“One of the last papers printed on the River was as follows:—
‘To Madam Tabitha Thaw.
‘Dear Dissolving Dame,
‘Father Frost and Sister Snow have Bonyed my borders, formed an idol of ice upon my bosom, and all the Lads of London come to make merry: now, as you love mischief, treat the multitude with a few CRACKS by a sudden visit, and obtain the prayers of the poor upon both banks. Given at my own Press, the 5th Feb. 1814.
Thomas Thames.’
“During the obstruction of this Frost, the tide did not appear to rise above half its usual height; and about the Bridge the ice lay in enormous blocks, where their occasional splitting very much endangered the edifice, and caused several accidents; one of which forms the subject of a highly spirited etching in Mr. J. T. Smith’s ‘Antiquities of London,’ page 24, representing ‘An Arch of London Bridge,
as it appeared during the Great Frost, Drawn February 5th, 1814.’ This is a North-East view of the Prince’s Lock, or the 6th from the City-end; and is particularly curious for shewing at once the modern casing of the present Bridge, and the ancient edifice beneath it. In the evening of Saturday, the very day when this view was taken, Frost-Fair was visited by rain and a sudden thaw, when the ice cracked and floated in several places. On the following day, about 2 o’clock, the tide began to flow with great rapidity; the immense masses of ice were broken up in all directions, and the River was covered with wrecks; until returning industry and the rushing current removed every vestige of the last Frost-Fair. The features of this British Carnival are in the memories of the greater part of the present generation; though, if it were otherwise, the representations of it are few and scarce, and generally very inferior.
“It was, probably, the damage done to the Bridge by this Frost, which again called the public attention to its effectual improvement, by widening its water-way; and in November, 1814, Messrs. George Dance, William Chapman, Daniel Alexander, and James Mountague, addressed a Report to a Committee of the Corporation, for substituting four large Arches for eight of the present. Their estimate amounted to £92,000, supposing the Piers to be strong enough to bear the increased weight; which were to be examined by Coffer-dams, each Coffer-dam amounting to about £20,000, additional; when, if the edifice should be found too weak, the expense would be considerably increased. By direction of the Corporation, one of the Piers was opened, when Messrs. Chapman, and Ralph and James Walker, were nearly satisfied as to the practicability of the alteration; though Mr. Rennie’s confidence in the structure was rather decreased. These particulars are given at length in ‘An Abstract of the Proceedings and Evidence relative to London Bridge, taken from the Reports of a select Committee of the House of Commons, the Journals of the Common-Council, and the Committee for letting the Bridge-House Estates,’ London, 1819, folio, pages 68-107: and also in a Report of a Committee of the House of Commons, printed in ‘Reports and Evidences relative to London Bridge,’ 1820, 1821, folio, pages 49-52. This Report candidly states the uncertainty and expense of the whole plan, and earnestly recommends the erection of a new Bridge, with not more than five Arches, as near as possible to the site of the present: adding, from the evidence of numerous witnesses, the universal agreement on the decided advantages to be gained from a free current of water, and that the Water-works should certainly be removed, whether the Bridge were altered or rebuilt. The annual rental of the Bridge-House Estates, amounting to £25,800, and the property and stock of the Trustees, £112,000 more, were conceived to be sufficient for the proposed works; or that the remainder might be raised without levying a toll upon foot-passengers.