That God will reward hym. Amen."
There are almshouses of the company in Clarke's Court, St. Helen's; White's Alley, Coleman Street; and Hart Street, Cripplegate.
Excepting the Borough High Street, perhaps no street in London had so many famous old inns, with galleried court-yards, cross-timbered walls, quaint gables, and latticed windows, as Bishopsgate Street, established for the accommodation of carriers and travellers from the north-eastern towns. Amongst them were the White Hart; formerly the Magpie, which stood by the gateway of Bethlem Priory, supposed to have been originally the hostelry of the priory, afterwards an inn for travellers who arrived after the gate was shut for the night. It seems, from a date on the wall, to have been rebuilt in 1480, and was standing in 1810, when a view was taken representing it with a double range of bay windows. It was again rebuilt in 1829, and stood at the corner of Liverpool Street. The Bull, where Burbage and his companions obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth for the performance of theatricals in the quadrangle, the spectators occupying the surrounding galleries. This was the inn to which old Hobson, the Cambridge carrier, resorted, from whom came the saying of "Hobson's choice"—that or none. On a wall of the inn was his effigy, in fresco, clutching a money bag, with an inscription—"The fruitful mother of a hundred more."
The Green Dragon, an old Tudor house. The Catherine Wheel still a carriers' house. The King's Head, at the corner of Spital Square. The Wrestlers, a large inn, and the Angel, were in existence temp. Henry VI. The City of London Tavern, with pillared facade, famous in modern times for its public dinners, was converted, in 1839, into the Wesleyan Centenary Hall, established in commemoration of the centennial year of the formation of the Society of Methodists.
On the eastern side of the street, within and near to the gate, were certain tenements belonging to a fraternity of St. Nicholas, which were given (27 Henry VI.) to the Company of Parish Clerks for the maintenance of two chaplains in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, near the Guildhall, and behind these stood the hall of the Parish Clerks, and seven almshouses for the poor, to one of whom was given sixteenpence and the other six ninepence per week.
The Post-office, which had been in Cloak Lane, Dowgate, was removed after the fire of 1666, to the Black Swan, in Bishopsgate Street, whence it was removed to Lombard Street, and subsequently to St. Martin-le-Grand.
We have noticed the palatial character of the Bishopsgate quarter of Roman Londinum, vestiges of its splendour having been frequently disinterred in recent times, in attestation of the fact. A thousand years afterwards it again became a district of sumptuous mansions—palaces, not of the Roman patricians, but of the merchant princes of the modern metropolis of the world. Most fortunately, the ravages of the great fire of '66 only extended to the borders of the ward, and thus have been preserved to us those precious architectural relics of Crosby House; and the churches of St. Helen and St. Ethelburga. The quaint old house of Sir Paul Pindar, has just been taken down.
Sir John Crosby was born circa 1420, and died in 1475; he was a grocer (a wholesale merchant) and woolman, and at one time Mayor of the Staple at Calais. He was elected an alderman in 1465; served the office of sheriff in 1471, in which year he was knighted by Edward IV., and represented the City in Parliament in the year 1461. He was a zealous Yorkist, in high favour with Edward IV., particularly distinguished himself in the defence of the City against the Lancastrian admiral, the Bastard of Fauconbridge, and is introduced by Heywood, in his drama of King Edward IV. In 1466 he took on lease from the Prioress of St. Helen's certain tenements for a period of ninety-nine years, at a rent of £11 6s. 8d. per annum, which he demolished, and built on the site "ye highest and fairest house in ye citie," which he did not enjoy long, as it was only completed four years before his death. Of its grandeur we may form some conception from what remains of it after the fire of 1674, especially the great hall, fifty-four feet long, twenty-seven and a half feet broad, and forty feet high, with its oriel windows eleven feet in breadth, and extending from the floor to the ceiling, and its timbered roof of surpassing beauty. Around this old mansion many most interesting historical associations have clustered. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, inhabited it for some time, and it figures in Shakespeare's pages as the place where he concocted his plot for the murder of his nephews, his marriage with his niece, which he could not accomplish, and the usurpation of the throne. From 1516 to 1523, it was the abode of Sir Thomas More, where it is supposed he wrote his Utopia.
It has been occupied by several aldermen, some of whom held their mayoralty there, amongst others, Alderman Bond, who added a turret to the building; Sir John Spencer, who built a large warehouse behind it; Sir Bartholomew Read, Lord Mayor, who entertained Catherine of Arragon for two or three days within its walls, previous to her marriage with Prince Arthur. The Emperor Maximilian lodged there when in London in 1502; Queen Elizabeth came there in 1594 to witness a masque by some law students, and the famous Countess of Pembroke made it her residence for some time, where it is probable Shakespeare visited her. During the Civil War it was made a prison for captured Royalists, after which the great hall was converted into a Presbyterian chapel. In 1678 the drawing-room and throne room were used as warehouses by the East India Company, and afterwards as a packer's workrooms, when they sustained a great deal of mutilation. In 1831, it was advertised to be sold for demolition, but some spirited persons came forward and rescued it from that fate, besides restoring and repairing it. From 1842 to 1860 it was a literary institute, and is now a restaurant, the proprietor having with great good taste preserved all the old features, and in the necessary additional buildings has adhered to the same style. It is supposed to have consisted originally of two quadrangles, separated by the great hall, and that it had a facade of 100 feet in length to Bishopsgate Street.
Sir John gave 500 marks towards the restoration of St. Helen's Church, and his arms were placed on the walls and in the windows. He was thrice married, and had an only son, who died without issue, the line thus becoming extinct.