London in 1731
by
Don Manoel Gonzales
Part 2 out of 3
Mondays and Fridays. There is also a market for horses on Fridays;
nor is there anywhere better riding-horses to be purchased, if the
buyer has skill, though it must be confessed there is a great deal
of jockeying and sharping used by the dealers in horseflesh. As for
coach-horses, and those fit for troopers, they are usually purchased
in the counties to the northward of the town. The famous fair on
the feast of St. Bartholomew also is held in this place, which lasts
three days, and, by the indulgence of the City magistrates,
sometimes a fortnight. The first three days were heretofore
assigned for business, as the sale of cattle, leather, &c., but now
only for diversion, the players filling the area of the field with
their booths, whither the young citizens resort in crowds.
The public buildings in this ward are Bridewell, Serjeants' Inn in
Fleet Street, the Temple, the Six Clerks' Office, the Rolls,
Serjeants' Inn in Chancery Lane, Clifford's Inn, the House of the
Royal Society, Staple's Inn, Bernards' Inn, and Thavie's Inn,
Justice Hall in the Old Bailey, and the Fleet Prison, with the
churches of St. Bartholomew, and the hospital adjoining, the
churches of St. Sepulchre, St. Andrew, Holborn, St. Bride's, and St.
Dunstan's-in-the-West.
Bridewell is situated on the west side of Fleet Ditch, a little to
the southward of Fleet Street, having two fronts, one to the east,
and the other to the north, with a handsome great gate in each of
them. It consists chiefly of two courts, the innermost being the
largest and best built, four or five storeys high, on the south side
whereof is a noble hall, adorned with the pictures of King Edward
VI. and his Privy Council, King Charles, and King James II., Sir
William Turner, Sir William Jeffreys, and other benefactors.
It was one of the palaces of the Kings of England till the reign of
King Edward VI., who gave it to the City of London for the use of
their poor, with lands of the value of 700 marks per annum, and
bedding and furniture out of the Hospital of the Savoy, then
suppressed.
Here are lodgings and several privileges for certain tradesmen, such
as flax-dressers, tailors, shoemakers, &c., called art masters, who
are allowed to take servants and apprentices to the number of about
140, who are clothed in blue vests at the charge of the house, their
masters having the profit of their labour. These boys having served
their times, have their freedom, and ten pound each given them
towards carrying on their trades; and some of them have arrived to
the honour of being governors of the house where they served.
This Hospital is at present under the direction of a president, and
some hundreds of the most eminent and substantial citizens, with
their inferior officers; and a court is held every Friday, where
such vagrants and lewd people are ordered to receive correction in
the sight of the Court, as are adjudged to deserve it.
Among the public buildings of this ward, that belonging to the Royal
Society, situate at the north end of Two Crane Court, in Fleet
Street, must not be omitted, though it be much more considerable on
account of the learned members who assemble there, and the great
advances that have been made by them of late years in natural
philosophy, &c., than for the elegancy of the building.
During the grand rebellion, when the estates of the prime nobility
and gentry were sequestered, and there was no court for them to
resort to, the then powers encouraging only the maddest enthusiast,
or the basest of the people, whom they looked upon as the fittest
instruments to support their tyranny; some ingenious gentlemen, who
had applied themselves chiefly to their studies, and abhorred the
usurpation, proposed the erecting a society for the improvement of
natural knowledge, which might be an innocent and inoffensive
exercise to themselves in those troublesome times, and of lasting
benefit to the nation. Their first meeting, it is said, were at the
chambers of Mr. Wilkins (afterwards Bishop of Chester) in Wadham
College, in Oxford, about the year 1650, and the members consisted
of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., Dr. Ward (afterwards Bishop of
Salisbury), Sir Christopher Wren, Sir William Petty, Dr. Wallis, Dr.
Goddard, and Dr. Hook (late Professor of Geometry), the above-named
Bishop Wilkins, and others. In the year 1658 we find them
assembling in Gresham College, in London, when were added to their
number the Lord Brounker (their first president), Sir Robert Murray,
John Evelyng, Esq., Sir George Ent, Dr. Croon, Henry Shingsby, Esq.,
and many others. And after the Restoration, his Majesty King
Charles II. appeared so well pleased with the design, that he
granted them a charter of incorporation, bearing date the 22nd of
April, 15 Charles II., anno 1663, wherein he styled himself their
founder, patron, and companion; and the society was from
thenceforward to consist of a president, a council of twenty, and as
many fellows as should be thought worthy of admission, with a
treasurer, secretary, curators, and other officers.
When a gentleman desires to be admitted to the society, he procures
one of the Corporation to recommend him as a person duly qualified,
whereupon his name is entered in a book, and proper inquiries made
concerning his merit and abilities; and if the gentleman is approved
of, he appears in some following assembly, and subscribes a paper,
wherein he promises that he will endeavour to promote the welfare of
the society: and the president formally admits him by saying, "I
do, by the authority and in the name of the Royal Society of London
for improving of natural knowledge, admit you a member thereof."
Whereupon the new fellow pays forty shillings to the treasurer, and
two-and-fifty shillings per annum afterwards by quarterly payments,
towards the charges of the experiments, the salaries of the officers
of the house, &c.
Behind the house they have a repository, containing a collection of
the productions of nature and art. They have also a well-chosen
library, consisting of many thousand volumes, most of them relating
to natural philosophy; and they publish from time to time the
experiments made by them, of which there are a great number of
volumes, called "Philosophical Transactions."
The Hospital of St. Bartholomew, on the south side of Smithfield, is
contiguous to the church of Little St. Bartholomew. It was at first
governed by a master, eight brethren, and four sisters, who had the
care of the sick and infirm that were brought thither. King Henry
VIII. endowed it with a yearly revenue of five hundred more yearly
for the relief of one hundred infirm people. And since that time
the hospital is so increased and enlarged, by the benefactions given
to it, that it receives infirm people at present from all parts of
England. In the year 1702 a beautiful frontispiece was erected
towards Smithfield, adorned with pilasters, entablature, and
pediment of the Ionic order, with the figure of the founder, King
Henry VIII., in a niche, standing in full proportion; and the
figures of two cripples on the pediment: but the most considerable
improvements to the building were made in the year 1731, of the old
buildings being pulled down, and a magnificent pile erected in the
room of them about 150 feet in length, faced with a pure white
stone, besides other additions now building.
There are two houses belonging to this hospital, the one in Kent
Street, called the Lock, and the other at Kingsland, whither such
unfortunate people as are afflicted with the French disease are sent
and taken care of, that they may not prove offensive to the rest;
for surely more miserable objects never were beheld, many of them
having their noses and great part of their faces eaten off, and
become so noisome frequently, that their stench cannot be borne,
their very bones rotting while they remain alive.
This hospital is governed by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, with about
three hundred other substantial citizens and gentlemen of quality,
who generally become benefactors; and from these and their friends
the hospital has been able to subsist such numbers of infirm people,
and to perform the surprising cures they have done; for the patients
are duly attended by the best physicians and surgeons in London, and
so well supplied with lodging and diet proper to their respective
cases, that much fewer miscarry here, in proportion, than in the
great hospital of invalids, and others the French so much boast of
in Paris.
Those that have the immediate care of the hospital are, the
president, the treasurer, the auditors of accounts, viewers of their
revenues, overseers of the goods and utensils of the hospital, and
the almoners, who buy in provisions and necessaries for the
patients.
A committee, consisting of the treasurer, almoners, and some other
of the governors, meet twice a week to inspect the government of the
house, to discharge such persons as are cured, and to admit others.
26. Bridge Ward Without contains in chief the Borough, or Long
Southwark, St. Margaret's Hill, Blackman Street, Stony Street, St.
Thomas's Street, Counter Street, the Mint Street, Maiden Lane, the
Bankside, Bandy-leg Walk, Bennet's Rents, George Street, Suffolk
Street, Redcross Street, Whitecross Street, Worcester Street, Castle
Street, Clink Street, Deadman's Place, New Rents, Gravel Lane, Dirty
Lane, St. Olave's Street, Horselydown, Crucifix Lane, Five-foot
Lane, Barnaby Street, Long Lane and Street.
The Bankside consists of certain houses so called from their lying
on the south bank of the Thames to the westward of the bridge.
The public buildings in this ward are, St. Thomas's Church and
Hospital, Guy's Hospital for Incurables, the church of St. Saviour,
the church of St. Olave, and that of St. George, the Bridge House,
the King's Bench Prison, the Marshalsea, and the Clink Prison, the
Sessions House, Compter, and New Prison.
The Hospital of St. Thomas consists of four spacious courts, in the
first of which are six wards for women. In the second stands the
church, and another chapel, for the use of the hospital. Here also
are the houses of the treasurer, hospitaller, steward, cook, and
butler. In the third court are seven wards for men, with an
apothecary's shop, store-rooms and laboratory. In the fourth court
are two wards for women, with a surgery, hot and cold baths, &c.
And in the year 1718 another magnificent building was erected by the
governors, containing lodgings and conveniences for a hundred infirm
persons. So that this hospital is capable of containing five
hundred patients and upwards at one time; and there are between four
and five thousand people annually cured and discharged out of it,
many of them being allowed money to bear their charges to their
respective dwellings.
But one of the greatest charities ever attempted by a private
citizen was that of Thomas Guy, Esq., originally a bookseller of
London, and afterwards a Member of Parliament for Tamworth, who,
having acquired an immense fortune, founded a hospital for
incurables, on a spot of ground adjoining to St. Thomas's Hospital,
and saw the noble fabric in a good forwardness in his lifetime,
assigning about two hundred thousand pounds towards the building,
and endowing it, insomuch that it is computed there may be an ample
provision for four hundred unhappy people, who shall be given over
by physicians and surgeons as incurable. This gentleman died in
December, 1724, having first made his will, and appointed trustees
to see his pious design duly executed. He gave also several
thousand pounds to Christ's Hospital, and a thousand pounds a piece
to fifty of his poor relations; but the will being in print, I refer
the reader to it for a more particular account of this noble
charity.
The first church and hospital, dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, was
erected by the Prior of Bermondsey, so long since as the year 1013;
but the hospital was refounded, and the revenues increased, anno
1215, by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, in whose diocese it
was situated, continuing, however, to be held of the priors of
Bermondsey till the year 1428, when the Abbot of Bermondsey
relinquished his interest to the master of the hospital for a
valuable consideration. In the year 1538 this hospital was
surrendered to King Henry VIII., being then valued at 266 pounds
17s. 6d. per annum. And in the following reign, the City of London
having purchased the buildings of the Crown, continued them a
hospital for sick and wounded people; and King Edward VI. granted
them some of the revenues of the dissolved hospitals and monasteries
towards maintaining it: but these were inconsiderable in comparison
of the large and numerous benefactions that have since been bestowed
upon it by the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and other wealthy citizens and
men of quality, governors of it, who are seldom fewer than two or
three hundred, every one of them looking upon themselves to be under
some obligation of making an addition to the revenues of the
hospital they have the direction of. A committee of the governors
sit every Thursday, to consider what patients are fit to be
discharged, and to admit others.
The government of the City of London, it is observed, resembles that
of the kingdom in general; the Lord Mayor is compared to the king,
the aldermen to the nobility or upper house, and the common
councilmen to the commons of England.
This assembly, consisting of the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and common
councilmen, has obtained the name of The Common Council, and has a
power, by their charters, of making such bye-laws and statutes as
are obligatory to the citizens. It is called and adjourned by the
Lord Mayor at pleasure, and out of it are formed several committees,
viz.--1. A committee of six aldermen and twelve commoners for
letting the City lands, which usually meets every Wednesday at
Guildhall for that end. 2. A committee of four aldermen and eight
commoners for letting the lands and tenements given by Sir Thomas
Gresham, who meets at Mercers' Hall on a summons from the Lord
Mayor. 3. Commissioners of Sewers and Pavements, elected annually.
And, 4. A governor, deputy-governor and assistants, for the
management of City lands in the province of Ulster in Ireland.
The other principal courts in the City are, 1. The Court of
Aldermen. 2. The Court of Hustings. 3. The Lord Mayor's Court. 4.
The Sheriff's Court. 5. The Chamberlain's Court. 6. The Court of
the City Orphans. 7. The Court of Conscience. 8. The Courts of
Wardmote. And, 9. The Courts of Hallmote.
Besides which, there is a Court of Oyer and Terminer and Jail
Delivery, held eight times a year at Justice Hall in the Old Bailey,
for the trial of criminals.
1. In the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen is lodged the executive
power in a great measure, and by these most of the city officers are
appointed, viz., the recorder, four common pleaders, the comptroller
of the chamber, the two secondaries, the remembrancer, the city
solicitor, the sword-bearer, the common hunt, the water bailiff,
four attorneys of the Lord Mayor's Court, the clerk of the chamber,
three sergeant carvers, three sergeants of the chamber, the sergeant
of the chanel, the two marshals, the hall-keeper, the yeomen of the
chamber, four yeomen of the waterside, the yeoman of the chanel, the
under water-bailiff, two meal weighers, two fruit-meters, the
foreign taker, the clerk of the City works, six young men, two
clerks of the papers, eight attorneys of the Sheriff's Court, eight
clerks fitters, two prothonotaries, the clerk of the Bridge House,
the clerk of the Court of Requests, the beadle of the Court of
Requests, thirty-six sergeants at mace, thirty-six yeomen, the
gauger, the sealers and searchers of leather, the keeper of the
Greenyard, two keepers of the two compters, the keeper of Newgate,
the keeper of Ludgate, the measurer, the steward of Southwark (but
the bailiff of Southwark is appointed by the Common Council) the
bailiff of the hundred of Ossulston, the City artificers, and rent-
gatherer, who hath been put in by Mr. Chamberlain.
In this court all leases and instruments that pass under the City
Seal are executed; the assize of bread is settled by them; all
differences relating to water-courses, lights, and party-walls, are
determined, and officers are suspended or punished; and the
aldermen, or a majority of them, have a negative in whatever is
propounded in the Common Council.
2. The Court of Hustings is esteemed the most ancient tribunal in
the City, and was established for the preservation of the laws,
franchises, and customs of it. It is held at Guildhall before the
Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, and in civil causes the Recorder sits as
judge. Here deeds are enrolled, recoveries passed, writs of right,
waste, partition, dower, and replevins determined.
3. The Lord Mayor's Court, a court of record, held in the chamber
of Guildhall every Tuesday, where the Recorder also sits as judge,
and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen may sit with him if they see fit.
Actions of debt, trespass, arising within the City and liberties, of
any value, may be tried in this court, and an action may be removed
hither from the Sheriff's Court before the jury is sworn.
The juries for trying causes in this and the Sheriff's Courts, are
returned by the several wards at their wardmote inquests at
Christmas, when each ward appoints the persons to serve on juries
for every month in the year ensuing.
This court is also a court of equity, and gives relief where
judgment is obtained in the Sheriff's Court for more than the just
debt.
4. The Sheriff's Courts are also courts of record, where may be
tried actions of debt, trespass, covenant, &c. They are held on
Wednesdays and Fridays for actions entered in Wood Street Compter,
and every Thursday and Saturday for actions entered in the Poultry
Compter. Here the testimony of an absent witness in writing is
allowed to be good evidence.
5. The Chamberlain's Court or office is held at the chamber in
Guildhall. He receives and pays the City cash and orphans' money,
and keeps the securities taken by the Court of Aldermen for the
same, and annually accounts to the auditors appointed for that
purpose. He attends every morning at Guildhall, to enroll or turn
over apprentices, or to make them free; and hears and determines
differences between masters and their apprentices.
6. The Court of City Orphans is held by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen
as often as occasion requires; the Common Sergeant being entrusted
by them to take all inventories and accounts of freeman's estates,
and the youngest attorney in the Mayor's Court is clerk of the
orphans, and appointed to take security for their portions; for when
any freeman dies, leaving children under the age of twenty-one
years, the clerks of the respective parishes give in their names to
the common crier, who thereupon summons the widow or executor to
appear before the Court of Aldermen, to bring in an inventory, and
give security for the testator's estate, for which they commonly
allow two months' time, and in case of non-appearance, or refusal of
security, the Lord Mayor may commit the executor to Newgate.
7. The Court of Conscience was established for recovering small
debts under forty shillings at an easy expense, the creditor's oath
of the debt being sufficient without further testimony to ascertain
the debt. This court sits at the hustings in Guildhall every
Wednesday and Saturday, where the Common Council of each ward are
judges in their turns. They proceed first by summons, which costs
but sixpence, and if the defendant appears there is no further
charge; the debt is ordered to be paid at such times and in such
proportion as the court in their consciences think the debtor able
to discharge it; but if the defendant neglect to appear, or obey the
order of the court, an attachment or execution follows with as much
expedition and as small an expense as can be supposed. All persons
within the freedom of the City, whether freemen or not, may
prosecute and be prosecuted in this court, and freemen may be
summoned who live out of the liberty.
8. The courts of wardmote are held by the aldermen of each ward,
for choosing ward-officers, and settling the affairs of the ward,
the Lord Mayor annually issuing his precept to the aldermen to hold
his wardmote on St. Thomas's Day for the election of common
councilmen and other officers; they also present such offences and
nuisances at certain times to the Lord Mayor and common councilmen
as require redress.
9. Small offences are punished by the justices in or out of
sessions, by whom the offender is sentenced to be whipped,
imprisoned, or kept to hard labour; but for the trial of capital
offences, a commission of Oyer and Terminer and jail delivery issues
eight times every year, i.e., before and after every term, directed
to the Lord Mayor, Recorder, some of the twelve judges, and others
whom the Crown is pleased to assign. These commissioners sit at
Justice Hall in the Old Bailey, and bills of indictment having been
found by the grand juries of London or Middlesex, containing the
prisoner's accusation, a petty jury, consisting of twelve
substantial citizens is empanelled for the trial of each of them;
for, as to the grand jury, they only consider whether there is such
a probability of the prisoner's guilt as to put him upon making his
defence, and this is determined by a majority of the grand jury:
but the petty jury, who pass upon the prisoner's life and death,
must all agree in their verdict, or he cannot be convicted. But
though the petty jury judge of the fact, i.e., what the crime is, or
whether it was committed by the prisoner or not, the commissioners
or judges declare what are the punishments appropriated to the
several species of crimes, and pronounce judgment accordingly on the
offender. In high treason they sentence the criminal to be drawn
upon a hurdle to the place of execution, there to be hanged and
quartered. In murder, robbery, and other felonies, which are
excluded the benefit of the clergy, the criminal is sentenced to be
hanged till he is dead. And for crimes within the benefit of the
clergy, the offender is burnt in the hand or transported, at the
discretion of the court. And for petty larceny, i.e., where the
offender is found guilty of theft under the value of twelve pence,
he is sentenced to be whipped. But a report being made to His
Majesty by the Recorder, of the circumstances with which the several
capital offences were attended, and what may be urged either in
aggravation or mitigation of them, the respective criminals are
either pardoned or executed according to His Majesty's pleasure.
But I should have remembered, that the sentence against a woman,
either for high or petty treason, is to be burnt alive. I shall now
give some account of the election of the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, &c.,
who are chosen by a majority of the liverymen.
The Lord Mayor is elected on Michaelmas Day (from among the
aldermen, by the liverymen of the City, who return two aldermen that
have served sheriffs to the Court of Aldermen for their acceptance,
who generally declare the first upon the liverymen's roll to be
Lord-Mayor) sworn at Guildhall on Simon and Jude, and before the
barons of the Exchequer at Westminster the day following.
The Lord Mayor appears abroad in very great state at all times,
being clothed in scarlet robes, or purple richly furred, according
to the season of the year, with a hood of black velvet, and a golden
chain or collar of S.S. about his neck, and a rich jewel pendant
thereon, his officers walking before and on both sides, his train
held up, and the City sword and mace borne before him. He keeps
open house during his mayoralty, and the sword-bearer is allowed
1,000 pounds for his table. The Lord Mayor usually goes to St.
Paul's, attended by the aldermen in their gowns, and his officers,
every Sunday morning; but especially the first Sunday in term-time,
where he meets the twelve judges and invites them to dinner after
divine service is ended.
The sheriffs are chosen into their office on Midsummer day annually
by the liverymen also; to which end the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and
sheriffs meet in the council-chamber at Guildhall, about eight in
the morning, and coming down afterwards into the Court of Hustings,
the recorder declares to the livery men assembled in the hall that
this is the day prescribed for the election of these magistrates for
the year ensuing: then the Court of Aldermen go up to the Lord
Mayor's Court till the sheriffs are chosen; the old sheriffs, the
chamberlain, common serjeant, town clerk, and other City officers
remaining in the Court of Hustings, to attend the election. After
the sheriffs are chosen, the commons proceed to elect a chamberlain,
bridge-masters, auditors of the city and bridge-house accounts, and
the surveyors of beer and ale, according to custom. The old
sheriffs are judges of these elections, and declare by the common
serjeant who are duly chosen. The sheriffs thus elected take the
usual oaths in this court on Michaelmas eve, and the day after
Michaelmas day are presented to the Barons of the Exchequer, where
they take the oath of office, the oaths of allegiance, &c. The
chamberlains and bridge-masters are sworn in the court of aldermen.
Where a Lord Mayor elect refuses to serve, he is liable to be fined;
and if a person chosen sheriff refuses to serve, he is fined 413
pounds 6s. 8d., unless he makes oath he is not worth 10,000 pounds.
When the alderman of any ward dies, another is within a few days
elected in his room, at a wardmote held for that purpose, at which
the Lord Mayor usually presides. Every alderman has his deputy, who
supplies his place in his absence. These deputies are always taken
from among the Common Council. The aldermen above the chair, and
the three eldest aldermen beneath it, are justices of peace in the
City by the charter.
The Lord-Mayor's jurisdiction in some cases extends a great way
beyond the City, upon the river Thames eastward as far as the
conflux of the two rivers Thames and Medway, and up the river Lea as
far as Temple Mills, being about three miles; and westward as far as
Colney Ditch above Staine Bridge: he names a deputy called the
water-bailiff, whose business is to prevent any encroachments,
nuisances, and frauds used by fishermen or others, destructive to
the fishery, or hurtful to the navigation of the said waters; and
yearly keeps courts for the conservation of the river in the
counties it borders upon within the said limits.
The sheriffs also are sheriffs of the county of Middlesex as well as
of London. And here I shall take an opportunity to observe, that
the number of aldermen are twenty-six; the number of Common-Council
men two hundred and thirty-four; the number of companies eighty-
four; and the number of citizens on the livery, who have a voice in
their elections, are computed to be between seven and eight
thousand. The twelve principal companies are:- 1. The Mercers; 2.
Grocers; 3. Drapers; 4. Fishmongers; 5. Goldsmiths; 6. Skinners; 7.
Merchant-Tailors; 8. Haberdashers; 9. Salters; 10. Ironmongers; 11.
Vintners; 12. Clothworkers. The others:- are 13. The Dyers; 14.
Brewers; 15. Leather-Sellers; 16. Pewterers; 17. Barber-Surgeons;
18. Cutlers; 19. Bakers; 20. Wax-Chandlers; 21. Tallow-Chandlers;
22. Armourers; 23. Girdlers; 24. Butchers; 25. Saddlers; 26.
Carpenters; 27. Cord-wainers; 28. Painter-stainers; 29. Curriers;
30. Masons; 31. Plumbers; 32. Innholders; 33. Founders; 34.
Poulterers; 35. Cooks; 36. Coopers; 37. Tilers and Bricklayers; 38.
Bowyers; 39. Fletchers; 40. Blacksmiths; 41. Joiners; 42. Weavers;
43. Woolmen; 44. Scriveners; 45. Fruiterers; 46. Plasterers; 47.
Stationers; 48. Embroiderers; 49. Upholders; 50. Musicians; 51.
Turners; 52. *Basket-makers; 53. Glaziers; 54. *Horners; 55.
Farriers; 56. *Paviours; 57. Lorimers; 58. Apothecaries; 59.
Shipwrights; 60. *Spectacle-makers; 61. *Clock-makers; 62. *Glovers;
63. *Comb-makers; 64. *Felt-makers; 65. Frame-work Knitters; 66.
*Silk throwers; 67. Carmen; 68. *Pin-makers; 69. Needle-makers; 70.
Gardeners; 71. Soap-makers; 72. Tin-plate Workers; 73. Wheelwrights;
74. Distillers; 75. Hatband-makers; 76. Patten-makers; 77.
Glasssellers; 78. Tobacco-pipe makers; 79. Coach and Coach-harness
makers; 80. Gun-makers; 81. Gold and Silver Wire-Drawers; 82. Long
Bow-string makers; 83. Card-makers; 84. Fan-makers.
The companies marked with an * before them have no liverymen, and
all the freemen of the rest are not upon the livery, that is,
entitled to wear the gowns belonging to the respective companies,
and vote in elections, but a select number of freemen only. Every
company is a distinct corporation, being incorporated by grants from
the crown, or acts of parliament, and having certain rules,
liberties, and privileges, for the better support and government of
their several trades and mysteries: many of them are endowed with
lands to a great value, and have their masters, wardens, assistants,
clerks, and other officers, to direct and regulate their affairs,
and to restrain and punish abuses incident to their several trades;
and when any disputes arise concerning the due execution of these
charters, the Lord Mayor has a supreme power to determine the case
and to punish the offenders.
The military government of the City of London is lodged in the
lieutenancy, consisting of the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and other
principal citizens, who receive their authority from his majesty's
commission, which he revokes and alters as often as he sees fit.
These have under their command six regiments of foot, viz.:- 1, The
White; 2, the Orange; 3, the Yellow; 4, the Blue; 5, the Green; and
6, the Red Regiment--in every one of which are eight companies,
consisting of one hundred and fifty men each; in all, seven thousand
two hundred men: besides which there is a kind of independent
company, called the artillery company, consisting of seven or eight
hundred volunteers, whose skill in military discipline is much
admired by their fellow-citizens. These exercise frequently in the
artillery ground, engage in mock fights and sieges, and storm the
dunghills with great address.
The Tower Hamlets, it has been observed already, are commanded by
the lieutenant of the Tower, and consist of two regiments of foot,
eight hundred each: so that the whole militia of London, exclusive
of Westminster and Southwark, amount to near ten thousand men.
London, like other cities of the kingdom, is, or ought to be,
governed by its bishop in spirituals, though his authority is very
little regarded at present. The justices of peace at their sessions
may empower any man to preach and administer the sacraments, let his
occupation or qualifications be never so mean; nor do they ever
refuse it to a person who is able to raise the small sum of -- pence
being less a great deal than is paid for licensing a common
alehouse. A clergyman indeed cannot be entitled to a benefice
without being, in some measure, subject to his diocesan; but he may
throw off his gown, and assemble a congregation that shall be much
more beneficial to him, and propagate what doctrines he sees fit (as
is evident in the case of orator Henley): but to proceed.
The diocese of London is in the province of Canterbury, and
comprehends the counties of Middlesex and Essex, and part of
Hertfordshire; the British plantations in America are also subject
to this bishop. To the cathedral of St. Paul belongs a dean, three
residentiaries, a treasurer, chancellor, precentor, and thirty
prebendaries. The Bishop of London takes place next to the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, but his revenues are not equal
to those of Durham or Winchester. The deanery of St. Paul's is said
to be worth a thousand pounds per annum, and each of the
residentiaries about three hundred pounds per annum.
The parishes within the walls of London are ninety-seven; but
several of them having been united since the Fire, there are at
present but sixty-two parish churches, and consequently the same
number of parish priests: the revenues of these gentlemen are
seldom less than 100 pounds per annum, and none more than 200 pounds
per annum. They appear to be most of them about 150 pounds per
annum, besides their several parsonage houses and surplice fees; and
most of them have lectureships in town, or livings in the country,
or some other spiritual preferment of equal value.
The city of Westminster, the western part of the town, comes next
under consideration which received its name from the abbey or
minster situated to the westward of London. This city, if we
comprehend the district or liberties belonging to it, lies along the
banks of the Thames in the form of a bow or crescent, extending from
Temple Bar in the east to Millbank in the south-west; the inside of
this bow being about a mile and a half in length, and the outside
two miles and a half at least; the breadth, one place with another,
from the Thames to the fields on the north-west side of the town,
about a mile; and I am apt to think a square of two miles in length
and one in breadth would contain all the buildings within the
liberty of Westminster. That part of the town which is properly
called the city of Westminster contains no more than St. Margaret's
and St. John's parishes, which form a triangle, one side whereof
extends from Whitehall to Peterborough House on Millbank; another
side reaches from Peterborough House to Stafford House, or Tart
Hall, at the west end of the park; and the third side extends from
Stafford house to Whitehall; the circumference of the whole being
about two miles. This spot of ground, it is said, was anciently an
island, a branch of the Thames running through the park from west to
east, and falling into the main river again about Whitehall, which
island was originally called Thorney Island, from the woods and
bushes that covered it; the abbey or minster also was at first
called Thorney Abbey or minster, from the island on which it stood.
St. James's Park is something more than a mile in circumference, and
the form pretty near oval; about the middle of it runs a canal 2,800
feet in length and 100 in breadth, and near it are several other
waters, which form an island that has good cover for the breeding
and harbouring wild ducks and other water-fowl; on the island also
is a pretty house and garden, scarce visible to the company in the
park. On the north side are several fine walks of elms and limes
half a mile in length, of which the Mall is one. The palace of St.
James's, Marlborough House, and the fine buildings in the street
called Pall Mall, adorn this side of the park. At the east end is a
view of the Admiralty, a magnificent edifice, lately built with
brick and stone; the Horse Guards, the Banqueting House, the most
elegant fabric in the kingdom, with the Treasury and the fine
buildings about the Cockpit; and between these and the end of the
grand canal is a spacious parade, where the horse and foot guards
rendezvous every morning before they mount their respective guards.
On the south side of the park run shady walks of trees from east to
west, parallel almost to the canal, and walks on the north;
adjoining to which are the sumptuous houses in Queen Street, Queen
Square, &c., inhabited by people of quality: and the west end of
the park is adorned with the Duke of Buckingham's beautiful seat.
But what renders St. James's Park one of the most delightful scenes
in Nature is the variety of living objects which is met with here;
for besides the deer and wild fowl, common to other parks, besides
the water, fine walks, and the elegant buildings that surround it,
hither the politest part of the British nation of both sexes
frequently resort in the spring to take the benefit of the evening
air, and enjoy the most agreeable conversation imaginable; and those
who have a taste for martial music, and the shining equipage of the
soldiery, will find their eyes and ears agreeably entertained by the
horse and foot guards every morning.
The Sanctuary, or the abbey-yard, is a large open square, between
King Street and the Gate-house, north-west of the abbey, and was
called the Sanctuary, because any person who came within these
limits was entitled to the privilege of sanctuary--that is, he was
not liable to be apprehended by any officers of justice.
This privilege, it is said, was first granted to the abbey by
Sebert, king of the East Saxons, increased by King Edgar, and
confirmed by Edward the Confessor, by the following charter:-
"Edward, by the grace of God, king of Englishmen; I make it to be
known to all generations of the world after me, that, by special
commandment of our holy father Pope Leo, I have renewed and honoured
the holy church of the blessed apostle St. Peter of Westminster; and
I order and establish for ever, that what person, of what condition
or estate soever he be, from whencesoever he come, or for what
offence or cause it be, either for his refuge in the said holy
place, he is assured of his life, liberty, and limbs: and over
this, I forbid, under pain of everlasting damnation, that no
minister of mine, or any of my successors, intermeddle with any of
the goods, lands, and possessions of the said persons taking the
said sanctuary: for I have taken their goods and livelode into my
special protection. And therefore I grant to every, each of them,
in as much as my terrestrial power may suffice, all manner of
freedom of joyous liberty. And whosoever presumes, or doth contrary
to this my grant, I will he lose his name, worship, dignity, and
power; and that with the great traitor Judas that betrayed our
Saviour, he be in the everlasting fire of hell. And I will and
ordain, that this my grant endure as long as there remaineth in
England either love or dread of Christian name."
This privilege of sanctuary, as far as it related to traitors,
murderers, and felons, was in a great measure abolished by a statute
of the 32nd Henry VIII.: and in the beginning of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, every debtor who fled to sanctuary, to shelter himself
from his creditors, was obliged to take an oath of the following
tenor, viz.:- That he did not claim the privilege of sanctuary to
defraud any one of his goods, debts, or money, but only for the
security of his person until he should be able to pay his creditors.
That he would give in a true particular of his debts and credits.
That he would endeavour to pay his debts as soon as possible.
That he would be present at the abbey at morning and evening prayer.
That he would demean himself honestly and quietly, avoid suspected
houses, unlawful games, banqueting, and riotous company.
That he would wear no weapon, or be out of his lodging before
sunrise or after sunset, nor depart out of the precinct of the
sanctuary without the leave of the dean, or archdeacon in his
absence.
That he would be obedient to the dean and the officers of the house.
And lastly, that if he should break his oath in any particular, he
should not claim the privilege of sanctuary.
And if any creditor could make it appear that he had any money,
goods, or chattels that were not contained in the particular given
in to the dean and the church, the sanctuary man was to be
imprisoned till he came to an agreement with his creditors.
The Abbey-Church of St. Peter at Westminster appears to be very
ancient, though far from being so ancient as is vulgarly reported.
Some relate, without any authority to support the conjecture, that
it was founded in the days of the Apostles by St. Peter himself;
others that it was erected by King Lucius about the year 170. And
by some it is said to have been built by King Sebert, the first
Christian king of the East-Saxons (Essex and Middlesex), anno 611.
But I take it for granted the church was not built before the
convent or abbey it belonged to. People did not use to build
churches at a distance from town, unless for the service of convents
or religious houses. But neither in the times of the Apostles, nor
in the supposed reign of King Lucius, in the second century, was
there any such thing as a convent in England, or perhaps in any part
of Christendom. During the dominion of the Saxons in this island,
monasteries indeed were erected here, and in many other kingdoms, in
great abundance; and as the monks generally chose thick woods or
other solitary places for their residence, where could they meet
with a spot of ground fitter for their purpose than this woody
island called Thorney, then destitute of inhabitants? But I am
inclined to think that neither this or any other monastery was
erected in South Britain till the seventh century, after Austin the
monk came into England. As to the tradition of its having been
built upon the ruins of the temple of Apollo, destroyed by an
earthquake, I do not doubt but the monks were very ready to
propagate a fable of this kind, who formed so many others to show
the triumphs of Christianity over paganism, and to induce their
proselytes to believe that heaven miraculously interposed in their
favour by earthquakes, storms, and other prodigies. But to proceed.
When the convent was erected, I make no doubt that there was a
church or chapel built as usual for the service of the monks; but it
is evident from history that the dimensions of the first or second
church that stood here were not comparable to those of the present
church.
We may rely upon it that about the year 850 there was a church and
convent in the island of Thorney, because about that time, London
being in the possession of the Danes, the convent was destroyed by
them (not in the year 659, as some writers have affirmed, because
the Danes did not invade England till nearly 200 years afterwards).
The abbey lay in ruins about a hundred years, when King Edgar, at
the instance of Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury (and afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury), rebuilt this and several other
monasteries, about the year 960. Edward the Confessor, a devout
prince, enlarged this church and monastery, in which he placed the
Benedictine monks, ordered the regalia to be kept by the fathers of
the convent, and succeeding kings to be crowned here, as William the
Conqueror and several other English monarchs afterwards were, most
of them enriching this abbey with large revenues; but King Henry
III. ordered the church built by Edward the Confessor to be pulled
down, and erected the present magnificent fabric in the room of it,
of which he laid the first stone about the year 1245.
That admired piece of architecture at the east end, dedicated to the
Virgin Mary, was built by Henry VII., anno 1502, and from the
founder is usually called Henry the VII.'s Chapel. Here most of the
English monarchs since that time have been interred.
The dimensions of the abbey-church, according to the new survey, are
as follows, viz.:- The length of the church, from the west end of it
to the east end of St. Edward's Chapel, is 354 feet; the breadth of
the west end, 66 feet; the breadth of the cross aisle, from north to
south, 189 feet; the height of the middle roof, 92 feet; the
distance from the west end of the church to the choir, 162 feet; and
from the west end to the cross aisle, 220 feet; the distance from
the east end of St. Edward's Chapel to the west end of Henry VII.'s
Chapel, 36 feet; and the length of Henry VII.'s Chapel, 99 feet: so
that the length of the whole building is 489 feet; the breadth of
Henry VII.'s Chapel, 66 feet; and the height, 54 feet. The nave and
cross aisles of the abbey-church are supported by fifty slender
pillars, of Sussex marble, besides forty-five demi-pillars or
pilasters. There are an upper and lower range of windows, being
ninety-four in number, those at the four ends of the cross very
spacious. All which, with the arches, roofs, doors, &c., are of the
ancient Gothic order. Above the chapiters the pillars spread into
several semi-cylindrical branches, forming and adorning the arches
of the pillars, and those of the roofs of the aisles, which are
three in number, running from east to west, and a cross aisle
running from north to south. The choir is paved with black and
white marble, in which are twenty-eight stalls on the north side, as
many on the fourth, and eight at the west end; from the choir we
ascend by several steps to a most magnificent marble altarpiece,
which would be esteemed a beauty in an Italian church.
Beyond the altar is King Edward the Confessor's Chapel, surrounded
with eleven or twelve other chapels replenished with monuments of
the British nobility, for a particular whereof I refer the reader to
the "Antiquities of St. Peter, or the Abbey-Church of Westminster,"
by J. Crull, M.D. Lond. 1711, 8vo, and the several supplements
printed since; and shall only take notice of those of the kings and
queens in the chapel of St. Edward the Confessor, which are as
follows, viz., Edward I., King of England; Henry III.; Matilda, wife
of Henry I.; Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I.; St. Edward the
Confessor, and Queen Editha, his wife; Henry V., and Queen Catherine
of Valois, his wife; Edward III., and Queen Philippa, his wife;
Richard II., and Queen Anne, his wife. And on the south side of the
choir, King Sebert, and Queen Anne of Cheve, wife to Henry VIII.
East of St. Edward's Chapel is that of Henry VII., dedicated to the
blessed Virgin Mary, to which we ascend by twelve stone steps. At
the west end whereof are three brazen doors finely wrought, which
give an entrance into it. The stalls on the north and south sides
are exquisitely carved. The roof is supported by twelve pillars and
arches of the Gothic order, abounding with enrichments of carved
figures, fruit, &c. At the east end is a spacious window with
stained glass, besides which there are thirteen other windows above,
and as many below on the north and south sides. Under each of the
thirteen uppermost windows are five figures placed in niches,
representing kings, queens, bishops, &c., and under them the figures
of as many angels supporting imperial crowns. The roof, which is
all stone, is divided into sixteen circles, curiously wrought, and
is the admiration of all that see it.
The outside of this chapel was adorned with fourteen towers, three
figures being placed in niches on each of them, which were formerly
much admired; but the stone decaying and mouldering away, they make
but an odd appearance at present.
In this chapel have been interred most of the English kings since
Richard III., whose tombs are no small ornament to it, particularly
that of Henry VII., the founder, which stands in the middle of the
area towards the east end.
The tomb is composed of a curious pedestal whose sides are adorned
with various figures, as the north with those of six men, the east
with those of two cupids supporting the king's arms and an imperial
crown; on the south side, also, six figures, circumscribed--as those
on the north side--with circles of curious workmanship, the most
easterly of which contains the figure of an angel treading on a
dragon. Here is also a woman and a child, seeming to allude to Rev.
xii.; and on the west end the figure of a rose and an imperial
crown, supported with those of a dragon and a greyhound: on the
tomb are the figures of the king and queen, lying at full length,
with four angels, one at each angle of the tomb, all very finely
done in brass.
The screen or fence is also of solid brass, very strong and
spacious, being in length 19 feet, in breadth 11, and the altitude
11, adorned with forty-two pillars and their arches; also, twenty
smaller hollow columns and their arches in the front of the former,
and joined at the cornice, on which cornice is a kind of acroteria,
enriched with roses and portcullises interchanged in the upper part,
and with the small figures of dragons and greyhounds (the supporters
aforesaid) in the lower part; and at each of the four angles is a
strong pillar made open, or hollow, composed in imitation of diaper
and Gothic archwork; the four sides have been adorned with thirty-
two figures of men, about a cubit high, placed in niches, of which
there are only seven left, the rest being stolen away (one Raymond,
about the 11th of Queen Elizabeth, having been twice indicted for
the same); and about the middle of the upper part of each of the
four sides is a spacious branch adorned with the figure of a rose,
where might on occasion be placed lamps. This admirable piece of
art is open at top, and has two portals, one on the north, the other
on the south side, all of fine brass.
This Royal founder's epitaph:
Septimus Henricus tumulo requiescit in isto,
Qui regum splendor, lumen et orbis erat.
Rex vigil et sapiens, comes virtutis, amatur,
Egregius forma, strenuus atque potens.
Qui peperit pacem regno, qui bella peregit
Plurima, qui victor semper ab hoste redit,
Qui natas binis conjunxit regibus ambas,
Regibus et cunctis faedere junctus erat.
Qui sacrum hoc struxit templum, statuitque; sepulchrum
Pro se, proque sua conjuge, proque domo.
Lustra decem atque; annos tres plus compleverit annos,
Nam tribus octenis regia sceptra tulit;
Quindecies Domini centenus fluxerat annus,
Currebat nonus, cum venit atra dies;
Septima ter mensis lux tunc fulgebat Aprilis,
Cum clausit summum tanta corona diem.
Nulla dedere prius tantum sibi saecula regem
Anglia, vix similem posteriora dabunt.
Septimus hic situs est Henricus gloria regum
Cunctorum, ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt;
Ingenio atque; opibus gestarum et nomine rerum,
Accessere quibus naturae dona benignae:
Frontis honos facies augusta heroica forma,
Junctaque ei suavis conjux per pulchra pudica,
Et faecunda fuit; felices prole parentes,
Henricum quibus octavum terra Anglia debet.
Under the figure of the king.
Hic jacet Henricus ejus nominis septimus, Anglicae quondam rex,
Edmundi Richmondiae comitis filius, qui die 22 Aug. Rex creatus,
statim post apud Westmonasterium die 30 Octob. coronatur 1485.
Moritur deinde 21 die Aprilis anno aetat. 53, regnavit annos 23,
menses 8, minus uno die.
Under the queen's figure.
Hic jacet regina Elizabetha, Edvardi quarti quondam regis filia,
Edvardi quinti regis quondam nominatur soror: Henrici septimi olim
regis conjux, atque; Henrici octavi regis mater inclyta; obiit autem
suum diem in turri Londoniarum die secund. Feb. anno Domini 1502,
37 annorum aetate functa.
The modern tombs in the abbey, best worth the viewing, are those of
the duke of Newcastle, on the left hand as we enter the north door,
of Sir Isaac Newton, at the west end of the choir, of Sir Godfrey
Kneller, and Mr. Secretary Craggs at the west end of the abbey, of
Mr. Prior among the poets at the door which faces the Old Palace
Yard, of the Duke of Buckingham in Henry VII.th's chapel, and that
of Doctor Chamberlain on the North side of the choir: most of these
are admirable pieces of sculpture, and show that the statuary's art
is not entirely lost in this country; though it must be confessed
the English fall short of the Italians in this science.
Westminster Hall is one of the largest rooms in Europe, being two
hundred and twenty-eight feet in length, fifty-six feet broad, and
ninety feet high. The walls are of stone, the windows of the Gothic
form, the floor stone, and the roof of timber covered with lead; and
having not one pillar in it, is supported by buttresses. It is
usually observed that there are no cobwebs ever seen in this hall,
and the reason given for this is, that the timber of which the roof
is composed is Irish oak, in which spiders will not harbour; but I
am inclined to believe that this is a fact not to be depended on,
for I find the timber for rebuilding and repairing the Palace of
Westminster in the reign of Richard III. was brought from the
forests in Essex; and as there is no colour from history to surmise
that the timber of this hall was Irish oak, so is there no
imaginable reason why timber should be fetched from another kingdom
for the repair of the hall, when the counties of Middlesex and Essex
were great part of them forest, and afforded timber enough to have
built twenty such places; and we find that the timber of the Essex
forests was in fact applied to the repairs of this palace; for it
cannot be pretended that the present roof is the same that was
erected by William Rufus when it was first built, it appearing that
Richard II., about the year 1397, caused the old roof to be taken
down and a new one made (as has been observed already) and this is
probably the same we now see. Here are hung up as trophies, 138
colours, and 34 standards, taken from the French and Bavarians at
Hochstadt, anno 1704.
The House of Lords, or chamber where the peers assemble in
Parliament, is situated between the Old Palace Yard and the Thames.
It is a spacious room, of an oblong form, at the south end whereof
is the King's throne, to which he ascends by several steps: on the
right hand of the throne is a seat for the Prince of Wales, and on
the left another for the princes of the blood, and behind the throne
the seats of the peers under age.
On the east side of the house, to the right of the throne, sit the
archbishops and bishops; on the opposite side of the house sit the
dukes, marquises, earls, and viscounts; and on forms crossing the
area, the barons under the degree of viscounts.
Before the throne are three wool-sacks, or broad seats stuffed with
wool, to put the Legislature in mind, it is said, that the right
management of this trade is of the last importance to the kingdom.
On the first of these wool-sacks, next to the throne, sits the Lord
Chancellor, or Keeper, who is Speaker of the House of Peers; and on
the other two, the Lord Chief Justices and the rest of the judges,
with the Master of the Rolls, and the other Masters in Chancery:
about the middle of the house, on the east side, is a chimney, where
a fire is usually kept in the winter; and towards the north, or
lower end of the house, is a bar that runs across it, to which the
commons advance when they bring up bills or impeachments, or when
the King sends for them, and without this bar the council and
witnesses stand at trials before the peers. The house is at present
hung with tapestry, containing the history of the defeat of the
Spanish Armada, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, anno 1588.
The house or chamber where the commons assemble is to the northward
of the House of Lords, and stands east and west, as the other does
north and south. The room is pretty near square, and towards the
upper end is the Speaker's armed chair, to which he ascends by a
step or two; before it is a table where the clerks sit, on which the
mace lies when the Speaker is in the chair, and at other times the
mace is laid under the table. On the north and south sides, and at
the west end, are seats gradually ascending as in a theatre, and
between the seats at the west end is the entrance by a pair of
folding-doors. There are galleries also on the north, south, and
west, where strangers are frequently admitted to hear the debates.
This room was anciently a chapel, founded by King Stephen about the
year 1141, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; however, it obtained
the name of St. Stephen's Chapel. It was rebuilt by King Edward
III., anno 1347, who placed in it a dean, twelve secular canons,
thirteen vicars, four clerks, five choristers, a verger, and a
keeper of the chapel, and built them a convent, which extended along
the Thames, endowing it with large revenues, which at the
dissolution of monasteries in the reign of Edward VI. amounted to
near eleven thousand pounds per annum. Almost ever since the
dissolution, this chapel has been converted to the use we find it at
present, viz., for the session of the Lower House of Parliament,
who, before that time, usually assembled in the chapter-house
belonging to the Abbey, when the Parliament met at Westminster. The
Painted Chamber lies between the House of Lords and the House of
Commons, and here the committees of both houses usually meet at a
conference; but neither this nor the other remaining apartments of
this Palace of Westminster have anything in them that merit a
particular description.
The open place usually called Charing Cross, from a fine cross which
stood there before the grand rebellion, is of a triangular form,
having the Pall Mall and the Haymarket on the north-west, the Strand
on the east, and the street before Whitehall on the south. In the
middle of this space is erected a brazen equestrian statue of King
Charles I., looking towards the place where that prince was murdered
by the rebels, who had erected a scaffold for that purpose before
the gates of his own palace. This statue is erected on a stone
pedestal seventeen feet high, enriched with his Majesty's arms,
trophy-work, palm-branches, &c., enclosed with an iron palisade, and
was erected by King Charles II. after his restoration. The brick
buildings south-east of Charing Cross are mostly beautiful and
uniform, and the King's stables in the Mews, which lie north of it,
and are now magnificently rebuilding of hewn stone, will probably
make Charing Cross as fine a place as any we have in town;
especially as it stands upon an eminence overlooking Whitehall.
The Banqueting-house stands on the east side of the street adjoining
to the great gate of Whitehall on the south. This edifice is built
of hewn stone, and consists of one stately room, of an oblong form,
upwards of forty feet in height, the length and breadth
proportionable, having galleries round it on the inside, the ceiling
beautifully painted by that celebrated history-painter, Sir Peter
Paul Rubens: it is adorned on the outside with a lower and upper
range of columns of the Ionic and Composite orders, their capitals
enriched with fruit, foliage, &c., the intercolumns of the upper and
lower range being handsome sashed windows. It is surrounded on the
top with stone rails or banisters, and covered with lead.
St. James's Palace, where the Royal Family now resides in the winter
season, stands pleasantly upon the north side of the Park, and has
several noble rooms in it, but is an irregular building, by no means
suitable to the grandeur of the British monarch its master. In the
front next St. James's Street there appears little more than an old
gate-house, by which we enter a little square court, with a piazza
on the west side of it leading to the grand staircase; and there are
two other courts beyond, which have not much the air of a prince's
palace. This palace was a hospital, suppressed by Henry VIII., who
built this edifice in the room of it.
But the house most admired for its situation is that of the Duke of
Buckingham at the west end of the Park; in the front of which,
towards the Mall and the grand canal, is a spacious court, the
offices on each side having a communication with the house by two
little bending piazzas and galleries that form the wings. This
front is adorned with two ranges of pilasters of the Corinthian and
Tuscan orders, and over them is an acroteria of figures,
representing Mercury, Secrecy, Equity, and Liberty, and under them
this inscription in large golden characters, viz., SIC SITI
LAETANTVR LARES (Thus situated, may the household gods rejoice).
Behind the house is a fine garden and terrace, from whence there is
prospect adjacent on the house on that side, viz., RVS IN VRBE,
intimating that it has the advantages both of city and country;
above which are figures representing the four seasons: The hall is
paved with marble, and adorned with pilasters, the intercolumns
exquisite paintings in great variety; and on a pedestal, near the
foot of the grand staircase, is a marble figure of Cain killing his
brother Abel; the whole structure exceeding magnificent, rich, and
beautiful, but especially in the finishing and furniture.
Grosvenor or Gravenor Square is bounded on the north by Oxford Road,
on the east by Hanover Square, by Mayfair on the south, and by Hyde
Park on the west; the area whereof contains about five acres of
ground, in which is a large garden laid out into walks, and adorned
with an equestrian statue of King George I. gilded with gold, and
standing on a pedestal, in the centre of the garden, the whole
surrounded with palisades placed upon a dwarf wall. The buildings
generally are the most magnificent we meet with in this great town;
though the fronts of the houses are not all alike, for some of them
are entirely of stone, others of brick and stone, and others of
rubbed brick, with only their quoins, fascias, windows, and door-
cases of stone; some of them are adorned with stone columns of the
several orders, while others have only plain fronts; but they are so
far uniform as to be all sashed, and of pretty near an equal height.
To the kitchens and offices, which have little paved yards with
vaults before them, they descend by twelve or fifteen steps, and
these yards are defended by a high palisade of iron. Every house
has a garden behind it, and many of them coach-houses and stables
adjoining; and others have stables near the square, in a place that
has obtained the name of Grosvenor Mews. The finishing of the
houses within is equal to the figure they make without; the
staircases of some of them I saw were inlaid, and perfect cabinet-
work, and the paintings on the roof and sides by the best hands.
The apartments usually consist of a long range of fine rooms,
equally commodious and beautiful; none of the houses are without two
or three staircases for the convenience of the family. The grand
staircase is generally in the hall or saloon at the entrance. In
short, this square may well be looked upon as the beauty of the
town, and those who have not seen it cannot have an adequate idea of
the place.
The city of Westminster at this day consists of the parishes of St.
Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, and the liberties of
Westminster, viz., St. Martin's-in-the-Fields; St. Mary le Savoy;
St. Mary le Strand; St. Clement's Danes; St. Paul's, Covent Garden;
St. James's, Westminster; St. George's, Hanover Square; and St.
Anne's, Westminster; all under the government of the dean and
chapter of Westminster, and their subordinate officers; or rather,
of a high steward, and such other officers as are appointed by them;
for since the Reformation, the dean and chapter seem to have
delegated their civil power to such officers as they elect for life,
who are not accountable to, or liable to be displaced by them, nor
are they liable to forfeit their offices, but for such offences as a
private man may lose his estate, namely, for high treason, felony,
&c., as happened in the case of their high steward, the Duke of
Ormond, upon whose attainder the dean and chapter proceeded to a new
election.
The next officer to the high steward is the deputy steward,
appointed by the high steward, and confirmed by the dean and
chapter, who is usually a gentleman learned in the law, being judge
of their court for trial of civil actions between party and party,
which is held usually on Wednesday every week. They have also a
court-leet, held annually on St. Thomas's Day, for the choice of
officers, and removal of nuisances. The deputy-steward supplies the
place of sheriff of Westminster, except in the return of members of
Parliament, which is done by the high bailiff, an officer nominated
by the dean and chapter, and confirmed by the high steward. The
high-bailiff also is entitled to all fines, forfeitures, waifs and
strays in Westminster, which makes it a very profitable post.
The high constable, chosen by the burgesses at their court-leet, and
approved by the steward or his deputy, is an officer of some
consideration in this city also, to whom all the rest of the
constables are subject.
The burgesses are sixteen in number, seven for the city and nine for
the liberties of Westminster, appointed by the high steward or his
deputy, every one of whom has his assistant, and has particular
wards or districts: out of these burgesses are chosen two chief
burgesses, one for the city, the other for the liberties. The dean,
high steward, or his deputy, the bailiffs and burgesses, or a quorum
of them, are empowered to make bye-laws, and take cognisance of
small offences, within the city and liberties of Westminster. But I
look upon it that the justices of peace for Westminster have in a
great measure superseded the authority of the burgesses (except as
to weights, measures, and nuisances), by virtue of whose warrants
all petty offenders almost are apprehended and sent to Tothill
Fields Bridewell; and for higher offences, the same justices commit
criminals to Newgate, or the Gatehouse, who receive their trials
before commissioners of oyer and terminer at the Old Bailey, as
notorious criminals in the City of London do; and so far the two
united cities may be said to be under the same government.
The precinct of St. Martin's-le-Grand, in London, is deemed a part
of the city of Westminster, and the inhabitants vote in the
elections of members of Parliament for Westminster.
The ecclesiastical government of the city of Westminster is in the
dean, and chapter, whose commissary has the jurisdiction in all
ecclesiastical causes, and the probate of wills; from whom there
lies no appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury or other spiritual
judge, but to the King in Chancery alone, who upon such appeal
issues a commission under the Great Seal of England, constituting a
court of delegates to determine the cause finally.
I next proceed to survey the out-parishes in the Counties of
Middlesex and Surrey which are comprehended within the bills of
mortality, and esteemed part of this great town. And first, St.
Giles's in the Fields contains these chief streets and places:
Great Lincoln's Inn Fields, part of Lincoln's Inn Garden, Turnstile,
Whetstone Park, part of High Holborn, part of Duke Street, Old and
New Wild Street, Princes Street, Queen Street, part of Drury Lane,
Brownlow Street, Bolton Street, Castle Street, King Street, the
Seven Dials, or seven streets comprehending Earl Street, Queen
Street, White Lion Street, and St. Andrew's Street, Monmouth Street,
the east side of Hog Lane, Stedwell Street, and Staig Street.
Great Lincoln's Inn Fields or Square contains about ten acres of
ground, and is something longer than it is broad, the longest sides
extending from east to west. The buildings on the west and south
generally make a grand figure.
In the parish of St. Sepulchre, which is without the liberties of
the City of London, we meet with Hicks's Hall and the Charter House.
Hicks's Hall is situated in the middle of St. John's Street, towards
the south end, and is the sessions house for the justices of peace
of the County of Middlesex, having been erected for this end, anno
1612, by Sir Baptist Hicks, a mercer in Cheapside, then a justice of
the peace. The justices before holding their sessions at the Castle
Inn, near Smithfield Bars.
To the eastward of Hicks's Hall stood the late dissolved monastery
of the Charter House, founded by Sir Walter Manny, a native of the
Low Countries, knighted by King Edward III. for services done to
this crown, probably in the wars against France.
Sir Walter Manny at first erected only a chapel, and assigned it to
be the burial-place of all strangers; but in the year 1371 Sir
Walter founded a monastery of Carthusian monks here, transferring to
these fathers thirteen acres and a rood of land with the said
chapel: the revenues of which convent, on the dissolution of
monasteries, 30 Henry VIII., amounted to 642 pounds 4d. 1ob. per
annum.
Sir Thomas Audley soon after obtained a grant of this Carthusian
monastery, together with Duke's Place, and gave the former in
marriage with his daughter Margaret to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, from
whom it descended to the Earl of Suffolk, and was called Howard
House, the surname of that noble family. By which name Thomas
Sutton, Esq., purchased it of the Earl of Suffolk for 13,000 pounds,
anno 1611, and converted it into a hospital by virtue of letters
patent obtained from King James I., which were afterwards confirmed
by Act of Parliament, 3 Charles I.
Pounds s. d.
The manors, lands, tenements, and
hereditaments which the founder
settled upon this hospital
amounted to, per annum 4493 19 10
The revenues purchased by his
executors, &c., after his death,
to per annum 897 13 9
Total of the charity per annum 5391 13 7
But the revenues now amount to upwards of 6,000 pounds per annum by
the improvement of the rents. This charity was given for the
maintenance of fourscore old men, who were to be either gentlemen by
descent reduced to poverty, soldiers by sea or land, merchants who
had suffered by piracy or shipwreck, or servants of the King's
household, and were to be fifty years of age and upwards at their
admission, except maimed soldiers, who are capable of being admitted
at forty years of age. Nor are any to be admitted who are afflicted
with leprosy, or any unclean or infectious disease, or who shall be
possessed of the value of 200 pounds, or 14 pounds per annum for
life, or who are married men. No poor brother to go beyond sea
without the licence of six of the governors, nor to go into the
country for above two months without the master's leave, and during
such absence shall be allowed but two-thirds of his commons in money
besides his salary; and if a brother go out and is arrested he shall
have no allowance during his absence, but his place to be reserved
till the governors' pleasure be known.
No brother to pass the gates of the hospital in his livery gown, or
to lie out of the house, or solicit causes, or molest any of the
King's subjects, under a certain pecuniary pain; and all other
duties, such as frequenting chapel, decent clothing and behaviour,
to be regulated by the governors.
This munificent benefactor also founded a grammar school in the
Charter House, to consist of a master, usher, and forty scholars.
No scholars to be admitted at above fourteen or under ten years of
age.
The scholars are habited in black gowns, and when any of them are
fit for the university, and are elected, each of them receives 20
pounds per annum for eight years out of the revenues of the house.
And such boys who are found more fit for trades are bound out, and a
considerable sum of money given with them.
When any of the forty boys are disposed of, or any of the old men
die, others are placed in their rooms by the governors in their
turns.
The master is to be an unmarried man, aged about forty; one that
hath no preferment in Church or State which may draw him from his
residence and care of the hospital.
The preacher must be a Master of Arts, of seven years' standing in
one of the universities of England, and one who has preached four
years.
The governors meet in December, to take the year's accounts, view
the state of the hospital, and to determine other affairs; and again
in June or July, to dispose of the scholars to the university or
trades, make elections, &c. And a committee of five at the least is
appointed at the assembly in December yearly, to visit the school
between Easter and Midsummer, &c.
The buildings of the Charter House take up a great deal of ground,
and are commodious enough, but have no great share of beauty. This
house has pretty much the air of a college or monastery, of which
the principal rooms are the chapel and the hall; and the old men who
are members of the society have their several cells, as the monks
have in Portugal.
The chapel is built of brick and boulder, and is about sixty-three
feet in length, thirty-eight in breadth, and twenty-four in height.
Here Sir William Manny, founder of the Carthusian monastery, was
buried; and here was interred Mr. Sutton, the founder of the
hospital, whose monument is at the north-east angle of the chapel,
being of black and white marble, adorned with four columns, with
pedestals and entablature of the Corinthian order, between which
lies his effigy at length in a fur gown, his face upwards and the
palms of his hands joined over his breast; and on the tomb is the
following inscription:-
"Sacred to the glory of God, in grateful memory of Thomas Sutton,
Esq. Here lieth buried the body of Thomas Sutton, late of Castle
Camps, in the County of Cambridge, Esq., at whose only cost and
charges this Hospital was founded and endowed with large
possessions, for the relief of poor men and children. He was a
gentleman born at Knayth, in the County of Lincoln, of worthy and
honest parentage. He lived to the age of seventy-nine years, and
deceased the 12th day of December, 1611."
The Charter House gardens are exceeding pleasant, and of a very
great extent, considering they stand so far within this great town.
I shall, in the next place, survey the free schools and charity
schools.
Anciently I have read that there were three principal churches in
London that had each of them a famous school belonging to it; and
these three churches are supposed to be--(1) The Cathedral Church of
St. Paul, because, at a general council holden at Rome, anno 1176,
it was decreed, "That every cathedral church should have its
schoolmaster, to teach poor scholars and others as had been
accustomed, and that no man should take any reward for licence to
teach." (2) The Abbey Church of St Peter at Westminster; for of the
school here Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, in the reign of William
the Conqueror, writes as follows: "I, Ingulphus, a humble servant
of God, born of English parents, in the most beautiful city of
London, for attaining to learning was first put to Westminster, and
after to study at Oxford," &c. (3) The Abbey Church of St. Saviour,
at Bermondsey, in Southwark; for this is supposed to be the most
ancient and most considerable monastery about the city at that time,
next to that of St. Peter at Westminster, though there is no doubt
but the convents of St. John by Clerkenwell, St. Bartholomew in
Smithfield, St. Mary Overy in Southwark, that of the Holy Trinity by
Aldgate, and other monasteries about the city, had their respective
schools, though not in such reputation as the three first. Of these
none are now existing but St. Paul's and Westminster, though perhaps
on different and later foundations. Yet other schools have been
erected in this metropolis from time to time, amongst which I find
that called Merchant Taylors' to be the most considerable.
St. Paul's School is situated on the east side of St. Paul's
Churchyard, being a handsome fabric built with brick and stone,
founded by John Collet, D.D. and Dean of St. Paul's, anno 1512, who
appointed a high-master, sur-master, a chaplain or under-master, and
153 scholars, to be taught by them gratis, of any nation or country.
He also left some exhibitions to such scholars as are sent to the
universities and have continued at this school three years. The
masters are elected by the wardens and assistants of the Mercers'
Company, and the scholars are admitted by the master upon a warrant
directed to him by the surveyor. The elections for the university
are in March, before Lady Day, and they are allowed their
exhibitions for seven years. To this school belongs a library,
consisting chiefly of classic authors. The frontispiece is adorned
with busts, entablature, pediments, festoons, shields, vases, and
the Mercers' arms cut in stone, with this inscription over the door:
INGREDERE UT PROFICIAS. Upon every window of the school was
written, by the founder's direction: AUT DOCE, AUT DISCE, AUT
DISCEDE--i.e., Either teach, learn, or begone.
The founder, in the ordinances to be observed in this school, says
he founded it to the honour of the Child Jesus, and of His blessed
mother Mary; and directs that the master be of a healthful
constitution, honest, virtuous, and learned in Greek and Latin; that
he be a married or single man, or a priest that hath no cure; that
his wages should be a mark a week, and a livery gown of four nobles,
with a house in town, and another at Stebonheath (Stepney); that
there should be no play-days granted but to the King, or some bishop
in person: that the scholars every Childermas Day should go to St.
Paul's Church, and hear the child-bishop sermon, and afterwards at
high mass each of them offer a penny to the child-bishop: and
committed the care of the school to the Company of Mercers; the
stipends to the masters, the officers' salaries, &c., belonging to
the school, amounting at first to 118 pounds 14s. 7d. 1ob. per
annum; but the rents and revenues of the school being of late years
considerably advanced, the salaries of the masters have been more
than doubled, and many exhibitions granted to those who go to the
university, of 10 pounds and 6 pounds odd money per annum. The
second master hath a handsome house near the school, as well as the
first master.
The school at Mercers' Chapel, in Cheapside, hath the same patrons
and governors as that of St. Paul's, viz., the Mercers, who allow
the master a salary of 40 pounds per annum, and a house, for
teaching twenty-five scholars gratis.
Merchant Taylors' School is situated near Cannon Street, on St.
Lawrence Poultney (or Pountney) Hill. This school, I am told,
consists of six forms, in which are three hundred lads, one hundred
of whom are taught gratis, another hundred pay two shillings and
sixpence per quarter, and the third hundred five shillings a
quarter; for instructing of whom there is a master and three ushers:
and out of these scholars some are annually, on St. Barnabas' Day,
the 11th of June, elected to St. John's College, in Oxford, where
there are forty-six fellowships belonging to the school.
As to the charity schools: there are in all 131, some for boys,
others for girls; where the children are taught, if boys, to read,
write, and account; if girls, to read, sew, and knit; who are all
clothed and fitted for service or trades gratis.
I proceed in the next place to show how well London is supplied with
water, firing, bread-corn, flesh, fish, beer, wine, and other
provisions.
And as to water, no city was ever better furnished with it, for
every man has a pipe or fountain of good fresh water brought into
his house, for less than twenty shillings a year, unless brewhouses,
and some other great houses and places that require more water than
an ordinary family consumes, and these pay in proportion to the
quantity they spend; many houses have several pipes laid in, and may
have one in every room, if they think fit, which is a much greater
convenience than two or three fountains in a street, for which some
towns in other countries are so much admired.
These pipes of water are chiefly supplied from the waterworks at
London Bridge, Westminster, Chelsea, and the New River.
Besides the water brought from the Thames and the New River, there
are a great many good springs, pumps, and conduits about the town,
which afford excellent water for drinking. There are also mineral
waters on the side of Islington and Pancras.
This capital also is well supplied with firing, particularly coals
from Newcastle, and pit-coals from Scotland, and other parts; but
wood is excessively dear, and used by nobody for firing, unless
bakers, and some few persons of quality in their chambers and
drawing-rooms.
As for bread-corn, it is for the most part brought to London after
it is converted into flour, and both bread and flour are extremely
reasonable: we here buy as much good white bread for three-
halfpence or twopence, as will serve an Englishman a whole day, and
flour in proportion. Good strong beer also may be had of the
brewer, for about twopence a quart, and of the alehouses that retail
it for threepence a quart. Bear Quay, below bridge, is a great
market for malt, wheat, and horse-corn; and Queenhithe, above the
bridge, for malt, wheat, flour, and other grain.
The butchers here compute that there are about one thousand oxen
sold in Smithfield Market one week with another the year round;
besides many thousand sheep, hogs, calves, pigs, and lambs, in this
and other parts of the town; and a great variety of venison, game,
and poultry. Fruit, roots, herbs, and other garden stuff are very
cheap and good.
Fish also are plentiful, such as fresh cod, plaice, flounders,
soles, whitings, smelts, sturgeon, oysters, lobsters, crabs,
shrimps, mackerel, and herrings in the season; but it must be
confessed that salmon, turbot, and some other sea-fish are dear, as
well as fresh-water fish.
Wine is imported from foreign countries, and is dear. The port wine
which is usually drunk, and is the cheapest, is two shillings a
quart, retailed in taverns, and not much less than eighteen or
twenty pounds the hogshead, when purchased at the best hand; and as
to French wines, the duties are so high upon them that they are
double the price of the other at least. White wine is about the
same price as red port, and canary about a third dearer.
It is computed that there are in London some part of the year, when
the nobility and gentry are in town, 15,000 or 16,000 large horses
for draught, used in coaches, carts, or drays, besides some
thousands of saddle-horses; and yet is the town so well supplied
with hay, straw, and corn, that there is seldom any want of them.
Hay generally is not more than forty shillings the load, and from
twenty pence to two shillings the bushel is the usual price of oats.
The opportunity of passing from one part of the town to the other,
by coach, chair, or boat, is a very great convenience, especially in
the winter, or in very hot weather. A servant calls a coach or a
chair in any of the principal streets, which attends at a minute's
warning, and carries one to any part of the town, within a mile and
a half distance, for a shilling, but to a chair is paid one-third
more; the coaches also will wait for eighteenpence the first hour,
and a shilling every succeeding hour all day long; or you may hire a
coach and a pair of horses all day, in or out of town, for ten
shillings per day; there are coaches also that go to every village
almost about town, within four or five miles, in which a passenger
pays but one shilling, and in some but sixpence, for his passage
with other company.
The pleasantest way of moving from one end of the town to the other
in summer time is by water, on that spacious gentle stream the
Thames, on which you travel two miles for sixpence, if you have two
watermen, and for threepence if you have but one; and to any village
up or down the river you go with company for a trifle. But the
greatest advantage reaped from this noble river is that it brings
whatever this or other countries afford. Down the river from
Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Bucks, &c., come corn and all manner of
provision of English growth, as has been observed already; and up
the river, everything that the coasts and the maritime counties of
England, Scotland, or Ireland afford; this way also are received the
treasures and merchandise of the East and West Indies, and indeed of
the four quarters of the world.
Carts are hired as coaches, to remove goods and merchandise from one
part of the town to the other, whose rates are also fixed, and are
very reasonable; and for small burdens or parcels, and to send on
messages, there are porters at every corner of the streets, those
within the City of London and liberties thereof being licensed by
authority, and wearing a badge or ticket; in whose hands goods of
any value, and even bills of exchange or sums of money, may be
safely trusted, they being obliged at their admission to give
security. There is also a post that goes from one part of the town
to the other several times a day; and once a day to the neighbouring
villages, with letters and small parcels; for the carriage of which
is given no more than a penny the letter or parcel. And I should
have remembered that every coach, chair, and boat that plies for
hire has its number upon it; and if the number be taken by any
friend or servant, at the place you set out from, the proprietor of
the vehicle will be obliged to make good any loss or damage that may
happen to the person carried in it, through the default of the
people that carry him, and to make him satisfaction for any abuse or
ill-language he may receive from them.
The high streets from one end of the town to the other are kept
clean by scavengers in the winter, and in summer the dust in some
wide streets is laid by water-carts: they are so wide and spacious,
that several lines of coaches and carts may pass by each other
without interruption. Foot-passengers in the high streets go about
their business with abundance of ease and pleasure; they walk upon a
fine smooth pavement; defended by posts from the coaches and wheel-
carriages; and though they are jostled sometimes in the throng, yet
as this seldom happens out of design, few are offended at it; the
variety of beautiful objects, animate and inanimate, he meets with
in the streets and shops, inspires the passenger with joy, and makes
him slight the trifling inconvenience of being crowded now and then.
The lights also in the shops till eight or nine in the evening,
especially in those of toymen and pastry-cooks, in the winter, make
the night appear even brighter and more agreeable than the day
itself.
From the lights I come very naturally to speak of the night-guards
or watch. Each watch consists of a constable and a certain number
of watchmen, who have a guard-room or watch-house in some certain
place, from whence watchmen are despatched every hour, to patrol in
the streets and places in each constable's district; to see if all
be safe from fire and thieves; and as they pass they give the hour
of the night, and with their staves strike at the door of every
house.
If they meet with any persons they suspect of ill designs,
quarrelsome people, or lewd women in the streets, they are empowered
to carry them before the constable at his watch-house, who confines
them till morning, when they are brought before a justice of the
peace, who commits them to prison or releases them, according as the
circumstances of the case are.
Mobs and tumults were formerly very terrible in this great city; not
only private men have been insulted and abused, and their houses
demolished, but even the Court and Parliament have been influenced
or awed by them. But there is now seldom seen a multitude of people
assembled, unless it be to attend some malefactor to his execution,
or to pelt a villain in the pillory, the last of which being an
outrage that the Government has ever seemed to wink at; and it is
observed by some that the mob are pretty just upon these occasions;
they seldom falling upon any but notorious rascals, such as are
guilty of perjury, forgery, scandalous practices, or keeping of low
houses, and these with rotten eggs, apples, and turnips, they
frequently maul unmercifully, unless the offender has money enough
to bribe the constables and officers to protect him.
The London inns, though they are as commodious for the most part as
those we meet with in other places, yet few people choose to take up
their quarters in them for any long time; for, if their business
requires them to make any stay in London, they choose to leave their
horses at the inn or some livery-stable, and take lodgings in a
private house. At livery stables they lodge no travellers, only
take care of their horses, which fare better here than usually at
inns; and at these places it is that gentlemen hire saddle-horses
for a journey. At the best of them are found very good horses and
furniture: they will let out a good horse for 4s. a day, and an
ordinary hackney for 2s. 6d., and for 5s. you may have a hunter for
the city hounds have the liberty of hunting; in Enfield Chase and
round the town, and go out constantly every week in the season,
followed by a great many young gentlemen and tradesmen. They have
an opportunity also of hunting with the King's hounds at Richmond
and Windsor: and such exercises seem very necessary for people who
are constantly in London, and eat and drink as plentifully as any
people in the world. And now I am speaking of hired horses, I
cannot avoid taking notice of the vast number of coach-horses that
are kept to be let out to noblemen or gentlemen, to carry or bring
them to and from the distant parts of the kingdom, or to supply the
undertakers of funerals with horses for their coaches and hearses.
There are some of these men that keep several hundreds of horses,
with coaches, coachmen, and a complete equipage, that will be ready
at a day's warning to attend a gentleman to any part of England.
These people also are great jockeys. They go to all the fairs in
the country and buy up horses, with which they furnish most of the
nobility and gentry about town. And if a nobleman does not care to
run any hazard, or have the trouble of keeping horses in town, they
will agree to furnish him with a set all the year round.
The principal taverns are large handsome edifices, made as
commodious for the entertaining a variety of company as can be
contrived, with some spacious rooms for the accommodation of
numerous assemblies. Here a stranger may be furnished with wines,
and excellent food of all kinds, dressed after the best manner:-
each company, and every particular man, if he pleases, has a room to
himself, and a good fire if it be winter time, for which he pays
nothing, and is not to be disturbed or turned out of his room by any
other man of what quality soever, till he thinks fit to leave it.
And as many people meet here upon business, at least an equal-number
resort hither purely for pleasure, or to refresh themselves in an
evening after a day's fatigue.
And though the taverns are very numerous, yet ale-houses are much
more so, being visited by the inferior tradesmen, mechanics,
journeymen, porters, coachmen, carmen, servants, and others whose
pockets will not reach a glass of wine. Here they sit promiscuously
in common dirty rooms, with large fires, and clouds of tobacco,
where one that is not used to them can scarce breathe or see; but as
they are a busy sort of people, they seldom stay long, returning to
their several employments, and are succeeded by fresh sets of the
same rank of men, at their leisure hours, all day long.
Of eating-houses and cook-shops there are not many, considering the
largeness of the town, unless it be about the Inns of Court and
Chancery, Smithfield, and the Royal Exchange, and some other places,
to which the country-people and strangers resort when they come to
town. Here is good butcher's meat of all kinds, and in the best of
them fowls, pigs, geese, &c., the last of which are pretty dear; but
one that can make a meal of butcher's meat, may have as much as he
cares to eat for sixpence; he must be content indeed to sit in a
public room, and use the same linen that forty people have done
before him. Besides meat, he finds very good white bread, table-
beer, &c.
Coffee-houses are almost as numerous as ale-houses, dispersed in
every part of the town, where they sell tea, coffee, chocolate,
drams, and in many of the great ones arrack and other punch, wine,
&c. These consist chiefly of one large common room, with good fires
in winter; and hither the middle sort of people chiefly resort, many
to breakfast, read the news, and talk politics; after which they
retire home: others, who are strangers in town, meet here about
noon, and appoint some tavern to dine at; and a great many attend at
the coffee-houses near the Exchange, the Inns of Court, and
Westminster, about their business. In the afternoon about four,
people resort to these places again, from whence they adjourn to the
tavern, the play, &c.; and some, when they have taken a handsome
dose, run to the coffee-house at midnight for a dish of coffee to
set them right; while others conclude the day here with drams, or a
bowl of punch.
There are but few cider-houses about London, though this be liquor
of English growth, because it is generally thought too cold for the
climate, and to elevate the spirits less than wine or strong beer.
The four grand distinctions of the people are these:- (1) The
nobility and gentry; (2) the merchants and first-rate tradesmen; (3)
the lawyers and physicians; and (4) inferior tradesmen, attorneys,
clerks, apprentices, coachmen, carmen, chairmen, watermen, porters,
and servants.
The first class may not only be divided into nobility and gentry,
but into either such as have dependence on the Court, or such as
have none. Those who have offices, places, or pensions from the
Court, or any expectations from thence, constantly attend the levees
of the prince and his ministers, which takes up the greatest part of
the little morning they have. At noon most of the nobility, and
such gentlemen as are members of the House of Commons, go down to
Westminster, and when the Houses do not sit late, return home to
dinner. Others that are not members of either House, and have no
particular business to attend, are found in the chocolate-houses
near the Court, or in the park, and many more do not stir from their
houses till after dinner. As to the ladies, who seldom rise till
about noon, the first part of their time is spent, after the duties
of the closet, either at the tea-table or in dressing, unless they
take a turn to Covent Garden or Ludgate Hill, and tumble over the
mercers' rich silks, or view some India or China trifle, some
prohibited manufacture, or foreign lace.
Thus, the business of the day being despatched before dinner, both
by the ladies and gentlemen, the evening is devoted to pleasure; all
the world get abroad in their gayest equipage between four and five
in the evening, some bound to the play, others to the opera, the
assembly, the masquerade, or music-meeting, to which they move in
such crowds that their coaches can scarce pass the streets.
The merchants and tradesmen of the first-rate make no mean figure in
London; they have many of them houses equal to those of the
nobility, with great gates and courtyards before them, and seats in
the country, whither they retire the latter end of the week,
returning to the city again on Mondays or Tuesdays; they keep their
coaches, saddle-horses, and footmen; their houses are richly and
beautifully furnished; and though their equipage be not altogether
so shining and their servants so numerous as those of the nobility,
they generally abound in wealth and plenty, and are generally
masters of a larger cash than they have occasion to make use of in
the way of trade, whereby they are always provided against
accidents, and are enabled to make an advantageous purchase when it
offers. And in this they differ from the merchants of other
countries, that they know when they have enough, for they retire to
their estates, and enjoy the fruits of their labours in the decline
of life, reserving only business enough to divert their leisure
hours. They become gentlemen and magistrates in the counties where
their estates lie, and as they are frequently the younger brothers
of good families, it is not uncommon to see them purchase those
estates that the eldest branches of their respective families have
been obliged to part with.
Their character is that they are neither so much in haste as the
French to grow rich, nor so niggardly as the Dutch to save; that
their houses are richly furnished, and their tables well served.
You are neither soothed nor soured by the merchants of London; they
seldom ask too much, and foreigners buy of them as cheap as others.
They are punctual in their payments, generous and charitable, very
obliging, and not too ceremonious; easy of access, ready to
communicate their knowledge of the respective countries they traffic
with, and the condition of their trade.
As to their way of life, they usually rise some hours before the
gentlemen at the other end of the town, and having paid their
devotions to Heaven, seldom fail in a morning of surveying the
condition of their accounts, and giving their orders to their
bookkeepers and agents for the management of their respective
trades; after which, being dressed in a modest garb, without any
footmen or attendants, they go about their business to the Custom
House, Bank, Exchange, &c., and after dinner sometimes apply
themselves to business again; but the morning is much the busiest
part of the day. In the evening of every other day the post comes
in, when the perusing their letters may employ part of their time,
as the answering them does on other days of the week; and they
frequently meet at the tavern in the evening, either to transact
their affairs, or to take a cheerful glass after the business of the
day is over.
As to the wives and daughters of the merchants and principal
tradesmen, they endeavour to imitate the Court ladies in their
dress, and follow much the same diversions; and it is not uncommon
to see a nobleman match with a citizen's daughter, by which she
gains a title, and he discharges the incumbrances on his estate with
her fortune. Merchants' sons are sometimes initiated into the same
business their fathers follow; but if they find an estate gotten to
their hands, many of them choose rather to become country gentlemen.
As to the lawyers or barristers, these also are frequently the
younger sons of good families; and the elder brother too is
sometimes entered of the Inns of Court, that he may know enough of
the law to keep his estate.
A lawyer of parts and good elocution seldom fails of rising to
preferment, and acquiring an estate even while he is a young man. I
do not know any profession in London where a person makes his
fortune so soon as in the law, if he be an eminent pleader. Several
of them have of late years been advanced to the peerage; as Finch,
Somers, Cowper, Harcourt, Trevor, Parker, Lechmere, King, Raymond,
&c., scarce any of them much exceeding forty years of age when they
arrived at that honour.
The fees are so great, and their business so engrosses every minute
of their time, that it is impossible their expenses should equal
their income; but it must be confessed they labour very hard, are
forced to be up early and late, and to try their constitutions to
the utmost (I mean those in full business) in the service of their
clients. They rise in winter long before it is light, to read over
their briefs; dress, and prepare themselves for the business of the
day; at eight or nine they go to Westminster, where they attend and
plead either in the Courts of Equity or Common Law, ordinarily till
one or two, and (upon a great trial) sometimes till the evening. By
that time they have got home, and dined, they have other briefs to
peruse, and they are to attend the hearings, either at the Lord
Chancellor's or the Rolls, till eight or nine in the evening; after
which, when they return to their chambers, they are attended by
their clients, and have their several cases and briefs to read over
and consider that evening, or the next morning before daylight;
insomuch that they have scarce time for their meals, or their
natural rest, particularly at the latter end of a term. They are
not always in this hurry; indeed, if they were, the best
constitution must soon be worn out; nor would anyone submit to such
hardships who had a subsistence, but with a prospect of acquiring a
great estate suddenly; for the gold comes tumbling into the pockets
of these great lawyers, which makes them refuse no cause, how
intricate or doubtful soever. And this brings me to consider the
high fees that are usually taken by an eminent counsel; as for a
single opinion upon a case, two, three, four, and five guineas; upon
a hearing, five or ten; and perhaps a great many more; and if the
cause does not come on till the next day, they are all to be fee'd
again, though there are not less than six or seven counsel of a
side.
The next considerable profession therefore I shall mention in London
is that of the physicians, who are not so numerous as the former;
but those who are eminent amongst them acquire estates equal to the
lawyers, though they seldom arrive at the like honours. It is a
useful observation, indeed, as to English physicians, that they
seldom get their bread till they have no teeth to eat it: though,
when they have acquired a reputation, they are as much followed as
the great lawyers; they take care, however, not to be so much
fatigued. You find them at Batson's or Child's Coffee House usually
in the morning, and they visit their patients in the afternoon.
Those that are men of figure amongst them will not rise out of their
beds or break their rest on every call. The greatest fatigue they
undergo is the going up forty or fifty pair of stairs every day; for
the patient is generally laid pretty near the garret, that he may
not be disturbed.
These physicians are allowed to be men of skill in their profession,
and well versed in other parts of learning. The great grievance
here (as in the law) is that the inferior people are undone by the
exorbitance of their fees; and what is still a greater hardship is,
that if a physician has been employed, he must be continued, however
unable the patient is to bear the expense, as no apothecary may
administer anything to the sick man, if he has been prescribed to
first by a physician: so that the patient is reduced to this
dilemma, either to die of the disease, or starve his family, if his
sickness happens to be of any duration. A physician here scorns to
touch any other metal but gold, and the surgeons are still more
unreasonable; and this may be one reason why the people of this city
have so often recourse to quacks, for they are cheap and easily come
at, and the mob are not judges of their ability; they pretend to
great things; they have cured princes, and persons of the first
quality, as they pretend; and it must be confessed their patients
are as credulous as they can desire, taken with grand pretences, and
the assurance of the impostor, and frequently like things the better
that are offered them out of the common road.
I come in the next place to treat of attorneys' clerks, apprentices,
inferior tradesmen, coachmen, porters, servants, and the lowest
class of men in this town, which are far the most numerous: and
first of the lawyers' clerks and apprentices, I find it a general
complaint that they are under no manner of government; before their
times are half out, they set up for gentlemen; they dress, they
drink, they game, frequent the playhouses, and intrigue with the
women; and it is no uncommon thing with clerks to bully their
masters, and desert their service for whole days and nights whenever
they see fit.
As to the ordinary tradesmen, they live by buying and selling; I
cannot say they are so eminent for their probity as the merchants
and tradesmen of the first rate; they seem to have a wrong bias
given them in their education; many of them have no principles of
honour, no other rule to go by than the fishmonger, namely, to get
what they can, who consider only the weakness or ignorance of the
customer, and make their demands accordingly, taking sometimes half
the price they ask. And I must not forget the numbers of poor
creatures who live and maintain their families by buying provisions
in one part of the town, and retailing them in another, whose stock
perhaps does not amount to more than forty or fifty shillings, and
part of this they take up (many of them) on their clothes at a
pawnbroker's on a Monday morning, which they make shift to redeem on
a Saturday night, that they may appear in a proper habit at their
parish-churches on a Sunday. These are the people that cry fish,
fruit, herbs, roots, news, &c, about town.
As to hackney-coachmen, carmen, porters, chairmen, and watermen,
though they work hard, they generally eat and drink well, and are
decently clothed on holidays; for the wife, if she be industrious,
either by her needle, washing, or other business proper to her sex,
makes no small addition to their gains; and by their united labours
they maintain their families handsomely if they have their healths.
As to the common menial servants, they have great wages, are well
kept and clothed, but are, notwithstanding the plague, of almost
every house in town. They form themselves into societies, or rather
confederacies, contributing to the maintenance of each other when
out of place; and if any of them cannot manage the family where they
are entertained as they please, immediately they give notice they
will be gone. There is no speaking to them; they are above
correction; and if a master should attempt it, he may expect to be
handsomely drubbed by the creature he feeds and harbours, or perhaps
an action brought against him for it. It is become a common saying,
"If my servant ben't a thief, if he be but honest, I can bear with
other things;" and indeed it is very rare in London to meet with an
honest servant.
When I was treating of tradesmen, I had forgot to mention those
nuisances of the town, the itinerant pedlars who deal in toys and
hardware, and those who pretend to sell foreign silks, linen, India
handkerchiefs, and other prohibited and unaccustomed goods. These
we meet at every coffee-house and corner of the streets, and they
visit also every private house; the women have such a gust for
everything that is foreign or prohibited, that these vermin meet
with a good reception everywhere. The ladies will rather buy home
manufactures of these people than of a neighbouring shopkeeper,
under the pretence of buying cheaper, though they frequently buy
damaged goods, and pay a great deal dearer for them than they would
do in a tradesman's shop, which is a great discouragement to the
fair dealer that maintains a family, and is forced to give a large
credit, while these people run away with the ready money. And I am
informed that some needy tradesmen employ fellows to run hawking
about the streets with their goods, and sell pennyworths, in order
to furnish themselves with a little money.
As to the recreations of the citizens, many of them are entertained
in the same manner as the quality are, resorting to the play, park,
music-meetings, &c.; and in the summer they visit Richmond,
Hampstead, Epsom, and other neighbouring towns, where horse-racing,
and all manner of rural sports, as well as other diversions, are
followed in the summer season.
Towards autumn, when the town is thin, many of the citizens who deal
in a wholesale way visit the distant parts of the kingdom to get in
their debts, or procure orders for fresh parcels of goods; and much
about the same time the lawyers are either employed in the several
circuits, or retired to their country seats; so that the Court, the
nobility and gentry, the lawyers, and many of the citizens being
gone into the country, the town resumes another face. The west end
of it appears perfectly deserted; in other parts their trade falls
off; but still in the streets about the Royal Exchange we seldom
fail to meet with crowds of people, and an air of business in the
hottest season.
I have heard it affirmed, however, that many citizens live beyond
their income, which puts them upon tricking and prevaricating in
their dealings, and is the principal occasion of those frequent
bankruptcies seen in the papers; ordinary tradesmen drink as much
wine, and eat as well, as gentlemen of estates; their cloth, their
lace, their linen, are as fine, and they change it as often; and
they frequently imitate the quality in their expensive pleasures.
As to the diversions of the inferior tradesmen and common people on
Sundays and other holidays, they frequently get out of town; the
neighbouring villas are full of them, and the public-houses there
usually provide a dinner in expectation of their city guests; but if
they do not visit them in a morning, they seldom fail of walking out
in the fields in the afternoon; every walk, every public garden and
path near the town are crowded with the common people, and no place
more than the park; for which reason I presume the quality are
seldom seen there on a Sunday, though the meanest of them are so
well dressed at these times that nobody need be ashamed of their
company on that account; for you will see every apprentice, every
porter, and cobbler, in as good cloth and linen as their betters;
and it must be a very poor woman that has not a suit of Mantua silk,
or something equal to it, to appear abroad in on holidays.
And now, if we survey these several inhabitants in one body, it will
be found that there are about a million of souls in the whole town,
of whom there may be 150,000 men and upwards capable of bearing
arms, that is, between eighteen and sixty.
If it be demanded what proportion that part of the town properly
called the City of London bears to the rest, I answer that,
according to the last calculations, there are in the city 12,000
houses; in the parishes without the walls, 36,320; in the parishes
of Middlesex and Surrey, which make part of the town, 46,300; and in
the city and liberties of Westminster, 28,330; in which are included
the precincts of the Tower, Norton Folgate, the Rolls, Whitefriars,
the Inns of Court and Chancery, the King's palaces, and all other
extra-parochial places.
As to the number of inhabitants in each of these four grand
divisions, if we multiply the number of houses in the City of London
by eight and a half, there must be 102,000 people there, according
to this estimate. By the same rule, there must be 308,720 people in
the seventeen parishes without the walls; 393,550 in the twenty-one
out-parishes of Middlesex and Surrey; and 240,805 in the city and
liberties of Westminster, all which compose the sum-total of
1,045,075 people.
Let me now proceed to inquire into the state of the several great
trading companies in London. The first, in point of time, I find to
be the Hamburg Company, originally styled "Merchants of the Staple"
(that is, of the staple of wool), and afterwards Merchant
Adventurers. They were first incorporated in the reign of King
Edward I., anno 1296, and obtained leave of John, Duke of Brabant,
to make Antwerp their staple or mart for the Low Countries, where
the woollen manufactures then flourished more than in any country in
Europe. The business of this company at first seems to be chiefly,
if not altogether, the vending of English wool unwrought.
Queen Elizabeth enlarged the trade of the Company of Adventurers,
and empowered them to treat with the princes and states of Germany
for a place which might be the staple or mart for the woollen
manufactures they exported, which was at length fixed at Hamburg,
from whence they obtained the name of the Hamburg Company. They had
another mart or staple also assigned them for the sale of their
woollen cloths in the Low Countries, viz., Dort, in Holland.
This company consists of a governor, deputy-governor, and
fellowship, or court of assistants, elected annually in June, who
have a power of making bye-laws for the regulation of their trade;
but this trade in a manner lies open, every merchant trading thither
on his own bottom, on paying an inconsiderable sum to the company;
so that though the trade to Germany may be of consequence, yet the
Hamburg Company, as a company, have very little advantage by their
being incorporated.
The Hamburg or German Merchants export from England broad-cloth,
druggets, long-ells, serges, and several sorts of stuffs, tobacco,
sugar, ginger, East India goods, tin, lead, and several other
commodities, the consumption of which is in Lower Germany.
England takes from them prodigious quantities of linen, linen-yarn,
kid-skins, tin-plates, and a great many other commodities.
The next company established was that of the Russia Merchants,
incorporated 1st and 2nd of Philip and Mary, who were empowered to
trade to all lands, ports, and places in the dominions of the
Emperor of Russia, and to all other lands not then discovered or
frequented, lying on the north, north-east, or north-west.
The Russia Company, as a company, are not a very considerable body
at present; the trade thither being carried on by private merchants,
who are admitted into this trade on payment of five pounds for that
privilege.
It consists of a governor, four consuls, and twenty-four assistants,
annually chosen on the 1st of March.
The Russia Merchants export from England some coarse cloth, long-
ells, worsted stuffs, tin, lead, tobacco, and a few other
commodities.
England takes from Russia hemp, flax, linen cloth, linen yarn,
Russia leather, tallow, furs, iron, potashes, &c., to an immense
value.
The next company is the Eastland Company, formerly called Merchants
of Elbing, a town in Polish Prussia, to the eastward of Dantzic,
being the port they principally resorted to in the infancy of their
trade. They were incorporated 21 Elizabeth, and empowered to trade
to all countries within the Sound, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Liefland,
Prussia, and Pomerania, from the river Oder eastward, viz., with
Riga, Revel, Konigsberg, Elbing, Dantzic, Copenhagen, Elsinore,
Finland, Gothland, Eastland, and Bornholm (except Narva, which was
then the only Russian port in the Baltic). And by the said patent
the Eastland Company and Hamburg Company were each of them
authorised to trade separately to Mecklenburg, Gothland, Silesia,
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