LONDON, or rather the suburbs of LoNDON, from their connexion with WESTMINSTER, to be in a very improving state; and the learned Bishop GIBSON observes, that "in his days (1695) its further advancement had been so very great, that (as the ingenious Sir William Petty had probably computed it from the number of burials and houses in each city) London, in the year 1683, or thereabout, was as big as Paris and Rouen (the two best cities of the French monarchy) put together, and that now (above seven parts of it having been built since the great fire, and the num ber of inhabitants increased near onehalf, the total amounting to 700,000, it is become equal to Paris and Rome put together." *

near

Of the improvement of the city under the immediate inspection of the chief magistrates, we cannot, from the time of SIR THOMAS Rowe, Mayor 1568, to the time of the fire of London, find any particular notices; although during the course of very near a century they unquestionably exerted their utmost powers, and used their utmost influence, to promote a work so beneficial, and which preceding dilapidations and commercial

* Perhaps the medium that Swift pro posed, and indeed jocularly applied to the calculation of existing authors, who,

"As number'd by their pecks of coals, "Amount to eighty thousand souls," might, with good effect, be seriously made to assist in the calculation of the number of inhabitants, their periodical increase, and the consequent increase of the metropolis. Sir William Petty, in his Political Arithmetic, states, that with respect to housing, the streets shew it to be double the value of what it was forty years before; that is, from 1636 to 1676. With respect to coals, he says, that "the shipping of Newcastle is now about 80,000 tons, and could not then be above a quarter of that quantity: first, because London is doubled in people; secondly, because the use of coals is at least donbled, they being heretofore seldom used in chambers as they now are, nor were so many bricks burned with them as of late, nor did the country on both sides the Thames make use of them as now." However accurate Sir William Petty may be in general, it is well known that brick-making increases but very little the consumption of coals, as the kilas are now only supplied with those that are sifted from the ashes. Upon the comparative quantities of coals used at different periods, we shali have some observations to make in a subsequent chapter.

Ambrose Nicholes, Salter, Mayor 1516, founded twelve alms houses in Monkswellstreet, Cripplegate.

Among the benefactors to the metropolis must be record the name of "William Lamb. Esq." (sometime a gentleman of the chape! to Henry the VIIIth, and in great favour with him,) a free brother of the company of Cloth workers, and a kind and loving citizen." That Lamb had the good fortune to be one of those who (from his skill in music) had the happiness to enjoy the continued favour of the most capricious monarch in Christendom, is certain; nor is it improbable that in the scrumble for grants which followed the suppression of religious houses, he might obtain some: they were given to worse persons, and applied to worse purposes. It is certain, that the affluence of Lamb was much greater than could have been derived from his profession of a cheris ter, or the pension upon which he retired at the death of the monarch whom he had served; for this amounted to no more than

↑ Vol. LI. p. 211.

Sanders, a Roman Catholic writer, says, that Henry the VIIIth, when ancient and diseased, choleric and curious in trifles, was wont to reward such as ordered his screen or chair at a convenient distance from the fire,. with the church of some abbey, or the lead of some church. But setting aside this seeming slander, it is confidently asserted by Fuller, in his Church: History, book vi. p. 377, that he gave a religious house of some vaine to Mistress for presenting him a dish of puddings that pleased his palate. Another anecdote of the same nature may be seen i the Antiquarian Repertory, vol. i. p. 359.

shortly to observe, whether any, and what, new religious and charitable edi

7d. ob. per diem. However, from whatsoever source he derived his wealth, whether from matrimony (for it is said he married three well-jointured widows), or from grants, he employed it to purposes of benevolence, and consequently to the advantage of the public. But of all his foundations and bequests, none has so fully tended to keep alive his remembrance as his conduit north of Holborn, and that at Holborn-bridge. Of the former of these Stow thus speaks: "Neere unto Holborne he founded a conduit

and standard, with a cocke at Holborne-bridge to convey thence the waste. These were be

gun 26th March, 1577, and water carried along in pipes of lead more than 2,000 yards, all at his own cost and charges, amounting to the sum of fifteene hundred pounds, and the work fully finished 24th August the same year."

The other conduit, which we can remember, was in a kind of arched vault under the street, to which the descent was by a flight of a great number of steps. It is thus described: -"Lamb's Conduit, at the north end of Redlion-street, near the fields, affords plenty of water clear as crystal, which is chiefly used for drinking. It belongs to St. Sepulchre's parish, the fountain-head being under a stone marked SSP, in the vacant ground a little east of Ormond-street, whence the water comes in a drain to this conduit; and it runs thence in

lead pipes to the Conduit on Snow-hill, which has the figure of a Lamb upon it, denoting that this water comes from Lamb's Conduit." He gave to one hundred and twenty poor women, such as were willing to take pains, pails, therewith to carry and serve water.

*

Sir Thomas Offley, Merchant Tailor, Mayor, who died 1580, gave half his goods, and 2001. to be deducted out of the other half, to be bestowed in deeds of charity.

1581, Sir James Harvey, Mayor, was employed in a task which has foiled the exertions of every other civic or county magistrate, namely, in repressing the frauds that existed in consequence of short weights and mea

Lamb also founded and built a chapel at the north-west corner of Monkswell-street, wherein the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers have four sermons preached to them on the four principal festivals in the year, which they attend in their gowns and hoods. After the sermon, in pursuance of the will of Lamb, they dispense to twelve men and as many women 12d. each, and at Michaelmas they give to each of the latter a frieze gown, a lockram shift, and a good pair of winter shoes fit for their wearing. These are but a very small part of the charitable foundations and bequests of the above-named William Lamb.

fices were built upon the ruins of the old, and what was the state of those that remained antecedent to the great rebellion and the general conflagration.

The small parish-church of St. Trinity, Minories, is one of those that arose after the Reformation, being founded for the use of those that dwelt within the precinct of the dissolved monastery of St. Trinity. This was also one of the few edifices of this kind that escaped the rage of the fire of London; but being very old, was in 1706 taken down, and rebuilt at the charge of 7001.

ST. JAMES, Duke's-place, was raised out of the ruins of the priory of the Holy Trinity, in the reign of James the Ist, as is si nified by an inscription elernizing the memory of the Right Hon, Sir EDWARD BARKHAM, Lord Mayor of London, the religious Mr.

abuses then complained of still exist in a sures; but it appears without effect: the tenfold degree, and ever will exist, except the magistrates are endued with stronger powers to repress them.

Sir Thomas Blanke, Mayor 1582, obtained the appellation of the good Knight, for his exertions and diligence during the time of a grievous pestilence.

At the period that we have noted, the charitable bequests, benevolences, and buildings for the relict of the sick and the reception of the poor, were so numerous, that it is impossible within any reasonable compass to state them; which is indeed the less necessary, as they are all recorded, though the search after them (we mean after the records of them, for the charities have in many instances vanished, and in some been applied to other purposes) would be attended both with labour and difficulty. Redecting upon the subject, it appears as if the opulent of those times, by their liberality, seemed to wish to return to the indigent all the advantages which they were supposed to have lost by the fall of the monasteries, &c. but in this instance they did more; for though, by an extended commerce and increased popnlation, poor rates became necessary, which they would have been under any systein that had the same stimulations, yet from individual hospitality, almshouses, and workhouses, they obtained relief much more certain and permanent that from the eleemosynary donations at the abbey gates, or the occasional resources of the lazarhouses and spitals. Every system has its uses and its abuses. The code of poor laws was in its original outlines excellent; but how those outlines have in modern times been filled up, how deeply they are at present shaded, it is not necessary here to inquire.

which having been, with respect to its foundation, and its most ancient state, already noticed in a former part of this work, we shall now consider its situation subsequent to the Reformation.

The different accidents by which this cathedral, venerable for its antiquity, still more venerable for its being the metropolitan centre of piety, suffered, have been frequently the subjects of astonishment and lamentation; therefore we shall only advert to the last, before its final destruction by the great and general couflagration.

In 1561, the august and highly cle. vated spire of this church was totally burnt by lightning; or, as is most probable, in consequence of the carelessness of a workinan. * After which it

Dr. Heylin states, that a plumber, many years afterward, acknowledged, when on his death-bed, that he had occasioned the fire, by having left a pan of coals within the spire when he went to dinner; which of course, agitated by the wind, communicated to the tumber, and produced the ensuing devastation. The people gazed and lamented, while the flames descending gradually, enveloped the whole spire in a whirling blaze, which pervaded the interior wood, and only languished, and at length subsided, from the want of combustible materials It is extraordinary, that accidents of the same nature, and most probably proceeding from the same cause, should happen at distant periods, to the two principal churches in the metropolis. On the 9th of July, 1803, the plumbers em

was never rebuilt antecedent to the destructive fire of 1666.

ployed to repair the roof of Westminster Abbey, when they went to dinner, left their grate of coals so incautiously, that the fire communicated to the rafters, and thence to the principal timbers, which, perfectly dry, and probably rendered porous by age, soon burst out into a considerable conflagration. At this terrific scene, which for some time threatened destruction to this ancient, au

gust, and venerable pile, we were present in its interior; and perhaps there have been none that, for a period of several hours, ever excited greater anxiety, none that have presented a more dreadful spectacle. The large beams and smaller pieces of blazing

timber fell from the roof into the choir, and a shower of fire descended that seemed to threaten destruction to the whole edifice: fortunately, however, for the building, for the city of Westminster, and indeed for the public, by the uncommon exertions of the officers of the church, and the ready and effectual assistance of the people, the fire was repressed, and at length totally extinguished, with less damage to the building than, from its appearance, could have been imagined: and it is singular enough, that while St. Paul's has been several times destroyed, or much damaged, this is the only accident of any importance that, in the course of more than eight centuries, has happened to Westminster Abbey.

*This circumstance, it has been observed, shews the date of 1560 to Aggas's famous Survey of London to have been erroneous, he having given the outline of the cathedral

The event of the demolition of this ancient and beautiful steeple, and the consequent damage of the church, it is said, attracted the attention of the whole kingdoin: the Queen (Eliza. beth) set the example of munificence, by giving toward the repairs 1,000 marks of gold, and 1,000 loads of timber from her forests. The City of London subscribed from the Chamber, $42471. 16s. 2d. ob. the Prelates and Clergy of the several dioceses resigned twentieths, thirtieths, and fortieths, of their benefices toward the fund, which augmented it to 6,7021. 13s. 4d. This ample supply enabled the commissioners who superintended the repairs to bring them to a conclusion, A.D. 1566. *

If we contemplate the pious motives that influenced the Queen and Clergy, and the zeal which animated the Lord Mayor, Alderinen, Citizens, and indeed the rest of her Majesty's subjects, to perfect this national work, the renovation of a metropolitan temple, whose august form seemned to stand as a representative of the holiness of Britain, it would be natural and reasonable to suppose, that when the repair of it was finished, it was kept pure and undefiled, and in neatness and cleanliness exibited a pattern for all the other churches in the city, indeed in the kingdom. We know, that before the Reformation, the cloisters of the GREY FRIARS

without a spire: but the error seems to exist in the observation: the copy from this survey, which now lies before us, bears the date of 1563, which is unquestionably taken correctly from the original. The plan, therefore, indicates to have been published two years after the fire, and no doubt gave the view of the church as it then appeared. Yet it is singular enough, that Jouson, who inst have been perfectly acquainted with the State of Paul's, has, in his comedy, Ter DEVIL'S AN Ass, 1616, spoken of the steeple ás if it was still standing. Iniquity says,

were used as a mart for toys, trinkets, millinery, drapery, &c. and that this and of traffic still adheres to their site, or to its immediate vicinity: we have seen how, under the pretence of sanctity, morality was violated in ST. MARtin's Le Grand, and have no very high idea of the decorum which, even in the strictest periods of the Roman Catholic times, was observed at the BLACK FRIARS; but in later ages, how nui, sances infinitely more disgusting could be suffered, and enormities of still greater importance, which had become habitual, could be connived at, in and about the cathedral of ST. PAUL, we have no conception: therefore, as it is casier to detail than to account for these things, we shall proceed to lay before our readers a few notices of the most obnoxious; not from any sensations of pleasure that we feel in recording them, but that they may in future ages be avoided.

In the summer of 1597, to the consequent annoyance of the neighbourhood, a dunghill of four cart loads lay at the steeple door within the church. About this time, drunkards and idlers were even indulged in lying and sleeping on the benches at the choir door.

Respecting the irreverent and careless behaviour of the officers of the church, we meet with the following presentments on the different visitations:

1528. "We think it a very necessarye thinge that every Quorister should bring with him to Church a Testament in English, and torne to every Chapter as it is dayly read, or some other good and godlye prayer booke, rather than spend their tyme in talk and hunting after Spurr-money, whereou they sct their whole minds, and do often abuse dyvers if they do not bestow somewhat on them."

Spur-money was an exaction imposed upon persons who entered a cathedral booted and spurred, which we are sorry to say prevails at this day both in churches and palaces; Lichfield and Hampton Court for instances. About the time when this presentment was made. Spurs were, by the cashing youths of the metropolis, generally worn; BEN JONSON alludes to them in the ALCHYMIST, in the scene where SUBTIE advises ABEL DRUGGER to place a loadstone under his threshold,

"To draw in the gallants that wear spurs." Malcolm, in his London Redicicum, Vol. III.

ceived.

With the fall of the CHANTRIES, to which we have before alluded, the neglect and violation of the chapels, wherein divine service used to be performed for the souls of their founders, seems to have kept pace. It is of no importance to ascertain the purposes for which they were used, further than by observing, that one was made a glazier's workshop, perhaps a necessary appendage to so large a cathedral; but still, though its manufacture was applied to a spiritual edifice, it was certainly not necessary that the manufac

tory should have been consecrated.

Among the encroachments on Sr. PAUL'S, which are by far too numerous to be particularly mentioned, we shall only hint at three of the most curious,

p. 71, a work which we wish to see continued, says, that "The gentlemen of the Chon were peremptory in their demand, and threatened imprisonment in the Choir all night to those who refused them money." This disgraceful importunity we have been subjected to from the singing-boys in country cathedrals.

*This kind of violation of the church we recollect to have prevailed in Westminster Abbey before the late regulation: all those sorts of persons above mentioned (except water-bearers) we have frequently seen pass and repass through the nave of that venerable pile without molestation, and even boys play at bail and trundle hoops in it, who, when spoken to, have pleaded prescription.

Europ. Mag. Vol. LII. July 1807.

through a window into a part of the steeple, where the tenant had a WARE

ROOM.

John Frances, it appears, baked his bread and pies in an oven excavated within a buttress of the cathedral!!!

These were a few of the enormities operating within and without this august and venerable fabric. We shall now take notice of some of another nature, which were certainly less owing to avarice, impiety, or inattention, than to the fashion of the times.

In the reign of Elizabeth and James the Ist, PAUL'S, as the church was then fashionable, the vain, the idle, and the familiarly termed, was the resort of the disorderly people of the metropolis: its aisles were the principal walks in the city, and its vicinity the mart of elegant superfluities, and of the literature of the

times.

We shall soon take notice of some of the booksellers settled in ST. PAUL'S Church-yard, but at present continue our observations upon those characters who may be said to have hung loose upon society, who were attracted to less laudable than a search after books. this part of the town by motives far

passions and manners of every other Shakspeare, who concentrated the period and every other country in his own, makes FALSTAFF, speaking of that dissolute character, BARDOLPH, say,

I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse in Smithfield. If I could get me but a wife in the Stews, I were mann'd, hors'd, and wiv'd."+

And there is no doubt but that Paul's

It appears from the comedy of the City Madam, that Paul's was frequented by cutpurses. Shavem says,

"I'll hang ye both, you rascals. I can but

ride t

You for the purse you cut in sermon time at Puul's."

↑ Dr. Warburton's note upon this passage is" Paul's.] At that time the resort of idle people, cheats, and knights of the post." But it will be recollected, that the period of the scene is the sixth year of Henry the IVth, about 1404: therefore the learned Doctor should have observed, that the bord had by almost two centuries anticipated the removal of those people from St. Martin's le Grand.

+ Fe carted. D