Transcriber’s Note:

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LONDON

AND ITS

ENVIRONS

DESCRIBED.

VOL. IV.

LONDON
AND ITS
ENVIRONS
DESCRIBED.
CONTAINING
An Account of whatever is most remarkable for Grandeur, Elegance, Curiosity or Use,
In the City and in the Country Twenty Miles round it.
COMPREHENDING ALSO
Whatever is most material in the History and Antiquities of this great Metropolis.
Decorated and illustrated with a great Number of Views in Perspective, engraved from original Drawings, taken on purpose for this Work.
Together with a Plan of LONDON, A Map of the Environs, and several other useful Cuts.
VOL. IV.

LONDON:

Printed by R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall.

M DCC LXI.

[Click anywhere on map for high resolution image.]

LONDON
AND ITS
ENVIRONS
DESCRIBED, &c.

London, the metropolis of Great Britain, and one of the largest and richest cities upon earth, is of such antiquity that it is impossible to give any certain account of its origin. It probably existed in the time of the ancient Britons, before the art of writing was brought into England, and when there were no other monuments of ancient facts, than what were found in the songs of the bards, which were preserved only by memory.

It would be ridiculous therefore to lay any stress on the fabulous tales of Geffry of Monmouth, who pretends that it was founded by Brutus, the second nephew of the famous Æneas, and called Trinovantum, or New Troy, and that it was at length walled by King Lud, when it obtained the name of Caer Lud, or Lud’s Town. Upon which suppositions some of our later historians have had the weakness to compute, that it had its origin 1107 years before the birth of Christ; 600 years before the fall of the Assyrian empire by the death of Belshazzar, and 350 before the building of Rome.

But to leave these fabulous tales. Camden supposes that this city derived the name of London from the British words Llhwn a wood, and Dinas a town; by which etymology of the word, London signifies a town in a wood: this exactly agrees with the manner in which the Britons formed their towns, by building them in the midst of woods, and fencing them with trees cut down: but lest this derivation should not please, the same learned writer gives another, from the British word Lhong, a ship, and Dinas a city, and then the word London will signify a city or harbour for ships: and indeed it has been supposed by many learned authors, that before Cæsar’s time London was the ancient emporium or mart of the British trade with the Phœnicians, Greeks and Gauls.

London had however no buildings either of brick or stone, till it was inhabited by the Romans; for the dwellings of the Britons were only huts formed of twigs wattled together; however, Tacitus observes, that in the year 26, Londinum was very famous for the multitude of its merchants, and the greatness of its traffic; but soon after Suetonius abandoned the city to the fury of Boadicea, because it was too large to be defended by his little army of 10,000 Romans, which is certainly a proof of its being even then of a considerable extent. That British Princess however burnt this great city, and put all the inhabitants to the sword.

London soon recovered from this dreadful catastrophe, and in a few years increased so much in the number of its inhabitants, its trade and buildings, that Herodian, in the life of the Emperor Severus, calls it a great and wealthy city, and about this time it changed the name of Londinum, for that of Augusta; probably from its being the capital of the British dominions, and was made a prefecture by the Romans, in imitation of Rome itself: but it soon after changed the name of Augusta for that of Caer-Llundain.

It will not be improper here to observe, that a dispute has arisen about the situation of this city in these early times; the Rev. and learned Dr. Gale, Dean of York, and Mr. Salmon, having offered many arguments to prove that it was a Roman station erected in St. George’s Fields, to secure their conquests on that side the river, before they reduced the Trinobantines; particularly from the great quantities of Roman antiquities found in St. George’s Fields; from the name of Cyningston, or Kennington, which Dr. Gale supposes was an ancient town and castle belonging to the Kings of England, and therefore probably a Roman station, because the Saxons generally used to settle in such places; and from the authority of Ptolemy, who has placed London on the south side of the Thames. In answer to these arguments, it has been very justly observed by Mr. Maitland, that the Romans were too wise to make use of so noisome and unhealthful a place for a station, as St. George’s Fields then was, from their being overflowed by every spring tide; as they must have been before the river was confined by artificial banks, and before the building of London bridge, where, upon an ordinary spring tide, the water rises upwards of nineteen inches higher on the east side than on the west: that, if the antiquities discovered are any proof, above twenty times the quantity of Roman antiquities have been found on the north side of the river. With respect to the argument produced from the name of Kennington, the learned Mr. Woodward observes, that the Kings of England were, from our oldest notices of things, intitled to all such lands as were gained from the sea, or from such rivers as ebbed and flowed; and that with respect to the authority of Ptolemy, he had not only misplaced several other towns in Britain, but in countries much nearer to him.

The time when the city wall was first erected, is very uncertain, some authors ascribing this work to Constantine the Great, and others to his mother Helena; but Mr. Maitland brings several arguments to prove, that it was erected by Valentinian, about the year 368, and that it entirely surrounded the city, to secure it from being invaded by water as well as by land.

This wall was composed alternately of layers of flat Roman brick, and rag stones, and had many lofty towers. Those on the land side were fifteen in number. The remains of one of these is still to be seen in Shoemaker row, fronting the passage into Duke’s Place; and there is another a little nearer Aldgate, twenty-one feet high. From the remains of the Roman work in the city wall, Mr. Maitland supposes, that, at the time of its erection, it was twenty-two feet in height, and that of the towers about forty feet. See London Wall.

During the Saxon heptarchy, London was the metropolis of the kingdom of the East Saxons, and was then, as we are told by Bede, a princely mart-town, governed by a magistrate called a Portreve, that is, a governor or guardian of a port. We find this city then first called London-Byrig, which they soon after changed into Lunden-Ceaster, Lunden-Wye, Lundenne, Lunden-Berk, or Lunden-Burgh. At length Augustine the Monk, having introduced christianity into England, in the year 400, he was made Archbishop of Canterbury, when he ordained Mellitus bishop of the East Saxons, who had a church erected for him in this city by Ethelbert, King of Kent. Thus London first became the seat of a bishop; but this prelate was afterwards expelled, and paganism again for some time publicly established.

The history of the heptarchy is so very defective, that no mention is made of this city from the year 616, to that of 764. After this last period we find that London frequently suffered by fires, and was twice plundered by the Danes; the last time they transported an army in 350 ships up the Thames, and landing near London, soon reduced and plundered it; when looking upon it as a convenient fortress, whence they might at pleasure invade the kingdom of Wessex, made it a place of arms, and left in it a considerable garrison; but the wise and brave Alfred recovered the city, drove out the invaders, and then not only repaired the wall and towers, but embellished the city with additional buildings. But we have no account of the nature of the buildings or the edifices erected, only that in the year 961, there were but few houses within the city walls, and those irregularly dispersed; most of them being without Ludgate, so that Canterbury, York, and other places, contained more houses than London. The city having no bridge, the citizens cross’d the Thames by means of ferries.

But between the years 993, and 1016, a wooden bridge was erected. This great work was performed in the reign of Ethelred, and in the last mentioned year, Canute King of Denmark sailing up the river, in order to plunder the city, and finding that he could not pass the bridge with his ships, caused a canal to be cut through the marshes on the south side of the river, which probably began at the place now called Dockhead, and extending in a semicircle by Margaret’s Hill, entered the Thames about St. Saviour’s Dock, a little above the bridge. This work being accomplished, Canute brought his ships to the west of London bridge, and attacked the city on all sides; however the citizens exerting themselves with extraordinary bravery, he was repulsed with considerable loss, and obliged to raise the siege. Yet he afterwards renewed it with greater vigour than before, but with no better success. At last a peace was concluded between King Edmund and Canute, by which the kingdom was divided between them, when Mercia, of which London was the capital, falling to Canute’s share, the city submitted to him; and Edmund dying a few months after, Canute summoned a parliament to meet in London, who chose that prince sole monarch of England.

Canute now, resolving to win the hearts of his new subjects, disbanded his army, and threw himself entirely upon the affections of the English, at which the above parliament were so pleased, that they granted him 83,000l. a prodigious sum at that time! for, according to the price of land and provisions then, it must have been equal to nine millions at present; and of this immense sum, London alone raised 11,000l. which is a convincing proof of the opulence of the city, since it must be possessed of above one seventh part of the wealth of the whole kingdom.

But we are not writing a history of England, but of its capital, we shall therefore pass over the following reigns, till we come to the invasion of William the Conqueror, who laid Southwark in ashes; but the Londoners afterwards submitting to him, he, in the year 1067, granted them his first charter in their own language, which consists of little more than four lines, beautifully written in the Saxon character on a slip of parchment, six inches long, and one broad, and is still preserved in the city archives.

In 1077 happened the greatest casual fire, that till this time ever befel the city, by which the greatest part of it was laid in ashes; and about two years after, the Conqueror beginning to suspect the fidelity of his subjects, caused the present square tower of London to be erected, to keep them in awe. See the Tower of London.

In this reign were several other dreadful fires, and London bridge was in 1091 carried away by a land flood; but a few years after another wooden bridge was built in its room. In 1099 a high flood caused the Thames to overflow its banks, by which a great number of villages were laid under water, and many of their inhabitants drowned: at this time part of the lands belonging to Godwin Earl of Kent, were swallowed up by the sea, and are now denominated Goodwin’s Sands; and this being a reign of prodigies, there happened fifteen years after such a defect of water in the river Thames, that numbers of people crossed not only above and below London bridge, but even through some of the arches, without wetting their feet.

We have already mentioned the first charter granted by William the Conqueror to the city; he afterwards granted them another; but London obtained one much more extensive from Henry I. by which the citizens not only had their ancient customs and immunities confirmed, but the county of Middlesex added to their jurisdiction, on paying the quit rent of 300l. a year; with a power of appointing not only a Sheriff but a Justiciary from among themselves. This was granted to prevent that county’s being any longer an asylum for bankrupts, and fraudulent persons, who having deserted London with the goods and effects of their creditors, lived there in open defiance of those they had injured.

By this charter the citizens were allowed the privilege of not being compelled to plead without the walls of the city, and excused from paying scot, lot, and danegelt, duties payable to the King by all his other subjects. The city was not to be amerced for the escape of a murderer; nor any citizen, when accused of a crime, be obliged to vindicate his innocence by a duel. They were exempted from paying toll in fairs or markets in any part of the kingdom; and if any was exacted, they might make reprisals in London, upon the inhabitants of the town where it was exacted, &c.

Before the grant of this charter, London seems to have been entirely subject to the arbitrary will of the King. But the liberties of the citizens being now guarded by so strong a fence, they endeavoured to secure their customs by converting them into written laws; and the several bodies professing the arts and mysteries of trade and manufacture, which had hitherto been kept up by prescription only, were now strengthened by being formed into established companies. The King however reserved to himself the power of appointing the Portreve, or chief officer of the city.

Upon the death of Henry I. the citizens assisted King Stephen in his endeavours to obtain the crown, and in 1135 received him into the city; but the next year, a dreadful fire laid the greatest part of the city in ashes; for according to Mr. Stow, it began near London Stone, and consumed all the buildings east to Aldgate, and west to St. Erkenwald’s shrine in St. Paul’s cathedral; both of which it destroyed, together with London bridge, which was then of wood.

In the year 1139, the citizens purchased of King Stephen, for an hundred marks of silver, the right of chusing their own Sheriffs; but that prince being soon after defeated and taken prisoner by the Empress Matilda, the daughter of Henry I. she resolved to be revenged on the citizens, for the assistance they had given to that usurper; and therefore, entering into a convention with Geffrey, Earl of Essex, she granted him all the possessions and places which either his grandfather, father, or himself had held of the crown, among which were the sheriffwicks of London and Middlesex: and also the office of Judiciary of the city and county, so that no person could hold pleas in either, without his permission. This compact was executed with the greatest solemnity; and thus the citizens were divested of some of their most valuable privileges.

The citizens soon after humbly entreated Matilda to re-establish the laws of King Edward the Confessor, which had been confirmed to them by the Conqueror’s charter, and to ease them of their insupportable taxes: but instead of granting either of these requests, she, with a disdainful countenance, told them, that since they had assisted her enemy to the utmost of their power, they were to expect no favour from her.

From this haughty answer, they concluded that they had no other treatment to expect from this imperious Princess, than that of slaves. To prevent this, it was resolved, to seize her person; she however escaped; but the populace plundered her palace; after which Stephen was restored, and she compelled to fly the kingdom.

King Henry II. some years after, granted the citizens a charter, by which he confirmed their liberties and immunities.

The 2d of September 1189, the day preceding the coronation of Richard I. surnamed Coeur de Lyon, was remarkable for the dreadful massacre of the Jews in this city. Intimation was given to that people not to appear at the ceremony; but many endeavouring to satisfy their curiosity, by carrying presents to the King, attempted to get into the abbey church of St. Peter’s Westminster: but being repulsed by his Majesty’s domestics, a rumour spread among the populace, that the King had given orders for the entire destruction of that people. Upon which the mob, barbarously falling upon these poor defenceless wretches, murdered all who fell in their way, and then hastening to the city, with a more than diabolical fury massacred all they could find, and then plundered and burnt their houses. However, the next day, the wicked ringleaders of these horrid barbarities were seized, and immediately hanged.

In the year 1197, the citizens purchased of King Richard a charter, for 15,000 marks, by which they were impowered to remove all wears out of the river Thames, and the King resigned all his right to the annual duties arising from them. This is the first charter from which the city claims its jurisdiction and conservacy of that river.

In the next reign the citizens obtained several charters from King John, by which this and all their other privileges were confirmed: and in the year 1207, Henry Fitz-Alwyn took the title of Mayor, instead of Custos and Bailiff, under which names he had held that dignity for twenty years successively.

In the year 1211, the citizens, as an additional security, began to encompass the wall with a deep ditch 200 feet wide; a work in which a vast number of hands was employed. The same year London bridge was consumed by a dreadful fire.

In the beginning of the reign of King Henry III. the city obtained from that Prince five charters, on condition of paying him a fifteenth of their personal estates, by which all their former privileges were confirmed, and some others added. But these were only made to be broken; for this perfidious Monarch frequently extorted money from the citizens, and upon the slightest pretences imprisoned the Mayor and Sheriffs. He seized the charters he had granted, and made the citizens purchase new ones; and in the whole of his behaviour acted like a sharper, void of every principle of honour and justice, or the least regard to his word, his promises, or his oaths.

In this reign the forest of Middlesex being disforested, the citizens obtained an opportunity of purchasing land, and building houses upon it, by which the suburbs of the city were greatly increased, and soon enlarged to a considerable extent without the walls, though all the ground within them was far from being converted into regular streets.

It will not be unentertaining if we give a description of the city as it appeared about this time. The houses were mostly built of wood, and thatched with straw or reeds, which was the occasion of very frequent fires; and the city was supplied with water by men who brought it in carriages from the Thames, and from the brooks which ran through many of the principal streets. Thus the river of Wells, so called from many springs or wells uniting to supply its stream, arose in the north west part of the city, and ran into Fleet Ditch, at the bottom of Holborn hill. This small river, or brook, supplied several water mills, and at length from thence obtained the name of Turnmill Brook.

The Olborn, or Holborn, which arose where Middle row now stands, and flowed down the hill, also fell into Fleet Ditch; and a few houses on its banks were called a village, and distinguished by the name of this rivulet. While the Fleet ran down Fleet street, and also fell into Fleet Ditch.

Wall brook entered the city through the wall between Bishopsgate and Moorgate, and after many turnings emptied itself into the Thames at Dowgate.

The brook Langbourn rose near the east end of Fenchurch street, where mixing with the soil, it rendered it marshy; but ran from thence with a swift current to Sherborne lane, and then dividing into several rills, was lost in the Wall brook on Dowgate hill.

The springs from whence all these streams arose were pretty numerous, and several of them at their source formed deep ponds; particularly there was a large pond in Smithfield, supplied by its own spring; and near Cripplegate a deep and dangerous pool, formed by Crowder’s Well.

At length the citizens being deprived of their usual supplies of water from the above brooks, by the encroachments of buildings, and other ways, water was brought from six springs in the town of Tyburn, by a leaden pipe of a six-inch bore, which was made to supply leaden cisterns castellated with stone. The first and largest of these conduits was erected in West-cheap, in the year 1285, and afterwards the number of these conduits were increased to about twenty. Mr. Stow informs us, that it was customary for the Lord Mayor, accompanied by the Aldermen, and principal citizens on horseback, to visit the heads from whence the conduits were supplied, on the 18th of September, when they hunted a hare before dinner, and a fox after it, in the fields beyond St. Giles’s.

About this time the city was divided into twenty four wards, under the government of the Aldermen; and each ward chose some of the inhabitants as Common Council men, who were sworn into their office; these were to be consulted by the Aldermen, and their advice followed, in all public affairs relating to the city.

The above regulation was made in the reign of King Edward I. who also granted the citizens a charter, by which he confirmed all their ancient privileges. Some years before their receiving this favour, the Lord Treasurer summoned the Mayor, Aldermen, and citizens, to attend him in the Tower, to give an account how the peace of the city had been kept; but Gregory Rockesley, the Mayor, resolving not to attend in that quality, laid aside the ensigns of his office at Barking church, and repaired to the Tower as a private gentleman; which was so highly resented by the Treasurer, that he committed him and several of the principal citizens to prison. This proceeding the King so far approved, that though he discharged the Mayor, he seized the city liberties, and having appointed a Custos of the city, there was no Mayor of London for twelve years after.

In 1306, sea-coal beginning to be much used in the suburbs of London, by brewers, dyers, and others requiring great fires; the nobility and gentry complained to King Edward II. that the air was infected by the noisome smell, and the thick clouds of smoke it occasioned, to the endangering of the health of the inhabitants; upon which a proclamation was issued; forbidding it to be used: but little regard being paid to it, the King appointed a commission of oyer and terminer, to enquire after those who had acted in open defiance of this injunction.

In the beginning of the next reign, the city obtained a very great addition to its privileges; for in the year 1327, King Edward III. granted the citizens two charters; the first of which contained not only a confirmation of the ancient and valuable liberties and immunities of the citizens, but also the following additional privileges.

1. That the Mayor shall be constantly one of the Judges of oyer and terminer, for the trial of criminals confined in Newgate.

2. The citizens to have the privilege of trying a thief or robber within the jurisdiction of the city, and the power of reclaiming a citizen apprehended elsewhere for felony, in order to try him within the city; with a right to all the goods and chattels of all felons, convicted within the jurisdiction of the city.

3. The office of Escheator is conferred upon, and given in perpetuity to the Mayor.

4. The King’s Marshal, Steward, and Clerk of the houshold, are exempted from having any authority in the city.

5. For the greater convenience of citizens resorting to country fairs, they are granted the privilege of holding a court of Pye-powder in such places, for the determination of all contests that happen in each of those fairs.

6. That the citizens should be only assessed in common with their fellow subjects, towards general subsidies, grants, and contributions.

7. That no market be kept within seven miles of the city of London.

8. And that the city liberties shall not be seized for a personal offence, or iniquitous judgment of any of its magistrates, &c.

By the second charter, Southwark is granted for the good and benefit of the citizens.

The same Prince, in the year 1354, granted the city the privilege of having gold or silver maces carried before the chief magistrate; a privilege then peculiar to London; for all other cities and towns in the kingdom were, by a royal precept, expresly commanded not to use maces of any other metal than copper; and this is the time when, it is supposed by some, that the title of Lord was first added to that of Mayor.

In the year 1348, the city was visited by a most terrible pestilence, which continued to rage till the church yards were found not capacious enough to receive the bodies. This induced several persons to purchase ground to supply that defect; and in one of these burying grounds, bought by Sir Walter Manny, were interred the next year 50,000 persons; an amazing number, considering the small extent of this metropolis at that time: by this dreadful pestilence 100,000 persons are said to have died in this city. This is a very convincing proof that London was at that time extremely populous.

By this terrible pestilence provisions were reduced so low, that the best fed ox was sold for 4s. the best cow at 1s. the best heifer or steer at 6d. the best wether at 4d. the best ewe at 3d. the best lamb at 2d. the best hog at 5d. and a fine horse, formerly worth 40s. at 6s. 8d. Arnold’s Chronicle.

But notwithstanding this deplorable calamity, the wealth and dignity of the city were soon after so great, that in the year 1363, the Kings of Scotland, France, and Cyprus, who came into England to visit King Edward III. were entertained at dinner, with his Majesty, the Prince of Wales his son, and most of the nobility, by Henry Picard, late Mayor of London.

In the fifth year of the reign of King Richard II. the city suffered greatly by the rebellion of Wat Hilliard, commonly called Wat Tyler, from his employment; he being a tyler of Dartford in Kent. This fellow, exasperated at the impudence and insolence of the collectors of the poll tax, one of whom pulled up his daughter’s cloaths to see if she was arrived at the age of puberty; after killing the collector, excited the people to join him, in defence of their daughters, and to abolish the laws and taxes, which were thought extremely burthensome. They readily entered into this proposal, marched to Black Heath, and were soon increased to 100,000 men.

This prodigious mob entered Southwark on the 10th of June 1381, set at liberty the prisoners in the King’s Bench and Marshalsea prisons, and levelled to the ground the houses of all lawyers and questmen, and while one party went to Lambeth, where they burnt the archiepiscopal palace, with the rich furniture, books and registers, another destroyed the common stews along the bankside, then kept by Flemish bawds, who farmed them of the city.

In this dreadful confusion, the Lord Mayor caused the bridge gate to be shut, and fortified; but the next day they were admitted into the city, and the shambles and wine cellars set open for their accommodation. Being now joined by the city rabble, they hasted to the Savoy, the Duke of Lancaster’s palace, which was the most magnificent edifice in the kingdom, and setting fire to it, caused proclamation to be made, that none should appropriate any thing to his own use, upon pain of death. They then ran to the Temple, which at that time belonged to the Lord High Treasurer; that edifice they also burnt, with all the records in Chancery, and the books and papers belonging to the students of the law; and all the inns of court they served in the same manner.

After this, dividing themselves into three bodies, one proceeded to the rich priory of St. John of Jerusalem, near Smithfield, which they likewise burnt; and then marching to the stately mansion house at Highbury, beyond Islington, set fire to that edifice, through hatred to Sir Robert Hales, the High Treasurer, who was prior of the one, and proprietor of the other.

The second division marched to the Tower, which they entered, notwithstanding its being guarded by six hundred men at arms, and the same number of archers, and there seizing Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the above Sir Robert Hales, caused them both to be beheaded on Tower hill.

The third division, which were the Essex party, proceeded to Mile-end, where being met by the King, who agreed to all their demands, they the same day dispersed, and returned home.

Wat Tyler, with the rest of his desperate crew, however, continued committing the greatest disorders in London and Westminster, and, under the plausible pretence of reforming public abuses, they set open the prisons of the Fleet and Newgate, murdered many of the most eminent citizens, and dragging the Flemish merchants from the churches, where they had fled for refuge, beheaded them in the streets. Nor did their monstrous cruelty stop here; for they proceeded murdering and burning in a most horrid manner in many parts of the city; and not only made proclamation for the beheading of all lawyers, and persons concerned in the Exchequer, but even of all who were able to write.

At length King Richard, encouraged by his success at Mile-end, sent to let Wat Tyler know that he would have a conference with him in Smithfield, upon which that rebel marched slowly thither, at the head of his forces; but no sooner saw the King, than setting spurs to his horse, he boldly rode up to his Majesty, leaving all his companions behind. His behaviour and proposals were equally brutish and absurd, for he would be satisfied with nothing less than a commission to behead all lawyers, and the abolition of all the ancient laws of the kingdom; at which, William Walworth, the Lord Mayor, was ordered to arrest him, when that brave magistrate gave him such a blow on the head with his sword, that he fell wounded from his horse, and was soon dispatched.

The rebels, in the mean time, observing what was done, cried out, Our Captain is murdered, let us revenge his death, and immediately bent their bows: when Richard, though but fifteen years of age, with astonishing prudence and bravery rode up to them, crying, “My friends, will you kill your King? be not troubled for the loss of your leader. I will be your captain, and grant what you desire.” Upon which they changed their resolution, and marched under his conduct to St. George’s Fields, where finding a thousand citizens completely armed, they were struck with such an amazing panic, that, throwing down their arms, they begged for mercy, which being granted, they immediately dispersed.

Several writers ascribe to the action of this day, the addition of the dagger to the arms of the city, in remembrance of the good service done by them, and particularly by the Lord Mayor.

This, and other rebellions, being suppressed, King Richard, in the year 1390, appointed a great tournament to be held in Smithfield, on the Sunday after Michaelmas; and having caused it to be proclaimed in all the principal courts of Europe, several princes and noblemen from Germany, France, the Netherlands, and other countries, came to distinguish themselves by their courage and military skill. On the day appointed, which was Sunday in the afternoon, a pompous cavalcade of sixty ladies set out from the Tower, all richly dressed, and mounted on fine horses, each leading an armed Knight by a silver chain, attended by their Esquires, who passing through Cheapside proceeded to Smithfield, where the justs continued four days, in the presence of the King, the Queen, and the whole court; his Majesty himself giving proofs of his skill and dexterity on the second day. During the whole time open house was kept at the King’s expence, at the Bishop of London’s palace, for the entertainment of all persons of distinction, and every night the diversions concluded with a ball.

Two years after, the city refusing to lend the King a sum of money, and some of the citizens beating and abusing a Lombard merchant, for offering to advance the sum required, the King was so exasperated, that he sent for the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and twenty four of the principal commoners of the city, to attend him at Nottingham, which having done, the Mayor was committed prisoner to Windsor castle, and the rest to other prisons. A commission, under the great seal, was then granted to the Dukes of York and Gloucester, the King’s uncles, to enquire into that and other offences, of which the above persons being found guilty, they were not only fined 3000 marks, but the liberties of the city were seized; the Mayor was degraded from his office, and a Custos appointed in his room; the Sheriffs were also degraded, and others chosen; and, by the King’s precept, seventeen persons were appointed Aldermen, during the royal pleasure. As a farther mortification to the city, the King not only withdrew, with the nobility, to York, but removed the courts of justice to that city.

However, upon payment of the fine of 3000 marks, all the city liberties were restored, except the privilege of chusing her own Mayor. And the King, returning to London, was met at Shene, or Richmond Heath, by four hundred citizens on horseback, dressed in a rich uniform, with the Recorder at their head, who made a speech, in which he humbly begged pardon for their past offences, and earnestly entreated his Majesty to honour the Chamber of London with his presence; to which he consenting, they attended him to St. George’s church in Southwark, where he was received by a solemn procession of the clergy, and five hundred boys in surplices, with the Bishop of London at their head. At London bridge he was presented with a fine horse, adorned with trappings of gold brocade, and his Queen with a fine pad, and very noble furniture.

Never was the city more richly embellished than on this occasion, for the citizens of all ranks strove to outvie each other, in honour of their reconciled Sovereign; the streets were lined with the city companies in their formalities, and the conduits all the while ran with variety of wines.

At the standard in Cheapside, a boy dressed in white, to represent an angel, stood in a magnificent pageant, and upon the King’s approach, presented him with wine in a gold cup, and placed on his head a crown of gold, adorned with a variety of pearls and precious stones, and likewise another on the head of the Queen. After which their Majesties were conducted to their palace at Westminster, by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, who, the next day, made his Majesty a present of two silver basons gilt, with 1000 nobles of gold in each, curious pictures of the Trinity, valued at 800l. and several other valuable presents. But after all, they were obliged to pay him 10,000l. before he would restore them the right of chusing their own magistrates.

The King, and his royal consort Isabella, a daughter of France, were some years after again conducted, with extraordinary magnificence, thro’ the city; but in 1398, the citizens petitioning to have their taxes taken off, and against entering into a treaty with the French King, about the delivering up of Calais, Richard was so exasperated against them, that he obliged many of the richest of the citizens to sign and seal several blank papers sent them by the ministry, who afterwards filled them up at their pleasure, with such sums as would effectually drain them; and this rendered him so odious to the citizens, that when Henry Duke of Lancaster arrived from France, they received him with open gates, and expressed their joy by magnificent shews, solemn processions of the clergy, and loud acclamations; and, in short, after the late King was made prisoner, Henry was received in great pomp by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and all the several companies in their formalities.

The reign of Henry IV. was not distinguished by any remarkable disputes between that King and the citizens; but in the year 1407, a dreadful plague carried off 30,000 of the inhabitants, whereby corn became so cheap, that wheat sold at 3s. 4d. the quarter.

In the reign of Henry V. the citizens chiefly distinguished themselves by the splendid cavalcade, with which they conducted that brave Prince through the city, after the glorious battle of Agincourt, In this reign Moorgate was first built, and Sir Henry Barton, the Lord Mayor, first ordered lanthorns to be hung out, for illuminating the streets by night. Indeed it is surprizing, that so useful and necessary a regulation was not made much earlier, considering the multitude and wealth of the inhabitants, the brooks which still ran through some of the streets, and the dirt occasioned by their lying much lower than at present.

After the death of this great conqueror, his young son Henry VI. being crowned King of France at Paris, the citizens, on his return, expressed their loyalty in a very extraordinary manner; for the royal infant was met on Black Heath by the Lord Mayor of London, dressed in crimson velvet, with a large furred hat, a girdle of gold about his waist, and a bawdrick of gold about his neck, waving down his back. He was followed by three horsemen, dressed in scarlet and silver, and attended by the Aldermen in scarlet gowns, and crimson hoods, while the citizens were cloathed in white gowns, and scarlet hoods, with the symbol belonging to each mystery, richly embroidered upon their sleeves. They were all on horseback, and from thence preceded his Majesty to London, where he was received with the utmost pomp. The city on this occasion was decorated with rich silks and carpets, and on the bridge, and in the streets, through which the cavalcade passed, were erected a variety of stately pageants, filled with persons representing the Muses, Graces, and Sciences; and from these pageants, orations were made, and concerts performed of vocal and instrumental music. Two days after, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen attended the King at Westminster, and presented him with a golden hamper, containing 1000l. in nobles.

It is impossible, in the short compass allotted to this part of the work, to give an account of the several rebellions and revolutions during the life of this unhappy Sovereign, and of the manner in which the citizens interested themselves in each: it is sufficient to add, that notwithstanding these early professions of loyalty, the ill success and weakness of Henry, made them almost constantly join his enemies, and was one principal cause of his ruin.

King Edward IV. therefore, in the second year of his reign, shewed his gratitude for the favours he had received from them, by granting the city a charter, by which all the ancient rights and privileges of the citizens were confirmed, and the following additional privileges bestowed.

1. The Lord Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen past the chair, are appointed perpetual justices of peace in the city; and are constituted justices of oyer and terminer, for the trial of all malefactors within their own jurisdiction.

2. For the better ascertaining the customs of the city, when a plea is brought in any of the superior courts, relating to those customs, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen are impowered to declare, by the mouth of their Recorder, whether the point in controversy be a custom of London, or not; and if, upon enquiry, it be found to be such, then it is to be recorded, and remain an established custom to all futurity.

3. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen are for ever exempted from serving in all foreign assizes, juries, or attaints, and from the offices of assessor, collector of taxes, overseer, or comptroller of all public duties without the jurisdiction of the city.

4. The citizens are allowed the privilege of holding an annual fair in the borough of Southwark, together with a court of Pye-powder, with the rights and customs thereto belonging, &c. all at the ancient fee farm of 10l. per annum.

Afterwards, in the year 1479, the city gave the same Prince 1923l. 19s. 8d. for the liberty of purchasing lands, &c. in mortmain, to the value of 200 marks per annum; and also purchased of the King, for 7000l. the offices of package, portage, garbling, gauging, wine-drawer and coroner, to be enjoyed by them and their successors for ever.

In the same year, a dreadful pestilence raged in London, which swept away an incredible number of people.

On the death of Edward IV. the Duke of Buckingham strove in vain to make the citizens join in raising the Duke of Gloucester to the throne, to the prejudice of the young Prince, Edward V. by making a long speech to them in Guildhall. The Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and some of the Common Council, were, however, prevailed upon to go and persuade that inhuman monster to accept of the crown; and afterwards the Lord Mayor contested with the citizens of Winchester the right of being chief Butler at the coronation of a man who was a disgrace to human nature: but the Mayor of London had for some ages enjoyed this privilege, and was not now denied it.

In the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. the sweating sickness first raged in London, carrying off great numbers within twenty-four hours; but those who survived that time generally recovered; and of this disease died two Lord Mayors and one of the Sheriffs, in the space of the year.

The next year the privileges of the citizens were struck at by their own magistrates, in a very extraordinary act of Common Council, which enjoined the citizens, under the penalty of an hundred pounds, not to carry any goods or merchandize to any fair or market within the kingdom, for the term of seven years; but this scandalous and unjust by-law was the next year set aside by act of Parliament.

In the year 1500, the plague carried off 20,000 persons in London; and during this reign the city also suffered greatly by the oppressions of the King’s ministers Empson and Dudley; Alderman Capel was, upon several penal laws, condemned to pay a fine of 2700l. but by the intercession of friends, it was mitigated to 1600l. Thomas Knesworth, who had been Mayor, with Richard Shoare and Roger Grove, his Sheriffs, were accused of abuses committed in their offices, for which they were dragged to the Marshalsea, and confined without any legal process, till they redeemed themselves by paying 14,000l. and, in short, Sir Laurence Aylmer was, in the next year after he had served the office of Mayor, also imprisoned by these rapacious ministers, in order to extort a sum of money for his liberty: but the death of Henry VII. delivered him and many others from their troubles.

King Henry VIII. the year after his accession to the throne, came in the habit of one of the yeomen of the guard, to see the march of the city watch; it being an ancient custom for the watch, who were then a body of military forces, to make a pompous march on the vigils of St. John Baptist, and St. Peter and Paul. His Majesty was a spectator on St. John’s eve, and was so highly delighted with the sight, that he returned on the eve of St. Peter, accompanied by his royal consort, and the principal nobility, and staid in Mercer’s Hall, Cheapside, to see the procession repeated.

The march was begun by the city music, followed by the Lord Mayor’s officers, in party-coloured liveries; then the swordbearer, on horseback, in beautiful armour, preceded the Lord Mayor, mounted on a stately horse adorned with rich trappings, attended by a giant and two pages on horseback, three pageants, morrice dancers and footmen; next came the Sheriffs, preceded by their officers, and attended by their giants, pages, pageants, and morrice dancers. Then marched a great body of demi-lancers in bright armour, on stately horses: next followed a body of carabineers in white fustian coats, with the city arms on their backs and breasts: then marched a body of archers with their bows bent, and shafts of arrows by their sides; followed by a party of pikemen with their corslets and helmets; after whom marched a body of halberdiers in their corslets and helmets; and the march was closed by a great party of billmen, with helmets and aprons of mail.

The whole body, which consisted of about 2000 men, had between every division a certain number of musicians, who were answered in their proper places by the like number of drums, with standards and ensigns, in the same manner as veteran troops. This nocturnal march was lighted by 940 cressets, which were large lanthorns fixed at the end of poles, and carried over mens shoulders; two hundred of which were at the city expence, five hundred at that of the companies, and two hundred and forty were found by the city constables.

The march began at the conduit in Cheapside, and passed through that street, Cornhill, and Leadenhall street to Aldgate; whence it returned by Fenchurch street, Gracechurch street, Cornhill, and Cheapside, to the conduit.

During this march, the houses on each side the streets were decorated with greens and flowers wrought into garlands, and intermixed with a great number of lamps. Stow.

This splendid procession constantly repeated twice a year, is not only a proof of the fondness for shew which then prevailed, but lets us see that the city was then watched by men completely armed; a body of troops of a peculiar kind, raised and maintained by the city.

The same year, Sir William Fitz-William, Alderman of Bread street ward, was disfranchised for refusing to serve the office of Sheriff. Fabian’s Chronicle.

And in 1512, the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex were first impowered to impannel juries for the city courts, each juror so impannelled to be a citizen worth an hundred marks.

As the history of the city of London must necessarily include that of the manners of the inhabitants, we have given some instances of their fondness for pompous and splendid processions, and it may hereafter be necessary to add others, to enable the reader to form an idea of the difference between the past times and the present. I shall here mention amusements of a different kind, graced with the presence of a sovereign Prince, and which cannot fail of entertaining the reader.

It was usual, on the first of May, for all the citizens who were able, to divert themselves in the woods and meadows with May-games, diversions not confined to the lower class, but equally the entertainment of persons of the highest rank; a remarkable instance of which is inserted in Hall’s Chronicle, under the year 1515, when that author observes, that King Henry VIII. and Queen Catharine, accompanied by many Lords and Ladies, rode a maying from Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter’s Hill, where, as they passed along, they saw a company of 200 tall yeomen, all cloathed in green, with green hoods and bows and arrows. One, who was their Chieftain, was called Robin Hood, and desired the King and all his company to stay and see his men shoot, to which the King agreeing, he whistled, and all the two hundred discharged their arrows at once, which they repeated on his whistling again. Their arrows had something placed in the heads of them that made them whistle as they flew, and all together made a loud and very uncommon noise, at which the King and Queen were greatly delighted. The gentleman who assumed the character of Robin Hood then desired the King and Queen, with their retinue, to enter the Green Wood, where, in arbours made with boughs intermixed with flowers, they were plentifully served with venison and wine, by Robin Hood and his men.

About two years after an event happened, which occasioned the epithet of Evil to be added to this day of rejoicing. The citizens being extremely exasperated at the encouragement given to foreigners, a Priest named Bell was persuaded to preach against them at the Spital, and in a very inflaming sermon he incited the people to oppose all strangers; this occasioned frequent quarrels in the streets, for which some Englishmen were committed to prison.

Suddenly a rumour arose, that on Mayday all the foreigners would be assassinated, and several strangers fled; this coming to the knowledge of the King’s Council, Cardinal Wolsey sent for the Lord Mayor and several of the City Council, told them what he had heard, and exhorted them to preserve the peace. Upon this affair a court of Common Council was assembled at Guildhall, on the evening before Mayday, in which it was resolved to order every man to shut up his doors and keep his servants at home; and this advice being immediately communicated to the Cardinal, met with his approbation.

Upon this every Alderman sent to inform his ward, that no man should stir out of his house after nine o’clock, but keep his doors shut and his servants within, till nine in the morning. This order had not been long given, when one of the Aldermen, returning from his ward, observed two young men at play in Cheapside, and many others looking at them. He would have sent them to the Compter, but they were soon rescued, and the cry raised of ’Prentices, ’Prentices! Clubs, Clubs! Instantly the people arose; by eleven o’clock they amounted to six or seven hundred; and the crowd still increasing, they rescued from Newgate and the Compter the prisoners committed for abusing the foreigners: while the Mayor and Sheriffs, who were present, made proclamation in the King’s name; but, instead of obeying it, they broke open the houses of many Frenchmen and other foreigners, and continued plundering them till three in the morning, when beginning to disperse, the Mayor and his attendants took 300 of them, and committed them to the several prisons. While this riot lasted, the Lieutenant of the Tower discharged several pieces of ordnance against the city, but without doing much mischief; and about five in the morning, several of the nobility marched thither with all the forces they could assemble.

On the 4th of May, the Lord Mayor, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surry, and others, sate upon the trial of the offenders at Guildhall, the Duke of Norfolk entering the city with 1300 men. That day several were indicted, and on the next thirteen were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, for the execution of whom ten gallowses were set up in several parts of the city, upon wheels, to be removed from street to street, and from door to door.

On the 7th of May several others were found guilty, and received the same sentence as the former, and soon after were drawn upon hurdles to the standard in Cheapside; but when one was executed, and the rest about to be turned off, a respite came, and they were remanded back to prison.

After this the soldiers who had kept watch in the city were withdrawn, which making the citizens flatter themselves that the King’s displeasure against them was not so great as they had imagined, the Lord Mayor, Recorder, and several Aldermen, went in mourning gowns to wait upon the King at Greenwich, when, having attended for some time at the privy chamber door, his Majesty with several of the nobility came forth, upon which, all of them falling upon their knees, the Recorder, in the name of the rest, in the most humble and submissive terms, begged that he would have mercy on them for their negligence, and compassion on the offenders, whom he represented as a small number of light persons. His Majesty let them know that he was really displeased, and that they ought to wail and be sorry for it; for as they had not attempted to fight with those whom they pretended were so small a number of light persons, they must have winked at the matter; he therefore ordered them to repair to the Lord Chancellor, who would give them an answer. Upon which they retired deeply mortified.

Being informed that the King was to be at Westminster Hall on the 22d of May, they resolved to repair thither, which they did with the consent of Cardinal Wolsey Lord High Chancellor. The King sat at the upper end of Westminster Hall, under a cloth of state, with the Cardinal and several of the nobility: and the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Recorder, and several of the Common-Council attended; the prisoners, who then amounted to about 400, were brought in their shirts bound together with cords, and with halters about their necks, and among these were eleven women. The Cardinal, having sharply rebuked the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty for their negligence, told the prisoners, that, for their offences against the laws of the realm, and against his Majesty’s crown and dignity, they had deserved death; upon which they all set up a piteous cry, of “Mercy, gracious Lord, mercy!” which so moved the King, that, at the earnest intreaty of the Lords, he pronounced them pardoned; upon which giving a great shout, they threw up their halters towards the top of the hall, crying God save the King! After this affair the May-games were not so commonly used as before.

By the following account the reader will see, that our hospitable ancestors were not less fond of the pleasures of the table, than of outward pomp. Mr. Stow observes, that in the year 1531, eleven gentlemen of the law being promoted to the dignity of the coif, they gave a splendid and elegant entertainment in the Bishop of Ely’s palace in Holborn, for five days successively, at which were present the King, Queen, foreign Ministers, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, the Judges, the Master of the rolls, the Masters in chancery, the Serjeants at law, the principal Merchants of London, with many Knights and Esquires, and a certain number of citizens belonging to the chief companies of the city.

This being one of the greatest entertainments recorded in history, an account of it cannot be unacceptable to the reader: but as there were three poulterers concerned in providing the poultry, and only one of their accounts which we are able to communicate, it will be very deficient; however, as this great entertainment was given but about two hundred and thirty years ago, the subjoined account will shew the vast disparity between the prices of provisions then and now, and consequently the great disproportion between the scarcity of money at that time, and its plenty at present.

Twenty-four large oxen, at 1l. 6s. 8d. each.

The carcase of a large ox from the market, 1l. 4s.

One hundred sheep, at 2s. 10d. each.

Fifty-one calves, at 4s. 8d. each.

Thirty-four hogs, at 3s. 8d. each.

Ninety-one pigs, at 6d. each.

Fourteen dozen of swans, no price set down.

Capons of Greece, ten dozen, each at 1s. 8d.

Kentish capons, nine dozen and a half, at 1s. each.

Nineteen dozen of common capons, at 6d. each.

Seven dozen and nine heathcocks, at 8d. each.

Fourteen dozen and eight common cocks, at 3d. each.

The best pullets (no number mentioned) at 2½d. each.

Common ditto, 2d. each.

Thirty-seven dozen of pigeons, at 10d. a dozen.

Three hundred and forty dozen of larks, at 5d. a dozen.

In the year 1532, a general muster of the citizens was held at Mile-End, when the names of all capable of bearing arms were taken down, from the age of sixteen to that of sixty; as were also an account of the weapons, armour, and other military accoutrements belonging to the city.

Upon this occasion the principal citizens were dressed in white, with caps and feathers of the same colour; the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Recorder, and Sheriffs, wore white armour, and coats of black velvet, embroidered with the city arms; they had velvet caps on their heads, and rode on fine horses adorned with magnificent trappings, with gold chains about their necks, and battle-axes in their hands. Each of the Aldermen and the Recorder, was attended with four halberdiers in white silk or buff coats, with gilt halberts; and the Lord Mayor, by sixteen men in white sattin jackets, with gold chains, caps and feathers, and long gilt halberts; he had also four footmen in white sattin, and two pages in crimson velvet, with gold brocade waistcoats; these pages were mounted on fine horses, adorned with rich furniture, one of them carrying the Lord Mayor’s helmet, and the other his pole-ax, both richly gilt, Most of the citizens of distinction were, on this occasion, dressed in white silk, and wore gold chains with a variety of rich jewels.

The citizens rendezvoused and were mustered early in the morning at Mile End, and before nine in the forenoon began their march, when entering Aldgate, they proceeded through the city, in admirable order, to Westminster; where they passed in review before the King and most of the nobility, who were highly delighted at their splendid appearance. From thence they marched round St. James’s Park, and down Holborn to Leadenhall, where they separated at five o’clock in the evening. So far our author.

But if we add to this splendid cavalcade, that every man wore his beard and hair, which were probably neatly curled and powdered, we must be sensible that the citizens, in this procession, had a strange mixture of gravity and foppery, and that, fond as we are of dress, we were greatly outdone in this particular by our ancestors. King Henry however loved shew, and the citizens took great pains to please him, of which the following is another remarkable instance, which, tho’ very long, we shall insert, in order to give our readers an idea of the taste of the citizens of that age, in regard to elegance and grandeur: and we chuse to select this instance, as the city appears to have been decorated with greater pomp than at any time before or since.

The King having divorced Queen Catharine, and married Anne Boleyn, or Boloine, who was descended from Godfrey Boloine, Mayor of this city, and intending her coronation, sent to order the Lord Mayor, not only to make all the preparations necessary for conducting his royal consort from Greenwich, by water, to the Tower of London; but to adorn the city after the most magnificent manner, for her passage through it to Westminster.

In obedience to the royal precept, Mr. Stow observes, that the Mayor and Common Council not only ordered the company of Haberdashers, of which the Lord Mayor was a member, to prepare a magnificent state barge; but enjoined all the city corporations to provide themselves with barges, and to adorn them in the most superb manner, and especially to have them supplied with good bands of music.

On the 29th of May, the time prefixed for this pompous procession by water, the Mayor, Aldermen and Commons assembled at St. Mary Hill; the Mayor and Aldermen in scarlet, with gold chains, and those who were knights, with the collars of SS. At one they went on board the city barge at Billingsgate, which was most magnificently decorated; and attended by fifty noble barges, belonging to the several companies of the city, with each its own corporation on board; and, for the better regulation of this procession, it was ordered, that each barge should keep twice their lengths asunder.

Thus regulated, the city barge was preceded by another mounted with ordnance, and the figures of dragons and other monsters, incessantly emitting fire and smoke, with much noise. Then the city barge, attended on the right by the Haberdashers state barge, called the Bachelors, which was covered with gold brocade, and adorned with sails of silk, with two rich standards of the King’s and Queen’s arms at her head and stern, besides a variety of flags and streamers, containing the arms of that company, and those of the Merchant Adventurers; besides which the shrouds and ratlines were hung with a number of small bells: on the left was a barge that contained a very beautiful mount, on which stood a white falcon crowned, perching upon a golden stump encircled with roses, being the Queen’s emblem; and round the mount sat several beautiful virgins, singing, and playing upon instruments. The other barges followed in regular order, till they came below Greenwich. On their return the procession began with that barge which was before the last, in which were the Mayor’s and Sheriff’s officers, and this was followed by those of the inferior companies, ascending to the Lord Mayor’s, which immediately preceded that of the Queen, who was attended by the Bachelors or state barge, with the magnificence of which her Majesty was much delighted; and being arrived at the Tower, she returned the Lord Mayor and Aldermen thanks, for the pomp with which she had been conducted thither.

Two days after, the Lord Mayor, in a gown of crimson velvet, and a rich collar of SS, attended by the Sheriffs and two domestics in red and white damask, went to receive the Queen at the Tower of London, whence the Sheriffs returned to see that every thing was in order. The streets were just before new gravelled from the Tower to Temple Bar, and railed in on each side; within the rails near Grasschurch, stood a body of Anseatic merchants, and next to them the several corporations of the city in their formalities, reaching to the Aldermens station at the upper end of Cheapside. On the opposite side were placed the city constables dressed in silk and velvet, with staffs in their hands, to prevent the breaking in of the mob, or any other disturbance. On this occasion, Gracechurch street and Cornhill were hung with crimson and scarlet cloth, and the sides of the houses of a place then called Goldsmith’s row, in Cheapside, were adorned with gold brocades, velvet and rich tapestry.

The procession began from the Tower with twelve of the French Ambassador’s domestics in blue velvet, the trappings of their horses being blue sarsnet, interspersed with white crosses; after whom marched those of the equestrian order, two and two, followed by the Judges in their robes, two and two; then came the Knights of the Bath in violet gowns, purfled with menever. Next came the Abbots, Barons, Bishops, Earls and Marquises, in their robes, two and two. Then the Lord Chancellor, followed by the Venetian Ambassador and the Archbishop of York: next the French Ambassador and the Archbishop of Canterbury, followed by two gentlemen representing the Dukes of Normandy and Aquitain; after whom rode the Lord Mayor of London with his mace, and Garter in his coat of arms; then the Duke of Suffolk, Lord High Steward, followed by the Deputy Marshal of England, and all the other officers of state in their robes, carrying the symbols of their several offices: then others of the nobility in crimson velvet, and all the Queen’s officers in scarlet, followed by her Chancellor uncovered, who immediately preceded his mistress.

The Queen was dressed in silver brocade, with a mantle of the same furred with ermine; her hair was dishevelled, and she wore a chaplet upon her head set with jewels of inestimable value. She sat in a litter covered with silver tissue, and carried by two beautiful pads cloathed in white damask, and led by her footmen. Over the litter was carried a canopy of cloth of gold, with a silver bell at each corner, supported by sixteen Knights alternately, by four at a time.

After her Majesty came her Chamberlain, followed by her Master of Horse, leading a beautiful pad, with a side-saddle and trappings of silver tissue. Next came seven ladies in crimson velvet, faced with gold brocade, mounted on beautiful horses with gold trappings. Then followed two chariots covered with cloth of gold, in the first of which were the Duchess of Norfolk and the Marchioness of Dorset, and in the second four ladies in crimson velvet; then followed seven ladies dressed in the same manner, on horseback, with magnificent trappings, followed by another chariot all in white, with six ladies in crimson velvet; this was followed by another all in red, with eight ladies in the same dress with the former: next came thirty gentlewomen, attendants to the Ladies of honour; they were on horseback, dressed in silks and velvet; and the cavalcade was closed by the horse guards.

This pompous procession being arrived in Fenchurch street, the Queen stopped at a beautiful pageant, crouded with children in mercantile habits; who congratulated her Majesty upon the joyful occasion of her happy arrival in the city.

Thence she proceeded to Grace church corner, where was erected a very magnificent pageant, at the expence of the company of Anseatic Merchants, in which was represented Mount Parnassus, with the fountain of Helicon, of white marble, out of which arose four springs about four feet high, centering at the top in a small globe, from which issued plenty of Rhenish wine till night. On the Mount sat Apollo, at his feet was Calliope, and beneath were the rest of the Muses, surrounding the Mount, and playing upon a variety of musical instruments, at whose feet were inscribed several epigrams suitable to the occasion, in letters of gold.

Her Majesty then proceeded to Leadenhall, where stood a pageant, representing a hill encompassed with red and white roses; and above it was a golden stump, upon which a white falcon, descending from above, perched, and was quickly followed by an angel, who put a crown of gold upon his head. A little lower on the hilloc sat St. Anne, surrounded by her progeny, one of whom made an oration, in which was a wish that her Majesty might prove extremely prolific.

The procession then advanced to the conduit in Cornhill; where the Graces sat enthroned, with a fountain before them incessantly discharging wine; and underneath, a Poet, who described the qualities peculiar to each of these amiable deities, and presented the Queen with their several gifts.

The cavalcade thence proceeded to a great conduit that stood opposite to Mercers Hall in Cheapside, and, upon that occasion, was painted with a variety of emblems, and during the solemnity and remaining part of the day, ran with different sorts of wine, for the entertainment of the populace.

At the end of Wood street, the standard there was finely embellished with royal portraitures and a number of flags, on which were painted coats of arms and trophies, and above was a concert of vocal and instrumental music.

At the upper end of Cheapside was the Aldermens station, where the Recorder addressed the Queen in a very elegant oration, and, in the name of the citizens, presented her with a thousand marks in a purse of gold tissue, which her Majesty very gracefully received.

At a small distance, by Cheapside conduit, was a pageant, in which were seated Minerva, Juno, and Venus; before whom stood the god Mercury, who, in their names, presented the Queen a golden apple.

At St. Paul’s gate was a fine pageant, in which sat three ladies richly dressed, with each a chaplet on her head, and a tablet in her hand, containing Latin inscriptions.

At the east end of St. Paul’s cathedral, the Queen was entertained by some of the scholars belonging to St. Paul’s school, with verses in praise of the King and her Majesty, with which she seemed highly delighted.

Thence proceeding to Ludgate, which was finely decorated, her Majesty was entertained with several songs adapted to the occasion, sung in concert by men and boys upon the leads over the gate.

At the end of Shoe lane, in Fleet street, a handsome tower with four turrets was erected upon the conduit, in each of which stood one of the cardinal Virtues, with their several symbols; who, addressing themselves to the Queen, promised they would never leave her, but be always her constant attendants. Within the tower was an excellent concert of music, and the conduit all the while ran with various sorts of wine.

At Temple Bar she was again entertained with songs, sung in concert by a choir of men and boys; and having from thence proceeded to Westminster, she returned the Lord Mayor thanks for his good offices, and those of the citizens that day. Stow’s Annals.

The day after, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, performed their several offices at the coronation; and, in return for the great expence the city had been at upon the above occasion, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and forty of the principal citizens, had the honour of being afterwards invited to the christening of the Princess Elizabeth.

In the year 1551, King Edward VI. gave the city a charter, by which he not only confirmed all its former privileges, but granted the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and citizens, several lands and tenements in Southwark, with the manor thereof, and its appurtenances; the assize of bread, wine, beer, and ale; a fair for three days; and the offices of Coroner, Escheator, and Clerk of the market, which are for ever vested in the Lord Mayor and his successors.

In the beginning of the year 1552, the celebrated company of the Anseatic merchants, called here the merchants of the Steelyard, were dissolved, they having engrossed almost the whole trade of the kingdom; for in the preceding year they exported 40,000 pieces of cloth, while all the English merchants together did not export 1100.

Upon the breaking out of the rebellion under Sir Thomas Wyat, occasioned by the report of Queen Mary’s intended marriage with Philip of Spain, the city was thrown into a violent commotion, and on his marching to Deptford, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and citizens, had not only recourse to arms; but, it being term time, the Judges sat, and the Council pleaded in Westminster Hall in armour. In this general confusion the Queen came to Guildhall, where she was attended by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and several of the city companies in their formalities, to whom she made a long and flattering speech, in which she professed, that she loved them as a mother loves her child, and that she would not engage in this marriage, if she thought it inconsistent with the happiness of her loving subjects: but that she desired to leave some fruit of her body to be their governor.

This had such an effect, that they cut down the drawbridge, and shut the gates against Wyat, as he arrived in Southwark; he therefore marched up the river, crossed the Thames at Kingston, and proceeded through Westminster to Ludgate; but not being admitted by his friends in the city, as he expected, he generously surrendered himself, to prevent bloodshed, and was soon after beheaded on Tower hill.

The rest of this reign exhibited a dreadful scene of religious bigotry, by a most cruel persecution of the Protestants; for the principal instance she gave of her tender maternal love to the citizens, was, her causing many of them to be burnt in Smithfield, in order to put a stop to the reformation begun by her father, and continued by her brother: but Providence soon interposed; her reign was short; and the fires which were then kindled for the holy martyrs, who sealed their faith with their blood, were the last effort, under the sanction of law, made by religious tyranny in this kingdom to overthrow the reformation. Happy would it have been for the Protestants, if this cruel spirit had never prevailed amongst them; if, upon this change, universal benevolence had taken place, and every Briton would have allowed his neighbour the same liberty of enquiry, which he claimed for himself! but though both the national church and the dissenters from it, have disclaimed the pretended infallibility they so justly censured in the church of Rome, and have even constantly owned that they themselves are fallible, yet, contrary to the mild, the humane spirit of the Gospel, they have absurdly persecuted those who would not allow them to be infallible, and have presumed to differ from the unerring standard of their judgment!

We are now come to the period when our streets were no longer to be crouded with monks and friars of various orders, and in very different and uncouth habits, walking with their heads shaven and bare, with long beards, and a rosary hanging at their girdles; when our nobility and gentry were to be no longer affronted in the streets by Cardinals, attended by a great retinue of servants: by the lordly Knights of religious orders, or the wealthy Priors of convents: when our streets were no longer to be adorned with crosses and the images of the saints, the objects of much superstition; and when many of our largest, most conspicuous, and stately buildings, were no longer to consist of priories, friaries, nunneries, and guilds of religious fraternities.

Thus the appearance of the city, with respect to its buildings, ornaments, and inhabitants, received a considerable alteration from the abolition of popery in these kingdoms; and the reader will probably be pleased at seeing, at one view, a list of these religious houses, which will the better enable him to form an idea of the difference between London at that time and the present.

The priories then were, that of St. John of Jerusalem, near Clerkenwell.

That of the Holy Trinity of Christ church, or Creechurch, within Aldgate.

That of St. Bartholomew the Great, between Newgate street and West Smithfield.

The priory or abbey of Bermondsey, Southwark.

The priory of the Knights Templars, in Fleet street. And

The old Temple of Holborn.

The friaries were, that of the crutched or crossed friars, in St. Olave’s, Hart street.

That of the brethren de sacca, or de pœnitentia Jesu Christi, in the Old Jewry.

The Charter house monks, or the house of the Carthusians, between St. John’s street and Goswell street.

The New Abbey, by East Smithfield.

And that of Westminster Abbey.

The five following were convents of begging friars;

Black friars in Holborn, and

The black friars, Dominicans, or preaching friars, near Ludgate.

The gray friars, or Franciscans, near Newgate.

The Augustine friars, in Broad street.

And the white friars, or Carmelites, in Fleet street.

The convents of women were, that of Clerkenwell.

That of St. Helen, within Bishopsgate.

That of St. Clare, in the Minories.

And that of Holiwell by Shoreditch.

The guilds or fraternities were, the brotherhood of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, in St. Botolph’s, Aldgate.

The fraternity and chapel of the Holy Trinity, in Leadenhall; and innumerable others, founded in most churches.

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the far greatest part of this metropolis was contained within the walls, and even in these narrow limits were many gardens, which have been since converted into lanes, courts, and alleys. The buildings of London were, on the west, bounded by the monastery of St. Catharine’s; East Smithfield was open to Tower hill, and Rosemary lane was unbuilt. The Minories were built only on the east side, which fronted the city wall: cattle grazed in Goodman’s Fields, and Whitechapel extended but a little beyond the bars, and had no houses to the north; for Spitalfields, which of themselves would now compose a very large town, were then really fields, separated from each other by hedges and rows of trees. Houndsditch consisted only of a row of houses fronting the city wall, and the little yards and gardens behind them also opened into those fields. Bishopsgate street, Norton Falgate, and the street called Shoreditch, were then however built as far as the church, but there were only a few houses and gardens on each side, and no streets or lanes on either hand. Moorfields lay entirely open to the village of Hoxton; and Finsbury Fields, in which were several windmills, extended to the east side of Whitecross street. Chiswell street was not erected, and St. John’s street extended by the side of the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, to the monastery of Clerkenwell, and Cow Cross, which opened into the fields.

But on leaving the city walls, the buildings were much less extensive; for though the village of Holborn was now joined to London, the backs of the houses, particularly on the north side, opened into gardens and fields; part of Gray’s Inn lane were the only houses that extended beyond the main street; great part of High Holborn had no existence, and St. Giles’s was a village contiguous to no part of London.

If we turn to the Strand, we also find, that spacious street had gardens on each side, and to the north, fields behind those gardens, except a few houses where is now the west end of Drury lane. On the south side of the street, the gardens generally extended to the Thames; though some of the nobility had houses on the back of their gardens, next the water side. Covent Garden, so called from its belonging to the convent at Westminster, extended to St. Martin’s lane, and the field behind it reached to St. Giles’s. That lane had few edifices besides the church; for Covent Garden wall was on one side, and a wall which inclosed the Mews, on the other, and all the upper part was a lane between two hedges, which extended a little to the west of the village of St. Giles’s. Hedge lane was also a lane between two hedges; the extensive street now called the Hay Market, had a hedge on one side, and a few bushes on the other. Neither Pall Mall, St. James’s street, Piccadilly, or any of the streets or fine squares in that part of the town, were built; and Westminster was a small town on the south west, and south sides of St. James’s Park.

Lambeth was, at that time, a little village at a considerable distance from Southwark, and there were no buildings on the south bank of the Thames, till a row of houses began opposite to White Friars, and extended along the river, with gardens, fields, or groves behind them, till almost opposite the Steel Yard, where several streets began: the Borough extended a considerable distance from the bridge to the south, and the buildings to the east as far as the Tower.

This was the state of this great metropolis, so lately as in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and how inconsiderable soever it must appear, when compared with its present dimensions, yet, by order of that Queen, a proclamation was published, by which all persons were forbid to build upon new foundations, and this order was twice repeated in the following reign.

On the 1st of January 1559, the Litany, as now used, was first read in all the churches of London; and about this time the populace not only destroyed all the statues and pictures of the saints in the churches, but most of their rich robes, altar cloths, books, and sepulchral banners.

In the year 1582, expence in dress having prevailed in the city, among people of all ranks, particularly among apprentices, which was then apprehended might prove of dangerous consequence to their masters, the following orders were published by the Lord Mayor and Common Council, which will be now thought very extraordinary, viz. That from thence forward no apprentice whatsoever should presume,

To wear any apparel but what he receives from his master.

To wear no hat within the city and liberty thereof, nor any thing instead of it but a woollen cap, without any silk about it.

To wear no ruffles, cuffs, loose collar, nor any thing more than a ruff at the collar, and that only of a yard and a half long.

To wear no doublets but what were made of canvas, sackcloth, fustian, English leather, or woollen cloth, without being enriched in any manner with gold, silver, or silk.

To wear no other coloured cloth or kersey, in hose or stockings, than white, blue, or russet.

To wear little breeches of the same stuffs as the doublets, without being stitched, laced, or bordered.

To wear a plain upper coat of cloth or leather, without pinking, stitching, guarding, lace, or silk about it.

To wear no other surtout than a cloth gown or cloak, lined or faced with cloth, cotton, or bays, with a fixed round collar, without stitching, guarding, lace, or silk.

To wear no pumps, slippers, nor shoes, but of English leather, without being pinked, edged, or stitched; nor girdles nor garters except of crewel, woollen, thread, or leather, without being garnished.

And to wear no sword, dagger, or other weapon, but a knife; nor neither a ring, nor a jewel, gold, silver, nor silk in any part of his apparel.

Rigorous as these laws were, and unsufferable as they would be now thought, yet any apprentice offending against any of the above particulars, was, for the first offence, to be punished at the discretion of his master; for the second he was to be publickly whipped at the hall of his company; and for the third, to serve six months longer than specified in his indentures. And every master conniving at his apprentice’s violating the above severe decree, was to forfeit 6s. 8d. to the poor of the parish in which he dwelt.

The plague, which had broke out many times in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, appeared afresh in 1603, on the accession of King James I. to the throne, and made such dreadful devastation, that, within the space of a year, it swept away 30,578 persons: but it having at length happily ceased, the King, Queen, and Prince Henry, made their public entry from the Tower on the 15th of March 1604, on which occasion the city was embellished with seven magnificent triumphal arches, numerous pageants, and other pompous decorations. The streets were adorned with the richest silks and carpets, and lined with the stands of the several corporations, with their flags and bands of music.

In the year 1608, King James I. granted the city a charter, by which he not only confirmed all the ancient rights, liberties, and immunities of the citizens, but added to the bounds and jurisdiction of the city the precincts of Duke’s Place, St. Bartholomew’s the Great and Less, Black and White Friars, and Cold Harbour. That King also granted the city two other charters.

In 1613, the water of the New River, brought from Ware by the great Sir Hugh Middleton, was let into the lower reservoir at Islington, with great ceremony: the next year Smithfield was first paved, and in 1615, the sides of the streets of this city being paved with pebble stones, which had hitherto rendered walking very troublesome, the inhabitants of the principal streets first began to pave their doors with broad free stone and flags.

In the year 1625, when King Charles I. ascended the throne, a most dreadful pestilence raged in London; the fatal effects of this distemper had been frequently felt; but it now carried off, within the space of a year, in the city and suburbs, 35,417 persons, besides those who died of other distempers, which, in the whole, amounted to 54,265, said to be one third of the inhabitants.

It is remarkable that in the year 1629, the goldsmiths shops in the south row of Cheapside, reached from the Old Change to Buckler’s Bury, exclusive of only four shops of other trades in all that space; but these four shops gave King Charles I. and his Privy Council such offence, that they sent an order to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, commanding them to turn out the tenants, and to oblige all the goldsmiths in the city, to settle in Cheapside and Lombard street. This arbitrary order however not being complied with, several others were sent, both by the Council and the court of Star-chamber, in which they were commanded to commit the tenants to prison, if they refused to give security to quit their houses by a certain day: and the court of Star-chamber even threatened the Alderman of the ward, that if he or his deputy did not immediately cause every such shop to be shut up, he or his deputy should be sent to prison, by warrant from the Board.

In 1633, King Charles I. being returned from his progress into Scotland, the gentlemen of the four Inns of Court entertained their Majesties with a pompous masque, which excelled every thing of the kind that had been seen in England, the expence amounting to 21,000l. the greatest sum probably ever expended in this kingdom in mere shew, except at a coronation; we shall therefore give it our readers, as a specimen of the taste of the times; the following account being the more curious, as these kinds of entertainments are now entirely laid aside.

The masquers, musicians, and all who were actors, met on Candlemas day in the afternoon, at Ely House in Holborn, where the Committee for the management of it sat all day, and in the evening they set forward, in the following order, down Chancery lane to Whitehall.

The march began with twenty footmen in scarlet liveries, trimmed with silver lace, each having his sword by his side, a baton in one hand, and a lighted torch in the other. These were the Marshal’s men, who cleared the streets, and were about the Marshal, waiting his commands. After them, and sometimes in the midst of them, came Mr. Darrel the Marshal, a very handsome gentleman, of Lincoln’s Inn, mounted upon one of the King’s best horses, and richest saddles. He was magnificently dressed, and, besides his Marshal’s men, had two lacquies who carried torches, and a page in livery carrying his cloak.

He was followed by an hundred of the handsomest young gentlemen of the Inns of Court, twenty-five chosen out of each house, all of them mounted on the best horses, and with the best furniture that the King’s stables, and those of all the noblemen in town could afford. These hundred gentlemen were so richly dressed, that scarce any thing but gold and silver lace could be seen, and every one of them had two lacquies, in his own livery, carrying torches by his horse’s side, and a page carrying his cloak. These gentlemen had about a dozen of the best trumpeters, in their own livery, sounding before them.

After this noble troop, came the antimasquers; preceded by the sound of keys and tongs, playing in concert. The first antimasque consisted of beggars and cripples, mounted on the poorest leanest jades that could be got out of the dust carts or elsewhere, a change, which from the nobleness of the music, the fineness of the horses, and the magnificent appearance of the gentlemen, afforded a very odd and surprizing contrast; the habits and every thing belonging to these cripples and beggars being ingeniously fitted by the direction of the commissioners, among whom were Mr. Attorney Noy, Sir John Finch, Sir Edward Herbert, and Mr. Selden.

After the beggars antimasque, came men on horseback, playing upon pipes, whistles, and instruments, imitating the notes of all sorts of birds, and playing in excellent concert.

These were followed by an antimasque of birds, consisting of an owl in an ivy bush, with many different sorts of birds, in a cluster gazing upon her; these were little boys put in covers in the shape of those birds, nicely fitted, sitting on small horses, with footmen going before them with torches in their hands, and others to look after them, to prevent their falling.

After this antimasque, came other musicians on horseback, playing upon bagpipes and other kinds of Northern music, to shew that the following projectors were Scots; and these, like the rest, had many footmen with torches waiting on them.

First in this antimasque rode a fellow upon a little horse with a great bit in his mouth, carrying upon his head a bit with a headstall and reins; a projector, who begged a patent, that none in the kingdom might ride their horses, without such bits as they should buy of him.

Then came another fellow with a capon upon his fist, and a bunch of carrots upon his head, representing a projector, who begged a patent of monopoly, as the first inventor of the art of feeding capons fat with carrots.

Several other projectors were personated in this antimasque, which pleased the spectators the more, because an information was thus covertly given to the King, of the unfitness and ridiculousness of these projects against the law. The Attorney Noy, who had most knowledge of them, had a great hand in this antimasque of the projectors.

After this and the rest of the antimasques, came six of the chief musicians on horseback upon foot-cloths, and in the habits of Heathen priests, footmen carrying torches by their sides. These were followed by a large open chariot, drawn by six fine horses with large plumes of feathers on their heads and cruppers. In this chariot were about a dozen persons, in the habits of Gods and Goddesses, many footmen walking an all sides with torches.

This chariot was followed by six more of the musicians on horseback, dressed and attended with torches like the former, proceeding before another large open chariot, drawn by six fine horses, with feathers, liveries, and torches, like the other. Within it were twelve musicians, as variously dressed as the others, to represent, like them, Pagan deities. These chariots were made for this occasion, and, preceding the grand masquers chariots, played upon excellent loud music all the way.

After this chariot came six more musicians, dressed and attended like the former, followed by the first chariot of the grand masquers, which was not so large as those that went before, but was curiously carved and painted. It was in the form of a Roman triumphal chariot, and richly painted with crimson and silver all over, not excepting the wheels. It was drawn by four horses all in a breast, covered to the heels with crimson and silver tissue, and with huge plumes of red and white feathers on their heads and cruppers. The coachman’s cap and feather, his long coat, his cushion, and his very whip, were of the same stuff and colour. In this chariot sat the four grand masquers of Gray’s Inn, who were handsome young gentlemen. Their habits, doublets, trunk hose and caps, were of the richest tissue, covered as thick with silver spangles as they could be placed; large white silk stockings up to their trunk hose, and very fine sprigs in their caps.

On each side of the chariot were four footmen, in liveries of the colour of the chariot, carrying huge flambeaus, which, with the torches, gave the greatest lustre to the paintings, spangles and habits.

After this chariot came six more musicians, in habits like the former, followed by the second chariot, which differed only from the other in its being painted silver and blue. The chariot and horses were covered with tissue of blue and silver, as the former was with silver and crimson.

In this second triumphal chariot were four grand masquers of the Middle Temple, in the same habits as the other masquers, and had the like attendance, torches and flambeaus, as the former.

After these followed the third and fourth triumphal chariots, with six musicians between each; both they and their horses dressed as before. The triumphal chariots were all of the same make, and alike carved and painted, only differing in the colours. In the third of these chariots rode the grand masquers of the Inner Temple, and in the fourth those of Lincoln’s Inn; each taking the place assigned them by lot.

In this order they proceeded to Whitehall, where the King and Queen, from a window of the Banquetting house, beheld this procession, and were so highly delighted with it, that the King sent to desire the Marshal to take a turn round the Tilt Yard, that he and his consort might have a second view of this pompous procession; which being accordingly performed, they entered the palace, and were conducted to several apartments prepared for their entertainment; where the Ladies of honour, and even the Queen herself, danced with the principal masquers.

With this fine cavalcade her Majesty was so delighted, that she desired to have it repeated, which being intimated to the Lord Mayor, he invited the King and Queen, with the above masquers, to an entertainment in Merchant Taylors Hall; and on this occasion they came in procession into the city, in exactly the same order, and with equal splendor and applause as at Whitehall. Whitlock’s Memoirs.

During this unhappy reign, great disputes arose between the King and the city, in relation to ship-money, loans, &c. the city was deprived not only of the new plantation of Ulster in Ireland, which had been granted to the Lord Mayor and citizens by King James I. but fined 50,000l. Several of the Aldermen were imprisoned, for neglecting to send to court an account of such persons as were able to lend his Majesty money, and the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs prosecuted in the Star-chamber; the five members whom the King himself went with a guard to seize in the Parliament House, took refuge in the city, and were conducted back by water to the House of Commons, by a great number of citizens, while the Trained-Bands, as a farther guard, marched by land to Westminster. But even in the midst of these disputes, while the King was actually opposing the liberties of the citizens, he granted them several charters, by which he confirmed all their former privileges, and added some new ones. At length the Lord Mayor, contrary to an order of Parliament, endeavouring by proclamation to raise troops for his Majesty, he was committed to the Tower; and several articles of impeachment being brought against him, he was, by the sentence of the House of Peers, degraded from the Mayoralty, and rendered incapable of bearing any office, or receiving any farther honour.

There being some time after but little prospect of an agreement between the King and Parliament, and the greatest part of the city being averse to all thoughts of an accommodation, the Common Council passed an act for fortifying the city with out-works; agreed that all the ways leading to the city should be shut up, except those entering at Charing Cross, St. Giles’s in the Fields, St. John’s street, Shoreditch, and Whitechapel, and that the exterior ends of those streets should be fortified with breastworks and turnpikes, musket proof; that the several courts of guards, and rails at the extreme parts of the liberty of the city, should be fortified with turnpikes, musket proof; that all the sheds and buildings contiguous to the outside of London Wall should be taken down; and that the city wall with its bulwarks should be not only repaired and mounted with artillery, but that several new works should be added to it, at the places most exposed.

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 small 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 brought 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 May 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 kind, 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 their 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 as 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 great 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, brimstone, 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, many 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; but 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 save, 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 a 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 occasioned 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 plan 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 magnitude 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, straight 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 be 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.

To 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 shops, 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 for 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 cloistered 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 and 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 rendering 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, even 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 Irishmen, 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 the 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 brought 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, that 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 by 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 and 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, by 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.