[30] ‘Life of William Wilberforce,’ by his son Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford. Revised and condensed from the original edition. 8vo., 1868.
[31] Gentleman’s Magazine, January, 1834.
[32] It formed part of his benefactions, through Bishop Waynflete, to Magdalen College, Oxford.
[33] Pepys, the diarist, on March 27, 1664, writes as follows: ‘Walked through the Ducking Pond Fields; but they are so altered since my father used to carry us to Islington, to the old man of the King’s Head, to eat cakes and ale (his name was Pitts), that I did not know which was the Ducking Pond, or where I was.’ What would he have said now? There were several ducking-ponds in this neighbourhood; the name of Ball’s Pond, near Newington Green, still survives. Howes in his ‘Chronicle’ says that the reservoir at the New River head ‘was in former times an open idell pool, commonly called the Ducking Pond.’ Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, were also called ‘Ducking Pond Fields.’ There was a public-house a little west of the London Spa, with a ducking-pond attached. It was taken down in 1770, and the Pantheon, in imitation of the Oxford Street Pantheon, built on its site. This soon became disreputable, and was eventually turned into Spa Fields Chapel, demolished 1879. There was a ducking-pond in Mayfair (Hertford Street is on the site), and another near Mile End.
[34] The ground in St. George’s Fields was not absolutely given, but a lease was granted for 865 years at the nominal rent of one shilling a year.
[35] The cross had possibly some connection with the priory of St. Mary Overy hard by, or with the rich and powerful abbey, originally the priory of St. Saviour’s, Bermondsey. A chronicle, supposed to have been written by one of the monks, is among the Harleian MSS. (No. 231). We are here told that in the year 1117 ‘the cross of the Holy Saviour was found near the Thames.’ Apparently this was the cross of Bermondsey, placed in the church, to which pilgrimages were occasionally made. It was taken down in 1538, during the mayoralty of Sir Richard Gresham, and in all likelihood destroyed; but Wilkinson, in his ‘Londina Illustrata,’ gives a view, showing in front of the building, attached to the chief or north gate of the abbey, a small cross with zigzag ornament, which some have sought to identify with this holy rood. It existed with the remains of the building till comparatively recent times. On the way to the abbey were famous roadside crosses: one north, the site of which is at the junction of Tooley Street with Bermondsey Street; the other south, in Kent Street.
[36] From the ‘Archæologia,’ vol. 32, I learn that ‘the seal of Bartholomew Elys, of Great Yarmouth, 17 Rich. II., is remarkable as giving the family arms with the substitution of his merchant’s mark in place of the cinqfoil in base.’ Mr. Waller says that at Standon, in Herts, is the mark of John Feld, alderman of London 1474; but his son, on the same brass, an esquire in armour, has his shield of arms.
[37] ‘Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries,’ November 24, 1887. A highly interesting article in the ‘Archæologia,’ vol. 37, by Mr. B. Williams, shows that in early times simple marks, not unlike merchants’ marks, were used to distinguish property, both here and in Germany. Our modern swan marks are a survival.
[38] At a Common Council held July 14, 33 Henry VIII., it was ordered that the seal of the Bridge House should be changed, because the image of Thomas à Becket, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury, was graven thereon, and it was agreed that a new seal should be made, devised by Mr. Hall, to whom the old seal was delivered.
[39] But see Mr. Billson’s paper on ‘The Easter Hare,’ in Folklore, vol. iii.—[Ed.]