Volume 4 — LONDON AND ITS ENVIRONS DESCRIBED, &c. (continued 2)

This act of Common Council being soon after confirmed by an order of Parliament, the following forts were raised, 1. A bulwark and a half, at the north end of Gravel lane. 2. A hornwork, near the windmill in Whitechapel road. 3. A redoubt with two flanks, near Brick lane. 4. A redoubt with four flanks, in Hackney road, Shoreditch. 5. A redoubt with four flanks, in Kingsland road. 6. A battery and breast-work, at Mountmill. 7. A battery and breast-work, at the end of St. John’s street. 8. A small redoubt, near Islington pound. 9. A large fort with four half bulwarks, near New River head. 10. A battery and breast-work, on the hill, east of the place afterwards called Black Mary’s Hole. 11. Two batteries and a breast-work, at Southampton, now Bedford-house. 12. A redoubt with two flanks, near St. Giles’s pound. 13. A small fort, at the east end of Tyburn road. 14. A large fort with four half bulwarks, across the road where Wardour street is now built. 15. A 81small bulwark, at the place now called Oliver’s Mount. 16. A large fort with four bulwarks, at Hyde Park Corner. 17. A small redoubt and battery on Constitution Hill. 18. A court of guard at Chelsea turnpike. 19. A battery and breast-work, in Tothill Fields. 20. A quadrant fort with four half bulwarks, at Vauxhall. 21. A fort with four half bulwarks, at the Dog and Duck in St. George’s Fields. 22. A large fort with four bulwarks, near the end of Blackman street. 23. A redoubt with four flanks, near the Lock Hospital.

These forts were all joined by a line of communication, formed by a rampart of earth, which on all sides surrounded the cities of London and Westminster, and the borough of Southwark, This was done at the expence of the city, and the whole was immediately executed with the greatest alacrity.

After this, the city entered heartily into the measures of the Parliament, though the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council frequently sollicited that body to settle the peace of the kingdom: but soon after the King’s death, an order being sent to the Lord Mayor and Sheriff, to proclaim the abolition of monarchy, he refused to comply, upon which he was 82brought to the bar of the House of Commons, committed prisoner to the Tower for two months, and another Mayor chosen in his room.

At the inauguration of Cromwell in 1657, as Lord Protector, the Lord Mayor carried the city sword before him, accompanied by the Earl of Warwick, who carried the sword of state, and during the ceremony stood on the right side of Cromwell’s chair, while the Lord Mayor stood on the left.

But after the death of Cromwell, the Common Council opposing the Committee of Safety, declaring for a free Parliament, and refusing to pay or advance money to the Parliament, General Monk was ordered to march with his army into the city, and the streets became planted with soldiers; when several of the Aldermen and Common Council were taken into custody, the whole body disqualified, and a new Common Council ordered to be chosen; after which the city gates were broke and cut to pieces, the portcullises taken down and destroyed, and the posts and chains taken down.

After this, the city heartily and zealously joined with General Monk, in bringing about the restoration. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen, on the 29th of 83May 1660, went out to meet Charles II. in St. George’s Fields, where the city had erected a magnificent pavilion, provided with a sumptuous collation, of which that Prince having participated, was conducted through the city by a very noble cavalcade, the Lord Mayor carrying the sword bare-headed before the King, accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham and General Monk, who were also bare. Upon this occasion the city was adorned with the richest silks and tapestries, and the streets lined with the city corporations and Trained Bands, while the conduits flowed with wine, and the windows, balconies, and scaffolds were crouded with an infinite number of spectators.

In the year 1663, King Charles II. granted the city a confirmation of all their former charters, privileges, liberties, rights and customs; and the next year the city, in return, advanced several considerable sums for his Majesty, to enable him to carry on a war with the Dutch, for which the citizens received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament.

About the beginning of May 1665, one of the most terrible plagues that ever was inflicted on this, or perhaps any other kingdom, broke out in this city: and as this was happily the last visitation of this 84kind, it may be proper to give a short account of its rise and progress.

The week wherein this most dreadful distemper was first discovered, it carried off nine persons, whereby the citizens were so greatly alarmed, that an universal dread diffused itself amongst people of all ranks: but the week after, the number, according to the bill of mortality, being reduced to three, the fears of the citizens were greatly alleviated. The next week, however, the number increasing to fourteen, and progressively to forty-three, the people were struck with consternation, and many of them had thoughts of leaving the city: but in the month of June, the number having gradually increased to 470 a week, the nobility, gentry, and principal citizens fled for safety, all being instantly in an amazing hurry, and the city emptying itself into the country, the streets and roads were excessively crouded with carriages and passengers. In July the bill increasing to 2010, all houses were shut up, the streets deserted, and scarce any thing to be seen therein but grass growing, innumerable fires made to purify the air, coffins, pest-carts, red crosses upon doors, with the inscription of Lord, have mercy upon us! and poor women in tears, with dismal aspects, and woeful lamentations, carrying 85their infants to the grave! and scarce any other sounds to be heard than those incessantly repeated from the windows, Pray for us! and the dismal call of, Bring out your dead! with the groans of the dying, and the melancholy tolling of bells for bodies ready for the grave! But what greatly added to this distressful scene, was, the spectator’s own reflections, that he himself should perhaps soon make one among the dismal objects, whose groans resounded in his ears.

Under these deplorable circumstances, the citizens, when in the greatest want of spiritual guides, were forsaken by their parochial Ministers, when those who had been just before ejected from the pulpits, considering their indispensible duty in this dreadful visitation, were induced, though contrary to law, to supply their place; upon which the people, laying aside the distinction of churchmen and dissenters, joyfully resorted to church, where the concourse was so exceeding great, that these non-conformist Ministers were frequently obliged to clamber over the pews to get to the pulpit; and if ever preaching had a better effect than ordinary, it was at this time, when the people listened with the utmost eagerness, and attended 86as if their salvation depended upon every word they heard.

In the month of September Death rode triumphant, for the burials then amounted in one week to 6988; but the week after the bill falling to 6544, gave some glimmering hopes that this dreadful distemper was past its crisis: however, the great increase the week following to 7165, re-immerged the survivors into an abyss of horror and despair; for now they were struck with the dreadful apprehensions, that in a few days the living would not be sufficient to bury the dead. They were, however, happily mistaken; for after this, the contagion gradually decreased, till it pleased the Almighty to restore this desolate city to its pristine state of health; after the direful ravages of this distemper had swept off 68,596 persons, which, together with those who died of other diseases, made the bill of mortality for this year amount to 97,306. Echard’s Hist. Vincent’s God’s terrible voice.

As to the natural causes of this pestilence, Physicians differ greatly; however, Dr. Baynard observes, that during the havock made by it, there was a general calmness and serenity of weather, without the least wind or rain; that through the 87great scarcity of nitre in the air, the fires in the streets were with great difficulty made to burn; and by its extreme rarefaction, which was doubtless increased by these fires, the birds panted for breath, and those of the larger sort were observed to fly more heavily than usual.

The above calamity was scarcely ceased, and those who had fled returned to their houses, when on Sunday the 2d of September 1666, a dreadful fire broke out at one in the morning, in the house of Mr. Farryner, a baker, in Pudding lane; a time when the eyes and senses of all were locked in sleep. The house was a wooden building pitched on the outside, as were all the rest in the lane, which was exceeding narrow, and by the jutting over of the several stories, the buildings on each side almost met at the top; and in this manner were built most of the houses in this metropolis. The house in which the fire began, containing much brush and faggot wood, the fire soon got ahead, and furiously seized on the neighbouring houses on all sides, running four ways at once; it presently set New Fish street all in a flame; while another branch raging down Pudding lane, laid hold on Thames street, the repository of all combustibles, as hemp, flax, rosin, oil, butter, pitch, tar, 88brimstone, cordage, hops, sugar, brandy, wood, and coals; where dividing itself, it ran both eastward and westward with inexpressible fury, into the adjacent lanes, consuming all before it; and its two main branches meeting at London bridge, soon reduced all the buildings upon it to ashes, together with the water engines under it; by which means the people were deprived of the assistance of that element; for the New River water was not then laid into those parts.

The pulling down houses every way, at some distance, was first proposed; and this was the only method that could have been of any service in stopping the progress of the flames; for had there been water, the fire was too fierce to be mastered by engines, or to suffer any body to work near it; but this was objected to, and while the affair was debated, the flames spread still farther.

Unhappily they were increased by a violent easterly wind; and that day and the following night spread up Gracechurch street, and downwards from Cannon street to the water side, as far as the Three Cranes.

The people in all parts were distracted at seeing the progress of the fire, and by the care of carrying off their goods. However, 89many attempts were now made to prevent its spreading, by pulling down houses, and making great intervals; but not having time to remove the materials, the fire seized upon the timber, boards, laths, and rubbish, and extended itself over these spaces to the neighbouring houses; raging in a bright flame all Monday and Tuesday, without any endeavours to stop it proving effectual; though his Majesty, the Duke of York, and great numbers of the nobility and gentry came with the guards, who were employed in endeavouring to extinguish it.

The wind, however, slackened a little on Tuesday night, when the fire, meeting at the Temple with brick buildings, it by little and little lost its force on that side, so that on Wednesday morning a stop was put to it on the west, at the Temple church, and also at Holborn bridge and Pye corner. On the north, it stopped at Aldersgate, Cripplegate, near the north end of Basinghall street, and in Coleman street: on the east, at the south corner of Bishopsgate street and Leadenhall street, at the church in Fenchurch street, and at the Tower dock, after its having consumed all the buildings within these limits, quite down to the water side.

On Thursday the flames were extinguished; 90but that evening the fire burst out again at the Temple, by the falling of some sparks upon a pile of wooden buildings; but upon blowing up the houses around it with gunpowder, it was extinguished the next morning.

By this dreadful conflagration were consumed 400 streets and lanes, 13,200 houses, the cathedral church of St. Paul, 86 parish churches, 6 chapels, the Royal Exchange, Blackwell Hall, and the Custom House, several hospitals and libraries, 52 of the Companies halls, and a vast number of other stately edifices, together with three of the city gates, four stone bridges, and four prisons; the loss of which, with that of the merchandize and houshold furniture, amounted, according to the best calculation, to ten millions, seven hundred and thirty thousand, five hundred pounds: but it is amazing, that in this terrible devastation, only six persons lost their lives by the fire.

As by the dreadful ravages of the plague the preceding year, the city was depopulated, and the houses deprived of their inhabitants, so by this conflagration the surviving citizens were deprived of their habitations, and many thousands of them compelled to retire to the fields, with such of their effects as they were able to 91save, where they continued destitute of the conveniencies, and almost all the necessary accommodations of life; lying in the open air, till tents and slight wooden huts could be erected, to secure them from the inclemencies of the weather. Meanwhile the King had the goodness to order a considerable quantity of naval bread to be immediately distributed among the poor, and a proclamation was wisely published, ordering the neighbouring Justices to encourage the bringing in of all sorts of provisions.

It has been much disputed, whether this dismal catastrophe was occasioned by accident or design. An attempt was first made to fix it upon the dissenters, who suffered as much by this calamity, as any other body of men; but having not the least colour for such a pretence, it dropped of course; and the English being then at war with the French and the Dutch, the latter were charged with concerting this diabolical scheme; but this was found to be only an injurious aspersion: however, Robert Hubert, a Frenchman, of the Romish church, confessed, that he, at the sollicitation of one Stephen Piedloe, set fire to the baker’s house in Pudding lane, by means of a fire-ball which he fixed to the end of a long pole, and lighting it 92a match, put it in at a window; and that for this villainy he was to be rewarded on his return to France; but it is generally allowed, that this man was at that time disordered in his senses; and great pains have been taken to prove that he had no hand in that calamity: however, he was condemned and executed, though he surrendered himself, and though there was no other evidence of his guilt than that of his own confession.

It is observable, that the preceding spring and summer had been the dryest in the memory of man; whereby the houses, which were all built of wood, and without party walls, were prepared, as it were, by Heaven, to become fuel for this terrible conflagration, which, together with the east wind abovementioned, might possibly be alone sufficient to reduce the city to a heap of ashes.

But whatever the unhappy citizens of London might then suffer; it is evident, that this was one of the greatest blessings that could have happened for the good of posterity; for, instead of very narrow and incommodious streets; instead of dark, irregular, and ill contrived wooden houses, with their several stories projecting over, obstructing the circulation of the air, and harbouring those noxious particles that 93occasioned the frequent return of the plague, and often fires of the most dreadful kind; by the modern way of building, and the enlarging of many of the streets, offensive vapours are expelled; and this, added to the cleanliness produced by the great quantities of the water brought into London by the New River, has freed this city from all pestilential symptoms for above ninety years together.

The reduction of this great and opulent city to a heap of rubbish, greatly affected the whole nation; and the King desiring it should be now erected with greater magnificence, uniformity, and safety than before, prohibited for some time the rebuilding of the houses; and the Judges were ordered by Parliament to hear and determine all disputes between landlords, tenants, and lessees, concerning the rebuilding and repairing of houses, &c. without fee or reward.

London indeed might now have been rebuilt in such a manner, as to have exceeded in beauty all the cities upon earth; and this would have been the case, had either of the following plans been followed. The first was formed by Sir Christopher Wren, who, pursuant to the royal commands, traced over the great plain of ashes and ruins, and thence formed his 94plan of a new city, free from all the deformities and inconveniencies of the old one; by enlarging the streets and lanes, and rendering them as nearly parallel to each other as possible; by seating all the parish churches in a conspicuous manner; by forming the most public places into large piazzas, the centers of eight ways; by uniting the halls of the twelve Companies into one regular square annexed to Guildhall; by making a spacious and commodious key along the whole bank of the river, without any interruptions, from Black Friars to the Tower, with some large docks for barges deep laden.

The streets were to be of three magnitudes; the three principal leading straight through the city, and one or two cross streets to be at least ninety feet wide; others sixty feet, and the lanes about thirty feet, excluding all narrow dark alleys, thoroughfairs, and courts.

The Exchange to stand free in the middle of a piazza, and to be the center of the town, from whence the streets should proceed to all the principal parts of the city; the building to be after the form of a Roman forum, with double porticos.

Many streets were also to radiate upon the bridge. Those of the first and second 95magnitude to be carried on as straight as possible, and to center in four or five areas surrounded with piazzas.

The churches were to be designed according to the best forms for capacity and hearing; and those of the larger parishes adorned with porticos and lofty ornamental towers and steeples: but all church yards, gardens, and unnecessary vacuities, and all trades that use great fires, or yield noisome smells, were to be placed out of the town.

This plan, which that great architect laid before the King and the House of Commons, is thus explained: from that part of Fleet street which remained unburned, a straight street of 90 feet wide was to extend, and, passing by the south side of Ludgate, was to end gracefully in a piazza on Tower hill.

In the middle of Fleet street was to be a circular area surrounded with a piazza, the center of eight ways, where, at one station, were to meet the following streets.

The first, straight forward, quite thro’ the city: the second, obliquely towards the right hand, to the beginning of the key that was to be run from Bridewell dock to the Tower: the third, obliquely on the left, to Smithfield: the fourth, 96straight on the right, to the Thames: the fifth, straight on the left, to Hatton Garden and Clerkenwell: the sixth, straight backwards to Temple Bar: the seventh, obliquely on the right, to the walks of the Temple: and the eighth, obliquely on the left, to Cursitor’s alley.

Passing down Fleet street, at the bottom of which the ditch was to be rendered a beautiful canal, passable by as many bridges as there were streets to cross it, and leaving Ludgate prison on the left side of the street; where a triumphal arch was to be formed, instead of the gate, in honour of King Charles II. the founder of the new city: St. Paul’s was to be situated where it is at present, and surrounded by a triangular piazza.

On leaving that cathedral on the left, a straight street was to extend directly to the Tower, adorned all the way, at proper distances, with parish churches; and leaving that edifice to the right, the other great branch was to lead to the Royal Exchange, which was to be seated in the middle of a piazza, between two great streets; the one from Ludgate leading to the south front, and another from Holborn, thro’ Newgate, and thence straight to the north front of the Exchange.

This noble scheme was demonstrated to 97be practicable, without the infringement of any man’s property; for, by leaving out the church-yards, &c. which were to be removed out of town, there would have been sufficient room both for the augmentation of the streets, the disposition of the churches, halls, and all public buildings, and to have given every proprietor full satisfaction: for though few of them would have been seated upon exactly the very same ground they possessed before the fire, yet none would have been thrust at any considerable distance from it: but the obstinacy of great part of the citizens, in refusing to recede from the right, of rebuilding their houses on the old foundations, was an unsurmountable obstacle to the execution of this noble scheme. Parentalia.

Soon after this, Sir John Evelyn produced another plan, in which he proposed that some of the deepest vallies should be filled up, or at least made with less sudden declivities. That a new and spacious key should run from the Tower to the Temple, and extend itself as far as the low water mark; by which means the channel of the river would be kept constantly full; the irregularity and deformity of the stairs, and the dirt and nastiness left at every ebb would also be prevented.

98To create variety in the streets, he also proposed, that there should be breaks and enlargements, by spacious openings at proper distances, surrounded with piazzas, and uniformly built with beautiful fronts; and that some of these openings should be square, some circular, and others oval. He would have none of the principal streets less than an hundred feet in breadth, nor any of the narrowest less than thirty. He would have three or four large streets between the Thames and London Wall, reckoning that of Cheapside for the chief, which might extend from Temple Bar to the upper part of Tower hill, or to Crutched Friars, bearing the cathedral of St. Paul’s upon a noble eminence.

Among these he would have the parochial churches, which he thought might be reduced to half the number, as some of the parishes were then no less than two hundred times larger than others: and these he would have so interspersed as to adorn the profile of the city at all its avenues. Most of them he would have in the center of spacious areas, adorned with piazzas, &c. so as to be seen from several streets, and others at the abutments and extremities of them.

About the church piazzas, the stationers and booksellers were to have their 99shops, and the Ministers their houses; as about that of St. Paul’s was to be the episcopal palace, the Dean and Prebends houses, St. Paul’s school, a public library, the prerogative and first fruits office, all which were to be built at an ample distance from the cathedral, and with more stately fronts, in honour of that august pile. In some of these openings, surrounded with piazzas, he proposed to have the several markets. In others the coaches might wait; and in some might be public fountains constantly playing.

The College of Physicians he would have in one of the best parts of the town, incircled with a handsome piazza, for the dwellings of those learned persons, with the surgeons, apothecaries, and druggists in the streets about them; for he would have all of a mystery in the same quarters: those of the better sort of the shopkeepers in the sweetest and most eminent streets and piazzas; and the artificers in the more ordinary houses, in the intermediate and narrow passages; the taverns and victualling houses were to be placed amongst them, and be built accordingly; but so as to preserve the most perfect uniformity.

Between the piazzas, market places, and churches, might be placed the halls 100for the Companies; and these, if fronted with stone, and adorned with statues and other ornaments, would infinitely inrich the streets, and render this city as famous for architecture of the most refined gusto, as any city in Europe; among which should be distinguished Guildhall, by its being more pompous and magnificent than the rest: near this edifice he would have a magnificent house for the Lord Mayor, and others for the two Sheriffs.

The Royal Exchange he thought might front the Thames about the Steelyard, in an area surrounded on three sides with piazzas, with vaults for warehouses underneath; and for such merchandize as could not be well preserved under ground, might be erected buildings fronting the Thames on the other side of the river, with wharfs before and yards behind for the placing of cranes; the laying of timber, coals, &c. and other gross commodities, while the key over against it should be built for the owners, and the dwellings of the principal merchants: but if the warehouses must needs be on this side, they should be made to front Thames street rather than the river, because of the dull and heavy aspect of those buildings.

The little bay at Queenhithe should have the key continued around it, and 101cloistered about for the marketmen and fruiterers; and where the wharf then was, a stately avenue was to extend to St. Paul’s.

Four great streets were to extend along the city: the first from Fleet ditch, (which was to be formed into a noble canal) to the Tower: the second, from the Strand to the most eastern part of the city, where should be a noble triumphal arch in honour of Charles II. the third, from Newgate to Aldgate: and the fourth and shortest, from Aldersgate to Bishopsgate. He proposed that five principal cross streets should extend from Black Friars stairs into West Smithfield; from the Thames east of St. Paul’s to Aldersgate; from Queenhithe to Cripplegate; and from the Royal Exchange to Moorgate: that the street from the bridge should extend to Bishopsgate: that one from Billingsgate should extend near as far: and one from the Custom house to Aldgate.

Instead of houses on the bridge, he proposed to have it adorned with a substantial iron baluster, decorated, at convenient distances, with statues on their pedestals, with a footway on each side.

The hospitals, workhouses to employ the poor, and the prisons, being built 102and re-indowed at the public expence, were to be disposed of in convenient quarters of the city: the hospitals would become one of the principal streets; but the prisons, and court for the trial of criminals, might still be built near the entrances of the city.

The gates were to be in the form of triumphal arches, adorned with statues, relievos, and apposite inscriptions, not obstructed by sheds, or mean houses joined to them.

This gentleman also proposed, that along the wall betwixt Cripplegate and Aldgate, should be the church-yards of the several parishes, while the houses opposite to them formed a large street for the common inns, and served as a station for carriers, &c. These being on the north part of the city, and nearest the confines of the fields and roads, would least incumber the town; and there would be a far more commodious and free access to them, by reason of their immediate approaches through the traverse streets, than if they were scattered up and down without distinction.

But this scheme, which was designed as an improvement of Sir Christopher’s, also fell to nothing; and by the obstinacy of the citizens, the opportunity was lost of 103rendering this city the admiration of the world, and thereby of drawing the nobility of all Europe to visit it, and lay out great sums here.

However, it was ordered by act of Parliament, that many of the streets and lanes should be widened, and the city was impowered to make a new street from Cheapside to Guildhall, which obtained the name of King street, and another from Threadneedle street to Lothbury, called Prince’s street. And the markets, which till then were held in Newgate street and Cheapside, were ordered to be removed behind the houses into commodious market places to be prepared for that purpose. It was also enacted that all the houses should be built with stone or brick, with party walls, and the whole finished within three years: that the ground in several places should be raised, and that a column of brass or stone should be erected on or near the place where the above dreadful fire began; whence arose that noble column called the Monument: but had it been raised near the place where the fire ceased, and in the center of the fine circular area proposed by Sir Christopher Wren, in Fleet street, where eight streets would radiate upon it, and where it would be seen to terminate the view, 104even from Aldgate and Westminster, it would have enjoyed a situation vastly more worthy of its beauty, and have appeared to infinitely greater advantage, than in the corner where it is now placed. See the article Monument.

The reader has just seen the city under two of the most dreadful calamities that could fall upon a people, pestilence, and a general destruction by fire; he will now see the citizens suffering calamities of a very different kind, and deprived of all their boasted privileges. This affair it is necessary to trace from its origin.

In the beginning of May 1679, a conspiracy of the papists was discovered, for destroying the city again by fire, occasioned by the burning of one Bird’s house in Fetter lane; for Elizabeth Oxley, the servant, being suspected, was committed to prison; where she not only confessed the fact, but declared, that she was prevailed upon to fire it by one Stubbs, a papist, upon the promise of 5l. Stubbs being secured, confessed that he had been excited to this by Father Gifford, his confessor, who told him, that instead of its being a sin, it would be a great service to the church to burn and destroy all the houses of heretics; and that he had several conferences with Gifford, and two 105Irishmen, upon that affair; that an insurrection was to be made in London, and a powerful army expected from France. Five Jesuits were executed for this plot, the papists banished from the city, and ten miles round, and afterwards the Lord Stafford was beheaded for the same crime.

In revenge, the Romish party trumped up what was called the Meal Tub plot, to bring an odium upon the presbyterians and the heads of the country party; but Dangerfield, the chief actor in this farce, being committed to prison, applied himself to the Lord Mayor, and in an ample confession laid open the whole scene of iniquity, discovering the persons who set him to work.

The citizens not only vigorously pressed the prosecution of all the persons they had reason to think concerned in the popish plot, in opposition to the court, who endeavoured to skreen them; but the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council presented a petition to his Majesty, desiring, that all the persons who had been impeached by the Commons, might be brought to their trials; the Duke of York, as being a papist, excluded from succeeding to the throne; and the Parliament continued, in order to make 106the necessary provisions for the preservation of his Majesty and his protestant subjects; but this petition not only hastened the dissolution of the Parliament, but was so highly resented by the King, that it principally occasioned the loss of all the rights and privileges belonging to the citizens.

The Parliament being soon after dissolved, and writs issued for a new election, the citizens chose their former members, and gave them directions in writing to continue their search into the popish plot; to promote the bill of exclusion, and to grant no supplies of money till they had effectually secured them against popery and arbitrary power; which example was followed by most of the electors of the kingdom.

The court now threw the city into confusion, by interfering in the election of Sheriffs; those the city had chosen, and one of the Aldermen, were committed to the Tower; while other Sheriffs were elected by the Lord Mayor, without the consent of the Commons; and soon after a quo warranto was brought against the city, contrary to justice, the charters of the city, and the rights of the citizens: the plea and rejoinder brought by the citizens, were as full and as nervous, as the arguments 107brought to support the information were weak and trifling. However, the ministry having at all events determined to remove the sacred fence, and destroy the dear bought privileges of the citizens, removed the Judges who did not approve these proceedings, and chose others, who would be more obedient, in their room; and on the 12th of June 1683, the sentence was pronounced, that the city had given just ground for the forfeiture of their charter.

After this the King granted the office of Lord Mayor to be held during pleasure, appointed the Sheriffs, the Recorder, and sixteen of his favourite Aldermen; degraded eight of those that were in the country interest, and appointed eight others in their room.

The death of King Charles II. was far from putting a stop to the arbitrary measures of the court: for James II. immediately singled out as a sacrifice to popery, Mr. Cornish, an Alderman of this city, who, when Sheriff, had exerted himself in an uncommon manner in the detection and prosecution of those concerned in the popish plot. This gentleman was apprehended, and committed to Newgate, without the use of pen, ink, or paper, till Saturday noon, when he received notice, 108that he was to be tried for high treason on the Monday following. In the interim, his children humbly petitioned the King for time, that their father might prepare for his defence: but they petitioned in vain, though the most material evidence in his favour was then 140 miles from London. He was indicted the next Monday, for conspiring to raise a rebellion, to destroy the King, and subvert the constitution in the late reign. The only material evidences were two persons of an infamous and profligate character; one of them an outlaw, who was pardoned, and his testimony made legal, for his appearing against Cornish; and though what he deposed did not affect the prisoner, he was condemned, and on the 23d of the same month, hanged, drawn, and quartered before his own door, at the end of King street, Cheapside.

During this short but iniquitous reign, in which the boldest attempts were made for extirpating the protestant religion, and the religious and civil liberties of the people, the citizens and the whole nation cast their eyes on the Prince of Orange as their deliverer. That Prince’s resolution to grant them his assistance was no sooner known at Whitehall, than the deluded, weak, and pusillanimous King, prompted 109by fear, sent for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and with a meanness of spirit equal to that of enslaving his people, promised to restore their charter. Accordingly, on the sixth of October 1688, the infamous and cruel Lord Chancellor Jeffries brought back the charter to the city.

Upon this, a new Lord Mayor was chosen; the Aldermen restored to their respective wards; and the Liverymen of the several Companies at the time when judgment was given against the city upon the quo warranto, were also restored.

It may be proper to observe, before we conclude this reign, that about the beginning of December 1683, was a severe frost, which continued till the 5th of February; the Thames being froze, a great number of streets with shops were erected upon it.

In the year 1687, a dreadful persecution raging in France against the distressed protestants, 13,500 of them came over and settled in this city, and the parts contiguous, particularly in Spitalfields, by which they greatly enriched the city and kingdom, by introducing among us new arts and manufactures.

As the citizens had contributed very much to the revolution, King William 110and Queen Mary were conducted by a noble cavalcade to Guildhall, where their Majesties and a numerous train of the nobility were entertained at dinner; and soon after the Parliament reversed the proceedings of the former reigns on the quo warranto, declaring them to be illegal and arbitrary, and confirmed all the rights and privileges of the city.

After the peace of Ryswick, King William III. at the desire of the Lord Mayor and citizens, made his public entry into the city, with great magnificence, the Lord Mayor carrying the city sword before his Majesty.

In the reign of Queen Anne, her Majesty came several times in great state to St. Paul’s, to return thanks for the glorious victories of the great Duke of Marlborough; and after the victory of Blenheim, his Grace, with the Prince of Hesse and many of the nobility, dined with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at Goldsmith’s Hall.

On Friday the 26th of November 1703, happened the most dreadful storm of wind that perhaps was ever known in any age or nation. For, beginning about eleven at night, and increasing till about seven in the morning, it committed the most terrible and amazing devastations, 111by blowing down houses, trees, brick walls, and stacks of chimneys; by which many of the citizens were buried in ruins; a considerable number of whom were killed, others terribly wounded, while others again were amazingly preserved unhurt among the rubbish. As an instance of which, it may be proper to mention the following circumstance: two boys lying in a garret in the Poultry, a huge stack of chimneys fell in, which making its way through that and all the other stories to the cellar, it was followed by the bed with the boys asleep in it, who first awaked in that gloomy place of confusion, without having suffered the least hurt. Incredible as this story is, it is nevertheless well attested.

By the impetuosity of this storm, many spires and turrets were destroyed; upon the churches and other public buildings, the lead was rolled up like scrolls, and blown to a considerable distance. At the approach of day, the houses appeared like so many skeletons, and being mostly stripped, the damage done to the roofs was so great, that the price of tiles rose from 1l. 1s. to 6l. a thousand.

It is not easy to conceive the surprize that appeared in all countenances in the morning; for the streets were covered 112with bricks, broken tiles, signs, and pest-houses; almost all thoughts of trade were laid aside, and the principal concern was the immediate repair of their houses, in order to preserve themselves from the inclemency of the weather in that rigorous season.

The damage at sea, however, far exceeded that by land; for in that dreadful night twelve men of war were lost, with above 1800 men on board; besides the prodigious loss of merchant ships, computed at ten times the value. At that time the roads near our coast were filled with ships, especially the Downs, where most of them were swallowed up by the waves; and even in the Thames, only four from London bridge to Limehouse, rode it out; for the rest being driven to Limehouse, lay there, beating against each other, by the irresistible fury of the tempest, by which they suffered inconceivable damage. Maitland.

The French having unmercifully destroyed the Palatinate, by burning the cities and towns, near 12,000 Palatines arrived at London, where they met with the most charitable assistance. Above 3000 of them were sent to Ireland, and the rest to our plantations, where they have made very great improvements.

113In the latter end of this reign, great disturbances were occasioned by two sermons preached by Dr. Sacheverel; in which he represented the church to be in danger from the dissenters; for these inflaming discourses he was impeached by the Commons, and tried by the Lords, at which the mob were so exasperated, that they pulled down several meeting houses, and occasioned great disturbances.

Soon after the death of Queen Anne, King George I. made his public entry into London, the Lord Mayor carrying the city sword before him, from St. Margaret’s hill to St. James’s palace.

In 1715 happened a total eclipse; and the same year a severe frost began in November, and continued with short intermissions till the middle of February; by which the Thames was frozen over, and a great number of booths erected upon it.

The next year great disturbances were caused by the enemies of the government, who, on the King’s birth day, accession to the crown, and coronation, assembled in the streets in a tumultuous manner, and with the most amazing assurance, by expressions and representations, in the grossest manner dishonoured his Majesty. This induced the friends of the government, under some persons of the highest distinction, 114to form themselves into societies, at certain alehouses, which, from the vessels out of which they drank, were denominated mughouses, at each of which were deposited a great number of cudgels. At this the rabble were so exasperated, that many thousands of them assembled, and attacking one of those houses in Salisbury court, Fleet street, the landlord, in defending his property, killed one of the assailants; but this did not prevent their rifling the house, before they could be dispersed. However, several rioters being taken, they were soon after tried, when five of them were condemned and executed at the end of Salisbury court; which put an effectual stop to all tumultuous practices for many years.

It is observable, that in 1716, by a long dry season, the river Thames was reduced so low, that by a violent storm of wind at west south west, it was blown so dry, during the recess of the tide, that many thousands of people passed it on foot, both above and below bridge, and walked thro’ most of the arches.

The year 1720 will be ever famous in this city, for the destructive South Sea scheme, by which many thousands of the wealthy citizens and others were impoverished, 115while others acquired immense riches. See South Sea Company.

The year 1733 was rendered memorable by the effectual opposition made by the citizens against a scheme for a general excise.

In 1734, two spacious arches, ten feet high and six wide, were erected as a common sewer over the Fleet ditch, from Holborn to the end of Fleet street; and a neat market house being since erected in the same place, by the name of Fleet market, was opened in the year 1737; and the next year the buildings and sheds of Stocks market, at the end of the Poultry, were cleared away, in order to lay the foundation of a mansion house for the Lord Mayor, which was afterwards erected. See Mansion House.

The present reign is indeed rendered remarkable by the multitude of magnificent buildings, fine streets, and spacious squares, that have been added, and still are adding to this metropolis. A taste for elegance in architecture, and a desire to improve and adorn the city, have produced one of the finest bridges in the world at Westminster; have caused London bridge to be stripped of its ruinous buildings that encumbered the passage, and will soon render it as commodious 116and beautiful as possible. Another elegant bridge is erecting at Black Friars, in so grand a taste as to do honour to the city. We are become sensible of the absurdity of building magnificent structures in holes and narrow passages, where they cannot be seen to advantage; and now resolve to make what is beautiful in itself, an ornament to the city.

But this is not all; charity and humanity now triumph over bigotry and superstition, and the rage of party is on all sides ready to expire; churchmen and dissenters mingle in the same company without animosity, and friendships are contracted between those of different sentiments, both with respect to religion and government; while party zeal is almost confined to the ignorant and the vulgar.

During this reign the wealthy have shewn their humanity and pity for the distresses of their fellow creatures, by erecting a great number of infirmaries and hospitals, for the relief of those afflicted with any of the diseases to which human nature is subject; while others are appropriated to the cure of particular distempers. The deserted infant is received into an hospital founded for its education and support; the young, innocent, friendless girl finds an asylum; even the repenting 117prostitute has an opportunity of returning to virtue. The poor married woman is relieved and supported in the time of her greatest difficulty, distress and danger; she who is under the same distress, with the additional pangs of guilt, has a receptacle in which she also may be delivered, and supported during her lying-in, without the least expence. Those under the small-pox, who were formerly sent to pest-houses, and treated as if they had the plague, are now happily accommodated in places prepared for their relief; and there is even an hospital for inoculating the young who never had this formidable disease, in order to prevent the fatal effects which commonly attend its being caught in a riper age. In short, the last charitable foundation I shall mention, as an honour to the present age and nation, is the Marine Society; a society formed for increasing our mariners, by clearing our streets of poor vagabond boys, and men destitute of the means of procuring an honest support; thus those are made to contribute to the glory and safety of the nation, who would otherwise be brought up to plunder and rapine, who would live in misery and vice, and probably end their days with ignominy. See an account of each of these societies under 118their several articles, Asylum, Lying-in Hospital, Marine Society, &c.

The arms of the City of London are, Argent, a cross Gules, with a sword the same. Some say this was the sword of St. Paul; and others, that it is the sword of William Walworth Lord Mayor of London, who killed the rebel Wat Tyler, anno 1381, in the presence and defence of Richard II.

London Assurance, in Birchin lane, Cornhill, for assuring houses and other buildings, houshold furniture, goods, wares, and merchandize, from loss or damage by fire: except glass and china ware, not in trade, and all manner of writings, books of accompts, notes, bills, bonds, tallies, ready money, jewels, plate, pictures, gunpowder, hay, straw, and corn unthreshed; and for assurance of lives.

This society was incorporated by letters patent granted by King George I. for assuring ships and merchandize at sea; and for lending money upon bottomry; in consideration of which grant the Corporation were to advance his Majesty 300,000l. without interest, for the term of thirty years: towards the raising of which, and paying the just demands that might be made upon their respective policies, the Company were impowered to raise a sum, 119not exceeding 1,500,000l. to be called the stock of the Corporation: by a second charter, granted to this Corporation in the year 1721, they were impowered not only to insure ships, but houses, goods, and even lives.

This society is under the direction of a Governor, Sub-governor, and Deputy Governor, and twenty-four directors.

They assure houses and goods upon the following terms and conditions.

I. All manner of brick and stone buildings covered with slate, tile, or lead, wherein no hazardous trades are carried on, nor any hazardous goods deposited, are termed Common assurances, and are assured for the following premiums, viz. any sum not exceeding 200l. at 4s. per annum; any sum above 200l. and not exceeding 1000l. at 2s. per cent. per annum; and any sum above 1000l. and not exceeding 3000l. at 2s. 6d. per cent. per annum; and goods and merchandize not hazardous, in brick or stone buildings, after the same rates.

II. For the accommodation of such persons as are desirous of being assured for a term of years, this Corporation will assure (on such buildings or goods as aforesaid) any sum not exceeding 1000l. at the rate of 12s. per cent. for seven years, and 120as far as 2000l. at the rate of 14s. per cent. for the like term of seven years, without subjecting the assured to any calls or contributions to make good losses.

III. Assurances on buildings and goods, are deemed distinct and separate adventures; so that the premium on goods is not advanced by reason of any assurance on the building wherein the goods are kept, nor the premium on the building by reason of any assurance on the goods.

IV. Timber or plaister buildings covered with slate, tile, or lead, wherein no hazardous trades are carried on, nor any hazardous goods deposited: and goods or merchandize not hazardous, in such buildings, are termed Hazardous assurances, and assured as follows; any sum not exceeding 200l. at 6s. per annum: any sum above 200l. and not exceeding 1000l. at 3s. per cent. per annum: any sum above 1000l. and not exceeding 2000l. at 4s. per cent. per annum: and any sum above 2000l. and not exceeding 3000l. at 5s. per cent. per annum.

V. Hazardous trades, such as apothecaries, bread and bisket bakers, colourmen, ship and tallow-chandlers, innholders and stable-keepers, carried on in brick or stone buildings, covered with slate, tile, or lead; and hazardous goods, 121such as hemp, flax, pitch, tar, tallow, and turpentine, deposited in such buildings, may be assured at the annual premiums, set down under the head of hazardous assurances, in the above article.

VI. Any of the above hazardous trades carried on, or hazardous goods deposited in timber or plaister buildings; earthen, glass, and china ware, in trade; and thatched buildings, or goods therein, are termed Double hazardous assurances, and may be assured upon the following conditions: any sum not exceeding 200l. at 10s. per annum: any sum above 200l. and not exceeding 1000l. at 5s. per cent. per annum: and any sum above 1000l. and not exceeding 2000l. at 7s. 6d. per cent. per annum.

VII. Deal yards, also chymists, distillers, sugar-bakers, maltsters, or any other assurances more than ordinarily hazardous, by reason of the trade, nature of the goods, narrowness of the place, or other dangerous circumstances, may be made by special agreement.

VIII. Two dwelling-houses, or any one dwelling-house, and the out-houses thereunto belonging, or any one dwelling-house and goods therein, may be included in the sum of 200l. But when several buildings, or buildings and goods, are assured 122in the same policy, the sum assured on each is to be particularly mentioned.

IX. To prevent frauds, if any buildings or goods assured with this Corporation, are, or shall be assured with any other corporation or society, the policy granted by this Corporation is to be null and void, unless such other assurance is allowed by endorsement on the policy.

X. No policy is to be of any force, till the premium for one year is paid. And for all subsequent annual premiums, the assured are to take receipts, stamped with the seal of the Corporation, no other being allowed of.

XI. No policy is to be extended, or construed to extend to the assurance of any hazardous buildings or goods, unless they are expressly mentioned in the policy, and the proper premium for such assurances be paid for the same.

XII. No loss or damage by fire happening by any invasion, foreign enemy, or any military or usurped power whatsoever, is to be made good.

XIII. All persons assured by this Corporation, are upon any loss or damage by fire, forthwith to give notice thereof, by letter, or otherwise, to the Directors or Secretary, at their house in London: and within fifteen days after such fire, deliver 123in as particular an account of their loss or damage, as the nature of the case will admit of, and make proof of the same, by the oath or affirmation of themselves, their domestics or servants, or by their books of accounts, or other proper vouchers, as shall be required; and also to procure a certificate under the hands of the Minister and Church-wardens, together with some other reputable inhabitants of the parish, not concerned in such loss; importing, that they are well acquainted with the character and circumstances of the sufferer or sufferers; and do know, or verily believe, that he, she, or they, have really, and by misfortune, sustained by such fire the loss and damage therein mentioned. And in case any difference shall arise between the Corporation and the assured, touching any loss or damage, such difference shall be submitted to the judgment and determination of arbitrators indifferently chosen, whose award in writing shall be conclusive and binding to all parties. And when any loss or damage is settled and adjusted, the sufferer or sufferers are to receive immediate satisfaction for the same.

XIV. In adjusting losses on houses, no wainscot, sculpture or carved-work, is to be valued at more than 3s. per yard.

124N. B. There is no average clause in the policies of this Corporation; but the assured, in case of loss, receive the full damage sustained, deducing only three per cent. according to the terms of the policy.

Persons assured by this Corporation do not depend upon an uncertain fund or contribution, nor are they subject to any covenants or calls to make good losses which may happen to themselves or others. The capital stock of this Corporation being an unquestionable security to the assured in case of loss or damage by fire, and in case of such loss or damage the assured have as easy methods of recovery as can be had against any person or society whatsoever.

For the timely assistance of such as are assured by this Corporation, they have provided several engines and watermen, with proper instruments to extinguish fires, and porters for removing goods, all cloathed in green; and having every one a badge, with the figure of Britannia, holding a harp, and supported by the London arms, to distinguish them from servants belonging to other offices, and the badges are all numbered; of which all persons are desired to take notice, who intrust 125them with goods, or have any complaint to make.

The same figure as on the badges is affixed on buildings, &c. assured by this Corporation. The proposals printed for the Corporation, in 1758.

London Bridge, appears to have been originally built between the years 993, and 1016, since in the first-mentioned year, Anlaf, the Dane, sailed up the Thames, with a fleet of ninety-three ships, as far as Stanes; and in the last, Canute, King of Denmark, caused a canal to be formed on the south side of the Thames, for conveying his ships above the bridge.

If the traditionary account of the origin of the ancient wooden bridge, delivered by Bartholomew Linstead, alias Fowle, the last Prior of St. Mary Overy’s convent, is worthy of credit, we are indebted to the public spirit of that religious house for this structure: “A ferrie being kept, says he, in a place where now the bridge is builded; at length the ferrieman and his wife deceasing, left the same ferrie to their only daughter, a maiden, named Marie, which, with the goods left by her parents, as also from the profits arising from the ferrie, builded a house of sisters in a place where now standeth the east part of St. Mary 126Overie’s church, unto which house she gave the oversight and profits of the ferrie: but afterwards the said house of sisters being converted into a college of priests, they builded the bridge of timber, as all other the great bridges of this land were, and from time to time kept the same in good reparations; till at length, considering the great charges of repairing the same, there was, by aid of the citizens of London and others, a bridge builded with arches of stone.”

However, the continuators of Stow imagine, that Linstead, in this account, exceeds the truth, in ascribing all the praise of so public a work to a small house of religious, who might probably only consent to its being built, upon the monks receiving a sufficient recompence for the loss of the ferry, by which they had always been supported; the probability of this appears from there being lands appropriated for the repairs of the bridge so early as in the reign of Henry I. Besides, it can scarcely be supposed, that a petty convent could be able to erect and support such an edifice, which, besides other accidents, was burnt down in 1136, and was again so ruinous in 1163, that it was obliged to be new built, under the inspection of Peter, Curate of St. Mary Colechurch, 127in London; a person who had obtained great reputation for his skill in architecture.

At length, the continual and large expence in maintaining a wooden bridge becoming burthensome to the people, who, when the lands appropriated to that use fell short of their produce, were taxed to make up the deficiencies, it was resolved in 1176, to build one of stone, a little to the west of the other, which in the time of William the Conqueror began at Botolph’s wharf; and this structure was completed in 1209.

The foundation is, by the vulgar, generally believed to be laid upon woolpacks, which opinion probably arose from a tax being laid upon every pack of wool, towards its construction. Mr. Stow is of opinion, that before the bridge was erected, they were obliged to turn the Thames into a large canal made for that purpose, which began at Battersea, and returned into the bed of the river at Rotherhithe; but this supposition has not the least foundation. Mr. Maitland justly observes, that the purchase of the ground through which this spacious water course was to run; the expence of digging and raising the banks of sufficient strength; and the prodigious expence of damming off the 128river above and below the intended bridge, would have amounted to treble the sum of erecting the bridge itself; and that the space of thirty-three years, which the bridge took up in building, is sufficient to destroy so wild a notion; since if the people concerned in erecting it had dry ground to build upon, it might have been finished in a tenth part of the time, and in a much more durable manner.

The same gentleman observes, that having carefully surveyed the bridge in the year 1730, in company with Mr. Sparruck, the water carpenter thereof, he observed in many places where the stones were washed from the sterlings, the vast frames of piles, whereon the stone piers were founded. The exterior part of these piles were extremely large, and driven as close as art could effect, and on the top were laid long beams of timber of the thickness of ten inches, strongly bolted; whereon was placed the base of the stone piers, nine feet above the bed of the river, and three below the sterlings; and that on the outside of this foundation were driven the piles called the sterlings.

Mr. Sparruck informed him, that he and the bridge-mason had frequently taken out of the lowermost layers of stones 129in the piers, several of the original stones, which had been laid in pitch instead of mortar; and that this occasioned their being of opinion, that all the outside stones of the piers, as high as the sterlings, were originally laid in the same matter, to prevent the waters damaging the work. This Mr. Maitland naturally supposes, was done at every tide of ebb, till the work was raised above the high water mark.

It is remarkable, that the master mason of this great work erected at his own expence a chapel on the east side of the ninth pier from the north end, and endowed it for two priests, four clerks, &c. This chapel, which was dedicated to St. Thomas, was a beautiful arched Gothic structure, sixty-five feet long, twenty feet and a half broad, and fourteen in height. Great part of this edifice lately remained very perfect; it was paved with black and white marble, and in the middle was a sepulchral monument in which was probably interred Peter, curate of Colechurch, the architect, or master mason, who began the work, but died before it was completed. Clusters of small pillars arise at equal distances on the sides, and bending over the roof, meet in the center of the arch, where they are bound together by 130large flowers cut in the same stone: between these pillars were the windows, which afforded a view of the Thames on each side, and were arched, and far from being unhandsome: but these have long been closed up with brick-work. It had an entrance from the river as well as the street, from which last there was a descent to it by a winding pair of stone steps twisting round a pillar. These stairs opened into a short passage, on the right hand of which was a cavity in the wall for holding the bason of holy water. On the 30th of September 1758, when we had the pleasure of seeing it, this edifice existed in the above form, only a part of the arch was obliged to make way for a shop floor, and some of the body was divided into an upper and lower story for the convenience of warehouse room, it then belonging to an eminent stationer.

But notwithstanding all this art and expence in building the bridge with stone, it was soon in great want of repairs: for about four years after it was finished, a fire broke out in Southwark, which taking hold of the church of our Lady of the Canons, or St. Mary Overy’s, a south wind communicated the flames to the 131houses on the north side of the bridge, which interrupted the passage, and stopped the return of a multitude of people who had run from London to help to extinguish the fire in Southwark: and while the amazed croud were endeavouring to force a passage back to the city through the flames on the north end of the bridge, the fire broke out at the south end also; so that being inclosed between two great fires, above three thousand people perished in the flames, or were drowned by overloading the vessels that ventured to come to their assistance.

By this dreadful accident, and other circumstances, this new stone bridge was in so ruinous a condition, that King Edward I. granted the bridgekeeper a brief to ask and receive the charity of his subjects throughout the kingdom, towards repairing it: besides which, he caused letters to be wrote to the clergy of all degrees, earnestly pressing them to contribute to so laudable a work; but these methods proving ineffectual, he granted a toll, by which every foot passenger carrying merchandize over the bridge, was to pay one farthing; every horseman with merchandize, 1d. and every saleable pack carried and palling over, a halfpenny.

132But while these affairs were in agitation, the ruin of the bridge was completed, by five arches being borne down and destroyed by the ice and floods, after a great frost and deep snow in the year 1282.

However, the drawbridge, which had at first a tower on the north side, and was contrived to afford a passage for ships with provisions to Queenhithe, as well as to prevent the attempts of an enemy, was begun to be built in the year 1426; but about ten years after two of the arches at the south end, together with the bridgegate, fell down; and the ruins of the latter still remaining, one of the locks or passages for the water, was almost rendered useless; whence it received the name of the rock lock, which has occasioned the citizens to take it for a natural rock; and indeed though these ruins have lain in the water for above three centuries, they are still as impenetrable as a solid rock.

From that time the buildings on the bridge increased slowly; for in 1471, when Thomas Fauconbridge the Bastard, besieged the bridge, there were no more than thirteen houses besides the gate, and a few other buildings erected upon it.

However, in Stow’s time, both sides 133were built up, and it had the appearance of a regular street, there being only left three openings, with stone walls and iron rails over them, to afford a prospect east and west of the Thames. These were over three of the widest arches, usually called the navigable locks.

Thus we see that the bridge in Stow’s time nearly resembled what it was before the houses were lately pulled down: and the continuator of Mr. Stow observes, that it continued in the same state till the year 1632; when on the 13th of February, the buildings on the north end of the bridge to the vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses, were burnt down by a maid servant’s carelessness, in setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, at a needle-maker’s near St. Magnus’s church: this fire burnt very furiously, and there being a scarcity of water, occasioned by the Thames being almost frozen over, these buildings were all consumed within eight hours.

In this condition the bridge continued for several years; the confusions in the state interrupting the government of the city, and putting a stop to all farther improvements. However, some of the houses next the city were rebuilt of timber in the years 1645 and 1646; these edifices were 134three stories high; they had flat roofs adorned with balustrades, and had cellars contrived within and between the piers.

The bridge had not indeed intirely recovered from its ruinous condition in 1666, when it again suffered in the general conflagration of the city, most of the buildings being totally consumed, except a few at the south end, erected in the reign of King John; and the very stone work of the bridge was so injured and weakened by this melancholy event, that it cost the bridge-house 1500l. to make good the damage of the piers and arches.

The stone work was, however, no sooner secured, than a sufficient number of tenants offered, who agreed with the bridge-house for building leases of sixty-one years, paying to the city the annual rent of ten shillings per foot running, and to build in such a form and manner as was prescribed. This was carried into execution with such dispatch, that within five years the north end was completely finished, with houses four stories high, and a street twenty feet broad between side and side: after which all the old buildings at the south end were rebuilt in the same manner.

In the year 1722, the Lord Mayor, 135Aldermen, and Common Council, being sensible of the great inconveniences and mischiefs which happened by the disorderly driving of coaches, carts, and other carriages, over the bridge, published an order, that all carriages coming out of Southwark into the city, should keep all along on the west side of the bridge, and those going out of the city on the east side; appointing three persons at each end to see this order executed: and this method is still observed.

Three years after this order, the gate at the south end being greatly damaged by a fire which broke out at a brush-maker’s, and destroyed several of the adjacent houses, it was built with stone, with two posterns for the convenience of foot passengers. This gate was finished at the expence of the city in the year 1728.

At length the building leases being expired, the city was sensible of the inconvenience of not having a footway, which had occasioned the loss of many lives, from the number of carriages continually passing and repassing, projected a plan for rebuilding the street over the bridge with colonades on each side, by which foot passengers might be both secured from the horses and carriages, and sheltered from the weather. Part of this plan was a 136few years ago carried into execution, from the first opening on the north-east end, and its advantages were so obvious, that every body was desirous of seeing it completed.

However, in 1746 the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, considering the many lives that were lost thro’ the streightness of the arches, and the enormous size of the sterlings, which took up one fourth of the water way, and occasioned the fall at low water to be no less than five feet; as well as the great expence of repairing the bridge, which for several years had annually amounted to 2000l. came to the resolution of taking down all the houses, and to widen and enlarge one or more of the arches. Accordingly the Court ordered their surveyor to draw a plan, and make an estimate of the expence; which having done, the total amounted to 95,000l. when it was immediately agreed not to grant or renew any lease or leases of the houses, but to let those unexpired run out, and consequently the houses run to ruin. Stow. Maitland.

Indeed this scheme was in part proposed immediately after the fire of London, by both Sir Christopher Wren and Sir John Evelyn; these ingenious gentlemen proposing, instead of houses, to have a substantial 137balustrade on each side; and after them, the author of the Review of the public buildings had the following remarks, “As some people are ignorant enough to admire the bridge merely because it is encumbered with houses from end to end; it will not be amiss to observe, that nothing can be more ridiculous than this invention; nothing can possibly offend the eye more, or extinguish so many beauties as might take place, in case this popular nuisance was removed: suppose the present structure of the bridge was still to continue as it is, there would, at least, be room for a magnificent breast-work and balustrade above, and the top would afford one of the finest prospects in the world: on one hand a fleet of merchant ships, equal in value and importance to half a nation; on the other, two of the most considerable cities in Europe, stretching along the banks of a beautiful river, and ending with a distant view of the adjacent landscape.”

At length the leaning houses on each side seemed ready to fall into the river, and the passenger could scarcely forbear shuddering, when he observed that any of them was inhabited. At the same time, the structure of the noble bridge at Westminster, 138with the magnitude, safety, and convenience of the arches, convinced the citizens more and more of the advantages that would arise from the resolution of pulling down the houses; and in the year 1756, every one was pleased, that the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council, had applied to parliament to enable them to put this resolution in practice. In short, an act was obtained, and they were enabled to provide for the expence, by collecting a toll for every horse and carriage that passed over it, except those used for tillage, till the principal and interest of the money that should be borrowed and laid out upon it, should be repaid.

These measures being taken, orders were soon given for taking down the houses on both sides of the way, for a considerable distance north of the gate. This not only pleased every inhabitant of the city of London and the borough of Southwark, but every one who had occasion to pass and repass over this useful bridge; and all whose business leads them to pass in any kind of craft thro’ the arches, began to please themselves with the thought, that their lives would hereafter be secure in the exercise of their lawful employments.

139The houses and arches that extended across the bridge being taken down, in all the middle part of that structure a strong temporary bridge, made of wood, was with amazing expedition erected upon the western sterlings of the old structure, for the passage of carriages, horsemen, and foot passengers, till the intended alterations should be completed; and this edifice, which was rendered as safe and convenient as possible, was opened in October 1757.

But when the pavement was dug up, and an opening made into the cavities of all the piers; when some of them were demolished almost to the water’s edge, and the whole space where the houses had been taken down was a confused heap of ruins, that had not the least resemblance of a bridge, the temporary structure burst into a flame, and was intirely consumed.

The fire began on Tuesday the 11th of April 1758, at about eleven at night; and by nine o’clock the next morning, the whole temporary bridge was consumed; though the drawbridge and some pieces of timber among the ruins of the old structure continued burning all the next day.

Various have been the reports of the manner in which this useful structure was 140set on fire. Some have said, that about ten in the evening they saw several persons who appeared in liquor, coming over the bridge with a torch, and endeavouring to get it from him who held it, while he strove, in play, to defend himself by burning them, at last threw it over the boarded fence of the bridge, when the light disappeared, till the timber below burst into a flame. On the other hand, the watchmen on the Customhouse key on the east side, and at the Steelyard on the west, with many others, are said to have observed about eleven, some lights under the bridge, which appeared in several places like candles in lanthorns; and that soon after, the bridge, from one end to the other, burst into flames: but those who first saw the progress of the fire, observe, that it began in one spot, and extended itself both ways progressively.

At this disaster the citizens were filled with consternation, imagining that the communication between the city and borough of Southwark would for a long time be in a great measure cut off; and every body naturally concluded, that this dreadful disaster was occasioned by some vile incendiaries. The Lord Mayor, who had attended almost the whole time of the conflagration, and did his utmost to stop 141it, waited in the morning on Mr. Pitt with the dreadful account; and having immediately obtained his Majesty’s pardon for any person who would discover the authors of the calamity, except the identical perpetrators of it, called a court of Common Council, who came to the resolution to offer a reward of 200l. for discovering the base and villainous incendiaries. But though a considerable time is elapsed, no discovery has yet been made.

This prudent step being first taken, the builders of the bridge were asked, how soon they could possibly render it passable for carriages; when they promised to complete it within three weeks, on condition of being allowed to work on Sundays, and to employ a sufficient number of men. This news filled the people with equal joy and surprize; but this surprize was greatly increased, when they found that by keeping men constantly at work day and night, this great work was completed and the old bridge opened again in less than a fortnight; and that in this short time those arches that had been taken down, and the deep cavities in all the piers lately used for cellars, were covered over; the piers which had been demolished had stages formed of large beams 142of timber raised to support the upper works, and the whole track of ruins was covered with rows of strong beams placed close together; these were gravelled over to a considerable depth; and a strong wooden fence, on each side, raised about six feet high, with places formed for foot passengers to stand in at proper distances, to secure themselves from being hurt by the carriages.

This great work was no sooner finished with such amazing expedition, than preparations were made for a new temporary bridge, which was soon after begun, and in a short time was opened.

The great loss the city had suffered by the burning of the temporary bridge, induced the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, to apply to Parliament for relief; when that body, rendering the repairing and the beautifying of London bridge a national concern, an act was passed the same year for granting the city 15,000l. towards the carrying on of that work; upon which two toll booths that had been erected for receiving the toll granted by a former act, were immediately taken down, and all horses and carriages suffered to go toll free.

To prevent posterity being deceived by the pompous elogiums bestowed on this 143bridge, which has been stiled The wonder of the world, The bridge of the world, and The bridge of wonders, the following faithful description of it, we apprehend, will not be improper. And indeed this is the more necessary, as no accurate description of this bridge has ever yet been published. The Thames in this part is 915 feet broad, and that is the length of the bridge, which was forty-three feet seven inches in height. The street, which before the houses fell to decay, consisted of handsome lofty edifices, pretty regularly built; it was twenty feet broad, and the houses on each side generally 26½ feet deep. Across the middle of the street ran several lofty arches extending from side to side, the bottom part of each arch terminating at the first story, and the upper part reaching near the top of the buildings, the work over the arches extending in a strait line from side to side. These arches were designed to prevent the houses giving way. They were therefore formed of strong timbers bolted into the timbers of the houses on each side, and being covered with laths and plaister, appeared as if built with stone; and in some of them a closet, or little room, was formed in the cavities next the houses, 144with a window to the north, and another to the south.

It has been already observed, that this street had three openings on each side, adorned with iron rails, to afford the passengers a view of the river, and placed over three of the widest arches, called navigable locks; because vessels of considerable burthen have been used to pass thro’ them. That arch next the gate has obtained the name of the rock lock, from the cause already mentioned: that under the drawbridge was called the drawbridge lock; and the third, near the chapel (which could not easily be distinguished from the rest of the houses) was called St. Mary’s lock: and there was a fourth between St. Magnus’s church at the foot of the bridge, and the first vacancy northward, called the King’s lock; from its being customary for the King to go thro’ it in his passage through the bridge.

Thus the street on the bridge had nothing to distinguish it from a common handsome narrow street; but the high arches towards the middle, and the three openings on each side, which afforded an agreeable view of the river. But on the outside the view from the water, and from the keys, was as disagreeable as possible. 145Nineteen unequilateral arches, with sterlings increased to a monstrous size by frequent repairs, supported the street above. These arches were of very different sizes, and several that were low and narrow, were placed between others that were broad and lofty. The back part of the houses next the Thames had neither uniformity nor any degree of beauty; the line was broken by a great number of closets projecting from the buildings, and by mean necessary houses hanging over the sterlings. This deformity was increased by the houses extending a considerable distance over the sides of the bridge, and by some of them projecting farther over it than others: by which means the tops of almost all the arches, except those that were nearest, were concealed from the view of the passengers on the keys, and gave the bridge the appearance of a multitude of rude piers, with only an arch or two at the end, and the rest consisting of beams extending from the tops of flat piers, without any other arches, quite across the river.

But most of these deformities will be soon removed. Instead of a narrow street of twenty feet wide, there will be a passage of thirty-one feet broad for carriages; with a handsome raised pavement of stone 146on each side, seven feet broad, for the use of foot passengers; and, instead of houses projecting over the river, the sides will be secured and adorned by an elegant balustrade. Like Westminster bridge, it will be handsomely enlightened with lamps from sun-setting to sun-rising, and guarded in the night by a number of watchmen; the expences of both which are to be defrayed out of the bridge-house estate.

London Bridge Water Works. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth were erected in the arches at the south end of this bridge, mills for grinding corn, in order that the city might supply the poor with meal, at a reasonable rate, in a time of scarcity, or when the price was unjustly raised by avaricious badgers and mealmen. Afterwards, in the year 1582, Peter Morice, a Dutchman, contrived a water engine to supply the citizens with Thames water: this was, about fifty years ago, improved by Mr. Sorocold; and, since that time, by that great master of hydraulics, Mr. Hadley, who rendered it far superior to the so much famed water-engine at Marli in France; which is so ill contrived in its cranks, that it is said to cost 25,000l. sterling per annum to keep it in repair.

This machine was at first made to force 147the water no higher than Gracechurch street. The first engineer obtained from the city a lease for 500 years, at the annual rent of 10s. for the use of the Thames, and one arch, with a place for fixing his mill upon. The citizens soon experienced the benefit of this invention, and granted him a like lease, two years after, for another arch: by which means he grew very wealthy; and it continued in his family, under various improvements, till the year 1701; when the property was sold to one Richard Soams, a citizen and goldsmith. Morice having first, at the purchaser’s request, obtained another lease of the fourth arch, for the further improvement of the said works, after selling the whole property thereof for 36,000l. Mr. Soams, to prevent all disputes with the citizens, then applied to the city for a confirmation of his bargain with Mr. Morice, and obtained a fresh lease from them for the term unexpired of that gentleman’s lease, at the yearly rent of 20s. and 300l. fine. After which he divided the whole property into three hundred shares, at 500l. each share, and made it a Company.

The wheels placed under the arches are moved by the common stream of the tidewater of the river Thames. The axle-tree of the water wheel is nineteen feet 148long, and three feet diameter; in which are four sets of arms, eight in each place, whereon are fixed four rings on sets of felloes, twenty feet in diameter, and twenty-six floats, fourteen inches long, and eighteen inches deep.

The wheel lies, with its two gudgeons or center pins, upon two brasses, fixed on two great levers, whose fulcrum or top, is an arched piece of timber, the levers being made circular on their lower sides to an arch, and kept in their places by two arching studs, fixed with a sock through two mortises in the lever.

By these levers the wheel is thus made to rise and fall with the tide: the levers are sixteen feet long, that is, from the fulcrum to the gudgeon of the water wheel six feet, and thence to the arch ten feet. To the bottom of this arch is fixed a strong triple chain, made like a watch chain, but the links are arched to a circle of one foot diameter, having notches or teeth to take hold of the leaves of a pinion of cast iron, ten inches diameter, with eight teeth in it, moving on an axis. The other loose end of this chain has a large weight hanging at it, to help to counterpoise the wheel, and to preserve the chain from sliding on the pinion. On the same axis is fixed a cog-wheel, six feet in diameter, 149with forty-eight cogs; to this is applied a trundle or pinion of six rounds or teeth; and upon the same axis is fixed another cog-wheel of fifty-one cogs, into which a trundle of six rounds works, on whose axis is a winch or windlass, by which one man with the two windlasses raises or lets down the wheel, as there is occasion.

By means of this machine, the strength of an ordinary man will raise about fifty tons weight. But, besides these levers and wheels, there is a cog-wheel eight feet diameter, fixed near the end of the great axis, and working into a trundle of four feet and a half diameter, and twenty rounds; whose axis or spindle is of cast iron, four inches diameter, and lying in brass at each end: a quadruple crank of cast iron, six inches square, each of the necks being turned one foot from the center, which is fixed in brass at each end, in two head-stocks fastened down by caps. The end of one of these cranks is placed close abutting to the end of the axle-tree last mentioned, and fixed thereunto by an iron wedge drove through a slit in them both for that purpose. The four necks of the crank have each an iron spear or rod fixed at their upper ends to the respective lever, within three feet of the end; which levers are twenty-four feet long, moving 150on centers in a frame, at the end of which are jointed four rods, with their forcing-plugs, working into four iron cylinders, cast four feet three quarters long, seven inches bore above, and nine below, where the valves lie, fastened by screwed flanches over the four holes of a hollow trunk of cast iron, having four valves in it, just at the joining-on at the bottom of the barrels or cylinders, and at one end a sucking pipe or grate, going into the water, which supplies all the four cylinders alternately.

From the lower part of these cylinders come out necks, turning upwards archwise, whose upper parts are cast with flanches to screw up to a trunk; which necks have bores of seven inches diameter, and holes in the trunk above, communicating with each of them; at which joining are placed four valves. This trunk is cast with four bosses, or protuberances, standing out against the valves, to give room for their opening and shutting; and on the upper side are four holes stopped with plugs, which take out, on occasion, to cleanse the valves. One end of the trunk is stopped by a plug; and iron pipes are joined by flanches to the other end, thro’ which the water is forced up to any height or place required.

Besides these four forcers, there are four 151more placed at the other ends of the levers, which work in the same manner, with rods and cylinders, as above. And the same works are repeated at the other end of the water-wheel, viz. a cog-wheel, a trundle, a spindle, a crank, sucking-pipes, four levers, eight forcing-rods, eight cylinders, &c. four trunks, and two forcing-pipes: so that one single wheel works sixteen pumps.

In the first arch next the city, is one wheel with double work of sixteen forcers. In the third arch, where the first wheel has double work at the one end, and single at the other, there are twelve forcers: the second wheel, placed in the middle, has eight forcers; and the third wheel sixteen forcers. In all fifty-two forcers.

One turn of the four wheels makes 114 strokes; and when the river is at best, the wheels go six times round in a minute, and but four and a half at middle water; so that the number of strokes in a minute are 684; and as the stroke is two feet and a half in a seven inch bore, which raises three ale gallons, they raise 2052 gallons in a minute; that is, 123,120 gallons, or 1954 hogsheads in an hour, which is at the rate of 46,896 hogsheads per day, to the height of 120 feet, including the 152waste, which may be settled at a fifth part of the whole. Desaguliers Mathematics.

London Bridge yard, Tooley street.

London court, 1. London street. 2. Rosemary lane.

London House, on the west side of Aldersgate street, was anciently called Dorchester House, and afterwards Petre’s House, from its having been possessed by the Marquis of Dorchester, and afterwards by the Lord Petre: but after the restoration being purchased for the residence of the Bishop of London, it obtained the name of London House. It is a large commodious brick building, with a neat chapel belonging to it; but being deserted by the Prelates of this see, is now let out into several tenements and warehouses.

London House yard, 1. Aldersgate street. 2. St. Paul’s church yard.

London Infirmary, on the south side of Whitechapel, is one of the many foundations that distinguish our country and the present age. It is supported by charitable and voluntary contributions, for the relief of all sick and diseased persons; and, in particular, manufacturers, seamen in the merchants service, and their wives and children.

This charity was instituted on the 2d of 153November 1740, in a large house in Prescot street, Goodman’s Fields, which is now the Magdalen hospital; but that becoming too small for this extensive charity, a new, more capacious, and more commodious building was erected by the voluntary contributions of several Governors, in an airy situation, near the Mount in Whitechapel road.

This is a very neat brick building, contrived to be plain and yet elegant, without being very expensive; and it consisting of one extended front, without either wings or inner courts, the whole is seen at one view. To the middle door is an ascent by a flight of steps, and over this part extends a very large angular pediment, within which is a dial. Above the ground floor extend two series, of each twenty-three sash windows, their number and the length of the building giving it an air of dignity. The architect has properly considered the use for which it is designed, and has suited every thing to convenience. It is properly furnished, and fitted up with about 160 beds for the reception of the patients.

The society for carrying on this laudable undertaking, consists of a President, two Vice Presidents, and a Treasurer, annually elected out of the most considerable 154benefactors to this charity, and of such persons, who by giving a benefaction of thirty guineas or more at one time, become Governors for life; and those who subscribe five guineas or more a year, are Governors during such subscription.

A general court of Governors is held in the months of March, June, September, and December, to take the report of the committees, elect a house committee for the ensuing quarter, inspect accounts, and transact such other business as may be then laid before them. The anniversary feast of this charity is held between the first of February and the last day of April, when a printed account of the general state of the hospital, the number of patients received and discharged, and an abstract of the accounts for the year past, is laid before them.

A house committee of thirteen Governors is appointed at every general quarterly court, who at their first meeting elect a Chairman to preside for the first quarter; who meet at the hospital, on Tuesdays weekly, at eleven in the forenoon, to receive and dismiss patients, to order and inspect the provisions and furniture sent in, and such necessaries that may be wanting, and to examine and regulate the conduct of the servants and patients; and 155other matters which come before them, according to the constitution of this charity. All Governors that please to attend, have a vote at this committee, and their attendance is esteemed a favour.

A committee of accounts, consisting of twelve Governors, is appointed at the general quarterly court in June, for one year, who meet at the hospital once a quarter, to examine and audit tradesmens bills, which are paid by the Treasurer within a fortnight after. The accounts are open at all times for the inspection of the Governors,

A physical committee, consisting of all such Governors who practise physic, surgery, or pharmacy, or are conversant in the knowledge of drugs or medicines (excepting such as shall be directly or indirectly concerned in serving the hospital with such necessaries) are summoned by order of the Chairman of the house committee for the time being every first Thursday in the month, and have power to order and inspect the necessary drugs and medicines, and report their proceedings to the general quarterly court by their Chairman.

Two Governors are appointed visitors by the house committee, for one fortnight, to attend twice a week, or oftener, if they 156think proper, to inspect into the management and conduct of the house, during the interval of the meetings of the house committee.

A Clergyman of the church of England reads prayers every day, and preaches every Sunday, and reads prayers morning and afternoon; administers the sacrament regularly every month; and is ready to visit, pray by, and administer the sacrament at all times when required, to the patients in the wards.

Three Physicians attend alternately; two of the Surgeons daily, from eleven o’clock till one, without fee or reward, and give their advice and assistance to all such objects as come within those hours, whether recommended or accidental. A Surgeon extraordinary attends in consultation, in all dangerous cases. The Surgeons in waiting have an apprentice, or pupil, constantly in the house, to receive, and, if necessary, to call the Surgeon to such accidents as shall be brought in at any hour of the day or night.

An apothecary (with an assistant) constantly resides at the hospital, who compounds and dispenses all medicines used there, and solely attends the business thereof.

A steward, (for whose fidelity proper 157security is given) has the charge of the house and furniture, keeps an account of every thing brought to or expended in the house, and subjects the same to the examination of the visitors, and house committee, and has the inspection likewise of the conduct of all the men-servants. Two matrons have the direction of the nurses and other women-servants, and see the diet and medicines administered according to order. Under them, are nurses, and watchers, in proportion to the number of patients, who are guided by written orders to prevent any misconduct. Proper diet for the patients has been settled by the Physicians and Surgeons engaged in this charity, and is fixed up in the wards for the satisfaction of the patients and their friends.