The Maister being now appointed, he is to have 20I. a year, payable quarterly,'' and the usher or sub-master 10/., which sums repre- * ' The want of a simpler and more i^ractical education for tlie scliolars likely to be admitted here came out in due time, and was in some measure supplied by Mrs. Dorothy Appleby, in 1681, for the teaching children reading, writing, and cyphering, and by Mrs. Newcomen, whose bequest of 1674 came into possession about 1749, for instruction in the Chriatian religion, in reading, writing, arithmetic, and such other instruction as might be deemed needful by the Wardens. Lord Montagu's return, 1868, gives the amount spent in education for St. Saviour's as 1,621/. t)s. %d., and the School Board return, 1876, at exactly the same amount, which is not likely to be accurate, or anything like it. It is some- thing rather wonderful that out of this amount devoted to education in St. Saviour's parish, Jlrs. Newcomen's original gift of 142/. is. 6d., for various purposes, should now realize much more than 1,000/. ; indeed, I think 2,000/. a year for education alone. It was a long time coming, but when it did come it was a nest-egg, * If this is a fair sample, we have certainly degenerated ; our children cannot now usually do Cerderius his dialogues in Latin at seven years and three months. ' 1565. Mr. Harman, the Minister, is to have 20/. a year for his wages, and not the christenings, and may leave with a fortnight's warning. — Vestry Minutes. S 3 26o OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. sent now a much larger amount.^ It is added, forasmuch as the school is but lately erected and founded, and the revenues insuffi- cient, until " God shall in time to come further bless our doings in this behalf," the high master may take into the school forty foreign scholars (that is, not of the parish) for his own advantage. In 1614 other men are governors, among them Bingham, Tre- hearne, Philip Henslowe of the Bankside theatres, and other noted parishioners ; they revise or add to the rules, as, for instance, that the master is not to let out the schoolhouse; he is not to frequent ill houses, nor practise physic, nor do anything else to hinder his diligence. The boys are to have a week's holiday from the day before the Lady Fair in Southwark ; a doubtful advantage, if the holiday is, as it appears, during the fair time. The plaies of the boys are to be shooting with long bows, chesse, running, wrastling, leaping — players for money or betters are to be punished and expulsed. The scholars of the highest forms are to be taken once a year to Merchant Taylors and Westminster Schools upon election days, to see the manner and fashion of the orations and exercises. March 2nd in each year the accounts shall be read at the vestry, and, if God increase the stock, a house in the country shall be provided for the scholars in time of infection, and if God further blesses the store, then shall be some scholarships and fellowships at the universities — a scholarship shall not be less than two shillings a week, nor a fellowship less than three shillings. I read also that gowns were to be given to the scholars of St. Saviour's Grammar School, from a gift of Robert Nowell of Gray's Inn, in 1569.^ Another item from an independent source' — "At this courte William Browker citizen and merchantaylor of London and one of the govners of the free school of St. Mary Overyes and hamerton one of the churchewardeyns there Dyd pay unto M' Osborne for the interest of a lease of certyn tent' in Cheker Alley the some of iiij/z." This had to do with the school. ' Seventy years before beef and pork were a halfpenny the pound ; now, 1600, a harvest man's wages are sixpence per day ; beef is eighteenpence the stone, butter threepence the pound, a lamb five shillings, and so on. ' Hist. MS. Commission, App. 4th Report, p. 407, but I am not aware that t took effect. ' MS, Thomas's Hospital, 1572. ST. saviour's grammar school. 261 In May, 1676, there was, as related elsewhere, a g-reat fire in Southwark, which beg-an at an oil-shop between the George and Talbot, and steadily crept up towards St. Thomas's Hospital on one side, and towards St. Saviour's church on the other, destroying all in its way. The grammar school was, among the rest, burnt, or blown up with gunpowder to stay the fire, i.e. a cure upon principles we now call homoeopathic — fire to put out fire. The school was soon rebuilt, south of the churchyard, in comely and substantial style. Pictures of the school are common enough, the whole frontage facing the tombstones of the parish churchyard. Over the back door in Foul Lane was an old stone preserved from the fire, with this inscription, " Libera Schola Grammaticalis Paroch- ianorum Parochise Sancti Salvatoris in Southwarke in Com- Surriae, Anno Quarto Reginee Elizabethse." At length the old school, situated on the south side of the parish church, fell into decay, and it became necessary, for market^ as well as school purposes, to build elsewhere ; the materials were therefore sold by auction, and a private Act was obtained, 1st & 2nd Victoria, 1837-8. The first stone of the new schools in Sumner Street was laid the 9th May, 1839, in the presence of the governors, masters, and scholars, the expense of the structure being defrayed from the funds of the school.^ A note in the Times^ from the master disclaims an exhibition for Oxford, which one of the scholars was said to have obtained. Such a benefit was, however, contemplated. In the words of the rules of 16 14, " if God further blesses the store there shall be some scholarships and fellowships at the Universities." Let us hope that such exhibitions are yet possible. The names ot people of position and riches, and of more or less mark in the land, are to be seen over the great warehouses so thickly occupying the neighbourhood of this school. •• The Southwark or Borough Market has steadily grown, and has absorbed the lands and premises near at hand, the site of the Freeschool among the rest. 5 I obtain these particulars chiefly from the books and records of the school, for which I am greatly indebted to the kindness of a friend, whose authority is of the highest. « 14th Dec, 1877. 262 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. THE FLEMISH BURIAL-GROUND. Returning from the short journey to the grammar school, across the way in the neighbouring parish (St. Saviour's), and once more near the little plot of ground beneath the rail, let me notice before I quit the subject the Flemish Burial Ground, which occupies one part of that small acreage about Smit's Alley, im- mediately adjoining the old Grammar School, and south of it. Looking down through this tall brickwork of the railways to the little graveyard beneath, what a lesson comes out of it, and what a wonderfully suggestive story might be woven out of the facts ! Here is a little patch of ground in a strange land set apart to hold the remains of skilful workers, driven from their own homes because they could not shape their belief and opinion in accord with the bidding of others, as if that were possible, even if it were desirable.' These poor refugees, Flemish or other, had a bad time of it, at home or abroad, but the ultimate benefit was to the country to which they came, and the loss, to that they left. In 1566 the King of Spain complained that the people of the Low Countries were harboured in England, — our little parish of St. Olave's was in the highway of trade, by the river side, and here and about Southwark and elsewhere numbers of them settled. So many, that a special burial-ground became necessary, and this burial-ground was named after the refugees, the Flemish Burial- ground.' The Flemings arrived very early in England ; the ' The cruelty is less than the absurdity ; a man cannot will his opinion one way or another, or have it willed for him. The plea that it is to warn sinners and to save souls will not hold. These persecutors cannot affinn that heaven is to be peopled with hypocrites, and yet they must own that the weak and the fearful conform, or rather, only appear to conform ; and the folk who resist and suffer are almost the only honest ones in the transaction. Fear may, of course, operate to prevent evil action, but cannot alter honest belief. Instead of remaining at home to be burnt, butchered, or "converted," flocks of persecuted people came to England. Those who fled from the Spaniards in the Netherlands, and from France at the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and at the lime of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, have helped, in no small degroo, to make us a great nation. The Pope, pursuing even into the sanctuary here, charged the Queen (Elizabeth) against the poor strangers, that "they were the worst of people." * Other alien burial-grounds besides this in Southwark are noted ; for instance, at St. Catherine's, a token shows, one side n goal, reverse, "Mcmish Church FLEMISH REFUGEES. 263 Conqueror brought weavers with him, and planted them about in Norwich and elsewhere. Now they came not from motives of trade, but on account of religious persecution. The wool trade was of immense importance, and down to our times South- warlc stands as a staple or market for wool, the growth of very early time. It cannot be doubted that the Flemings came over here sometimes in great numbers from motives of trade only.^ So many were they in Southwark in 1371, that a great feature of Wat Tyler's outbreak was the test of the words bread and cheese, which who could not pronounce in the English manner was deemed a Fleming, and was summarily disposed of ; and the froes of Flanders, who pursued their equivocal calling at the stews, were alike dealt with. In 1470 the Kentishmen pursue, rob, and drive them out from Southwark and other suburbs.^ There was great agitation as to the presence of strangers, notably in Southwark at most times — " they forestall the market and so Englishmen want and starve,"^ was the cry. In 15 17 came the evil May Day, when there was a general massacre of strangers, and some seventeen offenders were hanged on gibbets in the streets of London, the Lady of the "Maner" in Southwark,' and other ladies, praying pardon on their knees for the rest of the offenders. Authority Yard " ; another, of the Labour in Vain, woman scrubbing a negro, reverse, "Flemish Church Yard." — Beaufoy Collection. ' In London, 1362, 36 Edw. III., regulations are made for the trade of aHen weavers, which John le Grutteret and Peter Vanthebrok, Flemings, and John Elias, a Brabanter, are to oversee. A model trade dispute occurs, and the way to settle it is shown. Workmen seiTing an alien master would, on any dispute, go to all the other workmen and poison their minds, so that no one should serve that master until the dispute was settled. Ordered henceforth that the wardens of the trade shall settle such matters, and arrest the workman if necessary. — Riley, ' Jlemorials London,' p. 307. 1370. The weavers are plenty enough to form a commonalty, to have their ordinances, and to petition the Mayor and Aldermen. Tliey state that they held their meetings in the churchyard of St. Laurence Pountney, and hired their servants there, and that other foreign weavers meet in another churchyard for the same purpose. ' Stow's ' Annals. ' 2 Hall's 'Chronicles.' ' Her palace, "the maner place,'' was here, but later than this date. The King dined here with the Duke of Suffolk in 1519, at the manor place of the map. 264 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. itself now and then pursues the unhappy foreigners. iSi9* A sudden and secret raid is made in Southwark at midnight ; some were taken in the liberty of the Archbishop of Canterbury, some in Blewe Made Alley, in Kentish Street, in the parish of St. Woloff (Olave), most of them French and German. To give a notion of what it was that drove out these people. — It can scarcely be believed that any other than barbarians pure and simple could, under any plea, least of all under the plea of Him who came to bring goodwill among men, so vitiate and disgrace our common natures. In 1549, at the inauguration of Henry II., the burning of religious people in the streets of Paris was made part of the solemnity. When the Duke of Alva came into the Netherlands 100,000 people fled with their money and goods. I need not, in this little episode of the burial-ground in Tooley Street, tell the atrocious tale why these people fled, and what they had to fear ; I recommend the life of Alva for daily reading, to those who do not as yet understand religious toleration. The question may be put whether the age noted by Darwin is so far back after all, when our progenitors were beasts, or more correctly whether a few survivors of that age may not now and then be traced among men.' ' 'Rolls Cal. (Dom.).' * Touching these passages, my kindly Cambridge Critic writes me thus : — "I solemnly charge you, if you are indeed an enemy of persecution, to gibbet a Pro- testant persecutor next time as a more guilty person than a Roman Catholic persecutor, because the Protestants knew what persecution was like, and did not persecute for opinions which had for ages been regarded as essential to salvation." Alas ! it is too easy to do as my friend bids me. The spirit or habit of persecu- tion is not confined to one form of Christian creed ; all seem to have misread the gracious message— some more, some less. But I gibbet no one ; the crael crime it is which is so hateful. The people who actually did these deeds were often but the tools — either of a church, of a government, of a clique, or from a perverted private sense of duty, the power of fascination drawing to cruelty for pui-poses of apparent good. Dr. Willis, in his now published life of Calvin, seems to show upon sufficient testimony that this foremost Protestant leader could import, even into a charge of mere heresy, his own private hate and desire of vengeance- could use humbler persons as agents to bring his victim into the toils— could continuously contrive this wickedness— could insist on the cruelty to the bitter end of burning alive a philosopher who did not hold the opinions he held, when others, judges too, were inclined to pity. Thus did Calvin to Scrvclus, a man REFUGEES FLYING FROM PERSECUTION. 265 The trading people known as Walloons fled mostly hither, so that England became at this period the " Asylum Christi " — the Sanctuary of Christ. On the sacking of Antwerp, in 1585, one- third of the workmen in silks, damasks, taffeties, baizes, sayes, serges, stockings, and the like, settled in England, until then ignorant almost of such manufactures. About this time of Henry VIII. the French came, and taught us " how to make hats and take them off." Some of these trades entered Southwark and flourished, and hats and wool and better brewing have come down to this day among us. I say brewing, as some great alien brewers settled here about the time. I do not forget the celebrity of Southwark ales in Chaucer's time.' Very many of the people of the Low Countries settled here in 1566. In 1569 one of the best and kindliest of women, who knew Southwark, and visited its prisons, Katherine Brandon, pleads for a poor Dutchman, type of so many, who wished to fetch hither his wife and goods, and she writes earnestly to Cecil as to the misery of those abroad, suffering for conscience' sake. About these times frequent returns are made of strangers resident, their numbers, trades, and churches ; I have notes of 1571, 1581, 1586, and 1618. In 1571' the return is of the names and callings of strangers in the Bridge Ward without, i.e., Southwark, — 946 are noted ; 845 of them Dutch and 84 French ; the account they give of themselves is — some came to work, some to see the country, but mostly they came for freedom of religious worship. And so of the others. Men of note, men of good word and deed, living among us about these times, show by their names whence they came. The brewer, Henry Leeke, first mover for a St. Olave's Grammar School, whose funeral sermon was preached at St. Olave's by Miles Coverdale ; Webling,' formerly Leeke's whose name stands out brightly in the retrospect as a landmark of knowledge far in advance of his age. If this be true, Calvin stands, so far as motive goes, on a far blacker eminence than does Alva, ^ Notwithstanding, it does appear that the refugee brewers brought over a much improved knowledge of their business. ' ' Rolls Papers (Dom.),' 1547-80, vol. 82. " One ot the large contributors to the city loan of 4,900/, by "strangers refugees." 266 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. clerk, and afterwards a great brewer; the Goodyeres, whose names appear in connexion with the church of St. Olave's, and whose important house is in Bermondsey,— another house evidently belonging to some countryman of his in Long Lane is also a house of some mark (Map, 62). In 1563 there are "cruel dissentions in Flanders; many are fleeing hither, so that empty houses get filled to the glory of the English nation and the advantage of Landlords and Lease- mongers." Names of French and Flemish people appear in the weekly records of St. Thomas's Hospital as tenants — John Preter, in frenche Alle,'' a frencheman ; a lease is granted to Jan Vander- poost, Sylkeweaver, and Henryck Beakemans; and there are others. In 1595 the poor tradesmen made a riot upon these strangers in Southwark, taking the bread out of their mouths, as they thought; but wise statesmen saw how it advantaged the country, and stood between them and the anger of this ignorant people. One owns that " their chiefest cause of entertainment here was first in charity, to shroud them from persecution in religion, and beinge here, theire necessity became the mother of their ingenuitie in deviseing many trades, before to us unknowne." At this time, 1618, they are in Horsehead allye; there is in the Close a dier with many servants ;'■ others are found in May Pole Alley, in the Mint, Blackman Street, Long Lane, Skinner's Alley, Church Yard Alley, Walnut Tree Court, Smythe's Alley, Tenter Alley and the Mays ; some dwell in Rochester House, in Maide Lane, in Rose Alley, and in other places here in South- wark. Among this list of 1616 are brewers, merchants, dyers, workers in silk, in gems, and jewellery. Out of a list of 1343 alien persons in London, 148 are Tailors. Evelyn, no mean judge, says of some of them, " they make beautiful glass at Green- wich, equal to Venice." ' So we see there was an alle in Southwark for good Frenchmen flying in scarcli of kindness and Cliristianity. ' Quite a nest of dyers here, along Clink Street and by Deadm.m's Place, some even to my own time. N.E. — Authorities chiefly consulted are Burn's ' Histoiy of French, Walloon, Dutch and other Foreign Protestant Refugees,' 1846 ; 'List of Foreign Protestants and Aliens Resident in England,' 161S-16SS, W. D. Cooper, Camden Society; Corner; Rolls MSS., &c.' THE RIVER SIDE, ST. OLAVE'S. 267 GOODCHEPE'S KEY Stood by the house of the Abbot of St. Augustine, and the Bridge House. In our map is a plot of ground east of St. Olave's Church. Stow, in a few words, tells us all about it. He says, east from the church of St. Olave is a key. In the year 1330, by the license of Simon Swanland, Mayor of London, it was built by Isabel, widow of Hammond Goodchepe. Next to this was the great house of stone and timber, belonging to the Abbot of St. Augustine, of Canterbury. It was an ancient piece of work, and seemed to be one of the first houses built on that side of the river over against the City ; it was called the Abbot's Inn of St. Augustine in Southwarke, and was sometime holden of the Earls of Warren and Surrey. This appears by these words of the deed of 128 1 : "To all whom this present writing shall come, John Earl of Warren sendeth greeting. Know ye, that we have altogether remised and quit claimed for us and our heres for ever to Nicholas, abbot of St. Augustine's of Canter- burie, and the convent of the same, and their successors, such to our court of Southwarke ; which they owe unto us, for all that messuage, and houses thereon built between the Bridge House and the Church of St. Olave. The same we have granted in perpetual alms, saving service due, the said Abbot and Convent giving to us five shillings of rent yearly in Southwarke " ; and so on. This house of late belonged to Sir Anthony Sentlegar, then to Warham Sentlegar, &c., and is now called Sentlegar house, but divided into sundry tenements.^ In 1566, 8 Elizabeth, Richard Grenville, Esq., sold it to George B'letcher, by the description of a Capital Messuage or Mansion house, called St. Austin's, alias St. Leger's House, between the Bridge House, a Wood Wharf, the tenement called the Draper's rent, the river Thames on the north, and a lane leading to the same and the Bridge House. There is now (18 14) a wharf on the site, which retains the name of St. Leger, corrupted into Sellinger.' Adjoining the last named space, east of the church, is a place = Stow. ^ Manning and liray, vol. iii. p. 59S. 268 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. noted on the map (26) as the Brust house, probably the Bridge House, one time or another a brewery, a granary, or a store house. Stow is again our best authority. The Bridge House was so called as being a place for stone, timber, or whatever pertained to the building or repairing of London Bridge, and appears to have been coeval with the bridge as a handy storehouse. Here were also a large plot of ground on the bank of the Thames, and divers large buildings for stowage of materials necessary for the works of London Bridge. An inventory of the goods stored here for these purposes in 1350, 24 Edw. IIL, is given in Riley's ' Memorials.' Here also were garners for laying up wheat to be harboured in time of plenty against a time of need ; and there were ovens, in all ten, six large and four "half so big." These were purposely made to bake the bread corn to the best advantage of poor citizens. Sir John Throstone, sheriff, 15 16, gave 200/. toward making the ovens. Sir John Munday being mayor, an old brewhouse called Golding's was taken in for the enlarging the old Bridge house. It was given to the city by George Monex, Lord Mayor in 15 14, and member for the city. Now, in place thereof, says Stow, a fair brewhouse is built for service of the city with beer. The bakers, in 1521, are not well pleased with the corn store at the Bridge House; they appeal to Cardinal Wolsey, and say that several of their body had been sent to Newgate and to the Counter, because they would not use the musty wheat stored at the Bridge House.'' They complain that two crafty Bridgemasters and a covetous Alderman buy and sell to their disadvantage. The City people had enacted that bakers should take out of the Bridge House the wheat provided, at prices fixed by the corpo- ration. Mr. Bridges, the Mayor, answers the charge, and says the wheat at the Bridge House garners is sweet, and the bakers must comply or they shall be fined 10/., and be punished at the discretion of the Mayor and Aldermen. Again in 1526, the bakers complain — they had always made and sold bread in accordance with the Act of Parliament and City customs ; since the time of Edward II. they had taken up wheat coming to London at prices settled by the Mayor; but lately it had been garnered at the * ' Jlaiining and Bray,' vol. iii., p. 261. THE BRIDGE HOUSE A STORE FOR CORN. 269 Bridge House, and bakers were allowed to buy no other." The same complaints continue ; the bakers were not wholly wrong. In 1578-9," the wardens of the white bakers certify to Burleigh that 800 quarters of wheat were in the Bridge House, unwhole- some and not fit for use ; the wardens of the brown bakers report to the like eflfect, and they had so reported in 1575. The bakers of Southwark, as of the City, had, often enough, a hard time of it ; the pillory and the hurdle were the ready means for lynching a baker guilty of short weight or bad quality. The pillory — we know what that means ; the hurdle was to draw him in public sight through the principal streets, usually with his nefarious loaf, that there might be no mistake. It seems, therefore, rather hard upon them to insist that they should buy doubtful stuff out of the Bridge House, and yet compel them to sell good bread. They had told John Brigges, the Mayor, that last year they had taken out 2,000 quarters of musty, unwholesome wheat at 13^. ^d. the quarter. It was not fair to compel them to buy " musty " at 12^., when " sweet " could be had at ys. and 8s. The " commons " said this bad wheat caused infection and sickness. No doubt the " com- mons " were right as to this, and as to other unwholesome food. I may note that at this time it was a common custom to hawk bread through the City and suburbs, by men and horses. The storage of corn was, however, often a prudential matter. In 1 594 there was a remarkable dearth ; accordingly Sir John Spencer, the Lord Mayor, ordered that the City Companies should lay up wheat and rye in the public granaries at the Bridge House. Such stores in time of dearth excited the cupidity of the governing powers ; the treasurer of the navy demanded of the Mayor the Bridge House stores, and the use of the ovens there. The Mayor seems to have remonstrated and with complete success, stating that the ovens were wanted to bake bread at reduced rates for the poor of London, and that the treasurer must hold him excused.' In 1802 some old granaries in Tooley Street, ^ ' Letters and Papers, Henry VII. ' Brewer, vol. iii. part 2 ; vol. iv. part 2. = 'Cal. State Papers (Dom.),' Aug., 1579. ' Thomson's ' London Bridge, ' citing Stow's 'Annals. ' 270 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. which belonged to the City, were taken down, " They were built in 1587 with chestnut, a wood then commonly used for the purpose, and at the charge of the Bridge House, for the storage of corn when cheap, as a provision against dearness and scarcity.'" Among the Harleian MSS., 6016, is an order by the Wardens of the Bridge, that as the Sheuteman hath often occasion to rise in the night to come to his boats, on the business of the Bridge House, to see the tides as they fall early or late, so that the porter must open the gate to him at undue times of the night, not only to his great pain and danger, but to the peril of the house, as lewd persons might enter, and perhaps rob and kill, — so the Wardens order a lodging to be made at the end of the crane-house, within the Bridge Yard, sufficient for two or three persons, and with a chimney, that the men, when they come at undue times of the night wet from their labours, may make a fire of the chips in the yard ; but there must be no dwelling nor hospitality.' Here were stairs for public landing from the boats. In the older maps wharfs were the exception ; but there were stairs at every few score yards or less for boats and passengers, and some open wharfs for the woodmongers. There were also about this very spot fish-ponds and pleasure-walks, and fowling and swans between London Bridge and the Mills of the Abbot of Battle (Mill Lane and Battle Bridge). At the Bridge House Stairs, in 1559, a very strange scene occurred — strange it would be to us, at all events. A very noted rover, in other words, a pirate or sea-robber, with some fourscore of his people, were landed here.^ This landing of sea-robbers was common enough at the Southwark riverside stairs, the Admiralty Court, for trying offences on the seas, being from very early times in the Borough. So these rovers were landed at the Bridge House Stairs, committed to the Marshalsea Prison, arraigned at the Admiralty Court at the Town-hall, and con- demned. Until 1789 offenders to be tried at the Admiralty Court were usually committed to this prison. The punishment inflicted upon such people was often after this manner ; the criminal was ° Manning and Bray, vol. iii. p. 597. » Ibid. ' Sec also ii. 120, PETTY BURGUNDY. 27 1 bound to a pillar which, in one instance, of temp. Edw. I., stood by the Thames at a "wode-wharf" where people moored their vessels; the pillar was at low-water mark, and the criminal remained bound to it during- two floods and two ebbs of the water ; and this was one variety of punishment intended for these rovers. BERGHENE (PETTY BURGUNDY). The Berghene (Map, 30) is known later on as Petty Burgundy, and is the subject of one of Mr. Corner's pleasant and trustworthy contributions to Notes and Queries? It represents approximately, for it is impossible now to define the exact boundaries, some considerable space, east and west, between Tooley Street and Battle Bridg-e, otherwise Mill Lane ; and north and south the ground now occupied by all but the riverside parts of Cotton's, the Depot, and Hey's Wharfs, together with part of Tooley Street and much ground which the railway now covers. Tooley Street, with or without the Berghene, was known as Short Southwark. Branching off from this space, before the gigantic railways smothered all, were Joiner Street, Glen Alley, Dean Street,'* &c. At the south-east angle was the gate to the Maze,"* and the gardens of the Abbot, who lived opposite ; the gardens extended as far as (now) Snow Fields. The Berghend may have been a liberty itself, as in its centre (Map, 31) is, as I think, some appa- ratus of punishment, a pillory and cage ; I can make nothing else - of the rude sketch within the Berghend. Mr. Corner tells us that " Here, when the Greenwich Railway was built, were discovered some extensive brick vaults, of handsome construction and ancient date, the substructure of some important mansion. It may be that the Duke of Burgundy or his ambassador had his residence here in the reign of Edward IV., as, on or about this spot, was a place known by the name of the Burgundy, or Petty Burgundy." This site is covered by a part of the railway-station. The prefix, petty, was common enough; Petty France,^ so called from Frenchmen ° Second Series, v. ii. p. 86. ^ In this street Keats lived when he was a medical student at " Guy's." * "Within the Mayes gate in short Southwarke, nigh Battle Bridge," 1607. * A French Alley, in Southwark, in 1570, is mentioned as the property of St. Thomas's Hospital.— MS. 272 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. living there, in Bishopsgate ; Petty Wales, in Thames Street, and the like. It might be that the name was derived, as Mr. Corner says, from alien inhabitants, so many of whom and of very various nationalities lived in St. Olave's parish. Or, again, the name might have come from Burgh-kenning" (Barbican), an old watch- tower, for which, in the early troublous times, this spot would seem to have been very suitable. I have no desire to strain a similarity in the sound of words ; but as St. Olaf here became St. Tooley, and as writers were very phonetic and free in spelling their words, I think this origin very probable. Within my own recollection a large signal, or semaphore, was here situated, the arms of which I have often seen worked as with news from sea. In the accounts of the churchwardens of St. Olave's, 1582, are recorded "the names of Godley disposed parishyoners, who of their owne free will were contrybutors to the erecting of the new churchyarde upon Horseydowne (now called the old Churchyarde)." Some of these good people lived in "the Borgyney." A grant also, 36 Henry VIII., to Robert Curson, of divers tenements, late belonging to the priory of St. Mary Overey, refers to "Petty Burgen " in the parish of St. Olave in the Borough of Southwark. It notes two tenements, in tenure of Lambert Deane for a term of years at the rent of lxvj° viij* ; a tenement in the tenure of William Throw at will of the Lord, rent xxvj° viij''; a tenement in the tenure of Thomas Proland at will of the Lord, rent xxvj' viij^; tenements in tenure of Dominick Herman, Robert Bull and John Harvard in like manner. " The premises were very ruynous and sore in decay and were sold to Robert Curson for 100 marks." This transaction is of the actual time of our map, and refers, no doubt, to property alienated to the King at the dissolution. Robert Curson is an extensive buyer or recipient of forfeited property, and was intimately known to Cromwell, the chief agent in the destruction of the monasteries. THE INN AND GARDENS OF THE ABBOT OF BATTLE, THE MAZE, AND BATTLEBRIDGE. Imbued with a sort of pious gratitude, William the Norman after his last fight with the English at Battle, in Sussex, erected " A burgh-kenin, or watcli-tovver of the burgh or borough. — Stow, THE ABBOT OF BATTLES INN AND GARDENS. 2/3 an abbey there ; the last stand of the defeated being made, it is supposed, where the high altar afterwards was. So distinguished a foundation must needs have its town house worthy of the abbot. On our map is the Brust House, or Bridge House, and further east the bridge (Map, 32) called of the Inn, Battle bridge ; between these two was this Abbot of Battle's Inn. The ecclesiastic has given place to the wharfinger, to gigantic places of business ; and Hay's Wharf, with proximate exactness, now occupies the site. The general notion handed down to us is that these dignitaries did not disdain to make themselves in a worldly sense comfortable ; the abbot had his walks and gardens, his maze, and fishponds. On the opposite side of the way, across short Southwark, over against the gateway of the Abbot's Inn, was the Mays, Maes, or Maze. Close at hand in 1598 was an inn, that is, an inn proper, known as the Flower de Luce, and many buildings of small tenements, which were now replenished with strangers and others, for the most part poor people.' But before this irruption of poor people, consequent on the surrender of the Abbot's gardens, they, that is the gardens, were for the pleasure of the Abbot ; accordingly the bridge. Battle bridge, was built and kept repaired by him, and so the way to the maze and gardens, as well as the way to Rotherhithe, were made easy and comfortable. One would like, in the mind's eye, to spend a day in the gardens and in threading the maze with the Abbot's people. The Abbot's rights and duties in Southwark were defined so early as 1243.* In the Valor. Eccles. Hen. VIII., " the Abbot of Battle has tenements, near Battlebridge worth per annum 28/. 6s. 8d., a watermill, worth by the year 3/. 6s. Sd., with its watercourse and the bridge." This bridge crossed a considerable stream, on which were swans ; the stream is referred to in the agreement of 1243, between the Abbot and the City. It was evidently a charming place. Long before the dissolution the Maze was in private hands j probably the Abbot had now only a portion for his garden. The manor of the Maze was the seat of Sir William ' Stow, Thorns, p. 155. ' 'Collectanea Genealogica et Topog.,' vol, viii. B, M. (reading room) 2062. Article by Geo. Corner. T 274 OLD SOUTIIWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Burcestre, who died there in 1407. Sir John Burcestre" died there in 1466. This Sir John, in his will, orders that his body shall be buried in the wall of St. Olave's, beside the holy king and saint : he shows himself as a type of modern payers of forgotten tax, and so leaves xiiij'. wd. to the high altar of the church of St. Olave's for offerings forgotten, or by negligence withholden, and in discharge of his soul. In 1467 the Maze belonged to the Clintons — in 1422 Elizabeth de Clinton had died seised of a messuage, &c., in the manor of the Maze in Southwark. From 1472 to 1623 the Copleys had it. One of the Copleys marrying with John Weston, of Sutton Place, it came to the Westons. The names Maze and Maze Pond come from the old manor ; but, to make this more clear, John Street, Webb Street, Weston Street, Melior Street, and Sutton Street came from family narties, as Melior May Weston and John Webbe Weston. As to the Copleys, 1559-60, 31st Dec. "In Southwark at St. Towlys was buried my lady Copley,^ widow of Sir Roger, with XX great staff torches burning-, with priests and clerks singing, with a harold of arms and a pennon of arms and many morners, the church and the quire were hanged with black." There was a sermon and communion, and after, to her place to dinner, and a dole. Mr. Corner gives many interesting items of accounts between Donald Sharpies and Mr. Thomas Copley, Esquire (1575). Wm. Frith pays 40J. for his lease in Maze Lane. Half a bushell of oysters and porterage in Southwark come to xd. A red goatskin to make Maister Henry a jerken vs. A dozen buttons of gold and a mell (?) for the same jerken xd. Hops are sent at vd. the lb. Pay- ments are made for horse-meat and the like at the George, the Three Crowns, the Goat, and other inns named. The master of Paryshe Garden^ goes with Copley's servant into Bermondscy ' Sir John is referred to in 1444 ; he and others %\-ere appointed to view the b.anks of the Thames, the Marshes, Paryshe Garden, South\\-ark, Bermondscy, Rotherhithe, &c., to repair and to make laws for preservation. See also 'Paston Letters,' Knight's ed. letter 163, where he is mentioned as being actively engaged in the quarrels of the houses of York and Lancaster. ' An inquisition was t.aken 29th April, 1560, and shows that she died seised of the Manor of the Maze in Southwark. ' In later maps a Dog and Bear Alley is here, and there are tokens of the same THE MAZE. 275 Street to see some mastyve dogges. For casting- the common sewers, i.e. the open ditches of the maze, 3 is. Sd. is paid. William Goodyere is noted as a tenant ; the name indicates a refugee family from the Low Countries, and will appear again. His rent is 30^. a year. It appears that the masters of the Bridge House had been cutting down trees and damaging banks more than they might do, and so law expenses appear in the accounts. iS79- The casters of the sewers get ^6s. for 15^ rods work against the gardens in Maze Lane. The names of Henry Leke, Olave Burr, people of note in Southwark, appear as tenants to the Copleys. 1620. The Com- mission of Sewars order William Copley, Gentleman, landlord of the Maze, and his tenants to repair 2 poles and a halfe of the bancke of the sewar which lyeth anenst the yard of Richard Barnes, Brewar, and if they did not to forfeit xxs. Copious extracts from a court-roll of the manor in 1661 are given in Mr. Corner's paper. Among the accounts appears iij.f. i]d., the cost of a gram- mar book for Maister Henry Copley. The schools of the time were commonly grammar schools. That this was not, however, the only kind of learning taught then, a business announcement of a schoolmaster of the Maze, in 1607, will show. The book in which this appears is the grovnd of Arts, Teaching, &c., made by M Record, D in Physicke, by John Mellis, 1607. The book is in black letter, and is in the form of question and answer between Maister and Scholler. The last page is the good man's advertisement ; he is not squeamish ; there was a quaint proverb of the period, that " he would sell his cow must say the word," and John Mellis does not object to say the word. What he says is this, " That if any be minded to have their children or servants instructed or taught in this noble arte of Arithmetike or any brief practice thereof. Whose method is by long custome of teaching, that (God to friend) he will bring them (if their capacity be anything) to their desire therein in a short time. As also to learne them to write any manner of hand usuall within the Realme of England. Item, also after reasonable understanding of Arithmeticke, if any be minded to have them taught the famous import. Paryshe Garden was the recognized place for rude sports, bull and bear T 3 2^6 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. account of Debtor and Creditor, they shall find him readie to accomplish their desire. Morealso, to further such as are desirous that way, in the principall of Algebar or Cossuck numbers. Lastly to learne to draw any maner of demonstracon. Devise or portion. Or to learn them to draw either white or blacke capitell letters Of any or all these things rehearsed, you shall find the Author (according to his small talent) ready to accomplish the same for a reasonable reward. Whose dwelling is and hath bin these sixteene yeares within the Mays Gate in Short South- warke, nigh Battlebridge." Some fifty years afterwards a noted inventor of shorthand was living near, and had done a "New 1 estament and Singing Psalms of great advantage to learners.'" Queen Elizabeth's grammar school was close at hand, so the spot had a reputation for learning. " The French Quene " as she signed herself, wife to Charles Brandon, of Southwark, is said to have had a happy home* in Tooley Street and in her garden in the Maze. This happy home in the Maze could have been, however, for a short time only, if, indeed, she ever lived here. Suffolk Place, opposite St. George's Church, was the palace "that the old Duke of Suffolk built immediately after he married the godly and vertuous Mary Queen Dowager of France. "° I imagine it is a mistake for the happy home in Suffolk House by the Park, near St. George's Church, — quite another place. Other particulars as to the Abbot of Battle's property here are given in Mr. Corner's paper (vol. viii. ' Collectanea '), e.g., a chamber above the gate, vs. one certain shop in the east part of the said gate, rent per annum one red rose." A messuage and a garden, rent xvj^. Richard Callenders Brew- house, the Sterre Ixj. John Burcestres water mill IxvjV. viij^. About this time, i 'J \ Sir R. Copley and his wife sold two water mylls, ^ Rich, circa 1650. — Notes and Qwiics, August, 1876, p. 115. * Miss Strickland and others after her, for which I can find no gi-ound. — " We have no notice of Maiy, Duchess of Suffolk, residing in St. Olave's, Tooley Street." Dr. Brewer kindly wrote this in answer to my inquiries, and Mrs. Everett Green to somewhat the same effect, for which I respectfully thank them. ' John Elder's letter, Chronicle of Queen Jane. — Camden Society, 1850. " Property in Horselydown belonging to St. Olave's Grammar School was, and perhaps is now, so held. BERMONDSEY CROSS. 2^^ called Batell Bridge Milles, which were next the City property the Bridge House, and two wharfes and large ponds, for 200/. The miller held it at a rent of 15/. 6j. 8^. It was provided that the purchasers should have their walks about the banks of the ponds and river, for fishing, fowling, and viewing ; the tenants were not to meddle with the fish nor put cygnets there. Mill Lane marks the actual site, the watercourse flowing down the lane and under the bridge, already noted, by which the way along St. Olave's Street to Bermondsey and Rotherhithe was kept open. The rough cross-barred lines in the map (32) represent the bridge. The name still lingers about the site. The stream at the time Mr. Corner wrote served as a sewer to the Thames, and was arched over from the south side of Tooley Street to the river. BARMESE CROSS. At the junction of Tooley Street, or rather of the Berghen^, with Bermondsey Street, is, in the map (33), the figure of a cross standing in the common way — the Bermondsey Cross, a reminder of religious worship to the wayfarer, in those earlier days here, as now in Catholic countries.^ Some of these crosses were set up at the south end of burial grounds, having a rood graven with the figure of Christ on the cross. Not only within the church, but by the wayside was it the practice of the Anglo-Saxons to raise beautifully wrought stone crosses. " The old cross " was often, in early deeds of grants of property, a boundary or landmark of a township.' Some of the crosses, even by the wayside, possessed a privilege of sanctuary — that is, a temporary refuge against vengeance and sudden and ill-weighed justice. They also served as stations for prayer, or even as guide-posts to some religious house near at hand. This cross was north on the way to the dis- tinguished Abbey of Bermondsey, as another cross, south, was on ' Could we divest these emblems of superstitious uses, or could the Churcli which chiefly cherishes these beautiful customs itself conform to a common instead of to an exclusive Christianity, how much better in every way would it be to see crosses unobtrusively and so suggestively about, ihan the coa se n t of texts of Scripture on the walls, mixed up with jaunty trade advertisements. ' Roclv, ' Church of our Fathers.' 2/8 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. the way from Kent Street to the same abbey. In Agas's map' are several crosses, marked as in the public ways — at the south end of Paris Garden Lane, at the Barbican, at Charing-, and at the Minories. " Near the stone cross " is many times noted.' The words red cross, white cross, and the like, indicate further the prevalence of the custom. In Red Cross Street up to the Cross, says Stow. The crosses have mostly disappeared from populous towns like London ; but in remote country places, for instance in Cornwall, many a cross, with or without some sacred, rude, weather- worn figure, may still be seen — some of them Christian, and some apparently still more remote. Many are figured in a handsome book, ' The Ancient Crosses of Cornwall,' published in 1858, and I believe the like excellent work has been done for other parts of England. I should like now to see these beautiful and picturesque works about in our ways, sparsely and suitably placed, could we but divest them of selfish and superstitious uses. BERMONDSEY STREET, so called from the earliest times, was the way from Tooley Street and Bermondsey Cross to the Abbey. The larger water- courses are very persistent, and change their way but little from age to age ; first a mere water way, then ditches, " black ditches," as I find often noticed in Southwark papers ; then sewers, covered or uncovered. One of these crossing Bermondsey Street diagonally to Five Foot Lane (now Russell Street), helps me to fix the site of Bishop Waynflete's stone bridge, which was erected across Bermondsey Street in 1473. In the sewers' presentment, 1640, MS. Guildhall Library, the Commissioners, Lenthall, Brom- field, Featley, names familiar in Southwark, report the sewar in Barmondsey, running from the Stone Bridge in Barmondsey Street, up to Swan Alley (a litde south to the right), and so to the inn called the Hand (further south, opposite Bermondsey Church), and this stream is traceable exactly in a plan of the sewers of Southwark, which was in the possession of the late Mr, Gwilt. This bridge was " Mr. Overall's edition is clieap and easy to be got, and should be in tlie possession or every one who feels an interest in old London and its histoiy. ' Riley. BERMONDSEY STREET. 279 an important work. Bishop Waynflete,^ Fastolf s friend and ex- ecutor, obtained licence from the King-, 12 Edw. IV., to build it. Watercourses were very numerous — Southwarii was full of them, and bridges also were needful, and numerous also ; the older maps show bridges in great plenty crossing these little waterways or ditches. The larger streams would require such substantial stone bridges as Bishop Waynflete's. I notice, for example, a bridge at Paris Garden — the Lock Bridge at the east end of Kent Street, of somewhat elegant and elaborate architecture — a very substantial one ; and one at Battle Bridge in Tooley Street. Main streets, such as Bermondsey Street, would even in the earlier times show many houses, with fields and extensive yards. In the same presentment, 1640, are noticed the present owners and occupiers of the house, yards, and grounds adjoining the sewars west in Bermondsey Street, running from the stone bridge to the yard and ground of George Clark ; the houses were backed by fields — it was so even within my own recollection : the new leather market near this very bridge was not long since a field, so little comparatively did London change until the introduction of railway facilities. There would be many inns ; even on the later maps, e.g., Stow's ; the names of the courts and alleys shown on both sides imply this, such as the Ship, Anchor, Naked Boy, Cross Keys, Wheatsheaf, Marigold, Adam and Eve, Sugar Loaf; the Christopher Inn, the Blue Anchor, and the Red Bull. In fact the traffic to and from the Abbey, and its markets and fairs, must have been very considerable indeed, and these inns would not have been too many. Metal tokens issued from some of these houses, answering at once for money and for trade advertisements, may be seen in the Beau- foy collection at Guildhall, in C. R. Smith's collection, and in others; notably one, 17th century, "George Cave, Stonebridg in Barneby Street.'" As to the houses, a stone house well built, like Mr. Goodtyere's (Map, 68), might here and there be seen. Harrison* tells us what ' Historical MSS. Commission, 4th Report, App., p. 464. ^ Phillips, 'Bei'mondsey,' p. 108, and the catalogues of the collections ; also in Manning and Bray, vol. iii., App. cxii. '' 'Description of England, 1577-1587,' ed. liy Mr. Fm-nivall for the New Shakspcrc .Society, b. 2, c. 12, 1877. 280 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. these neighbourhoods were. " The greatest part of our buildings in the cities and good townes of England consisteth onlie of timber, few are made of stone " ; but, as the Spaniard said, " these English have houses made of sticks and dirt, but they fare commonly as well as the King " ; the better houses, plain as they may be out- side, are fine inside ; many of the greater " have beene verie simple and plaine to sight, which inwardlie have beene able to receive a Duke with his whole traine." Fastolf's House,' close at hand, was such a place ; it was not only fit, but did entertain the highest people. Harrison proceeds, the houses are not built one like another, as in foreign cities ; horn windows have gone out, lattices are going, and glass is coming in. Chimneys have been lately erected ; the smoke is indeed coming freely out of Meester Goodtyere's house, and out of the Dutchman's in Long Lane (Map, 62), a remarkable condition, no doubt, as the draughtsman so plainly notices it. Old men of Harrison's village — he was the parson — remarked two or three changes in England, at which they mar- velled much — I. The multitude of chimneys lately erected; 2. " They usually laid upon straw, with a log for a pillow, covered onelie with a sheet and a coverlet of dogswain or hopharlot," " as for servants, if they had any sheet, it was well, — seldom had they any under to keep the pricking straws from their hardened hides." But things, he says, are better now ; they get even a flock bed or a sacke of chaflfe, and think themselves as well lodged as the lord of the towne. At one end of Bermondsey Street is the Cross ; at the other end the Abbey. Along this thoroughfare would go pilgrims to the rood of Grace, which was in Bermondsey. The religious history of the country, such as it was, could be well seen at these places.* Favourite shrines, as this one was, were visited by thousands of people, some wanting health, a good husband as in Margery Paston's case,' or relief to an over-burdened conscience, or some other favour which they believed might be had from the saint. A '' The house in Stonie Lane, .it the rivei' end of Bemiondsey Street, " F.istol Place." " Brewer, Ileniy VIIL, Rolls piiblic.ntions, vol. iv. p. t, ' Taston Letters.' Mr. goodyere's house, bermondsey. 281 parliament or two had been held in the Abbey. Funerals of the most splendid and impressive character would pass along- this way. The Abbot of Bermondsey was the " Dekon " to perform service at the funeral of Edward IV. Queen Elizabeth Woodville, the Earl of Sussex, and many another dying- here, were conveyed away with much pomp. One of the principal conventual schools of London, established in 12 13, was here. Accordingly, Bermondsey Street in those days was neither dull nor unfre- quented. As yet markets and fairs were held on Sundays, and probably there was one here, which would make Bermondsey Street still more lively on the festival days. Up to 7 Elizabeth they were allowed under some not very stringent reg-ulations ; " in all fairs and common markets falling upon the Sunday, there be no shewing of any wares before the service be done";^ again, as showing the monastic association, when a fair was held within the precincts of a cathedral or monastery, any man might be obliged to take an oath at the gate to deal fairly ; and if he did not, a ready way of compulsion was always provided for. Half way between Sir Thomas Pope's (Map, 65) and Barmsey Cross (Map, 33) is a somewhat stately house, the residence of Meester Goodt-yere (Map, 68). Henry Goodyere was alderman of London, and some time merchant of the staple at Calais, which was then an English possession and a market or staple.' Many of the richer people, such as Alderman Goodyere, lived out of the city. Sir Thomas Blanke, Lord Mayor 1583, represents that many aldermen and citizens have houses without the city specially for avoidance of infection, which came frequently, and was always deadly.^ After the surrender, and our map is a rough record of some of the results, Henry Goodyere, 1544-5, was, with two others, possessed of Horseydown, as trustees for the parish of St. Olave's, which was not, however, made over to the grammar school until 1586. He does not appear to have lived long after « Brand's 'Pop. Antiq.,' Bohii's ed. ii. 458. ^ A company of merchants called of the staple, incorporated by King Edward III., in whose time they had staple of wools at Callis. — Stow, 1720, b. v. p. 259. ' Rolls, Eliz. (Dora.), vol. Ixxxii,, in an interesting document as to certain rights of citizens. 282 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. this. Machyn^ records, 3rd November, 1556, that he was buried at St. Towly's, in Southwark, in manner befitting his position; that is, with two white branches, twelve staff torches, four great tapers, many mourners in blacl<, both men and women, and the Company of Leathersellers in their livery. After his death, Hugh Goodyere released the above-mentioned land, and confirmed it to the governors. In connexion with the suit are certain entries :' " It'm, to search in the Courte of Augmentacion for the Surveay of the Abbey of Bermondsey ij.s. It'm, the 2Sth of January, we went to talke with Mr. Goodyer, and he appointed us to meet at the Tempell with our Counsell and his, and so we went to West- minster up and downe and to the Tempell and home, xs. vn]d. It'm, P^ Mr. Goodyer to seale on feoffment iiij/?'." This will probably be sufficient as to Mr. Goodyer's connexions. THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN, BERMONDSEY (Map, 66). It may be as well to know how this particular church came by its name. Hatton, in his 'New View of London,' 1708,13 very curiously particular. " It is so called," he says, " as being dedi- cated to S' Mary Magdalen, sister to Lazarus (who our Lord raised from the Dead), and sister also to Martha, as we read in the Holy Gospel.'' She was the Daughter of Sirus, by Euchary, his Wife, and was called Magdalen, as living with her said Brother and Sister at the Castle of Magdala, 2 miles from Nazareth. She was very rich and beautiful ; but withal very humble and religious. After the Ascension she is said to have lived 30 years in a Desart, and then with S' John, died at Ephesus." This is very circum- stantial indeed ! It might be that the church was so named after a remarkably penitent sinner, who was canonized ; we must be content to rest in doubt, — we can never know ; and as to the dedication, it is not of much consequence after all, the sine qua non being the fitness of the minister and the goodness of his work. " Diary. '^ Corner, Ilorselydown, p. 15. See ante, p. 254. '' On tliis subject sec Adam Clarke on Malthew xxvli. 56, and Luke viii. i, s\\\n thinks as Hone, 'Every Day Book,' does, that the prevailing idea is a libel on the name oT Magdalen. I hope it is ; the name is very pleasant and musical. OLD BERMONDSEY CHURCH. 283 This church, or the one first on this site, was quite other than the conventual church. At S' Mary Overy's, the conventual church was the great church ; another attached at the south-east, called S' Mary Magdalen Overy, was the parish church — a sort of indication that in these great establishments there was often an exoteric and an esoteric church — one for the select, another for the people — one for grand or great occasions, the other for every-day use. In one of Wilkinson's plates'' is a ground plan of the Abbey, its precincts, and its church. This church, the " ecclesia major Sancti Salvatoris de Bermundesey,"* was re-dedicated by the bishop to St. Saviour, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the Saints,' in January, 1338. The original foundation is thus referred to in the annals, sub anno 1083 : " The King holds the maner of Bermondsey. The new and beautiful church constructed in honour of the Saviour is there." The ecclesia major seems to point to another church, not the major. Phillips' ' History of Bermondsey,' p. 53, says, — ^The first parochial church here of which we have any account was situate where the present one is, on the east side of Bermondsey Street, northward and contiguous to the Priory. It was dedicated to S' Mary Magdalen, and is supposed to have been erected by the Convent for the use of their servants and tenants, and at length to have been made parochial for the benefit of the neighbourhood in general. The date of its foundation is not known; but it was probably in the reign of Edward II. The Annals ' already referred to, date 1296, say that, — "in this year the chapels of the Blessed Sepulchre and of S' Mary Magdalen of Bermondsey are in the hands of the prior and convent of Bermondsey." A like edifice for the parish and people of S' Mary ^ ' Londina Illustrata. ' « Annales de Bermondeseia, Rolls Edition, p. 473. ' "Saint" Saviour, not as a saint, but meaning the "holy" Savioui'. ' This invaluable MS., Harleian, 231, British Museum, a. small quarto on vellum of seventy-two leaves, written in a clear hand about the middle of the fifteenth century, fortunately escaped the destruction which involved so many of the monastic records. It contains the annals of the monasteiy from 1082 to 1432. It has been edited by Mr. Luard, and published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls. 284 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Overy was the chappell of S' Mary Magdalene, which chapel was afterwards appointed to be the parish church for the inhabitants. No doubt then this chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, was first founded as a chapel, and was afterwards appointed to be the church for the people of the neighbourhood. Stow says, — next unto this Abbey Church standeth a proper church of St. Mary Magdalen, builded by the priors of Bermondsey, serving for resort of the inhabitants, tenants to the prior, there to have their divine service. How long this first fabric lasted is unknown," but that part which is the south aisle was begun in 1608, on ground belonging to the churchyard, and finished in 16 lO, at a cost of 860/. In 1619 a turret was erected on the steeple^ and a new clock placed. In " 162 1 the steeple was again repaired, and the inside of the church trimmed and very commendably beautified at the sole cost of the parishioners." Some sixty years after, the church being very old, a part of it fell down, and, the rest not being likely to stand long, it was taken down and a new one was built. The Stow editor says of this church that it is new built, very fair and decent, furnished with a large pair of organs, with the table standing east and west, and not close to the east wall. " Seymour's "= account, 1734, is really worth copying. The present structure, he says, is brick rendered over with a finishing, the windows and outer doorcases are stone, and stone quoins, the ° Wilkinson says, upon what authority I know not, that an Earl of Sussex, who lived here, was obliged to build a place for public worship at or near to the site of the present parish church. But had this family, who lived here to the end of the sixteenth centuiy, done more than repair or partially reconstiiict the old church, the great repair and enlargement of 1608 could not have been necessary, unless indeed this considerable work was done by a Radcliffe, of which there is no evidence. ' 1618, u panic seized the people here : " Upon Sonday last," says the record, " by a sodain fright in the church in Bermondsey Street, the people made such haste to get out that divers were hurt and maymed, and one youth Uild outright." Public Records, vol. cvii. No cause is assigned; but the church was old and about to be again largely repaired ; they A\cre now erecting the turret : probably this condition of things will account for the panic. = "Robert Seymour" was an assumed name. The authors or compilere of the ' Survey of London ' were Thomas Cooke, a dramatic writer and classical translator, and Mottlcy, the compiler of Joe Miller's \d. The churchwardens bought some articles, such as communion-cups ; they also bought of Sir Thomas Pope " a pese of ground to make a ley stall for the soyle of the hole pyshe, for otherwise had we none— for the som'e of 3/. 6s. M." They paid " for payntyng the scrypter agaynst the Rode lofte and over the awter"; this instead of the Popish decorations which before had mostly been in these places. They sold all their lattyn bokys of parchment for xi. ; these no doubt the missals and other books of service ; most of these books no doubt exquisitely illumi- nated, and yet sold for so little ! The church porch and repairs cost, including "all manere of stufe and workmanshyp," 61. 12s., and a communion-table, with a frame, 8j. A considerable number of monumental inscriptions are copied in Mr. Phillips's ' History of Bermondsey ' : but, with an exception or so, they need not be given here. The register, 1604, records a solemn vow made between a man and his wife ; he had been long absent, and she was again married, but they came together again. He said, " Elizabeth, my beloved wife, I am right sorie that I have so longe absented mysealfe," &c. ; and she, "Raphe, my beloved husband, I am right sorie that I have in thy absence taken another man to be my husband, but here before God and this companie I do renounce and forsake him," &c. The strange entry, the vow to live together again as before, is made in the presence of the parson and two others, whose signatures are affixed. Sensible people ! but hard upon the second husband. A note is made, 1624-5, of one James Heriot, who was one of the forty children of his father, a Scotchman. Some of Malthus's preventive checks were wanting here ! Mr. Phillips gives also some five entries of death, at ages from 1 00 to 105. It is not worth while to investigate as to these particular facts. It has, without doubt, often happened that people have lived to a hundred years and over, without any reference to the doubtful meaning of age in the pre-Noachic or any after-time ; and what has often happened may happen often again. Speaking as a student in human physiology, it would not, I think, be a miracle for a man and d fortiori a woman to live even to 150 BERMONDSEY PAHSONS : THE WIIITAKERS. 287 years.'' No doubt, however, that there is a line which cannot be outstepped, but it must vary considerably according to the general conditions of birth and of the surroundings afterwards. Not one of the men who ministered at the church appears, so far as the records show, to have been very remarkable ; never- theless, more than one might have been like Chaucer's parson ; and, so far as I can see, more than one of them was. A poor parson of a town, rich in holy thought and work, a learned man, a clerk, that Christ-es gospel tru-el-ly would preach ; which fore- shadows Whitaker. Browning's case, if I mistake not, will serve, at least to illustrate by contrast, Chaucer's picture of the man who set not his benefice to hire, or who left his sheep accombered in the mire ; and ran, no matter where, to seeken him a chan-ter-y for souls. Chaucer's lovely parson dwelt at home and kept his fold, so that no wolf might creep in — least of all a wolf himself. He did not care for cope and pax, and procession and pricksong : "To drawen folk to Heaven was his business." And yet, although so pure himself, he knew human nature, and was kind and considerate to the sinner. He drew folk to heaven by example, and Christ was his example : "The love of Christ and His Apostles twelve He taught. But first he follow'd it himselve." But about Chaucer's time the parsons were poor, and the friars were rich. Long after this, in the time especially of Charles II., ejected parsons were intent in their ministrations to those stricken of the plague, while there were "Pulpits to Let" ■" The Registrar-General, 1875, reports as follows for England and Wales :^ Deaths at ages of 100 and upwards : the age of III was the maximum. 1 87 1 Males, 25 Females, 44 Total, 69 1872 24 ,, 51 ,, 75 1873 „ 10 ,, 79 ,, 89 1874 ,. 16 ,, S3 ., 69 187s „ 22 „ 65 „ 87 Grand Totals ... ,, 97 ,, 292 ,, 389 Of course, the returns are received from the local people as correct, and it is not critically verified. Nevertheless they may, I think, be received as sufficiently true approximations. 288 OLD SOUTHWARK AN^f ITS PEOPLE. which should have been filled by those who had been superseded, and words like these were about, sarcastically deriding the official Gallios: — "A Pulpit to be Let, woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth his flock ";° but this is general talk rather than to the point. Among those who ministered at Bermondsey, I would notice John Ryder, M.A., installed 6th Jan., 1581-2, — a learned man, author of a Latin dictionary. He passed from one preferment to another — Archdeacon of Meath, Dean of St. Patrick's, in this a prede- cessor of Swift, and in 1612 Bishop of Killaloe. Edward Elton, inst. 1605, an eminent Puritan ; in 1617, as I learn from a diligent investigator, Mr. Noble, Elton came into collision with some of his parishioners as to the Maypole, " which had been used for honest mirth and recreation from the time when the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." Some of these parishioners, with friends, of the Artillery Garden, intended sport, but Parson Elton would not have it so, and desired the constable to strike out the heads of their drums, and he preached against it many Sabbath days, and called the Maypole people bad names. Further Elton and his people " assaulted the said Maypole, and did, with hatchets, saws, or otherwise, cut down the same, divided it into several pieces, and carried it into Elton's yard," and from the words, " he kept the same to his own private use," it is to be feared that he actually lit his kitchen fires with the Maypole. No doubt Parson Elton was a type of those who did not know human nature. A caricature was published in the time of these " unco' righteous," in which the Puritan " is hanging of his cat on Monday for killing of a mouse on Sunday." Elton seems to have caught a little of this spirit, rather than that which was in Chaucer's poor parson. There are two Whitakers — Jeremiah and William his son. Jeremiah died, parson of the parish, in 1654. He was a member of the Assembly of Divines, convoked by Parliament in 1643 to consider as to the Church. "William, called, in 1654, to succeed his father as Rector of Bermondsey, was a minister indeed; skilled in languages — Greek, Latin, and Oriental; fit to be a tutor at his college, i.e., Emmanuel, at Cambridge ; a peacemaker, '- 1665. Broadsides, Society of Anliqunries, RECTORS OF BERMONDSEY. 289 whose pride it was to settle disputes and leave no rancour behind ; just the man, making a conscience of his work, to be ejected. So in 1662 he was no longer Rector of Bermondsey. In Wilkinson's plan of Bermondsey Square is "the Reverend Mr. Whitaker's meeting-house," in King John's Court, Bermondsey Square, occupying, as appears, and so far as we can know, a part of the very site of the same old Conventual Church that Sir Thomas Pope destroyed. Like his father, much beloved, his congregation of the church lament the parting audibly and in tears, and so no doubt he is influenced to remain at hand. He as well as many another ejected minister of great learning and worth became a private teacher. So general was this practice, that it helped most effectually to build up dissent, and is indeed worth con- sideration as a great factor towards beneficial changes in fostering a much higher tone of religious thought in our country. His house full of candidates in Divinity, he became a teacher of preachers and a father of divines. I have by me a picture of the wooden house, with one gallery, which was built for him in 1699, and which remained as a place of worship for about a hundred years. One of his successors at this meeting-house, Isaac Mauduit, is said to have preached at St. Mary Magdalen's, Ber- mondsey, a sermon on the death of King William III., but whether the parish or the parish church is meant I do not know ; but as he is said to have practised "occasional conformity," and the family monuments are noted in the church, it was probably there the sermon was preached. In the end ministers far gone in Arianism preached from Whitaker's pulpit, and the thing died out; now Wesley's people took it, he himself preaching there from time to time.' That there should have been two erratic meeting-houses on the very site of the old abbey, in Long Walk and in St. John's Court ! But there are fashions and customs and changes, in forms of religion as in other matters. In 1624 Thomas Paske, D.D., was the Rector ; in 1620 he was Master of Clare Hall, Cambridge; in 1624 he resigned the Vicarage of Hendon for this Rectory; and in 1644 he was ejected by the " contagious breath of sectaries."' Why, may be inferred. " Wilson, Hy,, 'Dissenting Churches, ' vol. iv., p. 341. ' General bill of mortality of Clergy, 1641, 1647. Soc. Antiq., Broadsides. V 290 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. There were ordinances this year for abolishing- images and objects of superstition. Paske was no doubt a High Churchman ; before him was Elton, the Puritan, and after him Whitaker, the Puritan ; and this Laudian divine between them. The theological barometer is up and down, and shows considerable disturbance in these times. In 1654 Richard Parr, D.D., Archbishop Usher's chaplain, is Rector. He had, one time or another, many prefer- ments ; he was Vicar of Reigate, and Vicar of Camberwell, which last he held from 1654 to his death, in 1691. He was a ready and good preacher, and is said to have broken up two " conventicles " by his attractive powers. A real man, no doubt, as a specimen from his sermon in 1658, before Mr. Justice Hale" and others, at St. Mary Overy's, will show. A good sermon preached before such a man as Hale is worth notice. His text most suitably taken — 2 Chronicles xix. 6, 7 : " And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do : for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judg- ment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you ; take heed and do it : for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." Such a text might have saved one of the greatest lights of that age, and perhaps the sad history of Lord Bacon was in the mind of this preacher. The specimen following is his appeal to the judges and the people against the tippling-houses. "There is one grievance more," he says, " you must help this country in, and rid the country of those innumerable pest houses ; we mean the tippling houses, that pester the whole Nation and ruine whole families. . . . Sirs, you that are the standing magistrates of the County, will it be for your honour, think you, to give license to such ? — so many ? Some you say must be ; but why so many ? " Further, "If you mean not to suppress them, let these mottoes be on the sign and over the Door, — ' Here you may buy beggery and disgrace at a deare rate : here you may learn the way to the Stocks, the Gaol, the Gallows, and to Hell' "; but see the note below I " " A great judge was Matthew Hale, yet one who, avowing his belief in witch- craft, condehmed some poor women as witches, to death. " No doubt this man was impassioned and, what is more, real. But such RECTORS OF BERMONDSEY. 29 1 I come now to a man of quite another sort, not to be compared with any of these ; but I must tell the story, albeit later than my time. William Browning, a fellmonger, purchases a limited advowson of the Rectory, and presents William Taswell, D.D., who occupies, perhaps as (what is vulgarly called) a warming- pan, from 1723 to 1726-7, and then resigns. The son of the patron-purchaser, the Reverend W. Browning, M.A., is now presented, and continues to be the minister until his death, 1740. Mr. Browning appears to think that he has not as yet had money's worth, and so he presents John Paget, M.A. ; a lawsuit ensues, and as Mr. Browning has exceeded his time, his nominee, or clerk, as he is called, is in due course ejected. Thus far, as I think, there is every possible variety of supply for the people of Ber- mondsey, and it is very provocative of thought, as to the moulding of the people, who could not have been, humanly speaking, very different under the Romish Clergy and Paske, to what they were under the Puritans, Elton and Whitaker, or under the worldly wise man. Browning, or under the Realist, Parr ; and yet they were dealt with as quite soft clay. This is all to some extent rather contemptible. The friends of the Puritans placed in the church an inscription to the two good men of their persuasion, which, except as a record, is scarcely worth preserving; but it shall speak for itself : — "Where once the famous Elton did intrust The preservation of his sacred dust, Lies pious Whitaker ; both justly twin'd, Both dead, one grave ; both living, had one mind ; And by their dissolution have supply'd The hungry grave, and Fame and Heaven beside. This stone protects theire bones ; vifhile Fame enroules These deathless names, and Heaven embrase theire soules. " They could scarcely have had one mind : Elton, harsh and not appeals serve not long, except perhaps in individual cases. The trade will always be ; the remedy, what ? — that the dealers shall be good men, and of standing ; that the commodity shall be pure under penalty — the best of its kind. In this way the best men in the trade would be encouraged in their competition with the worst. This mode of proceeding would not be displeasing to the trade, woiild of course have the sympathy of the public, and might probably have saved the late Liberal Ministry. U 2 292 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. very famous ; Whitaker, chosen in 1643 as one of the Assembly of Divines, and beloved by every one. SIR THOMAS POPE AND BERMONDSEY. The name of Syr Thomas Pope appears in the Map (65). This means that the Abbey of Bermondsey, which had been some hundreds of years a foremost foundation, as priory and abbey, had now become the property, and at first the town house, of Sir Thomas Pope. At the dissolution of the monasteries and after, he had obtained this abbey and much spoil beside. I should like to dwell a little upon this fortunate courtier ; his character and success are worth a study. " In a foremost place, he contrived to flourish undisturbed throughout the reigns of Henry, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth," — not like the Vicar of Bray, untroubled with any squeamish dislike to manifest and thorough-going change (for Sir Thomas was always a good Catholic), but by pure tact and some kindness of spirit and manner, he mitigated, but never aggravated, trouble. " He was chosen to carry to Sir Thomas More the news of his intended martyrdom ; in favour with More's enemies, he was not less in favour with More himself."' He had a great deal to do with the suppression of abbeys ; but he had nothing to do with the hanging of abbots. He received the sur- render of St. Albans, but he saved the abbey church from being pulled down ; he was so much in favour with Queen Mary as to be the keeper of the Lady Elizabeth, but he was in favour with " The interview is worth noting. " On the fifth day of July, 1 535, he waited on Sir Thomas to acquaint him that lie must suffer death before nine of the clock the same morning, and to prepare himself 'Master Pope,' said More, 'I most heartily thank you for your good tidings. ' It was urged that he should not use many words at his execution. To this More was ready to submit ; but said he, ' I beseech you, good Mr. Pope, to gett the King to suffer my daughter Margaret to be present at my burial.' This Pope promised, and not able to contain him- self, burst into tears. On leaving his friend. More with his usual composure said, ' Quiet yourself, and be not discomforted, for I trust that we shall one day in heaven see each other full merrily, where we shall be sure to live and love together in joyful bliss eternally.' And furtlrer, after the manner of physicians, he pretended, by holding up a glass of his water, to cast his case. 'This man,' said he, observing the water, 'might have lived longer if it had pleased the King.' "— Warton's ' Life of Sir Thomas Pope,' 1772, pp. 34, 35. SIR THOMAS POPE. 293 Elizabeth notwithstanding-.^ He was one of the best of the men engaged in the process of confiscating and redistributing the goods of the monasteries. But high honour and Catholic^ principles did not hinder him from being almost omnivorous when any abbey lands had to be devoured. But we must consider human nature, especially the human nature of a courtier. How could he be expected to see the rich spoil going right and left — more left than right — without some breach of the Tenth Commandment ? He had to get on, both in position and pocket; he aimed to do good, partly because he was of a kindly nature and loved to do good, partly, I think, as an expiation for his participation in doubtful matters troublesome to the conscience; and he evidently had a conscience. It was the custom of the time to balance the earlier ill deeds of people by good deeds and riches bestowed at the last : it was not possible for a sinner to take his riches with him ; accordingly, some of this man's possessions passed in kindly gifts to people, and much in founding a college at Oxford. The spirit of the man is shown in his will, from which a few interesting items may be quoted : " Black cootes or gownes " to all " executors, retainers, household servants, overseers, friends and kindred as shall happen to be in his house at the time of his decease "; 20I. or more in alms to the poor; 40 shillings besides to twenty poor men and twenty women, with a gowne of good mantell fryse each, and after that more in alms ; to many prisons, including the King's Bench, Marshalsea, and New Counter in Southwark, 18/. ; to kindred, 783/. 5j. "and xl. marks " ; to his cousin, Jane Haukes, a cup of silver ; to his son-in-law^ the third part of alt his armour and artillerie, best gauntletts and targett, and best horse ; to his mother-in-law a fair new bowl of silver ; to another son-in-law^ ° Saturday Review, ^ Catholic. I use the word always in the sense of Roman Catholicism in its more normal condition, ready to give, that is, as to take. ■* He had three wives, and said this of the last : — I am ' ' hartely soiy I am able to give her no more, to recompens her most honest, obedient, and womanly behaviour towardes me in my life tyme, which hath byn such as well hath meryted a thousand tymes more than I am able any waye to give her, " and more of the same kindly sort. She was evidently too good to be disregarded ; she accordingly married again before the year was out. Sir Thomas died in January, 1559, and she was married for the third time before December. — ' Life,' p. 184. 294 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. fifty angels to make him a chain, and his mother's picture in a bracelet of gold " which I ware about my arme, which bracelett was the first toliyn that ever his mother gave me "; to nine of his servants, 58/. 13^. 4d., besides gratuities to all the rest of every sort ; praying his executors that if his wife should not find it con- venient to retain them after his death, they should help the said servants to some worshipful man's service. Then come the gifts to Trinity College. He remembers various children of poor tradesmen. His whistle, shaped like a dragon and set with stones, which he commonly wore, he leaves to Nicholas Bacon. He is painted by Holbein with a whistle at his chain, shaped like a mermaid. The use of these, then worn by all people having servants, is obvious. In one draft of his will, afterwards altered, he bequeaths to each of the overseers a faire jugge of silver, with a death's head in a roundell, and his initials graven on the cover. Several rings he gave, each to weigh an ounce, his initials on one side, a death's head on the other, like the tombstone reminder, "As I am now so you will be, therefore prepare to follow me." The times must have been the better for the existence of such a man ; he must have disarmed some, at least, of the rancour. He was a rigid papist, but was prudent, and he was not the man to incur suspicion in his kindly efforts in favour of those pursued by his own Church. Joined in 1557 in a commission with Thirelby, Bonner, and others for the more effectual suppression of heretics, he could not but have acted in mitigation. The commission was ordered to detect persons refusing to preach the sacrament of the altar, or to hear mass, or to take holy bread or holy water. People were to frequent their respective churches, and to assist in solemn processions. An Inquisition, modified according to the temper of those who adminis- tered it. " That Pope's prodigious property was accumulated in consequence of the destruction of the religious houses is not denied, and he was comparatively very poor and of obscure family to begin with." Warton' "could give, in minute detail, from the most authentic evidence, the grants of abbey land which he ^ 'Life of Sir Thomas Pope,' 1772; a scarce and very honest book, from which I have t?iken most of my material, SIR THOMAS POPE. 29S received during the time of Henry VIII." He says, however, that it may suffice to note generally that before 1556 he appears to have actually possessed more than thirty manors in different counties, besides other estates and several advowsons, some given to him by Henry VIII., some acquired by purchase, while he was connected with the Court of Augmentations. Now, when it is understood that this court was appointed to estimate the value of lands of dissolved monasteries and to receive their revenues, and that he was the treasurer of it, it does seem, in receiving as much as he did, that, to use the words of the Saturday Review, " he sailed as near to the wind as an honest man could without passing the line." At the present time, if such confiscation were possible, such action by a chief officer of the court would, no doubt, be impeachable; somewhat as if our minister had in the late changes of the Irish Church obtained at small cost much of its property. Of course, he was not alone in such transactions ; another distinguished man of Southwark, Sir Anthony St. Leger, a Knight of the Garter and Deputy in Ireland for the King, was actively employed in the dissolution of the monasteries. He also had his reward in a grant among others of the inn in St. Olave's parish which belonged to the Abbot of St. Augustine." It would be curious to know accurately how much of the spoil passed into the hands of those officially connected with the change, and of those so immediately about the Court that they could easily have the first news as to these coveted openings. In the report of the Commissioners are frequent little requests for good things on behalf of a Commissioner, for himself or for his friends. But to give true judgment, and to estimate morals rightly, we must weigh the differences of the times. The standard, even of morals, varies in different ages. During the time of founding his college, IS54-S, Pope chiefly resided at Clerkenwell, " a capital messuage and seyte of the late dissolved monastery," granted to him by Queen Mary. In the country he lived much — at Tyttenhanger, in Hert- fordshire, which had been the seat of the Abbot of St. Alban's. He seems also for some time, so early at least as 1546, to have Comer, 296 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. been settled at Bermondsey in Southwark/ at which place and in the neighbourhood he had acquired a very considerable property. In IS44, 36 Hen. VIII., he was one of the Commissioners of Array for furnishing 40 able men to fight for the king. The Southwark proportion was 20 men — 16 archers and 4 billmen. The earliest notice of Pope's connexion with Bermondsey I find in this, that " Edward Powell is licensed to alienate a messuage there to Thomas Pope, Kn*., the same year the monastery was dissolved." Three years and more after the surrender, i.e., 1541, the site of the abbey was granted to the Master of the Rolls, Sir Robert Southwell, at a yearly reserved rent of 10 shillings. This was the 8th July; and on 30th August following, by deed of bargain and sale, he conveyed the estate to Sir Thomas Pope and Elizabeth, his wife, in fee ; this sale was afterwards confirmed by letters patent. Sir Thomas now proceeded to build himself a house ; he pulled down the old church, with the adjacent buildings, most probably only in part, and with the materials made himself a mansion, which he called Bermondsey House ; it had orchards, edifices, gardens, stable, barns, pasture, and ponds, about twenty acres in all. In 1554-S he reconveyed the mansion so built to Sir R. Southwell, all except the " maner and its appertinencies," and such other abbey estates as he had purchased of Sir Robert in 1S41-2. The short time the Rectory was in Pope's hands he installed two rectors to the living — ^John Lewys, ISS3-4) and Alexander English. The manor itself and the estates and advowson of the Rectory were sold, and conveyed to Robert Trapp, citizen and goldsmith, in 1556; from him and his representatives, the Paulets, the Winchester family, it has come down, all which is related in the first volume of Manning and Bray's ' History of Surrey.' From the rapidity with which this and some other possessions passed from the hands of those who first, in name or in fact, obtained them, there is perhaps a shade of collusion, which must, if more than shade, modify the favourable character so generally given of Sir Thomas Pope. For instance, a grant in fee of a manor which had belonged to the Hospital of St. Thomas k Becket was made 15th September, 1545, ' Warton's Life, p. 168. Bermondsey was, however, not as yet included in Southwark, POPE FOUNDS A COLLEGE : lilS DEATH. 297 to Andrews and Grose, and the next day it was conveyed to Sir Thomas Pope. Having during his life obtained these vast posses- sions, he resolved at the last to do a great work — to found a college, that of Trinity, at Oxford, which he did, March, I5SS- In May he furnishes to the college necessaries and implements of every kind, to the library and chapel in particular ; and, that which may possibly concern Bermondsey and its records, he gave no inconsiderable collection of valuable and costly books, printed and manuscript ; to the chapel, silver vessels, embroidered vestments, copes of tissue, crosses, and illuminated missals. Of course, many such things came into possession from other dissolved houses ; but among the church ornaments of Bermondsey, rendered to Sir Thomas Ca warden and other Commissioners in 1552, were silver vessels, vestments embroidered with flowers of gold, copes, many of the richest, crosses, and Latin books of parchment, that is, missals. The ceremonial furniture of the church at Bermondsey had been remarkably plentiful and rich,' and was obtained most likely from the dissolved monastery at hand, which, from its great distinction, must have been full of such possessions. With all this, and with the founder's suave and pleasant manner, it seems but natural that the college should have feasted him as they did at his visitation on St. Swithin's Day, 1555. Among other good things mentioned are four fat does and six gallons of muscadel ; and twelve minstrels made it otherwise pleasant to the company. The time, however, came at length to him as to all men. About 1558 one of those pestilential fevers common in England is said to have destroyed perhaps three parts in four of the people of England ; among the rest thirteen bishops and men and women of the most eminent rank and quality. It is supposed that Sir Thomas Pope died of this pestilence 29th January, 1559. In a half -prophetic way he had devised a building at Garsington, near Oxford, to which the society might retire in time of danger. "That fair quadrangle of stone " was built after his death. It might have been better if the statesmen of the time could have ordered it so that the pest should have retired from them instead of their running away from the pestilence — a lesson which ' Loseley MS. — Kempe. 298 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. had to be learned, and concerning which elaborate reports from the College of Physicians were made afterwards, in, for example, 1637, making it all clear enough that these people were destroyed and the land nigh depopulated in consequence of the stolid, filthy invitations always being given to disease and death. Sir Thomas being dead has to be buried, and this he desires to be done without pomp ; the way they did it is as follows : — His body was carried to the church of Clerkenwell, laid under a herse or shrine illuminated with wax tapers, for the space of a week j on the seventh day, with a standard, a coat, a pennon or banner of arms, a target, helmet, sword, and four dozen of arms, with twelve for the branches of wax tapers and six for the shrine ; attended by two heralds, twenty poor men and twenty poor women carrying torches, the men cloathed in mantle frieze gowns, the women in rails (white veils). Sir Richard Southwell and sixty or more other knights and gentlemen in black were mourners. After offerings at the high altar the company went back to banquet, and were refreshed with spiced bread and wine. The next day came the morrow mass, at which were three songs, one a mass of requiem, all sung by the clerkes of London. The old knight was then buried, and according to the custom the company went back and had a very great dinner' and plenty of all things, and a great dole of almes was distributed among the poor. There are many portraits of Sir Thomas Pope, all probably copied from the valuable picture by Holbein, in pos- session of Lord Guildford, at Wroxton ;' at his breast is the whistle, resembling a mermaid, appended to a chain : some of these prints can be readily obtained. To take leave of Sir Thomas Pope and his memory pleasantly, let me. give an anecdote of his charming little grand-niece, just born at Wroxton when James I. was king. On his round, enjoy- ing a little hawking and bear-baiting, according to the fashion ' These funerals usually wound up with a great dinner, absolute grief was evidently not expected, and a pleasing recollection of a patron and friend out of sight was secured. See Machyn's Diaiy, which one might almost call a mono- gi-aph on funerals. The diarist evidently appears to think that nothing becomes a man's life so much as his leaving it. ' Granger. BERMONDSEY ABBEY. 299 of the time, the little lady of Wroxton was presented to the king, with this quaint epigram in her hand, — See, this little mistres here, Did never sit in Peter's chaire, Or a triple crowne did weare ; And yet she is a Pope. No benefice she ever sold, Nor did dispense with sins for gold ; She hardly is a sev'n-night old, And yet she is a Pope. No king her feet did ever kisse, Or had from her worse look than this ; Nor did she ever hope To saint one with a rope ; And yet she is a Pope. A female Pope you 'II say, a second Joan ; No, sure — she is Pope Innocent, or none. ^ The king was, as he ought to be, delighted. The abbey, the spoils of which came to Sir Thomas Pope, was surrendered 1537-8. A full sketch of the Priory and Abbey of Bermondsey is a-, matter demanding a paper to itself. Here it may suffice to say that it was established in 1082 by a London citizen ; at first as a cell or subordinate connexion of a French priory — of La Charity on the Loire ; it became very famous, was patronized by rich and great men,' and had very much property bestowed upon it. In the troubles of the kingdom, especially in those with France, the priory knew many vicissitudes, was for- feited and restored, fined and troubled in many ways ; here was a retreat for noble people, notably Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV., who died here, as did also many others of high rank, among them the widow of Henry V., who had condescencfed to the Welsh chief, Owen Tudor, marrying him soon after the king's death.* Parliaments were held here, though rarely. The abbot was a great man, known as the Lord of Barmsey; he figured among the first in the great ceremonials of the time, and his == Warton's Life, p. 413. ' Manning and Bray, ' Surrey '| ; and Dugdale. ■• For which act, he at length to Newgate, and she to Bennondsey Abbey. 300 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. powers were as a little king in his own dominions, even, it appears, to life and death." At length, in the general spoliation, the abbey was surrendered, and if all the Water Poet says" was true, it deserved its fate. It began with a far stricter discipline than most others — contentment with the meanest things and absolute poverty ; it ended as a scandal to the neighbourhood. The last abbot, Robert Wharton, or Parfew, must have assisted very pleasantly in the surrender, as, personally, he made a very good thing of it, and retired with a considerable income and the Bishopric of Hereford. To visit Bermondsey Abbey as a pilgrim was a work of grace. Here was a celebrated cross which did wonders both for body and soul. To visit it in a becoming spirit was to wipe off much deserved punishment in purgatory, and to remove disease ; and this cross was efficacious for other more interesting purposes. So John Paston, 1465, writes to his mother, — "As lowly as I can I beseech your blessing," telling her what strait he is in for hose — the nobleman was badly off for stockings ; in a kindly way he says as to his sister, — " I pray you, mother, visit the Rood of Northdoor and St. Saviour at Bermondsey, while ye abide in London, and let my sister Margery go with you to pray to them that she may have a good husband ere she come home again." In fact there was some trouble in obtaining a hus- band for Margery : when she met with one they didn't like him ; but she apparently did very much, and this in such cases is more to the point. The Manor-house, Bermondsey House, must have been a noble and costly edifice ; the site of it is represented by the present Bermondsey Square and the adjacent land. We need indulge in no mere conjecture as to the grandeur of this mansion. In its previous condition, queens and other not much less distinguished people could be lodged and entertained over and above the usual numerous inhabitants of a great abbey.' At a somewhat later ' The Prior and Monks of Bermondsey had the franchise of Royal and Criminal Jurisdiction, Infangthef, Theft, Smnmons, and Inquest, and had a gaol and gaol delivery within their district. — City Solicitor, 1818. "He implies the worst — that in fact it was a very loose place . ' 'Paston Letters,' Knight's ed., vol. i, p. 191. ' Manning and Bray, vol. i., Phillips's History, &c. THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN AT BERMONDSEY. 3OI time it became the residence of a great officer of state ; here the Queen visited him; "on Tuesday last, May 27th, 1594, Her Majesty came to London to see my Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Sussex,' who was very sick." He lived at Bermondsey. As to the noble construction of Sir Thomas Pope's mansion, much of it remained even up to this last century; portions, evidently of a great mansion, were still left to be investigated by skilled and enthusiastic men. Carter, second to none as both architect and antiquary, — Buckler, architect and enthusiast as to his native parish, — Wilkinson, in his ' Londina,' — and Manning and Bray, — all these leave little to be desired. It has been said that Sir Thomas Pope reconveyed the mansion to Sir Robert Southwell in 1554-S ; afterwards it became the residence of Thomas RatclifFe, Earl of Sussex, Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth; the precise date I don't know, but in 1570 the queen visited _him here.' She must have done so several times. In 15 75 the Earl of Sussex is here "taking physic." In fact, the place is lodging, hospital, place of general relief, and what not. 1563, the Lady Lane died in childbirth at the late Abbey of Bermondsey." So early as 1377 " one is ill under the care of the prior of Bermondsey, and one of our kings came to Bermondsey to be cured of the leprosy." In 1583 the earl died here. In the codicil to his will, dated May 21st, 1583, he orders that his executors shall keep house at Bermondsey twenty days after the interment, and they were to expend 1,500/. and no more ; but they did spend more, the funeral charges alone amounting to 1,629/. 5^. O^ii., and for housekeeping they spent i5g/. 8s. 2d. The inventory of his effects in Bermondsey House amounted to 1,585/. These were large sums, and must be multi- plied by perhaps eight to give us the notion of how much it would amount to now. The funeral charges of 1,629/., by the side of the value of his goods, 1,585/., appear somewhat out of proportion. But we must recollect he was a great officer of state, his burial place was far off in Essex, and his body was to be accompanied by a great procession. There were 45 poor men in black gowns, » Hist. MSS. Commission, App. to fourth Report, p. 336 ; this probably refersrto the son ; if the father the date is wrong. ' NichoUs, ' Progresses of Queen Elyzabeth. ' ' Machyn, 'Diary.' 302 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. 120 serving men in black coats on horseback, 95 gentlemen in black; then came heralds, then the deceased, drawn by four geldings ; next came the succeeding earl, followed by eight other lords. The Earl of Essex was there, as were the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, Gentlemen of Grey's Inn, and the Company of Merchant Taylors in their liveries. It is something to witness such a procession as this, if only in the mind's eye, setting out from Bermondsey House. . Notwithstanding this pomp and expense, the family were poor, perhaps on account of the like ways; Earl Henry, who was here in 1587, is said to have had but 4S0/. a year.' A quaint old book,^ pleasant to read, albeit of old botany and the nature of plants according to the belief of the time, tells us that bitter-sweet grows " by a ditch side against the garden wall of the Right Honorable the Earl of Sussex his house in Bermondsey Street by London, as you go from the court which is full of trees, unto a farm house neare thereunto." And melons, he says, are in very great plenty, near the same house in Bermondsey, especially if the weather be anything temperate. The grounds of the mansion extended to that part which is now known as the Neckinger, and Gerard will, I think, help us to the original meaning of the name. He says of the wild willow herbe, that it is to be found nigh the place of execution at St. Thomas a Watering (near where now is the Green Man), and by a style by the Thames bank, near to the Devil's Neckerchief, on the way to Redriffe." The DeviVs neckerchief would seem to be euphemistic, or slang, for the gallows, or the rope, or the " hempen collar." In Atkinson's 'Glossary' "neckinger" is a neckerchief, as "muckinger" is a dirtied handkerchief. The variations of old English words are common enough, as "kercher," "handkercher." In short, the Neckinger is nothing more than neckerchief, but implies, I think, its proximity to a place of execution, the " Devil's Neckerchief on the way to Redriffe." " Buckler, MS., British Museum. ' ' Gerard's Herball,' 1597, by John Gerard, Surgeon, Master in Chirurgerie. ' The topography must have changed but little from Gerard's time to the middle of the i8th century. The Devil's Neckerchief is there still in, say 174a, Map, B.M. King's 'Maps and Plans,' xxvii. REMAINS OF SIR THOMAS POPE's MANSION. 303 An apparently complete picture of the abbey is appended to a published copy of Van Den Wyngrerde's Map, 1543, in the Bodleian : it is said to be taken from " a drawing in the possession of Mr. Upcott," and it is further borne out in a later map of Faithorne's. Elaborate pictures of the remains of Sir Thomas Pope's mansion are in Wilkinson/ with much illustrative text. Late in the last (the i8th) century were remains enough still left for the most intelligent research and descriptions of Carter and Buckler. These I shall presently note. Standing at the eastern extremity of Long Lane we see before us where now is Abbey Street, as yet no thoroughfare, large and small Gothic gateways, together the west gate, admitting into the first courtyard. Entering this court, which would comprise the first thirty or forty yards of the now Abbey Street, and looking east, on our left is the churchyard of the parish church, St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey ; on the right a zigzag cross, probably a Saxon ornament, is seen let into the wall — an object of veneration no doubt to passers by, as crosses, whether standing alone or fixed, were here in early times, and abroad now. Whether this particular cross thus set con- spicuously in the wall of the outer court by the chief entry, and at the west of the gate of it, was the object of pilgrimage or no I cannot say. Dugdale' says that " the Rood or Cross of Ber- mondsey, to which pilgrimages were occasionally made, is stated to have been found in the Thames in 11 17," which from its antiquity makes it more than probable that the Saxon cross affixed to the wall was this very Rood of Bermondsey. And John Paston, in the instance already cited, 1465, speaks of the rood of the north door. In this first court we see now an opening to the right, probably the site of the north gateway leading to the courtyard of the mansion, or great close. This courtyard is now Bermondsey Square ; and the gateway was where the open- ing now is from Abbey Street, leading to the square. Carter, lost in some sort of ecstasy, says, how prodigious must have been the elevations when entire; the general plan of the ' 'Londina lUustrata' : one said to be from an original drawing of 1679, ♦ 'Abbey of Bermondsey,' p. 94. 304 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. remains, he says, gives walls set at right angles to each other ; the greatest extent from east to west, say, 630 feet ; width, say, 225 feet. The arrangement, I quote his words, must have been vast and magnificent. " It is no difficult matter, and I conceive no presump- tion, to affirm that there were two large gateways on the west, three great courts beside inferior ones, a second cloister, dormitory, and refectory. The walls of the old abbey were not all taken down, but were used as foundations and as part elevation by Sir Thomas Pope, some showing even now early brickwork of the time of Edward IV." As to the old abbey and its people, I hope to be able to give at some future time a special paper more in detail. To those who are very curious and will take the trouble to separate wheat from chaff, the papers left by Mr. Buckler to the British Museum will be vastly interesting.' He often employs the word "conjecture"; but the books are full of facts and sound inference. A curious first condition of this valuable bequest is recorded in one of the volumes. The books were left on the condition that they should be shut up from all inspection for thirty years, that is until 1889. Happily for me, the Librarian of the British Museum prevailed upon the donor to leave his bequest unconditionally, and that it should be at once open to the public. Accordingly I have been able to copy some of these most excellent notes and drawings. The notes contain a great deal of verbal indignation against Sir Thomas Pope and other early spoilers of the abbeys, who, it must be said, have all of them been very long asleep ; — further, the living have condoned it all. And now, looking back over the vista, it is hard to see how we could be what we are but for these changes. The pictures of rooms and the plans in Wilkinson, and the map of 1746, by Rocque, will repay manyfold any trouble that the interested inquirer may take. Our public libraries, especially the British Museum and that at the Guildhall, are conducted so liberally, and the attendance is, as a rule, so courteously given, that any who wish to see may do so. I would add that in the drawings of Buckler's 'the old walls of houses and gardens are " Two vols. MS. Additional, 24,432 text; and 24,433, 'Sketches and Drawings of the Abbey of Bermondsey.' KENT STREET. 305 shown freely, and are curiously ornamented with various devices of trellis, triangles, cross keys, and the like. Buckler worked upon the subject of these volumes with much care and affection from 1 80S to 1820, and it is evident that he was well qualified in the fourfold capacity of artist, antiquary, architect, and denizen. To sum up as to this Lord of Barmsey, and with a thought or two connected with his career. The real use of history, or, in other words, a review of the past, is not barren curiosity, but that the tale should be so told as to enable us to judge justly, and so to shape better our own course. In accord with this theory, it is impossible to judge of Sir Thomas Pope upon other basis than this, that he began humbly and had to achieve his own fortune, that he held many public appointments connected with the distri- bution of extensive confiscated property, and that he died enor- mously rich — the owner of thirty-five manors in different counties, and much beside. The inference is clear — he died with unclean hands ; but, after the manner of the time, he, like Fastolf, essayed to make amends, when it was impossible for him to enjoy it longer, by establishing a noble and useful foundation. Very many, no doubt, of the colleges have, like this one of Sir Thomas Pope's, been founded, directly or indirectly, in obedience to priestly influence — I acknowledge very often for good, or as sops to the conscience. There is no doubt One who overrules evil for good. KENT STREET (MAP, 61). The very name has come to suggest low and degrading associa- tions, but for some hundreds of years the street was part of the highway from London to Canterbury, which meant, among other matters, the satisfying that insatiable gallows-tree at St. Thomas a Watering,' the travel of scores of thousands of people on pilgrim- age, or through Kent to the Continent. Chaucer, mentally at least, took his pilgrims this way. Pilgrimages were always going on. Hanging was always going on too. Through Kent Street the condemned, conducted along in carts or on hurdles to the place of execution at St. Thomas a Watering, was no uncommon sight. 5 It was at the boundary stream, immediately east of the Green Man, Old Kent Road. X 306 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. John Paston^ says of one of the pilgrimages, 147 1, "as for tidings, the King and Queen and much other people are ridden and gone to Canterbury ; never so much people seen in pilgrimage heretofore at once, as men say." New Kent Road and Great Dover Street came long afterwards; the way then was through Kent Street. True, some people might perhaps desire, in passing, to visit the monastery of Bermondsey, the saint there could do something; albeit, "St. Saviour" was not so noted or so fashionable as St. Thomas ; in this case the way would be by Bermondsey Street or Long Lane,'' — both known by these names before the time of our map — and so through the Grange Road to St. Thomas a Watering, and thence to Kent. " Kent Street ' is so called as being seated on the road out of Kent into Southwark, very long, ill built, and chiefly inhabited by broom-men and mumpers. Divers large yards are here, wherein are large stocks of birch and heath, and some only of broom staves, which the master broom-men dispose of to those who make brooms." The broom-men are noticed in the State Papers of 1599, and such the hold of customary residence, broom-men were there in 17 19, and, with variations in the shape of brushes, are there still. A jolly company, girls and apprentices, in 17 19, meet the Wapping seamen, the Southwark broom-men, and, birds of a feather, the inhabitants of the bankside, to see something improving. It is the Easter holidays, and they have arranged to see Westminster Abbey, and look over the monuments there. The broom-man is recorded in a very old song,* — " He was old, and he lived in a wood, And his trade it was making of broom : And he had a naughty boy Jack to his son, And he lay in bed till 'twas noon." ' Knight's ed., vol. ii. p. 65. ^ In a map, circa 1740, King's Library, B.M., xxvii., 48. 2, to use a modern and facetious mode of direction, the way after leaving the abbey would be by the Cock and Rummer and Bull and Butcher, both houses of refreshment in the way to St. Thomas a Watering. ' Strype's Stow, b. iv. p. 31, * Durfey's ' Pills to Purge Melancholy,' v. 6. BIRCH AND BROOM TRADE ; KENT STREET. 307 His mother, so the story goes, prevailed on Jack to alter his ways, and go out and cut broom, green broom, — " So he fell to the cutting of broom.'' He had not far to go for it, as will be seen presently. Once in this better way, it was easy to sell his brooms after they were made. So — "When Jack he came to a Gentleman's house, In which was abundance of rooms, He stood at the door, and began for to roar, C lying ' Maids, will you buy any brooms, green brooms ? ' Crying ' Maids, will you buy any brooms ? ' " And this story of his living in a wood was not merely a song ; it was as near as might be the actual fact. Kent Street was to some extent literally in a wood. Later on, 163 1, 1 quote now the grave chronicles of the nation,' " Saye's Court Wood, near to Kent Street, Southwark, is replenished with multitudes of idle people, who fetch and carry away the wood at pleasure, so that there is no timber, and the underwood is so great a receptacle for thieves, that passengers can scarce pass that way." That this was a troublesome neighbourhood was no new complaint. Some atten- tion had been given a year or two before to the number of public- houses here ; a fifth of the licences were taken away, twenty-one on the Newington side of Kent Street; in the whole district about 300 vagrants had been punished and passed on within three months. Kent Street was the general depot for the supply, not only of broom, but of the arior sapieniice, an elegant euphemism for the birch ; the schools generally looked to Kent Street for a supply of this persuader. The rules of St. Saviour's Grammar School,' possibly a sample of many, will show how this birch trade was kept up. The rule of coercion and fear, instead of persuasion and kind regard, was, as we have seen, the rule in religion, in education, and, for the most part, in everything. As to the schools and the treatment of the young, Solomon has much to answer for. To say that clever men push through the process is only to say, happily, that nature is stronger than man, and that the power to spoil is limited. 5 Rolls Papers (Dom.), 1631. « Wilkinson, 'Londina,' and MS. of rules p.m. ; see "Grammar Schools." X 2 308 OLD SOUTI-nVARK AND ITS PEOPLE. The Commissioners, in 1566, did not overlook Kent Street— an act was passed for paving ; and in 1640, one instance among more, a presentment was made of a ditch or sewer along, the street, which drained alike divers tenements in St. George's parish and in Newington— the north side in St. George's parish, the south in that of Newington ; it was ordered that the ditches into which they all drained (they were open ditches) were to be cast and maintained, and each occupier was to pay a rateable share. In my early time there were "ditch-casters," so called; and I have seen them at their work, casting; that is, emptying the ditches— an extinct trade now, so far as London is concerned. In a will, 1635, one Humphrey Williams leaves some valuable property in Kent Street, bounded by the ditch, or common sewer, known as the "Monk's Ditch," it maybe supposed of the old tonnexion with the monks of Bermondsey, who were the lords of this liberty/ A very strange Kent Street story turns up in 1664.= It would now scarcely adorn the corner of the lowest paper, then it was the subject of a broadsheet cried about the streets, and was probably believed ; this kind of thing has not so very long gone out. Our narrative is " to the tune of summer-time," as they commonly drawled it out in the streets, no doubt ; it was printed on London Bridge. This broadsheet is a warning to all such as desire to sleep on the grass. Mary Dudson is servant to Mr. Phillips, a gardener in Kent Street, — she was found dead asleep in the garden, and no ordinary noise could awake her. After a long sickness, on August 14th, she vomited up fourteen young adders, and one old one,' about fourteen inches in length ; the maid is yet living, the writer says, who remarks that the like hath not been known in the age. It might be absurd to quote^this, but the ballad and broadside literature of the times is full of stories, horrible and marvellous, and they are generally told very circum- stantially, much as Defoe himself might have written them. Pepys gives us an interesting scene of the plague time. He and Captain Cocke, known to those who read the ' Diary,' goe together through ' ' Reports of Charities, 'vol. xi v, p. 560. * 'Handbook to Popular Literature,' W. Carew Hazlitt, 1867. ' Probably the case had a real foundation as one of woims, which are some- times very large and are vomited from the stomach. ST. GEORGE'S BAR, KENT STREET. 309 Kent Street — ^just now very sad throug-h the plague ; people sitting-, sick, with plasters about them, in the streets begging. Evelyn, about the same time, tells us of one Burton, a broom-man, and his wife, who sold kitchen stuff in Kent Street; the broom-man became rich, and achieved dignity as a Sheriff of Surrey: At the end of Kent Street was a bar — Southwark, or St. George's Bar.* The names, Smithfield Bar, Holborn Bars, Temple Bar, will show the meaning. In the two former and this of Kent Street it implied nothing more than posts and a chain, indicating a boundary. In 3 Edward III. is a record of one Burford dying seised of ten cottages at "Southwark Bar"; in 1460 the Duke of Buckingham died possessed of an inn and seven cottages near "St. George's Bar"; so that Buckenham Square, the name given to some late erections here, is more appropriate than perhaps was known to those who gave the name. Kent Street has not been monopolized altogether by broom-men and mumpers. It has been the scene of splendid cavalcades and processions, as must, of course, be supposed of the main way to Kent and the Continent. In 1522 the Emperor Charles V., with great state, accompanied our Henry VIII. into London, acting their diplomatic play, as it were, before the eyes of the people. About a mile from "St. George's Bar " was a tent of cloth of gold put up, in which the royal folk reposed while the heralds marshalled the procession. At the end of Kent Street, by the Bull Inn, containing about an acre — Buckenham Square now covers a part of it — is a long strip of ground, formerly known as the Toll Acre. This is incidentally noticed in the ' Decrees ' ^ in connexion with the great fire in Southwark, 1676. The Duke's Acre in St. George's Fields and this Toll Acre by the bridge in Kent Street had been demised by Lord Abergavenny to Thomas Knight. George Neville, Lord " Burge- venny," was Buckingham's son-in-law, and was, in 1521, impli- cated in his treason. This fact explains the early possession of the land demised to Knight. In 1387 the brethren of Bermondsey paid a quit rent to the City for ground hereabout : the document is worth quoting.^ n Rich. II., 1387. "To all the faithful in Christ. ' Comer, Notes and Queries, July, 1862. 2 Town Clerk's Office, Guildhall. ^ Riley, 'Memorials,' p. 498-9. 310 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. Nicholas Extone Mayor, the Aldermen and other citizens of the City of London, greeting in the Lord." The Mayor notes that " he has received from Brother Henry Colyngbourne, Prior of the house of St. Mary in Southwark, and others the religious men there, 13' d^ yearly, due for a garden formerly belonging to W" de Exmuthe, in the parish of St. George, without the bar of Suthwerk, near to the Kings highway called Kent strete." The Barre of Suthwerk is noted so early as 1 322-1 363.'' In the time of Edward IIL the Earl of Warren and Surrey had a third of the tolls, and Mr. Corner thinks it probable that tolls were collected here, much as the octroi is now in some Continental towns. The toll-place, removed in my own time, was probably on, or close to, the spot where the ancient " bar " was. It is also probable, considering the proximity, that this toll was connected with the very handsome bridge that was here." The bridge, says Mr. Corner, was well known to the sewer people as Lock's Bridge, or the Lock Bridge ; it had been covered up for many years, the sewer being built up close to each side of it on arched brickwork, and so with the bridge covering the stream. A drawing of it was taken by the late Mr. Newman, architect.' * Riley. * A veiy clear picture of it, Journal Arclucolog. Association, vol. iii. * Who kindly lent it to me for the purpose of copying ; the woodcut above represents the original drawing of the Lock, or Loke Bridge. THE SITE OF THE LOCK HOSPITAL. 311 It consists of a pointed arch of stone with six ribs, similar to the oldest part of the old London Bridge and to those of Bow and Eltham. There are, however, no mouldings to the bridge; it was mere'y chamfered at the edges. Its date may be about the mid -lie of the fifteenth century. It carried the Old Kent Road over the streams, which, here in low ground, flowed from Newington towards Bermondsey, and formed, as they do now, the boundary between the parishes. The dimensions of the bridge are : width, 20 feet ; span of arch, 9 feet. In Rocque's Map of London, 1746, the stream is laid down, forming a large pool at the Bull, passing under Kent Street, and then running eastward, to the Bermondsey New Road, which now is, but was not then, made; both sides of the Kent Road are shown lined with hedge-rows. This copy is taken from Rocque's Map, 1746, Guildhall Library, and represents the actual site of the Lock Hospital and the imme- diate locality before the late great changes began. The stream passes toward the Thames, across the highway, between the Lock and the Bull Inn, and here it was covered by the Lock Bridge. 312 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. East of the one-mile stone. the highway is the Old Kent Road, west of it, the way to St. George's Church, through Kent Street. The bridge was probably manorial, erected by the monks of Bermondsey, who were lords of the part of Southwark known as the Great Liberty Manor ; the ancient relic was not injured by the new works, but was necessarily covered up again. Before quitting the subject, I note in a sewer presentment,' 1640, this order : ''The Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of the City of London are to make up and amend the bridge called the Lock Bridge at the south end of Kent Street, also the bank of the sewar, east side of the way as far as their rules extend." That would be as far as St. Thomas a Watering.' The name Lock probably comes from loque, rags or fragments applied to sores ; or it may be from Loc, Loke — Saxon, to shut up or confine. The word applied to hospitals has come to mean places for lepers, and later on for other loathsome diseases. Bermondsey Abbey itself was a place of some resort in sickness, as might be expected, when the monks were in the main the doctors of their day ; and their places were the hospitals and infirmaries to which people came, either as in or out-patients, for relief and cure. If physical skill was wanting, faith and imagination and the influence of a shrine or healing water were spiritually invoked, and no doubt very great good was done. The Loke Hospital, Le Loke, a lazar house situate in Kent Street, Tanner" thinks is the same as that which, in the time of Edward IL, and perhaps before, was a place for lepers. It was outside the borough, and dedicated to the appropriate saint St. Leonard, the saint of captives. This hospital was dedicated to the blessed Mary and St. Leonard. Such dedication did not, however, save it from penury and trouble.^ In the 14 Edward II., 1321, it is recited that the master and brethren of the Hospital of the blessed Mary and of St. Leonard, for lepers, without South- ' MS., Guildhall Library. " Where their boundaiy stone is now. " 'Notitia Monastica.' ' Wilkinson, ' Londina Illustrata,' has a picture of this lazar house, and an account of this and other houses of the .kind. A representation of the interior arrangements is in the King's Library, B.M. xxvii., Maps and Plans. LEPERS AND LEPER HOSPITALS. 313 wark, had not wherewith to support themselves, and protection ag-ainst molestation was given for two years, the King beseeching his loving subjects piously and mercifully to aid them. In 1 346 a royal mandate was issued, that all who have blemish are to quit London and the suburbs, to betake themselves to the country, and to seek their victuals through such sound persons as ipight be found to attend them. Any person harbouring a leper after this notice was to forfeit house and buildings.^ In 1372 a baker so afflicted is ordered away on pain of pillory. In 1375 Wm. Cook, the foreman at Le Loke, is sworn not to bring in, or to know of lepers being brought into the City. The leprosy did not confine itself to the poor; there were one time or another hospitals for people of condition. The youngest son of the Earl of Leceister, temp. Richard II., himself, I believe, a leper, founded an hospital near Leicester, and dedicated it to St. Leonard. The Angevin kings and their families were said to be troubled. Henry III. (12 16- 1 272), Henry IV. (1399-1413) were, it is said, afflicted with leprosy. The Mayor of Exeter, 1454, was a leper, 1412, the King, Henry IV., was "at a stone house" somewhere in Bermondsey, "to be cured of a leprosie," where Lambarde,^ who is the authority, does not say, but in the neighbourhood of the Lock ; and the monks of Bermondsey are, it appears, known in connexion with the disease, so that the King, Henry IV., came here to be cured. It is so stated because the King signed some charters while he was upon this errand in Bermondsey. The year after this he died. 1437, John Pope' gave to the governors of the house of the poor Leprous, called Le Lokes, 6* 8* annual rent for ever. Gower, in his will, left ten shillings to the houses of the lepers in the suburbs, " so that they may pray for me." In I S92, very troublesome times, when places were narrowly searched for traitors and schismatics, protection was formally given for the " Lock poor-house in Kent Street." The disease itself, now nearly extinct, was of dreadful character and consequences, and it extensively prevailed before 120O; there were probably eighty or ninety early hospitals, or Leproseries, in 2 Riley, 'Mem. Lond.' ' Cited in Manning and Bray, vol. i. ' Stow, 1720, b. iv. p. 20. 314 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. this country : 1 1 1 are named in the ' Monasticon,' and of these seven were in London and the vicinity ; often, like, as I believe, this one in Kent Street was, they were under the care and control of the neighbouring priories and abbeys, and Knights called of St. Lazarus are said to have devoted themselves to the service of watching over the lepers. Those suspected of the disease were under surveillance, and, if disobedient, followed. In i486, te??ip. Ed. IV., a womanin Essex, suspected, would not seclude herself ; a warrant was issued to three physicians to "view and examine her diligently," which they did, and reported that she was not a leper. Had they found that she was, they were to remove her decently to a secluded place." An old author says of this and other hereditary diseases — The he who had infirmity by heritage, &c., " Mos erat apud majores virum exsecare cui ingenita asset lues, /e sanguis vitiosus latius ')% diffunderetur." Lex sane prseclara nee nbstris temporibus inoppor- tuna, ni duo essent sexus, quorum uterque hujusmodi morbis sit ^ obnoxius. The leper was to sit by the gate at the outskirts : in one notice of the thirteenth century he is to go, within fifteen days, to some outplace or fields, to be shut out from intercourse with his kind ; sometimes he was pilloried, or worse, if found after notice still mixing with others ; at religious services he might listen outside, and catch the stray sounds, or keep to the little chapel provided for him and the like. Lepers were mostly poor and in want, but only one might be appointed to sit at the door or at the gate and beg for his fellow-sufferers. Did he go about, say, like the man who, in stentorian voice, would ask in my time outside the Metho- dist Chapel, Long Lane, " Good Christians, pity the poor blind ! " he, the leper, must go "with cop and clapper, like ane lazarous," that is, with rattle, or clapper, to warn the people that a leper was at hand, so that the alms might be bestowed free of contact and with safety. In their hospitals they were not too tender over the inmates, grown people, if refractory, being punished with the birch, itiodo scholarum ; and lepers were to have a peculiar dress. Of course there were leprous cases slight or severe. The Testa- '• Rymer, ed. 1710, vol. xi. p. 365. LEPROSY A PREVENTABLE DISEASE. 315 ment of Cressid, by Henrysone, schoolmaster of Dunfermline, 1 593," tells of the severely afflicted leper, in obscure and disgusting language, which I care not to make plainer : — "Thy ciystall ene minglet with blude I mak, Thy voice sa cleir, unpleasand, hoir and hace, Thy histie lyre ouirspread with spottis blak, And himpis haw appeirand in thy face ; Quhair thow cummis, ilk man sail fle the place ; Thus sail thow go begging fra hous to hous, With cop and clapper like ane Lazarous ." Even now' leprosy in India, as in other Eastern countries, is a kind of living death. Lepers are excluded from society, and can get no employment ; and they have often given themselves up of their own accord to be buried alive, the motive being simply a desire to be relieved from physical suffering and from their dreadful state. Here and there in India are now leper villages, rows of cottages under trees, devoted to their use. This is as nearly as possible the Lock, outside the bars of Kent Street, over again.' The modern " Lock " is for another disease," and has, indeed, been so used for a long period. In a late report to the English College of Physicians there is some diversity of opinion as to the causes of leprosy ; some of the professional reporters observed leprous cases the offspring of parents equivocally diseased. The general opinion, however, is that such a condition predisposes only, and that the real causes of leprosy then and now were miasms and low or degraded living, and that this, like some other diseases, has deserted Britain steadily as those conditions have improved.^ This opinion does not, however, explain it all, and probably in those earlier times many differing forms of loathsome disease externally manifested were known as leprosy. Although * ' Bannatyne Club Papers,' cited by Simpson, afterwards Sir James Simpson. Here I would acknowledge my obligations to this exhaustive paper, "Lepers and Leper Hospitals,'' Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, 1841. ' Monier Williams, Athenaum, Aug. 4, 1877. " In Rocque's map (see page 311) it looks like a little colony, set apart. 9 Lues. ' I am indebted for this opinion to a letter I received from Mr. Erasmus Wilson. 3l6 OLD SOUTHWARK AND ITS PEOPLE. no one acquainted with modern research would confound the diseases for which the Lock Hospitals are now used with those for which the leproseries were founded, yet among the number of the diseases of the middle ages comprised under this name there were some with symptoms which inevitably suggest a vicious origin. Compare the peculiar nasal roupy cry, the sallow skin, sore eyes, disgusting blotches, and cracking lips of the infants so often seen now, especially in parish poor law practice, with the symptoms described by the early surgeons, Chauliac, John of Gaddesden, and Glanville." The last, a surgeon of the fourteenth century, tells of the infected, how they are " unclene, spotyd, glemy, and guythery, the nostrils ben stopyl, the wasen of the voys is rough, the voys horse and the here falls." No surgeon who attends in the lower districts, among the poor, but will recognize at once the likeness of this description to the pitiable cases so frequently seen among the children of the poor and abandoned. I may fitly close this account v^fith a most touching passage and picture of an unfortunate leper • of Limburg, in 1480, the last words which Heine, whose writings the Times was reviewing, ever wrote for publication ■? — "In the year 1480, says the Limburg Chronicle, everybody was piping and singing lays more lovely and delightful than any which had ever yet been known in German lands, and all people, young and old, the women especially, went quite mad about them, so that their melody was heard from morning to night. Only, the Chronicle adds, the author of these songs was a young clerk, afflicted with leprosy, who lived alone in a desolate place hidden from all the world. You doubtless know, dear reader, what a fearful malady this leprosy was in the Middle Ages, and how the poor wretches who fell under this incurable sickness were banished from all society and allowed to come near no human being. Like livino- corpses, they wandered forth, closely wrapped from head to foot, their hood drawn over their face, and carrying in their hand a rattle, called the Lazarus rattle, with which they gave notice of their approach that every one might get betimes out of their way. This poor clerk, then, whose fame as a poet and singer the Limhurg ' Copland, 'Med. Diet.,' vol. ii. p. 708. ' June 29111, 1876, p. 5. THE LEPER. 317 Chronicle extols, was just such a leper, and he sate desolate in the dreary waste of his misery, while all Germany, joyous and tuneful, sang and piped his lays Ofttimes in my sombre visions of the night I think I see before me the poor clerk of the Limhurg Chrotiicle, my brother in Apollo, and his sad suffering eyes stare strangely at me from under his hood ; but at the same moment he seems to vanish, and dying away in the distance, like the echo of a dream, I hear the jarring creak of the Lazarus rattle." No doubt there is much of Heine's poetry in this, but it is not the less a living picture, as it were, of actual scenes constantly before the people of the middle ages. The End. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Roman Remains in Soiithwark.— A map made by Mr. George Gwilt, in which are noted, with remarks, the exact spots in Soutliwark where such remains have been found, has this last week come to my hand. Thinking it might be a valuable addition to my book, I am glad to append it. It is inscribed on the map that it had been some time in the possession of Mr. George Corner. It has, therefore, the authority of the two best local antiquarians Southwark has ever had. The following words are in Mr. Gwilt's hand: — "A map of part of Southwark, showing the position of many Roman antiquities - which have been discovered within the last 33 years, but more particularly those in December last and in January of the present year, laid down and drawn by G. Gwilt, May 25, 1S19." The words on the map enclosed here by inverted commas are also his. On the site of Barclay's Brewery, in the eastern angle formed by Deadman's Place and Maid Lane, not far from the probable site of the Globe Playhouse, and close to the steam-engine well of the Breweiy : ' ' Highly glazed brown Roman vase, found here with coins, 1786." Winchester House : "At the back of Winchester House, in the fields called Southwark Park, Roman coins and a mosaic pavement, anno 1658." South of St. Saviour's Church : " 18 July, 1820, 7 or 8 feet mosaic, with figured GuiUoche, &c. — much left still." West of Mill Lane, by Battle-bridge Stairs : "April, 1819, Roman brass tags and pins, also many leather soles of shoes or sandals. St. Thomas's Street, in the south angle formed by High Street and St. Thomas's Street; " Tesselated pavement, July 26, 1819, depth 10 feet, Roman tiles." South of Cure's College, and on its actual site : "February 22, 1820, red stucco, also stuccoed floor ; about same time silver coin Alexander Severus. " Deadman's Place, close to the site of the chapel formerly there : " Hypocaust flues marked 'Px Tx,' 1806." South of the then No. 41, Union Street : " Roman sepulchral antiquities first observed upon this spot in May, 1814." East of High Street, between King Street and the Town Hall : "Many Roman lamps (30 or 40) and other antiquities, also human skull, &c. Samian Tazza, double handle, December, 1818 — ^January, 1819 ; also 7 lamps, and an um, July, 1820." Further east : " Highly glazed deep brown sepulchral Diota " (a drinking pot with two ears) " near the spot, November or December, 1818." Still further east. Meeting-house Walk or Crosby Row : ' ' Some uncertainty whether the cemetery extends further or so far as this cross +" (a -j- marked on the map). South of this cross: "Shoes, sandals, Roman potteiy, &c., &c., July 31, 1819." Opposite the then No. 200, High Street, and east of the street: "Roman cemetery thought to commence near this spot ; many bones, stiles, and shears found near No. 200, 1818." "Nothing observed hitherto of a sepulchral nature on the west side of Red Cross Street." Page 126 : I note from ' Archasologia, ' vol. xxix., elaborate remains of a Roman dwelling, with coins below, on the site of the wings of St. Thomas's Hospital. Further, in ' Archsologia,' vol. xxvi,, is a paper by Mr. Kempe Y 320 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. upon sepulchral remains found in Deveril Street, by the New Keijt Road, close to the boundai-y there of St. George's parish. He says, — "Almost eveiy excava- tion upon this spot has brought to light sepulchral urns and bottles of earthen- ware, fragments of vessels of the same substance very imperfectly baked, small glass phials, dissimilar to those called lacrymatories, but I conceive genuine tear bottles. " I have myself a glass ' ' tear bottle " of remarkably rude make, and iridescent, fomierly in the possession of Mr. Gwilt, which was marked in his handwriting as found on the spot near where the " Diota " was found in 1818. Pp. 2, note 4, and 64. Falstaffe in the fac-simile editions of the folio 1623. See Staunton's, and the diminished fac-simile edition with Mr. Halliwell's intro- duction. The Falstaffe of ' Heniy IV. , ' and of the first part 'Henry VI.,' are spelt alike. Collier says, "Fastolfe misspelt Falstaffe in the old copies" ; Dyce says of the folio that "throughout the play Fastolfe is corrupted to Falstaffe"; Malone says, " I have no doubt it was the exaggerated representation of Sir John Fastolfe's cowardice that induced Shakespeare to give the name of Falstaffe to his knight." " It was Theobald who first altered the Falstaffe of I ' Henry VI.' into Fastolfe." Others of the highest authority think there is not the least connexion between the real Fastolf and the Shakespearean character. I submit, with deference to the high authorities, that there may have been in the mind of Shakespeare some connexion between the two, and whether so or no I believe in the fitness and moral justice of the adoption in the after play. P. 16. For Vischer read Visscher. P. 81. For expect read suspect. P. 192. Second line, third paragraph, "having married an Overman" is an error ; Alice Shaw Overman was born Ovennan — she was the daughter of William Overman. See Manning and Bray's 'Surrey,' vol. iii. p. 567. P. 200. The word ' ' Clink " was introduced by me into the illustration upon the authority of a MS. Sewer Presentment, 1640, now in the Guildhall Library. P. 210 ei seq. Waynflete or Waynfleet ; possibly it would have been better in one form, Waynflete. P. 238. Olaf, not Ethelred, is the "soldier of fortune." P. 245. Curzon should be Curson. This man is one more instance of a com- missioner in high office at the dissolution purchasing largely of properties forfeited by the religious foundations in Southwark, and which it was in his office to administer on behalf of the state. P. 252. For Fastall Place read FastoU Place. Pp. 258 and 307. The birched schoolboy (about 1500 A.D. from the Babees Book, by Mr. Furnivall, Early English Text Society, 1868) is made to say : "I wold ffayn be a clarke but the byrchyn twyggis be so sharpe hit maketh me have a faynt harte. " Somehow he is late at school, and excuses himself because "his mother bade him milk the dukkis," whereupon, as might have been expected, "my master pepered my with well good spede, he wold not leve it till it did blede." There are more verses of the same sort, but these suffice to show how the arbor sapiential was applied. P. 285. There is also a good view of Bermondsey Church in 1802, by Buclder, in the King's Library, B. M. xxvii. xxvii. 48, 2. P. 312. In the same book (King's Library) just quoted is a plan of the S.E. elevation and of the interior of St. Bartholomew's Lock Hospital, Kent Street, St. George's, Southwark, surveyed 1745, by William Collier, Land Surveyor. P. 314. Womanin should be woman in. INDEX, Abbey of Bennondsey, see Bemiondsey Abbey Abbot of Bennondsey : ' ' the Lord of Bannsy," 299 ; great powers, 300, notes; the "Dekon" at the funeral of Edw. IV., 281 ; Parfew, the last, 300 Acton, deputy in the Marshalsea, 98, 105; prosecution for cruelty to prisoners, 105 Agas, map of London, 278 Alderman, the first, in the Borough of Southwark, lo Ale, Southwark noted for, 36 ; and for its brewers, 35 Alehouses, see Inns Andrewes, Bishop, 190, 221 ; a good man, a great scholar, and a wit, 221 ; a father of Ritualism, 191, 192 ; almost ready for Rome, 191, 220, 221 Annals of Bennondsey, an old record of the Abbey, 283, note 8 Apprenticeship, 1570, 141 Augustine, Abbot of St., 7 ; inn in Southwark, 267 ; afterwards Sentlegar, St. Leger House, 267 ; the Wharf, 267 Austin, William, 188 ; piously eccentric, 188, 189 ; friend of Edward Alleyn, 190; his elaborate monument, 188- 190; his ^uasi-poetical talent, 189; his admiration of women, 189 Axe and Bottle Yard, now King Street, 16 ; arms of London Bridge Gate here, 17 Aylifife, Sir John, see Alderman Bakers, compelled to buy at the City stores, 269 ; complain of unfairness, 269 ; punishments, 28, 269 Bankside, the way to the, 200 Battle, Abbot of, his inn, possessions, gardens, 272 ; and the Maze in South- wark, 273, 276 ; his bridge. Battle bridge, 272 Battle bridge, Tooley Street, 273 ; Mills, 277 Bear or Beere Alley, 226 Bear at Bridge-foot, see Inns Bear and bull baiting, see Bull-ring Beer, two or three pints a, day for patients, 1569-1574, 142 Berghene : Petty Burgundy, 271, 272; meaning of the word, 272 ; Mr. Comer upon, 271 ; similar settle- ments, 271, 272 ; Robert Curson, a commissioner at the dissolution, pur- chases property here, 272 ; and Ad- ditions. Bermondsey : Cross, 277, 278 ; Street, 278 ; stone bridge, 278 ; early state, 279 ; inns, 279 ; parish records, 286 ; ministers and rectors, 287 ; Ryder, 288 ; Elton, 288, 291, 292 ; the Whitakers, 288, 289, 291, 292 ; Mau- duit, 289 ; Paske, 289, 290 ; Parr, 290 ; his sermon before Mathew Hale, 290 ; Browning, 291 Bennondsey Abbey, the annals, Har- leian MS., 283, note 8 ; Buckler's MSS., British Museum, 304 ; origin, as a priory, 299 ; the Abbot, see Abbot of Bermondsey ; a loose place before the dissolution, 230, 300 ; its surrender, 299, 300 ; becomes Sir Thomas Pope's, 292 ; pictures of, 303 ; site, 303 ; Parliaments held here, 281 ; noble and distinguished residents, 281, 299, 301 ; a resort in sickness, 301 ; for pilgrims, 300 ; to the Rood of Grace, 303; the school, 28 1 ; Monks and Bishop of Winchester, 205 Bermondsey churches, 282, 283 ; St. Saviour's, the conventual church, 283 ; St. Mary Magdalen, the parish church, at first a chapel, 283 ; ornaments and rich properties, sale of, 285, 286 ; re- pairs and reconstructions, 284, 285 ; a fatal panic in 1618, 284; pictures of, 285. Bermondsey Manor House, on site of Abbey, 300; a noble edifice, 301 ; Y 2 322 INDEX. built by Sir Thomas Pope, 296, 300 ; who resided here, 296, 297 ; Sussex family (Lord Chamberlain's) lived here, 301 ; remains, 301, 303, 304 ; Gerard as to wild flowers here, 302 ; Carter and Buckler on the remains, 301-305 Bible ; Coverdale's, first complete printed in England, by Nycolson, in St. Thomas's Hospital, 130; its great rarity and value, 133 ; full title, 133 ; Tunstall and others destroyers of the book, 130 ; Coverdale's compromise, 131 ; Cromwell's assistance, 131 Blue Maid, or Blue-eyed Maid, see Inns Blue Mead, 10, note Boar's Head Court and Tirabs's family, 61 Boar's Head, Southwark (Sir John Fas- tolf's), 246; see Inns Bonner, Bishop, vicissitudes, 90 ; cha- racter, 89, 217 ; in the Marshalsea, 215; treatment there, 90, note; dies, 89, 216 ; buried at St. George's by night, 89, 217 Borough Market, see also Market : early notices, 23-26; 1616, 24; dues, 25, 26 ; standings in the highway, 25 ; at the hospital gates, 25 ; children born under stalls, 24 ; on site of churchyard, 25 ; granted to the City, 26 ; acts concerning, 26, 27 ; City resigns trust, 27 ; see Punishments, Pie Powder Court Brandons, Southwark people, 96 ; Mar- shals of the prisons, 96 Brandon, Sir Thomas, lOl ; Sir William, killed at Bosworth Field, loi ; Duke Charles, Marshal of Marshalsea and King's Comt, 96 ; great at jousts, loi ; illiterate, loi ; marries the French Queen, 10 1, 102 Brandon, Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk, see Willoughby Brewers and breweries, 35, 36 Bridge House, storehouse for London Bridge, 268 ; a gamer for com, 268, 269 ; a brewhouse, 268 ; the porter's and " sheuteman's " shelter, 270 ; land- ing stairs, 270; many pirates landed, 270 Bridge Ward Without, first notice of, 10 Bridge, see London Bridge, many in Southwark, I, 2; stone, Waynflete's in Bermondsey, 279 ; Paris Garden, 279; the Lock, 279, 310, 311 ; Battle- bridge, 273, 279 Brownists, notes, 80 ; at St. George's, 80 ; Taylor, the water poet, upon the, 80, 81 ; riots of apprentices against the, 81 ; see Browne, Robert Browne, Robert, founder of the Brovniists, master at St. Olave's School, 256 Brownes, from Montagues, 234, 235; Montague Peerage claim, 234 Bull and bear baiting, see Bull-ring Bull Head, see Inns Bull-ring, St. Margaret's Hill, 30 ; exact siteof, 1542 (Map, 58) ; 1561, 31 ; usual in High streets, 30; recognized by Queen and priest, 31 ; bull and bear baiting, 30, 31 Burcestre, Sir John, 274, note 9 ; pro- perty in Southwark, 276 Burial-grounds : St. Olave's, 245 ; St. Saviour's, 198 Burials, without a. coffin, in a sack, 144, note 9 ; St. Saviour's, with and with- out a coffin, 198 ; charges, 1613, 198 ; within the church, 199 ; a third of the people buried in ^ 1625, 224 ; St. Thomas's, charges and conditions, 144, note 9 ; disagreement as to, 127 Burning to death, 74, 115, 196, 197 Cade in Southwark, 1450, 18, 19 ; his rebellion a political outbreak, 19; see Inns, White Hai-t ; outbreak ended iij St. Margaret's Church, 211 Cage, 27, 28 ; a temporaiy prison or place of detention, 8 ; Long South- wark, 27 ; Little Burgundy, 27, 29 ; St. Olave's, 248, 249; St. Saviour's, 249 Chain gates, St. Saviour's, 196, 199 Charitable and other public institutions, natural process of rise and decline, 134, 135 Charles V., the Emperor, in Southwark, 32 ; asks grace for prisoners, 32 Chaucer, Geoffrey or Geffrey, 32 ; and the Tabard, see Inns, Tabard ; birth, 52 ; occupations, income and allow- ances, 53 ; member of Parliament and pay for same, 53 > his wife Philippa Roet, 53 ; an intense lover of nature, 51, 52; a reformer, 54i note; dis- missed from his offices, 53 ; feels the pinch of poverty, 54 ; takes comfort and addresses his purse, 54 ; John of Gaunt, his patron and related by marriage, 53 ; Gower is his friend, 52 ; portrait in words, 52 ; pictorial, 52 Chaucers in Southwark, 52 ; Richard, 23 Christopher, see Inns Chrysomes, 90, note INDEX. 323 Churchyard Alley, St. Olave's, 245 Church, the old, tendency to absorb pro- perty, 247 ; spoil at dissolution passing to lay hands, 295 Church Riots: St. Olave's and St. Saviour's, note, 81 ; St. George's, 80 City, jurisdiction in Southwark, 3 ; peti- tion as to, 1325, 7; again 1377, 8; strengthened, 1462, 8, g ; powers, 1462, 9 ; increasing, 1550, 9 ; disputes as to, 1663-4, II ; adverse decision of judges, II ; final decline of, 11 City of London : liberal contributions to St. Thomas's Hospital, 156 ; liberality ■worthy of praise, 135 ; should now conform to the times, 13S Clement, see Inns Clergy, in time of plague, 79 > immo- ralities of, Mr. AMiite's committee, 81 Clink, the, 4 ; see Prisons Close or Cloisters, see Montague Close Cobhams, buried at St. Saviour's, 176 Cocker, Edward, buried at St. George's, 86 ; were Hawkins and he one person ? 86, 87 ; Pepys's account of, 87 ; his arithmetic and dictionary, 87 Compter or Counter Prison : Hooper and Rogers were confined here, 197 ; apparently farmed, 48 ; destroyed in fire of 1676, 48 ; not rebuilt, 48 Conflicts in Southwark, see Wat Tyler, Cade, Wyatt, Rainsborough, &c. Conjurers, see Wizards Conqueror, the, destroys Southwark, 5 Cooper, Bishop, versus Mai-prelate men, 1 74 ; preaches at St. Saviour's, 220 Copley family of the Maze, 274 ; pro- perty in Southwark, 276 Comer, Mr. George, cited, 4, note 7 ; 7, note 3 ; 9, and on numerous other pages Coverdale, preaches at St. Olave's, 132 ; his Bible printed in Southwark, 130 ; see Bible Cromwell, Thomas, or Cr«mwell, 132 ; has property in Southwark, 132 ; leaves property to Beeston of St. Olave's, 132 ; greatly favours the pub- lication of the Bible, 130 Cross, the Bermondsey, 277 Cross or Crowned Keys, see Inns Crosses in the highways, 277, 278 ; sanc- tuaries, 277 ; stations for prayer, 277 ; guide posts, 277 Crucifix Lane, 3 Cruelty, in connexion with religion, 218 ; absurd, 262, note 7 ; common to all creeds, in different degrees, 236, 264, note 5 ; aggravated by enforced celi- bacy, 217, 230, note 7 ; in sports and punishments, 32, 124 ; exhibitions in public, 31, 32 Cucking Stool, with illustrations, 200, 201 Cure, of St. Saviour's, 184 ; his alms- houses, 185 ; test for his almsiDcople, 185 Curfew Bells, 74 ; one at St. George's, 74 Deadman's Place, 224 ; origin of name, 225 ; burial-place, 224 ; probably a residence first, 226 ; the sewer, 2, 226 Deaths at advanced ages, 286, 287, note 4 ; Bermondsey, 286 ; St. George's, 91 Death emblems, 170, 181, 1S3, 186-189, 294 Debtors in Southwark prisons, 16, 53, 104 Dike, Dyck, I, 2, 223 ; see Swamp, Sewer Diseases in swampy localities, 2 Dissolution of religious houses : effect on poor relief and education, 134, 135, 253, note 6 ; state of society at, 134, 135 ; state of religious houses, 134, 135 ; spoils pass chiefly into lay hands. Ditch casters, 308 Ditches, I, 2, 275 ; most of them after- wards sewers, 2, 3 ; Black Ditch, 3 ; Monk's Ditch, Bermondsey, 30S ; Tabard Ditch, S5 Dog and Duck, see Inns Doggett the player at the Angel, St. George's, 96, note Dogs, mastiffs, for sport, 275 Doles, 176, 177 ; one fatal at St. Mary Overy's, 177 Domesday Book, summary as to South- wark, 5 Ducking Stool, see Cucking Stool Edward VI., grant of Southwark to City, 9, 10 Elizabeth, Queen, the Pope's bull de- posing, 16, 74, note 5 ; her portrait in churches, 195, 196 ; removed from St. Saviour's, 196 Emigrants and refugees, 262 England the " asylum Christi, " a refuge for the persecuted, 265 ; greatly pro- fited by this act of charity, 265 Executions, cruel and numerous, 75 ; conducted carelessly, 75 ! repeated after failure, 75 ', how and by whom performed, 75 ; "prest to death," 324 INDEX. 90, and note 7 ; display of remains of the dead, at London Bridge Gate, 227 ; at Pepper Alley Gate, 227; see Burning to Death Falstaffe, Falstaff, Fastolfe, Fastolf, see Fastoir, Sir John ; not Sir John Old- castle, 45, 61, 62 ; see Inns, Boar's Head, White Hart, cScc. Fastolf, Sir John, of Fastoll Place, Stonie Lane, 60 ; character, greedy, 63, 64 ; revengeful, 64 ; suborns judges, 64, 66 ; servants' testimony against, 64 ; pays his servants and retainers with promises, 64 ; an idea about that he is a boaster and a coward, 64 ; popular opinion of him, 44, 63, 64 ; the opinion of Cade and his people, 44, 45, 64, 65 ; enlightened popular opinion of him, 45, 65 ; tes- timony of thePastonLetters, 63 ; of Hall the chronicler, 63 ; Shakespeare pro- bably kneviT this, 45, 63 ; what, ac- cording to Shakespeare, the people thought, 63; "the old lad of the castle," 65 ; may have some connexion with the character of Falstaff, 45, 62 ; is a trader, 66 ; lends money on pro- perty, 64 ; traffics in wardships, 63, 64 ; Scrope's testimony " sold like a beast," 63 ; absurd praise of, 62, note 8 ; wliat Fuller says, 62, note 7 ; is very rich, 66 ; enormous possessions in Southwarli 60 ; including the Boar's Head, 59 I Bishop Waynflete his friend and executor, 60 ; quasi- founder, through Waynflete, of Mag- dalen College, Oxford, 60, 6l, note 5 ; fears for his soul's welfare, 65, 67 ; reputation, 65, and note 6 ; age and death, 66, 67 ; scramble for his pro- perty, 66, 67 Fastolf Place, Stony Lane, 2, 60 ; a. princely house, 60, 280 ; receives noble guests, id. ; filled with soldiers in Cade's outbreak, 60 Fastolfs, many in Soulhwark, 60, note 3 Feriy from old time by St. Mary Overy's, 228 Fillingham, J., a topographical collector, 109, note Fires in Southwark, 17, 45-47, 156; tire decrees, and Act of IParliament, 1677, 47, 236, note ; scandal as to origin, 45, 46 ; broadsheet as to the tire of 1676, 46, 48 ; on London Bridge, 1 7 Flemish Refugees and Emigrants, 262, 263 ; many in Southwark, 266 ; names of some, 266 ; England a ready refuge, 265 ; introduced trades, 265, 266 ; of great benefit to this country, 262, 266 ; suffered in Wat Tyler's and other out- breaks, 18, 263, 264; weavers' trade regulations, 263, note Floods in Southwark, 248, note 8 Flower de Luce, 273 Forests of trees, i Forts, temp. Ch. I., in St. George's parish : Kent Street, 90 ; Blackman Street, 90 ; Dog and Duck, go ; death by fall of one of them, 90 Fowler, last prior, St. Mary Oveiy, see Linsted Fox, Bishop of Winchester, 171, 211; liberal and unselfish, 211 ; poor, 211 ; portrait, 211 ; reports badly of South- wark morals, 211 ; supplanted by Wolsey, 211 ; see Fox's screen Fox's screen at St. Saviour's, 171, 172, 211; concealed by wood and plaster, 171 ; restored, 171 ; Carlos tells us all about it, 172 Gangdays, "beating" the parish boun- daries, 121 Gaol fever, 97, 98 Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop of Win- chester, see Winchester House Gatehouse, prison of Old Southwark, the Gildable Manor, 8, 249 ; of West- minster in illustration, 250 George, see Inns George the Martyr, St. : Rectory given to Bermondsey Priory, 1122, 69; gild of our Lady and St. George, 7°> 73 '> festival day, 73 ; forts time Charles I. , 90 ; the present church built, 70 George the Martyr, St., the old church of : picture of by Hogarth, 68 ; descrip- tion, 68, 70 ; first founded, 69 ; Roman stone in tower, 69 ; ancient font, 69 ; stained glass, 70 ; monuments and in- scriptions, 85, 86 ; heretics condemned here, 74 ! '^ sanctuary, 75 > ^ tumult in 1641, 80 ; congregations, 78 ; rec- tors, ministere, preachers, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, note 4 ; burials of noted people, 87-91; e.g., Bonner, 89; Cocker, 87 ; Rushworth, 88 ; Udall, 92 ; registers, curious extracts, 90, 91 ; deaths from plague, 79 ; irregidar , marriages, 83, 84 ; baptisms, 83, see Mint Marriages ; George Mould's marriage (Duke of Albemarle), 84; lay marriages according to the Direc- tory, 84, note 2 INDEX. 32s Gilds, Toulmin Smith on, 242, note ; several in Southwavk, 243 ; functions, duties, and customs, 242, 243 ; rules, 73 ; proceedings and ceremonies, 243 ; processions, 120; plays performed, 119; liigli moral tone of some, 120; suppression, 242 ; modern representa- tives of, 242 Gild, St. George's, of our Lady and St. George, 7° ! triefs, yi, J2; gifts to, 73 ; rules of a like gild, in illustration, 73 Gild, St. Margaret's, HI Gild, St. Olave's, 242 Gild, St. Saviour's, 243 Gildable Manor, the most ancient in Southwark, 7 ; boundaries of, 7, note Goat, see Inns Godwin, Earl, mansion in St. Olave's, 5 ; a Lord of Southwark, 5 Goodchepe's Key, Tooley Street, 267 Goodyere, 281, 282 ; burial of Henry at St. Olave's, 282 ; house in Bermondsey, 279, 281 Gower, 181, 182, 183 ; marriage, 182 ; at St. Mary Overy's, 182 ; lived in the Close, 182 ; burial and monument, 182 ; bequests to Southwark churches, 72, 183 ; and to the Lock, Kent Street, 313 Grammar Schools, 251, et seq.; effect of dissolution upon, 253, note 6 ; rules and regulations, 258, 261 ; punish- ments, 253, note 9 ; near churchyards, 252 ; St. Olave's, 247, 253 ; St. Saviour's, 200, 257 ; founded 1562, 257 ; founders, 257 ; schoolhouse, 257 ; destroyed by fire, 261 ; pictorial repre- sentations, 261 ; governors, 260 ; in- tended scholarships, 261 Green Dragon, see Inns Greyhound, see Inns Health : local causes of sickness, 29, 223, 227, 251 ; natural laws of God versus particular providence, 251 ; con- ditions disregarded, 297, 298 Heresy, trials and persecution for, 74 ; Hooper and Rogers at St. Saviour's, 196, 197 ; the scene, 197 ; at Win- chester House and in the Southwark churches, 216 Hide, Abbot of : inn at the Tabard, 34, 55 ; his chapel here, 55 ; rewarded at the dissolution, 56 Hock, Hoke, or Hoc, a jTz/^m'-religious frolic, 118 ; money for the church, 117 ; days, women's and men's, 117 Hogs, presented as nuisances, 2, 3 ; many kept in Southwark, 125 ; not to bo kept within forty feet of sewer, 2 Hooper, Bishop, at St. Saviour's, 174 Horse Head, Nag's Head, see Inns Hospital of St. Thomas, 125 ; first state, 125, 126; at first for "religious" of St. Mary Overy, 126 ; the Almery at Bermondsey, 126 ; the place for the poor at St. Mary Overy's, 125 ; Bishop Peter unites the two, and founds St. Thomas's Hospital, 126 ; Roman occu- pation and remains on the site, 126 ; a sanctuary here, 129 ; refounded by Bishop Peter for religious men and \\'omen, 126 ; who have rights and privileges of market, &c., 127 ; visita- tion and rights of bishops, 127 ; King's right paramount, 127, 128 ; Plenry VIII. interferes corruptly, 127, 128 ; letters of Queen Elizabeth, Charles I. , Cromwell, and others as to presenta- tions, 128 ; dissolution and surrender, 129, 130, 134; precincts, 130; a cele- brated printing press here, 130, see Bible ; state of, between dissolution and refounding, 130, 148 ; refounded for poor and sick, by Edward VI., Ridley, and the City, 130, 134-136 ; touching words of the King, 136 ; liberality of the mayor and citizens, 135, 137, 156; confirmation by Parlia- ment, 139 ; variously named, 136, 137 ; neighbourhood filthy, 154, 155 ; governed by a City committee, 137 ; how governed, 137, ct seq. ; old MSS., weekly minutes, 1569-1574, 138-146 ; Sloane, 150, note 4 ; interesting illus- trations from the MSS., 138-145 ; curious regulations as to filth, 155 ; fire, 47, note 3 ; whipping-post or cross, 138, 143; punishments, 138, 143; income and expenditure, 1629, 147 ; charity-boxes and other sources of income, 140, et seq. ; stands in the courts and at the gates for sale of goods, 140 ; food and drink, 142 ; patients, some paid for, 139 ; special arrange- ments as to, 140 ; licence for, to travel homewards, 141 ; number of, 1552, 1554, 1647, 1667, &c., 147 ; diseases, old names, 156 ; morals cared for, 144 ; respect for the dead, 144 ; out-patients, 1 50 ; wards and their names, 145, 155, 156, 160; swetward, 145, 146; foul ward, 145, 146 ; cutting ward, 147 ; night wards, 146 ; midwifery, 146 ; 326 INDEX. governors of, qualifications, 139 ; weekly meetings, secret proceedings, 149 ; {eastings, 129 ; corruption, 144, 145 ; many governors remarkable men, 151-154; officers and tlieir wages, 147, 148, &c. ; curates, 138 ; physi- cian, 149 ; surgeons, 148 ; position of, 148 ; some, of high class, 128, 149 ; apothecary, 149, 150; and his "stuff," 150 ; school for teaching medicine, 148 ; fire approaches the hospital, 46, 47, note 3, 156 ; decay of the building, 1694, 156 Houses : common of timber, 280 ; stone, 279, 280; with chimneys, 280; better inside than out, 280 ; horn windows, lattice, glass, 280 Humble, Richard, monument, 185 ; "Like to the Damask Rose, " inscrip- tion, 186 ; a leading vestryman and an aldennan, 187 Hunting in Southwark, i Inns, 33 ; town houses ot private or distinguished persons, 34, 55 ; many in Southwark, 33, 34 ; names of many in charter of Edward VI., 9, note 7 ; for travellers, 1617, 33; for carriers, 35, 42 ; used for theatrical entertain- ments, 34, 35, 43 ; religious signs, 41, 49 ; Taylor, the water poet, upon, 42, 56, 57, 58 ; changing into tene- ments, 42 ; and into courts and alleys of the same name, 96, note 5 ; after- wards into warehouses, 43 ; stock of London inns, 1522, 42 ; fires among the Southwark inns, 45, 46 Inns of Southwark : Anker or Anchor, 56 Bear at Bridge-foot, 1319, 37 ; tokens, 39 ; noted visitors, 39 ; parish feast- ing; 37) 39; pulled down, 1761, 40 Bell at St. Thomas's, 57 Blue Maid, Blue-Eyed Maid, 49 ; ' Beggar's Opera ' here in Southwark Fair time, 49 Boar's Head, Southwark, 48, 59 ; Sir John Fastolf's property, 59 ; promised to Henry Wyndesore, 59 ; a John Barlow here in 1614, 15, 59 ; a token of, 1649, 59 Boar's Head, Eastcheap, 59 Bullhead, 40, 57 ! vestry notices of, 41 ; churchyard, 41 Cardinall's Hat, 57 Christopher, 33, 41, 57 Clement, 41 Inns of Southwark (continued) : Crossed Keys, 49 ; arras of the Papacy, 49 ; belonged to the Poynings, 49 Dog and Duck, 226 Dragon, 57 Falcon, 57 George, 34, 48 ; its bad sack, 48, 49 ; nearly burnt, 1670, 49 ; wholly burnt, 1676, 49 ; restored by land- lord, rent 50/. and a sugar loaf, 49 Goat, 41 Green Dragon, Foul Lane, 40 ; the inn of the Cobhams, 40 Greyhound Inn Yard, now Union Street, 17 Hart, 34 Holy-water Sprinklers, 49 Horse Head, Nag's Head, 49 King's Head, 34, 41 ; present value of site, 42, note 7 ; in Horsey Downe, 57 Lamb, 58 Mermaid, 58 Queen's Head, 33, 34 Ram's Head, 40, 58 Red Lattice or Lettuce, 36, note 2 Salutation, 41 Spur, 33, 49 Tabard, 34, 48; called the Talbot, 55. 5^ ; meaning of the name, 55, note 2 ; rent, 1539, 56 ; con- dition, 1598, 56 ; belonged to the Abbot of Hyde, 55 ; surren- dered at dissolution, 55 ; totally destroyed by fire, 1676, 56 ; see Chaucer ; Canterbury Pilgrimage, 50 ; scene before starting, 5 1 ; pil- grims, 50, 51 White Hart, 42, 57 ; the present inn modem, 43 ; the original, 1400, 43 ; Cade's headquarters, 43 ; people executed there, 43 ; Fastolf's ser- vant, 43, 44; partly burnt, 1669, 42 ; wholly burnt, 1676, 42 ; Dickens's picture, 43 White Lion, 50 ; on the site of St. Thomas's Hospital, 50 ; near St. George's Church, 58 ; near Water- gate, St. Olave's, 58 Windmill, 58 Inventories, church : see Bermondsey, St. Olave's, St. Saviour's Jcssey, Henry, minister of St. George's, 81 ; a learned man and of high re- pute, 81, 82 ; one of Cromwell's " triers," 81 ; a nonconformist, 81, 82 Kent Street Bar, 309 ; property near, 309; Duke of Buckingham's, 309, INDEX. 327 310; Bermondsey Priory, 309, 310; a place for toll, 310 ; the toll acre, 309. 310 Kent Street : the way to Kent, 305, 309 ; St. Thomas a Watering, 305 ; close by a wood, i, 307 ; paving in 1566, 308 ; ditches and sewers, 308, 312 ; the Monk's ditch, 308 ; inhabi- tants and trades, 306 ; of low position, 307 ; famous for the birch for schools, 307 ; the plague here, 308, 309 ; a broadsheet wonder story, 308 ; Bar, see Kent Street Bar; Lock Hospital and Bridge, see Lock King's Bench or Queen's Bench Prison, 96 ; a common gaol and an upper bench, 96 ; wretched and filthy state, 1618, 96; pestilential, 97; over- crowded, 97 ; supply of beer, drink, &c., 98, 99 ; Litany in ribald verse, 106, 107 King's Head, see Inns Lady Fair (St. Margaret's Fair, South- wark Fair) appointed 1462, 9 Lenthall, Sir John, Marshal of the King's Bench, 88 ; culpable and cruel in his office, 89 ; and the Brownists, 81 ; the Lenthall family, 103 Lepers : hospitals, leproseries, 313 ; many in England, 313, 314; pro- clamations and laws against, 313 ; separate, living in the outskirts, 314 ; to give notice of approach by clapper and rattle, 314, 315 ; operation to stay hereditary transmission, 314 ; manifest insufficiency of, 314;' treated with cruelty, 314; distinguished people, 313 ; Henry IV. at Bermondsey for cure, 313 ; Heine's touching picture, 317 Leprosy : affected rich and poor, 313 ; chiefly poor, 313, 314; the disease, 313, 314; preventable, 315; descrip- tions of, 315, 316 ; by old surgeons, 316 ; origin, 315 ; in some cases con- nected with Lues, 315, 316 ; now in India and other countries, 315 Levels, low, and inundations, 2 Lewes, Abbot of, his house or inn, 6 Liberties in Southwark, see Manor ; often changing, 5 ; of the Mayor, 3 ; boundary of, 5, 7, note ; King's, 4 ; Great Liberty Manor, 9 ; of the manor, 4 ; Bishop of Winchester's, the Clink, 4; Bermondsey, 5 " Like to the Damask Rose," 186 Lilbume, Lieutenant-Colonel, 223 ; lives at Winchester House, 223 ; in prison, 223 Linsted or Fowler, last prior of St. Mary Overy, 230 ; his house in the Close, 231 Lock Bridge (Kent Street), now covered, forming part of sewer, 310; sketch of, 310; description of, 311; manorial, built by monks of Bermondsey ( ?), 312 Lock Hospital, Le Loke (Kent Street), early foundation for lepers, 312 ; dedi- cated to St. Leonard, 312; Wm. Cook foreman at Le Loke, 1375, 313 ; gift to, 313; these hospitals now used for other diseases, 315 ; patients sent from Thomas's Hospital to, 141 I-ockyer, Lionel, empiric, 193 ; his pills, 193, 194; advertisement, 194; in the White Lion, 195 ; epitaph in St. Saviour's, 193 London Bridge, 12; width of way, 13; a passage of arms in 1390, 13 ; part in St. Olave's parish, 12 ; extent of, 12, 13 ; houses and shops, 12, 13 ; de- molished in 1758, 13; traders' tokens, 13 ; Norden's map, 14, 16, 244 ; a healthy place, 14 ; fires upon, 17 ; water way dangerous, 14, 244 ; many people drowned, 244 ; rock-lock, 14, 15 ; drawbridge, 13, 14 ; Bridge gate, 14, 15; conflicts at, 14; Col. Rains- borough takes it, 22 ; known as Traitors' Gate, 14, 15 ; heads placed over, 14, 15, 16, 24 ; flags from the Armada displayed, 22 ; the three bridge gates, 16, 17; water-works, see in voce Long Southwark, 23 ; description of, illustrating Visscher, 24 Lords of Southwark : Earl Godwin, S ; Odo, Bishop of Baieux, 5 ; Earl War- ren, 5, 6, 7 ; King always paramount, 5 ; King and Earl Warren, 7 ! City and Earl Warren, 8 ; Earl of Arundel, 1397) 8; King at dissolution, 9; Mayor and citizens, 9, 10, II Magdalen, the name, 282 and note Manors and Liberties : Abbot of Barmsey's, 5 ; Clink Liberty, Manor of Bishop of Winchester, 4 ; Great Liberty Manor, 9 ; King's Manor, 4 ; Liberty of the Mayor, the Gildable Manor approximately the old town of Southwark, 3, 7, note 3, 8 ; Manor of the Maze, 5, 273 ; Paris Garden Manor or Liberty, no; Manor of Southwark belonging to Archbishop of Canterbury, 4, 5 ; Suffolk (Brandon's) liberty of he manor, 5 328 INDEX. Marbeck, writer of Concordance, 107, 214; in the Marshalsea, 107, 214, 215 Margaret's, St.: Hill, 29, no; view, 1600, 122, 123 ; Compter prison, 125; Hall or Court House, 3, III ; in 1372, III; the Admiralty Court for crimes at sea, 123 ; Pepys here, 124 ; courts for recovery of debts, 123; of sewers, 124, 125; destruction by fire, 1676, 125; later buildings as town halls, 125 ; the well, 29 ; near the churchyard, 29 ; the sink, 29 ; fair of, Southwark, or our Lady fair, 33 Margaret, parish of St., Ill ; extended to Paris Garden, in; the stews here, III Margaret, church of St. -. early account, 1 100 or 113s, III; at St. Mar- garet's Hill, no, III; parish church of a large parish, no; church and parish merged in St. Saviour's, no, 121, 122 ; burial stone of Aleyn Ferthing, M.P., 1337, m; Gild of the Assumption here, in; duties of the, in, 112; old records at St. Saviour's, 112; description, 112; filthy surroundings, 112, 113; over- full churchyard, 113; in the highway, 114; act to enlarge churchyard, 113, 114; churchwardens, 113; one of them a Chaucer, 113; accounts, 116; rich vestments, books, &c., 115, 116; sources of income, 116, 117; rich gifts, 118, 119; outgoings, 117, 120; dedication day, 117; saints' days, 120, 121; curious old customs, 117, 121 ; plays perfoi-med, 119; conference here -with Jack Cade, 114 ; a death tribunal held here, 115; Cade's outbreak ended here, 211 Market, see Borough Market ; in church- yards, 23, 25 ; earnest penny and God's penny, 26 ; on Sundays, 25 ; forbidden, 25 Markets and fairs, 281 ; held on Sun- days, 281 ; customs, 281 Marshals of prisons, mostly brutal, 91, 96, 100, 104 ; see Brandon, Reynell, Lenthall Marshalsea Prison, 98, 105 ; for Admi- ralty offences, 123; broken open, 1 38 1, 18; "hell in epitome," 103-105; pleasurable side, 105, 106 ; first site and views of, 109 ; second site, 95 ; Southwark Fair and the, 1 10 Mary the Queen and Philip at Suffolk Place, 21 ; procession to the bridge, 21 Mary Tudor, the " French Queen," 276 ; her place in Southwark, 263, 276, note 4 ; marries the Duke of Suffolk, 102, 276 ; intercedes for offenders, 263 Maze, the, 2, 273, 276 ; owners, 273, 274 ; ditches, 275 ; gate, 276 Ministers, ejected, their noble action in time of plague, 287 ; influence as teachers on the rise of dissent, 289 Mint marriages and baptisms, 83, 85 ; in public-houses, 85 ; overseers attend them, 85 Monastery or Priory of St. Mary Overy, 228 ; earliest foundation, 228 ; for sisters, and afterwards for Canons of St. Augustine, 228 ; provided lodging and entertainment, 229 ; perishes at the dissolution, 5539, 229 ; the last prior, 230 Montagues, Brownes : residence in Mon- tague Close, 233 ; varying fortunes, 233, 234, 236 ; Roman Catholics, 233, 234 Montague Close, 161, 227, 232 ; the cloisters of the priory, 227 ; old re- mains, 231, 232 ; plan and plate of, 157 ; early state and present value, 229 ; Gower lived here, 229 ; granted to Sir Anthony Browne, 230, 232 ; took its name from the Montagues, i.e., the Brownes, 232 ; Prior Linsted, or Fowler, his house here, 231 ; a sanc- tuary, 23s, 237; a refuge, 235, 237, 238 ; Monteagle House and the Gun- powder Plot, 235 ; Overmans become the owners, 236 ; changes in the Close, 235 ; tenements, 235 More, Sir ,Thomas : anecdote, receives his death message from Sir Thomas Pope, 292, note Mortmain, Statute of, 247, note Neckinger, origin of name, 302 Norden, map of Southwark and com- ment, 1593, xxii, xxiii ; portion, 1600, 122, 123, note 5 Nycolson, or Nicolson, James : glass painter and printer, 131 ; and King's College, Cambridge, 131 ; his printing press at St. Thomas's Hospital, 130, 132, 134; prints Coverdale's Bible, 133 Olave, or Olaf, St., 238, 239; lauded by Thomas Carlyle, 239 ; his saintly character doubted, 239 ; religious cele- bration on the saint's day, 239, note ; his statue in the church, 239, 240, and note 9 INDEX. 329 Olave, St. : the church, 238, 240 ; early account, 240 ; chapel and aisles, 240, 241 ; gild of brethren and sisters, 240, 242 ; fraternities, 241, 242 ; church properties, books and furniture, 241 ; burials, 240, note 9, 242, 244 ; of drowned people, 244 ; Coverdale preaclies here, 244, 265 Olave, St., parish: was approximately early Southwark, 5 ; early Lords of Southwark, 6, 246 ; and other dis- tinguished people lived here, 247, 267 ; remains of important buildings, 249 ; charities, 254 ; excellent official account, ^254 Olave's, St., Grammar School, 251, 257 ; schoolmasters, 255, 256, see Grammar Schools Oldcastle, Sir John, 62 Osborne, Edward, afterwards Sir Edward, 152, 153 ; Treasurer of St. Thomas's Hospital, 152 ; Alderman and Lord Mayor, 152 ; a prominent merchant and magistrate, 153 Overcrowding and sickness, 223 Overmans, owmers of Montague Close, 236, note I ; funeral sermon of Mary Overman forbidden, 192, 237 ; inter- marriage with a Shaw (Additions) ; Alice Shaw Overman founds alms- houses by St. Saviour's Church, 192, 237 ; these almshouses now in the wrong place, 237 Overy, St. Mary : the church, see St. Saviour's ; an early Saxon church, 166 ; an Anglo-Norman of Bishop Giffard's, l66 ; the Warrens, Lords of Southwark, benefactors, 166 ; destroyed by fire in 1208, 166 ; restored by Bishop Peter de Rupibus, 166 ; Gower and other benefactors, 167 Paris Garden, a lay stall, 97 ; place for low sports, 97 ; Lord Mayor's dogs there, 97 ; master of the dogs at, 274 ; otherwise the Bears' College, 59 ; Manor now Christchurch parish, 97, note 7 Parish churches, some at first chapels of abbeys and priories, 284 Paston Letters, 43, note 9, 210, note 8 Penance, 76, 77 ; at St. George's, 76 ; St. Thomas's, 76 ; St. Saviour's, 76 ; for church riots, 81 Penry, John, to prison and to death, 108, 109 Pepper Alley and Stairs, 226 Persecution for forms of religion, 77, 94, 1 74 ; absurd, 262, note 7 ; not con- fined to any one church or people, 264 ; Calvin's crime this way, 264, note S Pie Powder Court for markets and fairs, 27 ; owner of market bound to have. Pilgrims, Bermondsey Abbey, 280 ; the benefits they expected, 280, 300 ; Chaucer's from the Tabard, 32 ; to Canterbury, 306 ; and the gilds, 54, and note 9 Pillory, 27 Pirates, 123, 124, 244 ; see also Rovers Plague, deaths from, 79, 91 ; fatal to clergy, 79 Players, conflict with Bishop Gardiner, 215 ; conflict of Field with Parson Sutton, 175 ; many named in the parish books of St. Saviour's, 180 ; Shakespearean players too, 180 Playhouses, contribute to the poor, 35 ; early in Southwark, 215 Plays at Southwark inns, no Pleasure grounds, St. Olave's, 275, 277 ; gardens, ponds, swans, &c., 275, 277 Poor working people, how they were lodged, 280 Pope, Sir Thomas, early connexion with Bermondsey, 296 ; takes the abbey at the dissolution, 292, 299 ; builds his mansion at Bermondsey, 296 ; resides in Bermondsey, 1546, 296, 297 ; his pliable and kindly character, 292 ; moderates persecution, 294 ; and Sir Thomas More, 292, and note ; and Princess Elizabeth, 292 ; becomes very rich, 293, 294, 295, 296 ; not too par- ticular how, 297, 305 ; his wife (wives), 293, note ; appoints two of the rectors of Bermondsey, 296 ; founds a college, 293, 297 ; bequests and charities, 293, 294 ; dies of a pestilence, 297 ; burial, 298 ; portrait by Holbein, 298; anecdote of his grand-niece, "little mistress Pope," 298 Post, penny, for Southwark, 1732, 40 ; in Green Dragon Court, 40 ; for letters and parcels, 40 Prices, Wages, &c. : 1276, bow and arrows, id., 55 1309, carcase of beef, i8j-., 19, note 2 ; a hog, 3j. 3n'., 19, note 2 ; a sheep, 2s., 19, note 2 1360, a mark, 13J. 4n'., perhaps 6/. now, 53 330 INDEX. Prices, Wages, &c. {continued) : 1386, knight of the shire (Chaucer), 8j. per day, 53 1389, cleric of the works (Chaucer), 2s. per clay, 54 1450, ordinary labour, 6,d. to ()d, per day, 119 1456, market rates for standings, 30 1569, market rates for standings, 25 1460, value of church books and im- plements, IIS, 116 1514, an ox, 27J. bd., 229; wages id. per day with food, 229 ; a lamb, 5j. , 229 1526, stained glass, best work, \(>d. per foot, 132 1570, wages dd. to 12a'. per day, 142; wages and conditions of service, 141, 142 ; Statute of Labourers, 19, note 2 1571, coals, i6j-. theloadof I2quarters, MS. Thos. Hosp. 1569-74, weekly payments for patients, 140, 141 1574, Dr. Bull, physician to Thos. Hosp., 20 marks, 149 1575, oysters, loa'. half bushell, 274 ; hops, 50'. lb., 274 1579, casting ditches or sewars, 275 1594, butter, 34j?. lb., 229 1599, watermen, \d, for "over," to 4a'., 226 1600, vestry, tavern bill of, 38 ; har- vest-man, (>d. per day, 260, note I ; beef and pork, \d. lb., 260, note i ; a I&mb, 5J-. , 260, note I 1613, burial charges, lod. to 32;!'., 144, note 9 1629, salaries, hospital sisters, 40J. per year ; doctor of physick, 30" ; apothecary, 60", including some "stuff"; surgeon, 36"; beadles, 3" 6< 8", 147-149 1640, sewar rates, 3 18th century prison charges, 99 Note. — All need adjustment as to rela- tive values. Prison, 91, see Gaol Fever, Marshalsea, King's Bench, White Lyon, Compter, Clink, Gate-house, &c. ; Taylor's list, 1630, 249 ; farmed at a rent, 98 ; con- sequently there are charges, plunder, and impositions, 99 ; the hell or hole, 100 ; tortures, 105, note 5 ; partiality for a consideration, 100; starvation, 99, 107 ; broken open in riots and con- fusions, 103, 104 ; occupations, 107, note ; "the basket" for poor prisoners, 99, 100 ; charitable relief, lOO ; relief of " small " debtors, 103 Prisoners : debtors, large and small, 104 ; some enjoy themselves, 105 ; act for relief of poorer, 103, 104 ; noted, 107, 108 {e.g. Robert Recorde, Marbeck, Woodman, Bishop Sandys, Sir John Eliot, Selden, Baxter, Bonner, Penry, Massinger, George Wither, &c. ) ; players and writers, 109. Processions : as shows, 32 ; to mitigate trouble and disease, 32, 210 ; at funerals, 32, see Pilgrimages, Gilds "Pulpits to Let," 287, 288 Punishments, 28, see Stocks, Whipping- post, Pillory; curious instances of, 28, 29, 143 ; public and brutalizing, 77 Quakers, in the White Lyon, 93 ; will not go to the ordained places of religious worship, 93 ; indictment of, 93, 94 Queen's Head, see Inns "Qui parcit Virgam edit filium," 253, note 9, 258 Rainsborough, Colonel, Parliamentary commander in Southwark, 22 ; assaults and carries the Bridge Gate, 22 ; the Parliament thanks the people of South- wark for their assistance, 22 Ram's Head, see Inns Red Lattice, see Inns Refugees, see Flemish Religion : persecution in its name, 77i 94 ; changes in forms and ceremonies, 243, 244 ; treated as vital by intolerant people, 243 Religious ministrations and forms ordered and changed for the people, who are in this respect dealt with as soft clay, 291 Religious plays at St. Margaret's, 119 Reynell, Sir George, Marshal of the Bench, 102 ; connected with Lord Bacon's downfall, note, 85 Rochester House, 202 ; the inn of the Bishop of Rochester, 202 ; once held by the Prior of St. Swithin, 202 ; becomes tenements, 202 ; a sewer by, 2 Rocque's Maps of London, 1746, 109 ; connect past with the present, 109, note Rogers, 197 ; see Bible, 197 ; cruelty of Sheriff Woodroffe, 151 ; chaplain to the "Merchant Adventurers," 153 Roman occupation and remains, 4, 69, 126, 204, 248; see also "Additions and Corrections " INDEX. 33i Roman Catholics, executed, ^4 Rovers, or Pirates : tried at tlie Admi- ralty Court, Town Hall, 270; sent to Marshalsea Prison, 270 ; punishments, 271 St. Saviour's, 159 ; parish originally small, named St. Mary Oveiy, or St. Maiy Magdalen Oveiy, little more than the precincts of the priory, 50, 1 10 ; so named at the union of St. Maiy Oveiy's and St. Margaret's, no, 122, 159, 160; Christchurch parish formed out of it, 1671, no, III; church, account of (Tiler's plan), 159, et seq. ; had been the priory church, 1 60 ; too large and costly for a parish, 160 ; the revenues being mostly di- verted, 160 ; authorities, 160, and note I ; Carter's careful account, 161 ; a fine specimen of the pointed style, 166 ; beautiful for processions, 169 ; serious decay, 17th centuiy, 168 ; state early this century, 161, etseq. ; interest- ing incidents, 173, 176, 177; Hooper, Rogers, and others tried and con- demned, 174; Feckenham preaches, 174 ; beUs, 178, 179 ; marriages, 175 ; burials and obsequies, 175, 176, 178, 180, 181 ; churchyards and burial- places, 198, 199; burial of "dead men's bones," 172 ; altar screen, see Fox's screen ; chapels, St. Mary Mag- dalen, the first parish church, 162 ; re- moved, 162; the Lady Chapel, 168, 169; well restored by George Gwilt, 169 ; probably the retro-choir, 161 ; let to bakers, 172, 173 ; known as the Spiritual Court, 169 ; the Bishop's, why so named, 1 70 ; monuments, Andrewes, 190, 191 ; Austin, 188 ; Barford, 187 ; Bingham, 187; a brewer, 192; Cure, 184 ; Emerson, 183 ; Garrard, 190 ; Cower, see Gower; Hayman, 190; Humble, 185 ; a Knight Templar (effigy), 167 ; Lockyer, 193 ; Symons, 187 ; a skeleton (effigy, or memento mori), 170 ; Trehearne, 187 St. Saviour's Dock, 203 ; free to parish- ioners, 203, note 4 ; claimed by the bishop, 203, note 4 St . Thomas a Watering, by the Green Man, Kent Road : Chaucer's pilgrims pass here, 55 ; a noted place of exeai- tion, 21, 74, 78, 109, 123 Salutation, see Inns Sanctuary, at St. Thomas's, 129 ; at St. George's, 75 ; at St. Maiy Oveiy's, 173; at Montague Close, 237, 238; general at churches, 237 ; at some crosses, 277 ; not abolished until time of James I., 134 Sayes Court Wood, Kent Street, I, 307 Scholars : rules and management, 258, 259 ; education, 259 ; punishments, 253, note 9 School books : ' The Ground of Arts,' 275, 276 ; a grammar book, 275 5 shorthand, 276 Schoolmasters, 255, 256, 259 Schools, see Grammar Schools : Mrs. Appleby's, supplementary to Grammar School, 259, note ; Mrs. Newcomen's, 259 Sellinger's Wharf named after the St. Leger family, 241 Sewers, 2, 3, 275, 278 ; presentments, 2, 124, 125 ; rates, 1518, 2, 3 ; filthy state, 2 ; hogs near to, often presented as nuisances, 2 Smit's Alley, early notices, 244 Southwark : early condition of locality, woods replete with ditches and swamps, 1, 2 ; noble residences in early South- wark, 6 ; condition l6th century and later, 201 ; origin of name, 5 ; variety of names and etymology, 5 ; a refuge for doubtful people, 7) 8, 94 ; crime exceptionally in excess in Southwark, 211; "dangerously infected," 234; "a nest of sectaries," 94; reflects the advanced opinions of the times, 95, 96 ; gave aid to the Parliament, 1647, 22 ; thanked by the Parliament, 22 ; before the Mayor, 3 ; granted with reserva- tions to the City, 8-1 1 ; not on good terms with the City, 8 ; gradual decline of connexion with the City, 1 1 Spade, calling a spade a, 155, 201, note, 245 ; e.g., Lowsie Meade, 3 ; Foul Lane, 204, and note ; Slut's Well, 204 ; Dirty Lane, 204 (now we go to the .other extreme) Spencer, Benjamin, minister St. Thomas's, 192; sequestered, 192; imprisoned, 192 Spur, see Inns Stained glass, 167, 180; Southwark celebrated for, 180 ; see Nycolson Stairs, St. Olave's, 244 Statute of Mortmain, 247, note Stews, Bankside, attacked, 18 ; under regulations of the Bishop of Winchester, 18 Stocks, 27 332 INDEX. Stulps at London Bridge, 12, 23 ; at St. Margaret's, 23 Sussex, Earl of, Lord Chamberlain, lives at Bermondsey, 301 ; Queen Elizabeth visits him, 301 ; dies here, 301 ; burial, 301, 302 Swamp or marsh, 2 Sweating sickness, 146 ; see also Hos- pital of St. Thomas, Swetward Tabard or Talbot, see Chaucer, and Inns Taylor, the water poet, upon the carriers' and other inns, 35, note, 56, 57, 58 ; his play at tlie Hope, 58 ; lives in Southwark, 58 ; is a waterman, 59 ; a hater of " sectaries, " 80 Temperance, a sennon preached at St. Saviour's before Matliew Hale, 290, 291 ; a suggestion to zealots, 291, note Thomas, Church of St. : the Governors of the Hospital appoint the minister, 138; squabbles connected with these appointments, 146; wages, 138; Queen Elizabeth's picture here, 1 95; a Richard Chaucer buried here, 127, note 3 Thomas, Hospital of St. : see Hospital of St. Thomas Thomas, parish of the Hospital of St., 129 ; that is, the precincts or close, 129, 146; sanctuary, 129, 134, note 2; subsidy payment, 155 Tokens, tradesmen's, 12, 59, 241, 279 ; sacramental, see Token-books Token-books, St. Saviour's, 198, note 4; 202, 235, note 8 Tolls, 7, 25, 26, 310 Tyler, Wat, in Southwark, 17, iS ; oppression of the labour class in his time, 17 Udall, see White Lyon Vagrants and doubtful people, 34 ; passed on, 34 Vestry feasts, St. Saviour's, 38, 222, note 8 ; St. Olave's, 37 Vice from enforced celibacy, 230 ; loose state of religious houses at the disso- lution, 230 Walnut Tree Alley, walnut trees, 246 Walnut Tree Alley, 245, 246 ; house of Prior of Lewes here, 246, 247 ; after- wards Carter Street or Lane, 246 ; chapel here, precursor of the Taber- nacle, 25 1 ; inn, 247 ; owners, 247 Warren, the Earls : great benefactors, 6 ; and the Cluniac monks of Bermondsey, 6 ; Lords of Southwark, 5 j William, son-in-law of the Conqueror, 6 ; man- sion in Southwark, 6 Water for drink : early supply, wells, ditches, &c., 29 Watermen's fares, 226 Water-works : at Bridge-foot, 22 ; at St. Saviour's Mill, 23 ; at Bank-end, 23 Waverley House, 235 ; tenements, 235 Wharfs of sewers, 3 Whipping post, 27 ; or cross, 29 ; St. Thomas's Hospital, 27, 29, 138, 139 ; St. Saviour's churchyard, 27 White, member for Southwark, Long Parliament, 81 ; chairman of committee for reform of preachers, 83 ; Thomas Carlyle upon, 83 White Hart, see Inns White Lion Inn, 50 ; conditions of lease, Ui/iji. Hen. VIII., 50; see Inns White Lyon Prison, 91 ; first used, 91 ; situate near St. George's Church, 92 ; was the county gaol, 92 ; prisoners here, Udall, 92 ; Papists, 92, 93 ; Mr. Prynne's faithful servant, 93 ; Quakers, 93 ; prison-keepers fall out, 93 ; Harris zealous as a man-catcher, 93 ; Anabaptists, 94 ; 1 681, ruinous, 94, 95 ; noted in Thomas's Hospital Records, 1571, 92; becomes a bride- well, 95 ; rebuilt as a house of correc- tion in St. George's Fields, 95 ; the new Marshalsea Prison on the site, 95 ; ' ' a lower depth " in prison experience, 107 Wild plants and flowers, 1597, I Willoughby (Brandon), Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk, 213 ; a patroness of Latimer and the Reformers, 213 ; visits the prisons of Southwark, ...; saves her life by leaving the country during the reign of Mary, 213 ; her kindly nature, 265 ; her wit at Gardi- ner's expense, 213 Winchester House, 203 ; pictures and plans of, 203, 204 ; the palace of the Bishops of Winchester, 204 ; built by Bishop Giffard, 204 ; Roman remains, 204 ; site the property of the monks of Bermondsey, 205 ; frontage and stairs by the Thames, 205 ; gardens and park, 205 ; destructive fire of 1 8 14, 205 ; gi-eat public entertainments here, 206 ; nobles entertained here, 207 ; the library destroyed, 207 ; suc- cessive residents, bishops, 207, 208 ; to 1641, 221 ; last occupants Mr, Edward Dyer and Lieut. -Col. Lilbume, 222, 223 ; becomes a prison, 222 ; prisoners, 222 ; sold, 222 ; restored to INDEX. 333 the See of Winchester, 223 ; a chapel, 223 ; a workhouse for the poor, 224 ; burnt, 1814, 224 Winchester, Bishops of : Lords of the Manor of the Clmk, 212, 220 Stews under their jurisdiction, 209, note Giifard, 207 ; founder of Prioiy of St. Maiy Overy, 207 ; built Winchester House, 207 Peter de Rupibus, 207, 208 ; built chapel of St. Maiy Magdalen, 207, 208 ; established St. Thomas's Hos- pital, 207, 208 ; a corrupt politician, 207, 208 William of Wykeham, 208 ; a states- man, 208 ; vicissitudes, 208 Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, 209 William Waynflete, or Waynfleet, 2IO, 211 ; and Cade's rebellion, 210, 211; fond of processions, 210, 2H ; builds a stone bridge in Bermondsey Street, 211 Richard Fox, 211 ; a good bishop, supplanted by Wolsey, 211; erects the altar-screen at St. Saviour's, 2X1 Winchester, Bishops of (coniinued): Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal, 212 ; gifts to St. George's Gild, 212 ; Lord of the Manor of the CUnk, 212 Stephen Gardiner, 212 ; often preaches at St. Mary Oveiy's, 212 ; brutality, 214, 215, 217 ; cruel and astute, 212, 213 ; a prime mover in perse- cution, 214; Gardiner and the Duchess of Suffolk, 213, 214; flouted by the Southwark players, 174, 215 ; vicissitudes, 214, 215 ; estimate of character, 217 ; death and splendid funeral, 218, 219 Home, 219 Thomas Cooper andMartin Marprelale, 219, 220 Lancelot Andrewes, 220 ; learned and witty, 220, 221 ; ready for Rome, 220 ; father of Ritualism, 220 ; death and burial, 221 Wizards : St. Saviour's, Simon Pem- broke, 177, 178 ; at St. George's, 178 Workpeople and wages, see Prices Wyatt, Sir Thomas, in Southwark, 15S4, 19, 20 ; outbreak against the Spanish marriage, 19 ; the cruel result, 21 Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, see Winchester House ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Notice to the Reader. — This sheet should come in as 321* : it is printed on thinner paper, so that it may be more easily inserted in bound copies. I am sorry any Corrections are necessary. All the same, my critics without exception very highly appfove of ' Old Southwark.' I can do no less, therefore, than try to remove the little blots, and include, at the same time, some interesting Additions by way of bonus. For correctness and readiness of reference it maybe as well to make a small mark (X) at the word, in the current page of the text, which has especial connexion with each addition or correction. Page ix. Preface. I remarked upon the fact that the same words and names are often diversely speH, and that, as they are the true readings of books and MSS. consulted, I have hot affected to make them uniform. I own it might have been as well, perhaps, where the sense is given, and not the liiera scripta, to have uniformly used the modem spelling. I append a few as specimens : — Names. Browne, Brown (Montague family). Cursen, Curson, Curzon. Crumwell, Cromwell. Goodyer, Coodyere, Goudtyere. Waynflete, Waynfleet, Wainfleet. Bridges, Brigges. Heys Wharf or Hays, &c. Words. Marshall, Marshal. Minstrell, Minstrel. Stewes, Stews. Sewar, Sewer. Sadler, Saddler. Overy, Overey, Overie. Bushell, Bushel, &c. P. I, 1. 3. 140,000 people. This is an approximate estimate of the number of , people ncfw inhabiting the site of the old Borough "of Southwark. The facts are these. The early Borough consisted of the parishes of St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen Overy, St. Olave (which then included what is now St. John's), St. Thomas and St. George ; the Clink Liberty and the' Manor of Paris Garden (now Christ Church Parish) excepted. The parishes of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe were also not included. The population of the complete modem Borough of Southwark numbered in 1871, 208,725 ; the present estimate, 1878, made for me at the Registrar General's Office, is 220,430. P. 6. Vassals, not "vassels." P. 22. As to the early water supply in Soiithwark, I have some more valuable notes. In 1617, opposition is prayed "for the stay of ^ house intended to be erected on London Bridge for the conveyance of water to Southwark, which will be to the prejudice of works (Middleton's) at Islington " ( ' Remembrancia, ' 1878, p. 558). What came of this objection I know not. Southwark seems to have been dependent upon St. Saviour's Mill and upon other local, private, and casual supplies ; that is, over and above the usual well and pump, which were, so to say, everywhere. P. 47. I have an old lease of water mills in Horselydown to this Mr. Jackson and others ; dates ranging from 1 68 1 to 1688. It recites that the mills are 322* ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. known as of St. John of Jerusalem, and are situate in St. Olave's parish east of Mill Lane, and near a limekiln, — that power is given to lay down pipes into St. Olave's Street, — that there are leases and contracts between the brewer Cox and the inhabitants of the Borough of Southwark and places adjacent for the supply of water, — with mention of a "Mill house and a passidge under to the Themes for the water to com in to the pond and goo oute." This business of wharf, mill, and water supply, is a joint-stock of twelve equal shares, and is, so far as I know, the earliest prevision for a regvUar supply of water in Southwark. Pp. 52, 54. The birth of Chaucer is stated diversely in these two pages ; many authorities and tradition say he was born in 1328 or thereabout ; groundless. Dr. Richard Morris says. Mr. Fumivall and Dr. Morris appear, however, to provej conclusively that the true date of Chaucer's birth is really about 1340. In a deposition made by himself in 1386, in the famous trial between Lord Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor, his age is given as forty years and upward, and that he had borne arms for twenty-seven years. P. 72, note .5. 12,440 is the correct number, but, as already remarked, a few thousand days more or less cannot matter if the fire is to be eternal. P. 78. ISS3, not 1533. Note 5. Carmelianus was a native of Brescia ; was in communication with Bishop Waynflete upon the subject of education ; was Rector of St. George's, Southwark, 1490; Prebend of York, 1498; Archdeacon of Gloucester, 151 1 Prebend of Loijdon, 1519. He appears to have been in the very fiiendl^ favour of Henry VII., and from it reaped much worldly advantage. He was i seeker after profitable favour, else how can we account for the following rhapsod; prefixed to his poem on the birth of the Prince of Wales, i486: — "Almighty God compassionating the miserable state of England, lacerated by civil war, convoke a meeting of the saints in heaven, to ask their opinions as to how the long-standin; dispute between the houses of York and Lancaster might be composed. Th saints reply that, if the Omniscient Deity cared for their counsels, no one wa better qualified to advise than King Henry VI., now in heaven, who knew all th circumstances, and they advised that he should be called upon." The advice we adopted. The king's spirit was summoned, and he advised the marriage of th Earl of Richmond and the Princess Elizabeth, so to make the two houses oni The advice was approved, and ordered to be carried into effect. The poem coi eludes calling upon the people to rejoice at the birth of the prince. A MS. < . Carmelianus is in the British Museum. In it is stated that he had been travellin about ten years ; that he came to England and found it so pleasant that 1 resolved to remain. When he became Poet Laureate is not known. He dit August l8th, 1527 {see last work on Caxton by Mr. Blades, 1877). I one heard a sermon at the Weigh House Chapel — I think by Henry Ward Beecher- in which he discoursed of. public opuiion in heaven and celestial stump orato brought legitimately to bear upon the counsels of the Almighty. I thought it ve original and very American, but the idea was, it appears, as old as Carmelianus. P. 89, note 4. Lords' Calendars, not "Lord Calender's "; see also p. 88. P. 95. 1696, not 1596 ; seventh line up, are, not "is." P. 98. , before judges, not after. P. 101. Sir Willliam, dele one /. . P. log, note 5. Fillinham, not " Fillingham." P. III. Read Toulmin 5»««V,4'j. P. 117, 1. 6. Threepence, not " fo\irpence. " P. 120. Harrison, not "Harison." P. 133. Add, after wysdome, . and after Josue i.. Let not the boke of Lawe depart out of thy mouth, but exercyse thy sclfe therin day and nyghte, y' t mayest kepe and doe euery thynge accordynge to it that is wrytten therin. P. 136. 1552, not 1652. P. 14S, note I. The, not "his." P. 1 59. St. Mary Overy. The name has been explained in more than ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 323* way, e.g., St. Mary o' Ferry, or, again, St. Mary-over-re, over the water or river. Johnson, citing Gibson, says. Over: ii the place be upon or near a river, it comes from the Saxon qfre, a brink or bank." Bailey, ' Dictionary,' 1782, says, — "St. Mary Overy, q. d., St. Mary Overea, i. e., Mai-y, over or on the other side of the water." Bailey is probably mistaken. Gibson hints at the right explana- tion. "There was" (says John Norden, 1596) "between London and South- warke long time passage by ferrie, untill the Citizens caused a bridge of wood to be erected. ' This, with the account given by Linsted of the foundation of this religious house out of the profits of the ferry, will, although somewhat mythical, account for the belief in the former origin — St. Mary o' Ferry. In my own joumeyings by the pleasant banks of the Thames, when I came to a ferry and desired to cross, I followed what appeared to be the custom — no doubt the very old custom — namely, shouting as loudly as I was able the word "over," with strong accent on the second syllable, to make the ferryman hear. In this way the name of our ferryman, John Overs, may have come down to us. It is quite feasible, considering the way names were formerly given, that a man named John, to whom people were always shouting "over," should come to be John Over. Our best Southwark Antiquarian, Mr. George Comer, takes the name of the church to be 'St. Mary on the bank of the river. This is more in accord with the original words, and much more reasonable than that it should come exclusively from the talk of the people on the other side — St. Mary over the water. Other similar names I know — Bumham Overy in Norfolk, Burton Overy in Leicestershire, the hamlet of Overy in Oxfordshire, all on the banks of small streams or rivers. Pp. 158, 161, 182. Something further must be said as to the tomb of Gower and thechapelof St. John. At the eastern end, north aisle of nave (see ground plan, 19), is shown the tomb of Gower. There are, says Carlos, many indications that here Was a chapel, the chapel of St. John, which Gower in his will favours, leaving vestments, missal, and chalice for its services, and his body there to be buried. Carlos says also that the name St. John's Chapel was some time or other assigned without authority to the vestry. If we could be quite certain that, in the many changes which were undoubtedly made, the tomb of Gower, at 19, is where it was first placed, the question would be settled. The Norman doorway into the cloisters, at 16, might give a slight inference the other way. Be that as it may, the reader is now in possession of the points, and can judge for himself. One cannot dogmatize about it. Pp. 163-166. My authorities for saying Saxon as well as Anglo-Norman are Gwilt and others. MyfriendMr. Dollman, whohasstudied the mattermoredeeplyand with better qualifications, tells meitwould bemore correct to say only Anglo-Norman. P. 167. Mr. Dollmaii favours me with his opinion, that the expression 1273 to 1400 would be better, as implying a somewhat continuous repair and restoratioh, rather than new and unconnected works. — Gower, not "Gowar." P. 168, note 8. Data, not "date." P. 171. "I Taa-ye already noticei." — These words need explanation. It will - be observed that the sequences are once or so altered. This became necessary in the final arrangement of the book ; it was then too late to alter the words. P. 173. The tomb, not "a tomb." P. 174. Read Hooper ; the learned translator of the Bible, Matthew, j P. 177. The date 1557 to be crossed out. P. 180. Inimitable, not "innumerable." P. 182. Gower, the Father of English'^Toetry, that is by seniority only, the poetic father is without doubt Chaucer. P. 191. Eighth line down will read betterTby leaving out that, after credit- ably. — Twenty-third line down, to be so, not "to have been so." P. 204, 1.. 6. /"roiJ courts, not "ten." The ttior of the Gentleman's Mag-azine is corrected in a footnote, vol. Ixxxiv., pt. 2, p. 530, col. i. P. 205. After the word "river " read, which with the jetty just noted may pro- bably imply a ford before there was any bridge, or even a ferry. 324* ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. P. 225. Following Wilson, 'Hist. Dissenting Churches,' I erred in stating that he Deadman's Place burial ground was enclosed within the walls of Barclay's brewery at the latter end of the last century. The actual date is, of course, recorded at the brewery. The burial and baptismal registers of this and the Globe Alley chapel, both now within the brewery site, are at Somerset House. The register books note that Deadman's Place was a burial ground in 1698 ; the earliest actual record is on d. defaced stone, 1716. Mrs. Draper, of Si. Guy's Hospital, buried here 1758. Rev. Mr. Skelton and Mr. George Clayton, noted dissenters, 1778. Against 1789 is a curious entry. Richard Harris of St. Saviour's. A frost set in so that the Thames was frozen over, and booths were erected on the ice. On a sudden thaw a brig broke loose and was carried through London Bridge, the mast bringing down some balustrades of the bridge — a stone fell on this man, who was "animated by a presumptuous curiosity," and killed him._ Another entry — 1770, Buried Mr. cruden, Eslington. This refers to the author of the Concordance, Mr. Alexander Cruden. A burial took place in the ground so late as 1837. The chapel had been pulled down in 1788, and the congregation removed, January 2, 1788, to their new Meeting House in Union Street, Borough. A birth register-book of Globe Alley Meeting House, to which Richard Baxter was pastor, remains, showing that the chapel had been certified at the sessions house, St. Margaret's Hill, in 1756. The Rev. C. Skelton, whose burial is recorded at Deadman's Place, writes these words in the register of baptisms, — "Ihavebeen at Globe Alley Meeting, 22 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days, — In all 420 Baptisms, by me Charles Skelton, from Nov'. 3, 1755, to April 20, 1788." Probably he was, to use the old expression, " a painful preacher," he is so quaintly and curiously particular. P. 254, 1. 12. Of the school, after the word income. P. 260. With more light I find that Robert Nowell's gift was not intended as a continuous bequest. See " Spending the money of Robert Nowell," Towneley Hall MSS. The passage is as follows : — " Robert Thackwell, George Etheridge, John Hodlie, George Tayler, Wyll'm Adlington, Thomas Harryson, SchoUeres of the grammar schole of St. Savyours, xij yardes & a half at vj' the yarde ; yardes xij & a di " (that is, of cloth for gowns or cloaks) "iij" xv*." Robert Nowell was a wide benefactor, and possibly an almoner for others. 157^ he leaves vj" ij' x* for poor prisoners in every prison in London and South-woorke. Another time money to poor prisoners in the King's Bench, Marshallsey, Whyte Lyon and Comter, in Southwarke. 1581, poor prisoners, King's Bench, xx". Cooles to make them fier (for prisoners in SouthWark), xK Richard Tayller, curate of St. Thoms in Suthwarke, iij yardes (of cloth) at viij" the yarde. This is part of a bequest for gowns and money to poor ministers. To Mr. Crowley and others "for relief of poor p'ishes of St. Olives, Sanct Saviour's, Sancte Georges, & Sancte Marie Magdalens, for every, xl'." His kindness extends still further — ^to Henry Evatts, Steward, Thomas's Hospital, a cloak ; to Ann Bolton, wife to John, prisoner in the Marshallsee, xxij' iv", &c. P. 263. "The Conqueror brought over weavers with him," &c. One of my kindly critics suggests a mistake here — that I probably meant a later king. Frankly, I am not justified in the exact statement, nor am I in every sense wrong. Henry, ' History of England,' vol. vi. p. igj, on weaving, remarks, " that a great number of Flemings came over in the army of the Conqueror." -In 4132 baizes, &c., were manufactured at Norwich. The trade of weaving became, no doubt, more and more developed under succeeding kings, but was not thoroughly estab- lished here by Flemings until about 1331. Broadcloths were manufactured here soon after 1200, not before. Edward III. invited Flemings, weavere, fullers, dyers, and other like useful people. (See McCuUoch's Dictionary.) P. 276. "IS |." The missing figure is 3, i.e., I S3 J. P. 287, third line from bottom, t/iey are, not " it is." P. 294. Thirlsby, not "Thirelby." 325* P. 306. The way was through Kent Street. Mr. Furnivall has fa- voured me with a cast of a woodcut of the road, taken from the best au- thority of the time, John Ogilby, His Ma"*" cosmogra- pher, 1675. I am able, there- fore, to append an additional ~ illus- tration. On the north of the Thames a cross is observable — St. Paul's Church ; below bridge the Tower is con- spicuous : London Bridge crosses the Thames. In some other like maps of Ogilby's South- warke is shown with but very few more houses than are here implied. The Southwark of 1675 is then fairly before us. The next turning east, after passing the bridge into South- wark, represents St. Olave's, i.e. Tooley Street ; second to right in Tooley Street is Bermondsey Street, which, near its end, meets Long Lane ; this lane runs westerly toward the high road to Newing- ton; at the wester- ly end of Long Lane, Kent Street, forming the high- way to Kent, runs oif S. E. ; the stream called the Lock is shown 326* ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. running under the Lock Bridge, which forms part of the Kent Street highway ; a cross streak or two between the second and third milestones show the streamlet St. Thomas a Watering, the first halting place of Chaucer's pilgrims. The blank space west of the road to Newington represents St, George s Fields ; in some of Ogilby's maps a windmill is shown here. . P. 307. After licences, was, not " were." P. 308, third line down. Comma before the word along, not after. N.B. I beg to express my great obligation to my friend Mr. T. F. Franklin, architect, without whose aid I could not have put forth so excellent a ground plan of St. Saviour's old church.