'f ; El Lf^mm, •*i'^' "/give thtft Booh for the founding of a CoUege bt tkpr Calony" Deposited by the Linonian and Brothers Library 1908 lire; T(.) WEN '(.HP L.O)iNii:)(jiN IIN Tii;iii-; jkeiion .lot iiiik-nm-v' tiih-; ii"i khi L ONDO]^: ITS CELEBRATED CHARACTERS REMARKABLE PLACES. J, HENEAGE JESSE, ' / ; AUinOK OP " MEMOIES OP KIK& GEOEaE IDE THIKD," " MEM0IE3 OP THE COUKT OP EUGIAND UNDEK IDE STUAETSj" ETC. IN THEEE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, |Jubnslv,er in fflfiin-.trg to g).tr ^njzsts. 1871. All Sights Meserved.] CONTENTS OF VOL, III, ST. GILES'S CEIPPLEGATE, BAEBEE-SUEGEONS' HALL, FOETUNE THEATEE. PAGE Antiquity of St. Giles's Cripplegate Church.— Celebrated Meu buried there : Speed,— John Fox,— Eobert Glover, — Sir Martin Frobisher,— William BuUeyn, — Milton, — Margaret Lucy,— Thomas Busby. — Monk'well Street. — Barber-Surgeons' Hall.— Silver Street. — Sion College.— Wood Street.— St. Mary, Alder- manbury. — Judge Jefferys. — Thomas Farnaby. — Je'win Street. — Aldersgate Street. — Shaftesbury, Petre, and Lonsdale Houses. — Milton. — Barbican.^Fortune Theatre 1 SMITHFIELD. Smithfield Cattle Market in former times the place for Tourna ments, Trials by Battle, Executions and Autos-da-Fe. — Tourna ments before Ed'ward the Third and Eichard the Second. — Trials by Duel bet'ween Catour and Davy, and the Bastard of Burgundy and Lord Scales. — Eemarkable Executions. — Persons ¦who suffered Martyrdom in the Flames at Smithfield. — Inter- vie-w there bet'ween Wat Tyler and Eichard the Second. — Sir William Wal-worth 23 THE PEIOEY AND CHUECH OF ST. BAETHOLOMEW. St. Bartholome'w's Priory and Church — When built — Its Present Appearance — Eefectory, Crypt, and Subterranean Passage. — Bartholomew Close. — Monuments in the Church. — Story of Eahere, Founder of the Priory.— Fracas in the Priory. — St. Bartholome'w's Hospital. — Canonbury. — Canonbury Tcwer. — Goldsmith's Eesidence. — Prior Bolton's Eesidence. — Bartholo mew Fair 35 CONTENTS. THE CHAETEE HOUSE. Charter House Originally a Burial-Ground. — Sir Walter de Manny founds a Carthusian Monastery there. — Dreadful Punishments inflicted ou the Carthusians by Henry the Eighth. — Charter House purchased by Duke of Norfolk. — Given to Earl of Su.ffolk. — History of Sir Thomas Sutton, Founder of the Present Charter House. — Scholars and Pen sioners. — Old Court Eoom. — Charter House Square 51 ST. JOHN'S GATE, CLEEKENWELL, &c. St. John's Gate. — Becomes the Eesidence of Cave. — ^Anecdote of Dr. Johnson and Cave. — St. John's Gate now converted into a Public House. — History of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. — The Order suppressed. — St. James, Clerkenwell. — Monuments there. — Derivation of Name of Clerkenwell. — Sir Thomas Chaloner. — Newcastle House. — Bagnigge Wells. —Sadler's Wells.— Hockley in the Hole ... , 63 HOLBOEN, ST. ANDEEW'S CHUECH, GEAY'S INN LANE, &c. Cock Lane Ghost. — Holborn. — William Dobson. — Death of John Bunyan. — Snow Hill. — Shoe Lane. — Gunpowder Alley. — Love lace and Lilly. — Fetter Lane. — Eesidents in Fetter Lane. — Hatton Garden. — Ely House. — Southampton Buildings. — St. Andrew's Church. — Brook Street. — Gray's Inn Lane. — Cele brated Eesidents there. — Blue Boar Inn. — Anecdote of Charles the First and CromweU. — Birth of Savage. — King Street. — John Bampfylde 79 ELY HOUSE, GEAY'S INN, THAVIE'S INN, STAPLE INN, BAENAED'S INN. Ely House in its Splendour. — Its Inhabitants. — Protector Glou cester. — Bishops of Ely. — Feastings in Ely House. — Sir Chris topher Hatton and the Bishops of Ely. — Gray's Inn and Gar dens. — Masques performed at Gray's Inn. — Famous Masque. — Celebrated Men who studied at Gray's Inn. — Thavie's Inn. — ; Furnival's Inn. — Staple Inn. — Barnard's Inn.— Gordon Eiots... 98 CONTENTS. PAGE EED LION SQUAEE, GEEAT OEMOND STEEET BLOOMSBUEY SQUAEE, &c. Cromwell's supposed Grave in Eed Lion Square. — Lamb's Con duit Fields.— Great Ormond Street. — Queen Square.— South ampton Eow. — Bloomsbury Square. — Burning of Lord Mans field's House.— Celebrated Persons who lived in Bloomsbury Square.— Highway Eobberies.— Great EusseU Street. — Monta gue House, now the British Museum. — Duchess of Montague 123 CHEAPSIDE. Cheapside at an Early Period caUed the "Cro-wn Field." — Tournaments held there. — Persons executed at the Standard in Cheapside. — "Evil May-Day."— Elizabeth's Coronation Pro cession. — The Cross.— The Conduit. — Celebrated Eesidents in Cheapside.— Streets in the Vicinity.— " Mermaid Tavern."— Guildhall. — Trial-scenes, and Entertainments there. — St. Mary- le-Bow.—" Crown Seld."— WatUng Street.-Goldsmiths' and Coachmakers' Hall 140 NEIGHBOUEHOOD OF ST. PAUL'S. Old Church of St. Martin's-le-Grand.— Abuse of Pri-nlege of Sanctuary there.— Northumberland House.— St. Paul's Church yard a Eesidence of Publishers. — Burning of Books there during the Great Fire.— Execution of Sir Everard Digby. — Queen Anne. — Paternoster Eow. — Lovell's Court.— Warwick Lane. — Archbishop Leighton.— St. Patd's School—Heralds' CoUege. — Doctors' Commons. — Ludgate Hill.— The "Belle Sauvage." — Nell G'wynn.— St. Martin, Ludgate 167 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDEAL. Wren's Discoveries when digging the Foundation of St. Paul's. — Supposed to have been built on the site of a Eoman Temple. —History of the Old Structures.— Church of St. Faith.— Bishop of London's Palace.— Lollards' Tower.— Wickliffe in St. Paul's.— "Paul's Walkers" or "Paul's Men."— Tombs in Old St. Paul's.— Paid's Cross.— Eemarkable Events there.— Present ' St. Paul's.— Sir Christopher Wren 187 CONTENTS. PAGE THE OLD BAILEY, NEWGATE, CHEIST'S HOSPITAL, ST. SEPULCHEE'S CHUECH. Derivation of name Old Bailey.— Great Antiquity of Court of Justice there.— The Press Yard.— "Peine Forte et Dure."- Major Strangeways. — Gaol Fever. — Newgate Prison. — Ivy Lane.— Pannier Alley.— Old Christ Church, Newgate.— Persons interred there.— Modern Christ Church, Newgate.— Christ's Hospital. — St. Sepulchre's Church. — Curious Ceremony at Executions. — Pie Corner. — Green Arbour Court 213^ FLEET STEEET. St. Bride's Church. — Persons interred there. — Salisbury Court. — Eichardson the Novehst. — Gough Square. — Anecdote of Dr. Johnson. — Johnson's Court and Bolt Court. — Wine-Office Court.— Anecdote of Goldsmith.— Old Conduit in Fleet Street. — Bangor House. — Mitre Court.— Crane Court. — Devil Tavern, and its Celebrated Frequenters. — Eesidences of Eminent Men in Fleet Street. — Chancery Lane. — Shire Lane. — Anecdote of Coleridge. — Kit-Cat Club.— St. Dunstan's Church. — Its Old Dial 236 THE FLEET PEISON. The Fleet used as a State Prison at an early date. — Persons incarcerated there : Bishops Gardiner and Hooper, — Dr. Donne, — Martin Keys, — Prynne, — Lilburne, — James HoweU, — Lords Surrey and Falkland, — Sir Eichard Baker, — Oldys, — Wycherley, — Sandford. — Tyranny and Tortures practised in the Prison. — General Oglethorpe. — Prison burnt at the Great Fire. — Fleet Marriages. — Keith, the Notorious Fleet Parson . . . 271 THE TEMPLE. The Knights Templars. — The Origin, Habits, Duties, and His tory of the Order. — Temple Church. — Effigies there. — Temple Gardens.— The White and Eed Eose. — Inner and Middle Tem ple Halls. — Temple La-wyers. — Inner Temple Gate and Lane. — Drs. Goldsmith and Johnson's Eooms. — King's Bench Walk. — Eminent Eesidents in the Temple 294 CONTENTS. THE STEAND. Bad State of the Eoads between the City and Palace through the Strand. — Strand formed into a regular Street. — Temple Bar. — Palsgrave Place. — Butcher Eow. — Devereux Court and Essex Street— Strand Lane. — Church of St. Clement Danes. — Cle ment's, New, and Lyon's Inns. — Arundel, Norfolk, and Howard Streets. — St. Mary-le-Strand. — Maypole in the Strand. — Exeter 'Change. — Southampton Street.' — New Exchange, Strand.— The Adelphi. — Garrick's Death. — Peter the Great. — Hunger- ford Market 316 EESIDENCES OF THE OLD NOBILITY IN THE STEAND. Northumberland House. — Story of its Founder. — Hungerford House. — York House. — Its Magnificence when possessed by the Duke of Buckingham. — Durham House. — Salisbury and Worcester Houses. — Savoy Palace. — Its History. — Savoy C hapel. — D'Oyle/s Warehouse. — Arundel House. — Essex House. — History of the Earls of Essex 348 SOMEKSET HOUSE. Lord Protector Somerset. — Materials used by him to build the House. — Henry Lord Hunsdon and Queen Ehzabeth. — Somer set House set apart for the Queens of Charles the First and Second, and of James the Second. — Their Mode of Life there. — Somerset Stairs. — Causes of the Demolition of the Old Building. — Curiosities discovered at its Demohtion. — Builder of the Present Somerset House. — Expense of building ... 380 LAMBETH, AND LAMBETH PALACE. Manor of Lambeth. — Lambeth Palace. — Its Early History. — Frequently used as a Prison. — Description of the Palace. — LoUards' Tower. — Historical Events associated with the Palace. ¦ — Archbishop Laud. — Lambeth Parish Church. — Persons buried there. ^-Anecdote of the Queen of James the Second. —Cuper's Gardens 394 ^•in CONTENTS VAUXHALL AND EANELAGH. Origiual Name of VauxhaU. — In Possession of the Crown in Charles the First's Eeign. — Its far-famed Gardens. — Evelyn's Visit to them. — The "Spectator's" Account of them. — Night ingales at VauxhaU. — Fielding and Goldsmith's Description of the Gardens. — Eanelagh Gardens. — Walpole's Letters on their Opening. — Description of the Place. — OriginaUy frequented by the NobUity.— Cause of its DownfaU 410 SOUTHWAEK. Borough of Southwark. — The 2Iint. — Queen's Bench Prison.— Celebrated Persons confined there. — Marshalsea Court — Bank- side.— Clink Street. — Paris Garden.— Bear Garden. — Globe Theatre. — The Stews. — Winchester House. — Church of St. ]Mai-y Overy. — Tabard Inn. — Bermondsey Abbey. — Battle Bridge Stairs.— Eotherhithe 421 INDEX 413 LONDON: ITS CELEBRATED OHAEAOTERS AND REMARKABLE PLACES. ST. GILES'S CRIPPLEGATE, BARBERS' HALL, FORTUNE THEATRE, ANTIQUITY OP ST. GILES'S CEIPPLEGATE CHUECH. — CELEBRATED MEN BURIED THEEE : SPEED, — JOHN FOX, — BOBEET GLO'VEE, — SIE MAKTIN FROBISHER, — -WILLIAM BULLEYN, — MILTON, — MAEGAEET LUCY, — THOMAS BUSBY. — MONKWELL STEEET. — BARBBE-SUEGEONS' HALL. — SILVER STREET. — SION COLLEGE. — ^WOOD STEEET. — ST. MARY, ALDEEMANBUEY. — JUDGE JEFFREYS. —THOMAS FARNABY. — JEWIN STREET. — ^ALDERSGATE STREET. — SHAFTES- BUEY, PETRE, AND LONSDALE HOUSES. — MILTON. — BARBICAN. — FORTUNE THEATRE. LET us no-w retrace our steps to London Wall, and stroll into the interesting and venerable church of St. Giles's Cripplegate. There are fe-w religious edifices in London, tlirough which the poet, the antiquary, or the historian may "W-ander -with greater pleasure or quit "with greater regret. The church of St. Giles " -without Cripplegate " -was ori ginally founded about the year 1090, by Alfune, Bishop of London, and dedicated by him to St. Egidius, or St. Giles, a wealthy native saint of Athens, whose tenderness of heart is said to have been so great, that having expended his whole fortune in acts of charity, he gave the coat on his back to a VOL. III. 1 ST, GILES'S CRIPPLEGATE, sick beggar whom he had no other means of relie-vdng. In 1545 the old church was injured by fire, but was shortly afterwards repaired and partially rebuilt. The name of Cripplegate was derived from the neighbouring postern, or Cripple-gate, so called, according to Stow, from the number of cripples who were in the daily habit of assembling there for the purpose of begging alms from those who passed into or out of the City. The great interest possessed by St. Giles's Church is from its historical associations ; from the many celebrated men who lie buried beneath its roof, and lastly, from the very interesting remains of the old fortified wall, which can only be seen by a visit to its gloomy churchyard. In the south aisle is the monument of the celebrated anti quary, John Speed, who, as the Latin inscription on it informs us,-*^ died on the 28th of July, 1629, and was buried -within the church. His monument, of marble, consists of a bust, which was once gilt and painted, representing, the old antiquary with his right hand resting upon a book and his left upon a skull. Another monument in the south aisle is a mural tablet in memory of Eobert Glover, the well-known antiquary and herald, who died in 1588. The tablet contains a long Latia inscription, commemorative of his genius and indefatigable diligence, his blameless life and pious end. At the west end of the north aisle is a simple tablet to the * "Pise Memorise cliarissiiiiorum Parentum, Joliaimis Speed, Civis Lon- dinensis, Meroatorum Scissorum Fratris, Servi fldelissimi Eegiarum Majes- tatum Elizabethse, Jacobi, et Caroli nunc superstitis. Terrarum nostrarum GeograpM accurati, et fidi Antiquitatia, Britaimicae Historiographi, Genea- logise Sacrse elegantissimi Delineatoris. Qui postquam annos 77 superaverat, non tam morbo confectus, quam mortalitatis tsedio lassatus, corpore se levavit Julii 28, 1629, et jucundissimo Kedemptoris sui desiderio sursum elatus camem hie in custodiam posuit, denuo cum Christus veuerit, re- cepturus," &o. ST. GILES'S CRIPPLEGATE. memory of John Fox, the author of the " Book of Martyrs," who died in the neighbourhood in April, 1587, and who is believed to have been buried on the south side of the chan cel.* The fact is well known that after Fox was reduced in circumstances, he lived for a considerable time in the house of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote, in War-wickshire, as tutor to his sons, and consequently it is not a little interest ing to find a child and grandchild of Sir Thomas buried beneath the same roof as the venerable tutor of the family, and mingling their dust with his. Not improbably the London residence of the Lucys may have been in this immediate neighbourhood. Sir Thomas Lucy was the same knight whose park was the scene of Shakspeare's deer- stealing frolic, and whom he has immortalized as — "A Parliament man, a justice of peace, At home a poor scare-crow, in London an ass." Near the centre of the north aisle is a striking-looking monument, representing a female figure in a shroud rising from a coffin. According to tradition it commemorates the story of a lady who, after having been buried while in a trance, was not only restored to life, but subsequently be came the mother of several children ; her resuscitation, it is said, having been brought about by the cupidity of a sexton, which induced him to open the coffin in order to obtain pos session of a valuable ring which was on her finger. The story, however, is entirely fabulous. The monument in ques- '* " Christo, S.S. Johamii Foxo, Ecolesise Anglicanse Martyrologo fideUs- simo, Antiquitatis Historiose Indagatori sagacissimo, Evangelicie Veritatis Propugnatori aoerrimo, Thaumaturgo admirabili ; qui Martyres Mariauos, tanquam Phoenices, ex cineribus redivivos prffistitit ; Patri suo onmi pietatis officio imprimis colendo, Samuel Poxus, illius primogenitus, hoc Monu- meutum posuit, non sine lachrymis. ' Obiit die 18 Mens. April. An. Dom. 1&87, jam septuagenarius. Vita vitse mortalis est, spes -vitse immortalis.' " The inscription is perfect only as far as tlie word "hoc." 1-^2 ST. GILES'S CRIPPLEGATE, tion is to the memory of Constance Whitney, eldest daughter of Sir Robert "Whitney, and grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Lucy, who died at the age of seventeen ; exceUing, as her- epitaph informs us, "in all noble qualities becominge a virgin of so sweet proportion of beauty and harmonie of parts." In the church also lies, though -without any stone to mark his resting-place, that gallant knight. Sir Martin Frobisher,. whose name is so intimately connected with the destruction of the Spanish Armada and the fortunes of Sir "Walter- Raleigh. It has generally been supposed that after he re ceived his death- wound near Brest, his body was conveyed to Plymouth and interred at that place. There can be no question, however, as to his ha-ving been buried in St. Giles's Church, his name appearing in the register of burials under the date 14th of January, 1594-5. Another eminent person buried in this church, but without a monument, is William Bulleyn, physician to Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, and -unquestionably one of the most learned men of his time. Dr. Bulleyn, who was the author of several medical works, died on the 7th of January, 1576. But the most illustrious person who lies buried in St. Giles's Church is the author of " Paradise Lost." " He lies buried," -writes Aubrey, "in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, upper end of the chancel, at the right hand : Mem., his stone is now removed : about two yea,rs since the two steps to the Communion-table were raised. Speed and he lie together.'" In the parish register, among the entry of burials on the 12th of November, 1674, are the words, — " John Milton, gentle man, consumption, chancel." In 1790, the grave ofthe poet was opened and his remains said to have been desecrated,. which provoked some indignant verses from Cowper. ST, GILES'S CRIPPLEGATE. " IU fare the hands that heaved the stones Where Milton's ashes lay. That trembled not to grasp his bones, And steal his dust a-way ! "0, ill-requited bard ! neglect Thy li-ving worth repaid, And blind idolatrous respect As much affronts thee dead !" The story is, however, apocryphal. For nearly one hun dred and twenty years the grave of the immortal poet remained -without a memorial of his resting-place, till, in 1793, Mr. Whitbread erected a bust with an inscrip tion near the spot where he was buried. The bust, now .standing at the east end of the south aisle, on a monu ment erected by subscription in 1862, is by the elder Bacon, and the inscription is as follows : — "John Milton, Author of Paradise Lost, Born Dec. 1608. Died Nov. 1674. His father, John Milton, died March, 1646. They were both interred in this church. Samuel "Whitbread posuit, 179 3." To two other monuments only in this church does it seem necessary to call attention ; the one for the sake of its touch ing simplicity, and the other on account of its quaintness. The former, a small tablet of white marble -within the rails of the Communion-table, bears on it the following simple but touching inscription : — ' ' Here lies Margarett Lucy, the second daughter of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlcott in the county of "War-wicke, Knight (the third by imediate dis- cent of the name of Thomas) by Alice, sole daughter and heire of Thomas Spenser of Clarenden, in the same county, Esq. , and Custos Brevium of the Courte of Comon Pleas at "Westminster, who departed this life the 18th day of November, 1634, and aboute the 19th year of her age. For discre- ST. GILES'S CRIPPLEGATE, tion and sweetnesse of conversation, not many excelled ; and for pietie and patience in her sicknesse and death, few equalled her ; which is the com- forte of her nearest friendes, to every of whom shee was very dear ; but especiallie to her old Grandmother, the Lady Constance Lucy, under whose government shee died, who, having long exspected every day to have gone before her, doth now trust, by faith and hope in the precious Bloode of Christ Jesus, shortly to follow after, and be partaker, together -with her and others, of the unspeakeable and eternall joyes in His blessed King- dome ; to whom be all honour, laude, and praise, now and ever, Amen." The other monument referred to is to the memoiy of Thomas Busby, " Citizen and Cooper," who died on the llth of July, 1575. The figure ofthe deceased is represented holding in one hand a skull and in the other a pair of gloves, while be neath is the following inscription : — " This Busbie, willing to reeleve the poore with fire and \rith breade. Did give that howse whearein he dyed, then called the Queenes Heade. Foure full loades of the best charcoales he would have bought ech yeare j And fortie dosen of wheaten bread for poor howsholders heare. To see these thinges distributed, this Busbie put in trust The Vicar and Churchwardenes, thinking them to' be just. God grant that poor howsholders here may thankful be for such ; So God will move the mindes of moe to doe for them as much. And let this good example move such men as God hath blessed. To doe the like, before they goe with Busbie to there rest. "Within this.chappell Busbies bones in dust awhile must stay ; Till He that made them rayse them up to live with Christ for aye. " It was at the altar of St. Giles's Church that Oliver Cromwell was married, on the 20th of August, 1620, to Elizabeth Bowchier, who became the mother of his nu merous children, and the sharer of his greatness. The ground which surrounds St. Giles's is scarcely less classical and interesting than the old church itself. Imme diately adjoining it is Monkwell Street, deriving its name partly from a well which anciently existed on its site, and partly from the small hermitage or chapel of " St. James in BARBER-SURGEONS HALL. the Wall," inhabited by a hermit and two monks belonging to the Cistercian Abbey of Garadon. In this street stands what is left of Barber-Surgeons' Hall ; an institution vividly reminding us of old customs and old times, when the art of surgery and of shaving went hand -in-hand in England. Over the entrance may be seen the arms of the Company, in which three razors form not the least conspicuous objects in the shield. The united Company of Barbers and Surgeons were first incorporated by Edward the Fourth in 1461-2, at which time, if we may judge from their petitioning to be distinguished by the style and title of the "Mystery of Barbers," the Barbers would seem to have had the precedency. The leading barber-surgeons through whose immediate infiu ence the charter was obtained from the kinsc, were Thomas Monestede, Sherifi" of London in 1486, and chirurgeon to Kings Henry the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth ; Jaques Fries, physician to Edward the Fourth, and William Hobbs, " phy sician and chirurgeon for the same king's body." It is not till the fifth year of the reign of Henry the Eighth that we find the barbers and surgeons recognized as separate mysteries or crafts. And even then the separa tion did not last long. In 1541 the two companies were again incorporated in one company, by the name of " the Master or Governors of the Mystery or Commonalty of Bar bers and Chirurgeons of the City of London," and a few years afterwards were again separated. It was not, how ever, till the year 1745 that the two crafts were formally and finally disjoined by Act of Parliament, when the bar bers, as the more ancient body of the two, were allowed to retain possession of the old hall in Monkwell Street. Barber-Surgeons' HalL — or rather such part of it as escaped the great fire of London — was built by Inigo Jones BARBER-SURGEONS' HALL. in 1636, on the site of a more ancient building belonging to the Company. Formerly, the ipaost beautiful part of Inigo Jones' structure was the Theatre of Anatomy, which Walpole speaks of as one of " his best works," but which was pulled down by the barbers on their separation from the surgeons, and sold for the value of its materials. A small courtyard led at once into the haU. of the company ; an apartment sim ple in its style of architecture and well-proportioned, but which was rendered somewhat cheerless from the gloomy- looking pictures on anatomical subjects which were sus pended on its walls. The most curious feature in the hall was the semi-circular shape of the upper or west end ; this part, in fact, consisting of the interior of a bastion of the old Roman wall, which the architect had ingeniously contrived to incorporate -with the buUding. The hall, however, has disappeared within a few years, and its site is now occu pied by lofty warehouses. Notwithstanding this, there is much that is interesting in the present building. In the possession of the Barbers' Company are preserved some very curious and ancient articles of plate which have at difierent periods been presented to them. Among these is a cup, silver-gilt, ornamented with small pendent bells, pre sented by Henry the Eighth ; also a cup, with acorns pen dent from it, given by Charles the Second, who himself was no mean proficient in anatomy ; and a large bowl, the gift of Queen Anne. In the reign of James the First the Company, it appears, very nearly lost the whole of their plate through a successful robbery. The thieves were four men, of the names of Jones, Lyne, Sames, and Foster, of whom the former confessed his guilt, when, in consequence of information which he gave, the plate was recovered. In the books of the Company, for November, 1616, is the fol lowing matter-of-fact entry recording the fate of the cul- BARBERS' HALL. prits : — " Thomas Jones was taken, who, being brought to Newgate in December following, Jones and Lyne were both ¦executed for this fact. In January foUowing Sames was taken and executed. In April, Foster was taken and -executed. Now let's pray God to bless this house from any more of these damages. Amen." The following extract from the Company's papers, under the date of the 13th of July, 1587, is still more curious : — " It is agreed that if any body, which shaU at any time here after happen to be brought to our haU for the intent to be ¦wrought upon by the anatomists of the Company, shall revive or come to life again, as of late hath heen seen, the charges about the same body so reviving shall be borne, levied, and sustained by such person, or persons, who shall BO happen to bring home the body ; and who further shaU abide such order or fine as this house shall award." The last instance, it would appear, of resuscitation in a dissecting- room occurred in the latter part of the last century. The case — related by the late celebrated anatomist, John Hunter — was that of a criminal, whose body had been cut do-wn after execution at Newgate. The operators, it is said, having succeeded in restoring him to the fuU powers of animation, immediately sent a communication to the Sherifis, who caused him to be reconveyed to Newgate, whence he was afterwards removed to a foreign country. After his resusci tation, however, he painted a folding screen for the Company which is stiU preserved in the Court Room. Before taking leave of Barbers' Hall, we must on no account omit to mention its most interesting feature, the beautiful little Court Room, with its richly-decorated ceUing and its graceful octagonal lantern, the work of Inigo Jones. Here, among the portraits of several eminent persons, is to be seen Holbein's famous picture — the greatest 10 BARBERS' HALL. work painted by that Ulustrious artist in England — repre senting Henry the Eighth granting the charter of 1541 to the incorporated society of Barber-Surgeons. In the centre of this fine picture Henry is represented as seated on his throne, gorgeously arrayed in brocade, ermine, and jewels, while on , each side of him are kneeling the members of the Company — eighteen in number — one of whom, Thomas "Vycary, the master, is in the act of recei-vdng the Charter from the King's hands. Each figure is a portrait from the life ; the most eminent persons being John Chambre, physician to Henry the Eighth and Dean of the Chapel Royal, Westminster; Thomas Vycary, the King's Sergeant-Surgeon ; Dr. Butts, immortalized in Shakspeare's play of Henry the Eighth, and Sir John Ayliffe, Sheriff of London, whose story is quaintly told in rhyme on his tomb in St. Michael's Church, Basinghall Street : — " In surgery brought up in youth, A Knight here lieth dead ; A Knight, and eke a Surgeon, such As England seld hath bred. For which so sovereign gift of God, "Wherein he did excel. King Henry 8. called him to Court, "Who lovad him dearly well. King Edward, for his service sake, Bade him rise up a Knight ; A man of praise, and ever since He Sir John Ayliffe hight." The estimation in which Holbein's great work was held by our ancestors may be judged of by the foUowing letter ad dressed by James the First to the corporation of Barber- Surgeons : — " James R. " Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. "Whereas BARBERS' HALL. 11 we are informed of a table of painting in your haU, wherein is the picture of our predecessor of famous memory. King Henry the Eighth, together with divers of your Company, which heing very like kkn, and well done, we are desirous to have copied ; whereof our pleasure is that you presently deliver it unto this bearer, our well-beloved servant. Sir Lionel Cranfield, Knight, one of our Masters of Requests, whom we have commanded to receive it of you, and see it with aU expedition copied and redelivered safely; and s& we bid you farewell. "Given at our Court at Newmarket, the 13th day of January, 1617.""* Holbein's original study or cartoon, containing sketches of the difierent portraits made by the great artist from the life, is now in the possession of the Royal CoUege of Sur geons. Among other portraits preserved in the Court Room the most remarkable are a portrait of Inigo Jones by Vandyke, and another of Frances Duchess of Richmond, "la belle Stuart" of De Grammont, by Sir Peter Lely. There are also portraits of Charles the Second ; of C. Barnard, Sergeaut-Surgeon to Queen Anne, and of the cele brated Sir Charles Scarborough, physician to Charles the Second, who lectured here during nearly seventeen years. He it was who observed to the beautiful Duchess of Ports- '* Respecting this picture Pepys has the following curious notice in his "Diary," under the date 28th of August, 1668: — "At noon comes by appointment Harris to dine with me : and after dinner he and I to Chyrur- geons' Hall, wliere they are building it new, — very fine ; and there to see their theatre, which stood all the fire, and (which was our business) their great picture of Holbein's, thinking to have bought it, by the help of Mr. Pierce, for a little money. I did think to give £200 for it, it being said to be worth £1000 ; but it is so spoiled that I have no mind to it, and it is not a pleasant, though a good picture." 12 SION COLLEGE. mouth, when she consulted him after having indulged for some time rather too freely in the luxuries of the table, " Madam, I wUl deal frankly with you ; you must eat less, use more exercise, take physic, or be sick." At the south end of MonkweU Street is SUver Street. Here, from the days of Richard the Second, extending to those of Henry the Sixth, stood " The Neville's Inn," the residence of the NevUles, Earls of Westmoreland. In 1603 we find it the residence of Henry Lord Windsor, from whom it obtained the denomination of Windsor House. A court in MonkweU Street stiU retains the name of Windsor Court. To the north-east of Barbers' HaU is Sion College, originally founded as a hospital in 1329, on the site of a ¦decayed nunnery, by WiUiam Elsing, mercer, for the support •of a hundred blind men. Elsing subsequently converted it into a Priory, consisting of four canons regular to super intend the blind, he himself being the first prior. By the will of Dr. Thomas White, "Vicar of St. Dunstan's in the West, a purchase of the ground was effected, and in 1623 a ¦CoUege, governed by a President, two Deans, and four As sistants, was erected on the site. Sion College, which includes a fine library, is appropriated to the use of the London Clergy, who have under their charge alms-houses for ten poor men and as many poor women. Running paraUel with MonkweU Street is Wood Street, in which the only objects of interest are the two churches •dedicated to St. Michael and St. Alban. St. Michael's, on the west side of Wood Street, must be a foundation of considerable antiquity, inasmuch as we find John de Eppewell mentioned as rector of it so early as the year 1328. The old church having been destroyed by the ^reat fire of 1666, in 1675 the present edifice was completed .after designs by Sir Christopher Wren. In this church is ST. ALBAN'S, WOOD STREET. 13 said to have been flung, " among plebeian skulls," the head of the unfortunate James the Fourth of Scotland, who perished on Flodden Field. "His body," writes Pennant, " for a long time had remained embalmed at the monaster}' at Shene. After the Dissolution, it was cast among some- rubbish, where some workmen wantonly cut off the head, which was taken by Young, glazier to Queen Elizabeth, who' was struck with its sweetness, arising from the embalming materials. He kept it for some time at his house in Wood Street, but at last gave it to the sexton to bury among other bones in the charnel-house." St. Alban's, Wood Street, one of the most ancient religious foundations in London, is said to have been founded by King Athelstan about the year 924, at which time it was dedicated by him to St. Alban, the first martyr in England, whose bones, according to Weever and FuUer, having been interred at St. Albans, were the occasion of that town being called by his name. That King Athelstan was the founder of St. Alban's Church is rendered probable from the fact of the Saxon monarch having had a palace in the neighbourhood of Wood Street, from which circumstance it has been conjec tured that Adel Street, or King Adel Street, long since corrupted into Addle Street,* derived its name. Stow, however, admits that he was unable to fix the origin of the name. In 1632, the old church of St. Alban's, Wood Street, in consequence of its dilapidated state, was taken down and another edifice built on its site after a design by Inigo Jones.. This church having been destroyed by the great fire, the present uninteresting building was shortly afterwards com menced by Sir Christopher Wren, and completed in 1685. * In Addle Street are the respective halls of the Brewers' and Plasterers' Companies. 14 ALDERMAN BURY. r St. Alban's Church, as far as we are aware, contains the remains of no very remarkable persons. Stow, indeed, has suppUed us with a long Ust of monuments, the whole of which were probably destroyed by the great fire ; but in vain do we search for a name to which any interest is attached. One inscription, however, deserves to be tran scribed for its quaintness : — " Hie jacet Tom Shorthose, Sine tomb, sine sheets, sine riches ; Qui vixit sine go-wn. Sine cloak, sine shirt, sine breeches.'' In glancing round St. Alban's Church may be observed, in a curious brass frame attached to the pulpit, one of those quaint-looking hour-glasses which were formerly used to remind the preacher " how the hour passeth away," and the amount of time which he had to spare for the edification of his hearers. The hour-glass in question curiously illustrates the foUowing entries in an old churchwarden's book, belong ing to St. Catherine Cree, LeadenhaU Street. The date of the first entry is 1564 : — " Paid for an hour-glass, that hangeth by the pulpit, when the preacher doth make a ser mon, that he may know how the hour passeth away — one shilUng ;" and again, among the bequests in 1616, " an hour-glass, with a frame to stand in." Running parallel with Wood Street is Aldermanbury, so called from the Court of Aldermen having held here their BERRY, or Court, of which the ruins were still visible in the time of Stow. Here is the church of St. Mary, Alderman bury, erected by Wren in 1677, after the destruction of the old church by the fire of London. The spot awakens many interesting associations. Here, on the 12tli of November, 1656, Milton was married to his second wife, Catherine WHITECROSS STREET AND REDGROSS STREET, 15 Woodcock, who died the same year ; hence the celebrated nonconformist divine, Edmund Calamy, was ejected in 1662, after having held the living for twenty -three years, and here he Ues buried ; here also were interred Heminge and Condell, the fellow actors of Shakspeare, and the first editors of his immortal plays ; and in a vault on the north side of the communion table rest the remains of the infamous Judge Jeffreys, whose body was removed hither from the chapel in the Tower in 1698. Lord CampbeU informs us, that when the church was repaired in 1810, the coffin was found stiU fresh, with the once dreaded words, " Lord Chancellor Jeffreys " engraved on the lid. On the opposite side of London WaU are Whitecross Street and Redcross Street, two ancient streets, which derive their names, the one from a white, and the other from a red cross which severaUy stood on the site of each. In the latter street was the London residence of the mitred Abbots of Ramsey, which afterwards falling into the hands of Sir Drue Drury, obtained the name of Drury-house. In Gold smith's Rents, behind Redcross Street — " where were large gardens and handsome houses " — lived the famous scholar and schoolmaster, Thomas Farnaby. The son of a carpenter in London, he commenced life by connecting his fortunes with those of a Jesuit whom he accompanied to Spain, but disliking the discipline of the order of Jesus, he returned to England, shortly after which he sailed with Sir Francis Drake on the last voyage which he made to the West Indies. His next occupation was as a common soldier, in which capacity he served for some time in the Netherlands, but returnins to England in great distress, he contrived to estab- lish a school at Martock, in Somersetshire, under the name of Bainrafe, the anagram of Farnabie. From this place he 16 JEWIN STREET. subsequently removed to London, where the reputation of his school increased so rapidly that it speedily numbered three hundred scholars. He was a staunch royalist, and during the time that the ParUament was in the ascendant, an unguarded speech which he made, that " one King was better than five hundred," led to his committal to prison. It was proposed to transport him to the Plantations, but o-wing to powerful interest and the exertions of his friends, he escaped -with an imprisonment in Ely House, Holborn. He regained his Uberty in 1646, but enjoyed it only a short time ; his death taking place on the 12th of June in the fol lowing year. Wood Street and "Whitecross Street are said to have been the last streets in London in which the houses were dis tinguished by signs. They were removed about the year 1773. Redcross Street leads us into Je-win Street, long the site of a burying-place of the Jews, from which circumstance it took the name of Je-wyn, or Jews' Garden — " GardinuTn vocatum. Jewyn Garden." The fact is rather a remarkable one that it continued the only place in England in which the Jews were permitted to bury their dead tiU the year 1177, when — "after a long suit to the King and ParUament at Oxford " — special burial-places were assigned them in the different quarters which they inhabited. " This plot of ground," writes Stow, " remained to the said Jews tiU the time of their final banishment out of England, and is- now turned into fair garden-plots and summer-houses for pleasure." In one of these " summer-houses for pleasure," in Jewin Street, lived at one time John Milton. Here he took up his abode shortly after the Restoration, and here he continued to reside till the breaking out of the great jJague, when he ALDERSGATE STREET. 17 retired to Chalfont, in Buckinghamshire. In Jewin Street, he married his third wife, Elizabeth MinshuU, and here he is said to have written a great part of his immortal poem, " Paradise Lost." In the Silver Street Sunday Schools in Jewin Street is preserved John Bunyan's pulpit. From Jewin Street let us pass into Aldersgate Street, which derives its name from one of the gates of the City, so called, according to Stow, from its antiquity; it having been one of the older, or original gates. The old gate was taken down and rebuUt in 1617. The new gate was con siderably injured by the great fire, but having been repaired and beautified, remained standing tUl the year 1761, when it was demolished, and its materials sold. At the Restoration of Charles the Second many of the heads of the regicides were exposed on this gate. Aldersgate Street, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, con tained a greater number of the houses of the old nobility than perhaps any other street in the metropohs. Here, on the west side, stood another of the London residences of the Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland, and close by, where BuU- and-Mouth Street now stands, was the mansion of the Per- cies, Earls of Northumberland. Westmoreland Buildings still point out the site of the residence of the NeviUes. Here, too, breathed her last, in 1621, " at her house in Aldersgate Street," Mary Countess of Pembroke : " Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother." On the east side of Aldersgate Street, No. 35 to 38, still stands Shaftesbury House, built by Inigo Jones. It was originally the residence of the Tuftons, Earls of Thane t, from whom it passed into the hands of the first Eaii of Shaftesbury, the turbulent statesman of the reign of Charles the Second, and the " Achitophel " of Dryden's poem : — VOL. III. 2 18 SHAFT ESB URT HO USE. " For close designs, and crooked counsels fit ; Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of -wit ; Kestless, unfixed in principles and place, In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace ; A fiery soul, which, working out its way. Fretted the pigmy-body to decay. And o'er-inf ormed the tenement of clay. A daring pilot in extremity. Pleased with the danger when the waves went high, He sought the storms ; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his -wit." It was at his house in Aldersgate Street, after Lord Shaftesbury's final dismissal from office, that he took up his abode for the purpose of fomenting discontent among the citizens of London, -with whom he was at one time so popular, that it was his boast that he could raise a body of ten thou sand men by merely holding up his finger. Charles the Second once playfully observed to him : — " My Lord, I be Ueve you are the wickedest man in my dominions." — " For a subject, Sir," was the Earl's -witty reply, "I beUeve I am." Almost opposite to Shaftesbury House stood Petre House, successively the residence of the Petre family in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; of Henry Pierrepoint, Marquis of Dor chester, in the days of the Commonwealth ; and subsequently the episcopal residence of the Bishops of London after the destruction of their palace in St. Paul's Churchyard by the great fire. During the Commonwealth Petre House was for some time used as a prison ; one of its inmates at this time having been the eminent engraver, WUUam Faithome, who was confined here after he had been made a prisoner by the Parhamentary forces at the surrender of Basing House. In 1688, when the Princess Anne, afterwards Queen Anne, fled at night from her father's palace at WhitehaU, and placed herself under the protection of Bishop Compton, it was to his house in Aldersgate Street that the Bishop carried her in a hackney-coach, and here she passed the night. MILTON'S RECONCILIATION WITH HIS WIFE. 19 On the east side, at the north end of Aldersgate Street, stood Lauderdale House, the residence of John Duke of Lauderdale, who died in 1682. The site is stiU pointed out by Lauderdale Buildings. It is almost needless to remark that this nobleman and his unprincipled friend, Lord Shaftes bury, formed two of the famous Cabal in the reign of Charles the Second. In Aldersgate Street was another of the numerous London residences of the author of " Paradise Lost." Hither it was, to " a handsome garden-house," that he removed from St. Bride's Churchyard in 1643, and it was during his residence here that he was reconcUed to his first wife, Mary PoweU. As a first step towards their recohabitation, he placed her in the house of one Widow Weber, in St. Clement's Church yard, whence, after a short interval, he took her back to his hgart and hearth. In his beautiful description of Adam's xeconciUation with Eve after their fall, Milton had e-vddently in his mind his own first interview with his repentant wife after her unhappy estrangement : — " She, not repulsed, with tears that ceased not flo-wing, And tresses all disordered, at his feet Fell humble, and embracing them, besought His peace." And again, — " Soon his heart relented Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight, Now at his feet submissive in distress." Milton's reconciliation with his wife took place in July, 1645, in which year he removed from Aldersgate Street to a larger house in Barbican. Here he remained tiU 1647, when he took a smaller house in High Holborn, overlooking Lincoln's-inn Fields. In Aldersgate Street was born, in 1633, Thomas Flatman, the lawyer, painter, and poet. 20 THE BARBICAN. Aldersgate Street leads us into Barbican, a street deriving its name from the Barbican, or burgh-kenning, a watch- tower which was anciently an appendage of every fortified place. The remains of the tower, which stood a Uttle to the north of this thoroughfare, on the site of the old Roman specula, were visible in the latter half of the last century. " Here," writes Bagford, " the Romans kept cohorts of soldiers in continual service to watch in the night, that if any sudden fire should happen, they might be in readiness to extinguish it ; as also to give notice if an enemy were gathering or marching towards the City to surprise them. In short, it was a watch-tower by day, and at night they lighted some combustible matter on the top thereof, to give directions to the weary traveller rejDairing to the City, either v/ith provision, or upon some other occasion." In the reign of Edward the Third the custody of the 'Bar bican was committed to Robert UfFord, Earl of Suffolk, in whose famUy it appears to have been made hereditary, in the female line, till the reign of Queen Mary. In this reign it was in the keeping of Katherine, Baroness WiUoughby d'Eresby in her own right, and widow of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Adjoining the Barbican was her residence, WiUoughby House, of great size and splendour. Here she was residing with her second husband, Richard Bertie, ancestor of the Barons WiUoughby d'Eresby and Dukes of Ancaster, when an unlucky act of imprudence drew do-wn upon her the vengeance of the dreaded Bishop Gardiner. In her hatred of the Romish faith, she was induced to call her lapdog by the name of the Bishop, and to dress it up in the episcopal rochet and surplice, a circumstance which gave SLich offence to Gardiner that, in order to avoid his fury, she flew with her husband to the Continent, where they suffered great privations till the King of Poland received them FORTUNE THEATRE. 21 under his protection, and instaUed them in the Earldom cf Crozan. Another noble family who resided in Barbican were the Egertons, Earls of Bridgewater, whose mansion, Bridgewater House, was once famous for the productiveness of its orchards. It was burnt down in April, 1687, during the occupancy of John, third Earl of Bridgewater, when his two infant heirs, Charles "Viscount Brackley, and his second son Thomas, perished in the flames. The site of the mansion and gardens is now covered by Bridgewater Square. The learned antiquary, Sir Henry Spelman, author of the " Archseological Glossary," died in Barbican in 1641. On the south side of Beech Lane, Barbican, stood the resi dence of Prince Rupert, a portion of which was standing in the present century. In the parish books of St. Giles's Cripplegate is an entry of the payment of a guinea to the church ringers, for complimenting Charles the Second with a peal on the occasion of his visiting his kinsman in Barbi can. Prince Rupert subsequently removed to a house in Spring Gardens, where he died. According to Stow, Beech Street derives its name from Nicholas de la Beech, Lieu tenant of the Tower in the reign of Edward the Third. In Golden, or Golding, Lane, Barbican, stood the Fortune Theatre, one of the earliest places for theatrical entertain ment in London. It was first opened in 1599 for Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn. The latter was also pro prietor of the Bear Garden in Bankside, Southwark, and founder of Dulwich CoUege. AUeyn's theatre having been burnt down in 1621, it was shortly afterwards replaced by .another, which was destroyed by a party of fanatical soldiers during the Commonwealth. In the register of burials at St. Giles's Church, Cripplegate, may be traced the names of several of the actors at the Fortune Theatre. Playhouse 22 THE NURSERY. Yard, which connects Golden Lane with W^hitecross Street, stiU points out the site of the old theatre. In Golden Lane also stood the Nursery, a seminary for educating children for the profession ofthe stage, established in the reign of Charles the Second, under the auspices of Colonel WiUiam Legge, Groom of the Bedchamber to that monarch and uncle to the first Lord Dartmouth. Dryden speaks of it in his " Mac Flecknoe :" — " Near these a Nursery erects its head, "Where Queens are formed, and future heroes bred ; "Where unfledged actors learn to laugh and cry, "Where infant punks their tender voices try. And little Maximins the gods defy : Great Fletcher never treads in buskins here. Nor greater Jonson dares in socks appear." In Pepys's Diary are the foUowing notices of the Nur sery : — " 2 Aug. 1664. To the King's Playhouse, and there I chanced to sit by Tom KiUigrew, who tells me that he is setting up a Nursery ; that is, going to buUd a house in Moorfields, wherein he will have common plays acted." " 24 Feb. 1667-8. To the Nursery, where none of us ever were before ; where the house is better and the music better than we looked for, and the acting not much worse, because I expected as bad as could be ; and I was not much mistaken, for it was so. Their play was a bad one, caUed ' JeronimO' is mad again,' a tragedy." SMITHFIELD. SMITEEIELD CATTLE MARKET IN EOEMER TIMES THE PLACE FOR TOURNA MENTS, TRIALS BY BATTLE, EXECUTIONS AlfD AUTOS-DA-EE. — TOURNA MENTS BEEORE EDWARD THE THIRD AND RICHARD THE SECOND. — TRIALS BY DUEL BETWEEN CATOUK AND DAVY, AND THE BASTARD OP BURGUNDY AND LORD SCALES. REMARKABLE EXECUTIONS. — PERSONS -WHO SUEFERED MARTYRDOM IN THE ELAMES AT SMITHFIELD. — INTER-VIEW THERE BE TWEEN WAT TYLER AND RICHARD THE SECOND. — SIR WILLIAM WAl- WORTH. SMITHFIELD, corrupted from Smoothfield, continued to be used for the purposes of a cattle market for nearly seven centuries. Fitzstephen, in his account of London ¦written before the twelfth century, describes it as a plain field, where, every Friday, a number of valuable horses were exposed for sale. " Thither," he says, " come to look, or buy, a great number of Earls, Barons, Knights, and a swarm of citizens. It is a pleasing sight to behold the ambling nags and generous colts proudly prancing." Shakspeare has an aUusion to the sale of horses in Smith- field :— •' Falstaff.— Where's Bardolph ? Page. — He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship a horse. Falstaff. — I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse in Smithfield : an I could but get me a wife in the stews, I were maimed, horsed, and wived." King Henry IV., part 2, act i., sc. 2. With the exception of the Tower and of the Old Palace TOURNAMENTS AT SMITHFIELD. and Abbey of Westminster, there is no spot in London the history of which is so chequered, or which has witnessed scenes of such deep and varied interest as Smithfield. Here, in the days of our Norman sovereigas, the citizens and apprentices contended in their manly exercises. Here were held those gorgeous tournaments, when the vast area was a scene of glittering armour, streaming pennons, and balconies covered with cloth of gold. Here was the Tyburn of London, where the most atrocious criminals expiated their crimes on the gibbet. Here perished the patriot WaUace, and the gentle Mortimer. Here were held the trials by duel so famous in history. Here, at the dawn of the Reformation, took place those terrible autos-da-fe, at which our forefathers earned their crowns of martyrdom ; and, lastly, from the days of Henry the Second to oui' o-wn time, here were annually celebrated the orgies and humours of Bartholomew Fair, immortaUzed by the -wit of Ben Jonson and by the pencU of Hogarth. Many remarkable tournaments are recorded as ha-ving taken place at Smithfield, especiaUy during the reign of Edward the Third. Here that warlike monarch frequently entertained with feats of arms his Ulustrious captives, the Kings of France and Scotland ; and here, in 1374, towards the close of his long reign, the doting monarch sought to gratify his beautiful mistress, AUce Pierce, by rendering her the " observed of all observers " at one of the most maarnifi- cent tournaments of which we have any record. Gazing with rapture on her transcendant beauty, he confeixed on her the title of " Lady of the Sun," and taking her by the hand in aU the blaze of jewels and loveUness, conducted her from the royal apartments in the Tower in a triumphal chariot, in which he took his place by her side. Accompanying them was a procession consisting of the rank and beauty of the TOURNAMENTS AT SMITHFIELD. 25 land ; each lady being mounted on a beautiful palfrey, and having her bridle held by a knight on horseback. A no less mag-nificent tournament, to which invitations had been sent to the flower of chivalry at all the courts of Europe, was held at Smithfield in the succeeding reign of Richard the Second. The opening of the festi-vities, which lasted several days, is graphically painted by Froissart, who was not improbably a witness of the gorgeous scene. " At three o'clock on the Sunday after Michaelmas day the cere mony began. Sixty horses in rich trappings, each mounted by an esquire of honour, were seen advancing in a stately pace from the Tower of London. Sixty ladies of rank, dressed in the richest elegance of the day, foUowed on their palfreys one after another, each leading by a sUver chain a knight completely armed for tilting. Minstrels and trum pets accompanied them to Smithfield amidst the shouting population. There the Queen and her fair train received them. The ladies dismounted, and withdrew to their aUot- ted seats, while the knights mounted their steeds, laced their helmets, and prepared for the encounter. They tUted at each other tiU dark. They aU then adjourned to a sumptuous banquet, and dancing consumed the night tiU fatigue com peUed every one to seek repose. The next day the warlike sport recommenced. Many were unhorsed ; many lost then- helmets, but they all persevered with eager courage and emulation, tUl night again summoned them to their supper, dancing, and concluding rest. The festivities were again re peated on the third day." The court subsequently removed to Windsor, where King Richard renewed his splendid hos- pitaUties, and at their conclusion dismissed his foreign guests with many valuable presents. Appeals to arms in cases of disputed guUt, or, as they were styled, trials by battle, were, as has been already men- 26 TRIALS BY BA TTLE. tioned, anciently accustomed to take place at Smithfield.. The amusing combat between Horner and Peter, in the second part of Henry the Sixth,* was borrowed by Shak speare on a real fact related both by Grafton and Holin- shed. A master armourer of the name of WiUiam Catour, ha-ving been accused of treason by his apprentice, John Davy, and the former strenuously denying his guUt, a day was appointed for them to decide the point at issue by single combat at Smithfield. The armourer, there is no. doubt, was an innocent man. Unfortunately, however, for him, on the morning of the duel his friends, to use the words of Grafton, plied him with so much " malmsey and aquavite," that he fell an easy prey to his accuser. The " false servant," however, did not long evade the hands of justice. " Being convicted of felony," says HoUnshed, " in a court of assize, he was judged to be hanged, and so he was at Tyburn." Among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, are pre served the original warrants authorizing the combat, from which it appears that, previous to the encounter, the com batants were instructed in the use of arms by persons nomi nated and paid by the Cro-wn. The last single combat which need be mentioned, as ha-ving taken place at Smithfield, was the celebrated one fought in 1467 between the Bastard of Burgundy, brother of Charles Duke of Burgundy, and An thony Lord Scales, brother-in-law to . King Edward the Fourth. The Bastard, it seems, having challenged Lord Scales "to fight with him both on horseback and foot," King Edward not only gave his consent to the encounter, but expressed his intention of being present. Accordingly, on the appointed day, the ladies of the court, escorted by the principal nobility of the realm, took their places in the- magnificent galleries appropriated for them, shortly after * Act ii., scene 3. COMBAT IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD IV. 27 which the rival knights made their appearance in the Usts.. The duel was continued during three successive days. On the first day they fought on foot with spears, and " parting with equal honour." The .next day they encountered each other on horseback. " The Lord Scales's horse," -writes Stow, " having on his chafron a long spear pike of steel, as the two champions coped together the same horse thrust . his pike into the nostrils of the Bastard's horse, so that for • very pain he mounted so high that he feU on the one side with his master, and the Lord Scales rode about him with his sword drawn, till the King commanded the Marshal to- help up the Bastard." The Bastard, having regained his legs, entreated permission to renew the combat, but the King peremptorily refused his consent. The final encounter, however, was merely deferred till the foUowing morning, when, surrounded as before by all the beauty and chivalry of the land, the rival knights again made their appearance in the lists, armed on this occasion with pole-axes, and con tending on foot. The fight was continued valiantly on both sides, till Lord Scales having succeeded in thrusting the point of his pole-axe into an aperture in the Bastard's helmet, and thus nearly forced him on his knees, the King, to prevent fatal consequences, threw down his warder and compeUed them to separate. In vain the Bastard entreated to be aUowed to renew the combat. It was the opinion of the two referees — the Constable and the Earl Marshal — that in such case Lord Scales, by the law of arms, was entitled to be placed in the same advantageous position which he had obtained when the King threw down his warder, and ac cordingly, under these circumstances, the Bastard consented to withdraw his demand, and King Edward declared the combat to be at an end. Many remarkable executions have taken place in ancient 28 EXECUTIONS IN SMITHFIELD. times at the Elms in Smithfield, so called, according to Stow, " that there grew there many elm-trees." Among these we may mention the horrible end of one John Roose, who was boiled to death in a caldron in 1530, for having adminis tered poison to seventeen persons belonging to the house hold of the Bishop of Rochester, two of whom died. Eleven years afterwards, a young woman, of the name of Mary Da-v-ie, suffered the same terrible fate for a simUar crime. At Smithfield many holy persons sufifered martjrrdom in the fiames. Here died at the stake the first female mar tyr in England, Joan Boughton, a lady of some consideration in the reign of Henry the Seventh, and at the time of her death more than eighty years of age. So highly was she esteemed for her many virtues, that after her martjrrdom her ashes were carefuUy collected during the night, and pre served as relics' for pious and affectionate remembrance. She left behind her a daughter, the Lady Young, who suf fered -with equal constancy the same cruel death for the sake of the reUgion which she conscientiously believed to be the truth. A stiU more interesting person who suffered martyrdom at Smithfield, was the amiable and high-minded Anne Askew. To such frightful tortures had she been previously subjected on the rack, in order to extort from her a recant ation of her errors, that when she was led forth from the Tower to perish in the fiames, opposite St. Bartholomew's Church, her limbs were so mangled and disjointed that it required the assistance of two sergeants to support her. She remained firm, however, and undaunted to the last. Strype informs us that one who visited her in the Tower a few hours before her execution was so struck with the sweet serenity of her countenance, that he compared it to the face of St. Stephen " as it had been that of an angel." At the BURNING OF ANNE ASKEW. 29 last moment — immediately before the torch was applied to the faggots — a paper was handed to her, containing the royal pardon on condition of her signing a recantation of her errors. She not only, however, refused to have the docu ment read to her, but even to look at it ; " whereupon," writes BaUard, " the Lord Mayor commanded it to be put in the fire, and cried with a loud voice Fiat Justitia, and fire being put to the faggots, she surrendered up her pious soul to God in the midst of the flames." This painful tra gedy took place in the presence of the Duke of Norfolk, the Eaii of Bedford, the Lord ChanceUor, and others, on the night of the 16tli of July, 1546 ; three other persons — a priest, a taUor, and one of the LasceUes family, a gentleman of the king's household — suffering at the same time and with tho same undaunted courage. Having nobly and obstinately refused to purchase life at the expense of their consciences, the reeds were set on fire, and in a moment they were en compassed by the flames. " It was in the month of June," writes Southey, " and at that moment a few drops of rain fell, and a thunder-clap was heard, which those in the crowd, who sympathised with the martyrs, felt as if it were God's own voice accepting their sacrifice, and recei-ving their spirits into His everlasting rest." The first person who perished in the flames during the succeeding reign of Queen Mary was the Reverend John Rogers, a Prebendary of St. Paul's.'" This eminent person had formerly been chaplain to the English merchants at Antwerp, and while residing in that city had been a fellow- labourer -with Tindal and Coverdale in the great work of translating the Bible. Having married a German lady, by whom he had a large family, he was enabled, by means of his wife's connections, to reside in peace and safety in Ger many. Deeming it his duty, however, to repair to England, -30 BURNING OF JOHN ROGERS. and there pubUcly profess and advocate his rehgious princi ples, even at the hazard of encountering the rack and the flames, he crossed the sea and took his accustomed place in the pulpit at St. Paul's Cross. It was the last sermon which he was destined to preach. In the course of a fearless and •animated delivery he reminded the astonished bystanders of the pure and wholesome doctrine which had been preached to them from that pulpit in the days of Edward the Sixth ; -at the same time solemnly warning them against the pesti lent idolatry and superstition of the age in which they lived. His doom was of course fixed; and, accordingly, after a tedious imprisonment, frequent examinations, and repeated attempts to convert him to the ancient faith, he was brought to trial. He listened calmly to the frightful sentence which was passed upon him, merely requesting that his poor wife, being a stranger in a foreign land, might be aUowed to remain with him to the last, or at all events that he might be aUowed to embrace her before he died. " She hath ten children," he said, " that are hers and mine, and somewhat I would counsel her what were best for her to do." Bishops Gardiner and Bonner, however, with inconceivable cruelty refused these requests. Nevertheless, painful as were the circumstances of their last interview, the husband and wife were destined once more to meet. As the martyr passed on his way to Smithfield, his wife met him with her ten children, one of whom was at the breast. They were not, indeed, per mitted to converse with each other ; but the last look of her beloved husband — rendered almost sublime by its expression of calmness and resignation — gave her the hope of meeting him again in a better world, where bigotry and l^ersecution would cease any longer to have power over the virtuous and the brave. In regard to the martyr himself, neither the affecting sight of his wife and children, the vast BURNING OF BARTHOLOMEW LEG ATT. 31 multitude of people which surrounded him, nor the terrible paraphernaUa of death had the least effect upon him in his great extremity. Pardon was offered him at the stake if he would consent to sign his recantation, but, like many others who had suffered for the sake of the truth, he not only rejected the boon which was offered to him, but died with a ¦constancy and serenity which elicited the admiration even of his persecutors. It was through Smithfield that Bishop Latimer was led, in 1553, on his way to the Tower. Alluding to the fate of former martyrs, and to his own approaching and terrible death : " Ah ! " he said, " Smithfield has long groaned for me !" Scarcely could Latimer have faUed to remember that it was at this very spot, a few years previously, that he himself had preached fortitude to Friar Forrest, when agonizing under the torture of a slow fire for denying the supremacy of Henry the Eighth. The horrors of which Smithfield was the scene in the reign of Queen Mary were unhappily repeated during the mUder rule of her Protestant successors. During the reign of Eliza beth, for instance, two Dutchmen were burned to death at Smithfield for professing the principles of the Anabaptists. Here, too, as late as the reign of James the First, we find one Bartholomew Legatt perishing at the stake for rejecting the Athanasian and Nicene Creeds. He was the last person who suffered in the fiames in England on account of his religious principles. It has been mentioned, to the credit of our English monarchs, that not one of them — not even Philip the Second of Spain, when he became the husband of Queen Mary — was ever known to attend in person those terrible autos-da-fh which anciently took place in Smithfield. These remarks, however, scarcely apply to the Princes of Wales, 32 WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION. inasmuch as, in 1410, we find unquestionable evidence that, at the burning of one Badby, a LoUard, the Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry the Fifth, was a voluntary spectator. " He arrived," says Rapin, " to be present at the execution ; and as the poor wretch gave sensible signs of the torture he endured, he ordered the fire to be removed, and promised him a pension for Ufe provided he would recant ; but Badby, recovering his spirits, refused to comply with the offer, and suffered death with heroic courage." As late as the year 1652, Evelyn mentions his seeing a woman who had murdered her husband being burned to death in Smith- field.* One of the most remarkable events which have taken place in Smithfield was the interview, on the 15th of June, 1381, between Richard the Second, then in his fifteenth year, and the rebel leader, Wat Tyler. The young king was attended only by a small band of devoted men, while the other appeared as the leader of thirty thousand lawless and infuriated followers. The metropolis had for many days been at the mercy of the rebels, during which neither life nor property were safe. The Temple, the Duke of Lancaster's palace in tlic Savoy, the palace ofthe Archbishop of Canter bury, the Hospital of the Knights of St. John at Clerkenwell, as well as the houses of the judges and of the more power ful and obnoxious citizens, had recently been attacked and * "In March, ]8i9, during excavations necessary for a new sewer, and at a depth of three feet below the surface, immediately opposite the entrance to the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, the workmen laid open a mass of unhe-wn stones, blackened as if by fire, and covered with ashes, and human bones charred and partially consumed. This I believe to have been the spot generally used for the Smithfield burnings ; the face of the sufferer being turned to the east, and to the great gate of St. Bar tholomew, the prior of which was generally present on such occasions. Many bones were carried away as relics. The spot should be marked by an appropriate monument. " — Cunningham's "London," Art. Smillijield. WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION. 33 leveUed with the ground. It was, in fact, a fearful struggle between poverty and wealth — between order and misrule. Consternation was depicted on every countenance, and terror reigned in every heart. The last daring acts of the rebels had been to force the gates of the Tower, to cut off the heads of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, and the Lord Treasurer, and even to pillage the royal apart ments. It was at this formidable crisis that the young king con sented to an interview with the rebel chief at Smithfield. Tyler having ordered his companions to keep in the back ground tiU he should give a preconcerted signal, presented himself fearlessly on horseback among the royal retinue, and entered famiUarly into conversation with the King and his advisers. Among other pri-^leges which he demanded for the lower orders, he insisted that aU the warrens, streams, parks, and woods should be common to every one, and that the right of pursuing game should be equaUy free. More than once during the interview he drew his dagger in a threatening attitude, insolently throwing it into the air, and then catching it in its descent. At length he went so far as to seize hold of the bridle of the King's horse, when Sir William Walworth, Lord Mayor of London, unable any longer to repress his indignation, felled the rebel to the ground with his sword, on which he was immediately de spatched by the king's attendants. At that moment, but for the extraordinary presence of mind which Richard displayed on the occasion, the King and his attendants must inevitably have perished by the hands of the infuriated commons. Advancing alone towards the rebels — ""Wliat means this clamour, my Uege men V he said, "what are ye doing ? WiU ye kill your King ! Be not angiy that ye have lost your leader. I, your King, wUl be your captain. FoUow me to VOL. IIL 3 34 WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION, the fields, and I wiU grant you all you ask." The populace, overawed by the presence of majesty, and by the gaUant bearing of the young King, foUowed him impU citly to St. George's Fields, where he was stUl holding a parley with them when a body of men, which had been coUected by the wealthier, and more influential citizens, and who were joined by Sir Robert KnoUes with a force of well-armed veterans, suddenly made their appearance. At the sight of this un expected force a panic seized on the rebels, who, throwing do-wn their arms, fled in all directions. Stow has pointed out the exact spot in Smithfield on which Richard stood. "The King," he writes, "stood towards the east, near St. Bartholomew's Priory, and the Commons towards the west, in front of battle." THE PEIOEY AND CHUECH OF ST. BAETHOLOMEW. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S PRIORY AND CHURCH — -WHEN BUILT — ITS PRESENT AP PEARANCE — REFECTORY, CRYPT, AND SUBTERRANEAN PASSAGE.— BARTHO LOMEW CLOSE. — MONUMENTS IN THE CHURCH. — STORY OF RAHERE, FOUNDER OF THE PRIORY. — FRACAS IN THB PRIORY.— ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL. — CANONBURY". — CANONBU-RY TQ-WER. — GOLDSMITH'S RESIDENCE. — PRIOR BOLTOn's RESIDENCE. — BARTHOLOMEW FAIR. ON the south-eastern side of Smithfield stand the re mains of the beautiful church and once vast and wealthy Priory of St. Bartholomew, founded by Rahere, the first Prior, in the reign of Henry the First.* At the time of the suppression of the reUgious houses in the reign of Henry the Eighth, it was distinguished by its vast extent of buUding, its beautiful and shady gardens, its exqui site cloisters, its grand refectory, its fish-ponds, and by aU the appurtenances of a great monastic estabhshment. Its mulberry-garden, planted by Prior Bolton, was famous. Passing under a gateway rich -with carved roses and zig zag ornaments, we enter the fine old church of St. Bartho lomew. As we gaze on the soUdity of its massive piUars, its graceful arches, and the beauty of its architectural details, we are at once impressed -with that sense of grandeur and solemnity which only such a scene can inspire. The remains of the old church are in the Norman style of architecture, * The priory was founded about the year 1102, and was "again new built" in the year 1410.— Stow, p. 140. 3—2 36 ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH. and are apparently of the same date as the earlier portions of Winchester Cathedral. Some notion of its former magni ficence may be conceived, when we mention that the present church is merely the chancel of the ancient edifice. Surrounded by mean hovels and by a population of the lowest description, the exterior of the ancient Priory, though degraded to strange purposes, is notwithstanding scarcely less interesting than the interior. Beauty and decay meet us at every step. In order to view the noble arches of the ancient cloisters, we must dive into a timber-yard ; whUe the old refectory, formerly one of the noblest haUs in London, has long been converted into a manufactory. The fine oaken roof stiU remains. The exterior of the buUding has been sadly modernized, and the interior has been subdi-vdded by intermediate roofs and ceilings, but still sufficient remains to recaU -vd-^ddly to our imaginations the days when this noble apartment was the scene of ecclesiastical hospitality, and briUiant -with aU the splendid paraphernaUa of the Church of Rome. The refectory stands on the south side of the church, near the end of the south transept, and is immediately connected -with the beautiful eastern cloister, which, -with its clustered - columns and carved bosses, is now the only one which re mains. Beneath the refectory is the ancient crypt, wMch, not-withstanding the beauty of its architecture, and its rare state of preservation, is but seldom visited and but Uttle kno-wn. It is of great length, with a double row of finely- proportioned aisles. At the extremity of this gloomy and vaulted crypt is a door, which, according to tradition, opens into a subterranean passage extending to Canonbury, for merly a rural appendage of the Priors of St. Bartholomew, at Islington. SimUar idle stories are not unfrequently attached to old monastic ruins, as in the cases of Mahnesbury, Netley,, ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH. 37 and Glastonbury. That the door in question, however, was formerly used as a means of escape in the hour of danger, there is reason to beUeve. Till very recently it opened into a cellar which extended beneath a chapel known as St. Bar tholomew's Chapel, which was destroyed by fire in 1830. This chapel is known to have been secretly used by the Reformers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; the pas sage we have referred to ha-ving afforded them a ready means of escape in the event of their being disturbed by the ofiicers of the law. Consequent on the accumulation of the dust of centuries, the ground which encompasses the church of St. Bartho lomew has graduaUy risen three or four feet, and the foundations of the nave and the entrances to the edifice are now considerably below the soU of the churchyard. As regards the eastern cloister, to such a height has the soil accumulated, that the spring of the arches is now level with the ground. At the south side of the church was the great Close of the old priory, the site of which is now occupied by modern buildings, but which stUl bears the name of Bartho lomew Close. The lesser Close, in which stood the Prior's stables, the kitchens, and offices, was situated at the east end of the church, and also still preserves its designation of the Little Close. The former is especiaUy interesting from its connection with the fortunes of Milton. At the Restoration of Charles the Second, the prominent part which the great poet had acted under the Protectorate had rendered him a proscribed man, and accordingly we find him seeking a refuge in the house of a friend in Bartho lomew Close, where he remained concealed tUl he found himself included in the general amnesty. Dr. Johnson thinks, and -with some reason, that his escape was secretly 38 BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. favoured by the Government. That he was in the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, at least for a short time, is proved by the foUo-wing curious entries in the books of the House of Commons:— "Saturday, December 15th, 1660, ordered that Mr. MUton, now in custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms attend ing this House, be forth-with released on paying his fees." And again, on Monday the 17th, — " A complaint made that the Sergeant-at-Arms had demanded excessive fees for the imprisonment of Mr. MUton : ordered that it be referred to the Committee for Pri-vileges to examine this business, and to caU Mr. Milton and the Sergeant before them, and to de termine what is fit to be given the Sergeant for his fees in this case." After his Uberation, Milton took up his abode in Holborn, near Red Lion Fields. In Bartholomew Close resided that classical artist, Hubert le Sceur, to whom we owe the beautiful statue of Charles the First at Charing Cross. He had a son, Isaac, who was buried on the 29th of November, 1630, in the neighbouring church of St. Bartholomew. Here, too, Benjamin Franklin carried on his vocation of a journeyman printer for nearly a year. The most interesting monument in St. Bartholomew's Church is that of the founder of the Priory, Rahere. This fine specimen of the pointed style of architecture represents the effigy of the founder in his prior's dress, recumbent be neath a canopy, with an angel kneeUng at his feet, and monks praying by his side. The monument is inscribed, — Hie jacet Eaherus, Primus Canonicus, et primus Prior hujus Ecclesise. It bears no date, but from its style of architecture it must have been erected many years after the death of the: founder. PRIORY OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. 89 Another interesting monument in St. Bartholomew's Church is that of Sir Walter MUdmay, founder of Emanuel CoUege, Cambridge, who acted a prominent part as a cour tier and a statesman during the reigns of Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, and Queen Elizabeth. He was one of the Commissioners sent to Fotheringay Castle to conduct the trial of Mary Queen of Scots, and it was to him person- aUy that the unfortunate Queen addressed herself when she pleaded her. innocence of the crimes with which she was charged, and denied the right of Elizabeth to bring her to trial. The monument to Sir Henry, which is finely executed in marble, and of great size, presents a mixture of the Gothic and Classic styles of architecture, the union of which in the sixteenth century was then for the first time coming into vogue. The circumstances which led to the foundation of the Priory of St. Bartholomew are fuU of interest. Rahere, though a man of mean lineage, was endowed by nature with all those graceful qualities of mind and body which help to make up for the deficiencies of birth. Witty and lively in his disposition — an accomphshed Ubertine and a finished musician — he was gifted -with all those arts which render their possessor welcome to the tables of the great, and which, in the days when hterature was almost entirely confined to the priesthood, were a certain pass-key to the bower of the lady and the revels of her lord. His sovereign, Henry the First, deUghted in his society. Rahere charmed him by his songs, and fascinated him by his wit. According to an old monkish writer — " he often haunted the King's palace, and among the noiseful press of that tumultuous court, conformed himself -with polity and cardinal suavity, by the which he drew to himself the hearts of many a one. There, in spec tacles, in meetings, in plays, and other courtly mockeries and 40 STORY OF RAHERE. trifles, he led the business of the day. This-wise to the king and great men : gentle and courteously. known, familiar and feUowly he was."* Of the circumstances which impeUed the courtly Rahere to exchange a life of voluptuousness and pleasure for one of asceticism and sanctity, but Uttle appears to be known. He was stiU in the fuU vigour of Ufe, stiU in the fuU enjoy ment of its gratifications, when, on a sudden, he absented himself from his accustomed haunts, and " decreed himself to go to the court of Rome, coveting in so great a labour to do the works of penance." " While he tarried there," says the same old monkish -writer, "he began to be vexed with grievous sickness, and his dolours encreasing, he drew to the extreme of Ufe : the which, dreading -within himself that he had not yet satisfied God for his sins, he supposed that God took vengeance of him for them amongst outlandish people, and deemed that the last hour of his death drew nigh. This remembering inwardly, he shed out, as water, his heart in the sight of God, and all brake out in tears. He avowed that if God would grant him health that he might return to his own country, he would make an hospital for the recrea tion of poor men, that they being so there gathered, he might minister necessaries to them after his power. And not long after, the benign and merciful Lord beheld this weeping man, restored him his health, and approved his vow." Shortly after this, probably while under the influence of fever, a celestial -vision — having the "majesty of a king, of great beauty and imperial authority " — is said to have appeared to the repentant voluptuary. " I am Bartholomew," * Cottonian MS., British Museum, quoted in Knight's " London." Stow styles him "a pleasant witted gentleman, and therefore in his time called the King's minstrel. "—Stow's " Survey," p. 140. STORY OF RAHERE. 41 he said, " the apostle of Jesus Christ, that come to succour thee in thine anguish, and to open to thee the sacred mys teries of Heaven. Know me truly, by the will and com mandment of the Holy Trinity, and the common favour of the celestial court and council, to have chosen a place in the suburbs of London, at Smithfield, where in my name thou shalt found a church. This spiritual house Almighty God shall inhabit, and haUow it, and glorify it. Wherefore doubt thee nought ; only give thy dUigence, and my part shaU be to provide necessaries, direct, buUd, and end this work." In due time Rahere, by his influence at court, not only obtained possession of the required site at Smithfleld, but by working on the pious feelings of the rich, was enabled to perfect his great work. Moreover, the same engaging charm of manner which had rendered him the associate of courtiers and of kings, had its influence also over the ignorant and the poor, on whose better feelings he had wrought so successfuUy as to induce them to afford him their manual labour -with little prospect of reward. When appealing to them indi vidually, the fascination of his address is said to have been irresistible. When he exhorted them collectively, we are told that his eloquence " compeUed them unto sighing and weeping." The spot selected by Rahere for the site of his great monastic establishment was then a mere swamp ; the only dry spot in the neighbourhood being at that time the ground on which stood the gaUows, or " Elms." Not-withstanding every obstacle, and in spite of many powerful enmities and jealousies, Rahere lived to see his magnificent Priory com pleted in 1113. Fortunately Henry the First had stood his friend, and by extending to the new Priory extraordinary privUeges and immunities, showed how satisfied he was of the pious sincerity of his former boon companion, and what 43 FRACAS IN THE PRIORY CHURCH. a value he set upon his pious work. Rahere nominated himself the first prior of his own estabhshment, over which he presided for twenty-two years and six months, at the end of which period he " forsook the clay-house of this world and entered the house everlasting." According to monkish authority, not only were numerous miracles -wrought in the monastery during the lifetime of the founder, but after his death the sick who paid a pilgrimage to his tomb were re stored to health, and the blind to sight. It was about a century after the death of Rahere that an extraordinary fracas took place within the waUs of the Priory Church, between Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury,, and his attendants on the one side, and the Superior and' Canons of the estabhshment on the other. The Archbishop,, it appears, had in the course of one of his visitations stopped -with his suite at the Priory of St. Bartholomew, where,, though he was received by the holy fathers with all due honours, it was at the same time respectfuUy intimated to him by the sub-prior, that as the brotherhood had already another learned bishop for their visitor, they could not, out of respect for their estabhshed metropoUtan, submit to the domination of any other. Indignantly the Archbishop expostulated with the sub-prior on his disobedience and that of his brethren, tiU at length his choler rose so high as to incite him to commit a violent assault upon the former. In the words of Matthew Paris, as quoted by Stow, the Arch bishop " rent in pieces the rich cope of the su.b-prior, and trod it under his feet, and thrust him against a piUar of the chancel -with such violence that he had almost killed him." The holy brethren, seeing the danger to which their sub- prior was exposed, hurried to his rescue, and in the dis graceful scuffle which ensued the Primate was thrown on his back. The attendants of the Archbishop were, on their ST. BARTHOLOMEWS HOSPITAL. 43 part, not wanting in zeal. Seeing their master on the ground — " being all strangers, and their master's countrymen, born at Provence — ^they feU upon the canons, beat them, tore them, and trod them under feet." The result was a general " uproar " through the City ; the citizens naturaUy taking part with their countrymen against the insolent foreigners. The Archbishop, to avoid being torn to pieces by the mob, flew in the first instance to his episcopal palace at Lambeth, but even then felt himself insecure tiU he found himself in the presence and under the protection of the King.* At the dissolution of the religious houses, the Priory of St. Bartholomew was granted by Henry the Eighth to Sir Richard Rich, in whose possession it remained tiU the acces sion of Queen Mary, who conferred it on the Black, or Preaching Friars. After her death it again fell into the hands of the Rich famUy, who made it their residence. It was subsequently inhabited by Sir Walter MUdmay, whose remains lie interred in the church. We have already mentioned the magnificent foundation of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, so caUed from its connection with the Priory. "Alfune," writes Stow, "that had not long before buUt the parish church of St. GUes -without Cripplegate, became the first hospitaller, or proctor, for the poor of this house, and went himself daily to the shambles and other markets, where he begged the charity of devout people for their reUef." In 1352, the hospital was set apart by Edward the Third for the special reUef of the poor and diseased. Four sisters were appointed to administer to their wants and to attend them in their sickness; the entire establishment being placed under the government of a master and eight priests or brethren. About the year 1423 the Hospital was repaired by the executors of that munifi- * Stow, p. 140. 44 CHURCH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE LESS. cent Lord Mayor, Richard Whittmgton. At the suppression of the monasteries in the reign of Henry the Eighth the interests of the poor were not forgotten ; the hospital having been then refounded for the reUef of a hundred " sore and diseased " persons. The staircase of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, painted by Hogarth at his own expense,* represents the good Samaritan and the pool of Bethesda, and in another part Rahere laying the foundation stone, -with a sick man carried on a bier at tended by monks. In the handsome court-room of the Hos pital is a full-length portrait of Henry the Eighth ; as weU as portraits of Charles the Second by John Baptist Caspars, and of Dr. Radcliffe, founder of the Radcliffe Library at Oxford, and a munificent benefactor of the Hospital. The church of St. Bartholomew the Less, though it escaped the great fire, possesses but little interest. It was originally a chapel attached to the Priory, but after the dissolution of the monasteries was converted into a parish church for the convenience of those who lived within the precincts of the Hospital. At the time when Stow made his survey it contained many ancient monuments and brasses, but unhappUy nearly aU have been swept away. The original tower stiU remains, but the church itself, having fallen into decay, was rebuilt by Dance in 1789, and again by the late Thomas Hardwicke in 1823. Inigo Jones was baptized in this church, and here James Heath, the author of the " Chronicle of the late War," was interred in 1664. Intimately associated with the Priory of St.- Bartholomew, is its rural appendage of Canonbmy, near Islington, a favourite retreat of the old Priors. This interesting reUc of * It appears by the parish register that Hogarth was baptized in the neigh'oouring church of St. Bartholomew, on the 2Sth of November, 1697. — Cunningham's " London." Art. St. Bartholomew the Great. CANONBURY. 45 antiquity, which was presented to the Priory by Ralph de Bemers in the reign of Edward the First, derives its name partly from having been the residence of the Canons or Priors, and partly from the word hury, signifjdng a court, or dwelling-house. " Canonbury Tower," writes Hone, " is sixty feet high and seventeen feet square. It is part of an old mansion which ap pears to have been erected, or much altered, about the reign of Elizabeth. The more ancient edifice was erected by the Priors or the Canons of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, and hence was caUed Canonbury, to whom it appertained until it was surrendered -with the Priory to Henry the Eighth ; and when the reUgious houses were dissolved, Henry gave the mansion to Thomas Lord CromweU. It afterwards passed through other hands, till it was possessed by Sir John Spencer, an Alderman and Lord Mayor of London, kno-wn by the name of ' Rich Spencer.' While he resided at Canonbury, a Dunkirk pirate came over in a shallop to Barking Creek and hid himself with some armed men in Islington Fields — near the path which Sir John usuaUy took from his house in Crosby Place to this mansion — with the hope of making him prisoner, but as he remained in to-wn that night, they were glad to make off for fear of detection, and returned to France disappointed of their prey and of the large ransom they calculated on for the release of his person. His sole daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, was carried off in a baker's basket from Canonbury House by WiUiam., the second Lord Compton, Lord President of Wales. He in herited Canonbury, -with the rest of Sir John Spencer's wealth, at his death, and was afterwards created Earl of Northampton. In this family the manor stUl remains." — " I ranged the old rooms," adds Hone, " and took, perhaps, a last view from the roof. The eye shrank from the -wide CANONBURY TOWER. havoc below. Where new buUdings had not covered the sward, it was emboweUing for bricks, and kUns emitted flickering fire and sulphurous stench." The present tower was probably built by Sir John Spencer, into whose hands the estate passed in 1570. Canonbury Tower is rendered especiaUy interesting from its ha-vdng been fi-equently the hiding-place of Goldsmith, when threatened with arrest and the gaol. Here, according to tradition, he composed his " Deserted VUlage " and a part of the " Vicar of Wakefield." That Goldsmith resided here during the whole of the year 1763 and a portion of 1764, there can be no question ; the popular authority for pre suming the " Vicar of Wakefield " to have been composed in Oanonbury Tower, being Sir John Hawkins ; whUe, on the other hand, Mr. Mitford. in his " Life of Goldsmith," inti mates that Goldsmith composed this charming story during his residence in Wine Office Court, Fleet Street, between the years 1760 and 1762. " Canonbury," -writes Washington Irving; " is an ancient brick tower, hard by ' merry IsUngton,' the remains of a hunting-seat of Queen Ehzabeth, where she took the pleasure of the country, when the neighbourhood was aU woodland. What gave it particular interest in my eyes, was the circumstance that it had been the residence of a poet. It was here Goldsmith resided when he wrote his ' Deserted ViUage.' I was sho-wn the very apartment. It was a reUc of the original style of the castle, -with paneUed wainscot and Gothic -windows. I was pleased with its air of antiquity, and its having been the residence of poor Goldy." Goldsmith's apartment is said to have been an old oak room on the first fioor, in the eastern corner of which was a large press-bedstead in which he slept. The waUs of this apartment present a good example of oak paneUing, sur- CANONBURY. 47 passed, however, by an upper room, which for car-vdng and delicate tracery is hardly to be equaUed. The account given by Washington Irving of the miseries of his " Poor De-vdl Author " in Canonbury Tower, has pro bably as much truth in it as fiction. " Sunday came," he "writes, " and with it the whole City world, swarming about Canonbury Castle. I could not open my window but I was stunned with shouts and noises from the cricket ground. The late quiet road beneath my -windows was alive -with the tread of feet and the clack of tongues, and, to complete my misery, I found that my quiet retreat was absolutely a ' show-house,' being sho-wn to strangers at sixpence a head. There was a perpetual tramping up stairs of citizens and their famiUes to look about the country from the top of the tower, and to take a peep at the City through a telescope, to try if they could discern their o-wn chimneys." It was probably not in connection with Goldsmith alone that Washington Irving was induced to fix upon Canonbury Tower as the retreat of his " Poor DevU Author." Here, at different times, resided the unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart ; David Humphreys, an indifferent poet, author of " Ulysses," an opera ; and Ephraim Chambers, the author of the " Cyclopaedia." Behind Canonbury Tower stood tUl our time a man sion which, according to tradition, was the occasional rural retreat of Queen Elizabeth, and which bore internal evidence of having been anciently the habitation of royalty. The old dra-wing-room, with its fine stuccoed ceUing, its scroU-work ornaments, and its beautiful mantel-piece, must at one time have been a stately apartment. In the centre of the ceUing were the initials E. R., affording circumstan tial, if not positive, e-vidence that the mansion was once in habited by the virgin queen. On the ground-floor was RESIDENCE OF PRIOR BOLTON. another fine apartment, known as the Stone Parlour. This apartment had also a fine decorated mantel-piece, on which were represented the Cardinal Virtues, as weU as a stuccoed ceiUng embossed and ornamented -with pendants. Adjoining this house, and standing on a rather elevated lawn, was the ancient residence of Prior Bolton, probably erected by him about the year 1520. The lawn was termi nated by a raised and embowered terrace, which must at one time have commanded a fine view of the surround ing country. At each end of the waU was an octagonal garden-house, erected by Prior Bolton, in one of which was. to be traced the Prior's rebus, or de-vdce — a bolt, or arrow, and a tun. The same quaint device is also to be traced in St. Bartholomew's Church and in some of the houses in the ad joining Close. Ben Jonson speaks of— " Old Prior Bolton, -with his bolt and ton." From the same source, apparently the ancient and weU- kno-wn Inn in Fleet Street derived its name. Among other .reUcs of the past^the mansion contained a. carved mantel-piece of the reign of Ehzabeth, and a stone passage, or corridor, in which could be seen a Tudor door way of considerable beauty and elegance, ornamented by the rebus of Prior Bolton.* Who is there who has not felt an interest in that great Smithfield Fair, which derived its name from having been for centuries held under the shadow of the neighbouring Priory. The privilege of holding a fair at Smithfield during St. Bartholomew Tide was originaUy granted to the Priory by Henry the Second. It lasted for three days, being prin- * The writer is indebted to Knight's "London "for many interesting particulars connected with the Priory of St. Bartholomew and its founder Eahere. — See Knight's "London," vol. ii., p. 33, et seq., and p. 4.y,, et seq.. BARTHOLOMEW FAIR. 49 cipaUy frequented by London drapers as weU as by country clothiers who fiocked hither with their goods from aU parts of England ; these persons being aUowed to place their booths and standings within the walls of the churchyard, the gates of which were carefuUy locked at night.* Such was the constitution of Bartholomew Fair tiU the reign of Henry the Eighth, when there sprung up those humours and saturnalia for which it continued to be cele brated even in recent times. In our own time the Lord Mayor still opened the fair in person ; stopping his horse at Newgate in his way, to receive from the hands of the keeper of the prison a " cool tankard of wine, nutmeg, and sugar." In 1688, this custom proved fatal to Sir John Shorter, Lord Mayor, grandfather of the beautiful Catherine Shorter, the first wife of Sir Robert Walpole. WhUe holding the tanlc- ard the lid suddenly fell, when his horse, frightened at the noise, plunged and threw his rider. So severe were the in juries which he received that he died on the following day. Bartholomew Fair was long celebrated for its theatrical entertainments. Pepys -writes on the 30th of August, 1667: " I to Bartholomew Fayre to walk up and do-wn ; and there, among other things find my Lady Castlemaine at a puppet- play, and the street full of people expecting her coming out. I confess I did wonder at her courage to come abroad, think ing the people would abuse her. But they, siUy people, do not know the work she makes, and therefore suffered her -with great respect to take coach, and she away without any trouble at all." It was in a booth at Bartholomew Fair that Rich is said to have been so struck with the acting of Walker, afterwards the original Macheath, that he engaged him for the theatre in Lincoln's Inn. Another weU-known person connected -with Bartholomew Fair was the unfortu- * Stow, p. 141. VOL. III. 4 50 BARTHOLOMEW FAIR. nate poet, Elkanah Settle, who was once so reduced in cir cumstances as to be compelled to write pantomimes and con trive machinery for a Smithfield booth. Here, in fact, it was that in one of his o-wn wretched theatrical exhibitions, called " St. George and the Dragon," he was reduced to per sonate the dragon, enclosed in a case of green leather — a circumstance to which Dr. Young, the author of the " Night Thoughts," alludes in his Epistles to Pope : — " Poor Elkanah, all other changes past. For bread in Smithfield-dragons hissed at last ; Spit streams of fire to make the butchers gape. And found his maimers suited to his shape. Such is the fate of talents misapphed," &c. It was at Bartholomew Fair that the great actress, Mrs. Pritchard, fnst attracted public attention. We have the authority of Mrs. Piozzi, that Dr. Johnson's uncle, Andrew Johnson, " for a whole year kept the ring at Smithfield, where they -wrestled and boxed, and never was thrown or conquered." THE CHAETEE HOUSE. CHARTER HOUSE ORIGINALLY A BURIAL-GROUND. — SIR WALTER DE MANNY FOUNDS A CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY THERE. — DREADFUL PUNISHMENTS INFLICTED ON THE CARTHUSIANS BY HENRY THE EIGHTH. — CHARTER HOUSE PURCHASED BY DUKE OF NORFOLK. — GIVEN TO EARL OF SUFFOLK. — HISTORY OF SIR THOMAS SUTTON, FOUNDER OF THE PRESENT CHARTER HOUSE. — SCHOLARS AND PENSIONERS. — OLD COURT ROOM. — CHARTER HOUSE SQUARE. THERE is perhaps no spot in London which has wit nessed so much dreary horror as the ground occupied by the Charter House. Beneath and around us Ue the remains of no fewer than one hundred thousand human beings, who fell victims to the frightful plague which devas tated the metropolis in the reign of Edward the Third.* " No Man's Land," as it was styled by our ancestors, bore a frightful reputation. Long after the earth had closed over the vast plague-pit, it was the custom to inter there all who had either perished on the gibbet or by their o-wn hands. Their mutilated corpses, according to Stow, were conveyed hither with terrifying ceremony, " usuaUy in a close cart, baUed over and covered with black, having a plain white cross thwarting; and at the fore-end a St. John's cross -without; and -within a beU ringing by shaking of the cart, * " It is to be noted, that above one hundi-ed thousand bodies of Chris tian people had in that churchyard been buried ; for the said knight (Sir ¦Walter de Manny) had purchased that place for the burial of poor people, travellers, and other that were deceased, to remain for ever."— Stow, p. 161. 4<—9. 52 THE CHARTER HOUSE. whereby the same might be heard when it passed ; and this was caUed the Friary cart, which belonged to St. John's, and had the privilege of sanctuary." At the time of the great plague in the reign of Edward the Third, the ground on which the Charter House now stands consisted of open fields. Then it was [1348] that in consequence of the ordinary London churchyards having been fiUed to overflowing by the -victims of the pestilence, the ground was purchased from phUanthropic motives by Ralph Stratford, Bishop of London, who surrounded it with a wall of brick, and built a chapel for the performance of the burial service over the dead. This immediate spot was kno-wn by the name of Pardon Churchyard, a name which it continued to retain in the days of Stow. The chapel stood on the ground between the present north wall of the Charter House and Sutton Street. There existed at that fearful period another beneflcent phUanthropist, to whom, in fact, we indirectly owe the pre sent magnificent estabhshment, the Charter House. That person was Sir Walter de Manny, a native of Hainault and a Knight of the Garter, a man not only endeared to his contemporaries by his singular virtues, but whose personal gaUantry shone pre-eminent in every battle and tournament of that chivalrous age. As compassionate as he was brave, he not only during the raging of the pestUence added thir teen acres to the ground already purchased by Bishop Strat ford; but subsequently perfected his pious work by found ing and endowmg on the spot a reUgious estabhshment, which survived tiU the dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of Henry the Eighth. In founding his new order. Sir Walter had the advice and experience of Simon Sudbury, Bishop of London. It con sisted of twenty-four Carthusian monks, who were formed THE CHARTER HOUSE. into a branch of the Benedictines, originaUy established at Chartreux, in France, about the year 1080, an order princi- paUy distinguished by its austerity and self-denial. Hence the modern word, Charter House, is corrupted. Over then- single under-garment, which was white, they wore a' black cloak; no other covering being permitted them, even in winter, but a single blanket. With the exception of the prior and the proctor, they were confined entirely to the walls of the monastery. Even in the most inclement weather they were compelled to attend di-sone service in the middle of the night. Once a week they fasted on bread, salt, and water, and on no occasion were they aUowed to eat meat, nor even fish, unless it were a free gift. When Shakspeare, in his play of Henry the Eighth, speaks of " a monk o' the Chartreux," he aUudes to one of the frater nity of the ancient Charter House. Sir Walter de Manny breathed his last in 1372, deeply and deservedly lamented. Froissart, indeed, tells us that " all the barons and Icnights of England were much affected at his death, on account of the loyalty and prudence they had always found in him." He was buried with great pomp in the chapel of the monastery of the Carthusians, his fune ral being attended by the King in person, and by the prin cipal nobles and prelates of the realm. By his own -wish a tomb of alabaster was placed in the choir over his remains. The Carthusians, from the time of the foundation tUl the extinction of their order, continued to be respected for their peaceful and exemplary lives ; li-ving' entirely secluded from the vanities and temptations of the busy world around them, practising self-denial, and dispensing alms to the poor. Their virtues, however, avaUed them Uttle against the grasping avarice of Henry the Eighth; and accordingly, at the dissolution of the reUgious houses, they received a 54 THE CHARTER HOUSE. -visit from the King's commissioners, by whom they were formaUy required to -withdraw their spiritual aUegiance from the Pope, and to acknowledge the King's supremacy in the Church. In case of their submission, the prospect of honours and rewards was UberaUy held out to them ; whUe, in case of obduracy, they were threatened with the gibbet and the rack. Neither, however, the fear of death, nor the hope of reward could divert these devoted men from their purpose, and accordingly their fate, as may be readUy imagined, proved to be a hard one. On the 5th of May, 1535, the venerable prior was not only hanged, dra-wn, and quartered at Tyburn, , but one of his quarters was actually placed over the gate of his own monas tery, a ghastly spectacle and a terrible forewarning to its sur-viving inmates. Nevertheless they continued to turn a deaf ear aUke to the threats and the promises of the King's inquisitors, till at length, enraged at their obstinacy; their persecutors took the preUminary step of immuring them within the walls of the cloisters ; whence, about a month after the death of their exemplary prior, many of them were dragged forth to the gibbet. Their bodies having been cut down whUe they were stUl aUve, their bowels were taken out, and their heads and quarters affixed to different parts of the City. Six monks of the whole number recanted their principles and took the oath of supremacy. There now re mained only ten of the unfortunate Carthusians, the fate of whom was even more pitiable than that of their deceased brethren. After a long and close confinement, such was the miserable state to whifih they were reduced by hunger and filth, that nine of them actually wasted away and died in their miserable ceUs. The only remaining one — the last of the. simple-minded and devoted Carthusians — was led forth a few years later to the gibbet. THE CHARTER HOUSE. 55 After the dissolution of the monasteries the Charter House was granted by Henry the Eighth, in 1542, for their joint lives, to John Brydges and Thomas HaU, the former Yeoman and the latter Groom of the King's nets and tents. Henry subsequently conferred it upon Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor, who sold it in 1545 to the eminent statesman and lawyer, Sir Edward North, afterwards Lord North, who metamorphosed the old monastery into a magnificent man sion. He subsequently disposed of it to the turbulent and ambitious John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, on whose attainder and execution, in August, 1553, it was again con ferred on Lord North by the Crown. At the Charter House Queen Elizabeth, on her accession to the throne in 1558, passed five days pre-viously to her instaUing herself in the royal apartments in the Tower. In 1565 the Charter House was purchased of Roger, the second Lord North, by Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, whose romantic attachment to Mary Queen of Scots led him to the block. It was the favourite resort of this unfortunate nobleman ; being at one time the scene of his revels ; at an other of his desperate intrigues ; and, lastly, of his imprison ment. The greater part of the edifice as it now stands was rebuilt by this nobleman. In the great haU may be stUl seen his heraldic bearings vdth the date, 1571, the year pre- ¦vious to his execution, while the pediment of the outer gate in Charter House Square is stiU supported by two Uons with scroUs, his armorial badge. It may be mentioned that the principal evidence against the iU-fated Duke was the dis covery under the roofing-tiles of the Charter House of the key to the cypher of his letters. Whether with real or feigned reluctance. Queen Ehzabeth, not-withstanding his many virtues, his great popularity, and their long friendship, signed the warrant for his execution, and accordingly, on 56 THE CHARTER HOUSE. the 2nd of June, 1572, the Duke perished in the prime of Ufe on the scaffold on Tower Hill. The Howards being the kinsfolks of Queen Ehzabeth, she was induced to divide among them the forfeited property of the late Duke ; the Charter House falUng to the share of his second son. Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards Earl of Suffolk. Here this nobleman was residing in 1603, when James the First ascended the throne, and as it was the policy of the Scottish monarch to show favour to the surviving friends of his iU-fated mother, he not only selected Lord Thomas Howard to be his host previously to his solemn entry into London, but passed under his roof the four days which preceded that event. Here he was splendidly enter tained by his obsequious host. Here he showed his affection for his new subjects by dubbing no fewer than eighty knights; and here, on his departure, he displayed his gratitude to his host by creating him Earl of Suffolk, and appointing him to the high honours of Lord Treasurer of England, Lord Cham berlain of his household, and a Knight of the Garter. The foundation and endo-wment of the Charter House by Sir Thomas Sutton is perhaps the most princely charity for which, -with the exception of Guy's Hospital, England is in debted to the munificence of any single individual. Sir Thomas, who was a native of ICnaith in Lincolnshire, was born in 1531 ; received his education at Eton and Cambridge, and subsequently entered himself as a student at Lincoln's Inn. In early life he had passed several years traveUing in foreign countries, and on his return to England, in 1562, found himself, by the death of his father, in the possession of a considerable property. He now attached himself to the person and fortunes of the Duke of Norfolk, from which cncumstance, probably, may have sprung that particular affection for the Charter House and its locaUties, which THE CHARTER HOUSE. 57 many years afterwards induced him to become its purchaser. The zeal with which he served the Duke of Norfolk induced that nobleman to introduce him to the Earl of War-wick, whose secretary he became, and by whose influence he ob tained the appointment of Master-General of the Ordnance in the North. Within a few years from this period^ — in consequence of the successful result of several commercial speculations, and more especiaUy by the purchase of the manors of Gateshead and Wickham, near Newcastle, the coal mines of which yielded him immense profits — Sir Thomas Sutton found himself one of the richest subjects in Europe. Wealth could scarcely have been lavished on a more de serving person. To him the scholar never applied for assist ance in vain; neither were the poor and needy ever sent empty- handed from his door. Ever on the watch for opportunities of benefiting his feUow-creatures, he was in the habit, in years of scarcity, of storing up large quantities of grain, which he disposed of at low prices to the poor. More than once, whUe meditating in his garden, he was overheard to use the expression — " Lord, thou has given me a large and liberal estate ; give me also a heart to make use thereof." Not only was he the munificent friend of the scholar, the widow, and the orphan, but among his papers at the Charter House are numerous applications to him for money in the handwriting of the noblest of the land, as weU as many bonds which to all appearance he had allowed to remain un cancelled. Among his debtors are to be traced no less iUus- trious names thai^i those of the haughty Ehzabeth and her iU-fated favourite the Earl of Essex. Not-withstanding his peaceful habits and gentle disposition. Sir Thomas Sutton was far from being the mere merchant or philanthropist. As Master-General of the Ordnance in the North, especial mention is made of him as having com- 58 THE CHARTER HOUSE. manded in person one of the batteries raised for the reduc tion of Edinburgh Castle in 1573. On the 9th of May, 1611, Sir Thomas, ha-ving completed the purchase of the Charter House from the Earl of Suffolk for the sum of £13,000, proceeded to estabhsh his new insti tution on its present footing. He had proposed to nominate himself its first governor ; but scarcely had his arrangements been completed, when he was seized by a fatal illness, which carried him off on the 12th of December, 1611, at the age of seventy-nine. His death took place at Hackney, exactly six weeks after he had signed the important deeds which con veyed his vast landed estates to the Charter House. His body, having been embalmed, was brought from Hackney to the house of Dr. Law, in Paternoster Row, whence it was conveyed to its temporary resting-place in Christ Church, Newgate, foUowed by six thousand persons. In March, 1616, it was removed to the spot where it now reposes, in the chapel of his own princely foundation. The estabhshment of the Charter House, presided over by sixteen governors, consists of a Master, Preacher, head School master, second Master, Registrar, House Steward, or Man ciple, besides inferior officers and servants. The pensioners on its estabhshment are eighty " decayed gentlemen," and sixty scholars. The scholars are admitted between the ages of ten and fourteen, and provided they attain a certain proficiency in learning, are transplanted in due time to the University, where, according to the -will of the founder, twenty-nine exhibitions of the value of £80 a year are provided for those who were educated on his foundation. Amona; the most eminent persons educated at the Charter House appear to be Richard Crashaw the poet, Addison, Sir Richard Steele, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and Sir WUUam THE CHARTER HOUSE. 59 Blackstone, the lawyer and poet. Wesley, who sui-vived tUl the almost patriarchal age of eighty-seven, used to attribute the health which he enjoyed through so long a life to his having kept a promise he had made to his father, never to miss a day -without running a certain number of times round the Charter House playing-ground. Another eminent person educated at the Charter House was the late Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Lord EUenborough, whose strong attachment to the scenes of his youth may be assumed from the wish he expressed to be buried within its waUs. A prominent object, on the south waU of the Charter House pl^'y-gi'OTiK.d, is a painted crown, which is said to have been originaUy drawn in chalk by the great lawyer in his boy hood, and which has ever since been religiously preserved. In the chapel of the Charter House is a monument to the memory of Lord EUenborough. The pensioners, or "decayed gentlemen," Uve entirely apart from the scholars : ha-ving each their separate apart ment, and receiving an aUowance of £36 a year each, besides a table being kept for their maintenance. None but per sons who have been housekeepers are admitted, nor any one under the age of fifty unless he has been maimed in war. Elkanah Settle the poet, and John Bagford the antiquary, were severaUy " poor brethren " of the Charter House. Although portions of the waUs of the ancient monastery are unquestionably incorporated in the present buUding, the edifice as it now stands exhibits but few traces of the original structure of Sir Walter de Manny. Perhaps the only exception is the basement of the chapel turret, which is supported on the exterior by an original buttress, anciently forming a part of the old tower of the Carthusian chapel. Of the monastery, however, as it existed at the more recent period of its dissolution, the antiquary may trace some inte- 60 THE CHARTER HOUSE. resting remains. The chamber where the pensioners now dine was the Refectory of the old monks : the entrances to several of their cells may stUl be traced on the south side of the present play-ground ; their ancient kitchen is still in use ;, and the cloisters, which witnessed the sufferings of the Ul- fated Carthusians, still continue objects of unfading interest. The other objects of note in the Charter House are the Chapel, the Hall, the Old Court Room, and an ancient and beautiful apartment caUed the Evidence Room, in which the records of the establishment are preserved. The most note worthy object in the chapel is the large and gaudy monu ment of the founder. Sir Thomas Sutton, whose recumbent effigy, in a black furred go-wn, -with grey han and beard, is painted in imitation of life. On each side of the effigy is an upright figure of a man in armour, and above it is a _ preacher addressing a full congregation. The sculptor was the well-known mason and statuary, Nicholas Stone, who was employed as master-mason, under Inigo Jones, in build ing the Banqueting-House at WhitehaU. His bUl for Sut ton's monument, which is stiU in existence, amounts to £366 15s. The HaU is said to have been built by Sir Edward North in the reign of Henry the Eighth, and to have been after wards used as a banqueting-room by the iU-fated Duke of Norfolk. The roof is fine and massive ; besides which there are in the oriel "windows some remains of painted glass -with various armorial bearings ; the mantel-piece, too, is curious. Above it are Sutton's arms, on each side of which is repre sented a mounted piece of cannon, supposed to have refer ence to his mihtary services at the siege of Edinburgh. The apartment kno-wn as the Governor's Room in the Master's House is also weU worthy a visit. Here, in curious juxtaposition, are portraits of the grave founder; of the gay CHARTER HOUSE SQUARE. 61 and unprincipled George ViUiers, Duke of Buckingham ; of the pious Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, and of the profligate Charles the Second; of the hero, WUUam Earl Craven, and the phUosopher Burnet, author of the " Theory of the Earth ;" of the handsome and unfortunate Duke of Monmouth ; of the eminent philosopher, Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury, and of the celebrated statesman, Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury. But the most interesting apartment in the Charter House is unquestionably the old Court Room, with its sombre tapestry, its lofty paneUed mantel-piece, and its beautiful stuccoed and gilded ceUing. Vi-vidly it recaUs to our imagi nation that magnificent period when Queen Elizabeth — ha-ving invited herself to pay a second visit of four days at the Charter House with her learned ChanceUor, Sir Edward North — proceeded thither on horseback from the Tower ; her Idnsman, Lord Hunsdon, carrying the sword of state before her; her ladies following close behind her on their ambUng palfreys ; and a magnificent procession bring ing up the rear. Having passed through the principal gate way, still bearing the heraldic badge of the Duke of Nor folk, it was in all probabihty to this apartment that she was conducted, and that here she held her court. " Girt with many a baron bold, Sublime their starry fronts they rear ; And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old In bearded majesty appear. In the midst, a form di-vine ! Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line ; Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face. Attempered sweet to virgin-grace ; -What strings symphonious tremble in the air ! " Charter House Square stands on the site of the burial- place of the ancient monastery. At the north-east corner formerly stood the residence of the Rutland famUy, and 62 PARDON PASSAGE. afterwards, on its site, the weU-kno-wn theatre opened by Sir WUUam Davenant in 1656. In Charter House Square died, on the 8th of December, 1691, Richard Baxter, the eminent nonconformist divine. Pardon Passage, in the immediate vicinity of Charter House Square, forms a curious link between the days of Edward the Third and our o-wn time. Pardon Churchyard, it may be remembered, was the designation given to the ground purchased by Bishop Stratford for the interment of the victims of the giant pestilence in the fourteenth century.. ST. JOHN'S GATE, CLEEKENWELL, &c. ST. John's gate. — becomes the residence of oa-ve. — anecdote of dr. JOHNSON AND CA-VE. — ST. JOHN'S GATE NOW CO^f¦VBRTED INTO A PUBLIC house. — HISTORY OF THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. — THB ORDER SUPPRESSED. — ST. JAMES, CLERKEN-WELL. — MONUMENTS THERE. — DERIVATION OF NAME OF CLERKENWELL. — SIR THOMAS CHALONER. — NEW CASTLE HOUSE.- — BAGNIGGE -WELLS. — SABLER's WELLS. — HOCKLEY IN THE. HOLE. TURNING from St. John's Street into St. John's Lane, we face the ancient gateway of the Hospital or Priory of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In the reign of James the First, this interesting gateway formed the residence of Sir Roger Wilbraham, to whom it was granted by that monarch. From this period little is known of its history tiU the commencement of the last century, when it had become the private residence of the weU- known Cave, the proprietor of the "Gentleman's Magazine," the first number of which issued from St. John's Gate. Boswell, in mentioning the feehngs of " reverence " with which Dr. Johnson first gazed upon the old gateway, attri butes it to its association with the " Gentleman's Magazine." " I suppose," he says, " that every young author has had the same kind of feeling for the magazine or periodical publica tion which has first entertained him. I myself recoUect such impressions from the ' Scots' Magazine.' " But when Dr. Johnson gazed with " reverence " on St. John's Gateway, the " Gentleman's Magazine " had, in all probabiUty, but 64 ST. JOHN'S GATE. Uttle place in his thoughts. "If," -writes Mr. Croker, " Johnson, as BosweU supposes, looked at St. John's Gate as the printing-office of Cave, surely a less emphatical term than reverence would have been more just. The ' Gentle man's Magazine ' had been at this time but six years before the pubhc, and its contents were, untU Johnson himself con tributed to improve it, entitled to anything rather than reverence ; but it is more probable that Johnson's reverence was excited by the recoUections connected with the ancient gate itself, the last reUc of the once extensive and magnifi cent Priory of the heroic Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, suppressed at the Dissolution, and destroyed by successive dUapidations." In connection with Dr. Johnson and St. John's Gate, Malone relates a rather cmious anecdote. Shortly after the pubUcation of Johnson's " Life of Savage," Walter Harte, the author of the " Life of Gusta-vus Adolphus," dined with Cave. A few days afterwards, when Harte and Cave again met, the latter observed — " You made a man very happy the other day." — " How could that be ?" said Harte ; " there was no one there but ourselves." Cave then reminded him that during dinner a plate of -victuals had been sent behind a screen. They were for Johnson, he said, who was dressed so shabbUy that he declined sitting down to table, but who had overheaj-d the conversation, and was highly deUghted with Harte's encomiums on his work. The mihtary Order of the Knights of St. John of Jeru salem was founded about the year 1100, by John Briset, a Norman Baron, and Muriel his -wife. The dress of the Order was originaUy a black upper garment, with a white cross in front. The Knights were required to take an oath of chastity ; to be rigid in the performance of their devotions ; to yield ST. JOHN'S GATE, 65 implicit obedience to their superiors ; to defend Christians against Pagans ; to renounce all property independent of the common stock ; and lastly, to relieve the needy and to ad minister to the sick. They were especiaUy enjoined, as the champions of the Cross, to fight for it to the last gasp of their lives. To enumerate the heroic exploits performed by the Knights of St. John in the Holy Land, would occupy far more space than we can devote to the subject. Even when the cause of the Crusade must have appeared almost desperate even to themselves, they continued to defend the sacred territory almost inch by inch against the immense masses of Infidels who confronted them. The same heroic gallantry which had distinguished them in the early period of their history at the sieges of Ascalon and Gaza, shone no less conspicuous at the sieges of Azotus and St. Jean d'Acre. Of the ninety Knights who defended Azotus, when that fortress was at length taken by assault, not one was found alive. The dead body of the last served as a stepping-stone to the advancing Infidels. It was in the year 1310, after a long and bloody contest with the desperate piratical inhabitants of the Island of Rhodes, that the Knights of St. John invested themselves with the sovereignty of that Island. Here they remained — carrying on a continual warfare with the Mahomedans, and enriching themselves by commerce — tiU the year 1522, when the Sultan, Solyman the Fourth, appeared before the island with an overwhelming armament. The details of the pro tracted and bloody siege which foUowed — in which the Turks lost 100,000 men — are well known. The last bulwark which was blown up was that of the English Knights, who on four different occasions drove back the Turks from the breach, and tore down the Crescent which they had planted VOL. III. 5 66 THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN. on the waUs. The last who consented to capitulate was the Grand Master, the venerable L'Isle Adam. When at length the Sultan Solyman subsequently entered Rhodes as a con queror, he paid a visit to the heroic old man, with whose misfortunes he is said to have deeply sympathized. " It is not -without pain," he said, " that I force this Christian at his time of life to leave his dwelling." By the terms of the capitulation, the surviving Knights were aUowed to quit Rhodes unmolested, and to retire whithersoever they chose. Accordingly, in 1530, they took possession of the Island of Malta, which had been conceded to them by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, where they continued tUl the extinction of their Order. One of the most remarkable features in the history of the Knights of St. John, was the long and bitter rivalry which existed between them and the Knights Templars. So intense, indeed, was their mutual hatred, that, forgetful of the com mon cause which enjoined them to fight side by side against the Infidel, they more than once, on the plains of Palestine, pointed their lances against one another. The last and most sanguinary of these combats took place in 1259, when the Knights of St. John obtained a complete -victory over their rivals, leaving scarcely a Templar alive on the field of battle. When, about half a century afterwards, the Knights Tem plars ceased to exist as an Order, the greater portion of their possessions was conferred by the Pope and the other Eu ropean sovereigns on the Knights of St. John. Among the property thus transferred to them was the Temple in Fleet Street, which in the reign of Edward the Third they leased to the students of law. The Prior at this period ranked as first Baron of England. The Order of St. John, like that of the Knights Templars, was in the first years of its existence distinguished by the THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN. 67 austerities, the chastity, and the self-denial practised by its members. " Receive the yoke of the Lord," were the words of the Principal to a proselyte Knight ; " it is easy and Ught, and you shaU find rest for your soul. We promise you nothing but bread and water, a simple habit and of Uttle worth." By degrees, however, as their riches increased, so also did luxury and licentiousness take root among this once ascetic and self-denying Order. To the lower classes, the notorious vices of many of the Knights, and their arrogant display of wealth, rendered them especiaUy obnoxious. When, in the reign of Richard the Second, the celebrated riots broke out under the direction of Wat Tyler, the pro perty of the Knights of St. John was among the first which fell a sacrifice to the fury of the rebels. "They burnt," -writes Stow, "all the houses belonging to St. John's; and then burnt the fair Priory of the hospital of St. John, causing the same to burn the space of seven days after." King Richard, it appears, witnessed the confiagration from a turret of the Tower. Of those who feU -victims to the popular fury one was the Prior of St. John's, Sir Robert Hales, who perished by the axe of the rebels. A few days previously, when the assembled rebels at Blackheath had sent to de mand a conference -wdth their sovereign, it was the Prior of St. John's who had been the first to urge his royal master to hold no converse with such " bare legged ribalds." These events occurred in 1381, within a quarter of a cen tury from which time a new priory arose from the ashes of the old, apparently far surpassing it in magnificence. It was not, however, tUl the end of the fifteenth century that the present gateway was biult ; nor was the church completed tiU 1504. The order of St. John of Jerusalem was suppressed by Plenry the Eighth, in the thirty-second year of his reign. 68 BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF ST, MARY. On the last Prior, Sir WiUiam Weston — who died, it is said, of a broken heart on the day his order was suppressed — the King conferred a pension of a thousand a year, and on the knights smaller annuities. The remainder of their large possessions Henry seized for the " augmentation of his crown." " The priory, church, and house of St, John," -vpxites Stow, " were preserved from spoil or down-pulUng so long as King Henry the Eighth reigned, and -were employed as a store-house for the King's toils and tents for hunting, and for the wars. But in the third of King Edward the Sixth, the church, for the most part — to wit the body and side-aisles, with the great bell-tower, a most curious piece of workman ship, graven, gUt, and enamelled, to the great beautifying of the City, and passing aU other that I have seen — was under mined and blown up with gunpowder. The stone thereof was employed in buUding of the Lord Protector's house at the Strand." In the succeeding reign of Queen Mary an attempt was made to revive the Order, and to place it on its ancient footing. The choir of the church, and some of the side chapels which stUl remained, were repaired, and Sir Thomas Tresham, knight, appointed Lord Prior. But the glory of the Order of St. John had passed away, and on the accession of Queen Elizabeth it was for ever abolished in Eneland.-^" The priory, which was of great extent, stood on the ground now occupied by St. John's Square, on the south side of Clerkenwell Green. On the opposite, or noith side of the Green stood the Benedictine Nunnery of St. Mary, founded so early as the year 1100, by one Jorden Brisset, as an estabhshment for * For a fuller and very interesting account of the Hospital and Knights of St. John, see Knight's "London," vol. ii., p. 133, to which work the author is chiefly indebted for many of the foregoing particulars. ST. JAMES'S, CLERKENWELL. 69 Black Nuns of the order of St. Benedict. The first prioress was Christina. The last was IsabeUa Sackville, niece of Thomas, first Earl of Dorset. On the site of this convent, which was dissolved in 1570, arose the present parochial church dedicated to St. James. As late as the days of Pen nant, a part of the cloisters of the old convent and also of the nuns' refectory, stiU remained. The old conventual church contained many costly and interesting monuments, many of which were unfortunately destroyed during the progress of rebuilding the church. Among these may be mentioned the monument of Sir Wil liam Weston, the last Lord Prior of the order of St. John, and that of the last Prioress of St. Mary's, Isabella Sackville ; of Elizabeth Drury, widow of WiUiam Cecil, Earl of Exeter ; of EUzabeth, wife of Sir Maurice Berkeley, standard-bearer to Henry the Eighth and to Queen Elizabeth ; and of the celebrated antiquary and collector of funeral inscriptions, John Weever, who died in 1634.''*' The epitaph on Weever's tomb, composed by himself, is as quaint as any of those which he delighted to collect. The inscription concludes :— ' ' Lancashire gave me breath, And Cambridge, education ; Middlesex gave me death. And this church my humation ; And Christ to me hath given A place -with Him in Heaven. jEtatis sua3 56." The present church was erected between the years 1788 and 1792. Another eminent person who lies buried in this church is the historian Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, who died in St. John's Square on the l7th of March, 1714-15. John * The tombs of Prior "Weston and of Lady Berkeley are stiU preserved in the vaults of the church. 70 CLERKENWELL. Langhorne, the poet, was for some time curate and lecturer of St. James's, ClerkenweU. The neighbouring and uninteresting church of St. John ClerkenweU was consecrated on the 27th of December, 1723; the crypt forming a part of the choir of the ancient church of St. John's Priory. It was from the vaults of this church that the famous Cock Lane ghost was presumed to issue in the dead hour of the night. ClerkenweU derives its name from its vicinity to one of those pure and sparkUng springs, or weUs, of which there were formerly several in the northern suburbs of the me tropohs, and at which the parish clerks of London used anciently to perform their mysteries, or sacred dramas. For instance, in the old records we find the convent church of St. Mary repeatedly styled, Ecclesia Beatce Mar ice, de fonte Clericorum. " There are about London," -writes Fitzstephen, " on the north of the suburbs, choice fountains of water, sweet, wholesome, and clear, streaming forth among the glistening pebble stones. In this number, HolyweU, Clerk enweU, and St. Clement's Well, are of most note; and fre quented above the rest when scholars and the youth of the City take the air abroad in the summer evenings.'' This and other springs in the neighbourhood pursued their murmur ing course tUl they fiowed into the Fleet River, then a pure and Umpid stream, and which from this circumstance ob tained its name of the " River of Wells." In the days when Fitzstephen 'wrote, the Clerk's WeU. bubbled in the midst of verdant meadows and shady lanes ; the richly wooded uplands of Hampstead and Highgate rising behind them. Such was Clerkenwell when, in 1390, the Clerks performed here during three successive days in the presence of Richard the Second, his Queen, and the nobiUty ; and again when, in 1409, in the reign of Hemy CLERKENWELL. 71 the Fourth, the Creation of the World formed the subject of their drama, and when, in the words of Stow, there flocked " to see the same the most part of the nobles and gentles in England." Close to Ray Street, Clerkenwell, are some houses which stUl retain the rural denomination of Coppice Row. Here also is a dilapidated-looking pump, on which an inscription informs us that the water which it supphes flows from the " Clerk's WeU."* As late as 1780, ClerkenweU, to the north of the upper end of St. John's Street, was bounded by fields, through which a solitary road led to Islington. At this recent period, ,so infested was the neighbourhood by highwaymen, that traveUers usuaUy preferred sleeping all night at the Angel Inn at Islington, to journeying by this dangerous thorough fare after dark. Those whose business caUed them into the country at a late hour used to assemble at the upper end of St. John's Street, where there was an avenue of trees called Wood's Close, and where they waited till they were rein forced by other traveUers, when they were escorted by an armed patrol to Islington.-f In the middle of the last century, when any extraordinary performance at Sadler's Wells Theatre was likely to tempt thither the nobility and gentry from the fashionable quarters of London, it was the custom to announce in the play-bUls, that a horse patrol would be stationed for that particular '* The inscription is as follows :— "A.D. 1800, -William Bound, Joseph Bu'd, churchwardens. For the better accommodation of the neighbourhood, this pump was removed to the spot where it now stands. The spring by which it is supplied is situated four feet eastward, and round it, as history informs us, the parish-clerks of London, in remote ages, commonly per formed sacred plays. That custom caused it to be denominated Clerks'- well, and from whence this parish derived its name." t See "History and Description of the Parish of Clerkenwell." — J. and H. S. Storer, and T. Cromwell. 72 SIR THOMAS CHALONER. night in the New Road, and also that the thoroughfare leading to the City would be properly guarded. In January, 1559, we find Sir Thomas Pope, the virtuous and high-minded minister of Henry the Eighth, breathing his last at his mansion at ClerkenweU. At a much later period, between the reigns of James the First and Charles- the Second, ClerkenweU was still a fashionable district. We have already seen Sir Roger Wilbraham occupying the old gateway of St. John's in the reign of James the First ; about which time Sir Thomas Chaloner the younger, tutor to Henry Prince of Wales, and eminent as a poet, a scholar, and a statesman, erected a fine mansion in the Priory, over which Fuller informs us that he inscribed the foUo'wincr verses : — " Casta fides superest, velatse tecta sorores Ista relegatje deseruere licet ; Nam venerandus Hymen hie vota Jugalia servat, -Vestalemque forum mente fovere studet." Sir Thomas was the son of that fine old soldier, Sir- Thomas Chaloner, who was knighted by the Duke of So merset for his heroic gallantry at Musselburgh. He also at tended Charles the Fifth in the wars, and, shortly after the unfortunate expedition to Algiers, was ship-wrecked in a very dark night on the coast of Barbary. At the moment when he was exhausted -vsdth swimming, and when his arms were rendered entirely powerless, he suddenly came in contact with the cable of a ship. With great presence of mind he caught hold of it with his teeth, and with the loss of several of them was dra-wn up into the vessel. His gifted son. Sir Thomas the younger, by his knowledge of chemistry and natural history, was enabled, when at Rome, to distinguish the similarity of soil between that on his own estate at Gis- borough and the soil u.sed in the alum works of the Pope:. CLERKENWELL CLOSE. 73 Ha-ving with great care made himself master of the process of manufacture, and having bribed several of the workmen to accompany him to England, for which he was afterwards solemnly anathematized by the Pope, he overcame every difficulty, and at a great expense established an alum manu factory in England. Just, however, as the result promised. to be eminently successful, his lands, on pretence that he was interfering with the prerogative of the royal mines,. were seized by the Crown. As a recompense indeed for his. loss, he received the appointment of Governor of the Prince ¦ of Wales, but gratifying as was the compliment, it offered but a slight compensation to his family for the loss of wealth which they had unquestionably sustained. Wlien some forty years afterwards, two of his sons, Thomas and James, signed the warrant for the execution of Charles the First, may it- not have been the recollection of this act of royal injustice which guided their pens ? Compton Street and Northampton Square point out the site of what was formerly the London residence of the Comptons, Earls of Northampton ; the square having been built on the site of the garden and orchards which were situated to the rear of the old mansion. Aylesbury Street, too, leading from ClerkenweU Green into St. John's Street, covers the site of the mansion and gardens of Aylesbury House, which so late as the days of Charles the Second was the town residence of the Bruces, Earls of Aylesbury. In Clerkenwell Close, on the site of the mansion buUt by Sir Thomas Chaloner, stood Newcastle House, the residence of WiUiam Duke of Newcastle, the brave and devoted fol lower of Charles the First. The site is stUl pointed out by the buildings kno-wn as Newcastle Place. After the Restoration of Charles the Second, the Duke, we are told, "spent nearly the whole remainder of his Ufe in 74 CLERKENWELL CLOSE. the retirement afforded by his seat at ClerkenweU, where he took much pleasure in literary pursuits and paid some necessary attention to repairing the injuries sus tained by his fortune.'' Newcastle House was, at diffe rent periods, the residence of two of the most eccentric women of then day. The first was Margaret Duchess of Newcastle, the authoress of thirteen foUo volumes, consist ing of poetry, plays, and phUosophy, in which perplexity of ideas and pomposity of expression are the principal charac teristics. The other lady was the wealthy heiress of the Newcastle famUy, Lady Elizabeth Ogle, who married first, Christopher Duke of Albemarle, and afterwards Ralph first Duke of Montaoni. In our account of old Montacni House, now the British Museum, -wiU be found a notice of this fan tastic lady. After the death of the Duchess, Newcastle House became the property of her sister Margaret, who had married John HoUes, subsequently created Duke of New castle. As late as the year 1683 it continued to be the London residence of that nobleman. On the opposite side of ClerkenweU Close stood within the last haU-century a large house which, according to tra dition, was inhabited by Oliver Cromwell : the site is pointed out by CromweU Place. In 1631, John Weever, the anti quary, was residing in ClerkenweU Close. To the left of St. John Street was the Red BuU Theatre, the arena where, during the reign of the Puritans, the perse cuted players occasionally ventured to perform, and whence they were not unfrequently dragged to prison. At the Cross Keys Inn in this street the unfortunate Richard Savage oc- casionaUy passed his social hours. A part of the ground adjoining ClerkenweU to the north was formerly in the possession of a Miss Wilkes, the daughter of a gentleman of fortune in the reign of Queen EUzabeth, COPPICE ROW. 75 and subsequently the -wife of Sir Thomas Owen, one of the Judges of the Common Pleas. She was the munificent foundress of a school and some alms-houses at Islington; in reference to which foundation a singular anecdote is re lated by Stow. The young lady was one day walking in the fields with her maid, when being seized -with a fancy to learn how to milk a cow, she was in the act of stooping do-wn for this purpose, when an arrow, shot at random by a gentleman who was practising archery in an adjoining field, pierced her high-crowned hat and carried it away. But for this act of stooping the shot might have proved a fatal one, and accordingly so affected was she by the narro-wness of her escape, as to express her determination, should Pro-vi- dence ever place it in her power, to raise some pious monu ment near the spot in token of her gratitude. Such an op portunity was afforded her on her becoming the wife of Sir Thomas Owen, when not only did she purchase the ground which had been the scene of her almost miracu lous escape, but by her -will, dated in 1613, bequeathed to the Brewers' Company sufficient funds to build on it and endow ten alms-houses and a free grammar-school. Alto gether, Lady Owen by her -wiU devoted no less than £2300 to acts of charity ; a very considerable sum when we take into consideration the relative value of money in the days of James the First and in our o-wn time. In ClerkenweU the father of John WUkes carried on busi ness as an opulent distiller, and here, in 1727, the celebrated demagogue was born. Whether he was of the same family as the charitable lady just mentioned we know not. Coppice Row leads us into Cobham Row, the site of the suburban residence of the ill-fated Sir Thomas Oldcastle, afterwards Lord Cobham, the chief of the LoUards, or dis ciples of WickUffe, in the reign of Henry the Fifth. For 76 BAGNIGGE WELLS. professing their tenets he was executed in St. GUes's in the Fields in February, 1418. Ha-ving been suspended ahve from a gibbet by a chain fastened round his body, a fire was Ughted beneath him, by which he was slowly burnt to death. To the last he is said to have expressed his con-viction that he would rise again on the third day. Close to Coppice Row are Cold Bath Fields, so named from a spring or well of cold water, which has long since been built over. In Dorrington Street, Cold Bath Fields, resided Carey, the musical composer, and the author of that pleasing song " SaUy in our Alley ;" and in Warner Street, in the immediate neighbourhood, he perished by his own hand, on the 4th of October, 1743. In a sponging-house, in Eyre Street Hill, Cold Bath Fields, died, in 1806, the celebrated painter, George Morland. Within a short distance from Clerkenwell stood till re cently the well-knoAvn place of amusement, Bagnigge Wells, formerly famous for its medicinal spring. It was first opened as a place of public entertainment in 1767. The old house, of which the -writer witnessed the demolition, was said to have been the residence of NeU G-wynn. Among the persons buried in the neighbouring church of St. James, Clerkenwell, appears the name of Richard Gwynn, who died February 16th, 1691. Probably he was an occu pant of the house in question, which may have originated the tradition that it was the residence of his fraU namesake. Colman speaks of " drinking tea, on summer afternoons. At Bagnigge "Wells, -with china and gUt spoons.'' At Sadler's Wells, within no great distance of Bagnio-o-e Wells, is another medicinal spring, formerly held in high repute not only among the citizen^ in the neighbourhood,. SADLER'S WELLS but by the wealthiest and noblest in the land. In the last century, Sadler's Wells might be seen crowded every morn ing by five or six hundred persons, among whom were the daughters of George the Second, who came from St. James's every day to drinlc the waters. The spring from which Sadler's WeUs derives its name was discovered in the reign of Charles the Second, in the garden of one Sadler, who made a considerable sum of money by opening a place of entertainment near the spot, after- wa.rds superseded by the present theatre. " Here," writes Noorthouck in 1773, " apprentices, journeymen, and clerks, dressed to ridiculous extremes, entertain their ladies on Sun days ; and to the utmost of their power, if not beyond their proper power, affect the dissipated manners of then- supe riors. Bagnigge Wells and the White Conduit House — two other receptacles of the same kind, with gardens laid out in miniature taste — are to be found within the compass of two or three fields; together with Sadler's Wells, a smaU theatre for the summer evening exhibition of tumbling, rope- dancing, and other drolls, in -vulgar style." On the 15tli of October, 1807, Sadler's WeUs Theatre was the scene of a fearful catastrophe. A cry of " fire" having been raised, the terrified audience in the gallery made a simultaneous rush to the doors ; the result being that no fewer than eighteen persons were killed, and several others seriously injured. At Sadler's Wells, in front of the Hugh Myddleton Tavern, is laid the scene of Hogarth's "Evening." For many years the theatre was celebrated for its aquatic exhibitions, which were contrived by the removal of the boards from the stage, and the introduction of a flow of water from the New River. Here for many years, the famous clo-wn Grimaldi performed his inimitable antics. 78 HOCKLEY IN THE HOLE. Not far from Clerkenwell Green is Hockley in the Hole, immortalized by Pope, Gay, Fielding, and the Spectator. From the days of Charles the Second, almost to our time, it continued to be the resort of bull- baiters, bruisers, and dog- fighters ; the head-quarters, in fact, of most of those bar barous diversions which tend to degrade man below the nature of brutes. HOLBOEN, SAINT ANDEEW'S CHUECH, GEAY'S INN LANE, &c. COCK LANE GHOST. — HOLBORN. — WILLAM DOBSON. — ^DEATH OF JOHN BUNYAN.. SNOW HILL. SHOE LANE. — GUNPQ-WDER ALLEY. — LQ-VELACE AND LILLY. — FETTER LANE. —RESIDENTS IN FETTER LANE. — HATTON GARDEN. — ELY HOUSE. — SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS. — ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. — BROOK STREET. — Cray's inn lane. — celebrated residents there. — BLUE BOAR INN ANECDOTE OF CHARLES THE FIRST AND CROSRVELL. — BIRTH OF SAVAGE.— KING STREET. — JOHN BAMPFYLDE. PASSING from Smithfield through Giltspur Street, on the right hand is Cock Lane, the scene of the vagaries of the celebrated Cock Lane Ghost. The person to whom the apparition was said to have presented itself was a girl of twelve years of age, of the name of Par sons, the daughter of the parish clerk of St. Sepulchre, who resided in a -viretched hovel, since demoUshed, about half way do'wn Cock Lane, on the north side. The ghost was said to be that of a young married lady, who had been poi soned by her husband, and who lay buried in the vaults of St. John's Church, Clerkenwell. The extraordinary sensation created by this impudent imposition, as weU as the credulity of persons of all ranks of society, almost exceed belief To George Montagu Horace Walpole writes on the 2nd of February, 1762 — " I went to hear the ghost, for it is not an apparition, but an audition. We set out from the Opera, changed our clothes at North umberland House — ^the Duke ofYork, Lady Northumberland, 80 COCK LANE GHOST. Lady Mary Coke, Lord Hertford, and I, all in one hackney coach — and drove to the spot. It rained torrents, yet the lane was fuU of mob, and the house so fuU we could not get in. At last they discovered that it was the Duke of York, and the company squeezed themselves into one another's pockets, to make room for us. The house — which is bor rowed, and to which the ghost has adjourned — is -wretchedly small and miserable. When we opened the chamber, in which were fifty people, with no light but one tallow candle at the end, we tumbled over the bed of the child to whom the ghost comes, and whom they are murdering by inches hi such insufferable heat and stench. At the top of the room are ropes to dry clothes. I asked if we were to have rope- dancing between the acts ? We had nothing. They told us, as they would at a puppet-show, that it would not come that night tiU seven in the morning, that is, when there are only 'prentices and old women. We stayed, however, till half an hour after one. The Methodists have promised them contri butions ; provisions are sent in like foi'age, and aU the taverns and alehouses in the neighbourhood make fortunes.'' The affair of the ghost story ended in the detection and punishment of the persons concerned in it. According to Boswell, Dr. Johnson took great credit to himself for the share which he had in exposing the imposition.* TUl recently the steep descent of Snow HiU led us into Holborn, which derives its name from the Saxon words, old hourne, or old river. The great painter Vandyke was one day passing down Snow HUl, when his attention was at tracted by a picture which was exposed for sale in one of the shop--windows. Struck with its merits, he made inquiries respecting the artist, and was informed that he was then em ployed at his easel in a miserable apartment in the attics. * See Croker'a "Boswell, pp. 138, 585. Ed. 1840. HOLBORN, AND SNOW HILL. 81 Vandyke ascended the stairs ; and thus took place his first introduction to WiUiam Dobson, then a young man unkno-wn to fame, but whose celebrity as a portrait-painter was after wards second only in England to that of Vandyke. The great artist not only generously released him from a condi tion so unworthy his merits, but subsequently introduced him to Charles the First, who, after the death of Vandyke, conferred on him the appointments of his Sergeant-painter and Groom of the Chamber. His prosperity, however, lasted but a short time. The decline of the royal cause, combined with his unfortunate addiction to a life of pleasure, occa sioned his falling into difficulties and being thrown into gaol. Hence he was released by the generosity of a Mr. Vaughan of the Exchequer, but died shortly afterwards at the early age of thirty-six. At the sign of the " Star" on Snow Hill, then the resi dence of his friend Mr. Strudwick, a grocer, died John Bun yan, the iUustrious author of the " Pilgrim's Progress." On his return from the country, whither he had been summoned for the pious purpose of effecting a reconciliation between a father and son, he was overtaken by excessive rains, which on his arrival at his lodging on Snow HiU had wetted him to the skin. A fever was the consequence, which put a period to his existence on the 81st of August, 1688, in the sixty-first year of his age. On Snow HiU anciently stood one of the City conduits, a structure ornamented with Corinthian columns and sur- mqjmted by the figure of a lamb, a rebus on the name of one Lamb, from whom Lamb's Conduit Street derives its name. Anciently on days of great rejoicing the City conduits were made to run with red and white wine. The last occasion on which the conduit on Snow Hill thus flowed, was on the an niversary of the coronation of George the First, in 1727. VOL. 111. 6 82 SHOE LANE. West of Farringdon Street is Shoe Lane, running from Holborn into Fleet Street. In the burial ground of Shoe Lane workhouse was interred the iU-fated poet, Thomas Chatterton. The ground in which he lies buried now forms a part of Farringdon Market, but unfortunately the exact site of his resting place is unknown. Running out of Shoe Lane is Gunpowder Alley, a mise rable spot associated with the miseries of a poet scarcely less gifted or unfortunate, Richard Lovelace. According to An- thony Wood, he was "accounted the most beautiful and amiable person that ever eye beheld ; a person, also, of minute modesty, virtue, and courtly deportment, which made him, especiaUy when he retired to the great city, much ad mired and adored by the female sex." Having exhausted his fortune in the cause of Charles the First, and twice suf fered imprisonment as the penalty of his loyalty, he retired to the Continent, where, having raised a regiment for the French King, he was so severely wounded at Dunkirk, that in England it was long believed that he was dead. Anthony Wood draws a painful picture of Lovelace's condition at the close of life. " Having consumed aU his estate, he grew very melancholy, which at length brought him into a consump tion ; became very poor in body and purse ; was the object of charity ; went in ragged clothes — whereas, when he was in his glory, he wore cloth of gold and silver ; and mostly lodged in obscure and dirty places more befitting th'e worst of beggars than poorest of servants." Lovelace died in a very mean lodging in Gunpowder Alley in 1658, and was buried at the west end of St. Bride's Church. Another remarkable person who lived in Gunpowder Alley was William Lilly, the astrologer, who here served his apprenticeship in the occult sciences under one Evans, a clergyman of indifferent repute. FETTER LANE. 83 Fetter Lane, mnning from Holborn Hill into Fleet Street, paraUel with Shoe Lane, has been supposed to derive its name from the fetters of criminals. Such, however, is not the case. In the reign of Charles the First it was called Fewtor's Lane, a name which Stow derives from its having been the resort of Fewtors, as idle and disorderly persons were then styled, — a corruption from " defaytors " or de faulters. Fetter Lane is rendered especiaUy interesting from its having been for some time the residence of the immortal Dryden. No. 16, though apparently on insufficient evidence, is said to have been the house which he occupied. In this street Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury was residing at the period when he published his celebrated " Le-viathan." In Three Leg AUey, too, in the immediate neighbourhood, Thomas Flatman, the poet, breathed his last. The name has since been dignified into Pemberton Row. In Fetter Lane Dr. Robert Levet, the grave and well- known friend of Dr. Johnson, was inveigled into that extra ordinary marriage with a woman of the town, which Dr. Johnson used to say presented as marveUous features as anything to be found in the " Arabian Nights." Levet, it appears, when nearly sixty years of age, had made the ac quaintance of the female in question ; and though her habi tation was merely a smaU coal-shed in Fetter Lane, she had art enough to persuade him that she was nearly related to a man of fortune, who had defrauded her of her birthright. Levet, completely duped, made her his wife. They had scarcely, however, been married four months when a -writ was issued against him for debts contracted by his wife, and for some time he was compelled to keep himself in close con cealment in order to avoid the horrors of a gaol. Not long afterwards his wife ran away from him, and having been 6—2 FETTER LANE. taken into custody for picking pockets, was tried at the Old Bailey, where she pleaded her o-wn cause, and was acquitted. A separation now took place between Levet and his wife, when Dr. Johnson took Levet into his own home, where he afforded him an asylum during the remainder of his life; and at his death celebrated the virtues of his friend in those beautifnl elegiac Unes, which when once read are never forgotten : — " "WeU tried through many a varying year. See Levet to the grave descend ; Oificious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend." Boswell informs us that Dr. Johnson himself lived at one time in Fetter Lane. The celebrated Praise-God Barebone was another resident in Fetter Lane. His turbulence and fanaticism could scarcely have impaired his fortune, for in some evidence which he gave at a trial, it was shown that he was in the habit of paying forty pounds a year for house-rent, — no inconsidera ble sum in the reign of Charles the Second. There are said to have been three brothers in the famUy, each of whom had a sentence for his name : " Praise-God Barebone ;" — " Christ- came-into-the-world-to-save Barebone ;" — and, " If-Christ- had-not-died-thou-hadst-been-damned Barebone." For the sake of brevity, either the friends or the enemies of the latter are said to have merely styled him " Damned Barebone," omitting the former part of the sentence.* Running paraUel with Fetter Lane is Castle Street, for merly called Castle Yard. In this street, in 1710, at the house of his father, a master-tailor, Paul Whitehead, the poet, was bom. Nearly opposite to Fetter Lane, on the north side of Hol- * " Londinium Kedi-vivium, " iii. 453 ; Granger, iii. 360. HATTON GARDEN. 85 bom HUl, is Hatton Garden, which derives its name from being the site where the house and gardens of the Hatton famUy formerly stood. Hatton House was originaUy buUt by Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Keeper in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; a man as much distinguished for his graceful person and fine dancing, as for aU the qualities essential to constitute an orator and a statesman. Here the great Lord Keeper breathed his last on the 20th of Sep tember, 1591, the victim, it is said, of a broken heart, occa sioned by a stem demand of EUzabeth for the amount of an old debt due to her, which it was not in his power to pay. In Hatton Garden resided the beautiful Letitia Countess of Drogheda, who, about the year 1680, conferred her hand on the witty and handsome dramatist, WiUiam Wycherley. He was originally introduced to Lady Drogheda under somewhat peculiar circumstances in a bookseller's shop at Tunbridge Wells.'* Satisfied that he had made an impres sion on her heart, he foUowed her on her return to London, 'visited her at her house in Hatton Garden, and in a short time obtained her consent to marry him. It is almost need less to remark that their union was productive of happiness to neither party. In 1669 the celebrated physician, Dr. Bate, who attended OUver CromweU in his last moments, breathed his last in his house in Hatton Garden. Close to Hatton House stood Ely House, the ancient to-wn residence of the Bishops of Ely, of which interesting habita tion an account will presently be found. On the south side of Holborn, between Fetter Lane and Chancery Lane, are Southampton BuUdings, so caUed from their having been buUt on the site of Southampton House, the residence of the Wriothesleys, Earls of Southampton. * See vol. i., p. 349. ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. The old mansion was almost entirely destroyed in 1652, but small portions of it are said still to exist, and to form part of the adjoining houses.* It was in Southampton Buildings that the celebrated repubhcan general, Edmund Ludlow, lay concealed till he found means to effect his escape to Geneva. Not far from Hatton Garden, on the south side of Holborn, is the church of St. Andrew. Originally built in the reign of Henry the Sixth, it escaped the great fire of London, but falUng into a ruinous state, was re-built, with the exception of the tower, in 1686. The exterior of St. Andrew's possesses but little merit, while, on the other hand, the interior, dis playing the magnificent taste of Sir Christopher Wren, has been much admired. Over the communion table is a large painted window, by Joshua Price, which, though of modem date (1718), is distinguished by the glo-wing richness of its colouring. In the lower part is represented the Last Supper, and in a compartment above, the Resurrection of our Sa-viour from the grave. In St. Andrew's Church, of which he was for some years the parish clerk, lies buried John Webster, the gifted author of " the White DevU," " the Duchess of Malfey," and of other plays which wiU not " willingly be let die !" The celebrated Dr. Sacheverel, and Joseph Strutt, the author of the " Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," were also interred in this church. The resting-place of Sacheverel is pointed out by an inscribed stone in the chancel. Among the eminent persons who have held the Rectory of St. Andrew's may be mentioned John Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield, who wrote the weU-known Life of Lord Keeper WilUams; Edward StilUngfleet, Bishop of Worcester; and Dr. Sacheverel. Let us not omit to mention that the parish register of St. '*' See Cunningham's "London,'' Art. Southampton House, Holborn. BROOKE STREET AND GREVILLE STREET. 87 Andrew,'s, under the date of 18th January, 1696-7, records the christening of the unfortunate poet, Richard Savage, the supposititious child of the profligate Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, by Earl Rivers. According to Dr. Johnson, the entry was made in the register by Lord Rivers' own direc tion. The parish registers contain- also the foUowing inte resting events : — The marriage, in 1598, ofthe gTeat lawyer, Sir Edward Coke, to Lady Elizabeth Hatton, sister of Lord Burleigh; — the marriage, in 1638, of Colonel Hutchinson, to Lucy Apsley, the authoress of the charming " Memoirs ;" — -the burial, in 1643, of Nathaniel Tomkins, who was executed for his share in Waller's plot to surprise the City; and lastly, the interment, on the 28tli of August, 1770, of the unfortu nate Thomas Chatterton.* Opposite to St. Andrew's Church is Brooke Street, deri-ving its name — as also does Greville Street which adjoins it — from Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, the accomplished poet and courtier of the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, as well as the intimate friend of Sir Philip Sydney, as recorded lon the tomb of the former at Warwick. It was in Brooke House, which stood on the immediate site of Brooke Street and GrevUle Street, that on the 1st of September, 1628, its noble o'voier met with his tragical fate. He had been attended for many years by one Ralph Haywood, a gentleman by birth, who had expected that Lord Brooke would have rewarded his long services by bequeathing him a handsome legacy. For some cause, however. Lord Brooke not only omitted Haywood's name in his -wdll, but unfortunately aUowed him to become cognizant of the fact. Irritated at this circum stance, and, moreover, having been sharply rebuked by his master for some real or imaginary ofl^ence, Haywood' entered Lord Brooke's bed-chamber, and terminated a violent scene * Cunningham's "London," Art. St. Andrew's, Holborn. 88 BROOKE STREET. of asperity and recrimination by stabbing him in the back. The assassin then retreated to his own apartment, in which, having locked himself in, he committed suicide by kiUing himself with the same weapon with which he had stabbed his master. Lord Brooke survived .for a few days. Brooke Street is rendered especially interesting from the circumstance pf Chatterton having met with his untimely end at No. 4, in this street. His kind-hearted landlady, Mrs. Angel, aware how long he had fasted, and that he was without a shilling in the world, offered him some dinner on the day preceding his death, which his pride, superior to his sufferings, induced him to decline. A few hours afterwards he swallowed poison, and the next day, the 25th of Aug-ust, 1770, was found dead in his bed. He was only in his eighteenth year. The house in which Chatterton expired is no longer in existence, the site being now occupied by a furnishing warehouse. PhiUp Yorke, the first and celebrated Lord Hardwicke, previously to his being entered at the Middle Temple, was for some time articled to an attorney of the name of Salkeld in Brooke Street. Running paraUel with Brooke Street is Gray's Inn Lane, interestii\g as having contained the residences of many cele brated pe|'sons. The first whose name occurs to us is the cele brated dramatic poet, James Shirley. He was educated at St. John's College, Oxford, where he obtained the friendship and affection of Archbishop Laud, then President of the col lege. Contrary to the advice of Laud he entered into Holy Orders ; an unfortunate step for him, inasmuch as not long afterwards he was induced to exchange the rehgion of the Church of England for that of Rome, when, throwing up a preferment which he held near St. Albans, he estabhshed himself as teacher of a grammar-school in that town. This GRA Y'S INN LANE. 89 employment proving too irksome for him, he repaired to London, and, taking up his abode in Gray's Inn Lane, com menced the composition of those dramatic -writings which have conferred such celebrity on his name. Happily he lived in a reign in which genius was seldom left to linger long in obscurity. Charles the First appreciated his genius, and in'vited him to his court. Henrietta Maria conferred on him an appointment in her household. If Charles in the days of his prosperity extended his smiles and his bounty to the poets, the latter, when the sky of royalty became over cast, displayed no want of gratitude or affection towards their unhappy sovereign. On the breaking out of the Ci'vil troubles Shirley bade adieu to his wife and children, and enUsted himself beneath the banner of the Duke of New castle. On the downfall of the royal cause he returned to London a ruined man. Plays had in the interim been alike prohibited by the government and denounced from the pulpit, and accordingly, it was only by the kindness of Thomas Stanley, the author of the " History of PhUosophy," that he was saved from becoming the inmate either of a workhouse or a gaol. In this revolution in his fortunes, Shirley re verted to his former profession of teacher, and opened a grammar-school in White Friars. Then foUowed the Restora tion, and with it the revival of his plays on the stage ; bring ing back, however, no long career of prosperity to the poet. His house in Fleet having been burnt to the ground in the great fire of 1666, he was compelled to seek refuge in the neighbouring viUage of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, whither, however, he retired only to die. As has been already men tioned the loss of his property, added, probably, to the horrors of the terrible conflagration which he had witnessed, gave such a shock to his constitution that he survived the event scarcely twenty -four hours. so GRAY'S INN LANE. Another unfortunate poet whose name is associated with Gray's Inn Lane is John Ogilby, now principally remem bered by his translation of Homer, a task in which he was assisted by his friend Shirley. OgUby served his apprentice ship to a dancing-master in Gray's Inn Lane, in which un- dignifled profession he acquired so great a proficiency, that in a short time he was able to purchase his discharge from his apprenticeship, as well as to obtain the liberty of his father, who was a prisoner in the King's Bench. His talents as a dancer led to his introduction at court ; a circumstance so far unfortunate for him that, in cutting a caper at a masque given by the Duke of Buckingham, he fell to the ground and so severely strained one of the sinews of his leg as ever afterwards to continue lame. He now turned au thor by profession, and after suffering great vicissitudes, succeeded, towards the close of life, in obtaining the ap pointments of Cosmographer and Geographic printer to Charles the Second, the emoluments of which offices pro bably enabled him to end his days, if not in affluence, at least not in actual want. There remains to mention but one more poet, the Reverend John Langhorne, in connection with Gray's Inn Lane. He hved before the days of " clubs," when men of the learned professions, and even clergymen, were accustomed to as semble at particular taverns, where they could enjoy the society which best suited them, and the beverage which they most loved. The favourite haunt of Langhorne was the Peacock in Gray's Inn Lane, famous in the last century for its Burton ale ; a beverage to which he was so partial, that an over-indulgence in it is said to have hastened his end. The affliction which he suffered at the loss of his beloved 'vyife — the " Constantia" of Cartwright's verse, and whom he himself so pathetically and poetically lamented, probably BLUE BOAR INN, HOLBORN. 91 laid the foundation of the unhappy mfirmity which he had contracted. About the year 1756, in the days of his penury and dis- .tress, Dr. Johnson was a resident in Gray's Inn Lane. In 1640, at the period when the Ulustrious Hampden was heading the great struggle in defence of the Uberties of his country, he was a resident of Gray's Inn Lane. At the same time, too, from a house almost adjoining that of his friend, Pym might be seen sallying forth day after day to conduct the impeachment and prosecution of his arch-enemy, Lord Strafford. In 1673 John Aubrey, the antiquary, was lodging in Gray's Inn Lane. In the immecUate neighbourhood of Gray's Inn, in the days of his ignominy and disgrace, lived Lord Bacon. The name of Verulam BuUdings, Gray's Inn, still points out the spot where stood the last London residence of the faUen but still immortal philosopher. " If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind." The Blue Boar Inn, in High Holborn, now No. 270, was the scene of a curious passagj^ in the life of Charles the First. A secret compact is said to have been entered into between Charles on the one side, and Cromwell and Ireton on the other, by which the King guaranteed to Ireton the Lieu tenancy of Ireland, and to Cromwell the Garter, £10,000 a year, and the Earldom of Essex, on condition of their restoring him to Uberty and power.* His spirited consort Henrietta Maria, who was then in France, wrote to reproach him for these unworthy concessions. Her letter is said to have been intercepted by Cromwell and Ireton, who, having informed themselves of its contents, forwarded it to the un- '* Hume, vii. 96 ; Kennet's " Complete History," iii. 170. 92 BLUE BOAR INN, HOLBORN. suspecting monarch, whose reply they anxiously awaited, and also in due time intercepted. The proofs which it contained of Charles's insincerity are said to have sealed the King's fate. So far, he said, was it from being his intention to keep faith -with " the rogues," that in due time, " instead of a sUken garter, they should be fitted -with an hempen cord." " The letter," said CromweU to Lord Orrery, " was se-wn up in the skirt of a saddle, and the bearer of it was to come "with the saddle upon his head, about ten of the clock that night, to the Blue Boar Inn, in Holborn, for there he was to take horse, and go to Dover with it. This messenger knew nothing of the letter in the saddle, but some persons in Dover did. We [CromweU and Ireton] were at Windsor, and immediately Ireton and I resolved to take one trusty feUow with us, and -with troopers' habits, to go to the inn in Holborn ; which accordingly we did, and set our man at the gate of the inn, where the wicket only was open, to let people in and out. Our man was to give us notice when any person came there -with a saddle, whUst we, in the disguise of common troopers, caUed for cans of beer, and continued drinking tiU about ten o'clock : the sentinel at the gate then gave notice that the man with the saddle was come in. Upon this we immediately arose, and as the man was lead ing out his horse saddled, came up to him with dra-vm swords, and told him that we were to search all that went in and out there ; but as he looked like an honest man, we would only search his saddle, and so dismiss him. Upon that, we ungirt the saddle, and carried it into the stall where we had been drinking, and left the horseman without sen tinel ; then ripping up one of the skirts of the saddle, we there found the letter of which we had been informed ; and having got it into our o-wn hands, we dehvered the saddle again to the man, telhng him he was an honest man, and BIRTH OF RICHARD SAVAGE. 93 bidding him go about his business. The man, not knowing what had been done, went away to Dover."* This singular story must doubtless be received -with caution. Nevertheless, that such a letter, in the handwriting of Charles the First, was inllfercepted either by CromweU or by his emissaries, there exists reasonable grounds for belie-ving. Lord Oxford, in fact, assured Lord BoUngbroke that he had read it, and offered for it no less a sum than £500."!* Diverging from the east side of Gray's Inn Lane is Fox Court, in which wretched alley the profligate Countess of Macclesfleld was delivered of her illegitimate child, Richard Savage. In " The Earl of Macclesfleld's Case," presented to the House of Lords in 1690, will be found some curious par ticulars respecting the accouchement of the Countess, and the birth of the future poet. From this source it appears that Anne Countess of Macclesfield, under the name of Madam Smith, was delivered of a male child in Fox Court, Holbori^, by a Mrs. Wright, a midwife, on Saturday, the 16th of January, 1697, at six o'clock in the morning; that the child was baptized on the Monday following, and registered by Mr. Burbridge, assistant-curate of St. Andrew's, Holborn, as the son of John Smith ; that it was christened on Monday, the 18th of January, in Fox Court, and that, from the pri vacy maintained on the occasion, it was supposed by Mr. Burbridge to be a " by-blow." During her dehvery Lady Macclesfield wore a mask. By the entry of the birth in the parish register of St. Andrew's, it appears that the child's putative father, Lord Rivers, gave his son his own Christian name. "January 1696-7. Richard, son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox Court, in Gray's Inn Lane, baptized the 18th." Adjacent to the entrance into Chancery Lane stood the * Orrery's "State Letters," i. 26. t "Richardsoniana," p. 132. 94 JOHN BAMFYLDE. " Old Temple," the Inn of the Knights Templars from the time of its erection, in 1118, till their removal to the New Temple in Fleet Street, in 1184. According to Stow, about the year 1595, one Agaster Roper, while employed in erect ing buUdings on the spot, discovered the ruins of the old church, which were of Caen stone, and built in a circular shape. In 1597 the eminent botanist, John Gerarde, was residing in Holborn, then a suburb of London, where he had a good garden behind his house, in which he cultivated his rare exotics. Another remarkable person who resided in Holborn was the eccentric Sir Kenelm Digby. " The fair houses in Holborn," says Aubrey, " between King Street and South ampton Street, were built anno 1633, by Sir Kenelm, where he lived before the CivU wars." King Street, running out of Holborn, and now forming- part of Southampton Row, is connected with the fate of an unfortunate jDoet, John Bamfylde, whose sonnets Mr. Dyce . has thought worthy of being included in his selection of the choicest in the language. "He was the brother of Sh- Charles, as you say," writes Southey to Su- Egerton Brydges on the authority of Jackson of Exeter, " and you probably know that there is a disposition to insanity in the family. At the time when Jackson became intimate with him he was just in his prime, and had no other wish than to hve in solitude and amuse himself -with poetry and music. He lodged in a farmhouse near Chudleigh, and would oftentimes come to Exeter in a -winter morning, ungloved and open-breasted, before Jackson was up, with a pocket-full of music or poems, to know how he liked them. His relations thought this was a sad hfe for a man of family, and forced him to London ! The tears ran down. Jackson's cheeks when he told the story. ' Poor fellow ! ' said he, ' there did not live a JOHN BAMFYLDE. 9S^ purer creature ; and if they would have let him alone he might have been alive now.' When he was in London, his feelings having been forced out of their natural and proper channel; took a wrong direction, and he began soon to suffer the punishment of debauchery. The Miss Palmer (afterwards Lady Inchiquin), to whom he dedicated his 'sonnets, was niece to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Whether Sir Joshua objected to his addresses on account of his irregularities in London, or of the family disposition to insanity, I know not, but this was the commencement of his madness. He was refused admittance into the house ; upon this, in a fit of half anger and half derangement, he broke the windows, and was (little to Sir Joshua's honour), sent to Newgate. Some weeks after this had happened, Jackson went to London, and one of his first inquiries was for Bampfylde. Lady B., his mother, said she knew little or nothing about him — that she had got him out of Newgate, and he was now in some beggarly place. ' Where ? ' — ' In King Street, Holborn,' she believed, ' but she did not know the number of the house.' Away went Jackson, and linocked at every door tUl he found the right. It was a truly miserable place :' the woman of the house was one of the worst class of women in London. She knew that Bampfylde had no money, and that at that time he had been three days without food. When Jackson saw him there was all the levity of madness in his manners. His shirt was ragged, and black as a coallieaver's, and his beard of a two months' growth. Jackson sent out for food, said he was- come to breakfast with him, and turned aside to a harpsi chord in the room, literally, he said, to let him gorge him self -without being noticed. He removed him from hence,. and, after gi-ving his mother a severe lecture, obtained for him a decent allowance, and left him, when he himself quitted to-wn, in decent lodgings, earnestly begging him to- 56 HOLBORN. write. But he never -wrote. ' The next news was that he was in a private madhouse, and I never saw him more.' After twenty years' confinement," adds Southey, "he recovered his senses, but not tiU he was dying of a con sumption. The apothecary urged him to leave Sloane Street, where he had always been as kindly treated as he could be, and go into his own country, saying, that his friends in Devonshire would be very glad to see him. But he hid his face and answered, ' No, sir ! They who knew me what I was shall never see me what I am.' " * It remains to mention one or two celebrated men who were residents in Holborn, but in what exact locality is not known. Milton at two different periods of his life was a resident in Holborn, and on both occasions, as was his custom, occu pied houses looking upon the green fields. The first time that he resided here was in 1647, in a house which "opened backwards into Lincoln's Inn Fields," and here it was that he principaUy employed himself in writing his virulent tirades against monarchy and Charles the First. The second occasion of his residing in Holborn was after the Restora tion of Charles the Second, when his house looked into Red Lion Fields, the site of the present Red Lion Square. After residing here a short time he removed to Jewin Street, Aldersgate Street. From Boswell we learn that Dr. Johnson, during a part of the time he was employed in compiling his great work, the English Dictionary, was a resident in Holborn. Here, too, was born the once popular actor and poet, George Alex ander Stevens ; a man whose misfortunes were only equal to *( * See Sir Egerton Brydges' "Anglo-Genevan Journal, 1831;" Southey's "Specimens of the Later English Poets," andDyce's "Specimens of English Sonnets." HOLBORN. 97 his misconduct — at one time the idol of a BacchanaUan club, and at another the inmate of a gaol — at one moment writ ing a drinking-song, and at another a reUgious poem. Stevens is now, perhaps, best remembered from his " Lec ture on Heads," a medley of wit and nonsense, to which no •other person but himself could have given the proper effect. The lecture was originaUy designed for Shuter, who entirely faUed in the performance. Stevens, however, no sooner attempted the task himself, than it became instantly popular. His songs are now nearly forgotten ; yet one or two of them are not -without merit, especiaUy the one entitled the '-' Wine Vault," commencing: — "Contented I am, and contented I'll be. For what can this world more aflford, Than a lass that ¦will sociably sit on my knee. And a cellar as sociably stored ? My brave boys. My vault-door is open, descend and improve. That cask, — ay, that we wUl try ; 'Tis as rich to the taste as the lips of your love. And as bright as her cheeks to the eye, My brave boys." VOL. IIL ELY HOUSE, GEAY'S INN, THAVIE'S INN, STAPLE INN, BAENARD'S INN. ELY HOUSE IN ITS SPLENDOUR. — ITS INHABITANTS. — PROTECTOR GLOUCESTER. — BISHOPS OE ELY. — EBASTINGS IN ELY HOUSE. — .SIR CHRISTOPHER HAT TON AND THE BISHOPS OE ELY. — GRAY's INN A2(D GARDENS. — MASQUES PEREORMED AT GRAY's INN. — EAMOUS MASQUE. — CELEBRATED MEN WHO STUDIED AT GRAY'S INN. — THA-VTE's INN. — EURNTVAL's INN. — STAPLE INN. — ^BARNARD'S INN. — GORDON RIOTS. ON the north side of Holborn HiU are Ely Place and Hatton Garden; the former deriving its name from the episcopal palace of the Bishops of Ely, which stood here for nearly four centuries, and the latter from the adjoining residence of Sir Christopher Hatton, the graceful courtier and eminent statesman of the reign of Queen Ehzabeth. Ely House in the days of its splendour — for at one period its palace and gardens covered an area of nearly twenty acres — consisted of a spacious paved court, the approach to which was through a stately gateway. On the left side of the court was a small garden ; on the right were the offices supported by a colonnade ; and, at the extremity, the noble old hall, associated in our minds -with many past scenes of revelry and splendour. To the north-west of the hall was a quadrangular cloister, and, adjoining it, a small meadow in which stood the chapel, dedicated to St. Ethel- dreda, the patron saint of the Cathedral Church of Ely. The ELY HOUSE. 99 gardens of Ely House, long famous for their strawberries and roses, corresponded in size and beauty with the adjoin ing palace. Ely House was originally founded by John de Kirkeby, who, dying Bishop of Ely in 1290, bequeathed some landed property of considerable value for the purpose of erecting a suitable residence for his successors in the See. Considera ble additions and improvements Averp made by successive prelates, and more especially by John de Hotliam, Bishop of Ely in the reign of Edward the Third, till at length Ely House became one of the most magnificent mansions in the metropolis. Of the ancient buUding, all that now remains is the interesting chapel of St. Etheldreda, which, though it has suffered much from the lapse of ages, and has been sadly disfigured by modern impi'ovements, still retains many traces of its pristine beauty. Its crypt also, of the same length as the chapel, and its east window, looking into Ely Place, have been deservedly admired. Evelyn, in his "Diary," more than once notices Ely Chapel. On the 14th of November, 1668, he -writes : — " I was invited to the con secration of that excellent person the Dean of Ripon, Dr. Wilkins, now made Bishop of Chester. It was at Ely House : the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Cosin, Bishop of Durham, the Bishops of Ely, Salisbury, Rochester, and others officiating. Dr. TiUotson preached. Then we went to a sumptuous dinner in the hall, where were the Duke of Buckingham, Judges, Secretaries of State, Lord Keeper, Council, noblemen, and innumerable other company, who were honourers of this incomparable man, universally beloved by aU who know him." Again, Evelyn inserts in his " Diary," 27th of April, 1(373 : — " My daughter Susanna was married to William Draper, Esq., in the chapel of Ely house, by Dr. Tenison, Bishop of Lincoln, since Archbishop. I gave her in portion 7—2 100 ELY HOUSE. £4000. Her jointure is J500 per annum. I pray Almighty God to give His blessing to this marriage." In Ely House resided, at the close of his eventful life, John Duke of Lancaster — " Old John o'Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster." Here he breathed his last in 1399 ; and here Shakspeare represents him admonishing with his dying breath his dissi pated nephew, Richard the Second : — " A thousand flatterers sit •within thy crown, -Whose compass is no bigger than thy head j And yet, incaged in so small a verge. The waste is no whit lesser than thy land. 0, had thy grandsire with a prophet's eye Seen how his son's son should destroy his sons, From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame ; Deposing thee before thou wert possessed, "Which art possessed now to depose thyself. Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world, It were a shame to let this land by lease : But for thy world enjoymg but this land, Is it not more than shame to shame it so ? Landlord of England art thou, and not king." King Richard II., act ii., so. 1. Under what circumstances Ely House became the resi dence of John o' Gaunt is not kno-wn. It seems probable, however, that it was either lent or leased to him by Bishop Fordham after the Duke's own palace in the Savoy had been burnt by the insurgents in Wat Tyler's riots. It was leased, indeed, on more than one occasion to men of high rank. Here Henry Ratcliffe, third Earl of Sussex, was residing in 1547. In the following reign it was in the occupation of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, afterwards Duke of North umberland, and here it was that he carried on those famous intrigues which brought the Protector Somerset to the block. ELY PLACE. 101 Were it from no other circumstance than the connection of Ely Place with the pages of Shakspeare, we should look upon it as hallowed ground. We allude, not only to the death-bed admonitions of John o' Gaunt, but to the famous scene in the council-chamber at the Tower, in which the Protector, Richard Duke of Gloucester, after jesting with the Bishop of Ely on the excellence and early growth of his strawberries at Ely House, concludes the tragical farce by exposing his shrivelled arm, and sending Lord Hastings, " without time for confession or repentance," to the block. " My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there ; I do beseech you send for some." " Gladly, my lord," was the Bishop's reply ; " would to God I had some better thing as ready to your pleasure as that !" And therewithal, we are told, " in all haste he sent his ser vant for a mess of strawberries." Such was the first scene of that memorable drama, which was foUowed by the arrest of Lord Stanley and of Jane Shore, the execution of Lord Hastings, and the dethronement and death of the iU-fated Edward the Fifth ! Not unfrequently we find the Bishops of Ely, in the true spirit of hospitality, lending their fine old hall for the pur poses of feasting and revelry to the Seijeants-at-law — the haUs of the Inns of Court being apparently too small to accommodate the required number of guests. It was on one of these occasions, in 1495, that Henry the Seventh was feasted with his consort, Elizabeth of York, with great ceremony and magnificence. "The King," -writes Bacon, " to honour the feast, was present with his Queen at the dinner ; being a Prince that was ever ready to grace and 102 FEASTING IN ELY HOUSE. countenance the professors of the law." But a feast, on a far greater scale of splendour, took place here in November, 1531, at which King Henry the Eighth and his Queen, Ca therine of Aragon, sat as guests ; whUe at the tables below the dais sat the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and principal mer chants of London ; the Foreign Ambassadors, the Judges, Masters m Chancery, the Serjeants-at-law and their wives, besides the principal nobUity, and numerous knights and esquires. The entertainment lasted five days ; the King and Queen dining in the hall only on the principal day, the 13th of November. The biU of fare, which has been preserved, is alike curious, as evincing the vast scale of the entertainment, and the relative value of money in our own time and in the days of Henry the Eighth. Among other items are :— Twenty-four beeves, each One carcase of an ox from the shambles One hundred fat muttons, each . Fifty-one great veals, each Twenty-four porkes, each Ninety-one pigs, each Ten dozen capons of Greece Nine dozen and six capons of Kent Seven dozen and nine cocks of grose Nineteen dozens of capons course Seven dozen and nine fat cocks Thirty-seven dozen of pigeons . Thirteen dozen of swans . Three hundred and forty dozen of larks Prynne informs us that the last " Mystery" represented in England — that of " Christ's Passion," — was performed at Ely House before Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador, in the reign of James the First. It was a great misfortune to Ely House when, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, her favourite. Sir Christopher Hatton, prevailed upon his royal mistress to demand from Bishop . 26s. M. . 24 0 . 2 10 . 4 8 . 3 3 . 0 6 . 1 . 1 . 0 8 per doz 8 . 0 . 0 . 0 682 . 0 5 „ BISHOP COX. 103 Cox a considerable portion of the buildings and garden to enable him to enlarge his o-wn adjoining mansion, Hatton House. Earnestly and respectfuUy the Bishop implored the Queen to spare a property which for three centuries had been the pride and delight of his predecessors. "In his conscience," he said, '¦ he could not do it, being a piece of sacrilege. When he became Bishop of Ely, he had received certain farms, houses, and other things, which former pious princes had judged necessary for that place and caUing; that these he had received by the Queen's favour from his predecessors, and that of these he was to be a steward, not a scatterer. That he could not bring his mind to be so ill a trustee for his successors, nor to violate the pious wills •of Kings and Princes, and, in effect, rescind their last testa ments." All his entreaties and arguments, however, proved of no avail. Elizabeth continued fixed in her resolve, and, consequently, after demurring for a considerable time, we find the Bishop compeUed to make the required convey ance to the Cro-wn for the sum of JlOO; reserving, how ever, to himself and to his successors the use of the gate way; the melancholy pleasure of taking exercise in the garden, and the right to gather twenty bushels of roses annually. On the death of Dr. Cox, his successor, Dr. Martin Heton, showed himself quite as averse to complete the bargain as his predecessor had been, and accordingly it was on this occasion that Elizabeth addressed to the latter prelate the following memorable epistle : — "Proud Prelate, " I understand you are backward in complying with your agreement, but I would have you know that I, who made you what you are, can unmake you ; and if you do 104 HATTON HOUSE. not forth-with fulfil your engagement, by G — D I -wUl immedi ately unfrock you. " Elizabeth." In Hatton House Sir Christopher Hatton breathed his last on the 20th of November, 1591 ; dying, it is said, of a broken heart occasioned by the stern demand of his royal mistress for repayment of the sum of ^640,000 which she had formerly lent him, and which he was unable to repay. EUzabeth, it is further said, not only repented of her cruelty when it was too late, but paid a -visit to Sir Christopher in his extremity at Hatton House, and even administered his " cordial-broths " to him -with her o-wn hand. His names are still preserved in Christopher Street, as weU as in Hat ton Garden. Ely Place continued to be the London residence of the Bishops of Ely till 1772, when an Act of the Legislature empowered them to dispose of the ground to the Crown. Since that date their episcopal residence in London has been in Dover Street, PiccadiUy. In Cross Street, Hatton Garden, lived the eminent di-vine, WUUam Whiston ; and in Charles Street died, on the 16th of October, 1802, Joseph Strutt, the author of the popular work, the " Sports and Pastimes of the People of Eng land." The Inns of Court in Holborn, or in its immediate -vicinity, consist of Gray's Inn, Furnival's Inn, Thavie's Inn, Staple Inn, and Barnard's Inn. Of these the most important is Gray's Inn, situated close to Gray's Inn Lane. Like more than one of the Inns of Court, it derives its name from having been originaUy the residence of a noble famUy ; the word " Inne " having been anciently the usual denomination of the town houses in which persons of rank GRAY'S INN. 105 resided when summoned to attend either parliament or their sovereign. Gray's Inn stands upon the site of a property anciently kno-wn as the Manor of Portpoole, or Purpoole, and derives its name from ha-ving been the residence of the Lords Gray of WUton from 1315 to 1505. The name of the ancient manor is stUl preserved in Portpoole Lane, running from Gray's Inn Lane into Leather Lane. In 1505 it was sold by Edmund, the ninth baron, to Hugh Denny, Esq., who about eight years afterwards disposed of it to the prior and convent of East Sheen in Surrey. The convent leased the mansion to the students at law, whose tenure was sub sequently rendered somewhat insecure by the dissolution of the reUgious houses. Henry the Eighth, however, took the property into his o-wn hands, aUowing the students at law to become tenants of the Crown on payment of an annual rent. This important Inn of Court consists of a spacious court, and a large garden, laid out about the year 1600, and shaded by lofty trees. The domain of the society extends over a large tract of ground between Holborn and King's Road. It has its haU, buUt in 1560, its chapel, and Ubrary ; but, if we except the hall, they are distinguished by no extraordi nary architectural merit. We must not omit to mention, however, that the bench tables in the haU are said to have been the gift of Queen Elizabeth, who not only took great pleasure in the dramatic performances of the gentlemen of Gray's Inn, but, according to tradition, on one occasion par took of a banquet in their haU. We may add that in our o-wn time the only toast which is ever publicly drunk by the society, is " to the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of Queen EUzabeth," and this only on state occasions; and then with great formaUty. Three benchers rise and 5rink "106 GRA Y'S INN GATEWA Y. the toast. They then sit down, and two others rise, and in this manner the toast passes down the bar table, and thence to. the table of the students.* To the gateway of Gray's Inn a certain interest is at tached from its having contained the shop of the celebrated bookseUer, Jacob Tonson, who appears to have resided here between the years 1697 and 1712, in which latter year he removed to a shop opposite Catherine Street, in the Strand. Tonson was succeeded in his shop by another eminent bookseller, Thomas Osborne, whose name more than once occurs in the " Dunciad," especially where he is introduced as contending for the prize among the booksellers, and <;arrying it off: — " Osborne, through perfect modesty o'ercome, Cro^wued with the Jordan, walks contented home." Osborne is perhaps best remembered from his weU-known feud with Dr. Johnson. " It has been confidently related with many embeUishments," -wiites BosweU, "that Johnson one day knocked Osborne down in his shop -with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself ' Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop ; it was in my o-wn cham ber.' " Johnson says of Osborne, in his Life of Pope, that he was entirely destitute of shame, without sense of any dis grace but that of poverty. He is said to have combined the most lamentable ignorance -with extraordinary expertness in aU the petty tricks of his trade. The most interesting spot connected with Gray's Inn are the gardens, which, as late as 1633, commanded a very pleasing view of the high grounds of Hampstead and High gate ; the entire country to the north consisting of pasture- * Pearce's " History of the Inns of Court," p. 328. GRA Y'S INN GARDENS. 107 land. This spot was a favourite resort of the immortal Bacon during the period he resided in Gray's Inn. It appears by the books of the society, that he planted the greater number of the elm trees which stUl afford their refreshing shade ; and also that he erected a summer-house on a small mound on the teixace, where it is not improbable that he often meditated and passed his time in hterary com position. From the circumstance of Lord Bacon dating his Essays from his " Chamber in Graies Inn," it is not impro bable that the charming essay in which he dwells so enthu siastically on the pleasures of a garden, was composed in, and inspired by, the fioral beauties of this his favourite haunt. " God Almighty," he says, " first planted a garden ; and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without which buUdings and palaces are but gxoss handy-works." And he adds — " Because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air, where it comes and goes Uke the warbling of music, than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that dehght than to know what be the fiowers and plants that do best perfume the air." As late as the year 1754, there was stand ing in the gardens of Gray's Inn an octagonal seat covered with a roof, which had been erected by Lord Bacon to the memory of his friend, Jeremiah Bettenham. To the seat was attached the following inscription : — "Franciscus Bacon, Eegis Solicitor Generalis, executor testamenti Jere- mitB Bettenham, nuper Lectoris hujus hospitii, viri innocentis, abstiuentis, et contemplativi, hanc sedem in memoriam ejusdem Jeremice extruxit, anno Dom. 1609." • HoweU, writing in 1621, speaks of the walks in Gray's Inn Gardens as "the pleasantest place about London." Hither, in May, 1662, — when Mrs. Pepys was about to pur chase some new articles of dress, — her gossiping husband 108 MASQ UES PERFORMED A T GRA Y S INN. mentions his bringing her, in order to observe " the fashions ofthe ladies;" and here Addison, in the " Spectator," men tions Sir Roger de Coverley walking on the terrace, "hemming t'wice or thrice to himself with great -vdgour ; for he loves to clear his pipes in good air, to make use of his own phrase, and is not a little pleased with any one who takes notice of the strength which he still exerts in his morning hems." We have already aUuded in our notices of Lincoln's Inn to the famous masques, revels, and Christmasings of which the haUs of the Inns of Court were anciently the scene ; to the days of the yule-wood, of boars' heads and barons of beefj when the Lord of Misrule and the King of the Cockneys performed their fantastic fooleries, and when, in the words of Justice ShaUow — / " 'Twas merry in hall, When beards wag all." During the reigns of Henry the Eighth and Queen Ehza beth, masques and other goodly " disguisings" appear to have been frequently performed at Gray's Inn. The first of which we have any record was a masque composed by one John Roo, serjeant-at-law, which was^ performed at Gray's Inn in 1525. It was principaUy remarkable from the great offence which it gave to Cardinal Wolsey, whose ambition and mis- govemment it was supposed that the author intended to satirize. According to the old chronicler, HaU — " This play was so set forth with rich and costly apparel, and -with strange devices of masks and morrishes, that it was highly praised by all men, except by the Cardinal, who imagined that the play had been de-vdsed of him. In a great fury he sent for Master Roo, and took from him his coU", and sent him to the Fleet, and afterwards he sent for the young gen tlemen that played in the play, and highly rebuked and MASQ UE AT GRA TS INN. 109 threatened them, and sent one of them, called Thomas Moyle, of Kent, to the Fleet ; but by means of friends, Master Roo and he were delivered at last. This play sore displeased the Cardinal, and yet it was never meant for him, wherefore many wise men grudged to see him take it so to heart ; and even the Cardinal said that the King was highly displeased with it, and spake nothing of himself." It may, or may not have been the case that Roo, when he composed his Masque, intended to "de-vise" the Cardinal. From the following passage, however, in Fox's "Acts and Monuments," it is evident that the performers were fully a.ware that Wolsey would in all probabUity conceive himself to be the object of its satirical pleasantries. Fox, writing of Simon Fish, of Gray's Inn, author of the " SuppUcation of the Beggars," observes, — " It happened the first year that this gentleman came to London to dwell, which was about the year of our Lord 1525, that there was a certain play or interlude made by one M. Roo, of the same Inn, gentleman, in which play partly was matter against the Cardinal Wol sey ; and when none durst take upon them to play that part which touched the said Cardinal, this aforesaid M. Fish took upon him to do it. Whereupon great displeasure ensued against him on the Cardinal's part, in so much as he being pursued by the said Cardinal, the same night that this tragedy was played was compeUed of force to void his o-wn house, and so fied over the sea to Tindal." During the period that Fish was residing in Germany, a copy of his " Sup plication of the Beggars " — a satire on the monastic orders in England — was shown by Aime Bolejm to Henry the Eighth, who was so much pleased with it, that he not only permitted the author to return to England, but took him under his protection. Fish, however, survived his recall only a short time, dying of the plague in 1531. 110 FAMOUS MASQUE. As a specimen of those costly entertainments with which the Courts of Law were anciently in the habit of regaling their sovereigns, the following account may not be unaccep table to the reader. The Masque to which we allude was performed in the Palace of Whitehall, before Charles the First and Henrietta Maria, at AUhallowtide, in 1633, on the occasion of the birth of the Duke of York, afterwards James. the Second. It was given by the members of the four prin cipal Inns of Court — Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, and the Middle and Inner Temple — the hall of Ely House being the place where the masquers assembled and whence the motly procession set out in long array for WhitehaU. " On Candle mas-day in the afternoon, the masquers, horsemen, musicians,. dancers, and all that were actors in this business, met at Ely House in Holborn ; and when the evening]was come, all things being in fuU readiness, they began to set forth in this order down Chancery Lane to WhitehaU. The first that marched were twenty footmen in scarlet liveries with silver lace, each one having his* sword by his side, a baton in one hand, and a torch lighted in the other. There were the Marshal's men, who cleared the streets, made way, &c. After them came the Marshal, Mr. Daniel, afterwards knighted by the King. He was of Lincoln's Inn, an extraordinary hand some, proper gentleman. He was mounted on one of the King's best horses and richest saddles, and his own habit was exceedingly rich and glorious. His horsemanship was very gaUant ; and, besides his Marshal's men, he had two laquies who carried torches by him, and a page in livery that went by him carrying his cloak. " After the Marshal followed a train of a hundred young gentlemen, selected on account of their showy and handsome appearance from the different Inns of Court ; all of them mounted on gallant horses sumptuously caparisoned, which FAMO US MASQ UE. Ill had been furnished for the occasion from the King's stables and those of the principal nobility. Then foUowed the chariots of the inferior masquers, after which came the first chariot of the grand masquers, which was not so large as those that went before, but most curiously framed, carved, and painted with exquisite art, and purposely for this service and occasion. The form of it was after that of the Roman triumphant chariots. The colours of the first chariot were silver and crimson, given by lot to Gray's Inn ; the chariot was drawn with four horses aU abreast, and they were covered to their heels all over with cloth of tissue of the colours of crimson and silver, huge plumes of red and white feathers on their heads; the coachman's cap and feather, his long coat, and his very whip and cushion ofthe same stuff and colour. In this chariot sat the four grand masquers of Gray's- Inn; their habits, doublets, trunk-hose, and caps of most rich cloth of tissue, and wrought as thick with silver spangles as they could be placed ; large white stockings up to their trunk-hose, and rich sprigs in their caps, themselves proper and beautiful young gentlemen. On each side of the chariot were four footmen in liveries of the colour of the chariot, carrying huge fiambeaux in their hands, which, -with the torches, gave such a lustre to the. paintings, spangles, and habits, that hardly anything could be invented to appear more glorious. " After this chariot came six more musicians on foot, and clothed in habits like the former. These were followed by the second chariot, as the lot fell, for the Middle Temple. This differed not in anything from the former but in colours only, which were of this chariot sUver and blue. The chariot 'and horses were covered and decked with cloth of tissue of blue and silver. In this second chariot were the- four grand masquers of the Middle Temple, in the same habits- 112 FAMOUS MASQUE. as the other masquers, and with the like attendance of torches and fiambeaux -with the former. After these foUowed the third and fourth chariots, and six musicians between each chariot, habited, on foot ; clothes and horses as before. The chariots were all of the same make and ahke carved and painted, diflering only in the colom's. In the third chariot rode the grand masquers of the Inner Temple ; and in the fourth chariot went those of Lincoln's Inn, according to the lot dra-wn by each of them. The habits of the six teen grand masquers were all the same, their persons most handsome and lovely, the equipage so fuU of state and height of gallantry, that it never was outdone by one representation mentioned in our former stories. " The march was slow in regard of their great number, but more interrupted by the miUtitude of spectators in the streets, besides [those at] the -windows, and they aU seemed loth to part -with so glorious a spectacle. In the mean time, the Banqueting House at Whitehall was so crowded -with fair ladies glittering -with their rich clothes and richer jewels, and with lords and gentlemen of great quality, that there was scarce any room for the King and Queen to enter in. " The gaUery behind the state was reserved for the gentle men of the four Inns of Court who came to see the masque. The King and Queen stood at a window to see the proces sion, and being so deUghted -with the noble bravery of it, desired that it might turn about the tilt-yard, that their majesties might have a double view of it. The Eang and Queen and aU their noble train being come in, the Masque began, and was incomparably performed in the dancing, speeches, music, and scenes. The dancing, figures, proper ties, the voices, instruments, songs, airs, composures, the words, and the actions, were aU of them exact, and none FAMOUS MASQUE. 113 failed in their parts of them, and the scenes were most curious and costly. " The Queen did the honour to some of the masquers to dance with them herself, and to j udge them r s good dancers as she ever saw, and the great ladies were very free and civU in dancing with all the masquers as they were taken by them. Thus they continued in their sports until it was almost morning, and then the King and Queen retiring to their chamber, the masquers and Inns-of-Court gentlemen were brought to a stately banquet, and after that was dis persed every one departed to their own quarters." ¦'*' This famous Masque, the expense of which is said to have been about £21,000, is described by Garrard, in one of his letters to Lord Strafford, as " far exceeding, in bravery, any Masque that had formerly been presented by these societies." — " In then company," he writes, " there was one Mr. Read, of Gray's Inn, whom all the women, and some men, cried up for as handsome a man as the Duke of Buckingham. They were all weU used at Court by the King and Queen, and no disgust given them. Only this one accident fell. Mr. May, of Gray's Inn, a fine poet, he who translated Lucan, came athwart my Lord Chamberlain in the Banqueting House, and he broke his staff over his shoulder, not knowing who he was. The King was present, who knew him, for he calls him his poet, and told the Chamberlain of it, who sent for him next morning, and fairly excused himself to him, and gave him fifty pounds in pieces." The Lord Chamberlain here referred to was the choleric Phihp Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery— the " memorable simpleton " of Horace Walpole — of whom Anthony Wood quaintly ob serves, that he broke many wiser heads than his own. May was a spirited and an accomplished gentleman as well as a * See Pearce's " History of the Inns of Court," p. 102, &c. VOL. IIL 8 114 EMINENT LA WYERS OF GRA Y'S INN. poet ; indeed, according to Wood, had it not been for the Earl's high office and the place they were in, " it might have- been a question whether the Earl would ever have struck again." Lord Clarendon says of this boisterous peer — " There were few great persons in authority who were not frequently offended by him by sharp and scandalous discourses and in vectives against them behind their backs ; for which they found it best to receive satisfaction by submissions and pro fessions and protestations, which was a coin he was plenti fully suppUed with." Early in life the Earl had been pub Ucly horse-whipped on the race- course at Croydon by Ramsey, a Scotch gentleman, afterwards created Earl of Holderness ; and nearly forty years afterwards we find him using such insolent language to Lord Mowbray in the House' of Lords, as to provoke the latter to throw an inkstand at his head. Both Lords were sent to the Tower; the Earl apparently ha-ving been the greater sufferer of the two, in consequence of the King depriving him of his post of Lord Chamberlain. Of the la-wyers of the olden time who were members of Gray's Inn, the name which is perhaps the most famihar to us is that of Sir WiUiam Gascoigne, as eminent for his pri vate -virtues as for his integrity as a judge, and immortalized in the pages of Shakspeare in connection with the frolics of Falstaff and Prince Henry. Every one remembers the fine scene in which the future victor of Agincourt, after his ac cession to the throne, first meets with the independent judge who had been bold enough to commit him to prison. " King. You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well ;. Therefore still bear the balance and the sword ; , And I do •wish your honours may increase, Till you do live to see a son of mine Offend you and obey you, as I did. * * * You did commit me : For which, I do commit into your hand EMINENT LAWYERS OF GRAY'S INN. 115 The unstained sword that you have used to bear ; With this remembrance, — That you use the same With the like bold, just and impartial spirit As you have done 'gainst me." King Henry IV., part 2, act v., sc. 2. The account given by one of our old chroniclers of the Prince's committal to prison by Sir William Gascoigne differs but little from that of Shakspeare. " It happened," we are told, " that a servant of Prince Henry, afterwards the fifth English King of that Christian name, was arraigned before this judge for felony, whom the Prince, then present, endea voured to take away, coming up in such fury that the be holders believed he would have stricken the judge. But he, sitting Avithout mo-ving, according to the majesty he repre sented, committed the Prince prisoner to the King's Bench, there to remain until the pleasure of the Prince's father were further known. Who, when he heard thereof by some pick- thank courtier, who probably expected a contrary return, gave God thanks for His infinite goodness, who, at the same instant, had given him a judge who could minister and a son who could obey justice. " Happy am I, that have a man so bold, That dares do justice on my proper son ; And not less happy, having such a son, That would deliver up his greatness so. Into the hands of justice." Sir William Gascoigne was Reader of Gray's Inn till 1398, when he was caUed to the degree of King's Serjeant-at-law, and on the 15th of November, 1401, was constituted Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He died on the 17th of De cember, 1413. Among other eminent members of Gray's Inn may be mentioned Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in the reign of Henry the Eighth — Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 8—2 116 EMINENT LA WYERS OF GRAY'S INN. during the first twenty-five years of the reign of Elizabeth, and father of the great Lord Bacon — John Bradshaw, who sentenced Charles the First to the block in Westminster HaU — John Cooke, who, as Solicitor General of the Commons of England, conducted the prosecution against the King at his mock trial — and, nearer our own time, Sir Samuel RomiUy, Sir John Bayley, and Sir WiUiam Garrow. The latter lived for many years in No. 11, Gray's Inn Place, leading to the Gardens. Lord Bacon, whom we have already mentioned as a member of Gray's Inn, lived at No. 1, Coney Court, which was unfortunately burnt do-wn in 1678. The site is occupied by the present row of buUdings at the west end of Gray's Inn Square, adjoining the gardens in which the great philosopher took such delight. Besides the eminent lawyers we have mentioned, some of our most celebrated statesmen, prelates, and poets have been members of Gray's Inn. Here resided the great statesman, Thomas CromweU, afterwards Earl of Essex, who succeeded Wolsey in the favour of Henry the Eighth, and to whom the disgraced Cardinal addressed his famous apostrophe : — " 0 CromweU, Cromwell ! Had I but served my God with haK the zeal I served my King, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies." King Henry VIII., act iii., sc. 2. CromweU was admitted a member of Gray's Inn in 1524. In 1535 he commenced his career of greatness, and only five years afterwards, on the 24th of July, 1540, he fell by the stroke of the executioner on Tower Hill. Two other cele brated statesmen who were members of this Inn, were the gi-eat Lord Burghley, who was admitted a student in-1540, and his son, Robert CecU, Earl of Salisbury, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, and first minister to James the Fnst. EMINENT MEN OF GRAYS INN. 117 Among the distinguished prelates who have been mem bers of Gray's Inn, we find the mercUess Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, whose name is associated -with so many fearful scenes of human suffering — ^Whitgift and Ban croft, successively Archbishops of Canterbury — Lord Keeper WUliams, Bishop of Lincoln and afterwards Archbishop of York — his implacable enemy, Laud, Archbishop of Canter bury — Joseph HaU, Bishop of Norwich, author of the weU- kno-wn "Satires" and "Contemplations" — James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh, whose political hostility was for given by Oliver CromweU in admiration of his private vir tues — and, lastly, WiUiam Juxon, Bishop of London and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, who attended Charles the First upon the scaffold. Of the literary men, and especiaUy the poets, who were members of Gray's Inn, we have a still longer list. Among these let us mention the graceful and chivalrous Sir Philip Sidney — Edward HaU, the chronicler — George Gascoigne, a popular poet in. the reign of Elizabeth — George Chapman, the translator of Homer — James Shiiley, the dramatic poet — Thomas Rymer, author of the " Foedera," and also no con temptible poet — Thomas May, the translator of Lucan's " Pharsalia " — Samuel Butler, the author of " Hudibras," and Arthur Murphy, the dramatist and translator of " Tacitus." Lastly, among the eminent men who belonged to the Society of Gray's Inn, let us not omit to mention John Lambert, the distinguished Parliamentary General in the Civil Wars, and the still more celebrated George Monk, Duke of Albe marle. Of the other Inns of Court in the neighbourhood of Hol born but [little remains to be said, and that little possesses no extraordinary interest. Thavie's Inn, which stood on the south side of Holborn, 118 FURNIVAL'S INN. was the hostel or inne, in the reign of Edward the Third, of one Job Thavie, who leased it to the students-at-law, and who, by his last 'will, directed it to be sold in order to main tain a chaplain, who was to pray for his soul and that of his wife, Alice. In the reign of Edward the Sixth it came into the possession of Gregory Nicholas, who made a grant of it to the Society of Lincoln's Inn, by whom it was erected into an Inn of Chancery on condition of paying the annual sum of £Z 6s. 4c^., as an acknowledgment of its dependency on the mother house. In 1771 it was disposed of by the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn to a private individual, and having been subsequently destroyed by fire, a range of pri vate buildings was erected on its site. Furnival's Inn, near Brook Street, another former appen dage of Lincoln's Inn, stands on the site of the princely inne of the Lords of Furnival, that valiant family whose names so often occur in the annals of chivalry, from Gerard de Furnival, who fought by the side of Richard Coeur de Lion on the plains of Palestine, to Thomas de Furnival, the companion of the Black Prince on the field of Cressy. In 1383, the race having become extinct in the male line, Fur nival's Inn fell by marriage into the possession of the Earls of Shrewsbury. In their hands it remained tiU the reign of Edward the Sixth, when, on the 1st of December, 1548, Francis Earl of Shrewsbury disposed of the mansion to the Society of Lincoln's Inn, who converted it into a separate Inn of Court on the condition of the payment of an annual sum of jfi3 6s. 8d The Inn was rebuilt in the reign of James the First, but having fallen into a ruinous state in the pre sent century, and a portion of it ha-ving been destroyed by fire, the old Inn was taken down in 1817, and the present handsome pile of building erected on its site. It no longer however, exists as an Inn of Chancery. It adds to the BARNARD'S INN. 119 interest of the spot that Sir Thomas More fiUed for three years the office of reader in Furnival's Inn. Staple Inn, dependent on Gray's Inn, situated on the south side of Holborn, is known to have been an Inn of Chancery at least as early as the reign of Henry the Fifth. It has been supposed to derive its name from ha-ving been anciently a staple, or emporium, where the merchants of England exposed for sale their wool, cloth, and other com modities ; the Society, in fact, having stiU for their arms a woolpack argent. Stow, however, confesses that the deri vation of its name had escaped his researches. Staple Inn is divided into two Courts, -with a pleasant garden behind. On the 27th of November, 1756, a fire broke out at No. 1, which destroyed four sets of chambers ; two females and two chUdren perishing in the flames. The haU, which for tunately escaped destruction, is a small but handsome buUd ing, in which are portraits of Charles the Second, Queen Anne, the Earl of Macclesfield, Lord Chancellor Cowper, and Lord Camden. To Miss Porter, Dr. Johnson writes on the 23rd of March, 1759—" I have this day moved my things, and you are now to direct me at Staple Inn, London." The removal in question was from Gough Square, Fleet Street, where Johnson had resided for ten years. In Staple Inn (No. 11) resided Isaac Reed, the commentator on Shak speare ; and here he formed his rare and valuable coUection of books. Barnard's Inn, also on the south side of Holborn, was originaUy called Mackworth's Inn, from John Mackworth, Dean of Lincoln, whose executors made it over to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, on condition of their finding a priest to perform divine service in the chapel of St. George in that cathedral, where the Dean lies interred. In the lifetime of Dean Mackworth it was leased to one Lionel Barnard, who 120 BARNARD'S INN. seems to have been the last person who resided in it before it was converted into an Inn of Chancery, and from whom it derives its present name. In the haU is a fine fuU-length portrait of the upright and learned Lord Chief Justice Holt, for some time principal of Barnard's Inn ; and also of Lord Burleigh, Lord Bacon, Lord Keeper Coventry, and other eminent men. During the famous Gordon Riots Barnard's Inn very nearly feU a sacrifice to one of those nightly and fearful acts of in cendiarism, by which, on the eventful night of the 7tli of June, 1780, so many public and private edifices were devoted to the flames. It adjoined the extensive premises of Mr. Langdale, an opulent distUler, who on two accounts was exposed to the fury of the mob ; both as professing the Roman Cathohc religion, and from the temptation of the intoxicating liquors on his premises. The attack on Langdale's distUlery, and its subsequent destruction by fire, — rendered the more awfully vivid from the quantity of ardent spirits which fed the fiames, — was not among the least striking of those frightful scenes which occurred in various parts of the metropohs. Many of the rioters are said to have literaUy drunk themselves dead ; women and chUdren were seen on their knees drinking from the kennels, which flowed -with gin and other intoxicating liquors ; and many of the rabble, who had drunk themselves into a state of insensibUity, perished in the flames. Dr. Warner, who passed the night in his chambers in Barnard's Inn, writes on the foUowing morning to George Selwyn : — " The staircase in which my chambers are is not yet burnt down, but it could not , be much worse for me if it were. However, I fear there are many scores of poor creatures in this town who have suffered this night much more than I have, and with less ability to bear it. WiU you give me leave to lodge the .shattered GORDON RIOTS 121 remains of my Uttle goods in Cleveland Court for a time ? There can be no Uving here, even if the fire stops imme diately, for the whole place is a wreck; but there wUl be time enough to think of this. But there is a cir cumstance which distresses me more than anything ; I have lost my maid, who was a very worthy creature, and I am sure would never have deserted me in such a situation by her o-wn -wUl ; and what can have become of her is horrible to think ! I fervently hope that you and yours are free from every distress. " Five o'clock. — The fire, they say, is stopped, but what a rueful scene has it left behind! Sunt lachrymoe rerum, indeed ; the sentence that stmck me upon picking up a page of Lord Mansfield's " VirgU " yesterday in Bloomsbury Square. Sortes VirgiUance ! * " Six o'clock. — The fire, I believe, is nearly stopped, though only at the next door to me. But no maid appears. When I sliaU overcome the horror of the night, and its consequence, I cannot guess. But I know if you can send me word that things go weU -with you, that they will be less bad with me." Such was the result of one of those disgraceful scenes which, under the pretext of zeal for the interests of the Protestant religion, disgraced, only ninety years since, the character of the English people ! " Our danger is at an end," -writes Gibbon, " but our disgrace wUl be lasting ; and the month of June, 1780, wiU ever be marked by a dark and diabolical fanaticism, which I had supposed to be extinct, but which actuaUy subsists in Great Britain, perhaps beyond any country in Europe." Fortunately we live in a more enlightened age. Scarcely sixty years had elapsed after Gib- * Lord Mansfield's house in Bloomsbury Square, together -with his Lord ship's fine library, had been burnt the day before by the mob. 122 GORDON RIOTS lion penned his indignant tirade, when a body of London masons were to be seen, quietly engaged in erecting the high altar of a magnificent Roman CathoUc Cathedral, on the very spot in St. George's Fields where the insane elo quence of Lord George Gordon excited that popular frenzy which very nearly had the effect of reducing London to a heap of ashes. EED LION SQUARE, GREAT ORMOND STREET, BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, &c. Cromwell's supposed grave in red lion square. — lamb's - conduit fields. — great ormond street.— queen square. — southampton row. — BLOOMSBURY SQUARE. — BURNING OF LORD MANSFIBLD's HOUSE. — CELE BRATED PERSONS "WHO LIVED IN BLOOMSBURY SQUARE. — HIGHWAY ROB BERIES. — GREAT RUSSELL STREET. — MONTAGUE HOUSE, NOW THE BRITISH MUSEUM. — DUCHESS OE MONTAGUE. FORMERLY there existed a favourite tradition among the inhabitants of Red Lion Square and its vicinity, that the body of Oliver Cromwell was buried in the centre of their square, beneath an obelisk which stood there till within a few years.* The UkeUhood of such a fact strikes us, at first thought, as improbable enough, and yet, on consideration, we are inclined to think that beneath this spot not improbably moulder, not only the bones of the great Protector, but also those of Ireton and Bradshaw, whose remains were disinterred at the same time from * Pennant speaks "of the "clumsy obelisk" in Eed Lion Square, and mentions that it was inscribed -with the folio-wing lines : — Obtusum Obtusions Ingenii Monumentum. Quid me respicis, -viator ? Vade. Could this quaint inscription have any hidden reference to the bones of Cromwell lying beneath it ? We think not ; but they are meant to mystify and what, therefore, do they mean ? 124 SUPPOSED GRA VE OF CROMWELL. Westminster Abbey, and exposed on the same gal lows. As regards the last resting-place of these remarkable men, the contemporary accounts simply inform us, that on the anniversary of the death of Charles the First, their bodies were borne on sledges to Tyburn, and after hanging till sunset, they were cut down and beheaded ; that their bodies were then fiung into a hole at the foot of the gaUows, and their heads fixed upon poles on the roof of Westminster HaU. From the word Tyhurn being here so distinctly laid do-wn, it has usuaUy been taken for granted that it was in tended to designate the weU-known place for executing criminals, nearly at the north end of Park Lane, or, as it was anciently styled, Tyburn Lane. As has been already mentioned, however, when we read of a criminal in old times having been executed at Tyhurn, we are not neces sarily to presume ^that it was at this particular spot ; the gaUows having unquestionably been shifted at times from place to place, and the word Tyhurn having been given in- cUscriminately, for the time being, to each distinct spot. For instance, sixty years before the death of Cromwell, the gaUows were frequently erected at the extremity of St. Giles' parish, near the end of the present Tottenham Court Road ; whUe, for nearly two centuries, the Holborn end of Fetter Lane, within a short distance of Red Lion Square, was no less frequently the place of execution. Indeed, in 1643, only a few years before the exhumation and gibbeting of CromweU, we find Nathaniel Tomkins executed at this spot for his share in Waller's plot to surprise the City. In addition, however, to these surmises, is the curious fact of the bodies of Cromwell and Ireton ha-ving been brought in carts, on the night previous to their exposure on the gibbet, to the Red Lion Inn, Holborn, from which Red LAMBS-CONDUIT STREET. 125 Lion Square derives its name, where they rested during the night. In taking this step it is surely not unreason able to presume that the Government had in view the selec tion of a house in the immediate vicinity of the scaffold, in order that the bodies might be in readiness for the disgust ing exhibition of the foUowing morning. Supposing this to have been the case, the place of their exposure and in terment could scarcely have been the end of Tyburn Lane, inasmuch as the distance thither from Westminster is actu aUy shorter than the distance from Westminster to Red Lion Square. The object of the Government could hardly have been to create a sensation by parading the bodies along a populous thoroughfare, inasmuch as the gi'ound between St. Giles's Pound and Tyburn, a distance of a mUe and a half, was at this period almost entirely open country. The author has dwelt longer, perhaps, on the subject than such vagne surmises may seem to deserve. The question, how ever, is not altogether an uninteresting one, and there may be others, probably, who may have the means of, and who may take a pleasure in, further elucidating it. In Bedford Row, running paraUel with Red Lion Street, Bishop Warburton was residing in 1750 ; and here, at No. 14, lived the eminent surgeon, John Abernethy. Lamb's-Conduit Street derives its name from one WiUiam Lamb, an eminent cloth -worker, who erected a water con duit on its site in 1577.'*^' It was taken down in 1740. As late as the reign of Queen Anne, Lamb's-Conduit Fields formed a favourite promenade for the citizens of London, * This munificent indi-vidual purchased and bequeathed to the Cloth- workers the hermitage of St. James-iu-the--\Vall, situated at the north corner ot Monkwell Street, Cripplegate. He died in 1577. Stow styles him "one of the gentlemen of the King's chapel, citizen and clothworker of London." — Stow's "Survey," p. 100. Ed. 1842. 126 FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. on a portion of the site of which was erected, in 1739, the present FoundUng Hospital for the reception of " exposed and deserted chUdren" The founder was Captain Thomas- Coram, a merchant-seaman, from whom Great Coram Street derives its name. This exceUent person, having passed a long life in the performance of acts of charity and benevo lence, found himself in his old age reduced to comparative penury. Under these circumstances the object of his friends was to raise a subscription for him, but fearful of offending him, they inquired of him in the first instance whether he was averse to such a measure. The reply was worthy of the man. " I have not wasted," he said, " the little wealth of which I was formerly possessed in self-indulgence or vain expenses, and am not ashamed to confess that in my old age I am poor." This exceUent man, whose death took place on the 29th March, 1751, at his lodgings near Leicester Square, by his own wish was buried in the vaults under the chapel of the Foundling Hospital. The FoundUng Hospital con tains some Yery interesting pictures by Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, and others, and is altogether weU worthy of a -visit. In Doughty Street, Foundling Hospital, the Reverend Sydney Smith, the -wit, was residing in 1805. Lamb's-Conduit Street leads us into Great Ormond Street, the site of which was formerly occupied by Powys House, the residence in the reign of WiUiam the Third of the Herberts, Marquises of Powys. Their name is stUl pre served in Po-wys Place. In the reign of Queen Anne, Powys House was occupied- by the French Ambassador, the Due d'Aumont, and having been burnt do-wn during his occu pancy, was rebuilt with considerable splendour at the ex pense of Louis the Fourteenth. The second mansion, which was of brick ornamented with fluted pilasters, was remark- QUEEN SQUARE. 127 able for its ha-ving a large reservoir on the roof, which served the double purpose of a piscatorium and of supplying water in case of fire. Po-wys House, which for twenty years was the residence of Lord ChanceUor Hard-wicke, was puUed down in 1777, a portion of the present street having been previously erected in the reign of Queen Anne. Even as late as some eighty years sinpe, the north side of Great Ormond Street commanded views of Islington, Hampstead, and Highgate. In this street, at No. 49, resided the cele brated physician. Dr. Mead, and here he kept his fine col lection of books, drawings, medals, and antiquities. He died here in 1754. In this street also resided Dr. George Hickes, the scholar and divine, who died in 1715 ; Robert Nelson, the author of the " Fasts and Festivals," who died at Kensington, the same year ; Dr. Stukeley, pre-viously to his removal to Queen Square ; Dr. John Hawkesworth ; Zachaiy Macaulay, at No. 50 ; Lord ChanceUor Thurlow, at No. 45 ; and lastly, here, in 1832, died Charles Butler, the author of the agreeable " Reminiscences," which bear his name. From Great Ormond Street we pass into Queen Square, which from its ha-ving been principaUy built in the reign of Queen Anne was named in honour of that sovereign. Here Uved and died the indefatigable, but somewhat fanci ful, antiquary, WiUiam Stukeley, who held the neighbouring Uving of St. George the Martyr. The death of the amiable old man was characteristic of his blameless life. On the 27tli of February, 1765, on his return from his favourite country house at Kentish Town, to which he was in the habit of paying frequent visits, he lay down, ac cording to his usual custom, on his couch in Queen Square, waiting for his housekeeper to come and read to him. Subsequently, some occasion caUing her from the apart- 128 WILLIAM STUKELEY. ment, on her return he observed with a cheerful look — " SaUy, an accident has happened since you have been absent." " Pray what is that, sir ?" " No less than a stroke of the palsy !" " I hope not, sir," she rephed, and began to weep. " Nay, do not trouble yourself," he said, " but get some help to carry me up stairs, for I never shall come do'wn again but on men's shoulders." "Soon after," adds his biographer, CoUinson, " his faculties failed him ; but he continued quiet and composed, as in a sleep, untU S unday foUo-wing, the 3rd of March, 1765, and then departed, in his seventy-eighth year, which he attained by his remarkable temperance and regularity." By his o-wn -wish he was buried in a particular spot in the churchyard of West Ham, Essex. It was his further desire that the turf might be laid smoothly over him, but that no monument should be raised over his grave. Another eminent person who resided in Queen Square, was the learned physician. Dr. Anthony Askew, who formed here his rare and valuable coUection of books, which at his death, in 1784, sold for £5000. In this Square, also, Alder man Barber, the printer, died in 1741 ; here Jonathan Richardson, the painter, breathed his last in 1745, at the age of eighty ; and here his son, " the younger Richardson," died ui 1770. Dr. Johnson mentions his frequent visits to John CampbeU, the author of " The Lives of the Admirals," at the residence of the latter in Queen's Square. " I used to go pretty often to Campbell's, on a Sunday evening, tiU I began to consider the shoals of Scotchmen who flocked about him might probably say, when anything of mine was well done, ' Ay, ay, he has learned this of Cammell.' " Camp bell's residence was at the north-west corner of Queen Square, and here he died in December, 1775. In Queen Street, Bloomsbury, George Vertue, the engraver, was re- SOUTHAMPTON HOUSE. 129 siding in 1712. Campbell, Jonathan Richardson, and his wife, and Robert Nelson, lie buried in the churchyard of St. George the Martyr. Here also were interred the celebrated Nancy Dawson, who died at Hampstead in May, 1767; Ed ward DiUy, the bookseller, and friend of Dr. Johnson; and the late Zachary Macaulay. This church, which is other wise as uninteresting as it is unsightly, was built in 1706, and was constituted a parish church in September, 1723. From Queen Square let us pass into Southampton Row, where we find Gray the poet lodging at one period, at a Mr. Jauncey's, in the same house which had previously been occupied by Dr. Warton. The space between Southampton Row and Montague Street was formerly occupied by the fair gardens of Southampton House. This splendid mansion, which extended along the whole of the north side of Blooms bury Square, with a spacious courtyard in front towards Holborn, was, in the days of Charles the First and Second, the princely residence of the Wriothesleys, Earls of South ampton, after their removal from their old mansion above Holborn Bars. The spot recalls many interesting associations. Here, " at his house near Holburne, in the suburbs of Lon don," breathed his last, in 1067, the wise and -virtuous Thomas Wriothesley, the last Earl of that ancient race, who, as the faithful friend and upright minister of Charles the First, played so prominent a part at the closing period of that unhappy reign. Here, too, passed the chUdhood of that tender -wife and heroic woman. Lady Rachael RusseU — " that sweet saint who sat by Russell's side ; — " and here, after her marriage to Lord RusseU, she spent the happiest years of her life. Her devotion to her iU-fated lord, the personal assistance which she rendered him at his trial, their agonizing interviews in the Tower, her heroic VOL. IIL 9 130 BLOOMSBURY SQUARE. calmness at their last parting, and her passionate bursts of grief when aU was over and when she had no longer to dread that her presence might unnerve her beloved one, are among the most touching passages in history. Lady Russell passed many years of her widowhood in Southampton House, and hence many of her interesting letters are dated. South ampton House after her death became the property of the Dukes of Bedford, on which occasion it changed its name to Bedford House. On the 9th of February, 1665, Eveljoi in serts in his " Diary," — " Dined at my Lord Treasurer's, the Earl of Southampton, in Bloomsbury, where he was buUding a noble square, or piazza, a little town. His o-wn house stands too low. Some noble rooms, a pretty cedar chapel, a naked garden to the north, but good air." It was in the fields behind Southampton House that, in the reign of WUUam the Third, the London gallants were in the habit of setthng their disputes -wdth the sword.. The old mansion was taken down at the commencement of the present cen tury, when the north side of Bloomsbury Square was erected on its site. In Southampton Street, running from Bloomsbury Square into Holborn, CoUey Cibber informs us that, on the 6th of November, 1671, he first saw the light. Bloomsbury Square, originaUy caUed Southampton Square, derives its name from the manor and viUage of Lomesbury, or Bloomsbury, now occupied by the square and its sur rounding streets. At Lomesbury, at the time when it was a retired viUage, our early monarchs had a large establish ment for their horses and hawks ; indeed, as late as the nnddle of the last century it woidd seem to have been stUl kept up as a branch of the royal stables. Dr. RadcUffe, the celebrated physician; Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist divine ; Dr. Akenside ; Sir Hans Sloane ; and Lord Chief Justice EUenborough, resided at difierent periods in this BURNING OF MANSFIELD HOUSE. 131 square. Here also, at the north-east angle, was the residence of the great Lord Mansfield. He was Uving here at the time of the Protestant riots in 1780, when the mob attacked and set fire to the house. Not only did his valuable pic tures and library perish in the fiames, but the Earl himself and Lady Mansfield had a narrow escape from falling into the hands of the infuriated populace. " I was personaUy present," writes Sir Nathaniel Wraxall in his " Memoirs of his own Time," " at many of the most tremendous effects of popular fury on the memorable 7th of June, the night on which it attained its highest point. About nine o'clock on that evening, accompanied by three other gentlemen, we set out from Portland Place, in order to view the scene. Having got into a hackney coach, we drove first to Bloomsbury Square, attracted to that spot by a rumour generaUy spread that Lord Mansfield's residence, situate at the north-east corner, was either already burnt or destined for destruction. Hart Street and Great Russell Street presented each to the -view, as we passed, large fires composed of furniture taken from the houses of magistrates or other obnoxious indivi duals. Quitting the coach, we crossed the square, and had scarcely got under the waU of Bedford House, when we heard the door of Lord Mansfield's house burst open with violence. In a few minutes all the contents of the apart ments being precipitated from the windows, were piled up and wrapped in fiames. A file of foot-soldiers arri-ving, drew up near the blazing pUe ; but without either attempting to quench the fire or to impede the mob, who were indeed far too numerous to admit of being dispersed, or even intimi dated by a small detachment of infantry. The populace remained masters." After ha-ving -witnessed the sacking and burning of Mans field House, Sir Nathaniel and his companions proceeded 9—2 132 GORDON RIOTS into Holborn, where the first object which presented itself was the flames bursting from the dweUing-house and ware houses of an obnoxious Roman Catholic gentleman of the name of Langdale. " They were altogether," -writes Wrax- aU, " enveloped in smoke and flame. In front had assembled an immense multitude of both sexes, many of whom were females, and not a few held infants in their arms. AU appeared to be, like ourselves, attracted as spectators solely by curiosity, -without taking any part in the acts of violence. Spirituous liquors in great quantity ran down the kennel of the street, and numbers of the populace were already intoxi cated with this beverage. So little disposition, however, did they manifest to riot or piUage, that it would have been difficult to conceive who were the authors and perpetrators of such enormous mischief, if we had not distinctly seen at the windows of the house men, who, while the floors and rooms were on fire, calmly tore down the furniture and threw it into the streets, or tossed it into the fiames. They experienced no kind of opposition during a considerable time that we remained at this place, but a party of the Horse-guards arriving, the terrified crowd instantly began to disperse, and we, anxious to gratify our further curiosity, continued our progress on foot along Holborn to Fleet Mar ket. I would in vain attempt adequately to describe the spectacle which presented itself when we reached the de- chvity of the hUl close to St. Andrew's Church. The other house and magazines of Mr. Langdale, who as a Cathohc had been selected for the blind vengeance of the mob, situated in the hollow space near the north end of Fleet Market, threw up into the air a pinnacle of fiame resembling a vol cano. Such was the beautiful and briUiant effect ofthe illu mination, that St. Andrew's Church appeared to be almost scorched by the heat of so prodigious a body of fire ; and BLOOMSB UR Y SQ UARE. 133 the figures designated on the clock were as distinctly per ceptible as at noonday. It resembled, indeed, a tower rather than a private buUding in a state of conflagration; and would have inspired the beholder with a sentiment of admi ration aUied to pleasure, if it had been possible to separate the object from its causes and its consequences. The -wind, however, did not augment its rage on this occasion ; for the night was serene and the sky unclouded, except when it became obscured by the volumes of smoke which, from time to time, produced a temporary darkness. The mob, which completely blocked up the whole street in every part and in all directions, prevented our approaching within fifty or sixty yards of the buUding ; but the populace, though stUl principaUy composed of persons allured by curiosity, evi dently began here to assume a more disorderly and fero cious character. Troops, either horse or foot, we stiU saw none ; nor, in the midst of this combination of tumult, terror, and -violence, had the ordinary police ceased to continue its functions. WhUe we stood by the waU of St. Andrew's Churchyard a watchman, -with his lantern in his hand, passed us, calling the hour as if in a time of profound tran quillity. " The residence of another eminent la-wyer, Lord EUenbo rough, before he removed to St. James's Square, was at the corner-house of Bloomsbury Square and Orange Street. No. 6, Bloomsbury Square, was the residence of the late Isaac Disraeli, the author of the " Curiosities of Literature" and the " Quarrels of Authors." In Bedford Place died, in May, 1811, the celebrated dra matic -writer, Richard Cumberland ; and in Charlotte Street, now Bloomsbury Street, on the east side, Theodore Hook first saw the Ught. The church of St. George, Bloomsbury, consecrated in 134 R USSELL SQ UARE, 1731, is the work of Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupU of Sir Christopher Wren. It possesses no interest and but little merit. The portico, supported by piUars of the Corinthian order, has indeed been much admired ; but the tower, sur- moimted by a pyramid with George the First at the top, and with lions and unicorns, with their tails and heels in the air, at the base, affords a specimen of architecture which Walpole justly styles a master-piece of absurdity. This church must not be confounded -with the neighbouring one of St. George the Martyr, Bloomsbury. In the reign of Queen Anne this part of London consti tuted one of its most fashionable locaUties; disputing the palm in this respect -with Lincoln's Inn Fields, Soho Square, and Queen Square, Westminster. In 1708, for instance, we find the Duke of Bedford, the Earl of Northampton, the Earl of Chesterfield, and Lords Paget and Castleton occu pying houses in Bloomsbury Square ; whUe in Great RusseU Street stood Montague House and Thanet House. Let us not forget that in this latter street lived at one period the great artist. Sir Godfrey EJieller. Strype speaks of Great RusseU Street as having " on the north side gardens behind the houses, and the prospect of the pleasant fields up to Highgate and Hampstead, insomuch that this place, by phy sicians, is named the most healthful of any in London." So late as the middle of the last century the neighbour hood of RusseU Square appears to have been stiU the resort of highwaymen. To Sir Horace Mann, Horace Walpole -writes on the 31st of January, 1750 : — " You wiU hear Uttle news from England, but of robberies. The numbers of dis banded soldiers and sailors have all taken to the road, or rather to the street. People are almost afraid of stirring after it is dark. My Lady Albemarle was robbed the other night in Great^ Russell Street by nine men. The King GREAT RUSSELL STREET. 135 ¦[George IL] gave her a gold watch and chain the next day. She says ' the manner was all ;' and indeed so it was, for I never saw a more frippery present, especiaUy considering how great a favourite she is, and my Lady Yarmouth's friend." So infested at this period were even the more populous thoroughfares of London with highwaymen, that on the very day preceding the date of Walpole's letter, we find a proclamation in the "London Gazette" ofi'ering a reward of £100 for the apprehension of any such offender against the laws. The fact is that, favoured by the ill-lighted and ill-protected state of the streets, highway robberies were committed in the heart of London up to a much later period than is usually supposed. Only some sixty years ago a near relative of the author, accompanied by a friend, was on his way to Ranelagh, when, in PiccadiUy, opposite to St. James's Church, the hackney-coach in which they were was suddenly stopped ; at the same time two men with pistols presented themselves one at each door, whUe a third jumped on the box to overawe the coachman. Without the means of defence, they were compelled to satisfy the ruffians by deli vering up their watches and money ; their next step being to drive to the nearest police-station in order to give infor mation of the robbery. Here but little hopes of redress were held out to them. Not only was their tale hstened to as if it. had been one of common occurrence, but, as regarded the e-vidence of the coachman, they were told that very little doubt existed but that he was in league 'with the robbers. To return to Great RusseU Street. In this street John Le Neve, the antiquary, was bom on the 27th of December, 1679; and here in February, 1768, died Speaker Onslow. Here, too, was the residence of the great actor, John PhUip Kemble, principaUy conspicuous from its do-iible windows in 136 MONTAGUE HOUSE. the Ubrary, which drew from the late James Smith the fol lowing lively Unes : — ' ' Rheumatic pains make Kemble halt ; He, fretting in amazement. To counteract the dire assault, Erects a double casement. " Ah ! who from fell disease can run ? "With added ills he's troubled ; For when the glazier's task is done, He finds his pane.? are doubled." Kemble's house, No. 89 — afterwards the residence of Sir- Henry EUis, the principal librarian of the British Museum — was taken down in 1847, to make room for the new buUd ings required by the Museum. At No. 72, Great Russell Street, Sir Sidney Smith was residing in 1828. The chief object of interest in Great RusseU Street is. unquestionably Montague House, now converted into the. British Museum. This magnificent 'mansion was originally buUt in 1678, by Ralph, first Duke of Montague, ambassador to France in the reign of Wilham the Third. A few years afterwards we find it leased by the Duke, then Lord Mon tague, to Wilham, fourth Earl of Devonshire, during whose occupancy it was destroyed by fire on the morning of the 19th of January, 1686. The Countess and her chUdren, after a very narrow escape with their lives, were carried in. blankets to Southampton House, where they were hospi tably received by their neighbour, Lady RusseU, who in one of her letters to Dr. Fitz-william has left us an account of the catastrophe. The mansion was shortly afterwards rebuUt by Lord Montague -with increased splendour. The architect was a M. Poughet, who laid out the buildings and gardens entirely on the French model. Even the staircase and ceilings at Montague House were painted by French artists. In Montague House resided for many years the eccentric. DUCHESS OF MONTAGUE. 137i Lady EUzabeth Cavendish, daughter and co-heir of Henry Duke of Newcastle, afterwards successively Duchess of Albe marle and Montague. She had been contracted in early youth to Christopher, only son of the celebrated George Monk, Duke of Albemarle. This marriage had been a fa vourite project of the old Duke, and accordingly, feeUng himself dying -without its having taken place, he resolved on having it solemnized in his sick chamber, which was accord ingly done on the 30th of December, 1669, only four days before he breathed his last ; the bridegroom being at the time only sixteen, and the bride probably considerably younger. Their union was not a happy one ; the Duke's Ufe being embittered by the fretfulness and iU temper of his imperious wife. After his death his Duchess, whose wealth must have been immense, publicly expressed her determina tion to marry no one but a sovereign prince. Among her suitors were the reprobate Lord Rosse, and Lord Montague. In order to flatter her insane fancies, the latter is said ta have courted her as Emperor of China, which produced from his angry competitor the following lines : — " Insultmg rival ! never boast Thy conquest lately won ; No wonder if her heart was lost. Her senses first were gone. " From one that's under Bedlam's laws, What glory can be had ? For love of thee was not the cause. It proves that she was mad." Of her insanity there can be no doubt : indeed, her second husband placed her in confinement with an allowance of £3000 a year. To the last she was indulged in her phan tasies, especially being served on the knee as a sovereign princess. The apartments which she occupied in Montague- House were on the ground floor. Her death took place in 138 RUSSELL SQUARE. 1734, at a very advanced age, at Newcastle House, Clerken weU, her paternal property. It was in the meadows behind Montague House that Aubrey mentions the following incident as having occurred in 1694. " The last summer," he writes, " on the day of St. John the Baptist, I accidentaUy was walking in the pasture behind Montasrie House. It was twelve o'clock. I saw there about two or three and twenty young women, most of them weU habited, on their knees very busy, as if they had been weeding. I could not presently learn what the matter was ; at last a young man told me that they were looking for a coal under the root of a plantain, to put tmder their heads that night, and they should di'eam who would be their husbands. It was to be found that day and hour." In the middle of the last century the ground behind the north-west of RusseU Street was occupied by a farm belong ing to two old maiden sisters of the name of Capper. Ac cording to Mr. Smith, in his " Book for a Rainy Day" — " They wore riding-habits and men,'s hats. One rode an old grey mare ; and it was her spiteful deUght to ride with a pair of shears after boys who were flying their kites, purposely to cut their strings : the other sister's business was to seize the clothes of the lads who trespassed on their premises to bathe." In Bolton House, formerly the comer-house of RusseU Square turning into Great GuUdford Street, resided Lord ChanceUor Loughborough. The residence of Sir Thomas Lawrence was on the east side of RusseU Square, No. 65, four doors from that of Lord Loughborough. In this square Sir Samuel RomiUy destroyed himself in 1818. At No. 2 Bernard Street, Russell Square, resided Joseph Munden, the comedian. No. 6, Bedford Square, was for some time the residence of BEDFORD SQUARE. 139 Lord Eldon. At that period, when the punishment of death was much more common than in the present day, it hap pened that a foot-pad had been sentenced to be hanged on account of a street robbery which he had committed close to Lord Eldon's house in this square. When the Recorder subsequently presented his report to the King, aU the Minis ters, -with the exception of one, gave it as their opinion that the man should be left for execution. The King, however, observing that Lord Eldon had been sUent, caUed upon him for his opinion, which the ChanceUor gave in favour of mercy. "Very weU," said the King; "since his lordship, who Uves in Bedford Square, thinks there is no great harm in committing robberies there, the poor feUow shaU not be hanged."-* In Store Street, Bedford Square, the celebrated actor, Thomas King, breathed lus last in December, 1805. Before quitting this neighbourhood, let us not omit to mention that in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, Uved John George Morland and Richard Wilson, the painters, and that in Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square, John Flaxman, the sculptor, breathed his last. Let us not forget also the resi dence of the delightful actor. Jack Bannister, who lived and died in Gower Street. A strange superstition had impressed itself on his mind that he should die at the age of sixty-five, the number corresponding with that of his house in Gower Street. He survived, however, tUl his seventy-seventh year. In Gower Street Lord Eldon Uved for thirteen years, and here also resided John Adolphus, the historian, and Harley, the comedian. * Twiss's "Life of Eldon," vol. i., p. 399. CHEAPSIDE. CHEAPSIDE AT AN EARLY PERIOD CALLED THE " CROWN EIBLD." — TOURNA MENTS HELD THERE. — PERSONS EXECUTED AT THE STANDARD IN CHEAB- SIDE. — " E'VIL MAY-DAY." — ELIZABETH'S CORONATION PROCESSION. — THE, CROSS. — THE CONDUIT. — CELEBRATED RESIDENCE IN CHEAPSIDE.— STREETS IN THE -VICINITY. — " MERMAID TA^VERN." — GUILDHALL. — TRIAL - SCENES, AND ENTERTAINMENTS THERE. — ST. MARY-LE-BOW. — " CRCWN SELD." — WATLING STREET. — GOLDSMITHS' AND COACHMAKERS' HALL. LET US retrace our steps into Cheapside. This celebrated street, which derives its name from chepe, a market, was in the middle of the thirteenth century an open space called the " Crown Field," from the Cro-wn Inn, which stood at the east end of it. In the reign of Edward the Fourth, the sign of the "Crown" in Cheapside was kept by one Walter Walker, who happened to observe in joke that he intended to make his son " heir to the cro-wn." The words reached the jealous ears of royalty. The foohsh equivoque was construed into the crime of high treason, and the man was hanged opposite to his o-wn door. In the days of our Norman sovereigns, when Cheapside was stUl the " Cro-wn Field," it shared with Smithfield the honour of -witnessing those gorgeous tournaments of which the old chroniclers have bequeathed us such vi-vid descrip tions. There is, in fact, no street in London more intimately associated with the romantic history of the past. Here, in 1329, between Wood Street and Queen Street, Edward the Third held a solemn tournament iu honour of the French Ambassadors; the street being covered -with sand to pre- CHEAPSIDE. 141 vent the horses from sUpping, whUe across it ran a scafibld, riclU}- decorated, in which sat Queen PhiUppa and her ladies in aU the blaze of beauty and precious stones. The King, surrounded by the rank and chivahy of the land, was also present; whUe apait sat the Lord Mayor, Aldeimen, and Common CouncU in their scarlet robes and chains of massive gold Unfortunately, in the midst of the tilting the gaUery on which the Queen and her ladies sat suddenly gave way, " whereby, ' -writes Stow, " they were, -with some shame, forced to faU do-wn." Some injuries occurred to the kniglits and others -who were standing close to the gaUery, but hap- pUy the ladies escaped unhurt. The King, nevertheless, was so exasperated against the master-carpenter who had erected the scafibld ing, that he ordered him to be forth-with led to the gaUows. The Queen, however, threw herself on her knees, and so patheticaUy pleaded to the King to .save the hfe of the oSender, that -\vith some difficulty he con sented PhUippas reward for her generous interference was a unanimous shout of applanse from the surrounding multitude. In the same reign ^1.33.9; we find Cheapside the scene of a sanguinary encounter between the rival companies of the Skinners and Fishmongers. In the heat of the fray, the Lord Mayor anrived on the spot with a band of armed citi zen.?, but it was in vain that he attempted to restore quiet. The rival factions, making common cause, drove him and his men-at-arms from the field ; ncn was it tUl the Sheriffs made their appearance -with a large reinforcement that the riot was queUed and the ringleadei'^ were seized On the foUow ing day seven of them were hanged in Cheapside -without even the pretence of a trial. Edward the Third died in 1377, shortly after which event his grandson, Richard the Second, proceeded in great state 142 CHEAPSIDE. through Cheapside in his way from the Tower to his coro nation at Westminster. In the centre of a brUliant assemr blage of peers, knights, and esquires, the young King, clad in white robes, rode solemnly, we are told, through the " pubhc ways " tiU he came " to the noble street called the Chepe," the houses of which were hung -with tapestry and cloth of arras, and thence to " Flete-strete," and so direct to the royal palace of Westminster. SimUarly animated was the scene at Cheapside when, four years afterwards, Richard conducted his young betrothed, Anne of Bohemia, through London, on her way to her bridal and coronation at West minster. At the upper end of Cheapside, we are told, was erected a castle, from which fiowed fountains of -wine, and from which beautiful maidens blew gold leaf in the faces of the Eang and Queen, and threw fiorins of counterfeited gold over their horses' heads. During Wat Tyler's insurrection we find several persons beheaded by the infuriated mob at the Standard in Cheap- side. Here also, in 1450, when Jack Cade made himself master of the metropohs. Lord Say, High Treasurer of Eng land, was put to death by the insurgents. It was to little purpose that he claimed the pii-vilege of being tried by his peers. Having been -wrested from the officers of justice, he was hurried to the Standard at Cheapside, where he was decapitated, after which his head was carried in triumph through the streets of London. " Say. — Tell me wherein have I offended most ? Have I affected wealth or honour ? speak. Are my chests fflled -with extorted gold ? Is my apparel sumptuous to behold ? Whom have I injured, that ye seek my death ? These hands are free from guiltless blood-shedding ; This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts. 0, let me live ! STANDARD IN CHEAPSIDE. Ua Cade [Aside\. — I feel remorse in myself -with his words : but I'll bridle. it ; he shall die, au it be but for pleading so well for his life. Away with hiin ! he has a familiar under his tongue ; he speaks not o' God's name. Go, take him away, I say, and strike off his head presently : and then break into his son-in-law's house, Sir James Cromer, and strike off his head, and bring them both upon two poles hither. All. — It shall be done ! Say. — Ah, countrymen ! if when you make your prayers, God should be so obdurate as yourselves. How would it fare with your departed souls ? And therefore yet relent, and save my life ! Cade. — Away •with him, and do as I command ye." King Henry VI., part 2, act iv., sc. 7. Another notorious political offender whose fate is asso ciated with Cheapside, was the handsome and accom plished Perkin Warbeck. After his arrest in the priory of Sheen, in Suirey, he was brought to London, and compeUed to sit for a whole day in the stocks before the entrance of Westminster HaU. On the following day he was brought to Cheapside, where he was again placed in the stocks, and forced to read a confession which he is said to have -written -with his o-wn hand. At night he was lodged in the dungeons of the Tower, where he remained tiU the 23rd of November, 1499, when he was led forth to be hanged at Tyburn. The Standard in Cheapside — anciently the spot where criminals were executed — is said to have stood in the middle of the street, near Bow Church. The date of its foundation remains unascertained ; but inasmuch as so early as the reign of Henry the Fourth it was in such a ruinous state that it was necessary to rebuUd it, the presumption is that it was of considerable antiquity. It was at the Standard in Cheapside that William Fitz-Osbert, commonly called WUUam Longbeard — after having been dragged with his concubine from the neighbouring church of St. Mary-le-Bow, where he had defended himself by force of arms — was exe- 144 " EVIL MA Y DA Y." cuted in 1199. Here, also, Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, was beheaded by the mob in the reign of Edward the Second. Here, in 1293, we find three men decapitated for rescuing an offender from the ofiicers of justice ; and here, in 1461, John Davy had his hand cut off for striking a man before the judges at Westminster. It was at the Standard that Henry the Fourth, in 1399, caused the blank charter of Richard the Second to be pubhcly burnt ; and, lastly, from this spot it was that Eleanor Cobham, -wife of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, when con-victed of sorcery and witchcraft, was compelled to walk -with a sheet over her and a taper in her hand to St. Paul's Cross. Cheapside is intimately associated -with the celebrated riots which took place on the 1st of May, 1517, and winch obta.ined for that day the name of " E-vU May Day." " A great heart-burning and malicious grudge," -writes Stow, " had gro-wn among the Englishmen of the city of London against strangers ; the artificers finding themselves much aggrieved, because such a number of stranger's were per- nUtted to resort hither -with their wares, and to exercise handicrafts, to the great hindrance and impoverishing of the King's liege people." The "heait-bm-nings" thus ex cited had not only for some time threatened a popular outbreak, but, according to Stow, a general impression got abroad that "on May-day next foUo-wing the City would slay all the aUens, insomuch that diverse strangers fled out of the City." At length, the fears of the Corpora tion being thoroughly aroused, they issued orders, strictly enjoining every householder to close his habitation on the evening of the 1st of May, and after nine o'clock at night to keep his sons, apprentices, and servants -within doors. A trifling incident, however, threw the City into convulsions. One of the Aldermen, in passing through Cheapside a few " EVIL MAY DAY." 145 minutes after nine o'clock, happened to observe two appren tices playing at " bucklers " in the middle of the street, when, instead of quietly expostulating with them on the impro priety of their conduct, he threatened, in a peremptory tone of voice, to send them to the Compter unless they instantly desisted from their sport. An insolent reply on the part of one of the apprentices led to the Alderman attempting to seize one of the offenders, when the bystanders raised the formidable and then famUiar war-shout of the youths of London, " Prentices, prentices ! clubs, clubs ! " Almost in an instant every door in the neighbourhood was thrown open, and numbers of persons, consisting principaUy of apprentices, servants, and watermen, rushed to join the fray. A tempo rary triumph awaited the'm. Having succeeded in beating every reinforcement which the Lord Mayor was able to bring against them, they dispersed in different directions for the purpose of plundering and destroying the houses and ware houses of the unoffending foreigners, a work of havoc which lasted tiU break of day. At length, exhausted by fatigue, the majority of the rioters returned to their several homes, when the Lord Mayor seized his opportunity and captured about three hundred of the remainder. A commission was immediately issued to the Duke of Norfolk and other noble men to try the offenders, of whom their reputed leader, John Lincoln, and twelve others, were subsequently hanged in different parts of London. The remainder, many of whom were women and boys, were also sentenced to death, but were reprieved at the King's pleasure and subsequently par doned.* On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth proceeding from the Tower to her coronation in Westminster Abbey, we find her received in great state and ceremony at the Standard in * See vol. i., pp. 239-40. VOL. III. 10 146 CHEAPSIDE. Cheapside. Lining the street, which was hung with costly drapery, were arranged the different City companies, " weU apparelled with many rich furs, and their livery hoods upon their shoulders." The Queen herself— " most honourably accompanied," -writes HoUnshed, " as well -with gentlemen, barons, and other nobility of her realm, as also a notable train of goodly and beautiful ladies, richly appointed" — sat in an open chariot sumptuously ornamented. On reaching the Standard, the Recorder of London, in the name of the City, presented her with a purse of crimson velvet containing a thousand marks in gold, as a token of its affectionate loyalty. At the same time a child, intended to personify Truth, having been made to descend by machinery as if from Heaven, presented her with an Enghsh translation of the Bible, which she accepted -with the greatest reverence. It was a gift, she said, which gave her more real gratification than all the other endearing proofs which she had that day experienced of her people's love. Besides the Standard, there were anciently two other remarkable buildings in Cheapside, the Cross and the Con duit. The Cross, which stood nearly opposite to Wood Street, was one of those beautiful architectural memorials raised by Edward the First in 1296, to mark the several spots where the remains of his beloved consort, Eleanor of Castile, rested in their progress to Westminster Abbey. Falling into decay, it was rebuilt in 1441 at the expense of John Hatherley, Lord Mayor of London, John Fisher, Mercer, and other persons. Subsequently, in consequence of its being decorated -with popish images, it was much injured by the populace in 1581, but was again repaired in 1591. Its final demohtion took place in May, 1643, when it shared the fate of many other religious crosses in England, the destruction of which was voted by the ParUament. On that CHEAPSIDE. Ul day, a troop of horse and two companies of foot having sur rounded the Cross, the work of destruction commenced. At the moment that the cross at the top feU beneath the blows of the workmen, the drums beat and the trumpets sounded ; the multitude at the same time thro-wing their caps into the air, and raising a general shout of joyful acclamation. On the night of the 6th, the leaden pipes were melted on the spot amidst the ringing of bells and the renewed shouts of the populace. The destruction of this " stately cross " was -wit nessed by Evelyn, who mentions it in his " Diary " -with expressions of great regret. The Conduit in Cheapside stood in the middle of the street, rather to the east of the Cross, and close to the Poultry. It was built about the year 1281 ; was of stone, and richly decorated. Having fallen into decay, it was re buUt in 1479 by Thomas Ham, Sheriff of London from which time it continued in use till about the year 1613, when it was superseded by the great work of Sir Hugh Myddel- ton, who had accomplished his project of supplying London with water from the New River. There was also a " lesser conduit " in Cheapside, known as the Little Conduit, which stood in the middle of the street, near the east end of Paternoster Row. The foUowing incident in connection with Cheapside is related by Anthony Wood as having taken place during the agitation caused by the famous "Popish Plot " in 1679. "In the evening," he writes, " when the Duke of York returned from his entertainment in the City, Gates and Bedloe were got into the balcony of one Cockerill, a blink-eyed book seUer in Cheapside, and a great rabble about them. As the Duke passed by they cried out, ' a Pope, a Pope,' upon which one of the Duke's guard cocked his pistol, and rode back, saying — ' What factious rogues are these ? ' Upon which, 10—2 148 CHEAPSIDE. they cried out — ' No Pope, no Pope ;' ' God bless his highness.' So the King's worthy evidence. Gates and Bedloe, sneaked away." In Cheapside was born, in 1591, one of the sweetest of lyric poets, Robert Herrick. In his " Tears to Thamasis," he writes — " Never again shall I -with finnie oar Put from, or draw unto, the faithful shore ; And landing here, or safely landing there, Make way to my beloved -Westminster ; Or to the golden Cheapside, where the earth Of Julia Herrick gave to me my birth." The expression of the " golden " Cheapside has apparently reference to the father of the poet, Nicholas Herrick, having carried on the business of a goldsmith in this street. He survived the birth of his gifted son little more than a year ; dying on the 9th of November, 1592, of injuries which he received by a faU from an upper window of his house in Cheapside. From the circumstance of his "wiU ha-ving been made only two days before this event, it has been conjec tured that the fall was not altogether accidental. Another poet whose name is associated with Cheapside is Sir Richard Blackmore, who first commenced practice as a physician in this street. " His residence," -writes Dr. John son, " was in Cheapside, and his friends were chiefly in the City. In the early part of Blackmore's time a citizen was a term of reproach, and his place of abode was another topic to which his adversaries had recourse in the penury of scandal." In Cheapside the pure-minded philosopher and angler, Izaak Walton, carried on for some years the trade . of a sempster. According to Anthony Wood, he resided here tUl 1643, at which time, " finding it dangerous for honest men COWPER'S ''JOHN GILPIN." 149 to be there, he left the City, and Uved sometimes at Stafford, and elsewhere, but mostly in the famUies of the eminent clergymen of England, by whom he was much beloved." Another celebrated person who lived in Cheapside was Sir Christopher Wren, whose residence is said to have been at No. 73. In this street also died, in March, 1769, in his eighty-eighth year, Mr. David Barclay, the last survi-ving son of Robert Barclay, the author of the " Apology for the Quakers." He carried on the business of a mercer, and had the singular honour of recei-ving at his house, No. 108, Cheapside, three successive monarchs on the occasion of their severally visiting the City on Lord Mayor's day.* At No. 3, Cheapside, at the corner of Paternoster Row, lived John Beyer, a linendraper, the original of Co-wper's admirable baUad of John GUpin, who hence is said to have set out on his memorable ride. " So three doors off the chaise was stayed, "VSTiere they did all get in ; Six precious souls, and all agog, To dash through thick and thin. " Smack went the whip, round went the wheels. Were never folk so glad ; The stones did rattle underneath, As if Cheapside were mad. " John GUpin at his horse's side. Seized fast the flowing mane. And up he got in haste to ride, But soon came down again." During more than three centuries — from the day when the old Benedictine monk, John Lydgate, penned his " Lon don Lykpenny," to those in which Cowper charmed the world with his " John Gilpin" — we find Cheapside the great resort of the Unendrapers and haberdashers of London. * See post, p. 163. 150 BREAD STREET. " Then to the Chepe I began me dra-wne. Where mutch people I saw for to stande ; One ofred me velvet, sylke, and la^wne, An other he taketh me by the hand, ' Here is Parys thread, the fynest in the land.' I never was used to such thyngs indede. And wantyng mony I myght not spede." The streets in the immediate vicinity of Cheapside are no less associated with eminent names than Cheapside itself In Milk Street — the site of the London residence of the Staffords, Dukes of Buckingham — Sir Thomas More first saw the Ught ; and in Bread Street, on the opposite side of Cheapside, lived the father of Milton, under whose roof in this street the great poet was bom. Almost every house in London had anciently its distinguishing sign. That of MU- ton's father, who was a scrivener, was a spread-eagle — ^the armorial bearing of his family — which was suspended over his door. From Anthony Wood, who was only junior to Milton by a few years, we learn that in his time foreigners used to pay a pilgrimage to the house in Bread Street in which the poet first saw the hght. Aubrey also informs us — " The only inducement of several foreigners that came over to England, was to see the Protector OUver, and Mr. John MUton, and would see the house and chamber where he was bom." MUton's father was himself a poet and a musician. " He was an ingenious man," -writes Aubrey, " delighted in music, and composed many songs now in print, especiaUy that of ' Oriana.' " MUton himself addresses him — ¦ thyself Art skilful to associate verse •with airs Harmonious, and to give the human voice A thousand modulations, heir by right Indisputable of Arion's fame. Now, say, what wonder is it, if a son Of thine delight in verse ; if, so conjoin'd In close aflSnity, we sympathize In social arts and kindred studies sweet ? " ''MERMAID TAVERN." 151 The house in which Milton was born was burnt down in the great fire of 1666. Bread Street derives its name from the circumstance of a bread market having been anciently held on its site. In Stow's time, however, it was entirely inhabited by "rich merchants ;" whose " diverse fair inns be there." In Basing Lane, Bread Street, stood formerly Gerard's Hall, corrupted from Gisors Hall. In 1245 it^ was the residence of John Gisors, Lord Mayor of London, in the possession of whose descendants it long remained. " On the south side of Basing Lane," writes Stow, " is one great house of old time built upon arched vaults, and -with arched gates of stone, brought from Caen, in Normandy. The same is now a common hos telry for receipt of traveUers, commonly and corruptly called Gerrardes-hall, of a giant said to have dwelt there. In the high-roofed hall of this house sometime stood a large fir- pole, which reached to the roof thereof, and was said to be one of the staves that Gerrarde, the giant, used in the wars to run withal. There stood, also, a ladder of the same length, which, as they say, served to ascend to the top of a staff." Gerard's HaU, with its curious Norman crypt, stood stiU 1852 under the name of the Gerard's HaU Hotel, when it was removed to make room for Cannon Street. In Bread Street stood the famous Mermaid Tavern, en deared to us by its association with some of the most illus trious names in the hterature of our country. ' ' At Bread Street's ' Mermaid ' having dined, and merry, Proposed to go to Holborn in a wherry." Ben Jonson. Here was held the celebrated Mermaid Qub, at which Sir Walter Raleigh so often presided ; where wit so often flashed from the lips of Shakspeare, Beaumont, and Ben Jonson; and where the author of " The Faery Queen," as the intimate 152 ' "MERMAID TAVERN." friend of Raleigh, was doubtless often a guest. Gifford, speaking of the year 1603, observes — "About this time,. Jonson probably began to acquire that turn for conviviality for which he was afterwards noted. Sir Walter Raleigh, previously to his unfortunate engagement -with the wretched Cobham and others, had instituted a meeting of heaux esprits- at the Mermaid, a celebrated tavern in Friday Street* Of this club, which combined more talent and genius than ever met together before or since, our author was a member : and here, for many years, he regularly repaired with Shakspeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, and many others whose names, even at this distant period, call up a mingled feeling of reverence and respect." Beau mont, in a charming poetical epistle addressed to Ben Jonson, describes the "wit-combats" in which they had bothof them so often borne a part in the Mermaid Tavern : — " What things have we seen Done at the ' Mermaid. ' Heard words that have been So nimble, and so full of subtle flame. As if that every one from whence they came Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest. And had resolved to Uve a fool the rest Of his duU life ; then when there hath been thro-wn Wit able enough to justify the to^wn For three days past, — wit that might warrant be For the whole city to talk foolishly Till that were cancelled ; and when that was gone We left an air behind us, which alone Was able to make the two next companies Eight witty; though but do-wnright fools, more -wise." * This appears to be an error. At the time when Jonson penned his. couplet there was also a "Mermaid" tavern in Cheapside, and possibly another in Friday Street. The " Mermaid" in CornhiU was also probably in existence at this period. Ben Jonson's expression, however, of "Bread Street's Mermaid," evidently proves that the "Mermaid" frequented by Jonson and his illustrious associates was in Bread Street." — See Cunning ham's "Jjondon," Art. "Mermaid Tavern." BEN JONSON AND SHAKSPEARE. 15S Ben Jonson has again celebrated the Mermaid Tavern and its delicious Canary in his delightful poem, "Inviting a Friend to Supper" : — " But that which most doth take my muse and me, Is a pure cup of rich Canary "wiue, 'Which is the Mermaid's now, but shall be mine." And again — " Of this we will sup free, but moderately, Nor shall our cups make any guilty men ; But at our parting we •will be as when We innocently met. No simple word That shall be uttered at our mirthful boards Shall make us sad next morning, or affright The liberty that we'll enjoy to-night." Fuller, speaking of the "wit-combats" between Shak speare and Jonson, observes — "Many were the wit- combats between him and Ben Jonson, which two I behold hke a Spanish great galleon and an English man-of-war. Master Jonson, like the former, was built far higher in learning, solid, but slow in his performances. Shakspeare, -with the EngUsh man-of-war, lesser in bulk but lighter in saUing, could turn with aU tides, tack about, and take advantage of all -winds by the quickness of his -wit and invention." Friday Street, running paraUel -with Bread Street, is said to have been anciently inhabited almost entirely by fish mongers ; its name ha-ving been derived from the great quantity of business which was carried on there on a Fri day, the fast-day of the Roman Catholics. In this street is the church of St. Matthew, Friday Street, a plain stone struc ture, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the destruction of the old edifice by the fire of London. Nearly opposite to Friday Street is Wood Street, at the corner of which may be seen a solitary tree, presenting a striking and refreshing appearance in this smoky and 151 GUILDHALL. crowded district. The tree is interesting, moreover, as pointing out the site of the old church of St. Peter's at the Cross, destroyed by the great fire of 1666. Lad Lane, now forming part of Gresham Street, is said to be a corruption from Our Lady Lane ; an image of the Virgin having anciently stood there. Stow, however, teUs us that it should properly be called Ladle Street ; Ladle HaU having anciently stood on its site. At the end of King Street, running northward out of Cheapside, is the Guildhall of the City of London. Pre viously to the year 1411, it was held in the street called Aldermanbury. " I myself," -writes Stow, " have seen the ruins of the old court hall, in Aldermanbury Street, which of late hath been employed as a carpenter's yard." The present edifice was commenced in 1410, during the mayoralty of Sir Thomas KnoUes, but was not completed tUl the six teenth century. It suffered severely in the great fire, but so solid was its masonry that it was able to defy the fury of the raging element, though its fine old oak roof was unfor tunately destroyed. " Among other things that night," writes an eye-witness, the Rev. T. Vincent, " the sight of Guildhall was a fearful spectacle, which stood the whole body of it together for several hours, after the fire had taken it, without flames — I suppose because the timber was of such solid oak — in a bright shining coal, as if it had been a palace of gold, or a great building of burnished brass." The buUding was subsequently thoroughly repaired at an expense of £2500. The exterior front of GuUdhall, though its aj)pearance is sufficiently striking and picturesque when seen from Cheap- side, consists of a strange mixture of the Gothic, Grecian, and Oriental styles of architecture. Its principal feature is the great haU, which, notwithstanding the barbarous altera- GUILDHALL. 155 tions to which it has from time to time been subjected, presents a very imposing appearance. It measures one hun dred and fifty-three feet in length, forty-eight feet in breadth, and fifty-five in height. The old crypt, too, beneath it, which extends the whole length of the haU, is well worthy of a visit. In the hall are five monuments — each of considerable pretensions, but of indifferent merit — to the memory of the great Earl of Chatham; his illustrious son, WiUiam Pitt; Lord Nelson; the Duke of Wellington ; and Alderman Beckford. Here a,lso are conspicuous the fantastic-looking figures, known as Gog and Gogmagog, but whose real names and identity have long been a difficulty -with antiquaries. Comparatively speaking they are of modern date, having been carved by Richard Saunders, and set up no later than 1708. As early, however, as the reign of Henry the Fifth, we find it the cus tom of the citizens of London to display a couple of gigantic figures in their pageants, to which custom the Gog and Gog magog in Guildhall e-vidently owe their origin. For many years, GuUdhaU continued to be decorated with the banners and other trophies captured at the battle of RamiUies, which were brought hither -with great state and ceremony, but which have long since disappeared. Another interestuig building connected with old GuUdhaU was its ancient chapel, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen and AU Saints, which stood on the site of the present law-courts. It had anciently an estabhshment consisting of a warden, seven priests, three clerks, and four choristers. It was buUt as early as the year 1299, and was puUed do-wn in the year 1822. The trial-scenes of many celebrated persons have taken place in GuUdhaU. Among these may be mentioned that of the fair martyr Anne Askew, who perished in the flames 156 CITY FEASTS on the 16th of July, 1546. Here also severaUy stood at the bar of justice the beautiful and accomphshed Lady Jane Grey ; the gaUant and gifted Earl of Surrey ; Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, the eminent soldier and statesman, implicated in the Duke of Suffolk's conspiracy to raise Lady Jane Grey to the throne ; Garnet, the Jesuit, who was executed for his share in the Gunpowder Plot ; and lastly, Edmund WaUer, the poet. When Queen Mary, on the hostile approach of Sir Thomas Wyatt to London in 1533, paid a visit of encouragement to the City, we find her received at GuUdhaU by the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Wliite, and the Aldermen ; each clad in complete armour, though wearing over it the ci-vic robe. The city feasts in GuUdhaU have been famous for cen turies. In this hall, in 1613, the Elector Palatine and his young -wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James the First, were entertained 'with great splendour by the citizens of London. Here, too, in 1641, Charles the First honoured the City with his company at a sumptuous feast on the 29th October, 1663. " To GuUdhall," writes Pepys. . . " I sat at the mer chant strangers' table, where ten good dishes to a mess, -with plenty of -wine of aU sorts : but it was very unplea,sing that we had no napkins nor change of trenchers, and drank out of earthen pitchers and wooden dishes." On the 29th of October, 1689, King WUUam and Queen Mary were entertained at a banquet at Guildhall. In GuUdhaU, in 1761, the citizens of London gave an entertainment to George the Third, the cost of which amounted to £6898. Here also, on the occasion of the Peace in 1814, the City gave a stUl more magnificent feast to the Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia ; the total expenditure of which was estimated at- the enormous sum of £25,000. The plate alone is stated to KING STREET, CHEAPSIDE. 157 have been worth £200,000. On the occasion of Charles the First dining in the City, the number of dishes is said to have been 500. At the entertainment given to George the Third, they are stated to have amounted to 414, exclusive of the dessert. King Street, Cheapside, the smaU street in which Guild hall is situated, is associated -with a curious incident in the early life of the author of " Christabel," then a friendless and iU-fed boy in the Bluecoat School. " From eight to four teen," he himself writes, " I was a playless day-dreamer, a helluo lihrorum, my appetite for which was indulged by a singular accident. A stranger, who was struck by my con versation, made me free of a circulating library in King Street, Cheapside." The particulars of this " singular acci dent " are thus explained by Coleridge's biographer, Mr. Oilman : " Going down the Strand," he says, " in one of his day-dreams — fancying himself swimming across the Hellespont, he thrust his hands before him as iu the act of swimming, when his hand came in contact with a gentleman's pocket. The gentleman seized his hand, turned round and looked at him -with some anger — ' What ! so young, and so -wicked !' at the same time accus ing him of an attempt to pick his pocket. The frightened boy sobbed out his denial of the intention, and explained to him how he thought himself Leander s-svimming across the Hellespont. The gentleman was so struck and delighted with the novelty of the thing, and with the simplicity and intelligence of the boy, that he subscribed, as before stated, to the Ubrary, in consequence of which Coleridge was fur ther enabled to indulge his love of reading." The " Cro-wn " in King Street was the resort of the impro-vident poet Richard Savage. On the south side of Cheapside stands the celebrated 158 RICHARD WHITTINGTON. church of St. Mary-le-Bow. Who is there who has ever passed along the crowded thoroughfare of Cheapside -with out turning his eyes towards the belfry of Bow Church, and recalling the nursery days when he hstened with cliUd- ish delight to the legend of Richard Whittington ? — how he," a friendless boy, came to London behoving that its streets were paved -with gold: how disappointed he was when he found himself alone amidst a cold, strange, and unsympathising multitude; how he sat do-wn disconsolate upon the mile-stone at Highgate, and how his face bright ened, and his heart beat, when the bells of Bow Church rang their merry and prophetic peal — " Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London." " Bow Bells," if we may be aUowed to continue the nur sery expression, have been famous from time immemoriaL They are, in fact, a vestige of the ancient times when the Norman " curfew toUed the knell of parting day ;" of those days when the -wiU of the Conqueror decreed that, at the peril of the citizens of London, every Ught should be ex tinguished and every flre raked out by a prescribed hour. Even as late as the year 1469 we find the Common Council ordering that Bow Bell shall be rung every night at nine o'clock ; a signal probably to the London 'prentices that they were at liberty to close their masters' shops and to betake themselves to their amusements. At aU events, we have evidence that the sound of the evening bells of Bow Church was formerly anxiously waited for in the neighbour hood of Cheapside. " Clerk of the Bow bell, -ndth the yellow locks. For thy late ringing thy head shaU have knocks." To which the clerk replies : — ST. MARY-LE-BOW. 159- " Children of Cheape, hold you all still. For you shall have the Bow bell rung at your will." Allusions to the " Bow-beUs " may be found in many of our old writers. Pope, for instance, has the weU-kno-wn line — "Far as loud Bow's stupendous bells resound." To be born " within the sound of Bow-beUs " is not only an expression of old date, but is stiU in use to define a cockney. Beaumont and Fletcher speak of " Bow-beU suckers," which has been explained as persons nursed and reared -within the sound of the bells. Another ancient and interesting custom connected with old Bow Church, was one which we have previously referred to, that of displaying illuminated lanterns on the summit of its lofty tower, to serve as beacons to those who journeyed to London from the north, when the present richly-cultivated uplands of Hampstead and Highgate consisted of trackless forest-ground, and when the only means of entering the City were through some occasional and obscure postern-gate in its fortified walls. The church of St. Mary-le-Bow — said to stand on the site of a Roman temple — was certainly a place of Christian wor ship as early as the days of WiUiam the Conqueror. In the reign of his successor (1091) occurred that terrific hurricane, which laid low upwards of six hundred houses, destroyed several churches, and which swept away London Bridge from its foundations. During its progress, not only was the reof of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow carried away to a considerable distance, but when it fell it was with such vio lence that four of its rafters, each of twenty-six feet in length, forced their way through the ground to the depth of upwards of twenty feet. According to Stow, Bow Church derives its name from the circumstance of its having been built on arches of stone, and 160 BOW CHURCH. consequently having been dedicated to St. Mary de Arcubus. Elsewhere, however, he infers that it may have owed its name to the stone arches which anciently supported the lantern on the top of the tower. The Court of Arches derives its name from its ha-ving been formerly held in this church. In the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, Bow Church was one of the principal scenes of those formidable riots in 1196, which at length were brought to a close by the seizure and execution of the popular idol, WUUam Long- beard. For some time he had succeeded in defending him self against the authorities in Bow Church, tUl at length the King's Justiciary ha-ving given orders to fire the steeple, he made a desperate effort to escape at the head of his de voted foUowers, but he was taken prisoner in the attempt. After a hurried trial he was hanged, as we have already related, in Cheapside. In 1284, in the reign of Edward the First, Bow Church was the scene of another outrage also characteristic of the lawlessness of the times. One La-wrence Ducket, a gold smith, having wounded one Ralph Crepin in Cheapside, the former sought the protection of sanctuary in Bow Church, where he shut himself up with a youth who had kindly volunteered to share his solitude. Unfortunately for Ducket, the friends of the wounded man discovered the place of his retreat, and accordingly, having obtained entrance into the church at night, they dragged him from the steeple where he had sought to conceal himself, and put him to death. They then so disposed of the body by suspending it from one of the windows, as to induce the conviction that he had com mitted suicide ; the resrdt being that the corpse was dragged by the feet to a ditch -without the City walls, and there in terred with every mark of indignity. The boy, however, in BOW CHURCH. 161 fear and trembling, had -witnessed from his hiding-place the whole of the transaction ; the consequence of which was that several persons were apprehended, of whom sixteen were hanged, and one, a woman, the principal instigator of the crime, burned aUve. This tragedy created so painful a sensation, that not only for a time was divine service dis continued in Bow Church, but the windows were fiUed up with brambles. The old church of St. Mary-le-Bow having been burnt do-wn in the great fire of 1666, the present stately edifice was commenced by Sir Christopher Wren in 1671. Its great merit is its exterior, and especially its beautiful steeple. The latter, surmounted by its conspicuous gilt ball and dra gon, is two hundred and twenty-five feet in height. The old Norman crypt stiU exists and has been much admired. Bow Church, both as regards its sepulchral monuments and the persons interred within its walls, is singularly de ficient in interest. It contains, indeed, a stately monument to Bishop Newton, who was rector of the church for twenty-five years, but his remains lie buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. Over the doorway of Bow Church, as seen from the side of Cheapside, may be observed a smaU balcony, to which considerable interest is attached. In consequence of the accident which we have mentioned as having happened to Queen PhiUppa and her ladies at the great tournament in 1329, King Edward the Third had caused to be "strongly made of stone," on the north side of old Bow Church, a shed caUed the Crown-sild, "for himself, the Queen, and other estates to stand on, and there to behold the joustings and other shows at their pleasure." To this shed, then, it is supposed that the balcony in the modern church owes its origin; Sir Christopher Wren having apparently been de sirous to preserve in the new edifice the distinguishing fea- VOL. III. 11 162 CROWN-SILD, CHEAPSIDE. ture of the old. It was in the old Cro-wn-sild that, for cen turies, the Kings of England were accustomed to sit as spectators, not only at tournaments, but on occasions of great or rich processions passing through the streets of the City. It was in the Crown-sild for instance, in 1509, that Henry the Eighth, disguised in the garb of a yeoman of the guard, sat to -witness the procession of the City watch at night, on the eve of St. John. " The City music," we are told, " preceded the Lord Mayor's officers in party-coloured liveries ; then foUowed the sword-bearer, on horseback, in beautiful armour, before the Lord Mayor, mounted also on a stately horse, richly caparisoned, and attended by a giant and two pages on horseback, three pageants, morrice-dancers, and footmen. The sheriffs marched next, preceded also by their officers in proper liveries, and attended by their giants, pages, morrice - dancers, and pageants ; then fol lowed a large body of demi-lancers in bright armour on stately horses ; and after them a body of carabineers in white fustian coats, with the City arms upon then backs and breasts; a division of archers, with their bows bent, and shafts of arrows by their side ; a party of pikemen in crosslets and helmets ; a body of halberdiers also in crosslets and helmets ; and a great party of biUmen, with helmets and aprons of mail, brought up the rear. The whole consisted of about two thousand, in several divisions, with musicians, drums, standards, and ensigns, ranked and answering each other in proper places ; who marched from the Conduit at the west end of Cheapside, through Cheapside, Poultry, CornhiU, and LeadenhaU Street, to Aldgate ; and back again through Fen church Street, Gracechurch Street, CornhUl, and so back to the Conduit from whence it first set out ; iUumi- nated with nine hundred and forty cressets, or large' lant- horns, fixed at the ends of poles, and carried on men's BOW CHURCH STEEPLE. 163 shoulders; of which two hundred were pro'vided at the expense of the City ; five hundred at the expense of the incorporated Companies, and two hundred and forty at the expense of the City constables. And besides these, the streets were weU lighted with a great number of lamps hung against the houses on each side, decorated with gar lands of flowers and gTeens.'' So delighted was King Henry with the spectacle, that on the occasion of the next proces sion, which took place on the eve of St. Peter and St. Paul, he carried the Queen and her ladies to witness the sight from the " Crown-sild " in Cheapside. Charles the Second, Kmg William and his consort, and Queen Anne, are severally mentioned as witnessing the pageantry of Lord Mayor's Day from " a balcony " in Cheap- side, as also did George the First, George the Second, and George the Third ; but then it was not of course from the "crown-sild," but from a private residence opposite Bow Church. The Dragon which surmounts the steeple of Bow Church has long been famous. Otway, for instance, in his comedy of "The Soldier's Fortune" (1681), makes Sir D. Dunce exclaim : " Oh, Lord ! here are doings ; here are vagaries ! I'U run mad ; I'll climb Bow steeple presently, bestride the Dragon, and preach cuckoldom to the whole city." Again, in the " State Poems," we find : — "When Jacob HaU,* on his high rope, shews tricks. The Dragon flutters ; the Lord Mayor's horse kicks ; The Cheapside crowds and pageants scarcely know 'Which most t' admire — HaU, hobby-horse, or Bow.'' There are one or two other churches in the immediate vicinity of Cheapside which require a. passing notice. On * A famous rope-dancer in the reign of Charles the Second, on whom the Duchess of Cleveland is said to have conferred her favours. 11—2 164 ST. MILDRED'S, BREAD STREET. the east side of Bread Street, at the corner of Watling- Street, stands, on the site of an edifice of far more ancient date, the church of Allhallows, or All Saints, Bread Street, erected by Wren in 1680. In this church, in 1531, a dis creditable quarrel took place between two priests, in which, the blood of one was shed by the other ; when, in order to purify it from the sacrilege, it was ordered to be closed for the space of a month. In the mean time the two offenders, who had been committed to prison, were led forth, bare headed, bare-footed, and bare-legged, and, with, beads and books in their hands, compeUed to do penance by walking from St. Paul's Cathedral along Cheapside and CornhiU, to' the eastern limit of the City. In the old church Milton was- baptized. In Bread Street, Cheapside, a little below Basing Lane,, stands the parish church of St. Mildred, so called from having been dedicated to MUdred, a Saxon saint, daughter of a Prince of West Anglia, and Abbess of a monastery in the Isle of Thanet. The present edifice, the interior of which has been much admired, is another of Sir Christopher Wren's- churches, built shortly after the destruction of the old place of worship in 1666. Its principal feature, however, is its fine altar-piece and its beautifuUy carved pulpit and sound ing-board, which, if they are not the work of ' Grinling Gibbons, would at least have refiected no discredit upon that eminent artist. Running paraUel with, and to the south of Cheapside, is WatUng Street, a name, according to Leland, corrupted from Atheling, or Nohle Street, so called from its contiguity to the Old Change, where a Mint was estabhshed in the reign of the Saxon Kings. According to other authorities, it. derives its name from Adding, a Saxon nobleman; whence. WatheUng and WatUng. This street forms the site of part FOSTER LANE. 165 of the Roman road which anciently traversed England from Dover to South Wales. At the north-west end of it is the church of St. Augustine, Watling Street, dedicated to St. Augustine, a Roman monk of the order of St. Benedict, who, in 596, was sent to England by the Pope, for the purpose of converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. It was an ciently styled Ecclesia, Sancti Augustini ad Portam, from its ^'icinity to the south-east gate of St. Paul's Cathedral. The old church having been burnt do'wn in 1666, the pre sent uninteresting edifice was erected in 1682, after designs by Sir Christopher Wren. St. Anthony's, vulgarly called St. AnthoUn's, Watling Street, is a reUgious foundation of great antiquity. In 1399, it was rebuUt principally at the expense of Sir Thomas Knowles, Grocer and Lord Mayor, to whose memory there was formerly a monument in the church, -with the foUo-wing quaint inscription : — " Here lyeth graven under this stone, Thomas Knowles, both flesh and bone ; Grocer and Alderman, years forty ; Sheriff and twice Mayor truly. And (for he should not lye alone), Here lyeth •with him his good -ivife Joan. They were together sixty year, And nineteen children they had in fear." The tower and spire of this church, though not in the purest style of architecture, have been much admired. Opposite to Old Change, on the north side of Cheap- side, is Foster Lane, in which stands the church of St. Vedast, an ancient foundation dedicated to Vedast, Bishop of Arras in the province of Artois about the close of the fifth or the commencement of the sixth century. The old church ha-ving been burnt down in 1666, the pre sent edifice was erected by Wren between the years 1694 166 ,5^. MICHAEL LE QUERNE. and 1698. St. Vedast's Church, with its graceful spire and its panelled roof richly decorated with imitations of fruits and flowers, and its magnificent altar-piece, is well worthy of a visit. In Foster Lane stands that noble modem edifice, the Gold smiths' HaU; while hi Noble Street, Foster Lane, is the Coachmakers' HaU, interesting as having been the spot in which the Protestant Association held its meetings pre viously to the breaking out of the disgraceful riots of 1780. In the Goldsmiths' HaU are three busts, by Chantrey, of George the Third, George the Fourth, and WUUam the Fourth ; as also some well-executed portraits of our modern sovereigns, and an original portrait, by Jansen, of Sir Hugh Myddelton. At the west end of Cheapside, at the end of Paternoster Row, stood, till 1666, the ancient parish church of St. Michael le Querne, or St. Michael at the Com Market. Having been burnt down in the great fire, the site of it was appropriated to enlarge the great thoroughfare of Cheapside ; the parish at the same time being incorporated by act of Parliament with that of St. Vedast, Foster Lane. In the parish of St. Michael le Querne the celebrated antiquary, John Leland, long carried on his laborious literary pursuits, and here, on the 18t.h of April, 1552, he breathed his last. He was in terred in St. Michael's Church, as was also Francis Quarles, the author of the " Emblems." Sir Thomas Browne, author- of the famous " Rehgio Medici," and of the " Treatise on Vulgar Errors," was baptized in this church. NEIGHBOUEHOOD OF ST. PAUL'S. OLD OHITKCH OF ST. MABTIN's-LE-ORAND. —ABUSE OE PMVILBGE OB' SAtTOTUARY THERE, — NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE. — ST, PAUL's CHURCHYARD A EESI DENCE OF PUBLISHERS. — BURNING OF BOOKS THERE DURING THE GREAT FIRE. — EXECU'J'ION OF SIR EVERARD DIGBY. — QUEEN ANNE. — PATERNOSTER ROW, — lovell's COURT, — WAR-WICK LANE, — ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON, — ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, — HERALDs' COLLEGE, — DOCTORS' COMMONS,— LUDGATE HILL. — THE "belle sauvage," — NELL GWYNN, — ST, MARTIN, LUDGATE, AT the western extremity of Cheapside, close to St. Paul's Cathedral, runs northward the street caUed St, Martin's-le-Grand, so styled from the famous church and sanctuary which anciently occupied the site of the present General Post Office, A collegiate church, dedi cated to St, Martin, is said to have been founded on this spot by Wythred, King of Kent, as far back as 700 ; the epithet of " le-Grand" having been derived from the extra ordinary privUeges of sanctuary conferred upon it by succes sive monarchs. The old monastery and church were rebuUt about the year 1056 by two brothers of a noble Saxon family, named Ingehic and Edward, at which period the reUgious establishment consisted of a dean and several secular canons. In 1068, WiUiam the Conqueror not only confirmed to the coUege aU its ancient privileges, but moreover rendered it independent of aU other ecclesiastical jurisdiction whatsoever, whether regal or papal. Thus an isolated spot, in the centre of a large city, grew to acquire a pecuhar government of its 168 ST. MARTIN'S-LE-GRAND. o-wn, subject in the first instance to the coUegiate Dean, and, at a later period, to the Abbots of Westminster, to whom Henry the Seventh thought proper to transfer the jurisdic tion. In consequence of the extraordinary immunities which it enjoyed as a sanctuary, St. Martin's-le-Grand became not only a place of refuge for every description of criminal and miscreant, but in periods of pohtical convulsion we find the rioters, when defeated by the City train-bands, safely esta blishing themselves within the Uberty of St. Martin's, and setting all law and authority at defiance. At length, during the tumults and con-vulsions which prevaUed in 1456, the repeated outrages committed by the inhabitants of this pri vUeged district had so entirely exhausted the patience of the respectable portion of the community, that the magis trates took upon themselves the responsibUity of forcing an entrance into the monastic territory with an armed force, and succeeded in capturing the principal rioters. The Abbot of Westminster vehemently inveighed against this -violation of the rights of the Church, but apparently to Uttle purpose. On the romantic occasion of Richard Duke of Gloucester discovering his future Queen, Anne Neville, in an obscure street in London disguised as a serving-maid, it was to the sanctuary of St, Martin's-le-Grand that he conducted her, where she remained in security till taken under the protec tion of her uncle, George NeviUe, Archbishop of York. Here, too, according to Sir Thomas More, " rotted away piecemeal" MUes Forest, one of the reputed murderers of the two young Princes in the Tower. The magnificent church of St. Martin's-le-Grand was puUed down at the surrender of the monastery to Edward the Sixth, in 1548, shortly after which period a large tavern was erected on its site. This church — as well as those of St. Mary-le-Bow, St. Giles's Cripplegate, and AUhallows Barking — had, for NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE. 169 .some reason or other, the pri-vUege extended to them of toU- ing the curfew-beU long after this ancient feudal custom had become dormant in every other parish of London. Not only did St, Martin's afford an asylum for every de scription of offender, but for the space of at least two cen turies the immunities which it enjoyed rendered it a safe and convenient place for the fraudulent manufacture of aU kinds of counterfeit plate, coins, and jewels. As early as the reign of Edward the Fourth— on the occasion of an edict being issued against the manufacturers of debased and coun terfeit precious metals — St. Martin's was significantly ex empted from the operation ofthe enactment. Long, indeed, after the dissolution of the reUgious houses we find, from the foUo-wing passage in " Hudibras," that St. Martin's-le-Grand continued to harbour the peculiar class of people who earned a livelihood carrying. on this ilUcit manufacture : — " 'Tis not those paltry counterfeits, French stones, which in our eyes you set. But our right diamonds that inspire, And set your amorous hearts on fire. Nor can those false St. Martin's beads, — Which on our lips you place for reds, And make us wear like Indian dames, — Add fuel to your scorching flames ; But those true rubies of the rock, -Which in our cabinets we lock," It was in the house of one of MUton's relations in St. Mar tin's-le-Grand that the reconcihation took place between the j)oet and his first wife, Mary PoweU, when unexpectedly she threw herself at the poet's feet and implored his forgiveness. Between the church of St. Martin and Aldersgate Street stood Northumberland House, the residence of Harry Hot spur, Lord Percy, immortalized by the genius of Shakspeare and by his own valour. From Stow we learn that Henry 170 ST. PA UL'S CHURCHYARD. the Fourth, in the seventh year of his reign, conferred the mansion, " with the tenements thereunto appertaining," on his consort Queen Jane, from which period it was called the Queen's Wardrobe. When Stow -wrote it was a printing- house. In the reign of Queen EUzabeth St. Paul's Churchyard appears to have been no less the resort of booksellers than at the present day. Of Henry Howard, Earl of Northamp ton, it is related that, when reduced to penury by the at tainder and execution of his brother, the Duke of Norfolk, those hours which were passed by others in enjoying the luxuries of the table were occupied by him in poring over the contents of the booksellers' stalls in St, Paul's Church yard. Many of Shakspeare's immortal plays and poems were first published at the signs of the Green Dragon, the Fox, the Angel, and at other publishers' in St, Paul's Churchyard. On the 31st of November, 1660, nearly haU" a century after the death of Shakspeare, we find Pepys inserting in his. " Diary :" — " In Paul's Church Yard I bought the play of ' Henry the Fourth,' and so went to the new theatre and saw it acted ; but, my expectation being too great, it did not please me, as otherwise I beUeve it would ; and my having a book I beUeve did spoil it a little." Again he writes, on the 10th of February, 1662 :— " To Paul's Church Yard, and there I met -with Dr. Fuller's ' England's Worthies,' the first time that I ever saw it ; and so I sat down reading in it ;, being much troubled that (though he had some discourse with me about my family and arms) he says nothing at all, nor mentions us either in Cambridgeshire or Norfolk ; but I believe, indeed, our family was never considerable." The great fire of 1666 occasioned fearful havoc among the great emporium of books in St. Paul's Churchyard. Evelyn,. ST. FAITH'S. ^ VII for instance, bitterly laments the loss of the vast magazine of books belonging to the Stationers, which had been deposited for safety in the vaults of St, Faith's Chm-ch, under St. Paul's Cathedral. Pepys also writes on the 26th of September, immediately after the fire : — " By Mr. Dugdale I hear of the great loss of books in St. Paul's Church Yard, and at their HaU also, which they value at about £150,000; some book sellers being wholly undone, and, among others, they say, my poor Kirton." Again he writes, on the 5th of the foUowing month : — " Mr, Kirton's kinsman, my bookseller, came in my way ; and so I am told by him that Mr, Kirton is utterly undone, and made £2000 or £3000 worse than nothing from being worth £7000 or £8000, That the goods laid in the churchyard fired through the windows those in St. Faith's Church ; and those coming to the warehouses' doors, fired them, and burned aU the books and the piUars of the church, which is alike pUlared (which I knew not before); but being not burned, they stood stiU, He do beUeve there is above £150,000 of books burned; all the great booksellers almost undone ; not only these, but their warehouses at their HaU and under Christ Church and elsewhere being aU burned. A great want thereof there wUl be of books, speciaUy Latin books and foreign books ; and, among others, the Polyglot and new Bible, which he believes will be presently worth £40 a piece." From Anthony Wood we learn that Gerard Langbaine,. the biographer of the dramatic poets, was at one period ap prenticed to a bookseUer of the name of Nevill Simmons in St. Paul's Churchyard. Here also, or in the immediate neigh bourhood, was born the great architect, Inigo Jones. One of the most remarkable scenes which this spot has witnessed, was the execution, on the 30th of January, 1606, pf the once gay and gaUant Sir Everard Digby reputed to 172 EXECUTION OF SIR E. DIGBY. be the handsomest man of his day. Three of his feUow-con- spirators in the famous Gunpowder Plot suffered at the same time with him — namely, the notorious Robert Winter, John Grant, and Thomas Bates. The place of their execu tion was at the west end of St. Paul's Cathedral, apparently nearly on the spot where the statue of Queen Anne now stands. Sir Everard, Winter, and Bates died admitting the justice of their sentence, but Grant was stubborn to the last. Sir Everard in particular, we are told, " died penitent and sorro-wful for his vUe treason, and confident to be saved in the merits of his sweet Saviour Jesus. He prayed, kneeling, about half a quarter of an hour, often bowing his head to the ground. In the same manner they aU prayed, but no voice heard, save now and then — ' 0 Jesu, Jesu, save me, ,and keep me ! ' which words they repeated many times upon the ladder." Anthony Wood — on the authority of " a most famous' author," whose name, however, he omits to mention — relates the startling fact, that when Sir Everard's heart was plucked from his body by the executioner — who, according to custom, held it up to the people, exclaiming " Here is the heart of a traitor ! " — Sir Everard made answer — "Thou liest ! " The " famous author " here aUuded to was apparently no other than Lord Bacon, who, moreover, pro ceeds to relate other facts quite as incredible. " We our selves," he writes, " remember to have seen the heart of a man who was emboweUed, according to the custom amongst us in the execution of traitors, which, being thrown into the fire, as is usual, sprung up at first six foot high, and con tinued leaping graduaUy lower and lower between seven and eight minutes, as far as our memory reaches. There is also an old and credible tradition of an ox that lowed after it was emboweUed. But it is more certain that a man, who Buffered in the manner we have before mentioned — his en- QUEEN ANNE. ITS traUs being taken out, and his heart almost torn away, and in the hands of the hangman — was heard to utter three or four words of a prayer." Having incidentaUy aUuded to the statue of Queen Anne at the west end of St, Paul's Cathedral, we may mention that among the Cole MSS. in the British Museum, are pre served the foUowing lines written upon this statue, having reference to a weU-known scandal prevalent in the Queen's lifetime, that she was too much addicted to intoxicating Uquors :-^ " Here mighty Anna's statue placed we find, Bet-wixt the darling passions of her mind ;. A brandy shop before, a church behind. But why the back turned to that sacred place, — As thy unhappy father's was, — to Grace ? Why here, like Tantalus, in torments placed, To -view those waters which thou canst not taste ? Though, by thy proffered globe, we may perceive, That for a dram thou the whole world wouldst give, " And we find in the same coUection : — " When brandy Nan became our Queen, 'Twas all a drunken story ; From noon to night I drank and smoked, And so was thought a Tory ; Brimful of -svine, all sober folk We damned, and moderation ; And for right Nantes we pa-wned to France Our goods and reputation." With regard to the charge thus brought against Queen Anne, it is but fair to remark that Sarah Duchess of Marl borough, notwithstanding her well-known hostility to the memory of her former royal mistress, hastens to defend her from the imputation. " I know," -writes the Duchess, " that in some libels she has been reproached as one who indulged herself in drinking strong liquors, but I believe this was utterly groundless, and that she never went beyond such a. 174 STATUE OF QUEEN ANNE. quantity of strong -wine as her physicians judged to be necessary for her." If there was ever an excuse for an un fortunate woman seeking relief from care and thought in the adventitious excitement produced by strong drinks, it was in the case of Queen Anne, who had not only lost a beloved husband in the prime of his existence, but had seen her numerous ofi'spring — amounting to no fewer than nineteen in number — descend one by one to an untimely grave. It may be mentioned that Dr. Garth, the author of " The Dis pensary," has commemorated the Queen's statue in verses which commence more compUmentarUy than they end : — " Near the vast bulk of that stupendous frame, Kno^wn by the Gentries' great Apostle's name, AA^ith grace di^vine great Anna's seen to rise, An a^wful form that glads a nation's eyes," &c. The statue of Queen Anne in St. Paul's Churchyard is the work of one Francis Bird, whose fame as an artist rests principaUy on his conspicuous recumbent effigy of Dr. Busby in Westminster Abbey. Neither one nor the other deserves any particular commendation. The former, however, has met -with its admirers : Defoe, in his " Journey through England," speaking of it as being " very masterly done," and Garth having commemorated it in some indifferent adulatory verses. The trees which in the days of Queen EUzabeth were the pride of St. Paul's Churchyard, have long since passed away. Sh- John Moore, in a letter addressed to Sir Ralph Winwood, in June, 1611, mentions "an exceeding high -wind," which had blown do-wn " the greatest elm in Paul's Churchyard," The last of the ancient grove disappeared a few years since. Mr. Leigh Hunt mentions ha-ving met with a child whose existence was so entirely artificial, that it had formed no notion of a tree but from " that single one in St. Paul's PATERNOSTER ROW, 175 Churchyard." This tree is said to have marked the site of the famous Paul's Cross. On the north side of, and running paraUel with, St. Paul's Cathedral is Paternoster Row. " This street," -writes Strype in 1720, " before the fire of London, was taken up by eminent mercers, silkmen, and lacemen; and their shops were so resorted unto by the nobility and gentry in their coaches, that oft times the street was so stopped up that there was no passage for foot passengers. But since the said fire, those eminent tradesmen have settled themselves in several other parts, especiaUy in Covent Garden, in Bed ford Street, Henrietta Street, and King Street. And the inhabitants of this street are now a mixture of tradespeople, and chiefly tire-women, for the sale of commodes, top-knots, and the Uke dressings for the females. There are also many shops for mercers and silkmen ; and at the upper end some stationers, and large warehouses for booksellers ; well situ ated for learned and studious men's access thither ; being more retired and private," Paternoster Row is said to derive its name from its having anciently been the resort of the venders of Pater-nosters, beads, rosaries, &c,, who hawked them to people on their way to mass in St. Paul's Cathedral. Here, in the reign of Queen Ehzabeth, the famous clown, Richard Tarleton, kept his ordinary, known as the " Castle." He subsequently kept an ordinary known as the " Tabor," in Gracechurch Street. It was in Paternoster Row that the beautiful but aban doned Frances Howard, Countess of Essex, was in the habit of clandestinely meeting her lover, the Earl of Somerset, to whom she was subsequently married. Their assignations took place at the house of a Mrs. Turner, who was after wards executed for her share in the murder of Sir Thomas . Overbury. It seems not improbable that Mrs. Turner kept 176 LOVELL'S COURT. one of those fashionable shops in Paternoster Row for the sale of female attire to which Strjrpe makes allusion ; inas much as we flnd her famous in the world of fashion in the reign of James the First as the person who first introduced yeUow starch into ruffs.-* Between Paternoster Row and Newgate Street is LoveU's Court, standing on the site of a mansion of the gaUant family of the Levels, Barons and Viscount Level of Tich- niarsh in Northamptonshire. The last of the race who appears to have resided here was Francis, first and last Vis count, who held the appointments of Chamberlain of the Household and Chief Butler of England in the reign of Richard the Third. Having had the good fortune to escape from the battle of Bosworth, where he had fought side by side with Richard, he made his way to the Continent, where he was received -with great kindness and distinction by Margaret Duchess of Burgimdy, sister to the late EUng, Edward the Fourth. We subsequently find him joining the rebeUious standard of the Earl of Lincoln, and acting a con^ spicuous part in the sanguinary battle of Stoke, where the forces of Henry the Seventh proved victorious. Here again he escaped with his Ufe, and when last seen was urging his horse across the river, in hopes of gaining the opposite side. According to Lord Bacon, he was drowned in making the attempt; whUe, if another account is to be credited, he made his way to a place of concealment -with which he was famihar, in which, either by the neghgence or the treachery of the person to whom he had confided his secret, he was kept immured and starved to death. The probabihty of there being some truth in these rumours is borne out by a story related by John, second Duke of Rutland, in 1728. Sis: years previously, said the Duke, there having been occasion. * See vol.. i., p. 321. STATIONERS' HALL. 177 to raise a new chimney at Minster Lovel, there was dis covered a large subterranean apartment, in which was the entire skeleton of a man in the attitude of sitting at a table, with a book, paper, and pen before him; all the articles being in a state of great decay. These were supposed to be the last remains of the gaUant and ill-fated Lord Lovel. His vast inheritance, which was lost to his family by his attain der, is now, we believe, chiefly in the possession of the Mar quises of Salisbury and Northampton. In the last century. Alderman Brigden, the intimate friend of Richardson, the author of " Pamela " and " Sir Charles Grandison," had a large house in LoveU's Court ; in an alcove in the garden of which the celebrated novelist is said to have -written more than one of his works. Between Amen Comer and Ludgate Street stood Aber gavenny House, the residence, in the reign of Edward the Second, of John de Dreux, Earl of Richmond and Duke of Brittany, and grandson of King Henry the Third. Subse quently it became the to-wn mansion of the chivalrous John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, who married the Lady Marga ret Plantagenet, fourth daughter of King Edward the Third ; the mansion being then styled " Pembroke's inne," near Ludgate. From the Hastings family it passed to the NeviUes, Earls of Abergavenny, and from the NeviUes to the Stationers' Company. The old mansion was destroyed by the great fire of 1666, shortly after which the present unpre tending edifice was erected on its site. It contains some interesting portraits of Prior and Steele ; of Richardson, the novelist, and his wife ; of Bishop Hoadley, and of Alderman BoydeU. In Warwick Lane, between Paternoster Row and New gate Street, stood the princely mansion, or " inne," of the " King-maker," Richard Earl of Warwick, where he exer- VOL. IIL 3 2 178 WARWICK LANE. cised that splendid hospitality for which he was so famous. A bas-relief of Guy Earl of Warwick may stUl be seen at the entrance into Warwick Lane. At the BeU Inn, Warwick Lane, in 1684, died the pious and gentle Robert Leighton, Archbishop of Glasgow. In his old age, at the united and earnest request of Lord Perth and Bishop Burnet, he paid a visit to London. Burnet met him on his arrival. " I was amazed," he writes, " to see him at above seventy look so fresh and well that age seemed as it were to stand stUl with him. His hair was stUl black, and aU his motions were lively. He had the same quickness of thought and strength of memory ; but, above all, the same heat and life of devotion that I had ever seen in him." Burnet congratulating him on his good looks, the venerable prelate shook his head, observing that " he was very near his end for aU that, and that his work and journey were now almost done." He died the foUo-wing day. He had more than once been heard to express a wish to die at an inn, and the desire- was gratified. " He used often to say," writes Burnet, " that if he were to choose a place to die in, it should be an inn. It looked hjie a pilgrim going home, to whom this world was aU as an inn, and who was weary of the noise and confusion in it. He added, that the officious tenderness and care of friends was an entanglement to a dying man, and that the unconcerned attendance of those that could be procured in such a place would give him less disturbance. And he obtained what he desired, for he died at the Bell Inn, in Warwick Lane." Burnet was with him to the last. "Both speech and sense," he -writes, "went away of a sudden, and he continued panting about twelve hours, and then died without pangs or convulsions. I was by him aU the whUe." Under the shadow of St, Paul's Cathedral is the celebrated ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL. 179 school which bears its name. Its founder was Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, who, in 1512, endowed it out of his private fortune for the education of one hundred and fifty- three boys, in aUusion to the number of fishes caught by St. Peter. The celebrated grammarian, WiUiam LUy, was selected to be the first head-master. Although Dr. Colet survived the accomplishment of his noble work scarcely ten years, he had the satisfaction of seeing his school flourishj and his labours rewarded. Among others, Sir Thomas More -wrote to congratulate him on the success which he so weU merited, comparing the new school " to the wooden horse of Troy, out of which the Grecians issued to overcome the city." "And so," he added, "out of this your school many have come that have subverted and overthrown all ignorance and rudeness." Erasmus also was amongst the first to do justice to the pious work of the founder. In a letter to Justus Jonas, speaking of Dr. Colet, he writes : — " Upon the death of his father, when by right of inheritance he was possessed of a good sum of money, lest the keeping of it should corrupt his mind and turn it too much towards the world, he laid out a great part of it in buUding a new school in the churchyard of St, Paul's, dedicated to the chUd Jesus — a magnificent fabric — to which he added two dwelling- houses for the two several masters, and to them he aUotted ample salaries, that they might teach a certain number of boys free and for the sake of charity. He di-vided the school into four apartments. The first — the porch and entrance — is for catechumens, or the chUdren to be instructed in the principles of religion, where no child is to be admitted but what can read and write. The second apartment is for the lower boys, to be taught by the second master or usher ; the third for the upper forms, under the head-master ; which two parts of the school are ch vided by a curtain, to be drawn 12—2 180 ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL. at pleasure. Over the master's chair is an image of the chUd Jesus, of admirable work, in the gesture of teaching, whom aU the boys, going and coming, salute with a short hymn ; and there is a representation of God the Father, say ing — ' Hear ye Him '• — these words being -written at my suggestion. The fourth, or last apartment, is a httle chapel for divine service. The school has no corners or hiding- places ; nothing Uke a cell or closet. The boys have their distinct forms or benches, one above another. Every form holds sixteen, and he that is head or captain of each form has a Uttle kind of desk by way of pre-eminence. They are not to admit aU boys, of course, but to choose them accord ing to their parts and capacities," Many great and eminent persons have received their edu cation at St. Paul's School. Among these may be men tioned John Leland, the antiquary, and Sir Anthony Denny, the weU-kno-wn statesman in the reign of Henry the Eighth, both of whom were among its first scholars. Here also were educated the great antiquary, WiUiam Camden ; John MUton; the gossiping Secretary of the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys ; the learned Richard Cumberland, Bishop of Peterborough ; John Strype, the antiquary ; the great Duke of Marlborough ; the pious Robert Nelson, author of " Fasts and Festivals ;" Edmund Halley, the astronomer and mathematician; and the munificent Alured Clarke, Dean of Exeter. St. Paul's School having been burnt down in the great fire of London, it was shortly afterwards rebuUt by the Mercers' Company, in whom, by the decree of the founder, is perpetuaUy vested the care of the funds, as weU as the government of the- school. Dr. Colet was once asked his reasons for having selected a company of merchants and shopkeepers to be the custodians of his noble charity. " There is no absolute cer tainty," he replied, " in human affairs ; but for my part L HERALDS' COLLEGE. 181 have found less corruption in such a body of citizens than in any other order or body of mankind." The present building was erected in 1823, On the south side of St, Paul's Cathedral is a narrow street, caUed Paul's Chain, deriving its name from a chain which was formerly drawn across the road to prevent car riages from passing and repassing during the performance of divine service in the cathedral. Paul's Chain leads us into Knightrider Street, so called, it is said, from the knights usually riding this way from the Tower Royal to the tournaments at Smithfield, On the site of No. 5 in this street Uved Thomas Linacre, the celebrated philologist, and physician to Henry the Seventh, who died in 1524, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. In Little Knightrider Street Uved Ralph Thoresby, the anti quary. Close by, on the east side of St, Benet's HiU, is the Heralds' CoUege, a venerable foundation, first formed into a corporate body by Richard the Third, who conferred upon it the stately mansion in Cold Harbour, of which we have already given a notice,-* Having been arbitrarily driven from this mansion by Henry the Seventh, the Heralds remained for some time without a fixed abode, till Queen Mary established them on the site of their present college; "to the end," says the grant, "that the said Kings-at-arms, heralds, and pursuivants- at-arms, and their successors, might at their Uking dweU to gether, and at meet times congregate, speak, confer, and agree among themselves, for the good government of their faculty, and that their records may be more safely kept." The mansion bestowed upon them by Queen Mary had long been the London residence of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby. Here its founder — Thomas, the first Earl, who mar- * See vol. ii,, p. 230. 182 DOCTORS' COMMONS. ried the mother of King Henry the Seventh — lived and died ; and here, according to the charming old baUad, " The Song of Lady Bessy," the Princess Elizabeth of York was for some time the Earl's guest during the u,surpation of her uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester ; — ' ' She sojourned in the citie of London That time -with the Earl of Derbye, " Here Edward, the third Earl, kept up that famous magnifi cence which has been chronicled by Stow and HoUnshed, and which led Camden to remark, that " with Edward Earl of Derby's death the glory of hospitality seemed to faU asleep." In 1552, Derby House was exchanged by this nobleman with Edward the Sixth for certain lands adjoining his Park at Knowsley, in Lancashire ; Queen Mary, on the 18th July, 1555, conferring it on the heralds. The old man sion ha-ving been burnt down in 1666, the present sombre and venerable-looking edifice was shortly afterwards erected, principally at the expense of the officers of the CoUege. The armorial bearings of the Stanleys were, tiU very recently, to be seen on the south side of the quadrangle. Close to Heralds' College is Doctors' Commons, so caUed from its having been originaUy a college where the law was propounded or taught; the word Commons having been added from its members li-ving in community together as in other coUegiate establishments. Close to Doctors' Commons stands the church of St, Bennet, or rather St. Benedict, another of the numerous churches rebuUt by Sir Christopher Wren after the great fire in 1666. The only interest which attaches itself to this church is the circumstance of the great architect, Inigo Jones, ha-ving been interred in the chancel of the old church, in which, upon the- north waU, there was a monument to his memory, which was. LUDGATE HILL. 183 destroyed by the fire. Here also lies interred WiUiam Oldys, the author of " The British Librarian." Retracing our steps to St. Paul's Churchyard, we find our selves on Ludgate HiU, the site of Lud Gate, one of the ancient entrances into the city of London. Twice it was rebuUt, once by the victorious Barons in the reign of King John, and again in 1586. " It was in my memory," writes Pennant, " a wretched prison for debtors. It commenced what was called a free prison, in 1373, but soon lost that privUege. It was enlarged, and had the addition of a chapel, by Sir Stephen Forster, on a very romantic occasion. He himself had been confined there, and while begging at the grate was accosted by a rich widow, who asked him what sum would purchase his liberty. She jDaid it down, took him into her service, and afterwards married him. In the chapel was an inscription in honour of him and Agnes, his wife, dated 1454, the year in which he enjoyed the honour of being Lord Mayor of .the City. Anciently there was to be seen, aflixed to the waU of Lud Gate Prison, a copper plate, on which were engraved the foUo-wing doggerel Unes : — ' ' Devout souls, that pass this way, For Stephen Forster, late Mayor, heartily pray, And Dame Agnes, his spouse, to God consecrate. That of pity this house made for Londoners in Ludgate ; So that, for lodging and water, prisoners here nought pay, As their keepers shall answer at dreadful doom's-day," It was at Lud Gate that Sir Thomas Wyatt encountered the opposition which gave the final check to his iU-advised insurrection. Finding the gates closed against him, he feU back -with the few followers who stUl remained true to him, and was shortly afterwards arrested near the Temple Gate. Not many years have elapsed since the sign of the Belle 184 THE "BELLE SAUVAGE." Sauvage — ^representing a large beU with a -wild man stand ing beside it — was a conspicuous object on Ludgate HiU. The old hosteh-y — apparently one of the oldest in London — having been burnt down in the great fire, was rebuUt, and tUl its final demoUtion retained its ancient name. It was on a bench opposite to this tavern that Sir Thomas Wyatt, on find ing the city gates shut against him, is said to have sat and meditated in gxeat despondency on his altered fortunes. By Stow it is conjectured that the name of the Belle Sauvage was derived from one Isabella Savage, a former possessor of the house ; whereas the definition suggested by Addison in the " Spectator " would seem to be the more correct one. " As for the Bell Savage," he -writes, " I was formerly much puzzled upon the conceit of it, till I accidentaUy feU into the reading of an old romance translated out of the French, which gives an account of a very beautiful woman who was found in a -wUderness, and is caUed in the French ' La belle Sau vage,' and is everywhere translated by our countrymen the BeU Savage." In the days of his obscurity, the celebrated artist Grinling Gibbons resided in Belle Savage Court, Ludgate Hill Among other works which he executed at this period, is said to have been a vase of flowers of such dehcate workmanship that they shook with the motion of the vehicles which passed through the street. "'' Before the establishment of regular theatres in England, the courtyards of the larger inns — surrounded, as they ge nerally were, on three sides by galleries — ^formed not incom modious arenas in which the strolling companies erected their temporary stage. " The form of these temporary play houses," -writes Malone, " seems to be preserved in our modem theatre. The gaUeries in both are ranged over each other on three sides of the buUding. The smaU rooms under the ANECDOTE OF NELL GWYNN, 185 lowest of these gaUeries answer to our present boxes, and it is observable, that these — even in theatres which were built in a subsequent period expressly for dramatic exhibitions — still retained their old name, and were frequently called rooms by our ancient -writers. The yard bears a sufficient resemblance to the pit, as at present in use." It was in the yard of the Belle Sauvage, in the reign of Queen Ehzabeth, that Richard Tarleton, the Grimaldi of that famous age, de lighted our forefathers by his unrivalled antics and extem pore wit. Ludgate reminds us of a creditable anecdote related of NeU Gwynn, of whose kindness of heart we have nearly as many proofs as we have of her fraUty. She was one day ascending Ludgate HUl in her coach, when her attention was attracted to some bailiffs, who were in the act of hurrying off an un fortunate clergyman to prison. Having ordered her coach man to stop, and made some inquiries into the case, she sent for the persons whom the poor debtor named as attestators to his character, and flnding him a proper object of charity, not oiUy discharged his debt, but afterwards successfully exerted herself in obtaining preferment for the worthy clergyman. According to some writers, Lud Gate owed its name to King Lud, who is said to have originaUy erected the gate, whUe others, apparently with much more reason, consider its ancient appellation to have been Fludgate, or rather Flod- gate, a name derived from the river Fleet, or Flod, which flowed in its immediate vicinity. It may be mentioned that the old gate was sold by order of the Commissioners of City Lands on the 30th of July, 1760, and in the foUo-wing No vember it was razed to the ground. On the north side of Ludgate Street, opposite to the entrance into Blackfriars, stands the church of St. Martin 186 CHURCH OF ST. MARTIN. Ludgate, possessing httle interest beyond its antiquity. Ac cording to Robert of Gloucester, it was originaUy built at so remote a period as the seventh century, by the British Prince, CadwaUo ; speaking of whom, in connection with Ludgate, he writes, — " A chirch of Sent Martyn Kuyng he let rere. In whych yat men shold goddys seruyse do. And sing for his soule and al Christene also.'' All, however, that we know for a certainty, is the fact that a church was standing here in 1322, when Robert de Sancto Albano was rector. At this period the presentation to St. Martin's was vested in the Abbot and Convent of Westminster, who continued to enjoy it tUl the dissolution of the monasteries, when, Westminster ha-ving been erected into a Bishopric, Henry the Eighth conferred the presenta tion upon the new prelate. That See ha-ving been dissolved in the foUowing reign. Queen Mary in 1553 conferred it on the Bishop of London and his successors, -with whom the patronage stUl continues. The old church ha-ving been burnt down in the great fire of London, the present uninteresting edifice was buUt after designs of Sir Christopher Wren. From the circumstance of several sepulchral stones ha-ving been discovered in the immediate neighbourhood, as weU as from its -vicinity to WatUng Street, the great highway of the Romans, the church is beheved to stand nearly on the site of a Roman cemetery. One of the rectors of this church in the seventeenth century was Samuel Purchas, the author- of the " PUgrimages." ST. PAUL'S CATHEDEAL. wren's DISCO-VERIBS -when DIGGING THE EOUNDATION OF ST, PAUl's. — supposed to have been built on the site oe a roman temple. — history oe the old structures. — church op st. faith, — bishop op London's palace. — lollards' towbe. — wickliffe in st. paul's. — "PAUL'S walkers" or " PAUL's MEN." — TOMBS IN OLD ST. PAUL'S, — PAUL'S cross, — REMARKABLE EVENTS THERE. — PRESENT ST. PAUL'S,— SIR CHRISTOPHER -WBEN. HOW interesting is the account bequeathed to us by Sir Christopher Wren, of the laying the foundations of his great work, St, Paul's Cathedral ! At the greatest depth to which he excavated, he found a substratum of hard clay, the natural soU of the locality, above which, nearly at the level of low- water mark, he discovered water and sand, mixed with sea-shells ; thus not only rendering it evident that the sea had once fiowed over the high ground on which St. Paul's now stands, but also giving probabUity to the supposition of the great architect, that the whole country, between CamberweU Hill and the hiUs of Essex, was once a branch of the sea, forming at low water a sandy bay. Above the sand, on the north side. Wren found a variety of Roman urns, lamps, and lachrymatories, showing that this had once been a cemetery of that great people. Above these again, affording unquestionable e-vidence of its ha-ving also been a burial-place of the ancient British, he discovered numerous pins of wood and ivory which had formerly fas tened the garments of the dead ; and lastly, stiU nearer ta 188 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. the surface of the earth, he found the stone coffins and graves hned -with chalk-stones, the peculiar characteristics of a Saxon cemetery. Whether there be any truth in the surmise that a temple of Diana anciently stood on the site of the present St. Paul's Cathedral, -wiU in aU human probability never be satisfac torily settled. As far as the oj)inion of Sir Christopher Wren is concerned, he decidedly explodes the notion of a. pagan temple having ever stood on the spot. He could discover, he says, neither the shghtest remains of Roman ornamental architecture, nor the horns of any animal which it was the custom to sacrifice to the Goddess of Chastity. That, after a lapse of upwards of twelve centuries, and after the ground had been so repeatedly disturbed by the erection and destruc tion of successive edifices, no trace was to be found of the graceful cornices and capitals of the Romans is, perhaps, not much to be wondered at. But when we find Sir Christopher himself speaking of the discovery of some ancient founda tions — consisting of " Kentish rubble-stone, artfully worked and consohdated with exceeding hard mortar, in the Roman manner " — moreover, when we find a Roman burial-place existing in the immediate neighbourhood ; when we re member how common it was for the early Christians to convert pagan temples into places of Christian worship ; and lastly, when we find it an established fact that the horns of animals used in the sacrifices to Diana have been actuaUy discovered near the spot, though none happened to be found by Wren — we feel ourselves almost justified in clinging to an ancient tradition which serves to throw so much addi tional interest over St, Paul's, " Some," 'writes Bishop Gib son, in his edition of Camden's " Britannia," " have fancied that the temple of Diana formerly stood here, and there are circumstances that strengthen the conjecture; as the old & ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 18? adjacent buUdings being caUed in their records Diance Camera, the chamber of Diana; the digging up in the churchyard, in Edward the First's reign, as we find by our annals, an incredible number of ox-heads, which the common people at that time, not -without great admiration, looked upon to have been GentUe sacrifices, and the learned know that the Tauropolia were celebrated in honour of Diana. But much rather should I found this opinion of a temple of Diana upon the witty conceit of Mr, Selden, who upon occa sion of some ox-heads, sacred also to Diana, that were dis covered in digging the foundations of a new chapel on the south side of St. Paul's (1316), would insinuate that the name of London imported no more than Llc(,n Dien, i, e. Templum Biance. And against the foregoing conjecture it is urged, that as for the tenements called Camera Biance, they stood not so near the church as some would have us think, but on St. Paul's Wharf HUl, near Doctors' Commons ; and they seem to have taken their denomination from a spa cious building, full of intricate turnings, wherein King Henry the Second, as he did at Woodstock, kept his heart's delight, whom he there called Fair Rosamond, and here Diana." Some remains of these " intricate turnings" existed as late as the reign of Elizabeth, as also of an underground passage leading from Baynard's Castle, by which communication it has been presumed that the King was accustomed to find his way to his Camera Biance, or secret apartment of his beloved mistress. It has been conjectured that a place of Christian worship- existed on the site of the present cathedral as early as the end of the second century, about which time (185), Faganus and Damianus were sent by Pope Eleutherius to convert the natives of Britain to Christianity. This early church, it has been supposed, was destroyed during the famous persecution 190 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. of the Christians in the reign of Diocletian ; it ha-ving been the great object of that Emperor to efface, throughout the Roman dominions, the name and worship of Christ, and to restore the reUgion of the heathen gods. It was then, ac cording to some authorities, that a temple dedicated to Diana was erected on this spot. In the words of an old monkish chronicler, Fleta, "the old abomination was restored where- ever the Britons were expeUed their place. London wor shipped Diana ; and the suburbs of Thorney offered incense to ApoUo."-* After the death of the Emperor Diocletian there again arose a place of Christian worship on the site of St. Paul's, which in its turn was destroyed by the pagan Saxons. When, however, early in the seventh century, that people embraced Christianity, it was rebuilt by Ethelbert, King o Kent (610), on its ancient foundations; Melitus, at the in stance of St. Augustine, being consecrated first Bishop of London. In 675 we find Erkenwald, son of King Offa, fourth Bishop of London from Mehtus, expending large sums of money in repaning and beautifyuig the ancient edifice, as weU as obtaining for it considerable privUeges both fr'om the Pope and the Saxon princes of England. For these good deeds, Erkenwald was canonized at his death, and his body placed in a shrine above the high altar, where it con tinued to be an object of adoration tiU the destruction of the edifice by fixe in 1086. WUUam the Conqueror not onlj- secured to St. Paul's its ancient pri-vileges, but appears also to have regarded it -with peculiar reverence. After the destruction of the old church by fire in 1086, * It is needless to remind the reader that by Thorney is meant "West minster Abbey, on the site of which is said to have stood a temple of Apollo ; Thorney Island being so called from its having been insulated by a branch of the Thames, and covered -vWth thorns and briars. See vol. i., p. 274. INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PAUL'S 191 Mauritius, or Maurice, then Bishop of London, commenced rebudding it on a most extensive and magnificent scale. Interested in his pious work, WiUiam Rufus granted him the stones of the old Palatine Tower on the banks of the Thames ; whUe in the foUo-wing reign we find Henry the First exempting from toU or custom all vessels entering the river Fleet with stones and other materials for the new cathedral. Such, however, was the vastness of the under taking, that although Bishop Maurice lived twenty years after the commencement of his pious labours, and although his successor. Bishop Beauvages, enjoyed the See twenty suc ceeding years, and appropriated nearly the whole of his eccle siastical revenue in advancing this great work, its completion was left to succeeding generations, ItwasnottUl 1221 that the steeple was in a finished state, nor the choir tUl 1240. When completed, this magnificent structure, -with the build ings attached to it, covered upwards of three acres and a half of ground. Its length was six hundred and ninety feet ; its breadth one hundred and thirty, and its extreme height, to the summit of the spire, five hundred and thirty- four feet. The interior of old St. Paul's corresponded in splendour with the grandeur of its external appearance. The immense length of the -vista, the double Une of graceful Gothic arches, the gorgeous decorations of the high altar, the sublime effect of the vaulted roof, exquisitely groined and gUt, as weU as the beautiful colouring of the painted windows, are said to have presented a spectacle which in beauty and magnificence far excelled that of every other reUgious edifice in England. The high altar, which stood between two columns under a canopy of wood elaborately carved and painted, was adorned with precious stones and surrounded with images exquisitely ¦wrought. Above the altar was the shrine of St. Erkenwald, 192 THE CHAPTER HOUSE. which, being inlaid and adorned -with gold, silver, and pre cious stones, made such a splendid and dazzling appearance, that princes and nobles, we are told, came from aU parts to -\asit it, and to offer up their adorations to the Saxon saint. In a wooden tabernacle on the right side of the high altar was. a picture of St, Paul, said to have been of great exceUence ; whUe against a pUlar ui the body of the church was a beautiful image of the Virgin, before which a lamp was kept constantly burning. In the centre of the cathedral stood a large cross ; and if to these we add the splendour of the numerous shrines and altars, and the magnificence of the sepulchral monuments, we shaU be able to form some sUght notion of old St. Paul's as it existed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Another striking feature in the old cathedral was the beautiful subterranean parish church of St. Faith in the Crypts, commenced in 1356, which, besides several chantries and monuments, had two chapels, severally dedicated to Our Lady and St. Dunstan. Its cemetery was on the south side of the cathedral. Here, on the 29th of December, 1648, "against the door that leadeth into St, Faith's Church," was shot for his loyalty Major William Pitcher, a gaUant adherent of Charles the First, It was also in St. Faith's cemetery that the remains of Colonel Edward Marcus Des- pard, who was hanged for high treason in February, 1803, were aUowed burial. After the fire of London, the parish of St. Faith was united with that of St, Augustine. The Chapter House of the old cathedral, as well as the Cloisters, are also said to have been of elaborate workman ship and of great beauty. The latter, -with the fine monu ments which they contained, were destroyed by the Protector Somerset, in order to frimish materials for constructing his. new palace in the Strand. THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S PALACE. 193 At the north-west corner of St, Paul's stood the stately Inn, or palace, of the Bishops of London, the hospitalities of which appear to have been frequently enjoyed by our earher sovereigns. Here, for instance, we find Edward the Third and his Queen entertained and lodged on the occasion of a magnificent tournament at Smithfield. "There was goodly dancing," -writes Froissart, " in the Queen's lodging, in presence of the King and his uncles, and other barons of England, and ladies demoiselles, tiU it was day, which was time for every person to draw to their lodgings, except the King and Queen, who lay there in the Bishop's palace, for there they lay during aU the feasts and jousts." The Bishop of London's palace at St. Paul's was for a short time the residence of the unfortunate Edward the Fifth, previous to his being immured in the Tower. Under its roof, too, it was that the Ul-fated Catherine of Aragon, after her marriage to Prince Arthur in the neighbouring cathedral, was conducted to a magnificent banquet, and afterwards to her nuptial couch. Here, on the 24th of November, 1588, after having returned thanks in St. Paul's Cathedral for the dispersion of the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth was entertained at dinner, and hence she returned at night in state and by torchlight to Whitehall. Among other eminent persons who have been lodged at different times in this mansion, may be mentioned Anne Duke de Montmorenci, ambassador from Francis the First in 1526 ; Claude Annibau, ambassador from the same monarch in 1546 ; and Mary of Guise, Queen- dowager of Scotland, when she -visited London, in the reign of Edward the Sixth. It was from its threshold that Jane Shore was led to undergo her penance at Paul's Cross. In the reign of Edward the First, St. Paul's Cathedral, -yrith the Bishop's palace and the other ecclesiastical build ings, were surrounded by a waU, the gates of which were al- YOL. III. 13 194 LOLLARDS' TOWER. ways carefuUy closed at night. Many of the neighbouring thoroughfares, such as Ave-Maria Lane, Pater Noster Row, Creed Lane, Canon Alley, Holyday Court, and Amen Corner, derive their names from their contiguity to, and their con nection with, the old cathedral. Another interesting buUding connected with old St. Paul's, was the LoUards' Tower at the west front, which was long used as a prison for heretics, and is said to have witnessed many fearful scenes of suffering and distress. The tale of Richard Hunne, who was committed a prisoner to the Lol lards' Tower in 1514, is one of the darkest in the annals of human misery. This person, a merchant-taUor of London, had become involved in a dispute with his rector, who sum moned hun before the Spiritual Court. Hunne retorted by taking out a -writ of premunire against the rector, an act of defiance which gave such offence to the Roman Catholic clergy that the formidable charge of heresy was brought against him, and he was thro-wn into the Lollards' Tower. A few days afterwards his lifeless body was found suspended from a hook in the ceiling, when, the presumption being that he had committed suicide, the usual process was commenced against the corpse, which was condemned to be burned at Smithfield. In the mean time, however, suspicions of foul play had got abroad, and, consequently, a coroner's inquest was appointed to sit on the body. According to Burnet, — '¦¦ They found his neck had been broken, as they judged, -with an iron chain, for the skin was aU fretted and cut. They saw some streams of blood about his bodj'-, besides several other evidences, which made it clear that he had not mur dered himself; whereupon they did acquit the dead body, and laid the murder on the officers that had the charge of that ])rison. By other proofs they found the Bishop's summoner and the beU-ringer guilty of it ; and, by the deposition of LOLLARDS' TOWER. 195 the summoner himself, it did appear that the Chancellor and he and the bell-ringer did murder him, and then hung him up." The criminals, however, had a powerful champion in Fitzjames, Bishop of London ; and accordingly, although the crime was clearly brought home to Horsey, the ChanceUor of the diocese, not only did the perpetrators of the crime receive the King's pardon, but the ashes of Hunne were ignomini- ously committed to a suicide's grave. The King, indeed, so far interfered on the side of justice as to obtain the re version of Hunne's property to his children. " The last person confined here," writes Pennant, " was Peter Burchet, of the Temple, who, in 1573, desperately wounded our fa mous seaman. Sir Richard Hawkins, in the open street, whom he had mistaken for Sir Christopher Hatton. He was committed to this prison, and afterwards removed to the Tower. He there barbarously murdered one of his keepers ; was tried, convicted, had his right hand struck off, and then hanged. He was found to be a violent enthusiast, and thought it lawful to kill such who opposed the truth of the Gospel." It was in St. Paul's Cathedral, in May, 1213,_ that King John — overawed by the disaffection of his subjects, by the secret combination of his barons, and the dreaded approach of the mighty armament -with which Philip of France was preparing to invade England — consented to submit himself to the judgment of the Pope, at the same time formaUy acknowledging the supremacy of the Apostolic See. Here, too, it was, in 1401, that WiUiam Sautre, the parish priest of St. Ositlies in London, conspicuous as the first EngUsh martyr, underwent the imposing ceremony of being stripped of his priestly vestments and being degraded from his priestly office, preparatory to his being led forth to a death of agony in the flames. 13—2 196 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. With the tale of the Ulustrious Wickliffe, the father of the Reformation in England, St. Paul's is also intimately asso ciated. Here it was, on the 19th of February, 1377, that this extraordinary man took his stand before a solemn con clave of the Church of Rome, the members of which were prepared to crush him with all the weight of their formidable authority. Instead, however, of presenting the humbled look of a criminal or a suppliant, he appeared before the haughty synod, supported on one side by the great John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and by Lord Percy, the Earl Marshal, on the other. Moreover, these great lords were severally accompanied by a formidable train composed of their armed retainers. "With whatever intent," writes Southey, "these powerful barons accompanied him, their conduct was such as discredited the cause. Before the pro ceedings could begin, they engaged in an angry altercation -with Bishop Courtenay, who appears to have preserved both his temper and his dignity, when Lancaster had lost aU sense of both. Here, however, the feeling of the people was against Wickliffe, probably because he was supported by an unpopular government; and when the citizens who were present heard Lancaster mutter a threat of dragging their bishop out of the church by the hair of his head, they took fire ; a tumult ensued ; the synod was broken up, and the barons were glad to effect their escape as they could." After the mysterious death of the ill-fated Richard the Second in Pomfret Castle, it was to St. Paul's Cathedral, on a bier drawn by four black horses and followed by four knights habited in black, that his body was conveyed. Here it was exposed to public view for three days, during which period, as Froissart "writes, " There came in and out twenty thousand persons, men and women, to see him where he lay; his head upon a black cushion, and his visage open. Some ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 197 had pity on him, and some had none, but said he had long ago deserved death." From St. Paul's the royal corpse was conveyed to Langley, "and there this Kyng Richard was buried — God have mercy on his soule !" According to Stow, among those who were present at the performance of the preUminary funeral obsequies over King Richard's body in St. Paul's, was his rival and successor, Henry the Fourth. In 1470, when the revolution effected by the great " King maker," Earl of Warwick, dro-vfe Edward the Fourth into temporary exUe, we find Henry the Sixth obsequiously led from his prison-rooms in the Tower, whence, on horseback — clad in a robe of blue velvet, and -with the cro-wn upon his head — he was conducted by the Duke of Clarence, the Earls of Warwick and Shrewsbury, and other noblemen, to St. Paul's, where he returned thanks for his unexpected deliver ance. From this period tUl Henry was led back a prisoner to the Tower the foUo-wing year, he appears to have princi paUy held his court in the Bishop of London's Palace at St. Paul's. The sequel of his melancholy history is well known. On the very morning after the triumphal entry of Edward the Fourth into London, the meek usurper was found dead in the Tower. From the Tower his body was brought by torch-hght to St, Paul's, whence, after it had lain for some days on a bier exposed to the view of the multitude, it was carried by torch-light to the river side, where it was placed on board a barge, and thence conveyed to Chertsey for interment. From the reign of Queen Elizabeth to that of Charles the First, the body or middle aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral was the common and fashionable resort of the gay and the idle ; of the politician, the adventurer, the news-monger, and the man of fashion. The time of day at which it was principally resorted to was between the hours of eleven and twelve in 198 PAUL'S WALK. the morning, and between three and six in the afternoon. Those who frequented it were caUed Paul's Walkers, and occasionaUy Paul's Men, in the same way that the fashion able promenaders of Bond Street were in our o-wn time styled Bond Street Loungers. For instance, among the dramatis personcB in Jonson's " Every Man in his Humour," we find " Captain Bobadil, a Paul's Man." Dekker has left us a very gi-aphic and amusing account of the strange medley of persons who were daily to be seen assembled in Paul's Walk. " At one time, in one and the same rank, yea, foot by foot, and elbow by elbow, shall you see walking the knight, the gull, the gaUant, the upstart, the gentleman, the clown, the captain, the appel-squire, the lawyer, the usurer, the citizen, the rankrout, the scholar, the begg-ar, the doctor, the idiot, the ruffian, the cheater, the puritan, the cut-throat, the high- man, the low-man, the true-man, and the thief Of aU trades and professions some ; of aU countries some. Thus, whilst Devotion kneels at her prayers, doth Profanation walk imder her nose in contempt of religion." Massinger, in his " City Madam," also alludes to the disreputable characters who frequented " Paul's Walk." "I'll hang you both, I can but ride You for the purse, you cut in sermon time at Paul's." " I bought him in Paul's," is Falstaff 's expression in speak ing of Bardolph. Thus, too, the witty Dr. Corbett, Bishop of Nor-wich, speaks of the manner in which, in his time, the old cathedral was desecrated : — " "When I pass Paul's, and travel in that walk, "Where all our British sinners swear and talk ; Old Harry ruffians, bankrupts, soothsayers. And youth whose cozenage is old as theirs ; And then behold the body of my lord Trod under foot by vice, which he abhorr'd, It woundeth me." TOMBS IN OLD ST. PA UL'S 199 The once popular phrase of "dining with Duke Humphrey " was, as we have already remarked, applied to persons who, not having the means of providing themselves -with a dinner, wliUed away in the aisles of St. Paul's the hours at which others were enjoying their comfortable meal. " Duke Humphrey's Walk," as the middle aisle of St. Paul's was occasionaUy designated, was so called from its containing a conspicuous monument supposed to be that of Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, but which there seems to be Uttle doubt was the tomb of Sir John Beauchamp, the royal standard-bearer at the battle of Cressy, and one of the original Knights of the Garter. " 'Tis Riiffio : trow'st thou where he dined to-day ? In sooth I saw him sit with Duke Humfray." Bishop Hall's Satires. On the destruction of St. Paul's Cathedral, the nave of Westminster Abbey became the fashionable walk of London. In old St. Paul's were interred two of our old Saxon kings — Sebba, King of the East Saxons, who was converted to Christianity by Erkenwald in 667 ; and Ethelred the Second, who died in 1016. Here, too, were interred a number of eminent persons, whose tombs — many of them of great beauty — perished with the cathedral in the great fire of London. Of those persons, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, the dis tinguished statesman and warrior of the reign of Edward the First, died " at his mansion house called Lincoln's Inn, in the suburbs of London," in 1312.-* His efiigy in old St. Paul's represented him lying down, clad in complete armour, his body being covered with a short mantle, and his legs crossed. Another ancient and conspicuous monument was that of Sir John Beauchamp, Constable of Dover Castle, to which we have just referred; his effigy also representing * See vol. i., p. 377. 203 TOMBS IN OLD ST. PAUL'S him in full armour, and in a recumbent posture. Sir John, who was summoned to parliament in the reign of Edward the Third as "Johannes de Bello-Campo de Warre-wyk," died in 1358, when the barony became extinct. Under a beautiful Gothic arch lay the armed eSi.gy of the unfortunate Sir Simon Burleigh, perhaps the most accom plished man of his age. Living on affectionate terms with Edward the Third, and the chosen companion of the Black Prince, he was selected by the latter to be the tutor of his son, afterwards Richard the Second. Having become in volved in the ruined fortunes of his royal master, he was ordered by the inexorable Thomas Duke of Gloucester to the block ; the Queen, Anne of Bohemia, in vain thro-wing her self at Gloucester's feet, and imploring him to spare the life of one so accompUshed and so esteemed. By the sentence passed on him he was to be hanged, dra'wn, and quartered ; but in consideration of his being a Knight of the Garter, and of the services which he had rendered to the late King, the sentence was changed to decapitation, which was duly carried into effect on Tower HiU. "To write of his shameful death," -writes Froissart, " right sore displeases me ; for when I was young I found him a noble knight, sage and wise : yet no excuse could be heard ; and on a day he was brought out of the Tower and beheaded Uke a traitor: God have mercy on his soul." Perhaps the most magnificent, and certainly not the least interesting, tomb in old St. Paul's, was that of the great John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Under an exquisitely carved Gothic canopy lay his effigj'-, side by side with that of his first wife, Blanche, the rich heiress of the Plantagenets Dukes of Gloucester. Over his monument hung his ducal cap of state, as weU as his shield and spear which had served him so often and so weU in the tournament and on the TOMBS IN OLD ST. PAUL'S. 201 battle-field. He was alike the son, the uncle, and the father of kings ; yet, as has been justly observed of him, he had a far stronger title to nobility as the supporter of Wickliffe- and as the friend and patron of Chaucer. The next monument which we shall notice was to the memory of a man of very different fortunes, the learned John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, the friend of Erasmus and Budseus, and the founder of St. Paul's School. Surmounting his monument was his bust in terra cotta ; while underneath was represented a skeleton lying on a mat, the upper part of which was rolled up in the form of a pUlow under its head. Another sumptuous monument in the old cathedral was- that of the crafty but magnificent favourite, William, first Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1570. Having married Anne, sister of Queen Katherine Parr, he was consequently brother- in-law to Henry the Eighth. The effigies of the Earl and his Countess lay beneath a beautiful arched canopy ; their daughter Anne, Lady Talbot, kneeling at their head, and their sons, Henry Earl of Pembroke and Sir Edward Herbert, kneeling kt their feet. According to Stow, such was the magnificence of Earl WUliam's funeral, that the mourning presents alone cost £2000. Another monument of no slight pretensions was that of Sir Nicholas Bacon, father of the great Lord Bacon. Al though a civiUan, his effigy represented him in complete armour. Sir Nicholas, who was the first Lord Keeper who- ranked as Lord ChanceUor, died in 1578; having caught his death by sleeping in a chair at an open window. Perhaps the most insignificant monument in old St. Paul's. — for it was merely a board containing eight indifferent lines in verse* — was that of the chivalrous Sir PhUip Sydney. * "England, Netherland, the heavens, and the arts, The soldiers, and the world have made six parts 202 BURIAL OF SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM. After ha-ving received his death-wound on the field of Zut- phen, his remains were placed on board a vessel at Flushing, and ha-ving been landed at the Tower wharf, lay in state for a considerable time in the Minories. At length, every pre paration having been made for his funeral, his body was brought from the Minories to St. Paul's, where, on the 16th of January, 1586-7, it was lowered into the earth. Such was the sensation created by the death of this iUustrious man, that not only did the pubUc mourn for him as for a near relative, but for many months after his death ; " it was accounted indecent," we are told, " for any gentleman of quahty to appear at Court or in the City in any Ught or gaudy apparel." In the dead of night, on the 6th of April, 1590, was - lowered into the grave in old St. Paul's, in silence and stealth, the body of the wUy, the eloquent, and insinuating Sir Francis Walsingham, he who, -with equal grace and ver- satUity of talent, had breathed soft nothings into the ear of Queen Ehzabeth; had bandied -wit -with Henry the Fourth of France ; and had discussed the phUosophy of Plato and the graces of Euripides with James the First. So far was he from ha-ving enriched himself while employed in the ser- ¦vice of his country, that his friends, apprehensive that his body might be seized by his creditors, buried him at their •o-wn expense in the stealthy manner to which we have aUuded. Another magnificent monument v.^as to the memory of Of the noble Sydney ; for none -wiU suppose That a small heap of stones can Sydney enclose. His body hath England, for she it bred ; Netherland his blood, in her defence shed ; The heavens have his soul ; the arts have his fame ; All soldiers the grief, the world his good name." PAUL'S CROSS 203 Sir Christopher Hatton, the gaUant Lord ChanceUor of England, whose graceful dancing at a masque is said to have first attracted the notice of Queen EUzabeth. The last monument which we shaU mention is that of Dr. Donne, to which a curious history attaches itself In order to have near him a constant memento of the uncertainty of Ufe, he caused himself to be -wrapped up in a winding-sheet, in the same manner as if he had been dead. Being thus shrouded, with so much of the sheet put aside as served to discover his attenuated form and death-like countenance, he caused a skilful painter to take his picture ; his face being purposely turned towards the east, whence he expected the second coming of our Saviour. This painful picture he kept constantly by his bedside, and it afterwards served as a pat tern for his tomb. In the last hours of his hfe he summoned several of his most intimate friends to his sick chamber. Having taken an affectionate farewell of them, he prepared himself to die with the utmost cheerfulness and resignation ; pronouncing with his last breath the words, " Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." Of aU the monuments in old St. Paul's Cathedral, it is remarkable that Dr. Donne's was the only one which remained uninjured by the great fire. It is stUl to be seen in the crypt beneath the present edifice, together with the mutilated effigies of Sir Nicholas Bacon, of Dean Colet, and one or two others. In old St. Paul's was buried the great painter, Vandj^ke ; but no monument seems to have been erected to his memory. At the north-east of St. Paul's Cathedral stood the famous Paul's Cross. "In the midst of the churchyard," -writes Stow, " is a pulpit-cross of timber, mounted upon steps of stone, and covered with lead, in which are sermons preached by learned divines every Sunday in the forenoon ; the very 204 PAUL'S CROSS. antiquity of which cross is to me unkno-wn. I read that in the year 1259, King Henry III. commanded a general assembly to be made at this cross, where he in proper per son commanded the Mayor, that on the next day foUowing he should cause to be sworn before the Alderman every stripling of twelve years of age, or upward, to be true to the King and his heirs. Kings of England. Also, in the year 1262, the same King caused to be read at Paul's Cross a buU, obtained from Pope Urban IV., as an absolution for him, and for all that were sworn to maintain the articles made in ParUament at Oxford. Also, in the year 1299, the Dean of Paul's cursed, at Paul's Cross, aU those which had searched in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Field for a hoard of gold. This pulpit-cross was, by tempest of Ught- ning and thunder, defaced. Thomas Kempe, Bishop of Lon don, new buUt it in form as it now standeth." Anciently, on the occasion of sermons being preached at Paul's Cross, seats were set apart in covered gaUeries for the King, the Lord Mayor, and the principal citizens, whUe the re maining part ofthe congregation sat in the open air. At Paul's Cross the Church of Rome was accustomed for centuries to thunder forth its anathemas on transgressors against its -vsdU and power. Here it was the custom to announce to the assembled citizens the wiU and pleasure of the Sovereign and the buUs of the Pope. Blither the Kings of England were accustomed to repair, whether to listen to some eminent preacher or to return thanks for the success of their arms. Here royal marriages were proclaimed and rebeUious sub jects denounced; and, lastly, here it was that the wanton were made to perform penance, and the apostate to recant his reUgious errors with the emblematical faggot in his arms. It was at Paul's Cross, in 1457, that the weU-known Regi- PAUL'S CROSS. 205 nald Peacocke, Bishop of Chichester, submitted to the degrading ceremony of pubUcly recanting the religious opinions which he had advanced in his -writings. " Let no one," -writes Southey, " reproach his memory because martyr dom was not his choice ! Considering the extreme humili ation to which he submitted, it can hardly be doubted but that death would have been the preferable alternative, had he not acted under a sense of dxAj. He was brought in his episcopal habit to St. Paul's Cross in the presence of twenty thousand people, and placed at the Archbishop's feet, while fourteen of his books were presented to the Bishops of Lon don, Rochester, and Dunholm, as judges. These books he was ordered to deliver with his own hands to the person by whom they were to be thrown into the fire, there ready for that purpose. Then standing up at the Cross, he read his abjuration in Enghsh, confessing that, presuming upon his own natural wit, and preferring the natural judgment of reason before the Scriptures, and the determination of the Church, he had published many perUous and pernicious books, con taining heresies and errors, which he then specified as they had been charged against him." As many copies of his books as could be collected were then thro'wn into the fiames. It was at Paul's Cross, as has been already intimated, that Jane Shore, the beloved mistress of Edward the Fourth, was compeUed to perform penance and to confess her trans gression before the assembled multitude. " In her penance," 'writes HoUnshed, "she went in countenance and pace demure ; so womanly, that albeit she was out of aU array, save her kirtle only, yet went she so fair and lovely, while the wondering of the people cast a comely red in her cheeks (of which she before had most want) that her great shame was her most praise among those that were more amorous of her body than curious of her soul." 206 PAUL'S GROSS When Richard the Third, then Duke of Gloucester, had matured his designs of taking the cro-wn from the head of his nephew and placing it on his own, it was from the pulpit at Paul's Cross that he caused his intentions to be announced to the astonished multitude. The preacher appointed for the occasion was Dr. John Shaw, brother of the Lord Mayor. In 1501, we find the marriage of Margaret, daughter of Henry the Seventh, with James the Fourth of Scotland,, proclaimed -with great ceremony at Paul's Cross. The 'Te Beum was sung ; and at night bonfires blazed in the streets, and twelve hogsheads of wine were distributed among the citizens. Paul's Cross is intimately associated with the progress of the Reformation in England. Henry the Eighth engaged the most eminent divines here to preach against the Pope's supremacy, and here, in the reign of Edward the Sixth, Bishop Latimer upheld the doctrines for which he after wards suffered martyrdom in the fiames. Another Ulustrious martyr. Bishop Ridley, was also a frequent preacher at Paul's Cross. Perhaps the most memorable occasion on which he officiated was on the 1st of November, 1552, when, writes. Stow — " Being the feast of AU Saints, the new ser-vice book, called of Common Prayer, began in Paul's Church, and the like through the whole city. The Bishop of London, Dr. Ridley, executing the service in Paul's Church in the fore noon, in his rochet only, without cope or vestment, preached in the choir ; and at afternoon he preached at Paul's Cross, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and crafts in their best liveries- being present ; which sermon, tending to the setting forth the said late-made Book of Common Prayer, continued till almost five of the clock at night ; so that the Mayor, Aldermen, and Companies entered not into Paul's Church, PAUL'S CROSS. 207 as had been accustomed, but departed home by torch light." Another interesting occasion on which Ridley preached at Paul's Cross, was on the 9th of July, 1553, three days after the death of Edward the Sixth, when he advocated the claims of the Lady Jane Grey, and congratulated his audience on ha-ving escaped the dangers which would have attended the accession of Queen Mary. But the fate of both the Lady Jane and of Ridley was. sealed. Queen Mary had no sooner established herself on the throne, 'than the champions of the Reformation were compelled to succumb to the Roman CathoUc priesthood, -v