This was scanned in from an old document which has caused numerous misreadings of words. As time moves on, this will be improved.
CANONBURY TOWER,
AT the northern extremity of the parish of Islington, denotes the site of the country house of the Prior of the Canons of St. Bartholomew; hence, it is supposed, the name of Canons’-bury, bury being synonymous with burgh, a dwelling. On a garden-house hard by is sculptured the rebus or devic yeebus ore of Bolton, the last prior—a bolt, or arrow for the crossbow, through a tun:
” Old Prior Boltou, with his bolt and tun.”
The Tower, which is of red brick, is believed to have been built by Sir John Spencer, of Crosby-place, who purchased the estate in 1570. Elizabeth, his only daughter and heiress, married William, second Lord Compton, who is traditionally said to have contrived her elopement from her father’s house at Canonbury in a baker’s basket. In 1618, he was created Earl of Northampton, and from him the present owner of Canonbury, who is the eleventh Earl and third Marquis of Northampton, is lineally descended.
The Tower is 17 feet square, and nearly 60 feet in height, and consists of seven stories and 23 rooms. For many years it was let in lodgings. Amongst its tenants was Ephraim Chambers, whose Cyclopcedia was not only the basis of Rees’s work, but originated all the modern Cyclopaedias in the English and the other European languages. Chambers died at Canonbury, May 18, 1740, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, under a short Latin inscription, his own composition. Newbery, the bookseller, lodged here; and in his apartments Goldsmith often lay concealed from his creditors, and under a pressing necessity he there wrote his Vicar of Wakefield; ” he was the most diligent slave that ever toiled in the mill of Grub-street.”
” A silly notion at one time prevailed that there was formerly a subterranean communication between Canonbury House and the Priory of St. Bartholomew. Similar vulgar and absurd stories are current at most of the large monasteries; as Malmesbury, Netley, Glastonbury, Sec.” — (Godwin’s Churches of London.)
The ancient priory mansion covered the entire site now occupied by Canonbury-place, and had attached to it a park of about four acres, with large gardens, a fishpond, &c.; most of which were included in the premises of Canonbury Tea-gardens and Tavern, in the middle of the last century but a small ale-house. It was enlarged and improved by a Mr. Lane, who had been a private soldier j but its celebrity was chiefly owing to the widow Sutton, who resided here from 1785 to 1808, and laid out the bowling-green and grounds. The streets which now cover the Canonbury estate are mostly named from the titles of the Marquis of Northampton, the ground landlord.
CARVINGS IN WOOD.
THE art of Sculpture in Wood has ever been royally and nobly encouraged in England; and the metropolis contains many fine specimens of ancient and modern skill in this tasteful branch of decoration.
The figures carved upon the chestnut roof of Westminster Hall show the degree of excellence the art had attained in this country so early as the reign of Richard II. The sculptured arms on the corbels are those of France and England, quarterly; and of St. Edward the Confessor, as borne by Richard II.; whose favourite badge, viz., the white hart, lodged, ducally gorged and chained, and his crest of a lion guardant crowned, standing on a chapeau and helmet, are also carved, in alternate succession, on the cornice.
There is every reason to suppose the timber architeinsimber acture of Old London to have been elaborate and beautiful. Till about the year 1625, nearly all the houses were built of wood: the interiors of the better sort were often richly carved, particularly in the panels of rooms, chimney-pieces, ceilings, and staircases j and the exteriors displayed a similar love of ornament in the doors and barge-boards, and story corbels.
The Great Fire of 1666 spared few specimens of early wood-carving ; but several exist in quarters not reached by the destroyer. Of existing Gothic work may be
mentioned the decorations of Crosby Hall, much injured, however, by ” restoration.” The excellently carved stalls in the church of St. Helen, Bishopsgate, and those of the Chapel of Henry VII. at Westminster, are unusually magnificent, and were mostly executed by foreign workmen summoned to England by Henry VII.
In the reign of Elizabeth, not only the houses of the nobility were decorated, but furniture made of British woods was richly carved : the late Mr. Cottingham, F.S.A., assembled many unique specimens of this period, which were dispersed in 1851.
In the Elizabethan style may also be mentioned :—
Two splendid brackets (griffins), dated 1592, supporting the yard entrance at 21, Princes-square, Wilson-street, Finsbuiy.
Two house-fronts in Aldersgate-strect.
Some boldly carved brackets (1595), at the Old Boar’s Head, Gray’s-Inn-lane.
Panel and trusses over the mantel of the Cock Tavern, Fleet-street (temp. James I.). The room was formerly panelled opposite the fire-place. The sign bird, over the entrance doorway from Fleet-street, is in the manner of Gibbons, and gilt.
Brackets (temp. James I.) at the back of the house, 61, Gray’s-Inn-lane.
There was 6ome fine Elizabethan panelling in the Star Chamber at Westminster, taken down in 1835; but restored for the Hon. E. Cust, Leasowe Castle.
Brackets, very fine, at the corner of Cloth Fair, Smithfield.
House-front, 91, Fenchurch-street.
Several house-fronts, rather later, in Whitechapel Market.
The Sir Paul Pindar’s Head, Bishopsgate-street-without, has a finely carved front, and a carved ceiling in one of the unmodernized rooms.
The projecting house-front (now gilt), 17, Fleet-street, opposite Chancery-lane.
Mask brackets (temp. James J.), at the front and back of the Old Cheshire Cheese, 48, Hart-street, City; and a spian”ty; andrited grotesque head (same date) within the court of Red-Lion-place, Cock-lane.
A fine staircase, attributed to Inigo Jones (probably later), at 96, St. Martin’s-lane, Charing Cross.
At the White Horse Inn, Church-street, Chelsea, (burnt Dec. 14,1840,) were four grotesque Elizabethan brackets, carved chimney-pieces; and a carved frame for the sign, dated 1509.
The most celebrated carver after the Great Fire was Grinling Gibbons, who, Wal-pole tells us, so delicately carved a pot of flowers, that they shook in the room with the motion of coaches passing in the street. Most of the interior carvings of St. Paul’s Cathedral were executed by Gibbons, or by Dutch workmen under his superintendence; the cherubs in the choir are in the highest style of the art.
One of the best carvers employed by Wren was Philip Wood, who came up a poor lad from Suffolk, and carved as a specimen of his skill a sow and pigs, for which he received ten guineas. According to the Commissioners’ Report, between the years 1701 and 1707, Wood was paid large sums of money for carved work in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
It is not generally known that the pulpit at St. Paul’s was designed by Mylne, and executed about sixty years since by one of the finest flower-carvers of the time, named Mowatt, then employed by a relative of Edward Wyatt, the carver and gilder, in Oxford-street. The pulpit is carved in Spanish mahogany and satin-wood; the foliage is marvellously played with in the volutes.
Many of the Halls of the City Companies are decorated with reputed Gibbons’s work; as well as the interiors of most of the churches built by Sir Christopher Wren. St. James’s, Piccadilly, has some fine pulpit, altar, and pew carvings; and the churchwardens’ pews at Allhallows Barking (with the symbols of the four Evangelists), are amongst the most delicate decorations of their time in the metropolis. The Hall of Heralds’ College is also well enriched in the Gibbons style; and a beautiful specimen of Gibbons’s skill in fruit, fish, game, shells, &c. is preserved at the New River House, Clerkenwell.
At Canonbury House, Islington, the great chamber contains a quaintly carved oak fireplace, in which are small statues of Mars and Venus draped. The room had originally wood panelling and carved pilasters placed at intervals; all this, with the exception of two or three pilasters, has disappeared; the doorway with the busts of the old English gentleman and dame in the quaint costume of the time, is very curious. These doorways generally projected like small screens into these great rooms, and were used as a protection from the cold. Its Roman moulding and enriched frieze-like running ornament throughout the building of the same character as the latter. The ceiling of the room bears the date 1559, probably that year when Sir John Spencer came to reside on the spot. Besides the great chamber, there are several other long rooms full of rich carvings, especially one on the ground-floor, which retains all its original decoration : this was formerly the parlour of the old mansion. The whole of the carving of these old buildings is carefully protected by the noble owner, the present Marquis of Northampton : the tenantn t : the s heing strictly directed in their leases to uphold, maintain, &c, all the several antiquities submitted to their charge. (J. C. Richardson, Architect?)
In 1861, there was sold amongst the old materials of No. 108, Cheapside, which stood immediately opposite Bow Church, the ” fine old oak panelling of a large dining-room, with chimney piece and cornice to correspond, elaborately carved in fruit and foliage, in excellent preservation, 750 feet superficial.” This ” oak-clad room,” was bought by Mr. Morris Charles Jones, of Gunrog, near Welshpool, in North Wales, for 72£ 10s. 3d., including commission and expenses of removal, being about 1*. Sd. per foot superficial. It has been conveyed from Cheapside to Gunrog. This room was the principal apartment of the house of Sir Edward Waldo, and stated, in a pamphlet by Mr. Jones, ” to have been visited by six reigning sovereigns, from Charles II. to George III., on the occasion of civic festivities and for the purpose of witnessing the Lord Mayor’s Show.” (See Mr. Jones’s pamphlet, privately printed, 1864.) A contemporary (the Guilder) doubts whether this room can be the work of Gibbons; ” if so, it is a rare treasure, cheaply gained. But except in St. Paul’s, a crown and ecclesiastical structure, be it remembered—not a corporate one—there is not a single certain example of Gibbons’s art to be seen in the City of London proper.”
About the same year that Gibbons died, Nicholas Collet was born. This clever carver lived until 1804. He executed the carving of Queen Anne’s state-carriage, and it is probable that to him we are indebted for the best of the decorated doors in Ormond-street, Queen-square. William Collins, the inseparable companion of Gainsborough the painter, was an excellent modeller and carver.
Smith, in his London Antiquities, says—” Samuel Monette, a native of Paris, now living in London, claims the highest encomiums I can possibly bestow: his art is principally confined to flowers, and when I say that Grinling Gibbons was a mouse to him, I shall not utter too much; his carvings in wood are so light and playful, that they may be blown away.” This artist designed the pulpits of St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Paul’s, Covent-garden, St. Margaret’s Westminster, &c. Smith also speaks well of the carving of Burns, famous for carving wheat-sheafs; one of these wheat-sheafs still remains in a shop in the West Strand, not far from the Electric Telegraph Station.— Builder, 1854.
Gog and Magog, the giants in Guildhall, which are masterly examples of carving, are of wood and hollow : they are composed of pieces of fir, and are said to be the production of a ship-carver. It is also reported that they were presented to the City by the Stationers’ Company, which, if true, might have given rise to the common report of their being made of paper.
London once abounded in richly-carved doorways and over-doors of the 17th and 18th centuries: there were good examples in Great Ormond-street; in Shire-lane, Temple Bar, where Gibbons once lived; in Cavendish-square, especially at No. 33; the entrance to Langbourn Chambers, Fenchurch-street; and some old mansions in Mark-lane; there was formerly a very fine one over the door of .the Ship Tavern, Water-lane.
State Coaches present fine carving. Such are the Lord Mayor’s Coach, kept at the Green Yard, Whitecross-street; the Queen’s Coach, at the Royal Mews, Pimlico; and the Speaker’s Coach, Princeen Coach, ‘s-street, Westminster.
In private collections, some magnificent specimens of early carving are preserved: such were the Italian bedstead-pillars of the 16th century, and the bas-relief after Rubens, in the Earl of Cadogan’s collection; and the collection, dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries, the property of G. Field, Esq., of Lister House, Clapham.
Carving received considerable check from the introduction of stucco in the reign of George II.; but the art has received a fresh impetus in the present century. Some fine church carving was executed in 1839-42 for the Temple Church; and in 1847-8 for the choir of Westminster Abbey, then refitted with canopied stalls, organ-case, screen, &c, by Messrs. Ruddle, of Peterborough. The church of St. Mary-at-Hill, Billingsgate, was redecorated in 1849-50, by W. Gibbs Rogers : the pulpit alone cost upwards of 6001. ; the stairs have an elaborate string-course, and all the banisters are on the rake; the bosses and flowers of the sounding-board exceed a foot in projection: the organ-gallery front has flowers festooned with musical instruments, and the pretty conceit of a crab crawling over a violin. Mr. Rogers has also carved, from a design suggested by the Queen, a boxwood cradle in rich Italian style, most delicately finished, and first used for the infant Prince Arthur, born 1850: it is cleverly engraved and described in the Art Journal for August 1850.
St. Michael’s Church, Cornhill, has also been redecorated by Mr. Rogers, with carvings of elaborate detail, which will be described hereafter, from the carver’s pamphlet.
The interior enrichments of the New Palace at Westminster present some fine specimens of contemporary carving. Much of the work has, however, been executed by machinery, and finished by hand. The new Hall of Lincoln’s Inn has also some fine new work.
The great depository for old carvings is Wardour-street, Oxford-street, where the dealers mostly keep shop : much discrimination is requisite in making purchases.
CEMETERIES,
OR public burial-grounds, planted and laid out as gardens around the metropolis, are a novelty of our times; although they were suggested just after the Great Fire of 1666, when Evelyn regretted that advantage had not been taken of that calamity to rid the City of its burial-places, and establish a necropolis without the walls. He deplores that ” the churchyards had not been banished to the north walls of the City, where a grated inclosure, of competent breadth, for a mile in length, might have served for an universal cemetery to all the parishes, distinguished by the like separations, and with ample walks of trees; the walks adorned with monuments, inscriptions, and titles, apt for contemplation and memory of the defunct, and that wise and excellent law of the Twelve Tables restored and renewed.”
The several Cemeteries in the suburbs are the property of Joint-Stock Companies. From the costliness of interment in them, they at first but little abated the evil of intramural burial, as stated in the Report of the Board of Health in 1850. By the Metropolitan Interolipolitanment Act, passed in the above year, the evil has been abolished, and Cemeteries provided for the several metropolitan parishes.
Kexsal Green Cemeteey was the first established. It lies upon high ground, left of the Harrow Road and the hamlet of Kensal Green, about two miles from Padding-ton Green. It is divided into two grounds: the westernmost consecrated Nov. 2, 1832; the smaller ground being for the interment of persons whose friends desire a funeral service differing from that of the Church of England. The same distinction is observed in each of the Cemeteries; and each is planted and laid out in walks, parterres, and borders of flowers, and other styles of landscape-gardening. A register is kept of interments for both portions of the grounds, and a duplicate is lodged with the registrars of parishes in the diocese. Each Company has its scale of charges for interment in catacomb, vault, or grave.
Within three years from the opening of the Kensal-Green Cemetery, there took place in it about 1000 interments. Each ground has its chapel and colonnades; in the latter are placed mural tablets, and beneath are vaults or catacombs. The memorials in this Cemetery are very numerous: altar-tombs, ” monumental urns,” sarcophagi, and the broken column; capacious tomb-houses, encompassed with flower-beds or overhung with funereal trees; pillars, bearing urns; weeping and praying figures, medallion portraits, and groups of insignia are most frequent; though emblems are borrowed alike from the Pagan temple and the Christian church. The cross, in its picturesque varieties, and the plain but massive slab, are side by side. Among the most conspicuous is, at the entrance, a monument to Madame Soyer, by a Belgian sculptor; the pedestal and a colossal figure of Faith are upwards of twenty feet in height. The tombs of St. John Long, the ” counter-irritation” surgeon; of Morison, the ” hygeist;” and of Ducrow, the equestrian; are also prominent: the latter left a sum of money for flowers, shrubs, and repairs. The memorial to Thomas Hood, the popular humorist, with sculptures from his poems, is in better taste. Here is interred the Duke of Sussex, according to especial directions left by that prince : his grave, near the chapel, is covered by an immense granite tomb; and near it rest the remains of the Princess Sophia, his sister, beneath a handsome sarcophagus tomb of Sicilian marble erected in 1850, by subscription of Queen Victoria, the King of Hanover, Adolphus Duke of Cambridge, and the Duchess of Gloucester. Beyond Kensal Green, is a large Cemetery for Roman Catholics : here is interred Cardinal Wiseman.
The South Metropolitan and Norwood Cemetery was consecrated Dec. 6, 1837 : the chapels, by Tite, in the pointed style, are very beautiful; and the grounds are hilly, and picturesquely planted.
Highgate and Kentish Town Cemetery, consecrated May 20, 1839, lies immediately below Highgate Church. It has a Tudor gate-house and chapel, and catacombs of Egyptian architecture ; the ground is laid out in terraces, tastefully planted; and the distant view of the overgrown Metropolis, from among the tombs, is suggestive to a meditative mind.
Abney Park Cemetery and Arboretum, lying eastward, at Stoke-Newington, was opened by the Lord Mayor, May 20, 1840. It was formed from the Paran from tk of Sir Thomas Abney, the friend of Dr. Isaac Watts, to mark whose thirty-six years’ residence here a statue of the Doctor, by Baily, R.A., was erected in 1845. The Abney mansion was taken down in 1844; many of the fine old trees remain.
Westminster and West of London Cemetery, Earl’s Com-t, Fulham-road, was consecrated June 15, 1840; it has a domed chapel, with semi-circular colonnades of imposing design. In the grounds is a large altar-tomb, with athlete figures, modelled by Baily, and erected by subscription, to Jackson the pugilist.
Nunhead Cemetery, Peckham, was consecrated July 29, 1840.
The City op London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery, lies at the extremity of Mile-End Boad, north of Bow Common ; and Victoria Park Cemetery, about eleven acres, at Bethnal Green, north of the Eastern Counties Railway. There are also large Cemeteries for Marylebone and Paddington; Islington and St. Pancras.
A few suburban churchyards are planted similarly to the Cemeteries ; as that of St. John’s Wood Chapel, where are buried Joanna Southcot; Richard Brothers ” the prophet;” and John Jackson, R.A., the portrait-painter. The churchyard of St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields, Lower Pancras Road, consecrated so long ago as 1804, has many flowery graves: here is the handsome tomb of Sir John Soane, overhung with cypresses. The burying-ground of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, Pratt-street, Camden Town, is also planted: here lies Charles Dibdin, the song-writer.
The burial-grounds for Jews are mostly laid out and planted in the cemetery manner. Formerly their burial-place was outside the City Wall, at Leyrestowe, ” without Cripplegate.”
CHANCERY-LANE
” A CQTJIRED its ominous name about the time of Richard I. There is extant Lx. a deed, by which Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, devised certain messuages in the Chancellor’s-lane, heretofore the New-street.”— (Archcaological Journal, No. 12, p. 375.) This is the greatest ” legal thoroughfare” in London, and extends from Fleet-street, opposite Inner Temple Gate, to Holborn, nearly opposite Gray’s Inn. In Edward I.’s time it was so foul and miry as to be barred up, to prevent accidents. Entering by Fleet-street, on the left were until lately some half-timbered houses, with projecting windows, overhanging stories, and gabled fronts. Izaak Walton kept a draper’s shop at the second house on the left, taken down when that end of the lane was widened; he subsequently removed, according to Sir Harris Nicolas’s Life of Walton, five doors higher up in the lane. Opposite is Serjeants’ Inn, rebuilt by Sir Robert Smirke in 1838 ; but the old Hall remains. Higher up, on the west, is the Law Institution, with a noble Grecian-Ionic portico, built of stone by Vulliamy, in 1842; it contains a library and club accommodation for the legal profession. In this ancient thoroughfare have been built several edifices of ornamental character, including the large premises for the Union Bank, at the cost of 30,000£.
The Bishop of Chichester formerly had a palace in Chancery-lane, where are still Chichester Rents and Symonds Inn; the latter, to this day, owned hy the see. The large old house, with low-built shops before it, and between Bream’s Buildings and Cursitor-street, is said to have been the Bishop’s palace. Nearly opposite is the redbrick gatehouse of Lincoln’s Inn; a Tudor arch betweeu two massive towers, built by Sir Thomas Lovell, 1518, and bearing his arms.
The Survey of Aggas, in 1560, shows Chancery-lane with only a few houses at the end, the intervening road flanked with gardens; and there is no reason to doubt Aubrey’s statement that young Ben Jonson worked with his father-in-law, a bricklayer, in building the garden-wall of Lincoln’s Inn, when, as Fuller says, ” having a trowel in his hand, he had a book in his pocket.”
The stone buildings at the northern end of the lane are the Accountant-General’s and Inrolment Offices. Opposite, upon the site of Southampton Buildings, was Southampton House, inherited by the ill-fated William, Lord Russell, by his marriage with the daughter of Thomas, last Earl of Southampton.
” It was in passing this house, the scene of his domestic happiness, on his way to the scaffold in Lincoln’s-lnn-fields, that the fortitude of the martyr for a moment forsook him (W. Lord Russell); but over-mastering his emotion, he said ‘ The bitterness of death is now past.’ It is from this house that some of Lady Rachel Russell’s celebrated letters are dated. A former entrance to the chapel of Southampton House appears to correspond with the moulding of the flat timbered roof, which is of the time of Henry VII. This part of the edifice retains its original proportions, except that its height is divided by a modern floor. Its length is about 40 feet by about 20. Other portions of Southampton House have been incorporated with the surrounding dwellings, one of which contains a beautiful Elizabethan staircase. Old mouldings and panelling appear likewise in 47, Southampton Buildings, which house seems to have been constructed upon a portion of the ancient mansion.”— J. Wykeham Archer.
CHARING CROSS.
THE large area at the meeting of the Strand, Whitehall, and Cockspur-street, with Trafalgar-square on the north, is named from the Village of Cherringe, near Westminster, and seems to have been the border or neutral ground between the City and the King’s western palace. Tradition traces it to the stone cross erected there, to Eleanor, the Chere Reine of Edward I.; but this tradition is fanciful.
In the narrative of the quarrel between the merchants of London and Northampton, in the IAber de Antiquis Legibus, the following passage occurs :—” Quibus Uteris im-petratis, ecce! rumores quod predicti p’sones fuerunt apud Cherringe juxta Westmon-asterium ubi Maior et Ballivi Norehamptone illos adduxerunt.” This was in 1260, and Queen Eleanor (the Chere Reine in question) died in 1291. But, the association is of older date, for in King Edward I., Neale’s Works, edited by Dyce, we read :—
” Erect a rich and stately carved cross Whereon her statue shall with glory shine, And henceforth see you call it Chariug Cross; For why ? the chariest and the choicest queen, That ever did delight my royal eyes There dwells in darkness.”
This was the last spot at which the Queen’s body rested on its way to Westminster for burial. Mr. Hudson Turner, in Manners and Household Expenses of England in the \3t7i and 15th Centuries, gives some curious particulars of the nine Eleanor Crosses, of which two were those at Charing and Cheap. Charing Cross was built of Caen stone, and Dorset marble steps, by Richard and Roger de Crundale; it was highly decorated, and had paintings and metal figures, gilt; besides Eleanor and others, sculptured in Caen stone by Alexander of Abingdon, and modelled by Torel, a goldsmith, probably an Italian. It has been much discussed whether this and the other Eleanor Crosses were erected by Edward I. as memorials of his ” conjugal affection,” or by him as one of the executors of the Queen; but, surely, ” the very last thing that a husband who desired to express his own affection for the deceased wife would do would be to appear, not in his proper person, but as one of her legal representatives.”— (Athen&um.)
That the Crosses were raised by command of the King is founded on the authority of Walsingham and his predecessors, handed down by Sandford and others to the present day : see Mr. Abel’s paper upon the Inquiry.
The Cross appears in the Sutherland View, 1543, with only a few houses near it, and St. Martin’s Church literally ” in the fields.” A century later, puritanical bigotry was at its full height; and April 23,1643, ” by order of the Commission or Committee
appointed by the House, the sign of a tavern, The Golden Cross, at Charing Cross, was taken down as superstitious and idolatrous.” Next followed the Cross itself, it being pulled down in June, July, and August 1647, and knife-hafts made of some of the stone, or marble. Then the wits had their gibe :
“Undone, undone, the lawyers are,— They wander about the towne, Nor can find the way to Westminster,
Now Charing Cross is downe. At the end of the Strand they make a stand,
Swearing they are at a loss, And chaffing say, That’s not the way, They must go by Charing Cross.
The Downfalle of Charing Cross.
Next, regicides were executed ” at the said place, where Charing Cross stood.” In 1674, was placed here the noble equestrian statue of Charles I., by Le Soeur, which had been cast in 1633, but long lay concealed. A memorandum in the State-Paper Office points to the statue having been originally ordered of Le Sceur by Lord Treasurer Weston, afterwards Earl of Portland, to be set up in his gardens at Roehampton. The stone pedestal, long attributed to Gibbons, is proved by written evidence to be the work of Joshua Marshall, master-mason to the Crown.
Where the Post-office at Charing Cross now stands, there was once a hermitage, within which the patent rolls of the 47th Henry III. grant permission to William de Kadnor, Bishop of Llandaff, to lodge with all his retainers, whenever he came to London. Opposite this stood the ancient Hospital of St. Mary Roncevalles, founded by William Marechal, Earl of Pembroke. It was suppressed by Henry V. as an alien priory, restored bed.y, resty Edward IV., and finally suppressed by Edward VI., who granted it to Sir Thomas Carwarden, to be held in free soccage of the honour of Westminster.
Canalletto painted for his patron, Algernon Sidney, Baron Percy, created in 1749 Earl of Northumberland, a view of Northumberland-house and Charing Cross; the picture is now in that mansion; it was painted about 1746 ,and shows the houses of the street-lines, with their signs, among which is prominent the Golden Cross.
Charing Cross was a favourite pitch for Punch, or Punchinello, as he is termed in sundry entries in the Overseers’ books of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, dated 1666, March 29, which Mr. Cunningham states to be the earliest mention of Punch in England.
It was at the Rummer Tavern, Charing Cross, that Matthew Prior was brought up by his uncle, the landlord, who had him educated at Westminister School. The Swan, at Charing Cross, was a favourite tavern of Ben Jonson. Proclamations were read here: hence Swift,
” Where all that passes inter nos, May be proclaimed at Charing-cross,”
¦—a popular saying in our day. Edmund Curll, the notorious bookseller, stood here in the pillory. Sir Harry Vane, the younger, had bis residence next to Northumberland House. Isaac Barrow, the divine, died in mean lodgings over the saddler’s long shop at Charing Cross, which lasted till our time. Rhodes, the bookseller, hung out his sign of the Ship in the same locality. Here, according to Pyne, William Hogarth stood at a window of the old Golden Cross making sketches of the heralds and the sergeant trumpeter’s band, and the yeoman guard, who rendezvoused at Charing Cross, purposing to make a picture of the ceremony of proclaiming the new King, George III. On June 21, 1837, Queen Victoria was proclaimed herein fitting state: the High Constable and High Bailiff of Westminster, Knight-marshalmen, drums and trumpets, sergeants-at-arms, pursuivants, heralds, and other authorities, in official costume, standing within a cordon of Life Guards, round the statue, and the Somerset Herald reading aloud the proclamation.
” I talked,” says Boswell, ” of the cheerfulness of Fleet-street, owing to the quick succession of people which we perceive passing through it.” Johnson— ” Why, Sir, Fleet-street has a very animated appearance, but I think the full tide of human existence is at Charing Cross.” (Boswell, Croker’s ed., p. 433).
The changes at Charing Cross within the last forty years have been very striking. We well remember the paved area about St. Martin’s Church, with the surrounding labyrinth of courts, and alleys, and lanes, which the gallants of Elizabeth or James’s time, who had cruised in search of Spanish galleons, wittily named ” the Bermudas.”
” Here the valorous Captain Bobadil must .” Bobadilhave lived in Barmecidal splendour, and have taught his dupes the true conduct of the weapon. Justice Overdo mentions the Bermudas with a righteous indignation. ‘ Look,’ says that great legal functionary,’ into any angle of the town, the Streights or the Bermudas, where the quarrelling lesson is read, and how do they entertain the time but with bottled ale and tobacco ? At a subsequent period the cluster of avenues exchanged the title of Bermuda* for that of the C’ribbee Islands, the learned possessors corrupting the name into a happy allusion to the arts cultivated there. Gay, writing in 1715, describes the small streets branching from Charing Cross as resounding with the shoeblacks’ cry,’ Clean your honour’s shoes ?’ Porridge Island was the cant name for a paved alley near St. Martin’s Church, which derived its name from being full of cookshops. A writer in The World (1753) describes a man like Beau Tibbs, who had his dinner in a pewter-plate from a cookshop in Porridge Island, and with only 100Z. a year was foolish enough to wear a laced suit, go every evening in a chair to a rout, and return to his bedroom on foot, shivering and supperless, vain enough to glory in having rubbed elbows with the quality of Brentford.”— Pictures of the Period.
In the improvements, commenced in 1829, was swept away the lower part of St. Martin’s-lane. Westward disappeared Duke’s-court, where lived Roger Payne, the celebrated bookbinder, whose chef-d’oeuvre, iEschylus, in Lord Spencer’s library, cost fifteen guineas binding. Then, at the Mews’-gate, lived honest Tom Payne, the bookseller, whose little shop in the shape of L was named the Literary Coffee-house, from its knot of literary frequenters.
CHARTERHOUSE.
NOT far from Smithfield, once the town-green of the City of London, the chivalrous Sir Walter Manny, Lord of the town of Manny, in the diocese of Cambray, and Knight of the Garter in the reign of Edward III., founded in 1371 a monastery of Carthusian monks. The site (now Charterhouse-square) was in part a lonely field, bearing the name of ” No Man’s Land.” Ralph Stratford bought it as a place of burial for the victims of the pestilence of 13 i9, “where was buried in one year,” says Camden, ” no less than sixty thousand of the better sort of people.” Thirteen acres of adjoining ground, bought at about the same time of St Bartholomew’s Spittle, and called the Spittle Croft, had also been enclosed and consecrated. The monastery was devoted to the use of the Carthusian monks, whose name of Chartreuse time has corrupted into Charterhouse. It was the third Carthusian monastery instituted in this country, and its title and address was—” The House of the Salutation of the Mother of God, without the Bars of West Smithfield, near London.”
The last prior was executed at Tyburn, May 4, 1535—his head set on London Bridge; and one of his limbs over the gateway of his own convent—the same gateway, it is said, which is still the entrance from Charterhouse-square. The priory, thus sternly dissolved, was first set apart by King Henry VIII. as a place of deposit for his ” hales and tents “— i.e., ” his nets and pavilions.” It was afterwards given by the King to Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor, by whom it was sold to Sir Thomas North, Baron North of Kirtling. Lord North subsequently parted with it to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, on whose execution and attainder in 1553 it reverted to Lord North by a grant from the Crown. In 1565, by deeds, and in consideration of the sum of 2820/., Roger, second Lord North, sold it to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, on whose execution and attainder in 1572 it again reverteastagain rd to the Crown. Queen Elizabeth subsequently granted it to the Duke’s second son, Thomas, afterwards Earl of Suffolk, founder of Audley End, in Essex, and father of Frances, Countess of Essex and Somerset, the infamous heroine of ” the great Oyer of Poisoning,” in the reign of James I.
On May 9,1611, the property was sold by Lord Suffolk to Thomas Sutton, of Camps Castle, in the county of Cambridge, for 13,000/. His wealth was great: he had discovered rich veins of coal near Newcastle-on-Tyne, which he worked so profitably as to be reputed worth the then vast sum of 50,000/. He added greatly to his fortune by marriage ; and in privateering service he captured a Spanish vessel with a cargo valued at 20,000/. On June 22, follows his purchase of Charterhouse; Sutton endowed it as a charity by the name of ” the Hospital of King James,” ” for poor brethren and scholars.” Sutton died almost an octogenarian in the same year, Dec. 12th, before his good work was complete, and was buried in the chapel of the Hospital, beneath a
sumptuous monument, the work of Stone and Jansen. On opening the vault, in 1842, the body of the founder was discovered ” lapt in lead,” like an Egyptian mummy-case. Sutton has been charged with avarice in acquiring the money he bequeathed, and has been pointed out as the original of Volpone, the Fox; but this Gilford disproves. In the chapel, Burrell, the preacher to the Hospital, paid the first tribute of praise to the memory of Sutton in a sermon, printed in 1629, but now as rare as a manuscript.
The buildings and grounds of Charterhouse occupy about thirteen acres of land. Entering by the gate over which one of the quarters of the last prior of the monastery was placed, on the right is part of the ” fair dwelling” erected about 1537; the Middle or Monitors’ Court is of about the same date, though the Long Gallery is reduced by half; the Washhouse Court is one of the few remaining portions of the monastery. The Preacher’s Court contains the chapel, which, from a plan, date about 1500, seems to be identified with the monastery chapel. In some repairs in 1812 an ancient ambrie was discovered towards the south corner of the east wall. The Chapel contains several fine monuments, besides that of Sutton. The Ante-Chapel, which, like the Evidence Room above it, has a groined roof, bears the date 1512. The Great Chamber, or Old Governors’ Room, was either built or decorated by Thomas, fourth Duke of Norfolk, between 1565 and 1571: it was restored in 1838, and is now the most perfect Elizabethan apartment in London. It has a chimney-piece of wood, a centre and two wings, in two stories, Tuscan and Ionic, reaching to the ceiling, decorated with escutcheons of the House of Norfolk. In this room Queen Elizabeth and James I. kept their court on their visits here. And here, on Founder’s Day, is delivered the Annual Oration: the walls are richly painted, and hung with six pieces of tapestry. The Great Hall has a screen, music-gallery, sculptured chimney-piece, and lantern in the roof: here hangs a noble portrait of Sutton, and here is celebrated ” the Founder’s Day,” Dec. 12, when the Carthusians dine together by subscription. At the Poor Brothers’ celebration was formerly sung the old Carthusian melody, with this chorus :—
“Then blessed be the memory Of good old Thomas Sutton, “Who gave us lodging—learning, And he gave us beef and mutton.”
In the Upper Hall the foundation scholars dine daily; and, in another Hall, the Master, the Preacher, and other officers. p> This ” triple good,” as Bacon calls it—this ” masterpiece of Protestant English charity,” as it is called by Fuller,—was also ” the greatest gift in England, either in Protestant or Catholic times, ever bestowed by any individual.” It is under the direction of the Queen, fifteen Governors selected from the great officers of state; and the Master of the Hospital, whose income is 800?. a year, besides a capital residence within the walls. The value of the estates bequeathed by Sutton has increased tenfold; yet the gross rental, which was, in the year 1691, 5391?., is stated to average less than 21,000?. Upon the foundation are maintained eighty pensioners, or poor brothers, whom the Governors nominate in rotation; they live together in collegiate style, provided with apartments, and all necessaries, except apparel, in lieu of which they are allowed 14?. a year and a gown each. Next are the scholars, in two divisions—the foundation, or gown boys, and the boarders received by the masters; the former are fed and clothed at the expense of the Hospital; the latter by their friends. The foundation scholars also enjoy the right of election to exhibitions of from 80?. to 100?. a year, at either university, besides the preference over the scholars of presentation to valuable church preferments in the gift of the Governors. The sum of 40?. was formerly paid with every boy, either to advance him in college, or as an apprentice-fee in trade; but no youth has been apprenticed from the school since John Philip Ivemble was bound to his uncle, the comedian, to learn the histrionic art. The total number of scholars does not exceed 200; formerly the number was 480, when boarding-houses were allowed in the neighbourhood; now the scholars are only allowed to reside within the walls.
The present school-house is a modern brick building (1803), on a mound in the playground; the large central door is surrounded by stones bearing the names of former
Head Masters, and the names of the boys as they leave the school. The internal economy of the establishment is vested in the Master ; the manciple, or house-steward, provides the diet of the Hospital, for which he has ” to pay in ready money.”
Charterhouse is more healthily placed than any other public school in the metropolis. John Wesley imputed his after health and long life to his strict obedience to his father’s injunction—that he should run round the Charterhouse playing-green three times every morning. There are two play-greens—for the ” Uppers” and ” Unders;” and by the wall of the ancient monastery is a gravel-walk upon the site of a range of cloisters. The Master has his flower-garden, with its fountain; there are courts for tennis, a favourite game with Carthusians; a wilderness of fine trees, intersected by grass and gravel walks; the cloisters, where football and hockey are played; the old school, its ceiling charged with armorial shields; the great kitchen, probably the banqueting-hall of the old priory ; the chapel; and lastly, the burial-ground for the poor brethren. There are besides solitary courts, remains of cloisters and cells, and old doorways and window-cases, which assert the antiquity of the place; and the Governors have wisely extended the great object of the founder by the grant of a piece of ground, where a church and schools for the poorer classes have been built.
There are three schoolrooms: one very large, and two smaller, for French and study. The system of education includes Greek and Latin and mathematics; modern history, geography, nted geograatural science; the French and German languages; and singing, fencing, and drilling classes. The foundation scholarships are competed for annually. There are other prizes, including the Havelock Exhibition, founded in I860, in honour of General Sir Henry Havelock, who was a Carthusian.
Oliver Cromwell was elected Governor in 1652, and was succeeded by his son Richard, in 1658. The most eminent Master of the house was Dr. Thomas Burnet, author of The Sacred Theory of the Earth; and the most eminent Schoolmaster, the Rev. Andrew Tooke, author of the Pantheon.
Upon the register of pupils are many illustrious names, including Crawshay, the poet; Isaac Barrow, the divine and mathematician ; Sir William Blackstone, author of the Commentaries; Joseph Addison, and Richard Steele, both here together; John Wesley, the founder of the Wesleyans; Lord Chief-Justice Ellenborough (buried in the Chapel); the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool; Bishop Monk; Baron Alderson; and General Sir H. Havelock—” Old Phlos,” he was called in the school: he is described to have been then a gentle and thoughtful lad, who used to stand looking on while others played, and whose general meditative manner procured for him the name of ” Philosopher,” and occasionally ” Old Philos;” W. M. Thackeray, the novelist; and John Leech, the celebrated artist; Sir C. L. Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy; the two eminent historians of Greece, Bishop Thirlwall and Mr. George Grote, were both scholars together in the same form, under Dr. Raine.
Among the Poor Brethren were Elkanah Settle, the rival and antagonist of Dryden; John Bagford,the antiquary, originally a shoemaker in Turnstile; Isaac de Groot, nephew of Hugo Grotius; and Alexander Macbean, who assisted Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary.
In the Master’s Lodge are several excellent portraits: the Founder, engraved by Vertue; Isaac Walton’s good old Bishop Morley; Charles II.; Villiers, Duke of Buckingham; the Duke of Monmouth; Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury; William, Earl of Craven; Archbishop Sheldon; Lord Chancellor Somers; and one of Kneller’s finest works, the portrait of Dr. Thomas Burnet.
¦ Dr. Burnet, elected Master in 1665, died here in 1715, and was buried in the chapel of the institution. Soon after Burnet’s election, James II. addressed a letter to the Governors, ordering them to admit one Andrew Popham as pensioner into the Hospital upon the first vacancy, without tendering to him any oath, or requiring of him any subscription or recognition in conformity with Church of England doctrine, the King dispensing with any statute or order of the Hospital to the contrary. Burnet, as junior Governor, was called upon to vote first, when he maintained that by express Act of Parliament, 3 Car. I., no officer could be admitted into that Hospital without taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. An attempt was made, but without effect, to overrule this opinion. The Duke of Ormond supported Burnet, and on the vote being put, Popham was rejected: and notwithstanding the threats of the King and the Popish Party, no member of the communion was ever admitted into the Charterhouse.”
The history of this noble foundation has been written by Bearcroft, Hearne, and Smythe; and in 1847 appeared Chronicles of Charterhouse, by a Carthusian, a clever work, with illustrations. Charterhouse is also well described in Staunton’s Great Schools of England, 1865, where are thus sketched the saturnalia of the ” fags,” now abolished:—
” In former times there was a curious custom of the School termed ‘ pulling-in,’ by which the lower boys manifested their opinion of the seniors in a rough but very intelligible fashion. One day in the year the fags, like the slaves in Rome, had freedom, and held a kind of saturnalia. On this privileged occasion they used to seize the upper boys one by one and drag them from the playground into the Schoolroom, and accordingly as the victim was popular or the reverse he was either cheered and mildly treated, or was hooted, groaned at, and sometimes soundly cufted. The day selected was Good Friday; and, although the practice was nominally forbidden, the officials for many years took no measures to prevent it. One ill-omened day, however, when the sport was at the best, ‘ the Doctor’ was espied approaching the scene of battle. A general se sauve qui pent ensued; and in the hurry of flight a meek and quiet lad (the Hon. Mr. Howard), who happened to be seated on some steps, was crushed so dreadfully that, to the grief of the whole school, he shortly after died. ‘ Pulling-in’ was thenceforth sternly interdicted.”
In the head monitor’s room is preserved the iron bedstead on which died W. M. Thackeray; and in the chapel are memorial tablets to Thackeray and Leech, erected by fellow Carthusians.
CHEAPSIDE,
THE street extending from the Poultry and Bucklersbury to St. Paul’s and Newgate-street, was, some three centuries ago, worthily called ” the Beauty of London ;” and was famed for its ” noted store” of goldsmiths, linendrapers, haberdashers, &c. It is named from the Saxon word Chepe, or market: the name, therefore, is the Market-side.
“In 1269, the pillory that stood in Chepe was broken through the negligence of the Bailiffs, and for a long time unrepaired; wherefore, in the meantime no punishment was inflicted upon the bakers, who made their loaves just as they desired, so much so that each of their loaves was deficient in one-third of the weight that it ought to weigh; and this lasted for a whole year and mote.”— Chronicle of the Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 127.
In 1331 the south side only was built upon, and the north side was an open field, where jousts, tournaments, or ridings, were often held. By this road passed many a royal pageant; as when, in the reign of Edward I., Queen Margaret came from the Tower, “there were two bretassches (wooden towers) in the road of Chepe, from which there were eight outlets discharging wine from above; the road was covered with cloths-of-gold against her first coming.” The Chepe was also the scene of many tragical deaths; as when, in the reign of Edward II., Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, who had been proclained a traitor, was met near Saint Paul’s Church, dragged from his horse and carried into Chepe, and there he was despoiled, and his head cut off; and one of his esquires, and his warden, were beheaded the same day in Chepe.
Stow describes one of the joustings held in the reign of Edward III., Sept. 21, 1331; when, “the stone pavementd mtone pa being covered with sand, that the horses might not slide when they strongly set their feet to the ground, the King held a tournament three days together, with the nobility, valiant men of the realm, and other strange knights. And to the end the beholders might with the better ease see the same, there was a wooden scaffold erected across the street, like unto a tower, wherein the Queen Philippa, and many other ladies, richly attired, and assembled from all parts of the realm, did stand to behold the jousts.” This frame brake down; after which the King had a stone shed built ” for himself, the queen, and other estates, to stand on, and there to behold the joustings and other shows, at their pleasure, by the Church of St. Mary Bow.” This shed, or ” seldam,” was similarly used in after reigns, especially to behold the Great Watches on the eve of St. John Baptist and St. Peter at Midsummer. In 1510, on St. John’s Eve, King Henry VIII. came to this place, then called the King’s Head in Chepe, in the livery of a yeoman of the guard, with an halbert on his shoulder, and there beholding the watch, departed privily when the watch was done; ” but on St. Peter’s night next following, he and the Queen came royally riding to the said place, and there with their nobles beheld the Watch of the City, and returned in the morning.” When Bow Church was rebuilt, Wren provided, in place of the shed or sild, a balcony in the tower, immediately over the principal entrance in Cheapside; and though the age of tournaments had passed away, the Lord Mayor’s pageants were long viewed from this balcony.
Opposite Bow Church was taken down, in 1861, No. 108, the house built by Sir
Edward Waldo, after the Great Fire, and subsequently leased to David Barclay, linendraper; which house was visited by six reigning sovereigns, from Charles II. to George III., on civic festivities, and for witnessing the Lord Mayor’s Show; in this house Sir Edward Waldo was knighted by Charles II.; and the Lord Mayor, in 1714, was created a baronet by George I. When the house was taken down in 1861, the fine old oak-panelled dining-room, with its elaborate carvings, was purchased entire, and removed to Gunrog, near Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, whose proprietor, Mr. M. C. Jones, has written a description (privately printed) of the panelling, the royal visits, the Barclay family, &c. (See Caevings, p. 80.)
Cheapside Cross, which stood facing Wood-street, was the most magnificent (except that of Charing) of the crosses built by Edward I. to his Queen Eleanor, and was (Mr. Hudson Turner states) the work of Alexander of Abingdon. It was ” re-edified” by John Hatberly, Mayor, by license procured in 1441 of Henry VI. ; it was regilt in 1522, for the visit of the Emperor Charles V.; and in 1533 for the coronation of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn; newly burnished at the coronation of Edward VI.; and again newly gilt, 1554, against the arrival of King Philip. After this the Cross was presented by juries as standing ” in the highway to the let of carriages;” but they could not get it removed; and it was by turns defaced and repaired, and its images stolen and replaced, until May 2, 1643, when it was demolished to the ” noyse of trumpets,” the workmen being protected by soldiery.
Nearly opposite Honey-lane was the Standard, the place of execution; and between Bucklersbury and the Poultry stood Westcheap, or the Great Conduit, which brought the first supply of sweet water to London, from Paddington; facing Foster-lane stood the Little Conduit. Westward of the site of the Great Conduit, on the north side, is Mercers’ Hall and chapel, rebuilt after th VIuilt afe Great Fire of 1666; the original chapel being an hospital purchased at the Dissolution by means of Sir Richard Gresham. Westward, next No. 142, is Saddlers’ Hall; the old street front has been taken down, and replaced by an elegant stone facade.
The handsome stone-fronted house, No. 73, built by Sir C. Wren, was, before the erection of the Mansion House (1737), sometimes tenanted by the Lord Mayor, during his year of office: here Mr. Tegg, the publisher, amassed a large fortune; he restored the house front, which has since been considerably altered. Nearly opposite, between Ironmonger-lane and King-street, is the Atlas Insurance Office, with three enriched fronts, granite basement, and stone superstructure : built in 1839.
The house-front, No. 39, has the sign-stone of the noted Nag’s Head tavern, which stood at the east end of Friday-street.
CHELSEA,
A LARGE and populous parish upon the north bank of the Thames: it was a village of three hundred houses in the last century, but now extends from beyond Battersea or Chelsea Bridge almost to Hyde Park Corner. It lies about fifteen feet above the river; and, according to Norden, is named from its strand, ” like the chesel (ceosel or cesel) which the sea casteth up of sand and pebble-stones, thereof called Cheselsey, briefly Chelsey, as is Chelsey (Selsey) in Sussex.” In a Saxon charter, however, it is written Cealchylle; in Domesday, Cerechede and Chalced; and Sir Thomas More wrote it Chelehith, though it began to be written Chelsey in the sixteenth century. The Rev. J. Blunt derives the name from Cealc, chalk, and Hyd, or Hythe, a harbour, adding that this Hythe was used for landing chalk, and so had given a name to the place. It was at Chelsea that two important councils were held under OfFa, King of Mercia. Among the possessors of the manor were Sir Reginald Bray (temp. Henry VII.); it was given by Henry VIII. to Katherine Parr as a portion of her marriage settlement; here she lived with her second husband, Thomas Seymour, the Lord Admiral, afterwards beheaded; and here, in the same house with them, lived Queen Elizabeth, when a girl of thirteen. The manor was bought of Lord Cheyne by Sir Hans Sloane in 1712, from whom it passed by marriage and bequest to Baron Cadogan of Oakley, in whose family the property remains : hence the names of Cheyne Walk, Cadogan and Hans Places, and Sloane and Oakley Streets.
At Chelsea lived Sir Thomas More, in a mansion at the north end of Beaufort-row, with gardens extending to the Thames. Here More was visited by Henry VIII., who, ” after dinner, in a fair garden of his, walked with him by the space of an hour, holding his arm about his neck ;” and used to ascend with him to the house-top to observe the stars and discourse of astronomy. A more illustrious visitor was Erasmus, who describes the house as ” a practical school of the Christian religion.” Holbein worked here for near three years, upon portraits of the Chancellor, his relations, and friends. More also hired a house for aged people in Chelsea, whom he daily relieved. His own establishment was large: Erasmus says, ” there he converseth with his wife, his son, his daughters-in-law, his three granddaughters with their husbands, with eleven great-grandchildren.” More resigned the Great Seal ivee Greatin 1533, and retired to Chelsea for study and devotion; but dismissed his retinue, and gave his barge to his successor in the Chancellorship. More’s mansion was purchased by Sir Hans Sloane, and taken down in 1740.
Sloane dwelt in the New Manor-House, nearly opposite the site of the present Pier. The grounds of More’s house were extensive, and the porter’s lodge hecame the Clock-house and Herb-distillery, in the King’s-road.
After the death of Katherine Parr the Duke of Somerset obtained a grant of the manor and palace of Marlborough, which had formed part of the Queen’s dower. On the attainder and death of Somerset, it was granted by the young King (Edward VI.) to the heir of Northumberland, and after his attainder and death, to John Caryll, who sold it to James Basset; yet, in the Herald’s order for the funeral of Anne of Cleves, who died at Chelsea, July, 1557, the manor is described as Crown property. Elizabeth, in the second year of her reign, granted it to the widowed Duchess of Somerset, who lived there. The Lords Cheyne then became Lords of the Manor, whence the ground on which stood the Queen’s palace and the palace of the Bishop of Winchester, from Morley in 1633 to North in 1820. Further west, near the river side, was the Chelsea China Manufactory.
Lady Llanover, in her piquant notes to the Autobiography, <^c. of Mrs. Delany, thus notices Blacklands in the Marlborough-road, Chelsea, formerly called Blacklands-lane. ” Bowiick, in his Antiquities of Middlesex (1700), says:—William Lord Cheyne, Viscount Newhaven in Scotland, has two good seats in Chelsea. The first is the mansion-house, where Queen Elizabeth was nursed, east end of the town, near the Thames. The other some distance north of the town, called Blacklands House, both (1705) let to French boarding-schools.” It adjoins the old manor-house at Chelsea, which forms part of the premises of Messrs. Scott and Cuthbertson (paper manufacturers), called AVhitelands. Blacklands has still a good garden and old iron gates; and the centre of the house is evidently part of the original structure.
The beautiful Duchess of Mazarin (niece of tbe Cardinal) died in difficulties, in 1699, in a small house which she rented of Lord Cheyne. Lysons had heard that it was usual for the nobility and others who dined at her house to leave money under their plates to pay for their entertainment; she appears to have been in arrears for the parish-rates, during the whole time of her residence at Chelsea.
Here too was Lindsey House, the residence of the Berties, Earls of Lindsey, now the site of Lindsey-row; Danvers House, where lived Sir John Danvers, the site is now Danvers-street. Here were also Essex House, and Shrewsbury or Alstone House j Laurence-street is named from Sir John Laurence (temp. Charles I.) and his descendants.
In Chcyne-walk was the Museum and Coffee-house of Don Saltero, renowned in the swimming exploits of Dr. Franklin. The landlord, James Salter, was a noted barber, who made a collection of natural curiosities which acquired him the name (probably first given him by Steele) of Don Saltero. (See Tatter, Nos. 34,195, and 226.) The tavern was taken down in 1866, but the Museum was dispersed about 1807. In a large meanly-furnished house in Cheyne-walk, died August 30, 1852, John Camden Ncild, who bequeathed 500,000Z. to Queen Victoria. The old Chelsea Bun-house possessed a sort of rival Museum to Don Saltero’s. ItreeSaltero was taken down in 1839. Eastward is the Royal Hospital; and on part of its garden was the gay Ranelagh, from 1740 to 1815. Here, too, are the Apothecaries’ Company’s Gardens; one of the fine old cedar trees was blown down in 1854. Nearly opposite was the Red House at Battersea, fifty yards west of which Caesar is believed by some antiquaries to have forded the Thames.
Chelsea has two churches dedicated to St. Luke. The old river-side church was built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and has an eastern chapel added by Sir Thomas More. In the chancel is a black marble tablet to More, placed there by himself in 1532, three years before his death: it was restored by Sir John Lawrence about 1644, and by subscription in 1833 : the inscription, in Latin, is by More. Here are also memorials of Jane, wife of the ambitious John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland ; and of Lady Jane Cheyne, by Bernini. In the churchyard is the tomb of Sir Hans Sloane, egg-shaped and entwined with serpents; also monuments to Philip Miller, the writer on gardening j and Cipriani the painter.
St. Luke’s new church, between King’s-road and Fulhain-road, was built by Savage, in 1820, in the style of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and has a pinnacled tower 142 feet high.
Above Battersea Bridge was Cremorne House, formerly the elegant villa of Lord Cremorne, who had here a fine collection of Italian and Flemish pictures; adjoining was the residence of Dr. Benjamin Hoadly (son of the bishop), the author of The Suspicious ^’ 9 Husband. Cremorne has been converted into a place of public entertainment, for which the grounds are well adapted.
Chelsea was once a place of courtly resort: many of the nobility, as well as scholars and philosophers, resided here; and its noted taverns and public gardens were much frequented in the 17th and 18th centuries. The principal features now are its palace-Hospital for soldiers, its Botanic Gardens, its Dutch-like river terrace (Cheyne-walk), mostly brick-built, and fronted by lofty trees; and its olden church, with a brick tower.
In a river-side cottage, beyond the church, upon the road to Cremorne Gardens, J. M. W. Turner, the great landscape-painter, ended his days, having shut up his house in Queen Anne-street. His fondness for Thames scenery was great: he fell sick at Chelsea, at the close of 1851, but was daily wheeled in a chair to the window of his room, that he might look on the calm December sunshine, the river, and its craft. From a sort of gallery upon the house-top the great painter enjoyed the river traffic, and watched those beautiful atmospheric changes which Turner could so ably transfer to canvas. Here, in these cheap Chelsea lodgings, Turner, under the assumed name of ” Admiral Booth,” \ $, went to his rest, on the 19th of December, 1851. *
In the hamlet of Little Chelsea lived Bulstrode Whitelock ; Mr. Pym, member of the Long Parliament; Bishop Fowler, Sir Richard Steele, Addison, and John Locke; Lord Shaftesbury, author of the Characteristics, in the house now St. George’s additional workhouse ; and here Tobias Smollett retired after his failure in practice at Bath. Dean Swift bad lodgings ” a little beyond the church;” and Sir Bobert Wal-pole had a house adjoining Gough House; hence, Walpole-street.
The Five Fields, Chelsea, sfeds, Cheare commemorated by Steele in the Tatler; and at the Willow Walk, Jerry Abershaw (that other Johnny Armstrong) had his secluded house, in the midst of ” cuts,” or reservoirs of water. In the King’s-road, on the spot where is now the West London Literary and Scientific Institution, the Earl of Peterborough was stopped by highwaymen, in what was then a narrow lane; and the robbers, being watched by the soldiers on guard at the gate of the Chelsea College, were fired at from behind the hedge. One of the highwaymen was a student in the Temple, named Brown, whom Mr. Vernon, the Secretary of State, in a letter to the Duke of Shrewsbury, says, ” a friend of his (Sir John Talbot) knew well; and his father, losing his estate, Mr. Brown lived by play, sharping, and a little on the highway.”
Numerous signs at Chelsea have military associations: as ” The Snow Shoes,” a recollection of Wolfe’s glorious campaign; “The General Elliot;” and “The Duke of York;” and “Nell Gywnne” from association with Chelsea Hospital.
Chelsea Water-works were originally constructed in 1724; a print of the Works was published by Boydell, in the year 1756.
CHELSEA BUNS.
CHELSEA has been famed for its Buns since the commencement of the last century. Swift, in his Journal to Stella, 1712, writes :—” Pray are not the fine buns sold here in our town, as the rare Chelsea buns ? I bought one to-day in my walk,” &c. They were made and sold at ” the Old Original Chelsea Bun-house,” in Jews’-row, a one-storied building, with a colonnade projecting over the foot-pavement. It was customary for the Royal Family and the nobility and gentry to visit the Bun-house in the morning. George II., Queen Caroline, and the Princesses frequently honoured the proprietor, Richard Hand, with their company; as did also George III. and Queen Charlotte; her Majesty presented Mrs. Hand with a silver half-gallon mug, and five guineas in it. On Good Friday morning upwards of 50,000 persons were assembled here, when disturbances often arose among the London mob; in one day more than 250/. have been taken for buns. The Bun-house was also much frequented by visitors to Ranelagh, after the closing of which the bun-trade declined. Notwithstanding, on Good Friday, April 18, 1839, upwards of 240,000 buns were sold here. Soon after, the Bun-house was sold and pulled down; and at the same time was dispersed a collection of pictures, models, grotesque figures, and modern antiques, which had for a century added the attractions of a museum to the bun celebrity. Another
bun-house was built; but the olden charm of the place had fled. In the Mirror for April 6, 1839, are two views of the old Bun-house, sketched just before its demolition. Here is a glance at the sale of the curiosities :
There were two leaden figures of Grenadiers, about three feet high, in the dress of 1745, presenting arms, which sold for U. 10*. An equestrian plaster figure of William Duke of Cumberland, with other plaster casts, 21. 2*. A whole length painting of ” Aurengzebe, Emperor of Persia,” 41. is. A large old painting, an interior, with the King and Queen seated, and perhaps the baker, &c, 21. 10*. A model of the Bun-house, with painted masquerade figures on two circles, turned round by a bird whilst on its perch in a cage at the back of the model, 19*. A large model in cut paper, called St. Mary Ratcliff Church, sold with its glazed case for 21. 2s. A framed pictd BA frameure, worked by a string, recalled the exploits of the Bottle Conjuror. After the death of Mrs. Hand the business was carried on by her son, an eccentric character, who dealt also largely in butter, which he carried round to his customers in a basket on his head. Upon his death his elder brother came into possession; he had been an officer in the Stafford Militia, was one of the Poor Knights of Windsor, and not much less eccentric than his brother. It is not known that he left any relations, and his property, it is said, reverted to the Crown.
There is a folio-print, engraved in the reign of George II.; under it, “A perspective View of David Loudon’s (probably the owner before Hand) Bunn House at Chelsey, who has the honour to serve the Royal Family. 52 by 21 ft.” Over the print, in the centre, is the Royal Arms. On each side stands a grenadier, three figures of Freemasons, with Masonic emblems; and on the left hand is a coat of arms. These arms are reversed, as if copied on the copper immediately from a piece of silver plate. Below them is a motto (not reversed), “For God, my King, and Country.” It is not impossible that these were the arms of some respectable family, whose servant David Loudon had been.
Chelsea Bun-house has given name to one of Miss Manning’s clever novels, published in 1854.
CHELSEA HOSPITAL
OCCUPIES the site of ” Chelsea College,” commenced by Dr. Sutcliffe, Dean of ‘ Exeter, in the reign of James I., but only in part built. Its object was to maintain fellows in holy orders, ” to answer all the adversaries of religion,” and others to write the history of their own times. It was nicknamed ” Controversy College ” by Archbishop Laud; the whole scheme and its originator were mercilessly ridiculed by the wits of the day, and thus failed. It was given by Charles II. to the then newly-established Royal Society, who, in 1681-82, sold the property to Sir Stephen Fox for 1300Z., as a site for a Royal Hospital for aged and disabled soldiers, the building of which has been attributed to the influence of Nell Gwynne, which tradition is kept in countenance by the head of Nell Gwynne having been for very many years the sign of a public-house in Grosvenor-row, Pimlico. But more than one entry in Evelyn’s Diary proves, that Sir Stephen Fox ” had not only the whole managing ” of the plan, but was himself ” a grand benefactor ” to it. He was mainly advised by Evelyn, who arranged the offices, “would needes have a library, and mentioned several bookes.” Here are a few other evidences:
The idea, it is said, originated with Nelly, and I see no reason to doubt the tradition, supported, as it is, by the known benevolence of her character, her sympathy with the suffering, and the (act that sixty years ago at least Nelly’s share in its foundation was recorded beneath her portrait serving as the sign of a public-house adjoining the Hospital. (Lysons.) The sign remains, but not the inscription ; yet the tradition is still rife in Chelsea, and is not soon likely to die out. Ormonds, and Granbys, and Admiral Vernons disappear, but Nelly remains, and long may she swing with her favourite lamb in the row or street commemorated for ever in the Chelsea Pensioners of Wilkie—(Peter Cunningham’s Story of Nell Gwynne, 1852, p. 146.) Nell’s residence at Sandy End is doubted; but it is certain that her mother lived near the Neate House, in Pimlico. In the records of Knightsbridge Chapel, Jan. 13, 1667, is the marriage of Robert Hand and Mary Gwin, thus connecting Nels ionnectily’s family with the Chelsea Bun-house.
Sir Christopher Wren was appointed architect of the Hospital; and the foundation stone was laid, Feb. 16, 1682, by Charles II., who promised to provide the funds, and was assisted by public subscription. The progress of the building is recorded hi this inscription on the southern front:—
” In subsidium et levamen emeritorum venio, belloque fraetorum, condidit Carolus Secundus, auxil. Jacobus Secundus, perfecere Gulielmus et Maria, Bex et Regina, mdcxc.”
The building, which cost 150,000Z., is of red brick, with stone quoins, cornices, pediments, and columns, and is remarkable for its harmonious proportions. It consists of three courts, two of which are spacious quadrangles; the third, the central one, is open on the south side, next the Thames ; and in the area is a statue of Charles II., in Roman imperial armour, sculptured by Gibbons, for Tobias Rustat. In the eastern and western wings of this court are the wards of the Pensioners. At the extremity of
the eastern wing is the Governor’s house, with a state apartment; and portraits of Charles I., his queen, and two sons—Charles, Prince of Wales, and James, Duke of York; Charles II., William III., and George III. and Queen Charlotte. The north front is of great extent, and faced by avenues of limes and horse-chestnuts. In the centre is a tetrastyle Roman-Doric portico, surmounted by a handsome lofty clock-turret in the roof.
Beneath are the principal entrances. To the right is the chapel, the furniture and plate of which were given by James II., and the organ by Major Ingram; the altar-piece has a painting of the Ascension, by Sebastian Ricci. In the left wing is the Hall, wherein the Pensioners dine: here is an equestrian portrait of Charles II., by Verrio and H. Cooke ; and an allegorical picture of the victories of the Duke of Wellington, by James Ward, R.A. Both the Hall and Chapel are paved with black and white marble: in each are suspended colours captured by the British army; in the chapel are thirteen eagles taken from Napoleon I.: and in the Hall fragments of the standards captured at Blenheim; in addition are dragon Chinese banners, and the trophies of the Sikh campaign of 1840.
In the Hall the remains of the gTeat Duke of Wellington lay in state, Nov. 11-17,1852. The Vestibule, Hall, and Chapel were hung with black drapery. On a dais in the Hall, upon a cloth-of-gold carpet, and black velvet bier, was placed the coffin, crimson and gold; above the bier were suspended stars and orders, ” in numbers and importance far surpassing anything of the kind ever possessed by a single individual.” The whole bier was surrounded with a silver balustrade adorned with heraldic devices, and the Marshal’s eight batons, and the Duke’s standard and guidon; and attached to all, gold lion supporters, two feet high, bearing shields and banners. At the back of the bier was her Majesty’s escutcheon, surrounded by the Wellington bannerols, upon a cloth-of-gold hanging, surmounted by a magnificent canopy, with a plume of feathers—the curtains being: of black velvet, with linings, cornice, and fringes of silver, and draped in graceful festoons. The Hail was lighted with wax-tapers, and the dais with twelve magnificent silver candelabra, each with five wax-lights; here were also ten columns of spears, feathers, laurel, and escutcheons, lighted by gas. Along the side walls stood picked soldiers ofrtad soldi the Grenadier Guards, their arms reversed; around the catafalque, Yeomen of the Guard, and seated mourners; and the chair of the chief mourner concealed at the head of the coffin. The whole was designed by Mr. Cockerell, the architect. Two persons died, and several were seriously hurt by the pressure of the vast crowd of spectators.
The old soldiers receive pensions from funds voted by Parliament: in 1850 there were nearly 70,000 out-pensioners, who received 6d.,9d., and Is. per diem; there were 539 in-pensioners, who were well clothed and fed in the Hospital, and were allowed Id. a day for tobacco, which is called ” her Majesty’s bounty.” They wear long scarlet coats, lined with blue, and the original three-cornered cocked hats of the last century: undress, a foraging cap, inscribed R.H. Their ages vary from 60 to 90 years, and two veterans had in 1850 attained the age of 104. The annual rate of mortality among the Pensioners is 27 per cent.
Adjoining the Hospital is a burial-ground for Pensioners, wherein are the following data:—William Hisland, died 1732, aged 112—he married when upwards of 100 years old ; Thomas Asbey, died 1737, aged 112; Captain Laurence, died 1865, aged 95; Robert Comming, died 1767, aged 115; Peter Dowling, 1768, aged 102; a Soldier who fought at the battle of the Boyne, 1772, aged 111; Peter Bennet, of Tinmouth, died 1773, aged 107.
In 1739 was interred here Christian Davis, abas Mother Ross, who had served in campaigns under William III. and the Duke of Marlborough, and whose third husband was a Pensioner in the Hospital.
The Hospital Gardens are, in a measure, open to the public, but are little frequented. The river terrace is bordered with dwarf limes, and there are besides some tine shady trees. ” The Old Men’s Gardens ” have been cleared away.
North of the Hospital is the Royal Military Asylum, for the support and education of the children of soldiers and non-commissioned officers : the first stone of the building was laid by the Duke of York, in 1801. The Hospital and Asylum may be seen daily, from 10 till 4: the boys parade on Fridays.
Eastward of the Hospital was the famous Ranelagh, which see. Upon part of the site was built a large house, with a portion of the materials of Ranelagh : it had a large Queen Anne staircase: this house was taken down in 1854, in forming the road A p to the new Chelsea Bridge.
CHELSEA PORCELAIN.
THE earliest manufactories of porcelain in England were those at Bow* and Chelsea, both which have long been extinct. ” The Chelsea ware, bearing a very imperfect similarity in body to the Chinese, admitted only of a very fusible lead glaze; and in the taste of its patterns, and the style of their execution, stood as low, perhaps, as any on the list.” (A. Aikin; Trans. Soc.Arts.) This character, however, applies only to the later productions. The period of the greatest excellence of the Chelsea porcelain was between 1750 and 1763; and there was so much demand for it, that dealers are described as surrounding the doors of the works, and purchasing the pieces at large prices, as soon as they were fired.
Faulkner, in his History of Chelsea, (1829,) states : ” The Chelsea China Manufactory was situate at the corner of Justice-walk, and occupied the houses to the upper end of the street. Several of the large old houses were used as show-rooms. It lias been discontinued for more than forty years, the whole of the premises pulled down, and new houses erected on the site.”
Justice-walk took its name from a magistrate who resided in the house at the south corner of Church-street, whence formerly an avenue of lime-trees extended to Lawrence-street ; and in the latter were the ovens of the Chelsea China Manufactory, where Dr. Johnson made experiments on tea-cups.
Johnson had conceived the idea that he was possessed of a peculiar “secret for making porcelain; he obtained permission to have his compositions baked in the ovens at Chelsea, and here he watched them day by day. He was not allowed to enter the mixing-room, but had free access to all other parts of the manufactory, and roughly modelled his composition in a room by himself. He failed in all his trials, for none of the articles he formed would bear the heat of firing. He at last gave up his attempts in disgust. He always conceived that one simple ingredient was sufficient to form the body of porcelain; whereas Stephens, who managed the manufactory, declared to him that in the composition of the Chelsea paste no less than sixteen different substances were blended together.
” The premises were not far distant from Church-street, and near the water-side. They subsequently became a stained paper manufactory, conducted by Messrs. Echardts and Woodmason, in 1786; afterwards by Messrs. Bowen and Co.; and in 1810 by Messrs. Harwood and Co.” (T. Crofton Croker, F.S.A.) The works were discontinued in 1764, and the manufacture was then removed to Derby, and the ware was called Chelsea-Derby : it has the mark of a D crossed by an anchor; it is very beautiful, but as dear as silver.
In July, 1850, we saw in the stock of Mr. Heigham, Fulham-road, a set of three Chelsea vases, remarkably fine in form and colour; each bearing a view of the old church at Chelsea and the china-manufactory.
” Martin Lister mentions a manufacture at Chelsea as early as 1698, comparing its productions with those of St. Cloud, near Paris. It was patronized by George II., who brought over artificers from Brunswick and Saxony; whence, probably, M. Brongniart terms Chelsea a ‘ Manufacture Boyale.’ Its reputation commenced about 1740; and in 1745 the celebrity of Chelsea porcelain was regarded with jealousy by the manufacturers of France, who therefore petitioned Louis XV. to concede to them exclusive privileges. About 1750, it was under the direction of M. Spremont, a foreigner. The productions of the Chelsea furnaces were thought worthy to vie with those of the celebrated manufactories of Germany. Walpole, in his correspondence with Sir Horace Mann, mentions a service of Chelsea porcelain sent by the King and Queen to the Duke of Mecklenburg, which cost 1200/. The Duke of Cumberland took much interest in promoting the success of this interesting manufacture. The mark is an Anchor, in gold, burnished on the best specimens, and red on the inferior.”— Forster’s Rotes to the Stowe Catalogue, 1848.
At Stowe, in 1848, the finest specimen ” of rare old Chelsea-china ” sold was a pair of small vases, painted with Roman triumphs, 23Z. 10*. Few specimens of Cheivecimens lsea ware were sold at Strawberry Hill, in 1842. At the sale of Sir John Macdonald’s collection, in 1850, a pair of Chelsea cups and saucers, painted with birds, brought 36Z. 15*.
In 1854, some fine examples of Chelsea porcelain were exhibited in the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. There was a Chelsea tea-pot which had belonged to Dr. Johnson.
In the Bernal Collection, sold in March, 1855, a pair of Scalloped Chelsea Vases, painted with birds, brought 110Z. 5s. ; a pair of oval dishes, 13Z. 13*.; a two-handled cup and saucer, 21/.; and an ecuelle, very delicately painted with flowers, 271. 6s.
* Bow China, formerly made at Stratford-le-Bow, is always marked with a crescent, or bow: it much resembles in quality the old Worcester or Derby, and is mostly of blue pattern; it is scarce, but never fine.
CHESS CLUBS.
IN 1747, the principal, if not the only Chess Club in the metropolis met at Slaughter’s Coffee-house, St. Martin’s-lane. The leading players of this Club were—Sir Abraham Jannsen, Philip Stamma (from Aleppo), Lord Godolphin, Lord Sunderland, and Lord Elibank; Cunningham, the historian j Dr. Black and Dr. Cowper; and it was through their invitation that the celebrated Philidor was induced to visit England.
Another Club was shortly afterwards founded at the Salopian Coffee-house, Charing Cross: and a few years later, a third, which met next door to the Thatched House Tavern, in St. James’s-street. It was here that Philidor exhibited his wonderful faculty for playing blindfold; some instances of which we find in the newspapers of the period:—
” Yesterday, at the Chess Club in St. James’s-street, Monsieur Philidor performed one of those wonderful exhibitions for which he is so much celebrated. He played three different games at once without seeing either of the tables. His opponents were Count Bruhl and Mr. Bowdler (the two best players in London), and Mr. Maseres. He defeated Count Bruld in one hour and twenty minutes, and Mr. Maseres in two hours; Mr. Bowdler reduced his games to a drawn battle in one hour and three-quarters. To those who understand Chess, this exertion of M. Philidor’s abilities must appear one of the greatest of which the human memory is susceptible. He goes through it with astonishing accuracy, and often corrects mistakes hi those who have the board before them.”
In 1795, the veteran, then nearly seventy years of age, played three blindfold matches in public. The last of these, which came off shortly before his death, we find announced in the daily newspapers thus:—
” Chess Club, 1795. Paksloe’s St. James’s Stbbet.
By particular desire, Mons. Philidor, positively for the last time, will play on Saturday, the 20th of June, at two o’clock precisely, three games at once against three good players; two of them without seeing either of the boards, and the third looking over the table. He most respectfully invites all the members of the Chess Club to honour him with their presence. Ladies and gentlemen not belonging to the5, onging Club may be provided with tickets at the above-mentioned house, to see the match, at five shillings each.”
Upon the death of Philidor, the Chess Clubs at the West-end seem to have declined ; and in 1807, the stronghold and rallying point for the lovers of the game was ” the London Chess Club,” which was established in the City, and for many years held its meetings at Tom’s Coffee-house, in Cornhill. To this Club we are indebted for many of the finest chess-players of the age; and after the lapse of nearly a century, the Club still flourished, and numbered among its members some of the leading proficients.
About the year 1833, a Club was founded by a few amateurs in Bedford-street, Covent Garden. This establishment, which obtained remarkable celebrity as the arena of the famous contests between La Bourdonnais and M’Donnell, was dissolved in 1840 ; but shortly afterwards, through the exertions of Mr. Staunton, was re-formed under the name of “the St. George’s Club,” in Cavendish-square, since removed to 20, King-street, S.W.
In addition to the above, and the London Chess Club, which held its meetings at the George and Vulture Tavern, Cornhill, there are many minor institutions in various parts of the metropolis and its environs, where Chess, and Chess only, forms the staple recreation of the members. There are also the magnificent Cigar Divan, No. 100, Strand, belonging to Mr. Ries; and Kilpack’s well-appointed Divan, 42, King-street, Covent Garden; at each of which the leading Chess publications are accessible to visitors, and where as many as twenty Chess-boards may often be seen in requisition at the same time.
CHRIST’S HOSPITAL.
WE owe the foundation of this, ” the noblest institution in the world,” to the exertions of the City of London to provide for a large houseless population, in which good work the citizens were greatly assisted by grants from King Henry VIII. It was long customary to designate King Edward VI. as its special founder; but historical records show that King Edward had little to do with the foundation of Christ’s
Hospital: both the house itself, and the revenues for its support, came from his predecessor, or were raised by the bounty of the citizens themselves; the young King Edward bestowed upon the Hospital its name, and conferred upon it certain grants for its support, in connexion with the hospital of Bridewell, which the King had founded; and St. Thomas’s which the citizens themselves had purchased. The story runs, that the King’s attention was directed to this foundation by a sermon preached before him by Bishop Ridley, in the year 1552 j and that in consequence, the King sent by the Bishop a letter to the Mayor, ” declaring his special commandment, that the Mayor should travail therein,” which are the words of the old chronicler Grafton. But this was not until after the citizens bad done what they could, and found that they required certain aid from the Crown. Bishop Ridley himself, in his farewell letter to his friends, written shortly before his martyrdom, attributed the chief merit to the City magistrates; first to Sir Richard Dobbs, in whose mayoralty the renewed effort was made; and next to his successor, Sir George Barnes.
When the Grey Friars came to London in the thirteenth century, they established themselves on the north ermon the side of what we now call Newgate-street. Here, aided by the citizens, they built first a chapel, then a church, and then again a much larger church, —the latter between 1301 and 1327. In 1539 they surrendered to King Henry VIII., in whose hands the house remained for some time. Just before his death, he provided that the church of the Grey Friars should become the parish church of ” Christ’s Church within Newgate.”
It appears that Christ’s Hospital was not originally founded as a school; its object was to rescue young children from the streets, to shelter, feed, clothe, and lastly to educate them. The citizens had already received from the King the monastery of the Grey Friars; and from its new parish church came the name of ” Christ’s Hospital.” When the citizens had collected sufficient funds, they repaired the Grey Friars buildings, and on the 23rd of November, 1552, the poor children were received to the number of almost four hundred. When the Lord Mayor and Aldermen rode to St. Paul’s on the following Christmas-day, all the children stood in array ” from St. Laurence-lane-in-Cheap towards Paul’s,” attired in a livery or dress of russet cotton, the boys with red caps, and the girls with kerchiefs on their heads, having a woman keeper between every twenty children; and accompanied also by the physician and four surgeons, and the masters of the Hospital.
At the following Easter, the boys and ” mayden children” were in * plonket,” or blue; hence Christ’s Hospital also became called the Blue Coat School. It has been imagined that the coat was the mantle, and the yellow, as it is technically termed, the sleeveless tunic of the monastery; the leathern girdle also corresponding with the hempen cord of the friar. There is an old tradition among the boys that the dress was originally of velvet, fastened with silver buttons, and an exact fac-simile of the ordinary habit of King Edward VI.
It is most reasonable to regard the dress as copied from the costume of the citizens of London at this period (1552), when long blue coats were the common habit of apprentices and serving-men, and yellow stockings were generally worn [the School is vulgarly called ” the Yellow Stocking School ] ; the coat fits closely to the body, but has loose sleeves, and beneath is worn a sleeveless yellow under-coat; around the waist is a red leathern girdle; a clerical band round the neck, and a small flat black cap about the size of a saucer, complete the costume.
While the citizens were perfecting the good work, King Edward was seized with small-pox, from the effects of which he never recovered. When, however, the scheme for the endowment of the Royal Hospitals was placed before the pious prince, and according to the usual practice, a blank had been left for the amount of property which the City were to receive for this object, Edward, with his own hand, wrote in the sum, •’ four thousand marks by the year;” and then exclaimed, in the hearing of his Council, ” Lord, I yield Thee most hearty thanks that Thou hast given me fife thus long, to finish this work, to the glory of Thy name!”
Among the early bequests is the following:—When the Hospital was erected and put into good order, there was one Richard Castel, alias Casteller, shoemaker, dwelling in Westminster, a man who was called ” the Cock of Westminster,” because
both winter and summer he was at work by four o’clock in the morning. This man, th th This mus steadily and honestly labouring for his living, purchased lands and tenements at Westminster, worth 44Z. per annum; and having no child, with the consent of his wife, who survived him, gave the same lands wholly to Christ’s Hospital, and for the ” succour of the miserable sore and sick harboured in other hospitals about London.”
The ancient Hospital buildings suffered materially in the Great Fire of 1666, when the church of the monastery was entirely destroyed. The Hospital was rebuilt by the Governors, anticipating its revenue from the endowment of the King, and other sources. The Great Hall was rebuilt by Alderman Sir John Frederick, at a cost of 50001. The first important addition to the foundation, after the Fire, was the Mathematical School, founded by Charles II. 1672, for forty boys, to be instructed in navigation : they are called ” King’s boys,” and wear a badge on the right shoulder Lest this mathematical school should fail for want of boys properly qualified to supply it, one Mr. Stone, a governor, left a legacy to maintain a subordinate Mathematical School of twelve boys (” the Twelves”), who wear a badge on the left shoulder; and to these have been added ” the Twos.”
The Mathematical School was originally designed by Samuel Pepys, then Secretary to the Admiralty. There is preserved a collection of letters between Pepys and Major Aungier, Sir Isaac Newton, Halley, and other persons, relating to the management of the Mathematical School; and containing details of the career of some of the King’s scholars after leaving school. The letters extend from 1692 to 1695, and are the original letters received by Pepys, with his drafts of the answers. (Notes and Queries, No. 227.) Pepys, it appears, printed and handed about privately, some letters about the abuses of Christ’s Hospital; he certainly saved from ruin the Mathematical foundation. This was the first considerable extension of the system of education at the Hospital, which originally consisted of a grammar school for boys, and a separate school for girls j the latter being taught to read, sew, and mark. Pepys relates the following curious story of a Blue-coat girl:—
” Two wealthy citizens are lately dead, and left their estates, one to a little Blue-coat boy, and the other to a Blue-coat girl, in Christ’s Hospital. The extraordinariness of which has led some of the magistrates to carry it on to a match, which is ended in a public wedding—he in his habit of blue satin, led by two of the girls, and she in blue with an apron green, and petticoat yellow, all of sarsnet, led by two of the boys of the house, through Cheapside to Guildhall Chapel, where they were married by the Dean of St. Paul’s, she given by my Lord Mayor. The wedding dinner, it seems, was kept in the Hospital halL”— Pepys to Mm. Steward, Sept. 20,1695.
The East Cloister and South front were next (in 1675) rebuilt by Sir Robert Clayton, alderman, and cost him about 7000Z.; but it was not known who was the benefactor until the whole was finished. The Writing School was built by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1694, at the expense of 50001. to Sir John Moore, of whom a marble statne is placed in the front: this school is situated on the west side of the playground, and is supported on cloisters, which shelter the boys in bad weather j the ward over the east side cloister was rebuilt in 1705, by Sir Francis Child the banker; and in 1795 was erected the Grammar School. Some of the buildings of the ancient monastery were standing early in the present century, but they had become ruinous and unsafe; and in 1803 was commenced a fund for rebuilding the whole, the Corporation of “BrporatiLondon granting 5000Z., and many private benefactions being made. The refectory of the monastery originally served as the dining-hall of the Hospital: after the Great Fire, the hall was rebuilt; this was taken down, and partly upon its site, and partly on the ancient City wall, was erected a vast edifice in the Tudor style by John Shaw, F.R.S., F.S.A., architect; the first stone laid by the Duke of York, April 25, 1825. The back wall stands on the site of the ditch that anciently surrounded London, and is built on piles driven twenty feet deep ; in excavating for the foundation there were found some Roman arms and coins, and some curious leathern sandals. The southern or principal front, facing Newgate-street, is supported by buttresses and has an octagonal tower at each extremity; and the summit is embattled and pinnacled. On the ground story is an arcade open to the play-ground; here also are the Governors’ meeting-room, and the Hospital wardrobe; and in the basement are the vast kitchen, 67 feet by 33 feet; and butteries and cellars. In the rear of the Hall is the Infirmary; and on the east and west sides of the cloister are the dormi-
tories. The arcade beneath the Hall is built with blocks of llaytor granite, highly wrought; the remainder of the front is of Portland stone. Over the centre arch of the arcade is a bust of Edward VI. The area in front or play-ground, is enclosed by handsome metal gates, enriched with the arms of the Hospital: argent, across gules, in the dexter chief, a dagger of the first {The City of London), on a chief azure, between two fleurs-de-lis or, a rose argent.
The Dining-hall, with its lobby and organ-gallery, occupies the entire story, which is 187 feet long, 51 feet wide, and 47 feet high ; it is lit by nine large windows, filled with stained glass on the south side; and is, next to Westminster Hall, the noblest room in the metropolis.
In the Great Hall hangs a large picture of King Edward VI. seated on his throne, in a scarlet and crrained robe, holding the sceptre in his left hand, and presenting with the other the charter to the kneeling Lord Mayor. By his side stands the Chancellor, holding the seals, and next to him are other officers of state. Bishop Ridley kneels before him with uplifted hands, as if supplicating a blessing on the event; whilst the Aldermen, &c, with the Lord Mayor, kneel on both sides, occupying the middle ground of the picture; and lastly, in front, are a double row of boys on one side, and girls on the other, from the master and matron down to the boy and girl who have stepped forward from their respective rows, and kneel with raised hands before the King.
This picture was long erroneously attributed to Holbein; but it is now considered to be of the period of James I., or Charles I.; it is SO feet long. Here is also a still larger picture, in which James II. is receiving the ” Mathematical boys,” though there are girls as well as boys. This was painted by Verrio, who also painted the full length of Charles II., which hangs near it. Here are likewise full-length portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, by Grant; and a picture of Brook Watson’s escape, when a boy, from a shark, with the loss of a leg, while bathing, painted by Copley, father of Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst.
In the Treasurer’s house is a portrait of Edward VI., considered by Mr. J. Gough Nichols to have been evidently painted towards the end of the King’s life. There is also at the Hospital another portrait, inscribed ” Edwardus, Walliaj Prince ofalliaj ps, anno aetatis suae 9.” These portraits have been ascribed to Holbein ; but by the recent discovery of the will of Holbein, it is proved that at his death Edward VI. was only in his sixth year. Neither is there better evidence of the Charter picture in the Great Hall: the event took place in 1553; and ” it is now ascertained beyond dispute that Holbein could have produced no work later than the year 1534; whilst hitherto his era has been extended for eleven years longer.”—Nichols. See also Archceologia; vol. xxxix., pt. 1, 1863.
In the Hall the boys, now about 800 in number, dine; and here are held the ” Sup-pings in Public,” to which visitors are admitted by tickets, issued by the Treasurer and by the Governors. The tables are laid with cheese in wooden bowls; beer, in wooden piggins, poured from leathern jacks; and bread brought in large baskets. The official company enter; the Lord Mayor, or President, takes his seat in a state-chair, made of oak from St. Katherine’s church by the Tower j a hymn is sung, accompanied by the organ; a ” Grecian,” or head-boy, reads the prayers from the pulpit, silence being enforced by three drops of a wooden hammer. After prayer, the supper commences, and the visitors walk between the tables. At its close, the ” trade-boys” take up the baskets, bowls, jacks, piggins, and candlesticks, and pass in procession, the bowing to the Governors being curiously formal. The ” Suppings in Public” are held every Sunday, from Quinquagesima Sunday to Easter Sunday, inclusive; they are a picturesque sight, and always well attended. This interesting spectacle was witnessed by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, on Sunday evening, March 9th, 1845.
In this Hall, too, St. Matthew’s Day (September 21st) the day of the annual Commemoration is a festival set apart from the first year of their foundation for the General Court of the several Royal Hospitals j and it is still observed with the usual solemnity. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen having met the Governors of each hospital in the-Great Hall, the children pass before them, leading the way to Christ Church, where tbe sermon is preached. The company ¦ return to the Hall to hear the Grecians, or head-boys, deliver Orations before the Lord Mayor, Corporation, and Governors, and their friends; this being a relic of the scholars’ disputations in the cloisters. After the Orations, a collection is made for the speakers in furtherance of their support at the University. Trollope, in 1834, stated about 1201. to be usually contributed. The de-
livery of the list of Governors follows the collection ; and, according to the ” Order of the Hospitals,” all the beadles are called before the Court, and, delivering up their staves, retire to the bottom of the Hall, ” that the opinion of the Court may be heard touching the doing of their duties: to the intent, if any of them be faultye, that he or they may be rebuked or dismissed, at the discretion of the said Court; and thereupon to deliver unto suche as then remayne their staves, and again astablishe them.” These forms concluded, the Court is dissolved, and the company, having partaken of refreshments, retire. It appears from the journal of Sheriff Hoare, 1740-41, that ” sweet cakes and burnt wine” were then handed round on these occasions, and the usual breakfast was ” roast beef and hurnt wine.”
The Spital or Hospital Sermons are preached in Christ Church, Newgate-street, on Easter Monday and Tuesday. On Monday the children proceed to the Mansion House, and return in procession to Christ Church, with the Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, and City authorities, to hear the sermon. On Tue faermon. sday the children again go to the Mansion House, and pass through the Egyptian Hall, before the Lord Mayor, each boy receiving a glass of wine, two buns, and a shilling; the monitors half-a-crown each, the probationers half-a-guinea each, and the Grecians a guinea—all in coins fresh from the Mint; they then return to Christ Church, as on Monday.
The boys formerly visited the Royal Exchange on Easter Monday; but this has been discontinued since the burning of the last Exchange, in 1838.
At the first drawing-room of the year the forty Mathematical boys are presented to the Sovereign, who inspects their charts, and who gives them 81. 8*. as a gratuity. To this other members of the Royal Family formerly added smaller sums, and the whole was divided among the ten boys who left the school in the year. During the illness of King George III. these presentations were discontinued; but the Governors of the Hospital continued to pay 11. 3s., the amount ordinarily received by each, to every boy on quitting. The practice of receiving the boys was revived by William IV., and is continued by her present Majesty. Each scholar having passed his Trinity-House examination, and received testimonials of his good conduct, is presented with a watch, as a reward, worth from 91. to 131. ; in addition to an outfit of clothes, books, mathematical instruments, a Gunter’s scale, a quadrant, and a sea-chest.
Christ’s Hospital, by ancient custom, possesses the privilege of addressing the Sovereign on the occasion of his or her coming into the City to partake of the hospitality of the Corporation of Londou. On the visit of Queen Victoria in 1837, a booth was erected for the Hospital boys in St. Paul’s Churchyard; and on the Royal carriage reaching the Cathedral west gate, the senior scholar, with the Head Master and Treasurer, advanced to the coach-door, and delivered a congratulatory address to her Majesty, with a copy of the same on vellum.
The School has always been famous for its penmen. The education consists of reading, writing, and arithmetic, French, the classics, and the mathematics. There are sixteen Exhibitions for scholarships at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, besides a ” Pitt Scholarship,” and a ” Times Scholarship,” the latter founded by the proprietors of that journal, with a fund subscribed by the public in testimony of their detection of the Bogle Fraud, 1841.
Among the more eminent Blues, as the scholars are termed, are Joshua Barnes, editor of Anacreon and Euripides; Jeremiah Markland, the eminent critic, particularly in Greek literature; Camden, the antiquary; Bishop Stillingfleet. [Pepys has this quaint entry in his Diary. “January 16, 16G6-7, Sir R.Ford tells me how the famous Stillingfleet was a Blue Coat boy.”] Samuel Richardson, the novelist; Thomas Mitchell, the translator of Aristophanes; Thomas Barnes, many years editor of the Times newspaper; and Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and Leigh Hunt, who have published many interesting reminiscences of their contemporaries in the School. Lamb’s ” Recollections of Christ’s Hospital,” and ” Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago” (says Peter Cunningham, once a Deputy Grecian), have done much to uphold the dignity of the School.
The Library is a recent addition; it is a spacious room, divided into boxes and provided with tables: on the walls hang useful maps, and engravings of the steam-engine j
at one end is stored a small but well-chosen collection of books, and on the table are several illustrated periodicals. Another addition is the erection of a Gymnasium.
The old cloister of the Grey Friars Priory, repaired by Wren, and nearly deprived of its ancient appearance, formerly served as a public thoroughfare from Newgate-street to Smithfield, but has been stopped up. In 1855, in excavating for some new houses on the north side of Newgate-street, were exposed, under Christ’s Church yard three pointed arches, 10 feet in span, and covered with masses of chalk and concrete, to within three feet of the surface, the rest being earth ; these being vestiges of the Grey Friars buildings; as also are the gateway and a portion of the brick building under which it opens, together with the cloistered passage in rear of the basement. The brickwork of the superstructure, of about Elizabeth’s reign, is marvellously fine.
The customs of the School have varied with time. Formerly the Saints’ days were kept as holidays j money-boxes for the poor were kept in the cloister; and unruly boys were kept confined in dungeons; but these regulations have been discontinued. Bread and beer are no longer the breakfast. Nor do the boys perform common menial offices as heretofore. The wards or dormitories, in which the boys sleep, are seventeen in number; each boy makes his own bed, and each ward is governed by a nurse and two or more monitors. There is a curious feature in most of the sleeping wards: in one corner, near the roof, and reached by a staircase, is a wooden box, which serves as a resting-place and study for the ” Grecian ” of the ward. From this eminence he is enabled to notice any delinquency below.
The general burial-ground of the Hospital is between the south cloister and the houses in Newgate-street, where the funerals formerly took place by torch-light, and the service was preceded by an anthem, thus reviving the monastic associations of the place. The Burials are now by daylight.
A book is preserved, containing the records of the Hospital from its foundation, and an anthem sung by the first children.
The income of the institution has known much fluctuation; and consequently, also, the number of inmates. The 340 children with which the Hospital opened had dwindled in 1580 to 150. The object of the institution has also, in the lapse of time, become materially changed, which may in a great measure be attributed to the influence of the Governors, or benefactors, its chief supporters. The government is practically vested in a committee of 50 almoners. The system of education is not considered to have kept pace with the requirements of the times.
We have seen that there were abuses in the management of the Hospital in Pepys’s time; they have lasted to our day. In 1810, Mr. Waithman, one of the Common Councilmen for the Ward in which the Hospital is situated, showed that instead of being a benefit to the children of the poor and friendless, it was engrossed almost exclusively by the rich. Presentations were, at that time, sold at an average of thirty guineas each. By recommendation of Sir Samuel Romilly, and Mr. Bell, the Lord Chancellor was petitioned for an inquiry into the conduct of the Hospital Committee; but, in 1816, its object failed. As testimonies to the original designs of the foundation, a oneoundatistatue of a Blue Coat Boy, in each of the four corners of the cloister, had, within the recollection of several persons living, the following painted notice underneath:
” This is Christ’s Hospital, where poor Blue-Coat boys are harboured and educated.”— ILughson’* \’; \0 Walks through London.
There is printed annually, and freely circulated, ” A True Report of the Number of Children and other poor People maintained in the several Royal Hospitals in the City of London, under the pious care of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Governors thereof, for the year last past.” This document, in appearance, resembles a sheet almanack : it is .headed by the Easter anthem set to music; and it is enclosed in a woodcut border, the design of which indicates the custom of printing these Reports to have been of long standing. In the upper portion of the border are the Royal Arms; at the sides are the City Arms, ancient and modern; in medallions at the corners are three figures of the Christ’s Hospital boys, and one of a girl; at the foot is an emblematic group, with the old Hospital in the background; and beneath it is inscribed on a ribbon, ” Pray remember the Poor.”
The income arising from early endowments and bequests, which may be set down as exceeding 40,000/!. per annum, is largely augmented by the contributions of Governors, of whom, on an average, twenty-five are elected annually; and as they give 500J. each on election, 12,500^. a year arises from this source.
In 1SC5, the gross receipts amounted to 71,8552. 13«. 1CW., more than one half of which is derived from the rents of estates, quit-rents, tithe-rent charges, &c. The benefactions were 802U.; legacies, 6930Z. 2s. lid. The expenditure contains among other items, 2720J. 18*. 9rf. payments under’bene-factions, wills, deeds of gift, &c, to various parishes and companies for their poor and for other objects, to pensioners, for relief of prisoners for debt, for setting up in business young men and women educated in the Hospital, and other purposes, 2S27£. The sum available for the purposes of the Hospital was 67,3892. 0*. lid. The washing at the two establishments amounted to 20102. 9s. 6d. The provisions and stores (less the sum received by sale of kitchen-stuff and dripping), amounted to 10,3422. 0*. 4d.; coals and fuel, 7831. 18*. 8d.; gaslighting and water supply, 15652. 7*.; the charges for apparel, linen, bedding, shoes, and leather, were 64082. The average number of children maintained and educated in the London and Hertford establishments in 1865 was 1205; and the average expenditure per child, 412. Is. 7\d.
Boys, whose parents may not be free of the City of London, are admissible on Free Presentations, as they are called; as are also the sons of clergymen of the Church of England. The Lord Mayor has two presentations annually; and the Court of Aldermen one each: it was the good practice of the late Alderman Humphery, to give his presentations to inhabitants of the Ward over which he presided. The rest of the Governors have presentations once in three years. A list of t 78. A lishe Governors who have presentations for the year is printed every Easter, and may be had at the Counting-house of the Hospital. No boy is admitted before he is seven years old, or after he is nine; and no boy can remain in the School after he is fifteen, King’s boys and Grecians alone excepted. There are about 500 Governors, at the head of whom are the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and Prince Alfred. The President is the Duke of Cambridge, whose election to that office was a departure from the custom, which had hitherto been to elect the Lord Mayor for the time being. The qualification for a Governor is payment of 5002*.; but an Alderman has the power of nominating a Governor for etection at half price. About 200 boys are admitted annually (at the age of from seven to ten years), by presentations in rotation, so that the privilege occurs about once in three or four years. A list of the Governors having presentations is published annually in March, and is to be had at the counting-house of the Hospital.
The subordinate establishment is at Hertford, to which the younger boys are sent prepiratory to their entering on the foundation in London, which takes place as vacancies occur. The building at Hertford was erected by the Hospital Governors in 1683, and has extensive grounds for recreation; when full, it will contain 416 children, of whom about 200 are taught the classics. There is likewise accommodation here for 80 girls.
The Report published in 1865 states that all the early and chief gifts of the property held by the Hospital are expressed to be for the benefit of poor children, without distinction of sex; nor does the Hospital during the early period of its institution appear to have been appropriated more to boys than to girls. For many years past, however, up to a recent period, only six girls were admitted (at Hertford) every year, besides those received under specific trusts. The education of a boy so as to advance him in life was thought to be of much greater material advantage to a family than the education of a girl; so that it was a common expression that a governor ” threw away ” his presentation on nominating a girl. But the purpose of the foundation being the public good, it is considered that the general good would have been better promoted if at least an equal share of the tunds of the Hospital had been expended in the education of girls.
In 1853, there were 61 girls in the establishment at Hertford, which, in its teaching, was below the level of a good parifh school; the number of scholars has since been reduced to 26. Improved schemes of education have been suggested, to comprise instruction in needlework, washing, cooking, and other household work.
Apart from the special purpose for which Christ’s Hospital was endowed, there are seven distinct Charities appropriated, in part or in whole, to entirely separate objects. The annual income from six of these charities may be stated at 9000Z. The seventh, the Charity to the Blind, by the Rev. W. Hetherington, since augmented by many benefactors, is the wealthiest of all: in one year, 65202″. have been paid to 652 aged blind persons. To this fund the late Richard Thornton, Esq., bequeathed 10,000J.
CHURCHES AND CHAPELS.
AN episcopal see was founded in London in the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, but very little is known concerning it. From the establishment of the Saxons in Britain to the mission of Augustendion of ine, in 596, there is no record of any Bishop in London; but when Augustine had established himself at Canterbury, he consecrated Mellitus Bishop, in the year 604. The East Saxons relapsed into paganism, on the death of Sebert, their king, when Mellitus was driven out, and
London remained without a Bishop until 656, in which year Cedd (or Chad), at the invitation of King Sigebert the Good, re-established the see, which has ever since continued without any material interruption or lengthened vacancy.
London and the suburbs, in the Middle Ages, contained, according to Fitzstephen, ” 13 churches belonging to convents, besides 126 lesser parish churches.” Of those belonging to convents eleven may be traced. Thus, we find in Fitzstephen’s time, Trinity Priory, Aldgatej St. Bartholomew’s, West Smithfield; Bermondsey, South-wark; St. James’s Priory, Clerkenwell; the Priory of St. John the Baptist, Holywell, Shoreditch; St. Katharine’s Hospital by the Tower; St. Thomas Aeon, at the southwest corner of King-street, Cheapside, upon the site of the birth-place of St. Tbomas k Becket; St. John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell; the Temple; St. Mary Overie, South-wark; and St. Martin’s-le-Grand, so named from its magnificence. All, except Bermondsey, are shown in Wyngrerde’s View cf London, 1543, in the Sutherland Collection, at Oxford.
Stow states the entire number of parish churches at his time (1525—1605), in and about London, within four miles’ compass, at 139. Within the walls, at the Great Fire, there were 98 churches, of which 85 were burnt down, and 13 unburnt; 53 were rebuilt, and 35 united to ether parishes.
The following were the City Churches burnt and not rebuilt :—
Allhallows, Honey-lane; near the City School. Alihallows the Less, in Thames-street, near Cole-harbour-lane, graveyard remains. St. Andrew Hubbard, near to the site of the Weigh House Chapel. St. Ann, Blackfriars, Ireland-yard, now graveyard. St. Benet Sherehog, Pancras-lane, near Bucklers-bury, now graveyard. St. Botolph Billingsgate, over against Botolph-lane, Thames-street; burying-ground, and the site built upon. St. Faith was under the lien of the late Cathedral of St. Paul’s, in the
f round of which, previous to the Intramural Act, the parishioners had a right of interment. St. Gabriel, ‘enchurch, in Fenchurch-street, graveyard exists. St. Gregory, in St. Paul’s-ehurehyard, near where the statue of Queen Anne now stands. St. John Baptist, on Dowgate-hill, the corner of Cloak-lane, now graveyard. St. John Evangelist, in Watling-street, corner of Friday-street, now graveyard. St. John Zachary, corner of Silver-street, Falcon-square, now graveyard. St. Laurence Pountney, on Laurence Pountney-hill, now graveyard. St. Leonard’s, Eastc’heap, now graveyard. St. Leonard, Foster-lane, the graveyard part of the site of the General Post Office. St. Margaret Moses, in Passiny:-alley, late a burying-ground, now Little Friday-street. St. Margaret, New Fish-street, church and burial ground, where the Monument now stands. St. Martin Pomeroy, in Ironmonger-lane, on part of the ground now the graveyard. St. Martin Orgar, in St. Martin’s-lane, where there is now a French Church, bt. Martin’s Vintry, College-hill, Thames-street, now graveyard. St. Mary Bothaw, in Turnwheel-lane, now graveyard. St. Mary Colechurch, in Old Jewry, where the Mercers’ Hal lwas, and Frederick-place now is. St. Mary Magdalen, Milk-street, and ground, Fr, and g where part of Honey-lane Market now stands. St. Mary Mounthaw, on Labour-in-vain-hill, now graveyard. St. Mary Staining, on the north side of Oat-lane, on a part of the graveyard remaining, opposite Titus Oates’ House, now pulled down. St. Mary AVoolchurch and graveyard, where the Mansion House now stands. St. Miehael-le-Querne, near Paternoster-row, in Cheapside, where a conduit formerly stood. St. Nicholas Aeons, in Nicholas-lane, now graveyard. St. Nicholas Olave, in Bread-street-hill, now graveyard. St. Olave, Silver-street, south side of Noble-street, now graveyard; under part of which some remains of the church have been discovered. St. Pantras Soper lane, in Pancras-lane, near Queen-street, where is the graveyard. St. Peter Cheap, corner of Wood-street, Cheapside, where the graveyard still remains, and where the plane-tree still flourishes, on which the rooks, till lately, annually built their nests. St. Peter Paul’s-wharf, at the bottom of Peter’s-hill, Thames-street, now graveyard. St. Thomas the Apostle, now graveyard, corner of Cloak-lane. The Holy Trinity church, where there is now a Lutheran church, corner of Little Trinity-lane. St. Christopher-le-Stocks church, in Threadneedle-street, pulled down in 1781, for the enlargement of the Bank of England.
Pepys records this odd circumstance concerning the London churches destroyed in the Great Fire: ” January 7th, 1667-8. It is observed, and is true, in the late Fire of London, that the fire burned just as many parish churches as there were hours from the beginning to the end of the lire; and next that there were just as many churches left standing in the rest of the City that was not burned, beiug, I think, thirteen in all of each; which is pretty to observe.”
Sir Christopher Wren built, besides St. Paul’s and the western towers of Westminster Abbey, fifty churches in the metropolis, at sums varying from less than 2500?. to upwards of 15,000Z. In ” Gothic,” or, as Wren proposed to call it, ” Saracenic,” architecture, he was certainly not a successful practitioner; although in the adaptation of a steeple (a form peculiar to Pointed architecture) to Roman buildings, he has manifested much ingenuity, and produced some light and graceful forms of almost endless variety. This may be seen by reference to Mr. Cockerell’s picturesque grouping of the principal works of Wren, the drawing of which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1838, and has been engraved in line by Richardson.
In the reign of Queen Anne were built or commenced eleven churches. In the next two reigns were completed three large churches, eacb distinguished by a noble Corinthian portico: viz., St. George’s, Bloomsbury; St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields; and St. George’s, Hanover-square. With the exception of St. Peter-le-Poor (1791) and St. Martin’s Outwich (1796) not one church was huilt from the commencement of the reign of George III. nearly to the Regency, an interval of more than half a ceutury. The two Grecian orders, Doric and Ionic, were then adopted in church-building; this pseudo classic-style was superseded hy the Old English of various periods. The increase of churches did not, however, keep pace with the population; though the appeals to the public for funds were, in some instances, answered with rare munificence. Thus, in the subscription-list in 1836 for building new churches we find the following donation Neing don: ” A clergyman seeking for treasure in heaven, 5000£.”
In 1839, Lord John Russell stated in Parliament, that in Loudon there were 34 parishes, with a population of 1,170,000, and church accommodation for only 101,000; and in these 34 parishes were only 69 churches, and including proprietary chapels, only 100 places of worship in the whole; whereas, if we allot a church to every 3000, there ought to be 379, leaving a deficiency of 279. In the following year, 1840, the Bishop of London remarked to the House of Lords:—
” If you proceed a mile or two eastward of St. Paul’s, you will find yourself in the midst of a population themost wretched and destitute of mankind, consisting of artificers, labourers, beggars, and thieves, to the amount of 800,000 or 400,000 souls! Throughout this entire quarter there is not more than one church for 10,000 inhabitants; and in one, nay in two districts, there is but one church for 45,000 souls.”
The Rev. Dr. Cumming next stated that in a radius of eight miles around St. Paul’s there was a population of two millions, of whom not more than 60,000 were communicants in any church or chapel whatever. Instead of five-eighths, or 1,300,000, of the population being church-goers, the greatest extent of attendance at any place of worship did not exceed 400,000, and not more than 600,000 could he accommodated. In a small district of Covent Garden there were 354 houses: 338 were of the most wretched description; these contained 1216 individuals, of whom only 134 attended church; and in that small locality there were no fewer than 44 shops regularly open on the Sabbath. In some cases there was a population of 100,000 in the parish, with only one rector and one curate. The above startling statistics led to a “Metropolis ^ Churches Fund,” established in 1836, by which means several churches have been built ^ 0 and provided for.
The great number of the City churches is, however, now disproportionate to its requirements. In 1834, Mr. Lambert Jones stated in the Court of Common Council, that the population of the City had within a century decreased one-half; that the number of inhabitants did not then exceed 53,000, and for them were 66 churches. The population of the City may now be set down at 55,000, for whom there are 60 churches, a proportion very different to that which exists in other parts of the metropolis. At St. Mildred’s, Poultry, on a Sunday morning, there has been only one person to form a congregation, and there was, consequently, no service. By a Parliamentary return, the largest income is 2081Z. 9s. 4d., for St. Botolph, Bishops-gate ; and the smallest hut one is 401., for St. Helen, Bishopsgate. In one church (St. Laurence Jewry and St. Mary Magdalen, Milk-street), with sittings for 1000 persons, the average attendance is only 30. At another church, with 700 sittings, the average attendance is 30. In 1853, the congregations were, in some cases, below 16, and in many under 50 : average about 33. Various remedies have been proposed, as the union of benefices, and the removal of churches to ill-provided parishes. ” The Bishop of London’s Fund” has been formed. In the 211 parishes of the metropolis there are nearly 1,000,000 persons for whom the Church of England ought eventually to provide, which is sought to be done by raising a fund of 3,000,0002.
*’ One of the most important movements of our time originated in the late Bishop of London’s sense of the great church destitution observable principally in the Bethnal-green district, which became even at t, tame evehe outset metropolitan. It has resulted up to the present time in the erection, and more or less complete endowment, of no less than seventy-eight new churches in and near London, at a cost of more than half a million; independently of seven new churches, the entire erection and endowment of which by seven separate individuals (one being the Bishop himself), is wholly attributable to the impulse derived from the appeal made to the public on the first formation of the Metropolitan Churches Fund. This is a great achievement, and it will go down in history a lasting honour to Bishop Blomfield’s name. Yet it is remarkable that the first publication of this great design very nearly coincided in point of time with that of the publication of the first Tracts for the Times; and its success was most materially aided by the munificent zeal with which Dr. Pusey, in particular, and the then Oxford residents generally, the Tract-writers and their friends, took it up and forwarded it; but it was the Bishop’s conception and execution.”— The Guardian.
OLD SAINT PAUL’S.
THE present Cathedral of St. Paul is the third church dedicated to that saint, and huilt very nearly upon the same site. The first church was founded ahout A.D. 610, hy Ethelbert, King of Kent, hut destroyed by fire in 1087. Its rebuilding was commenced by Bishop Maurice, whose successor completed the enclosing walls, which extended as far as Paternoster-row and Ave Maria-lane, on one side ; and to Old Change, Carter-lane, and Creed-lane on the other. This second church, ” Old Saint Paul’s,” was built of Caen stone: it was greatly injured by fire in 1137; but a new steeple was finished in 1221, and in 1240 a choir. The entire edifice was 690 feet long, and 130 feetbroad; and its tower and spire rose 520 feet, or 116 feet higher than the spire of Salisbury Cathedral; 64 feet loftier than that of Vienna; 50 feet higher than that of Strasburg; surpassing the height of the Great Pyramid of Egypt; and higher than the Monument placed upon the cross of the present Cathedral. It had a bowl of copper-gilt, 9 feet in compass (large enough to hold 10 bushels of corn), supporting a cross 15^ feet high, surmounted by an ” eagle-cock of copper-gilt, 4 feet long.” In 1314, the cross fell; and the steeple of wood covered with lead, being ruinous, was taken down, and rebuilt, with a new gilt ball. The French Chronicle notices this reparation, and describes the extraordinary relics which were found in the old ball, and replaced, with additions, in the new one. In 1444, the steeple was nearly destroyed by lightning, and not repaired till 1462. In 1561, the Cathedral was partly burnt, but was restored in 1566, except the spire, which was never rebuilt. Heylin, in his Cosmography, says of the above catastrophe:—
” It was by the carelessness of the sexton consumed with fire, which happening in a thundering and tempestuous day, was by him confidently affirmed to be done by lightning, and was so generally believed till the hour of his death; but not many years since, to disabuse the world, he confessed the truth of it, on which discovery, the burning of St. Paul’s steeple by lightning was left out of our common almanacks, where formerly it stood among the ordinary epochs or accounts of time.”
The church was of the Latin cross form, with a Lady chapel at the east end, and two other chapels, St. George’s north, and St. Dunstan’s south. At the eastern extremity of the churchyard stood a square clocher, or bell-tower, with four bells, rung to summon the citizens to folkmotes held here. These bells belonged to St. Faith’s under St. Paul’s, a church so situated, derso situhut demolished about 1256, when part of the crypt beneath the Cathedral choir was granted to ‘the parishioners for divine service. Hence the popular story in our time of there being a church under St. Paul’s, and service in it once a year. At the south-west corner was the parish church of St. Gregory. Fuller wittily describes Old St. Paul’s as being “truly the mother-church, having one babe in her body—St. Faith’s—and another in her arms—St. Gregory’s.”
On the south side of the Cathedral, within a cloister, was a chapter-house, in the Pointed style; and on the north, on the walls of another cloister, next to the charnel-house, was a ” Dance of Death,” or, as Stow calls it, *’ Death leading all Estates, curiously painted upon board, with the speeches of Death, and answer of every Estate,” by John Lydgate. It was painted at the cost of John Carpenter, Town Clerk of London, temp. Henry V. and VI.
On special saints’ days it was customary for the choristers of the Cathedral to ascend the spire to a great height, and there to chant solemn prayers and anthems : the last observance of this custom was in the reign of Queen Mary, when, ” after even-song, the quere of Paules began to go about the steeple singing with lightes, after the olde custome.” A similar tenure-custom is observed to this day at Oxford, on the morning of May 1, on Magdalen College tower.
Camden relates, that on the anniversary of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25, held in the church, a fat buck was received with great formality at the choir entrance by the canons, in their sacerdotal vestments, and with chaplets of flowers on their heads; whilst the antlers of the buck were carried on a pike in procession round the edifice, with horns blowing, &c. On the buck being offered at the high altar, one shilling was paid by the Dean and Chapter.
St. Baude, in lieu of twenty-two acres, bequeathed a fat doe in winter, and a buck in summer, which was received at the altar crowned with roses by the chapter annually, till the reign of Elizabeth.
On the north side near the east end stood Paul’s or Towly’s Cross, with a pulpit whence sermons were preached, the anathema of the Tope thundered forth, heresies recanted, and sins atoned for.
The Cross was hexagonal in form ; of wood, raised on stone steps, with a canopy covered with lead, on which was elevated a cross. Stow could not ascertain its date : we first read of it in 1259, when, by command of Henry III., striplings were here sworn to he loyal: and in the same year the folkmote Common Hall assembled here by the tolling of St. Paul’s great bell. At preaching the commonalty sat in the open air; the king, his train, and noblemen in covered galleries. All preachers coming from a distance had an allowance from the Corporation, and were lodged during five days ” in sweete and convenient lodgings, with fire, candle, and all necessary food.” Bishop Northburgh lent small sums to citizens on pledge, directing that if at the year’s end they were not restored, then that ” the preacher at Paul’s Cross should declare that the pledge, within fourteen days would be sold, if unredeemed.” An earthquake overthrew the Cross in 1382; it was set up again by Bishop Kemp in 1419.
Ralph Baldoc, Dean of Paul’s, cursed from the Cross all persons who had searched in the church blen the cof St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields for a hoard of gold. In 1493, Jane Shore, with a taper in one hand, and arrayed in her ” kertell onelj e,” did open penance at the Cross. In the same year, Dr. Shaw and Friar Pinke aided the traitorous schemes of Duke Richard; the preacher took for his text these words, ” Bastard slips shall never take deep root.” Stow in forms us that the Doctor so repented his ” shamefuf sermon ” that it struck him to the heart, and ” within a few days he withered and consumed away.” Friar Pinke lost his voice while preaching, and was forced to leave the pulpit. Royal contracts of marriage were notified from the Cross. Henry VIII. sent preachers to the Cross every Sunday to preach down the Pope’s authority. In 1538, Bishop Fisher exposed at the Cross the famous rood ot grace from Boxlcy Abbey. From his attendance there, as a preacher, Richard Hooker dated the miseries of his married life. Queen Mary caused sermons to be preached at the Cross in praise of the old religion, but they occasioned serious riots.
The Cross was pulled down in 1643, by order of Parliament j its site was long denoted by a tall elm tree.
The interior of the church was divided throughout by two ranges of clustered columns; it had a rich screen, and canopied doorways; and a large painted rose-window at the east end. The walls were sumptuously adorned with pictures, shrines, and curiously wrought tabernacles; gold and silver, rubies, emeralds, and pearls glittered in splendid profusion; and upon the high altar were heaped countless stores of gold and silver plate, and illuminated missals. The shrine of St. Erkenwald (the fourth bishop), at the back of the high altar, had’ among its jewels a sapphire, believed to cure diseases of the eye. The mere enumeration of these treasures fills twenty-eight pages of Dugdale’s folio history of the Cathedral. King John of France offered at St. Erkenwald’s shrine; King Henry III. on the feast of St. Paul’s Conversion, gave 1500 tapers to the church, and fed 15,000 poor in the garth, or close.
There are several notices of miracles said to have been wrought in St. Paul’s at ” a tablet,” or picture, set up by Thomas Earl of Lancaster, who, after his execution at Pontefract, was reckoned a martyr by the populace. The tablet was removed by royal order, but replaced a few years later. At the base of one of the pillars was sculptured the foot of Algar, the first prebendary of Islington, as the standard measure for legal contracts in land, just as Henry I., Eichard 1., and John, furnished the iron ell by their arms. On the north side of the choir, ” on whose monument hung his proper helmet and spear, as also his target covered with horn ” (Ifugdale), stood the stately tomb of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Blanche, his first wife. In St. Dunstan’s chapel was the fine old tomb of Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, from whom Lincoln’s Inn derives its name. In the middle aisle of the nave stood the tomb of Sir John Beauchamp, constable of Dover Castle, and son to Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Between tbe choir and south aisle was a noble monument to Sir Nicholas Bacon, father of Lord Chancellor Bacon; and ” higher than the post and altar,” (Bishop Corbet), between two columns of the choir, was the sumptuous monument of Sir Christopher Hatton; and near it was a tablet to Sir Philip Sidney, and another to his father-in-law, Sir Francis Walsingham, The stately appearance of Hatton’s monument and the plainness of Walsingham’s and Sidney’s tablets, gave rise to this epigram by old Stow :—
“Philip and Francis have no tomb, For great Sir Christopher takes all the room.”
In the south aisle of the choir were the tombs of two of the Deans ; Colet the founder of Paul’s school, a recumbent skeleton ; and Dr. Donne, the poet, standing in his stony shroud : the latter is preserved in the crypt of the present Cathedral. In a vault, near John of Gaunt’s tomb, was buried Van Dyck ; but the outbreak of the wars under Charles I., prevented the erection of any monument to his memory. The state obsequies were a profitable privilege of the Cathedral: the choir was hung with black and escutcheons; and the herses were magnificently adorned with banner-rolls and other insignia of vainglory.
The floor of the church was laid out in walks: ” the south alley for usurye and poperye; the north for simony and the horse-fair; in the midst for all kinds of bargains, meetings, brawlings, murthers, conspiracies, &c.” The middle aisle, ” Pervyse of Paul’s,” or ” Paul’s Walk,” was commonly called ” Duke Humphrey’s Walk,” from Sir John Beauchamp’s monument, unaccountably called ” Duke Humphrey’s Tomb,” being the only piece of sculpture here; and as this walk was a lounge for idlers and hunters after news, wits and gallants, cheats, usurers, and knights of the post, dinnerless persons who lounged there were said to dine with Duke Humphrey. Here ” each lawyer and serjeant at his pillar heard his client’s cause, and took notes thereof upon his knee.” (Dugdale’s Orig. Jurid.) Here masterless men, at the Si quis door, set up their bills for service. Here the font was used as a counter for payments. Here spur money was demanded by two choristers from any person entering the Cathedral during divine service with spurs on. Hither Fleetwood, Recorder of London, came ” to learn some news” to convey by news-letter to Lord Burghley. Ben Jonson has laid a scene of his Every Man out of his Humour in “the middle aisle in Paule’s;” Captain Bobadil is a ” Paul’s man f and Falstaff bought Bardolph in Paul’s. Greene, in his Theeves Falling Out, Sfc., says: ” Walke in the middle of Paul’s, and gentlemen’s teeth walk not faster at ordinaries, than there a whole day together about enquiry after news.” Bishop Earle, in his Microcosmographia, 1629, says : ” Paul’s Walk is the Land’s Epitome, or you may call it the lesser He of Great Brittaine. * * * * The noyse in it is like that of Bees, in strange hummings or buzze, mixt of walking, tongues, and feet; it is a kind of still roare, or loud whisper.” It was a common thoroughfare for porters and carriers, for ale, beer, bread, fish, flesh, fardels of stuff, and ” mules, horses, and other beasts;” drunkards lay sleeping on the benches at the choir-door; within, dunghills were suffered to accumulate; and in the choir people walked ” with their hatts on their heddes.” Dekker, in his Gull’s Hornbook, tells us that the church was profaned by shops, not only of booksellers, but of other trades, such as ” the semster’s shops,” and ” the new tobacco office.” So great had the nuisances become, that the Mayor and Common Council in 1554, prohibited, by fine, the use of the church for such irreverent purposes.
The desecration of the exterior of the church was more abominable. The chantry and other chapels were used for stores and lumber, as a school and a glazier’s workshop ; parts of the vaults were occupied by a carpenter, and as a wine-cellar; and the cloisters were let out to trunkmakers, whose ” knocking and noyse” greatly disturbed the church-service. Houses were built against the outer walls, in which closets and window-ways were made : one was used ” as a play-house,” and in another the owner ” baked his bread and pies in an oven excavated within a buttress;” for a trifling fee, the bell-ringers allowed wights to ascend the tower, halloo, and throw stones at the passengers benein ssengerath. The first recorded Lottery in England was drawn at the west door in 1569. Dekker describes ” Paul’s Jacks,” automaton figures, which struck the quarters, on the clock. We read, too, of rope-dancing feats from the battlements of St. Paul’s exhibited before Edward VI., and in the reign of Queen Mary, who, the day before her coronation, also witnessed a Dutchman standing upon the weathercock of the steeple, waving a five-yard streamer ! Another marvel of this class was the ascent of Bankes, on his famous horse Marocco, to the top of St. Paul’s, in the year 1600, to the delight of ” a number of asses” who brayed below. The steed was ” a middle-sized bay English gelding,” and Bankes was a vintner in Cheapside, and had taught his horse to count and perform a variety of feats. When the novelty had somewhat lessened in London, Bankes took his wonderful horse to Paris, and afterwards to
Rome. ” He had better have stayed at home, for both he and his horse (which was shod with silver) were burnt for witchcraft.” (Ben Jonson’s Epigrams.) Shakspeare alludes to ” the dancing horse” (Lovefs Labour Lost) ; and in a tract called Maroccus Lxtaticus, qto., 1595, there is a rude woodcut of the unfortunate juggler and his famous gelding.—Cunningham’s Handbook.
Several attempts were made to restore the Cathedral; and money, Stow says, was collected for rebuilding the steeple; but no effectual step for the repairs was taken until 1633, when Inigo Jones, to remove the desecration from the nave to the exterior, built, it is stated at the expense of Charles I., at the west end, a Corinthian ^portico of eight columns, with a balustrade in panels, upon which he intended to have placed ten statues: this portico was 200 feet long, 40 feet high, and 50 feet deep; but its classic design, affixed to a Gotbic church, must be condemned, unless it be considered as an instalment of a new cathedral. Laud was then Bishop of London. The sum collected was 101,3302.; and the repairs progressed until about one-third of the money was expended, in 1642, when they were stopped by the contests between Charles and his people: the funds in hand were seized to pay the soldiers of the Commonwealth, and Old St. Paul’s was made a horse-quarter for troops.
Shortly after the Restoration, the repairs were resumed under Sir John Denham; and ” that miracle of a youth,” Wren, drew plans for the entire renovation. A commission was appointed, but before the funds were raised, the whole edifice was destroyed in the Great Fire:—
“The daring flames peep’d in, and saw from far
The awful beauties of the sacred quire; But since it was profan’d by civil war, Heav’n thought it fit to have it purg’d by fire.”
Dryden’s Annus Mirabilis. Evelyn thus records the catastrophe :—
“I was infinitely concerned to find that goodly church, St. Paul’s, now a sad ruin, and that beautiful portico (for structure, comparable to any in Europe) now rent in pieces, flakes of vast stone split asunder, but nothing remaining entire but the inscriptions, showing by whom it was built, which had not one letter defaced. It was astonishing to see what immense stones the heat had in a manner calcined, bo that all the ornaments flew off, even to the very roof, where a sheet of lead covering a great space was totally melted. The lead over the altar at tit he altahe east end was untouched, and among the monuments the body of one bishop remained entire.”
According to Dugdale, this was the corpse of Bishop Braybrooke, which had been inhumed 260 years, being ” so dried up, the flesh, sinews, and skin cleaving fast to the bones, that being set upon the feet it stood as still as a plank, the skin being tough like leather, and not at all inclined to putrefaction, which some attributed to the sanctity of the person offering much money.”
In the Great Fire the church was reduced to a heap of ruins; and books valued at 150.000Z., which had been placed in St. Faith’s (the crypt) for safety by the stationers of Paternoster-row, were entirely destroyed. After the Fire, Wren removed part of the thick walls by gunpowder, but most he levelled with a battering-ram; some of the stone was used to build parish churches, and some to pave the neighbouring streets. Tradition tells that Serjeants’ Inn, Fleet-street, being then ecclesiastical property, was not forgotten in the distribution of the remains of Old St. Paul’s; and there remained to our day a large number of blocks of Pur beck stone, believed to have formed part of the old Cathedral.
The west end of the old church was not taken down till 1686. In the same year a great quantity of old alabaster was beaten into powder for making cement. Those fragments were, doubtless, monumental effigies or other ornaments of the old church. In 1688 the tower was pulled down, and 162 corpses taken from its cemetery and re-buried at the west end of the old foundation, at 6c?. each.
ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL.
NEARLY eight years elapsed after the Great Fire ere the ruins of the old Cathedral were cleared from the site. Meanwhile, Wren was instructed ” to contrive a fabric of moderate bulk, but of good proportion; a convenient quire, with a vestibule and porticoes, and a dome conspicuous ahove the houses.” A design was accordingly prepared, octagonal in plan, with a central dome and cupolettas, and affording a vast number of picturesque combinations, as shown in the model, preserved to this day. It is of wood, and some 10 feet in height to the summit of the dome; it is thus large enough to walk bodily into it. Wren aimed at a design antique and well studied, conformable to the best style of the Greek and Koman architecture. The model is accurately wrought, and carved with all its proper ornaments, consisting of one order, the Corinthian only. The model, after the finishing of the new fabric, was deposited over the Morning Prayer Chapel, on the north side. Wren’s model had neither side aisles nor oratories, though they were afterwards added, because as Spence, in his Anecdotes, imagines, the Duke of York (James II.) considered side aisles would be an absolute, necessity in a cathedral where he hoped the Romish ritual would soon be practised.* These innovations sadly marred the uniformity of the original design, and when decided upon, drew tears of vexation from the architect. He was paid 160 guineas only for the model. The Surveyor next devised ” a cathedral form, so altered as to reconcile,esito reco as near as possible, the Gothic to a better manner of architecture;” which being approved, Charles II. issued his warrant for commencing the works May 1,1675. In digging the foundation, a vast cemetery was discovered, in which Britons, Romans, and Saxons had been successively buried; and on digging deeper, marine shells were found, thus proving that the sea once flowed over the site of the present cathedral. Wren did not, however,
” —-“‘ find any remains to support
Relative positions of the Old and New Cathedrals. the tradition of a Roman temple to Diana having once occupied this spot. The accompanying ground-plan shows the relative positions of the Old and New Cathedrals.
The first stone of the new church was laid June 21, 1675, by the architect and his lodge of Freemasons; and the trowel and mallet then used are preserved in the Lodge of Antiquity, of which Wren was master. The mallet has a silver plate let into the head; and it bears this inscription:—
” By Order of the M. W. the Grand Master, His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, &(?., &c, and W. Master of the Lodge of Antiquity, and with the Concurrence of the Brethren of the Lodge, this plate has been engraved and affixed to this Malikt. A.L. 5831, A.D. 1827.
To commemorate that this, being the same Mallet with which His Majesty King Charles the Second levelled the foundation Stone of St. Paul’s Cathedral, A.L. 5677, A.D. 1673, was presented to the Old Lodge of St. Paul’s, now the Lodge of Antiquity, acting by immemorial Constitution.
Bx Brother Sir Christopher Wren, R.W.D.G.M., Worshipful Master of the Lodge, and Architect of that Edifice.”
Portland stone had been selected, principally on account of the large scantlings procurable from those quarries, and yet no blocks of more than four sere thanfeet in diameter could be procured. This led to the choice of two orders of architecture, with an attic story like that of St. Peter’s at Rome, that the just proportions of the cornice might be preserved.
In commencing the works, Wren accidentally set out the dimensions of the dome upon a piece of a gravestone inscribed Resurgam (I shall rise again); which propitious circumstance is commemorated in a Phoenix rising from the flames, with the motto Resurgam, sculptured by Cibber in the pediment over the southern portico. In 1678 Wren set out the piers and pendentives of the dome.
CHURCHES—ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL.
During the building, the Commissioners, with Sir Christopher Wren, issued the following very-proper order:—
” Whereas, among labourers, &c., that ungodly custom of swearing is too frequently heard, to the dishonour of God and contempt of authority; and to the end, therefore, that such impiety may be utterly banished from these works intended for the service of God and the honour of religion, it is ordered that customary swearing shall be sufficient crime to dismiss any labourer that comes to the call; and the clerk of the works, upon sufficient proof, shall dismiss them accordingly. And if any master, working by task, shall not upon admonition, refrain this profanation among his apprentices, servants, and labourers, it shall be construed his fault, and he shall be liable to be censured by the’ Commissioners. Dated 26th September, 1695.”
By 1685, the walls of the choir and its side aisles, and the north and south semicircular porticoes, were finished; the piers of the dome were also Drought up to the same height. On Dec. 2, 1697, the choir was opened on the day of Thanksgiving for the peace of Ryswick, when Bishop Burnet preached before King William. On Feb. 1, 1699, the Morning Prayer Chapel, at the north-west angle, was opened; and in 1710 the son of the architect laid the last stone—the highest slab on the top of the lantern.
There is a strange story of a conspiracy against Queen Anne, who was to have been crushed to death in St. Paul’s; the screws of some part of the building being loosened beforehand for the purpose, and intended to be removed when she should come to the Cathedral, and thus overwhelm her in the fall.
Notices of this imaginary plot will be found in Boyer’s Annals of Queen Anne, Nov. 9,1710, and in Oldmixon’s Hist, of England, f. 452. The latter states, that “Mr. Secretary St. John had not been long in office before lie gave proofs of his fitness for it, by inserting an advertisement in the Gazette of some evil-designing persons having unscrewed the timbers of the west roof of the cathedral. Upon this foundation, Mrs. Abigail Masham affirmed that the screws were taken away that the cathedral might tumble upon the heads of the Court on the Thanksgiving-day, when it was supposed her Majesty would have gone thither. But upon inquiry, it appeared that the missing of the iron pins was owing to the neglect of some workmen, who thought the timber sufficiently fastened without them; and the foolishness, as well as malice, of this advertisement made people more merry than angry.”
Thus, the whole edifice was finished in thirty-five years; under one architect, Sir Christopher Wren; one master-mason, Mr. Thomas Strong; and while one Bishop, Dr. Henry Compton, occupied the see. For his services, Wren obtained, with difficulty, 200?. per annum ! ” and for this,” said the Duchess of Marlborough, ” he was content to be dragged up in a basket three or four times a week.” The fund raised for the rebuilding amounted, in ten years, to 216,000?.; a new duty laid on coals for this purpose produced 5000?. a year; and the King contributed 10,000?. annually.
Exterior. —St. Paul’s occupies very nearly the site of the old Cathedral, in the centre and most elevated part of the City; though its highest point, the cross, is 36 feet lower than the Castle Tavern, on Hampstead Heath. The plan of the Cathedral is a Latin cross, and bears a general resemblance to that of St. Peter’s. Its length, from the east to the west wall, is 500 feet; north to south, 250 feet; width, 125 feet, except at the western end, where two towers, and chapels beyond, make this, the principal front, facing Ludgate-hill, about 180 feet in width. The chapels are, the Morning Prayer, north; and the Consistory Court, south.
The exterior generally is of two orders, 100 feet in height—the upper Composite, and the lower Corinthian; and the surface of the church is Portland stone, rusticated or grooved throughout. At the east end is a semicircular recess, containing the altar. At the west end, a noble flight of steps ascends to a double portico of coupled columns, twelve in the lower, Corinthian; and eight in the upper, Composite; terminated by a pediment, in the tympanum of which (61 feet long and 17 feet high) is the Conversion of St. Paul, sculptured in pretty high relief by Bird ; on the apex is a colossal figure of St. Paul, and on the right and left, St. Peter and St. James. Beneath the lower portico are the doors, and above them a sculptured group, in white marble, of St. Paul preaching to the Bereans. This double portico has been much censured: Wren pleaded that he could not obtain stone of sufficient height for the shafts of one grand portico; ” but,” says Mr. Joseph Gwilt, ” it would have been far better to have had the columns in many pieces, and even with vertical joints, than to have placed one portico above another.” At the extremities of this front rise, 220 feet, two campanile towers, terminating in open lanterns, ” covered with domes formed by curves of contrary flexure, and not very purely composed, though, perhaps, in character with the general facade.” (Gwilt.) Each dome has a gilt pine-apple at the apex : the south tower contains the clock, and the north is a belfry; and in the west faces are statues of the four Evangelists. At the northern and southern ends of the transepts, the lower order, Corinthian, is continued into porticoes of six fluted columns, standing, in plan, on the segment of a circle, and crowned with a semi-dome. In the upper order are two pediments, the south sculptured with the Phoenix, and the north with the royal arms and regalia; and on each side are five statues of the Apostles. The main building ts surmounted with a balustrade, not in Wren’s design, the obtrusion of which by the Commissioners caused the archite ted the ect to say: ” I never designed a balustrade; ladies think nothing well without an edging.”
The Cathedral was scientifically secured from lightning, according to the suggestion of the Royal Society, in 1769. The seven iron scrolls supporting the ball and cross are connected with other rods (used merely as conductors), which unite them with several large bars descending obliquely to the stone-work of the lantern, and connected by an iron ring with four other iron bars to the lead covering of the great cupola, a distance of forty-eight feet; thence the communication is continued by the rainwater pipes to the lead-covered roof, and thence by lead water-pipes which pass into the earth; thus completing the entire communication from the cross to the ground, partly through iron and partly through lead. On the clock-tower a bar of iron connects the pine-apple at the top with the iron staircase, and thence with the lead on the roof of the church. The bell-tower is similarly protected. By these means the metal used in the building is made available as conductors; the metal employed merely for that purpose being exceedingly small in quantity.— (Times, Sept. 8,1842, abridged.)
The height to the top of the cross is thrice the height of the roof, or 365 feet from the ground, 356 from the floor of the church, and 375 from that of the crypts. In most accounts the height is stated 404 feet, which may be taken from the bottom of the foundations, or the level of the Thames. In height it stands third, exceeding the Pantheon by 70 feet; about equalling St. Sophia, but falling short of the Florence cupola by 50 feet, and of St. Peter’s by 150.—Weale’s London, p. 186.
The following account of the constructive details is from Mr. Joseph Gwilt’s Lncyclopadia of Architecture: —
” The entrances from the transepts lead into vestibules, each communicating with the centre, and its aisles formed between two massive piers and the walls at the intersections of the transepts with the choir and nave. The eight piers arc joined by arches springing from one to the other, so as to form an octagon at their springing points; and the angles between the arches, instead of rising vertically, sail over as they rise and form pendentives, which lead, at their top, into a circle on the plan. Above this a wall rises in the form of a truncated cone, which, at the height of 168 feet from the pavement, terminates in a horizontal cornice, from which the interior dome springs. Its diameter is 100 feet, and it is 60 feet in height, in the form of a paraboloid. Its thickness is 18 inches, and it is constructed of brickwork. From the haunches of this dome, 200 feet above the pavement of the church, another cone of brickwork commences, 85 feet high, and 94 feet diameter at the bottom. This cone is pierced with apertures, as well for the purpose ot diminishing its weight as for distributing light between it and the outer dome. At the top it is gathered into a dome, in the form of a hyperboloid, pierced near the vertex with an aperture 12 feet in diameter. The top of this cone is 285 feet from the pavement, and carries a lantern 55 feet high, terminating in a dome, whereon a ball and (aveline) cross is raised. The last-named cone is provided with corbels, sufficient in number to receive the hammer-beams of the external dome, which is of oak, and its base 220 feet from the pavement,—its summit being level wi’h the top of the cone. In form it is nearly hemispherical, and generated by radii 57 feet in length, whose centres are in a horizontal diameter, passing through its base. The cone and the interior dome are restrained in their lateral thrust on t. Tl thrushe supports by four tiers of strong iron chains (weighing 95 cwt. 3 qrs. 23 lbs.), placed in grooves prepared for their reception, and run with lead. The lowest of these is inserted in the masonry round their common base, and the other three at different heights on the exterior of the cone. Externally, the intervals of the columns and pilasters are occupied by windows and niches, with horizontal and semicircular heads, and crowned with pediments.
” Over the intersection of the nave and transepts for the external work, and for a height of 25 feet above the roof of the church, a cylindrical wall rises, whose diameter is 146 feet. Between it and the lower conical wall was a space, but at intervals they are connected by cross walls. This cylinder is quite plain, but perforated by two courses of rectangular apertures. On it stands a peristyle of thirty columns of the Corinthian order, 40 feet high, including bases and capitals, with a plain entablature crowned by a balustrade. In this peristyle, every fourth intercolumniation is filled up solid, with a niche, and connexion is provided between it and the wall of the lower cone. Vertically over the base of that cone, above the peristyle, rises another cylindrical wall, appearing above the balustrade. It is ornamented with pilasters, between which are two tiers of rectangular windows. From this wall the external dome springs. The lantern receives no support from it. It is merely ornamental, differing entirely in that respect from the dome of St. Peter’s. Externally the dome is of wood, covered with lead; at its summit is The Golden Gallery (with gilt railing), where the lantern commences.
” The interior of the nave and choir are each designed with three arches longitudinally springing from piers, strengthened, as well a3 decorated, on their inner faces by an entablature, whose cornice reigns throughout the nave and church. Above this entablature, and breaking with it over each pilaster, is a tall attic, from projections on which spring semicircular arches which are formed into arcs doubleaux. Between the last, pendentives are formed, terminated by horizontal cornices. Small cupolas of less height than their semi-diameter, are formed above these cornices. In the upright plane space on the ¦walls above the main arches of the nave, choir, and transepts, a clerestory is obtained over the attic order, whose form is generated by the rising of the pendentives.”
Mr. Wightwick, in a paper read to the Institute of British Architects, says :—
” It was by command of the Popish Duke of York, that the north and south chapels, near the western end, were added, to the reduction of the nave aisles, and the lamentable injury of the return fronts of the two towers, which therefore lost in apparent elevation, by becoming commingled with pieces of projecting facade on the north and south sides. Thus were produced the only defects in the longitudinal fronts of the church. The independence of the towers is destroyed; their vertical emphasis obliterated ; and a pair of excrescences is the consequence which it were well to cut away. All that could be done to diminish the evil was accomplished; but no informed eye can view the perspective of the Cathedral from the north-west or south-west, without seeing how no architect, who only admitted a •variety of uniformities,’ could have intentionally formed a distinct component in an exterior of otherwise uniform parts, by a tower having only one wing, and that, too, flush with its face! With this exception, the general mass of the cathedral is faultless, i.e., as the result of a conciliation between the architect’s fppaarchiteeeling for the Roman style, and his compelled obedience to the shape prescribed. With this consideration the grand building under notice must be judged. This it is which excuses the application of the upper order as a mere screen to conceal the clerestory and flying buttresses; for it must be admitted that uninterrupted altitude of the bulk, in the same plane, is absolutely necessary to the substructure of the majestic dome, which is indeed the very crown of England’s architectural glory. The four projections which fill out the angles formed by the intersecting lines of the cross, finely buttress up the mountain of masonry above ; and the beautiful semicircular porticoes of the transepts still further carry out the sentiment of stability.
” As to the dome in itself, it stands supreme on earth. The simple stylobate of its tambour; its uninterrupted peristyle, charmingly varied by occasionally solid intervening masonry, so artfully masking the buttress-work as to combine at once an appearance of elegant lightness with the visible means of confident security; all these, with each subsequently ascending feature of the composition, leave us to wonder how criticism can have ever spoken in qualified terms of Wren’s artistic proficiency.
“The western front must be criticised as illustrating, in great measure, a Gothic idea Romanized. Instead of twin spires (as at Lichfield), we have two pyramidal piles of Italian detail; instead of the high-pointed gable between, we have the classic pediment, as lofty as may be; the coupled columns and pilasters answer to the Gothic buttresses; and a minute richness and number of parts, with picturesque breaks in the entablatures (though against the architect’s expressed principles), are introduced in compliance with the general aspect and vertical expression of the Gothic facade.”
The ascent to the Whispering Gallery is by 260 steps; to the outer, or highest Golden Gallery, 560 steps: and to the Ball, 616 steps.
The Library, in the gallery over the southern aisle, was formed by Bishop Compton, whose portrait it contains. Here are about 7000 volumes, besides some manuscripts belonging to Old St. Paul’s. The room has some fine brackets, and pilasters with flowers, exquisitely carved by Gibbons ; and the floor consists of 2300 pieces of oak, parquetted, or inlaid without nails or pegs. At the end of this gallery is a Geometrical Staircase, of 110 steps, built by Wren, for private access to the Library. In crossing thence to the northern gallery, a fine view is gained of the entire vista of the Cathedral from west to east. You then reach the Model Room, where are Wren’s first design for St. Paul’s, and some of the tattered flags formerly suspended beneath the dome. Keturning to the southern gallery, a staircase leads to the south-western campanile tower, where is the Clock Room.
The Clock is remarkable for the magnitude of its wheels, and fineness of works, and cost 300L It was made by Langley Bradley in 1708: it has two dial-plates, one south, the other west; each is 51 feet in circumference, and the hour-numerals are 2 feet 2\ inches in height. The minute-hands are 9 feet 8 inches long, and weigh 75 lbs. each; and the hour-hands are 5 feet 9 inches long, and weigh 44 lbs. each. The pendulum is 16 feet long, and the bob weighs 180 lbs.; yet it is suspended by a spring no thicker than a shilling: its beat is 2 seconds—a dead beat, 30 to a minute, instead of 60.
The Clock,”going eight days,” strikes the hour on the Great Bell* suspended about 40 feet from the floor: the hammer lies on the outside brim of the hell; it lias a large head, weighs 145 lbs., is drawn by a wire at the back part of the clockwork, and falls again by its own weight upon the bell. The clapper weighs 180 lbs. The hour struck by this clock has been heard, in the silence of midnight, on the terrace of Windsor Castle. {See p. 45.) Below the Great Bell are two smaller bells, on which the clock strikes the quarters : the larger of these weighs 24 cwt. 2 qrs. 25 lbs.: the smaller, 12 cwt. 2 qrs. 9 lbs. The northern tower contains the bells tolled for prayers.
The Whispering Gallery is reached by returning towards the dome, and again ascending. Here a low whisper, uttered on one side, may be distinctly heard at the opposite side, of the gallery. The phenomenon is thus explained by Dr. Paris:—
” M shows the situation of the mouth of the speaker, and E that of the ear of the hearer. Now since sound radiates in all directions, a part of it will proceed directly from M to E, while other rays of it will proceed from M to u, and from M to z, &c.; but the ray that impinges upon « will be reflected to E, while that which first touches z will be reflected to y and from thence to E ; and so of all intermediate rays, which are omitted in the figure to avoid confusion. It is evident therefore, that the sound at E will be much stronger than if it had proceeded immediately from M without the assistance of the dome; for, in that case, the rays at z and u would have proceeded in straight lines, and consequently could never have arrived at the point E.”— Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest, p. 310.
The organ, built by Bernard Schmydt, in 1694, at a cost of 2000?., was originally placed upon the wrought-iron screen which separates the choir from the nave, where it marred the full effect of the imposing architectural merits of the edifice. From Dr. Rimbault’s clever book on The Organ we learn that Sir Christopher Wren himself was averse from placing it over the screen. There it is stated:—
” In consequence of the reputation which ‘ Father Smith’ had acquired by these instruments, he was made choice of to build an organ for St. Paul’s Cathedral, then in the course of erection. A place was accordingly fitted up for him in the Cathedral to do the work in, but it was a long time before he could proceed with it, owing to a contention between Sir Christopher Wren and the Dean and Chapter. Sir Christopher Wren wished the organ to be placed on one side of the choir, as it was in the old Cathedral, that the whole extent and beauty of the building might be had at one view. The Dean, on the contrary, wished to have it at the west-end of the choir; and Sir Christopher, after using every effort and argument to gain his point, was at last obliged to yield. Smith, according to his instructions, began the organ, and when the pipes were finished found that the case was not spacious enough to contain them all; and Sir Christopher, tender of his architectural proportions, would not consent to let the case be enlarged to receive them, declaring the beauty of the building to be already spoilt by the box of whistles.”
Steele suggested, in a paper in the Spectator, that the organ should be plorg shouldaced over the great west entrance, and be constructed on so majestic a scale as to resound throughout the whole of the Cathedral. It has been removed to the first arch from the altar on the north side of the choir, the position chosen by Wren himself, as shown in a drawing lately discovered, and preserved among the Cathedral records. This instrument, though deservedly regarded as a chef-d’oeuvre at the time of its completion, was singularly deficient in most of the mechanical appliances for an easy and effective performance now in vogue in organs of comparatively recent date. An enormous organ, built for the Alhambra, Leicester-square, has also been placed in the south transept: it is intended for the use of the Special Evening Services, and the Annual Services under the dome.
The Monuments (exceeding forty) have been for the most part voted by Parliament in honour of naval and military officers j there are a few also to authors and artists, and philanthropists. But, in general, while civil eminence has been commemorated in Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s has been made a Pantheon for our heroes. At the entrance of the choir is a colossal statue of John Howard, with an inscription by Samuel Whitbread, this being the first monument erected in the church (1796) ; at a corresponding point is a colossal statue of Dr. Johnson, the inscription by Dr. Parr : both statues are by Bacon, R.A.: Howard with his keys, is often mistaken for St.
* The New Great Tom of Lincoln, cast in 1834, is 6 cwt. heavier than the Great Bell of St. Paul’s. Its tone is generally considered to be about the same as that of St. Paul’s, but sweeter and softer. Mr. E. B. Denison, however, “thinks St. Paul’s far the best of the four large bells of England, though it is the smallest of them, being about 5 tons; while York is 12, Lincoln b\, and Oxford 7t, which last is a remarkably bad bell.”— Treatise on Clock and Watch Making, 1850.
Peter; and Johnson, with his scroll, for St. Paul. Near Howard is a statue of Hallam, the historian, by Theed. At opposite piers are statues of Sir Joshua Reynolds, by Flaxman, R.A., and Sir William Jones, by Bacon, R.A. Under the great choir arch is a monument to Lord Nelson, by Flaxman; the statue is characteristic, but the figures about the pedestal are absurd. Opposite is a monument to Lord Cornwallis, by Rossi, R.A.: the Indian river gods are most admired. In the south transept are monuments to Sir Ralph Abercrombie and Lord Collingwood, by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A., and to Lord Howe, by Flaxman, R.A.; statue of Lord Heathfield, by Rossi, R.A.; monument to Sir John Moore, by Bacon, R.A.; statue of Sir W. Hoste, by Campbell; and Major-General Gillespie, by Chantrey, R.A. In the north transept, the principal are monuments to Lord Rodney and to Captains Mosse and Riou, by Rossi, R.A. j Capt. Westcott, by Banks, R.A.; Gen. Ponsonby, a graceful composition, by Baily, R.A.; Major-Gen. A. Gore and J. B. Skerrett, by Chantrey, R.A.; statue of Earl St. Vincent, by Baily, R.A.; Gen. Picton, who fell at Waterloo, by Gahaghan; Admiral Duncan, an elegant figure, by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A.; Major-Gen. Dundas, by Bacon, R.A.; and the Hon. Monntstuart Flphinstone, the historian of India, by M. Noble.
In the south aisle of the Nave is a monument to Dr. Middleton, the first Protestant Bishop of India, by Lough; and in the south aisle of the Choir is a kneeling figure of Bishop Heber, by Chantrey, R.A. Here also are two statues—Sir Astley Cooper, by Baily, R.A.; and Dr. Babington, by Behnes. Opposite is a statue of Admiral Lord Lyons, by M. Noble. Two of the finest and most touching works here are Chantrey’aceare Chas battle-piece monuments to Colonel Cadogan, mortally wounded at the battle of Vittoria; and Major-General Bowes, slain at the head of his men at the storming of Salamanca : these are poetic pictures of carnage closing in victory. Near the great northern entrance are statues, by G. G. Adams, of Sir Charles Napier, the hero of Scinde; and Sir William Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War; and in the north aisle of the Nave is the memorial to Viscount Melbourne—two angels, sculptured by Marochetti.
The Crypt is now used only as a place of interment. In the south aisle, on the site of the ancient high altar, is the grave of Sir Christopher Wren, covered by a flat stone, the English inscription upon which merely states that he died in 1723, aged 91: suspended on the adjoining wall is a tablet bearing the Latin epitapb:
Subtus eonditur hujus ecclesise et Urbis conditor, Christopher Wren, Qui visit annus ultra nonaginta, Non sibi sed bono publico. Lector, Si monumentum requiris, Circumspice. Obiit XXV. Feb., Anno MDCCXXIII., aetat. 91. Beneath lies Christopher “Wren, builder of this church and City, who lived upwards of ninety years, not for himself but for the public good. Reader, if thou wouldst search for his monument, look around.
Next Wren’s remains are those of his son; and here is a tablet in memory of his granddaughter, aged 95: Sir Christopher was 91, and his son 97. Here are the graves of our great painters. It has been remarked : ” if Westminster Abbey has its Poets’ Corner, so has St. Paul’s its Painters’ Comer. Sir Joshua Reynolds’s statue, by Flaxman, is here, and Reynolds himself lies buried here; and Barry, and Opie, and Lawrence are around him; and, above all, the ashes of the great Van Dyck are in the earth under the Cathedral.” (C E. Leslie, M.A.) On December 30, 1851, the remains of J. M. W. Turner, our greatest landscape-painter, were laid next the grave of Reynolds; George Dance, the architect, and the last survivor of the original forty of the Royal Academy, also lies here, with Fuseli; and the Presidents, West, and Martin Archer Shee. The grave of Dr. Boyce, next to Purcell, perhaps, the greatest English musician, is also here; with the altar-tombs of Robert Mylne, the architect of the first Blackfriars Bridge; and John Rennie, who designed the present London Bridge.
In the middle of the Crypt, under an altar-tomb, Jan. 9, 1806, were deposited the remains of the great Nelson : they were placed beneath a black marble sarcophagus made by order of Cardinal Wolsey, but left unused in the tomb-house adjoining St. (ieorge’s Chapel, Windsor. It is surmounted with a viscount’s coronet upon a cushion; on the pedestal is inscribed, ” Horatio Viscount Nelson.” The coffin, made from part of the mainmast of the ship L’Orient, which blew up at the battle of the Nile, was presented to Nelson by his friend Ben Hallowell, captain of the Siviftsure. Nelson’s Hag was to have been placed with the coffin; but just as it was about to be lowered, the sailors who had borne it, moved by one impulse, rent it in pieces, each keeping a fragment. Lord Collingwood, as he requested, was laid near Nelson, beneath a plain altar-tomb; and opposite lies Lord Northesk, distinguished at Trafalgar.
On the day of the funeral of the great Duke of Wellington, Nov. 18, 1852, L’ov. 18, his coffin was placed on the top of the sarcophagus which covered the remains of Nelson, the coronet and cushion of the Viscount having been previously removed ; and here the coffin of the Duke remained nearly two years, inclosed by a wood casing. The Duke’s coffin was then (in 1854) removed to the middle of a square chamber about forty feet eastward, almost immediately under the entrance to the choir of the church, in which compartment of the crypt no interment had previously taken place. Meanwhile, the Duke’s tomb was prepared from the design of Mr. Penrose, the conservating architect of the Cathedral. The material is porphyry, from Luxalyan in Cornwall, and a huge block, originally weighing seventy tons. This has been sculptured into a grand and simple sarcophagus form. Upon one side is inscribed ” Arthur, Duke of Wellington ;” and on the opposite side, ” Born May, 1769; died Sept. 14,1852.” At each end, and upon the porphyry boss, is an heraldic cross, which, and the inscriptions, are in gold outline. The sarcophagus is placed upon a massive basement of Aberdeen granite, and at each corner is sculptured the head of a guardian lion. Within the sarcophagus is deposited the rich coffin of the Duke, and upon it the coronet and cushion, and over it the porphyry lid, hermetically sealed. The floor of this compartment of the crypt is laid with Minton’s tiles; and in each of the four angles is a candelabrum of polished red granite, surmounted by a ball, from which rise the gas-jets to light the place. As you stand at the left-hand corner, looking westward, the sarcophagus of Nelson is seen in the distance, and that of Wellington in the foreground. This view of the tombs of two of England’s most illustrious heroes at one glance is impressive.
In another compartment of the Crypt is deposited the State Car upon which the body of Wellington was conveyed to the cathedral at his funeral.
1. The Car and its equipments consisted of the coffin at the summit, uncovered, and upon it the cap, sword, &c.; beneath a canopy of rich tissue, supported by halberds. 2. The bier, covered with a black velvet pall, diapered with the Duke’s crest, and Field Marshal’s baton across, fringed with laurel leaves, and the legend ” Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,”—the whole worked in silver. 3. The platform of the car, inscribed with the names of the Duke’s victories; and at the four sides military trophies of modern arms, helmets, guns, flags, and drums, real implements, furnished by the Board of Ordnance. The whole is placed on a carriage richly ornamented with bronze figures of Fame, holding palms, panels of Fame, lions’ heads, and the Duke’s arms. Attached to the Car are model horses three abreast, with velvet housings embroidered with the Duke’s arms. The whole was designed by the Department of Practical Art: its merits, were grandeur, solemnity, and reality : coffin, bier, trophies, and metal carriage, were all real. The public are admitted to see the tomb, and the funeral car, for a small fee, to defray the expense of gaslights and attendants.
In June, 1859, the remains of General Sir Thomas Picton were removed from the burial-ground of St. George’s Chapel, Bayswater-road, to St. Paul’s Cathedral, and there deposited in the Crypt, nearly adjoining the tomb of Wellington.
The north aisle of the Crypt is appropriated to the parishioners of St. Faith, as a place of sepulture, from whom the Dean and Chapter receive a trifling gratuity for each body there interred. Beneath the semicircular apsis are deposited all that remain of the monuments saved from the old cathedral.
The Inner Dome (which Wren intended to have lined with mosaic) is plastered on the under side, and painted by Sir James Thornhill with events in the life of St. Paul: 1, His Conversion; 2, The Punishment of Elymas the Sorcerer; 3, Cure of the Cripple at Lystra; 4, Conversion of the Gaoler; 5, Paul Preaching at Athens; 6, Burning of the Books at Ephesus; 7, Paul before Agrippa; 8, Shipwreck on the Isle of Melita. For these paintings Thornhill received only 40*. per square yard ! Putting on one side the vital error hi the general arrangement, whereby the endeavour is made by painting to transform the cupola into a drum of upright walls, the pictures, about 40 feet high, are works of merit, and the heads are painted with much force: the figures are each from 14 to 16 feet high. In 1853, the restoration of the plaster-work, and repainting of the pictures, were commenced by Mr. Parris,bvaidof shifting scaffolding and platforms and wire-ropes, ingeniously constructed for the purpose; the medium used by Mr. Parris being encaustic, his own ” marble medium,” and the tone of the
pictures being much heightened. This labour occupied Mr. Parris three years, slung in an aerie at from 1G0 to 200 feet high. The paintings are best seen from the Whispering Gallery, by the flood of lisrht which flows from the lantern through the opening at the crown of the dome. When looking down into the church from this point, men seem but as children, and the immensity of the structure is altogether best felt. From the Whispering Gallery we ascend to
The Stone Gallery, outside the base of the dome, where the gigantic height of the figures (11 feet) on the western pediment, and the outlines of the campanile towers, are very striking. There is a second outer gallery, still below the base of the dome; and thence you ascend to
The Outer Golden Gallery (regilt in 1845, at a cost of 68?.), at the summit of the dome; the Inner Golden Gallery being at the base of the lantern. Through this the ascent is by ladders, to the small dome immediately below the inverted consoles which support
The Ball and Cross: ascending through the iron-work in the centre, we look into the dark Ball, which is 6 feet 2 inches in diameter, and will hold eight persons; its weight is 5600 pounds : thence to the Cross is 39 feet; the Cross, which is solid, is 3360 pounds weight. The Ball and Cross have been renewed, and re-gilt within thirty years from that date. In 1862 (Exhibition year), the vergers’ receipts for showing the Crypt and Ball, amounted to 1160?.
The View from the Outer Golden Gallery is very minute: the persons in the streets below ” appear like mice;” London seems little else than a dense mass of housetops, chimneys, and spires; the Thames being conspicuous from its glittering surface, but the bridges appearing as dark lines across at intervals. Here, and at the higher points, in clear weather, the metropolis is seen as in a map, with the country 20 miles round. The north division of London rises gently from the Thames, to Hampstead and Highgate. On the east and west are fertile plains extending at least 20 miles, and watered by the Thames. On the south the view is bounded by the high grounds of Richmond, Wimbledon, Epsom, Xorwood, and Blackheath ; terminating in the horizon by Leith Hill, Box Hill, and the Beigate and Wrotham hills. Shooter’s Hill is conspicuous eastward, and, in a more easterly direction, parts of Epping Forest and other wooded upleryer woodands of Essex.
When Mr. Horner, in 1821-2, made his sketches for the Great View of London, painted at the Colosseum, he built for himself an observatory upon the Cross of St. Paul’s. He describes the strange scene from this lofty summit at three o’clock in the morning as very impressive; for here he frequently beheld ” the Forest of London” without any indication of animated existence. It was interesting to mark the gradual symptoms of returning life, until the rising sun vivified the whole into activity, bustle, and business. In high winds, the creaking and whistling of the scaffolding resembled those of a ship labouring in a storm; and once Mr. Horner’s observatory was torn from its fastenings, and turned partly over the edge of the platform.*
Churchyard. —The enclosed ground-plot of the Cathedral is 2 acres 16 perches 70 feet. In the area before the west front, marking the site of St. Gregory’s Church, is the statue of Queen Anne, with figures, by Bird, of Britain, France, Ireland, and America, at the comers of the pedestal. Garth wrote some bitter lines upon this group:
“France above with downcast eyes is seen, The sad attendant of so good a queen.”
Her Majesty’s nose was struck off by a lunatic, about a century ago, and was not repaired for many years. The Churchyard is enclosed with a dwarf stone wall, on which is a noble iron balustrade, 5 feet 6 inches high; there are in it seven ornamental gates, which, with the 2500 rails, weigh 200 tons 81 lbs. They were designed by M. Tijoue, and cast at Gloucester Furnace, Lamberhurst, in Kent> they cost 6d. per pound, and with other charges, amounted to 11,202/. Os. 6d. The cost of the Church
* An accident somewhat more perilous befel Mr. Gwyn, when measuring the top of the dome for a section of the Cathedral. While intent on his work his foot slipped, and he slid down the convex surface of the dome until his descent was fortunately obstructed by a small projecting piece of the lead, lie thus remained until released from the impending danger by one of his assistants, who providentially discovered his awful situation.— Mr. Horner’s Narrative.
The admission-fee originated in ” the Stairs-foot Money,” fixed by Jennings, the carpenter, in 1707 ; the proceeds of which were applied to the relief of those men to whom accidents happened during the progress of the works. In 1819, the sum received from visitors to the body of the Cathedral, at 2d. each, was 430/. 3s. 8c/., which vas divided among the four vergers. This fee is now discontinued.
Nearly opposite the North Door of St. Paul’s Churchyard is the Convocation or Chapter House of the Cathedral, where a kind of clerical parliament is summoned with every new Imperial Parliament. The Chapter is composed of a Dean and four Canons, or Prebends, 12 Minor Canons, 6 Lay Vicars, and 12 Choristers. There are 30 Prebendary Stalls, or Honorary Canonries; they are of great antiquity,ginat anti having been founded by Gregory the Great himself. Two of the brightest wits of their day, the Rev. Sydney Smith ‘(Peter Plymley), d. 1845, and the Rev. R. H. Barbara (Thomas Ingoldsby), d. 1845, were at the same period Canons of St. Paul’s. In 1849, the Rev. H. H. Milman (the poet) was appointed Dean, an office hitherto held by the Bishop of’Llan-daff for the time being. The Lord Mayor’s chaplain is the preacher on all State holidays ; viz., 30th January, 29th May, 20th June, and 5th November, on the first Sunday in term, and the anniversary of the Great Fire of 1666.
The State processions to St. Paul’s have been very imposing. Queen Anne came yearly to return thanks for the brilliant successes of Marlborough, who carried the sword of state before Her Majesty; as did Wellington before the Prince Regent, on the day of Thanksgiving for Peace in 1814. George III. went to St. Paul’s, to return public thanks for his recovery from derangement, in 1789; and in 1797, in Thanksgiving for naval victories. The last procession of this kind was on Nov. 29, 1820, when Queen Caroline went to St. Paul’s in Thanksgiving for her deliverance from the Bill of Pains and Penalties.
The Cathedral is the scene of other impressive celebrations: as the Anniversary-Festival of the Sons of the Clergy, in May, preceded by sacred music by Handel, Boyce, Atwood, and others, aided by the choirs of St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, and the Chapel Royal. The great annual gathering of the Charity children, about 8000 in number, is held here in June, the amphitheatre of seats being erected under the great dome: the effect of the grouping of the children ranged in their rows of seats, tier above tier, with the banners of their various schools placed in order in the uppermost circle of the amphitheatre, is remarkably striking. The attendance of the Judges and other law officers, and civic authorities, is another impressive service.
” For external elegance/’ says Mr. Gwilt, ” we know no church in Europe which exhibits a cupola comparable with that of St. Paul’s; though in its connexion with the church by an order higher than that below it, there is a violation of the laws of the art. While, notwithstanding its inferior dimensions (it would stand within St. Peter’s), the external appearance of St. Paul’s has been preferred by many to that of St. Peter’s, it is admitted by all that the interior of the English cathedral will bear no comparison with that of the Roman. The upward view of the dome of St. Paul’s, however, conveys an impression of extraordinary magnificence : though not so elevated as St. Peter’s, it is still very lofty : the form of the concave, which approaches considerably nearer to that of a circle—the height being equal to a diameter and a half, while in St. Peter’s it is equal to two diameters—has also been considered more beautiful than that of its rival.” The crossing of Ludgate Hill by a railway viaduct interferes materially with the view of St. Paul’s. Mr. Penrose, the architect, remarks:—” About 180 yards eastward of Temple Bar, the dome of St. Paul’s begins to be seen, and, when fully opened out a little further on, presents a combination, unsurpassed in Europe, with the exquisite campanile of St. Martin’s and the suggested access to the Cathedral by the winding street. It is true that the viaduct does not thus far hide any part of the Cathedral, but it obtrudes itself on the sight, and destroys the spectator’s pleasure in the view almost as effectually. But from about 60 yards before reaching Farringdon-street it actually hides more or less of the western facade, and gives in exchange nothing but its deep sides and cavernous soffit, at least 40 feet wide.”
In defence of this obstruction it was objected that already the steeple of St. Martin’s church on Ludgate-hill was constantly getting in the way when you wished to see the dome of St. Paul’s; which is altogether an error, as the thin proportions of the steeple, in strong contrast, add to the effect of the dome. From the east end of Bride-court, Bridge-street, you get a striking view of the dome; as well as from the Farringdon-road.
The Cathedral is now in course of repair and redecoration, the funds being raised by subscription.* The organ and screen have been removed, and a new eastern transept formed. The great central area of the dome, found by experiment to be the part of the Cathedral best adapted to the voice, has been made available for Special Evening Services, and 3500 persons can there be seated in chairs. The marble pulpit under theew pit und dome, was given by his friends, as a memorial of the late Captain Fitzgerald. The church can now be warmed by Gurney stoves, placed in the crypt, whence the heated air ascends through ornamental openings in the floor. The lighting is mainly by the corona of gas which was left round the Whispering Gallery at the time of the funeral of the Duke of Wellington. The Cathedral was first lighted with g:is in 1822; Moore, in his Diary, says: ” May 6,—Went with Lord and Lady Lansdowne, at ten o’clock, to St. Paul’s, to see it lighted up with gas, for, I believe, the first time.”
The embellishment of the Cathedral, as originally designed by Sir Christopher Wren, will consist in filling eleven windows at the ends of the choir, nave, and transepts, with painted glass of the highest quality, uniform in style, design, and execution ; in filling’tbe spandrels of the dome, vaults, and other suitable compartments, and ultimately the dome itself, with paintings in mosaic; and generally in gilding and in-crusting with coloured marbles parts of the architecture. The four great arches leading from the dome, and the vaultings of the choir, have been richly gilded. The spandrels of the dome, vaultings, and other compartments are to be filled with paintings in mosaic upon a gold ground, by Salviati; and the series of painted windows has been commenced with two aisle windows, by Clayton and Bell, containing life-size figures of St. Peter and St. Paul. The great west window, containing the Conversion of St. Paul, the gift of Mr. Brown (of the firm of Longman and Co.), is to cost 1000Z.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
THE earliest foundation of Westminster Abbey is enveloped in obscurity, but is attributed by the early chroniclers to the British King Lucius, a.d. 184, or to King Sebert, a.d. 616, its site being then called “Thorney Island;” but it is really a
* “The Fabric Fund” for keeping the building in repair, produces only 1200J. a year: there are more than 8500 square feet, or two acres, of lead work exposed to the sun, the soot, and the weather, and the bad work of the dome has demanded very extensive repairs; there are also about 450,00′) feet, or ten and a half acres, of stonework likewise exposed to the sulphureous vapours and smoke of London; to say nothing of the interior, of which the superficial area (including crypt) is about twelve acres. A considerable portion of the fund (236J# is devoted to insuring the church from fire to the extent of 95,000/. its total value may be estimated at 1,500,000/., but damage by fire could not be done to a greater extent than, perhaps, 600,000/.
peninsula of the purest sand and gravel, which may be seen in the foundations of the Abbey. The Island is named from this circumstance : ” Sebert, nephew to Ethelbert, King of Kent and King of the East Saxons, having received baptism from the hands of Mellitus, who, coming over with Austin the Monk, was placed Bishop of London, pulled down a Pagan temple at a place called Thorney, from being overgrown with thorns, about two miles’ distance from London, and founded upon the place a church to the honour of St. Peter.” (Dean Buckland.) This church was not, however, completed until about 361 years after, by King Edgar, when it was named from being the ” Min ster West of St. Paul’s.” It was in a decayed and almost expiring condition when King Edward the Confessor, in fulfilment of a vow he bad made during his exile from the kingdom, erected a church and abbey in a style hitherto unparalleled in English architecture, at Westminste inat Westr, and, according to William of Malmesbury, the earliest Norman church in the island. King Edward gave to its treasury rich vestments, a golden crown and sceptre, a dalmatic, embroidered pall, spurs, &C, to be used on the day of the Sovereign’s coronation: here our Kings and Queens have been crowned, from Edward the Confessor to Queen Victoria, and here very many of them are buried, some with and others without monuments. The Confessor lived just long enough to see his intention fulfilled. On the Festival of the Holy Innocents, Dec. 28, 1065, the new Abbey was dedicated, and the King, who died eight days afterwards, was buried by his own desire in front of the high altar in the Church of which he had just witnessed the completion. The Abbey as it now exists was for the most part rebuilt by Henry III. (a.d. 1220 to 1269), out of regard to the memory of the Confessor; but it covers the same ground, and there are vestiges of the original building to be seen. The remains of the Confessor were removed from before the high altar to the present shrine in 1269 by Henry III. From the Fabric Rolls we gather that the outlay going on at Westminster for the King’s Palace and the Abbey Church was from 20,000/. to 40.000Z. a year; or, in fifteen years, more than half a million of our money value. A great diversity of materials was used. The early portion (Henry III.) was built with the green sand or God-stone, which gave the name to the place in Surrey ; a large portion, including the Jerusalem Chamber, was of this stone. Purbeck marble and Caen* stone were used j and in some of the old cloisters, magnesian limestone, similar to that in the New Houses of Parliament. The enormous and massive fabric stands on a level with the adjacent causeway— not having a basement story, like St. Paul’s —built upon a fine close sand, secured only by its very broad, wide, and spreading foundations.
From a Norman-French verse of the time of Henry III., there is no doubt that during that king’s reign there existed a central tower and two others at the west end. Sir Christopher Wren distinctly stated that the commencement of a central tower existed in his time, and one of Hollar’s views shows clear indications of it. As to what kind of central tower over the crossing was originally intended, Mr. Gilbert Scott, K.A., concludes, chiefly from the slightness of the exquisitely graceful piers of the central crossing, that nothing but a light fleche, after the French fashion, was ever thought of. Mr. Scott, who has so ably illustrated the architecture of the Abbey, says:—
” Of the original details of the exterior it is nearly impossible to form anything like a correct idea. The whole was greatly decayed at the commencement of the last century, and was re-cased, almost throughout, with Oxfordshire stone, by Sir Christopher Wren and his successors, the details being altered and pared down in a very merciless manner: and the work, thus renewed, has again become greatly decayed. There is, in fact, scarcely a trace of any original detail of the eastern portion of the exterior left.” The Bayeux tapestry shows the Abbey-church in outline.
Dugdale, however, says :—
” The Church, as far as rebuilt in the reign of Henry III., may be easily distinguished from the parts erected at a later period. It consists of Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, the side aisles and chapels, the choir (to somewhat lower than Sir Isaac Newton’s monument), and the transepts. The four pillars of the present choir, which have brass fillets, appear to finish Henry’s work: the conclusion of which is also marked by a striped chalky stone, which forms the roof.”—Dugdae i roof.”le’s Monasticon, vol. i.p. 273.
In 1862, it was discovered that in the south cloister wall of the Abbey the whole extent of its lower half consists of masonry of the age of Edward the Confessor. This
* On the coast of France, in the neighbourhood of Caen, resides an old lady, on whose property are some valuable stone quarries, from whence the English Commissioners proposed to purchase the materials for building our Houses of Parliament. It is a curious fa*t that, by some, old records in her family, she can prove that the blocks of stone used in building our Westminster Abbey were derived from the very same source.— A Portion of the Journal of T. Bailees, Etq.
stone of a.d. 1060 is uninjured to this day; though the vaulting above, of the date of 1380, has perished considerably. Both are equally exposed to the air and to external influences. The western towers, of shelly Portland oolite, are sound.
Nicholas Litlington, Abbot in the reign of Edward III., added several abbatial buildings, including the Hall; a great chamber called “the Jerusalem;” the west and south sides of the Great Cloister; and the Granary. Remains of the Jewel House, built by Richard II., exist. The walls, even to the parapets and the original doorways, are perfect; the interior, however, has been altered to fit it for a depository of the records of the House of Lords ; the original groined vaults remain in the basement. The walls of this ancient strong house are 6 feet thick; and the masonry, generally, is of a similar character to that of the cloisters and other vaulted substructures built by Abbot Litlington. On the bosses of the vaulting in the parts of the cloisters attributed to this abbot the initials N. L. may be traced—rendering conjecture as certain as it may be.
It has lately been brought to light that the nave of the Abbey was rebuilt in 1413 by Richard Whittington and Richard Harrowden (a monk of the Abbey), to whom Henry V. issued a commission for the purpose. It has been plausibly argued by Mr. Lysons, in his recent memoir of Lord Mayor Whittington, that this personage was the very man named in the Royal Commission. The story goes that, when the King was unable to repay the sums which Whittington had advanced, the creditor magnanimously destroyed the bonds. There is every reason to believe that the old Norman Nave was left standing until that time.
In 1502, Henry VII. pulled down the Chapel of the Virgin, at the east end, and replaced it with the beautiful chapel now called by his name. It was originally built with Caen stone, and was restored within the present century, but with stone now in a state of decomposition.
From the first opening of the edifice until after the reign of Elizabeth, the Abbey was regarded as a safe Sanctuary : hither the Queen of Edward IV. fled with her five daughters and the young Duke of York when the crafty Richard Duke of Gloucester was plotting to seize the crown. ” The Queen,” says Sir Thomas More, ” sate low on the rushes, all desolate and dismayed;” whilst the Thames was full of boats of Gloucester’s servants, watching that no man should go to Sanctuary. On the reverse cf Edward IV., in 1470, his Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, took shelter in the Sanctuary, where, ” in great penury, forsaken of all her friends,” she gave birth to Edward V.tonard V.<
The dedication of the Church to St. Peter (the tutelar saint of fishermen) led to their offerings of salmon upon the high altar; the donor on such occasions having the privilege of sitting at the convent-table to dinner, and demanding ale and bread from the cellarer.
Successive kings and abbots continued the building on the plan of Henry III., but so slowly, that the west-end towers in 1714 were unfinished; these Sir Christopher Wren pulled down, and erected the present western towers, in Grecianized Gothic style; he also proposed a central spire, as originally intended, for its beginnings appear on the corners of the cross, ” but left off before it rose so high as the ridge of the roof.” Of the old west front there is a view by Hollar, in Dugdale’s Monasticon.
“The Abbey Church,” says Mr. Bardwell, ” formerly arose a magnificent apex to a royal palace, surrounded by its own greater and lesser sanctuaries and almonries : its bell-towers (the principal one 72 feet 6 inches square, with walls 20 feet thick), chapels, prisons, gatehouses, boundary-walls, and a train of other buildings, of which we can at the present day, scarcely form an idea. In addition to all the land around it, extending from the Thames to Oxford-street, and from Vauxhall Bridge road to tho Church of St. Hary-le-Strand, the Abbey possessed 97 towns and villages, 17 hamlets, and 216 manors! Its officers fed hundreds of persons daily; and one of its priests (not the Abbot) entertained at his ‘ pavilion in Tothill’ the King and Queen, with so large a party, that seven hundred dishes did not suffice for the first table; the Abbey butler, in the reign of Edward III., rebuilt at his own private expense, the stately gatehouse which gave entrance to Tothill-street, and a portion of the wall which remains to this day.”— Brief Account of Ancient and Modern Wettminxter.
At the Dissolution, the Abbey was resigned to Henry VIII. by Abbot Benson; and the King ordered the Church to be governed by a Dean and Prebendaries, making Benson the Dean. In 1541, the Church was turned into an Episcopal See, having Middlesex for its diocese; but was soon again placed under a Dean and Prebendaries.
Mary, in 1556, dissolved this institution, and reappointed an Abbot and monies; but Elizabeth, on her accession, placed it under a dean and 12 secular canons, as a Collegiate Church, besides minor canons, and others of the choir, to the number of SO; 10 other officers, 2 schoolmasters, 40 scholars, and 12 almsmen, with ample maintenance for all; besides stewards, receivers, registrars, library-keepers, and other officers, the principal being the High Steward of Westminster. In the time of Cromwell, most of the revenues were devoted to the public service, but afterwards restored. As the abbots of the monastery had in former times possessed great privileges and honours annexed to the foundation, such as being entrusted with the keeping of the regalia for the coronation, &c, having places of necessary service on days of solemnity, and also exercising archiepiscopal jurisdiction in their liberties, and sitting as spiritual lords in Parliament; so the Deans of the Collegiate Church succeeded to most of them, and still possess considerable privileges. The Chapter still have a jurisdiction, not only within the city and liberty of Westminster, but also the precincts of St. Martin’s-le-Grand, first annexed to it by Henry VII.
We give a precise image of the most ancient remains, by Mr. Scott :—
” As Westminster Abbey is about the earliest work of its kind in this country, and as the building of the first portion of it by Henry III. extended over a space of twenty-four years, i.e. from 1215 to 1269, it becomes important to ascertain how early in this period the style of its architecture can be proved to have been defined. Now, a single entry in the documents in question has for ever settled this point. 1 have before stated that the most advanced part of the work (as to style) is the Chapter-house, as that contained traceried windows of four and five lights in a very developed form ; the tracery is not confined to circles, but containing great quatrefoils, and the heads of the lights being trefoiled, which is not the case in the church. Now it would be most useful to know the exact date of these windows, for, though Matthew Paris gives 1250 as the year of commencement of the Chapter-house, it may have spread over an indefinite length of time, and the windows have belonged to twenty years after that date. Let us look then to the bills. Here we find in a roll, bearing date 37th Henry III., or 1253, and expressly called the eighth year from the beginning of the work, an item of ‘ 300 yards of canvas for the windows of the Chapter-house,’ followed immediately by items for the purchase of glass, showing that the windows in question were completed in 1253, which I see was a year before the King, in company with St. Louis, visited the Sainte Chapelle, at Paris, which was then scarcely completed, and the style of which indicates exactly the same degree of advancement. I find also, that during the same year, the beautiful entrance or vestibule to the Chapter-house was erected.”
A ground-plan, which is made by the gradations of its shading to represent the several ages of each part of the structure, shows us that the Chapel of the Pyx and the whole vaulted undercroft, extending southward under the old dormitory, which is the present Westminster school-room—besides the lower story of the refectory, which forms the south side of the cloister—are remains of Edward the Confessor’s work, in the Late Saxon or Early Norman style. The superficial decoration of the inner wall is, as is well known, of the most exquisite kind of Pointed Architecture—that of the reign of Henry III. Late Norman is only found in the remains of St. Catherine’s Chapel, supposed to have been the Infirmary Chapel, which are visible to the east of the Little Cloister. The Choir, Chevet, and Transepts of the Abbey-church, and the Chapter-house with its vestibule, belong to the great rebuilding undertaken by Henry III. The eastern half of the Nave, with the corresponding part of the Cloister, was built in the First Pointed manner of Edward I. Later in the same style is the south-eastern angle of the Cloisters. All the west end of the Nave, with the remainder of the Cloisters, and the Abbot’s house (now the Deanery), including the famous Jerusalem Chamber, were built in the Earlier Third Pointed; while the eastern Chapel of Henry VII., replacing the Lady Chapel of Henry III., was added in the Tudor times of the expiring Gothic.
The church is remarkable as marking, first, the introduction of the French arrangement of chapels which, however, failed to take root here; and, secondly, the completed type of bar tracery, which was no sooner grafted on an English stock than it began to shoot forth in most vigorous and luxuriant growth.
The Exterior of the Abbey is best viewed from a distance : the western front from Tothill-street; the picturesque North Transept from King-street; and the sout Je and thh side from College-street. St. Margaret’s Church, so often condemned as a disfigurement in viewing the Abbey, renders its height much greater by contrast. “Distant peeps of the Abbey towers, springing lightly above the trees, may be caught on the rising ground of the Green-park, and from the bridge over the Serpentine; and the superior elevation of the whole Abbey is seen with great effect from the hills about Wandsworth
and Wimbledon.”— {Handbook, by H. Cole.) The importance of the western towers is, however, lessened by the loftier tower of the New Houses of Parliament.
The North Transept, though its niches are statueless, is remarkable for its pinnacled buttresses, its triple porch and clustered columns, and its great rose-window, 90 feet in circumference—so as to have been called, for its beauty, ” Solomon’s porch.” From the west side of this Transept, judicious restorations are in progress. At the ai ched doorway leading into the North Aisle terminates the portion of the Abbey completed by Edward 1.
The Western Front bears the date of 1735 : the height of the towers (225 feet) tells nobly; they were used as a telegraph station during the last French war. The great west window was the work of Abbot Estney, in 1498. The base of the south tower is hidden by the gable of the Jerusalem Chamber, now used as the Chapterhouse. Parallel with the Jerusalem Chamber are the College Dining Hall and Kitchen, built by Abbot Litlington. The Westminster scholars dined in the hall until the year 1839; in the centre fagots blazed on a circular stone hearth, the smoke finding egress through the lantern in the roof.
The South Side is approached from Dean’s Yard, on the east side of which an old doorway leads into a court where is Inigo Jones’s rustic entrance to the school-room of the College, refounded, in 1560, by Queen Elizabeth. To the left are the old grey Cloisters, with groined arches of the fourteenth century, surrounding a grassy area— monastic solitude in contrast with the scene on the opposite side of the Church. The Ecmbrandtish lights in these cloisters are very fine; and here the South Aisle of the Church, with its huge buttresses, is best seen. The North Cloister is distinguished by its trefoiled arches, with circles above them, of the twelfth century. The East Cloister (temp. Edward III.) is rich in flowing tracery and foliations. Here is the entrance to a chapel of the Confessor’s time, and now ” the Chamber of the Pyx,” wherein are kept the standards used at the trial of the Pyx, the three keys of its double doors, being deposited with distinct officers of the Exchequer. The groined roofs are supported by ltomanesque or semicircular arches, and thick, short, round shafts.
Eastward is the magnificent entrance to the Chapter-house, which is to be repaired under the direction of Mr. Scott. Its beauty is evident, notwithstanding its neglected condition. In the course of the works, the architect has discovered the ancient entrance to the dormitory, which he re-opened, and restored as the entrance to the library. This has enabled him to get rid of the modern entrance to the library, which was cut through the groining of this passage, leading to the vestibule of the Chapterhouse.
The Interior. —The best entrance to the Abbey is through the little door into the South Transept, or Poets’ Corner; whence the endless perspective lines lead into mysterious gloom.
<> From Poets’ Corner we see, almost without changing the point of sight, the two Transepts, and part of the Nave and Choir. The interior consists, as it were, of two grand stories, or series of groined arches of unequal height: a lower story, which comprises the outer aisles of the Transepts, of the Nave, and the ambulatory of the Choir: and a higher story, forming the middle aisles of the Nave, Transepts, and the Choir. The lower story mostly exhibits the remains of a series of three-headed arches or trefoil-headed arcades, resting on a basement seat: and above these arcades are pointed windows, each divided in the centre by a single mullion, surmounted by a circle. Among the marked features of the whole of the upper and inner story are the mural decorations of the spandrels of the arches; above them, the gallery or triforium j and over this a clerestory of lofty windows.—(See Handbook, by H. Cole, pp. 45, 46.)
The Interior, viewed from the western entrance, shows the surpassing beauty of the long-drawn aisles, with their noble columns, harmonious arches, and fretted vaults, ” a dim religious light ” streaming through the lancet windows.
The general plan of the Church is cruciform : besides the Nave, Choir, and Transepts, it contains 12 chapels, the principal of which are those dedicated to St. Edward of England, to the Blessed Virgin (Henry VII.’s), the easternmost building, and those in the northern and southern sides of the building: four on the south, viz., those of St. Blaise, St. Benedict, St. Edmund, and St. Nicholas; on the north those of St. Andrew, St. Michael, St. John the Evangelist, St. Erasmus, St. John the Baptist, and St. Paul. Of these, 10 are nearly filled with monumental tombs; the Chapel of Henry VII. containing but the monument of its founder; and that of St. Paul having but one tomb.
The South Transept is less decorated than its fellow on the north; and the lower part is concealed by the Library and Chapter-house. Here, in what is appropriately termed Poets’ Corner, are the graves or monuments of the majority of our greatest poets, from Chaucer to Campbell. To the right of the entrance-door is the tomb of ” the Father of English Poetry ” (d. 1400): it is a dingy and greasy recess, on which may be traced with the finger Galfridus Chaucer, the only part of the inscription which was originally chiselled; the other lines have disappeared. This memorial was partly placed here in 1556, by Nicholas Brigham, a student at Oxford, and a poet, too: the altar-tomb originally covered Chaucer’s remains, removed from here by Brigham, who placed over it the canopy: it is altogether in decay, but in 1850 was proposed to be restored. Nearer the door is the large monument erected by Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, to Dryden, whose name it simply bears, witli a noble bust of him by Scheemakers. Pope wrote for the pedestal this couplet:—
“This Sheffield raised: the sacred dust helow Was Dryden once: the rest, who does not know ? ”
Next is a wreathed urn, by Bushnell, erected by George Duke of Buckingham over Abraham Cowley, as the Latin inscription declares, the Pindar, Horace, and Virgil of England: this full-blown flattery, by Dean Sprat, greatly provoked Dr. Johnson. From Chaucer’s tomb, eastward, the monuments are placed as follows:—To John Philips, who wrote The Splenbe ote Thedid Shilling, Cider, and other poems : profile in relief, within a wreath of apple and laurel leaves. Barton Booth, the eminent actor, the original Calo in Addison’s play: a bust, erected by Booth’s widow. Michael Drayton, who wrote the Polyolbion: a bust on pediment, with a beautiful epitaph, attributed to Dryden; erected at the expense of Clifford, Countess of Dorset, who also put up a monument to Edmund Spenser, author of the Faerie Queene: tablet and pediment, renewed in marble in 1778. Spenser was the second poet interred in the Abbey; he “died for lake of bread,” in King-street, Westminster, and was buried here by Devereux, Earl of Essex. Ben Jonson: medallion on the wall, by Rysbrack, after Gibbs; ” 0 rare Ben Jonson !” inscribed beneath the head. Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras : bust, placed here by Alderman Barber, the patriotic printer (see Alderman, p. 5). John Milton, buried in St. Giles’s Church, Cripplegate: bust and tablet, erected by Mr. Auditor Benson, who, ” in the inscription, has bestowed more words upon himself than upon Milton.” Thomas Gray, buried at Stoke Pogeis: a figure of the Lyric Muse holding a medallion of the poet, by Bacon, E.A., with inscription by William Mason, Gray’s biographer, who lies next: profile medallion, with inscription by Bishop Hurd. Matthew Prior : bust by Coysevox, presented to Prior from Louis XIV.; and statues of Thalia and Clio, by Rysbrack. St. Evremond, the French Epicurean wit: bust and tablet; and below it, profile medallion, by Chantrey, P.A., of Granville Sharp, Negro Slavery Abolitionist, erected by the African Institution of London. Thomas Shadwell, poet-laureate early in the reign of William III., buried at Chelsea: but crowned with bays, above Prior’s monument. Christopher Anstey, author of the New Bath Guide : tablet on the next column; and at the back of St. Evremond’s monument, a tablet to Mrs. Pritchard, the eminent tragic actress. William Shakspeare: the subscription monument; a statue by Scheemakers, after Kent, with absurd and pedantic accessories: the lines on the scroll are from the play of the Tempest. James Thomson, buried in Richmond (Surrey) Church : statue, paid for by a subscription edition of his Seasons, &c, in 1762. Nicholas Rowe, dramatist and poet-laureate (George I.), and his daughter Charlotte: busts by Rysbrack; inscription by Pope. John Gay, who wrote the Beggars’ Opera: winged boy and medallion portrait, erected by the Duke and Duchess of Queensbury: the scoffing couplet, ” Life’s a jest,” is Gay’s own unworthy composition; the lines beneath it are by Pope. Oliver Goldsmith, poet, dramatist, and essayist: medallion by Nollekens, R.A., over doorway to the Chapel of St. Blaise; the place chosen by Sir Joshua Reynolds ; the Latin inscription written by Dr. Johnson. John Duke of Argyll: statues of the warrior and orator as a Roman, with History, Eloquence, Britannia, &c, by Roubiliac: Canova said of the figure of Eloquence: ” This is one of the noblest statues I have seen in England.” George Frederick Handel, the great musician: statue, heneath a winged harper and stupendous organ; the last work of Roubiliac, who took the mould from Handel’s face after death. Above the niche is a record of the ” Commemoration,” in 1784; the gravestone is beneath. Joseph Addison, buried in Henry YII.’s Chapel: a poor statue on pedestal, by Westmacott, R.A. Addison’s visits here are ever to be remembered -. ” When I am in a serious humour,” writes he, ” I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey, where the gloominess of the place, and the use to which it is applied, with the solemnity of the building, and the condition of the people who lie in it, are apt to fill the mind with a kind of melancholy, or rather thoughtfulness, that is not disagreeable.” Isaac Barrow, ” the unfair preacher,” temp. Charles II.: bust and tablet. Sir Richard Coxe, Taster (of food) to Queen Elizabeth and James I.: marble sics I.: mtablet. Isaac Casaubon, the learned editor of JPersius and Polybius: marble monument. Camden, the great English antiquary, and a Master of Westminster School: half-length figure; buried before St. Nicholas’s Chapel. David Garrick, the eminent actor: statue, with medallion of Shakspeare; a coxcombical piece of art.
The most remarkable gravestones in the South Transept are those of Richard Cumberland, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Samuel Johnson, and David Garrick and his wife; ” Thomas Parr, of ye county of Sallop, born in a.b. 1483. He lived in the reignes of ten princes, viz., King Edward IV., King Edward V., King Richard III., King Henry VII., King Henry VIII., King Edward VI., Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles; aged 152 years, and was buryed here Nov. 15, 1635 ;” Sir William Chambers, architect of Somerset House; R. Adam, architect of the Adelphi; John Henderson, the actor; James Macpherson, Esq., M.P. (Ossian Macpherson); William Gifford, critic; Davenant (inscribed, ” 0 rare Sir William Davenant!”), in the grave of Thomas May, the poet, whose body was disinterred, and his monument destroyed, at the Restoration; Francis Beaumont, ” Fletcher’s associate ,” and Sir John Denhaui, K.B., author of Cooper’s Hill.
Near Shakspeare’s monument is a bust, by Weekes, of Robert Southey, poet-laureate (buried in Crosthwaite Church, Keswick); and next is the gravestone over Thomas Campbell, author of the Pleasures of Hope, with an exquisite statue of the poet, by W. C. Marshall. Here also is a sitting statue of Wordsworth, by Theed.
Large fees are paid to the Dean and Chapter for the admission of monuments : from 200/. to 300Z. for a statue, and from 150Z. to 200Z. for a bas-relief; for Lord Holland’s monument, 20 feet square, 300Z. The statue of Lord Byron, by Thorwaldsen, was refused admission; and after lying twelve years in the London Dock cellars, in 1845 it was placed in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge.
” The power of granting or refusing permission to erect monuments in the Abbey rests exclusively with the Dean, except when the House of Commons, by a vote and grant of public money, takes the matter out of his hands. The Dean invariably refuses to allow the erection of statues, as encroaching on space which ought to belong to worshippers, and is already unduly encumbered with stone and marble.”
Over the grave of Lord Maoaulay is placed a tablet, with the following simple inscription : ” Thomas Babington, Lord Macanlay, born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, October 25, 1800. Died at Holly Lodge, Campden-hill, December 28, 1859. ‘ His body is buried in peace, but his name liveth for evermore.'”
On the end of the gallery, westward, are the remains of a supposed fresco, a White Hart, ” couchant, gorged with a gold chain and coronet,” the device of Richard II.
The Chapel of St. Blaise, or the Old Revestry r , which occupies the space between the South Transept and the Vestibule, leading from the Cloisters to the Chapterhouse, is known to few visitors : its beautiful bit of sexpartite groining, and its mural paintings, are very curious.
From Poets’ Corner (Goldsmith first mentions the felicitous name), in passing to the first Chapel may be seen, preserved under glass, the remains of an altar-painting, including a figure, probably intended for Christ; an angel with a palm-branch on each side, and a figure of St. Peter; considered by the late Sir C. L. Eastlake, P.R.A., to be ” worthy of a good Italian artist of the fourteenth century,” yet executed in England: of the costly enrichments there remain coloured glass, inlaid on tinfoil, and a few cameos and gems. The following is the order of the Chapels, only the most remarkable of their monumental Curiosities being noticed. The Chapels, both on the north and south sides are nearly alike, and architecturally in character with Henry III.’s structure : they are lighted by lofty windows, with arches enclosing circles, above which are windows within triangles, also enclosing circles.
| 1 CLOISTERS I |
Ground Plan of Westminster Abbey.—A. Jerusalem Cbamber. B. College Dining Hall. C. Kitchen. I). Larder. E. Ancient remains. F. Confessor’s building (Pix). G. Dark Cloisters. H. Hall of Kefectory. 1. High Altar. 2. Henry V.’s Chapel. 3. Porch to Henry Vll.’s Chapel. 4. Henry VII.’s Tomb.
1. St. Benedict’s Chapel. —The oldest tomb here is that of Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1376) ; his effigies robed and mitred.
2. St. Edmund’s Chapel: Tomb of William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and half-brother to Henry III. (d. 1296), the effigies encased in metal—the earliest existing instance in this country of the use of enamelled metal for monumental purposes; tomb of John of Eltham, son of Edward II., but without its beautiful canopy covering the whole with delicate wrought spires and mason’s work, everywhere intermixed and adorned with little images and angels, according to the fashion of those times, supported by eight pillars of white stone, of the same curiously wrought -work (d. 1334) j alabaster figures of William of Windsor and Blanch de la Tour, children of Edward III.
the boy in a short doublet, the girl in a horned headdress; portrait brasses, in the area, of Eleanora de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, as a nun of Barking Abbey (d. 1399), and Robert de Waldeby, Archbishop of York (d. 1397)—both the most per-feet in the Church; alabaster figure of Lady Elizabeth Russell, long absurdly said by the guides to have died from the prick of a needle; wall monuments to Lady Jane Seymour (d. 1560) and Lady Jane Grey (d. 1553); black marble gravestone of Lord Herbermiof Lordrt of Cherbury (d. 1678); and Sir Bernard Brocas (d. 1170), altar statue and decorated canopy. This Chapel contains altogether about twenty monuments, including one of the finest brasses in the Abbey. There are also some interesting specimens of enamelling on the well-known fine monument to Edward III., with metal statuettes on the side opposite the entrance to this chapel. These enamels are of later date (Edward III. died in 1377) and are probably of English make.
3. St. Nicholas’s Chapel: Perpendicular stone screen, with quatre-foiled arches highly decorated, and embattled frieze of shields and roses, once coloured; entrance, over the grave of Sir Henry Spelman, the antiquary; rich in Elizabethan tombs, bright with gold and colour, alabaster, touchstone, porphyry, and variegated marbles, Gothic canopies, Corinthian pillars, kneeling and recumbent figures, &c.: marble tomb of the wife of the Protector Somerset; portrait brass of Sir Humphrey Stanley, knighted by Henry VII. on Bosworth Field; gorgeous monument of the great Lord Burghley to his wife Mildred and their daughter Anne; costly altar-tomb of Sir George Villiers, erected for his wife, by N. Stone, cost 560/., the year before her death; monument of Bishop Dudley, his original brass effigies gone, and the figure of Lady Catherine St. John in its place! Here rests Katherine of Valois, Queen of Henry V., removed on the pulling down of the old Chapel of the Virgin; her body was for nearly three centuries shown to visitors, not being re-interred until 1776. Next is the vault of the Percys, with a large marble monument, designed by Adam ; here the Dukes of Northumberland have been interred with great state; their funeral processions reaching from Northumberland House to the Abbey western door.
In the Ambulatory, opposite St. Nicholas’s Chapel, are the eastern side of the tomb of Edward III., and the chantry of Henry V., where Mr. Scott discovered tabernacle-work and statuettes within the masonry, and niches filled with blue glass. The entire work contained, when perfect, more than seventy statues and statuettes, besides several brass figures on the surrounding railing. Looking thence, in a few square feet, we have specimens of Gothic architecture, in several of its stages, as it flourished from the time of Henry III. to Henry VII. Through a dark vestibule you ascend to
4. Henry VII.’s Chapel, consisting of a Nave and two aisles, with five chapels at the east end. The entrance-gates are of oak, cased with brass-gilt, and richly dight with the portcullis, the crown, and twined roses. The vaulted porch is enriched with radiated quatrefoils and other figures, roses, fleurs-de-lis, &c.; Henry’s supporters, the lion, the dragon, and the greyhound; his arms and his badges : a rose frieze and em-battlement. The fan-traceried pendentive stone roof of the Chapel is encrusted with roses, knots of flowers, bosses, pendants, and armorial cognizances; the walls are covered with sunk panels, with feathered mouldings; and in a profusion of niches are statues, and angels with escutcheons; and the royal heraldic devices, the Tudor rose and the fleur-de-lis under crowns. The edifice is lighted by eight clerestory windows.
In the Nave are the dark oaken canopied stalls of the Knights of the Bath, who were installed in this Chapel until 1812: these stalls are studded with portcullises, falcons on fetterlocks, fruit and flowers, dragons and angels; and above each still hangs the banner of its knight. In the centre of the apsis, or east end, within rich and massive gates of brass, is the royal founder’s tomb: a pedestal, with the effigies (supposed liks, (supposenesses) of Henry and his Queen Elizabeth, originally crowned; the whole adorned with pilasters, relievos, rose-branches, and images, on graven tabernacles, of the Kings and patron Saints, all copper-gilt; at the angles are seated angels. This costly tomb is the six years’ work of Pietro Torrigiano, a Florentine, who received for it the large sum of 1500/.: the Perpendicular brazen screen, resembling a Gothic palace, is fine English art: it formerly had thirty-six statues, of which but six remain. The only remnant of old glass in the Chapel is a figure called Henry VII. in the east window.
From Henry VII. to George II., most of the English sovereigns have been interred here. Edward VI. was buried near the high altar, but is without tomb or inscription. In the North Aisle, in the same tomb, lie the Queens Mary and Elizabeth, with a large monument to Elizabeth, by Maximilian Coulte, erected by James I.
* The bigot Mary rests in the Abbey Church of Westminster, but no storied monument, no costly tomb, has been raised to her memory. She was interred with all the solemn funeral rites used by the Church, and a mass of requiem, on the north side of the chapel of Henry VII. During 1 the reign of her successor not the slightest mark of respect was shown to her memory by the erection of a monument; and even at the present day no other memorial remains to point out where she lies, except two small black tablets at the base of the sumptuous tomb erected by order of King James I. over the ashes of Elizabeth aud her less fortunate sister. On them we read as follows :
BEGXO CONSOBTES ET VEITA HIC OBDOE-
jinu-s elizabetha
ET MAEIA SOKOHIS
IN SPE BESTBBEC-
TIOKIS.
Sir JF. Madden; Privy-Purge Expenses of the Princess Mary, i(c.
Near Queen Elizabeth’s monument is an alabaster cradle and effigy of the infant daughter of James I.; which King, with his Queen Anne, and son Prince Henry, the Queen of Bohemia, and Arabella Stuart, lie beneath. Next is a white marble sarcophagus, containing the supposed remains of Edward V. and his brother Richard, murdered in the Tower by order of their uncle, King Richard III. Near it is a recast* bent figure, by Sir R. Westmacott, R. A., of the Duke of Montpensier, brother of Louis Philippe, King of the French. Next is the grave of Addison, whose elegant and impressive essay on the Abbey Church and its monuments is inseparable from its history ; and close by is the great pyramidal monument of Addison’s friend and patron, the Earl of Halifax. The headless corpse of Charles I. was buried at Windsor. The Protector was buried in Henry VII.’s Chapel, but in about two years his remains were removed. In the South Aisle was interred Charles II., ” without any manner of pomp, and soon forgotten” (Evelyn). James II. has no place here; the vacant space next his brother’s remains being occupied by William III. and his Queen. Anne and Prince George complete the royal occupants of the vault. In the centre of the Chapel, in another vault, g Rother vare the remains of King George II. and Queen Caroline, as it were in one “receptacle, a side from each coffin having been removed by the King’s direction. In the same vault rests Frederick Prince of Wales, father of George III., beside the Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden. In the South Aisle is the altar-tomb of Margaret Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., with a brass effigy by Torrigiano; a very fine altar-tomb, with effigy, of Lord Darnley’s mother, who ” had to her great-grandfather King Edward IV., to her grandfather King Henry VII., to her uncle King Henry VIII., to her cousin-german King Edward VI., to her brother King James V. of Scotland, to her son (Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots), King Henry I. (of Scotland), and to her grandchild King James VI. (of Scotland),” and I. of England. Here also is the tomb, with effigy, of Mary Queen of Scots, erected by Cornelius Cure for James L, who removed his mother’s remains thither from Peterborough Cathedral. In the same aisle lies Monk, Duke of Albemarle, whose funeral Charles II. personally attended: the statue monument is by Kent. Here likewise are interred George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (assassinated 1G28), and his son, the profligate Duke.
Henry VII. did not live to see this Chapel finished; but his will, dated a.d. 1509, contains orders and directions for its completion. In several parts of the walls is repeated a rebus, formed by an eye and a slip or branch of a tree, indicating the name of the founder, Islip. The Chapel had, at the beginning of the present century, been built only about 300 years; within a period of thirty-three years no less a sum than nearly 70,000£. was spent in repairs, chiefly of the exterior.* In 1793, James Wyatt stated that the repairs, necessary and ornamental, would amount to 25.200Z. The restoration was commenced in 1810; contrary to Wyatt’s estimate, it occupied thirteen years instead of three, and cost over 42.000J.
The choristers had a right to levy a fine on any person who entered this Chapel with spurs:
* Henry the Seventh’s Chapel is built of stone from the quarries between the town of Rcigate aud-the chalk hills to the north.—Webster; Oeolog. Trans,
Bishop Finch had to pay eighteenpencc for offending; and even the Koyal Duke of Cumberland, excusing himself with this reply, ” It is only fair I should wear my spurs where they were first buckled on,” complied with the custom. It was made the Chapel ofthe Knights of the Bath, May 18,1725; the last installation occurred in 1811. On May 9, 1803, according to old custom, the King’s cook met the Knights at Poets’ Corner with a chopping-knife, and addressed them with these words: ” If you break your oath, by virtue of my office I will hack your spurs from off your heels.”
5. St. Paul’s Chapel is crowded with Cinque-cento tombs, rich in marble, gilding, and colour: the tombs of Sir Thomas Bromley, Queen Elizabeth’s Chancellor, hung with banners; of Lord Bourchier, standard-bearer to Henry V. at Agincourt; and of Sir Giles Daubney, are among the best specimens of the period. In frigid and colossal contrast with their beauty, and hiding the Raffaelesque sculptures of Henry the Fifth’s chantry, is the sitting statue of James “Watt, the engineer, by Chantrey, R.A., strangely out of place in a mediaeval Church : the inscription, which contains not a word of flattery, is by Lord Brougham. Next westward you ascend a small staircase, lending to
6. Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, in the rear of the high altar of the Abbey. A square of red tiles marks the site of St. Edward’s altar, which was standing at the coronation of Charles II., and used as the depositary of the regalia. In the centre is the Shrine of the Confessor, erected at the expense of Henry III., and enriched with mosaic, priceless jewels, and images of gold and silver; and bearing a Latin inscription, now almost effaced. Northward is the altar-tomb of Edward I. (d. 1307), of Purbeck marble, ” scantly fynysshed:” it was opened in 1774, when the King’s body was nearly entire. Next is the canopied altar-tomb of Henry III. (1272), once richly dight with glittering marbles and mosaic work of gold, and still bearing a fine brass effigies of the King. At the east end is the altar-tomb and effigies of Eleanor, Queen of Edward I.; its beautiful iron-work, wrought by a smith at Leighton Buzzard in 1293-4, was restored in 1849. To Fabyan’s time, two wax tapers had been kept burning upon Eleanor’s tomb, day and night, from her burial. The statue of the Queen Eleanor is of English workmanship, by William Torel, a goldsmith, and citizen of London. There has been an attempt to prove that he was a member of the Italian family of Torelli; but the name of Torel occurs in documents from the time of the Confessor down to the said William. When the beauty of the statue of the Queen is examined it will be understood how acceptable is this discovery : ” her image most curiously done in brass, gilt with gold; her hair dishevelled, and falling very handsomely about her shoulders; on her head a crown, under a fine canopy, supported by two cherubim, all of brass gilt.” The stone-work ofthe Queen’s tomb was constructed by Master Richard de Crundale, mason, who began the Charing Cross. Above the effigy was originally a canopy of wood, made by Thomas de Hockington, carpenter. This canopy was painted by Master Walter de Durham, who also executed the paintings on the side of the tomb.
Richard II. and his Queen, Anne of Bohemia, are commemorated by a tomb of Petworth marble, inlaid with latten; the fabric cost 2507., the images 400/., and the building of the effigies of copper and latten gilt, linked hand in hand, 400 marks. Henry V., who removed Richard’s remains from Langley, established a Chantry of ” sad and solemn priests,” for his soul’s repose.
The altar-tomb and chantry of Henry V. occupy the east end of the chapel; the head of the King, of solid silver, was stolen from the tomb at the Reformation. ” In Harry the Fifth’s time,” says Sir Philip Sidney, ” the Lord Dudley was his lord-steward, and did that pitiful office in bringing home, as the chief mourner, his victorious master’s dead body, as who goes but to Westminster in the church may see.”
At the King’s burial, three chargers, with their riders excellently armed, were led according to custom, up to the high altar. The iron gates were wrought in the reign of King Henry VI. The screen, flanked with two octagonal towers, is a mass of images of saints, sculptures of his coronation, and heraldic badges. A mutilated effigy of oak lies upon the tomb ; above him arc the remains ofthe armour which he offered here in thanksgiving, the saddle-tree stripped of its blue velvet housings powdered with fleur-de-lys; the small shield, its green damask semee with lilies of France; and that renowned sore broken helmet, its crest deeply dinted with the stroke of D’Alenenn’s battle-axe that stunned him at Agincourt, when it clove away half of his golden crown. The canopies and niches, filled with statues of kings, bishops, abbots, and saints, are very fine.
The archway had formerly ornamented iron gates, made by a London smith, in 1431, but now among the Abbey stores. Next, by
7. St. Erasmus’s Chapel, you enter
8. St. John the Baptist’s Chapel, with a groined roof, coloured end wall, and sculptured arcades. Here are buried several early Abbots of Westminster. An altar-tomb, of freestone, bears the effigy of William de Colchester, wearing gold bracelets bordered with pearls and set with stones, and a gold mitre covered with large pearls, and crosses and stars of precious gems,—a rare piece of monumental costume. Here is a large Cinque-cento monument to Cary, Lord Hunsdon, first cousin and Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth ; in the centre of the area is the altar-tomb of Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter, and his two wives, the second of whom refused to allow her statue to be laid in the left side space, still vacant. The alabaster monument to Colonel Edward Popham. ‘”oneof the Parliament Generals at sea,” was the only one spared at the Restoration. Nearly all the old tombs have lost their canopies. The view from here is very picturesque and varied; and in leaving the Chapel, the eye ranges across the north transept, and down the north aisles of the choir and nave, through a high o’erarching vista of ” dim religious light,”” brightened by a gemmy lancet window.
9. Abbot Islip’s Chapel is elegantly sculptured, and contains his altar-tomb, with an effigy of the Abbot in his winding-sheet. In this chapel was the Wax-work Exhibition, which originated in the olden custom of waxen figures of great persons being formerly borne in their funeral processions, then for a time deposited over their graves, and subsequently removed. Other figures were added; the sight was called by the vulgar, ” The Play of the Dead Volks,” and was not discontinued until 1839. Next the Chapel is the monument to General Wolfe, by Wilton, R.A., with a lead-bronzed bas-relief of the landing at Quebec, executed by Cappizoldi. We now enter the East Aisle of the North Transept, formerly divided by enriched screens into the Chapels of St. John, St. Michael, and St. Andrew. Here is the celebrated tomb of Sir Francis Vere {temp. Elizabeth), his effigy recumbent beneath a canopy on which are his helmet, breastplate, &c, supported by four kneeling knights at the four corners; the design is said to have been borrowed from a tomb at Breda, attributed to Michael Angelo. Roubiliac was found one day with his looks fixed on one of the knights’ figures; ” Hush ! hush \” said he to the Abbey mason, laying his hand on his arm as he approached, and pointing to the figure, ” he will speak presently.” Near this tomb is Roubiliac’s famous monument to Mr. and Mrs. Nightingale, where Death, as a skeleton, is launching his dart at the beautiful wife, who sinks into the arms of her agonized husband. her right arm is the perfection of sculpture: ” life seems slowly receding from her tapering fingers and quivering wrist.” (Allan Cunningham.) Roubiliac died the year after its erection, 1762 : this work touches every heart, but the figure of Death is too literal and melodramatic. Upon the spot, formerly the oratory of St. John the Evangelist, is a marble statue of Mrs. Siddons by Campbell j she is in her famous walking dream as Lady Macbeth. Here is also an alto-relievo, by J. Bacon, jun., to Admiral R. Kempenfeldt, drowned by the sinking of the Royal George, 1782 :
” When Kempenfeldt went down With twice four hundred men.”
Opposite is the colossal statue of Telforis tue of d, the eminent engineer, by Baily, R.A.; and a tablet to Sir Humphry Davy. Eastward is the north side of Henry the Fifth’s Chantry, with his coronation ceremony, and its equestrian war-group, whose poetic grandeur of sculpture so charmed Flaxman.
The shrine of Henry V. is excellently carved. The figures, which are carried along: the screen, in niches, are mostly habited in long gowns, fastened by a buckled belt, and reaching to the feet, with a cloak over them: others represent ecclesiastics ; and several of them have books. The coronation, in a square compartment, is supposed by Gough to represent the coronation of Henry V. in this church, by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry Beaufort, the king’s uncle. The canopies over the coronation, and nine small figures, are surmounted by devices of the swan and antelope alternately. The large cornices under the figures are likewise ornamented with swans and antelopes, collared and chained to a tree, on which is a flaming cresset light.
Near to this Chantry is the tomb of Philippa of Hainault, Queen of Edward III., in the account of its cost stated to have been executed by one ” Hawkin Liege, from France,” though its character is Flemish.
The monument consists of an altar tomb of dark marble overlaid with niches of open work in white alabaster. These niches contained thirty statuettes of different personages, connected by relationship or marriage with the queen. Nearly the whole of the tabernacle-work, though shown as perfect hi the prints of the early part of the last century, has since disappeared.
Next is the highly decorated altar-tomb and effigies of Edward III., with the richest and most perfect canopy in the Abbey: it is Early Perpendicular, and elaborately carved; six statues of Edward’s children remain, of brass-gilt, set in niches; the metal table and effigy are of latten; the head of the King is eulogized by Lord Lindsay as one of almost ideal beauty. The sword, 7 feet in length, and weighing 18 lb., and the plain rough shield of wood, coarsely lined with buckram and rough leather, recal ” the mighty victor, mighty lord.” The state sword and shield were carried before Edward III. in France:
” The monumental sword that conquered France.”— Dryden. Here, also, are three small tombs of children of Edward III., Edward IV., and Henry VII.; likewise, a brass of John de Waltham, Bishop of Salisbury, and Lord High Treasurer, buried, by favour of Richard II., in this ” Chapel of the Kings.” This is parted from the Choir by a shrine of fifteenth-century work, its frieze bearing the following 14 sculptures, from the life of the last legitimate Anglo-Saxon King :
1. Prelates and nobles doing fealty to Edward the Confessor before he was born. 2. Birth of the Confessor. 3. The Confessor’s Coronation. 4. The Confessor witnessing the Devil dancing on the Danegelt Tax in casks. 5. Edward admonishing the thief stealing his treasure. 6. Christ appearing to Edward. 7. Vision—King of Denmark falling into the sea. 8. Tosti and Harold’s quarrel. 9. Vision— Emperor Theodosius and Cave of Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. 10. Edward giving his ring to St. John Evangelist. 11. Restoration of the Blind, by use of water in which Edward had washed. 12. St. John giving Edward’s ring to Pilgrims. 13. Pilgrims returning the ring to Edward. 14. Called ” Dedication of Edward the Confessor’s Church.”
The two upper stories of the Shrine are of wainscot, and were probably erected by Abbot Feckenham, in Queen Mary’s reign. The massive iron-bound oaken coffin containing the ashes of the pious Edward, within the ancient stonework, may be seen from the parapet of Henry V.’s Chapel.
Two illuminations from the life of St. Edward, in the University Library, Cambridge, show—1. One end of the Shrine in which the saint was, probably, first deposited after canonization, with the infirm persons creeping through the openings left in his tomb for this purpose. There is a pillar on either side of the Shrine surmounted by statues of St. John the Evangelist and Edward the Confessor. It is therefore probable that the two large twisted columns which we now see at the basement of the Shrine served for a similar purpose. 2. The side of the same Shrine. The lid is raised, upheld by several persons; and four other persons, one of whom is doubtless intended to represent Gundulph, who vainly endeavoured to abstract one of the hairs of the beard, are readjusting the saint’s remains. His features and beard are shown as in perfect preservation; and there is a crown upon his head.
Mr. John Gough Nichols, from diaries kept during the days of Queen Mary, shows that the body of the Confessor had been removed, and the Shrine, wholly or in part, taken down at the Dissolution, but restored in Queen Mary’s time, when the present wooden Shrine, cornice, modern inscription, and painted decorations were added. Mr. Scott, however, thinks the marble substructure to have been only in part removed. There is, in Abbot Litlington’s service-book in the Abbey Library, a view of the Shrine—it is feared, an imaginary one. The substructure is speckled over to represent mosaic work, but the seven arched recesses for pilgrims to kneel under, which really occupy two sides and an end, are all shown on one side! The Shrine has on its sloped covering a recumbent figure of the Confessor. Mr. Scott opened the ground round the half-buried pillars at the west end, and found them to agree in height with those at the east, which they so much exceed in diameter; and he recovered the broken parts of one of the eastern pillars, and refitted and refixed its numerous fragments with the help of one new piece of only a few inches in length; so that we have now one perfect pillar.
Some seven years ago, Mr. P. Cunningham found in the Accounts of the Paymaster of Works and Buildings, belonging to the Crown during the reign of King James II., the following entry:—
” Paid to Mathew Bankes, for a large coffin by him made to enclose the body of St. Edward the Confessor, and setting it up in its place, in the year 1685,-6/. 28. 8d. And to William Backe, locksmith, for large hinges and rivetts, and 2 crossebarrs for the said coffin,— 21. 17*. 7d.”
” I have seen ” (says Keepe) “a large chest or coffin, bound about with strong bands of iron, lying about the midst of the inside of this shrine, where I suppose the body of the pious Confessor may still be conserved.” Keepe’s work was published in 1681; and four years after, at the taking down of the scaffolding, erected for the coronation of James II., a hole was either accidentally or purposely broken in the lid of t An the lihe Confessor’s coffin. ” On putting my hand into the hole ” (says Keepe), ” and turning the hones which 1 felt there, I drew from underneath the shoulder-bones a crucifix, richly adorned and enamelled, and a gold chain, twenty-four inches long.” The crucifix and chain of the last but one of our Saxon kings were accepted by the last of our Stuart kings. Their destiny is, I believe, unknown.
With their hacks to the screen stand the two Coronation Chairs used at the crowning of the British sovereigns. One was made by order of Edward I. to hold the Scone stone, of legendary fame, and which had been for ages the coronation seat of the Scottish kings : it is of reddish-grey sandstone, 26 by 16f inches, and \0\ inches thick. The companion chair was made for the coronation of Mary, Queen of William III. Both chairs are of architectural design : the ancient one, St. Edward’s Chair, is supported upon four lions; and both are covered with gold-frosted tissue, and cushioned, when used at coronations.
Mr. Burges believes that the Chair was ornamented with painting, gilding, glass, jewels, and enamels in a similar mode as were the sedilia and retabulum. The gilding of the chair was effected by a process not hitherto detected. After the usual ” gesso ” was applied, and the gold laid on by means of white of egg, and the ground thus formed was still elastic, a blunt instrument was used to prick out the pattern. By the aid of a dark lantern and a strong lens, the decorations have been made out by Mr. Tracey. At the back of the chair are remains of the representation of a king there, seated on a cushion diapered with lozenges, with his feet resting on a lion. On the dexter side are traces of birds and foliage;—on the sinister a diaper of compound quatrefoils with a different subject, such as a knight, a monster, a bird, foliage, in each quatrefoil.
In the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward I.’s time there is a charge by Master Walter, the painter, for the costs and expenses incurred by him for making one step at the foot of the new chair (in which is the stone from Scotland), set up near the altar in St. Edward’s Shrine in the Abbatial Church at Westminster, in pursuance of the order of the King, for the wages of the carpenter and painter for painting the same, together with making a case for covering the chair. The cost of this was 11. 19s. 7d. The coronation-stone is placed within the framework of the chair: at each end is a circular iron handle, affixed to a staple within the stone itself, so that it might be lifted up.
In 1297, according to Stow, Edward I. offered at the Confessor’s Shrine the chair, containing the famous stone; and the sceptre and crown of gold of the Scottish sovereigns, which he had brought from the Abbey of Scone. The Prophetic or Fatal Stone is named from the belief of the Scots that whenever it was lost, the power of the nation would decline; it was also superstitiously called Jacob’s Pillow. The mosaic pavement of this chapel, by Abbot Ware, is as old as the Confessor’s Shrine : its enigmatical designs in tesserae of coloured marbles, porphyry, jasper, alabaster, &c, are very curious.
The North Transept, from its number of political memorials, is sometimes called Statesmen’s Corner, in correspondence with Poets’ Corner, in the South Transept.
The North Transept contains some important modern monuments : such are Bacon’s statue of the great Lord Chatham, with allegoric orith allal figures; and Nollekens’s large group of pyramid, allegory, and medallion, to the three Captains mortally wounded in Rodney’s victory of April 12, 1782 : these are national tributes, erected by the King and Parliament. The memorials to naval commanders here are numerous, and their heroic suffering is usually narrated in medallion. Mrs. Warren and child, sometimes entitled ” Charity,” for pathetic treatment has few rivals in modern sculpture; it is by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A. One of the grandest works here is Flaxman’s sitting statue of Lord Chief-Justice Mansfield, supported by figures of Wisdom and Justice; in the rear of the pedestal is the crouching figure of a condemned youth, with the torch of life reversed, or it is better described as ” a criminal, by Wisdom delivered up to Justice.” (Cunningham’s Handbook of Westminster Abbey.) Lord Mansfield rests beneath this memorial: it cost 2500Z., bequeathed by a private individual for its erection. In the pavement here are buried Chatham, Pitt, and Fox; Castlereagh, Canning, and Grattan; Lord Colchester and William Wilberforce:
“Now—taming thought to human pride I—
The mighty chiefs sleep side by side.
Drop upon Fox’s grave the tear,
‘Twill trickle to his rival’s bier;
O’er Pitt’s the mournful requiem sound,
And Fox’s shall the notes rebound.” Sir Walter Scott.
Fox’s memorial, by Westmacott, shows the orator dying in the arms of Liberty,
attended by Peace and a kneeling negro. Canova said of the figure of the African
in this group, that ” neither in England nor out of England had he seen any modern
work in marble which surpassed it.” King George IV. subscribed 1000 guineas
towards this monument. Pitt’s monument, by the same sculptor, is over the great western door of the Nave. In the north aisle of the Choir, leading to the Nave, are Chantrey’s marble portrait-statues of Horner, Canning, Malcolm, and Raffles ; a statue of Follett, by Behnes; John Philip Kemble (without a name), modelled by Flaxman, but executed after his death ; Wilberforce, by S. Joseph; and, opposite Canning, the late Marquis of Londonderry, by J. E. Thomas—placed here, in 1850, by the Marquis’s brother. Nearly opposite is the grave of Viscount Palmerston, d. October 18,1865.
Here are three monuments by Wilton: statue of General Wolfe, and figures; statue of Adiniral Holmes, in Roman armour; and William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, statues and medallion.
The more ancient monuments, of the larger size, are those of William Cavendish, the loyalist Duke of Newcastle, and his Duchess; and his kinsman, the Duke John Holies. Here, too, are memorials of our old admirals, Sir Charles Wager, Vernon of Portobr hnon of ello, and Sir Peter Warren, by Scheemakers, Rysbrack, and Roubiliac. Here are busts, by Weekes, of Charles Buller and Sir George Cornewall Lewis, the latter in the western porch, and adjoining the monuments to Follett, Kemble, and Lieut.-Gen. Sir Eyre Coote. Next, also, are the bust of Warren Hastings, by Bacon; Thrupp’s statue of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton ; and Sir Robert Peel, by Gibson, R.A. Here, likewise, is the mural monument, by Noble, to Sir James Outram—a bust surmounting a historical group of the meeting of Outram, Havelock, and Clyde, at Lucknow : the tablet supported by figures of a Scindian and Bheel chief.
The six lancet windows of the North Transept, painted with figures of Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Gideon, David, and Jonathan, and with medallion pictures of their chief exploits, were erected in memory of six officers of Sir James Outram’s army, killed in the Indian War of 1857 and 1858; another window, in the aisle to the left, is dedicated to that of Brigadier the Hon. Adrian Hope. The rose-window, higher up, filled with paintings of the Saviour, the twelve Apostles, and the four Evangelists, is of much older date.
The Choir is in height the loftiest in England. The light and graceful piers are ornamented with detached shafts filleted with brass. The triforium, or gallery immediately above the aisles, where the nuns of Kilburn are traditionally said to have attended service, is an arcade of double compartments of two arches with a cinquefoil in the head; the arches narrow towards the apse, and become sharply pointed. This arcade is probably the most beautiful example in existence of its kind. Mr. Scott says:—” The spaciousness of this upper story is quite surprising to persons who see it for the first time. It is capable of containing thousands of persons, and its architectural and artistic effects, as viewed from different points, are wonderfully varied and beautiful.” Its convenience for public solemnities, as coronations, was very great; and it is to be wished that access to these noble triforial galleries, from which by far the most beautiful views of the interior are to be had, were more freely granted to such visitors as would appreciate the privilege. Mr. Burges suggests, not altogether without probability, that it was in the spacious triforium that Caxton first set up his printing-press in Westminster Abbey.
The clerestory windows are of two lights : the spandrels are chiselled with diaper work in small panels, containing flowers in low relief. The piers of the lantern are massive and grand—one continuous upward line of grey marble, surrounded by sixteen shafts wrought out of the main column. The bosses in the vault were gilded in the time of Queen Anne. The vaulting of plaster under the lantern is by Bernasconi, and designed by James Wyatt, who set up the paltry altar screen at the coronation of George IV.
The pavement of opus Alexandrintim, on the altar platform, was made by a Roman artist for Abbot Ware, circa 1268. An inscription on the pavement says:—”Odericus et Abbas hos compegere por-phyreos lapides.” But for three peculiarities indicated by Mr. Burges, it might be supposed that Abbot Ware had brought this present for his church from Home in its finished state; an examination will show that the Italian ground for mosaics, cippolino, not being obtainable in this country, Purbeck was substituted; that legends in brass letters were inserted in the Purbeck borders; and that glass was introduced; facts which show conclusively that it was of Northern workmanship. Among the sums paid by the executors of Queen Eleanor was an account of sixty shillings to William le Pavo/p>lliam lur ” pro pavimento faciendo in Ecclesia West.” This, it is conjectured, relates to the mosaic pavement in the chapel of Edward the Confessor.—Scott’s Gleanings from Westminster Abbey.
The Choir was formerly hung with beautiful tapestries, and cloth of arras, which, on
K 2
Jan. 4, 1644, were transferred to the Parliament House, given back at the Restoration, and finally removed in 1707: a portion is now in the Jerusalem Chamber.
The Choir has some fine canopied monuments. On the north side is the richly-canopied tomb of Avelina, Countess of Lancaster; of Aymej de Valence, Earl of Pembroke (best seen from the north aisle); and Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, second son of Edward III. Aymer de Valence was one of the heroes of Bannockburn, and fell wounded by a tilting-spear in France, June 23, 1323: Gray portrays his countess as—
The sad Chatillon on her bridal morn
Who wept her bleeding love.
The monument was thus described by Keepe in 1683:—
” A wainscot chest, covered over with plates of brass, richly enamelled, and thereon the image of de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, with a deep shield on his left arm, in a coat of mail with a surcoat, all of the same enamelled brass, gilt with gold, and beset with the arms of Valence, &c. * * * Round about the inner ledge of this tomb is most of the epitaph remaining, in the ancient Saxon letters; and the rest of the chest, covered with brass, wrought in the form of lozenges, each lozenge containing either the arms of England or of Valence, alternately placed one after the other, enamelled with their colours. Round this chest have been thirty little brazen images, some of them still remaining, twelve on each side, and three at each end, divided by central arches that serve as niches to enclose them; and on the outward ledge, at the foot of these images, is placed a coat of arms in brass enamelled with the colours.”
Flaxman characterizes the two latter monuments as ” specimens of the magnificence of our sculpture in the reign of the first two Edwards. The loftiness of the work, the number of arches and pinnacles, the lightness of the spires, the richness and profusion of foliage and crockets, the solemn repose of the principal statue, representing the deceased in his last prayer for mercy at the throne of grace; the delicacy of thought in the group of angels bearing the soul, and the tender sentiment of concern variously expressed in the relations ranged in order round the basement,—forcibly arrest the attention, and carry the thoughts not only to other ages, but to other states of existence.” In the South aisle of the Choir is part of a splendid altar frontal (thirteenth century), discovered in 1827.
This is a very wonderful work of art, being most richly decorated with glass, gold, and painting, and probably with precious stones, and even with casts of antique gems. The glass enrichments are of two sorts—in one the glass is coloured, and is decorated on its face with gold diaper; in the otheres; in thr it is white, and laid upon a decorated surface. The great charm, however, of the work must have been in the paintings. They consist of single figures in niches of our Lord and SS. Peter and Paul, and two female saints, and a number of small medallion subjects beautifully painted.
On the south is the Cinque-cento altar-tomb of Anne of Cleves, one of King Henry VIII.’s six wives, which is so miserable as to have led old Fuller to observe, ” not one of Harry’s wives had a monument, and she but half a one ;” above is the tomb of King Sebert, erected in 1308, and bearing two pictures, Sebert and Henry III., among our earliest specimens of oil-painting, and in tolerable condition.
In 1848, the oak refitting of the Choir was completed j the Organ over the screen at the west entrance was then partly removed to the sides, and partly lowered, so as not to intercept the view of the great west window. On each side are ranged oaken stalls, with decorated gables, those for the Dean and Sub-dean distinguished by loftier canopies, and the western entrance being still more enriched; the pew-fronts and seat-ends are also carved, and many more sittings have been provided: the carved wood-work is by Messrs. Ruddle, of Peterborough, from designs by E. Blore. The great circular or marigold window, and the triforium and other windows beneath it, in the South Transept, have been filled with stained glass by Ward and Nixon ; the subjects are incidents in the life of our Saviour, with figures nearly three feet high. From the cross of the Transepts, the magnificent perspective of the high imbowed roof of the Nave and Choir, and the great height of the edifice, nearly 104 feet, is seen to the best advantage. The pavement is partly Abbot Ware’s, and in part black and white marble, the latter given by Dr. Busby, of Westminster School. The decorations of the altar are in the Gothic style; but a classic order disgraced the choir from the days of Queen Anne to the reign of George IV. The original stalls of the choir seem to have been retained in a more or less perfect state till late in the last century. They are shown in the view given by Dart, and in that given in Sandford’s account of the coronation of James II. The canopies are there supported by single shafts. The sedilia are more than usually curious, from the fact that they are made of wood. They have suffered much since Sir J. Ayliffe had them and the tomb of Avelina, Countess of
Lancaster, drawn for the Vetusta Honumenta, in 1778. There are four of them : but no trace is found of a piscina. They appear to have been elaborately decorated by processes similar to that which beautified the retabulum, which was discovered by Mr. Blore, in 1827, lying on the top of the effigy cases in the upper chapel of Abbot Islip. It is a rich specimen of thirteenth-century workmanship j and has been restored to its place at the back of the high altar.
The north aisle of the Choir, leading to the Nave, has been described as a sort of Musicians’ Corner; for here rests Purcell, with the striking epitaph, attributed to Dryden: ” Here lies Henry Purcell, Esq., who left this life, and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded.” On the same pillar is a memorial of Samuel Arnold; both Purcell and Arnold were organists of the Abbey. Opposite is a tablet to Dr. Blow; and close by lies Dr. Croft, another organist of the Abbey, whose death is said to have been brought on by his attendance at the coronation of George II.
Coronations. —In this Abbey-chacethis Aburch the following monarchs and consorts have been crowned:—
Jan. 6,1066, Harold; Dee. 25, “William ; Sept. 26,1087, William II.; Aug. 6, 1094, Henry I.; Dec. 26,1135, Stephen of BLis; March 22, 1135-6, Matilda of Boulogne; Dec. 19, 1154, Henry II. and Eleanor of Aquitaine; Sunday after St. Barnabas’ day, 1170, Prince Henry; Sept. 3, 1189, Richard I.; May 27, 1199, John; Oct. 28, 1216, Henry III., and again Feb. 1236, with Eleanor of Provence; Aug. 19, 1272, Kdward I. with Eleanor of Castile ; Quinquagesima, 1308, Edward II., and Isabella of France; Feb. 2, 1327, Edward III., and Philippa of Hainault; Richard II., July 16,1377; Jan.14,1382, Anne of Bohemia; Oct. 13,1399, Henrv IV., and Feb. 26, 1403, Joan of Bretagne, with the sacred unguent of Rheims; April 9,1421, Henry V., and Feb. 24,1421, Katherine of Valois; Nov. 6, 1421, Henry VI.; Mav30, 14 to, Margaret of Anjou; June 8, 1460, Edward IV., and Ascension-Day, 1465, Elizabeth Woodville; July 5,1483, Richard HI.; Oct.30,1485,Henry VII., and.Nov.25,1487, Elizabeth of York; June 24,1509, Henry VIII. and Catherine of Aragon; Whitsun-Day 1533, Anna Boleyn; Shrove Tuesday, 1547, Edward VI.; Oct. 2,1552, Mary; Jan. 13,1558-9, Elizabeth; July 25,1603, James I. (the service for the first time being in the English tongue); Feb. 2,1626, Charles I., ominously clad in white satin; St. George’s Day, 1661, Charles II.; St. George’s Day, 1685, James II., and Mary of Modena; April 18, 1689, William of Orange and Mary, when Lord Danby had to produce twenty guineas at the offertory, as the purse had been stolen at the king’s side [“the Bishop of London put the crown on the king’s head,as Dr. Sancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would not take the oaths to their Majesties]; April 23,1702, Anne; Oct. 20, 1714, George I., who rudely repulsed Dean Atterbury’s ceremonious offer of the canopy and chair of state, but refused to wear his crown while receiving the Holy Communion, saying it was indecent so to appear before the King of kings; Oct. 11, 1727, George II. and Caroline of Anspach; Sept. 22nd, 1761, George III. (the kiss of charity was omitted, and mitres were first disused by the prelates): July 19,1821, George IV.; Sept. 8, 1831, William and Adelaide, without coronation feast and procession, or champion’s challenge; June 28,1838, “The Hanover Thursday,” Queen Victoria; when, for the first time since the Revolution, a sovereign was desired to lay aside the crown before receiving the Holy Communion; and a procession of coaches was substituted for the ancient procession on foot.— Walcott’s Guide to the Cathedrals, 1858.
Upon most occasions, the sacred ceremony was followed by a banquet in the Great Hall of the Palace of Westminster. The last of these festivities was that at the coronation of George IV. On the night previous, the King reposed on a couch in the tapestry-room of the Speaker’s official residence in the Old Palace; and next morning the royal procession advanced along a raised platform, covered by an awning, from Westminster Hall to the Abbey Church, where the King was crowned; and then returned to the Great Hall, where the banquet was served.
The entire cost of this Coronation is stated to have exceeded a quarter of a million, or more than 268,000^. It has been commemorated in one of the most costly works of pictorial art ever produced— the Illustrated History of the Coronation of George IV., by Sir George Nayler: containing forty-five splendidly coloured plates, atlas folio, price fifty guineas per copy. Sir George lost a considerable sum by the publication, although Government voted 50001. towards the expenses. Sir George also undertook al so undea much more costly memorial of this Coronation for George IV., but it was never completed. The portion executed contains seventy-three coloured drawings, finished like enamels, on velvet and white satin: the portraits are very accurate likenesses, and many of the coronets have rubies, emeralds, pearls, and brilliants set in gold; each portrait costing fifty guineas, first-hand.—H. Bonn’s Catalogue.
At the coronation of Queen Victoria, temporary reception apartments were erected at the great western entrance to the Abbey Church; the Nave was fitted with galleries and seats for spectators, as were also the Choir and Transepts; the peers were seated in the North Transept, and the peeresses South ; and the House of Commons in a gallery over the altar; and the orchestra of 400 performers in front of the organ. At the intersection of the Choir and Transepts was the theatre, or pulpitum, covered with rich carpets and cloth of gold, in the centre of which, upon a raised platform, stood the Chair of Homage. At the north-east corner of the theatre was the pulpit, whence ” the Coronation Sermon” was preached. The crowning in St. Edward’s Chair took place in the Sacrarium, before the altar, in front of St. Edward’s Chapel;
and behind the altar was ” the Queen’s Traverse,” or retiring-room. (See ” Coronation Chairs,” described at p. 132.)
At the altar were married the Princesses Joan and Margaret, May 2, 1281; and Henry and Elizabeth, January 18, 1486; here were offered the spoils of Wales, April, 1285 ; here, when Prince Edward was made a Knight, two knights were stifled in the crowd, and the King swore him and his nobles on the two golden swans that were carried up in procession, to avenge John Cornyn.and conquer Scotland. Here Henry V. offered the trappings of his coursers on his return from France, to be converted into vestments. Here, August 11, 1381, the Constable of the Tower and Sir Ralph Farren slew a squire who had fought at Najara, and a monk who endeavoured to save him, before the Prior’s stall: as in 1380 Wat Tyler’s mob slew a man before the Shrine. Here Abbot Weston celebrated mass in armour, when Sir T. Wyatt was marching on London; and afterwards silenced his opponents in a famous disputation, saying, ” You have the word, but we have the sword.”—Walcott’s Handbook.
The Nave has almost every variety of memorial—sarcophagus and statue, bust and brass, tablet and medallion, mostly modern. Immediately behind the memorial of Fox, on the left, as the visitor enters the great western door, are a marble bust of Sir James Mackintosh, and busts of Zachary Macaulay, Tierney, and other public men. In the southern aisle of the Choir, leading to the Nave, is Bird’s monument to Sir Cloudesley Shovel, personifying ” the brave, rough English Admiral” by a periwigged beau, which was so justly complained of by Addison and the pious Dr. Watts. Opposite is Behnes’s bust of Dr. Bell, the founder of the Madras System of Education ; and near it is the monument .to Thomas Thynne, of Longleat, Wilts: he was shot in his coach, at the end of the Haymarket, Sunday, Feb. 12, 16S2, as sculptured on the tomb. Here, too, is a fine bust, by Le Socur, of Sir Thomas Richardson, Lord Chief-Justice (temp. Charles I.); and a bust of Pasquale de Paoli, the Corsican chief. Here, also, are the monuments to Dr. South, the witty prebendary of the Church; Dr. Busby, master of Westminster School; and Dr. Isaac Watts, buried in Bunhill Fields.
In the two side arches of the Choir screen are the monuments of Sir Isaac h Eof Sir Newton, and James, first Earl Stanhope; both designed by Kent, and executed by Rysbrack : Newton’s is characterized by the celestial globe, with the course of the comet of 1681, and the genius of Astronomy above it. In the screen niches are statues of Edward the Confessor, Henry III., and Edward L, and their respective queens.
In the Nave north aisle is a weeping female, by Flaxman, to the memory of George Lindsay Johnstone—a touching memorial of sisterly sorrow. One of the few old monuments here is that to Mrs. James Hill—a kneeling figure and sheeted skeleton, and the mottoes: ” Mors mihi lucrum,” and ” Solus Christus mihi sola salus.” Near the above is the Parliamentary figure-group, by Westmacott, to Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister, shot by Bellingham, in the lobby of the House of Commons, May 11, 1812; the assassination is sculptured rearward of the figures. Here also are several interesting monuments to heroes who have fallen in battle: as, Colonel Bringfield, killed by a cannon-shot at Ramilies whilst remounting the great Duke of Marlborough on a fresh horse ; the three brothers Twysden, who fell in their country’s service in three successive years; Captains Harvey, Hutt, and Montagu, who fell in Lord Howe’s victory of June 1; Sir Richard Fletcher, killed at St. Sebastian; and the Hon. Major Stanhope, at Corunna. Here, too, is a plain tablet to Banks, the sculptor, R.A.; a monument to Sir Godfrey Kneller, the painter, by Rysbrack, after Sir Godfrey’s own design, Pope furnishing the epitaph: Kneller is buried in Twickenham Church. Towards the middle of the Nave are the gravestones of Major Rennell, the geographer; and Thomas Telford, the engineer; and near Banks’s tablet is buried Ben Jonson, his coffin set on its feet, and originally covered with a stone inscribed ” O rare Ben Jonson !” By his side lies Tom Killigrew, the wit of Charles the Second’s court; and opposite, his son, killed at the battle of Almanza, in Spain, 1707. In the north aisle, too, is a large brass to the memory of Sir Robert Wilson, the soldier and politician, and Dame Jemima, his wife; with figures of a mediaeval warrior in coat of mail, and of a mediaeval lady, under canopies; and below are two groups of seven boys and seven girls! Side by side are memorials of Robert Stephenson, the engineer, and John Hunter, the surgeon, removed here in 1859, from the Church of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields; the memorials are of polished granite, inlaid and bordered with brass.
Over the west door “is Westmacott’s statue-memorial to the Right Hon. William Pitt: it cost 6300Z., then the largest sum ever voted by Government for a national monument. To the left is a large marble monument to Lord Holland, by Baily, R.A., erected by public subscription in 1848; the design—the prison-house of Death, with three poetic figures in lamentation, bassi-relievi on the two sides, and the whole surmounted by a colossal bust of the deceased Lord—is, perhaps, the finest architectural and sculptural combination in the Abbey.
We now reach the south tower of the western front, used as the Consistory Court, and Chapel for Morning Prayers.
In the south aisle of the Nave, commencing from the west, is the tomb of Captain Cornewall, who fell in the sea-fight off” Toulon, 1743; this being the first monument voted by Parliament for naval services.
Next is the statue of the Right Hon. James Craggs, the friend of Pope and Addison ; and Bird’s bust-monument to Congreve, the great dramatic poet, erected at the expense of Henrietta Duchess d setta Duof Marlborough, to whom Congreve, ” for reasons not known or not mentioned,” bequeathed 10,000/. Among the noticeable personages interred here, without memorials, is Dean Atterbury—the place his own previous choice, being, as he told Pope, ” as far from kings and kaesars as the space will admit of;” also Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, buried ” in a very fine Brussels-lace head, a Holland shift, with a tucker and double ruffles of the same lace, a pair of new kid gloves,” &c.; to which Pope thus alludes:—
” Odiou3 ! in woollen! ‘twould a saint provoke,
(Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke):
No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
Wrap my cold limbs and shade my lifeless face;
One would not, sure, be frightful when one’s dead—
And—Betty, give this cheek a little red.”
Eastward is the sculptural burlesque deservedly known as “the Pancake Monument,” to Admiral Tyrrell, with its patchy clouds, coral rocks, cherubs, harps, palm-branches, and other allegorical absurdities. Between three successive windows are the monuments, by Roubiliac, of Lieut.-Gen. Hargrave, Maj.-Gen. Fleming, and Marshal Wade, all in the conventional school of allegory. Next are a good bust, by Bird, of Sidney, Earl of Godolphin, chief minister to Queen Anne; alto-relievo and figures to Lieut.-Coh Townsend, killed by a cannon-ball at Ticonderago, in his 28th year ; and a monument, by Bushnell, to Sir Palmes Fairborne, governor of Tangier, with inscription by Dryden. We now reach the tomb of Major Andre, who was executed by the Americans as a spy in 1780; his remains were removed here in 1821 : the bas-relief shows Andre as a prisoner in the tent of Washington, with the bearer of a flag of truce to solicit his pardon. This monument was put up at the expense of George III.; the heads of the principal figures have been several times mischievously knocked off, but as often restored. The new pulpit, on the north side of the Nave, was designed by Scott, R.A* and executed by William Farmer. Its sculptural details are as follow:
The pulpit is composed principally of magnesian limestone from the Mansfield Woodhouse quarry. It is octagonal, with a capping of red Devon marble. The cornice is ornamented with leaves and flowers of the columbine. At the angles are figures of the four Evangelists and of St. Peter and St. Paul under canopies. In one panel is the face of our Lord, in white marble, well sculptured by Monro. In the other panels are lozenges containing circular medallions of mosaic work in different coloured marbles. The capping of the string which runs round the bottom of the panels is of grey Derbyshire marble : the string is ornamented with First Pointed foliage. The pulpit is supported on columns of Devonshire marble at the angles, and a larger one in the centre; the capitals being of Early Pointed character. The columns of the staircase are of the same. The figures of the Apostles are well carved. The nave has been fitted for special Sunday services.
The Jerusalem Chamber, adjoining the south tower of the Western front, is now used as the Chapter-house. Its northern win ca northedow has some stained glass, temp. Edward III.; and here hangs the ancient portrait of Richard II. in the Coronation chair. In the Jerusalem Chamber died Henry IV., brought from the Confessor’s Shrine in the Abbey in a fit of apoplexy, March 20, 1413. Being carried into this Chamber, he asked, on rallying, where he was; and when informed, he replied, to use the words of Shakspeare, founded on history—
” Laud be to God! even here my life must end: It hath been prophesied to me many years, I should not die but in Jerusalem.”
King Henry IV., Part 2, act iv. sc.4.
Here the body of Congreve lay in state, before bis pompous funeral, at which noblemen bore the pall. Here, too, Addison lay in state, before his burial in Henry VII.’s Chapel, as pictured in Tickell’s elegy:—
” Can I forget the dismal night that gave My soul’s best part for ever to the grave ? How silent did his old companions tread, By midnight lamps, the mansions of the dead : Through breathing statues, then unheeded things; Through rows of warriors, and through walks of kings,” &c.
The Chapter-house, an exquisitely beautiful specimen of mediaeval Gothic architecture, was originally built by Edward the Confessor; the existing walls are of the time of Henry III. Fabric-rolls and other papers discovered by Mr. Burtt have proved the very important fact that the Chapter-house, which is the latest part of the work of Henry III., was finished ready for glazing so early as 1253; and a Parliament was held here in 1264. The Chapter-house was the most usual place of meeting of the House of Commons through the Middle Ages, until the dissolution of the Collegiate body of St. Stephen had put the Royal Chapel of the Plantagenets at the disposal of the Legislature. Originally lent by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster for the casual use of Parliament, the building was quietly appropriated by the Tudors after the reason of the loan had passed away. Room was wanted for records, and the Chapterhouse provided a tempting expanse of wall space. So the rich tile floor was boarded over, and thereby luckily preserved; the traceried windows were gutted and walled up; the vaulted roof was demolished by some builder, after Wren had refused the job, and the whole interior choked with recesses and galleries equally concealing wall-painting and carved-work. Mr. Scott thus gives the details:
It is an octagon of 18 feet diameter, and had a vaulted roof, which was supported by a central pillar about 35 feet high. It is entirely of Purbeck marble, and consists of a central shaft, surrounded by eight subordinate shafts attached to it by three moulded bands. The capital, though of marble, is most richly carved. The doorway itself has been truly a noble one. It was double, divided by a single central pillar and a circle in the head, whether pierced or containing sculpture cannot be ascertained, as it is almost entirely destroyed. The jambs and arch are magnificent. The former contains on the outer side four large shafts of Purbeck marble; their caps are of the same material, and most richly carved, and the spaces between the 6hafts beautifully foliated. The walls below the windows are occupied by arcade d stalls, with trefoiled heads. The five which occupy the eastern side are of superior richness and more deeply recessed. Their capitals, carved in Purbeck marble, are of exquisite beauty. The spandrels over the arch are diapered, usually witaft, usualh the square diaper so frequent in the church, but in one instance with a beautifully executed pattern of roses. One of the most remarkable features in the Chapterhouse is the painting at the back of the stalls. The general idea represented by this painting would appear to be our Lord exhibiting the mysteries of the Kedemption to the heavenly host. In the central compartment our Lord sits enthroned; His hands are held up to show the wounds, and the chest bared for the same purpose; above are angels holding a curtain or dossel, behind the throne, and on either side are others bearing the instruments of the Passion. The whole of the remaining spaces are filled by throngs of cherubim and seraphim. The former occupy the most important position, and are on the large scale. And on one of its sides is a statue called ” St. John,” said to be one of the oldest sculptures in the Abbey. This was a beautifully-decorated building, with painted walls and coloured and gilded arcades, and high arched windows in seven of its sides, now sadly obscured.
The restoration of the Chapter-house has very properly been undertaken by the Government, under the direction of Mr. Scott. Beneath the present building, the walls of which are 5 feet thick, is a crypt with walls of the enormous thickness of 17 feet. From a straight joint which separates the lower wall into two concentric portions, Mr. Scott is of opinion that the bulk of the subterranean masonry is of the date of the Confessor, the foundation having been enlarged for the new chapter-house of King Henry III., which was coeval with the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. The crypt is called the Chapel of the Confessor, but is part of the original Norman church. The crypt contains an altar, a piscina, and aumbry. The outer walls are of a great thickness, and solid masonry. There are no indications, as is the case in many crypts, of iron rings for the suspension of lamps. Here is the Library of the Dean and Chapter, (about 11,000 volumes): it was formed from the monks’ parlour by Dean Williams, whose portrait hangs at the south end. The great treasure of the place was William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book,* in excellent condition, from searchers not being
•On the night of the burning of the Houses of Parliament, in 1834, Sir Francis Pa’grave and Dean Ireland were standing on the roof of the Chapter-house, looking at the fire, when a sudden gust of wind seemed to bring the flames in that direction. Sir Francis implored the Dean to allow him to carry Domesday Book and other valuable records into the Abbey, but the Dean answered that he could not think of doing so without first applying to Lord Melbourne or the Board of Works!
allowed to touch the text, or writing. Here, too, were Clement the Seventh’s Golden Bull, conferring the title of Defender of the Faith on Henry VIII.; a treaty of perpetual peace between Henry VIII. and Francis I., with a gold seal, 6 inches diameter, said to be the work of Cellini ; the original wills of Richard II., Henry V., Henry VIII.; and the Indenture between Henry VII. and the Abbot of Westminster, a glorious specimen of miniature-painting and velvet binding, with enamelled and gilt bosses.
Cloisters. —South—lie four of the early Abbots of Westminster. Here is ” Long Meg,” a slab of blue marble, traditionally the gravestone of twenty-six monks who died of the Plague in 1349, and were buried in one grave. Here is a tablet to William Lawrence, which records:
” Short-hand he wrote: his Flowre in prime did fade, And hasty Death Shorenrty Deatt-hand of him hath made. Well cooth he Nv’bers, and well mesur’d Land; Thvs doth he now that Grovd whereon yov stand, Wherein he lyes so Geometricall: Art inaketh some, bvt thvs will Natvre all.”
This quaint conceit is in the North Walk; where also are the graves of Spranger Barry, the actor, famous in Othello; and Sir John Hawkins, who wrote a History of Music, and a Life of Doctor Johnson.
East Walk : medallion monument to Bonnell Thornton (” the Connoisseur”), inscription by Joseph Warton; monument to Lieut.-Gen. Withers, with inscription by Pope, ” full of commonplaces, with something of the common cant of a superficial satirist ” (Johnson); tablet to Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey (d. 1678,) buried in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields; graves of Aphra Behn, the lady dramatist {temp. Charles I.) ; and Mrs. Bracegirdle, the fascinating actress.
West Walk : bust and alto-relievo, by Banks, R.A., to William Woollett, the engraver, buried in Old St. Pancras’ churchyard : tablets to George Vertue, the engraver; Dr. Buchan, who wrote on ” Domestic Medicine;” and Benjamin Cooke, organist of the Abbey, with the musical score of ” the Canon by twofold augmentation” graven upon the slab.
In the Cloisters, too, are interred Henry Lawes, the composer of the music of Comas, and ” one who called Milton friend;” Tom Brown, the wit; Thomas Betterton, who ” ought to be recorded with the same respect as Roscius among the Romans;” Samuel Foote, the actor, and dramatist; Aphra Behn, above-mentioned, Thomas Betterton, Mrs. Bracegirdle, Samuel Foote, Mrs. Yates, Mrs. Rowe, and Mrs. Cibber, all well-known professors of the dramatic art; so that the Cloisters may be termed the Actors’ Corner.
Here is a wall monument, with this inscription:—
Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey, Kt.
being lost on the 4 Id. Octob. 1678 was found five days after murdered after a most cruel and barbarous manner.
History will inform you further.”
At the entrance of the Little Cloisters is Litlington Tower, built by Abbot Litling-ton, and originally the bell-tower of the Church :* the four bells were rung, and a small flag hoisted on the top of this tower (as appears in Hollar’s view), when great meetings or prayers took place in St. Catherine’s Chapel; pulled down 1571. The bells (one dated 1430, and two 1598) were taken down, and, with two new bells, were hung in one of Wren’s western towers. Litlington Tower was restored by its tenant, Mr. R. Clark, one of the choir, who also erected in its front the original Gothic entrance to the Star-Chamber Court, and its ancient iron bell-pull.
Mr. Scott has recently discovered an old hall of the date of Abbot Litlington, no doubt the haime doubt ll of the Infirmarer’s house, and probably used by the convalescent patients. The garden now called the College Garden, was originally the Infirmary garden.
There are preserved several models of churches, one of which is the model constructed by Sir Christopher Wren, in the reign of Queen Anne, of his proposed
* An author of the fourteenth century says: “At the Abbey of St. Peter’s, Westminster, are two bells, which over all the bells in the world obtain the precedence in wonderful size and tone.” We read also, that ” in the monasterye of Westminster ther was a fayr yong man which was blynde, whom the monks hadde ordeyned to rynge the bellys.”
alteration of the Abbey Churcb, by erecting an elevated spire on the central tower.
We believe that the other models are those of St. Mary’s and St. Clement’s in the Strand, St. Paul’s, Co vent-garden, and St. John’s, Westminster. Here are also, it is said, some models by Roubiliac.
Music. —In 1784 took place the ” Commemoration of Handel,” in the Abbey Nave; and similar festivals in 1785-6-7, and 1790-91; and in 1834 was a Four Days’ Festival, commencing June 24, when King William IV., Queen Adelaide, and the Princess Victoria, were present.
” It is full fifty years since I heard last, Handel, thy solemn and divinest strain Eoll through the long nave of this pillar” d fane, Now seeming as if scarce a year had pass’d.”— W. Lisle Bowleg, 1834.
Oct. 28, St. Simon and St. Jude. Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Tallis celebrated ; his Cathedral Service performed at morning prayers. Tallis was organist to Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Elizabeth.
Organs. —The small organ, the oldest, was repaired by Father Smith, in 1694 : this organ is represented in the prints of the Choir of the Abbey, at the coronation of James II., in Sandford’s Book of the Coronation. It was placed under one of the arches on the north side of the Choir, and had a small projecting organ-loft over the Stalls. The larger organ, built by Schreider, who succeeded Schmidt, about 1710, as organ-builder to the Royal Chapels, is a very fine instrument. ” Mr. Turle’s accompaniment of the Choral Service is quite a model of that kind of organ playing.”— A Short Account of Organs, 1847.
Tombs. —The numerous specimens of early Italian decorative art make Westminster Abbey the richest church north of the Alps. The tomb of William de Valence is stated to be a French work, probably executed by an enameller from Limoges. Labarte, in his Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages, after quoting a document cion a docuited by Mr. Albert Way, which tells us that an artist of Limoges, ” Magister Johannes Lhnovi-censis,” was employed about the year 1276, to construct the tomb and effigy of Walter de Merton, Bishop of Oxford, says :—” This curious monument was despoiled of its enamelled metal at the Reformation, but there still exists in England an evidence of the high repute in which the enamelled work of Limoges was held, in the effigy of William de Valence, in Westminster Abbey. There can be no doubt that this curious portraiture was produced by an artist of Limoges.” The effigy is of wood, overlaid with enamelled and engraved copper, and includes an enamelled shield displaying twenty-eight bars, alternately argent and azure, diapered; or, rather, ornamented with inlaid scroll-work; and having nineteen martlets, gules, displayed around the circumference of the shield. Mr. Scott observes:—
Taking the tomhs of the Confessor, of Henry III., and his daughter, and of young de Valence, in connexion with the pavement before the high altar, and that of the Confessor’s Chapel, I should doubt whether—I will not say any church north of the Alps—but, I may almost say, whether any country north of the Alps contains such a mass of early Italian decorative art; indeed, the very artists employed appear to have done their utmost to increase the value of the works they were bequeathing to us, by giving to the mosaic work the utmost possible variety of pattern.
The tombs at Westminster have been at least spared from the hand of the early restorers, if not from the destroyers. The earliest tomb erected after the completion of the new Choir was that of the beautiful little dumb princess, daughter of Henry III., who died 1257, in her fifth year.
Painted and Stained Glass. —(Ancient.) North Aisle of Nave, figure, said to be Edward the Confessor; South Aisle, given to the Black Prince, Edward III., and Richard II. See also clerestory windows east of Choir, east window of Henry VII.’s Chapel, and Jerusalem Chamber.—(Modern.) Great west window, the Patriarchs; large rose window, North Transept, Apostles and Evangelists—a noble mass of brilliant colour and delicate stone tracery; marigold window in South Transept (put up in 1847), figures nearly three feet high; also windows above Henry VII.’s Chapel, and in east end of triforium. The lost original tracery of the great rose windows of the Transepts has been imaginatively restored from the pattern of some encaustic paving-tiles still remaining in the Chapter-house. Amongst the recent works set up in the Abbey, must be mentioned, too, a small painted glass window, in the East Aisle of that Tran-. sept, by Lavers and Barraud, commemorative of Vincent Novello, musical composer:
the subject is St. Cecilia. Here is the Stephenson memorial—a window filled with stained glass, by “VVailes: in the body are represented some of the greatest architectural and engineering works; and above these, at the top of the window, are in five-foil, bust-portraits of eminent engineers. Robert Stephenson is placed in the centre; above, his father, George Stephenson; on one side, Thomas Telford; on the other, John Smeaton; and below these, James Watt and John Eennie. The architectural works represented are bordered with ornamental tracery, and consist of, on the one half of the window, the Ark, the erecting of the Tabernacle, the first Temple, the second Temple, and Menai Bridge; and on the other half, the building of Nineveh, the Treasure Cities of Egypt, Aqueduct near Pygro, the Colosseum at Rome, and the High-Level Bridge at Newcastle.
Metal-work. —There are five examples of metal-work remaining in the Abbey Church. These are the grille at the top of the tomb of Queen Eleanor, lately reinstated by Mr. Scott; the railing round Archbishop Langham’s effigy; that at the west end of the Chantry of Henry V.; the brass or copper gates of Henry VII.’s Chapel; and the beautiful brass grille round the tomb of the latter King. The metal-work that protected the tomb of Queen Philippa, that ” most gentyll quene ” of Edward III., had previously kept guard round the tomb of a bishop in St. Paul’s Cathedral; this and the railing of Edward I.’s are, however, lost to us. In 1822 the Dean and Chapter ordered the removal of most of the railings around the tombs; although some of the metal-work then taken down has been discovered in the vestry. Across the Transept, looking north, new ironwork has been put up from the designs of Mr. Scott. The gate and the grille is for the most part of wrought iron; it is 30 feet in length on each side, and was executed by Potter, for the sum of 700Z.
Brasses. —There are still fifteen Brasses in the Church: the principal are in the Chapels of St. Edmund, St. John the Baptist, and Edward the Confessor.
The present conservating architect of the Abbey is Mr. George Gilbert Scott, R.A. The following are the principal Admeasurements: —
Nave.— Length, 166 ft.; breadth, 38 ft. 7 in.; height, 101 ft. 8 in.; breadth of aisles, 16 ft. 7 in.; extreme breadth of nave and its aisles, 71 ft. 9 in.
Choir.— Length, 155 ft. 9 in.; breadth, 38 ft. 4 in.; height, 101 ft. 2 in.
Transepts. —Length of both, including choir, 203 feet. 2 in.; length of each transept, 82 ft. 5 iu.; breadth, including both aisles, 84 ft. 8 in.; height of south transept, 105 ft. 5 in.
Interior. —Extreme length, from western towers to the piers of Henry VII.’s Chapel, 383 ft.; extreme length, from western towers, including Henry VII.’s Chapel, 511 ft. 6 in.
Exterior. —Extreme length, exclusive of Henry VII.’s Chapel, 416 ft.; extreme length, inclusive of Henry VH’s Chapel, 530 ft.; height of western towers, to top of pinnacles, 225 ft. 4 in.
Henry VII.’s Chapel. Exterior.— Length, 115 ft. 2 in.; extreme breadth, 79 ft. 6 in.; height to apex of roof, 95 ft. 5 in.; height to top of western turrets, 101 ft. 6 in. (Interior.’) —Nave: length, 103 ft. 9 in.; breadth, 35 ft. 9in.; height, 69 ft.7in. Aisles: length, 62 ft. 5 in.; breadth, 17 ft. 1 in.; height of west window, 45 ft.
Admission.— The Abbey is open to the public between the hours of 11 and 3, generally; and in summer, between 4 and 6 in the afternoon. There is no charge for admission to the Nave, Transept, and Cloisters; but the fee for admission to view the Choir and Chapels, and the rest of the Abbey, is 6d. each person, with the attendance of a guide. The entrance is at Poets’ Corner. The admission-money was originally lod. each person, when it usually produced upwards of 15001. per annum, mostly distributed among the minor canons, organists, and lay-clerks.
The Chapter is composed of a Dean and eight Canons; there are six minor canons, twelve lay vicars, and twelve choristers. There are two daily services—choral—and a weekly celebration of the Holy Communion. The capitular revenue was, in 1852, 30,6577.; and the expenditure on the fabric in fourteen preceding years, 29,949Z.
” In Westminster Abbey,” observes Horace Walpole, ” one thinks not of the building : the religion of the place makes the first impression.” One more walk through its aisles was the dying wish of the exile Atterbury. ” Westminster Abbey or Victory !” were the watchwords which fired the heart of Nelson himself. From the design of applying the Abbey property, under the care of Sir T. Wroth, to the repairs of St. Paul’s, on the dissolution of the bishopric, came the cant proverb to rob Peter to pay Paul. The following is from a thoughtful and eloquent paper by Dean Stanley:
” The Abbey of Westminster owes its traditions and its present name, revered in the bosoms of the people of England, to the fact that the early English Kings were interred within its walls, and that through its associations our Norman rulers learnt to forget their foreign paternity, and to unite in fellowship and affection with their Saxon fellow-citizens. There is no other church in the world, except, perhaps, the Kremlin
at Moscow, with which Royalty is so intimately associated. There our Sovereigns aro crowned and buried under the same roof, whereas in Russia the coronation takes place in one church, the marriage in another, while a third is reserved for the reception of the dead. It was in the reign of Henry III. that the Abbey began to assume that national character which now belongs to it so fully. The third Henry was the first thoroughly English King after the Conquest—that is to say, the first who was born in England, and who never resided in Normandy. The Abbey never possessed a bishop’s throne, except for a short time in the reign of Henry VIII., and so was not a cathedral in the ordinary sense; but from the time of Edward I. it always contained the Coronation Chair, in which is fixed ‘ the fatal stone of Scone.’ This throne, which gives to the Abbey the constructive character of a cathedral, has never since the time of the first Edward been removed from the church except once, and that was in the time of Oliver Cromwell—so jealous were the people of monarchical attributes and privileges.” The Dean then traces the burial-places of our Kings and Queens from the time of Henry III. to Elizabeth’s reign; ” after the death of the latter, tombs ceased to be erected in the Abbey to the memories of Sovereigns. This was owing to the peculiar course of succession, for none of the monarchs from the Tudors to those of the Hanoverian dynasty had any peculiar interest in honouring the names of their predecessors. The second George was the last of our Kings who was buried in the Abbey; but another of Royal blood, though of a different dynasty and a different country, had found his last resting therein—the Duke de Montpensier, younger brother of Louis Philippe.”
More striking than the edifice and its general associations are its personal monuments and contents. Here, for example, beyond a doubt, lies the body of the Confessor himself, like the now decayed seed from which the wonderful pile has grown. Around his shrine are clustered not only the names but the earthly relics of the principal actors in every scene of our history. No less than seventeen of our Kings, from the Confessor to George II., and ten of our Queens, lie within the Abbey, amid s o Abbey,statesmen, poets, divines, scholars, and artists. ” It has,” says Mr. Scott, ” claims upon us architects—I will not say of a higher but of another character, on the ground of its intrinsic and superlative merits, as a work of art of the highest and noblest order; for, though it is by no means pre-eminent in general scale, in height, or in richness of sculpture, there are few churches in this or any other country, having the same exquisite charms of proportion and artistic beauty which this church possesses.”
On Dec. 28, 1865, being the Feast of the Holy Innocents, and just 800 years since the dedication of the Abbey by Edward the Confessor, the Dean and Chapter commemorated the event by special services and the celebration of the Holy Communion. The sermon, eloquently descriptive, was preached by the Dean (Dr. Stanley) from John x. 21, 22: “And it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.”
The whole of the music was selected from composers who either in the past or present were connected with the Abbey—namely, Thomas Tallis, who died in 1585, organist to Henry VIII.; Henry Purcell, organist of Westminster Abbey, who died in 1695, and was buried in the north aisle; William Croft, organist of Westminster Abbey, who died in 1727, and was also buried in the north aisle; George Frederick Handel, who died in 1759, and was buried in the south transept; Benjamin Cooke, organist of Westminster Abbey, who died in 1793, and was buried in the west cloister; J. L. Brownsmith, John Foster, and Montem Smith, vicars choral; and James Turle, organist, all of Westminster Abbey. The words of the hymn for the introit, commencing ” Hark, the sound of holy voices,” were written by Dr. Wordsworth, Canon and Archdeacon of Westminster, and the tune for it, entitled ” All Saints,” was composed by Mrs. Frere, niece of the late Kev. Temple Frere, Canon of Westminster.
Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, is situated on the western side between the Colour Court and the Ambassadors’ Court. It is oblong in plan, with side galleries, the Royal Gallery being at the west end.
The superb ceiling, painted by Holbein in 1540, is one of the earliest specimens of the new style introduced by him into England. The rib-mouldings are of wooden frame-work, suspended to the roof above; the panels have plaster grounds, the centres displaying the Tudor emblems and devices. The subject is gilt, shaded boldly with bistre; the roses glazed with a red colour, and the arms emblazoned in their proper colours; leaves, painted dark green, ornamented each subject; the general ground of the whole was light blue. The mouldings of the ribs are painted green, and some are gilt; the under side is a dark blue, on which is a small open running ornament (cast in lead), gilt. The ceiling has undergone several repairs, in one of which the blue ground was painted white. In 1836, when the chapel was enlarged under the direction of Sir Robert Smirke, the blue ground was discovered, as were likewise some of the mottoes in the small panels; thus, “sibt diev felix: henricq bex 8— h. a.
VIVAT. EBX. 1540. KIEV. ET. MO. DEOIT,” &C.
Divine Service is performed here as at our Cathedrals, by the gentlemen of the choir,
and ten choristers (boys). The establishmech e estabnt consists of a Dean (usually the Bishop of London), the Sub-Dean, Lord High Almoner, Sub-Almoner, Clerk of the Queen’s Closet, deputy-clerks, chaplains, priests, organists, and composer j besides violist and lutanist (now sinecures), and other officers; and until 1833, there was a “Confessor to the Royal Household.” Each of the Chaplains in Ordinary preaches once a year in the Chapel Royal. The hours of service are 8 a.m. and 12 noon. There are seats for the nobility, admission-fee 2s. George III., when in town, attended this Chapel, when a nobleman carried the sword of state before him, and heralds, pursuivants-at-arms, and other officers, walked in procession; and so persevering was his attendance at prayers, that Madame d’Arblay, one of the robing-women, tells us, in November 1777, the Queen and family, dropping off one by one, used to leave the King, the parson, and His Majesty’s equerry, to ” freeze it out together.” In this Chapel were married Prince George of Denmark and the Princess Anne ; Frederick Prince of Wales and the daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha ; George IV. and Queen Caroline; and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Before the building of the Chapel at Buckingham Palace, Her Majesty and the Court attended the Chapel Royal, St. James’s. The silver candelabra, and other altar-plate are magnificent. The fittings of the Chapel and Palace for the last royal marriage cost 9226/. The Chapel is supposed to be the same building that was used when St. James’s Palace was first founded as an Hospital for fourteen leprous females.
Jn the Liber Niger Domus Eegni (temp. Edward IV.) is an ordinance naming “Children of the Chapelle viij. founden by the King’s privie coft’eres for all that longeth to their apperelle by the hands and oversyghte of the deane, or by the master of song assigned to teache them;” such being the origin of the present musical establishment of the Chapel Royal. Ordinances were also issued for the impressment of boys for the royal choirs: in 1550, the master of the King’s Chapel had license “to take up from time to time children to serve the King’s Chapel.” Tusser, the ” Husbandrie” poet, was, when a boy, in Elizabeth’s reign, thus impressed for the Queen’s Chapel. The Gentlemen and Children of the Chapel Royal were the principal performers in the religious dramas or Mysteries; and a ” master of the children,” and ” singing children,” occur in the chapel establishment of Cardinal Wolsey. In 1583, the Children of the Chapel Royal, afterwards called the Children of the Revels, were formed into a company of players, and thus were among the earliest performers of the regular drama. In 1731, they performed Handel’s Esther, the first oratorio heard in England; and they continued to assist at oratorios in Lent, so long as those performances maintained their ecclesiastical character entire.
” Spur-money,” a fine upon all who entered the chapel with spurs on, was formerly levied by the choristers at the doors, upon condition that the youngest of them could repeat his gamut; if he failed, the spur-bearer was exempt. In a tract dated 1598, the choristers are reproved for ” hunting after spur-money ;” and the ancient Cheque-book of the Chapel Royal, dated 1622, contains an order of the Dean, decreeing the custom. ” Within my recollection,” wrote Dr. Rimbault, in 1850, ” the Duke of Wellington (who, by the way, is an excellent musician) entered the Royal Chapel ‘booted and spurred,’ and was, of course, called upon for the fine. But his Grace calling upon the youngest chorister to repeat his gamut, and the ‘ little urchin’ failing, the impost was not demanded.”— Notes and Queries, No. 30.
Chapel Royal, Whitehall, the Banqueting House of the Palace, designed by Inigo Jones, commenced J th, commeune 1, 1619, finished March 31, 1622, cost 14,9402. 4s. Id. The above hall was converted into a Chapel in the reign of George I., who, in 1724, appointed certain preachers, six from Oxford and six from Cambridge University, to preach in successive months on the Sundays, at a salary of 30/., through the year. The edifice has, however, never been consecrated as a Chapel, which fact was mentioned in the House of Commons by Sir Robert Inglis, several years ago, when it was proposed to use the Hall as a picture-gallery. It was shut up in 1829, and remained closed till 1837, during which interval it was restored and refitted, nnder the direction of Sir Robert Smirke, R.A. The lower windows were then closed up, the walls were hung with drapery (1400 yards of drugget), and the floor carpeted, to remedy the excessive echo. The Guards formerly attended Divine Service here; they now attend at the Chapel in Wellington Barracks, St. James’s Park ; and the gallery in which they sat at Whitehall has been removed. The organ originally placed here was sold by order of Cromwell, and is now in Stanford Church, Leicestershire ; the present organ is of subsequent date. The hall is exactly a double cube, being 111 feet long, 55 feet 6 inches high, and 55 feet 6 inches wide. Over the principal doorway is a bronze bust of James I., attributed to Le Sceur; above is the organ-loft, and along the two sides is a lofty gallery. Above the altar were formerly placed eagles and other trophies taken from the French at Barossa, in Egypt, and at Waterloo ; but they have been removed to Chelsea Hospital. The Whitehall ceiling is divided into panels, and painted black, and gilded in parts. These are lined with oil
pictures on canvas, painted abroad by Rubens in 1635, it is stated for 3000Z., by commission from Charles I. There are nine compartments: the largest in the centre, oval, contains the apotheosis of James I., who is trampling on the globe, and about to fly on the wings of Justice (an eagle) to heaven.* On the two long sides of it are great friezes, with genii, who load sheaves of corn and fruits in carriages drawn by lions, bears, and rams: each of the boys measures 9 feet. The northernmost of the large compartments represents the King pointing to Peace and Plenty, embracing Minerva, and routing Rebellion and Envy; at the south end (the altar) the King is on the throne, appointing Prince Charles his successor. The four corner pictures are allegorical representations of Royal Power and Virtue. The whole are best viewed from the south end of the apartment. Dr. Waagen considers these pictures to have been principally executed by the pupils of Rubens: they have undergone restorations : in 1687, under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren; and about 1811, by Cipriani, who was paid 2000£. Vandyck was to have painted the sides of the Banqueting House with the history and procession of the Order of the Garter. Divine Service is performed in the Chapel on Sundays, Saints’ Days, &c, the gentlemen and choristers of the Chapels Royal executing the musical service. The Maundy is distributed in this Chapel on the day preceding Good Friday, Maundy Thursday. — (See Almonet, p. 7.) The Royal closet is large and massive, situated on the right-hand side in the centre of the Chapel, opposite the pulpit. King William IV. and Queen Adelaide often attended this Royal Chapel, and it is said that the King was here present for the last time at a public service only six weeks before his death. The Royal closet is described in the reports as being within a few feet of the spot on which King Charles I. was executed. This is hardly correct; for, according to a memorandum of Vertue, on a print in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, through a window belonging to a small building abutting from the north side of the present Banqueting House, the King stepped upon the scaffold, ” which was equal to the landing-place of the Hall within side.” The Boyle Lectudise Boyleres, founded by the Hon. Robert Boyle for proving the truth of the Christian religion against notorious infidels are sometimes delivered in the Chapel Royal. For many years these lectures were delivered in the City churches, where scarcely half a dozen persons could be obtained to listen to them. The preachers are enjoined to perform the office following:—” To preach eight sermons in the year for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels—viz., Atheists, Theists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans, not descending lower to any controversies that are among Christians themselves.”
Chapel Rotai, Savoy, in the rear of the south side of the Strand, occupies a site granted by King Henry III., in 1245, to Peter Count of Savoy (hence its name) on his arrival to visit his niece Queen Eleanor. It was afterwards possessed by Edmund, Earl of Lancaster (1267), and John of Gaunt, during whose tenure of it the palace was destroyed; after which, being inherited by his son, Henry IV., it was vested in the Crown as part of the Duchy of Lancaster, and thus acquired its peculiar dignities and privileges as a Royal manor. An Hospital was erected in the Savoy under the will of Henry VII., and in the reign of Henry VIII. a perpetual Hospital was incorporated. This was one of the institutions declared to be illegal in the 1st of Edward VI., and it was given up to the King. It was re-established in the fourth year of Philip and Mary, but was converted into a military hospital and marine infirmary in the reign of Charles II., and shortly afterwards was used as a barrack. The Hospital was, therefore, declared to be dissolved in 1702.
Strype, in his edition of Stow’s Survey, 1755, says: ” In the year 1687, Schools were set up and ordained here at the Savoy; the masters whereof were Jesuits;” the classes soon consisted of 400 boys, about one-half of whom were Protestants; the latter were not required to attend mass. All were taught gratis, buying only their own pens, ink, paper, and books; and in teaching no distinction was made, nor was any one to be persuaded from the profession of his own religion; yet they were generally successful in promoting the Roman religion. The Schools were, however, soon dissolved upon the ceasing of the government of King James. And the clock that was made for the use of the Savoy School, was bought and set up upon a gentleman’s house in Low Lay ton. The College gave rise to many other schools in the metropolis: the Blue Coat School, in St. Margaret’s, Westminster, is one of these. There is a contemporary ballad, entitled ” Religious Reliques; on the Sale at the Savoy, upon the Jesuits breaking up their School and Chapel.”—Printed in Notes and Queriei, 2nd S., No. 14, Jan. 1856.
• Eubens’s original sketch is in the National Gallery, Trafalgar-square.
Several persons of note are buried here, and had figure monuments. Among them was one, in the chancel, of Sir Robert Douglas and his lady (seventeenth century). In a pointed niche was the figure of a lady kneeling—Jocosa, daughter of Sir Allan Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower, sister of Mrs. Hutchinson. In the western wall, near the altarpiece, was an ornamental recess, in the back of which had been effigies incised in brass; and near this was a small tablet to the memory of Anne Killigrew, daughter of one of the Masters of the Savoy, and niece to the well-known jester. This was the lady described by Dryden as ” A grace for beauty and a muse for wit.” Over the door was a small kneeling figure, with a skull in her hands, inscribed ” Alicia Steward.” A recumbent figure was, it is thought, improperly named the Countess Dowager of Na”, Dowageottingham. Here, also, is a brass over the grave of Gawin Douglas, who translated Virgil j and here rest George Wither, the poet, without a monument; the Earl of Feversham, who commanded King James II.’s troops at the Battle of Sedgmoor j and Dr. Cameron, the last person who suffered for the Rebellion of 1745, to whom was erected a marble relief tablet by his great-grandson, in 1846, ” one hundred years after the Battle of Culloden.” Here, also, was placed a tablet to the memory of Richard Lander, the traveller in Africa; and in the burial-ground is the tomb of Hilton, R. A., the historical painter, whose works were barely appreciated in his lifetime.
In the Chapel was a monument, rather sumptuous, erected about 1715, in honour of a merchant; the sole statement of the epitaph was, that he had bequeathed 51. to the poor of the Savoy Precinct, and a like sum to the poor of the parish of St. Mary-le-Strand; while at the side, and occupying about half the breadth of the marble, the money was expressed in figures, just as in a page of a ledger, with lines single and double, perpendicular and, at the bottom, horizontal; the whole being summed up, and in each line two cyphers for shillings and one for pence. The epitaph concluded, ” which sum was duly paid by his executors.”
The Savoy was last used as barracks and a prison for deserters until 1819, when the premises were taken down to form the approach to Waterloo Bridge. The roadway to the Bridge from the Strand, or Wellington-street and Lancaster-place, covers the entire site of the old Duchy-lane and great part of the Hospital. We see the river front of the Savoy in Hollar’s prints and Canaletti’s pictures; and Vertue’s ground-plan shows the Middle Savoy Gate, where Savoy-street now is; and the Little Savoy Gate, where now are Savoy-steps. Ackermann published a view of the ruins as they were in their last condition, before they were swept away. The pulling down of the ruins, in 1816, when the chapel was left isolated, was a work of immense labour, so massive was the masonry. Not the least amusing incident was that of the gamins picking out the softest parts of the Royal palace walls and cutting them into hearthstones to clean hearths and the steps before doors !
The Chapel is a parochial benefice in the gift of her Majesty, in right of her Duchy of Lancaster j it was endow r ed by Henry VII., and the incumbent to this day receives an annual fee by Royal warrant. The interior dimensions of the chapel are 90 ft. by 24 ft.; its style English Perpendicular, late and plain, except the ceiling, which was rich and coloured, and one of the finest pieces of carved work in the metropolis.
It was wholly of oak and pear tree, and divided into 138 quatrefoil panels, each enriched with a carved ornament sacred or historical. The panels numbered twenty-three in the length of the chapel and six in its width. Ten of the ranges had each a shield in the centre presenting in high relief some featnte or emblem of the Passion and Death of the Saviour; and all devised and arranged in a style of which there are many examples in sacred edifices in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The panels throughout the rest of the ceiling contained bearings or badges indicating the various families from which the Royal lineage was derived, and more particularly the alliances of the house of Lancaster, each panel being surrounded by a wreath richly blazoned and tinted with the livery colours of the different families. For a long series of years they were hidden under repeated coats of whitewash, but in 1843 Mr. John Cochrane, a bookseller in the Strand, having been appointed c orn appoihapel warden, brought his antiquarian knowledge to bear on the neglected ceiling, and it was restored.
The Savoy has a certain literary aspect: all Proclamations, Acts of Parliament and Gazettes, used to issue from the Royal Printing-press established in the precinct; and there Fuller lectured, if he did not write his Worthies. It was in the Chapel, also, that the memorable Conference between the Episcopalian and Presbyterian divines on the Book of Common Prayer was held in 1661. Here many of the bishops were consecrated, and among them WiL-on, Bishop of Sodor and Man, by Archbishop Sharpe, in 1698; and among those who have held the benefice was Dr. Anthony Horneck, the favourite chaplain of King William III.
The Savoy precinct became as notorious for thieves and beggars, as for the lame,
the sick, and the vagabond, who considered themselves privileged to claim succour from the Master of the Hospital of the Savoy, an office which was much coveted, and which Cowley struggled ineffectually to obtain. While the Dutch, German, and French congregations met quietly within the precinct, a favour which was originally owing to Charles II., all sorts of unseemly marriages were celebrated by the ” Savoy parsons,” there being five private ways by land to this chapel, and two by water. The Rev. Mr. Wilkinson, the father of Tate Wilkinson, the actor, for performing the illicit ceremony, was informed against by Garrick, and the reverend gentleman was transported. A letter to Lord Burleigh in 1581, as to an outbreak of rogues, states, ” the chief nurserie of all these evell people is the Savoy, and the brick kilnes near Islington.”
The Chapel was built, in 1505, of squared stone and boulders, with a low bell-tower and large Tudor windows ; and, standing in a small burial-ground, amid a few trees and evergreens, it resembled the church of a rural hamlet; it was all that remained of the Hospital. Thither John, King of France, was brought prisoner from Poictiers by Edward the Black Prince; and there, in his ” antient prison,” King John died. The chapel was originally dedicated to the Saviour, the Virgin, and St. John the Baptist; but when the old church of St. Mary-le-Strand was destroyed by the Protector Somerset, the parishioners united themselves to the precinct of the Savoy, and the chapel, being used as their church, acquired the name of St. Mary-le-Savoy, though before the householders beyond the precinct were permitted to use it as their parish church they signed an instrument renouncing all claim to any right or property in the chapel itself. There is a tradition that when the Liturgy in the vernacular tongne was restored by Queen Elizabeth, the chapel of the Savoy was the first place in which the service was performed.
The Chapel Royal was restored chiefly through the instrumentality of George IV. The interior wa3 destroyed by fire, but was repaired at the expense of Queen Victoria, in 1843; the fine ceiling was restored and emblazoned by Willement, by whom it has been minutely illustrated. Mr. Willement also reglazed the altar-window. In the lower centre was a figure of St. John the Baptist; the side compartments contained emblems of the other Evangelists; and in other parts were the ducal coronet, the red rose of Lancaster, and the lions, also fleurs-de-lis of the Plantagenet escocheon, and over all the inscription—” This window was glazed at the expense of the congregation, in honour of God, and in gratitude to our Queen Victoria.” The altar-screen, said to have been the work of Si
On the Sunday following Christmas-day it has been customary to place near the door a chair covered with a cloth: on the chair being an orange in a plate. This curious custom at the Savoy has not been explained.
St. Alban the Maettb, Baldwin’s Gardens, Grays’-Inn-lane, was built and endowed at the sole expense of Mr. Hubbard, M.P. The site was given by Lord Leigh: Butterfield, architect; consecrated Feb. 20, 1863 ; the choir entirely from the parishioners of the district. The church comprises a clerestoried Nave and a Chancel, both with aisles, and a saddle-back tower at the west end. The building is of brick, with stone, alabaster, and terra-cotta dressings. Externally, the bricks are of the
ordinary stock brick character, with very slight handings of red} and internally, red and yellow bricks are disposed in patterns mixed with stone; the latter being ornamented with incised scroll-work filled in with black mastic. The use of constructive polychrome, and the absence of carving, are characteristics of the edifice. At the west end is a narthex, or Galilee porch, supported by an arch of imposing span and height, and lighted by a noble west window. Here, according to the custom of the early churches, are the north and south doors. The Chancel is approached by two steps, and the altar is raised on a platform considerably higher. Over it is a large marble cross, enriched, let into the wall. The chancel walls are lined with alabaster, banded with tile, and ornamented with niello work. On the flat east end, above the second story, is a series of panels filled with ten water-glass pictures, designed by Le Strange, from Our Lord’s life, the central place being occupied with a picture of the Annunciation. Alow wrought-iron screen separates the Nave from the Chancel; and lofty iron parcloses divide the chancel from its aisles. The columns of the clerestory here, as in the Nave and in the arcading against the north and south walls of the aisles, are of red terra-cotta, in short lengths. The roof is of wood, ornamented with colour. The font has a rich character in design and form, and in the coloured stone of its inlaid work. In the Chancel is a brass lectern. The pulpit is of oak, simple in design, on a pedestal of stone and terra cotta. The entrance to the belfry story is by a staircase opening into the church at the centre of the west wall: over the door is inscribed, ” I believe in one baptism for the remission of sins,” under a sculptured bas-relief of the Last Supper. Incense and the vestments are used. Here is a tenor bell, one of an intended peal of Annnded peeight. Near the entrance of the church is placed a drinking-fountain. The whole cost of the church, without the pictures, is about 15,000Z.
St. Alban’s, “Wood-street, Cheapside, is stated to have been named from its belonging to the monastery of St. Albans. Stow thinks it to be ” at least of as antient standing as King Adelstane the Saxon (925 to 941), who, as the tradition says, had his house at the east end of this church,” and which gave name to Adel-street. Maitland supposes the church to have bean one of the first places of worship built in London by Alfred, after he had driven out its destroyers, the Danes. It was rebuilt by Inigo Jones, but destroyed by the Great Fire, and again rebuilt by Wren in 1685, ” Gothic, as the same was before the Fire,” with clustered columns, flat pointed arches, and boldly groined roof. To the right of the reading-desk, within twisted columns, arches, &c, and in a frame richly ornamented with angels sounding trumpets, &c, is an hour-glass, such as was common in churches in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, ” that when the preacher doth make a sermon, he may know the hour passeth away:” the hour-glass frame and the spiral column upon which it ia mounted are of brass. Butler, in Hurtibras, has :
As gifted Brethren preaching by
A carnal Hour-glass do imply.— Canto 3, v. 1061, and Note.
The exterior of the church is ill designed, and has a pinnacled tower 92 feet high. The whole was restored in 1859, by G. Gilbert Scott, architect. The interior is wainscoted with Norway oak. One of the St. Alban’s rectors, Dr. Watts, who died in 1649, assisted Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary, and edited Matthew Paris’s Historia Major.
Ailhai/lows Babking, at the east end of Great Tower-street, so called from having belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Barking, in Essex, narrowly escaped the Great Fire, which burnt the dial and porch, and vicarage-house. The church contains a curiously-carved communion-table, font-cover, and screen with altar-wreaths ; and some funeral brasses of early date, among the best in London. The headless bodies of the poet Surrey, Bishop Fisher (More’s friend), and Archbishop Laud, who were executed on Tower Hill, were interred in AUhallows Church and churchyard, but have been removed for honourable burial. The body of Fisher was carried on the halberds of the attendants, and interred in the churchyard.
There has been published, by the archaeologist curate of this parish, Berlcynge Churche JMatfa-TwrnVB—collections in illustration of the architecture and monu-
merits, notices of vicars, &c. Much of the church is Perpendicular; the chancel-window is late Decorated. The whole huilding bad a narrow escape at the Great Fire; for, as Pepys records, the dial and porch were burnt, and the fire there quenched.
Mr. Leyborne, in Strype, B. ii. p. 36, relates that over against the wall of Barking Churchyard, a sad and lamentable accident befel by gunpowder in this manner. At a ship-chandler’s, upon Jan. 4,1619, about seven o’clock at night, being busy in his shop barrelling up gunpowder, it took fire, and in the twinkling of an eye blew up, not only that, but all the houses thereabouts to the number (tmonthe numowards the street and in back alleys) of fifty or sixty. The number of persons destroyed by this blow could never be known, for the next house but one was the Rose Tavern, a house never (at that time of night) but full of company; and that day the parish dinner was at the house. And in three or four days after digging, they continually found heads, arms, legs, and half bodies, miserably torn and scorched, besides many whole bodies, not so much as their clothes singed. In the digging, strange to relate, they found the mistress of the Rose Tavern sitting in her bar, and one of the drawers standing by the bar’s side, with a pot in his hand, only stifled with dust and smoke; their bodies being preserved whole by means of great timbers falling across one another. Next morning there was found on the upper leads of Barking Church, a young child lying in a cradle, as newly laid in bed, neither the child nor the cradle having the least sign of any fire or other hurt. It was never known whose child it was, so that one of the parish kept it as a memorial; for in the year 1666 (says the narrator), I saw the child, grown to be then a proper maiden, and came to the man that had kept her all that time, where he was drinking at a tavern with some other company then present. And he told us she was the child that was so found in the cradle upon the church leads, as aforesaid. According to a tablet which hung beneath the organ gallery of the church, the quantity of gunpowder exploded in this catastrophe was twenty-seven barrels.
Allhallows, Bread-street, was built by Wren, in 1G80: the old church, in which Milton was baptized, was destroyed in the Great Fire, but the register preserves the entry of the poet’s baptism. Here was buried Alderman Richard Reed, who refusing to pay to ” a benevolence” levied by Henry VIII., was sent to serve as a soldier, ” both he and his men at his own charge,” in the Northern wars. Reed was taken prisoner by the Scotch, and was glad to make his peace with the King, and purchase his ransom at a heavy rate. Laurence Saunders was rector of this parish in 1553. In Queen Mary’s reign he preached most zealously against Romish errors, and was imprisoned fifteen months, degraded Feb. 4,1555, and next day was carried to Coventry, where, on the 8th, he suffered martyrdom.
” There are but few residents in the parish, which is chiefly filled with warehouses, nearly every one of which has a padlock on the door on Sunday. The congregation usually averages nine !— Mackeson.
Allhallows the Geeat and Less, Upper Thames-street, built in 1683, has a richly carved oak rood-screen the whole width of the church. It was manufactured at Hamburgh, and presented in the reign of Queen Anne to the church by Hanse Merchants, who formerly resided in this parish in considerable numbers.
William Lichfield was Rector in 1440. He composed during his ministry 3083 sermons, which were found in his own handwriting, after his decease. Pepys speaks of Allhallows the Great as one of the first churches that set up the King’s Arms before the Restoration, while Monk and Montague were as yet undecided. Theodore Jacobson, the architect of the Foundling Hospital, is buried here.
Allhallows, Honey-lane, a small parish church, in the ward of Cheap, on the site of Honey-lane Market; it was destroyed in the Great Fire, and not rebuilt. Here was buried John Norman, draper, Mayor, 1453, ” the first Mayor that was rowed to Westminster by water, for before that they rode on horseback.”— (Stow.) Thomas Garrard was Rector inquawas Rec 1537, and having circulated forbidden theological books, was attainted by Parliament, and burned in Smithfield, 1540.
Allhallows, Lombard-street, destroyed by the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren
in 1694, contains an exquisitely-sculptured white marble font; carved figures of Time
and Death, in wood, besides a carved curtain, which seems to hide foliage behind it.
The churchyard was closed in the cholera year, 1849, and laid out as a garden. y
In 1580, one Peter Symons left 31. 2». 8d. to the parish of Allhallows, in order that, after a sermon and the usual morning service upon Whit-Sunday, a penny and a packet of plums should be given to sixty boys belonging to Christ’s Hospital. Each lad receives a new penny and a packet containing about a quarter of a pound of plums. Another version of the Will states the distribution to be in the burying-ground in Old Bethlem to sixty poor people of the parish of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate. The
Ecnny loaves have increased to twopenny loaves, and the burial-ground of Old Bethlem has been invaded y railway companies. Of late years the loaves have been given away in the garden of Mr. Elwin. Gifts of bread, buns, and money, from a local source, are also then given to the charity children, and to many of the poorer inhabitants of the parish.
Allhallows Staining, Mark-lane, escaped the Great Fire, and Stow thinks was
called Stane church to distinguish it from others in the City of the same name, huilt of timber. The tower and a portion of the west end alone are ancient. The Princess Elizabeth, on May 19, 1554, after her release from the Tower, performed her devotions in this church; and afterwards is said to have dined off pork and peas at the King’s Head in Fenchurch-street, where a metal dish and cover used on the occasion are shown ; and a commemorative dinner was held annually on Elizabeth’s birthday, but discontinued thirty years since. The churchwardens’ books contain payments for ringing the bells ” for joye of ye execution of ye Queene of Scots:” also for the return of King James II. from Feversham ; and, two days after, on the arrival of the Prince of Orange. In De Laune’s History of London, published 1681, mention is made of charities connected with Allhallows Staining; and that ” John Costin, a Girdler, who dyed 1244, gave the poor of the parish a hundred quarters of charcoals for ever.”
Allhallows-in-the-Wall, Broad-street Ward, is named “of standing close to the wall of the City.” (Stow.) It was built in the shape of a wedge, east end broadest, by Dance, jun., 1765, and contains an altar-picture, painted and presented by Sir N. Dance, of P. da Cortona’s ” Ananias restoring Paul to sight.” The parish books (commencing 1455) record the beuefactions of an ” ancker,” or hermit, who lived near the old church which escaped the Great Fire. Here is a tablet to the Rev. William Beloe, translator of Herodotus, and twenty years rector of this parish; his successor in the living was Archdeacon Nare3, so well known by his Glossary.
All Saints Bishopsgate, Skinner-street, a Gothic church, built in 1830, at the expense of Bishop Blomfield, when rector of St. Botolph’s.
All Saints, Kennington Park, W. White, architect, completed in 1853, presents in its materials stone of various colours, Devonshire marble, and different coloured tiles and brickwork; in the clerestory, part of each window-head is filled with mosaic work, instead of being pierced j and large squares of stained glass in place of the ordinary perishable quarry lights. This church owes its erection mainly to the munificence of the Rev. Dr. Walker, rector of St. Columb Major, after the model of whose beautiful church in Cornwall the church of All Saints is built.
All Saints, Knightsbridge, in the Lombardic or Byzantine style, by Vulliamy, consecrated 1849: incumbent, the Rev. W. Harness, one of the editors of Shakspeare; senior curate, the Rev. Mackenzie Walcott, author of Memorials of Westminster, 1819.
All Saints, Lower Marsh, Lambeth, built in 1846, in the Anglo-Norman style, has a tower and spire 160 feet high, and upwards of 100 feet from the body of the church, with which it is connected by a passage.
All Souls, Langham-place, built by Nash in 1822-25, has been much ridiculed, but is suited to its angular plan j the circular tower, surrounded with Ionic columns, has a Coi’inthian peristyle above, and a stone cone or spire; it is well adapted to its situation, having the same appearance whichever way viewed. The surface is fluted, and the point finished with metal. The interior is formed on the model of the older churches in the Italian style, and is divided ” by colonnades into nave and ” aisles : it contains an altar-picture by Westall, R.A., of Christ crowned with thorns.
All Saints, Margaret-street, W. Butterfield, architect, was designed as a model church, in art-development, and ” in strict conformity with all the distinctive tenets and limitations of the pure reformed church.” The first stone was laid by the Rev. Dr. Pusey, on All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1, 1850); and the conduct of the work was undertaken on his own responsibility by Mr. A. J. B. Beresford Hope, with a very limited number of subscriptions, one of which, however, is stated to have been 3O,0O0Z. from an anonymous benefactor. The ground, which includes the site of Margaret-street Chapel, was purchased chiefly by Mr. Hope for 10,000£. The church forms one side of a small court, two sides of which are formed by houses (schools and clergy house), connected with the church, and the fourth side opens to Margaret-street. It consists of a nave and chancel, with aisles to each: its length is 109 feet, its width 64 feet. The length of the nave internally is 63 feet 6 inches, and of the chancel, which is vaulted, 38 feet 6 inches. The external height of the building itself is 75 feet j and that of the tower and spire, one of the noblest features in the design, 227 feet.
X 2
The style of the entire mass is Early Middle Pointed, i.e., the style of ahout a.d. 1300 The material of the whole is red brick, chequered, in the church itself, hy mosaic patterns of black brick, and courses of Danby Dale stone ; in the collegiate buildings by patterns of black brick, which is used, especially above the window arches, with great boldness. The court is set, e courtparated from the road by an iron screen standing on a low per-peyn wall; the entrance is by a pedimented gateway, and immediately opposite a buttress is converted into a kind of churchyard cross. In its upper part it is ornamented with a sculpture of the Annunciation; above that, it carries a metal cross at the height of 55 feet. The tower is at the west end of the south aisle. Its union and harmony with the spire, and the treatment of the belfry windows, are, beyond comparison, finer than the Marien Kirche of Lubeck. The decoration of the tower consists principally of courses of Danby Dale stone, edged by a border of black brick, and relieved by a chevron of the same ; mosaic patterns being introduced. The spire is broached; it is covered with slates, and relieved with bands of lead, and carries a very noble metal cross. It is (1866) the highest spire in London, being more elevated than that of Bow Church or St. Bride’s.
The interior is the most gorgeous in the kingdom, and the one in which ecclesio-logical teaching has been most studiously followed; every part of it having been executed in accordance with mediaeval precedent and symbolism. The Nave is divided into three bays, the south-western being inclosed so as to form a Baptistery. The clustered columns which support the arches of the Nave are of polished Aberdeen granite, with plinths of black marble, and boldly foliaged capitals of alabaster; the spandrels of the arches are inlaid with coloured stones and encaustic tiles in geometrical patterns. The roof is of wood in seven bays, painted of a chocolate colour relieved with white and pricked out with blue. The great Chancel arch is of alabaster; the wall above is inlaid with black, white, and coloured work, and has a large ” cross of glory,” in the centre. All the windows are of stained glass: the one of the south aisle and great window (the Root of Jesse) by Gerente of Paris, represent scriptural subjects. The clerestory windows are of geometrical patterns, by O’Connor. The pulpit is of coloured marble, and cost nearly 400/. The floor is laid with encaustic tiles; there are neither pews nor forms, but chairs are used.
The Chancel is mainly lined with alabaster and statuary marble; the arches dividing the Chancel from its aisles being filled with tracery of alabaster, resting on shafts of dark red serpentine; while on the ground-line of the sanctuary beyond, these rich materials are sculptured into canopied arcades, forming graceful sedilia. There is no east window, the entire end of the chancel above the altar being occupied by a series of fresco paintings by W. R. Dyce, R.A., on a diapered gold ground, and each in a canopied frame of alabaster; the detached shafts are of serpentine. In the lowest stage is “the Nativity;” the Madonna, with the infant in her lap occupies the centre; whilst three of the Apostles are in panels on either side. In the middle stage in the centre is a representation of ” the Crucifixion,” and the rest of the Apostles occupy the side panels; the upper space is devoted to a large representation of ” the Celestial Court, with our Lord in Majesty in the centre,” the Saviour being seated in front of an elliptical aureole, around which is a choir of angels, while below are Saints of the church, standing and kneeling in adoration. The upper portion of the Chancel is decorated with geometrical and mosaic work, in coloured marbles. The roof, which is externally more elevated than the nave, is groined in stone; the main ribs of the arches and vaulting are gilt; the low screen, which shuts off the altar, is of alabaster and coloured marble. The floor is laid with encaustic tiles. The Organ, divided into two parts, occupies portions of the Chancel aisles, the trackers passing under the floor. The Baptistery (the ground-floor of the tower) is ornamented with polished red granite, ser Ap granitpentine, and alabaster j the font is of coloured marble, resembling in style the pulpit. The ceiling contains a figure of the emblematic pelican. Throughout the building is a rich display of Gothic brasswork. The grilles dividing the chancel from the transept are light and graceful; the stalls are very unobtrusive and neat; the holy table is of various precious woods.
Mr. Butterfield’s design and intention evidently was to produce a whole profusely but delicately coloured, bright and luminous, refreshing to the eye, and satisfying (if it comes to be reflected upon) to
the mind. The key-note of the colour was to be struck by the lovely natural marbles so largely used throughout the church; white was to be the foundation of the system, relieved indeed and decorated, but never overpowered, by the stronger and more decided hues, whether of marble, of paint, or of gilding, employed to surround it and give it force; the result is admirable. The low marble screen, chiefly of white and light brown marble ; the side arches filled with tracery of serpentine and alabaster full of manly strength and beauty; the magnificent alabaster reredos; the general use of alabaster and green marble on the sides of the chancel, and alabaster and faintly coloured chalkstone in the groining, together with most of the encaustic tiles and the woodwork, are Mr. Butterfield’s. The pillars earning the vaulting are of green Mona marble, with alabaster capitals. The alabaster ribs are completely covered with gold, and have the effect of burs of simple metal; the capitals of the columns and large masses of the reredos are covered with gold. The church is not absolutely large. The height of the roof, however, increased to the eye by the use of white plaster between the carved beams ; the broad and stately arches; the large, bold, and bright patterns inlaid upon the walls; all combine to create an impression of breadth and dignity altogether uncommon. The mingling of the coloured bricks, the white stone, the pink granite, and the alabaster arches and capitals, is very happy. The carvings of the capitals were long since remarked upon by Mr. Buskin, with perfect justice, as unequalled in modern times.—Abridged from the Guardian.
The church is the parish church of a ” Peel” parish, formed, in 1849, out of the district rectory of All Souls’, St. Marylebone, in the perpetual patronage of the Bishop of London. Its present and first incumbent is the Kev. W. Upton Richards. The church was, in the main, finished in 1859, and is understood to have cost 70,000?. One of our ablest ecclesiologists, himself a leader among the exclusively Gothjc architects of our time, Mr. G. E. Street, observes :—” Though I have a rather large acquaintance with English and foreign works executed since the revival of Pointed Art, I cannot hesitate for an instant in allowing that this church is not only the most beautiful, but the most vigorous, thoughtful, and original of them all.”
All Saints, Poplar-lane, India-road, was first built in 1650-54, by subscription, on ground given by the East India Company, and was nearly rebuilt by them in 1776. It has a very good peal of ten bells. Here are monuments to Robert Ainsworth, the lexicographer ; and Flaxman’s sculpture in memory of George Steevens, the illustrator of Shakspeare: it is a bas-relief of Steevens earnestly contemplating a bust of our great Dramatic Bard; the poetical inscription is by Hayley.
St. Alpiiage, London Wall, escaped the Great Fire, and was rebuilt in the last century: it haot entury:s a porch with sculptured heads and pointed arches, stated to be a remnant of the ancient Elsing Priory. Its registers record, within a few years, about forty persons in this parish who certified that they had been touched by Charles II. for the Evil.
St. Andrew’s, Canal-road, Kingsland-road, built of brick of divers colours, C. A. Long, architect, has a recessed porch at the west end, and a square tower and zinc spire at the east: opened 1865.
St. Andbew’s, Holborn, was rebuilt by Wren, upon the site of the old church, in 1686; the original tower (date Henry VI.), 110 feet high, was recased in 1704. It is one of the best placed churches in London: ” for as the west end is nearly at the summit of Holborn-bill, the foundation was necessarily continued throughout on this level to the east end in Shoe-lane; so that the basement is there considerably elevated above the houses.” (Godwin.) The interior is rich in gilding and stained glass.
The Organ was built from the famous instrument constructed by Harris for the Temple Church, part of which was sent to Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, but was sold for 500/., and is now in Wolverhampton Church. When Dr. Sacheverell entered upon the living of St. Andrew’s, he found that the organ, not having been paid for, had, from its erection in 1699, been shut up; when Sacheverell, by a collection amongst his parishioners, raised the amount, and paid for the instrument.
St. Andrew’s has been called ” the Poets’ Church,” from the sons of Song connected with it: John Webster, the dramatic poet, a late contemporary of Shakspeare, is said to have been parish-clerk here, but this is not attested by the register; Robert Savage was christened here, Jan. 18, 1696-7 ; the register records, Aug. 28,1770, ” William ” (Thomas) ” Chatterton,” with ” the poet” added by a later hand, interred in the burial-ground of Shoe-lane Workhouse, now the site of Farringdon Market; and in the churchyard lies Henry Neele, the gravestone bearing a touching epitaph written by him on his father. Among the eminent rectors of the church were Hacket and Stillingfleet, afterwards bishops; and Sacheverel, the partisan preacher, who is buried in the Chancel. In the south aisle is a tablet to John Emery, the comedian, d. 1822. Some of the registers date from 1558.
St. Andeew’s Undershaft, Leadenhall-street, nearly opposite the site of the East India House, is a Tudor church, before whose south side was set up on every Mayday morning a long shaft or May-pole, which was higher than the church-steeple. It was last raised in 1517, on ” Evil May-day,” ” so called of an insurrection made by apprentices and other young persons against aliens:” it was then hung on iron hooks over the doors and under the ” pentices ” of Shaft-alley, until 3rd King Edward VI., when one St. Stephen, a curate, preaching at Paul’s Cross, ” said that this shaft was made an idol, by naming the church of St. Andrew with the addition of ‘ under-that-shaft.’ ” Stow heard this sermon, and describes how the parishioners in the afternoon lifted the shaft from the hooks whereon it had rested thirty-two years, sawed it in pieces, ” every man taking for his share so much as had lain over his door and stall, the length of his house; and they of the alley divided among them so much as had lain over their alley-gate” (Stow) : and thus was this idol ” mangled and after burned.” The presente c” The p church, rebuilt 1520-1532, consists of a nave and two side aisles, with ribbed and flattened roof, painted and gilt with flowers and shields. The Chancel has also paintings of the heavenly choir, landscapes, and buildings. St. Andrew’s has much stained glass; and a large pointed windo .v at the east end of the Nave contains whole-length portraits of King Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., and Charles II. The church was pewed soon after 1520. It contains many brasses, tablets, and monuments, the most characteristic of which is that of John Stow, author of A Survey of London (1598). This monument is of terra-cotta, and was erected by Stow’s widow; it contains the figure of the chronicler, once coloured after life : he is seated at a table, pen in hand, with a book before him, and a clasped book on each side of the alcove: above are the arms of Stow’s Company, the Merchant Tailors’.
John Stow was born in the parish of St. Michael, Comhill, in the year 1525. There is abundant proof that he was by trade a tailor. In 1549, he was dwelling near the well within Aldgate, now known as Aldgate pump; where the Bailiff of Rumford was, to use Stow’s own words, ” executed upon the pavement of my door, where I then kept house.” Amidst the toils of business, Stow wrote his Chronicles, his Annates, and his Survey, a ” simple and unadorned picture of London at the close of the 16th and commencement of the 17th century;” besides other works, printed and manuscript, which, to use his own words, ” cost him many a weary mile’s travel, many a hard-earned penny and pound, and many a cold winter night’s study.” He enjoyed the patronage of Archbishop Parker, the friendship of Lambarde, and the respect of Camden; yet he fell into poverty, and all he could obtain from his sovereign, James I., for the toil of near half a century, was a license to beg! Stow died a twelvemonth after, on the 6th of April, 1605, in the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft, and was buried on April 8 : but, according to Maitland, in the year 1732, certain men removed Stow’s ” corpse, to make way for another.” His collections for the Chronicles of England, occupying 60 quarto volumes, are now in the British Museum. Of the various editions of Stow’s Survey, it may suffice to commend to the reader’s notice the reprint from the edition of 1603, carefully edited by W. J. Thorns, F.S.A., 1842.
In a desk in this church are preserved seven curious old books, mostly in black letter, with a portion of iron chain attached to them, by which they were formerly secured under open cages.
St. Andrew by the Wardeobe, in Castle Baynard Ward, was named from its contiguity to the King’s Great Wardrobe, destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, in 1692. Here is a monument, by the elder Bacon, to the Rev. William Romaine; the bust very good.
St. Awdkew’s, Wells-street, Marylebone, built by Daukes and Hamilton, in 1845-7, is fine Early Perpendicular, and has a tower and spire 155 feet high : the Anglican musical service is fully performed here; seats free and open.
St. Anne’s, Blackfriars, was destroyed in the Great Fire, and not rebuilt. It was ” pulled down with the Friars’ Church, by Sir Thomas Cawarden, Master of the Revels; but in the reign of Queen Mary, he being forced to find a church for the inhabitants, allowed them a lodging chamber above a stair” (Slow). The parish register records the burial of Isaac Oliver, the miniature painter; Nat Field, the poet and player; Dick Robinson, the player; William Faithorne, the engraver. Vaino engravn Dyck lived and died in this parish; his daughter vVas baptized the day her illustrious father died, December 9, 1641.
St. Anne’s, Limehouse, built by Hawksmoor, pupil of Wren, 17J 2-24, at a cost of 35,00OZ., has a tower, with four angular turrets, and a more lofty one in the centre,
original and picturesque. At 130 feet high is the clock, put up hy Messrs. Moore in 1839: it is the highest in the metropolis, not excepting St. Paul’s, and has four dials, each 13 feet in diameter; the hours heing struck on the great hell (38 cwt.), inscribed:
” At proper times my voice I’ll raise, And sound to my subscribers’ praise.”
The whole of the interior of the church, including a fine organ, was destroyed by an accidental fire on the morning of Good Friday, March 29, 1850; but has been judiciously restored.
St. Anne’s, Soho, was finished in 1686, and occupies a spot formerly called Kemp’s Fields. It was dedicated to St. Anne in compliment to the Princess Anne of Denmark. The tower and spire were rebuilt about 1806 by the late S. P. Cockerell j the clock is a whimsical and ugly excrescence. The interior is very handsome, and has a finely-painted window at the east end. In this church is a tablet to the memory of Theodore Anthony Neuhoff, King of Corsica, who died in this parish in 1756, soon after his liberation from the King’s Bench Prison by the Act of Insolvency. The friend who gave shelter to this unfortunate monarch, whom nobles could praise when praise could not reach his ear, and who refused to succour him in his miseries, was himself so. poor as to be unable to defray the cost of his funeral. His remains were therefore about to be interred as a parish pauper, when one John Wright, an-oilman in Corapton-street, declared, he for once would pay the funeral expenses of a king, which he did. The tablet was erected at the expense of Horace Walpole, who inscribed upon it
” The grave, great teacher, to a level brings Heroes and beggars, galley-slaves and kings; But Theodore this morai learn’d ere dead; Fate pour’d its lesson on his living head, Bestow’d a kingdom, and denied him bread.”
In the church is buried David Williams, founder of the Literary Fund; and in the churchyard, William Hazlitt, the clever essayist. In the church are monuments to Sir John Macpherson, Governor-General of India, and William Hamilton, R.A., painter.
St. Anthony’s (St. Antholin’s or St. Antling’s), in Budge-row, at the corner of Sise-lane, is of ancient foundation, being mentioned in the twelfth century. The church was rebuilt about 1399 and again 1513; and being destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, was rebuilt by Wren in 16S2, when the parish of St. John Baptist, Watling-street, was annexed to that of St. Antholin. The interior has an oval dome, supported on eight columns; and the carpentry of the roof is a fine specimen of Wren’s constructive skill. The exterior has a tower rising directly from the ground, with an octagonal spire, terminating with a Composite capital, at the height of 154 feet. In 1559, there was established, “after Geneva fashion,” at St. Antholin’s, an early prayer and lecture, the bells for which began to ring at five in the morning. This service is referred to no, referrby our early dramatists, and the preacher (a Puritan) and the bell of St. Antlin’s were proverbially loud and lengthy. The chaplains of the Commissioners from the Church of Scotland to King Charles, in 1610, preached here: and ” curiosity, faction, and humour,” drew such crowds, that on Sundays, from daybreak to nightfall, the church was never empty. The churchwardens’ accounts present (in an unbroken series) the parish expenditure for nearly three centuries.
St. Augustine’s, Watling-street, was destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, in 1682. The ancient church stood near the gate that led from Watling-street into St. Paul’s churchyard. In 1387 (^ays Strype) was founded the fraternity of St. Austin’s, in Watling-street (corrupted from St. Augustine’s), who met in this church on the eve of St. Austin’s, and in the morning at high mass, when every brother offered a penny, afterwards they were ready either ” at mangier or at revele “—to eat or to revel, as the master and wardens of the fraternity directed. After the Great Fire, the parish of St. Faith-under-Paul’s (so called because a part of the crypt of that cathedral was formerly their church) was united to St. Augustine’s.
St. Baenabas’, Queen-street, Pimlico, is a portion of a college founded on St. Barnabas’ Day, 1846, including schools and residentiary house for the clergy, upon,
ground presented by the first Marquis of Westminster. The buildings are in the Early Pointed style, Cundy, architect; and the church has a Caen-stone tower and spire lVO feet high, with a peal of ten bells, the gifts of as many parishioners. The windows throughout are filled with stained glass by Wailes, of Newcastle ; the subjects from the life of St. Barnabas. The open roof is splendidly painted; the rood dividing the Choir from the Chancel, and other fittings, are entirely of oak; the lectern is a brass eagle : the superb altar-plate, the font, illuminated office-books, the corona lucis in the chancel, and other costly ornaments, are the gifts of private individuals. The funds were contributed by the inhabitants of the district of St. Paul, Knightsbridge, through the pious zeal of the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, the incumbent. There is an organ by Flight, of great richness, variety, and power; and full choral service is performed. During the Anti-Papal agitation towards the close of 1850, this church was more than once the scene of disgraceful interruption by intolerant mobs, who, but for the intrepidity of the officiating clergy, would have set aside the right to undisturbed worship. The church was consecrated by the Bishop of London, on St. Barnabas’ Day (June 11), 1850. The clergy and services are maintained by the offertory, as there is no endowment. In 1849-50, sermons were preached here by the Bishop of London (Blomfield), the Bishop of Oxford, Archdeacon Manning, the Regius Professors of Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge (Dr. Mill and Dr. Pusey), Mr. Sewell (of Oxford), Mr. Paget, Mr. Gresley, Mr. Keble, Mr. F. Bennett, Mr. Kennaway, Mr. Neale, Mr. H. Wilberforce, Mr. Richards, Mr. R. Eden, and Mr. W. J. E. Bennett. The ancient practice of singing the Litany at a faldstool, at the entrance to the chancel, has here been revived, and in all other respects the most approved Catholic usages have been observed, in so far as they are applicable to our own ritual. The stone altar has been replaced by a wooden one,—a table.
St. Babnabas, Bell-street, Edgware-road, stands north and south, instead of east and west, owing to the peculiar form of the site. Over the altar is a metal cross, affixed to the wall, bearing in its centre a circular mosaic reprs ar mosaresenting the Lamb, on a gold ground. Above the Chancel arch is a figure of the Saviour seated, painted in fresco; and the north window is of stained glass. A. W. Blomfield, architect.
St. Bartholomew by the Exchange, rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire, mostly with the old masonry, was taken down in 1840 : the tower was in eccentric taste, appearing as though the upper part had been blown down, and a door-way or window-frame been left on each side. Here was buried Miles Coverdale, our first translator of the Bible, whose remains were removed to St. Magnus’ Church, London Bridge, on the taking down of St. Bartholomew’s. This church has been rebuilt in Moor-lane, Cripplegate, under the direction of C. R. Cockerell, R.A. The interior details are Tuscan; the altar-piece, pulpit, &c, are richly-carved oak; and the communion end is lighted by a stained Catherine-wheel window. From the western door the whole interior to the east is discovered through a triumphal arch, formed by a novel and ingenious construction of the choir-gallery in front of the organ.
St. Bartholomew the Gbeat, in West Smithfield, is part of the ancient Priory of St. Bartholomew the Great, founded about 1102, by Rahere, the King’s Minstrel, who became first Prior. Originally, the church consisted of a low central tower, with four other towers, one at each of the angles of the edifice, and all crowned with conical spires. Of Rahere’s church, founded as above, in the reign of Henry I., and finished about 1123, nothing remains but the Choir, with an aisle or procession-path surrounding its apsidal east end, the crossing (at the original intersection of the transepts), and one bay only—the easternmost one—of the Nave. These remains are coeval with the naves of the cathedrals of Durham, Norwich, and Peterborough. The original length of St. Bartholomew’s seems to have been about 280 feet, and its breadth 60 feet—a little less than those of Rochester Cathedral. At the Dissolution of religious houses the Nave was pulled down, and the conventual buildings were disposed of to various persons. The Choir and Transepts were granted in 1544 to the parishioners, for their use as a parish church; and so remained till now—except that about the year 1628 the original tow r er was taken down and a new one built of brick. The Nave is supposed to have originally extended to the house-fronts in West Smithfield, where is the entrance-gate, an excellent specimen of Early English, with the toothed ornament in its mouldings. Mr. Parker has, however, explained that the above gateway was not the doorway to the south aisle, as it had been considered. The grant of the Priory by Henry VIII. defines the Nave as it was then, ” a void ground, 87 feet in length and 60 feet in breadth,” and it was reserved as a churchyard, for which purpose it had been used to our time. The discrepancy of the present dimensions with those in the grant, it is remarkable had not before occurred to antiquaries. Mr. Parker has also explained that the size of the doorway and extent of the mouldings are altogether unsuited to the position assigned to them in the church. Here are the details:
At present the building is 132 ft. by 57 ft, and 47 ft. high, having an open timber roof, which is supposed to be equal in age to the building itself. The square brick tower at the end of the south aisle is 75 ft. high, and was erected in 1628. It contains five bells. The six bells belonging originally to the edifice were sold at the Dissolution of the monastery to the parish church of St. Sepulchre. On the east side of the south wing stood a beautiful cprea beauthapel of the time of Edward 111., with a large western archway, which was destroyed by fire in 1830. Attached to the east end of the church was a Lady Chapel, of Norman style, now a fringe manufactory, the side walls of which still remain. The prior’s house, infirmary, refectory, dormitory, chapter-house, and cloisters originally surrounded the building. The walls of the chapter-house, of the time of Henry III., were remaining in 1809, as high as the window-sills. It had three arched entrances to the cloister, with arcades on the north and south sides. On the south side of the church is an oriel window built by Prior Bolton early in the 16th century, and supposed to have been used, like that at Worcester Cathedral, by the sacristan for the supervision of the lights burning at the altar. It is ornamented by the Prior’s rebus, an arrow, or some such thing, inserted through a tun. The interior of the church contains several very ancient monuments in good preservation ; among others the effigy and tomb of Rahere, the first prior, inserted within a screen; the Elizabethan tomb of Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who died in May, 1589; and of Rycroft, the king’s printer of the Polyglot. Le Scaur, the sculptor, and Milton lived in Bartholomew-close, hard by; and William Hogarth was baptized in the church in November, 1697.
Archer, in his Vestiges of Old London, has engraved the west gate of the Priory and that portion of it which is now the ” Coach and Horses” public-house, at the entrance to Bartholomew-close, formerly the Priory close. The kitchen is now a dwelling-house, from which a subterranean passage communicated with the church. Mr. Archer identified the mulberry-garden from an old plan, and the decayed stump of a celebrated mulberry-tree was grubbed up just before his visit in 1842.
This church, the oldest beyond all question in the whole City of London, having been erected nearly 750 years ago, is about to be restored to its primitive grandeur at the cost of a large sum of money, under the direction of a Committee.
St. Bartholomew the Less, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, West Smithfield, was formerly the Chapel of the Brotherhood of St. Bartholomew, and was founded by Rahere the first Prior, and contained a chapel for the poor. It escaped the Great Fire, but becoming dilapidated, was taken down, except the tower, and replaced by an octagon wooden building by Dance. This again was taken down, and a stone building erected, in 1823, by Hardwicke, K.A. During the operation, the arms of Edward the Confessor, in stone, were found under the tower (they are now in the Vestry), and as these arms were assumed by the Edwards, it is supposed that the old church was erected during one of their reigns. The tower contains very fine Norman and Early English arches and pillars j the piscina from the ancient church is used as a font. A beautiful Chancel has been built in the style of the Lady Chapels in Normandy ; the reredos of marble and alabaster, as is also the pulpit, with bas-reliefs of the Sermon on the Mount; stained glass windows by Powell.— Mackeson.
St. Benet, Gracechurch-street, is one of Wren’s least attractive edifices, rebuilt after the Great Fire. The original church is mentioned as ” S. Benedicti, Graschurch,” in a survey made in the twelfth century; according to Stow, it was called Grass-church, to distinguish it from other churches of the same name, because that the herb-market was held opposite its western door. Weever mentions only one monument of early date (1491) in the church; but the parish books contain many curious entrieromurious s. Thus, at the accession of Queen Mary, in 1553 :—” Paid to a plasterer, for washing owte and defacing of such Scriptures as in the tymeof King Edward VI. were written aboute the chirche and walls, we being commanded to do so by y e Right Hon. y e lord bishopp of Winchester, L d Chan r of England, 3*. 4d. ;” and ” Paid to the paynters for the making y e Boode, with Mary and John, 61. ;” while in the first year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, 1558, occur, ” Payd to a carpenter for pulling down the Boode and Mary,
As. and 2d.;” and ” Paid three labourers one day for pulling down the altars and John, 2*. Ad.” Later still, in 1G42, were sold ” the superstitious brasses taken off the gravestones for 9s. and Gd.” The tower of Wren’s church, at the north-west angle, is, with the cupola and spire, 140 feet high. The interior of the church is a double cube of 60 feet by 30 feet, with a groined ceiling, crossed by bands. In the register is: ” 1559, April 14, Robert Burges, a common player.” The yard of the Cross Keys Inn, Grace-church-strect, was one of our early theatres.
St. Bennet Fink, named from Robert Finke, the original founder (as also of Finch-lane adjoining), was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, rebuilt by Wren, but taken down in 1S42-44. The remains were sold by auction, Jan. 15,1816, when lot 12, the carved oak poor-box, with lock, &c. (date on the lock 1683), fetched four guineas; and lot 17, the carved and panelled oak pulpit, with sounding-board, &c, fifteen guineas. The paintings of Moses and Aaron, the carved and panelled oak fittings of the altar, marble floor, and the two tablets with inscriptions in gold, were purchased for 501. The parish registers record the marriage of Richard Baxter, the celebrated Nonconformist, to Margaret Charlton, Sept. 10th, 1662 ; and the baptism of ” John, the son of John Speed, merchant-tailor,” March 10, 1608.
St. Bennet, Paul’s Wharf, or St. Benet Hude or Hythe, was destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, in 1683. The burial register records Inigo Jones, the architect ; Sir William Le Neve (Clarencieux); John Philpott (Somerset Herald); and William Oldys (Norroy). Inigo Jones’s monument (for which he left 100Z.) was destroyed in the Great Fire. Elias Ashmole, the antiquary, was married to his first wife in this church.
St. Bennet SHEEEHOG,or Syth, Ward of Cheap, was destroyed in the Great Fire, and not rebuilt. Stow says its most ancient name is Shorne, from one Robert Shorne, citizen and stock-fish monger, ” a new builder, repairer, or benefactor thereof, in the reign of Edward II. j” so that Shorne is but corruptly Shrog, or more corruptly, Sherehog.
St. Botolph without Aldeksgate escaped the Great Fire, and was rebuilt in 1796. Here are monuments to Dame Anne Packington, believed to have written The Whole Duty of Man; Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Richardson; Elizabeth Smith, with cameo bust by Roubiliac; and a tablet to Richard Chiswell, bookseller.
St. Botolph, Aldgate, at the corner of Houndsditch, opposite the Minories, was rebuilt by G. Dance, 1741-44. It contains monuments of good sculpture to Lord Dacre, beheaded 1537 ; and Sir Nicholas Carew, of Beddington, beheaded 1538; also an effigies monument to Robert Dowe, who left the St. Sepulchre’s Bell, &c. {see p. 48). In the churchyard is a tomb inscribed with Persian characters, of which Stow gives the following account:—
“August 10,1626. In Petty France [a part of the cemetery unconsecrated], out of Christian burial, was buried Hodges Shaughsware, a Persian merchant, who with his son came over with the Persian ambassador, and was buried by his own son, who read certain prayers, and used other ceremonies, according to the custom of their own country, morning and evening, for a whole month after the burial; for whom is set up, at the charge of his son, a tomb of stone with certain Persian characters thereon, the exposition thus :—This grave is made for Hodges Shaughsware, the chiefest servant to the King of Persia for the space of twenty years, who came from the King of Persia, and died in his service. If any Persian cometh out of that country, let him read this and a prayer for him. The Lord receive his soul, for here lieth Maghmote Shaughsware, who was born in the town Novoy, in Persia.”— Stoic’s Survey, ed. 1633, p. 173.
St. Botolph’s is situate without the walls of London, near one of the ancient entrances to the City, supposed to have been built by a bishop, and thence called Bishopsgate. The old church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of 1666; it was rebuilt in 1725-29 by James Gold j its peculiarity is, that the tower rises at the east end, in Bishopsgate-street, and the lower part forms the chancel. The living, valued at 1650Z., with a Rectory-house, is the richest in the City and Liberties of London. The Crown exercises the right of patronage in consequence of having raised the then rectors to the Episcopal Bench. Dr. Blomfield (the late Bishop of London) was rector from 1820 until his consecration as Bishop of Chester in 1828; and Dr. Grey was rector from 1828 until his consecration as Bishop of Hereford in 1832. In the chancel is the monument to Sir Paul Pindar, whose residence in Bishopsgate-street Without is now
the Sir Paul Pindar’s Head public-house. He was a rich merchant (temp. James I. and Charles I.), and like many other good subjects, was ruined by his attachment to the latter monarch. He was charitable and hospitable, and often gave ” the parish venison” for public dinners: yet the parisbioners made him pay for a license for eating flesh. Sir Paul presented the parish yearly with a venison pasty; for in 1634 we find charged in the parish book 19s. Id. for the mere ” flour, butter, pepper, eggs, making, and baking.” Another curious entry is in 1578 : ” Paid for frankincense and flowers, when the Chancellor sate with us, lis.
The ecclesiastical custom of a new Rector “tolling himself in,” or, legally speaking, taking up ” the livery of possession,” was performed by the Rev. William Rogers, M.A., the present Hector, with the formalities described at p. 46, Bells. The “reading himself in” took place on the following Sunday. The above induction custom seems to imply the general authority of the Rector over the peal of bells; and there is an old saying, that the number of strokes given on the occasion will correspond with the years the incumbent is to hold the living.
Bow Church, see St. Mary-le-Bow, page 183.
St. Bride’s, or St. Bridget, Fleet-street, was built by Wren, upon the site of the old church, destroyed in the Great Fire. It was completed in 1703, cost 11,430Z., and is remarkable for its graceful steeple. ” Ye first stone was layed on the 4th day of October, 1701, and was finished, and the wether-cocke was put up in September, 1703; it being in height 234 feet 6 inches from- the surfacstom- the e of ye earth to ye top of the cross, ye wether-cocke from ye dart to ye end is 6 feet 4 inches.” In June 1764, this beautiful steeple was so damaged by lightning, that it was found requisite to take down eighty-five feet of the stone-work, and in restoring it, the height was lowered eight feet: the whole cost was 3000Z. In 1803 the steeple was again struck by lightning: ” The metal vane, the cramps with which the masonry was secured, and the other ironwork employed in the construction, led the electric fluid down the steeple, in the absence of any continued or better conductor; and as at each point where the connexion was broken off, a violent disruption necessarily ensued, the stonework was rent in all parts and projected from its situation. One stone, weighing nearly eighty pounds, was thrown over the east end of the church, and fell on the roof of a house in Bride-lane; while another was forced from the bottom of the spire, through the roof of the church, into the north gallery.” (Godwin’s Churches of London, vol. ii.) The Philosophical Transactions for 1764 also contains two scientific investigations of the above damage. The upper part was, for a long time, preserved on the premises of a mason in Old-street Road. The entire spire is one of Wren’s most beautiful designs, and consists of four stories, the two lower Tuscan, the third Ionic, and the fourth Composite, terminating in an obelisk, with a ball and vane. In height and lightness it approaches nearer to the exquisite spires of the Pointed style than any other example; the details, however (in Portland stone), are hastening to decay. In the north face of the tower is a transparent clock-dial, first lit with gas in 1827, and one of the earliest in the metropolis. In the tower is a peal of twelve bells (see p. 47); and the Organ, by Harris, is good. The interior is handsome : the great eastern window, above the altar, is filled with a copy, in stained glass, of Rubens’s ” Descent from the Cross,” in Antwerp Cathedral: this was executed by Muss in 1824-5, and is a fine production. The marble font bears the date 1615. Richardson, the author of Clarissa Marlowe, and who printed his own novels in Salisbury-square, is buried in the church; and in the vestibule, beneath the tower, is a tablet to Alderman Waithman (interred here), who sat in five Parliaments for the City of London. The registers of St. Bride’s were saved at the destruction of the first church : they commence from 1587 : and the vestry-books, which date from 1653, minutely chronicle the Great Fire, a relic of which is the doorway into a vault, to the right of the entrance from Bride-passage. In the old church were buried Wynkin de Worde, whose printing-office was in Fleet-street ; Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset (d. 1608), the poet, who commenced The Mirrourfor Magistrates ; Sir Richard Baker, the chronicler, who died in the Fleet Prison, 1644-5 ; Richard Lovelace, the poet, who died a broken cavalier, ” very poor in body and purse,” in Gunpowder-alley, Shoe-lane, in 1658. The register also records the burial of Ogilby, the translator of Homer (d. 1676); Mary Carlton, or Frith, the ” English Moll” of Hudibras, alias Moll Cutpurse, an infamous cheat and pickpocket, hanged at Tyburn 1672-3 ; also, the burial of Flatman, the poet and painter:
Flatman, who Cowley imitates with pains, And rules a jaded Muse whipt with loose reins.
Lord Rochester.
The present church and much of its elegant spire were hidden by houses until after a destructive fire in Bride-passage on Nov. 14, 1824, when an avenue was opened from Fleet-street: it was designed by J. Hi Papworth; this improvement cost 10.000Z., of which Mr. Blades, of Ludgate-hill, advanced 6000Z.
One of Milton’s London abodes was in St. Bride’s churchyard: here, after his return from Italy, he lodged with one Russel, a tailor, and devoted himself to the education of his nephews, John and Edward Phillips, and to the politics of the day. Thence, however, he soon removed to ” a pretty garden-house ” in Aldersgate-street.
British and Foreign Sailors’ Church (the) was opened April 30, 1845, in the Danish Church, Wellclose-square, Ratcliffe Highway. An inscription over the entrance states it to have been built in 1696, by Caius Gabriel Cibber, the sculptor, at the cost of Christian V., King of Denmark, for such merchants and seamen, his subjects, who visited the port of London. The architect and his son, Colley Cibber, are buried in the vaults; and in the church is a tablet to Jane Colley. The pulpit has four sand-glasses in a brass frame, by which preachers formerly regulated the length of their sermons. •*
Camden Church, Camberwell, has a Byzantine Chancel, G. G. Scott, R.A., architect. The stained glass window is by Ward, Frith-street, assisted by hints from Mr. Ruskin (a member of the congregation). The carving and decorations throughout the church are good.
Catherine Cree (or Christ Church), on the north side of Leadenhall-street, was rebuilt in the year 1629, and consecrated by Laud, Bishop of London, Jan. 16, 1630-31; when persons were stationed at the doors of the church to call with a loud voice on his approach, ” Open, open, ye everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may enter in.” When Laud had reached the interior, he fell on his knees, and lifting his hands, exclaimed, ” This place is holy, the ground is holy; in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I pronounce it holy;” then throwing dust from the ground into the air, he bowed to the Chancel, and went in procession round the church. These and other ceremonies, fully described in Rusbworth, were made grave accusations against Laud, and brought about his death. The present church is debased Gothic and Corinthian. Among the monuments removed from the old church is a canopied figure of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton (d. 1570), from whom Throgmorton-street is named. By the Will of Sir John Gager, Lord Mayor in 1646, provision is made for a sermon to be annually preached on the 16th of October, in St. Catherine Cree Church, in commemoration of his happy deliverance from a lion, which he met in a desert whilst travelling in the Turkish dominions, and which suffered him to pass unmolested.
The old church was the reputed burial-place of Holbein, upon \#hich Mr. W. H. Black, F.S.A., remarks, in connexion with the recent discoverv of the great Painter’s Will :—
Walpole observes that” the spot of his (Holbein’s) interment was as uncertain as that of his death-” and he might have added (if the circumstances of the ” Plague ” had been considered)—1554 was not a Plague year—of the time of his death also. He alluded to Strype’s story of Lord Arundel’s desire to erect a monument to the painter’s memory. Strype’s words are (speaking of St. Catherine Cree Church):—”I have been told that Hans Holbein, the great and inimitable painter in King Henry VIII.’s time, was buried in this church; and that the Earl of Arundel, the great patron of learning and arts, would have set up a monument to his memory here had he but known whereabouts the corpse lay.” So uncertain is tradition, that, although this rumour must have originated in a knowledge of the neighbourhood w, ighbourhere Holbein died, yet a wrong place is assigned for his burial; for Cree Church and Undershaft are situate in the same street, on the same side of the way, and within 200 yards of each other. The beautiful pile of Undershaft escaped the Fire of London, but the register from 1538 to 1579 inclusively, has not been preserved ; and if it were extant who would believe that a John Holbein, dying and buried in 1543, was the Hans Holbein whose life had been prolonged by all biographers to 1554, unless upon the infallible testimony of the Will now brought to light ?— Archaologia, vol. xxxix.
St. Chad, Haggerston, has all seats free : ” altar cross, and lights at every celebration of the Holy Communion.”— Mackeson.
Christ Church, Broadway, Westminster, was designed in 1842, in the Early
Pointed style, by Poynter; upon the site of the former New Chapel: the spire not built. It has some good stained glass by Willement, especially in the centre window. The New Chapel was built about 1631; Archbishop Laud contributing to the funds 10007. and some most curious glass. At the Rebellion, Sir Robert Harley defaced the window, laid the painted glass in heaps upon the ground, and trod it to pieces, calling his sacrilegious antics “dancing a jig to Laud.” The troopers of the Commonwealth stabled their chargers in the church aisles; and Cromwell and his officers are said to have used it as a council-room. In the adjacent ground was buried Sir William Waller (d. 1688), the famous Parliamentarian General in the Civil Wars. On June 26, 1739, Margaret Patten was interred here, at the age of 136 years (?): she was born at Lochborough, near Paisley, and was brought to England to prepare Scotch broth for King James II.; but after his abdication she fell into poverty, and died in St. Margaret’s Workhouse, where her portrait is preserved. “None would recognise the description given of this burial-ground—now so crowded upon by houses—towards the beginning of the last century, that it was ‘ the pleasantest churchyard all about London and Westminster.'”— (W’alcott’s Westminster, p. 286.)
Christ Church, Clapham, of Gothic geometrical design, by Ferrey. ” Incense and the vestments are used; this was the first church in London at which they were used.”— Mackeson.
Christ Church, Down-street, Piccadilly, a stone building; Messrs. Francis, architects ; style, ” Middle Pointed French Gothic;” only the eastern half built.
Christ Church, Highbury, designed by T. Allom, in 18-18, has a tower and spire in the angle between the North Transept and Nave, the spire having gabled and crocketed lucarnes. Internally, the plan is equally novel, in the centre becoming an octagon of eight arches, so as to allow the pulpit and reading-desk, placed against the pillars of the Chancel arch, to be distinctly seen from all parts of the church.
Christ Church, Newgate-street, was built by Wren between 1687 and 1704, and occupies part of the site of the ancient Grey Friars’ Church, destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. The tower rises directly from the ground, and with the steeple is 153 feet high; the basement-story being open on three sides, and forming a porch to the church. A large gallery at the west end is appropriated for the Christ’s Hospital Boys; and here, since 1797, have been preached the ” Spital Sermons.” In ve,Sermons1799, the Spital Sermon on Easter Tuesday was preached by the celebrated Dr. Parr, who occupied nearly three hours in its delivery.
The Spital Sermons originated in an old custom by which some learned person was appointed yearly by the Bishop of London to preach at St. Paul’s Cross, on Good Friday, on the subject of ” Christ’s Passion:” on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday following, three other divines were appointed to uphold the doctrine of ” The Kesurrection ” at the Pulpit Cross in the ” Spital” (Spitalfields). On the Sunday following, a fifth preached at Paul’s Cross, and passed judgment upon the merits of those who had preceded him. At these Sermons, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen attended; ladies also on the Monday forming part of the procession; and at the close of each day’s solemnity, his Lordship and the Sheriffs gave a private dinner to such of their friends among the Aldermen as attended the Sermon. From this practice, the civic festivities at Easter were at length extended to a magnificent scale. The children of Christ’s Hospital took part in the above solemnities; so that, in 1594, when it became necessary to rebuild the Pulpit Cross at the Spital, a gallery was erected also for their accommodation. In the Great Rebellion, the pulpit was destroyed, and the Sermons were discontinued till the Restoration; after which, the three Spital Sermons, as they were still called, were revived at St. Bride’s Church, in Fleet-street. They have since been reduced to two, and from 1797 have been delivered at Christ Church, Newgate-street. It was on their first appearance at the Spital that the children of Christ’s Hospital wore the blue costume by which they have since been distinguished. Instead of the subjects which were wont to be discussed from the Pulpit Cross of St. Mary’s Spital, discourses are now delivered commemorative of the objects of the five sister Hospitals; and a Report is read of the number of children maintained and educated, and of sick, disorderly, and lunatic persons for whom provision is made in each respectively. On each day, the Boys of Christ’s Hospital, with the legend ” HJC IS ttSCll attached to their left shoulders, form part of the civic procession; walking on the first day in the order of their schools, the King’s Boys bearing their nautical instruments; and on the second, according to their several wards, headed by their nurses.—Abridged from the Rev. Mr. Trollope’s History of Christ’s Hospital.
Christ Church, Poplar, cruciform, with spire, was built at the expense of Alderman William Cubitt, twice Lord Mayor; some stone from old London Bridge was used in the building: it has five bells and a good organ.
Christ Church, Spitalfields (originally a hamlet of St. Dunstan’s, Stepney), was
built by Hawksmoor, a pupil of Wren, and consecrated July 5, 1729. It is entirely of stone, very massive, and has one of the loftiest spires in London, 225 feet high, or 23 feet higher than the Monument. It contains a peal of 12 bells, scarcely inferior in power and sweetness to any in the kingdom ; the tenor weighing 4928 lbs. It has a large organ, the masterpiece of Bridge, containing 2126 pipes. Here is a monument to Sir Robert Ladbroke, a whole-length figure, in the full dress of Lord Mayor: one of the early works of Flaxman. This church was greatly injured by fire on Feb. 17, 1836, shortly after the parishioners had finished paying 8000/. for repairs. On the morning of Jan. 3, 1841, the spire and roof of the church were greatly damaged by lightning, at ten minutes before seven, when the clock stopped. The lightning struck the cone, or upper part of the spire j thence ity He j the descended to a room above the clock-room, forcing the trap-door from the hinges down to the floor, melting the iron wires connected with the clock, scorching the wooden rope-conductors, breaking many of the windows, and making a considerable fracture in the wall, where the lightning is supposed to have escaped. The roof was partially covered with large stones, which broke in the lead-work by their weight in falling; and the lead near the injured masonry was melted in several places.
St. Clement’s, Eastcheap, Clement’s-lane, City, is of uncertain foundation: it was. rebuilt, except the south aisle and steeple, in 1658, but destroyed in the Great Fire; after which it was rebuilt by Wren in 1686, and made to serve the two districts of St. Clement and St. Martin Orgar, which church stood in St. Martin’s-lane. The tower remains to this day, and serves as an entrance to the site of the old church, occupied as a burial-ground for the united parishes. St. Clement’s Church has little that is noteworthy j but the parishioners were satisfied with its architect: for we find in the Register-book, date 1685, ” To one-third of a hogshead of wine given to Sir Christopher Wren, 41. 2s.” The tower is 88 feet high. The church has a fine organ, and an elaborately carved pulpit and desk, and soundiug-board; and a marble font, with a curious oak cover. In the list of rectors is Dr. Benjamin Stone, presented to the living by Bishop Juxon in 1637; but deemed popishly affected, and declared unfit to hold office, in Cromwell’s time, and confined in Crosby Hall; thence removed to Plymouth, and set free by paying 60/. fine: but Stone recovered his benefice in 1660. Another celebrated rector was Bishop Pearson, who, in the old church, delivered the Lectures forming his Exposition of the Creed, which, when published in 1658, he dedicated to the parishioners of St. Clement, Eastcheap; the work is to this day used as a textbook in the examination of candidates in divinity. Among the former organists at this church were Purcell, Battishill, and Whitaker.
St. Clement’s Danes, Strand, the first church west of Temple Bar, is said by Stow to have been so called ” because Harold, a Danish king, and other Danes, were buried there.” Strype gives another reason: that the few Danes left in the kingdom married English women, and compulsorily lived between Westminster and Ludgate; and there built a synagogue, called ” Ecclesia Clementis Danorum.” This account Fleetwood, the antiquary, Recorder of London in the reign of Elizabeth, reported to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, who lived in this parish. The body of the old church was taken down in 1680, and rebuilt to the old tower in 1682, by Edward Pierce, under the gratuitous directions of Wren, as recorded on a marble slab in the north aisle. In 1719, Gibbs added the present tower and steeple, about 116 feet high, with a peal of ten bells. The clock strikes the hours twice, ” the hour being first struck on a larger bell, and then repeated on a smaller one, so that has the first been miscounted, the second may be more correctly observed.” (A. Thomson’s Time and Timekeepers, p. 77.) In addition to the clock is a set of chimes, which play the old 104th Psalm, though somewhat crazily. In the church are buried Otway and Nat Lee, the dramatic poets; and Rymer, compiler of the Foedera, &c.
Dr. Johnson was a constant attendant at the service of St. Clement’s Danes, in one of the pews of which (No. 18), in the north gallery, he had a seat for many years against the large pillar at the end, which bears the following inscription, written by the Rev. G. Croly, LL.D., Rector of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook :—
” In this pew and beside this pillar, for many years attended Divine Service, the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson, the philosopher, the poet, the great lexicographer, the profound moralist, and chief
writer of his time. Born, 1709; died, 178 i. In remembrance and honour of noble faculties, nobly employed, some inhabitants of the parish of St. Clement Danes have placed this slight memorial, a.d. 1851.”
St. Clemext’s, Islington, of Gothic design, G. G. Scott, E.A., architect, was erected at the sole expense of George Cubitt, Esq., M.P.: it has three good bells; organ by Walker; and stained windows in the Chancel by Clayton and Bell.
St. Clement’s, York-place, Barnsbury, is a spacious brick church, designed by G. G. Scott, B.A., and built at the expense of George Cubitt, Esq., M.P.; cost nearly 8000Z.; opened 1865. The west front is striking; it is lofty, has a good doorway, over which are lancet windows, and above these a well-carved seated statue of St. Clement, within a niche; whilst the gable is crowned by a stepped open bell-cote, having two large bells in the lower and a smaller one in the upper stage. The interior is spacious ; the Nave, of six bays, is divided from the aisles by cylindrical stone columns, which support tall brick arches, and a clerestory with triplet lancet windows over each arch. The Chancel is similarly lighted, and has a painted oval light, filled, like the windows below, with painted glass. The Chancel arch is noble, and the roof an open timber one, of high pitch: the walls are of plain yellow brick.
. St. Dionis’ Backchtthch (behind the line of Fenchurch-street), is the third church upon this site, and was rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire of 1666: it has a tower 90 feet high. In the vestry-room are preserved four of the large syringes, at one time the only engines used in London for tbe extinction of fires; they are about 2 feet 3 inches long, and were attached by straps to the body of the fireman. The organ, for which, in 1722, the sum of 741 1. 9s. was subscribed, was built by By field, Jordan, and Bridge : ” this magnificent instrument is in its original state.”—(Dr. Rimbault.) There is a peal of ten bells, for which, in 1727, a sum of 479£. 18s. was subscribed.
St. Dunstax’s-in-the-East, between Tower-street and Upper Thames-street, was nearly destroyed in the Great Fire of 1606, and was restored by Wren in 1698: it has a stone tower and spire, supported on four arched ribs, springing from the angles of the tower: this is Wren’s best work in the Pointed style; but it generally resembles the spire of St. Nicholas’ Church, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, built in the fifteenth century. John Carter, however, says :—” St. Nicholas’s tower is so lofty, and of such a girth, that, to compare great things with small, our London piece of vanity is but a mole-hill to the Newcastle ‘ mountain,’ the pride and glory of the northern hemisphere.” There is a tradition, that the plan of St. Dunstan’s tower and spire was furnished by the architect’s daughter, Jane Wren, who died in 1702, aged 26, and was buried under the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Lady Dionysia Williamson, in 1670, gave 4000Z. towards the rebuilding of St. Dunstan’s. After the dreadful storm in London through the night of the 26th November, 1703, Wren hearing next morning that some of the steeples and pinnacles had been damaged, quickly replied, ” Not St. Dunstan’s, I’m quite sure.” The old church had a lofty leaden steeple. The body of the present church was rebuilt of Portland stone, enttland sin the Perpendicular style, by Laing and Tite, in 1817. The interior is divided into three aisles by clustered columns and pointed arches. The east window represents symbolically the Law and the Gospel; the north, Christ Blessing Little Children; and the south, the Adoration of the Magi. ‘ In the vestry is a wood carving, by Gibbons, of the arms of Archbishop Tenison. In the south churchyard is a Rookery.
St. Dtjnstan’s-in-the-West, Fleet-street, was designed by John Shaw, F.R.S. and F.S.A., in 1831-33, set back 30 feet from the site of the former church, which projected considerably beyond the street-line. It just escaped the Great Fire of 1666, which stopped within three houses of it; as did also another fire in 1730. A View in 1739 shows the oldest portion to be the tower and bell-turret, the latter containing a small bell which was rung every morning at a quarter before seven o’clock. The body of the church is Italianized Gothic, with battlements and circular-headed windows; shops with overhanging signs are built against the south and west walls, though previously the churchyard was thus built in, and was a permanent station for booksellers, as appears by many imprints. Thus, ” Epigrams by H. P.,” &c.—” and are to be soulde by John Helme, at his shoppe in St. Dunstan’s Churchyarde, 1608, qto.” John
Smethwick had ” his shop in St. Dunstan’s churchyard, in Fleet-street, under the Diall;” and here, in 1653, Richard Marriott published the first edition of Walton’s Angler, for ISd. The church clock was one of London’s wonders : it had a large gilt dial, overhanging Fleet-street, and above it two figures of savages, of life-size, carved in wood, and standing within an alcove, each bearing in his right hand a club, with which they struck the quarters upon two suspended bells, moving their heads at the same time. This clock and figures were the work of Mr. Thomas Harrys, in 1671, then living at the lower end of Water-lane, who received for his work 35Z. with the old clock, and the sum of 41. per annum to keep the whole in repair.* Originally the clock was within a square ornamental case with a semicircular pediment, and the tube from the church to the dial was supported by a carved figure of Time, with expanded wings, as a bracket; when altered, in 1738, it cost the parish 1101. Strype calls the figures “two savages, or Hercules;” Ned Ward, “the two wooden horolo-gists;” and Cowper, in his Table Talk, likens a lame poet to—
” When labour and when dulness, club in hand, Like the two figures at St. Dunstan’s, stand.”
In 1766, the elegant statue of Queen Elizabeth, which stood on the west side of Ludgate, was put up at the east end of St. Dunstan’s Church; and the other figures, King Lud and his two sons, were deposited in the parish bone-house. The old church was taken down in December, 1829, when the materials were sold by auction: the bell-turret for 10*.; the flag and flag-staff for 12*.; and an iron standard, with copper vane, warranted 850 years old (?), weighing three-quarters of a cvvt., was sold for 21. Is. At another sale, in 1830, the statue of Queen Elizabeth sold for 161. 10s., and a stained-glass window for 4:1. 5s. The clock, figures, &c. were purchased by the late Marquis of Hertford, and placed in the grounds of his villa in the Regent’s Park, where they strike the hours and quarters to this day. The new church of St. Dunstan was consecrated July 31,1832, which the architect did not live to witness, he having died July SO, 1831, the twelfth day after the external completion of the edifice.f It is in the latest Pointed style, and has a lofty tower surmounted by an e thunted blegant lantern, 130 feet high (of Ketton stone), different from any other in the metropolis, but resembling St. Botolph’s, Boston, Lincolnshire; St. Helen’s, York; and St. George’s, at Ramsgate, built in 1825. Over the entrance-porch are sculptured the heads of Tyndale, the Reformer; and Dr. Donne, who was once vicar of the church: they are considered faithful portraits. Above is a clock, with three dials, curiously coloured and gilt in the embellished taste of the architectural period; and a belfry, with eight fine bells from the old church, the sound of which receives effect from the four large windows which are the main features of the tower. The enriched stone lantern is perforated with Gothic windows of two heights; the whole being terminated by an ornamental pierced and very rich crown parapet. The body of the church is of octagon form, and has eight recesses, with as many windows above, containing good stained glass. The roof is formed by eight iron spandrel-beams, projecting from an angle towards the centre, and there connected by an iron ring; and from the enriched keystone hangs the chandelier. The northern recess contains the altar-table, of oak elaborately carved: and the altar-piece presents three admirably carved canopies, of foreign workmanship. Above is a large Pointed window, filled with stained glass, by Willement, in the ancient manner: it contains figures of the Evangelists; the crown of thorns and the nails; the spear and sponge upon a reed; the Holy Lamb; and the inscription, in black letter, ” Deo et ecclesise fratres Hoare dicaverunt, anno Domini mdcccxxxii.” This is, altogether, one of the most elegant church interiors in the metropolis. In May, 1839, the statue of Queen Elizabeth, already mentioned, was placed in a niche, flanked with two pilasters, above the doorway of the parochial schools, east of the principal entrance to the church. On the west side is the Law Life Insurance Office, designed by John Shaw, in the style that prevailed between the last period of Pointed
* So early as 1478 there was a similar piece of mechanism in Fleet-street. Stow describes a conduit erected in the above year, near Shoe-lane, with angels having ” sweet-sounding bells before them; whereupon, by an engine placed in the tower, they, divers hours of the day and night, with hammers chimed such an hymn as was appointed.” There is, we believe, a like contrivance to that at St. Dunstan’s, at Norwich Cathedral. (See also Paul’s Jacks, p. 106.)
t The interior was finished by his son, John Shaw.
architecture (of which St. Dunstan’s Church is an example), and the complete revival of the architecture of Greece and Koine. In the old church was a large hour-glass, in silver frame; of the latter, in 1723, two heads were made for the parish staves. The Rev. William Itomaine was rector of the old church in 1749, when it was generally so crowded that the pew-opener’s place was worth 50Z. per annum. The font is ancient.
St. Dunstan’s, Stepney, a Perpendicular church, is famed in story for its legend of ” The Fish and King,” and the popular ballad of ” The Cruel Knight, or Fortunate Farmer’s Daughter;” her identity is referred to Lady Berry, whose tomb is on the outer east wall, with the fish and annulet in the arms thereon: but the finding of a ring in a fish is an incident of much greater antiquity than Lady Berry’s time (1696), and occurs in the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. The churchyard is noticed in the Spectator, by Steele, for the number and oddity of its epitaphs. Here lies the father of Dr. Mead, who was born over the antique brick gateway opposite the rectory, and first began p sofirst bractice at Stepney; also Rev. W. Vickers, author of the Companion to the Altar; and Roger Crab, who lived long on bran, dock-leaves, grass, and water. Within the church is the splendid tomb of Sir Henry Colet, Lord Mayor in 1486 and 1495, and father of the founder of St. Paul’s School. Here also is a marble monument of the Good Samaritan, by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A., to B. Kenton, Esq. (d. 1800), leaving 63,500^. to charity schools, and 30,000Z. to his friends. In the western porch is a stone reputed to have been brought from the wall of Carthage.
St. Edmund’s (the King and Martyr), Lombard-street, has also been called St. Edmund’s Grass Church, because of a grass-market held here: whence Grasschurch-street, now Gracechurch-street. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren : it has a tower and incongruous steeple, 90 feet high, and a projecting bracket clock. The altar-piece has some fine carvings, and two paintings of Moses and Aaron by William Etty, 1833: above is a stained glass window, with the arms of Queen Anne, ” set up in the memorable year of union, 1707;” besides two other stained glass windows, of superior excellence, representing St. Paul and St. Peter.
St. Ethelbubga’s, Bishopsgate-street, a Gothic church, which escaped the Great Fire, and retains some of its Early English masonry; it has been restored by Withers: it was anciently in the patronage of the Convent of St. Helen. It is well known for the ” short services for City men,” and, according to tradition, is frequented by sailors returning from voyages, or immediately previous to sailing. Here incense is used on Saints’ Days; and stoles and altar vestments, according to the canonical colours. (Mackeson.) Traces of a reredos were found during the repairs, and Roman coins and bricks have been discovered in the churchyard. The western arch is said to have formed part of the gateway of St. Helen’s Priory. Under it John Hudson and many of his crew came to receive the Holy Sacrament before they left their native shores in 1610 (Rev. Mackenzie Walcott, Gentleman’s Magazine, June, 1863.) The churchwardens of St. Ethelburga appear, from the accounts, to have provided profusely for their Ascension-Day dinner, 1686 :—” Three quarters of lamb; 600 of sparagrasse, sallatering, and spinnage; 400 oranges and lemmons, three hams, Westphalia bacon, and i lb. of tobaccoe.” There are also charges fbr ” yew and box to decke ye church;” ” hearbes” for the same; ” wands and nosegays,” ” strawings and greenes.” Dryden’s antagonist, Luke Milbourne, died, April 15, 1720, rector of St. Ethelburga’s. ” The view of this church, by West and Toms (1737) exhibits several of the adjoining houses, and is one of the most interesting of Old London illustrations.”— Cunningham.
St. Etheleeda’s, Ely-place, Holborn, is all that remains of the ancient palace of the Bishops of Ely, and retains much of its original aspect: the interior roof is boldly arched; on each side is a row of noble windows, though their tracery has disappeared; the pinnacle-work between and overtopping them is very fine, and at the east end is ” one fine Decorated window, of curious composition.” Evelyn records the consecration here of Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, in 1668, when Dr. Tillotson preached; and April 27, 1693, Evelyn’s daughter Susannah was married here to William Draper, Esq., by Dr. Tenison, then Bishop of Lincoln. Cowper thus chronicles an amusing occurrence in this chapel, at the time of the defeat of the Young Pretender by the Duke oretby the f Cumberland, in 1746:—
” So in the chapel of old Ely House, When wandering Charles, who meant to be the Third, Had fled from William, and the news was fresh, The simple clerk, but loyal, did announce, And eke did roar right merrily two staves, Sung to the praise and glory of King George”
The chapel, after being leased to the National Society for a school-room, was for some time closed; but on Dec. 19, 1843, was opened for the service of the Established Church in the Welsh language; this being the first performance of the kind in London.
St. Geoege’s, Campden-hill, Kensington, E. B. Keeling, architect, cost 70007., defrayed by Mr. J. Bennett. In plan it is cruciform, and has a tower with a lofty spire, and an apsidal Chancel. It is of Early Second Pointed style, but of French character. The tower is ornamented with bands, mouldings, and dressings. The entrance is by a continued porch or Galilee at the west. The interior is lofty, lined with various coloured bricks, and shafts of red Mansfield stone. The roof is of very high pitch, and decorated in polychromy; behind the altar is a tall reredos. Opened 1864.
St. Geoege’s, Hanover-square, was completed by John James in 1724; the parish being taken out of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. St. George’s is built upon ground given by Lieut.-Gen. W. Stewart: it has a stately and august Corinthian portico, and a handsome and well-proportioned steeple; still, it can only be viewed in profile; but ” were it not for two or three intervening houses, it would be seen in the noblest point of sight in the world.” The interior has a large altar-picture of the Last Supper, attributed to Sir James Thornhill; above it is a painted window, foreign, of the 16th century, with the Virgin and Child, the Crucifixion, ecclesiastical personages, masonic emblems, &c.; the altar-piece, in its sculptured framework, and the painted glass in its architectural recess, is effective; but this Gothic window in a Roman church is a glaring absurdity.
” The view down George-street, from the upper side of Hanover-square, is one of the most entertaining in the whole city: the sides of the square, the area in the middle, the breaks of building that form the entrance to the vista, but above all, the beautiful projection of the portico of St. George’s Church, are all circumstances that unite in beauty, and make the scene perfect.”— Ralph.
St. George’s, Hanover-square, also possesses a burial-ground at a short distance on the Bayswater-road. Here is the grave of Sterne, with a stone set up by two ” Brother Masons:” here, too, lay Sir Thomas Picton, who fell at the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815; his remains were removed to St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1859.
St. Geoege’s in the East, Ratcliffe Highway, designed by Hawksmoor, 1715-29, in an original and massive style, has a very picturesque spire. The altar-piece is a painting of ” Jesus in the Garden,” by Clarkson. In the churchyard is buried Joseph Ames (d. 1759), author of Typographical Antiquities, originally a plane-maker, and afterwards a shipchandler at Wapping; he lies in a stone coffin, in virgin earth, at the depth of eight feet. This church was, for a considerable period, the scene of disgraceful riots upon the plea of opposition to the manner of conducting the service.
In this parish are the Schools and Asylum founded by Mr. Raine, a wealthy brewer, in 1717 and 1736; who also provided that on May 1 and December 26, annually, a marriage-portion of 1001. should be presented to two young women, former inmates of the School, and who have attained the age of twenty-two years. The bridegrooms must be inhabitants of St. George’s-in-the-East, or of Wapping, or Shadwell; and the young women draw lots for the portion, one hundred new sovereigns, usually put into a handsome bag, made by a young lady of St. George’s parish, and presented at a dinner of the trustees. In the morning a discourse is preached in the Church, ” On Diligence and Industry in our Calling;” after which the drawing takes place at the Asylum.
St. Geoege’s, Hart-street, Bloomsbury, was designed by Hawksmoor in handsome style, and was consecrated in 1731; a district for its parish being taken out of that of St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields. This church is remarkable for standing north and south; the tower and steeple are placed by the side of the main edifice, the favourite practice of Palladio. Upon the tower, on the four sides, rises a range of unattached Corinthian pillars and pediments; above is a series of steps, with lions and unicorns at the corners, guarding the royal arms, and which supports at the apex, on a short column, a statue,
in Koman costume, of George I. The design is from Pliny’s description of the first mausoleum, the tomb of King Mausolus, in Caria. Walpole calls this steeple a masterstroke of absurdity, and it has provoked this epigram:—
” When Harry the Eighth left the Pope in the lurch, The people of England made him head of the Church; But George’s good subjects, the IMoomsbury people, Instead of the church, made him head of the steeple.”
More admired is the magnificent portico of eight Corinthian columns, which Hawks-moor added to his design, influenced by Gibbs’s portico at St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, then just completed; but St. George’s is the better, from its height above the level of the street. Here are a tablet to the great Lord Mansfield; and a monument to Mr. Charles Grant, by Bacon, R.A.
St. Geoege the Maetyb, Queen-square, Bloomsbury, built in 1706, as a chapel of ease to St. Andrew’s, Holborn, was declared a parish church in 1723; of which Dr. Stukeley, the Roman-British antiquary, was many years the rector : in his MS. Diary, 1749, formerly in the possession of Mr. Britton, is described the then rural character of Queen-square and its vicinity. The parish burial-ground is in the rear of the Foundling Hospital: a strong prejudice formerly existed against new churchyards, and no person was interred here till the ground was broken for -Robert Nelson, author of Fasts and Festivals, whose character for piety reconciled others to the spot: people like to be buried in company, and in good company. Nancy Dawson, the dancer, of Covent Garden and Drury-laue Theatres (noted for hornpipes) lies here.
St. Geoege the Maetye, Southwark, was built in 1733-36, by John Price, upon the site of the old church; the parish having been originally given by William the Conqueror to the noble family of Arderne, and for some time attached to the Priory of Bermondsey. Stow describes the former church as almost directly over against Suffolk House, formerly the mansion of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolkpreke of S, the brother-in-law of Henry VIII. ; now the site of the premises of Mr. Pigeon, the distiller. There were buried in the old church, Bonner, Bishop of London, who died in the Mar-shalsea; and Rushworth, author of the Collections, who died in the King’s Bench; both these prisons being in the parish. Edward Cocker, engraver and teacher of writing and arithmetic, is also stated upon a sexton’s evidence to have been interred here: his Arithmetic, a posthumous work, was first published ” by John Hawkins, writing-master, near St. George’s Church.” The present church has a lofty stone spire and tower, with a fine peal of eight bells; the large bell is tolled nightly, and thought to be a relic of the curfew custom. Hogarth, in his plate of Southwark Fair, represents Figg, the famous prizefighter, and Cadman, flying by a rope from the tower of St. George’s Church; the fair being held in that part of the Mint which lies in the rear of the houses opposite.
There is preserved a curious handbill, or affiche, printed in black letter, which must have been promulgated previous to the suppression of religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII. It is surmounted by a small woodcut of St. George slaying the Dragonj and by a child. It appears from Staveley’s History of Churches in England, p. 99, that the monks were sent up and down the country with briefs of a similar character to the above, to gather contributions of the people; and it is most probable that the collectors were authorized to grant special indulgences proportionate to the value of the contributions. One of these handbills is reprinted in Notes and Queries, No. 84.
St. Giles’s, Camberwell, is one of the largest churches built in England since the Reformation: it occupies the site of the old brick church, burnt on Sunday, Feb. 7, 1841. The new church, designed by Scott and Moffatt, is massively built entirely of stone, and was consecrated Nov. 21, 1844: it is in the Transition style, from Early English to Decorated j cruciform in plan, with a large central tower and spire, 207 feet high, and the tower thirty feet square; it has a fine peal of bells, by Mears. The outside length of the church exceeds 153 feet. The interior has an open timber roof, and oak fittings; a very powerful Organ by Bishop j and several stained glass windows by Ward and Nixon, the largest, over the altar, enriched with the symbolism of the thirteenth century.
St. Giles’s, Cripplegate, is the successor of a church founded by Alfun, subsequently the first hospitaller of the Priory of St. Bartholomew. It was built in 1090, near the postern in the City wall, called Cripple-gate, from an adjoining Hospital for lame people (Camden), or from the numerous cripples begging there (Stow); and it was dedicated to St. Giles, as the patron of cripples; it was small, and its site was ” where now standeth the vicarage-house.” In the year 1545, it suffered greatly from fire, but was soon repaired, and partially rebuilt; and in 1682, the tower was raised 15 feet; it has a peal of twelve bells, besides one in the turret, and a very musical set of chimes, said to have been constructed by a working mechanic. The interior is divided into a Nave and aisles by clustered columns and pointed arches, and the ceiling of the Chancel is painted with cherubim. Here are buried John Fox, the martyrologist, described in the register as ” householder, preachar;” John Speed, the historian, with his bust, once painted and gilt; John Milton and his father, under the clerk’s desk : a bust ofng k : a b the poet, by Bacon, E.A., with a tablet, were set up on the north side of the nave, by Samuel Whitbread, in 1793. The entry in the parish register is : ” 12 November, 1674, John Milton, gentleman, consumpcon, chancell.” In the Chancel, too, are tablets to Constance Whitney and Margaret Lucy, both descendants of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote, Warwickshire : the former represents a female rising from a coffin, and has been erroneously supposed to commemorate a lady who, having been buried while in a trance, was restored to life through the cupidity of a sexton in digging up the body to get possession of a ring left upon her finger. Several of the actors from the Fortune Theatre, Golding-lane, are buried here. Here, too, rests Sir Martin Frobisher, one of the earliest of the Arctic voyagers (d. 1594-5); and Henry Welby, the Grub-street hermit, yet a man of exemplary charity (d. 1636). And the register records the marriage of Oliver Cromwell with Elizabeth Bowchier, August 20, 1620. In 1861, the restoration of the church was commenced, ” in honour of the memory of John Milton;” a monument has been erected, as a memorial of the poet, in the south aisle, near the chancel. The cenotaph is nearly 13 feet high, and about 8 feet wide at the base; and the body of the work, consisting of carved Caen stone, is divided by pillars of coloured marble, thus forming three canopied niches. In the central niche the bust of the poet, which was executed by Bacon, has been placed. Beneath this is a marble tablet, with the following simple record :—” John Milton, author of’ Paradise Lost.’ Born December, 1608. Died November, 1674.” The date of his father’s death in 1646, and the name of Mr. Samuel Whitbread, who placed the tablet in the church in 1793, are also engraved thereon. Milton lived in the parish—first in Barbican, subsequently in Jewin-street, and finally, in Artillery-walk, where he died. There is an apocryphal story of the poet’s remains being irreverently disturbed, and scattered, in the year 1790; but the evidence of identity is weak, and it is recorded that the corpse then found was that of a female, and of smaller stature than that of the poet. The story of the assumed desecration is told in ” The Diary of General Murray,” in the Monthly Magazine, August, 1833. The restoration of the church includes windows of rich memorial glass contributed by parishioners ; the reconstruction of the Chancel with an open roof, and the reglazing of a magnificent window, long blocked up. In the adjoining burial-ground remains a bastion of the old London wall.
St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields, on the south side of High-street, was formerly in the fields, and the parish the village of St. Giles; the church being traceable to the chapel of a Hospital for Lepers, founded about 1117, by Queen Matilda, consort of Henry I. The ancient church was taken down in 1623, and a brick edifice was erected in its place: this was removed in 1730, and the present church, designed by Henry Flit-croft, was completed in 1734. It is built of Portland stone, and has a tower and spire, 160 feet high, with eight bells. Above the entrance gateway, in the lunette, is ” The Day of Judgment,” in alto-relievo, brought from the Lich-gate, or Resurrection-gate of the old church in 1687; it is well described by Mr. George Scharf,jun., in a paper read to the Society of Antiquaries, in 1855, upon ” Representations of the Last Judgment:”—
The figures (he tells us) are very small in proportion to the semicircular lunette they occupy. The Saviour stands in the clouds, surrounded by rays, holding 1 the banner of redemption, and with His right hand pointing upwards. Angels playing musical instruments, and tumultuously expressing the joys of heaven, completely surround Him. Neither the Virgin Mary nor Apostles are to be seen in order. The prominent attitudes of the rising dead eie risin, and of the condemned, betray markedly the influence of Michael Angelo; they have been directly and ignorantly copied from his outline conception.
This alto-relievo is very curious, and, beinp both elaborate and well preserved, deserves to be carefully drawn and published. (It forms one ofthe many illustrations of Mr. Scharf’s paper in the Archtso-logia, vol. xxxvi. part 20.) The treatment is very unworthy of the subject, but, as a piece of carving, it is remarkably good.
This sculpture was formerly placed over the north-western gateway, which has l>een taken down, and a new gateway erected opposite the western or principal door of the church, over which is placed the alto-relievo.
At St. Giles’s were buried Chapman, the translator of Homer; Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who lived in Great Queen-street; Shirley, the dramatist, and his wife; Sir Roger L’Estrange, the political writer; and Andrew Marvel], ” a man in whose reputation the glory of the patriot has eclipsed the fine powers of the poet.” The monument to Chapman, built by Inigo Jones at his own expense, is now in the churchyard, against the south wall of the church. In the churchyard, too, is the altar-tomb of Richard Pendrell, who aided in the escape of Charles II.; and a few years since was revived the custom of decorating this tomb on Restoration Day (May 29) with brandies of oak. The finest monument in the present church is the recumbent effigies of the Duchess Dudley (d. 1670), preserved in grateful memory of her munificence to the parish. At the place of public execution, a short distance north-west of the church, Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, was hung in chains and roasted over fagots in 1417, during the reign of Henry V., his early friend. The phrase, ” St. Giles’s Bowl,” is referred to the custom of giving, at the Hospital gate, every malefactor on his way to Tyburn a bowl of ale, as his last worldly draught, which practice was also continued at an hostel built upon the site of the monastic house; of this the Bowl Brewery, taken down in 1849, was the representative; and the bowl itself is said to be in existence. The transparent clock-dial of the church was lit with gas in 1827, the first in the metropolis; and opposite, in 1842, was made one of the earliest experiments with wood-paving. In Endell-street, in 1845, was built a district church, in the Early Pointed style, by Ferrey—a timely provision for the spiritual destitution of the parish. St. Giles’s possesses a cemetery in the Lower St. Pancras-road, where are buried, each beneath an altar-tomb, John Flaxman, our greatest English sculptor; and Sir John Soane, the architect. (See Cemeteries, p. 82.)
St. Gregory by St. Paul’s was contiguous to the Lollards’ Tower, which had once been used as a prison for heterodox divines. It stood at the south side of the Cathedral, in Castle Baynard Ward. It was very ancient, for the body of Edmund, king of the East Angles, who was martyred by the Danes in 870, rested there for three years.— Newcourt.
St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, on the east side of Bishopsgate-street Within, was once the church of the Nunnery of St. Helen, the site of which, judging from pavements found here, was originally occupied by a Roman building.
The church consists of two broad aisles, 122 feet in length, and two chantry chapels. The north aisle, known as the Nuns’ Quire, was appropriated to the use of the inmates of the Convent, and sisoonvent,eparated from the south or parish aisle by a wooden screen; this screen, together with the altar, was removed at the dissolution of the House. Fortunately, 17 of the original carved miserere seats have been preserved, and the hagioscope which formerly communicated with the crypt still remains. The interior of the edifice, with its columns and pointed arches, is picturesque : it contains more monuments, perhaps, than any other church in the metropolis; and these being altar-tombs upon the floor, increase the appearance of antiquity and solemnity. They include a freestone altar-tomb, with quatrefoil panels enclosing shields; upon the ledger lie full-length alabaster effigies of Sir John Crosbie and his first wife Anneys or Agnes; the knight wears his aldermanic gown over plate armour. Also, a canopied monument to Sir W. Pickering, in dress armour, reclining upon a pillow of matting (d. 1542); several kneeling figures, elaborately painted and gilt, in memory of Sir Andrew Judd (in armour) (d. 1558); a very large sculptured altar-tomb to Sir Thomas Gresham, who founded the Royal Exchange; a monument representing Martin Bond, captain of the trained bands at Tilbury when the Spanish Armada was expected—he is sitting within a tent, with sentries, &c. (d. 1643); a tomb of Francis Bancroft (d. 1726), built in his lifetime, when he directed that his body should be embalmed, and placed in a coffin unfastened; and a table monument by N. Stone to Sir Julius Caesar, Master of the Rolls to James I. (1636), the monument erected in the previous year, with the Latin inscription sculptured, as if on a folded deed, an engagement of the deceased to pay the debt of nature whenever it shall please God to appoint it. In the vestibule also are several elaborate monuments, displaying figures; and an alms-box supported by a curiously-carved figure of a mendicant. Here are also fine monumental brasses of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The church was restored in 1866.
St. Katharine’s, the church of the Royal Hospital of St. Katharine, rebuilt in 1827, on the east side of the Regent’s Park, after the demolition of the ancient Hospital and Church, ” at the Tower,” for the site of St. Katharine’s Docks.
More than 700 years ago, in the reign of King Stephen, 1148, Queen Matilda founded and endowed, on the east side of the Tower of London, a Hospital dedicated to St. Katharine; the foundation was confirmed by the grants of succeeding sovereigns, and the revenues increased by Queen Eleanor, and other royal donors. The mastership is in the gift of the Queen Consort; if there be no such personage, the Queen Dowager. Provision was made for a master, who, according to an ordinance of Queen Philippa, was to be a priest. There were to be maintained also three Brothers, who were to be priests, and three Sisters, all under obligation of perpetual chastity, and to ” serve and minister before God,” and do works of charity. Masses were to be said daily in the chapel, one to be for the souls of all the Kings and Queens of England. Provision was to be made also for 24 poor men and 10 poor women; and the charter of Queen Eleanor directed that when in future times the means of the Hospital should augment, the number of chaplains and poor men and women relieved should be increased. In the reign of Henry VIII. the income was about 365£. a year.
The Church and Hospital, in the Regent’s Park, designed by A. Poynter, is in the florid Gothic style, has octagonal towers, with a large painted window of beautiful tracery. Among the relics of the old church is a finely enriched tomb, part of a chantry chapel, thus inscribed :
” This monument was erected in the Collegiate Church of St. Katharine, near the Tower, to the memory of John Holland Duke of Exeter, Earl of Huntingdon and Ivry, Lord of Sparr, Admiral of England, Ireland, and Aquitaine, Knight of the most noble order of the Garter, and Constable of the Tower. He died the V. of August, M.CCCCXL VII. Also, to the memory of his two wives, viz.: Anne, daughter of Edmund Earl of Stafford, by whom he had issue Henry Holland, the late Duke of Exeter of that surname, who married Anne, sister of King Edward the Fourth, and died without issue; and Anne, daughter of John Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, by whom he had issue one daughter, mother to Ralph Nevil, third Earl of Westmoreland.” Below is engraved—
” These remains, having been carefully removed from the original place of interment, were deposited in this chapel, as were those of the other persons whose monuments and gravestones were transferred to it from the Collegiate Church aforesaid.”
In some parts along the mouldings are well-designed groups of sporting subjects—” Reynard” and the goose, monkeys in chains, and other quaint devices. The shields of arms and crests are coloured and gilt. The effigies represent the Duke, one of his wives, and his sister.
The old wood pulpit from St. Katharine’s is also preserved, and is a curious example of the elaborate carved work of the sixteenth and seventeenth centimes: in the panels are two views of old St. Katharine’s. Some of the carved seats, similar to those in Henry the Seventh’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey, have also been saved; as have likewise some of the corbels formed by crowned angels, bearing shields. These, with additions, have been arranged round the present church, with the arms and dates of the reigns of the English Queens from Matilda’s time. The Organ, of about the reign of George II., has also been preserved; and among the old monuments is one with this inscription on a gold plate within a frame:
” Here dead in part whose best part ne’er dyeth, A benefactor, William Cuttinge, lyeth; Not deade if good deedes could keepe man alive, Nor all deade, since good deedes doe men revive. Gonvile and Kaies his good deeds men record, And will, no doubte, his praise for them afford i Saincte Katrins eke nccr London can it tell: Goldsmythes and Marchant Taylers know it well. Two Country’s towns his civil bounty bleste, East Dareham and Nortonfitzwarren West: More did he then this table can unfold, The worlde his faime this earth his earth doth hold. ” He deceased ye 4 daie of March, 1599.”
According to an official Report issued in 1866, the income of the Hospital now exceeds 7000/. a year; and if the system of letting the estates on leases for lives with fines for renewal were abandoned, the income would probably be nearly 11,000/., to be increased to nearly 15,000/. when the Tower-hill leases fall in in the year 1900. The site of the Hospital has now become a dock, and when the new hospital was about to he erected in the Regent’s Park, unfortunately, the removal was made in such a manner as to involve much expense that might have been avoided. To the inquiry, ” What is done with this 7000/. a year ?” an answer is given in this Report. The Master receives nearly 1500/. a year, increased to 2000/. by the rent of his official house, which, as he is non-resident, he lets. His house and gardens occupy two acres, and it is considered to be, for its sserbe, forize, one of the most desirable residences in London. He attends the meetings of the Chapter, which are held about three times in a year ; hut is seldom, if ever, at the chapel; he occasionally visits the schools; but these are considered to be sufficiently superintended by the Brothers and Sisters in residence. He was appointed by Queen Adelaide, whose vice-chamberlain he was. Each of the three Brothers receives above 360/. a year, and has also a sufficiently convenient residence, though much less costly than the Master’s. Each Brother is in residence four months in the year. One of them has been presented by the Hospital to the living of Kings-thorpe, near Northampton, with a net income of 700/. a year and a house. The junior Brother became British vice-consular chaplain at Dieppe in 1863, and has since let his official residence, which is considered to be worth 100/. a year; but he occupies rooms in it during his term of residence. Each of the three Sisters receives about 240/. a year, besides having a residence provided. The senior Sister has always been non-resident, and lets her house. The junior has done the like until recently, her duties as preceptress to the Royal Princesses requiring her constant attendance at Court; but these having ceased, she has now virtually, if not actually, entered upon residence. There are various officers and attendants provided for the establishment. There remain funds sufficient to pay 10/. each to 20 Bedesmen and 20 Bedeswomen (decayed tradespeople and worn-out governesses and servants), and to maintain a school in which 33 boys and 18 girls, the children of clerks, tradespeople, artificers, and servants are freely educated and clothed, and then apprenticed or presented with outfits for entering domestic service.
It is suggested in the Report that the large and increasing resources of this institution should by competent authority be made productive of more extended benefit than they are at present. Thus, a scheme has been propounded, which proposes the restoration of the Hospital to the east of London ; and the establishment there of a collegiate church, with the Master and Brothers for dean and canons, each of them, by virtue of his office, holding a benefice, with cure of souls, in that quarter; the three Sisters, with stipends of not less than 250/. a year each, to reside within the limits of these parishes or places, and superintend and direct the work of the bedeswomen, who should also reside within the same limits, and perform the duties of parochial mission women and nurses; the bedesmen, also resident in the limits, to perform the duties of Scripture readers, or lay assistants. The four benefices might either be acquired by exchange, or newly constituted by the Crown. The scheme contemplates also that a portion of the income of the foundation be devoted to educational or eleemosynary purposes in the east of London. The scheme was proposed by, or on behalf of, a Committee of the local clergy, comprising seven incumbents in the immediate neighbourhood of the site of the ancient Hospital, which forty years since was required and taken for the construction of St. Katharine’s Docks.
St. James’s, Aldgate, Mitre-square, was built on the site of the wealthy Priory of the Holy Trinity, in tasteless style, 1622. Here is service on great festivals and on the last night of the year. And here, every Whit-Tuesday evening is preached the ” Flower Sermon,” on a topic allied to flowers. The church is decked with flowers, and the congregation carry nosegays, and a bouquet is placed in the pulpit. On Whit-Tuesday evening, 1866, the Sermon was preached by the Rev. W. M. Whittemore, the Rector. His text was Genesis i. 11, ” Let the earth bring forth grass.”
The following siThe fol is an outline of the discourse:—Pleasantness of a walk in the fields, conversing with dear friends, resting from the care and toil of a busy City life, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature,
and striving to gather spiritual lessons from the objects around us. A single blade of grass, how much it may teach us ! How full of testimony to the goodness of the Creator, who has covered the earth with this enamelled carpet of soft, fragrant verdure, to refresh and gladden our hearts. How full, also, of solemn teachings of our frail mortality. All flesh is grass. This was shown to be true literally, as well as figuratively. Then the preacher brought out several lessons, which he bade his youthful hearers to remember. 1. The value of little things. A blade of grass is full of creative skill; the combining of many little blades covers the hills and valleys of the world. 2. The union of firmness with gentleness of character. The grass bends easily, yet is coated with flint, and its root is remarkably tenacious. 3. Discrimination necessary in striving to be useful. Some one sowed grass»seed, as he thought, but it grew up chiefly chickweed and groundsel. 4. Unity may consist with great diversity. There are 5000 species of grasses, yet they have many features of aspect, structure, and growth in common, so that no class of plants is so easily identified.
St. James’s, Clerkenwell, on the north side of Clerkenwell-green, has replaced the church of a Benedictine monastery, founded about 1100; it served the nuns and inhabitants until the Dissolution of the convent, when it was made parochial, and dedicated to St. James the Less instead of the Virgin Mary. In the Sutherland View of 1543, we see it far in the fields. In 1623, the steeple and tower both fell, and destroyed part of the church ; both were rebuilt. In 1788, the whole was taken down, rebuilt by Carr, and consecrated in 1792. In the vaults are preserved some coffins from the old church, and among them that of Bishop Burnet, who died 1714-15 in St. John’s-square, close by, though the fanatic rabble threw dirt and stones at his funeral procession. His handsome mural monument was removed to the present church, which has a peal of eight musical bells.
St. James’s, Garlick Hithe, on the east side of Garlick-hill, Upper Thames-street, is named from its being near the chief garlick market of the City. It was rebuilt in 1326: among the persons interred here was Richard Lyons, a wine-merchant and lapidary, beheaded in Cheapside by Wat Tyler in the reign of Richard II. Stow describes his ” picture on his gravestone very fair and large, with his hair rounded by his ears, and curled; a little beard forked; a gown girt to him down to his feet, of branched damask, wrought with the likeness of Mowers: a large purse on his right side hanging in a belt from his left shoulder; a plain hood about his neck, covering his shoulders, and hanging back behind him.” The following citizens who had served Mayor were also buried here: John of Oxenford, Mayor in 1341; Sir John Wrotch, or Wroth, 1360; William Venor, 1389; William More, 1385; Robert Chichell, 1421; James Spencer, 1527. The old church was destroyed in the Great Fire: it was rebuilt by Wren, 1676-83, with a tower and lantern, 98 feet high, and a projecting clock-dial, with a carved and gilt figure of St. James: a large organ, built by Bernard Schmidt, in 1697 ; and a clever altar-picture of the Ascension, by A. Geddes. In this church Steele heard the Common-Prayer service read so distinctly, so emphatically, and so fervently, that it was next to an impossibility to be inattentive. Steele proposed that this excellent reader (Mr. Philip Stubbs, afterwards Archdeacon of St. Alban’s), upon the next and every annual asck,ery annsembly of the clergy of Sion College, and all other convocations, should read before them.— Spectator, No. 147, August 18, 1711.
Here is a curious story, by Newconrt, of Arthur Bulkley, D.D., Rector of St. James’s in 1531, who was promoted to the Bishopric of Bangor in 1541. ” This man sold away five fair bells out of the steeple of his cathedral, and it is certainly reported, that going to the sea-side to see them shipped off, he had not set three steps on his way homeward before he was stricken with blindness, so that he never saw afterwards.”
St. James the Less, Garden-street, Westminster, was built in 1861, at the expense of Miss Monk, in memory of her father, the late Bishop Monk, of Gloucester, a Canon of Westminster; G. E. Street, architect; style, Byzantine Gothic; cost about 8500Z. The church is situated in the poor district of St. Mary, Tothill-fields. It consists of a Nave and Chancel, with north and south aisles to both. It has a detached steeple, forming ante-porch, with porch connecting it with the north aisle. The height of the tower and slated spire is 134 feet. The materials used are mainly red and black bricks, stone, and marble. The apse has windows of three lights, with a rose-window in the head, filled with stained glass, representing types and antitypes of Christ. Between these descend the groining-ribs, to rest upon banded shafts of polished marble. The reredos below the line of lights is of white stone, inlaid (with a black composition) with figures of holy women, commencing on the left with Mary
the mother of James, then Mary Magdalen, St. Elizaheth, and the Virgin Mary; then, on the other side of the reredos proper, come the wife of Manoah, Hannah, Ruth, and Sarah. Bands of red and yellow tiles are inserted between these figures, which are represented in niches, dividing them into twos. Immediately over the altar is a cross of vari-coloured Irish marbles, set with studs of Derbyshire spar. Within the apse come the transept aisles; in that on the left is the Organ. Two drop arches, on broad shafts of polished granite, with carved caps, and resting on tall plinths (the height of the choir seats), divide these Transept aisles from the Choir. Each Transept aisle is, in itself, divided by a shaft of Bath stone in its centre, whence spring arches to the side piers of the Choir. The two shafts which are on each side of the Nave are of polished red granite, with bands of Bath stone midway of their heights ; the caps are carved, illustrative of the Parables and Miracles. Over the Chancel arch is a fresco painted by G. F. Watts, representing a sitting figure of Our Lord in the centre, with groups of angels on each side, and the four Evangelists below, on a gold ground. The pulpit is of stone and marble, and is very richly sculptured : it contains figures of the four Doctors of the Western Church and the four Evangelists, and on the panels, which are divided from each other by shafts of green marble, are illustrations of preaching:—1. St. John the Baptist preaching; 2. Dispute with the Doctors; 3. The Sermon on the Mount; 4. St. Augustine of Canterbury preaching. The Chancel is groined in brick, with stone ribs. The screens and gates round the Chancel are of wrought iron and ornamental brasswork. The pavement of the body of the church is formed of Maw’s tiles, and that of the Chancel has marble inserted. The steps leading to the Chancel and altar are of black Isle of Man limestone. The roof has been painted by Clayton and Bell, with the Tree of Jesse and the Genealogy of our Lord, typical busts of the personages being introduced in medallions along the sides of the span in a line on either hand. The stained glass throughout is also by Clayton and Bell.
St. James’s, Piccadilly, or St. James’s, Westminster, was built by Wren, at the cost of Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Alban’s, whose arms are placed above the south door; consecrated Sunday, July 13, 1684; it was originally a chapel of ease, and constituted a parish church in 1685. It has a tower and spire, 150 feet high; the latter was not the work of Wren. It was built a few years after the church, and was from a design supplied by one Mr. Wilcox, a carpenter in the parish, which, strange to say, was made choice of by the Vestry in preference to a design for the same furnished by Wren himself, the cost of the erection of which was estimated to exceed the other by only 1001. It was covered with cement in 1850, when the interior of the church was repaired throughout. The clock was the gift of Mr. H. Massey, and the original dial was gilded and painted by Mr. Highmore, H.M. Serjeant-Painter : its diameter is 10 feet. The interior, Wren’s masterpiece, is in its plan Basilical, Nave and aisles being formed by two ranges of six piers and columns, in two stories. The piers, which are of the Doric order, panelled, carry the galleries; the fronts of the latter of oak, with carved enrichments, forming the entablature of the order, with a low attic above, to complete the breastwork. The upper order is the Corinthian ; columns rise from the breastwork of the galleries, and the highly-enriched entablature of these, stretching across from each column to the side walls, serves as imposts to a series of transverse arches from column to column, forming the covering of the aisles; whilst from the abacuses also springs the great semiciicular vault that covers the Nave; the whole roof being divided into sunk panels, ornamented with festoons of drapery and flowers in relief, ” producing,” as Mr. J. Gwilt observes, ” by its unity, richness, and harmonious proportions, a result truly enchanting.” These ceilings and their enrichments, as now seen, were put up in 1837, when the decayed state of the timbers had rendered an entire new roof to the church necessary. The work was strictly a restoration. Wren, in a letter printed by Elmes, says:—” I can hardly think it practicable to make a single room so capacious, with pews and galleries, as to hold 2000 persons, and all to hear the service and see the preacher. I endeavoured to effect this in building the parish church of St. James’s, Westminster, which, I presume, is the most capacious, with these qualifications, that hath yet been built.”
The noble Organ was built for James II., and intended for his Roman Catholic Oratory at Whitehall, but given to this parish by Queen Mary in 1691.
It is in two oaken cases, standing one before the other, the organist’s place being between them; his face to the great organ, and his back to the smaller one, to the latter of which the action passes beneath his feet and seat. The great case is in the florid style of the period of its original construction (Louis XIV.). The carving of Fames, angels, cherubs’ heads, &c. with which it is adorned, strikingly mark, by their great beauty, the master-hand of Gibbons. This favourite old instrument, originally made by the celebrated Ren at us Harris, anno 1678, was entirely rebuilt by the late Mr. Bishop, in 1852, on a much more comprehensive scale, but retaining the old pipes—for these, the mellowing hand of time had rendered of more than ordinary value—when also the old case was restored, with the original decoration, and the detached front choir added.
In 1738, the Prince of Wales gave crimson velvet and gold hangings, valued at 700/., for the holy table and pulpit. The end above the altar-screen is nearthecreen ily all occupied by a Venetian window, in 1846 filled with stained and painted glass.
The window is illustrative by six principal pictures—one to a compartment—of the narrative of our Blessed Lord’s Sacrifice for the Redemption of Mankind. In the lower central division is displayed the Crucifixion, with the praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the left; and the Bearing of the Cross on the right. The upper central compartment is the Ascension, with the Entombment on the left, and the Resurrection on the right. Very wide mosaic borders surround each of these pictures, in which, as well as in the other parts of the filling in, are numerous minute representations of other scriptural subjects; with details of immense variety, consisting of religious emblems, symbols, monograms, &c. &c. For this glass Wailes, of Newcastle, received 10007.
It is intended also to fill in with stained and painted glass the whole of the ten gallery windows, designed to form, when completed, a series of paintings, illustrative of the history of our Blessed Saviour’s life and ministry, commencing with the ” Nativity,” in the easternmost window on the south side—the succeeding windows to carry on the subject, progressively, as follows :—No. 2. The Adoration of the Magi; 3. Baptism of Christ; 4. Christ and the Woman of Samaria; 5. Christ with Peter on the Sea. And returning eastward on the north side with—6. The Transfiguration ; 7. Christ with Martha and Mary; 8. Christ Blessing Little Children; 9. The Raising of Lazarus; 10. Entry into Jerusalem. Thus connecting the narrative with the Passion, as represented in the great altar window. Nos. 2 and 4 have been executed (also by Mr. Wailes) at a cost of 1251. each.
Evelyn, in his Diary, thus describes the altar and east end of the church :—
Dec. 16,1684.—I went to see the new church at St. James’s, elegantly built. The altar was especially adorned, the white marble inclosure curiously and richly carved, the flowers and garlands about the walls by Mr. Gibbons, in wood : a pelican, with her young at her breast, just over the altar in the carv’d compartment and border invironing the purple velvet fringed with (black) I. H. S. richly embroidered, and most noble plate, were given by Sir R. Geere, to the value (as was said) of 20M. There was no altar anywhere in England, nor has there been any abroad, more handsomely adorned.”
The wood is lime, with cedar for the reredos; the marble scrolls have been replaced by bronze. In addition, a noble festoon ending in two pendants, which extends nearly the whole length of the screen, displays all the varied representations of fruit and flowers, in the highest relief. This elaborate and delicate work having become much injured by the casualties of 160 years, was in 1846 thoroughly repaired by two Italian artists—a work of protracted labour; several thousand bits of carving, more or less minute, requiring to be added, in order to restore the groupings to their pristine state.
Facing the western entrance is the white marble font, exquisitely sculptured by Gibbons : it is nearly five feet high, and the bowl is about six feet in circumference. The shaft represents the tree of life, with the serpent twining round it, and offering the forbidden fruit to Eve, who, with Adam, stands beneath: these figures are 18 inches high. On the bowl are bas-rehefs of the Baptism of the Saviour hi the Jordan; the Baptizing of the Treast g of thsurer of Candace by St. Philip the Deacon; and the Ark of Noah, with the dove bearing the olive-branch. The cover of this font (shown in Vertue’s engraving), held by a flying angel and a group of cherubim, was stolen about the beginning of the present century, and subsequently hung up as a sign at a spirit-shop in the neighbourhood.—(Brayley’s Londiniana, vol. ii. p. 282.)
In the church are interred Charles Cotton, the companion of Walton in the Com-plete Angler; Dr. Sydenham, with a marble tablet erected by the College of Physicians, in 1810; Hayman, the portrait-painter; the two Vanderveldes, the marine painters; and Michael Dahl, the Swedish portrait-painter; Dr. Arbuthnot, the friend of Pope, Swift, Gay, and Prior; Benjamin Stillingfleet, the naturalist, so touchingly deplored by Pennant, in the preface to his British Zoology; Dr. Akensidc, the poet; James Dodsley, the bookseller, with a tablet; G. H. Harlow, who painted ” The Trial of Queen Katherine;” also Sir John Malcolm. Here lies Thomas d’Urfey, dramatist and song-writer, to whom there is a tablet on the outer south face of the church-tower, inscribed “Tom d’Urfey, dyed February 26, 1723.” In the vestry are the portraits of” the St. James’s rectors, that of Dr. Birch alone missing: the first rector, Dr. Tenison, the third, Dr. Wake ; and the seventh, Dr. Seeker; became Archbishops of Canterbury. (See Walcott’s Handbook of St. James’s.) Nollekens, the sculptor, when a lad, had an idle propensity for bell-tolling, and whenever his master missed him, and the dead-bell of St. James’s Church was tolling, he knew perfectly well what ” Joey ” was at.
The church exterior and interior wei e in 1857 greatly improved; and an ornamental arched entrance to the churchyard, and a large Vestry-hall erected.
St. James’s, Shoreditch, Curtain-road, of Early English architecture, erected 1838, ” stands on a site occupied by a theatre in Shakspeare’s time. He lived close by, in a place called Gillum’s Field. At this theatre a curtain was for the first time used; hence the name of the road. The theatre was afterwards removed to South Lambeth. Tradition says that Shakspeare himself acted at the theatre, and that his Hamlet was first performed there.”—Maekeson’s Churches.
St. James’s, Spa-road, Bermondsey, contains a large altar-picture, painted for 5001., by John Wood, upon conditions detailed at p= 49. The subject is the Ascension of our Saviour; the figures are considerably above the natural size: on a canvas of 275 square feet (25 feet by 11), in the upper part, a full-length figure of the Saviour occupies nearly one-half of the picture; a nimbus around the head illumining the upper sky ; the eleven disciples are in various positions, standing, kneeling, prostrated, with uplifted hands and faces, and bodies bent with’reverential awe and devotion; and their personal identity, costume, and colouring, are very successful.
St. John’s, formerly St. Attgustin’s, at Hackney, was taken down in 1798, except the tower, of the sixteenth century, which still remains, with a clock and a peal of C’ght bells; the body of the church was rebuilt northward of the ancient edifice; eastward is the chapel of the Howe family, built in 1614, and preserved as a mausoleum. The churchyard has thoroughfare paths, lined with lofty trees, but thea frees, b funereal yew is not among them. The old church, before its demolition, was extremely rich in monuments and brasses, some of which were removed to the porches and vestibules of the new church.
St. John’s, Bethnal Green, designed by Sir John Soane in 1828, was the first church consecrated by Bishop Blomfield in the diocese of London. (See Gentleman’s Magazine, Feb. 1831.)
St. John’s, Clerkenwell, a modern church,’ in St. John’s-square, has an ancient crypt (part of the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem), in which the detection of the Cock-lane Ghost hoax was consummated.
” While drawing in the erypt of St. John’s, Clerkenwell, in a narrow cloister on the north side (there being at that time coffins, and fragments of shrouds, and human remains lying about in disorder), the sexton’s boy pointed to one of the coffins, and said the woman in it was ‘ Scratching Fanny.’ This reminding me of the business of the Cock-lane Ghost, I removed the lid of the coffin, which was loose, and saw the body of a woman, which had become adipoeere; the lace perfect, handsome oval, with aquiline nose. [Will not arsenic produce adipoeere?] She was said to have been poisoned, although the charge is understood to have been disproved. I inquired of one of the churchwardens of the time (Mr. Bird, I believe), and he said the coffin had always been understood to contain the body of the woman whose spirit was said to have haunted the house in Cock-lane.”— Communicated by John Wyke-hum Archer, 1851.
St. John the Evangelist, Charlotte-street, Fitzroy-square, designed by Hugh Smith, in the Norman or Romanesque style, was opened in 1846, its west front having two towers, and a spire 120 feet high, and a large wheel-window beneath the intervening gable. The second spire has not been built.
St. John the Evangelist, Horselydown, one of the Fifty New Churches (10 Anne), was finished in 1732 : it has a tower, with an ill-proportioned Scamozzian Ionic column, seen to the eastward from the London and Greenwich Railway.
St. John the Evangelist, Smith-square, Westminster, was the second built of the Fifty New Churches (10 Anne), finished in 1728, after the designs of Archer, pupil of Vanbrugh; before which it began to settle, and a tower and lantern-turret were added at each corner to strengthen the main building; ” and these would have been
beautiful accompaniments to the central tower and spire intended by the architect.” \12lmes.) These towers reminded Lord Chesterfield of an elephant thrown on its back, with its four feet erect in the air ; and Charles Mathews, of a dining-table upside-down, with its four legs and castors. Meanwhile, justice has not been done to the originality and powers of the architect: the whole composition is impressive, and its boldness loses nothing by the graceful playfulness of the outline; it has some inaccuracies of detail, but is, altogether, a very striking production of the Vanbrugb school. (Donaldson!) It has semicircular apses east and west, and imposing Doric porticoes north and south. The interior of the church (said to have been the first in London lit with gas) is without columns, and is highly embellished: the east window is filled with ancient painted glass brought from Normandy; and above the altar-table is a copy of the celebrated picture of Christ bearing his Cersbearingross, by Ribalta, in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford. The elegant marble font, designed by C. Barry, jun., sculptured by J. Thomas, was placed here in 1847. The Organ, erected by a German builder, in 1727, and repaired by Hill, in 1840, is handsome and powerful. Churchill, the satirist, born in the parish, succeeded his father in 1758, in the curacy and lectureship of this church: he soon disgraced the holy office, and substituted for the clerical costume a blue coat, gold-laced waistcoat and hat, and large ruffles; remonstrances ensued, and he resigned.
St. John’s burial-ground contains “the ashes of an Indian chief, who died of small-pox, in 1731, and was buried in the presence of the Emperor Toma, after the custom of the Karakee Creeks, sewn up in two blankets, between two deal boards, with his clothes, some silver coins, and a few glass beads.”— Walcott’s Westminster, p. 314.
St. John the Evangelist, Waterloo-road, was built in 1822-24, from the design of P. Bedford: it has a Grecian-Doric hexastyle portico, and lofty steeple, with an excellent peal of eight bells; tenor, 1900 lbs. weight. The font is of white marble, and was brought from Italy. In a vault here is interred 11. W. Elliston, the comedian. The site of St. John’s was a swamp and horse-pond; the district commences at the middle of Westminster Bridge, whence an imaginary boundary-line passes through the middle of the River Thames and Waterloo Bridge.
St. John of Jerusalem, South Hackney, Middlesex ; a large and beautiful church in the best Pointed style, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, by E. C. Hakewill; consecrated July 20, 1848. The plan is cruciform, with a tower and spire of equal height, together rising 187 feet; the latter has graceful lights and broaches, and the four Evangelists beneath canopies at the four angles; the Nave has side aisles with flying buttresses to the clerestory; each Transept is lit by a magnificent window, 29 feet high; and the Choir has an apsis with seven lancet windows: entire external length, 192 feet; materials, Kentish rag and Speldhurst stone. The principal entrance is at the west, through a screen of open arches. The roof, of open-work, is of 60 feet highest pitch, with massive arched and foliated ribs; and the meeting of the Transepts, Chancel, and Nave is very effective. The Chancel has a stone roof, and the walls of the apse are painted and diapered—red with fleur-de-lis, and blue powdered with stars; the pulpit and reading-desk are also diapered; and the seats are of oak, and mostly formed of stall-ends with finials : the two first seats are well-carved; on one is the crest of the Hector and the badge of the patron Saint; and on the other side the dove with the olive-branch, and the lynx, as an emblem of watchfulness. All the windows are filled with painted, stained, or richly-diapered glass, by Wailes, Powell, &c.; and a memorial clerestory window, Christ Blessing Little Children, and Raising Juirus’s Daughter, is beautifully painted by Ward and Nixon. The altar-floor is laid with Minton’s tiles; the font is nicely sculptured; the Organ is from the old church at Hackney: the tower has a fine peal of eight bells.
St. John’s, Notting-hill, an Early English cross church, designed by Stevens and Alexander, and consecrated Jan. 22, 1845, stands upon an elevated portion of Kensington Park, facing Ladbroke Grove, and has a tower 156 feet high, seen to picturesque advantage.
St. John’s, Oxford-square, Paddington, is a debased imitation of New College
Chapel in the exterior; architect, Fowler : it possesses a good stained glass window of the Twelve Apostles.
St. Jude’s, Gray’s Inn Road, was the first church which received aid from the Bishop of London’s Fund; founded, November, 1862; style, Early English; architect, Joseph Peacock. The tower, at the south-east angle, is 100 feet high, terminating with an iron finial. All the chancel windows are of stained glass. The three lancet windows, the gift of a lady, represent the Birth, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, of Our Lord. The large rose-window is a thank-offering of the congregation : in the centre circle is the Ascension; and in the tracery around the Annunciation are— Disputing in the Temple, the Baptism, the Agony, Bearing the Cross, the First Appearance to Mary, the Journey to Emmaus, and the Pentecost. The reredos is of Caen stone, and represents the Last Supper carved in relief, the wall on each side being richly covered with tiles in pattern. The Organ, which is of original arrangement, is in the Chancel aisle, under the tower, and is free and open to the choir.
St. Lawrence Jewry, King-street, Cheapside, was commenced by Wren, in 1671, upon the site of the old church, destroyed in the Great Fire: it has a tower and steeple 130 feet high, with, for a vane, a gilt gridiron, the emblem of St. Lawrence; the east end, in King-street, is so pure as to be almost Grecian. The interior has some excellent plaster-work, in wreaths and branches; and the organ-case, pulpit, and doorways are richly-carved oak. In the centre is a large pew for the Lord Mayor and Common Council, the church being used for Corporation Sermons. Here Tillotson was Tuesday lecturer; was married 1663-4; and buried in 1694, three years after he was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury : his sculptured monument is on the north wall of the church. The Vestry-room walls are entirely cased with fine dark carved oak j and che ceiling has elaborate plaster foliage, and a painting, by Thornhill, of St. Lawrence. In the old church, mentioned 1293, was buried Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire, whose daughter Anna married King Henry VIII., and was the mother of Queen Elizabeth : here lay also the remains of Richard Rich, mercer (d. 1469), from whom descended the Earls of Warwick. There are a fine peal of bells, two good windows by Clayton and Bell, and an excellent Organ by Schmidt.
St, Leonard’s, Eastcheap, destroyed in the Great Fire, and not rebuilt, had a curious affix. Newcourt oddly says:—” On Fish-street-hill, in the Ward of Bridge Within, stood St. Leonard Milk Church, so called after one William Melker, the builder thereof.”
St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch (anciently Soresdich), occupies the site of a church mentioned in grants early in the thirteenth century. The last church (which had four gables in a line, and a low square tower) was taken down in 1736 : and the present church built by the elder Dance in 1740 : it has a steeple imitated from that of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, and a fine peal of twelve bells. The Organ is by Bridge.
Holywell-street, in this parish, now High-street, Shoreditch, was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and James I. inhabited by players of distinction, connected with the Curtain Theatre, the Blackfriars Theatre, and the Globe on the Bankside. The parish register (within a period of sixty years) records the interment of the following celebrated characters :—Will Sommers, Henry VIll.’s ancenry VIjester; Richard Tarlton, the famous clown of Queen Elizabeth’s time; James Burbage, and his more celebrated son, Richard Burbage; Gabriel Spenser, the player, who fell in 1598, in a duel with Ben Jonson; William Sly and Richard Cowley, two original performers in Shakspeare’s plays; the Countess of Rutland, the only child of the famous Sir Philip Sidney; Portunatus Greene, the unfortunate offspring of Robert Greene, the poet and player. Another original performer in Shakspeare’s plays, who lived in Holywell-street, in this parish, was Nicholas Williamson alias Tooley, whose name is recorded in gilt letters on the north side of the altar as a yearly benefactor of el. 10*., still distributed in bread every year to the poor of the parish, to whom it was bequeathed.—Cunningham’s Handbook, p. 285.
In the register is entered, among the ” Burialles, Thomas Cam, y e 22d inst. of Januarye, 1588, Aged 207 years, Holywell-street. George Garrow, parish clerk.” [Is not 2 written for 1 in the number of years ?] At St. Leonard’s is annually preached the endowed Lecture founded by Mr. Thomas Fairchild, gardener, who carried on his business in Selb/s Gardens, extending from the west end of Ivy-lane to the New North-road. By his will, in 1728, he bequeathed the sum of 257., the interest of which he desired might be given annually to the lecturer of St. Leonard’s, for preaching on Whit-Tuesday a sermon on ” The Wonderful Works of God in the Creation,” or “OntheCer-
tainty of the Eesurrection of the Dead, proved by certain changes of the Animal and Vegetable parts of the Creation.” The bequest came into operation in 1730, and has been continued ever since. The sum bequeathed by Mr. Fairchild was increased by subscriptions to 1001. South-Sea Annuities, producing 31. per annum, which was transferred to the President and Council of the Royal Society. To the subscription added to the bequest, Archdeacon Denne added 291. out of the money he, the first lecturer, had received for preaching the sermon. It was the custom for the President and Fellows of the Royal Society to hear this sermon preached. Stukeley records :— ” Whitsunday, June 4,1750,1 went with Mr. Folkes, and other Fellows, to Shoreditch, to hear Dr. Denne preach Fairchild’s sermon, On the Beautys of the Vegetable World. We were entertained by Mr. Whetman, the vinegar-merchant, at his elegant house by Moorfields; a pleasant place, encompassed with gardens well stored with all sorts of curious flowers and shrubs, where we spent the day very agreeably, enjoying all the pleasures of the country in town, with the addition of philosophical company.”— MS. Journal.
St. Luke’s, Nutford-place, Edgware-road, was erected in 1856, Ewan Christian, architect, as a thank-offering for the exemption from cholera, where, at the time, fifty in a thousand was the rate of mortality in some parishes, and only two in a thousand suffered. The cost was 13,782?., of which 6000Z. was for the site; the church was built chiefly for working-men, by whom it is well attended.
St. Luke’s Church, Chelsea (the Old Church), near the river, consists of a Nave, Chancel, and side aisles; the chancel rebuilt early in the sixteenth century; chapel at the east end added by Sir Thomas More about 1520 ; and the tower of brick, built 1667-1674. The interior has been much altered. Its tombs of ” divers persons of quality” are very interesting. In the chancel is an ancient altar-tomb, without inscription, supposed to belong to a Bray, of Eton. Here, on the south wall, is the black marble tablet, erected by Sir Thomas More, in 1532 (see ante, p. 90), with the famous biographical epitaph, in Latin ataph, in, from More’s own pen, and the following to More and his two wives :—
“Chara Thom« jacet hie Joanna uxorcula Moei,
Qui tumulum Aliclk hunc destino, quique mihi. Una mihi dedit hoc conjuncta virentibus annis,
Me vocet ut puer, et trina puella patrem. Altera privignis (quae gloria rara noverea; est)
Tarn pia, quam quatis, vix fuit ulla suis. Altera sic mecum vixit, sic altera vivit,
Charior incertum est, qua? sit an ilia fuit. 0 siraul, O juncti poteraraus vivere nostros,
Quam bene, si fatum religioque sinant. At soeiet tumulus, societ nos, obseero, ccelum!
Sic mors, non potuit quod dare vita, dabit.”
This elegant Latin is considered to be not excelled by any epitaph in that or any other language. In the biographical epitaph, the word ” hereticisque” was purposely omitted when the monument was restored on both occasions : there is a blank space left. Over the tomb are the crest of Sir Thomas More, namely, a Moor’s head; the arms of himself and his two wives.
Sir Thomas More is stated to have been buried here, but this is disputed : most probably, he was buried in the chapel of St. Peter-in-the-Tower; though Aubrey distinctly states that “after More was beheaded, his trunk was interred in Chelsey Church,” beneath the monument already described. The decapitated head of More was long kept in the Tudor mansion of Baynard’s, in Surrey, by More’s favourite daughter, Margaret Roper, who once lived here. The skull of Sir Thomas was finally deposited in the vault of the Ropers, in St. Dunstan’s Church, in the suburbs of Canterbury, where it was seen by JK. W. Brayley, about sixty years ago.— (See Note in Brayley’s Survey, vol. v. p. 183.)
The Rev. Mr. Blunt suggests that the ancient dedication of the church was to All Saints, though it has long been appropriated to St. Luke. The Chancel, with the chantries north and south of it, are the only portions of ancient work left. The north chantry, called the Manor Chantry, once contained the monuments of the Brays, now in very imperfect condition ; having been destroyed or removed to make space for those of the Gervoise family. There remains, however, an ancient brass in the floor. Of the south, or More Chantry, Mr. Blunt states that the monument of Sir Thomas More was removed from it to the chancel, and the chantry had been occupied by the monuments of the Georges family, now also removed, displaced, and destroyed. Notwithstanding the current contrary opinion, founded on Aubrey’s assertion, the More monument (says Mr. Blunt) is the original one for which Sir Thomas More himself dictated the epitaph.
Mr. Burnell, the architect of the improvements effected subsequently to 1857, speaks positively as to the non-existence of a crypt which conjecture had placed under the More chantry. The foundation
of the west end of the church, before it was enlarged in 1666, he found west of Lord Dacre’s tomb. On the nortli side of the chancel an aumbry, and on the south a piscina, were found, coeval with the chancel (early fourteenth century). The arch between the More Chantry and the chancel is a specimen of Italian workmanship, dated 1528; a date confirmed by the objects represented in the carved ornaments, those objects being connected with the Roman Catholic ritual. It is a remarkably early instance of the use of Italian architecture in this country.
Here are these monuments: one with kneeling figures, to Thomas Hungerford; to the daughter of Sir Theodore Mayerne, wife of Peter de Caumont, Marquis de Cugnac; Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland, beheaded for proclaiming Lady Jane Grey, mother of Queen Elizabeth’s favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester ; her daughter Mary was the mother of Sir Philip Sidney [” her monument at east end of south chapel is not unlike Chaucer’s in Westminster Abbey, but sadly mutilated;”— Cunningham] ; Gregory, Lord Dacre, and Lady Ann, his wife: the latter founded the almshouses in Westminster which bear her name; she was sister to Sackville, Earl of Dorset, the poet. In a chapel of the north aisle lie the Laurence family, after whom ” Lawrence-street,” Chelsea, was called. In the same aisle is the monument (said by Walpole to be by Bernini, and cost 500Z.), to Lady Jane Cheyne, and wife of Charles Cheyne, Esq., whence Cheyne-row ; she is represented lying on her l’ight side, and leaning on a Bible.
In the south-west corner of the church is a mural monument to Dr. Edward Chamberlayne, with a punning Latin epitaph: it mentions that some of his books [MSS.], inclosed in wax, were buried with him; yet when his tomb fell into decay not a vestige of them could be found. Prom a Latin epitaph on his daughter, we learn that on June 30, 1690, she fought valiantly in men’s clothing six hours against the French, on board a fire-ship under the command of her brother.
In the church are interred, without monuments, the mother of John Fletcher, the poet; the mother of George Herbert and Lord Herbert of Cherbury: Dr. Donne preached her funeral sermon in this church, and Izaak Walton tells us he heard him ; Thomas Shadwell, the Mac-Flecknoe : his funeral sermon was preached in this church by Nicholas Brady, Nahum Tate’s associate in the Psalms; Abel Boyer, author of a Life of Queen Anne and the French Dictionary which bears his name; Cipriani, the elegant painter and designer; Dr. Martyn, translator of Virgil; Henry Mossop, the actor; Dr. Kenrick, the annotator of Shakspeare; Sir John Fielding, the magistrate; and Henry Sampson Woodfall, printer of Junius.
In the churchyard is the mystic monument of the great naturalist and virtuoso, Sir Hans Sloane, M.D., who attended Queen Anne in her last illness, and was the first medical man created a baronet; his collections became the nucleus of the British Museum. Here, too, is a pyramidal monument erected by the Linnean and Horticultural Societies to Philip Miller, author of the Gardeners’ Dictionary ; he was nearly fifty years gardener to the Apothecaries’ Company’s Garden at Chelsea.
The Register, under Feb. 13, 1577-8, records the baptism of ” Charles, a boy by estimacon 10 or 12 yers olde, brought by Sir Walter Rawlis from Guiane.” John Larke, presented to the rectory of Chelsea, in 1530, by Sir Thomas More, was executed at Tyburn, in 1544, for following the example of his patron, in denying the King’s supremace gng’s suy.
St. Luke’s New Chttech, Chelsea, was founded in 1820; Savage, architect, one of the restorers of the Temple Church; style, Gothic, 14th and 15th centuries. The building is of brick, cased with Bath stone. It has a pinnacled tower, 142 feet high, with arcaded entrance porch. The north and south fronts have bold buttresses; and the east front is magnificent. The vaulting, 60 feet in height, is entirely of stone; and under the clerestory windows is a triforium; the Nave is divided from the aisles by an arcade and clustered pillars. The altar-screen is ably sculptured, and in the centre is a picture of the Ascension, stated to be by Northcote. The interior length of the church is 130 feet. The Organ, built by Nicholls, contains 33 stops and 1876 pipes, and is one of the most powerful instruments in the metropolis.
In the churchyard lie Blanchard and Egerton, the actors, side by side. Captain M’Leod, who wrote the Voyage of the Alceste, 1817 ; and Alexander Stephens, who wrote a Life of John Home Tooke, and edited the Annual Biography and Obituary. In a cemetery in the KingVroad, given to St. Luke’s parish in 1733, by Sir Hans
Sloane, is buried Andrew Millar, the bookseller, who lived in the Strand, ” at Buchanan’s Head” (see his imprint to Thomson’s Seasons) ; his grave is marked by an obelisk in the centre of the ground.
St. Luke’s, near the centre of Old-street-road, is one of the fifty Queen Anne churches, and was consecrated on St. Luke’s day, Oct. 16, 1733. It is built of stone, and has an obelisk spire, a masterpiece of absurdity. The parish was taken out of St. Giles’s, Cripplegate.
St. Magnus the Mabtyb, London Bridge, was burnt in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, 1676. It has a tower, octagon lantern, cupola, and spire, added in 1705, which are very picturesque. The footway under the tower, on the east side, was made in 1760, through the recesses and groined arches originally formed in the main building by Wren, as if he had seen its necessity whenever the street leading to Old London Bridge required widening.
This improvement was made after the destruction of the church roof by fire, April 18,1760, which began in an oilman’s premises in Thames-street, adjoining the church, and consumed seven houses and all the warehouses on Fresh Wharf. This conflagration was occasioned by the neglect of a servant, who left some inflammable substances boiling while he went to see Karl Ferrers return from his trial and condemnation for murder: before the man could get back, the shop was in flames.
Miles Coverdale was for a short time rector of St. Magnus: he was buried in St. Bartholomew’s by the Exchange, which being taken down ill 1840, Coverdale’s remains were removed, and interred in St. Magnus’, where a monument to his memory was erected in 1837.
The inscription upon Coverdale’s tomb states:—”On the 4th of October, 1535, the first complete English version of the Bible was published under his direction.” The third centenary of this event was celebrated by the clergy throughout the churches of England, October 4,1835; and several medals were struck upon the occasion.
alatinoes New Roman”, serif”> The handsomely carved and gilt projecting dial, affixed to St. Magnus’ tower, was the gift of Sir Charles Duncomb, in 1709, and cost 4851. 5s. 4d.: Sir Charles, it is related, when a poor boy, had once to wait upon London Bridge a considerable time for his master, whom he missed through not knowing the hour; he then vowed that if ever he became successful in the world, he would give to St. Magnus’ a public clock, that passengers might see the time; and this dial proves the fulfilment of his vow. It was originally ornamented with several richly gilded figures: upon a small metal shield inside the clock are engraven the donor’s arms, with this inscription : ” The gift of Sir Charles Duncomb, Knight, Lord Maior, and Alderman of this ward. Langley Bradley fecit, 1709.” Sir Charles also presented the large Organ in St. Magnus’ Church: it was built by Jordan, in 1712, as announced in the Spectator :
” Whereas, Mr. Abraham Jordan, senior and junior, have with their own hands, joynery excepted, made and erected a very large Organ in St. Magnus’ Church, at the foot of London Bridge, consisting of four sets of keys, one of which is adapted to the art of emitting sounds by swelling the notes, which never was in any Organ before; this instrument will be publicly opened on Sunday next, the performance by Mr. John Robinson. The abovesaid Abraham Jordan gives notice to all masters and performers, that he will attend every day next week at the said church, to accommodate all those gentlemen who shall have a curiosity to hear it.”— Spectator, Feb. 8,1712.
This instrument still exists, but has been much altered and modernized by Parsons; and at present, only three of the original four sets of keys remain.— A Short Account of Organs, &c, 1847.
The tower has a peal of ten bells. A bronzed or copper medalet, date 1676, bears on its obverse a view of old St. Magnus’ Church. Here was buried Hervey Yevele, or Zenely, described by Stow as Free-Mason to Edward III., Richard II., and Henry IV.: ho assisted to erect the tomb of Richard II. in Westminster Abbey, between 1395 and 1397, and prepared plans for raising the walls of Westminster Hall.
St. Maegaeet’s, Lothbury, destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in 1690, has a steeple 140 feet high; two carved and painted figures of Moses and Aaron, brought from St. Christopher-le-Stocks, when that church was taken down; and a marble font attributed to Gibbons, resembling that in St. James’s Church, Piccadilly. The Organ is by England.
St. Maegaeet Patten’s, Fenchurch-street, destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in 1687, contains a fine altar-picture—Angels ministering to Christ in
the Garden—ascribed to Carlo Maratti. About the altar-piece are some exquisitely-carved flowers. Against the south wall is a large monument, by Rysbrack, to Sir P. Delme, Lord Mayor in 1723. The church was named from the patten-makers, who formerly mostly lived in the neighbourhood.
St. Margaret’s parish church, Westminster, is placed a short distance from the north door of Westminster Abbey: it was originally built about 1064, by Edward the Confessor, for the people who had thickly settled around the Abbey, and were greatly increased by those who sought here the privilege of Sanctuary. This Norman edifice was destngefice waroyed, and the church rebuilt in the reign of Edward I., of which period there exist a few remains. It was considerably altered in the time of Edward IV., when, probably, a flight of steps led up to the church-door, the surrounding level having been raised about nine feet above the original surface: a stone cross and a pulpit formerly stood here, as at St. Paul’s. Soon after the ancient Chapel of St. Stephen had been given up for the sittings of the House of Commons, it is supposed the members attended Divine Service in St. Margaret’s, as the Lords went to the Abbey Church. On Sept. 25, 1642, the Covenant was read from St. Margaret’s pulpit, and taken by both Houses of Parliament, the Assembly of Divines, and the Scots Commissioners. Here also were preached the lengthy Fast-day Sermons; and Hugh Peters, ” the pulpit buffoon,” persuaded the Parliament to bring Charles ” to condign, speedy, and capital punishment,” while the churchyard was guarded by soldiers with pikes and muskets. St. Margaret’s did not escape plunder by the Puritans ; but in 1660, ” the State’s Arms,” richly carved and gilt, were set up in the church, and they are still preserved in the vestry. In 1641, a gallery was built over the north aisles; and in 1681, another over the south aisles, ” exclusively for persons of quality,” the latter erected at the expense of Sir John Cutler, the miser satirized by Pope. Doctors Burnet and Sprat, old rivals, once preached here before Parliament in one morning; and on Palm Sunday, 1713, Dr. Sacheverell preached here first after the term of his suspension : 40,000 copies of this sermon were sold. In 1735, St. Margaret’s was repaired at the expense of Parliament, when the tower was faced with Portland stone and raised 20 feet, being now 85 feet high: it has a fine peal of ten bells, the tenor weighing 26 cwt. In 1753 was placed over the altar-table a relievo of our Lord’s Supper at Emmaus, sculptured in limewood, by Aiken of Soho, from Titian’s celebrated picture in the Louvre. In 1758, the east end was rebuilt and made apsidal; and the great east window removed, and replaced by the present beautiful cinque-cento window, said to have occupied five years executing, at Gouda in Holland, intended as a present from the magistrates of Dort to Henry VII.
This celebrated glass painting represents the Crucifixion, with angels receiving the blood-drops from the Saviour’s wounds; an angel wafts the soul of the good thief to paradise, and a dragon (the devil) bears the soul of the wicked thief to eternal punishment. The six upper compartments are filled with as many angels, bearing the cross, the sponge, the crown of thorns, the hammer, the rods, and nails. In the lower compartment (right) is Arthur Prince of Wales, eldest son of Henry VII., and above him St. George and the red and white rose; and to the left is Catherine of Arragon, Arthur’s bride, with above her the figure of St. Cecilia, and a bursting pomegranate, the emblem of Granada. The window is also said to have been ordered by Ferdinand and Isabella, on Prince Arthur being affianced, in 1499, to the Princess Catherine, their portraits being procured for the purpose. It was probably finished after his brother’s death, to be sent as a gift to Henry VIII. The king gave it to Waltham Abbey, where it remained until the Dissolution, a.d. 1540; when the last abbot sent it for safety to his private chapel at New Hall, which, by purchase, subsequently became the property of Sir Thomas, father cf Anne Boleyn, queen of Henry VIII. The chapel remained undisturbed until General Monk becoming possessor of New Hall, to save the window from destruction by the Puritans, had it buried underground. After the Restoration, Monk replaced the window in the chapel. Subsequent to his death, the seat fell into decay, and the chapel was taken down: but the window was preserved for some time cased up, until purchased by Mr. Conyers, of Copt Hall, Essex, by whose son it was sold, in 1758, e Pld, in to the churchwardens of St. Margaret’s for 400 guineas: it was then placed in the church, re-opened in 1759, a fine anthem for the occasion being composed by Dr. Boyce. A prosecution was now instituted against the parishioners by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, for putting up what was attempted to be proved “a superstitious image or picture.” After seven years’ suit, the bill was dismissed; in memory of which Mr. Churchwarden Peirson presented, as a gift for ever, to the churchwardens of the parish, a richly-chased cup, stand, and cover, silver-gQt, weighing 93 oz. 15 dwt., which is the loving-cup of St. Margaret’s, and is produced with especial ceremony at the chief parochial entertainments.
St. Margaret’s is otherwise rich in painted glass: the north-east window is filled with gold mosais designs, the Holy Monogram, the red and white roses, and portcullis, and a saint (Iago of Compostella?) bearing an open book. The crescent beside the rose, Mr. Bickman thought, denoted some ” expectancy of regal amplitude;” so Shakspeare:
” Pompey. My power ‘s a crescent, and my auguring hope
Says it will come to the full.”— Ant. and Cleop. act ii. sc. 1.
K
In this and the south-east windows arc the arms of Edward the Confessor, represented as blazoned by the heralds temp. Henry VIII. The saint in the centre is St. Michael overcoming the dragon.— Abridged from Walcott’s Westminster.
The Chancel is decorated in polychrome by Willement: and over the reredos are crocketed canopies, coloured ruby, azure, and emerald diaper, and richly gilded. In 1802, the present beautifully carved pulpit and reading-desk, by Lenox, were erected; the Speaker’s chair of state was placed in the front of the west gallery; and a new Organ, by Avery, was built. Altogether, the votes of the House of Commons for the repairs of this church have been frequent and considerable. Upon certain occasions, as Restoration Day (May 29), the Chaplain of the House of Commons preached here; when the House was usually represented by the Speaker, the Serjeant-at-Arms, the clerks and other officers, and some eight or ten members. These and similar observances, as on Jan. 30, King Charles’s Martyrdom, and Nov. 5, Gunpowder Plot, have been discontinued since 1858. The church originally consisted of a Nave and Choir, with side aisles; with chapels or altars in the latter to St. Margaret, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Erasmus, St. John, and St. Cornelius, besides two to St. Nicholas and St. Christopher: the churchwardens’ accounts bear evidence of the maintenance of these shrines. In the ambulatory is a carved stall of the 16th century.
Among the names of the more eminent of the Puritans who preached in St. Margaret’s, are those of Calamy, Vines, Nye, Manton, Marshall, Gauden, Owen, Burgess, Newcomen, Reynolds, Cheynell, Baxter, Case (who censured Cromwell to his face, and when discoursing before General Monk, cried out, ” There are some will betray three kingdoms for filthy lucre’s sake,” and threw his handkerchief into the General’s pew); the critical Lightfoot; Taylor, ” the illuminated Doctor;” and Goodwyn, ” the windmill with a weathercock upon the top.”—Walcott’s Westminster.
The monuments are very nancts are umerous: among them are a tablet to Caxton the printer, by Westmacott, raised 1820 by the Roxburgh Club; alabaster figures, coloured and gilt, to Marie Lady Dudley (d. 1600); brass tablet, put up by subscription, 1845, to Sir Walter Raleigh, whose body was interred within the Chancel of this church on the day he was beheaded in the Old Palace-yard, Oct. 29, 1618; a black marble slab to James Harrington (d. 1677), who wrote Oceana; monument near the porch-door to Mrs. E. Corbet, with what Johnson considered ” the most valuable of all Pope’s epitaphs;” monument to Captain Sir Peter Parker, Bart., R.N., with bas-relief of his death, 1814, and lines by Lord Byron, in Chancel north aisle : a curious tablet of Cornelius Van Dun (d. 1577), with a coloured bust in the uniform of the Yeomen of the Guard: and a small monument to Mrs. Joane Barnett (d. 1674), who left money for a yearly sermon and poor widows: she is said to have sold oatmeal cakes hard by the church-door, in memory of which a large oatmeal pudding is a standing dish at the ” Feast.” There is but one ancient brass in the church, the rest having been sold in 1644, at 3cZ. and Ad. per pound, as the churchwardens’ accounts attest. Weever records the burial hereof John Skelton, Poet Laureate to Henry VIII. (d. 1529); and the registers contain the burial of Thomas Churchyarde, ” Court Poet” (d. 1604). Soon after the Restoration, several bodies were disinterred from the Abbey, and deposited in a pit in St. Margaret’s churchyard : among them was the corpse of Oliver Cromwell’s mother, from Henry VII.’s Chapel; Sir W. Constable, one of the judges in the trial of Charles I.; Admiral Blake; John Pimme; Thomas May, the poet, &c. Here, too, are buried Sir William Waller, the Parliament General (d. 1668); Hollar, the engraver (d. 1677), in the churchyard, ” near N.w. corner of the tower” (Aubrey); Thomas Blood, who attempted to steal the regalia (d. 1680); Gadbury the Cavalier astrologer, and helpmate of Lilly (d. 1704); Frances Whate (d. 1736), a charwoman, buried in the church; John Read, the ” Walking Rushlight,” and the oldest general in the service (d. 1807). The churchyard is extremely crowded with bodies. In the report on Extramural Sepulture, 1850, Dr. Reid stated, ” that the state of the bury-ing-ground around St. Margaret’s Church is prejudicial to the air supplied at the Houses of Parliament, and also to the whole neighbourhood;” that ” these offensive emanations have been noticed at all hours of the night and morning;” and that even * fresh meat is frequently tainted ” by the deleterious gases issuing from this churchyard. The removal of the church was proposed even in Stow’s time, and has often been revived: it was favoured by Sir Charles Barry, in his design for the completion of the New Palace of Westminster : if allowed to remain, the church should be restored, to harmonize with the Abbey, to which it was originally an adjunct. Among the be-
quests is an endowment, founded in ]781, by the will of Mr. Edward Dickenson, who left 5000£. stock, the interest of which was to be divided, on the first month after Easter-day, between three newly-married couples from each parish of St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, and of Acton. The distribution takes place with the approbation of the Bishop of London; and petitions are taken into consideration by the trustees on the Wednesday in Easter week, when they decide on the nine couples to receive the bounty, lbl. each.
A celebrated heirloom of the parish is the ” Overseers’ Box,” originally purchased at Horn Fair for fonrpsnee, and presented by a Mr. Monck to his brother Overseers, in 1713. In 1713, the Society of Past Overseers commemorated the gift by adding to the Box a silver rim; and in 1726 were added a silver side-case and bottom. In 17-10, an embossed border was placed on t ons placehe lid, and Vie bottom enriched with an emblem of Charity. In 1746, Hogarth engraved inside the lid a bust of the Duke of Cumberland, in memory of the battle of Culloden. In 1765 was added to the lid a plate with the arms of the City of Westminster, and the inscription:—” This Box is to be delivered to every succeeding set of Overseers, on penalty of five guineas.” The original Horn Box thus ornamented has been placed in four additional cases, each ornar.».ented by its several custodians, the senior Overseer for the time being, with silver plates engraved with the following subjects: —Fireworks in St. James’s Park (Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle), 1749; Admiral Keppel’s Action off Ushant, and his Acquittal by Court Martial; Battle of the Nile, 1798j Repulse of Admiral Linois, 1804; Battle of Trafalgar, 1805; Action between San Fiorenzo and La Piedmontaise, 1808; Battle of Waterloo, 1815; Bombardment of Algiers, 1816; House of Lords at Trial of Queen Caroline; Coronation of George IV., and his visit to Scotland, 1822. Portraits :—Wilkes, Churchwarden in 1759; Nelson, Duncan, Howe, and Vincent; Fox and Pitt, 1806; the Prince Regent, 1811; Princess Charlotte, 1817; and Queen Charlotte, 1818. Views:—Interior of Westminster Hall, with Westminster Volunteers attending Divine Service, on Fast-day, 1803; the old Sessions House; St. Margaret’s Church from north-east, the west front, tower, and altar-piece. In 1813 was added to the outer case a large silver plate portrait of the Duke of Wellington, commemorating the centenary of the box. The top of the second case represents the Governors in their board-room, inscribed, ” The original Box and cases to be given to every succeeding set of Overseers, on penalty of fifty guineas, 1783.” Outside the first case is engraved a cripple. In 1793, a contumacious Overseer detained the Box, and it was deposited “in Chancery” until 1796, when it was restored to the Overseers* Society; this event being commemorated by the addition of a third case, of Justice trampling upon an unmasked man and a serpent, and the Lord Chancellor (Loughborough) pronouncing his decree. On the fourth, or outer case, is the Anniversary meeting of the Past Overseers’ Society, and the delivery of the Box to the succeeding Overseer, who must produce it at certain parochial entertainments, with three pipes of tobacco at least, under the penalty of six bottles of claret; and must return the whole safe and sound, with some addition, under penalty “of two hundred guineas. Within the Box is a mother-of-pearl tobacco-stopper, with a silver chain.—Abridged from Walcott’s Westminster.
St. Mark’s, Kennington Common, a Doric church, designed by Roper, and built in 1824, on the spot formerly the place of execution for Surrey, and where several persons suffered death in the Stuart cause. Here was executed ” Jemmy Dawson,” 1746.
St. Mark’s, Old-street-road, St. Luke’s, a beautiful Early English Church, designed by Ferrey, and built in 1848: it has a noble four-storied tower and spire, rising from the ground 125 feet; and the windows throughout the edifice are fine.
St. Mark’s, Victoria Docks, near the little village of Silvsrtown, was built for the accommodation of the ” Londoners over the border.” The style is English Decorated, fifteenth century: materials, inside and outside, white and coloured bricks; Teulon, architect. It contains 1000 sittings, and cost 7000£.: the Organ, a gift, is fine.
St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, north of the western extremity of the Strand, is the second church built upon this site; the first having been erected by Henry VIII., from his disliking the funerals of inhabitants passingstotants p Whitehall in their way to St, Margaret’s, at Westminster, as they had no parish church. It is probable that there was a building before this, but ” only a chapel for the use of the monks of Westminster when they visited their Convent (Covent) Garden, which then extended to it.”— (J. Gwilt.) The old church had a low square tower, and was strictly ” in the fields :” in 1607, Henry Prince of Wales added a chancel. In this ancient church was buried Nicholas Stone, the sculptor, his monument adorned with his bust finely carved in profile, with tools used in sculpture, compasses, &c.: he was engaged in the building of the Banqucting-house, Whitehall. No doubt the sculpture, scrolls, and other ornaments in stone were of his work. In this church also were interred Paul Vansomer, portrait-painter, scarcely inferior to Vandyck; Nicholas Laniere, painter, musician, and engraver, and who bought pictures for Charles I.; Nicholas Lyzard, who had been in the service of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., and who was sergeant-painter to Queen Elizabeth; Nicholas Hilliard, limner,jeweller, and goldsmith to Queen Elizabeth, and afterwards to King James I.: he was, perhaps, the best miniature-painter who had appeared: also Sir Theodore Mayerne, the physician, a friend of Vandyck, to whom he communicated valuahle information relating to pigments; also Dobson, the English Vandyck; George Farquhar, the comic dramatist; Nell Gwynne was interred in the church; and Jack Sheppard in the burial-ground. In the church was buried, Oct. 31, 1679, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, found murdered in a ditch near Chalk Farin : the corpse was brought from Bridewell Hospital with great pomp, eight knights supporting the pall, and attended by all the City aldermen, 72 London ministers, and above 100 persons of distinction. At the funeral sermon two divines stood by the preacher, lest he should be assassinated by the Papists. The Hon. Robert Boyle was buried here, and his funeral sermon was preached by his friend Dr. Burnet. The Organ was built by Schmydt, in 1676, and he himself was the first organist here, and played for a salary. Edward, a son of the celebrated Henry Purcell, was elected organist in 1726. The old church was taken down in 1720-21, and the present church commenced from a design by Gibbs, when King George I., by proxy, laid the first stone, March 19, 1721, gave the workmen 100 guineas, and subsequently, upon being chosen churchwarden, presented the Organ, built by Schreider; but this has long given place to another Organ, built by Gray.
The present church was consecrated in 1726: the cost of its erection was 36,891 £. 10s. 4d. Its length, including the portico, is equal to twice its width : it is in the florid Roman or Italian style, and has a very fine western Corinthian hexastyle portico : the east end is truly elegant, and the round columns at each angle of the building render it very effective in profile. The tower and spire rise out of the roof, behind the portico. The interior is richly ornamented, ” a little too gay and theatrical for Protestant worship.” In 1842, 45 feet of the spire were struck by lightning, and had to be restored at the expense of 1000Z.: the ball and vane were also regilt; the latter is 6 feet 8 inches high and 5 feet long, and is surmounted with a crown, to denote this the parish of the Sovereign; and in its registers are entered the births of the royal children born at Buckingham Palace. The tower has a fine peal of twelve bells ; but the story of Nell Gwynne having left a legacy, paid weekly to the ringers, has no foundation in fact. High in the steeple hangs a small shrill bell, formerly called the Sanctus, and now the Saint’s or Parson’s Bell. ” It was rung before the Reformation, whenle rmation the priest came to the Sanctus, ‘ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth !’ so that those without the church might participate in the devotions of those present at the most solemn part of the divine office.”— The Parish Choir, No. 59.
The churchyard was paved in 1829; and in 1831, the vaults beneath the church were reconstructed, each vault being 10 feet high, 20 wide, and 40 long. Here is preserved the old parish whipping-post, with a carved head.
In the present church rest Roubiliac, the sculptor; and Scott, the author of a Visit to Paris, who was killed in a duel in 1821. The remains of John Hunter were deposited in the vaults in 1793, whence they were removed with fitting ceremony in 1859 to Westminster Abbey.
St. Maetin’s, Gospel Oak Fields, between Kentish Town and Haverstock-hill, is a carefully finished specimen of that now rare style, the Third Pointed, or Perpendicular. The tower at the north-west, almost detached from the body of the church, is square, lofty, has rather large windows, and an angle turret crowned by a small spirelet, shorter pinnacles capping the other angles; of which form we remember no other example about London. There are also two capped turrets at the junction of the Nave and Chancel. The windows have florid tracery; the roof is an elaborate one, on the hammer-beam principle, and is of dark varnished timber, rich in effect. With the parsonage, this church is estimated to cost 13,000^., defrayed by Mr. J. B. Alcroft; architect, E. B. Lamb. It will accommodate 1000 worshippers, who will all have an almost uninterrupted view of the Chancel, reading-desk, and pulpit; 400 sittings are free. The tower contains six bells, of deep tone.
St. Maetin’s, Ironmonger-lane, was a small church, and also called St. Martin Pomary, ” on what account (saith the antiquary) he knoweth not; but it is supposed from apples growing there.”
St. Maetin’s Ludgate, near the site of the City gate of that name, in Ludgate-ptreet, was rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire: the steeple has a small gallery, and rises 168 feet. Between Ludgate-street and the body of the church is an ambulatory, the whole depth of the tower, so as to lessen within the church the noise from the street. In the vestry-rooin are a carved seat (date 1690), and several curious coffers or chests. The font has a Greek inscription, a palindrome, i.e., it reads the same backwards as forwards. In the old church was the following epitaph, dated 1590 :—
Earth goes to \ f As mold to mold
Earth treads on I -earih J Glittering in gold Earth as to f 1 Peturn here should
Earth shall to J \ Goe ere he would
Earth upon \ I Consider may
Earth goes to [ -Pa-M. J Passed away
Earth though on f £ “” la j Is stout and gay Earth shall from ) \ Passe poor away.
The spire of St. Martin’s, backed by the campanile towers and majestic dome of St. Paul’s, seen from Fleet-street, is a fine architectural group; although the injudicious have condemned the spire as an obstacle in the view. Extraordinary antiquity has been claimed for the ancient church of St. Martin: according to Newcourt, it is alleged that Cadwallo, the valiant King of the Britons, after he had reigned for forty years, died in 677, and was buried in this place; and Robert of Glo’ster tells us of the said monarch—
” A Church of St. Martyn, livyng he let rere,
In whych yat men shold Goddys seruyse do,
And sing for his soule and al Christene also.”
The former church was dated 1437. Samuel Purchas, known by his Pilgrimages, was rector here in 1613 : he is styled ” the English Ptolemy,” but gained more fame than profit by his publications.
St. Martin Oegab, now united to the adjacent parish of St. Clement, near East-cheap, formerly possessed a church on this spot, which, after having served as a place of worship for French Protestants for about twenty years, was pulled down in the year 1820. The old clock-tower remained standing till 1851, together with two adjoining houses belonging to the parish, formerly known as ” the rectory.” These have been taken down, and a new clock and bell-tower erected, the lower part forming part of the rectory-house; the upper part only being appropriated for the reception of the clock, whilst the cupoletta, which crowns the composition, receives an ancient bell, which is highly valued by the parish. The height is about 110 feet to the top of the pine, which forms the finial. The tower is five diameters high to the top of the cornice, the proportion adopted in most of Wren’s towers. The bracket-clock is picturesque.
St. Martin’s Outwich (Otteswich), Bishopsgate-street, was originally built in the fourteenth century, in the Pointed style, with a low tiled roof and square tower; and the churchwardens’ accounts (1508 to 1545) contain entries of ancient usages previous to the Reformation: as, ” Wyne on Relyks Sondaye, Id. ;” ” Paschall or Hallowed Taper, tenebur Candell and Cross Candell, License to eate flesh,” &c. This church escaped the Great Fire of 1666, but was greatly injured in a conflagration in Nov. 1765, which burnt fifty houses. In 1796, the present church was built by S. P. Cockerell. Its form is oval, with a recess for the chancel, in the ceiling of which is a light filled with stained glass, mostly from the old church. There are also several monuments from the same, including two recumbent stone figures of John Oterwich and bis wile, their head-cushions supported by angels; the feet of the man resting against a lion, and those of the female against a dog. Here also is a canopied tomb, date 1500, with remains of brass figures, armorial bearings, and labels against the back; and several stone effigies to the memory of Alderman Staper (1594): ” hee was the greatest merchant in his tyme, the chiefest actor in discovere of the trades of Turkey and East India, &c.;” also two brass figures of rectors of the church in the fifteenth century. Few would expect to find these monumental treasures within a church of such un-ecclesiastical design. It contains also a fine picture of the Resurrection, by Rigaud. The South Sea House, which is illee, whicn St. Martin’s, was given to the parish by Mrs. Margaret Taylor, in 1667.
St. Maet Abbots’, Kensington, the mother-church, was rebuilt 1696: here are monuments to Edward, eighth Earl of Warwick and Holland (d. 1759), with his
effigies, seated, and reposing upon an urn; and to the three Colmans: Francis Colman ; his son, George, “the Elder;” and his son,”the Younger:” the two latter wrote several comedies, and were proprietors of the Haymarket Theatre. In the churchyard are monuments to Jortin, author of the Life of Erasmus, and Vicar of Kensington j and to Mrs. Inchhald (a Roman Catholic), a heauty, a virtue, a player, and authoress of the Simple Story. Here, too, is huried William Courten, the traveller and naturalist, whose curiosities, it is said, filled ten rooms in the Middle Temple: this collection he bequeathed to Sir Hans Sloane, and thus it’ became part of the nucleus of the British Museum. James Mill, the historian of British India, is huried here; and a son of George Canning, with a headstone by Chantrey. St. Mary’s, Kensington, had a ” Vicar of Bray ” in one Thomas Hodges, collated to the living by Archbishop Juxon : he kept his preferment during the Civil War and interregnum, by joining alternately with either party; although a frequent preacher before the Long Parliament and one of the Assembly of Divines, he was made Dean of Hereford after the Restoration, but continued Vicar of Kensington.—(Murray’s Environs of London, p. 69.) The Organ is a fine old instrument; and there is a good peal of bells. The ancient church of Kensington (Chenesit) is mentioned in Domesday, and had for its patron Aubrey de Vere, who came over with the Conqueror, from whom he received the manor.
St. Maby Abchubch, Abchurch-lane, was destroyed by the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in 1686: its tower and spire are 140 feet high: the interior has a large cupola, painted by Sir James Thornhill; and an altar-piece, with fruit and flowers, exquisitely carved by Gibbons, and originally painted after nature by Thornhill. The Organ is by Bishop.
St. Maey Aldeemaby, Bow-lane, is the third church erected on this site. To the first, Richard Chaucer, vintner, gave his tenement and tavern, with the appurtenances in the royal street, the corner of Kerrion-lane, and was there buried, 1348. It is believed that this was the father of Chaucer the poet. Charles Blunt, Lord Mountjoy, was buried there about the year 1545. In 1510, Sir Henry Keble, Lord Mayor of London, began to rebuild the church. This church was destroyed in the Great Fire, with the exception of the tower, so built by Lord Mayor Keble, the lower part of which was repaired by Sir Christopher Wren, and the upper part new built in 1681, a sum equal to 5000Z. being furnished for that purpose by the widow of Henry Rogers, in pursuance of his will. The clustered columns, fine groinings, large circular ornamental openings for skylights, the ceilings decorated with flowers, foliage, and shields, and the fine east window, are admired. In 1835 some houses abutting upon the north wall of the church were pulled down, which brought to light a crypt, possibly the vaulted cemetery of the old church, about 50 feet in length and 10 feet wide, having five arches on each side in the Pointed style of architecture. The church is a specimen of Wren’s Gothic, for which his apologists plead that he was required to follow the plan of the old church destroyed by fire. The tower, with four turrets, is 130 feet high. In the great storm of 1703, two of these turrets were blown down.
St. Maby’s, Battersea, a church of tasteless design, built in 1776, is remarkable for containing Roubiliac’s elegant monument to the celebrated Lord Bolingbroke, and his second wife, a niece of Madame de Maintenon. In the east window are three portraits : 1. Margaret Beauchamp, ancestor (by her first husband, Sir Oliver St. John) of the St. Johns, and (by her second husband, John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset) grandmother to Henry VII.; 2. the portrait of that monarch; 3. the portrait of Queen Elizabeth, placed here because her grandfather, Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire (father of Queen Anne Boleyn), was the grandfather of Anne, the daughter of Sir Thomas Leighton, and wife of Sir John St. John, the first baronet of the family. Here is a monument to Sir Edward Wynter, who died 1635-6; it has a bas-relief representing the feats thus commemorated in the inscription:
” Alone, unarm’d, a tyger he oppress’d, And crush’d to death the monster of a beast; Twice twenty mounted Moors he overthrew Singly on foot; some wounded, some he slew, Dispers’d the rest. What more could Samson do ?”
At the top is a large bust of Sir Edward, in a flowing peruke and lace shirt.
St. Mary-le-Bone, or St. Mary-at-the-Bourne, at the end of the High-street, verging on the New-road, was originally the mother-clmrch of Marylehone, and was rebuilt in 1741, on the site of an edifice erected about 1400, on the removal of the ancient church of Tyburn, ” which stood in a lonely place near the highway (on or near the site of the present Court-house, at the corner of Stratford-place), subject to the depredations of robbers, who frequently stole the images, bells, and ornaments.”—(Lysons’s ^Environs, vol. iii. 1795.) In Vertue’s Plan, about 1560, the only building seen between the village of St. Giles’s and Primrose-hill is the little solitary church of Marylehone: its interior is shown in one of Hogarth’s plates of the Make’s Progress (the Marriage), where some ill-spelt verses on the vault of the Forset family, and the churchwardens’ names, are accurately copied ; this plate was published in 1735, and part of the original inscription was preserved in the present church, converted into a parish chapel in 1817, on the consecration of the church in the New-road. In the chapel are tablets to Gibbs, the architect; Baretti, the friend of Dr. Johnson; and Caroline Watson, the engraver; and in the churchyard is a monument to James Ferguson, the Astronomer. Among the burials in the register are James Figg, the prize-fighter; Vanderbank, the portrait-painter ; Hoyle, aged 90, who wrote the Treatise on Whist; Kysbrack, the sculptor; and Allan Ramsay, portrait-painter, and son of the author of the Gentle Shepherd. In Paddington-street are two burial-grounds formerly attached to this church. In 1511, the Marylehone curate’s stipend was only 13s. per annum; in 1650, the impropriation was valued at 80Z. per annum, and Richard Bonner was curate; before the late separation, the value of the living was 1898J.
In a Map published in 1742, the diminutive church of St. Mary-le-bone is shown detached from London, with two zigzag ways leading to it, one near Vere-street, then the western extremity of the new buildings, and the second from Tottenham-Court-road. Rows of houses, with their backs to the fields, extended from St. Giles’s Pound to Oxford-market; but Tottenham-Court-road had only one cluster on the west side, and the spring-water house. The zigzag way above mentioned, near Vere-street, still retaining its original name of Mary-le-bone-lane, was the communication between the high road an165 high rd the village. A friend, born in 1780, remembers his father and mother relating how they walked out through the fields, to be married at Mary bone Church.
St. Mabylebone (New Church), New-road, opposite York Gate, Regent’s-park, designed by T. Hardwick, father of P. Hardwick, R.A., was originally built ” on speculation” as a chapel; and was purchased by the parish, and converted into a handsome church, at the cost of 60,000Z. It has a lofty stone clock-tower and portico j the interior was at first objected to as too theatrical in arrangement: it has an altar-picture of the Holy Family, painted and presented by B. West, P.R.A. Cosway and Northcote, Royal Academicians, are buried here.
St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, ” for divers accidents happening there, hath been made more famous than any other parish church of the whole city or suburbs.”— (Stoic.) If not originally a Roman temple, as was once believed, this was one of the earliest churches built by our Norman conquerors. Stow says it was named St. Mary de Arcubus, from its being built on arches of stone, the semicircular-arched Norman crypt, extant to this day: and hence is named the ” Court of Arches,” formerly held in the church. About 1190, Longbeard, ringleader of a tumult, took refuge in the steeple, which was fired to drive him out: in 1271, part of the steeple fell, and killed several persons j and some years after its repair, one Ducket, a goldsmith, fled here for Sanctuary, and was murdered. The old steeple was entirely rebuilt by 1460, when the Common Council ordered that Bow bell should be rung nightly at nine o’clock, a vestige of the Norman curfew ; in 1472, two tenements in Hosier-lane (now Bow-lane), were bequeathed ” to the maintenance of Bow bell,” which being rung for the closing of shops somewhat late, the young men, ‘prentices, and others in Cheap, made this rhyme: /
” Clarke of the Bow bell, with the yellow lockes, For thy late ringing, thy head shall have knockes.”
To which the Clerk replied:—
” Children of Cheape, hold you all still, For you shall have the Bow bell rung at your will.”
William Copeland, churchwarden, either gave a new bell for thi3 purpose, or caused the old one to be recast, in 1515: Weever says the former. In 1512, the arches and
spire of the tower were provided with lanterns, as beacons for travellers: the latter is shown in the View of London, 1643 (in the Sutherland Collection) ; it has a central lantern, or hell-turret, and a pinnacle at each corner. The church was rebuilt, as we now see it, by Wren, after the Great Fire of 1666, and the belfry was prepared for twelve bells, though only eight were placed; but two were subsequently added, and the set of ten bells was first rung in 1762. (See Bells, p. 46.) The earliest monument in the old church was that to Sir John Coventry, Mayor in 1425 : Weever gives his epitaph. The present church contains a large marble sarcophagus, with figures of Faith and a cherub, and a medallion bust, by Banks, R.A., of Bishop Newton, twenty-five years rector of this parish, and interred in St. Paul’s.
Bow Church is one of Wren’s finest works: it is well described in Godwin’s Churches of London. The large Palladian doorways are nobl orways are j and the campanile is one of Wren’s most picturesque designs.
The circular peristyle, or continued range of columns, which rises from a stylobate on the top of the tower (a miniature representation of that around the dome of St. Paul’s), let it be viewed from what point it may be, is the most beautiful feature of the steeple. By the introduction of the combined scrolls at each angle of the tower, Wren has endeavoured to prevent that appearance of abruptness which would otherwise have resulted from the sudden transition from the square to the circular form, and has caused the outline to be gradually pyramidical from the top of the tower to the vane. The flying buttresses, which appear to support the columns above the peristyle, are introduced chiefly with a view to effect the same end.
The spire was repaired by Sir W. Staines when a young stonemason; and in 1820 it was in part rebuilt by George Gwilt, F.S.A., but was not lowered, as generally believed. Its height is 225 feet; the dragon, ten feet long, was regilt, and a young Irishman descended from the spire point on its back, pushing it from the cornices and scaffolds with his feet, in the presence of thousands of spectators.* Over the doorway in Cheapside is a small balcony, intended as a place to view processions from. The present bells are much heavier, and more powerful in tone, than the first set. It requires two men to ring the largest (the tenor, 53 cwt., key C.) The ringers belong to the Society of ” College Youths,” founded in 1637, and named from the College of St. Spirit and Mary, built by Sir Richard Whittington, on College-hill, Upper Thames-street, and burnt down in the Great Fire. A book recording the names of the founders and members of the College Youths, from 1637 to 1724, was lost about the latter date, and only recovered in 1840. Another Society, called the ” Cumberland Society,” rang for a few years at Bow Church. There is a peal called the ” Whittington Peal,” which can only be rung on twelve bells. (See Bow Bells, p. 47.)
Independently of ordinary services in the church, prayers are read and the Sacrament administered at eight o’clock in the morning on every festival throughout the year which does not fall on a Sunday. This is in compliance with the will of Mr. Robert Nelson, author of the Companion to the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England, who left for the purpose ‘il. per annum. Formerly, the Boyle lectures were delivered here, but they have been discontinued for some years past. The Bishops elect of the province of Canterbury attend at this church, previous to their consecration, to take the oaths of supremacy, &c.
St. Mary’s, Islington, ” the old church,” is built upon the site of a church with an embattled tower and bell-turret, and which was presumed to be 300 years old when taken down in 1751. One of its oldest monuments was that to ” Thomas Gore, parsonne of Isledon and Westbame,” who died in 1499 : here were also memorials of the Fowlers, and Dame Katherine Brook, nurse who ” nourished with her milk ” the Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. Dame Alice Owen, foundress of the almshouses and school at the top of Goswell-road, was buried here; and here are two monumental brasses of the Savills. Dr. Cave, the learned ecclesiastical historian, and chaplain to Charles II., who became vicar of Islington at the age of 25, was buried in the old church. The present church was erected by Launcelot Dowbiggin, opened May 26, 1754. It has a tower and stone spire, 164 feet high, and a fine peal of eight bells, each inscribed with a couplet inculcating loyalty, love, and harmony. In 1787, when a lightnind hen a lng conductor was affixed to the spire, one Thomas Bird constructed round it a wickerwork scaffold, with steps within. Among the persons buried here are Dr. Hawes, one of the originators of the Humane Society; Earlom, the niezzo-
* One of Mother Shipton’s prophecies was, that when the Dragon of Bow Church and the Grasshopper of the Royal Exchange should meet, London streets would be deluged with blood! In 1820 both these vanes were lying together in a stonemason’s yard in Old-street Road, where the upper portion of “Wren’s spire is preserved to this day.
tinto engraver; and John Nichols, F.S.A., the editor of the Gentleman’s Magazine, his grave heing a few yards from the house in which he was horn. During the last forty years more than sixteen churches have been erected in the district of Islington, and Dissenting chapels have multiplied in a similar proportion.
St. Mary, Lambeth, the mother-church of the manor and parish, stands within the patriarchal shade of Lambeth Palace, and has a Perpendicular tower, lately restored. In the Bishop’s Register at Winchester, date 1377, is a commission to compel the inhabitants to erect this tower for their church, then newly built. In the churchwardens’ accounts, ” pewes ” are mentioned as earlj T as the reign of Philip and Mary. The eastern end of the north aisle, built 1522, by the Duke of Norfolk, is called the Howard Chapel. In the church are the tombs of these Archbishops of Canterbury: Parker, d. 1575; Bancroft, d. 1610; Tenison, d. 1715 ; Hutton, d. 1758; Seeker (in passage between church and palace), d. 1768; Cornwallis, d. 1783; Moore, d. 1805.
In burying Archbishop Cornwallis, were found tl e remains of Thirlby, the first and only Bishop of Westminster: he died a prisoner in Lambeth Palace (temp. Elizabeth). The body was discovered wrapped in fine linen, the face perfect, the beard long and white, the linen and woollen garments well preserved; the cap, silk and point lace, as in portraits of Archbishop Juxon; slouched hat, under left arm; cassock, like apron with strings; and pieces of garments like a pilgrim’s habit.
Here also are the tombs of Alderman Goodbehere; Madame Storace, the singer; Peter Dollond, inventor of the achromatic telescope; and Elias Ashmole, the antiquary. In the churchyard is the altar-tomb of the Tradescants, father and son :
” These famous antiquarians that had been Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily queen.”— Epitaph.
The tomb is sculptured with palm-trees, hydra and skull, obelisk and pyramid, and Grecian ruins, crocodile, and shells. In the Register are entered the burials of Simon Forman, the astrologer; and Edward Moore, who wrote the tragedy of The Gamester. In a window of the middle aisle is painted a pedlar with his pack and dog, said to represent the person who bequeathed to the parish of Lambeth ” Pedlar’s Acre,” provided his portrait and that of his dog were perpetually preserved in one of the church windows. When the painting was first put up is unknown, but it existed in 1608; ¦ a new glass pedlar ” was put up in 1703, but removed in 1816.
The name of the benefactor is unknown; but it has been suggested that this portrait was intended rather as a rebus upon theombebus up name ” Chapman” than upon his trade: for in Swaff ham Church, Norfolk, is the portrait of John Chapman, a great benefactor to that parish; and the device of a pedlar and his pack occurs in several parts of the church, which has given rise to nearly the same tradition at Swaff ham as at Lambeth. (Preface to Hearne’g Caii Antiquitatet, p. 84.) Besides, Pedlar’s Acre was not originally so called, but the Church Hopes, or Hopys (an isthmus of land projecting into the river), and is entered in the Register as bequeathed by ” a person unknown.”— Popular Errors Explained, Ifc. p. 293.
The church, except the tower, has been rebuilt by Hardwick in correct design; the font is fine, and many of the windows are filled with memorial stained glass- The bells and Communion-plate are of very considerable age, the latter of great value.
St. Maby-at-Hill, Eastcheap, ” called on the hill because of the ascent from Billingsgate,” rebuilt by Wren, after the Great Fire, had this singular custom:
“On the next Sunday after Midsummer, every year, the Fellowship of the Porters of London, time out of mind, came to this church in the morning, and whilst the Psalms were reading, they went up two by two towards the rails of the Communion table, where were set two basins, and there they make their offerings. Afterwards the inhabitants of the parish, and their wives, make their offerings; and the money thus offered is given to the poor, decrepit porters of the Company for their better support.”
The church was built by Wren, between 1672 and 1677, the west-end tower being of subsequent date : the exterior of the east end alone remains. In 1848-9, the interior was entirely refitted, with such an extent of carving as had not been executed before in the City for many years. The pillars supporting the organ gallery are ornamented with fruit and flowers. The great screen has a frame of oak ; the Rector’s pew and reading-desk are enriched with carved open tracery, and brackets surmounted with the royal supporters, bearing shields with V.R. 1849. The pulpit is entirely new, and is very elaborately carved: in the sounding-board are bosses of flowers of 12-inch projection; from the eyes of the volutes garlands of flowers are suspended, which pass through the split trusses, and fall down, crossing and uniting behind; and within the pulpit, at the back, is a well-executed drop of fruit and flowers: on the front of the
organ-gallery are bold clusters of musical trophies and garland of flowers, with birds and fruit; and the royal arms, with a mantle scroll, about ten feet long, form a perforated screen on the top of the gallery. All the carved work is by W. Gibbs Rogers. The organ was built by Hill, on the German plan, and contains two manuals and a pedal organ. Brand, who compiled the Popular Antiquities, and was Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, was Rector of St. Mary-at-Hill from 1789 till his death in 1806: he is buried in the Chancel. Dr. Young, author of Night Thoughts, was married here.
St. Mart Magdalene, Bermondsey, was originally founded by the monks of Ber-mondsey, it is supposed, early in the reign of Edward III.; but taken down in 1680, when the present church was built upon the same site: in 1830, the west front was remodelled, the tower repaired, and the large pointed window restored. Among the communion plate is an ancient silver salver, supposed to have belonged to the Abbey of Bermondse. G of Bery : in the centre, a knight in plate armour is kneeling to a female, about to place a helmet on his head, at the gate of a castle or fortified town : from the fashion of the armour and the form of the helmet, this relic is referred to the age of Edward II. In the church is a monument to Dr. Joseph Watson, more than thirty-seven years teacher to the first public institution in this country for the education of the deaf and dumb, established in this parish, 1792. In the churchyard is buried Mrs. S. Utton, who was tapped twenty-five times for dropsy, and had 157 gallons of water taken from her; also Mrs. S. Wood, tapped ninety-seven times, water 461 gallons; and the husband of the latter, who died 1837, aged 108 years !
The registers commenced in 1538, have been continued with great exactness, and with very few interruptions up to the present time: some of the entries are very eccentric.
St. Mart Magdalen, Old Fish-street, in Castle-Baynard Ward, was rebuilt by Wren, after the Great Fire, and contains a small brass tablet, date 1586, with the figure of a man, and the following lines in black letter:
” In God the Lord put all your truste,
Repente your formar wicked waies, Elizabethe our Queen moste juste
Bless her, O Lord, in all her dales; So Lord enerease good councelers,
And preachers of his holie worde Mislike all papistes desiers
O Lord, cut them off with thy sworde. How small soever the gift shall be
Thank God for him who gave it thee. Ill penie loaves to III poor foulkes
Geve every Sabbath day for aye.”
This church serves as well for the parish of St. Gregory-by-St. Paul’s. St. Mary Magdalen, Milk-street, was on the site of the City of London Schools.
St. Mary Magdalen, Munster-square, Regent’s Park, was designed by R. C. Carpenter, and consists of a Nave with south aisle, large and lofty Chancel, and tower; style, Geometric, of the fourteenth century. The Nave and Aisle have massive open gabled roofs, of Baltic fir timber. The Chancel roof is arched with timber, boarded and panelled. The east window of the Chancel, which is of seven lights, is filled with stained glass, at a cost of 400£. by Hardman of Birmingham, and was one of the last works upon which Pugin was engaged. The lower part of the Chancel is adorned by richly carved arcades, with shafts of St. Ann’s marble, and panels in the spandrels. The arcades and the Chancel roof are highly enriched with colour and gilding, executed by Crace. The arcade on the south side of the Chancel is varied, to form sedilia for the officiating clergymen, and the floor is raised three steps above that of the Nave, and is separated from it by a stone septum. The west window of the Nave, a fine one, of five lights, has been filled with stained glass, in memory of the architect. In the service, the Eucharistic vestments are used daily, and incense at high celebration on Sundays.
St. Mart’s Matfelon, Whitechapel, at the eastern end of High-street, was originally a chapel-of-ease to Stebenhith, or Stepney; its second name being from Matfel,
in Hebrew, a woman recently delivered of a son. Stow traces the name to the wives of the parish having slain out of hand a certain Frenchman who had murdered and plundered a devout widow, by whom he had been cherished and brought up of alms This occurred in 1428, the sixth of King Henry VI.; but Stow also finds the name as early as the twenty-first of Richard II. The old church was taken down in 1673, and rebuilt nearly as at present: it has a gas-lit clock-dial.
The Parish Register records that Richard Brandon was buried in the churchyard, June 24,1649; and a marginal note (not in the hand of the Registrar, but bearing the mark of antiquity), states : ” This R. Brandon is supposed to have cut off the head of Charles I.” He was assisted by his man Ralph Jones, a ragman in Rosemary-lane; and a tract in the British Museum, entitled, ” The Confession of Richard Brandon, the Hangman, upon his Deathbed, concerning the Beheading of His late Majesty,” printed in 1649, relates that the night after the execution he returned home to his wife, living in Kosemary-lane, and gave her the money he had received, 301.; that about three days before he died, he lay speechless. ” For the burial whereof, great store of wines were tent by the sheriff of the City of London, and a great multitude of people stood waiting to see his corpse carried to the churchyard, some crying out,’ Hang him, rogue!’ ‘Bury him in the dunghill!’ others pressing upon him, saying they would quarter him for executing the king, insomuch that the churchwardens and masters of the parish were fain to come for the suppression of them; and with great difficulty he was at last carried to Whitechapel churchyard.” See Ellis’s Letters on English History, vol. iii. second series; and the Trial of Charles I. vol. xxxi. Family Library.
St. Mary’s, Newington-butts, was built in 1791^3 by Hurlbatt, in place of a smaller church. It contains a monument with statues to Sir Hugh Brawne, buried in the old church, 1614, and who ” for the space of twenty-two years was the whole ornament of the parish.” Here, too, is a tablet to Dr. Fothergill; and to Captain M. Waghorn, one of the few persons who escaped from the sinking of the Royal George, in 1782. The parsonage-house was originally built of wood, and surrounded by a moat, now filled up. In this parish was a small water-course called the river Tigris, part of Cnut’s trench; and a parishioner who died at the age of 109 years, early in the present century, remembered when boats came up as far as the church at Newington.
In the church is buried Mr. Sergeant Davy (d. 1860). He was originally a chemist at Exeter: and a sheriff’s officer coming to serve on him a process from the Court of Common Pleas, he civilly asked him to drink; while the man was drinking, Davy contrived to heat a poker, and then told the bailiff that if he did not eat the writ, which was of sheepskin and as good as mutton, he should swallow the poker ! The man preferred the parchment; but the Court of Common Pleas, not then accustomed to Mr. Davy’s jokes, sent for him to Westminster Hall, and for contempt of their process, committed him to the Fleet Prison. From this circumstance, and some unfortunate man whom he met there, he acquired a taste for the law; and on his discharge he applied himself to the study of it in earnest, was called to the bar, made a sergeant, and was for a Pand was long time in good practice.—See Manning and Bray’s History of Surrey.
St. Maey’s, Paddington, on the Green, was rebuilt in 1788-91; and its churchyards are remarkable as the burial-place of several eminent artists; among whom are, Bushnell, the sculptor of the statues on Temple Bar; Barrett, the landscape-painter ; Banks and Nollekens, the sculptors; Vivares, Hall, and Schiavonetti, the engravers: Caleb Whitefoord (see Goldsmith’s Retaliation) ; Mrs. Siddons, the great actress; Collins, the painter; and Haydon, historical painter. Hogarth was married in this church to the daughter of Sir James Thornhill, March 23, 1729.
St. Mary’s, Botherhithe, close to the shaft of the Thames Tunnel, was rebuilt in 1736-39, upon the site of the old church, which had stood above 400 years. This new church has a lofty spire : in the vestry-room is a portrait of King Charles I., in his robes, kneeling at an altar, and holding a crown of thorns, the composition resembling the frontispiece to the JEikon Rasilike. In the churchyard is buried Prince Lee Boo, a native of the Pellew Islands, d. Dec. 29, 1784, set. 20; over his remains a monument has been erected by the East India Company, in testimony of his father’s humane and kind treatment of the crew of the Antelope, wrecked off Goo-roo-raa, one of the Pellew Islands, on the night of August 9, 1783.
St. Mary’s Somerset (Summer’s hith, or wharf), was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, and rebuilt by Wren in 1685 : it has a tower, with pedestals and urns and obelisks upon the summit, 120 feet high; and the keystones ^f the arches are sculptured with grotesque heads. dcC**-^Cfr*Wv ‘*+ I 9 7/
St. Mary’s, Stoke Newington (2^ miles north from London), in the patronage of the Prebendary of Newington, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, was repaired, or ” rather new
builded” (Slow), in 1563, of hewn stones, flint, and pebbles, bnt has been inuch modernized. It has a square embattled tower, about 60 feet high, with six bells, ¦with an additional bell in a wooden cupola, and a clock made 1723. The chapel, and a portion of the body of the church, under two other roofs, formed the whole of the ancient structure. The painted altar-window represents the Virgin Mary and the Purification, the Birth and Preaching of St. John the Baptist, and the arms of Queen Elizabeth; and in the Chancel windows are the arms of the Drapers’ Company and the City of London. Among the communion-plate is a large silver offertory alms-dish. In the Chancel is an elegant coloured alabaster monument to John Dudley, Esq., and hi3 widow, afterwards married to Thomas Sutton, Esq., founder of Charterhouse: the writer of the long Latin inscription was rewarded with 10*., according to the roll of Mr. Dudley’s funeral expenses : and the tomb was restored in 1808 by subscription of grateful Carthusians. Behind the church is Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, a grove of tall trees; and at Newington Green is King Harry’s Walk. At Stoke Newington lived many years Mrs. Durbauld, the amiable educationist, who taught Lord Denman •when a boy the art of declamation; and Mr. Barbauld, her husband, was for four years morning preacher to a Unitarian congregation at Newington-green.
St, Maey-le-Steand, erected on the site of a very ancient church, St. Ursula of the Strand, and nearly upon the site of the old Maypole, was the first built (1714-17) of Queen Anne’s Fifty Churches, but was to our day called ” the NLatalled “ew Church.” It was not consecrated till Jan. 1, 1723. Gibbs, the architect, was desired by the Commissioners ” to beautify it,” on account of its public situation: hence it is overloaded with ornament. It was originally to have had only a small bell-tower at the west end, changed to a steeple, which therefore appears to stand on the roof; it consists of three receding stories, surmounted by a vane: when it was last repaired, at an expense of 411. 10s., the scaffolding cost 301. The exterior of the body is of two stories, Ionic below, the lower wall ” solid, to keep out noises from the street;” and Composite above, surmounted by a balustrade and urns: during the procession to proclaim Peace, in 1802, one of these urns was accidentally pushed down on the crowd below, when three persons were killed, and several others much hurt. The west end has a semicircular Ionic portico, and occupies the Maypole site. The interior is grand, but too florid, with Corinthian and Composite pilasters, ceiling crowded with ornaments, and the semicircular altar-part, with the triangular symbol of the Trinity glorified, and cherubim, &c. The windows are hung with crimson drapery, and in the side inter-columniations are paintings of the Annunciation and the Passion, by Brown. The old church was ” next beyond Arundell House, on the street side,” and was ” called of the Nativitie of our Lady (St. Mary), and the Innocents of the Strand.” (Stow.) Seymour states, that its site became part of the garden of Somerset House, and that when the Protector pulled down this old church, be promised to build a new one for the parishioners, but death prevented his fulfilling that engagement. The Rev. Joshua Denham was rector of St. Mary-le-Strand j he wrote a brief History of the Church of St. Dunstan’s-in-the- West.
St. Mart’s, Windham-place, Marylebone, was designed by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., and consecrated Jan. 7, 1824, when the Rev. T. Frognall Dibdin, D.D., was instituted rector. This church has a large painted east window, of the Ascension, said to have cost 250 guineas. The circular tower and cupola, 135 feet high, are picturesquely effective.
St. Maby’s Woolnoth, one of the most striking and original churches in the metropolis, is between the western ends of Lombard-street and King William-street. This has been the site of a Christian church from a very early period, and previously of a pagan temple. The church was rebuilt early in the fifteenth century, much injured by the Great Fire, and repaired by Wren in the following year; to this Alderman Sir It. Viner, living in Lombard-street, contributed liberally, to commemorate which, says Stow, ” a number of vines were spread over that part of the church which faced his house.” In 1716, the church, as we now see it, was rebuilt by Hawksmoor : the west front, which has an elongated tower, like two towers united, has no prototype in
England; but its details are so heavy as to indicate rather a fortress and prison than a church. The interior, on the model of a Roman atrium, is nearly square: it has twelve Corinthian columns, admirably arranged, and is profusely ornamented with panels and carved mouldings. It contains an Organ built by Father Schmidt, in 1681. Here is a tablet to the Rev. John Xewton, the friend of Cowper, and Rector of this church for twenty-eight years: it bears this inscription, written by himself:
” John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.”es .” ” I remember, when a lad of about fifteen, being taken by my uncle to hear the well-known Mr. Newton (the friend of Cowper the poet) preach his wife’s funeral sermon in the church of St. Mary’s Woolnoth, In Lombard-street. .Newton was then well stricken in years, with a tremulous voice, and in the costume of the full-bottomed wig of the day. He had, and always had, the entire possession of the ear of his congrearation. He spoke at first feebly and leisurely, but as he warmed, his ideas and his periods seemed mutually to enlarge: the tears trickled down his cheeks, and his action and expression were at times quite out of the ordinary course of things. It was as the ‘ mens agi/«n* molem et magno se corpore miseen*.’ In fact, the preacher was one with his discourse. To this day I have not forgotten his text, Hab. iii. 17-18 : ‘ Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Newton always preached extemporaneous.”—Dr. Dibdin’s Reminiscences of a Literiry Life, voL i. p. 162.
The origin of Woolnoth is uncertain; but is attributed to the beam for weighing wool, which stood in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Woolchurch, in the Stocks Market, on the site of the Mansion-house : this church was burnt in 1666, and the parish is now united to St. Mary’s Woolnoth.
St. Mary’s Woolnoth was saved from destruction in 1863, although it had been some time priced for sale. At a vestry meeting, the Lord Mayor (Alderman Rose) as a parishioner by his tenancy of the Mansion House, ably supported the opposition to the “amalgamation” scheme, and an amendment rejecting it was carried unanimously. In the Report of the Ecclesiological Society, the committee recorded that the parishioners had successfully resisted a scheme put forward under the auspices of the Bishop of London’s Act for the demolition of the remarkable church of St. Mary Woolnoth (Hawksmoor’s chef-d’oeuvre), which it was proposed to destroy for the convenience of the General Post Office.”
St. Matthew’s, Oakeley-crescent, City-road, built by G. G. Scott r in 1848, in the Early English style, has an ornamented four-storied tower and spire, eastern lancet windows, filled with stained glass, and other meritorious details; a picturesque stone porch was added July, 1866.
St. Matthias, Stoke-Newington, a Gothic church, Butterfield, architect; seats, all free. Incense and the Eucharistic vestments are used; and all expenses are paid from the weekly offertory, except a small endowment for the incumbent.
St. Matthew’s, Bethnal-Green, built in 1740, has at the west end a low square tower, with a large stone vase at each angle. A second church, St. John’s, was built by Sir John Soane, and much resembles the Grecian church of the Holy Trinity, Regent’s Park. In 1839, there were only these two churches for a population of 80,000, and schools for about 1000 children. There were next built in the parish ten churches: St. Matthew’s, St. John’s, St. Peter’s, St. Andrew’s, St. Philip’s, St. James the Less, St. James the Great, St. Bartholomew’s, St. Jutle’s; and St. Simon Zelotes, the latter at the sole expense of Mr. W. Cotton. These churches owe their origin to the exertions of Bishop Blomfield; there have been ofre haveadded three churches since the accession of Bishop Tait in 1856. St. Matthew’s church, except the walls, was burnt on the night of Dec. 18,1859, during a hard frost; the water froze as it was poured on the burning ruins. It was rebuilt by a rate levied on the parish. The apse is very handsomely coloured, and has a carved stone reredos, with cross, and scenes from the life of Christ. There is a good east-end window of the Crucifixion ; the stone pulpit and font are finely carved. There is a curious old staff used by the beadle, the head of which (in silver gilt) presents the legend of the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green and his daughter, as in the old ballad ; the date 1669.—Mackeson’s Churches.
St. Matthew’s, Brixton, at the junction of the Tulse-hill and Brixton-hill roads, is of Grecian Doric design, by Porden, and was consecrated in 1824: it has a noble portico, resembling the pronaos of a Grecian temple ; at the east end is a tower surmounted
with an octagonal temple, from that of Cyrrhestes, at Athens. In the churchyard is a costly mausoleum of Grecian design, upwards of 25 feet high.
St. Michael and all Angels, Paul-street, Finsbury, is built of yellow hrick; style, First and Second Pointed ; architect, J. Brook; opened, 1865. The interior, designed for ” aesthetic service,” is of great width, height, and length ; and ” the deep Chancel, narrower than the Nave, and raised several steps, gives importance to the skilfully-arranged grouping of priests and choristers, banners and crosses, millinery and flowers, and saves even the processions from appearing mean.” {Companion to the Almanack, 1866.) It will accommodate nearly 1000 persons; cost of site, 4700Z., of which one gentleman contributed 3000£.; the building cost 7500/., towards which another (or the same) anonymous donor gave 6000/. The bare walls look cheerless, but the architect designed them to be covered with paintings and other decorations. And apart from its sesthetic character, the interior is a success; the nave columns scarcely intercept the sight, and the acoustic principles seem good—you hear the preacher and reader well from very different parts of the church, and the tones of the organ produce no awkward reverberation.
St. Michael’s Bassishaw (haugh, or hall, of the Basing family), Basinghall-street, was originally founded about 1110, and rebuilt in 1-160; here was interred Sir John Gresham, uncle to Sir Thomas Gresham, and Lord Mayor in 1547 : at his funeral, on a fast-day, a fish dinner was provided for all comers:
” He was buried with a standard and pennon of arms, and a coat of armour of damask (Damascus steel), and four pennons of arms; besides a helmet, a target, and a sword, mantles and the crest, a goodly hearse of wax, ten dozen of pensils, and twelve dozen of escutcheons. He had four dozen of great staff torches, and a dozen of great long torches. The church and street were all hung with black, and arms in great store ; and on the morrow there goodly masses were sung.”— Stow.
The old church was destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in 1676-79. It contains a beautifully sculptured monument to Dr. T. Wharton, who did so much to stay the Great Plague of 1665; and here rests Alderman Kirkman, sheriff-elect in 1780, who died, at the age of 39, of a cold taken in aiding to suppress the Biots.
St. Michael’s, in Chester-square, Pimlico, is a picturesque church in the Decorated style of the fourteenth century, and has a tower and spire rising from the ground at the west end, 150 feet high; Cundy, architect, 1844; the details are very characteristic.
St. MicnAEL’s, Cornhill, was destroyed by the Great Fire, except the great tower, which contained a celebrated set of ten bells: the body was first rebuilt by Wren, and fifty years later (1729) the tower itself, which is an imitation of the splendid chapel tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, built in the fifteenth century, and 145 feet high; but St. Michael’s is only 130 : it has a set of twelve bells. The site is presumed to have been occupied by a church since the Saxon dynasty; it had a cloister and pulpit cross. Of the old steeple, destroyed in 1421, a pen-and-ink drawing upon vellum is preserved on the fly-leaf of a vellum vestry-book {temp. Henry V.) belonging to the parish. In the old church and churchyard were buried Bobert Fabyan, the chronicler and sheriff; and the father and grandfather of John Stow, the antiquary. In the present church was buried Philip Nye, with ” the thanksgiving beard,” in 1672; Nye was curate of St. Michael’s from 1620 to 1633. The architect, in rebuilding the tower, adhered to the Gothic style, and though the details are poor, the general outline is noble and effective. It was long shut in, but some of the houses which intervened between the north side of the tower and Cornhill being cleared away, to obtain an entrance there to the church, a porch has been built, and two stages of the tower itself have been repaired and altered, windows with tracery, and a new circular window with wheel tracery immediately above the porch, having been inserted. The six shafts in the jambs of the principal doorway are of red polished granite.
The sculpture in the gable of the doorway represents Our Lord in the act of benediction. In the tympanum below is a group representing Michael disputing with Satan about the body of Moses. The other carving consists of medallions of angels, bosses of foliage, &c. Architects, Scott and Mason. The church has been entirely refitted with carvings executed by Bogers, under the direction of Scott and Williams, architects.
The pulpit is hexagonal, on a dwarf column of Portland stone, with the hand-rail supported by ornamental brass-work. Un the angles are twisted pillars, each with various designs, and supporting
a cornice with branches of the hawthorn. The panels have each a different diaper pattern, with boldly carved symbols of the four Evangelists in roundels. The reading-desk has two double arches and ten pilasters. The centre pillars are round, resting on square bases. On each of the angles are heads of the dragon, in reference to the prowess of the patron Saint. The perforated friezes in the screens behind the choir-seats in the chancel are of foliated scroll-work, interspersed with sacred fruits and emblematical flowers—the passion-flower, trefoil, pomegranate, lily, figs, and olives.
Sixteen panels have been carved for the chancel-gates: Moses in the Bulrushes; the Tablets of the Law, with the sword of Justice; the Star of Bethlehem; the Gospel of Peace, over which is a dove; the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness; the Seven-branch Golden Candlestick; emblems of the Sacrament (wheat and grapes); chalice and paten. Solomon’s Glory, represented by three crowns rising out of three full-blown lilies; the Crown of Victory; emblems of the passion-floware passioer; the Resurrection, emblematized by a butterfly issuing from a chrysalis; Light out of Darkness, the Snowdrop; Faith, Hope, and Charity; the Trinity in Unity.
The first seat south of the chancel is a representation of the Agony in the Garden. The cup is enclosed in foliage at the top, and at the back is a branch of olives copied from one gathered by E. T. Bogers, vice-consul of Caiffa, Palestine, in the garden of Gethsemane: around the outer edge of this bench-end are the words, ” Not my will, but Thine be done.”
The fronts and backs of the seats have a double row of variously enriched panelling, 180 in number, the upper row being alternately relieved by sprigs or branches of sacred flowers bound with labels, and having suitable inscriptions in raised letters, such as ” In the midst of judgement He remembers mercy;” ” Look upon the rainbow, and praise Him,” &c. &c.
At the chancel end of the centre aisle there are seven seats set apart for special purposes. On the right is the royal pew, with an enriched double shield surmounted by the crown, V.B., and the motto ” I)ieu et mon droit;” her Majesty’s monogram, Victoria, in the form of a Greek cross, enclosed in foliage and flowers, the rose, thistle, and shamrock. The Diocesan pew has ecclesiastical shield with croziers, mitre, and the crossed swords representing the martyrdom of St. Paul; the Corporation pew, the City arms and representation of St. George, &c.; the pew of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, enriched shield, date, and motto of the company, ” Unto God only be honour and glory,” surmounted by the triple crown issuing from clouds, with rays of light: on the inside are a triple branch of lilies, the emblem of the Virgin, the patroness of the Company, the shield of Fitzalwyn, the first mayor of London. On the pew of the Merchant Tailors’ Company are the shield, &c. of the Company, and in one part is introduced an illustration of a text from St. Augustine’s 19th chapter of St. John,—God is all to thee: if thou be hungry, He is bread: if thou be thirsty, He is water: if in darkness, He is light: and, if naked, He is a robe of immortality.” In this instance Mr. Bogers has figured the star of light, the bread, chalice, and the robe, in a manner which describes the text. Next are the pews of the Cloth-workers’ Company, and the Sector’s pew; on the former the teasel is conspicuous, and on the latter the monogram of the Eev. T. W. Wrench, surmounted by a branch of olives. All the bench-ends in this aisle have a shield, emblazoned on the outside, enclosed by Greek foliage : on the inside are fruits and flowers, such as the gourd of Jonah, Syrian dates, nut fruit, oak and acorns, chestnuts, wheat ears, mulberry, pine fruit, the Bose of Sharon, olives, figs, &c. Amongst the carvings on the benches for the north aisle, is a female figure of Charity, seated in an ecclesiastical chair, supported by pelicans: she is feeding and protecting three children, the idea from an early sculpture in Valterra marble. On other seats are the pelican in her piety; the fall of man represented by the serpent coiling round the forbidden tree. On the back is the lily of the valley. The sage-plant of Palestine is combined with the primrose of England, the stork of the wilderness, &c. On some of these are the sage-plant of the East, combined with a branch of oak; the ivy and the anemone, and the common flowers of the East; a cluster of pomegranates and bell-flowers, Aaron’s rod, a triple branch of lily rising out of a bulbous root, which is given in the form of a heart. On the device of a Latin cross is suspended the passion-flower; the carving of the scape-goat wandering in the wilderness, with the mark of the High Priest on his forehead: in the leshead: ibackground is forked lightning, indicating the wrath of God. On the back of this standard is a crown of thorns,—” On him was laid the iniquity of us all.” In the design of these numerous carvings Mr. Bogers has been assisted by his son, Mr. W. H. Bogers.— {See the descriptive pamphlet, by Mr. Bogers.)
The colouring of the walls and ceiling of the church, the altar of alahaster and marhle, and the stained glass in the windows, are all executed with great richness.
St. Michael’s, Crooked-lane, was of ancient foundation, before the year 1304. In 1336, John Loveken, four times Lord Mayor, rebuilt the church, which received several additions and benefactions from Sir William Walworth, Lord Mayor in 1374, and formerly servant to Loveken. St. Michael’s was a general burial-place of stockfish-mongers; Loveken and Walworth rested here. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire, but rebuilt by Wren in 1687; it had a Portland stone tower, 100 feet high, and a picturesque steeple, with clock, vane, and cross. This handsome church was taken down in 1831, in forming the New London Bridge approaches. Crooked-lane, *’ so called of the crooked windings thereof,” was then in part taken down j it wan famous for its bird-cage and fishing-tackle shops.
St. Michael’s Pateiwoster Royal, Thames-street, is partly named from its neighbourhood to the Tower Royal, wherein our sovereigns, as early as King Stephen, resided. The church was rebuilt by the munificent Whittington, who was himself buried in it, under a marble tomb with banners, but his remains were twice disturbed : once by an incumbent, in the reign of Henry VI., who fancied that money was buried with him; and next by the parishioners, in the reign of Mary, to rewrap the body in lead, of which it had been despoiled on the former occasion (Godwin’s Churches of
London). Whittington’s church was destroyed by the Great Fire, but rebuilt by Wren, and has a somewhat picturesque steeple. The interior has a beautiful altar-picture, by Hilton, R.A., of Mary Magdalen anointing the feet of Christ: this fine work was presented by the Directors of the British Institution in 1820. There was long no memorial to Whittington in the present church, until the Rector contributed a handsome painted window. The rights and profits of the old church Whittington bestowed on a College and almshouses close by, the site of which is now occupied by the Mercers’ Company’s School.
St. Michael’s, Queenhithe, destroyed in the Great Fire, was rebuilt by Wren in 1677: it is chiefly remarkable for its spire, 135 feet high, with a gilt vane in the form of a ship in full sail, the hull of which will contain a bushel of grain—referring to the former traffic in corn at the Hithe.
St. Michael’s, Wood-street, Cheapside, stands at the corner of Huggin-lane, named from a resident there about the time of Edward I., and known as ” Hugan in the lane.” The old church was destroyed by the Great Fire, and the present edifice completed in its place by Wren, in 1675 : it is of very unecclesiastical design, but the Wood-street front is well-proportioned Italian. The head of James IV. of Scotland, slain at Flodden Field, Sept. 9, 1513, is said by Stow to have been buried here ; the body was conveyed, after the battle, to London, and thence to the monastery of Sheen, in Surrey, where it was seen by Stow, lapped in lead, but thrown into a waste room. ” Some workmen, for their foolish plel or fooliasure, hewed off his head, which Launcelot Young, master-glazier to his Majesty, brought to his house in Wood-street, where he kept it for a time ; but at length gave it to the sexton to bury amongst other bones,” &c. This statement is contradicted by the Scottish historians; but Weever is positive that Sheen was the place of James’s burial.
St. Mildred’s, Bread-street, destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, 1677-83, is remarkable for being roofed by a large and highly enriched cupola; and has a pulpit and sounding-board and altar-piece exquisitely carved in the style of Gibbons.
St. Mildeed’s, Poultry, was destroyed by the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren; when was united with it the parish of St. Mary Colechurch, the church of which stood at the south end of the Old Jewry; its chaplain was ” Peter of Colechurch,” who in part built old London Bridge. St. Mildred’s has a tower 75 feet high, surmounted by a gilt ship in full sail. In the former church was buried Thomas Tusser, who wrote the Points of Sushandrie, and was by turns chorister, farmer, and singing-master.
St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, Fish-street-hill, destroyed by the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in 1677, has a tasteless steeple, 135 feet high, but some fine interior carvings; the parish register-books contain a list of persons, with their ages, whom King James II. at his coronation touched for the cure of the Evil.
St. Olave, Hart-street, escaped the Great Fire : it is of Norman, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular work; the foundation and walls are of rubble, and the upper part brick. There does not exist any account of its erection; and the first mention of its Rector, William de Samford, who held that office prior to 1319, and whose salary was 2\ marks per annum, refers to an earlier structure than the present St. Olave’s. It has an interesting interior, with clustered columns and pointed arches and windows, and the ceilings of the aisles powdered with stars. This church is often mentioned in the Diary of Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the Navy (temp. Charles II. and James II.), who lived in a house belonging to the Navy Office, in Seething-lane, and resided subsequently in Hart-street: he was buried in St. Olave’s at nine at night, ” in a vault of his own makeing, by his wife and brother,” ” by y e Communion Table,” June 4, 1703 ; and there is a monument to his wife in the chancel. There are also several figure tombs and brasses; and a marble figure of Sir Andrew Riccard (d. 1672), who bequeathed the advowson of the living to the parish. There is likewise a monument to John Orgone and Ellyne his wife, with a quaint inscription, which is sometimes found in Latin:—
” As I was so be ye, As I am you shall be, That I gave that I have, That I spent that 1 had. Thus I ende all my cost, That I left that 1 loste.—1584.”
St. Olave’s was repaired in 1863 ; one of the towers at the west end of the south aisle, hitherto hricked up, has heen thrown into the church, and now forms a baptistry; the roof, which is of oak, has heen varnished, and the bosses, &c, gilt. A new reredos has been erected, from a design of G. G. Scott; it is composed of Caen stone, and has five panels of alabaster. In the churchyard are interred a number of victims to the Great Plague: the first entry in the register is dated July 24,1665 : ” Mary, daughter of “William Ramsay, one of the Drapers’ Almsmen ;” and there is a latd theretradition that the pestilence first appeared in the Drapers’ Almshouses, Cooper’s-row, in this parish. Here is a peal of six bells, five made by Anthony Bartlet, in 1662; the sixth by James Bartlet, iu 1694.
St. Olave’3, Jewry, a brick church, rebuilt by Wren, in 1763-76, upon the site of the old church, destroyed in the Great Fire, is alone remarkable for containing the remains of Alderman Boydell, the eminent engraver and printseller, who expended a large fortune in founding the English School of Historic Painting : he was Lord Mayor in 1790 (d. 1804); and on the north wall of the church is a tablet to his memory, surmounted by his bust.
St. Olaye’s, Tooley-street, Southwark, in Bridge Ward Without, was designed in 1737-39, by Flitcroft, a pupil of Kent; the funds being mostly advanced by a French emigrant, on an annuity for his life; and he dying soon after, it became a saying that the Organ had cost more than the church : it had a richly-decorated interior, and a fine peal of bells. The interior was burnt almost to the walls on August 19, 1843; when also was destroyed Watson’s Telegraphic Tower, originally a shot manufactory. St. Olave’s Church has since been handsomely restored. The former church was of the fourteenth century, with a low square tower and bell-house. The first church was certainly founded prior to the Norman Conquest, from its dedication to St. Olave, or OlafF, King of Norway, who, with Ethelred, in 1008, destroyed the bridge at London, then occupied by the Danes. The present church is nearly on the site of this exploit; for the first bridge was somewhat eastward of the old bridge, taken down after the building of the present bridge. St. Olave has been corrupted into St. Oley and Tooley-street.
St. PANCRAS-IN-THE-FIELDS, one of the oldest churches in Middlesex, is situated on the north side of the road leading from King’s Cross to Kentish Town. Norden, in his Speculum Britannia, describes it, in 1593, as standing ” all alone, utterly forsaken, old and wether-beten;” “yet about this structure have bin manie buildings, now decaied, leaving poore Pancras without companie or comfort.” St. Pancras is a pre-bendal manor, and was granted by Ethelbert to St. Paul’s Cathedral about 603. It was a parish before the Conquest. Its ancient church, which Stukeley says occupied the site of a Roman camp, was erected about 1180; it consisted of a nave and chancel, built of stones and flints, and a low tower, with a bell-shaped roof. St. Pancras contained, in 1251, only forty houses. Pancras was corrupted to ” Pancredge” in Queen Elizabeth’s time. In 1745 only three houses had been built near the church. In 1775 the population was not 600. It is now the most extensive parish in Middlesex, being eighteen miles in circumference. The annual value of land (including the houses built upon it, the railways, &c.) is 3,798,521£.
” Of late,” says Strype, ” those of the Roman Catholic religion have affected to be buried here, and it has been assigned as a reason that prayer and mass are said daily in St. Peter’s at Rome for their souls, as well as in a church dedicated to St. Pancras, in the south of France.” In Windham’s Diary, we find another explanation of the choice : —” While airing one day with Dr. Brocklesby, in passing and returning by St. Pancras Church, he (Dr. Johnson) fell into prayer, and mentioned, upon Dr. Brocklesby inquiring why the Catholics chose that spot for their burial-place, that some Catholics in Queen Elkabeth’s time had been burnt there.” It is also understood that this church was the last whose bell tolled in England for mass, and in which any rites of the Roman.the Roman Catholic religion were celebrated before the Reformation. The crosses with ” Requiescat in Pace,” or the initials of those words, ” R. I. P.,” on the monuments and tombstone?, are very frequent. At the beginning of the present century the French clergy were buried here at the average rate of thirty a-year. There is said to have been in the church a silver tomb, which was taken away at the time of the Commonwealth. The edifice, reconstructed and enlarged by A. D. Gough, was reopened July 5, 1848: the style adopted was Anglo-Norman: the building was lengthened westward; the old tower was removed, and a new one built on the south side; and to the west end was added a Norman porch, and a wheel-window in the gable above. In the progress of the works were found Roman bricks, a small altar-stone, Early Norman capitals, an Early English piscina, and Tudor brickwork. Under the old tower, which was then removed, is said to have been privately interred, in a grave 14 feet deep, the body of Earl Ferrers, executed at Tyburn, in 1760. The Chancel windows are filled with stained glass, by Gibbs, as is also the western wheel-window. On the north wall, opposite the baptistery, is the Early Tudor marble Purbeck memorial, supposed to have belonged to the Gray family, of Gray’s Inn; the recesses for brasses removed, and neither dates nor arms remaining. On the south-east interior wall is the marble tablet, with palette and pencils, to Samuel Cooper, the celebrated miniature-painter; the arms are those of Sir Edward Turner, Speaker of the House of Commons in the reign of Charles II., at whose expense it is probable the monument was erected. The ancient communion-plate of the church, date 1638, discovered in 1848, is now again in use.
In the burial-ground of Old St. Pancras are deposited scions of the noble families of Abergavenny, Arundell, Barnewall, Calvert, Castlehaven, Clifford, Dillon, Fleming, Howard, Litchfield, Montagu, Rutland, Waldegrave, Wharton, and other distinguished persons.’ Here lies Lady Barbara Belasyse, whose father was grandnephew of the Lord Falconberg who married Cromwell’s daughter. Among the illustrious foreigners interred here are Count Harlang; Louis Charles, Count de Herville, Mareschal of France; Philip, Count de Montlosier, Lieutenant-General in the French army; Angelus Franciscus Talaru de Chalmaret, Bishop of Coutanees, in Normandy; Francois Claude Amour, Marquis de Bouille; Augustinus Renatus Ludovicus Le Mintier, Bishop and Count of Treguier: Alexandre Marquis de Lire; Louis Claude Bigot de St. Croix, dernier Ministre de Louis XVI.; Louise d’Esparbes, de Lussan, Com-tesse de Polastron, Dame de Palais de la Reine de France; Louis Andre” Grimaldi d’Antibes des Princes de Monaco, Eveque, et Comte de Noyon, Pair de France; Jean Francois de la Marche, Bishop of Pol St. Leon; Henri, Marquis de l’Ostanges, Grand Seneschal de Quercy, and Field Marshal of France; Baroness de Montalembert; Pascal de Paoli, the Corsican patriot, kinsman of the Bonapartes, and as such of the present Emperor of the French; Pasqualino Philip St. Martin, Comte de Front, the inscription on whose tomb is—” A foreign land preserves his ashes with respect.”
Near the church door is a headstone to William Woollett, the engraver, and his widow; it was ¦ restored some years since. On the north side of the churchyard is an altar-tomb to William Godwin, . author of Caleb Williams, and his two wives, Mary Wolstoncroft Godwin and Mary Jane. Here, too, -is a headstone to John Walker, author of the Pronouncing Dictionary. Here, also, were buried . Abraham Woodhead, reputed by some the author of The Whole Duty dehe Whol of Man; and near him his friend, . Obadiah Walker; Dr. Grebe, editor of the Septuagint; Jeremy Collier, who wrote against the immorality of the stage in the time of Dry den; Lewis Theobald, the editor of Shakspeare; Lady Henrietta Beard, daughter of an Earl Waldegrave, widow of Lord Edward Herbert, and wife of Beard, the . singer; S. F. Ravenet, the engraver; Arthur Richard Dillon (of Lord Dillon’s family), Bishop of Evreux, Archbishop of Narbonne, and President of the States of Languedoc; the Chevalier D’Eon, &c. . And here rests Father Arthur O’Leary, to whom Earl Moira erected a monument, which has been repaired by public subscription.
St. Panckas, near Euston-square, Euston-road, was built by Messrs. Inwood; the first stone being laid by the Duke of York, July 1, 1819. The cella, or body of the church, is designed from the Erechtheium, dedicated to Minerva Polias and Pandrosus, at Athens; and the steeple, 168 feet high, is from the Athenian Tower of the Winds, with a cross, in lieu of the Triton and wand, symbols of the wind, in the original. The clock-dials are but 6| feet in diameter, though at the height of 100 feet, and therefore are much too small. The western front of the church has a fine portico of six columns, with richly-sculptured voluted capitals ; beneath are three enriched doorways, designed exactly from those of the Erechtheium, and exquisite in detail. Towards the east end are lateral porticoes, each supported by colossal statues of females, on a plinth, in which are entrances to the catacombs beneath the church, to contain two thousand coffins: each of the figures bears an ewer in one hand, and rests the other on an inverted torch, the emblem of death ; these figures are of terra-cotta (artificial stone), formed in pieces, and cemented round cast-iron pillars, which in reality support the entablature.
These figures are ill-executed, as may be seen by reference to the original Caryatides from the Pan-drosium, in the Elgin Collection in the British Museum. The St. Pancras figures, and other artificial, stone details for the church, were executed by Rossi, from Messrs. Inwood’s designs, and cost 54O07.
The eastern front varies from the ancient Temple in having a semicircular termination, round which, and along the side walls, are terra-cotta imitations of Greek tiles. The interior is designed in conformity with the general plan of ancient temples. The pulpit and reading-desk are made from the trunk of ” the Fairlop Oak,” in Hainault Forest, blown down in 1820. The cost of this classic edifice, much too close a resemblance to a Pagan temple to be appropriate for a Christian church, was 76,679£. The fine Organ, recently erected, was originally built by Gray and Davison for the New Music Hall at Birmingham, and cost nearly 2000J.
St. Paul’s, Avenue-road, St. John’s-wood, is of red and black brick, in various patterns, with stone window-frames and dressings; the tiled entrance surmounted by a wooden bell-cote. The roof is of high pitch and wide span, and is borne by the walls, which have internal buttresses dividing them into five bays: there are, consequently, no pillars to obstruct light or sound, but all is clear and open: architect, S. S. Teuton; completed 1859.
St. Paul’s, Camden New Town, St. Pancras, was built in 1848-9 (Ordish and Johnson, architects); it is majestically situated, and consists of a nave and aisles, with transepts and chancel, and a tower and spire at the west end, 156 feet high; the windows are Decorated, the roofs have crosses andno,e cross crestings, and the arrangement is very picturesque : this large church, for 1200 persons, cost less than 9000J.
St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, was commenced for the ground-landlord, Francis Earl of Bedford, by Inigo Jones, in 1631, but not finished till 1638; this being the last of that great architect’s works. The Earl’s commission is stated to have been for a chapel ” not much bigger than a barn;” when Jones replied, ” Well, then, you shall have the handsomest barn in England.” The truth of this anecdote has been questioned: for the fabric cost 4500Z., a large sum for those days. Pennant ascribes the church to the second Duke of Bedford,” whom,” says Walpole (Letters, Sept. 18, 1791), “he takes for the first, and even then would not be right, for I conclude Earl Francis, who died in 1641, was the builder, as the church was probably not erected after the Civil War began.” It was built of brick, with a portico at the east front, consisting of a pediment supported by four Tuscan columns of stone, and the roof was covered with tiles: Hollar’s print of it shows a small bell-turret surmounted with a cross. Within the pediment was placed a pendulum clock, made by Richard Harris in 1641, and stated by an inscription in the vestry to be the first made.
If this inscription be correct, it negatives the claim of Huyghens to having first applied the pendulum to the clock, about 1657; although Justice Bergen, mechanician to the Emperor Kodolphus, who reigned from 1576 to 1612, is said to have attached one to a clock used by Tycho Brahe\ Inigo Jones, the architect of St. Paul’s, having been in Italy during the time of Galileo, it is probable that he communicated what he heard of the pendulum to Harris. Huyghens, however, violently contested for the priority; while others claimed it for the younger Galileo, who, they asserted, had, at his father’s suggestion, applied the pendulum to a clock in Venice which was finished in 1649.—Adam Thomson’s Time and Timekeepers, pp. 67, 68.
The ceiling of the interior was beautifully painted by E. Pierce, senior, a pupil of Van Dyck. Inigo Jones was present at the consecration by Bishop Juxon, Sept. 27, 1638. In 1725 it is recorded that the Earl of Burlington gave 3001. or 400Z. to restore the portico, which had been spoiled by some injudicious repairs. Its appearance in the middle of last century is familiar from one of Hogarth’s prints of ” The Times of the Day.” In the picture of ” Morning ” the front of this church is represented. The church dial points to a few minutes before seven a.m., and two very incongruous groups appear—Miss Bridget Alworthy, with her foot-boy carrying her prayer-book, going to the early service, while some dissipated rakes are staggering out of Tom King’s Coffee-house, hard by.
In 1788, the walls of the church were cased with Portland stone; and the rustic gateways at the east front, which Jones had imitated in brick and plaster from Palladio, were then rebuilt with stone. In 1795, the interior of the church was burnt, the fine old roof, the stained glass, and some pictures, including one of Charles I., by Lely, being then destroyed; but the portico and the walls remained, and the edifice was restored by the elder Hardwick. The altar-piece has two figures of angels, sculptured by Banks, R.A. Among the eminent persons interred here are Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras, whose friends could not afford to bury him in Westminster Abbey; Sir Peter Lely, the painter, to whom there was a monument, with a bust by Gibbons, destroyed with the old church ; Edward Kynaston, the famed actor of female parts, who played Juliet to Betterton’s Romeo; “William Wycherley, the witty dramatist, who had ” a true nobleman look;” Susannah Centlivre, who wrote The Wonder; Grinling Gibbons, the sculptor and wood-carver; Dr. John Armstrong, known by his didactic poem, The Art of Preserving Health; and Charles Macklin, the actor, at the supposed age of 107 : the two last in a vault under the Communion-table. Another centenarian, named by Strype, is Marmaduke Conway, buried here 1717, at the age of 108 years and some months : he was in the service of the royal family from the reign of King James I. to his dying day, and was much liked by Charles I. for his skill in hawking. Here, too, lie Michael Kelly, the musical composer; and Estcourt, the founder of the original Beef-steak Club. Wolcot (Peter Pindar,) lies beneath the vestry-room; and Butler in the churchyard, abutting on King-street. Dr. Arne’s remains are also said to rest here without any tombstone or memorial. In the churchyard lies Sir Robert Strange, the engraver, who published his own prints at “the Golden Head,” Henrietta-street. Holland and Edwin, and many players of minor note, are also buried in the churchyard. The portico and overhanging roof of the church are picturesque in eflect; and the whole building is impressive from its vastness, and agreeable from the simple rusticity of the order.
Du Val, the famous highwayman, executed at Tyburn, Jan. 21, 1669, after lying in ttate at the Tangier Tavern, St. Giles, was buried in the middle aisle of St. Paul’s; his funeral was attended with flambeaux, and a numerous train of mourners, including many of the fair sex.
Before the portico of St. Paul’s Chuich is erected the hustings for the election of members of Parliament for Westminster. Contests are now restricted to one day; but Westminster was, for many Parliaments, the cockpit wherein battles of Court and people were fought, when ” madman’s holiday” extended to fifteen days; from Bradshaw and Waller to Fox and Sheridan; Burdett, Cochrane, aud Hobhouse; and the popular dii minores, Hunt and Cartwright.
St. Paul’s, Herne-hill, between Camberwell and Dulwich, was built in 1844-5, by Stevens and Alexander, in the Perpendicular Gothic style of the 15th century. It had a lofty stone tower and spire, and a highly-decorated interior : the ceiling was divided, by moulded beams and Gothic tracery, into panels, elaborately painted; the beams had illuminated Scripture texts; all the windows were filled with stained glass; the open seats were of polished oak; the floor is laid with coloured encaustic tiles, and the chancel-steps with tasteful porcelain, by Copeland; the Decalogue, &c., was written in illuminated characters upon porcelain slabs; and the pulpit panels were filled with paintings of the Evangelists and Apostles. As this was one of the earliest specimens of modern High-Church embellishment, so it was one of the most beautiful. The interior was destroyed by fire in 1858, but has been rebuilt (Street, architect) in an earlier style, and according to stricter ecclesiastical principles. Mr. Ruskin has pronounced the church to be, as it now stands, ” one of the loveliest churches of the kind in the country, and one that makes the fire a matter of rejoicing.”
St. Paul’s, Lorimore-square, Walworth, erected 1857, H. Jarvis, architect; Early English, with Transitichawith Tron details; has a tower and spire of good form, at the north-east angle, 122 feet high.
St. Paul’s Chuech tor Seamen op the Poet of London, near the London and St. Katharine’s Docks, the Sailors’ Home, and the Seamen’s Asylum, was founded by Prince Albert, May 11, 1846, and consecrated July 10,1847; H. Roberts, architect. The style is Early English, with a western tower and spire 100 feet high. Prince Albert gave the east window and communion-plate, and was present at the consecration. ” In the course of a year it is computed that about 7000 seamen come to this church: a field of usefulness that can scarcely be overrated.”—(Low’s Charities of London, p. 390.) St. Paul’s has superseded the Episcopal Floating Church, originally the Brazen sloop-of-war: she was moored in the Pool, and fitted with a small organ; and boats were provided on Sundays at the Tower-stairs for the free passage of sailors to attend the ship service, which was under the direct superintendence of Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London.
St. Paul’s, Shadwell, named from its being in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, was originally built in 1656; but rebuilt, as we now see it, in
1820-1, by Walters, who died in the latter year : it has a beautiful spire, and is throughout a very meritorious design. The parish, formerly a hamlet of Stepney, was called Chadwelle, from a spring dedicated to St. Chad, within the churchyard.
St. Paul’s, Virginia-row, Bethnal-green, W. Wigginton, architect, is an inexpensive church, built for a very poor neighbourhood. It is of ordinary stock brick, with red and black bands; has a four-light east window, with tracery ; and at the north-east angle a square chamfered tower of four stages, with a short broach spire.
St. Paul’s, Wilton-place, Knightsbridge, designed by Candy, was consecrated by the Bishop of London, May 30, 1843. It has an Early Perpendicular and eight-pinnacled tower, 121 feet high. It consists of a nave and two aisles, and a chancel, the latter very handsome; here, in advance of the reading-desk and pulpit, is the lectern. On the south are three sedilia; over the Communion-table are three compartments of stonework, terminating in a reredos, above which is the great window of stained glass, by Wailes, portraying the Prophets and the Twelve Apostles: the window and stonework cost 100OZ. The font is of Caen stone, and has eight sculptured panels, angels holding a shield or book, plant bosses, &c. The Organ is a very powerful one, and has a richly-canopied case; it covers 14 feet square, and is 30 feet high. The roof is open, and is said to be the largest unsupported by pillars of any ecclesiastical edifice in the metropolis. Eight of the side windows are filled with stained glass, by Wailes, representing scenes and actions of St. Paul and other Apostles. The choral service is efficiently performed; the silver-gilt Communion-plate is very massive; the altar appointments are truly Anglican. The cost of this church was 11,000£., exclusive of fittings. The Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, M.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, appointed to the incumbency in 1843, resigned in 1850, and was succeeded by the Hon. and Rev. R. Liddell. The furniture and services of this church have given rise to much ritualistic controversy and litigation.
St. Peter’s, Belsize-park, Hampstead, is a cruciform Decorated church, with a nave, five bays, and a handsome east window of five ligiasw of fihts; all the windows are of stained glass, stated to be the work of the incumbent: completed 1859.
St. Peter’s, Cornhill, was rebuilt of brick by Wren, after the Great Fire; it has a tower and spire 140 feet high, surmounted by an enormous key, the emblem of St. Peter. Here is a tablet recording the death by fire, Jan. 18, 1782, of the s§ven children of James and Mary Woodmason, of Leadenhall-street. The nave and chancel are separated by a carved wainscot rood-screen, set up by direction of Bishop IJeveridge, who was 32 years rector of St. Peter’s, and who paid special attention to the appropriateness of church furniture and repairs. An inscription upon a brass plate in the vestry-room describes the old church as founded a.d. 179,—a statement unsupported by facts. Stow records a murderer to have fled to St. Peter’s for sanctuary in 1230; and one of the priests was murdered in 1243.
St. Petee’s, Eaton-square, Pimlico, an Ionic Church; H. Hakewill, architect; consecrated in 1827. The altar-piece, ” Christ crowned with Thorns,” painted by W. Hilton, R.A., was presented to the church by the British Institution.
St. Peter’s, Saffron-hill, a district church of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, was designed by C. Barry, R.A., in the Anglo-Norman Style, and consecrated in 1832: it has been placed in a proverbially depraved locality, with the most salutary effect.
St. Peter’s, Sumner-street, Bankside, designed by Edmunds, and consecrated 1839, is in the plain Pointed style, and has an embattled tower 84 feet high.
St. Peter’s-le-Poor, Old Broad-street, was taken down in 1788, rebuilt by Jesse Gibson, and consecrated by Bishop Porteus in 1792. The church is traceable to 1181: it was ” sometime peradventure a poor parish” {Stow), but scarcely now contains one pauper.
St. Petee’s, Vauxhall, occupies part of the site of the once famous Vauxhall Gardens, was designed by J. L. Pearson, and consecrated in 1864. The style is First Pointed, of French type. It has two aisles, a western vestibule, nave, baptistery attached to the west side of the south aisles, and polygonal aisleless chancel j there are four bays to the nave, which comprises a sort of blank triforium, to be hereafter filled with pictures, the subjects of which, it is suggested, should be from the Old and New Testaments, on the respective appropriate sides. The triforium of the chancel is open, composed of seven coupled lights, with rear-vaults and detached shafts; the clerestory of the chancel is composed of acute lancets deeply splayed. The reredos of alabaster, carved, is by Poole; the mosaics on the wall are executed by Dr. Salviati, of Venice. Beneath the triforium arcade of the east end it is proposed to place a line of frescoes, representing the Passion. The whole of the church is groined in brick, with stone ribs springing from vaulting-shafts of red stone, with carved capitals. The pulpit is square, and of stone, with an incised picture towards the west, representing St. Peter preaching on the Day of Pentecost: it is also richly carved. ” Mr. Pearson’s excellent Church of St. Peter’s is memorable as the first example, in London, in the present revival, of a church vaulted throughout.”— Report of the Ecclesid of thesiological Society.
St. Peter’s ad Vincuea, the chapel of the Tower, situate north-west of the White Tower, dates as early as Henry I.: it was restored by Edward III., who added 18Z. to the original 3Z. of rectorial endowment. The seats are appropriated to the inhabitants of the Tower. . It is a very old rectory, and was put under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London by Edward VI. and Queen Mary : it is extra-parochial. The present chapel was erected temp. Edward I.; it is of squared stones and flints, and has a small bell-tower. The interior consists of a chancel, nave, and north aisle, the two latter separated by flat-pointed arches springing from clustered columns; but little of the original building remains. This chapel is extremely interesting, as the burial-place of these eminent persons, executed within the Tower walls or upon Tower-hill: Queen Anne Boleyn (beheaded 1536); Queen Katherine Howard (beheaded 1542); Sir Thomas More (beheaded 1535); Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex (beheaded 1540); Margaret Countess of Shrewsbury (beheaded 1541); Thomas Lord Seymour, Lord Admiral, beheaded 1549, by warrant of his own brother, the Protector Somerset, who in 1552 was executed on the same scaffold; John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (beheaded 1553).
” There lyeth before the High Altar in St. Peter’s Church, two Dukes between two Queenes, to wit, the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland, between Queen Anne and Queen Katherine, all four beheaded.”— Stow (Hoicet’t).
Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Lord Dudley (beheaded 1553-4); Robert Deve-reux, Earl of Essex (beheaded 1600): under the communion table lies the Duke of Monmouth (beheaded 1684); and beneath the gallery, Lords Kilmarnock and Bal-merino (beheaded 1746); and Simon Lord Lovat (beheaded 1747). The Register records the burial in this chapel of Sir Thomas Overbury, poisoned in the Tower, 1613: and here lies Sir John Eliot, who died a prisoner in the fortress, his son being refused by King Charles I. permission to remove the body to Cornwall for interment. Also are buried in St. Peter’s, John Roettier, ” his Majesty’s engraver at the Tower j” and Colonel Gurwood, who edited the Wellington Despatches. In the north aisle is the altar-tomb, with effigies, of Sir Richard Cholmondeley (Lieutenant of the Tower, temp. Henry VII.) and his wife, Lady Elizabeth. In the chancel is a rich marble monument to Sir Richard Blount and his son Sir Michael, Lieutenants of the Tower, sixteenth century; with figures of the knight and his sons in armour, and of his wife and daughters. Here also is the tomb of Sir Allan Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower; and in the nave-floor is the inscribed gravestone of Talbot Edwards, keeper of the Regalia in the Tower when Blood stole the crown. In the Tower Liberties the parochial perambulation on Holy Thursday is triennial: after service in the church of St. Peter, in the Tower, a procession is formed of the headsman bearing an axe, a painter to mark the bounds, yeomen-warders with halberts, the Deputy-Lieutenant, and other officers of the Tower, &c.; the boundary-stations are painted with a red broad arrow upon a white ground, while the Chaplain of St. Peter’s repeats ” Cursed be he who removeth his neighbour’s landmark.”
St. Petee’s, Walworth-road, in the parish of St. Mary, Newington, was built in 1823-5, and cost about 19.000J. It is one of Soane’s classic churches; the west front decorated with Ionic columns, and the tower has two stories, the lower Corinthian and the upper Composite. The interior is in elegant and original taste.
St. Peter’s, Great Windmill-street, is in close juxtaposition with the Argyll Rooms. The first stone was laid by the Earl of Derby, in 1860: it was built by subscription of the richer of the parish of St. James’s, to supply the wants of the poorer. To the fund of 12,000/., Lord Derby contributed 4500/. It is remarkable for its picturesque west front, the only portion not shut in by the surrounding houses : the church cost about 6000/., and the site a like sum: architect, Raphael Brandon; style, Decorated Early English.
St. Saviour’s, Cedars-road, Clapham Common, built by the Rev. Wentworth Bowyer, rector of Clapham; James Knowles, architect; cost about 10,000/.; is cruciform, and has, at the intersection of the nave and transepts, a central pinnacled tower, 120 feet high. The windows are filled with stained glass by Clayton and Bell, a connected series, illustrating the life of our Lord on earth. Under the tower, and in front of the altar rails, is an altar-tomb, bearing on it a recumbent effigy of Mrs. Bowyer, co-foundress of the church, who died just before its completion. The style is Second Pointed : the mouldings, tracery, and carving are good.
St. Saviour’s, Hoxton, built 1866, J. Brooks, architect, of brick, with stone bands; in the First Pointed Gothic style, of Continental cast. The apse with half-conical roof, the Nave roof 75 feet high, and the spirelet, rising like a sanctus bell, are externally effective; Lancet clerestory windows, good.
St. Saviour and Cross, Wellclose-square, was built at the expense of Christian V. King of Denmark, in 1696, by Caius Gabriel Cibber, wl.o erected here a monument to his wife Jane, mother of Colley Cibber, the famous dran atist. King Christian VII. of Denmark, attended the church in 1768 while he remained in this country: it is still used by the Danes, as well as by St. George’s Mission.
St. Saviour’s, Pimlico; architect, T. Cundy; Second Pointed in style, has a tower and spire 190 feet high, only 12 feet less than the height of the London Monument. It cost 12,000/., towards which the Marquis of Westminster contributed 7000/.
St. Saviour’s, Southwark, a short distance from the south foot of London-bridge, ranks in magnitude and architectural character as the third church in the metropolis, and is one of the few churches in the kingdom possessing a Lady Chapel. Roman masonry and pottery have been found below the church floor.
A romantic tradition is associated with this church. Stow, in the account which he received from Linsted, the last Prior, describes it as ” Saint Mary ouer the Bie, or Overy, that is, over the water. This church, or some other in place thereof, was (of old time, long before the Conquest) an House of Sisters, founded by a mayden named Mary, unto the which House and Sitters she left (as was left to her by her parents) the ouersight and profits of a Crosse Ferrie, or trauerse ferrie ouer the Thames, there kept before any bridge was builded.” (See London Bbidge, p. 65.) This story haa however, been much discredited. The shrouded figure now in the north aisle has been gossipingly assigned to Audery, the Ferryman, father of the foundress of St. Mary Overie’s, There is a curious, although probably fabulous, tract of his life, entitled, “The True History of the Life and sudden Death of old John Overs, the rich Ferry-Man of London, shewing how he lost his life by his oom life bywn covetousness. And of his daughter Mary, who caused the church of St. Mary Overs in Southwark to be built; and of the building of London Bridge.” There are two editions: the first, 1637, with woodcuts; the second, 1774, ” Printed for T. Harris at the Looking-Glass on London Bridge.” It is among S. W. Musgrave’s Biographical Tracts in the British Museum. A synopsis of the story is given in the Chronicles of London Bridge, pp. 40-44.
This was originally the church of the Augustine Priory of St. Mary Overie, and was founded by the Norman knights, William Pont de l’Arcbe and William Dauncy. The nave of the church is attributed to Gifford, Bishop of Winchester in 1106 (7th Henry I.); and an arch, an apsis, and other remains of this date, have been uncovered by the removal of the masonry of the church, altered in the reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, this church was purchased of Henry VIII. by the people of Southwark; and in 1540, it was made parochial as St. Saviour’s, and united with the two parishes of St. Mary Magdalen and St. Margaret-at-Hill. The church is cathedral or cruciform in plan, with a nave, transepts, choir, and Lady Chapel, and a lofty embattled tower at the central intersection; besides Mary Magdalen’s and the Bishop’s Chapels, now removed. An etching, by Hollar, executed for Dugdale’s Monasticon, shows the church about 1660. The Choir and Lady Chapel ¦were commenced in the Lancet style, according to an ancient chronicle: ” John anno X° (1208). Seynte Marie Overie was that yere begonne.” In 1618, the fine perspective of nave and choir was destroyed by an organ-screen, set up in place of the ancient rood-loft. In 1624, the Lady Chapel, which had been let out as a bakehouse for 60 years, was restored; and in 1689, the tower was repaired, and the pinnacles were rebuilt: height 150 feet. From the roof Hollar drew his celebrated Views of London, before and after the Great Fire, lately rendered familiar by Martin’s pen-and-ink lithograph. The choir, transepts, Lady Chapel, and tower are the work of Bishop de Rupibus, and afford a good specimen of the architecture of the commencement of the thirteenth century, when the Pointed style flourished in its greatest purity. The windows are lancet-shaped, the buttresses large and massive, united to the choir by segments of arches; the pinnacles which finish the buttresses closely resemble the corresponding works of Wykeham at Winchester. The eastern gable of the choir and the foliated cross on the apex are very fine. ” Of the east end,” says Mr. George Gwilt, ” no remains of the more ancient building existed; for this part of the restoration, the eastern end of Salisbury Cathedral furnished the requisite data, and this is fully borne out by Wyngrerde’s Drawing of London, 1543.”
For a long interval, the only repairs of the church tended to its disfigurement, by barbarous brick casing and the destruction of beautiful windows; until, in 1818, the repair of the entire edifice was commenced with the tower. Ascending the tower, it will be seen that a great portion of its elevation was open to the church as a lantern, before the present painted ceiling, with its trap, was set up. ” This tower,” says Mr. Gwilt, ” if we may indicate the period of its erection from a well-preserved bust on the north-west pier, must have been built so long ago as the time of King John. It was not so much time, as the tremendous vibration caused by the ringing of a fine peal of twelve bells, containing nearly eleven tons of metal (the tenor bell alone weighing about 2\ tons), which split the tower on two sides,typon two causing a fissure of three inches in breadth. The further progress of this impending ruin was checked by the application of cast-iron ties; imperceptibly encircling each angular pier, as well as the four sides of the tower, secured to octangular rings, ample allowances being provided for changes of temperature.” The pinnacles and embattled parapets were rebuilt, also windows inserted. This restoration was superintended by Mr. George Gwilt, F.S.A., who also, in 1822-24, took down the east end of the church to the clerestory, and gave the present face to the structure—his own design—consisting of an enriched gable, with an elaborately foliated cross on its apex ; pinnacled staircase turrets, with niches at the angles; and a new triple lancet window, in the more florid style of the thirteenth century, instead of the original window of five lights (temp. Henry VI I.); besides a Catherine-wheel window, of extraordinary richness and beauty. Over the vaulting a cast-iron roof was erected, and covered with copper; and the piers of the flying buttresses on each side were cased with stone, the aisle windows built anew, &c.; in all whicb Mr. Gwilt has rigidly adhered to the former work, ” not only in the general design, but in the minutest details, wherever prototypes could be found.” In 1829-30, the transepts were restored from the designs of R. Wallace, architect; groined roofs were added; and in the south was introduced a circular window, designed from that in the ruins of Winchester Palace, Bankside, discovered through a fire in 1814. In the north transept has been inserted a window of circular tracery, in the style of Westminster Abbey; but the side windows, originally of beautiful length, have been injudiciously shortened. Within, the transepts present a beautiful vista, second only to the choir. The four magnificent arches which support the tower remain unaltered.
The Lady Chapel was used by Bishop Gardiner as a Consistorial Court in the reign of Queen Mary. In 1555, a commission sat here for the trial of heretics, Bishop Hooper and John Rogers being the first victims to the stake; but within four years, the Popish vestments were sold for the repairs of the church, and next the valuable Latin records of the Priory were burnt as superstitious remains of Popery. The Lady Chapel was restored in 1832, by public subscription, at the expense of 4027^. 19*. Id., Mr. G. Gwilt giving his gratuitous superintendence as architect. It possesses the singularity of four gables, which has a very beautiful effect. The groined roof of the Lady Chapel is very fine. Here is the marble tomb of Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, with his full-length effigies, formerly in the Bishop’s Chapel, where also
his leaden coffin was found. Some stained-glass windows, in memory of Protestant martyrs, have heen put up in the Lady Chapel, and are effective as seen from the choir. The Nave, it is believed, the oldest part of the structure, was, in 1839, taken down within 7 feet of the ground, and was sold for 150 guineas!—by order of vestry— the Organ being then moved up to form a temporary end to the Choir. The roof of the nave had wooden bosses, sculptured with grotesque heads, shields, dragons, flowers, fruits, &c. The trusses of the roof had knees, springing from stone corbels, carved into winged angels, bearing shields painted with various colours. The roof of each aisle was groined and ribbed, with bosses at the intersections. The timber roof of the nave was a fine specimen of carpentry, said to have been put up by Bishop Fox (temp. Edward IV.) At the west end were Tudor doorways, to let down tapestry on high festivals over the walls. In the ruined nave have been found a semicircular-headed door and some other portions of the Norman church ; and a semicircular apse at the north-east corner of the vestry, formerly Stn w, forme. John’s Chapel, was brought to light. These fragments, together with some other remains, would seem to show that the church of the date of 1106 was situated on the north side of the present Choir. Thus dismantled stood the roofless walls, and the massive Tudor doorway at the west end, until, in 1838-9, the Nave was rebuilt for Divine Service in poor, incongruous style; and being separated from the Choir, St. Saviour’s now presents the anomalous appearance of two churches in one; but had the Nave been restored according to the ancient example, the groined roof of the church would exhibit an uninterrupted perspective of 208 feet. The most picturesque views are from the clerestory vaultings of the Choir. The commonplace oak and plaster of the last century have heen removed from the eastern end, thus unveiling the stone altar-screen, a beautiful composition of niches, &c.; and which, from its resembling that in Winchester Cathedral, and bearing Bishop Fox’s device of the pelican feeding her young, is inferred to be his workmanship: it was restored in 1833, at the cost of 1001.
” In the fifteenth century, sculpture and painting lent their aid to complete and embellish this sumptuous display of architecture. Upon the altar and under the central canopy, in the first range, stood the crucifix; the large niche above was appropriated to the statue of the Blessed Virgin, the patroness of the church; and the corresponding niche in the upper range we may as confidently assign to the representation of the sacred Trinity; the minor niches might be occupied by the sainted bishops of the see. Above the whole, the design was carried on in the painted glass of the east window, inclosed as it were in a richly sculptured frame: in this perfect state, what a magnificent scene was displayed in the Choir !”— E. J. Carlos, Gentleman’s Magazine, Feb. 1834.
The church is very rich in painted sculpture tombs. In the south transept is the Perpendicular monument of the poet Gower, removed from the north aisle of the nave in 1832, when it was restored and coloured at the expense of the first Duke of Sutherland, a presumed collateral descendant from the poet.* Here Gower and his wife are buried ; the poet beneath the above monument, triple canopied, and richly dight with gold and colour inscription, with the recumbent effigies of Gower in prayer: his hair auburn, and long to the shoulders, and a small forked beard; on his head a purple and gold rose fillet, with the words, ” Merci Ihii;” a habit of purple, damasked, clown to his feet; a collar of esses, gold, about his neck; his head resting upon three gilded volumes, the ” Speculum Meditantis,” ” Vox Clamantis,” and ” Confessio Amantis;” on the wall at his feet are his arms, and a hat or helmet, with a red hood, ermined, and surmounted by his crest—a dog. Opposite Gower’s tomb is the coloured bust of John Bingham, saddler to Queen Elizabeth and James I. In the north transept is a richly-painted, carved, and gilt monument, with angels, rocks, suns, and serpents, to William Austen, Esq., who wrote a poem of ” Meditations.” Next lies Dr. Lockyer, the empiric (temp. Charles II.), his reclining effigies in thick curled wig and furred gown:
” His virtues and his pills are so well known, That envy can’t confine them under stone.”— Epitaph.
* “We are afraid, on the showing of Sir H. Nicolas and Dr. Pauli, that the family of the Duke of Sutherland and Lord Ellesmere must relinquish all pretension to being related to, or even descended from, John Gower. They have hitherto depended solely upon the possession of a MS. of the Confessio Amantis, which was supposed to have been pento have resented to an ancestor by the poet; but it now turns out, on the authority of Sir Charles Youug, Garter, that it was the very copy of the work which the author laid at the feet of King Henry IV., while he was yet Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby!”— Review of Dr. Pauli’s edition of the Confessio Amantis; Athenaeum, No. 1537, p. 468. Baker is the only Chronicler who gives the date of Gower’s death correctly, namely, 1408, as in his Will; most if not all other writers represent Gower as dying in 1402 or 1403.
In the north aisle is the monument to John Trehearne, gentleman-porter to James I., with the costumed bust of himself and wife. Opposite is the tomb of Alderman Humble (temp. James I.), with kneeling figures of himself and his two wives, and representations of their children; and an inscription, slightly varied from a poem attributed to Francis Quarles, commencing—
” Like to the damask rose you see.’ Here, too, is an oaken effigy, supposed of one of the Norman knights, founders of the church ; and near it is the figure of an emaciated man, wrapped in a shroud, and finely sculptured. The burial register records, under 1607, ” Edmond Shakespeare, a player, in the church,” the great dramatist’s brother, and who, doubtless, was followed to the ‘ grave by him as chief mourner; under 1625 is ” Mr. John Fletcher, a man, in the church” (Beaumont and Fletcher); and Philip Massinger, ” a stranger,” in the churchyard, 1638-9. Beneath a gravestone in the Choir lies Sir John Shorter, who died Lord Mayor, in 1688; and his wife, who died in 1703 : he was the grandfather of Lady Walpole, wife of Sir Robert, and mother of Horace Walpole.
In the church was married, in 1406, Edmund Holland, last Earl of Kent, Lord Admiral of England, and grandson of the Fair Maid of Kent, to Lucia, eldest daughter of Barnaby, Lord of Milan: King Henry IV. gave away the bride at the church-door.
Here, on the termination of his sentence, the Rev. Dr. Sacheverel preached in 1713, on the Christian Triumph, or Duty of Praying for Enemies j and the booksellers gave him 100Z. for the sermon.
The tower has a fine peal of twelve bells, and in the belfry are recorded exploits performed upon them by the College and Cumberland Youths j though these bells were not rung at the opening of London Bridge, in 1831, from the alleged insecurity to the masonry. The clock, put up in 1795, has a dial 31 feet in circumference ; length of minute-hand, 5 feet; circumference of bell, 11 feet 6 inches. The tower, east end, and Lady Chapel, originally concealed by the west side of the old High-street, were opened to view in forming the approaches to New London Bridge, thus presenting, perhaps, the finest architectural group in the metropolis : its restoration in the present century has cost above 60,000Z.
St. Sepuxchbe’s, anciently ” in the Bailey,” at the east end of Skinner-street, and adjacent to Newgate, was damaged in the Great Fire, which just reached Pye Corner, northward of the church. It was rebuilt about the middle of the fifteenth century. The south-west entrance-porch, resembling a transept, has a groined roof, with bold ribs and beautifully-scnlptured bosses; adjoining is an ancient chapel, erected by the Popham family. The body of the church was refitted by Wren after the Fire. The Organ, one ofnceOrgan, the largest and finest in London, was built by Harris, second only to Schmidt, in 1677, and has been enlarged ; the pedal organ, with ten stops, or fourteen ranks of pipes throughout, is unequalled in England. St. Sepulchre’s was, in New-court’s time, ” remarkable for possessing an exceedingly fine Organ, and the playing is thought so beautiful that large congregations are attracted, though some of the parishioners object to the mode of performing Divine service.” The pulpit has a sounding-board, like a parabolic reflector, with ribs of mahogany, the grain radiating from the centre. Among the monuments is that of Capt. John Smith, Governor of Virginia, and a romantic traveller (d. 1631) : his eccentric epitaph, recorded by Strype, has disappeared. The benefactions to the parish include that of Mr. Richard Dowe, who left a hand-bell, to be rung, with certain forms, to the condemned criminals in Newgate, and on their way to Tyburn for execution, when it was also customary to present a nosegay to each. St. Sepulchre’s tower, ” one of the most ancient in the outline in the circuit of London” (Malcolm), has four pinnacles with vanes, rebuilt 1630-33, and is 140 feet high : it has a fine peal of ten bells; the clock regulates the hanging of criminals at Newgate. ” Unreasonable people,” says Howell, ” are as hard to reconcile as the vanes of St. Sepulchre’s tower, which never looked all four upon one point of the heavens.” On April 10, 1600, one William Dorrington threw himself from the roof of this tower, leaving there a written prayer for forgiveness.
On St. Paul’s Day, service is performed in the church in accordance with the will of Mr. Paul Jcrvis, who in 1717, devised certain land iu trust, that a Sermon should be preached in the church upon every Paul’s Day, upon the excellence of the Liturgy of the Church of England; the preacher to receive 40*.
for such sermon. Various sums are also bequeathed to the Curate, the Clerk, the Treasurer, and Masters of the parochial schools. To the poor of the parish he bequeathed 20*. a-piece to ten of the poorest housekeepers within that part of the parish of St. Sepulchre commonly called Smithfield quarter; 4/. to the Treasurer of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; and 6«. 8d. yearly to the Clerk, who shall attend to receive the same. The residue of the yearly rents and profits is to be distributed unto and amongst such poor peopleof the parish of St. Sepulchre, London, who shall attend the service and sermon. At the close of the service, the Vestry Clerk reads aloud an extract from the Will, and then proceeds to the distribution of the money. In the evening the Vicar, Churchwardens, and Common Councilmen of the Precinct, dine together.
St. Simon’s, Moore-street, Chelsea, J. Peacock, architect, is of Gothic design, cruciform, with an interior of some polychromatic display, by means of coloured marble shafts; and it has a very large east window of five lights, filled with stained glass: completed 1859.
St. Stephen’s, Coleman-street, was destroyed by the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, as we now see it, with a tower and bell-turret 65 feet high. Among the monuments is a marble bas-relief, by E. W. Wyon, erected in 1847, to the Rev. Josiah Pratt, Vicar of the parish, whose missionary labours are personified by the Angel of the Gospel addressing an African, Hindoo, and New Zealander. A curious square oak carving, about 5 feet by 2|, in alto-relief, is inserted over the gateway of St. Stephen’s, which Mr. George Scharf thus describes:—
” From the twoe s From t upper corners seems to hang a festoon of clouds, upon which in the centre, the Saviour is seated in cumbrous drapery, holding the banner of Redemption in the right hand, and the ball and cross in the left; the significant action of the Judge is, therefore, entirely lost. He has a large beard and rough hair, but no nimbus.
” Immediately beneath the Saviour, in front of the clouds, Satan is falling. He is represented of a slim human form, with hideous face, horns and bats’ wings: his feet are tied together! The entire space below is filled with the dead—all entirely naked—issuing from their coffins, which are shaped like those now in use. At each end some figures are seen issuing from caverns. The central figures below are large, fat children; but otherwise there is no distinction of age or sex. One angel, to the left of the Saviour, sounds the trumpet.
” There are no musical instruments nor indications of entrance to the places of final reward. The Book of Life also is not represented. The remaining space within the line of clouds is filled with winged angels, many of them exceedingly graceful, busied in assisting the aspirants to heaven by reaching their hands over the clouds. Many of the figures, in their excitement, seem ready to scale the walls ofheaven; but the treatment of the whole is very unworthy of the subject. As a piece of carving it is remarkably good, and superior to that over the lich-gate of St. Giles’s.”— Archceologia, vol. xxxvi. p. 3S9. See St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields, p. 165.
In the old church was buried Master Antony Munday, who wrote a continuation of Stow’s Survey, and for more than forty years arranged the City pageants and shows. Of this parish John Havward was under-sexton during the Great Plague, when he carried the dead to their graves, and fetched the bodies with the Dead Cart and Bell, yet ” never had the distemper at all, but lived about twenty years after it.”—(See Defoe’s Memoirs.)
St. Stephen’s the Maetye, Avenue-road, Portland-town, is a large Decorated church, by Daukes, with a tower and spire 136 feet high; towards building whicfl. two individuals gave 100(M. each; the freehold of the site and 500Z. being also given by the Duke of Portland.
St. Stephen’s the Maetye, Rochester-row, Westminster, is a stately church, built and endowed at the sole cost of Miss Burdett Coutts, as a memorial to her patriotic father, Sir Francis Burdett, Bart., M.P. for Westminster thirty years. The site was presented by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, and is nearly opposite the Almshouses founded by Emery Hill in 1674. The first stone of the church was laid by Miss Coutts, July 20, 1847; it was consecrated June 20, 1850. The style is the Decorated, of the reigns of the first three Edwards ; and the architect, Ferrey. The church consists of a Nave with aisles, and a Chancel; and on the north side a massive tower and spire, 200 feet high, with a peal of eight bells by Mears; all the windows are richly traceried. The Chancel ceiling is coloured blue, powdered with gold stars; the walls are decorated with texts; and the reredos is of the Canterbury diaper, picked out in gold and colour: the altar-cloth was presented by the Duke of Wellington, and the chancel carpet was wrought in Berlin work by forty ladies of rank, the border by the girls of St. Stephen’s Schools; the design consists of shields and heraldic devices and panels of the fleur-de-lis and Tudor rose, within a Tudor rose border. The Organ, by Hill, has a screen of diapered pipes, and cost 800 guineas. The naateineas. ve and aisle roofs
are of oak; and the arcade rests upon clustered shafts, with sculptured capitals. The pulpit is of stone, and enriched with tracery ; and the font is sculptured with Scripture subjects. The windows are tilled with stained glass, by Wailes, and Powell’s stamped quarries. The stalls and seats are of oak, and for about 900 persons : in the chancel is a handsome corona of gas-burners and candlesticks. Adjoining are Schools, of very picturesque design, also by Ferrey. By an Order in Council, in the Gazette, April 9, 1856, no one is to be buried in St. Stephen’s Church besides Miss Coutts and Mrs. Brown (widow of Mr. Brown, who is already buried there); and their bodies are to be imbedded ” in a layer of powdered charcoal, six inches at least in thickness, and be separately entombed in brickwork well cemented.”
St. Stephen’s, Spitalfields, E. Christian, architect, on the east side of Commercial-street, was completed in 1862. It is of yellow brick, with red and black bricks, sparingly introduced; its distinctive feature being the apse, which, instead of serving as the chancel, as is usual, is placed at the west-end of the nave—a fashion borrowed, with some other features, from Germany. Beside it is a parsonage, as quaint as the church. The interior of the church is an exact square, without the apse. The walls are plastered, but the piers and arches are faced with red and white bricks.
St. Stephen’s, Walhrook, is the third church of that name and locality : the first, according to Dugdale, stood on the west side of the ” Brook;” the second, built in 1428, on the east side, was destroyed by the Great Fire; and the present church, Cinque-cento style, was built upon the same site, 1672-79, from the designs of Wren, at a salary of 100/. a year; and the parish accounts show that a hogshead of claret was presented to the architect, and twenty guineas to his lady. The exterior is plain: tower and spire 128 feet high. The interior is one of Wren’s finest works, with its exquisitely-proportioned Corinthian columns, and great central dome of timber and lead, resting upon a circle of light arches springing from column to column; its enriched Composite cornice, the shields of the spandrels, and the palm-branches and rosettes of the dome-coffers, are very beautiful; and as you enter from the dark vestibule, a halo of dazzling light flashes upon the eye through the central aperture of the cupola. The fittings are of oak: and the altar-screen, Organ-case, and gallery, have some good carvings, among which are prominent the arms of the Grocers’ Company, the patrons of the living, and who gave the handsome wainscoting. The carved pulpit has festoons of fruit and flowers, and canopied sounding-board, with angels bearing wreaths. The church was cleansed and repaired in 1850, when West’s painting of the Martyrdom of St. Stephens, presented in 1779 by the then Rector, Dr. Wilson, was removed from over the altar and placed on the north wall of the church. The large east window, painted by Willement, represents the ordination and death of the proto-martyr, to whom the church is dedicated: the other windows, by Gibbs, are a memorial to the late rector, Dr. Croly, the eloquent poet and imaginative prose-writer, whose bust by Behnes, and monument by Philip, are here. In a niche is also placed a bust of the architect of St. Stephen’s, Sir Christopher Wren. There are four large windows, two at either end of the church, and thirteen smaller ones. The subjects of the large windows at the west end of the church are the Nativity and Baptism of Christ ; at the east end, the Crucifixion and Ascension. The small windows at the north side are illustrative of the Parables of our Lord: the Sower, Good Samaritan, Prodied aritan,gal Son, Dives and Lazarus, Pharisee and Publican, the Ten Virgins, and the Good Shepherd. On the south side, the miracles represented are—Turning Water into Wine, Raising Jairus’s Daughter, Restoring the Blind to Sight, Feeding the Five Thousand, the Pool of Bethesda, and Christ Walking on the Sea. The Organ was built by England, and is very sweet-toned; the case harmonizes with the beautiful architecture of the church.
This church, unquestionably elegant, has been overpraised. The rich dome is considered by John Carter to he Wren’s attempt to ” set up a dome, a comparative imitation (though on a diminutive scale) of the Pantheon at Rome, and which, no doubt, was a kind of probationary trial previous to his gigantic operation of fixing one on his octangular superstructure in the centre of his new St. Paul’s.” Mr. J. Gwilt says of St. Stephen’s : ” Compared with any other church of nearly the same magnitude, Italy cannot exhibit its equal; elsewhere its rival is not to be found. Of those worthy notice, the Zitelle at Venice (by Palladio), is the nearest approximation in regard to size, but it ranks far below our church in point of composition, and still lower in point of effect.” Again: ” Had its materials and volume
been as durable and extensive as those of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren had consummated (in St. Stephen’s) a much more efficient monument to his well-earned fame than that fabric affords.”
St. Stephen’s serves also for the parish of St. Bennet Sherehog. Upon the north side of Pancras-lane is a small enclosed piece of ground, and upon a stone on an adjoining house is inscribed, ” Before the dreadful fire, anno 1666, here stood the parish church St. Bennet Sherehog.”
Pendleton, the celebrated Vicar of Bray, known by his multiversations, subsequently became rector of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook. It is related that in the reign of Edward VI., Lawrence Sanders, the martyr, an honest but mild and timorous man, stated to Pendleton his fears that he had not strength of mind to en Jure the persecution of the times; and was answered by Pendleton that “he would see every drop of his fat and the last morsel of his flesh consumed to ashes ere he would swerve from the faith then established.” He, however, changed with the times, saved his fat and his flesh, and became rector of St. Stephen’s, whilst the mild and diffident Sanders was burnt in Smithfield.
The oldest monument in the church is that of John Lilburne: Sir John Vanbrugh, the wit and architect, is buried here, in the family vault. During the repairs in 1850, it is stated that 4000 coffins were found beneath the church ; they were covered with brickwork and concrete to prevent the escape of’noxious effluvia.
St. Swithin’s, London Stone, Cannon-street, was destroyed by the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, in 1680, as we now see it. It has a tower and spire 150 feet high; but is chiefly remarkable for having against its outer south wall, within a modern stone case, all that remains of the ancient ” London Stone,” a Roman miliarium. Before it was removed from the opposite side of Cannon-street it was well secured, for Sir John Fielding, in his London and Westminster, 1776, tells us, ” it was fixed so very deep in the ground, and was so thoroughly fastened by bars of iron, that the most ponderous carriages could do it no injury.”
Temple Church (St. Mary’s), in the rear of the south side of Fleet-street, was the church of the Knights Templars after their removal from their chief house on the site of old Southampton House, without Holborn-bars.* It consists of ” the Round,” built in 1185, and consecrated by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, some two centuries, or nearly so, before the addition of the Gothic Latin Chapel of the time of Edward II., as erected by the Knights of St. John after the expulsion of the Templars. The inscription (from the Saxon) beneath the western entrance is:
” Ab incarnatione Domini MCLXXXV., dedicata ha?c ecclesia in honore beatffi Mariae, a domino EEACLIO, Dei gratia Sanctas Resurrectionis ecclesia; patriarcha, IV. idus Februarii, qui earn anna-tim petentibus de injuncta sibi penitentia LX. dies indulsit.”
This is one of the four circular churches built in England after the Templars’ return from the first and second Crusades; the other three existing at Cambridge, Northampton; and Maplestead, in Essex. The architecture is midway between Romanesque and Early English Gothic: the western entrance semicircular arches and capitals are richly sculptured and deeply recessed; within, Purbeck marble columns, with boldly-sculptured capitals, support a gallery or triforium of interlaced Norman arches; and the clerestory has six Romanesque windows, one filled with stained glass, bright ruby ground, with a representation of Christ, and emblems of the Evangelists; and the ceiling, cf Saracenic character, is colouied. On the gallery well-staircase is a “penitential cell.” The arcade in the aisle beneath has sculptured heads of astonishing variety, copies executed by Sir R. Smirke in 1827; and here are pointed arches with Norman billets. Upon the pavement are figures of Crusaders, ” in cross-legged effigy devoutly stretched,” but originally placed upon altar-tombs and pedestals.
These effigies of feudal warriors are sculptured out of freestone. The attitudes of all are different, but they are all recumbent with the legs crossed. They are in complete mail with surcoats; one only is bare-headed, and has the cowl of a monk. The shields are of the heater or Norman shape, but the size is not the same in all; one of them is very long, and reaches from the shoulder to the middle of the leg. Their heads, with one exception, repose on cushions, and have hoods of mail. Three of them have flattish helmets over the armour, and one has a sort of casque. They have been well restored by Mr. Richardson. The best authorities assign five of them as follow: to Geoffry de ilagnaville, Earl of
* In the rear of the house No. 322, High Holborn, is a room or hall, for some unexplained reason, called ” the chapel:” it has a finely panelled oak ceiling, about a.d. 1500; a large window opening, and a pointed doorway, now filled up. A few yards westward may be traced the position of the Round Church of the Templars, which they possessed previous to the erection of the present Temple Church in Fleet-street. Stow relates that adjoining the old Temple Church was the inn of the Bishop of Lincoln ; and afterwards a house belonging to the Earl of Southampton, to which the room in question appears to pertain.— J. Wt/keham Archer, 1850,
Essex, a.d. 1144 (right arm on his breast and large sword at his right)—lie is not mentioned by Weever; William Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke, a.d. 1219 (sculptured in Sussex marble, with his sword through a lion’s head); Robert Lord de Ros, a.d. 1245 (head pa. 1245 uncovered, with long flowing hair), whose effigy is said to have been brought from Helmsley Church, Yorkshire; William Mareschall, junior, Earl of Pembroke, 1231 (with lion rampant on shield, and sheathing his sword); Gilbert Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke, 1281 (drawing his sword, winged dragon at feet).— A Ola-nee at the Temple Church, by Henry Cole. See also Richardson’s Illustrations, 1845.
In 1841 were discovered the ancient lead coffins containing the bodies of these knights, who did not appear to have been buried in their armour j and none of the coffin ornaments were of earlier date than the beginning of the 13th century.
There has also been found in the Church an early inscribed monument, upon which Mr. W. S. Walford has succeeded in deciphering the name of Philip de St. Hilaire, who was of a Norman family, allied with the Clares and the Earl of Arundel at the close of the twelfth century; and the name his been found by Mr. Waterton among the Knights Templars of the century.
In the Temple Round, lawyers received clients as merchants on ‘Change: ” Retain all sorts of witnesses, That ply i’ the Temple under trees ; Or walk the Round with Knights o’ the Posts, About the cross-legg’d knights, their hosts.”— Hudibras, pt. iii. c. 8.
Dugdale says: ” Item, they (the lawyers) have no place to walk in and confer their learnings hut the church; which place all the term-times hath in it no more quietness than the Pervise of Paules, by occasion of the confluence and concourse of such as are suitors in the law.” ” The Round” is the nave or vestibule to the oblong portion, which is the Choir, in pure Lancet style, almost rebuilt in the restorations and alterations in 1839-42 by Savage and Sydney Smirke. The groined roof, richly coloured in arabesque, and ornamented with holy emblems, is rendered very effective by the floods of light from the triple lancet-headed windows.
The Temple Church Organ has a strange history. It was built late in the reign of Charles II. by competition. First was set up an organ by Schmidt, when Dr. Blow and Purcell, then in their prime, performed on the instrument on appointed days, to display its excellence. Another organ was built in a different part of the church, by Harris, who employed Sully, organist to Queen Catharine, to touch this organ, which brought it in favour; and the rival organs competed for nearly a year. At length, Harris challenged Schmidt to make additional reed-stops in a given time; these were the voxhumana, Cremorne, the double-cartel, or double-bassoon, and some others; and these stops, which were new to English ears, delighted the crowd at the trial. At length, Judge Jefferies, of the Inner Temple, terminated the controversy in favour of Schmidt; and Harris’s Organ was removed. The partisanship ran so high, that, according to the Hon. Roger North, ” in the night preceding the last trial of the reed-stops, the friends of Harris cut the bellows of Smith’s organ in such a manner that when the time came for playing upon it, no wind could be conveyed into the wind-chest.”
The Temple Organ is considered Schmidt’s masterpiece, and though additions have been made by Byfield, and by Bishop, it retains all the original pipes in great organ and choir organ. The swell was constructed by Byfield, and perhaps still contains the pipes of the original also. This organ is remarkable for possessing quarter-tones, so that there is a difference of tos, ferencene between G sharp and A flat, and also between B sharp and E flat. Originally this arrangement occurred only in the choir organ and great organ: and it seems to have been introduced either as an object of curiosity, or to render it in some way more perfect than its rival, since probably Harris was unprepared for the novel contrivance. (See A short Account of Organs built in England, 1847.) This organ is a grand instrument, but far too large for the church. The Musical Service here is very fine.
In the little vestry beneath the Organ-gallery is a marble tablet to Oliver Goldsmith, buried iu the ground east of the choir, April 9, 1774. The choir-stalls and benches are beautifully carved in oak from ancient examples : the altar is new, in the style of Edward I., and contains five canopied panels, gilt and illuminated; here are an ambry, piscina, and sacrarium or tabernacle for the Eucharist; and behind the altar are three ancient niches for sacred utensils. On the south is the monumental effigies of a bishop in pontificals, supposed to be that of Silverston de Eversdon, Bishop of Carlisle, d. 1255, and buried here. To the left is a white marble tomb over the remains of the learned Selden, d. 1654, in Whitefriars; his funeral sermon was preached by Archbishop Ussher. In the triforium are the tombs of Plowden, the jurist; Howell, writer of the Familiar Letters; and Edmund Gibbon, an ancestor of the historian: the views of the church from this gallery are very picturesque. Here are also several memorials of eminent lawyers; and among them, a marble bust, by Rossi, of Lord Chancellor Thurlow (d. 1806). On the south wall is a tablet to Ann Littleton (d. 1623), daughter-in-law to Sir Edward Littleton, with a quaint epitaph, ending—
” Keep well this pawn, thou marble chest; Till it be called for, let it rest: For while this jewel here is set, The grave is but a cabinet.”
It is mentioned in Dugdale’s Monasticon that both King Henry II. and his Queen Eleanor directed that their bodies should be interred within the walls of the Temple Chapel, and that the above monarch by his Will left 500 marks for that purpose. The walls are inscribed with Scripture texts in Latin; and between the top of the stalls and the string-course beneath the windows, is the Hymn of St. Ambrose. The windows, by Willement, are among the finest specimens of modern stained glass: the altar subjects are from the life of Christ, the interspaces being deep-blue and ruby mosaic, with glittering borders. Knights Templars fill the aisle windows; but that opposite the organ has figures of angels playing musical instruments.
A brief history of the Templars in England and of this church may be read in the rude effigies of the successive kings during whose reigns they flourished, now painted on the west end of the chancel. At the south corner sits Henry I. (a.d. 1128), holding the first banner of the Crusaders, half black, half white, entitled “Iieauseant;” white typifying fairness towards friends; black, terror to foes. This banner was changed during the reign of Stephen (a.d. 1116) for the red cross: ” And on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore, The deare remembrance of his dying Lord.” Henry II. and the Round Church are represented by the third figure. Richard I., with the sword which, he elded as Crusader, and John, his brother, are the next kings; and in the north aisle is portrayed He III., holding the two churches; the chancel, or square part, having been added in his reign, and con. ed on Ascension-day, 1240.—Cole’s Glance at the Temple Church.
Exten. ‘ly, the east end has three high gables, with crosses; and the bell is hung in a new stone turret on the north side. The church has been thrown open to view; and in removing tht house over the porch, a western wheel-window was exposed in the Norman Round. T “R groined western Norman porch has been restored, and covered with a leaded gable It ‘. The renovated ashlar-work has been carried throughout the Round; a new cone or “vfa has been ^laced on the top, in place of the former roof, dormer lights introduced, and the spl. terminated in a large metal gilt vane—a strictly mediaeval bird. By the W ^a- i buildings, a sort of new location is given to the Norman Round and porch, ana i “ken .grassy churchyard with its ancient
tombs. These works are by S. Smirke an f May** During their progress, the dust and bones of the learned John Selden were ” c.iriod away .md shot into a dust-hole.” Opposite the bell-turret, in the burial-ground, was found a decayed blue flag or slate ledger-stone, inscribed with uncial letters, ending den, which slab was once laid over the remains of Selden, whose dust and remains were ignominiously treated as above by the workmen. This is remarkable, seeing that, according to Aubrey, at the time of the interment of Selden, no pains seem to have been spared to render the depository secure. Aubrey tells us:—
” His (Selden’s) grave was ten foot deep or better, walled up a good way with brick, of which also the bottome was paved, but the sides of the bottome for about two feet high were of black polished marble, wherein his coffin (covered with black bays) lyeth, and upon that wall of marble was presently lett downe a huge black marble stone of great thickness with this inscription: ‘ His jacet corpus Johannis Selden, qui obiit die Novembris, 1654.’ Over this was turned an arch of brick (for the House would not give their ground), and upon that was throwne the earth, &c.—Letter to The Timet, late in 1864.
North-east of the Choir is the house of the Master of the Temple, as the preacher at the church is called : it is fronted by a garden, beneath which is the Benchers’ Vault. One of the most learned Masters was Hooker, author of the Ecclesiastical Polity; another eminent Master was Sherlock, afterwards Bishop of London.
The Offertory alms are distributed to the poor, chiefly old servants of the Temple, at Midsummer and Christmas.
In March, 1862, at a short distance south of the Round of the church were excavated some pillars and part of the basement of St. Anne’s Chapel, which connected the convent of the Temple with the church. This chapel was taken down in 1827 : here Almeric de Montfort, the Pope’s chaplain, who had been imprisoned by Edward I., was set at liberty at the instance of the Roman Pontiff.
St. Thomas the Apostle stood in Knightrider-street. It was an endowment of the Canons of St. Paul’s, and is spoken of so early as 1181. Sir Wm. Littlebury, alias Horn (so named, saith Stow, by King Edward IV., because he was an excellent
blower on the horn), was buried here. He bequeathed his house, called the George, in Bread-street, to find a priest for the sanctuary, who was to have a stipend of 6Z. 13*. 4d. yearly; also to every preacher at Paul’s-cross and the Spittle, 4d. for ever; to the prisoners at NewAlmsoners gate, &c., 10s. at Christmas and Easter, for ever, which legacies were soon forgotten. He further gave four new bells to the church, and 500 marks towards repairing the highways between London aud Cambridge. His house, garden, &c, to be sold and bestowed in charity, ” as his executors would answer before God.” The church of St. Thomas the Apostle was destroyed in the Great Fire, and was not rebuilt.
St. Thomas, Chaetebhottse, Goswell-street-road, a brick church in the Anglo-Norman style, was designed by E. Blore, and consecrated 1842. A portion is set apart for the Brethren of the Charterhouse.
St. Thomas’s, Southwark, in St. Thomas’s-street, was originally the church of the Monastery or Hospital of St. Thomas, but was made parochial after the Dissolution : in 1702 it was rebuilt of brick, with a square tower, closely resembling that of the former church. The Kegister records the marriage, Jan. 27, 1613, of the father and mother of John Evelyn. Johnson, the younger, the sculptor of the Stratford bust of Shakspeare, is ascertained, by Cunningham and Halliwell, to have lived in this parish.
Teinity, Holt, Bessborough Gardens, close to Vauxhall Bridge, a district church of St. Margaret’s and St. John’s, Westminster, was erected at the sole expense of Archdeacon Bentinck, Prebendary of Westminster; the foundation-stone was laid by Mrs. Bentinck, Nov. 8,1849, on which day also was founded another church, in Great Peter-street, in the same parish. Holy Trinity Church is designed in the Early Decorated style (temp. Edward 1. and II.) : at the intersection of the four arms rises an enriched tower and spire, 193 feet high: the east-end window of seven lights is large and fine. The church has been decorated and furnished by subscription.
Teinity, Holy, Bishop’s-road, Paddington, a Perpendicular church, built by Cundy in 1844-6 j it has a richly crocketed spire and pinnacled tower, 219 feet high, and a magnificent stained chancel-window: the crypt is on a level with the roofs of the houses in Belgrave-square.
Teinity, Holy, Brompton, a church in the Early English style, by Donaldson ; with a lofty tower, and stained glass of ancient design and colour; consecrated 1829. It occupies, with the burial-ground, the site of a nursery-garden; here flowers and funereal shrubs decorate the graves. John Beeve, the comic actor, is buried here.
Teinity, Holy, Hartland-road, Haverstock-hill, is a district church of St. Pancras, and was consecrated 1850. It is built in the Middle Pointed style, Wyatt and Brandon, architects, and consists of a Nave, with north and south aisles, Chancel, and tower and spire 160 feet high ; the chancel is novel, the arches producing an elegant play of lines.
Teinity, Gray’s-inn-road, district church of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, designed by Pennethorne, was built in 1837-8 : it has a pedimented centre, and belfry with cupola roof and cross, and catacombs beneath for 1000 bodies. Adjoining is the old burial-ground of St. Andrew’s, its crowded graves interspersed with trees and shrubs.
Teinity, Albany-street, Marylebone, designed by Soane, R.A., in classic taste, has the first story of the tower of beautiful design; but the second puny, owing to lack cowing toof funds. The basement has spacious catacombs.
Teinity, Holy, Minories, was originally the church of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, founded by Matilda, Queen of Henry I., in 1108. The church was without the walls of London, and escaped the Great Fire; but becoming insecure, it was taken down and rebuilt in 1706 j the font was taken from the old church ; a spring in Haydon-square was the Priory fountain. It is stated by Strype, that Trinity pretended to privileges, as ” marrying without a license.” In the Chancel is the tomb of the loyal William Legge, who bore the touching message of Charles I. from the scaffold to his son, the Prince of Wales, enjoining him to ” remember the faithfullest servant ever prince had.” Here, too, is buried Legge’s son, the first Earl of Dartmouth j and bis
grandson, the second Earl; and annotator of Burnet. Some bones from the battlefield of Culloden are deposited in the churchyard, bearing date 1745.
St. Vedast’s, Foster-lane, destroyed by the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, has an original and graceful spire, in three stories. The interior has a ceiling enriched with wreaths of flowers, and fruits, and foliage; and a carved oak altar-piece, with winged figures, palm-branches, a pelican, &c. In the vestry-room is a print of ” West Cheap ” in 1585, with the church of St. Michael on the north side of Paternoster.row, the burial-place of the antiquary, Leland (d. 1552). “The only church clock in London —or, perhaps, the kingdom— without a face, is St. Vedast’s, Foster-lane, at the back of the Post-Office, which strikes on a small shrill bell, supernumerary to the peal of six.”
Towees and Spires. —The Churches of London give much beauty to every view of the metropolis, and have, moreover, many valuable and interesting associations. In the ” Union of Benefices Act is nothing that shall authorize the pulling down the churches of St. Stephen, Walbrookj St. Martin, Ludgate; St. Peter, Cornhill; and St. Swithin, Cannon-street.” To preserve the other works of this class, a meeting was held on the top of St. Paul’s, at which six architects examined the various towers and steeples, with the view of saying which should be preserved. The sight was wonderful, and those present found few spires to the destruction of which they were willing to assent. A memorial was agreed on, and, being signed by the President of the Institute of Architects and members of the Council, presented to the House of Commons, praying that the following towers and steeples be added to those exempted from destruction, namely:
Saint Alban’s, Wood-street; Allhallows, Bread-street; Allhallows, Lombard-street; AUhallows, Thames-street; Saint Andrew’s, Holborn; Saint Antholin’s, Watling-street; Saint Augustine’s, Wat-ling-street ; Saint Bartholomew’s the Great; Saint Benet’s, Thames-street; Saint Bride’s, Fleet-street; Christchurch, Newgate-street; Saint Dionis’ Backehurch; Saint Dunstan’s in the East; Saint Dun-stan’s in the West; Saint Edmund the King’s; Saint George’s, Botolph-lane; Saint Giles’s, Cripplegate; Saint James’s, Garlick-hill; Saint Lawrence’s, Jewry; Saint Magnus’s, London Bridge; Saint Margaret’s, Lothbury; Saint Margaret Pattens’; Saint Mary Abchurch; Saint Mary Aldermary; Saint Mary’s-le-Bow; Saint Mary’s, Somerset; Saint Maty Magdalen’s, Old Fish-street-hill; Saint Michael’s, Cornhill; St. Michael’s, Queenhithe; Saint Michael’s Royal; Saint Mildred’s, Bread-street; Saint Mildred’s, Poultry; Saint Sepulchre’s; Saint Vedast’s, Foster-lane.
According to Mackeson’s trustworthy Guide to the Churclies of London and its Suburbs, 1866, their entire number is 368.
EPISCOPAL CHAPELS.
ASYLUM (Female Orphan) Chapel, Westminster-road, Lambeth, was built for the Charity, established 1758, at the suggestion of Sir John Fielding, the police-magistrate. The chapel service was rendered attractive by the singing of the Orphan children, and by popular preachers, thus contributing to the support of the institution by a collection. The Asylum was rebuilt in the country, in 1866, with the chapel, when the premises in Westminster-road were taken down.
St. Bartholomew’s, Kingsland, was an ancient and picturesque wayside chapel, near the toll-gate, and taken down in 1846. Its walls were of flint and rubble, the window-frames of stone, in the Perpendicular style, and in the roof was a wooden bell-turret. It was originally the chapel of a hospital or house of lepers, called * Le Lokas,” and was long an appendage to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, to which it was a kind of outer ward till 1761, when the patients were removed from Kingsland, and the site let for building. Upon the petition of the neighbouring inhabitants, the chapel was repaired, and service performed there, the chaplain being appointed by the governors of St. Bartholomew’s. It was so small as scarcely to contain 50 persons. It is engraved in Archer’s Vestiges of Old London, part i. 1850.
Bedfordbury Chapel and School. —Bedfordbury is a harrow street running out of New-street, Covent Garden, to Chandos-street, and was built about 1637. On the west side of this, a compound edifice, part chapel, part school, has been erected— the school-room placed over the chapel; and opened (not consecrated) with an afternoon service, Dr. Tait, Bishop of London, preaching. The site is about 60 feet by 40 feet. The building is entered from Bedfordbury, through a small gabled tower. The
P
doorway has an arched head, the tympanum being filled with sculpture representing ” The Good Shepherd.” The chapel consists of a Nave and south aisle, a small Chancel raised two steps, and a sacrariura one step higher. The material employed, inside and out, is brick, relieved with bands of red. The nave is divided from the aisle by a brick arcade, carried on Bath stone columns with carved capitals. The arch to the sacrarium is carried on small columns of slate with carved capitals and corbels. The sacrarium is decorated in a somewhat novel manner in sgrafito. There is a credence table and a reredos, in stone, alabaster, and marble, by Earp, who executed all the carving; the east window, of five lights, is filled with stained glass: the other windows are filled with rough plate-glass (not in quarries). Light is admitted, too, by dormers in the south aisle. The ceiling is boarded, and separated into compartments by the girders which carry the floor of the school-room. A harmonium has been presented to the chapel by Lady Overstone. The building, exclusive of the site, cost 2300Z., raised by subscription, headed by the Queen ahd Prince Albert, 250J.; Miss Burdett Coutts, 300Z.; architect, A. W. Blomfield.
Bentinck Chapel, Chapel-street, New-road, was built in 1772, and opened by the Rev. Mr. Hunt, father of the origi. T of thenator of the Examiner newspaper. The Rev. Basil Woodd was minister of this chapel 45 years.
Chaelotte Chapel, Charlotte-street, Buckingham-gate, was built in 1776 for ” the unfortunate Dr. Dodd,” who laid the first stone in July. ” Great success attended the undertaking,” writes Dodd; ” it pleased and it elated me.” In the following year, June 27, Dodd was hanged at Tyburn for forgery. Charlotte Chapel, now St. Peter’s, was also occupied by Dr. Dillon; it was refitted in 1850.
Dttee-steeet Chapel, Westminster, was originally the north wing of the house built for Lord Jefferies, Lord Chancellor to King James II., who permitted a flight of stone steps to be made thence into St. James’s-park, for Jefferies’s special accommodation : they terminate above in a small court, on three sides of which stands the once costly mansion. One portion of it was used as an Admiralty House, until that office was removed by William III. to Wallingford House. The north wing (in which Jefferies transacted his judicial business out of term) was formed into a chapel in 1769, with a daily service; Dr. Pettingale, the antiquary, was for some time incumbent.— See Walcott’s Westminster, p. 72.
Foundling Hospital Chapel, Gnilford-street, was designed by Jacobson, in 1747, and built by subscription, to which George II. contributed 3000Z. Handel gave the large profits of a performance of his music j and his Messiah, performed in the chapel for several years under his superintendence, produced the Charity 7000Z. At the west end of the edifice are seated the children and the choir; and in the centre is the Organ, given by Handel: the altar-piece, ” Christ presenting a little Child,” is by West, who retouched the picture in 1816. Several blind ” foundlings,” instructed in music, by their singing, greatly added to the funds of the Charity, by pew-rents and contributions at the doors, and for several years the latter exceeded 1O00Z. ; the net proceeds of the chapel have been stated at 687?. the year, after paying the professional choir. Beneath the chapel are stone catacombs: the first person buried here was Captain Coram, the founder of the Hospital. Lord Chief-Justice Tenterden is interred here; and his marble bust is placed in the eastern entrance to the chapel. Children who died in the Hospital were formerly buried in the churchyard of St. Pancras.— When the Rev. Sidney Smith came to London, in 1804, he was elected one of the chaplains to the Foundling Hospital, where his sermons were very attractive, especially those on the objects of the Charity, so often misunderstood and misrepresented. The chaplain’s salary was but 50Z. a-year. Mr. Smith resided in Doughty-street, and here he early obtained the ‘acquaintance and friendship of several eminent lawyers in that neighbourhood; the most distinguished of whom were Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr. Scarlett (Lord Abinger), and Sir James Mackintosh. To these may be added Dr. Marcet, M. Dumont, Mr. Whishaw, Mr. R. Sharpe, Mr. Rogers, &c. Mr. Smith likewise officiated at Berkeley Chapel, May-fair; and at Fitzroy Chapel.— Lives of Wits and Humourists, vol. ii. pp. 216-219. 1862.
Geay’s-inn Chapel, on the south side of Gray’s-inn-square, on the site of a chapel built long anterior to the Reformation, has special seats assigned to the Benchers, Barristers, and Students, and others unappropriated. It has been much modernized. Here are three good windows by Gibbs, on the north side: 1. Christ in the Temple, in the midst of the Doctors. 2. Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount. 3. The Ascension. These windows were presented by Samuel Turner, Esq., one of the Benchers, and Dean or Js, and f the chapel, 1862. In the east window are the arms of the various prelates who have been either honorary Members or Benchers of the Society. A new Organ was set up in 3863. The sermons are preceded by “the Bidding Prayer.” The Offertory is dispensed to the poor of the Inn. The music is chiefly from the old English masters, sung by the choir, established 1850. There do not appear to be any records of the Preachers earlier than 1574, when Mr. W. Cherke, or Charke, was appointed : he was afterwards Preacher of Lincoln’s-inn and Fellow of Eton. There have been 23 preachers since his day, among whom were Dr. Roger Fenton, one of the translators of the Bible; Dr. Richard Sibbes, the celebrated Puritan, author of the Bruised Reed ; Dean Nicholas Bernard, Chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and one of his almoners; Bishop Wilkins, the mathematician; Archbishop Wake; Dean Robert Moss; Archdeacon Stebbing; Bishop Walker King; Dr. Matthew Raine, Head-master of Charterhouse School; and Dr. George Sheppard, an elegant and sound scholar, who died in 1849. He was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Hessey, Head-master of Merchant Tailors’ School, &c, the present preacher.
Gbosvexoe Chapel, South Audley-street, contains in its vault the remains of Ambrose Philips, the Whig poet, whom Pope ridiculed, but Tickell, Warton, and Goldsmith eulogized; of Lady Mary Wortley Montague; and John Wilkes, characteristically designated by himself on a tablet as ” a Friend to Liberty.”
Hanovee Chapel, Regent-street, between Prince’s and Hanover-streets, was built in 1823-28, C. R. Cockerell, R.A., architect, and is of the Ionic order of the Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene : it has a well-proportioned portico extending across the footpath, and picturesquely breaking the street-line; two square turrets, of less felicitous design, finish the elevation. The interior is square, and mostly lighted by a large glazed cupola, surmounted with a cross; and the arrangement generally resembles that of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook: the altar-piece is a splendid composition of imitative antique marbles, enriched with passion-flowers and lilies, superbly coloured.
HorsE of Chaeitt Chapel, Greek-street, Soho, was built in 1863, from designs by Joseph Clarke, F.SA., and intended for the Wardens, Sisters, Council, and Associates, together with the inmates of the Hospital, known as the House of Charity.
The chapel has been built on the type of the early apsidal churches, with round aisles. The chapel of St. Croix, attached to the Abbey of Mount Majour, furnished the idea of the applicability of apsidal aisles as being specially adapted to the requirements of the House. The original arrangement of the plan was Basilican. The bema containing the Bishop’s chair, with the Clergy round the altar, with the retable behind, standing in advance on the chord of the arc. The two apsidal divisions on each side of the chapel, as aisles, are for the inmates—for the women on the north side and the men on the south, the easternmost apses being for communicants. The centre of the chapel, which has a lofty iron fleche, besides the celebrants, is occupied by the Associated Members, and there are grilles on either side, as parcloses to ante-chapels from the nature of the ground could not be provided. The chapel is closed from the western narthex by wronght-iron gates, and the narthex (which serves as the entrance from those three) being closed, becomes available on festivals. The chapel has been erected with much care, both as regards solidity and polychromatic effect. The walls are built in a variety of stones, combined with reference to colour, and are lined internally wi wiinternath chalk as a vehicle of future frescoes. The roofs and all the woodwork are of oak. The floor of the sacrarium with the marble steps is very striking. The altar is of oak, the retable of stone, with the super-altar of marble. The ordinary hangings of the altar are exquisitely wrought by the ladies who undertook this costly work. The needlework of the sedilia, the steps, the Bishop’s chair in applique, are equally worthy of the offering. Mr. Arthur O’Connor, an Associate, executed the painted glass with which the whole chapel is filled. Bound the chapels and the bema are low stone seats, with the stall or chair for the Bishop, as visitor, at the extreme end of the latter. The Choir and Clergy have oak stalls set on the paving, with chairs for the Council, Associates, and inmates. The chapel is open to Rose-street, with a low wall in front. The entrance into the interior quadrangle, and to the chapel, is through a covered passage at the west end; and ultimately the chapel will form one side of this court, with a covered way round.
The House of Charity was originally established in 1846, at a house in Rose-street, for affording gratuitous temporary board and lodging to deserving persons, who, by such afflictions as the death of parents, husband, or employer, are brought almost to the verge of destitution. The house, No. 1, Greek-street, where the institution is now located, was the town residence of Alderman Beckford, the father of the builder of Fonthill Abbey: it is a fine house, and in the requisite alterations its elaborate plaster ceilings, carved chimney-pieces, and wainscot panelling, have been preserved.
St. James’s Chapel, Hampstead-road, is a chapel-of-ease to St. James’s, Westminster. In the burial-ground adjoining lie George Morland, the painter (d. 1804), and his wife; John Hoppner, the portrait-painter (d. 1810); and, without a memorial, Lord George Gordon, the leader of the Riots of 1780, who died in Newgate in 1793.
St. James’s Chapel, Pentonville, is a chapel-of-ease to St. James’s, Clerkenwell, and was built by T. Hardwick. Here is interred R. P. Bonington, the landscape-painter (d. 1828); and in the burial-ground lies poor Tom Dibdin, the playwright, close by the grave of his friend, Joseph Grimaldi, ” Old Joe,” the famous clown, who died in 1837.
St. John’s Chapel, Bedford-row, at the corner of Chapel-street and Great James-street, was the frequent scene of schism from its first erection for Dr. Sacheverell: it was subsequently occupied by the Rev. Mr. Cecil (Low Church); by the Rev. Dr. Dillon, of unenviable notoriety; the Rev. Daniel Wilson (Bishop of Calcutta); the Rev. Mr. Sibthorp, given to change; and by the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, who after 22 years’ ministry, preached his farewell sermon here, Dec. 3, 1848; and on Aug. 9, 1849, was publicly baptized in John-street Chapel, of which he became minister. St. John’s has been altered and enlarged, and re-opened in 1866.
Kentisu Town Chapel, or district church, is a spacious and costly edifice in the Early Decorated style; Bartholomew, architect. It has two lofty steeples, and a large painted altar-window; and four smaller windows, inscribed with the Decalogue, Creed, &c, within sacramental borders of corn and vines; the altar recess has some good sculpture.
face=”Georgia, “Palatino Linotype”, “Book Antiqua”, Palatino, “Times New Roman”, serif”> King’s College Chapel, Strand, is of Romanesque design, G. G. Scott, architect: the choir consists of students, and of boys on the foundation as ” Choral Exhibitioners.”
St. John’s-wood Chapel, north-west of the Regent’s-park, is of the Ionic order, and was designed by T. Hardwick : it has a tetrastyle portico, and a tower, surmounted with a Roman-Doric lantern. Here, or in the adjoining cemetery, which is tastefully planted with trees and shrubs, are buried John Farquhar, Esq., of Fonthill Abbey, Wilts, with a medallion portrait; Richard Brothers, ” the prophet;” Tred-gold, the engineer; Joanna Southcott, “the prophetess,” with prophetic quotations from Scripture, in gilt letters upon black marble; John Jackson, R.A., the portrait-painter, &c. ” About 40,000 persons He interred in this cemetery.”—(Smith’s Mary-lebone, 1833.)
Lamb’s Chapel was originally founded in the reign of Edward I., in the hermitage of St. James’s-in-the-Wall, which was a cell to the Abbey of Gerendon, in Leicestershire, certain monks of which were appointed chaplains here; on which account, and a well belonging to them, called Monks’ Well, the street was called Monkswell-street. The chapel of St. James, with its appurtenances, was granted by Henry VIII. to William Lamb, one of the gentlemen of his chapel, and a citizen and clothworker, who gave it to the Clothworkers’ Company; they have four sermons preached to them annually, and after the sermon, relieve, with clothing and money, twelve poor men, and as many poor women. Lamb’s Chapel (the ancient Hermitage Chapel) contained a fine old bust of the founder, in his livery-gown, placed here in 1612, with a purse in one hand and his gloves in the other; and in the windows were paintings of St. James the Apostle, St. Peter, St. Matthew, and St. Matthias. The chapel was noted for many private marriages. Beneath the old chapel was a crypt, with Saxon or Norman capitals; and upon this crypt the chapel and almshouses were re-built in 1825, Angell, architect ; style, Elizabethan. The bust of Lamb, painted in colours, is in the west wall.
Leadexhall Chapel, built within the precincts of Leadenhall by Sir Simon Eyre, in 1417, some time an upholsterer, was fair and large, and over the porch was written ” Dextra Domini exaltavit me.” He gave 3000 marks to the Drapers’ Company, that Divine service might be kept up for ever; but his munificent bequests were not carried out as they should have been.
Lincols’s-i>”n Chapel, one of ” the Old Buildings,” was built in 1621-23 : Dr. Donne laid the first stone, and preached the consecration sermon, the old chapel being then in a ruinous condition. Inigo Jones was the architect of the new chapel, as stated in the print by Vertue, in 1751: it stands upon an open crypt or cloister, in which the students of the Inn met and conferred, and received their clients. Pepys records his going to Lincoln’s-inn, ” to walk under the chapel, by agreement.” It is now enclosed with iron railings, and was used as a burial-place for the Benchers. The chapel has side windows and intervening buttresses, style, temp. Edward III.; the large eastern window has a beautifully traceried circle, divided into twelve trefoiled lights. At the south-west angle is a turret with cupola and vane, and containing an ancient bell, traditionally brought from Spain about 1596, among the spoils acquired by the gallant Earl of Essex at the capture of Cadiz. The ascent to the chapel is by a flight of steps, under an archway and porch, the latter built by Hardwick in 1843. The windct 843. Thows are filled with glass, unusually fine: those on the sides have figures of prophets and apostles, by Flemish artists; the great eastern and western windows have armorial embellishments. The carved oaken seats are of the time of James L, but the pulpit is later. The Organ, by Flight and Robson (1820), is of great power and sweetness of tone; and the choral service is attentively performed. In the porch is a cenotaph, with Latin inscription, to the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval; and on the ascent to the chapel is a marble tablet to Eleanora Louisa (d. 1837), daughter of Lord Brougham (a Bencher of Lincoln’s-inn), with a poetic inscription, in Latin, by the celebrated Marquis Wellesley, written in his 81st year. Among the remarkable persons buried in the cloister under the chapel are John Thurloe, Secretary of State to Oliver Cromwell; and William Prynne, who preserved many of our public records. In the list of preachers in this chapel are the great names of Gataker, Donne, Ussher, Tillotson, Warburton, Hurd, Heber, J. S. M. Anderson, &c. Here are delivered annually the Warburtonian Lectures.—(Selected principally from a carefully-written account of Lincoln’s-inn and its Library, by W. H. Spilsbury, Librarian. 1850.)
St. Luke’s Chapel, Consumption Hospital, Fulham-road, built at the cost of Sir Henry Foulis, Bart., in* memory of a deceased sister; consecrated June, 1850; style, Early English, E. B. Lamb, architect. It is exclusively for the officers and patients of the Consumption Hospital. The chapel, the details of which are very elegant, consists of a Nave, north and south transeptal projections, and a Chancel; and is connected with the Hospital by a corridor, externally ornamented with pinnacled buttresses and gable crosses, and an octagonal bell-turret. The Organ, by Holdich, is unique. The windows are traceried, and filled with stained glass; the roof is open timbered ; the Chancel has florid sedilia of stone, and is separated from the nave by a low traceried screen. The interior fittings are of oak, some bearing the arms and crest of the founder, heraldically: ” Arg. three bay-leaves proper; crest, a crescent arg. surmounted by a cross sa.;” the motto is ” Je ne change qu’en mourant.” The crest has been most frequently used, as applicable to the building—” Christianity overcoming Paganism.” The floor is partly paved with tiles of armorial patterns. The seats are specially adapted for the patients. This is stated to be the only consecrated chapel attached to any metropolitan hospital.
Magdalen Hospital Chapel, Blackfriars-road, is attractive by the singing of a choir of the reclaimed women. The ” Magdalen House” was originally established in Prescot-street, Goodman’s-fields, in 1758; where Dr. Dodd was chaplain, and rendered great service to the Charity by his eloquent preaching.
Mabgaeet-stkeet Chapel, Margaret-street, Cavendish-square, was first converted into a chapel in 1783. Huntington preached here with Lady Huntingdon’s people, when he first came to London. In 1833, the minister was the Rev. W. Dodsworth.
who has since seceded to the Roman Catholic Church. At Margaret-street may be said to have been the first development of ” Puseyism” in the metropolis. In 1842, the chapel was under the direction of the Rev. Frederick Oakeley, a non-resident Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.
” Flowers, and altar-candlesticks, and Gregorian chantings, and scarce-concealed bowings, and strange modes of reading prayers, and frequent services, with haprvices,a conspicuous cross over the communion-table, served to awake the suspicions of the wary; and in conjunction with a course of zealous and earnest preaching, and the self-denying lives of the chief minister and his friends, to persuade the frequenters of the chapel that here, at least, was a true ‘ Catholic revival,’ and that by the multiplication of Margaret Chapels the whole Anglican Establishment might be at length ‘ un-Protestantized.’ To Margaret Chapel also was due no little of that phase of the movement which consisted in the’ adapting” of Catholic books to’ the use of members of the English Church;’ and by the employment of which it has done so much good in preparing the minds of its congregations for the reception of the Catholic faith. This system was soon taken up by no less important a person than Dr. Pusey himself.”— The Rambler, a Soman Catholic Journal, Feb. 1851.
In 1845, Mr. Oakeley resigned his license as minister of Margaret Chapel, which then fell to his curate, the Rev. Mr. Richards. Mr. Oakeley subsequently joined the Roman Catholic Church. The chapel in Margaret-street was taken down in 1850; the site is included in that of All Saints’ Church, described at pp. 146-7.
St. Mark’s, North Audley-street, a chapel-of-ease to St. George’s, Hanover-square, is of original and not inelegant design, by Gandy Deering, R.A., 1828; the order is Ionic from the Erechtheium; the portico has two handsome fluted columns, with an enriched entablature; and above is a turret of Grecian design, with pierced iron-work sides and pyramidal stone roof, with gilt ball and cross. The entrance is a very good example of the portico in antis, i.e., columns standing in a line, in front, with the outer or projecting ends of the side walls of the chapel. Some of the adjoining houses are in the heavy style of Sir John Vanbrugh.
St. Mark’s Chapel, Fulham-road, attached to the National Society’s Training College for Schoolmasters, in the Byzantine style; Blore, architect, 1843; cruciform in plan, with semicircular eastern end, and twin towers with high-pitched broclte roofs, resembling an early German church. The east end has some stained glass of olden character. It serves as a place of worship for the adjoining district, as well as for the inmates of the College; and the musical service, including cathedral service and anthems, is by the students; offertory on Sundays and festivals, to defray the expenses of the chapel.
Percy Chapel, Charlotte-street, was built by the Rev. Henry Matthew, an early patron of Flaxman (Cunningham). It was the scene of the showy, eloquent preaching of the Rev. Robert Montgomery, author of The Omnipresence of the Deity, a poem.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Chapel, Queen-square, Westminster, was originally a royal gift for the special use of the Judges of Westminster, and was frequented by the members of the Royal Household. In 1840, it was much injured by a fire, which originated in the adjoining mansion of Mr. Hoare j and the altar-piece, then nearly destroyed, was one of the finest specimens of ancient oak-carving in England. Here have officiated the venerable Romaine, Gmin, Basil Woodd, Wilcox, and Shepherd: the latter for fifty years held the chaplaincy, with the lectureship of St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields. St. Peter’s was, about a hundred and fifty years ago, the chapel of the Spanish Embassy; and here preached Antonio Gavin, a secular priest, who having been converted from Popery to the Church of England, was licensed to officiate in this chapel in the Spanish language, bmesh languy Dr. Robinson, the Bishop of London; and sermons in Spanish preached here by Gavin were published.— Gent. Mag., Feb. 1827.
St. Peter’s (formerly- Oxford) Chapel, Vere-street, Oxford-street, designed by Gibbs, was built about 1724, and was once considered the most beautiful edifice of its class in the metropolis. It has a Doric portico and a three-storied steeple. The Duke of Portland was married at this chapel in 1734. The Rev. F. D. Maurice is the incumbent. ” This is a Government church : the Government collects and reserves the pew-rents, and pays 4501. to the incumbent. No free seats, no poor, and no district. The offertory alms are paid to the rector of All Souls, Langham-place.”—Mackeson’s Churches.
St. Philip’s Chapel, Regent-street, midway between Waterloo-place and Piccadilly, was built by Repton, and consecrated in 1820. It has a tower copied from the Lantern of Demosthenes at Athens; and a Doric portico, with sacrificial emblems on the side porticos or wings.
Pobtlaxd Chapel, now St. Paul’s, in Great Portland-street, was built in 1776, on the site of a basin of the Marylebone Waterworks: it was the cause of many fatal accidents, and the scene of as many suicides; there is a view of the basin engraved by Chatelain. The chapel was not consecrated at the time of its erection; but Divine Service was performed in it until 1831, when the consecration was performed, and it was dedicated to St. Paul. At the Portland Hotel, north of the chapel, Captain Sir John Ross lodged after his return from the North Polar Expedition, in 1833.
Quebec Chapel, Quebec-street, Marylebone, was built in 1788, and is celebrated for its sweet-toned Organ and musical service. The interior of the chapel is described as ” a large room with sash-windows.”
Ragged Chuecii. —In Brewer’s-court, Wild-street, exists a ragged church with its affiliated institutions—a ragged school, ragged mothers’ meeting, and ragged Sunday-school teachers. The congregation meet every Sunday. Their homes are in Lincoln-court, Wild-court, and other dreary bays, into which is washed up the refuse of a London population. Many of them have been for various terms in prison, or in penal servitude. In winter, every hearer receives a loaf of bread on retiring. Some hearers have no coats, some no shirts, and others ragged trousers. They are visited at their homes by the ministers of the Ragged Church during the week ; and on Sunday about a hundred and fifty of them flock to the service and sermon at the church.
Rolls Chapel is attached to the Rolls House, between 14 and 15, Chancery-lane, and was originally built of flints, with stone finishings, early in the seventeenth century. Pennant states that it was begun in 1617, and that Dr. Donne preached the consecration sermon. The large west window has some old stained glass, including the arms of Sir Robert Cecil and Sir Harbottle Grimston; and here are a large Organ, and presses in which the Records are kept. Among the monuments are: to Dr. John Young, Master of the Rolls (temp. Henry VIII.), a recumbent figure, in a long red gown and deep square cap, the face fine; above, in a recess, is a head of Christ, between two cherubim, in bold relief—this tomb is attributed to Torrigiano; to Lord Kinloss, Master of the Rolls to James I.,’ reclining figure in a long furred robe, and before him a kneeling figure in armour, supposed his son, killed in a desperate duel with Sir Edwardtweth Sir Sackville; also, kneeling figure in armour of Sir Richard Allington, his wife opposite, and three daughters on a tablet ; and here lies Sir John Trevor, Master of the Rolls (d. 1717), and other Masters. Bishops Burnet, Atterbury, and Butler, were eloquent preachers at the Rolls’; and Butler’s volume of fifteen sermons delivered here contains the germ of his great work, the Analogy of Religion. Rolls Chapel occupies the site of a house founded by Henry III. for converted Jews, and in 1377, annexed by Edward III. to the new office of Custos Rotulorum, or Keeper of the Rolls, who was his chaplain and preacher: in 1837 the estate was vested by Parliament in the Crown, the salary of the Master of the Rolls being fixed at 7000Z. a year in lieu of fines and rents.
Texison’s Chapel, between Nos. 172 and 174, east side of Regent-street, was founded by Archbishop Teni3on, who, in 1700, conveyed to trustees (of whom Sir Isaac Newton was one) this chapel or tabernacle, to be employed as a public chapel or oratory for St. James’s parish; at the same time giving 500/. to be laid out in the purchase of houses, lands, or ground-rents. Out of the revenues and the Archbishop’s charity were to be provided two preachers for the chapel, and a reader ” to say Divine Service every day throughout the year, morning and afternoon;” a clerk to officiate; and schoolmasters to teach without charge poor boys of the parish to read, write, cast accounts, and in five years to assist them in becoming apprentices. There are forty boys on the foundation; non-foundationers pay 12s. 6d. per quarter: the school is at No. 172, Regent-street. The Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being is visitor of
this excellent charity. The chapel was erected in 1702, and was refronted in building Regent-street.
Teinitt Ciiapel, Conduit-street, now a neat brick edifice, was originally a small wooden room upon wheels, resembling a caravan. Evelyn describes it as ” formerly built of timber on Hounslow-heath, by King James for the mass priests, and being begged by Dr. Tenison, rector of St. Martin’s, was set up by that public-minded, charitable, and pious man.” Pennant writes :—
” The history of Conduit-street Chapel, or Trinity Chapel, is very remarkable. It was originally built of wood by James II., for private mass, and was conveyed on wheels, attendant on its royal master’s excursions, or when he attended his army. Among other places, it visited Hounslow-heath, where it continued some time after the Revolution. It was then removed and enlarged by the Rector of the parish of St. Martin’s, and placed not far from the spot on which it now stands. Dr. Tenison, when Rector of St. Martin’s, got permission of King William to rebuild it; so, after it had made as many journeys as the house of Loretto, it was by Tenison transmuted into a good building of brick, and has rested ever since on the present site.”
Thinity (Holt) Chapel, Knightsbridge, was formerly attached to a Hospital belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. There is, in the British Museum, a grant of James I. providing a supply of spring water from Hyde Park, ” by pipe of lead.” It has always been traditionally told in Knightsbridge, that during the fatal year of the Plague, 1665, the Hospital was given up to plague patients; and it is also said that the inclosed spot on the Green was the burial-place of the victims. The chapel is of ancient foundation, and was rebuilt in 1699; the front was extended in 1789. Many of our readers may possibly remember the quain asber thetly-inscribed stone slabs under the upper windows: one bearing the words, ” Rebuilte by Nicho. Birkhead, Gould-smith, of London, Anno Dom. 1699;” and the other (the westernmost), ” Capella Sanctae Indiuiduas Trinitatis.” It was frequently dignified with the name of church. In the list of ministers was the Rev. H. J. Symons, who read the burial service over Sir John Moore at Corunna. He gained the notice of the Duke of York in this pulpit, and quitted it for the Peninsula, with a regiment, to which he was chaplain. The chapel was noted for its irregular marriages; Shadwell, in his play of The Sullen Lovers, 1668, speaks of ” a person at Knightsbridge, that yokes all stray people together ;” and in the Guardian, No. 14, March 27, 1713, we read of a runaway marriage being celebrated ” last night at Knightsbridge.” Here Sir Samuel Morland married his fourth wife, who was recommended to him as an heiress, and Morland, being ” distracted for want of moneys,” was ” led as a fool to the stocks, and married a coachman’s daughter, not worth a shilling,” and whose moral character proved to be none of the purest; but he got divorced from her. At Trinity Chapel, July 30, 1700, Robert Walpole was married to Katharine Shorter, daughter of a Lord Mayor, and mother of Horace Walpole. (See extracts from the Registers, in Memorials of Knightsbridge, pp. 51-92.) The chapel has been rebuilt; Brandon and Eyton, architects. Its roof is entirely new in its construction, introducing an entire range of clerestory lights on each side, to compensate for the want of lights in the side walls; the building being adjoined, on each side, by ordinary houses.
Yokk-stkeet Chapel, on the north side of St. James’s-square, is a chapel-of-ease to St. James’s. In 1815, it was occupied by Swedenborgians. It was originally the chapel of the Spanish Embassy (then at the present No. 7, St. James’s-square); and the ” Tower of Castile,” the arms of Spain, appears on the parapet of the front.
FOREIGN PROTESTANT CHURCHES.
DUTCH CHURCH, Austin Friars. The German, Butch, or Flemish Branch was at first composed of the Polish exile Jean a Lasco, and the members of his church at Embden in East Friesland. To these German Protestants were united the Dutch and Flemish refugees; they are all included in the Charter of Edward VI., as forming one sole nation, Germanorum; and the church was subsequently known as the Flemish Church. The ” Temple du Seigneur Jesus,” in Austin Friars, is occupied by the members of the Dutch Church: on its painted windows is inscribed, ” Templum Jesu, 1550.” It originally belonged to the House of Augustine Friars, founded by Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford aqd Essex; it had “a most fine-spired steeple, small, high, and straight.” Henry VIII., at the Dissolution, gave away the house and grounds, but reserved the church, which his son, Edward VI., gave to the Dutch or German nation (1550) ” to have their service in, for avoiding of all sects of Ana-Baptists, and such like.” From that time to this it has continued to that use. The church contains some very good Decorated windows. Strype says:—
” On the west end, over the skreen, is a fair library, inscribed thus: ‘ Ecclesiae Londino-Belgise Bibliotheca, extructa sumptibus Maria? Dubois, 1659.’ In this library are divers valuable MSS., and letters of Calvin, Peter Martyr, and others, foreign Reformers.” The books have been presented to the Library of the Corporation, at Guildhall.
On July 24, 1850, the tercentenary of the Royal Charter of Edward VI. was solemnly commemorated in this church by a special service, as also in the French Protestant Church in St. Martin’s-le-Grand ; and the members of the consistories of both churches dined together in the evening, and drank “To thememory of the pious King Edward VI.” The present church is the Nave only of the original building, which was granted by Edward VI. to the strangers in London. This contained, also, north and south transepts, choir, chapels of St. John and St. Thomas, chapter-house, cloisters, &c., and there was a remarkable spire, or Jleche, at the intersection of the cross, all of which were destroyed by the Marquis of Winchester, to whom they had been granted at the Reformation. The church was founded upwards of 600 years ago—namely, in 1253, as an inscription over its western entrance indicates; but the Nave was erected a century later. ” It is,” wrote Mr. Gilbert Scott, the architect, ” a noble model of a preaching nave, for which purpose it was no doubt specially intended, being of great size and of unusual openness. It is upwards of 150 feet by 80 feet internally, supported by light and lofty pillars, sustaining eighteen arches, and lighted by large and numerous windows with flowing tracery. It is, in fact, a perfect model of what is most practically useful in the nave of a church.” In November, 1862, the roofs of the nave and north aisle were almost wholly destroyed by fire, when it was proposed to take down the edifice and erect a small chapel on its site. Mr. Scott, however, showed that the walls and internal stonework could be easily restored, and this has been effected. The roof, which is now of wood, and open and elegant in design, substituting an unsightly flat ceiling, is supported on twenty graceful columns, with arches springing from each pillar, and towards the east end there are six dormers in it, three on each side to light up the chancel. The church consists now, as before, of a lofty nave and two side aisles. Its interior is 136 feet in length, by 80 feet; the nave is 50 feet high, and each of the side aisles 37 feet. Besides the main or western door, there is a porch at the south side of the building. In addition to the dormers in the roof, the fabric is lighted by eighteen windows, with flowing tracery, including the western window, which, next to that of Westminster-hall, is said to be the largest of any building in London. The tracery in twelve of the windows, which had been wholly destroyed by time and the fire together, is restored in Portland stone. The prevailing style of architecture throughout the edifice is pure Gothic. The new Organ, by Hill and Sons, has a magnificent effect in this lofty and almost cathedral edifice.
French. —There are in London two branches of the Church of Foreign Protestants founded by Charter of Edward VI., July 24, 1550. The French Branch was at first exclusively composed of the refugees who quitted France before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.* They first assembled with their German and Dutch brethren in the ” Temple du Seigneur Jesus ” in Austin Friars; but their number having greatly increased, they subsequently met for public worship in the chapel of St. Mary, dependent on the Hospital of St. Antony, in Threadneedle-street, and belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. This chapel was taken down in 1841, consequent on the fire which destroyed the Royal Exchange; the congregation having retained almost uninterrupted possession of the site for nearly three centuries. The first church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, but was speedily rebuilt. The congregation next removed to a new church in St. Martin’s-le- Grand, nearly opposite the General Post-office : this church, designed by Owen, and opened in 1842, is a tasteful
* The number of French Protestants who took refuge in England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes is estimated at 80,000. Of these, 13,000 settled in London, in the districts of Long Acre, Seven Dials, Soho, and Spitalftelds. At least one-third of these refugees joined the French Church in the years 1688, 1637, and 1688.— Manifesto, 1850.
specimen of Gothic, and has a large east window with flamboyant tracery, flanked by lofty turrets. We may here mention that about a third of the Nantes refugees met in the first church. James II. gave permission for another French church to be founded in London; in 1688 was opened the Temple de VHopital, in Spitalfields, afterwards the Eglise Neuve.
During succeeding reigns, there were established in London alone no less than twenty-two foreign congregations, some of which adopted the Anglican rite, while others preserved the discipline of the Reformed Church of France. In a sermon, preached in the French Church of the Artillery in Spitalfields, in 1782, the preacher lamented that, out of twenty flourishing churches which existed on his arrival, nine had been closed, and others were declining; while M. Baup, in 1841, mourned that, of these eleven, three only remained. ” As our two sisters, the Eglise des Grecs and that of the Quarr6, have adopted the Anglican rite, we remain the only representatives in London of the Reformed French churches; while we are also alone, among all the foreign churches in this kingdom, in having, in common with the Dutch Church, preserved our rights to the charter of Edward VI.”
La Savoy, Bloomsbury-street, was designed by Ambrose Poynter, and built for the congregation first established in the Savoy : it is in the Gothic style, and has a Pointed gable, and a large Decorated eastern window.
” In the year 1646, the French Protestant refugees commenced their church services in Pembroke House, near Whitehall. In 1660, the congregation had increased to 2000, with two ministers. Charles II. granted them the use of the Savoy Chapel, in the Strand: they adopted the ritual of the English Church, and received letters-patent from the King, under the title of the French Protestant Episcopal Chapel of the Savoy. The congregation increased so rapidly that, in less than twenty years, there were three separate churches—the Savoy, the Greek Church in Soho, and a church in Spring Gardens. In 1733, the Savoy Chapel was abandoned for want of funds to repair it; and in 1700, the congregation only possessed the Greek Church, in Soho, and after being transferred to a building in Edward-street, Soho, they built the above church in Bloomsbury-street, which was consecrated under the name of St. John, by the Bishop of London, on 22nd of December, 1845. The Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Church was celebrated on the 14th July, 1801.”—Mackeson’s Churches.
Swiss.—There were considerable numbers of Swiss in this country previously to the Eebellion of 1745, when George II. availed himself of the offer of the Swiss to furnish him with a regiment; the monarch acknowledged this devotion by presenting them with a standard, bearing this inscription :—
“These colours were presented by King George the Second to the Swiss residents in this country, as a mark of the sense which his Majesty was graciously pleased to entertain of the otTcr made by them of a battalion of 500 men towards the defence of the kingdom on the occasion of Ane occas the Rebellion” (Scottish, 1745).
About 1722, the Swiss, with the approval of George I., granted the ground for building a church near Charing Cross, but they were not sufficiently numerous to raise the funds. But, in 1762, the Swiss having increased in numbers, a congregation of Protestant worshippers met in Castle-street, Holborn, in a building styled the Eglise Helvetique. One of the principal promoters of this church was M. Francois Justin Vulliamy, a native of Berne, who had settled in London, and became the founder of the house of Vulliamy, in Pall Mall, clockmakers; there is in the Eglise Suisse a clock given to the church by Francois Vulliamy, above named. On the 27th of June, 1762, M. Buignon preached the inauguration sermon from the text, ” It is good for us to be here.” The little chapel in Castle-street was so crowded that there was not standing-room. It was a neat building, and cost little more than 100CM. Before the expiry of the lease of the church in Castle-street, in 1770, to endeavour to raise subscriptions and build on lease another church, appeals were made to the Swiss in London, and to all who felt any interest in Switzerland. One curious answer was made to this appeal —the present of a ” lottery ticket, No. 2110,” by a M. des Barres, as his ” voluntary subscription to the building of the chapel;” it is presumed to have turned up a blank. The royal family were memorialized, and a petition in French presented to George III. to aid the fund, but without effect. However, on the 22nd of March, 1775, was laid the first stone of the Eglise Helvetique, in Moor-street, Seven Dials. In this church Protestant service was conducted in the French language till 1855. The Prince of Orange, while an exile in England, owing to the troubles arising out of the French Revolution, was a frequent attendant; and the Swiss congregation subsequently numbered among its occasional worshippers the Princess Charlotte, the daughter of George IV. A tablet which is placed in the present Eglise Suisse explains the interest which her Royal Highness took in the minister and his flock. The former, Alexandre Sterky, who was born in the Canton de Vaud, in 1767, and died in London in 1838, had been French tutor to the Princess. He was the minister of the church for forty-six years. The present church, the Eglise Suisse, Endell-street, was opened in 1855. There are
some three hundred attendants, about two-thirds of whom are Swiss, or of Swiss origin. The entire service is conducted in French. The singing at the Eglise Suisse is accompanied by an Organ and the whole congregation. Here are preserved the colours presented by George II.
DISSENTERS’ CHAPELS.
ALBION CHAPEL, Moorgate-street, next to 116, London Wall, designed by Jay, has a pleasing diastyle Ionic portico. It belongs to a United Presbyterian congregation.
Baptist Chapel, Little Wild-street, Lineoln’s-inn-fields: here is annually preached a sermon in commemoration of the Great Storm, Nov. 26, 1703. The preacher in 1846, the Rev. C. Woollacott, in describing the damage by the Storm, stated:—
” In London alone, more than 800 houses were laid in ruins, and 2000 stacks of chimneys thrown down. In the country upwards of 400 windmills were either blown down or took fire, by the violence with which their sails were driven round by the wind. In the New Forest, 4000 trees were blown down, and more than 19,000 in the same state were coasistate wunted in the county of Kent. On the sea the ravages of this frightful storm were yet more distressing: 15 ships of the Royal Navy, and more than 300 merchant vessels, were lost, with upwards of 6000 British seamen. The Kddystone Lighthouse, with its ingenious architect, Mr. Winstanley, was totally destroyed. The Bishop of Bath and Wells and his lady were killed by the falling of their palace. The sister of the Bishop of London, and many others, lost their lives.”
This annual custom has been observed upwards of a century. The chapel is built upon the site of Weld House and gardens, the mansion of the son of Sir Humphrey Weld, Lord Mayor of London in 1608. It was subsequently let: Ronquillo, the Spanish ambassador, lived here in the time of Charles II. and James II.: and in the anti-Popish riots of the latter reign the house was sacked by the mob, and the ambassador compelled to make his escape at a back door.
Baptist Chapel, on the west-side of Bloomsbury-street, was designed by Gibson, and opened Dec. 2, 1848 : it is in elegant Lombardic style j the central portion has a gable pediment, large wheel-window, flanked by two lofty spires, and is very picturesque. It was built by Sir Morton Peto, at the expense of 12,000J., and will hold from 1500 to 2000 persons. South is the French Protestants’ Gothic Chapel; and the tasteless pile to the north is Bedford Chapel. The sole condition which Sir Morton Peto imposed upon the Baptist congregation was that they should repay, at their convenience, one-third of the expense, which he, on his part, undertook should be laid out in opening another chapel for the denomination in some other part of the town. Sir Morton Peto subsequently purchased the building formerly known as the ” Diorama,” in the Regent’s-park, and had it converted at his expense into a chapel for the Baptist denomination, by extensive alterations. The roof, for instance, which was a forest of complicated timbers, depended in a great measure for support upon framed partitions extending across the building in different directions. All these had of necessity to be removed, and a wrought-iron girder, 84 feet span, was substituted. Upon this girder, directly or indirectly, the whole roof is now supported, leaving the area of the chapel unobstructed. The style of architecture adopted is the Byzantine.
Among the houses taken down near Bloomsbury-street, and towards the centre of what is now New Oxford-street, stood the Hare and Hounds public-house, a noted resort of the Londoners of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries : till the reign of Charles II. it bore the sign of the Beggar’s Bush, when the name was changed, owing to a hunted hare having been caught there, and cooked and eaten in the house.
Baptist Chapel, The, Notting Dale, built in 1863, is a curiosity in its way. It is a slip (eleven bays) of one of the annexes of the International Exhibition Building, 1862, reconstructed by Mr. Owen Jones, who has made the interior quite gay by the application of his favourite red, white, and blue to the well-remembered old roof timbers, and with greys and yellows and pretty classical borderings round walls and windows, brought the whole into harmony, at a trifling expenditure on common distemper colour and stencil patterns.— Companion to the Almanac, 1864.
Caledonian Chapel, Cross-street, Hatton Garden, was the chapel at which the Rev. Edward Irving first preached in the metropolis.
” Irving’s London reputation was made by Canning. Irving removed to London in the year 1822, being then thirty years of age. He came at the invitation of the Caledonian Chapel in Hatton Garden,
where a small sprinkling of Scotch assembled together. Among these was Sir James Mackintosh, who was especially delighted with one phrase which Irving let fall when he spoke of orphans cast upon ‘ the fatherhood of God.’ One night, in the House of Commons, he reported the phrase to Canning. The latter was anxious to hear the tartan, and both he and Mackintosh went the following Sunday to the Caledonian Chapel. A few nights afterwards, from the Treasury bench, Canning had to rise, and to make some remarks on clerical affairs. In the course of his speech he referred to the sermon which he heard from Irving’s lips as the most eloquent that he had ever listened to. That speech was the making of Irving. All the fashion of London flocked to him. His chapel was crowded to overflowing. His powers grew as encouragement increased, and he rose into notoriety as the greatest pulpit orator of the day.”— Life of Irving, by Mrs. Oliphant.
Canonbuey Chapel, St. Paul’s-road, Islington, was built for a congregation of Evangelical Nonconformists; Habershon, architect. The height of the building to the apex of gables is 57 feet; the interior height to lantern, 60 feet; the span of the roof is 66 feet. There are transverse arches at the four transepts, and three large windows and eight clerestory windows.
The London Congregational Chapel Building Society has stated that “The large and rapidly increasing district of Islington has a population of about 110,000, with church and chapel accommodation for less than 30,000; that is, for little more than one-fourth of the population. That the present number of inhabitants is about twice as great as it was fifteen years ago, and, during that period, very little has been done by all religious bodies for providing increased accommodation for public worship. Only one additional chapel has been erected by the Congregationalists for au additional population of about 55,000 persons.”
Catholic and Apostolic Cht/kch, Gordon-square, was commenced in the year 1853, for the community who take this title. It was designed by Raphael Brandon, and consists of Chancel (with an eastern chapel, occupying the usual position of a Lady chapel), north chancel aisle (provision is made for a south aisle at some fixture period), north and south transepts, with lantern at intersection, Nave and aisles. The height from the floor of nave to the ridge is 90 feet. The carving in the chapel is exceedingly well done, especially that in the arches of the last three divisions on the south side of the arcade which encompasses the walls. The Chancel has a stone groined roof, with some excellent carving in the bosses. As an adaptation of the Early English style, this church must be considered one of the most successful modern works.
Congregational Nonconfoemist Chubch, Kentish Town, designed by Hodge and Butler, and opened in 1848, is in the Ecclesiastical style of the fifteenth century, and has several richly-traceried windows filled with stained glass, including a splendid wheel-window, 15 feet diameter.
Essex-steeet Chapel, Strand, the head-quarters of the Unitarians of the metropolis, is built upon part of the site of Essex. House, taken down in 1774. In a portion of it was kept the Ce Cas keptottonian Library from 1712 to 1730; one of its large apartments was let to Paterson, the auctioneer, and was next hired by the patrons of Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Disney (Unitarians), to preach in. In 1805, on the death of Dr. Disney, Mr. Thomas Belsham removed to Essex-street Chapel from the Gravel-pit congregation at Hackney, where he had succeeded Dr. Priestley. At Essex-street, Belsham continued pastor during the rest of his life, acquiring great popularity by his eloquent and argumentative preaching; he died in 1829, aged 80, and was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Madge.
Hoebuet Chapel, Kensington-Park-road, Notting-hill, was built by subscription of the Independent denomination, and opened Sept. 13, 1849. The design, by Tarring, is transition from Early English to Decorated, with a pair of towers and spires; the principal windows are filled with stained glass.
Independent Chapel, Robinson’s-row, Kingsland, was built about 1792: here the Rev. John Campbell, the benevolent South-African missionary, was thirty-seven years minister, and is buried; and a monument to his memory has been erected by his flock.
Jewin-street Chapel, Aldersgate-street, was built in 1808, for a congregation of English Presbyterians, who removed thither from Meeting-House-court, Old Jewry. Among the eminent pastors were the eloquent John Herries; Dr. Price, F.R.S., the writer on finance; and Dr. Abraham Rees, editor of the Cyclopadia with his name.
Mobavian Chapel, Fetter-lane, is the only place of worship belonging to the
Moravians (United Brethren) in London, by whom it was purchased in 1738, on their settling in England. The interior is remarkably plain, and bespeaks the simple character of its occupants; there is a small organ, for they have church music and singing j there are no pews, but seats for males and females, apart. The chapel is capacious, but the auditory does not exceed from 200 to 300 persons: the support is voluntary. There is a burial-ground for the members, with a small chapel, at Lower Chelsea, near the Clock-house. At Chelsea, in June, 17GO, died Count Zinzendorf, who first introduced the Moravians into this country. The chapel in Fetter-lane lies in the rear of the houses, one of the entrances to it being through No. 32: it was possibly so built for privacy. It escaped the Great Fire of 1666, and was originally occupied by Nonconformists. Turner, who was its first minister, was very active during the Great Plague; and having been ejected from Sunbury, he continued to preach in Fetter-lane till towards the close of the reign of Charles II. Here also Baxter, the eminent Nonconformist divine, preached after the Indulgence granted in 1672 ; and he held the Friday-morning lectureship until August, 1682.
National Scotch Ciiurch, Crown-court, Little Bussell-street, Covent Garden, has a cement Norman facade, with the staircases effective outside features. The minister is the Rev. Dr. dimming, who preached before Queen Victoria, at Crathie, Balmoral, Sept. 22, 1850; and who ably controverted the claims of Dr. Wiseman the same year.
Old Gravel-pit Meeting-house, Hackney, was built in 1715 : here Dr. Price, F.R.S., and Dr. Priestley were ministers; next Mr. Belsham, the congregation being Anti-Trinitarians; succeeded by the Rev. Robert Aspland, who remained here till the erect grill theion of the New Gravel-pit Meeting-house, ” Sacred to one God the Father,” in Paradise-fields.
Oxendon Chapel, Haymarket, was built about 1675, by Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist divine, in Oxendon-street, on the west side, at the back of the garden-wall of the house of Mr. Secretary Coventry, from whom Coventry-street derives its name. Baxter’s principles were so little to the liking of Secretary Coventry, that he instigated the guards of Charles II. to come under the windows and flourish their trumpets and beat their drums whenever Richard preached. Finding that not a word he said could be heard, and that remonstrating with these gentry was dangerous, Baxter sought to dispose of the building. Dr. Lloyd, rector of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, kindly introduced the affair to the vestry of St. Martin’s. By his mediation poor Baxter obtained the handsome rental of 40£. per annum for the building from the vestry, and it was forthwith consecrated as a ” Tabernacle” to St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Oxendon Chapel now belongs to the Scotch Secession.
Presbyterian Dissenters’ Chapel, Mare-street, Hackney, was established early in the seventeenth century: here Philip Nye and Adoniram Byfield, two eminent Puritan divines, preached in 1636; and Dr. W. Bates and Matthew Henry were pastors late in the seventeenth century. The old meeting-house has been taken down, and a new one built opposite, and occupied by Independents.
Presbyterian Meeting-house, Newington-green, established soon after the Restoration, was rebuilt about 1708: in the fist of ministers are Richard Biscoe, Hugh Worthington, M.A., John Hoyle, Dr. Richard Price, F.R.S., Dr. Amory, Dr. Towers, Mr. Lindsey, Dr. Isaac Maddox (afterwards Bishop of Worcester), Thomas Rees j and Mr. Barbauld, husband of the authoress.
Providence Chapel, Little Titchfield-street, Marylebone, was built by a congregation of Independents for Huntington, S.S. (” the Coal-heaver,” as he called himself), upon his credit with ” the Bank of Faith,” when he quitted Margaret Chapel: when it was finished, ” I was in arrears,” says Huntington, ” for 1000J., so that I had plenty of work for faith, if I could but get plenty of faith to work; and while some deny a Providence, Providence was the only supply I had.” This chapel was burnt down, with seven houses adjoining, July 13, 1810, and the site became a timber-yard.
Providence Chapel, on the east side of Gray’s-Inn-lane, nearly opposite Guilford-
street, was built for Huntington, S.S., by his flock, after the destruction of the Titch-field-street Chapel: this second edifice he named from the pulpit for these reasons: that ” unless God provided men to work, and money to pay them, and materials to work with, no chapel could be erected; and if He provided all these, Providence must be its name.” The chapel was, accordingly, built in Gray’s-Inn-lane, and upon a larger scale than the last; it was made over to him as his own, and bequeathed in his will to his widow, who, however, resigned it to the congregation. It was subsequently altered and opened as an Episcopal Chapel, the Rev. T. Mortimer, B.D., minister.
Regent-square Chapel, Gray’s-inn-road, was built for the Rev. Edward Irving, in ld-, serif1824-5, W. Tite, the architect, adapting the west front from York Cathedral: the twin towers are 120 feet in height. Here the ” unknown tongues” attracted large and fashionable congregations.
AVhen the charm of novelty was worn off, the chapel in Cross-street, Hatton Garden, was still insufficient for Mr. Irving’s congregation, and they resolved on the erection of another chapel of larger dimensions. For this purpose 7000/. was in a short time subscribed, and a piece of ground purchased on the south side of Sidmouth-street, Brunswick-square, for the sum of 1800/. The Duke of Clarence had undertaken to lay the foundation-stone, but was prevented by illness, and it devolved upon the Earl of Breadalbane. “I undertook to open Irving’s new church in London,” says Dr. Chalmers. ” The congregation, in their eagerness to obtain seats, had already been assembled three hours. Irving said he would assist me by reading a chapter for me. He chose the longest in the Bible, and went on for an hour and a half. On another occasion he offered me the same aid, adding, ‘ I can be short.’ I said,’ How long will it take you ?’ ‘ Only an hour and forty minutes.'” Still Irving drew the crowds. ” The excitement which Irving created in London held the throngs together for hours. They were first assembled for hours before he made his appearance, and then they listened to his lofty discourse for hours more. His sermon for the London Missionary Society was three hours long, and he had to take rest twice in the middle of it, asking the congregation each tune to sing a hymn.”
Scotch Chtjech, The, Swallow-street, Piccadilly, was originally a French Protestant Chapel, founded in the year 1692 : it was purchased by James Anderson, and converted into a Presbyterian Meeting-house; and in the Treasury Crown Lease Book (No. 1, p. 71) will be found a letter from the Surveyor-General, dated 1729, giving a history of the foundation of this church, and Anderson’s petition for a lease, which was granted by the Lords of the Treasury; but the chapel being much out of repair, and the congregation poor, the fine was remitted; the building was then valued at 20Z. The above document is printed in Notes and Queries, 2nd S., No. 3. The chapel has been rebuilt of red brick, with a low spire.
Sotjth-place Chapel, Finsbury, is of Ionic design, and was built for a Unitarian congregation, under the ministry of Mr. W. J. Fox, the eloquent M.P. for Oldham.
Spa-fields Chapel, Exmouth-street, Spa-fields, though consecrated for ” Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion,” nearly 80 years since, was originally built for, and opened as, a place of public amusement, called the Pantheon, in 1770, in imitation of the Pantheon in Oxford-road. The Spa-fields building is circular in plan, and had a statue of Fame on the top. The interior had galleries entirely round the whole; and in the centre was a curious stove, with fire-places all round, from which the smoke was carried off without any chimney, and the building was warmed in the severest weather. There were also a garden, with shrubs and fruit trees, and boxes and tea-rooms for company. Upon the same site was previously the ” Ducking Pond House,” with a fine view of Hampstead, Highgate, and the adjacent country. The Pantheon lost its character, and was closed in 1776. The pious Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, then proposed to convert the place into a chapel, but was discouraged by Toplady. It was theardy. It en fitted up, and opened upon Evangelical principles, as Northampton Chapel, and became very popular. In 1779 it was opened ” in the Connexion of the Countess of Huntingdon.” In 1780, it narrowly escaped being pulled down by the Rioters. The congregation became wealthy and influential: the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, often attended here; the pulpit was for many years supplied with ministers from Cheshunt College. The chapel will hold 2000 persons, and is lighted by a monster ring of gas-jets. Large schools are attached to the chapel. In the large house adjoining, formerly the tea-rooms of the Pantheon, Lady Huntingdon resided twelve years, and here she died in 1791, in her 84th year. She had expended 100,000Z. in works of charity : she had founded, wholly or in part, 64 chapels in her connexion. The extensive plot of ground in the rear of Spa-fields Chapel became, soon after its opening, a
burial-place for Nonconformists and others. It contains 42,640 square feet, and would decently inter 1361 adult bodies; yet within 50 years 80,000 bodies were deposited here, averaging 1500 per annum. To make room, bones and bodies were burnt for upwards of a quarter of a century, to the constant annoyance of the neighbourhood; until, in 1845, the lessees of the ground were indicted, and the pestilential nuisance stopped. This agitation brought about the Abolition of Burials in Towns. (See Pinks’s History of ClerTcenwell, 1865, pp. 141-151.) The old chapel was noted for the four lofty pillars which supported the roof, they having been presented for the purpose by the States-General of Holland in 1764; and being, consequently, a memorial of the friendly intercourse then subsisting between the English Nonconformists and the Dutch.
Stepney Meeting, The, erected for Congregationalists in 1863, in place of one of the oldest Independent chapels about London, is of Second Pointed Gothic, and of hammered stone in irregular courses, with Bath stone dressings: it has a stone spire, 150 feet high, with clustered pinnacles at the base; and a wheel window with graceful tracery, and filled with stained glass. The roof is high-pitched, curved, and panelled: cost 10,000?.; architects, Searle, Son, and Yelf.
Sueeey Chapel, corner of Little Charlotte-street, Blackfriars-road, is of octagonal form, and was built in 1783, for a congregation of Calvinistic Dissenters, the Rev. Rowland Hill, pastor, who preached here in the winter season for nearly 50 years: he had a house adjoining, where he died, aged 88, in 1833, and was buried in a vault under the chapel. Adjacent, in Hill-street, are Almshouses for 24 poor widows, built and maintained by the Surrey Chapel congregation.
Swedenboeg- Chttbch, Argyle-square, King’s-cross, was opened Aug. 11, 1844, for the followers of Swedenborg, whither they removed from a small chapel in the City, built about forty years previously. The new church is in the Anglo-Norman style, Hopkins, architect, with two towers and spires, 70 feet high, each terminating with a bronze cross; the intervening gable has a stone cross, and a wheel window over a deeply-recessed doorway. The interior has a finely-vaulted roof; the altar arrangements are peculiar; and there is an Organ and choir. The founder of the sect of Swedenborgians, the learned Baron Swedenborg, who died in 1772, is buried in the Swedish Church, Prince’s-square, Ratclifle Highway.
Tabebnacle, The, in Moorfields, was built in 1752; previously to which, in 1741, shortly after Whitefield’s separation from Wesley, som844m Weslee Calvinistic Dissenters raised for Whitefield a large shed near the Foundry, in Moorfields, upon a piece of ground lent for the purpose, until he should return from America. From the temporary nature of the structure it was named, in allusion to the tabernacles of the Israelites in the Wilderness; and the name became the designation of the chapels of the Calvinistic Methodists generally. Whitefield’s first pulpit here is said to have been a grocer’s sugar-hogshead, an eccentricity not improbable. In 1752, the wooden building was taken down, the site was leased by the City of London, and the present chapel was built, with a lantern roof: it is now occupied by Independents, and will hold about 4000 persons. This chapel was the cradle of Methodism; the preaching-places had hitherto been Moorfields, Marylebone-fields, and Kennington-common. Silas Todd describes the Tabernacle in Moorfields as “a ruinous place, with an old pantile covering, a few rough deal boards put together to constitute a temporary pulpit, and several other decayed timbers, which composed the whole structure.” John Wesley preached here (the Foundry, as it was called), at five in the morning and seven in the evening. The men and women sat apart; and there were no pews, or difference of benches, or appointed place for any person. At this chapel the first Methodist Society was formed in 1740.
Tabebnacle, Metbofolitan, was built for Mr. Spurgeon, upon part of the site of the Fishmongers’ Company’s Almshouses, at Newington, in 1861. The exterior has a large hexastyle Corinthian portico, and four angle turrets; the interior is remarkable for its great size, luminousness—it being lighted both from roof and windows—and unecclesiastical appearance: it was modelled from the Surrey Music-hall, in which Mr.
Spurgeon for some time carried on his ministration. The ceiling and galleries are supported by thin iron columns, of salmon colour, with gilt capitals ; the florid gallery fronts are white and gold. Instead of a pulpit there are two raised platforms with balconies; from the upper one the minister, with his church officers sitting around him, preaches and conducts the service. The chapel will hold 6500.
Tbinity Independents’Chaped, East India-road, Poplar, was erected in 18-40-1, by Hosking, at the expense of Mr. George Green, the wealthy shipbuilder of Black wall, principally for shipwrights in his employ, and for inducing the seamen in the neighbourhood to attend Divine worship. The chapel has a Greek Corinthian portico, and facade with enrichments of shells, dolphins, and foliage; and a classic bell tower, the summit 80 feet high. The interior has a Keene’s-cement pulpit, highly decorated; and a powerful Organ by Walker, in a Grecian architectural case.
United Pbesbyteeians. —Thiee or four noteworthy churches were built in 1863. Park Church, Highbury New Park, Habershon, architect, is a modification of the Anglo-Italian of Hawksmoor’s time, and has a tower with pinnacled spire. At Clapham, a Presbyterian church has been erected, its chief feature being a lofty ‘ Corinthian portico. Another at Shaftesbury-place, Kensington, J. M. M’Culloch, architect, is Second Pointed Gothic, with short transepts, a tower with spire, and a large five-light traceried window.
Unity Chuech, Islington, T. C. Clarke, architect, was completed in 1862, for the congregation formerly meeting in Carter-lane, City, and is remarkable for its strictly ecclesiastical character. It is cruciform, has a broad Nave with narrow aisles, and a shallow Pbnd a shsemi-octagonal chancel; a handsome tower with double buttresses, cornice, gurgoyles, &c, and a spire 120 feet high. The principal entrance, in Upper-street, is Second Pointed in style, but Italianized: the window-heads have elaborate tracery, and in the tympanum of the entrance is a relievo of Christ’s Charge to Peter. The interior has much good carving, some polychromy; stone pulpit, with shafts and inlay of coloured marbles and alabaster, with reliefs on the panels; large stained-glass windows; and the organ treated as part of the design. The building has a curiously orthodox appearance, considering for whose use it has been constructed : it cost upwards of 10,O0OZ.
Weigh-house ChapeI/, Fish-street-hill, is named from the Weigh-house of which it occupied the site, whereon formerly stood the church of St. Andrew Hubbard, before the Great Fire. The chapel, which belonged to the Independent connexion, was rebuilt about thirty years ago upon a small freehold plot, which cost 70O0Z., but which was sold, in 1866, to a Railway Company for 95.000Z., besides compensation to the minister of the chapel, the Rev. Thomas Binney. William Hone, who was persuaded by his Independent friends to try his talent as a preacher, appeared frequently in the pulpit at Weigh-house Chapel, where, in 1835, he was struck by paralysis.
Wesleyan Chapel, City-road, was built in 1778, upon ground leased by the City: thither John Wesley removed from the Foundry in Moorfields, the lease of which had expired; and thenceforth the City-road Chapel became the headquarters of the Society of Methodists. Wesley laid the first stone, in which his name and the date were inserted upon a plate of brass : ” This was laid by John Wesley, on April 1, 1777.” ” Probably,” says he, ” this will be seen no more by any human eye, but will remain there till the earth and the works thereof are burnt up.” John Wesley, who died March 2, 1791, aged 88, was buried here in a vault which he had prepared for himself, and for those itinerant preachers who might die in London.
corpsei each of
escutcheon, no pomp, except the tears of them that’love me/and are following me to Abraham’s bosom.’ On the day preceding the interment, Wesley’s body lay in the chapel, in a kind of state becoming the person, dressed in his clerical habit, with gown, cassock, and band, the old clerical cap on his head, a Bible in one hand, and a white handkerchief in the other. The face was placid, and the expression which death had fixed upon his venerable features was that of a serene and heavenly smile. The crowds who flocked to see him were so great, that it was thought prudent, for fear of accidents, to accelerate
the funeral, and perform it between five and six in the morning. The intelligence, however, could not be kept entirely secret, and several hundred persons attended at that unusual hour.”—Southey’s Life of Wesley, 3rd edit. vol. ii. p. 403.
Wesleyax Chapel, Kentish Town, is of ecclesiastical character: it is huilt of stone, has a handsome west window of seven lights, with good tracery j and a tower with a tall stone spire. It has an open-timber roof, and apsidal termination, which serves as an organ-loft, not chancel; in front is the pulpit, large enough to contain three or four ministers; architect, J. Tarring.
Wesleyan Chapel, Gre Nen Chapeat Queen-street, Lincoln’s-inn-fields, huilt in 1811, has a tasteful facade, added by Jenkins in 1841, consisting of a small Ionic tetrastyle forming a portico, crowned by a pediment; above is a Venetian triple window, and a handsome cornicione. The front is executed in beautiful Talacre stone from North Wales, and is the earliest instance of its being employed in our metropolitan buildings.
Wesleyan Model Chapel, East India-road, Poplar, named from its improved plan, was built in 1848, James Wilson, architect, by subscription, to which one person gave 500/. The style is Decorated, and the materials are Caen and rag stone. The windows are richly traceried; there are two turrets, each 80 feet higb, and the building is finished with a pierced parapet, pinnacles, and roof-cresting.
Wesleyan Chapel, at the angle of the Islington end of the Liverpool-road, is in the Decorated style: it has a turret on the front gable 76 feet in height, and the parapets are pierced with trefoils and quatrefoils. The principal windows have flowing tracery; and the interior, divided by arches and octangular columns, whence spring the roof timbers, is altogether of ecclesiastical character.
” The Wesleyans have now five or six edifices in London, clothed in the Gothic dress of various periods, and following the usual arrangements of a mediaeval church, except having no tower and no extensive chancel, resembling in this respect the churches erected between the Reformation and the late abandonment of church design. The average capacity of these buildings is for 1300 persons. One, nearly facing St. John’s, Clerkenwell, affects the complete Gothic above, and has a neat original front, but thin.”— Companion to the Almanac, 1851.
Whitefield’s Tabeenacle, Tottenham-court-road, was designed by the Rev. George Whitefield, and commenced building in 1756, upon a plot of ground near the Field of Forty Footsteps, and the Lavender Mills, Coyer’s Gardens. It was first opened for public worship, Nov. 7, 1756. In 1759 or 1760 was added an octangular front, which gave it the appearance of two chapels; the addition being called ” the Oven,” and the chapel itself, ” Whitefield’s Soul-Trap.” This enlargement is said to have been aided by Queen Caroline, consort of George II., who seeing a crowd at the door unable to obtain admission, observed it was a pity that so many good people should stand in the cold, and accordingly sent Whitefield a sum of money to enlarge the chapel; it was called “the Dissenters’ Cathedral.” When Whitefield preached there it was visited by many persons of rank and distinction. The Prince of Wales and his Royal brothers and sisters, Lord Chesterfield, Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Halifax, Horace Walpole, David Hume, and David Garrick, are all reported to have been among Whitefield’s hearers. The existing pulpit is the same from which Whitefield preached. In the vestry there is a good portrait of Whitefield, taken when he was young, and also a fine bust of him ; with portraits of all the ministers since the commencement, viz., the Rev. George Whitefield, M.A.; the Rev. Josiah Joss, the Rev. Joel Abraham Knight, the Rev. Matthew Wilks, the Rev. John Hyatt; the Rev. John Campbell, D.D.; the Rev. Joseph Wilberforce Richardson; and the present minister, the Rev. James H. Boulding. Whitefield here preached his last sermon in England on the 2nd of September, 1769; he died on the 20th of September, 1770, at Boston, America. It had been agreed between Whitefield and Wesley that whichever of them died first, the survivor should preach the funeral sermon. Wesley preached Whitefield’s funeral sermon in Tottenham-court-road Chape hart-roadl, on the 30th of November in the above year. Another instance of a clergyman preaching his own funeral sermon occurred in this chapel on the 16th of August, 1787. This was the Rev. Henry Peckwell, D.D., the cause of whose death was a prick of his finger with a needle, at a post-mortem examination, when some of the putrid blood got into the wound, which caused mortification in a few days. At this time Dr. Peckwell was doing duty for the minister of
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Tottenham-court-road Chapel. Being conscious of his approaching end, he ascended the pulpit with his arm in a sling, and preached, from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, xiii. 7, 8, an affecting sermon, at the conclusion adding that this was his farewell sermon. ” My hearers,” he said, ” shall long hear it in mind, when this frail earthly-body shall be mouldering in its kindred dust.” The congregation were unable to conjecture his meaning; but next Sunday morning, a strange minister ascended the pulpit and informed them that Dr. Peckwell had breathed his last on the evening before! The burial-ground which surrounds this chapel was made from the mould which was brought from the burial-ground of the church of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, in the City of London, when that church was taken down, in 1764, to enlarge the Bank of England, which now occupies the same site. By this cunning, it is stated, the consecration fees were saved. On Thursday, May 13, 1824, the Rev. Edward Irving here delivered in Whitefield Chapel his celebrated missionary oration of three hours and a half. In 1828, Whitefield’s lease expired, and the chapel was closed until 1830, when it was purchased by trustees for 20,0O0Z., and altered at a great cost, the exterior being coated with stucco. It was well adapted for hearing, the octagonal portion serving as a kind of funnel or trumpet to the voice: it will seat from 7000 to 8000 persons. In 1834, an unhappy difference arose between the minister, the Rev. Dr. Campbell, and the trustees of Whitefield Chapel, which caused the chapel to be placed in Chancery: the trial respecting it occupied between three and four days. In 1857, the chapel was considerably damaged by fire. It was, however, repaired, and some years later it was sold to the London Congregational Chapel Building Society for 47001. It has by them been almost rebuilt. The front has a portico and octagonal tower, with a dome. The interior is lighted from the dome by a starlight ; and behind the pulpit is a fine Organ, built by J. Walker. Here are monuments to Whitefield, the founder; to Toplady, the zealous Calvinistic controversialist with John Wesley; and to John Bacon, the sculptor, who wrote his own epitaph, as follows:—
” What I was as an Artist
Seemed to me of some importance while I lived;
But what I really was as a Believer
Is the only thing of importance to me now.”
Zoae Chapei, in Zoar-street, leading from Gravel-lane to Essex-street, Southwark, was the meeting-house in which the celebrated John Bunyan was allowed to preach, by favour of his friend, Dr. Thomas Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, to whom it belonged; and if only one day’s notice was given, the place would not contain half the people that attended ; 3000 persons have been gathered together there, and not less than 1200 on week-days and dark winter mornings at seven o’clock. t>
FRIENDS’ OP QUAKE PS’ MEETING-HOUSES.
THERE are six Friends’ Meeting-houses in the metropolis: 1. Devonshire House (Houndsditch); 2. Bishopsgate-street Without; 3. Peel (Peel-court, John-street, Smithfield); 4, Ratcliffe (Brook-street); 5. Southwark (Redcross-street) ; 6. Westminster (Peter’s-court, St. Martin’s-lane). The first established was that in ‘White Hart-court, which was taken down in 1865.
” The Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends is held in London, opening always on a Wednesday in the latter end of May, and continuing into the month of June, generally lasting about ten days or a fortnight. Of course it is the most important event in their religious system, the most interesting season in their year. To this great meeting the business of all their lesser meetings points, and is here consummated. To it delegates are sent from every quarter of the island; by it committees are appointed to receive appeals against the decisions of minor meetings, to carry every object which is deemed desirable, within their body or beyond it, into effect; by it Parliament is petitioned; the Crown addressed; religious ministers are sanctioned in their schemes of foreign travel, or
those schemes restrained; and funds are received and appropriated for the prosecution of all their views as a society. The City is their place of resort; and the Yearly Meeting is held in Devonshire House.
“The mingling of plain coats, broad hats, friendly shawls, and friendly bonnets, in the great human stream that ever rolls along the paves of the City, in that neighbourhood, at this season, becomes very predominant. Bishopsgate Within and Bishopsgate Without, Gracechurch-street, Houndsditch, Liverpool-street; Old Broad-street, Sun-street, almost every street of that district, fairly swarms with Friends. The inns and private lodgings are full of them. TheWliite Hart and the Four Swans are full of them. They have a table-d’hote, at which they generally breakfast and dine. Every Friend’s house at this time has its guests; and many of the wealthy keep a sort of open house.
” At a Friends’ Meeting, the men are sitting all on one side by themselves, with their hats on, and presenting a very dark and sombre mass; the women sitting together on the other, as light and attractive. In the seats below the gallery are sitting many weighty friends, men and women, still apart; and in the gallery a long row of preachers, male and female, perhaps twenty or thirty in number. You may safely count on a succession of sermons or prayers. Men and women arise, one after another, and preach in a variety of styles, but all peculiar to Friends. Suddenly a man-minister takes off his hat, or a woman-minister takes off her bonnet; he or she drops quietly on the bass before them; at the sight the whole meeting rises, and remains on its feet while the minister enters in
GREEK CEURCKES,
GREEK CHURCH, London Wall, the first ecclesiastical structure erected by the Greek residents in London, was opened in 1850, on Sunday, Jan. 6, O.S., and in the Greek Kalendar, Christmas-day. The edifice is Byzantine (from Byzantium, the capital of the Lower Greek Empire), with Italian interior details. The north front has three horse-shoe arches fringed, and Byzantine columns, between which are the entrance doorways; and in the upper story is a similar arcade, containing three windows: above is this inscription, in Greek characters:
” During the reign of the august Victoria, who governs the great people of Britain, and also other nations scattered over the earth, the Greeks sojourning here erected this Church to the Divine Saviour, in veneration of the rights of their fathers.”
Above is a pediment surmounted with a cross. In plan, the church is a cross of equal parts; the ceiling is domed in the centre : on the north and south sides are galleries, with flower-ornamental fronts, and supported on decorated arches and pillars, with fine capitals. The altar-screen has these panel pictures, painted in Russia : the Annunciation ; the Virgin holding the infant Jesus; Jesus sitting on a throne; and St. John the Baptist. In a centre panel is inscribed, in Greek:
” O Lord, the strength of those who trust in Thee, uphold the Church which Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.”
Within the Iconostasis, or screen, is the altar in ” the holy place,” symbolic of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish ritual. A magnificent chandelier, with wax-lights, is suspended from the ceiling. The congregation stand during the whole service; but there are seats made to turn up, as in our cathedral stalls; and knobs are placed on the upper arms, to serve as rests. The officiating priest is richly robed, and attended by boys bearing a wax-taper, each in a surplice with a blue cross on the back. Upon the high altar are placed a large crucifix, candelabra with lights, &c. At a portion of the Mass a curtain is drawn before the altar, whilst the priest silently and alone prays for the sanctification of the Sacrament; he then re-appears, ” bids peace to all the people,” and blesses them. The sermon is preached in the pulpit, the priest wearing a black robe and a black hat; this is covered with the KaXvrrrpa, or veil, to indicate that the wearer is under the influence of the Gospel. The church at London Wall (designed by T. E. Owen, of Portsmouth), cost about 10,0007.; yet the number of Greek residents at the date of its opening, in 1850, did not exceed 220.
Russian Embassy Chapel, Welbeck-street, James Thomson, architect,has some points of special interest, not only on account of being one of the only two places in the metropolis devoted to divine service according to the Greek ritual, the other being in London Wall; but also in a class of architecture of which we have fewer examples than of most others. The style is Byzantine, and the distinctive feature it aims to embody, is that of firmamental expanse, as contradistinguished from the flat ceilings of the Latin or pointed roofs of Gothic churches. This is effected by means of arched ceilings throughout, the centre having y Tentre ha domical roof or cupola superimposed upon a polygonal tambour. The chapel consists of a parallelogram: the length is divided into three compartments, of which two are devoted to the auditorium, and the third, formed into
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an apse, is limited to the sanctum. Tbia latter is raised and approached by three circular steps, on each side of which is a small platform for the choristers, the whole being enclosed with a dwarf metal railing. Between this and the altar is erected an ornamental screen formed of solid masonry, with carved mouldings and marble pillars, having alabaster caps and bases : this, while on the one hand it represents the veil of the temple, separating the body of the chapel from the ” Holy of Holies,” serves also as an Iconostasis, not for sculptured images, but for paintings, in niches : they are the production of Russian artists, and represent the Saviour, the Virgin, St. Nicholas (patron saint of Russia), St. George, and the archangels Gabriel and St. Michaeli; and in the crowning panel of the screen is a picture of the Holy Supper, after the eminent Russian painter, Bruloff. The holy doors are carved and splendidly gilt, and inlaid with metals of different hue. They contain small heads of the Evangelists, and a picture of the Annunciation. The folding of these doors is managed so that, when closed, they appear as an impassable barrier, which, at the proper time, the high priest is able to unfold with ease, so as to give access to the altar. The whole of the paintings and screen are the gift of-H. Basil Gromoff, a Russian gentleman of St. Petersburg. Behind the screen doors is the customary curtain of damask silk, which, when drawn aside, displays the sacred altar and its insignia. The Russian mode of worship being wholly a standing or kneeling service, there are no pews or stall seats provided. The cupola is constructed of iron, and contains twelve lunettes five feet high; four have glass paintings, representing figures of the four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, and eight of the minor prophets; above these, in mural painting, are heads of the twelve Apostles upon gold discs.
A gilt band encircles the upper part of the cupola, on which is inscribed, in Sclavonic characters :— ” Turn Thee again, thou God of hosts; look down from heaven; behold and visit this vine and the place of the vineyard which Thy right hand hath planted.” At the east end is a semicircular apse, having a vaulted ceiling, painted azure and studded with gold stars, which are embossed on the surface, graduating and concentrating from the base upwards to the apex, where the monogram representing the name of Jehovah is placed. The fittings of the apse consist of the altar table, within the holy doors; the screen, or Iconostasis, corresponding to the veil of the Temple; and, behind the altar, a triangular pedestal of oak, fitted with a bronze socket, to hold the seven-branch candlestick. To terminate the apse, a freestone arch, supported on black marble pillars, with carved capitals, contains a stained glass window, representing the Saviour, at whose feet, upon a verde-antique marble slab, is inscribed, in Greek characters:—” Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” A large niche on each side contains tables and small enshrined pictures formerly belonging to churches at Bomarsund, presented by the British Government. A credence or cupboard of oak, fashioned as a miniature ark, with sloping roof, contains the chalice, patens, and other holy vessels used in the celebration of the Eucharist. Other pictures on the side wall are St. Alexander Nevsky and St. Mary Magdalen; the latter figure bearing the alabaster box of precious ointment. In advancoaknt. In e of all are placed two elegant barriers of graceful pattern and rich material, mounted on brass standards 16ft. high, with crosslets carved and gilt; upon them are painted, as medallions, representations of the Baptism and Resurrection.
JEWS’ SYNAGOGUES.
BEVIS MARKS, St. Mary Axe: here is the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, which occupies part of the site of the ancient house and gardens of the Bassets, then of the Abbots of Bury, or Burie’s Marks, corruptly Bevis Markes.
Duke’s-place. —”When the Jews returned to England, at the time of the Common wealth, most of the settlers being Portuguese, they built the first Synagogue in King-street, Duke’s-place, in 1656; and in 1691, was built in Duke’s-place the first German Synagogue.
New Synagogue, in Great St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, was built by Davies, in 1838. It is in rich Italian style, with an open loggia of three arches resting upon Tuscan columns. The sides have Doric piers, and Corinthian columns above, behind which are ladies’ galleries, fronted with rich brasswork. There are no pews; the centre floor lias a platform, and seats for the principal officers, with four large brass-gilt candelabra.
At the south end is the Ark, a lofty semicircular-domed recess, consisting of Italian Doric pilasters, with verde antico and porphyry shafts, and gilt capitals; and Corinthian columns, with sienna shafts, and capitals and entablature in white and gold. In the upper story the intercolumns are filled with three arched windows of stained glass, arabesque pattern, by Nixon ; the centre one having Jehovah, in Hebrew, and the Tables of the Law. The semi-dome is decorated with gilded rosettes on an azure ground ; there are rich festoons of fruit and flowers between the capitals of the Corinthian columns, and ornaments on the frieze above, on which is inscribed in Hebrew, ” Know in whose presence thou standest.” The centre of the lower part is fitted up with recesses for Books of the Law, enclosed with
polished mahogany doors, and partly concealed by a rich velvet curtain fringed with gold; there are massive gilt candelabra; and the pavement and steps to the Ark are of fine veined Italian marble, partly carpeted. Externally, the Ark is flanked with an arched panel; that on the east containing a prayer for the Queen and Royal Family in Hebrew, and the other a similar one in English. Above the Ark is a rich fan-painted window, and a corresponding one, though less brilliant, at the north end. The ceiling, which is flat, is decorated with thirty coffers, each containing a large flower aperture for ventilation.
This congregation bad been previously established about eighty years in Leadenhall-street, and there known as the ” New Synagogue.”
New Synagogue, TJppeb, Bryanstone-stkeet, was erected in 1861, for the convenience and use of those members of the Jews of the Spanish and Portuguese congregations who reside at the west end of London; Lett, architect. The general character of the building is Saracenic freely treated. The elevation to Bryanstone-street is composed of a centre and two wings; the west wing being gabled, with cornice supported by cut tresses, and the east rising as a tower and spire. The facade is buila lacade it of parti-coloured bricks, with stone dressings. The porch leads to a loggia or vestibule, from which branch off on either side Portland stone stairs leading to the ladies’ galleries, as by the requirements of the Jewish ritual the sexes are separated during divine worship. The ” Synagogue” itself is entered from this loggia, and affords accommodation on the ground-floor for 240 males.
The interior of the Synagogue is divided into nave and side aisles, by light ornamental columns in two stages, the first supporting the ladies’ gallery and the upper arches of a slight horseshoe form, above which is a clerestory with semicircular windows filled in with stained glass. Between the windows and over each column are ornamental brackets, from which spring arched ribs, dividing the ceiling into coffers, the centre of each of which is occupied by a flower communicating with ventilating apparatus.
At the east end of the Synagogue an elliptical recess or apex forms the sanctuary, which is approached by a flight of marble steps. The lower portion of the sanctuary is formed into closets, in which are deposited the sacred scrolls of the Law, the upper part being formed with windows filled with painted glass, having inscribed there, in Hebrew characters, the Ten Commandments, &c. The ceiling of the sanctuary is formed in a domical shape, pierced with small star-shaped apertures, filled in with different coloured glass, which throw light on the scrolls of the law when the doors of the closet containing the same are thrown open.
“West London Synagogue, Margaret-street, Cavendish-square, designed by D. Mocatta, was completed in 1850. It is square in plan, and consists of Ionic columns supporting the ladies’ gallery, whence rise other columns, receiving semicircular arches, crowned by a bold cornice and lantern-light. The Ark composes cleverly with the semicircular arches, which hang as pendants before it, and complete the fourth side of the building; the steps, platform, stylobate, and columns, are all of scagliola surmounted by a decorated entablature, which supports a niche-head, in which are placed the tablets of the Ten Commandments, surrounded and shadowed by the palm-leaf.
There are in London other Synagogues: the chief one is the German, in Duke’s-place, Houndsditch, in the midst of the Jewish population. The Sabbath commences at sunset on Friday, when the Synagogue is opened; and again at ten o’clock on Saturday morning. The singing, handed down from the Temple service, and the chanting of the Law, said to be the manner in which it was revealed to Moses, are impressive. The Jews, and the officers in attendance, are most kind and polite to strangers. The interest of the visit is enhanced by procuring a Jewish prayer-book, with the English translation on the opposite page. Strangers are reminded not to take off their hats as they enter: it is an abomination to the Jews, who worship with their heads covered.
MOHAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND CHAPELS.
AMBASSADORS’ CHAPELS : Spanish Place Chapel is attended by the members of the Spanish Embassy; Warwick-street, Golden-square, by the Bavarian Embassy (the former Chapel was destroyed in the Riots of 1780); Luke-street, Lincoln’s-inn-fields, by the Sardinian; and Little George-street, King-street, Portman-gquare, by the French. Celebrated foreign preachers are occasionally heard here, chiefly in Lent.
Bavarian Chapel, Warwick-street, Regent-street, has an altar-piece, occupying the whole space of the end of the chapel, with four Corinthian columns, six pilasters, and sub-pilasters running the whole height. In the centre is a large sculptured tablet, 14 feet high and 7 feet wide, representing the Virgin Mary, and cherubim, by Carew, lighted from above.
St. Geoege’s CntrBCH, St. George’s Fields, nearly facing the eastern wing of Bethlem Hospital, is built upon the site of the focus of the ” No Popery ” Riots of 1780: it is the largest Roman Catholic Church erected in England since the Reformation ; and with the quaint conventional buildings (priests’ houses and schools, and a convent for Sisters of Mercy) at the north end, was designed by A. W. Pugin. The church is a high example of Roman Catholic symholic details: it is in the Decorated style (temp. Edward III.), is cruciform in plan, and consists of a nave and aisles, chancel, and two chapels j and a tower at the north-west end, to be surmounted by a rich hexagonal spire, 320 feet high.
The church is about 235 feet in length, and will seat 3000 persons. It is lit by traceried windows, some filled with stained glass, by Wailes, of Newcastle; the great chancel-window was given by John Earl of Shrewsbury, and represents the root of Jesse, or genealogy of our Lord. The large window over the principal entrance, in the great tower, has figures of St. George, St. Michael, and other saints. There is no clerestory, but each roof is gabled; slender pillars and arches divide the nave and side aisles, in which are confessionals; and between the nave and chancel is a double stone screen bearing a rood-loft, with a crucifix of Belgian fifteenth-century work, and images of the Virgin and St. John, nearly life-size, and coloured. The chancel is panelled with oak, with crocketed arches round the sanctuary ; the high altar has bas-reliefs of the Transfiguration, Resurrection, and Ascension; the tabernacle is richly dight and painted, the metal doors being chased and gilt, and studded with large crystals. Behind the altar is an elaborately-carved stone reredos, with niches filled with images of angels, and the Saints Peter and Paul. The high altar furniture is very superb and massive; the chancel is floored with encaustic tiles; and the chapels are superbly decorated in gold and colour. In the baptistery is-an octagonal stone font, with sculpture and Gothic panelling. Outside the church, between two confessionals, is a Perpendicular chantry to the late Hon. Edmund Petre, for the repose of whose soul Mass is offered herein daily; this being the first foundation for the support of the church. ” The Adorable Presence is day and night in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. Look for the red light; it is there.”
St. George’s was opened with great pomp, July 4, 1848; and was the scene of the solemn enthronization of Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster, Dec. 6, 1850. The cost of this church to July, 1848, had been 38,000£. The number of persons attending this church is stated at from 12,000 to 13,000 persons.
Immaculate Conception Chtjech, Farm-street, Berkeley-square, designed by Scoles, and built at the expense of Jesuits, is the first ever possessed by the Order in London : it was opened 1849. The style is the Decorated, the south front much resembling that of Beauvais Cathedral. The altar and organ-loft windows are filled with brilliant stained glass: the rose in the latter is very elegant; and each of the 22 flank windows has different tracery. The interior is large and loftyenerge and, and has no aisles or rood-screen: the high altar, designed by A. W. Pugin, cost about 1000Z., and was presented by Miss Monica Tempest, of Broughton Hall, Yorkshire; and her brother, Sir Charles Tempest, presented the Missal, which cost about 501. ” Confraternities of the Bona Mors of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, are established in this church.” The services are performed by Jesuits.
” Roman Catholic churches seem to be distinguished from those of the national faith, at present, only by the occupation of niches that in the latter would be left vacant. It is remarkable, however, that they all seem to affect the style of one period, viz., the first half of the fourteenth century, their designers apparently disdaining the representation of either an immature or a declining form of art; but fixing always on the fully developed Gothic, just at the turning point of its career.”— Companion to the Almanac, 1851.
St. John op Jebttsalem, Great Ormond-street, was generously founded by Sir George Bowyer, Bart., M.P., and built from the designs of Goldie. The facade of the exterior, of Portland stone, is of two orders, Ionic and Corinthian: upon the upper cornice is inscribed:
” Servi: Dominorum : Pauperum: Infirmorura:”
and on the lower are the following words:
” Ecclesia: S: Milit: ord: S: Johan: Hierosol:” In the pediment is the cross of the Order of St. John; and the Imperial crown and shield adorn the window, which forms a feature in the upper order, flanked by two sculptured wreaths. The principal entrance doorway is surmounted by a marble tablet, on which is commemorated, in an inscription, the fact of the foundation. The church within presents a parallelogram. Slight recesses stand in the place of transepts, and beyond them is the choir for the religious of the adjoining Convent and Hospital, whilst between rises the cupola above the ceiling of the church. An elaborate cornice runs round the church below the ceiling, and rests on pilasters of the Corinthian order, all formed of polished red marble, with marble bases and plinths. At the upper
end of the Nave a doorway gives access to the Hospital ; and above it, carried on carved stone consols, is a tribune of polished alabaster, opening into the lowest ward for the use of the sick. The floor of the Nave is of coloured tiles, arranged in a fret pattern. A marble step lifts the sanctuary floor above the nave level, and this upper floor is entirely composed of white marble. The high altar is placed beneath a marble canopy, under a cupola, adorned with the same materials, the most frequent decoration being the Maltese Cross of eight points, in white, inlaid in the brown veined marble; it stands immediately beneath the centre of the dome, and is surmounted by a baldachino of marbles of various colours, with a panelled ceiling of wood. Two side altars, both ancient, stand on either side in the small transeptal recesses. The nuns’ choir, behind the high altar, is supported by marble scrolls, and is fitted up on three sides with stalls, and inlaid crosses of the Order of St. John, all polished. The front bears the arms of the founder, who has presented this church to the Hospital. Against the extreme end wall of the church is a large tribune, carried on stone brackets, with a gilt lattice front, for the Organ. The whole of the interior is decorated with gilding and colour.
face=”Georgia, “Palatino Linotype”, “Book Antiqua”, Palatino, “Times New Roman”, serif”> Italian (St. Peter’s) Chtjech, Hatton-wall; architect, J. M. Bryson. The walls are of grey stock bricks. The triforium arches are supported by York stone columns, of the Ionic order, in the Roman Basilica style, and is the only church of the same style in the kingdom. There are two side aisles, a Nave and a Chancel: in the latter are statues of the four Evangelists. There are two galleries, one over each of the side aisles (as triforia), with access by stone stairs. Under the Chancel is a subterraneous church, or crypt, capable of holding 200 persons. The ceilings are flat, in panels, which will eventually be painted, as also will be the walls. There will be a tower at the south-west end of the church, carried up to a height of 100 feet, where will be hung a bell weighing four tons. The high altar has four polished black and gold marble columns, standing on pedestals, with white marble caps and bases of the Composite order, surmounted with a cornice wreath, crown canopy, and cross, which will be gilt. The tabernacle and steps of the high altar are of different coloured marbles, all of which have been obtained from Italy. The body of the church is lighted by clerestory windows, in each of which is a design in the shape of a cross, made of iron and wood. The chancel is lighted by windows of a similar design. The church is planned to hold 3400 persons. The funds have been collected abroad by the priests connected with the church. It was opened in 1863.
St. John the Evangelist’s, Duncan-terrace, Islington, was opened in 1843. It was designed by Scoles, in the Anglo-Norman style, and has an eastern gable, flanked by two spires, each 130 feet high. The church itself is a large structure, Basilican in plan, very lofty and effective in composition; its aisles are narrow, set off for chapels and special altars. In one of these is the fresco, painted by Armitage, against the external wall of the church.
” The figures are life-size j the subject, St. Francis of Assisi, in 1210, receiving the approval of Pope Innocent the Third to the Rule of the Order of the Fratres Minores, or Franciscans, as they are now called. Their founder stands, his head humbly bent, his hands held together before the enthroned Pope, who reads article by article the Rule of the Order. A monk on each side of the saint kneels, as do others behind him. The Pope is supported by a cardinal on each side, seated all splendidly dressed. Attendants stand behind the throne. The scene is an open-sided hall in the Capitol, where the Pope is presumed to have lived at the period in question. Through the arcade we look over Rome and its ruins as in the thirteenth century. Following that sound rule of Art which demands character everywhere, Mr. Armitage has given a portrait-like character to his heads, which in the broad style he follows individualizes each figure and face, and gives a striking look of truth to the whole. The expressions are effective, without anything of the theatre; the design, large and simple in composition, suits the subject and the material perfectly.”— Athenaum.
In the apse of the church is the fresco representing Christ and the Apostles. In the semi-dome above the last is a fresco representing God the Father with the Angels, &c„ painted by A. Aglio about 1844. Under the chancel is a crypt, or mortuary chapel: and adjoining is a spacious cemetery. This church has a Holy Guild attached j the Bev. Frederick Oakeley officiates.
St. Mart’s, Moorfields, corner of East-street, Finsbury-circus, opened in 1S20, has an embellished entrh tellisheance facade, in the pediment of which are sculptured two figures kneeling at the Cross. The interior is very superb: it was re-decorated throughout by Charles Kuckuck, in 1858.
It is divided transversely, by a series of columns, into a spacious Nave and side aisles, the ceiling of the former being elliptical and the latter flat, and the latter terminated at the western ends by alcoves, which form minor altars. Over the high altar is a semi-elliptical dome, supported by six fluted columns, which have gilded capitals, modelled from the example of the monument of Lysicrates, at Athens. The surface of this semi-dome is embellished by thirteen oaken panels, which are filled with foliage and fruit and flowers, in admirable imitation of reliefs. Behind this semi-dome, on a curved ground, which is the extreme termination of the church, and forms the back of the high altar, ingeniously lighted from the roof, is a magnificent large painting of tbe Crucifixion, which produces a splendid effect. In the centre of the ceiling of the Nave is a large painting in fresco, representing the Assumption of the “Virgin Mary, attended by the heavenly choir, and the Four Evangelists; and on each side of the springing of the arched ceiling are oblong panels painted with figures in bas-relief of the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Infant Saviour, Ac.
The ceilings of the aisles are divided into various compartments, and painted in white, to resemble moulded panels and enrichments in plaster, on a deep gold ground. The series of columns, with their surmounting entablature, are profusely decorated, their bases being to imitate white and their shafts sienna marble. The capitals, together with the dentals of the cornice, are gilded. The moulded portion of the entablature is relieved with white,- green, red, and blue, picked in with deep brown, and the front of the corona is painted to resemble rouge royale marble. The general surfaces of the walls above the surbase mouldings are of a lavender tint, and underneath the cornice around the windows is a richly-ornamented border. The lower portions of the altar are very richly decorated, their pilasters haviiig enriched silver ornaments on their faces, picked out with brilliant colours on a solid gilt ground, and the base and back of the altar under the large picture of the Crucifixion, to which we have previously adverted, is formed in imitation of various kinds of marble.
The sacramental plate was presented by Pope Pius VII. Carl Maria von Weber was buried in the vaults of this chapel, June 21, 1826; but his remains have since been removed to the Catholic churchyard in the Friederichstadt, Dresden.
St. Monica’s is in connexion with the Irish Augustinian Monastery, in Hoxton-square. It is a curious fact that the old house inhabited by the Fathers was formerly a favourite place of resort of King Charles II., who had a house not far distant, between which and the house in question a subterranean passage communicated. Some traces of the passage are still discernible.
Obatoey of St. Philip Neri, King William-street, Strand, was originally an Assembly Koom : here the Rev. F. W. Faber, author of the Cherwell Water Lily, and other poems, preached (in 1850) to a large and deeply-moved audience. About thirteen years ago, a Roman Catholic builder purchased a plot of ground, three acres, beside the church of the Holy Trinity at Brompton, and here commenced buildings for the future residence and church of the Oratorian Fathers.
” The Roman Catholic population in the parish, or mission, under the spiritual direction of the Fathers of the Oratory, now comprises between 7000 and 8000 souls. The average attendance at Mass on Sundays is about 5000, and the average number of communions for two years has been about 45,000 annually. In the schools attached are 1000 pupils.”— Tablet, 1865.
Otjb Lady’s, Grove-end-road, St. John’s Wood, designed by Scoles, 1834, was built and endowed by two ladies, the Misses Gallini. The site formerly belonged to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (whence St. John’s Wood), whose predecessors, the Knights Templar, held the same estate, and built the Temple Church, the prototype of the present cross church, which is Early Pointed, thirteenth century. The western front, with its three gables and crosses, Catherine-wheel and lancet windows, and pinnacled turrets, is a fine composition. The gables of the north and south fronts are surmounted with canopied niches, containing sculptured groups of the Madonna and Child; and the east front has a large window filled with stained glass. The interior has acutely-arched and richly-bossed roofs, springing from slender shafts -, and the high altar is backed by a rich open screen. In the schools are educated and clothed, gratuitously, three hundred poor children.
St. Pateick’s, Sutton-street, Soho, is much frequented by the poor Catholic population of St. Giles’s. The festival of St. Patrick (March 17) is observed here as a double of the first class, with High Mass.
Saedinian Chapel (the), Duke-street, Lincoln’s-inn-fields, is the oldest foundation of the metropolitan places of worship now in the hands of the Roman Catholics of London. It was built in the year before Charles I. was beheaded : that is, in 1648, just at the close of the Great Rebellion, and the practical commencement of Oliver Cromwell’s rule. During the existence of the penal laws, the only entrance to the chapel was through the Sardinian ambassador’s house, in Lincoln’s-inn-fields. The Riots of 1780 commenced with the partial demolition of this building: the mob were especially savage in attacking it it being the mother-chapel, the oldest in Loudon, and at that
time the resort of all the leading Roman Catholics. In derision of their worship, a cat was dressed in the miniature vestments of a priest, an imitative host or wafer was placed in its paws, and thus it was hung to the lamp-post of the chapel. The edifico was rebuilt after the Riots, and was enlarged by adding to it at the west end the Ambassador’s stables. It has some painted glass, a finely-toned organ, and splendid church-plate, used only on solemn festivals : the altar-furniture was presented by the late King of Sardinia, and cost 1000 guineas ; and the painting over the altar, “The Taking down from the Cross,” is valued at 700/. The choir was formerly maintained at a great expense; though on Whitsunday, during Dr. Baldaconi’s chief chaplaincy, Malibran, Persiani, Lablache, and Rubini, and the principals of the Italian Opera orchestra, gave their aid gratuitously. The choir is now scarcely above mediocrity; but the services are conducted with great solemnity. All-Saints’ day (Nov. 1) is one of the best in the year on which to witness the splendour of the worship. About thirty years ago the district of the chapel extended to Islington, and the congregation numbered about 12,000 souls. This district has been much diminished by the building of other chapels; but the Sardinian congregation is very large. There are four resident priests, one expresslypreone exp for the Italians. The Savoyard organ-boys much resort here.
Spanish Chapel, Spanish-place, Manchester-square, was built in 1797, by Joseph Bonomi, and enlarged in 18-16, when a picturesque campanile, 70 feet high, was added by C. Parker: its interior is a Lady Chapel, and forms a second south aisle. The chapel is lighted from the roof with a most captivating effect of architectural chiaroscuro, and is divided by Corinthian columns.
CITY WAILS AND GATES.
THE small space within the Walls of old London has been described as almost exactly of the same shape and the same area as Hyde Park. It was, in fact, ddun, or Celtic hill-fortress, formed by Tower-hill, Cornhill, and Ludgate-hill; and effectually protected by the Thames on the south, the Fleet on the west, the great fen of Moorfields and Finsbury on the north, and by the Houndsditch and the Tower on the east.—Taylor’s Words and Places.
The City Wall is believed to have been a work of the later Roman period, when London was not unfrequently exposed to hostile attacks. Its direct course was as follows:—Beginning at a fort on part of the site of the present Tower of London, the line was continued by the Minories, between Poor Jury-lane and the Vineyard (where now is Vine-street), to Aid-gate. Thence, forming a curve to the north-west, between Shoemaker-row, Bevis-marks, and Houndsditch, it abutted on Bishop’s-gate, from which it extended nearly in a straight line, through Bishopsgate churchyard, and behind Bethlem Hospital and Fore-street, to Cripple-gate. At a short distance further, it turned southward, by the back of Hart-street and Cripplegate churchyard; and thence, continuing between Monkvvell-street and Castle-street, led by the back of Barber-Surgeons’ Hall and Noble-street to Dolphin-court, opposite Oat-lane, where, turning ¦westerly, it approached Alders’-gate. Proceeding hence, towards the south-west, it curved along the back of St. Botolph’s churchyard, Christ’s Hospital, and Old New-gate, from which it continued southward to Lud-gate, passing at the back of the College of Physicians, Warwick-square, Stationers’ Hall, and the London Coffee-house, on Ludgate-hill. From Ludgate it proceeded westerly by Cock-court to Little Bridge-street, where, turning south, it skirted the Fleet-Brook to the Thames, near which it was guarded by another fort. The circuit of the whole line, according to Stow, was two miles and one furlong neaily. Another wall, defended by towers, extended the whole distance along the banks of the Thames between the two forts. The walls were defended by strong towers and bastions; the remains of three of which, of Roman masonry, were, in Maitland’s time, to be seen in the vicinity, of Houndsditch and Aldgate. The height of the perfect wall is considered to have been 22 feet, and that of the towers 40 feet.
The following course of the Wall is shown in a plan drawn by order of the Corporation of London, to ascertain the extent of the Great Fire, and now preserved in tho Comptroller’s Office, Guildhall. It may be distinctly traced as the southern boundary
of the churchyard of St. Botolph, at the hack of Bull-and-Mouth-street. Heiice it proceeded due east, across Aldersgate-street, to Aldersgate, whence it continued, in the same direction perhaps, about 200 feet, where it formed an angle, and had a curious bastion. It then went rather to the north-north-east of Falcon-square, eastward of Castdertward ole-street, where it is now standing, externally incorporated with the walls of the houses (a semicircular tower was uncovered in the rear of No. 27, in the year 1865) j thence it proceeds, and exhibits large remains in the churchyard of St. Giles’s, Cripplegate.
” The latter, including a bastion, are the most perfect relics. The base of the Wall is composed of small rough flints, to the height of one foot six inches, resting on a fine loam, upon which are placed four feet six inches of rough Kentish ragstone (the green sandstone of geologists), with pieces of ferruginous sandstone irregularly interposed. Then come two courses of bricks, each measuring eighteen inches by twelve, and one and three-quarters thick, on which is laid more of the ragstone for two feet six inches; again a double course of tiles, and above that one foot six inches of the ragstone. Total existing height, nineteen feet seven inches. It is nine feet six inches in width at the base, and two feet at the top.”— W. D. Saull.F.G.S.
Mr. Koach Smith has shown that the area and dimensions of the Roman city may be conjecturally mapped out from the masses of masonry forming portions of its boundaries, and many of which have come to light in the progress of City improvements.
The position of the Gates, besides intervening remains, enables us to trace the course of the Wall on the western, northern, and eastern sides of London. Mr. Roach Smith shows that it runs in a straight line from the Tower to Aldgate, where, making an. angle, it takes again the straight line to Bishopsgate; frcm Bishopsgate it runs eastward to St. Giles’s churchyard, where it turns to the south as far as Falcon-square, and at this point pursues a westerly direction by Aldersgate, running under Christ’s Hospital towards Giltspur-street, near which it forms an angle, and proceeds directly south by Ludgate towards the Thames. From Ludgate, however, it did not take a direct line towards the river, but traversed the ground now occupied by The Times offices, and from this spot diverged towards St. Andrew’s-hill. Excavations in Upper Thames-street have brought to light a portion of it nine feet below the level of the present street, at the foot of Lambeth-hill. Hence it continued as far as Queenhithe; and it is curious to observe, that though this portion of the wall had disappeared from above the surface as early as the days of Fitzstephen, many of the large stones which formed its lower part were found to be sculptured and ornamented with mouldings, denoting their use in the friezes or entablatures of edifices at some period antecedent to its construction. Excavations have also proved that within the area thus enclosed most of the streets of the present day run upon the ruins of Roman houses, and ” we may safely conclude that the streets and buildings of the Roman city, if not quite so dense and continuous as those of the modern city, left but little space throughout the entire area unoccupied, except a portion of the district between Lothbury and Prince’s-street, and London-wall, and the ground adjoining the wall from Moorgate-street towards Bishopsgate.”
Mr. Tite, the architect of the Royal Exchange, in 1853, unearthed a beautiful tessellated pavement under Gresham House, in Old Broad-street; and next, in Trinity-square, Tower-hill, a portion of the ancient wall still existed above ground, which, though not Roman, was supposed to rest on Roman foundations. In 1841, the Blackwall Railway, much further north than this point, cut through Roman remains of the great wall j but it was not until the autumn of 1864 that further traces were found. Then, in some large was some lorks in Cooper’s-row, was discovered a very extensive fragment of a Norman wall, with narrow slits for archers to shoot their arrows. This fragment was 110 feet long, and in height, from the bottom of the foundation to the top of the parapet, 41 feet. All the foundations, and a considerable portion of the lower wall, were undoubtedly Roman, built of square stones, in regular courses, with bonding-courses of Roman brick of intense hardness, and excellent cement, as hard as any red earthenware; and was, as was always the case with the Roman, more of what we should call a tile, being 1 foot square and l^in. thick. The mortar between the bricks was nearly as thick as the bricks themselves, and abounding in portions of pounded brick. The exact place of these remains Mr. Tite has shown in an ancient plan of London in the reign of Elizabeth, when the walls and gates were in existence. Undoubted Roman remains of these walls are traceable, viz.. Camomile-street (found by Dr. Woodward, in 1707); the street still called London-
wall (portions removed 1817-18, when Bethlem Hospital was taken down); and near Moorgate. Mr. Tite points out that there could have been no walls at the time when Suetonius abandoned London, a.d. 61. Some Norman historians refer the walls to a period as late as the Empress Helena; but Mr. Tite’s opinion seems to be that they dated about the second century of our era. The distinctly Norman work above this level Mr. Tite attributes to the troubled times of King John, when the associated Barons arrived at Aldgate, in 1215, the Sunday before Ascension Day, and entered the City while the inhabitants were at Divine service. After this, the walls being in a ruinous state, they restored them, using the materials of the Jews’ houses existing in the neighbourhood, and then destroyed to build up the defences, which, as chroniclers relate, were in a subsequent reign in a bigh state of excellence. In 1257, Henry III. caused the whole of the walls of the City to be repaired at the common charge. In 1282 and 1310, the walls were again repaired; and, in 1477, the patriotic Mayor, Ralph Joscelyne, completely restored all the walls, gates, and towers, in which work he was assisted by the Grocers’ and otber companies, and by Sir John Crosby. ” The goldsmiths,” says Stow, “repaired from Cripplegate towards Aldersgate, and there the work ceased.” The total area inclosed by the Walls which still constitute ” the City of London ” is only about 380 acres.— Proc. Soc. Anliq.
Mr. W. H. Black, F.S.A, in describing the primitive site of Roman London, cites Roman authors, as Tacitus and Antoninus, to prove that Londinium was not a colonia, but an oppidum, surrounded by walls, for the protection of its commerce and trade, and having a treasurer. He entirely refutes the opinions to prove that primitive London was situate upon the south side of the Thames, by showing that the whole of that low ground was covered by a lake, which extended from the high ground of Greenwich, Cainberwell, Brixton, and so on to Lambeth ; and he is confirmed in this opinion by the direction of the principal streets, which all converge to a centre on the north side. Froin the measures he has taken, in his opinion the primitive site of London was between Walbrook on the east, and Fleet River on the west. The north wall, he believes, ran from Aldersgate, through Lad-lane, to the Walbrook, and from Doctors’ Commons to the same brook, through Old Fish-street, on the south. The discovery of several pieces of -old Roman wall on the line confirms this view. The forum, or market-place, would be in Cheap, from which the principal roads diverged. The commerce of the city increasing, it necessitated the enlarging of the city, and we find many of the streets were altered, as for instance, Broad-street used to be the way to Bishopsgate, which was changeounch was d for Threadneedle-street; and a new street was formed from Cheapside to Aldgate.
In the Sutherland View, 1543, and in Tapperell and Innes’s large Map, the Great Wall is seen entire, with its embrasures, its large and lofty gates, and intervening towers. These gates are minutely described by Stow. Chamberlayne, in his Magna JBritanicB Notitia, 1726, says : ” Most of the gates of that old Wall still remain: those which were burnt down at Ludgate and Newgate are rebuilt with great solidity and magnificence; and those which escaped, as Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Moorgate, Aldgate, are kept in good repair, and are shut up at every night, with great diligence and a sufficient watch, at ten o’clock; none being suffered to go in or out without examination. Most of these gates are of good architecture, and adorned with statues of some of our kings and queens; as is that, likewise, called Temple Bar, in Fleet-street, near the Jliddle Temple Gate.” The Gates, except the latter, were taken down 1760-62 : a statue of Queen Elizabeth, from Ludgate, is now placed on the outer wall of the church of St. Dunstan-in-the-West; and the statues of Lud and his sons, from the same gate, are in the grounds of St. Dunstan’s Villa, Regent’s Park (the Marquis of Hertford’s). These statues were supposed by Flaxman to have preserved the likeness of the originals, as copies, or possibly liberal restorations, of the actual figures. (Archer’s Vestiges of Old London, part iv., with six views.) Four of the figures from New-gate are in the south front of the present prison of that name.
The City of London, properly so called, consists of that part anciently within the Walh, together with that termed the Liberties, which immediately surrounded them. The Liberties are encompassed by the Line of Separation, the boundary between them and the county of Middlesex: and marked by the Sara, which formerly consisted of posts and chains, but are now denoted by lofty stbne obelisks, bearing the City arms, which may be seen, eastward, in Whitechapel, the Minories, and Bishopsgate-street; northward, in Goswell-strcet, at the end of Fan-alley, and in St. John’s-street; and westward,
at Middle-row, Holborn; while at the western end of Fleet-street the boundary is the stone gateway called Temple Bar.— G. J. Aungier.
See also a Comparative Plan of that part of the City of London which was destroyed by the flreat Fire in 1666, and its altered condition in 1S49, by 1- rancis Whishaw, C.E.; wherein old London is shown by strong lines, and modern London by dotted lines.
CLERKENWELL,
A LARGE parish north-east of High Holborn, and named from a well around which the parish clerks, or clerken, were wont to assemble to act Scripture plays. The whole district was originally a village, which grew up around the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, north, and the Nunnery of St. Mary, south, of what is now Clerkenwell-green. It was then a succession of gentle pastures and slopes, with the ” Kiver of Wells,” or ” Fleet,” flowing between two hills on its western border: and its rural character is kept in mind by its Coppice and Wilderness rows, Saffron-hill, Vineyard-gardens, Field-lane, Clerkenwell-green, and Cow-cross; whilst Turnmill-street recals the ” noise of the water-wheels” mentioned by Fitzstephen in 1190. In the Sutherland View of London, 1543, we see St. John’s with a lofty spire, with trees extending to St. Bartholomew’s, Smiths Nomew’s,field; and westward the village green and St. James’s Church, formerly of St. Mary’s Nunnery, and then just made parochial. The nave, aisles, and bell-tower of St. John’s were, however, pulled down to supply materials for building the proud Protector Somerset’s palace. Aggas’s map, in 1563, shows us a few houses bounded on three sides by little else than fields. By 1617, however, a number of fine houses had been built in the district, and were inhabited by persons of note. Hence to the village of Islington lay through green fields and country paths; and so lately as 1780, ” persons walking from the City to Islington in the evening, waited near the end of St. John’s-street, in what is now termed Northampton-street (but was then a rural avenue planted with trees, called Wood’s Close), until a sufficient party had collected, who were then escorted by an armed patrol.” (Storer and Cromwell’s Clerkenwell.) The whole locality is covered with crowded streets. Here is still a large house, once the town residence of the Northampton family; the garden-ground is now Northampton-square; and Compton, Percival, Spencer, Wynyatt, and Ash by streets are named from the titles of the Marquis of Northampton, the principal ground-landlord of the district.
Passing to olden Clerkenwell, the Priory-gate of St. John has been transformed into a tavern; and the Square, once part of the Priory precincts, and afterwards the residence of the titled and wealthy, is now mostly tenanted by watchmakers and jewellers: in this Square died Bishop Burnet. J erusalem-passage leads to Aylesbury-street, between which and St. John’s Church stood the town-house of the Earl of Aylesbury, in the reign of Charles II. At the corner of Jerusalem-passage and Ayles-bury-street, Thomas Britton, the ” musical small coal-man,” held his music meetings from 1678 to 1714, in a low and narrow room over the coal-shop, to which all the fashion of the age flocked; Britton himself playing in the orchestra the viol-di-gamba. In Woodbridge-street, branching from Aylesbury-street, was the celebrated Red Bull Theatre, conjectured to have been originally an inn-yard, used for performances late in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and where the King’s Players under Killigrew acted until they removed to Drury-lane. At the Red Bull, women first acted on the English stage : its site is probably now occupied by part of a distillery. St. James’s Church was rebuilt in 1788 as we now see it. The Nunnery Close became Clerken-well-close, on the east side of which was Newcastle House, biiilt by the Earl of Newcastle, and where the eccentric literary Duchess Margaret held a sort of academic court for many years after the Restoration. ” Of all the riders of Pegasus,” says Walpole, ” there have not been a more fantastic couple than his Grace and his faithful Duchess, who was never off her pillion.” Pepys notes a visit of Charles II. to her Grace at Newcastle House, in April, 1667.
Another eccentric inhabitant of Newcastle House was Elizabeth Duchess of Albemarle, and afterwards of Montague. She was married in 1669 to Christopher Monck, second Duke of Albemarle, then a youth of 16, whom her inordinate pride drove to the bottle and other dissipation. After his death, in 1698, at Jamaica, the Duchess, whose vast estate so inflated her vanity as to produce mental aberration, resolved never again to give her hand to any but a sovereign prince.- She had many suitors; but true to her resolution, she rejected them all, until Ralph Montague, third Lord and first Duke of that name,
achieved the conquest by courting: her as Emperor of China: and the anecdote has been dramatised by Colley Cibber, in his comedy of ” The Double Gallant, or Sick Lady’s Cure.” Lord Montague married the lousmarriedady as ” Emperor,” but afterwards played the truant, and kept her in such strict confinement, that her relations compelled him to produce her in open court, to prove that she was alive. Richard Lord Ross, one of her rejected suitors, addressed to Lord Montague on his match:
” Insulting rival, never boast From one that’s under Bedlam’s laws
Thy conquest lately won; What glory can be had ?
No wonder that her heart was lost,— For love of thee was not the cause:
Her senses first were gone. It proves that she was mad.”
The Duchess survived her second husband nearly thirty years, and at last ” died of mere old age,” at Newcastle House, August 28,1738, aged 96 years. Until her decease, she is said to have been constantly 6erved on the knee as a sovereign.
On the east side of the Close stood a large house, hy unauthorized tradition said to have heen inhabited by Oliver Cromwell; but Cromwell-place, built upon the house-site, has been named from this story. Another inhabitant of the Close was Weever, the antiquary, who dates the Epistle to the first edition of his Ancient Funerall Monuments from his ” House in Clerkenwell-close,” May 28, 1631: he died in the next year, and was buried in old St. James’s Church. On Clerkenwell-green is the Middlesex Sessions-House (Rogers, architect), built in 1779-82: it has a handsome east front, and a large hall, with a lofty dome. Here the County Sittings were removed from ” Hicks’s Hall,” in St. John’s-street, opposite the Windmill Inn, and named after Sir Baptist Hicks, of Kensington, one of the justices of the county, afterwards Viscount Campden, who built the Hall in 1612; from this site, ” the spot where Hicks’s Hall formerly stood,” the distances on the mile-stones on the Great North Road were formerly measured. In this Hall, the patriotic William, Lord Russell, was tried, 1683. In St. John’s-lane are the remains of an Elizabethan house, with the sign of the Baptist’s Head (probably in compliment to Sir Baptist Hicks) : it is said to have been frequented by Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith, in their transactions with Cave, the printer, at St. John’s Gate; and in the taproom is a fine old armorial chimney-piece, engraved in Archer’s Vestiges of Old London, part iii.
Upon the site of Back-hill and Ray-street was the Bear-garden of Hockley-in-the-Hole, not only the resort of the mob, but of noblemen and ambassadors, to witness the cruelties of bear and bull baiting by greater brutes, and ” the noble science of defence •” for, says Mrs. Peachum (Beggar’s Opera), ” You should go to Hockley-in-the-Hole to learn valour;” but the nuisance was abolished soon after 1728. The locality, however, still retains its foul stain of moral degradation and squalid misery in its alleys and courts, several with but one narrow entrance; and three-storied houses let in tenements, where men, women, and donkeys find shelter together.
The tract immediately eastward of the Fleet River was rich in springs, many of them medicinal: hence Coldbath-fields, Bagnigge-wells, Sadler’s-wells, Islington Spa, the London Spa, and the ” Wells” of the earlier topographers. Spa-fields, the hot-bed of Radical riot in 1817, is now covered with streets.
Bagnigge Wells was another of these springs, and became a place of public resort in 1767. Near the Pindar of Wakefield, in Gray’s-inn-road, was Bagnigge House, a picturesque gabled house, covered with vines, traditionally said to have been the summer residence of Nell Gwynne; and here was a memorial stone, inscribed ” This is Bagnigge House, near the Pindar of Wakefield, 1680.”
The Clerks’ Well (whence the parish had its name), in Ray-street, now taken down, was left by gift by the Earl of Northampton, in 1673, for the use of the poor of St. James’s parish, but was let by the authorities, for 40s. a year. The property was neglected, when the churchwardens, in 1800, placed here a pump, with a tablet, giving a brief historical account of the Well. Fitzstephen tells us that ” London, in place of stage plays and scenic decorations, hath dramas of more sacred subjects—representations of those miracles which the holy confessors wrought; or of the sufferings wherein the glorious constancy of martyrs did appear ;” and it is an undoubted fact that sacred dramas were performed on this spot before the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I., which were the era of Fitzstephen. Cromwell, in his History of this parish, suggests that the observance of this custom here may be of more remote antiquity; that Clerken being an Anglo-Saxon compound, the custom must be referred to that period. In Aggas’s Civitas Londinensis, 1560, is a rude representation of the Clerks’ Well in the time of Elizabeth; it was the spring of St. Mary’s Nunnery. The Clerks’ Well became neglected. Near it was the Skinners’ Well, now no longer to be recognised, nor its precise situation determined. In a narrow thoroughfare leading from Baker’s-row into Ray-street, is a small public-house, known as the Pickled Egg, from a former landlord selling here pickled eggs, such as are still prepared in Hants and Dorset. Charles II. is said to have halted here, and partaken of a pickled egg. The house had formerly a noted cockpit; in 1775 there were cocking-matches here ” between the gentlemen of London and Essex.”
West of Ray-street is Vine-street, formerly Mutton-hill, thought, in FinJcs’s IBstory of Clerkenwell, p. Ill, to be derived from the word meeting, anciently spoken moteing, in reference to the Clerks’ Mote (Saxon) or meeting-place by the Well.
Cold Bath-square, hard by, is named from the famous Cold Bath discovered here in 1697: it’ is now surrounded with houses. In this square, near the Cold Bath, in 1733-36, lived Eustace Budgell, the relative and friend of Addison, for whom he wrote in the Spectator. Here, too, for ninety years, lived the eccentric ” Lady Lewson.” She died here, in 1816, at the reputed age of 116.
At the corner of Cobham-row and Cold Bath-square, there stood to our day a noble horse-chestnut tree, which, tradition tells us, was one of a grove of trees that once grew here in the extensive grounds of the ill-fated Sir John Oldcastle, afterwards Lord Cobham, the great Reformer; and who, by the barbarous inhumanity and persecuting spirit of the age in which he lived, was hung in chains as a heretic, and burned in St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields, in the year 1418, for his noble advocacy of the doctrines of Wyckliffe, and an alleged conspiracy against the government of Henry V. His family mansion became Sir Johnon,came Si Oldcastle’s Tavern; subsequently a Small-pox Hospital, specially for the reception of patients in the incipient stages of that disease, and such as caught it naturally. The building was afterwards reconstructed, and continued to he used as an hospital till 1795, when the charity was removed to the chief establishment at King’s-cross. At a later period the property passed into the hands of the Countess of Huntingdon’s connexion, when the hospital building was converted into private dwelling-houses, on the north side of the thoroughfare well known as Cobham-row. Mr. Pinks could not, however, trace Sir John Oldcastle’s residence here.
Watchmakers, clockmakers, and jewellers settled in Clerkenwell in great numbers early in the last century, and several streets are mostly occupied by them; as ” escapement-maker,” ” engine-turner,” ” fusee-cutter,” ” springer,” ” secret-springer,” ” finisher,” and ” joint-finisber,” inscribed upon door-plates, attest; for in no trade is the division of labour carried to a greater extent than in watchmaking. (See St. John’s Gate.)
The History of Clerkenwell had been compiled and written, with rare fidelity and minuteness, by William J. Pinks, who, dying before the completion of the work, it was finished by E. J. Wood; it originally appeared in the Clerkenwell News, and was reproduced in a large handsome volume of 800 pages, by Mr. Peckburn, Myddelton House, Clerkenwell. The author spent six years in collecting his materials: and the editor nearly three years in his labours. The Hittory is mainly the work of Mr. Pinks : it is one of those laborious results of devotedness, which can scarcely be overrated. The book is rich in sketches of eccentric persons, who seem to have abounded in Clerkenwell, from early times.
CLIMATE OF LONDON.
THE temperature of the air in the metropolis is raised by the artificial sources of heat existing in it no less than two degrees on the annual mean above that of its immediate vicinity. Mr. Howard, in his work on Climate, has fully established this fact, by a comparison of a long series of observations made at Plaistow, Stratford, and Tottenham Green (all within five miles of London), with those made at the apartments of the Royal Society in London, and periodically recorded in the Philosopfacal Transactions. In explanation, Mr. Howard refers to the heat induced by the population (just as the temperature of a hive of bees), and from the domestic fires, and from the foundries, breweries, steam-engines, and other manufactories. ” When we consider that all these artificial sources of heat, with the exception of the domestic fires, continue in full operation throughout the summer, it should seem Miat the excess of the London temperature must be still greater in June than it is in January, but the fact is otherwise. The excess of the City temperature is greater in winter, and at that period seems to belong entirely to the nights, which average 3-710° warmer than the country; while the heat of the days, owing, without doubt, to the interception of a portion of the solar rays by a constant veil of smoke, falls, on a mean of years, about a third of a degree short of that in the open plains.”
In the winter of 1835, Mr. W. H. White ascertained the temperature in the City to be 3° higher than three miles south of London Bridge ; and after the gas had been lighted in the City four or five hours, the temperature increased ful inincreasl 3°, thus making 6° difference in the three miles.
Dr. Prout found that when his observations were made during the prevalence of wind (his station being at the western extremity of London), the air blowing from the east contained a minute portion of oxygen less than that which blew from the west. The difference was exceedingly small; still, it tended to show that the air which has passed over the busy streets of the metropolis differs in its amount, not only of carbonic acid, but also of oxygen, from the air which has not reached those scenes.
Change of air in the metropolis is mostly effected by the mixture of the gases composing it. There are hundreds of places in London into which the wind never finds admission; and even among the wider streets there are many through which a free current is rarely blown. It is only in the night, when combustion in some measure ceases, and the whole surface of the earth is cooled, that the gases are gradually removed, and the whole atmosphere of the City is brought nearly to an equality. Nothing, indeed, can be more striking than the difference even in the sensible qualities of the air of London in the early morning and in the evening: in the former it has a coolness and refreshing clearness, which those who know it in the heat of later hour can scarcely imagine.
Every one has observed upon dirty windows in the metropolis small tree-like crystallizations : these consist of sulphate of ammonia, which is produced in the atmosphere by the burning of vast quantities of coal, combining with the sulphurous acid in the atmosphere.
Owing to the smoke, many species of flowers (the yellow rose, for instance), will not bloom within ten miles of London; Paris, on the contrary (where wood is almost universally burnt), produces the finest flowers, not alone in the gardens of the Tuileries and Luxembourg, but in the nursery-grounds of the famous rose-growers, Noisette and Laffay; which, in the Faubourg St. Germain, enjoy advantages such as it would be necessary to retreat some miles from London to secure.
In London, in sunny weather, some fine effects of light and shade may be witnessed in the neighbourhood of the public buildings. Miss Landon refers to a bright day in spring as ” a very spendthrift of sunshine, when the darkest alley in London wins a golden glimpse, and the eternal mist around St. Paul’s turns to a guttering haze.”
CLUBS AND CLUB-HOUSES.
ALTHOUGH the Club was a social feature of the last century, to the preseut age is due the establishment of a system of Club Living upon a scale of splendour and completeness hitherto unattainable. Formerly the Club resembled an ill-appointed coffee-house or tavern; often, however, redeemed by the brilliancy of the wit which was ” wont to set the table in a roar,” and animated by a conversational spirit comparatively little indulged in the present day.
There has been an excess of controversy and surmise as to the origin of the Club; but neither of the guesses reaches the good sense of Addison, who truly said, “all celebrated Clubs were founded upon eating and drinking, which are points where most men agree, and in which the learned and the illiterate, the dull and the airy, the philosopcia the phher and the buffoon, can all of them bear a part.”
It has been pleasantly observed, that Clubs are gradually working as complete a revolution in the constitution of society as they have already effected in the architectural appearance of our streets. In the year 1800, there were only White’s, as old as Hogarth’s time; Brooks’s and Boodle’s; the Cocoa-Tree, Graham’s, and another : now there are nearly fifty Clubs, each possessing a well-appointed mansion. The facilities of living have been wonderfully increased by them, whilst the expense has been greatly diminished ; and for a few pounds a-year, advantages are to be enjoyed which no fortune except the most ample can procure.
Alfred Club, the, No. 23, Albemarle-street, established in 1808, is described by Earl Dudley, in his time, as the dullest place in existence, ” the asylum of doting Tories and drivelling quidnuncs.” It was at this Club that ” Mr. Canning, whilst in the zenith of his fame, dropped in accidentally at a house-dinner of twelve or fourteen, stayed out the evening, and made himself remarkably agreeable, without any of the party suspecting who he was.” {Quarterly Review, No. 110.)
The Alfred had, ab initio, been remarkable for the number of travellers and men of letters, who formed a considerable proportion of its members. Yet, strangely enough, its cockney appellation was Half-read. Lord Byron was a member, and he tells us that ” it was pleasant, a little too sober and literary, and bored with Sotheby and Francis D’lvernois; but one met Rich, and Ward, and Valentia, and many other pleasant or known people; and it was, in the whole, a decent resource in a rainy day, in a dearth of parties, or Parliament, or in an empty season.” The Alfred joined the Oriental in 1855.
Almack’s Clt/b, the original Brooks’s, was founded in Pall Mall, in 1764 (on the site of what is now the British Institution), as a gaining Club. Some of its members were Maccaronis, the ” curled darlings” of the day: they were so called from their affectation of foreign tastes and fashions, and were celebrated for their long curls and eye-glasses. “At Almack’s,” writes Walpole in 1Y70, “which has taken the pa* of White’s, is worthy the decline of our empire, or commonwealth, which you please: the young men of the age lose ten, fifteen, twenty thousand pounds in an evening.” The play at this gaming club was only for rouleaus of 50Z. each, and generally there was 10,000Z. in specie on the table. The gamesters began by pulling off their embroidered clothes, and put on frieze greatcoats, or turned their coats inside outwards for luck. They put on pieces of leather (such as are worn by footmen when they clean the knives) to save their laced ruffles; and to guard their eyes from the light and to prevent tumbling their hair, wore high-crowned straw hats with broad brims, and adorned with flowers and ribbons; masks to conceal their emotions when they played at quinz. Each gamester had a small neat stand by him, to hold his tea; or a wooden bowl with an edge of ormolu, to hold the rouleaus. Almack’s was subsequently Goosetree’s.
In the year 1780, Pitt was then an habitual frequenter, and here his personal adherents mustered strongly. The members, we are told in the Life of Wilberforce, were about twenty-five in number, and included Pratt (afterwards Lord Camden), Lords Euston, Chatham, Graham, Duncannon, Althorp, Apsley, G. Cavendish, and Lennox ; Messrs. Eliot, Sir Andrew St. John, Bridgeman (afterwards Lord Bradford), Morris Robinson (afterwards Lord Eokeveards Loeby), R. Smith (afterwards Lord Carrington), W. Grenville (afterwards Lord Grenville), Pepper Arden (afterwards Lord Alvanley); Mr. Edwards, Mr. Marsham, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Thomas Steele, General Smith, Mr. ‘Windham. Gibbon, the historian, was a member, and he dated several letters from here.
Alpine Club, 8, St. Martin’s-place, a small Society founded in order to bring together those who, whether as explorers, artists, or men of science, take an interest in the Alps, or in any of the other great mountain ranges. During the winter and spring, meetings are held, at which are read papers descriptive of mountain excursions, glacier phenomena, and other cognate subjects. See the Alpine Journal.
Apollo Club was held at the Devil Tavern, Fleet-street, between Temple-bar and Middle Temple-gate, a house of great resort in the reign of Jamej I., and then kept by Simon Wadloe. Ben Jonson wrote The Devil is an Asse, played in 1616, when he ” drank bad wine at the Devil.” The principal room, called ” the Oracle of Apollo,” was spacious, and apart from the tavern. Above the door was a bust of Apollo; and at the entrance, in gold letters on a black board, was inscribed the famous—
” Welcome all, who lead or follow, To the Oracle of Apollo,” &c.
Beneath these verses was the name of the author, thus inscribed— ” 0 Rare Ben Jonson,” a posthumous tribute from his grave in Westminster Abbey. The bust appears modelled from the Apollo Belvedere, by some skilful person of the olden day, but has been several times painted. ” The Welcome,” originally inscribed in gold letters, on a thick black-painted board, has since been wholly repainted and gilded; but the old thickly-lettered inscription of Ben’s day may he seen as an embossment upon the modern painted background. These poetic memorials are both preserved in the banking-house of the Messrs. Child.
” The Welcome,” says Mr. Burn, ” it may be inferred, was placed in the interior of the room; so also, above the fireplace, were the Rules of the Club, said by-early writers to have been inscribed in marble, but were in truth gilded letters upon a black-painted board, similar to the verses of the Welcome. These Rules are justly admired for the conciseness and elegance of the Latinity.” They have been felicitously translated by Alexander Broome, one of the wits who frequented the Devil, and who was one of Ben Jonson’s twelve adopted poetical sons. Latin inscriptions were also placed in other directions, to adorn the house; over the clock in the kitchen there remained one in 1731. In the Rules of the Apollo Club, women of character were not excluded from attending the meetings.
Aemy and Navy Club-house, Pall Mall, corner of George-street, designed by Parnell and Smith, was opened February, 1851. The exterior is a combination from Sansovino’s Palazzo Cornaro, and Library of St. Mark at Venice; but varying in the upper part, which has Corinthian columns, with windows resembling arcades filling up the intercolumns; and over their arched headings are groups of naval and military symbols, weapons, and defensive armour—very picturesque. The frieze has also effective groups symbolic of the Army and Navy ; the cornice, likewise very bold, is crowned by a massive balustrade. The basement, from the Cornaro, is rusticated: the entrance being in the centre of the east or George-street front, by three open arches, similar in charactthear in cer to those in the Strand front of Somerset House. The whole is extremely rich in ornamental detail. The hall is fine; the coffee-room, eighty-two feet by thirty-nine feet, is panelled with scagliola, and has a ceiling enriched with flowers, and pierced for ventilation by heated flues above; adjoining is a room lighted by a glazed plafond; next is the house dining-room, decorated in the Munich style; and more superb is the morning room, with its arched windows, and mirrors forming arcades and vistas innumerable. A magnificent stone staircase leads to the library and evening rooms; and in the third story are billiard and card rooms; and a smoking-room, with a lofty dome elaborately decorated in traceried Moresque. The apartments are adorned with an equestrian portrait of Queen Victoria, painted by Grant, R.A.; a piece of Gobelins tapestry (Sacrifice to Diana), presented to the club in 1849 by Prince Louis Napoleon marble busts of William IV. and the Dukes of Kent and Cambridge ; and several life-size portraits of naval and military heroes. The Club-house is provided with twenty lines of Whishaw’s Telekouphona, or Speaking Telegraph, which communicate from the Secretary’s room to the various apartments. The cost of this superb edifice, exclusive of fittings, was 35,000?.; the plot of ground on which it stands cost the Club 52,000£.
Aets Club, Hanover-square, was instituted, 1863, for facilitating the social intercourse of those who are connected either professionally or as amateurs with Art, Literature, or Science.
Aethue’s Club-house, 69, St. James’s-street, is named from Mr. Arthur, the keeper of White’s Chocolate-house, who died 1761. The present Club-house is by Hopper; the principal windows are decorated with fluted Corinthian columns.
Athene um Club, Waterloo-place, Pall Mall, was established in 1823 : the members are chosen by ballot, one black ball in ten excluding. The present Club-house, designed by Decimus Burton, was built in 1829-30, on a portion of the court-yard of Carlton Palace; the architecture is Grecian, with a frieze exactly copied from the Panathenaic procession in the friez^j of the Parthenon—the flower and beauty of Athenian youth gracefully seated on the most exquisitely-sculptured horses,—which Flaxman regarded as the most precious examples of Grecian power in the sculpture of animals. Over the Ronian-Doric entrance-portico is a colossal figure of Minerva, by Baily, R.A.; and the interior has some fine casts’from chef-d’eeuvres of sculpture: the style of the hall, staircase, gallery, and apartments, is grand, massive, and severe. The Athenaeum is a good illustration of the Club system. The number of ordinary members is fixed at 1200; they are mostly eminent persons, civil, military, and ecclesiastical; peers spiritual and temporal; men of the learned professions, science, the arts, and commerce; and the distinguished who do not belong to any particular class. Many of these are to be met with every day, living with the same freedom as in their own houses. For thirty guineas entrance, and six guineas a-year, every member has the command of an excellent library (the best Club library in London), with maps; of newspapers, English and foreign; the principal periodicals; writing materials, and attendance. The building is a sort of palace, and is kept with the same exactness and comfort as a private dwelling. Every member is master, without any of the trouble of a master : he can come when be pleases, and stay away when he pleases, without anything going wrong; he has the command of regular servants, without having to pay or manage them ; he can have whatever meal or refreshment he wants, at all hours, and served up as in his own house. From an account of the expenses at the Athenseum in the year 1832, it appears that 17,323 dinners cost, on an average, 2s. 9Jd. each, and that the average quantity of wine for each person was a small fraction more than half-a-pint. The expense of building the Club-house was 35,000Z., and 50001. for furnishing; the plate, linen, and glass cost 2500Z.; library 21.398Z.; and the stock of wine in cellar is usually worth about 50001. : yearly revenue about 10,000?. The principal rooms are lighted by chandeliers fitted with Faraday’s perfect ventilation apparatus. In the library is an unfinished portrait of George IV., which Sir Thomas Lawrence was painting but a few hours before his decease, the last bit of colour that he ever put upon canvas being that on the hilt and sword-knot of the girdle.
At the preliminary meeting for the formation of the Athenaeum, February 16,1824, were present Sir Humphry Davy, Bart., P.R.S., the Eight Hon. John Wilson Croker, Sir Francis Chantrey, R.A., Richard Heber, Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., Dr. Thomas Young, F.R.S., Lord Dover, Davies Gilbert, the Earl of Aberdeen, P.S.A., Sir Henry Halford, Sir Walter Scott. Bart., Joseph Jekyll, Thomas Moore, Charles Hatchett, F.R.S.; Secretary, Professor Faraday.
” The mixture of Whigs, Radicals, savans, foreigners, dandies, authors, soldiers, sailors, lawyers, artists, doctors, and Members of both Houses of Parliament, together with an exceedingly good average supply of bishops, render the melange very agreeable, despite of some two or three bores, who ‘ continually do dine,’ and who, not satisfied with getting a 6*. dinner for 38. 6d.,’ continually do complain.’ ” — New Monthly Magazine, 1834.
At the Athenaeum, Theodore Hook was a great card; and in a note to the sketch of him in the Quarterly Review, it is stated that the number of dinners at this Club fell off by upwards of threo hundred per annum after Hook disappeared from his favourite corner, near the door of the coffee-room. That is to say, there must have been some dozens of gentlemen who chose to dine there once or twice every week of the season, merely for the chance of Hook’s being there, and permitting thein to draw their chairs to his little table in the course of the evening. The corner alluded to will, we suppose, long retain the name which it derived from him— Temperance Corner. Many grave and dignified personages being frequent guests, it would hardly have been seemly to be calling for repeated supplies of a certain description j but the waiters well understood what the oracle of the corner meant by ” Another glass of toast and water,” or, ” A little more lemonade.”
Athenjetjm, Jtjniob, the, pro tern. St. James’s-square, was originated in 1864, and consists of members of both Houses of Parliament, members of the Universities, fellows of the learned and scientific societies, or gentlemen connected with literature, science, and art. The device adopted by the Club is the Bird of Minerva, a copy of the reverse of the drachma of the Greeks.
Boodle’s, 28, St. James’s-street, is the noted “Savoir vivre” Club-house designed by Holland. It contains portraits of C. J. Fox and the Duke of Devonshire. Gibbon, the historian, was one of its early members. Next door, 29r gNext do, Gillray, the caricaturist, in 1815, threw himself from an upstairs window, and died in consequence.
Beooks’s, the Whig Club-house, at 60, west side of St. James’s-street, was designed by Holland, and opened in 1778; but was originally established in Pall Mall, in 1764, by the Duke of Portland, C. J. Fox, and others. It was formerly a gaming-club, kept by Ahnack, and then by Brooks, a wine-merchant and money-lender, who left the Club soon after the present house was built, and died in poverty about 1782. Among the early members were C. J. Fox, Burke, Sir Joshua Beynolds, Garrick, Horace Walpole, Hume, Gibbon, and Sheridan. When Wilberforce was young and gay, he played here at faro; but his usual resort was at Goosetree’s, in Pall Mall, where he one night kept the bank and won 600Z.; but this weaned him from gaming. On March 21,1772, Mr. Thynne retired from Brooks’s in disgust, because he had won only 12,000 guineas in two months. The Club was famous for wagers; and the old betting-book is an oddity. Lord Crewe, one of the founders of the Club in Pall Mall, died in 1829, after sixty-five years’ membership of Brooks’s. The Fox Club meet here.
” At Brooks’s, for nearly half a century, the play was of a more gambling character than at White’s. …. On one occasion, Lord Robert Spencer contrived to lose the last shilling of his considerable fortune given him by his brother, the Duke of Marlborough. General Fitzpatrick being much in the same condition, they agreed to raise a sum of money, in order that they might keep a faro-bank. The
members of the Club made no objection, and ere long they carried out their design. As is generally the case, the bank was a winner, and Lord Robert bagged, as his share of the proceeds, 100.000Z. He retired, strange to say, from the foetid atmosphere of play, with the money in his pocket, and never again gambled. George Harley Drummond, of the famous banking-house, Charing-cross, only played once in his whole life at White’s Club, at whist, on which occasion he lost 20,0002. to Brummell. This ( event caused him to retire from the banking-house, of which he was a partner.”— Capt. Qronotc. £>*>
Beef-steak Society, “the sublime Society of Beef-steaks” (but disdaining to be thought a Club), consists of twenty-four members, noblemen and gentlemen, who dine together off beef-steaks at five o’clock on Saturdays, from November until the end of June, at their rooms in the Lyceum Theatre. The dining-room is lined with oak, and decorated with emblematic gridirons, and in the middle of the ceiling is the gridiron first used by the cook. The orthodox accompaniment to the steaks is arrack punch. Each member may invite a friend. The Society originated with George Lambert, the scene-painter of Covent Garden Theatre during Rich’s management, where Lambert often dined from a steak cooked on the fire in his painting-room, in which he was frequently joined by his visitors. This led to the founding of the Society by Rich and Lambert in 1735, in a room in the theatre. After its rebuilding, the place of meeting was changed to the Shakespeare Tavern, in the Piazza; afterwards to the Lyceum Theatre; and on its destruction by fire in 1830, to the Bedford Hotel; and thence to the Lyceum, rebuilt in 1834. The number of members was increased to twenty-five, to admit the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. Charles Howard, Duke of Norfolk, was a leading member; and Captain Morris was the laureat, the sun of this “jovial system :” in 1831 he bade adieu to the Society, but in 1835 revisited it, and was presented with an elegant silver bowl; at the age of ninety he sung :
” When my spirits are low, for relief and delight, I still place your splendid memorial in sight; And call to my muse, when care strives to pursue, ‘Bring the steaks to my mem’ry, and the bowl to my view.'” The liquors are limited to port and punch, in quantity unlimited. The Club-button bears the Club-blazon—a gridiron fumant, odorant. Song, give-and-take jest—not always of the smoothest—and fun —the more rampant, the welcomer—follow the feast of steaks. At the sale of the Curiosities belonging to Mr. Harley, the comedian, in Gower-street, in November, 1858, a silver gridiron, won by a member of the Steaks, was sold for 11. 3g. The gridiron upon which Rich broiled his solitary steak was saved from the fire at Covent Garden Theatre, in 1808, and is still preserved. In the above fire was lost the valuable stock of wine of the Club, and its original archives. Formerly, the damask table-cloths were figured with gridirons; and so were the drinking glasses and plates. Among the presents made to the Society are a punch-ladle, from Barrington Bradshaw; Sir John Boyd, six spoons; mustard-pot, by John Trevanion, M.P.; two dozen water-plates and eight dishes, given by the Duke of Sussex; cruet-stand, by W. Holland; vinegar-cruet, by Thomas Scott. Lord Suffolk gave a silver cheese-toaster; toasted or stewed cheese being the wind-up of the dinner.—(See the fullest account of the Beef-steak Society, in Club Life of London, vol. i. pp. 123—149: 1866. See, also, Ned Ward’s account of the Society, in its early days.)
There was also a Beef-steak Club, which is mentioned by Ned Ward in 1709; Peg Woffington was a member, and the president wore an emblem, a gold gridiron.
Among the other Beef-steak Societies or Clubs was the Club in Ivy-lane, of which Dr. Johnson was a member; a political Club, ” the Rump-steak or Liberty Club,” in existence in 1733-4, in eager opposition to Sir Robert Walpole; and at the Bell Tavern, Houndsditch, was held the Beef-steak Club, established by Beard, Woodward, &c.—See Memoirs of Charles Lee Leicis, vol. ii. p. 196.
Blue-Stocking Cltxb, the, met at the house of Mrs. Montague, at the northwest angle of Portman-square. Forbes, in his Life of Beattie, gives the following account: ” This Society consisted originally of Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Vesey, Miss Boscawen, and Mrs. Carter, Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Pulteney, Horace Walpole, and Mr. Stillingfleet. To the latter this constellation of talents owed that whimsical appellation of ‘ Bas-Bleu.’ Mr. Stillingfleet being somewhat of a humorist in his habits and manners, and a little negligent in his dress, literally wore grey stockings j from which circumstance Admiral Boscawen used, by way of pleasantry, to call them ‘ The Blue-Stocking Society,’ as if to intimate that when these brilliant friends met it was not for the purpose of forming a dressed assembly. A foreigner of distinction hearing the expression, translated it literally ‘ Bas-Bleu,’ by which these meetings came to be afterwards distinguished.” Dr. Johnson sometimes joined this circle. The last of the Club was the lively Miss Monckton, afterwards Countess of Cork, ” who used to have the finest bit of blue at the house of her mother Lady Gal way.” Lady Cork died at upwards of ninety years of age at her house in New Burlington-street, in 1850.
British and Foreign Institute, George-street, Hanover-square, was formed by-James Silk Buckinties Silkngham, under the patronage of Prince Albert, who was present at the opening, in 1841. The leading object of the Institute was to afford a point of union for literary and scientific men from all quarters of the globe, without distinction of nation, politics, or creed; to give facilities of introduction to strangers visiting the metropolis from the country; and to add to the attractions of literature, science, and art, the refinements and grace of female society. The Club-rooms had the accommodations of a family hotel. The Institute did not long exist.
Brothers’ Club, the, was founded in 1711, by Lord Bolingbroke, for conversation and moderate conviviality, but intended to eschew the drunkenness and extravagance of the Kit Kat and Beefsteak Clubs. Among the other members, besides himself and Swift, were Arbuthnot, Prior, Sir William Windham, Orrery, and the Duke of Ormond; Masham and his brother-in-law Hill (?) were also Brothers. They used to dine at the Star and Garter, in Pall Mall, latterly, to which tavern they had been induced to transfer their custom, owing to the dearness of their previous landlord.
Carlton Club, the, Pall Mall, is a purely political Club, and was founded by the late Duke of Wellington, and a few of his most influential political friends. It first held its meetings in Charles-street, St. James’s, in the year 1831. In the following year it removed to larger premises, Lord Kensington’s house, in Carlton-gardens. In 1836 an entirely new house was built for the club, in Pall Mall, by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., small in extent, and plain and inexpensive in its architecture. As the Club grew in numbers and importance, the building soon became inadequate to its wants. In 1846, a very large addition was made to it by Mr. Sydney Smirke; and in 1854 the whole of the original building was taken down and rebuilt by Mr. Smirke, upon a sumptuous scale, in florid Italian style, nearly a fac-simile of Sansovino’s Library of St. Mark, at Venice : the lower order Doric, the upper Ionic; the six intercolumniations occupied by arched windows, with bold keystones, and the upper window spandrels, filled with sculpture; above are a decorated frieze, rich cornice, and massive balustrade. The facade is of Caen stone, but the shafts and pilasters are of polished Peterhead granite. This new portion is intended to form one-third of the entire facade.
Cavendish Club, the, 307, Regent-street, occupies one-half of the upper facade of the Polytechnic Institution, the entrance being wholly distinct. The Reading-room, 42 feet square, and 20 feet high, has a larger supply of foreign and colonial newspapers and literature than any other Club in the metropolis; the Cavendish presents all the usual conveniences of a Club, except dinners.
Chess Clubs, see page 95.
City Club-house, 19, Old Broad-street, occupying the site of the old South Sea House, was built in 1833, from the design of Hardwick, R.A. The style is handsome Palladian; the only sculpture is a rich festooned garland over the doorway. The Club consists of merchants, bankers, and professional men of the City.
City Club, New, George-yard, Lombard-street, intended for merchants in the City, was erected from a design by J. H. Rowley, architect, at the cost of 50,000£.: it is the property of a company of merchants, who reserve to themselves the power of admitting fresh members. The front is of Portland stone, and in the centre the col Clentre tumns and pilasters are of polished red granite. The frontage in George-yard is upwards of 100 feet, and there is an additional frontage and entrance in Bell-yard, Gracechurch-street. The club-house is approached from George-yard through a Doric portico and vestibule with granite columns and pilasters. The windows have carved key-stones, and fruits and flowers over the architraves. The frieze and cornice are also enriched. An agreeable novelty in decoration has been introduced by means of enamelled slate in panels, imitating malachite and other marble, on the staircase walls. The rooms are all decorated in gilding and colours, each having its own distinctive character as to colour.
Civil Service Club, the, upon the site of the Thatched House Tavern, St. James’s-street, James Knowles, jun., architect, is occupied by an association of gentlemen connected with the several branches of the Civil Service. The facade, 99 feet high, is entirely of stone, and has a very elegant bay window; the decorative carving, by Daymond, represents real foliage and birds instead of mere conventional ornaments.
In excavating the foundations—which were carried 30ft. below the level of the street, their superficial extent being about 7500 square feet—a collection of fossils was discovered, including a good specimen of a lion’s jaw and a variety of mammoth bones, the ancient denizens of the spot in centuries long passed; below this surface the earth was pierced another 80 ft., to which depth the main tube of the hydraulic apparatus descends, its lifting power being obtained by the gradual rise of water let into the tube as required. The Club-house rises above the surrounding buildings; there is an extensive panoramic view of town and country from its upper rooms, to which access is obtained by two staircases, or by an hydraulic lift, which communicates with every floor, and is of the newest and safest construction.
Civil Club, established in 1669, three years after the Great Fire, exists to this day. One of the fundamental rules was, that but one person of the same trade or profession should be a member, the design being to render mutual assistance in business matters—a very desirable object, especially after the great calamity above referred to. The Club appears to have been a sort of court of appeal also. Thus, if one member in his dealings with another did not feel satisfied with the quality or quantity of the goods served to him, he could lay his grievance before the Club, who would decide the matter. Of course, the rules have been somewhat modified, to meet the advanced spirit of the times. The law excluding two of a trade is adhered to, to some extent. The Civil Club met for many years at the Old Ship Tavern, Water-lane, whence it removed to the Xew Corn Exchange Tavern, Mark-lane. The records show that among former members were Parliament-men, baronets, and aldermen ; the chaplain is the incumbent of St. Olave-by-the-Tower, Hart-street. Two high carved chairs, bearing date 1669, are used by the Stewards. This is the oldest Club in existence.
Clietoed-steeet Club was, in the last century, a debating Society, which met once a month at the Clifford-street Coffee-house, at the corner of Bond-street. The debaters were chiefly Mackintosh, Richard Sharp, a Mr. Ollyett Woodhouse; Charles Moore, son of the celebrated traveller; and Lord Charles Townshend, fourth son of the facetious and eccentric Marquis. The great primitive principles of civil government were then much discussed. It was before the French Revolution had ” brought death into the world and all its woe.”
At the Clifford street Society, Canning generally took ” the Liberal side “of the above questions. His earliest prepossessions are well known to have inclined to this side; but he evidently considered the Society rather as a school of rhetorical exercise, where he might acquire the use of bis weapons, than a forum, where the serious profession of opinions, and a consistent adherence to them, could be fairly expected of him.
Club Chambees, St. James’s-square, north corner of King-street (formerly the mansion of Lord Castlereagh, d. 1822), has been refronted in cement, in the Italian palazzo style (Johnson, architect) : the ground-floor has some good vermiculated rustic-work, and the windows of the King-street front are piquant.
Club Chambees, Begent-street, west side, between Pall Mall and Piccadilly, was built in 1839, by Decimus Burton, cost 26,0O0£. The style is Italian; the ground-story is rusticated, and terminated by a lace band, or string-course, enriched with the Vitruvian scroll; this forms a basement to three other stories, surmounted by a bold and enriched cornice. The principal floor has handsome balconies, Corinthian columns, and pediments; but the whole facade is too narrow for its height. The entrance is beneath a portico with coupled Doric columns. The building contains 77 chambers, coffee and dining-rooms, and offices. The whole is ventilated, and warmed by hot water, with complete skill; and is supplied with water from a well 250 feet deep, which is raised to the attic story by a steam-engine, also employed for lifting coals, furniture, &c. The Chambers are let in suites by the proprietors. They occupy the site of a house built by Mr. Nash for Charles Blicke, Esq. ; it was filled with articles of vertu and superb decoration; among which was a small circular temple, supported by Corinthian columns with brass capitals; and a conservatory embellished with models from Canova. Altogether, this was one of the most elaborately-decorated houses in the metropolis.
Cocoa-teee Club, the, was the Tory Chocolate-house of Queen Anne’s reign ; the
Whig Coffee-house was the St. James’s, lower down, in the same street, St. James’s. The party distinction is thus defined:—” A Whig will no more go to the Cocoa-tree or Ozinda’s, than a Tory will he seen at the coffee-house of St. James’s.” The Cocoa-tree Chocolate-house was converted into a Cluh, probably before 1746, when the house was the head-quarters of the Jacobite party in Parliament. Horace Walpole, in a letter to George Montagu, says:—” The Duke has given Brigadier Mordaunt the Pretender’s coach, on condition he rode up to London in it. ‘ That I will, sir,’ said he; * and drive till it stops of its own accord at the Cocoa-tree.’ ” Gibbon was a member of this Club, and has left this entry, in his journal of 1762 :—
” Nov. 24.—I dined at the Cocoa-tree with * * *, who, under a great appearance of oddity, conceals more real humour, good sense, and even knowledge, than half those who laugh at him. We went thence to the play (The Spanish Friar) ; and, when it was over, retired to the Cocoa-tree. That respectable body, of which I have the honour of being a member, affords every evening a sight truly English. Twenty or thirty, perhaps, of the first men in the kingdom in point of fashion and fortune, supping at little tables covered with a napkin, in the middle of a coffee-room, upon a bit of cold meat, or a sandwich, and drinking a glass of punch. At presentts h. At p we are full of King’s counsellors and lords of the bedchamber, who, having jumped into the ministry, make a very singular medley of their old principles and language with their modern ones.”
Bribery, high play, and foul play, were common at the Cocoa-tree. Walpole tells, in 1780, of a cast at hazard here to 180,000Z. The Cocoa-tree was one of the Clubs to which Lord Byron belonged.
Conservative Cltjb-hotjse, on the site of the old Thatched House Tavern, 74, St. James’s-street, was designed by Sydney Smirke and George Basevi, 1845. The upper portion is Corinthian, with columns and pilasters, and a frieze sculptured with the imperial crown and oak-wreaths; the lower order is Roman Doric ; and the wings are slightly advanced, with an enriched entrance-porch north, and a bow-window south. The interior is superbly decorated in colour by Sang: the coved hall, with a gallery round it, and the domed vestibule above it, is a fine specimen of German encaustic embellishment, in the arches, soffites, spandrels, and ceilings; and the hall floor is tesselated, around a noble star of marqueterie. The evening room, on the first floor, nearly 100 feet in length and 26 in breadth, has an enriched coved ceiling, and a beautiful frieze of the rose, shamrock, and thistle, supported by scagliola Corinthian columns; the morning room, beneath, is of the same dimensions, with Ionic pillars. The library, in the upper story north, has columns and pilasters with bronzed capitals; and beneath is the coffee-room. Here is no grained or imitative wood-work, the doors and fittings being wainscot-oak, bird’s-eye maple, and sycamore. The kitchen is skilfully planned; exceeding the Reform Club kitchen in completeness.
This is the second Club of the Conservative party, and many of its chiefs are honorary members, but rarely enter it; the late Sir Bobert Peel is said never to have entered this Club-house, except to view the interior.
County Club, the (Proprietary), 43 and 44, Albemarle-street, consists of noblemen, members of the Church, the learned professions, officers of the army and navy, and gentlemen, without reference to political distinction. The Duke of Wellington, president of the committee, 1866.
Coventry House Club (the Ambassadors’) was at 106, Piccadilly: the mansion occupies the site of the old Greyhound Inn, and was bought by the Earl of Coventry of Sir Hugh Hunlock, in 1764, for 10,000/., and 751. per annum ground rent.
Cbockeord’s Club-house, 50, west side of St. James’s-street, was built for Crockford in 1827; B. and P. Wyatt, architect. It consists of two wings and a centre, with four Corinthian pilasters with entablature, and a balustrade throughout; the ground-floor has Venetian windows, and the upper story large French windows. The entrance hall has a screen of Boman-Ionic scagliola columns with gilt capitals, and a cupola of gilding and stained glass. The coffee-room and library have Ionic columns, from the Temple of Minerva Polias; the staircase is panelled with scagliola, and enriched with Corinthian columns. The grand drawing-room is in the style of Louis Quatorze: azure ground, with elaborate cove, ceiling enrichments bronze-gilt, doorway paintings a la Watteau; and panelling, masks, and terminals heavily gilt. The interior was redecorated in 1849, and opened for the Military, Naval, and County Service Club, but was closed in 1851. It is now ” the Wellington” Dining-rooms.
Crockford started in life as a fishmonger, in the old bulk-shop next door to Temple Bar Without, which he quitted for ” play ” in St. James’s. He began by taking Watier’s old Club-house, where he set up a hazard-bank, and won a great deal of money; he then separated from his partner, who had a bad year, and failed. Crockford now removed to St. James’s-street, had a good year, and built the magnificent Club-house which bore his name; the decorations alone are said to have cost him 94,0002. The election of the Club members was vested in a committee; the house appointments were superb, and Ude was engaged as maitre d’kotel. ” Crockford’s” now became the high fashion. Card-tables were regularly placed, and whist was played occasionally; but the aim, end, and final cause of the whole was the hazard-bank, at which the proprietor took his nightly stand, prepared for all comers. His speculation was eminently successful. During several years, everything that any body had to lose and cared to risk was swallowed up; and Crockford became a millionaire. He retired in 1840, ” much as an Indian chief retires from a hunting country when there is not game enough left for his tribe;” and the Club then tottered to its fall. After Crockford’s death, the lease of the Club-house (thirty-two years, rent 140W.) was sold for 2900Z.
Dilettanti Society originated in 1734, with a party of Dilettanti (lovers of the fine arts), who had travelled or resided in Italy. In 1764, they commissioned certain artists to journey to the East, to illustrate its antiquities; and hy the aid of the Society several important works, including Stuart’s Athens, have heen published. The Dilettanti met at Parsloe’s, in St. James’s-street, whence they removed to the Thatched House, in 1799, where they dined on Sundays from February to July.
In the list of members, between 1770 and 1790, occur the names of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Earl Fitz-william, Charles James Fox, Hon. Stephen Fox (Lord Holland), Hon. Mr. Fitzpatrick, Charles Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Lord Robert Spencer, George Selwyn, Colonel Fitzgerald, Hon. H. Conway, Joseph Banks, Duke of Dorset, Sir William Hamilton, David Garriek, George Colman, Joseph Windham, R. Payne Knight, Sir George Beaumont, Towneley, and others of less posthumous fame.
The funds of the Society were largely benefited by the payment of fines. Those paid ” on increase of income, by inheritance, legacy, marriage, or preferment,” are very odd: as, five guineas by Lord Grosvenor, on his marriage with Miss Leveson Gower; eleven guineas by the Duke of Bedford, on being appointed First Lord of the Admiralty; ten guineas compounded for by Bubb Dodington, as Treasurer of the Navy; two guineas by the Duke of Kingston for a Colonelcy of Horse (then valued at 400Z. per annum); twenty-one pounds by Lord Sandwich on going out as Ambassador to the Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle; and twopence three-farthings by the same nobleman, on becoming Recorder of Huntingdon; thirteen shillings and fourpence by the Duke of Bedford, on getting the Garter; and sixteen shillings and eightpence (Scotch) by the Duke of Buccleuch, on getting the Thistle; twenty-one pounds by the Earl of Holdernesse, as Secretary of State; and nine pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence, by Charles James Fox, as a Lord of the Admiralty.
The Society, in 1835, included, among a list of sixty-four names, those of Sir William Gell, Mr. Towneley, Richard Westmacott, Henry Hallam, the Duke of Bedford, Sir M. A. Shee, P.R.A., Henry T. Hope; and Lord Prudhoe, afterwa. pdhoe, ards Duke of Northumberland.
The Dilettanti have never built themselves a mansion. They continued to meet at the Thatched House Tavern, the large room of which was hung with portraits of the Dilettanti. Sir Joshua Reynolds painted for the Society three capital pictures :—
1. A group, in the manner of Paul Veronese, containing the portraits of the Duke of Leeds, Lord Dnndas, Constantine Lord Mulgrave, Lord Seaforth, the Hon. Charles Greville, Charles Crowle, Esq., and Sir Joseph Banks. 2. A group, in the manner of the same master, containing portraits of Sir William Hamilton, Sir Watkin W. Wynne, Richard Thomson, Ksq., Sir John Taylor, Payne Galway, Esq., John Smythe, Esq., and Spencer S. Stanhope, Esq. 3. Head of Sir Joshua, dressed in a loose robe, in his own hand. The earlier portraits in the collection are by Hudson, Reynolds’s master.
There is a mixture of the convivial in the portraits j many are using wine-glasses, and of a small size. Lord Sandwich, in a Turkish costume, has a brimming goblet in his left hand, and a capacious flask in his right. Sir Bourchier Wray is mixing punch in the cabin of a ship ; the Earl of Holdernesse, in a red cap, as a gondolier, Venice in the background; Charles Sackville, Duke of Dorset, as a Roman senator, dated 1738 j Lord Galloway, in the dress of a Cardinal; Lord Le Despencer as a monk at his devotions. The late Lord Aberdeen, the Marquises of Northampton and Lansdowne, Colonel Lecky, Mr. Broderip, and Lord Northwick, were members. The Society now meet at the Clarendon Hotel; the Thatched House being taken down. An excellent account of the Dilettanti Society will be found in the Edinburgh Review, No. 214. The character of the Club, however, became changed; the members being originally persons almost exclusively devoted to art and antiquarian studies. The Dilettanti are now a publishing society, like the Roxburghe, the Camden, and others.
East India United Seevice Cltjb-hotjse, St. James’s-square, was erected in
1866, upon the site of two houses, No. 14 and 15. The style is handsome Italian; architect, Charles Lee. The East India United Service Club was founded, in 1848, to meet the wants of the various services which administer the Indian Government. It has, however, gradually lost its exclusively Indian character, especially since the transfer of our Eastern Empire to the Queen, and it has now on its rolls many officers belonging to the home forces. The Club numbers upwards of 1760 members, of whom generally about 800 are in England. The new building has been designed to accommodate over 1000 members. The classic facade next the new Club-house was built by Athenian Stuart for Lord Anson; and No. 15 was the residence of Lady Francis, who lent the house to Caroline, Queen of George IV.
Eccenteic Clubs. —In Ward’s Secret History, we read of the Golden Fleece Club, B rattle-brained society, originally held at a house in Cornhill, so entitled. They were a merry company of tippling citizens and jocular change-brokers. Each member on his admission had a characteristic name assigned to him; as, Sir Timothy Addlepate, Sir Nimmy Sneer, Sir Talkative Do-little, Sir Skinny Fretwell, Sir Rumbus Rattle, Sir Boozy Prate-all, Sir Nicholas Ninny Sipall, Sir Gregory Growler, Sir Pay-little, &c. The Club flourished until the decease of the leading member; when they adjourned to the Three Tuns, Southwark. ” It appears, by their books in genet fbooks iral, that, since their first institution, they have smoked fifty tons of tobacco, drunk thirty thousand butts of ale, one thousand hogsheads of red port, two hundred barrels of brandy, and one kilderkin of small beer. There had been likewise a great consumption of cards.”
Eccentrics, The. —Late in the last century, there met at a tavern kept by one Fulham, in Chandos-street, Covent-garden, a convivial club called ” The Eccentrics,” which was an offshoot of ” The Brilliants.” They next removed to Tom Rees’s, in May’s-buildings, St. Martin’s-lane; and here they were flourishing at all hours, some five-and-twenty years since. Amongst the members were many celebrities of the literary and political world; they were always treated with indulgence by the authorities. An inaugural ceremony was performed upon the making of a member, which terminated with a jubilation from the president. The books of the Club, up to the time of its removal from May’s-buildings, are stated to have passed into the possession of Mr. Lloyd, the hatter, of the Strand, who, by the way, was eccentric in his business, and published a small work descriptive of the various fashions of hats worn in his time, illustrated with characteristic engravings. From its commencement, the Eccentrics are said to have numbered upwards of 40,000 members, many of them holding high social position: among others, Fox, Sheridan, Lord Melbourne, and Lord Brougham. On the same memorable night that Sheridan and Lord Petersham were admitted, Hook was also enrolled; and through this Club membership, Theodore is believed to have obtained some of his high connexions. In a novel, published in numbers, some five-and-twenty years since, the author, F. W. N. Bayley, sketched with graphic vigour the meetings of the Eccentrics at the old tavern in May’s-buildings.— Club Uje of London, vol. i. p. 308, 1866.
Erechtheitjm Club-house, was in St. James’s-square (entrance, 8, York-street), and was the house of Wedgwood, whose beautiful ” ware” was shown in its rooms. It was formerly the site of Romney House; and from its windows William III. used to witness the fireworks in the Square at public rejoicings. The Club, long extinct, was established by Sir John Dean Paul, Bart., the banker, and became somewhat noted for its good dinners.
Essex Head Club, the, was established by Dr. Johnson, at the Essex Head, in Essex-street, Strand, then kept by Samuel Greaves, an old servant of Mr. Thralc’s: it was called “Sam’s.” Sir Joshua Reynolds refused to join it; but Daines Barrington, Dr. Brocklesby, Arthur Murphy, John Nichols, Dr. Hursley, and Mr. Windham, and Boswell, were of the Club. Dr. Johnson wrote the Rules, when he invented the word ” clubbable.” Alderman Clark, Lord Mayor and Chamberlain, was, probably, the last surviving member of this Club; he died in 1831, aged 92.
Farmers’ Club, the, originally formed at the York Hotel, Bridge-street, Blackfriars, ” open to practical farmers and scientific men of all countries,” has now a handsome Clubhouse (the Salisbury Hotel), Salisbury-square, Fleet-street; architect, Giles; built 1865.
Fielding Club, Maiden-lane, Covent-garden. Albert Smith, was a leading member ; and the Club gave several amatenr representations ” for the immediate relief of emergencies in the literary or theatrical world.”
Foub-in-Hand Club, the, originated some seventy years ago, when the Hon. Charles Finch, brother to the Earl ati to theof Aylesford, used to drive his own coach-and-four, disguised in a livery great-coat. Soon after, ” Tommy Onslow,” Sir John Lade, and others, mounted the box in their own characters. The Four-in-Hand combined gastronomy with equestrianism and charioteering : they always drove out of town to dinner. The vehicles of the Club which were formerly used, are described as of a hybrid class, quite as elegant as private carriages, and lighter than even the mails. They were horsed with the finest animals that money could secure. In general, the whole four in each carriage were admirably matched; grey and chestnut were the favourite colours, but occasionally very black horses, or such as were freely flecked with white, were preferred. The master generally drove the team, often a nobleman of high rank, who commonly copied the dress of a mail-coachman. The company usually rode outside, but two footmen in rich liveries were indispensable on the back seat; nor was it at all uncommon to see some splendidly-attired female on the box. A rule of the Club was, that all members should turn out three times a week; and the start was made at mid-day, from the neighbourhood of Piccadilly, through which tbey passed to the Windsor-road—the attendants of each carriage playing on their silver bugles. From twelve to twenty of these handsome vehicles often left London together. Forty years back, there were from thirty-four to forty four-in-hand equipages to be seen constantly about town. Their number is now considerably less.
Gaeeick Club-house, Garrick-street, Covent Garden, contains a collection of theatrical paintings and drawings, assembled by Charles Mathews, the elder, and bequeathed by a member of the Club: they include :
Elliston as Octavian, by Singleton; Macklin (aged 93), by Opie; Mrs. Pritchard, by Hayman; Peg Woflington, by R. Wilson; Nell Gwynne, by Sir Peter Lely; Mrs. Abington; Samuel Foote, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; Colley Cibber as Lord Foppington; Mrs. Bracegirdle; Kitty Give; Mrs. Robinson, after Reynolds; Garrick as Macbeth, and Mrs. Pritchard, Lady Macbeth, by Zoffany; Garrick as Richard III., by Morland, sen.; Young Roscius, by Opie; Quin, by Hogarth; Rich and his Family, by Hogarth; Charles Mathews, four characters, by Harlowe; Nat Lee, painted in Bedlam; Anthony Leigh as the Spanish Friar, by Kneller; John Liston, by Clint; Munden, by Opie; John Johnstone, by Shee; Lacy in three characters, by Wright; Scene from Charles II.,by Clint; Mrs. Siddons as Lady Macbeth, by Harlowe; J. P. Kemble as Cato, by Lawrence; Macready as Henry IV., by Jackson; Edwin, by Gainsborough ; the twelve of the School of Garrick; Kean, Young, Elliston, and Mrs. Inchbald, by Harlowe; Garrick as Richard III., by Loutherbourg; Rich as Harlequin; Moody and Parsons in the ” Committee,” by Vandergucht; King as Touchstone, by Zoffany; Thomas Dogget; Henderson, by Gainsborough; Elder Colman, by Reynolds; Mrs. Oldfield, by Kneller: Mrs. Billington; Nancy Dawson; Screen Scene from the ” School for Scandal,” as originally cast; Scene from ” Venice Preserved ” (Garrick and Mrs. Cibber), by Zoffany; Scene from “Macbeth” (Henderson); Scene from “Love, Law, and Physic” (Mathews, Liston, Blanchard,and Emery), by Clint; Scene from the ” Clandestine Marriage” (King and Mr. and Mrs. Baddeley), by Zoffany; Weston as Billy Button, by Zoffany. The following have been presented to the Club: Busts of Mrs. Siddons and J. P. Kemble, by Mrs. Siddons; of Garrick, Captain Marryat, Dr. Kitchiner, and Malibran; Garrick, by Roubiliac; Griffin and Johnson in the ” Alchemist,” by Von Bleeck; miniatures of Mrs. Robinson and Peg Woflington; Sketch of Kean, by Lambert; Garrick Mulberry-tree Snuff-box; Joseph Harris as Cardinal Wolsey,from the Strawberry-hill Collection; proof print of the Trial of Queen Katharine, by Harlowe. In the Smoking-room is a splendid sea-piece, by S” Sa-piecetanfield; and Balbec, by David Roberts; portrait of R. Keeley, by O’Ncil; Frederick Yates and Mrs. Davison; also a statuette of Thackeray; and a most valuable collection of theatrical prints.
The pictures may be seen by the personal introduction of a member of the Club on Wednesdays (except in September), between eleven and three o’clock. The Garrick Club was instituted in 1831, ” for the general patronage of the Drama; the formation of a Theatrical Library, and Works, and Costume; and for bringing together the patrons of the Drama,” &c. The Garrick is noted for its summer gin-punch, thus made: Pour half-a-pint of gin on the outer peel of a lemon, then a little lemon-juice, a glass of maraschino, a pint and a quarter of water, and two bottles of iced soda-water. The Club originally met at 29, King-street, Covent Garden, previously ” Probatt’s” hotel. The old place, inconvenient as it was, will long preserve the interest of association for the older members of the Garrick. From James Smith (of Rejected Addresses) to Thackeray, there is a long series of names of distinguished men who have marie the Garrick their favourite haunt, and whose memories are connected with those rooms. The Club removed to their present mansion, built for them; Marrable, architect. The style is elegant Italian.
Gbesham Club-house, Sfc. Swithin’s-lane, King William-street, City, was built in 1844, for the Club named after Sir Thomas Gresham, who founded the Royal Exchange. The Club consists chiefly of merchants and professional men. The style of the Club-house (H. Flower, architect) is Italian, from portions of two palaces in Venice.
Gbillion’s Club, of which the Fiftieth Anniversary was celebrated, May 6, 1863, by a banquet at the Clarendon, the Earl of Derby in the chair, was founded half a century since, by the Parliamentary men of the time, as a neutral ground on which they might meet. Politics are strictly excluded from the Club: its name is derived from Grillion’s Hotel, in Albemarle-street, at which the Club originally met. On Jan. 30, 1860, there was sold at Puttick and Simpson’s a series of seventy-nine portraits of members of this Club, comprising statesmen, members of the Government, and other highly distinguished persons during the last half century. These portraits, all of which were private plates, were engraved by Lewis, after drawings by J. Slater and G. Richmond. There were also four duplicate portraits, a vignette title, Rules of the Club, and list of its members. In this list, the only original surviving members are four.— Notes and Queries, 3rd S. j May 23, 1863.
The members present at the 50th Anniversary were the Earl of Derby, K.G., chairman, supported by the Duke of Newcastle, K.G.; the Earls of St. Germans, G.C.B., of Devon, of Clarendon, K.G., G.C.B., of Carnarvon, of Harrowby, K.G., Somers, and of Gosford; Viscounts Sydney, G.C.B., and Eversley; the Bishop of Oxford; Lords Stanley, Elcho, Robert Cecil, Clinton, Lyttelton, Wodehouse, Monteaglc, Cranworth, Ebury, Chelmsford, and Taunton; the Secretaries of State for the Home and Indian Departments; the Hous. John Ashley, E. Pleydell Bouverie, and G. M. Fortescue; the Bight Hons. Sir P. Baring, Sir Thomas Premantle, Spencer Walpole, Edward Cardwell, Sir Edmund Head, and C. B. Adderley; Vice-Chancellor Sir W. Page Wood; the Lord Advocate; Sirs P. De Grey Egerton, Thomas Dyke Acland, W. Heathcote, James East, J. Shaw Lefevre, K.C.B., and Hugh Cairns; Messrs. Hastings Russell and Thomas Dyke Acland; Colonel Wilson Patten; Messrs. Baring, Buller, Childers, C C. Greville, Monckton Milnes, Morier, Ker Seymer, W. Stirling, Wrightson, and RDevghtson,ichmond. The undermentioned members were unavoidably absent:—The Marquis of Westminster, K.G.; Earls De Grey, Russell, and Grosvenor; Viscounts Sandon, Stratford de Redcliffe, G.C.B., and Lovaine; Lord Kingsdown, the Hon. B. Curzon, Sir C. Lemon, Sir Roundell Palmer, and the Rev. H. Wellesley.
Guaeds’ Club, the, was formerly housed in St. James’s-street, next Crockford’s; but, in 1850, they removed to Pall Mall, No. 70. The new Club-house was designed for them by Henry Harrison, and is remarkable for compactness and convenience. The architect has adopted some portion of a design of Sansovino’s in the lower part or basement.
Independents, the, established in 1780, was a Club of about forty members of the House of Commons, opponents of the Coalition Ministry, whose principle of union was a resolution to take neither place, pension, nor peerage. In a few years, Wilberforce and Bankes were the only ones of the incorruptible forty who were not either peers, pensioners, or placemen.
Ivy-lane Club, Paternoster-row, was formed by Dr. Johnson; his friend, Dr. Richard Bathurst; Hawksworth; and Hawkins, the attorney, afterwards Sir John Hawkins. The Club was shut up the year before Johnson’s death. About this time he instituted a Club at the Queen’s Arms, St. Paul’s Churchyard.
Junioe Caelton, the, was instituted in 1864, and ” is a political Club in strict connexion with the Conservative party, and designed to promote its objects. The only pureons eligible for admission are those who profess Conservative principles, and acknowledge the recognised leaders of the Conservative party,” which Rule each member, on joining, signs. The Club is temporarily located at 14, Regent-street; but a freehold site on the north side of Pall Mall has been secured for a new Club-house, to cost 37,000/., and to be ready in 1868. The Club, in May, 1866, consisted of 1624 members; the subscriptions in 1865 amounted to 17,081/.; cost of wines and spirits, 3109Z.; cigars, 458/.
King of Clubs, the, set on foot about 1801, by Bobus Smith (brother of Sydney), met at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Strand. Among the members were ” Conversation Sharp;” Scarlett, afterwards Lord Abinger; Rogers, the poet; honest John Allen; Dumont, the French emigrant; Wishart, and Charles Butler. Curran often met Erskine here.
Kit-eat Club, a society of thirty-nine noblemen and gentlemen, zealously attached to the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover. The Club is said to have originated about 1700, in Shire-lane, Temple Bar, at the house of Christopher Kat, a
pastrycook, where the members dined: he excelled in making mutton-pies, always in the bill of fare, and called Kit-kats; hence the name of the Society.
Jacob Tonson, the bookseller, was secretary. Among the members were the Dukes of Somerset, Richmond, Grafton, Devonshire, and Marlborough; and (after the accession of George I.) the Duke of Newcastle, the Earls of Dorset, Sunderland, Manchester, Wharton, and Kingston; Lords Halifax and Somers; Sir Robert Walpole, Garth, Vanbrugh, Congreve, Granville, Addison, Maynwaring, Stepney, and Walsh. Pope tells us that ” the day Lord Mohun and the Earl of Berkeley were entered of the Club, Jacob said he saw ont said hthey were just going to be ruined. When Lord Mohun broke down the gilded emblem on the top of hi* chair, Jacob complained to his friends, and said that a man who cQuld do that would cut a man’s throat. So that he had the good and the forms of the Society at heart. The paper was all in Lord Halifax’s writing, of a subscription of 400 guineas for the encouragement of good comedies, and was dated 1709. Soon after that they broke up.”—(Spence’s Anecdotes.) Tonson had his own and all their portraits painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller; each member gave him his; and, to suit the room, a shorter canvas was used (viz., 36 by 28 inches), but sufficiently long to admit a hand, and still known as the Kit-kat size. The pictures, 42 in number, were removed to Tonson’s seat at Barn Elms, where he built a handsome room for their reception. At his death in 1736, Tonson left them to his great-nephew, also an eminent bookseller, who died in 1767. The pictures were then removed to the house of his brother, at Water-Oakley, near Windsor; and, on his death, to the house of Mr. Baker, of Hertingfordbury, where they now remain.
Walpole speaks of the Club as ” the patriots that saved Britain,” as having ” its beginning about the Trial of the Seven Bishops in the reign of James II.,” and consisting of “the most eminent men who opposed the reign of that arbitrary monarch.” Garth wrote some verses for the toasting-glass of the Club, which have immortalized four of the reigning beauties at the commencement of the last century: the Ladies Carlisle, Essex, Hyde, and Wharton. Halifax similarly commemorated the charms of the Duchesses of St. Albans, Beaufort, and Richmond; Ladies Sunderland and Mary Churchill; and Mdlle. Spanheime.
Law I>*STiTTJTioy, the, west side of Chancery-lane, was built in 1832 (Vulliamy, architect), for the Law Society of the United Kingdom; and combines a valuable library with a hall and office of registry, with Club accommodation. The Chancery-lane front has a Grecian-Ionic portico, with a pediment of considerable beauty; and the Club front in Bell-yard resembles that of an Italian palace. The Society consists of attorneys, solicitors, and proctors practising in Great Britain and Ireland, and of Writers to the Scottish Signet and Courts of Justice; and certificates of attorneys and solicitors must be registered here before granted by the Commissioners of Stamps. Law lectures, limited to one hour, are delivered here during term in the Great Hall.
Litekaey Club, the, was founded in 1764 by a knot of good and great men, who met at the Turk’s Head Tavern, in Soho, first at the corner of Greek-street and Comp-ton-street, and subsequently in Gerard-street, the founders being Sir Joshua Keynolds and Dr. Johnson. The members were limited to nine, including Reynolds, Johnson, Hawkins, and Burke, and Goldsmith, notwithstanding Hawkins’s objection to Oliver as ” a mere literary drudge.” The members met one evening at seven for supper, in 1772. The supper was changed to a dinner, and the members increased to twenty, and it was at length resolved that it should never exceed forty. In 1783 the landlord died, and the tavern was converted into a private house. The members then removed to Prince’s, in Sackville-street; and on this house being soon shut up they removed to Baxter’s, afterwards Thomas’s, in Dover-street. In 1792 they removed to Parsloe’s, in St. James’s-street, and thence to the Thatched House, in the same street. The reader will recollect Lord Chancellor Thurlow’s rough reply to the prim Peer, ¦who, in a debate in the House of Lords, having pompously cited certain resolutions passed by a party of noblemen and gentlemen at the Thatched House, said, ” As to -what the noble Lord in the red ribbon told usiveibbon t he had heard at the ale-house” &c. From the time of Garrick’s death, the Club was known as ” The Literary Club,” since which it has certainly lost its claim to this epithet. It was originally a club of authors by profession ; it now numbers few except titled members, which was very far from the intention of the founders. The name of the Club is now ” The Johnson.”
The centenary of the Club was commemorated in 1864 at the Clarendon, when were present—in the’ chair, the Dean of St. Paul’s; his Excellency M. van de Weyer, Earls Clarendon and Stanhope, the Bishops of London and Oxford; Lords Brougham, Stanley, Cranworth, Kingsdown,and Harry Vane; the Right Hon. Sir Edmund Head, Spencer Walpole, and Robert Lowe; Sir Henry Holland, Sir C. East-lake, Sir Roderick Murchison, Vice-chancellor Sir W. Page Wood, the Master of Trinity, Professor Owen, Mr. G. Grote, Mr. C. Austen, Mr. H. Reeve, and Mr. G. Richmond. Among the few members prevented from attending were the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Carlisle, Earl Russell, the Chancellor of the Kxchequer, Lord Overstone, Lord Glenelg, and Mr. W. Stirling. Mr. N. W. Senior, who was the politicid economist of the Club, died a few days previously. The Secretary is Dr. Milman, Dean of St. Paul s; who keeps the books and archives of the Club; the autographs are valuable. Among the memorials is the portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with spectacles on, which he painted and presented to the Club.—See Club Life of London, vol. i. pp. 204—218. 1866.
Mermaid Club, the, was long said to have been held in Friday-street, Cheap-side ; but Ben Jonson has settled it in Bread-street; and Mr. W. Hunter, in his Notes on Shakspeare, has, in a schedule of 1603, ” Mr. Johnson, at the Mermaid, in Bread-street.” Mr. Burn, in the Beaufoy Catalogue, explains: ” The Mermaid in Bread-street, the Mermaid in Friday-street, and the Mermaid in Cheap, were all one and the same. The tavern, situated behind, had a way to it from these thoroughfares, but was nearer to Bread-street than Friday-street.” Mr. Burn adds, in a note, ” The site of the Mermaid is clearly defined, from the circumstance of W. R., a haberdasher of small wares, ‘ ‘twixt Wood-street and Milk-street,’ adopting the same sign • over against the Mermaid Tavern in Cheapside.'” The tavern was destroyed in the Great Fire.
Here Sir Walter Raleigh is traditionally said to have instituted “The Mermaid Club.” Gifford has thus described the Club, adopting the tradition and the Friday-street location:—”About this time [1603J Jonson probably began to acquire that turn for conviviality for which he was afterwards noted, Sir Walter Raleigh, previously to his unfortunate engagement with the wretched Cobham and others, had instituted a meeting of beaux espritt at the Mermaid, a celebrated tavern in Friday-street. Of this Club, which combined more talent and genius than ever met together before or since, our author was a member; and here for many years he regularly repaired, with Shakspeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, and many others, whose names, even at this distant period, call up a mingled feeling of reverence and respect.” But this is doubted. A writer in the Athenceum, Sept. 16, 1865, states:—” The origin of the commoD tale of Raleigh founding the Mermaid Club, of which Shakspeare is said to have been a member, has not been traced. Is it older than Gifford ?” Again : ” Gifford’s apparent invention of the Mermaid Club. Prove to us that Raleigh founded the Mermaid Club, that the wits attended it under his presidency, and you will have made a real contribution to our knowledge of Shakspeare’s time, even if you fail to show that our Poet was a member of that Club.” The tradition, it is thought, must be ar mht, musdded to the long list of Shakspearian doubts. Nevertheless, Fuller has described the wit-combats between Shakspeare and Ben Jonson, which he beheld—meaning with his mind’s eye; for he was only eight years old when Shakspeare died.— Club Life of London, vol. i. p. 91. 1866.
Mtjlbeeeies, the, a Club originated in 1824, at the Wrekin Tavern, Covent-garden, with the regulation that some paper, or poem, or conceit, bearing upon Shakspeare, should be contributed by each member. Hither came Douglas Jerrold and Laman Blanchard, William Godwin, Kenny Meadows ; Elton, the actor; and Chatfield, the artist; ” that knot of wise and jocund men, then unknown, but gaily struggling.” The Mulberries’ Club gathered a number of contributions, ” mulberry-leaves,” but they have not been printed. The name of the Club was changed to the Shakspeare, when it was joined by Charles Dickens, Justice Talfburd, Maclise, Macready, Frank Stone, &c. The Mulberries’ meetings are embalmed in Jerrold’s Cakes and Ale. There were other Clubs of this class, as the Gratis and the Rationals, the Hooks and Eyes and Our Club.
Museum Club, the, at the north end of Northumberland-street, was established in 1847, as ” a properly modest and real literary Club.” Jerrold, and Mahony (Father Prout) enjoyed their ” intellectual gladiatorship” at the Museum; but its life was brief.
National Club-house, 1, Whitehall-gardens, has a noble saloon, 80 feet in length, hung with large tapestry pictures, in the manner of Teniers: they are of considerable age, yet fresh in colour.
Natal Club, The Royal, originated as follows:—About the year 1674, according to a document in the possession of Mr. Fitch, of Norwich, a Naval Club was started ” for the improvement of a mutuall Society, and an encrease of Love and Kindness amongst them;” and that consummate seaman, Admiral Sir John Kempthorne, was declared Steward of the institution. This was the precursor of the Royal Naval Club of 1765, which, whether considered for its amenities or its extensive charities, may be justly cited as a model establishment. (Admiral Smyth’s Rise and Progress of the Royal Society Club, p. 9.) The members of this Club annually distribute a considerable sum among the distressed widows and orphans of those who have spent their days in the naval service of their country. The Club was accustomed to dine together at the Thatched House Tavern, on the anniversary of the Battle of the Nile. It is confined exclusively to members of the Naval Service: it ‘has numbered among its members men from the days of Boscawen, Rodney, and the ‘ first of June’ downwards. It was a favourite retreat for William IV. when Duke of Clarence; and his comrade, Sir Philip Durham, the survivor of Nelson, and almost the last of the ” old school,” frequented it.
Naval and Military Club, the, 94, Piccadilly—Cambridge House, the town residence of the late Viscount Palmerston.
Noviomagians. —The more convivially-disposed members of learned London Societies have, from time to time, formed themselves into Clubs. The Royals have done so, ab initio. The Antiquaries appear to have given up their Club and their Anniversary Dinner; but certain of the Fellows, resolving not to remain impransi, many years since, formed a Club, styled ” Noviomagians,” from the identitication of the Roman station of Noviomagus being just then reputedly discovered.
One of the Club-founders was Mr. A. J. Kempe; and Mr. Crofton Croker was president more than twenty years. Lord Londesborough, Mr. Corner, the Southwark antiquary, and Mr. Fairholt, were also Noviomagians; and in the present Club-list are Sir William Betham, Mr. Godwin, Mr. S. C. Hall, Mr. Lemon, &c. The Members dine together once a month, during the season. Joking minutes are kept, among which are found many known names, either as visitors or associates:—Theodore Hook, Sir Henry Ellis, Britton, Dickens, Thackeray, John Bruce, Jordan, Planch^, Bell, Maclise, &c. The wits have found Arms for the Club, with a butter-boat rampant for the crest. In 1855, Lord Mayor Moon, F.S.A., entertained the Noviomagians at the Mansion House.
October Club, named from its ” October ale,” was formed at the Bell Tavern, King-street, Westminster, and, in 1710, were for impeaching every member of the Whig party, and for turning out every placeman who did not wear their colours, and shout their cries. Swift was great at the October Club: in a letter, February 10,1710-11, he says:
” We are plagued here with an October Club; that is, a set of above a hundred Parliament-men of the country, who drink October beer at home, and meet every evening at a tavern near the Parliament, to consult affairs, and drive things on to extremes against the Whigs, to call the old ministry to account, and get oif five or six heads.” Swift’s Advice humbly offered to the Members of the October Cub had the desired effect of softening some, and convincing others, until the whole body of malcontents was first divided and finally dissolved.
The red-hot ” tantivies,” for whose loyalty the October Club was not thorough-going
enough, seceded from the original body, and formed the March Club, more Jacobite
and rampant in its hatred of the Whigs than the Society from which it branched.
Oriental Club, the, was established in 182 4-, by Sir John Malcolm, the traveller and brave soldier. The members were noblemen and gentlemen associated with the administration of our Eastern empire, or who had travelled or resided in Asia, at St. Helena, in Egypt, at the Cape of Good Hope, the Mauritius, or at Constantinople. The Oriental was erected in 1827-8, by B. and P. Wyatt, and has the usual Club characteristic of only one tier of windows above the ground-floor ; the interior has since been redecorated and embellished by Collman. The Alfred, in 1855, joined the Oriental, which had been designated by hackney-coachmen as ” the Horizontal Club.” “Enter it,” said the New Monthly Magazine, some thirty years since, “it looks like an hospital, in which a smell of curry-powder pervades the ‘wards’—wards filled with venerable patients, dressed in nankeen shorts, yellow stockings and gaiters, and facings to match. There may still be seen pigtails in all their pristine perfection. It is the region of calico shirts, returned writers, and guinea-pigs grown into bores. Such is the nabobery into which Harley-street, Wimpole-street, and Gloucester-place daily empty their precious stores of bilious humanity.” Time has blunted the point of this satiric picture, the individualities of which had passed away, even before the amalgamation of the Oriental with the Alfred.
Oxeord and Cahbridgen and Cae Club-iiouse, 71, Pall Mall, for members of the two Universities, was designed by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., and his brother, Sydney Smirke, 1835-8. The Pall Mall facade is 80 feet in width by 75 in height, and the rear lies over against the court of Marlborough House. The ornamental detail is very rich : as the entrance-portico, with Corinthian columns; the balcony, with its panels of metal foliage j and the ground-story frieze, and arms of Oxford and Cambridge Universities over the portico columns. The upper part of the building has a delicate Corinthian entablature and balustrade; and above the principal windows are bas-reliefs in panels, executed in cement by Nicholl, from designs by Sir R. Smirke, R. A.
Centre panel: Minerva and Apollo presiding on Mount Parnassus; and the river Helicon, surrounded by the Muses. Extreme panels: Homer singing to a warrior, a female, and a youth; Virgil singing his Georgics to a group of peasants. Other four panels: Milton reciting to his daughter; Shakspeare attended by Tragedy and Comedy; Newton explaining his system; Bacon, his philosophy.
Beneath the ground-floor is a basement of offices, and an entresol or mezzanine of
chambers. The principal apartments are tastefully decorated : the drawing-room panelled with papier-mache; and the libraries are filled with hook-cases of beautifully-marked Russian birch-wood. From the library rearward is a view of Marlborough House and its gardens.
Pall Mail was noted for its tavern Clubs more than two centuries since. ” The first time that Pepys mentions Pell Mell,” writes Cunningham, ” is under the 26th of July, 1660, where he says, ‘ We went to Wood’s’ (our old house for clubbing), ‘ and there we spent till ten at night.’ This is not only one of the earliest references to Pall Mall as an inhabited locality, but one of the earliest uses of the word ‘ clubbing/ in its modern signification of a Club, and additionally interesting, seeing that the street still maintains what Johnson would have called its * clubbable’ character. In Spence’s Anecdotes (Supplemental), we read: ” There was a Club held at the King’s Head, in Pall Mall, that arrogantly called itself ‘ The World.’ Lord Stanhope then (now Lord Chesterfield), Lord Herbert, &c, were members. Epigrams were proposed to be written on the glasses, by each member, after dinner; once, when Dr. Young was invited thither, the Doctor would have declined writing, because he had no diamond; Lord Stanhope lent him his, and he wrote immediately:
“‘ Accept a miracle, instead of wit ;
See two dull lines with Stanhope’s pencil writ.'”
The first modern Club mansion in Pall Mall was No. 86, opened as a subscription house, called the Albion Hotel. It was originally built for Edward Duke of York, brother of George III., and is now the office of Ordnance (correspondence).
The south side dee southof Pall Mall has a truly patrician air in its seven costly Club-houses, of exceedingly rich architectural character, and reminding one of Captain Morris’s luxurious resource:
” In town let me live then, in town let me die; For in truth I can’t relish the country, not I. If one must have a villa in summer to dwell, Oh, give me the sweet shady side of Pall Mall.”
Parthenon Club-house, east side of Regent-street, nearly facing St. Philip’s Chapel, was designed by Nash: the first floor is elegant Corinthian. The south division was built by Mr. Nash for his own residence; it has a long gallery, decorated from a loggia of the Vatican at Rome: it is now the ” Gallery of Illustration.” The Parthenon Club, now no longer in existence, was taken by Mr. Poole, for his memorable paper, ” The Miseries of a Club,” in the New Monthly Magazine.
Phcenix Club, 17, St. James’s-place, consists of the Public Schools’ Club, amalgamated with the Universities Union, and intended to include gentlemen educated at the Universities and Public Schools, together with Woolwich, Sandhurst, and Royal Naval College.
Portland Club, 1, Stratford-place, Oxford-street.
Pbince of Wales’s Cltjb, 43, Albemarle-street.
Pbince of Wales’s Yacht Club, Freemasons’ Tavern.
Reform Club-house, between the Travellers’ and Carlton Club-houses, has a frontage in Pall Mall of 135 feet, being nearly equal to that of the Athenceum (76 feet) and Travellers’ (74 feet). The Reform Club was established by Liberal Members of the two Houses of Parliament, to aid the carrying of the Reform Bill, 1830-32. The Reform was built in 1838-39, from the designs of Barry, R.A.; and resembles the Farnese Palace at Rome, designed by Michael Angelo Buonarotti, in 1545. The Clubhouse contains six floors and 134 apartments: the basement and mezzanine below the street pavement, and the chambers in the roof, are not seen.
The points most admired are extreme simplicity and unity of design, combined with very unusual richness. The breadth of the piers between the windows contributes not a little to that repose which is so essential to simplicity, and hardly less so to stateliness. The string-courses are particularly beautiful, while the cornicione (68 feet from the pavement) gives extraordinary majesty and grandeur to the whole. The roof is covered with Italian tiles; the edifice is faced throughout with Portland stone, and is a very fine specimen of masonry.
In the centre of the interior is a grand’hall, 56 feet by 50, resembling an Italian cortile, surrounded by colonnades, below Ionic, and above Corinthian; the latter is a picture-gallery, where, inserted in the scagliola walls, are whole-length portraits of eminent
political Reformers. The floor of the hall is tesselated; and the entire roof is strong diapered flint glass, hy Pellatt & Co. The staircase, like that of an Italian palace, leads to the upper gallery of the hall, opening into the principal drawing-room, which is over the coffee-room in the gardeifi in then front, hoth heing the entire length of the building; adjoining are a library, card-room, &c., over the library and dining-rooms. Above are a billiard-room and lodging-rooms for members of the Club; there being a separate entrance to the latter by a lodge adjoining the Travellers’ Club.
The basement comprises two-storied wine-cellars beneath the hall, besides the Kitchen Department, planned by Alexis Soyer, originally chef-de-cuisine of the Club : it contains novel employments of steam and pras, and mechanical applications of practical ingenuity, the inspection of which was long one of the privileged sights of London. The cuisine, under M. Soyer, enjoyed European fame, fully testified in a magnificent banquet given by the Club to Ibraham Pasha, July 3,1846. Another famous banquet was that given July 20, 1850, to Viscount Palmerston, who was a popular leader of the Reform. This festival was, gastronomically as well as politically, a brilliant triumph.
Refobm Club, Jcniob ; Club-house to be erected in Jermyn-street.
Robin Hoot), the, was a Debating Society, which met, in the reign of George II., at a house in Essex-street, Strand, at which questions were proposed for discussion, and any member might speak seven minutes; after which, ” the baker,” who presided with a hammer, summed up the arguments. Arthur Mainwaring and Dr. Hugh Chamberlain were early members; and the Club was visited by M. Beaumont, as a curiosity, in 1761. This was the scene of Burke’s earliest eloquence. Goldsmith came here, and was struck by the imposing aspect of the President, who sat in a large gilt chair.
Rota, the, or Coffee Cltxb, as Pepys calls it, was founded in 1659, as a kind of Debating Society for the dissemination of republican opinions, which Harrington had painted in their fairest colours in his Oceana. It met in New Palace Yard, at the then Turk’s Head, ” where they take water, the next house to the staires, at one Miles’s, where was made purposely a large ovall-table, with a passage in the middle for Miles to deliver his coffee.” Here Harrington gave nightly lectures on the advantage of a commonwealth and of the ballot. The Club derived its name from a plan, which it was its design to promote, for changing a certain number of Members of Parliament annually by rotation. Sir William Petty was one of its members. Round the table, ” in a room every evening as full as it could be crammed,” says Aubrey, sat Milton and Marvell, Cyriac Skinner, Harrington, Nevill, and their friends, discussing abstract political questions. Aubrey calls them ” disciples and virtuosi.” The Club was broken up at the Restoration.
Dr. Nash notes: ” Mr. James Harrington, sometime in the service of Charles I., drew up and printed a form of popular government, after the King’s death, entitled the Commonwealth of Oceana. He endeavoured likewise to promote his scheme by public discourses, at a nightly Club of several curious gentlemen, Henry Nevil, Charles Wolseley, John Wildman, Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Petty, who met in New Palace-yard, Westminster. Mr. Henry Nevil proposed to the House of Commons that a third part of its members should rote out by ballot every year, and be incapable of reelection for three years to come. This Club was called the Rota.”
Roxbttbghe Club, the, was founded by the Rev. T. Frognall (afterwards Dr.) Dibdin, at the St. Albans Tavern, St. James’s, on June 17, 1812, immediately after the Haely aft sale of the rarest lot in the Roxburghe Library, viz., II Decamerone di Boccaccio, which produced 2260Z. The members were limited to 24, subsequently extended to 31.
The President of this Club was the second Earl Spencer. Among the most celebrated members were the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Blandford (the late Duke of Marlborough), Lord Althorp (late Karl Spencer), Lord Morpeth (afterwards Earl of Carlisle), Lord Gower (afterwards Earl of Carlisle), Sir Masterman Sykes, Sir Egerton Brydges, Mr. (afterwards Baron) Holland, Mr. Dent, Mr. Townley, Rev. T. C. Heber, Rev. Rob. Holwell Carr, Sir Walter Scott, &c.: Dr. Dibdin being Secretary. The avowed object of the Club was the reprinting of rare and neglected pieces of ancient literature; and, at one of the early meetings,” it was proposed and concluded for each member of the Club to reprint a scarce piece of ancient lore, to be given to the members, one copy being on vellum for the chairman, and only as many copies as members.” It may, however, be questioned whether the ” dinners ” of the Club were not more important than the literature. They were given at the St. Albans’, at Grillion’s, at the Clarendon, and the Albion Taverns. Of these entertainments some curious details have been recorded by Mr. Joseph Haslewood, one of the members, in a MS., entitled “Roxburghe Bevels; or, an Account of the Annual Display, culinary and festicous, interspersed with Matters of Moment or Merriment:” a selection from its rarities has appeared in the Athenaum: at the second dinner, Mr. Heber in the chair, a few tarried until, ” on arriving at home, the click of time bespoke a quarter to four.” Among the early members was the Rev. Mr. Dodd, one of the masters of Westminster School, who, until 1818 (when he died), enlivened the Club with Robin Hood ditties. At the fourth dinner, at Grillion’s, Sir Masterman Sykes
chairman, 20 members present, the bill was 57/. At the Anniversary, 1818, at the Albion, Mr. Heber in. the chair, 15 present, the bill was 85/. 9s. 6d., or 5/. lis. each ; including turtle, 12/. 10s.; venison, 10/. 10*.; and wine, 30.’. 17s. ” Ancients, believe it,” says Haslewood,” we were not dead drunk, and therefore lie quiet under the table for once, and let a few moderns be uppermost.”
The Roxburghe Club still exists : it may justly be considered to have suggested the publishing Societies of the present day; as the Camden, Shakspeare, Percy, &c.
Royal Society Club, the, was founded in 1743, and was at first styled “the Club of Royal Philosophers.” It originated some years earlier with Dr. Halley and a few friends, who dined together once a week; at length, they removed to the Mitre Tavern, No. 39, Fleet-street, to be handy to the Royal Society, which then met in Crane-court. In 1780, the Club removed to the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand ; in 1818, to the Freemasons’ Tavern: and thence, when the Royal Society removed to Burlington House, Piccadilly, the Club removed to the Thatched House Tavern, St. James’s-street. The dinners were plain, black-puddings figuring for many years at each repast. The presents made to the Club became very numerous; and haunches of venison, turtle, and game, were rewarded by the donors’ healths being drunk in claret. The circumnavigator, Lord Anson, presented the Club with a magnificent turtle; and on another occasion with a turtle which weighed 4001bs. James Watt dined at one of these turtle-feasts; ” and never was turtle eaten with greater sobriety and temperance, or with more good fellowship.” Then we find mighty chines of beef, and large carp among the presents; and Lord Macartney senn CMacartnt ” two pigs of the China breed.” Fruits were presented for dessert; and Philip Miller, who wrote the Gardener’s Dictionary, sent Egyptian Cos lettuces, the best kind known; and Cantaloupe melons, equal in flavour to pine-apples. For thirty years the Club received these presents in lieu of admission-money, until thinking it undignified to do so, the practice was discontinued. The charge for dinner rose from Is. 6d. to 10s., and 2d. to the waiter! Then, the Club laid in its own wine, at Is. 6d. per bottle, and the landlord charged 2s. 6d. The consumption of wine, per head, of late, averaged less than a pint each.
“Among the distinguished guests of the Club are many celebrities. Here the chivalrous Sir Sidney Smith described the atrocities of Djezza Pasha; and here that cheerful baronet—Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin —by relating the result of his going in a jolly-boat to attack a whale, and in narrating the advantages specified in his proposed patent for fattening fowls, kept ” the table in a roar.” At this board, also, our famous circumnavigators and oriental voyagers met with countenance and fellowship—asCook.Furneaux, Clerke, King, Bounty Bligh, Vancouver, Guardian Riou, Flinders, Broughton, Lestock, Wilson, Huddart, liass, Tuckey, Horsburgh, &c.; while the Polar explorers, from the Hon. Constantine Phipps in 1773, down to Sir Leopold M’Clintock, in 1860, were severally and individually welcomed as guests. But, besides our sterling sea-worthies, we find in ranging through the documents that some rather outlandish visitors were introduced through their means, as Chet Quang and Wanga Tong, Chinese ; Ejutak and Tuklivina, Esquimaux; Thayen-danega, the Mohawk chief; while Omai, of Ularetea, the celebrated and popular savage, of Cook’s Voyages, was so frequently invited, that he is latterly entered on the Club papers simply as Mr. Omai.”—Admiral Smyth’s Account of the Royal Society Club ; Club Life of London, vol. i. pp. 65-81. 1866.
Royal Thames Yacht Cltjb, 49, St. James’s-street.
Sceiblebtjs Club, the, was founded by Swift, in 1714, in place of ” the Brothers;” it was rather of a literary than political character. Oxford and St. John, Swift, Arbuthnot, Pope, and Gay, were members. Oxford and Bolingbroke led the way, by their mutual animosity, to the dissolution of the Club; when Swift made a final effort at reconciliation, but failing, retreated in dudgeon.— See Beothebs Club, p. 244.
Smithfield Club, the, Half-moon-street, has the management of the Cattle Show held annually at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, and the award of Silver Cups and Gold and Silver Medals as prizes for Stock, Implements, &c., exhibited.
” The Smithfield Cattle and Sheep Society ” was instituted December 17,1798, by a party of noblemen and gentlemen, amongst whom were most conspicuous Francis, Duke of Bedford; the Karl of “Winchelsea, Lord Somerville, and Sir Joseph Banks.
The Club has shifted its scene of annual display several times. In 1799 and 1800, the Club exhibited in Wootton’s Livery-stables,Dolphin-yard, Smithfield; in 1804, the Show was held in the Swan-yard-in 1805, at Dixon’s Repository, Baibican; in 1808, in Sadler’s-yard, Gos well -street; and in 1839 the Club, moving westward, gave its first exhibition in Baker-street. From Mr. Brandreth Gibbs’s History of the Origin and Progress of the Smithfield Club, we learn that, at the first exhibition, the Club only received from the publicTheom the 40/. 3s. The receipts of the first Baker-street Show were 300/.; and in 1857, no less a sum than 700/. was taken at the doors. The prizes annually distributed have increased as follows: value in 1799, 50 guineas; 1800, 120 guineas; 1810,220 guineas; and in 1840, plate and money, 330/.; and in 1857,1050/. Concurrent with the early career of the Smithfield Club were the Spring Cattle Shows, established by Lord Somerville, who, in 1805, at bis own cost, gave six prizes: amou^st the exhibitors was George the Third.
The Duchess of Ruthnd became a member of the Smithfield Club in 1823; and the Queen visited the Show in Baker-street in 18+1, and again in 1850. The Royal visit in 1844 is believed to be the first occasion of an agricultural show being attended by the Sovereign of Great Britain ; but it was not the first time that Royalty took an interest in the Club shows. George the Third was an exhibitor in 1800; the Duke of York gained a prize in 1806 ; and the Prince Consort, who, together with the late Duke of Cambridge, became a member of the Club in 1811, carried off several prizes at the Baker-street exhibitions with animals fed at the ” Royal Flemish” and ” Royal Shaw “farms. The silver-cup and the shepherd-smock schools combined for the same good end—the production of delicious meat at moderate prices; and he will not act inappropriately who, whilst thanking God for his Christmas-dinner, has a grateful recollection of the men who contributed to bring the Roast Beef of Old England to its present perfection.— Atheneeum, No. 1728, abridged.
Thatched House. —Admiral Smyth, in 1860, gave the following list of Clubs, which then dined at the Thatched House Tavern, St. James’s-street:—
Actuaries, Institute of; Catch Club; Johnson’s Club; Dilettanti Society; Farmers’ Club; Geographical Club; Geological Club; Lir.naeau Club; Literary Society; Navy Club; Philosophical Club; Physicians, College of, Club; Political Economy Club; Royal Academy Club; Royal Astronomical Club; Royal Institution’Club; Royal London Yacht Club; Royal Naval Club (1765); Royal Society Club; St. Alban’s Medical Club; St. Bartholomew’s Contemporaries; Star Club; Statistical Club; Sussex Club; Union Society, St. James’s.— Account of the Moyal Society Club, privately printed.
Tom’s Coffee-house Cltjb, the, was held at 17, north side of Eussell-street, Covent-garden; the house was taken down in 1865. The original proprietor was Thomas West, who died in 1722. The upper portion of the premises was the coffeehouse, under which lived T. Lewis, the original publisher, in 1711, of Pope’s Essay on Criticism. In The Journey through England, 1714, we read, ” There was at Tom’s Coffee-house playing at piquet, and the best conversation till midnight; blue and green ribbons with stars, sitting and talking familiarly.” M. Grignon, sen., had seen ” the balcony of Tom’s crowded with noblemen in their stars and garters, drinking their tea and coffee, exposed to the people.” In 1764 was formed here, by a guinea subscription, a Club of nearly 700 members.
On the Club-books we find ” Long Sir Thomas Robinson;” Samuel Foote; Arthur Murphy, lately called to the Bar; David Garrick, who then lived in Southampton-street (though he was not a clubbable man); John Beard, the fine tenor singer; John Webb; Sir Richard Glynne; Robert Gosling, the banker; Colonel Eyre, of Marylebone; Earl Percy; Sir John Fielding, the justice; Paul Methuen, of Corsham; Richard Clive; the great Lord Clive; the eccentric Duke of Montagu; Sir Fletcher Norton, the ils worton, l-mannered; Lord Edward Bentinck; Dr. Samuel Johnson; the celebrated Marquis of Granby; Sir F. B. Delaval, the friend of Foote; WilliamTooke, the solicitor; the Hon. Charles Howard, sen.; the Duke of Northumberland; Sir Francis Gosling; the Earl of Anglesey; Sir George Brydges Rodney (afterwards Lord Rodney); Peter Burrell; Walpole Eyre; Lewis Mendcz; Dr. Swinney; Stephen Lushington; JohnGunnine; Henry Brougham, father of Lord Brougham; Dr. Macnamara; Sir John Trevelyan; Captain Donellan; Sir W. Wolseley; Walter Chetwynd; Viscount Gage, &c; Thomas Payne, Esq., of Leicester House; Dr. Schomberg, of Pall Mall; George Colman, the dramatist, then living in Great Queen-street; Dr. Dodd, in Southampton-row; James Payne, the architect, Salisbury-street, which he rebuilt; William Bowyer, the printsr, Bloomsbury-square; Count Bruhl,the Polish Minister; Dr. Goldsmith, Temple (1773), &c. Many a noted name in the list of 700 is very suggestive of the gay society of the period. Among the Club musters, Samuel Foote, Sir Thomas Robinson, and Dr. Dodd are very frequent: indeed, Sir Thomas seems to have been something like a proposer-general.
Dance painted the elder Haines, the landlord, who, for his polite address, was called among the Club ” Lord Chesterfield.” The coffee-house business closed in 1814, when the premises became occupied by Mr. William Till, the well-known numismatist; the card-room and club-tables in their original condition. On the death of Mr. Till, Mr. Webster succeeded to the tenancy and collection of coins and medals, which he removed to No. 6, Henrietta-street; he possesses, by marriage with the grand-daughter of the second Mr. Haines, the Club-books; as well as the Club-room snuff-box, of large size, tortoiseshell; upon the lid, in high relief, in silver, are the portraits of Charles I. and Queen Anne, the Boscobel oak, with Charles II. amid its branches, &c.—See Illustrated London News, 1865.
Travellers’ Club-house, adjoining the Athenaium, in Pall Mall, was designed by Barry, R.A., and built in 1832. The architecture is the nobler Italian, resembling a ‘ Roman palace : the plan is a quadrangle, with an open area in the middle, so that all the rooms are well lighted. The Pall Mall front has a bold and rich cornice, and the windows are decorated with Corinthian pilasters ; the garden-front varies in the windows; but the Italian taste is preserved throughout, with the most careful finish: the roof is Italian tiles. The Travellers’ Club originated shortly after the Peace of 1814, in a suggestion of the late Marquis of Londonderry, then Lord Castlereagh, with a view to a resort for gentlemen who had resided or travelled abroad; as well as to 1
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accommodation of foreigners, who, when properly recommended, receive an invitation for the period of their stay. {Quarterly Review, No. 110, 1836.) By one of the rules, ” no person is eligible to the Travellers’ Club who shall not have travelled out of the British Islands to a distance of at least 500 miles from London in a direct line.” Prince Talleyrand, during his residence in London, generally joined the muster of whist-players at this Club.
Treason Club, the, at the time of the Kevolution, met at the Rose Tavern, Covent-garden, to consult with Lord Colchester, Mr. Thomas Wharton, and many others; and it was then resolved that the regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Langdale’s command should desert entire, as it did, on a Sunday, November, 1688.
Union Club-house, Cockspur-street, and west side of Trafalgar-square, was completed in 1824, from designs by Sir R. Smirke, R.A. James Smith (” Rejected Addresses”) has left us a sketch of his every-day life at this Club :—
” At three o’clock I walk to the Union Club, read the journals, hear Lord John Russell deified or diablerised, do the same with Sir Robert Peel or the Duke of Wellington, and then join a knot of conversationists by the fire till six o’clock, consisting of lawyers, merchants, and gentlemen at large. We then and there discuss the Three per Cent. Consols (some of us preferring Dutch two-and-a-half per Cents.), and speculate upon the probable rise, shape, and cost of the New Exchange. If Lady Harrington happen to drive past our window in her landau, we compare her equipage to the Algerine Ambassador’s; and when politics happen to be discussed, rally Whigs, Radicals, and Conservatives alternately, but never seriously, such subjects having a tendency to create acrimony. At six, the room begins to be deserted; wherefore I adjourn to the dining-room, and gravely looking over the bill of fare, exclaim to the waiter, ‘ Haunch of mutton and apple-tart!’ These viands despatched, with the accompanying liquids and water, I mount upward to the library, take a book and my seat in the arm-chair, and read till nine. Then call for a cup of coffee and a biscuit, resuming my book till eleven; afterwards return home to bed.”— Comic Miscellanies.
The Union has a capital smoking-room, with paintings by Stanfield and Roberts. The Club has ever been famed for its cuisine, upon the strength of which we [are told that next door to the Club-house, in Cockspur-street, was established the Union Hotel, which speedily became renowned for its turtle; it was opened in 1823, and was one of the best-appointed hotels of its day; Lord Panmure, a gourmet of the highest order, is said to have taken up his quarters in this hotel, for several successive seasons, for the sake of the soup.*—Adams’s London Clubs.
United Service Club, the, one of the oldest of modern Clubs, was instituted the year after the Peace of 1815, when a few officers of influence in both branches of the Service had built for them, by Sir R. Smirke, a Club-house at the corner of Charles-street and Regent-street—a frigid design, somewhat relieved by sculpture on the entrance-front, of Britannia distributing laurels to her brave sons by land and sea. Thence the Club removed to a more spacious house, in Waterloo-place, facing the Athenajum, the Club-house in Charles-street being entered on by the Junior United Service Club; but Smirke’s cold design has been displaced by an edifice of much more ornate exterior and luxurious internal appliances. The United Service Club (Senior) was designed by Nash, and has a well-planned interior, exhibiting the architect’s well-known excellence in this branch of his profession. The principal front facing Pall Mall has a Roman-Doric portico; and above it a Corinthian portico, with pediment. One of the patriarchal members of the Club was Lord Lynedoch, the hero of the Peninsular War, who lived under five sovereigns : he died in his 93rd year. Stanfield’s fine picture of the Battle of Trafalgar; and a copy by Lane (painted 1851) of a contemporary portrait of Sir Francis Drake; are amoug the Club pictures.
The Windham was once considered the most expensive Club, and the United Service the cheapest; the latter, probably, from the number of absent members. The Duke of Wellington might often be seen dining at this Club on a joint; “and on one occasion, when he was charged 15d. inectarged 1stead of 1*. for it, he bestirred himself till the odd threepence was struck off. The motive was obvious; he took the trouble of objecting to give his sanction to the principle.”— Quarterly ‘Review, No. 110,1836.
United Service Club, the Junior, at the corner of Charles-street and Regent-street, was erected upon the site of the former Club-house, by Sir R. Smirke, R.A., in 1855-57, Nelson and James, architects, and is enriched with characteristic sculpture by John Thomas. The design is in the Italian style of architecture, the bay-window
• The West-end Clubs contribute largely to the feeding of the poor. The Union Club distributed in the jcar 1844, to the poor of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, no less than 3104 lbs. of broken bread,4556lbs. of broken meat, 1147 pints of tea-leaves, and 1158 pints of coffee-grounds.
in Regent-street forming a prominent feature in the composition, above winch is a sculptured group allegorical of the Army and Navy. The whole of the sculpture and ornamental details throughout the building are characteristic of the professions of the members of the Club. Upon the angle-pieces of the balustrade are bronze lamps, supported by figures. The staircase is lighted from the top by a handsome lantern, filled with painted glass. On the landing of the half-space are two pairs of caryatidal figures, and single figures against the walls, supporting three semicircular arches. On the upper landing of the staircase is the celebrated picture, by Allan, of the Battle of Waterloo. The evening-room, which is also used as a picture-gallery, 24 feet high, has a bay-window fronting Regent-street. Here are portraits of military and naval commanders; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; the Emperor Napoleon, and an allegorical group in silver, presented to the Club by his Imperial Majesty.
University Club, the, Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East, was instituted in 1824; and the Club-house, designed by Deering and Wilkins, architects, was opened 1826. It is of the Grecian Doric and Ionic orders; and the staircase walls have casts from the Parthenon frieze. The Club consists chiefly of Members of Parliament who have received University education; several of the judges, and a large number of beneficed clergymen. This Club has the reputation of possessing the best-stocked wine-cellar in London, which is of no small importance to members, clerical or lay.
Universities Union Club-house, the, is at 20, Cockspur-street, Charing Cross; and its sphere is intended to embrace all gentlemen whose names have been on the books of any college at Oxford or Cambridge, or Durham, or on those of the Scotch Universities, or of Trinity College, Dublin.
Urban Club, the, held at St. John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, consists of authors, actors, and artists, who meet in the great room of the Tavern over the gateway.
Volunteer Service Club, 49, St. James’s-street.
Watier’s Club was the great Macao gambling-house of a very short period. Mr. Thomas Raikes, who understood all its mysteries, describes it as very genteel, adding that no one ever quarrelled there. ” The Club did not endure for twelve years altogether; the pace was too quick to last: it died a natural death in 1819, from the parallegrom theysed state of its members; the house was then taken by a set of blacklegs, who instituted a common bank for gambling. To form an idea of the ruin produced by this short-lived establishment among men whom I have so intimately known, a cursory glance to the past suggests the following melancholy list, which only forms a part of its deplorable results None of the dead reached the average age of man.”
In the old days, when gaming was in fashion, at Watier’s Club, princes and nobles lost or gained fortunes between themselves. Captain Gronow also relates the following account of the origin of this noted but short-lived Club:—
“Upon one occasion, some gentlemen of both White’s and Brooks’s had the honour to dine with the Prince Regent, and during the conversation the Prince inquired what sort of dinners they got at their Clubs; upon which Sir Thomas Stepney, one of the guests, obserTed’ that their dinners were always the same, the eternal joints or beef-steaks, the boiled fowl with oyster-sauce, and an apple-tart: this is what we have at our Clubs, and very monotonous fare it is.’ The Prince, without further remark, rang the bell for his cook Watier, and, in the presence of those who dined at the Royal table, asked him whether he would take a house, and organize a dinner-club. Watier assented, and named Madison, the Prince’s page, manager; and Labourie, the cook, from the Royal kitchen. The Club flourished only a few years, owing to the night-play that was carried on there. The Duke of York
£atronized it, and was a member. The dinners were exquisite: the best Parisian cooks could not beat abourie. The favourite game played there was Macao.”
Wednesday Club, in Friday-street, Cheapside. Here, in 1695, certain conferences took place under the direction of William Paterson, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Bank of England. Such is the general belief; but Mr. Saxe Bannister, in his Life of Paterson, p. 93, observes:—” It has been a matter of much doubt whether the Bank of England was originally proposed from a Club or Society in the City of London. The Dialogue Conferences of the Wednesday Club, in Friday-street, have been quoted as if first published in 1695. No such publication has been met with of a date before 1706 •” and Mr. Bannister states his reasons for supposing it was not preceded by any other book. Still, Paterson wrote the papers entitled the Wednesday Club Conferences.
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There was likewise a Wednesday Club held at the Glohe Tavern, in Fleet-street, where songs, jokes, dramatic imitations, burlesque parodies, and broad sallies of humour were the entertainments ; and Oliver Goldsmith was in his glory. Here was first heard the celebrated epitaph (Goldsmith had been reading Pope and Swift’s Miscellanies) on Edward Purdon:—
” Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed, Who long was a bookseller’s hack; He had led such a damnable life in this world, I don’t think he’ll wish to come back.”
Westminster Club, 23, Albemarle-street.
Whist Clubs originated with whist becoming popular in England about 1730, when it was closely studiedonsosely s by a party of gentlemen, who formed a sort of Club at the Y) \\j Crown Coffee-house, in Bedford-row. Hoyle is said to have given instructions in the game, for which his charge was a guinea a lesson. A Committee, including members of several of the best London Clubs, well known as whist-players, has drawn up a code of rules for the game; and these rules, as governing the best modern practice, have been accepted by the Arlington, the Army and Navy, Arthur’s, Boodle’s, Brooks’s, Carlton, Conservative, Garrick, Guards’, Junior Carlton, Portland, Oxford and Cambridge, Reform, St. James’s, White’s, &c. The Laws of Short Whist were, in 1865, published in a small volume; and to this strictly legal portion of the book is appended A Treatise on the Game, by Mr. J. Clay, M.P. for Hull, one of the best modern whist-players.
White’s (Tory) Club-house, 36 and 37, St. James’s-street, has an elegant front, designed by James Wyatt, restored and enriched in 1851: the medallions of the Four Seasons above the drawing-room story are classic compositions. The Club, as White’s Chocolate-house, was originally established about 1698, near the bottom of the west side of St. James’s-street: the Club-house, then kept by Mr. Arthur, was burnt down April 28,1773 ; and plate 6 of Hogarth’s ” Rake’s Progress ” shows a room at White’s so intent upon their play, as neither to see the flames nor hear the watchmen, who are bursting into the room to give the alarm. Sir Andrew Fountayne’s collection of pictures, valued at 3000Z., was destroyed in the fire; and the King and the Prince of Wales were present, encouraging the firemen and people to work the engines. In 1736, the principal members of the Club were the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Chesterfield, Sir John Cope, Bubb Doddington, and Colley Cibber: before this date it was an open Chocolate-house. It soon became a gaming Club and a noted supper-house, the dinner-hour being early a century since. Betting was another of its pastimes; and a book for entering wagers was always laid upon the table. The play here was frightful; it was for White’s that Walpole and his friends composed the famous heraldic satire.
Walpole writes to Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 1,1750: ” They have put into the papers a good story made at White’s. A man dropped down dead at the door, and was carried in; the Club immediately made bets whether he was dead or not; and when they were going to bleed him, the wagerers for his death interposed, and said it would affect the fairness of the bet.”
” At the time that White’s Chocolate-house was opened at the bottom of St. James’s-street—the close of the last century—it was probably thought vulgar; for there was a garden attached, and it had a suburban air. At the tables in the house or garden more than one highwayman took his chocolate, or threw his main, before he quietly mounted his horse, and rode slowly down Piccadilly towards Bagshot. The celebrated Lord Chesterfield there ‘ gamed, and pronounced witticisms among the boys of quality.’ Steele dated all his love news in the Tatler from White’s. It was stigmatized as’ the common rendezvous of infamous sharpers and noble cullies;’ and bets were laid to the effect that Sir William Burdett, one of its members, would be the first baronet who would be hanged. The gambling went on till dawn of day; and Pelham, when Prime Minister, was not ashamed to divide his time between his official table and the piquet table at White’s. White’s ceased to be an open Chocolate-house in 1736.”—Dr. Doran’s Table Trail*.
The Club, on June 20, 1814, gave at Burlington-house, to the Allied Sovereigns then in England, a ball, which cost 94wn which c89Z. 2*. 6d. ; and on July 6 following, the Club gave a dinner to the Duke of Wellington, which cost 2480Z. 10s. 9d. — (See Cunning, ham’s Handbook (” White’s “) for several very interesting extracts from the Club-books, and from writers of the middle of the last century, ” curiously characteristic of the state of society at the time.”
Whittington Club and Metropolitan Athen.£:um, Arundel-street, originated in 1846 with Mr. Douglas Jerrold, who became its first president. It combines a literary society with a Club-house, upon an economical scale, for the middle classes; containing dining and coffee-rooms, library and reading-rooms, smoking and cliess-rooms; and a large room for balls, concerts, and soirees. Lectures are given here, and classes held for the higher branches of education, fencing and dancing, &c. In the ball-room is a picture of Whittington listening to Bow-bells, painted by P. Newenham, and presented to the Club by its founder. All the original Crown and Anchor premises, wherein the Club first met, were destroyed by fire in 1854: they have been rebuilt, and the establishment is now styled the Whittington Club.
Windham Club, 11, St. James’s-square, was founded by the late Lord Nugent, for gentlemen ” connected with each other by a common bond of literary or personal acquaintance.” The mansion was the residence of William Windham; next, of the accomplished John Duke of Roxburghe; and here the Roxburghe Library was sold in 1812, the sale commencing May 18, and extending to forty-one days. Lord Chief-Justice Ellenborough lived here in 1814 ; and subsequently, the Earl of Blessington, who possessed a fine collection of pictures.
COFFEE-HOUSES
COFFEE was first drunk in London about the middle of the seventeenth century. ” The first coffee-house in London,” says Aubrey (MS. in the Bodleian Library), ” was in St. Michael’s-alley, in Cornhill, opposite to the church, which was set up by one Bowman (coachman to Mr. Hodges, a Turkey merchant, who putt him upon it), in or about the year 1652. ‘Twas about four yeares before any other was sett up, and that was by Mi. Farr. Jonathan Paynter, over-against to St. Michael’s Church, was the first apprentice to the trade, viz., to Bowman.”
Another account states that one Edwards, a Turkey merchant, on his return from the East in 1657, brought with him a Ragusan Greek servant, Pasqua Rosee, who prepared coffee every morning for his master, and with the coachman above named set up the first coffee-house in St. Michael’s-alley; but they soon quarrelled and separated, the coachman establishing himself in St. Michael’s churchyard.
Sir Hans Sloane had in his Museum in Bloomsbury-square, ” part of a coffee-tree, with the henries and leaves thereon; it was brought over from Moco, in Arabia, by Air. E. Clive, of London, merchant,” who lias described it in Philos. Trans. No. 208.
Coffee is first mentioned in our statute-book anno 1660 (12 Car. II., c. 24), when a duty of 4d. was laid upon every gallon of coffee made and sold. A statute of 1663 directs that all coffee-houses should be licensed at the Quarter Sessions. In 1675, Charles II. issued a proclamation to shut up the coffee-houses, charged with being seminaries of sedition; but in a few days he suspended this proclamation by a second.
As coffee declined in fashion, the Coffee-houses mostly became Taverns and Dining-houses, or Chop-houses. The first on our list is an instance.
Baker’s Coffee-house, 1, Change-alley, Lombard-street, was originally for the sale of coffee, but has been for nearly half a century noted for its chops and steaks, broiled in the coffee-room, and eaten hot from the gridiron.
Baltic Coffee-house, 58, Threadneedle-street, is the rendezvous of merchants and brokers connected with the Russian trade, or that in tallow, oil, hemp, and seeds. The supply of news to the subscription-room is, with the exception of the chief London, Liverpool, and Hull papers, confined to that from the north of Europe and the tallow-producing countries on the South American coast. In the upper part of the Baltic Coffee-house is the auction sale-room for tallow, oils, &c.
Bedford Coffee-house, ” under the Piazza, in Covent Garden,” north-east corner, in Memoirs of the Bedford Coffee-house, two editions, 1751-1763, is described as having been ” signalized for many years as the emporium of wit, the seat of criticism, and the standard of taste. Names of those who frequented the house:—Foote, Mr. Fielding, Mr. Woodward, who mostly lived here, Mr. Leone, Mr. Murphy, Mopsy, Dr. Arne. Dr. Arne was the only man in a suit of velvet in the dog-days. Stacie kept the Bedford when John and Henry Fielding, Hogarth, Chnrchill, Woodward, Llovd, Dr. Goldsmith, and many others met there and held a gossiping shilling-rubber club. Henry Fielding was a very merry fellow.” In the Connoisseur, No. 2, we read:
“This Coffee-house is every night crowded with men of parts. Almost every one you meet is a polite scholar and a wit. Jokes and bon-mots are echoed from hox to box: every branch of literature is critically examined, and the merit of every production of the press, or performance of the theatres, weighed and determined.” Foote and Garrick often met here. Garrick, in early life, had been in the wine-trade, and had supplied the Bedford with wine j he was thus described by Foote as living in Durham-yard, with three quarts of vinegar in the cellar, calling himself a wine-merchant. Churchill’s quarrel with Hogarth began at the shilling-rubber club, in the Bedford parlour: ” Never,” says Walpole, ” did two angry men of their abilities throw mud with less dexterity.” Young Collins, the poet, who came to town in 1744 to seek his fortune, made his way to the Bedford, where Foote was supreme among the wits and critics. Like Foote, Collins was fond of fine clothes, and walked about with a feather in his hat, very unlike a young man who had not a single guinea he could call his own. A letter of the time tells us that ” Collins was an acceptable companion everywhere; and among the gentlemen who loved him for a genius may be reckoned the Doctors Armstrong, Barrowby, Hill, Messrs. Quin, Garrick, and Foote, who frequently took his opinion upon their pieces before they were seen by the public. He was particularly noticed by the geniuses who frequented the Bedford and Slaughter’s Coffee-houses.” {Memoir, by Moy Thoberr, by Mmas.) In 1754, Foote was supreme in his critical corner at the Bedford. The regular frequenters of the room strove to get admitted’ to his party at supper; and others got as nearly as they could to the table, as the only humour flowed from Foote’s tongue. The Bedford was now in its highest repute: Dr. Barrowby was the great newsmonger of the day.
Of two houses in the Piazza, huilt for Francis, Earl of Bedford, we obtain some minute information from the lease granted in 1634 to Sir Edmund Verney, Knight Marshal to King Charles I.; these two houses being just then erected as part of the Piazza. There are also included in the lease the “yards, stables, coachhouses, and gardens now layd, or hereafter to be layd, to the said messuages,” which description of the premises seems to identify them as the two houses at the southern endof the Piazza, adjoining to Great Russell-street, and now occupied as the Bedford Coffee-house and Hotel. They are either the same premises, or they immediately adjoin the premises, occupied a century later as the Bedford Coffee-house. (Mr. John Bruce, Archaeologia, xxxv. 195.) The lease contained a minute specification of the landlord’s fittings and customary accommodations of what were then some of the most fashionable residences in the metropolis. In the attached schedule is the use of the wainscot, enumerating separately every piece of wainscot on the premises. The tenant is bound to keep in repair the ” Portico Walke” underneath the premises; he is at all times to have “ingresse, egresse and regresse” through the Portico Walk; and he may ” expel, put, or drive away out of the said walke any youth or other person whatsoever which shall eyther play or be in the said Portico Walke in offence or disturbance to the said Sir Edmund Verney.”— Club Life of London, vol. ii., p. 81,1866.
At the present Bedford Coffee-house, or Hotel, the Beef-steak Society met before their removal to the Lyceum Theatre.
British Coffee-house, Cockspur-street, ” long a house of call for Scotchmen,” has been fortunate in its landladies. In 1759, it was kept by the sister of Bishop Douglas, so well known for his works against Lauder and Bower, which may explain its Scottish fame. At another period it was kept by Mrs. Anderson, described in Mackenzie’s Life of Home as ” a woman of uncommon talents, and the most agreeable conversation.”
Button’s Coffee-house, ” over against Tom’s, in Covent-garden,” was established in 1712, and thither Addison transferred much company from Tom’s. In July, 1713, a Lion’s Head, ” a proper emblem of knowledge and action, being all head and paws,” was set up at Button’s, in imitation of the celebrated Lion at Venice, to receive letters and papers for the Guardian. Here the wits of that time used to assemble; and among them, Addison, Pope, Steele, Swift, Arbuthnot, Count Viviani, Savage, Budgell, Philips, Davenant, and Colonel Brett; and here it was that Philips hung up a birchen rod, with which he threatened to chastise Pope for ” a biting epigram.” Button, the master of the Coffee-house, had been a servant in the Countess of Warwick’s family; and it is said that when Addison suffered any vexation from the Countess, he withdrew the company from Button’s house. Just after Queen Anne’s accession, Swift made acquaintance with the leaders of the wits at Button’s. Ambrose Philips refers to him as the strange clergyman whom the frequenters of the Coffee-house had observed for some days. He knew no one, no one knew him. He would lay his hat down on a table, and walk up and down at a brisk pace for half an hour without speaking to any one. Then he would snatch up his hat, payle; his ha his money at the bar, and walk off, without having opened his lips. He was called in the room ” the mad parson.” Here Swift first saw Addison.
Sir Walter Scott gives, upon the authority of Dr. Wall, of Worcester, who had it from Dr. Arbuth-not himself, the following anecdote, less coarse than the version usually told. Swift was seated at the fire at Button’s: there was sand on the floor of the coffee-room, and Arbuthnot offered him a letter which he had been just addressing, saying at the same time—” There, sand that.” ” I have no sand,” answered Swift; ” but I can help you to a little gravel.” This he said so significantly, that Arbuthnot hastily snatched back the letter, to save it from the fate of the capital of Lilliput.
At Button’s the leading company, particularly Addison and Steele, met in large flowing flaxen wigs. Sir Godfrey Kneller, too, was a well-dressed frequenter. The master died in 1731, when in the Daily Advertiser, October 5, appeared the following :—” On Sunday morning, died, after three days’ illness, Mr. Button, who formerly kept Button’s Coffee-house, in Russell-street, Covent-garden; a very noted house for wits, heing the place where the Lyon produced the famous Tatlers and Spectators, written by the late Mr. Secretary Addison and Sir Bichard Steele, Knt., which works will transmit their names with honour to posterity.” Mr. Cunningham found in the vestry-books of St. Paul’s, Covent-garden :—” 1719, April 16. Received of Mr. Daniel Button, for two places in the pew No. 18, on the south side of the north Isle, 21. 2s.” J. T. Smith states that Button’s name appears in the books of St. Paul’s as receiving an allowance from the parish. (See Streets of London, Part 1. p. 159.)
Button’s continued in vogue until Addison’s death and Steele’s retirement into Wales, after which the house was deserted; the coffee-drinkers went to the Bedford Coffeehouse, the dinner-parties to the Shakspeare. In 1720, Hogarth mentions ” four drawings in Indian ink ” of the characters at Button’s Coffee-house. In these were sketches of Arbuthnot, Addison, Pope, (as it is conjectured,) aud a certain Count Viviani, identified years afterwards by Horace Walpole, when the drawings came under his notice. They subsequently came into Ireland’s possession.—(Sala’s vivid William Hogarth, Cornhill Magazine, vol. i. 428.) Jemmy Maclaine, or M’Clean, the fashionable highwayman, was a frequent visitor at Button’s, which subsequently became a private house; and here Mrs. Inchbald lodged, probably, after the death of her sister, for whose support she practised such noble and generous self-denial. Phillips, the publisher, offered her a thousand pounds for her Memoirs, which she declined.
The memorable Lion’s Head is tolerably well carved: through the mouth the letters were dropped into a till at Button’s; and beneath were inscribed these two lines from Martial: — ” Cervantur magnis isti Cervicibus ungues: Non nisi delicti pascitur ille feraV*
The head was designed by Hogarth, and is etched in Ireland’s Illustrations. Lord Chesterfield is said to have once offered for the Head fifty guineas. From Button’s it was removed to the Shakspeare Head Tavern, under the Piazza, kept by a person named Tomkyns; and in 1751, was, for a short time, placed in the Bedford Coffee-house immediately adjoining the Shakspeare, and there employed as a letter-box by Dr. John Hill, for his Inspector. In 1769, Toe”,. In 17mkyns was succeeded by his waiter, Campbell, as proprietor of the tavern and Lion’s head, and by him the latter was retained until Nov. 8, 1804, when it was purchased by Mr. Charles Richardson, of Richardson’s Hotel, for 17/. 10*., who also possessed the original sign of the Shakspeare Head. After Mr. Richardson’s death in 1827, the Lion’s Head devolved to his son, of whom it was bought by the Duke of Bedford, and deposited at Woburn Abbey, where it still remains.— Communicatedby Mr.John Qreen. —See also Guardian, Nos. 85,93,114,142.
Chapter. Coffee-house, 50, Paternoster-row, is mentioned in No. 1 of the Connoisseur, January 31, 1754, as the resort of ” those encouragers of literature, and not the worst judges of merit, the booksellers.” Chatterton dates several letters from the Chapter. Goldsmith frequented the coffee-room, and always occupied one place, which, for many years after, was the seat of literary honour there. The Chapter had its leather token.
Alexander Stephens left some reminiscences of the many literati and politicians who frequented the Chapter from 1797 to 1805. The box in the north-east corner was called the Witenagemot, and was occupied by the ” Wet Paper Club.” Here assembled Dr. Buchan, author of Domestic Medicine; Dr. Berdmore, Master of the Charter-house; Walker, the rhetorician; and Dr. Towers, the political writer; Dr. George Fordyce, and Dr. Gower of ” the Middlesex,” who, with Buchan, prescribed the Chapter punch; Robinson, King of the Booksellers, and his brother John; Joseph Johnson, the friend of Priestley and Paine, and Cowper and Fuseli; Alexander Chalmers, the workman of the Robinsons; the two Parrys, of the Courier, then the organ of Jacobinism; Lowndes, the electrician; Dr. Busby, the writer on music; Jacob, an Alderman andM.P.; Waithman, then Common Councilman; Mr. Blake, the banker, of Lombard-street; Mr. Patterson, a North Briton, who taught Pitt mathematics; Alexander Stephens; and Phillips (afterwards Sir Richard), who here recruited for contributors to his Monthly Magazine. The Witenagemot lost its literary celebrities; but the Chapter maintained its reputation for good punch and coffee, scarce pamphlets, and liberal supply of town and country newspapers.
Mrs. Gaskell has left the following account of the Chapter in 1818 :—
” It latterly became the tavern frequented by university men, and country clergymen, who were up in London for a few days, and, having no private friends or access into society, were glad to learn what was going on in “the world of letters, from the conversation which they were sure to hear in the coffee-room. It was a place solely frequented by men; I believe there was but one female servant in the house. Tew people slept there: some of the stated meetings of the trade were held in it, as they had been for more than a century; and occasionally country booksellers, with now and then a clergyman, resorted to it. In the lonsr, low, dingy room upstairs, the meetings of the trade were held.” The Chapter is now a modernized public-house.
Child’s Coffee-house, St. Paul’s Churchyard, was one of the Spectator’s houses, who smoked a pipe here, and whilst he seemed attentive to nothing but the Postman, overheard the conversation of every table in the room. It was much frequented by the clergy, and Fellows of the Royal Society. Dr. Mead often came here. Child’s was, in one respect, superseded by the Chapter, in Paternoster-row.
Clifford-street Coffee-house, corner of Bond-street, had its debating club. (See ante p. 245.) During a debate, the refreshment was porter, to a pot of which Canning compared the eloquence of Mirabeau, as empty and vapid as his patriotism—” foam and frotli at the top, heavy and muddy within.”
Cocoa-Tree, 64, St. James’s-street. (See Cocoa-tree Club, p. 216.)
Dick’s Coffee-house (now a Tavern), 8, Fleet-street, near Temple Bar, was originally called Kichard’s, from its landlord, Richard Torver, or Turver, in 1680. Here Steele takes the “Twaddlers,” in the Tatler, Nos. 86 and 132. The coffee-room was frequented by the poet Cowper, when he lived in the Temple. The room retains its olden panelling, and the staircase its original balusters.
” In 1737, Dick’s was kept by a Mrs. Yarrow and her daughter, who were the reigning toasts with the frequenters, and were supposed to be ridiculed in the comedy of ‘ The Coffee-house,’ by the Itev. James Miller. This was stoutly denied by the author: but the engraver having inadvertently fixed upon Dick’s Coffee-house as the frontispiece scene, the Templars, with whom the ladies were great favourites, became by his accident so confirmed in their suspicions, that they united to damn the piece, and even extended their resentment to everything suspected to be this author’s for a considerable time after.”— Biographia Dramatica,
The Coffee-house was, wholly or in part, the original printing-office of Richard Tottel, law-printer to Edward VI., Queens Mary and Elizabeth; the premises were attached to No. 7, Fleet-street, which bore the sign of ” The Hand and Starre,” where Tottel lived, and published the law and other works he printed. No. 7 was subsequently occupied by Jaggard and Joel Stephens, eminent law-writers, temp. Geo. I.— III.; and at the present day the house is most appropriately occupied by Messrs. Butterworth, who follow the occupation Tottel did in the days of Edward VI., being law-publishers to Queen Victoria; and they possess the original leases, from the earliest grant, in the reign of Henry VIII., to the period of their own purchase.
George’s Coffee-house (now a hotel), 213, Strand, near Essex-street, is mentioned by Foote, in his Life of A. Murphy, as an evening meeting-place of the town wits of 1751. Shenstone was a frequenter of George’s, where, for a shilling subscription, he read ” all pamphlets under a three shillings’ dimension.” It was closed in 1843.
Grecian Coffee-house, Devereux-court, Strand, was originally kept by one Con-stantine, a Grecian. From this house Steele proposed to date his learned articles in the Tatler; it is mentioned in No. 1 of the Spectator ; and it was much frequented by Goldsmith and the Irish and Lancashire Templars. The Spectator’s face was very well known at the Grecian, ” adjacent to the law.” Occasionally it was the scene of learned discussion. Thus, Dr. King relates that one evening, two gentlemen, who were constant companions, were disputing here, concerning the accent of a Greek word. This dispute was carried to such a length, that the two friends thought proper to determine it by their swords: for this purpose they stepped into Devereux-court, where one of them (Dr. King thinks his name was Fitzgerald) was run through the body, and died on the spot. The Grecian was Foote’s morning lounge. Here Goldsmith occasionally wound up his ” Shoemaker’s Holiday” with supper. The house was also frequented by Fellows of tho Royal Society. The premises have, since 1843, been the ” Grecian Chambers;” and over the door is the bust of Devereux, Earl of Essex.
Garkaway’s Coffee-iiouse, 3, Change-alley, Cornhill, had a threefold celebrity: tea was first sold in England here; it was a place of great resort in the time of the South Sea Bubble ; and was throughout a house of great mercantile transactions. The original proprietor was Thomas Garway, tobacconist and coffee-man, the first who retailed tea, recommending it for the cure of all disorders; the following is the substance of his shop-bill:—
” Tea in England hath been sold in the leaf for six pounds, and sometimes for ten pounds the pound weight, and in respect of its former scarceness and dearness, it hath been only used as a regalia in high treatments and entertainments, and presents made thereof to princes and grandees till the year 1651. The said Thomas Garway did purchase a quantity thereof, and first publicly sold the said tea in leaf and drink, made according to the directions of the most knowing merchants and travellers into those Eastern countries; and upon knowledge and experience of the said Garway’s continued care and industry in obtaining the best tea, and making drink thereof, very many noblemen, physicians, merchants, and gentlemen of quality, have ever since sent to him for the said leaf, and daily resort to his house in Exchange-alley, aforesaid, to drink the drink thereof; and to the end that all persons of eminence and quality, gentlemen, and others, who have occasion for tea in leaf, may be supplied, these are to give notice that the said Thomas Garway hath tea to sell from, sixteen to fifty shillings per pound.” (See the document entire in Ellis’s Letters, series iv. 58.)
Ogilby, the compiler of the Britannia, had his standing lottery of books at Garway’s from April 7, 1673, till wholly drawn off; and, in the Journey through England, 1722, Garraway’s, Robins’s, and Joe’s, are described as the three celebrated Coffee-houses : the first, the people of quality, who have business in the City, and the most considerable and wealthy citizens, frequent; the second, the foreign banquiers, and often even foreign ministers; and the third, the buyers and sellers of stock. Wines were sold at Garraway’s in 1673, ” by the candle “—that is, by auction, while an inch of candle burns. Swift, in his ” Ballad on the South Sea Scheme,” 1721, did not forget this Coffee-house:—
” Meanwhile, secure on Garway’s cliffs, A savage race by shipwrecks fed, Lie waiting for the founder’d skiffs, And strip the bodies of the dead.”
The reader may recollect with what realistic power of incident and character Mr. E.If. Ward painted, some twenty years ago, the strange scene in the Alley; and his characteristic picture is, fortunately, placed in our National Gallery, as a lesson for all time. In the background is shown the Garraway’s of 1720.
Dr. Radcliffe, who was a rash speculator, was usually planted at a table at Garraway’s, to watch the turn of the market. One of his ventures was five thousand guineas upon one project. When he was told at Garraway’s that it was all lost, ” Why,” said he, ” ’tis but going up five thousand pair of stairs more.” ” This answer,” says Tom Brown, ” deserved a statue.” p> Garraway’s was long famous as a sandwich and drinking-room, for sherry, pale ale, and punch. Tea and coffee were also served. It is said that the sandwich-maker was occupied two hours in cutting and arranging the sandwiches before the day’s consumption commenced. The large sale-room was an old-fashioned first-floor apartment, with a small rostrum for the seller, and a few commonly-grained settles for the buyers; there were also other sale-rooms. Here sales of drugs, mahogany, and timber were periodically held. Twenty or thirty property and other sales sometimes took place in a day. The walls and windows of the lower room were covered with auction placards.
The first Garway’s Coffee-house was destroyed in the Great Fire; the house was rebuilt, and again burnt in the fire in Cornhill, in 1748; and again rebuilt, and finally closed August 18,1866. The basement, used as wine-vaults, was ancient, of fourteenth and sixteenth century architecture, of ecclesiastical character, and had a piscina. It is remarkable that Garraway’s, where tea was first sold, and the Angel, at Oxford, where coffee was first sold, were both taken down in 1866.— Illustrated London Neics.
Gbay’s-inn Coffee-uouse, eastern corner of Gray’s-inn Gate, Holborn : here were formerly held the Commissions De Lunalico inquirendo. It was closed in 1865.
St. James’s Coffee-house, the famous Whig Coffee-house from the time of Queen
Anne till late in the reign of George III. It was the last bouse but one on tbe southwest corner of St. James’s-street, and is thus mentioned in No. 1 of the Tatler: “Foreign and domestic news you will have from St. James’s Coffee-house.” It occurs also in the Spectator. The St. James’s was much frequented by Swift; letters for him were left there. Here Swift christened the coffee-man Elliot’s child, ” when,” says he,” the rogue had a most noble supper, and Steele and I sat amongst some scurvy company over a bowl of punch.” Lady Mary Wortley Montague’s Town ‘Eclogues were first read over at the St. James’s Coffee-house. From its proximity to the Palace, it was much visited by the Guards.
But the St. James’s is more memorable as the house where originated Goldsmith’s celebrated poem, Retaliation. The poet belonged to a temporary association of men of talent, some of them members of the Club, who dined together occasionally here. At these dinners he was generally the last to arrive. On one occasion, when he was later than usual, a whim seized the company to write epitaphs on him, as ” the late Dr. Goldsmith,” and several were thrown off in a playful vein. The only one extant was written by Garrick, and has been preserved, very probably, by its pungency :—
” Here lies poet Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll; He wrote like an angel, but talked like poor Poll.”
Goldsmith did not relish the sarcasm, especially coming from such a quarter; and, by way of retaliation, he produced the famous poem, of which Cumberland has left a very interesting account, but which Mr. Forster, in his Life of Goldsmith, states to be ” pure romance.” The poem itself, however, with what was prefixed to it when published, sufficiently explains its own origin.
The St. James’s was closed about 1806, and a large pile of buildings looking down Pall Mall erected on its site. The globular oil-lamp was first exhibited by its inventor, Michael Cole, at the door of the St. James’s Coffee-house, in 1709 : in the patent he obtained, it is mentioned as ” a new kind of light.”
Jamaica Coffee-house, 1, St. Michael’s-alley, Cornhill, is noted for the accuracy and fulness of its West India intelligence. The subscribers are merchants trading with Madeira and the West Indies. It is the best place for information as to the mail-packets on the West India station, or the merchant vessels making these voyages.
Jeexjsalem Coffee-house, 1, Cowper’s-court, Cornhill, is one of the oldest of the City news-rooms, and is frequented by merchants and captains connected with the commerce of China, India, and Australia.
” The subscription-room is well furnished with files of the principal Canton, Hong Kong, Macao, Penang, Singapore, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Sydney, Hobai t Town, Launceston, Adelaide, and Port Philip papers, and Prices Current; besides shipping-lists and papers from the various intermediate stations or ports touched at, as St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, &c. The books of East India shipping include arrivals, departures, casualties, &c. The full business is between two and three o’clock, p.m. In 1845, John Tawell, the Slough murderer, was captured at the Jerusalem, which he was in the habit of visiting, to ascertain information of the state of his property in Sydney.”— The City, 2nd edit., 1848.
Jonathan’s, Change-alley Coffee-house, is described in the Tatler, No. 38, as ” the general mart of stock-jobbers;” and the Spectator, No. 1, tells us that he “sometimes passes for a Jew in the assembly of stock-jobbers at Jonathan’s.” This was the rendezvous where gambling of all sorts was carried on; notwithstanding a formal prohibition against the assemblage of the jobbers, issued by the City of Loudon, which prohibition continued unrepealed until 1825. Mrs. Centlivre, in her comedy of A Bold Stroke for a Wife, has a scene from Jonathan’s at the above period: while the stock-jobbers are talking, the coffee boys are crying, ” Fresh coffee, gentlemen, fresh coffee! Bohea tea, gentlemen !”
Langbouen Coffee-house, Ball-alley, Lombard-street, rebuilt in 1850, has a broiling-stove in the coffee-room, whence chops and steaks are served hot from the gridiron; and here is a wine and cigar room, embellished in handsome old French taste.
Lloyd’s, Royal Exchange, celebrated for its priority of shipping intelligence, and
its marine insurance, originated with one Lloyd, who kept a coffee-house in Lombard-street. One of the apartments in the Exchange is fitted up as Lloyd’s Coffee-room. (See Exchanges.)
London Coffee-house, Ludgate-hill (now a hotel and tavern), was opened May, 1731, as ” a punch house, Dorchester Beer, and Welsh Ale Warehouse, where the finest and best old Arrack, Rum, and French Brandy is made into Punch.” In front of the London Coffee-house, immediately west of St. Martin’s Church, stood Ludgate; and on the site of the church Wren found the monument of a seronumentRoman soldier of the Second Legion, which is preserved in the Arundelian Collection. The London Coffee-house is noted for its publishers’ sales of stock and copyrights. It was within the rules of the Fleet Prison : and in the Coffee-house are ” locked up ” for the night such juries from the Old Bailey Sessions as cannot agree upon verdicts. The house was long kept by the grandfather and father of Mr. John Leech, the celebrated artist. At the bar of the London Coffee-house was sold Rowley’s British Cephalic Snuff. A singular incident occurred here many years since; Mr. Brayley, the topographer, was present at a party, when Mr. Broadhurst, the famous tenor, by singing a high note, caused a wine-glass on the table to break, the bowl being separated from the stem.
Man’s CoFFEE-HorsE, in Scotland-yard, near the water-side, took its name from the proprietor, Alexander Man, and was sometimes known as Old Man’s, or the Royal Coffee-house, to distinguish it from Young Man’s and Little Man’s minor establishments in the neighbourhood.
Miles’s Coffee-house, New Palace-yard, Westminster, was the place of meeting of the noted Rota Club. (See Clubs, p. 255.)
Munday’s Coffee-house, Maiden-lane, was a noted sporting resort in the days of Captain England, Dennis O’Kelly, Hull, the Clarkes, and others of turf notoriety. It was one of Sheridan’s retreats, secure from his creditors.
Nando’s Coffee-house was the house at the east corner of Inner Temple-lane, 17, Fleet-street, and next door to the shop of Bernard Lintot, the bookseller; though it has been by some confused with Groom’s house, next door. Nando’s was the favourite haunt of Lord Thurlow, before he dashed into law practice. At this Coffee-house a large attendance of professional loungers was attracted by the fame of the punch and the charms of the landlady, which, with the small wits, were duly admired by and at the bar. The house, formerly Nando’s, was also the depository of Mr. Salmon’s Waxwork. It has been for many years a hair-dresser’s. It is inscribed, ” Formerly the Palace of Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey.” But the structure is of the time of James I., when it was the Council Office of the Duchy of Cornwall; an entry in 1619 is from ” Prince’s Council Chamber, Fleet-street.”
New England and North and South American Coffee-house, 59 and 60, Threadneedle-street, had a subscription-room, with newspapers from every quarter of the globe. Here the first information could be obtained of the arrival and departure of steamers, packets, and traders engaged in the commerce of America, whether at Montreal and Quebec, or Boston, Halifax, and New York. The heads of the chief American and continental firms were on the subscription-list, and the representatives of Barings, Rothschilds, and other wealthy establishments, attended the room as regularly as ‘Change; as did also American captains, and the ” City Correspondents” of the morning and evening press. From 300 to 400 files of newspapers were kept here, ranging from America to the East or West Indies, thence to Australia, the Havana, France, Germany, Holland, Russia, Spain, and Portugal. (Abridged from The City, 2nd edit.)
Adjoining’ was the Cock Tavern, with a large soup-room, named after the Cock, which faced the north gate of the old Royal Exchange, and was long celebrated for the excellence of its soups, served in silver. This house was taken down in 1841; when, in a claim for compensandm for cation made by the proprietor, the trade in three years was proved to have been 344,720 basins of various soups—viz., 166,240 mock turtle, 3920 giblet, 59,360 ox-tail, 31,072 bouilli, 84,128 gravy and other soups: sometimes 500 basins of soup were sold in a day.
Peele’s, 177 and 178, Fleet-street, east corner of Fetter-lane, was one of the coffeehouses of the Johnsonian period; and here was long preserved a portrait of Dr.
Johnson, on the keystone of a chimney-piece, stated to have been painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Peele’s was noted for its files of newspapers from these dates: Gazette, 1759; Times, 1780; Morning Chronicle, 1773; Morning Post, 1773; Morning Herald, 1784; Morning Advertiser, 1794. Peele’s is now a tavern and hotel.
Percy Coffee-hottse, the, Rathbone-place,- Oxford-street, no longer exists ; but it will be kept in recollection for its having given name to one of the most popular publications, of its class, in our time, namely, the Percy Anecdotes, ” by Sholto and Reuben Percy, Brothers of the Benedictine Monastery of Mont Benger,” in 44 parts, commencing in 1820. So said the title-pages; but the names and the locality were suppose. Reuben Percy was Thomas Byerley, who died in 1824; Sholto Percy was Joseph Clinton Robertson, who died in 1852. The name of the collection of Anecdotes was not taken, as at the time supposed, from the popularity of the Percy Reliques, but from the Percy Coffee-house, where Byerley and Robertson were accustomed to meet to talk over the joint work.
Piazza Coffee-hottse, the, was opened in that portion of the Piazza houses in Covent-garden which is now the Tavistock Hotel. Here Macklin fitted up a large Coffee-room, or theatre for oratory; a three-shilling ordinary, and a shilling lecture : he presided at the dinner-table, and carved for the company, after which he played a sort of ” Oracle of Eloquence.” Fielding has happily sketched him in his Voyage to Lisbon : ” Unfortunately for the fishmongers of London, the Dory only resides in the Devonshire seas; for could any of this company only convey one to the Temple of Luxury under the Piazza, where Macklin, the high priest, daily serves up his rich offerings, great would be the reward of that fishmonger.”
Foote, in his fun upon Macklin’s Lectures, took up his notion of applying Greek tragedy to modern subjects, and the squib was so successful, that Foote cleared by it 500Z. in five nights, while the great Piazza Coffee-room in Covent-garden was shut up, and Macklin in the Gazette as a bankrupt. Eastward was the Piazza Coffee-house, much frequented by Sheridan and John Kemble; and here is located the well-known anecdote told of Sheridan’s coolness during the burning of Drury-lane Theatre, in 1809. It is said that as he sat at the Piazza, during the fire, taking some refreshment, a friend of his having remarked on the philosophical calmness with which he bore his misfortune, Sheridan replied: ” A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by Ms own fireside.” The Piazza facade and its interior were of Gothic design : the house has been taken down, and in its place is built the Floral Hall, after the Crystal Palace model, thus breaking the continuity of Inigo Jones’s arcade.
Rainbow Coffee-hottse (now a tavern), 15, Fleet-street, by the Inner Temple
Gate, was the sld te, wasecond Coffee-hcuse opened in London, and had its token-money:—
” James Fake, 1666. A Rainbow. R, in Fleet-street. In the centre, his halfpenny. It is well known that James Farr kept the Rainbow, in Fleet-street, at the time of the Great Fire, the very year of which is marked on this token. Farr was a barber; and in the year 1657 was presented by the Inquest of St. Dunstan’s-in-the-West for making and selling 1 ‘ a sort of liquor called ” coffee,” whereby in making the same he annoyeth his neighbours by evill smells ; and for keeping of fire for the most part night and day, whereby his chimney and chamber hath been set on fire, to the great danger and affright ment of his neighbours.'”
However, Farr was not ousted; he probably promised reform, or amended the alleged annoyance: he remained at the Rainbow, and rose to be a person of eminence and repute in the parish. He issued the above token, date 1666—an arched rainbow based on clouds, doubtless, from the Great Fire—to indicate that with him all was yet safe, and the Rainbow still radiant. There is one of his tokens in the Beaufoy collection, at Guildhall, and so far as is known to Mr. Burn, the Rainbow does not occur on any other tradesman’s token. The house was let off into tenements : books were printed here at this very time ” for Samuel Speed, at the sign of the Rainbow, near the Inner Temple Gate, in Fleet-street.” The Phcenix Fire Office was established here about 1682. Hatton, in 1708, evidently attributed Farr’s nuisance to the coffee itself, saying : ” Who would have thought London would ever have had three thousand such nuisances, and that coffee would have been (as now) so much drank by the best of quality, and physicians ?” The nuisance was in Farr’s chimney and carelessness, not
in the coffee. The Spectator, No. 16, notices some gay frequenters of the Rainbow : ” I have received a letter desiring me to be very satirical upon the little muff that is now in fashion; another informs me of a pair of silver garters, buckled below the knee, that have lately been seen at the Rainbow Coffee-house, in Fleet-street.” Mr. Moncrieff, the dramatist, used to tell that about 1780 this house was kept by his grandfather, Alexander Moncrieff, when it retained its original title of ” The Rainbow Coffeehouse.” It has vaulted cellars, excellent for keeping stout; the old coffee-room originally had a lofty bay-window at the south end, looking into the Temple; in the bay was the large table for the elders. The room was separated by a glazed partition from the kitchen, where was a clock with a large wooden dial. The house has long been a tavern: all the old rooms have been swept away, and a large and lofty dining-room erected in their place. There are views of the old entrance to the Rainbow in Hughson and Malcolm’s London, 1807 and 1808.
Saltero’s (Don) Coefee-hot/se, 18, Cheyne-walk, Chelsea, was opened by a barber named Salter, in 1695. Sir Hans Sloane, whose valet Salter had been, contributed some of the refuse gimcracks of his own collection; and Vice-Admiral Munden, who had been long on the coast of Spain, named the keeper of the house Don Saltero, and his coffee-house and museum, Don Saltero’s. Steele, in the thirty-fourth number of the Tatler, describes Salter as “carrying on the avocations of barber and dentist. Yon see the barber in Don Quixote is one of the principal characters in the history, which gave me satisfaction on the doubt why Don Saltero writ his name with a Spanish termination. Ten thousand were gimcracks round the room, and on the ceiling; and a sage of thin and meagre countenance, of that sort which the ancients call ‘typcients gingivister,’ in our language, ¦ tooth-drawers.’ ” Among the curiosities presented by Admiral Munden was a coffin, containing the body or relics of a Spanish saint, who had wrought miracles; also, ” a straw hat, which,” says Steele, ” I know to be made by Madge Peskad, within three miles of Bedford; and he tells you * It is Pontius Pilate’s wife’s chambermaid’s sister’s hat.’ ” The Don was famous for his punch and his skill on the fiddle: he also drew teeth, and wrote verses; he described his museum in several stanzas, one of which is—
“Monsters of all sorts here are seen:
Strange things in nature as they grew so; Some relicks of the Sheba queen,
And fragments of the fam’d Bob Crusoe.”
Don Saltero’s proved very attractive as an exhibition, and drew crowds to the Coffeehouse. A Catalogue was published, of which were printed more than forty editions. Smollett, the novelist, was among the donors. The edition of 1760 comprehended the following rarities:—
Tigers’tusks; the Pope’s candle; the skeleton of a Guinea-pig; a fly-cap monkey; a piece of the true Cross; the Four Evangelists’ heads cut on a cherry-stone; the King of Morocco’s tobacco-pipe; Mary Queen of Scots’ pincushion; Queen Elizabeth’s prayer-book; a pair of nun’s stockings; Job’s ears, which grew on a tree; a frog in a tobacco-stopper; and five hundred more odd relics ! The Don had a rival, as appears by ” A Catalogue of the Karities to be seen at Adams’s, at the Koyal Swan, in Kingsland-road, leading from Shoreditch Church, 1756.” Mr. Adams exhibited, for the entertainment of the curious,” Miss Jenny Cameron’s shoes; Adam’s eldest daughter’s hat; the heart of the famous Bess Adams, that was hanged at Tyburn with Lawyer Carr, January 18, 1736-7; Sir Walter Raleigh’s tobacco-pipe; Vicar of Bray’s clogs; engine to shell green peas with; teeth that grew in a fish’s belly; Black Jack’s ribs ; the very comb that Abraham combed his son Isaac and Jacob’s head with; Wat Tyler’s spurs; rope that cured Captain Lowry of the head-ach, ear-ach, tooth-ach, and belly-ach; Adam’s key of the fore and back door of the Garden of Edeu,” &c. &c. These are only a few out of five hundred others equally marvellous.
In Dr. Franklin’s Life we read:—” Some gentlemen from the country went by water to see the College, and Don Saltero’s Curiosities, at Chelsea.” These were shown in the coffee-room till August, 1799, when the collection was mostly sold or dispersed; a few gimcracks were left until about 1825, when we were informed on the premises, they were thrown away! The house was taken down in 1866. (See Chelsea, p. 90.)
Sam’s Coefee-hottse, in Exchange-alley; and in Ludgate-street. The latter is mentioned in State Poems, 1697 and 1703; and in 1722 there were two large mulberry-trees growing in a little yard in the rear of the house in Ludgate-street.
Seele’s Coffee-house, Carey-street, is thus mentioned in No. 49 of the Spectator : ” I do not know that I meet in any of my walks, objects which move both my spleen and laughter so effectually as those young fellows at the Grecian, Squire’s, Serle’s, and all other Coffee-houses adjacent to the Law, who rise for no other purpose but to publish their laziness.” Thir lazi
Slaughter’s Coffee-house, famous as the resort of painters and sculptors, in the last century, was situated at the upper end of the west side of St. Martin’s-lane, three doors from Newport-street. Its first landlord was Thomas Slaughter, 1692. A second Slaughter’s (New Slaughter’s) was established in the same street about 1760, when the original establishment adopted the name of ” Old Slaughter’s,” by which designation it was known till within a few years of the final demolition of the house to make way for the new avenue between Long-acre and Leicester-square, formed 1843-44. For many years previous to the streets of London being completely paved, ” Slaughter’s” was called ” The Coffee-house on the Pavement.” Besides being the resort of artists, Old Slaughter’s was the house of call for Frenchmen. Hogarth was a constant visitor here: he lived at the Golden Head, on the eastern side of Leicester-fields, in the northern half of the Sabloniere Hotel. Roubiliac was often to be found at Slaughter’s; and young Gainsborough and Cipriani; Jervis and Hayman met here, and seldom parted till daylight. Wilkie, in early life, was the last dropper-in here for a dinner; and Haydon was often his companion. J. T. Smith refers to Slaughter’s as ” formerly the rendezvous of Pope, Dryden, and other wits.” Thither came Ware, the architect of Chesterfield House; also Gwynn, who competed with Mylne for Blackfriars Bridge; and Gravelot, who kept a Drawing-school in the Strand. Hudson, who painted the Dilettanti portraits; M’Ardell, the mezzotinto-scraper; and Luke Sullivan,the engraver of Hogarth’s March to Finchley, also frequented Old Slaughter’s; likewise Theodore Gardell, the portrait-painter, who was executed for the murder of his landlady; and Old Moser, keeper of the Drawing-academy in Peter’s-court. Richard Wilson, the landscape painter, was not a regular customer here. Parry, the Welsh harper, though totally blind, was one of the first draught-players in England, and occasionally played with the frequenters of Old Slaughter’s; and here, in consequence of a bet, Roubiliac introduced Nathaniel Smith (father of John Thomas), to play at draughts with Parry, when Smith won. Rawle, the inseparable companion of Capt. Grose, the antiquary, came often to Slaughter’s; as did also Collins, the young poet.
Smyrna Coffee-house, Pall Mall, is frequently alluded to by the writers of Queen Anne’s reign; and was one of the most celebrated of the West-end houses. Prior and Swift were among its most distinguished frequenters; its “seat of learning,” and ” cluster of wise heads.” Prior and Swift were much together at the Smyrna; we read of their sitting there two hours, ” receiving acquaintance.” It seemed also to be a place to talk politics. Subscriptions were received there by Thomson, for publishing his Four Seasons; with a Hymn on their Succession.” We find the Smyrna in a list of Coffee-houses, in 1810.
Somerset Coffee-house, 162, Strand, has a literary association, from the Letters of Junius having been sometimes left at the bar.
Squire’s Coffee-house was in Fulwood’s-rents, Holborn, running up to Gray’s Inn, and described by Strype as ” a place of good resort, and taken up by coffee-houses, ale-houses, and houses of entertainment;” among which were the Castle Tavern and the Golden Griffin Tavern. Here was John’s, one of the earliest Coffee-houses; and adjoining Gray’s-inn-gate, a deep-coloured red brick house, once Squire’s Coffee house, kept by Squire, who died in 1717. The house is very roomy; it has been handsome, and has a wide staircase.
Squire’s was one of the receiving-houses of the Spectator: in No. 269, January 8,17)1-12, he accepts Sir Roger de Coverley’s invitation to ” smoke a pipe with him over a dish of coffee at Squire’s. As I love the old man, I take delight in complying with everything that is agreeable to him, and accordingly waited on him to the Coffee-house, where his venerable figure drew upon us the eyes of the whole room. He had no sooner seated himself at the upper end of the high table, but he called for a clean pipe, a paper of tobacco, a dish of coffee, a wax candle, and the Supplement (a periodical paper of that time), with such an air of cheerfulness and good humour, that all the boys in the coffee-room (who seemed to take pleasure in serving him) were at once employed on his several errands, insomuch that nobody else could come at a dish of tea until the Knight had got all his conveniences about him.”
Gray’s-inn Walks, to which the Rents led, across Field-court, were then a fashionable promenade; and here Sir Roger could ” clear his pipes in good air;” for scarcely a house intervened thence to Hampstead.
Tom’s Coffee-house, Birchin-lane, Comhill, though in the main a mercantile resort, acquired some celebrity from its having been frequented by Garrick, who, to keep up an interest in the City, appeared here about twice in a winter at ‘Change time, when it was the rendezvous of young merchants. Hawkins says :—” After all that has been said of Mr. Garrick, envy must own that he owed his celebrity to his merit; and yet of that himself seemed so diffident, that he practised sundry little but innocent arts to insure the favour of the public :” yet he did more. When a rising actor complained to Mrs. Garrick that the newspapers abused him, the widow replied, ” You should write your own criticisms; David always did.” Tom’s was also frequented by Chatterton, as a place ” of the best resort;” here was first established ” the London Chess-Club.” (See Chess-Clubs, p. 95.) The premises were long held on lease from Lord Cowper, at a rent of 1501. per annum, but had been sublet at 1000£.
Tom’s Coffee-house, Devereux-court, Strand, was much resorted to by men of letters; among whom were Dr. Birch, who wrote the History of the Royal Society; also Akenside, the poet ; and there is in print a letter of Pope’s, addressed to Fortescue, his • counsel learned in the law,” at this Coffee-house.
Tom’s Coffee-house, 17, Russell-street, Covent-garden, opposite Button’s, was kept by Thomas West, and was in the reign of Queen Anne, and more than half a century after, a celebrated resort. (See Clubs, p. 257.)
Tom King’s Coffee-house was one of the old night-houses of Covent-garden Market: it was a rude shed immediately beneath the portico of St. Paul’s Church, and was one ” well known to all gentlemen to whom beds are unknown.” Fielding, in one of his prologues, says: ” Whab rake is ignorant of King’s Coffee-house ?” It is in the background of Hogarth’s print of “Morning,” where the prim maiden lady, walking to church, is soured with seeing two fuddled beaux from King’s Coffeehouse caressing two frail women. At the door is a drunken row, in which swords and cudgels are the weapons. Harwood’s Alumni Etonenses, p. 293, in the account of the boys elected from Eton to King’s College, contains this entry: ” a.d. 1713, Thomas King, born at West Ashton, in Wiltshire, went away scholar in apprehension that his fellowship would be denied him; and afterwards kept that Coffee-house in Coving-house ent-garden, which was called by his own name.” Moll King was landlady after Tom’s death: she was witty, and her house was much frequented, though it was little better than a shed. “Noblemen and the first beaux” said Stacie, “after leaving Court, would go to her house in full dress, with swords and bags, and in rich brocaded silk coats, and walked and conversed with persons of every description. She would serve chimney-sweepers, gardeners, and the market-people in common with her lords of the highest rank.” Captain Laroon, an amateur painter of the time of Hogarth, who often witnessed the nocturnal revels at Moll King’s, made a large and spirited drawing of the interior of her Coffee-house, which was at Strawberry Hill: it wa» bought for Walpole by his printer. There is also an engraving of the same room, which is extremely rare.
Turk’s Head Coffee-house, Change-alley, established in 1662; the sign was Morat the Great, who figures as a tyrant in Dry den’s Aureng Zebe. There is a token of this house with the Sultan’s Head in the Beaufoy Collection. Another token, in the same collection, is of unusual excellence, probably by John Roettier. It has on the obverse, ” Morat ye Great Men did mee call,—Sultan’s Head;” reverse, ” Where eare I came I conquered all.—In the field, Coffee, Tobacco, Sherbet, Tea, Chocolat, Retail in Exchange Alee.” ” The word • tea,'” says Mr. Burn, ” occurs on no other tokens than those issued from ‘ the Great Turk’ Coffee-house, in Exchange-alley.” In a newspaper of 1662, customers and acquaintances are invited the New Year’s-day to the Great Turk new Coffee-house, in Exchange-alley, ” where coffee will be free of cost.” There was also a Sultan Morat’s Head Coffee-house, which had a token, rev. ” In Bar-bican formerly in Pannyer Ally.”
Tuek’s Head Coffee-house, 142, in the Strand, was a favourite supping-
bouse with Dr. Johnson and Boswell, in whose Life of Johnson are several entries, commencing with 1763—” At night, Mr. Johnson and I supped in a private room at the Turk’s Head Coffee-house, in the Strand. ‘ I encourage this house,’ said he, ‘ for the mistress of it is a good civil woman, and has not much business.’ ” Another entry is— “We concluded the day at the Turk’s Head Coffee-house very socially.” And, August 3, 1673—” We had our last social meeting at the Turk’s Head Coffee-house, before my setting out for foreign parts.” The name was afterwards changed to ” The Turk’s Head, Canada and Bath Coffee-house,” and lasted as a well-frequented tavern until the house was rebuilt, at the cost of 8000?. as ” Wright’s Hotel:” it is now an insurance office. The house has two stories below the level of the street.
Will’s Coffee-house,* the predecessor of Button’s, and even more celebrated than that Coffee-house, was so called from William Urwin, who kept it, and was the house on the north side of Russell-street at the corner of Bow-street—the corner house (rebuilt)—now occupied as a ham-and-beef shop, and numbered 21. Pepys, in his Diary, records his first visit to Will’s, 3 Feb. 1663-4,” where Dryden the poet (I knew at Cambridge), and all the wits of the town, and Harris the player, and Mr. Hoole of our college,” with ” very witty and pleasant discourse.” Ned Ward sarcastically culls it ” the Wits’ Coffee-house.” Wycherley, Gay, and Dennis were frequenters. ” It was Dryden who made Will’s Coffee-bouse the great resort of the wits of his time.” {Pope and Spence.) The room in which the poet was accustomed to sit was on the first floor; and his place was the place of honour by the fireside in the winter; and at the corner of the balcony, looking over the street, in fee- streetine weather; he called the two places his winter and his summer seat. This was called the dining-room floor in the last century. The company did not sit in boxes, as subsequently, but at various tables which were dispersed through the room. Smoking was permitted in the public room : it was then so much in vogue that it does not seem to have been considered a nuisance. Here, as in other similar places of meeting, the visitors divided themselves into parties ; and we are told by Ward that the beaux and wits, who seldom approached the principal table, thought it a greac honour to have a pinch out of Dryden’s snuff-box. Tom Brown describes ” a Wit and a Beau set up with little or no expense. A pair of red stockings and a sword-knot set up one, and peeping once a day in at Will’s, and two or three second-hand sayings, the other.”
Addison passed each day alike, and much in the manner that Dryden did. Dryden employed his morning in writing, dined en famille, and then went to Will’s, ” only he came home earlier o’ nights.” Pope, when very young, was impressed with such veneration for Dryden, that he persuaded some friends to take him to Will’s Coffeehouse, and was delighted that he could say that he had seen Dryden. Sir Charles Wogan, too, brought up Pope from the forest of Windsor, to dress a la mode, and introduce at Will’s Coffee-house. Pope afterwards described Dryden as ” a plump man with a down look, and not very conversible;” and Cibber remembered hini ” a decent old man, arbiter of critical disputes at Will’s.” Prior sings of—
“the younger Stiles, Whom Dryden pedagogues at Will’s !”
Most of the hostile criticisms on his plays, which Dryden has noticed in his various prefaces, appear to have been made at his favourite haunt, Will’s. Swift was accustomed to speak disparagingly of Will’s, as in his Rhapsody on Poetry: —
” Be sure at Will’s the following day Lie snug, and hear what critics say.”
Swift thought little of the frequenters: he used to say that ” the worst conversation he ever heard in his life was at Will’s,” In the first number of the Tatler, poetry is promised under the article of Will’s Coffee-house. The place, however, changed after Dryden’s time. ” You used to see songs, epigrams, and satires in the hands of every man you met; you have now only a pack of cards; and instead of the
* Will’s Coffee-house first had the title of the Red Cow (says Sir Walter Scott), then of the Eose, and, we believe, is the same house alluded to in the pleasant story in the second number of the Tatler:—
“Supper and friends expect we at the Kose.” The Eose, however, was a common sign for houses of public entertainment.
cavils about the turn of the expression, the elegance of the style, and the like, the learned now dispute only about the truth of the game.” The Spectator is sometimes seen ” thrusting his head into a round of politicians at Will’s, and listening with great attention to the narratives that are made in these little circular audiences.” Although no exclusive subscription belonged to any of these, we find by the account which Colley Cibber gives of his first visit to Will’s, in Covent-garden, that it required an introduction to this society not to bent ety not considered as an impertinent intruder. Will’s was the open market for libels and lampoons. One Julian attended Will’s, and dispersed among the crowds who frequented that place of gay resort copies of the lampoons which had been privately communicated to him by their authors.
After Dryden’s death, in 1701, Will’s continued for about ten years to be still the Wits’ Coffee-house. Pope, it is well known, courted the correspondence of the town wits and Coffee-house critics.
Will’s Coffee-house, 7, Serle-street, Lincoln’s-inn, was much frequented by the legal profession, and by actors and gay company when Portugal-street had its theatre. In the Epicure’s Almanac, 1813, it is described as ” a house of the first-class for turtle and venison, matured port, double-voyaged Madeira, and princely claret; wherewithal to wash down the dust of making law-books, and take out the inky blots from rotten parchment bonds.” It no longer exists.
There are in the metropolis about 1000 Coffee-shops or Coffee-rooms; the establishment of the majority of which may be traced to the cheapening of coffee and sugar, and to the increase of newspapers and periodicals. About the year 1815, the London Coffee-shops did not amount to 20, and there was scarcely a Coffee-house where coffee could be had under 6d. a cup ; it may now be had at Coffee-shops at from Id. to 3d. Some of these shops have from 700 to 1600 customers daily j 40 copies of the daily newspapers are taken in, besides provincial and foreign papers, and magazines. Cooked meat is also to be had at Coffee-shops, at one of which three cwt. of ham and beef are sometimes sold weekly.
COLLEGES.
ST. BARNABAS COLLEGE, Queen-street, Pimlico, consists of a church, schools, and residentiary house for the clergy, built 1846-50, in the Pointed Early English style, Cundy, architect. The residentiary house is for clergymen who attend to the parochial duties of the district, minister in the church, teach in the schools, and superintend the twelve choristers. The schools were opened on St. Barnabas Day, 1847, and the church in 1850. (See Churches, p. 151.) The freehold site of the College was given by the first Marquis of Westminster, and is in the poorest part of the district. The College was built by subscription, to which the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, then incumbent of the district, contributed the bulk of his fortune, and the most zealous pastoral care. A ” Home of Refuge,” under the management of the clergy of the parish, is situated in the Commercial-road.—Davis’s Knightsbridge, p. 253.
Church of England Metropolitan Training Institution, Highbury (late Highbury College), was instituted 1849, to train pious persons as masters and mistresses of juvenile schools connected with the Established Church, ” upon principles Scriptural, Evangelical, and Protestaat.”
Church Missionary College, the, Barnsbury-place, Upper Islington, is an important branch of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East; and here the students are trained for future missionaries. Among the early founders of this Society were Wilberforce, Scott, Cecil, Newton, Venn, and Pratt: it was chiefly matured at the “Eclectic Society” assembling then at the vestry of St. John’s Chapel, Bedford-row. The annual cost of the College operations averages 100, Neaverage000^., or about 1000Z. for every station. (See Low’s Charities of London, pp. 412-13.)
Chemistry, College of (Royal), 16, Hanover-square, was founded in 1845, for instruction in Practical Chemistry at a moderate expense, and for the general advancement of Chemical Science. The first stone of the three new laboratories was laid by Prince Albert, President of the College, June 16, 1846; James Lockycr, architect.
The Oxford-street front has a rusticated ground-floor, and an upper story decorated with six Ionic columns.
Dt/lwich. College, in the pleasant hamlet of Dulwich, exactly five miles south of Cornhill, was built and endowed in 1613-19, by Edward Alleyn, “bred a stage-player:” he became a celebrated actor, erected the Fortune Theatre, and with Henslowe, was co-proprietor of the Paris Bear-Garden at Bankside. Alleyn named the foundation at Dulwich ” the College of God’s Gift;” for a master and warden, four fellows, six poor brethren, six sisters, and twelve scholars; and thirty out-members lodged in almshouses. By the founder’s statutes, the master and warden should bear the name of Alleyn, or Allen, and both continue unmarried, or be removed from the College ; yet the first master and warden (Alleyn’s kinsmen) were both married, and Alleyn himself was twice married. He bequeathed his books and musical instruments, and his ” seal-ring with I113 arms, to be worn by the master.” The gross annual income of the College is about 8000Z., or nearly tenfold the value settled by the founder. The only eminent master or warden was John Allen, one of the earliest writers in the Edinburgh Revieio. Little of the old buildings remains in the present structure, three sides of a quadrangle; the entrance gates are curiously wrought with the founder’s arms, crest, and motto ” God’s Gift.” In the centre is the Chapel, with a low tower; the altar-piece is a copy, by Julio Romano, of Raphael’s Transfiguration; the front is inscribed with a Greek anagram, the same read either way. Alleyn (d. 1626) is buried here. Adjoining the College is ” the Grammar-school of God’s Gift College,” built by Barry, R.A., in 184-2; and the Dulwich Gallery of Pictures, famous for its Cuyps and Murillos; Soane, R.A., architect.
In the College and Master’s Apartments are several portraits, including Alleyn the founder, full length, in a black gown; also left by Cartwright, player and bookseller, 1687, portraits of ” the Actors ” Richard Burbage, Nat. Field, Richard Perkins, Thomas Bond, &c.; and of the poet Drayton; Lovelace the poet, and ” Althea ” with her hair dishevelled; a Lady in a richly-flowered dress, large ruff, and pearls; and a Merchant and his Lady on panel, their hands resting upon a human skull placed on a tomb, below which is a naked corpse. Thelibrary chimney-piece is made out of “the upper part of the Queen’s barge,” purchased by Alleyn in 1618. The books number about 4200 volumes: those relating to the theatre have been exchanged or filched away; and a very valuable collection of old plays was exchanged by the College with Garriek for modern works, and eventually purchased for the British Museum. The College possesses an original letter written by Alleyn to his first wife, Joan Woodward, from Chelmsford, in 1593, when he was one of ” the Lord’s strange Players.” Here also is the MS Diary and.Account Book of Phillip Henslowe, printed by the Shakspeare Society; and in the old carved Treasury Chest, a memorandum-book in Alleyn’s handwriting; besides other ” Dulwich papers.”—See Collier’s Memoirs of Alleyn.
When the office of Master of the College becomes vacant, the Warden immediately succeeds to it, and a new Warden is elected by the Master, the four Fellows, and six Assistants; the latter being two churchwardens from each of the parishes of St. Botolph’s, Bishopsgate; St. Luke’s, Old-street-road ; and St. Saviour’s, Southwark.
In 1851, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as official Visitor of the College, extended the education at the School to surveying, chemistry, engineering, and the allied sciences. In 1858 was passed an Act of Parliament, by which its educational system will be kept expanding in proportion to its wealth. There are now two Schools; an upper, which provides a more advanced education for boys of the better class, and a lower, intended for the preparation of youths for commercial life; each school about 300. The fees in the upper school amount to 81. per annum for each boy, and in the lower to 11. In addition to these scholars there are foundation-boys in both schools, boarded and lodged at the expense of the charity. To provide for this extension, new buildings were commenced in 1866, on a site of 30 acres, between the present College and the Crystal Palace. The centre of the building is a large hall for dining and for the general gathering of the boys; there are a cloister between the two schools, and official residences for the masters. There is a Speech-day for classic and dramatic orations; and the performance of a play, preference being given to Shakspeare’s.
Geesham College, Basinghall-street, a handsome stone edifice, designed by George Smith, was opened Nov. 2, 1843, for the Gresham Lectures. It is in the enriched Roman style, and has a Corinthian entrance-portico. The interior contains a large library, and professors’ rooms; and on the first floor a lecture-room, or theatre, to hold 500 persons. The building cost upwards of 70001. The Lectures, on Astronomy, Physic, Law, Divinity, Rhetoric, Geometry, and Music, are here read to the public gratis, during “Term Time,” daily,except Sundays; in Latin, at 12 noon; English, at
COLLEGES.
1 P.M.; the Geometry and Music Lectures at 7 p.m. Gresham College was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, who, in 1575, gave his mansion-house and the rents arising from the Royal Exchange, which, on the death of Lady Gresham, in 1597, were vested in the Corporation of London and the Mercers’ Company, who were conjointly to nominate seven professors, to lecture successively, one on each day of the week; their salaries being 501. per annum : a more liberal remuneration than Henry VIII. had appointed for the Regius Professors of Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge, and equivalent to 4001. or 5001. at the present day. The Lectures commenced June 1597, in Gresham’s mansion, which, with almshouses and gardens, extended from Bishopsgate-street westward into Broad-street. Here the Royal Society originated in 1645, and met (with interruptions) until 1710. The buildings were then neglected, and in 1768 were taken down, and the Excise Office built upon their site; the reading of the Lectures was then removed to a room on the south-east side of the Royal Exchange; the lecturers’ salaries being raised to 1001. each, in place of the lodging they had in the old College, of which there is a view, by Vertue, in Ward’s Lives of the Gresham Professors, 1740.* On the rebuilding of the Royal Exchange, the Gresham Committee provided a separate edifice for the College, as above. Above its entrance portico are sculptured the following arms:
City , wserif”>of London. Gresham. Mercers’ Company.
Arg. a cross, and in Arg. a chev. erm. Gu. a demi-virgin couped below the shoulders, issu-
the dexter chief a betw. three mul ing from clouds, all ppr. veiled or crowned with
sword erect gu. lets pierced sa. an eastern coronet of the last, her hair dishevelled,
all within a bordiire nebuly arg.
Heralds’ College (College of Arms), College of Advocates, and Doctors of Law, east side of Benet’s hill, Doctors’ Commons, was built in 1683, from the design of Sir Christopher Wren, upon the site of the former College (Derby House), destroyed in the Great Fire; but all the valuable documents and books were fortunately saved. Sir William Dugdale, then Norroy King-of-Arms, built the north-west corner at his own expense : the hollow arch of the gateway on Benet’s-hill is a curiosity. On the north side of the court-yard is the grand hall, in which the Court of Chivalry was formerly held. On the right is the old library, opening into a fire-proof record-room, built in 1844: to contain the MS. collection of Heralds’ visitations, records of grants of arms, royal licenses, official funeral certificates, and public ceremonials. Here, too, were several portraits, including those of Sir Gilbert Dethick, Garter King-at-Arms; John Anstis, Garter; Peter Le Neve, Norroy; John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, &c. In the grand hall was the judicial seat of the Earl Marshal; ” but the chair is empty, and the sword unswayed.” On the south side of the quadrangle is a paved terrace, on the wall of which are two escutcheons; one bearing the arms (and legs) of Man, and the other the Eagle’s claw—both ensigns of the house of Stanley, and denoting the site of old Derby House, though they are not ancient.
The College of Arms received the first charter of incorporation from Richard III., who gave them for the residence and assembling of the Heralds, Poulteney’s Inn,” a righte fayre and stately house,” in Coldharbour. They were dispossessed of this property by Henry VII., when they removed to the Hospital of Our Lady of Rounceval, at Charing Cross, where now stands Northumberland House. They next removed to Derby or Stanley House, on St. Benet’s-hill, granted by Queen Mary, July 18,1555, to Sir Gilbert Dethick, Garter King-of-Arms, and to the other Heralds and Pursuivants at Arms, and their successors. The service of the Pursuivants, and of the Heralds, and of the whole College, is used in marshalling and ordering Coronations, Marriages, Christenings, Funerals, Interviews, Feasts of Kings and Princes, Cavalcades, Shows, Justs, Tournaments, Combats, before the Constable and Marshal, &c. Also they take care of the Coats of Arms, and of the Genealogies of the Nobility and Gentry. Anciently, the Kings-at-Arms were solemnly crowned before the sovereign, and took an oath: during which the Earl Marshal poured a bowl of wine on his head, put on him a richly embroidered velvet Coat of Arms, a Collar of Esses, a jewel and gold chain, and a crown of gold.—Chamberlayne’a Magna Britannia Notitia, 1726.
The College has, since 1622, consisted of thirteen officers:— Kings: Garter, Principal; Clarencieux; Norroy. Heralds: Lancaster, Somerset, Richmond, Windsor, York, Chester. Pursuivants: Rouge Croix, Blue Mantle, Portcullis, Blue Dragon. These hold their places by appointment os, appointf the Duke of Norfolk, as Hereditary Earl Marshal. Few rulers have been insensible to the pageantry of arms : even the royalty-hating
* In Vertue’s print, at the entrance archway are two figures, designed for Dr. Woodward and Dr. Mead, Professors, who having quarrelled and drawn swords, Mead obtained the advantage, and commanded Woodward to beg his life : ” No, Doctor, that I will not, till I am your patient,” was the witty reply; but he yielded, and is here shewn tendering his sword to Mead.
Cromwell appointed his King-at-Arms; and the heraldic expenses of his funeral were between 400^. and 5001. The Court of Chivalry was nearly as oppressive as the detestable Star Chamber; for we read of its imprisoning and ruining a merchant-citizen for calling a swan a goose; and fining Sir George Markham 10,000Z. for saying, after he had horse-whipped the saucy huntsman of Lord Darcy, that if his master justified his insolence, he would horse-whip him also. The severest punishment of the Court is the degradation from the honour of knighthood, of which only three instances are recorded in three centuries: this consisted in breaking and defacing the knight’s sword and gilt spurs, and pronouncing him ” an infamous errant knave.” In our time, the banner of a Knight of the Bath has been pulled down by the heralds, and kicked out of Henry VII.’s Chapel at Westminster. The herald’s visitations were liable to strange abuses, and ceased with the seventeenth century. Another trusty service of the Officers-at-Arms is the bearing of letters and messages to sovereign princes and persons in authority; these officers were the “Chivalers of Armes,” or Knights Riders, the original King’s Messengers; and adjoining the College is Knight-Rider-street.
Among the Curiosities of the College are, the Warwick Roll, with figures of all the Earls of Warwick from the Conquest to Richard III.; a Tournament Roll of Henry VIII.’s time; a sword, dagger, and turkois ring, said to have belonged to James IV. of Scotland, who fell at Flodden-field; portrait of the warrior Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, from his tomb in Old St. Paul’s; pedigree of the Saxon kings from Adam, with beautiful pen-and ink illustrations (temp. Henry VIII.); and a volume in the handwriting of ” the learned Camden,” created Clarencieux in 1597. Among the other officers of note were Sir William Dugdale, Garter; Elias Ashmole, Windsor Herald, who wrote the History of the Order of the Garter; John Anstis, Garter; Francis Sandford, Lancaster Herald, who wrote an excellent Genealogical History of England; Sir John Vanbrugh, who was made Clarencieux as a compliment for building Castle Howard, but sold the situation for 2CXXW.; Francis Grose, Richmond Herald; and Edmund Lodge, Lancaster Herald. (See the excellent paper by J. R. Planche, Somerset Herald, in Knight’s London, vol. vi.)
A Grant of Arms is thus obtained: The applicant employs any member he pleases of the Heralds’ Office, and through him, presents a memorial to the Earl Marshal, setting forth that he the memorialist is not entitled to arms, or cannot prove his right to such; and praying that his Grace will issue his warrant to the King of Arms authorizing them to grant and confirm to him due and proper armorial ensigns, to be borne according to the laws of heraldry by him and his descendants. This memorial is presented, and a warrant is issued by the Earl Marshal, under which a patent is made out, exhibiting in the corner a painting of the armorial ensigns granted, and describing in official e t in offterms the proceedings that have taken place, and the correct blazon of the arms. This patent is registered in the books of the Heralds’ College, and receives the signatures of the Garter and of one the Provincial Kings of Arms. Thus an ” Armiger ” is made. The fees on a Grant of Arms amount to seventy-five guineas; an ordinary search of the records is 6*.; a general search, one guinea. Arms that are not held under a Grant must descend to the bearer from an ancestor recorded in the Herald’s visitations. No prescription, however long, will confer a right to a coat-armour. If the grantee be resident in any place north of the Trent, his patent is signed by Garter and Norroy Kings of Arms; if he reside south of that river the signatures are those of Garter and Clarencieux Kings of Arms.
The arrangement of the College consists of several houses occupied by the Doctors of Law, with the Courts, noble Dining-room and Library, large open quadrangular area and garden; exclusive of which the number of rooms is 140. The total area is 34,138 feet, or more than three-quarters of an acre. The whole of the buildings are to be taken down in forming the new street from Blackfriars Bridge to the Mansion House.
King’s College and School, Somerset House, extend from the principal entrance in the Strand to the east wing of the river-front, designed by Sir William Chambers, but left unfinished by him : its completion by the College being one of the conditions of the grant of the site: here resided the Principal and Professors. The College facade, designed by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., is 304 feet in length, and consists of a centre, decorated with Corinthian columns and pilasters; and two wings with pilasters, upon a basement of piers supporting arches, which extend the whole length of the building. On the interior ground-floor are the theatres or lecture-rooms, and the hall, with two grand staircases, which ascend to the Museum and Library; the Chapel occupying the centre. Over the lofty entrance-arch in the Strand are the arms of the College : motto, ” Sancte et sapienter.” (See Museums.)
King’s College and Schools are proprietary. The College was founded in 1828, for the education of youth of the metropolis in the principles of the Established Church. There are five departments: 1. Theological; 2. General Literature; 3. Applied Sciences; 4. Medical; 5. The School. The age for admission to the latter is from 9 to 16; and each proprietor can nominate two pupils to the School, or one to the School and one to the College at the same time. The first Conference of Degrees by the University of London took place in the hall of King’s College, May 1,1850. In connexion with the Medical Schools has been established King’s College Hospital, in Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-Inn-fields.
St. Mark’s Trailing College, Chelsea, was established for training schoolmasters for the National Society. The College, fronting King’s-road, is of Italian design; the Chapel, facing the Fulhani-road, is Byzantine; to the west is an octagonal Practising School; and the grounds contain about fifteen acres. The term of training is three years: it comprises, with general education, the industrial system, as the business of male servants in the house, managing the farm produce, and gardening. Still, the religious service of the Chapel is, as it were, the keystone of the system of the College. (See Chapels, p. 214.) There are also other training institutions connected with the National Society.*
New College, St. John’s Wood, was commenc, “, was ced building in 1850, when the first stone was laid, May 11, by the Rev. Dr. John Pye Smith, known as a divine, and as a man of science from his work on Scripture and Geology. The building was completed in 1851, and opened October 8. It has been erected by the Independent Dissenters for the education of their ministers, and is founded on the union of Homerton Old College and Coward and Highbury Colleges. The classes are divided into two faculties, Arts and Theology; the former open to lay students, and having chairs of Latin and Greek, mathematics, moral and mental philosophy, and natural history. The building, of Bath stone, designed by Emmett, in the Tudor (Henry VII.) style, is situated about a mile and a half north of Regent’s-park, between the Finchley-road and Bellsize-lane. The frontage is 270 feet, having a central tower 80 feet high. The interior dressings are of Caen stone, and the fittings of oak; some of the ceilings are of wrought wood-work, and the windows of elaborate beauty. The main building contains lecture-room, council-room, laboratory, museum, and students’ day-rooms; at the north end is the Principal’s residence, and at the south a library of more than 20,000 volumes.
Physicians, College of, was founded in 1518, by Linacre, physician to Henry VII. and VIII., who lived in Knight-Rider-street, and there received his friends, Erasmus, Latimer, and Sir Thomas More. Linacre was the first President of the College, and the members met at his house, which he bequeathed to them; the estate is still the property of the College. Thence they removed to a house in Amen Corner, where Harvey lectured on his great discovery, and built in the College garden a Museum, upon the site of the present Stationers’ Hall. The old College and Museum being destroyed in the Great Fire, the members met for a time at the President’s house, until Wren built for them a College, in Warwick-lane, upon part of the site of the mansion of the famed Earls of Warwick; the new College was commenced in 1674, but not completed until 1689. It had an octangular porch of entrance, 40 feet in diameter, the most striking portion of Wren’s design. The interior, above the porch, formed the lecture-room, which was light, and very lofty, being open upwards to the roof of the edifice. It was opened in 1689 : the entrance-porch was surmounted by a dome, as described by Garth in his satire on the quarrel between the Apothecaries’ Companimearies’ and the College:
” Not far from that most celebrated placet Where angry Justice shews her awful face, Where litfle villains must submit to fate, That great ones may enjoy the world in state, There stands a Dome, majestic to the sight, And sumptuous arches bear its oval height; A golden globe, piae’d high with artful skill, Seems to the distant sight—a gilded pill.”— The Di*pen»ary.
” The theatre was amphitheatrical in plan, and one of the best that can be imagined
* Kncller Hall (between Hounslow and Twickenham) was formerly in the possession of Sir Godfrey Kncller, who pulled down the manor-house and erected a new house on the same site, as inscrihed upon a stone: ” The building of this house was begun by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bart., a.d. 1709.” It had a sumptuously painted staircase, by Kneller’s own hand. The hall was almost wholly taken down, and a Training School was built upon its site.
t Newgate.
for seeing, hearing, and the due classification of the students, and for the display of anatomical demonstrations or philosophical experiments upon a tahle in the centre of the arena, of any building of its size in existence.” (Elmes.) This portion was latterly occupied as a meat-market, and the other College buildings by braziers and brass-founders. The buildings comprised a lofty hall, with a magnificent staircase; a dining-room, with a ceiling elaborately enriched with foliage and flowers in stucco, and carved oak chimney-piece and gallery. On the north and south were the residences of the College officers ; on the west, the principal front, consisting of two stories, the lower decorated with Ionic pillars, the upper by Corinthian and by a pediment in the centre at the top. Immediately beneath the pediment was the statue of Charles II., with a Latin inscription. On the east was the octangular side, with the gilt ball above, and a statue of Sir John Cutler below. It appears by the College books that, in 1675, Sir John Cutler, a near relation of Dr. Whistler, the President, was desirous of contributing towards the building of the College, and a committee was appointed to thank him for his kind intentions. Cutler accepted their thanks, renewed his promise, and specified parts of the building of which he intended to bear the expense. In 1680, statues in honour of the King and Sir John were voted by the members; and nine years afterwards, the College being then completed, it was resolved to borrow money of Sir John Cutler to discharge the debt incurred; but the sum is not specified. It appears, however, that in 1699 Sir John’s executors made a demand on the College for 7000Z., supposed to include money actually lent, money pretended to be given, but set down as a debt in Sir John’s books, and the interest on both. The executors, however, accepted 2000Z., and dropped their claim to the other five. Thus Sir John’s promise, which he never performed, had obtained him the statue ; but the College wisely obliterated the inscription which, in the warmth of gratitude, had been placed beneath the figure :—
” Omnis Cutleri cedat Labor Amphitheatre”
Hence it was called Cutler’s Theatre, in Warwick-lane. The miser Baronet has, however, received a more enduring monuat endurinment from the hand of Pope, in his Moral Essay : —
” His Grace’s fate sage Cutler could foresee,
And well (he thought) advised him,’ Live like me.’
As well his Grace replied,’ Like you, Sir John ?
That I can do, when all 1 have is gone.’ ”
The College buildings were mostly taken down in 1866; the carved oak fittings and a celebrated stucco ceiling being preserved, with the statue of Cutler. In the garrets of the old College were formerly dried the herbs for the use of the dispensary; and, on the left of the entrance portico, beneath a bell-handle, there remained till the last, the inscription, ” Mr. Lawrence, surgeon—night bell,” recalling the days when the house belonged to a learned institution. We remember it leased to the Equitable Loan (or Pawnbroking) Company, when the ” Golden Globe” was partially symbolical of its appropriation.
The Physicians, in 1825, had emigrated westward, where Sir Robert Smirke built for them a College of classic design, in Pall Mall East and Trafalgar-square, at the cost of 30,000Z. It was opened June 25,1825, with a Latin oration by the President, Sir Henry Halford. The style is Grecian-Ionic, with an elegant hexastyle Ionic portico. The interior is sumptuous. In the dining-room are portraits of Dr. Hamey, the Commonwealth physician; of Dr. Freind, imprisoned in the Tower; and of Sir Edmund King, who bled Charles II., in a fit, without consulting the Royal physicians, and who was promised for the service 1000Z. by the Council, which was never paid. In the oak-panelled Censors’ Room is a portrait of Dr. Sydenham, by Mary Beale ; of Linacre, surmounted by the College arms in oak, and richly-emblazoned shield; of the thoughtful Sir Thomas Browne, who wrote Religio Medici ; of the good-humoured Sir Samuel Garth, by Kneller; and of Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII. (after Holbein), and Andreas Vesalius, the Italian anatomist; other portraits; and a marble bust of Sir Henry Halford. In the Library, lighted by three beautiful lanterns, is a fine portrait of Radcliffe, by Kneller; and of Harvey, by Jansen. Here is a gallery filled with cases, containing preparations, including some of the nerves and blood-vessels, by
Harvey, and used by him in his lectures on the discovery of the circulation of the blood. Adjoining is a small theatre, or lecture-room, where are busts—of George IV., by Chantrey ; Dr. Mead, by Roubiliac; Dr. Sydenham, by Wilton; Harvey, by Schee-makers; Dr. Baillie, by Chantrey; Dr. Babington, by Behnes. Here also is a picture of Hunter lecturing on Anatomy before Royal Academicians (portraits), by Zoffany; besides a collection of physicians’ canes. The whole may be seen by the order of a physician, Fellow of the College. The Harveian Oration (in Latin) is delivered annually by a Fellow, usually on June 25.
In the Library is a copy of the Homer published at Florence in 1488, an immortal work for this early period of typography: in the whiteness and strength of the paper, the fineness of the character, the elegant disposition of the matter, the exact distance between the lines, the large margin, and various ornaments.
Peeceptoes, College op (the), 28, Bloomsbury-square, a proprietary institution, established 1847, to elevate the character of the profession of teachers, irrespective of distinctions of sects and parties ; and to grant certificates and diplomas to candidates duly qualified, after examination.
Queen’s College, London, 67, Harley-street, was established 1848, for general female education, and for granting to Governesses certificates of qualification. The instruction is given in lectures by gentlemen connected with King’s College, and other professors; there are also preparatory classes and evening classes, the latter gratuitously: the whole superintended by ladies as visitors.
Sion College, London Wall, is built on the site of the Priory of Elsinge Spital, and consists of a college for the clergy of London, and almshouses for twenty poor persons, founded 1623, by the will of Dr. Thomas White, vicar of St. Dunstan’s-in-the-West; to which one of his executors, the Rev. John Simson, rector of St. Olave’s, Hart-street, added a library. ” Here,” says Defoe, ” expectants may lodge till they are provided with houses in the several parishes in which they serve cure;” and the Fellows of the College are the incumbents of parishes within the City and Liberties of London. The library is their property: a third of the books was destroyed in the Great Fire, which consumed great part of the College. The collection contaius more than 50,000 volumes, mostly theological, among which are the Jesuits’ books seized in 1679. By the Copyright Act, 8 Anne c. 19, the library received a gratuitous copy of every published work till 1836, when this privilege was commuted for a Treasury grant of 3631. a year, now its chief maintenance. It is open to the clergy of the diocese and their friends, and to the public by an order from one of the Fellows; but books are not allowed to be taken out, except by Fellows. Here are several pictures, including a costume-portrait of Mrs. James, a citizen’s wife in the reign of William and Mary.
Suegeons, Royal College of, on the south side of Lincoln’s-inn-fields, was originally built by Dance, R.A., for the College, who removed here from their Hall on the site of the New Sessions House, Old Bailey, on their incorporation by royal charter in 1800. It was almost entirely rebuilt by Barry, R.A., in 1835-37, when the stone front was extended from 84 to 108 feet, and a noble Ionic entablature added, with this inscription: iEDES’ Collegii ¦ Chibvbgoevm • Londinensis • Diplomate ¦ Regio ‘
COEPOEATI’ A.D. MDCCC.
The interior contains two Museums, a Theatre, Library, and vestibule with screens of Ionic columns. On the staircase-landing are busts of Cheselden and Sir W. Banks. In the Library are portraits of Sir Caesar Hawkins, by Hogarth; Serjeant-Surgeon Wiseman (Charles II.’s time); and the cartoon of Holbein’s picture of the granting of the charter to the Barber-Surgeons. In the Council Room (where sits the Court of Examiners) are Reynolds’s celebrated portrait of John Hunter, and other pictures: bust of John Hunter, by Flaxman; of Cline, Sir W. Blizard, Abernethy, and George III. and George IV., by Chantrey; of Pott, by Hollins; and Samuel Cooper, by Butler. The Museum, with Hunter’s collection for its nucleus, was erected in 1836; and the College has since been enlarged by adding to it the site of the Portugal-street Theatre, late Copeland’s china warehouse, taken down in 1848. (See Museums.) In the Theatre is annually delivered the Hunterian Oration (in Latic ation (in), by a Fellow of the College, on Feb. 14, John Hunter’s birthday.
University College, east side of Upper Gower-street, was designed by Wilkins, R.A.; the first stone laid by the Duke of Sussex, April 30, 1827 ; and the College opened Oct. 1, 1828. It has a bold and rich central portico of twelve Corinthian columns and a pediment, elevated on a plinth 19 feet, and approached by numerous steps, arranged with fine effect. Behind the pediment is a cupola with a lantern light, in imitation of a peripteral temple ; in the Great Hall under which are the original models of the principal works of John Flaxman, R.A., presented by Miss Denman. In the vestibule is Flaxman’s restoration of the Farnese Hercules; beneath the dome ig his grand life-size Michael and Satan; and around the walls are his various monumental and other bas-reliefs; ” in all the monumental compositions there is a touching story, and the sublimity of the poetic subjects is of a quality which the Greeks themselves have never excelled.”— (Art Journal.) An adjoining room contains Flax-man’s Shield of Achilles, and other works.
The University building extends about 400 feet in length : in the ground-floor are lecture-rooms, cloisters for the exercise of the pupils, two semicircular theatres, chemical laboratory, museum of materia medica, &c. In the upper floor, on entering by the great door of the portico, the whole extent of the building is seen. Here are the great hall, museums of natural history and anatomy, two theatres, two libraries, and rooms with naturo-philosophical apparatus. The principal library is richly decorated in the Italian style; here is a marble statue of Locke. The Laboratory, completed from the plan of Prof. Donaldson, in 1845, combines all the recent improvements of our own schools with that of Professor Liebig, at Giessen.
University College is proprietary, and was founded in 1828, principally aided by Lord Brougham, the poet Campbell, and Dr. Birkbeck, for affording ” literary and scientific education at a moderate expense ;” but Divinity is not taught. There is a Junior School. The graduates of the University of London from University College are entitled Doctors of Laws, Masters of Arts, and Bachelors of Law, Medicine, and Art. The School of Medicine is highly distinguished; and under the superintendence of its professors has been founded University College Hospital, opposite the College, in which the medical students receive improved instruction in medicine and surgery.
Wilkins also designed the National Gallery, a far less happy work than Dniversity College, which is unfinished; the original design comprised two additional smaller cupolas. The works seem hardly to be the production of the same architect; in the National Gallery the dome being as unsightly a feature in composition as in the College it is graceful.
In the rear of the College, on the west side of Gordon-square, is University Hall, designed by Prof. Donaldson, 1849, and built for instruction in Theology and Moral Philosophy, which are excluded by the College. The architecture is Elizabethan-Tudor, in red brick and stone; the grouping of the windows is cleverly managed. In the Great Hall the students breakfast and dine ; and the establishment is a sort of students’ club-house or model lodging-establishment.
Wesleyan Nobmal College, Horseferry-road, Westminster (James Wilson, architect), has been erected for the trahe d for tining of schoolmasters and mistresses, and the education of the children in the locality. It is in the Late Perpendicular style, of brick, with stone dressings; and consists of a Principal’s Eesidence, a quadrangular Normal College for 100 students, with Lecture and Dining Halls; Practising Schools, and Masters’ Houses : beyond is the Model School, in Early English style, with porch and lancet windows : the buildings and playgrounds occupying upwards of 15 acres, with a large central octagonal tower, which, with the embattled parapets, pointed gables, and traceried oriel-windows, forms a picturesque architectural group.
COLOSSEUM (THE).
HTIHE Colosseum, upon the east side of the Regent’s-park, was originally planned by -*- Mr. Hornor, a land-surveyor; and the building was commenced for him 1824, by Peto and Grissell, from the designs of Decimus Burton. The chief portion is a polygon of sixteen faces, 126 feet in diameter externally, the walls being 3 feet thick at the ground; and the height to the glazed doom is 112 feet. Fronting the west is an entrance portico, with six Grecian-Doric fluted columns, said to be full-sized models of those of the Parthenon. The external dome is supported by a hemispherical dome, constructed of ribs formed of thin deals in thicknesses, breaking joint and bolted together, on the principle educed by M. Philibert de l’Orme in the 14th century, and
stated to be introduced here for the first time in England. The second dome also supports a third, which forms a ceiling of the picture, to be presently described. The building resembles a miniature of the Pantheon, and has been named from its colossal size, and not from any resemblance to the Colosseum at Rome; but it more closely resembles the Eoman Catholic Church at Berlin.*
The building is lighted entirely by the glazed dome, there being no side windows. Upon the canvassed walls was painted the Panoramic View of London, completed in 1829; for which Mr. Hornor, in 1821-2, made the sketches at several feet above the present cross of St. Paul’s Cathedral (as described at p. 115). The view of the picture was obtained from two galleries: the first corresponds, in relation to the prospect, with tin’ first gallery at the summit of the dome of St. Paul’s; the second with the upper gallery of the cathedral. Upon this last gallery is placed the identical copper ball which formerly occupied the summit of St. Paul’s; above it is a fac-simile of the cross; and over these is hung the small wooden cabin in which Mr. Hornor made his drawings. A small flight of stairs -leads from this spot to the open parapet gallery which surrounds the domed roof of the Colosseum. The commuication with the galleries is by spiral staircases, built on the outside of a lofty cylindrical core in the centre of the rotunda; within which is also the ” Ascending Room,” capable of containing ten or twelve persons. This chamber is decorated in the Elizabethan style, and lighted through a stained-glass ceiling; it is raised by secret machinery to the required elevation, or gallery, whence the company viewed the panorama. The hoisting mechanism is a long shaft connected with a steam-engine outside the building, working a chain upon a drum-barrel, and counterbalanced by two other chains, the ascending motion being almost imperceptible.
The painting of the picture was a marvel of art. It covers upwards of 46,000 square feet, or more than an acre of canvas; the dome on which the sky is painted is 30 feet more in diameter than the cupola of St. Pindpola ofaul’s; and the circumference of the horizon from the point of view is nearly 130 miles. Excepting the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, there is no painted surface in Great Britain to compare with this in magnitude or shape, and even that offers but a small extent in comparison. It is inferred that the scaffolding used for constructing St. Paul’s cupola was left for Sir James Thornhill, in painting the interior; and his design consisted of several compartments, each complete in itself. Not so this Panorama of London, which, as one subject, required unity, harmony, accuracy of linear and aerial perspective; the commencement and finishing of lines, colours, and forms, and their nice unity; the perpendicular canvas and concave ceiling of stucco was not to be seen by, or even known to, the spectator; and the union of a horizontal and vertical surface, though used, was not to be detected. After the sketches were completed upon 2000 sheets of paper, and the building finished, no individual could be found to paint the picture in a sufficiently short period, and many artists were of necessity employed : thus, by the use of platforms slung by ropes, with baskets for conveying the colours, temporary bridges, and other ingenious contrivances, the painting was executed, but in the peculiar style, taste, and notion of each artist; to reconcile which,’ or bring them to form one vast whole, was a novel, intricate, and hazardous task, which many persons tried, but ineffectually. At length, Mr. E. T. Parris, possessing an accurate knowledge of mechanics and perspective, and practical execution in painting, combined with great enthusiasm and perseverance, accomplished the labour principally with his own hands; standing in a cradle or box, suspended from cross poles or shears, and lifted as required, by ropes.
The Panorama was viewed from a balustraded gallery, with a projecting frame
* In 1769, there was constructed in the Champs Elys&s, at Paris, a vast building called Le Colisee, for fetes in honour of the marriage of the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI. Here were dances, hydraulics, pyrotechnics, &c.; the buildine did not resemble the Pantheon, as ours in the Regent’s-park, but the Colosseum at Rome. It contained a rotunda, saloons, and circular galleries, skirted with shops, besides trellis-work apartments and four cafh. In the centre of Le Cirque was a vast basin of water, with fountains; beyond which fireworks were displayed. The whole edifice was completely covered with green trellis-work; the entire space occupied by the buildings, coui ts, and gardens, was sixteen acres; and the cost was two and a half millions of money. There were prize exhibitions of pictures ; and Mr. Hornor projected similar displays at the Colosseum, but the idea was not taken up by the British artists. In 1778, the Parisian building was closed, and two years afterwards was taken down. It is mentioned by Dr. Johnson, in his Tour, in 1775.
beneath it, in exact imitation of the outer dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the perspective and light and shade of the campanile towers in the western front being admirably managed. The spectator was recommended to take four distinct stations in the gallery, and then inspect in succession the views towards the north, east, south, and west; altogether representing the Metropolis of 1821, the date of the sketches.
The North comprises Newgate-market, the old College of Physicians, Christ’s Hospital (before ths rebuilding of the Great Hall), St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and Smithfield Market; and the New General Post-Office, then building. These are the objects near the foreground: beyond ta, und: behem are Clerkenwell, the Charterhouse, and the lines of Goswell-street, St. John-street, Pentonville, Islington, and Hoxton. In the next, or third distance, are Primrose-hill, Chalk Farm, Hampstead, and a continued line of wooded hills to Highgate, where are the bold Archway and the line of the Great North Road from Islington; whilst Stamford-hill, Muswell-hill, part of Epping Forest, and portions of Essex, Hertfordshire, and Middlesex bound the horizon.
The East displays a succession of objects all differing from the former view in effect, character, and associations. Whilst the north exhibits the rustie scenery of the environs of London, the east presents us with the Thames, and its massive warehouses and spacious docks; the one a scene of rural quiet, the other a focus of commercial activity. In the foreground is St. Paul’s School-house; whilst the lines of Cheapside, Cornhill, Leadenhall-street, and Whitechapel carry the eye through the very heart of the City, and thence to Bow, Stratford, and a fine tract of woodlands, in Essex. On the right and left of this line are the towers and steeples of Bow Church, St. Mary Woolnoth; St. Michael, Corn-hill ; St. Ethelburga, Bishopsgate, and others of subordinate height; the Bank, Mansion-house, Royal Exchange (since destroyed by fire), East India House, and several of the Companies’ Halls. Another line, nearly parallel, but a little to the east, extends through Watling-street (the old Roman road) to Cannon-street, Tower-street, and the prison, palace, fortress, and museum—the Tower. The course of the Thames, with its vessels and wilderness of masts, the docks and warehouses on its banks: the palace-hospital of Greenwich and the beautiful country beyond it, contrasted with the levels of the Essex bank— are all defined in this direction.
Southward, the eye traces the undulating line of the Surrey hills in the distance; and in the forepart of the picture the Thames, with its countless craft, among which are civic barges and steamers, characteristic of ancient and modern London. Here also are shown old London-bridge, and Southwark, Blackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster, and Vauxhall Bridges, whilst the river-banks are crowded with interesting structures, among which are the old Houses of Parliament.
The Western view presents a new and different series of objects. First, in effect, in beauty of execution and imposing character, are the two campanili, the pediment, and the roof of the western end, of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The painting here is masterly and magical; it so deceives the eye and the imagination, that the spectator can scarcely believe these towers to be depicted on the same canvas and the same surface as the whole line of objects from Ludgate Hill to St. James’s-Park. This view to the west embraces the long lines of Ludgate-hill, Fleet-street, and the Strand, Piccadilly, &e.; Holborn-hill and Oxford-street, with the Inns of Court; Westminster; numerous churches and public buildings, right and left; and Hyde-park, Kensington-gardens, and a long stretch of flat country to Windsor.— Brief Account, by John Britton, F.S.A., 1829.
A staircase leads to the upper gallery, whence the spectator again commanded the whole picture in a sort of bird’s-eye view. Another flight of stairs communicates with the room containing the copper ball and fac-simile cross of St. Paul’s. A few more steps conduct to the outer gallery at the summit ; where, in fine weather, the spectator might compare the colouring, perspective, and effects of nature with those of art within.
The Panorama was first exhibited in the spring of 1829. It was almost repainted by Mr. Parris in 1845 j when also a Panorama of London by Night, essentially the same as the day view, was exhibited in front of the latter, and had to be erected and illuminated every evening: the moonlight effect upon the rippling river; the floating, fleecy clouds and twinkling stars; the lights upon the bridges, in the shops, and in the open markets, formed a rare triumph of artistic illusion. In May, 1848, a moonlight Panorama of Paris, of the same dimensions as the night view of London, was painted by Danson, and was very attractive in illustration of the localities of the recent Revolution. In 1850, both views gave way to a Panorama of the Lake of Thun, in Switzerland, painted in tempera by Danson and Son; and in 1851, the Panorama of London was reproduced as a more appropriate sight for visitors during the International Exhibition season.
The Picture, however, was but one of the many features of the Colosseum. The basement of the Rotunda has a superb Ionic colonnade, as a sculpture-gallery, named the Glyptotheca : the columns and entablature are richly gilt; and the frieze, nearly 300 feet in circumference, is adorned with bas-reliefs from the Panthenaic friezes of the Parthenon, exquisitely modelled by Henning; the ribbed roof being filled with embossed glass.
Southward and eastward of the Rotunda are large Conservatories, a Swiss chalet, and mountain scenery interspersed with real water: these were executed by Mr. Hornor, whose enthusiasm led him to project a tunnel beneath the Regent’s-park-
road, and to anticipate a grant from the opposite enclosure to be added to the Colosseum grounds. But the ingenious projector failed: the property passed into the hands of trustees; after which it lost much of its status as a place of public amusement; but on May 11, 1843, it was bought for 23,000 guineas by Mr. David Montague, who altogether retrieved and elevated the artistic character of the establishment.
The Colosseum, as altered, with the exception of the Panorama, was principally executed in 1845, from the designs of the late Mr. W. Bradwell, formerly chief machinist of Covent Garden Theatre. The eastern entrance, in Albany-street, was then added, with an arched corridor in the style of the Vatican, and leading to the Glyptotheca, the Arabesque Conservatories, and the Gothic Aviary, the exterior promenade, with its model ruins of the Temple of Vesta and Arch of Titus, the Temple of Theseus, and golden pinnacles and eastern domes,—a chaos of classic relics of the antique world. A romantic pass leads to the chalet, or Swiss Cottage, originally designed by P. P. Robinson: the roof, walls, and projecting fireplace are fancifully carved; and the bay-window looks upon a mass of rock-scenery, a mountain-torrent and lake,—a model picture of the sublime. In another direction lies a large model of the Stalactite Cavern at Adelsberg, in Carniola ; constructed by Bradwell and Telbin.
At Christmas, 1848, was added a superb theatre, with a picturesque rustic armoury as an ante-room. The spectatory, designed and erected by Bradwell, resembles the vestibule of a regal mansion fitted up for the performance of a masque : it is decorated with colossal Sienna columns, and copies of three of Raphael’s cartoons in the Vatican (School of Athens, and Constantine and the Pope), by Horner, of Rath bone-place; the ceilings are gorgeously painted with allegorical groups; and upon the fronts of the boxifuts of tes is a Bacchanalian procession, in richly-gilt relief. Upon the stage passed the Cyclorama of Lisbon, depicting in ten scenes the terrific spectacle of the great earthquake of 1755— the uplifting sea and o’ertopping city, and all the frightful devastation of flood and fire; accompanied by characteristic performances upon Bevington’s Apollonicon. The scenes are painted by Danson, in the manner of Loutherbourg’s Eidophusicon, which not only anticipated, but in part surpassed, our present dioramas. The entire exhibition has long been closed.
In March, 1855, the Colosseum, with the Cyclorama, were put up to auction by the Messrs. Winstanley. It was then stated that the Colosseum was erected at a cost of 23,000?. for Mr. Thomas Hornor, who held a lease of it direct from the Crown, at a ground rent of 2621. 18s. for a period of ninety-nine years, sixty-nine of which were unexpired on the 10th of October, 1854. He subsequently expended above 100,000?. to carry out the objects for which it was intended, by decorating the interior, purchasing pictures, &c. In August, 1836, the lease was sold to Messrs. Braham and Yates. Mr. Braham laid out about 50,000?. on the building, which in a few years afterwards became the property of Mr. Turner, who added the Cyclorama, which cost 20,000?., to the establishment, with many decorations, at several thousand pounds’ expense ; so that the entire edifice has cost above 200,000?. The sum of 20,000?. was bid, but the property was not sold.
COLUMNS.
NELSON COLUMN (the), south side of Trafalgar-square, was erected between 1839 and 1852, by public subscription and the aid of the Government. It was designed by W. Railton, and is of the exact proportion of a column of the Corinthian temple of Mars Ultor at Rome: Mr. Railton choosing the Corinthian order from its being the most lofty and elegant in its proportions, and having never been used in England for this purpose; whilst it is in keeping with the surrounding buildings, and tends more than any other species of monument to bring the entire scene into general harmony, without destroying the effect of any portion of it. The foundation rests upon a 6-feet layer of concrete in a compact stratum of clay, about twelve feet below the pavement; upon which is the frustrum of a brick-work pyramid, 48 feet square at the base, and 13 feet high, upon which the superstructure commences with the graduated stylobate of the pedestal, the first step of which is 33 feet 4 inches wide. From this
point to the foot of the statue, the work is of solid granite, in large blocks admirably dressed; and in the shaft they are so well connected as to give the fabric almost the cohesion of a monolith. The granite was brought from Foggin Tor, on the coast of Devon; and was selected for its equable particles and intimate distribution of mica, feldtspar, and quartz. The shaft (lower diameter 10 fuet) is fluted throughout, the base being richly ornamented—the lower torus with a cable, the upper with oak-leaves. The pedestal is raised upon a flight of steps; and at the angles are massive cippi, or blocks, intended to receive four recumbent African lions. The capital is of bronze, and was cast from old ordnance in the Arsenal foundry at Woolwich, from full-sized models carefully prepared by C. H. Smith. ” The foliage is connected to the bell of the cap by three large belts of metal lying in grooves, and rendering it needless to fix plugs into the work, with the concomitant risk of damage from the galvanic action of metals.” (G. Godwin, jun., F.B.S.) One of the lower tiers of leaves weighs about 900 lbs. Upon a circular pedestal on the abacusselon the is a colossal statue of Nelson, with a coiled cable on his left; E. H. Baily, R.A., sculptor. The figure is of Cragleith stone, in three massive blocks, presented by the Duke of Buccleuch; the largest block weighing upwards of 30 tons. The statue measures 17 feet from its plinth to the top of the hat; it was raised on Nov. 3 and 4, 1813; and on Oct. 23 previous, fourteen persons partook of a dinner on the abacus of the Column.
The scaffolding used in constructing this Column was a novelty of mechanical skill. Instead of the usual forest of small round poles, there were five grand uprights or standards on the east and west sides, in six stages or stories, marked by horizontal beams and curbs, at nearly equal intervals, the base being greatly extended, and the sides strengthened by diagonal and raking braces. By means of a powerful engine moving on a railway, and a travelling platform, blocks of stone from six to ten tons weight, were, at a rate of progression scarcely more’perceptible than the motion of a clock-weight (being only thirty feet in the hour), raised to a great elevation, and set down with less muscular exertion than would be expended on a lamp-post; one mason thus setting as much work in one day as was done in three days by the old system, even without the aid of six labourers, who are now dispensed with. The timber used in erecting this scaffold was 7700 cubic feet, and its cost was 2401. for labour in erecting.
The pedestal has on its four sides the following bronze reliefs:
North (facing the National Gallery), Battle of the Nile: designed by W. F. Woodington. Nelson, having received a severe wound in the head, was caught by Captain Berry in his arms, as he was falling, and carried into the cockpit; the surgeon is quitting a wounded sailor that he may instantly attend the Admiral. ” No,” said Nelson; ” I will take my turn with my brave fellows.” Some of the parts project 15 inches, and the figures are 8 feet high: the casting weighs 2 tons 15 cwt. 2 qrs.; and the metal is three-eighths of an inch thick.
South (facing Whitehall), Death of Nelson at Trafalgar: designed by C. E. Carew. Nelson is being carried from the quarter-deck to the cockpit by a marine and two seamen. ” Well, Hardy,” said Nelson to his captain, ” they have done for me at last.” ” I hope not,” was the reply. ” Yes; they have shot me through the backbone.” At the back of the centre group is the surgeon. To the left are three sailors tightening some of the ship’s cordage; another kneels, holding a handspike and leaning on a gun, arrested by the conversation between the dying hero and Captain Hardy. Jn the front, lying on the deck, are an officer and marines, who have fallen to rise no more. Behind stand two marines and a negro sailor. One of the former has detected the marksman by whose shot Nelson fell, and is pointing him out to his companion. The latter has raised his musket, and has evidently covered his mark; whilst the black, who stands just before the two marines, is grasping his firelock. The figures are of life-size; the casting weighs about five tons. Beneath are Nelson’s memorable words, ” England ei-pects every man will do his duty.”
East (facing the Strand), Bombardment of Copenhagen: designed by the late Mr. Ternouth. Nelson is sealing, on the end of a gun, his despatch, to send by the flag of truce; a group of officers surround him, and a sailor holds a caudle and lantern: in the foreground are wounded groups; and in the distance are a church and city (Copenhagen) in flames. for. West (facing Pall Mall), Battle of St. Vincent: commenced by Watson and finished by Woodington. Nelson, on board the San Josef, is receiving from the Spanish admirals their swords, which an old Agamemnon man is putting under his arm; in the foreground is a dying sailor clasping a broken flag-staff.
A monument to Nelson was first proposed in 1805 (the year of his death), when the Committee of the Patriotic Fund raised 1330Z. Reduced 3 per Cents, which, with the’ accumulated dividends, amounted in June, 1838, to 5545Z. 19*. Meanwhile, in 1816, the monument was proposed in Parliament, as ” a duty which the nation ought, perhaps, to have discharged not less than thirty years ago.” The subject, however, rested until 1838, when a subscription was raised, Trafalgar-square chosen as the site, .and a column recommended by the Duke of Wellington. In January, 1839, 118 drawings and 41 models were submitted, and the first prize, 2501., awarded to Mr. Railton for his column; in May following, a second series of designs (167) was exhibited, but the Committee adhered to their former choice. In 1844, the subscriptions,* 20,483^. 11*. 2d., had been expended; and the Government undertook the completion of the monument, estimated at 12,0O0Z. additional. The column itself cost 23,000?. building; the statue, capital, and reliefs, 5000?.; 2000/. architect’s commission ; four lions have been estimated at 3000?. Trafalgar-square was much objected to as the site : in the Parliamentary examination, eight architects and sculptors were in favour of it, and four architects were against it. Chantrey considered Trafalgar-square to be “the most favourable that could be found or imagined for any national work of art; its aspect is nearly south, and sufficiently open to give the object placed on that identical spot all the advantage of light and shade that can be desired; to this may be added the advantage of a happy combination of unobtrusive buildings around: but to conceive a national monument worthy of this magnificent site is no easy task.” Chantrey objected to a column as a monument, unless treated as a biographical volume, with the acts of the hero sculptured on the shaft, as on the columns of Trajan and Antoninus. Annexed are the comparative dimensions of the principal monumental columns:
Nelson Column, 145 feet 6 inches; statue and plinth, 17 feet; = 162 feet 6 inches.
York Column, Carlton-gardens, built 1830-33, in memory of the Duke of York (d. 1827), Commander-in-Chief of the army, and forty-six years a soldier; whose statue is placed on the summit. The building fund, about 25,000?., was raised by subscription, to which each individual of the service contributed one day’s pay. The Column (Tuscan), designed by B. Wyatt, is of fine Aberdeenshire granite, the lower pedestal grey, and the shaft of red Peterhead; the surface fine-axed, or not polished. The abacus of the capital is enclosed with iron railing, and in its centre is the pedestal for the statue. Within the pedestal and shaft is a spiral staircase of 168 steps, which, with the newel, or central pillar, and outer casing, are cut from the solid block. The ma6 iblock. sonry throughout, by Nowell, is remarkably good. The statue, of bronze, by Sir Richard Westmacott, R.A., represents the Duke in the robes of the Order of the Garter. The weight is 7 tons 800 lbs., or 16,480 lbs.; it was raised April 8, 1834, between the column and the scaffolding, seven hours labour, at a cost of 400/. The column may be ascended from 12 to 4, from May to Sept. 24, 6d. each person : the view from the gallery of the Surrey hills and western London is fine ; the latter showed the magnificence of Regent-street, and the skill of the architect, Nash, in the junction of the lines by the Quadrant. On May 14, 1850, Henri Joseph Stephan, a French musician, committed suicide by throwing himself from the gallery, which has since been entirely enclosed with iron caging. The height of the column is 123 feet Cinches; of the statue, 13 feet 6 inches = 137 feet; or viewed from the bottom of the steps, at the level of St. James’s Park, 156 feet: upper diameter of shaft, 10 feet lj inches ; lower diameter, 11 feet 7£ inches. The foundation, laid in ¦ concrete, is pyramidal, 53 feet square at the base.
The height of the balcony of the York Column is very nearly that of the under side of the great tube of the Britannia Bridge, over the Menai Straits, above high water. The entire length of the bridge is 1832 feet 8 inches; considerably more than that of Waterloo-place, from the York Column to the foot of the Quadrant.— Proceedings of the Society of Arts, 1851.
Dr. VVaagen condemns this monument as a bad imitation of Trajan’s Column, very mean and poor in appearance, with a naked shaft, and without an entasis: whereas the bas-reliefs on the shaft of Trajan’s Pillar give it, at least, the impression of a lavish profusion of art. Besides, the statue on the York Column, though as colossal as the size of the base will allow, appears little and puppet-like compared with the column; and the features and expression of the countenance seem wholly lost to the spectator.
COMMON COUNCIL.
THE constitution of the Corporation of London presents a remote and illusory resemblance to the constitution of the State. There are the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, and the Court of Common Council. Strictly speaking, the Court of Common Council includes the Chief Magistrate and the Aldermen; but in ordinary language it is understood to mean the Commons of the City, being somewhat like the House of Commons : the Court of Aldermen bearing some analogy to the House of Lords: and the Lord Mayor to the Sovereign.— Lord Brougham, 1843.
The two corporate assemblies can be traced back to a very distant period, and there are records of disputes between the two Courts six centuries ago. In the reigns of Edward I. and II., a body analogous to the Common Council was formed by the representatives from the different Wards of the City. But the Common Council appears to have been first constituted in its present form only in the reign of Richard II., by a civic ordinance; whilst in an Act of Parliament of the previous reign (28 Edw. III. c. 10), the Mayor, Sheriffs, and Aldermen are invested with the redress and correction of errors, &c, in the City of London, for default of good government.
Altogether there are 26 Wards, but the custom of holding an election in each o, tion inwas not originally the mode of representation, though it is said to have been customary for nearly five centuries. Before that period the election of the Common Council rested with the trades, or guilds, and the whole body of liverymen used to assemble in Guildhall yearly to send delegates there. It is said there are ancient records in the Corporation Library which show that those meetings were commonly so turbulent, that in 1386, early in the reign of Richard II., the plan of voting by wards was tried as an experiment, and has ever since obtained without interruption. Still the trades, to some extent, continued to be represented as such in the Court of Common Council, as the names of many of the Wards yet prove, as in the cases of Candlewick, Cordwainer and Vintry Wards, it being a usage for divers trades and crafts to be carried on in fixed localities; but now, as for many ages, it is a settled rule for the Lord Mayor to issue a precept directing the election of Councilmen in the various Wards on St. Thomas’s Day, December 21, and the ceremony of election takes place before the Alderman of each Ward, who invariably wears his robes of office on the occasion; and, if he has been chief magistrate, his gold chain and badge. Of all the several 26 members of the Court of Aldermen, the only one without a constituency, or with but a small one, if any at all, sits for the Ward of Bridge, so called after London-bridge, of which it is chiefly, if not solely, composed. In the time of old London-bridge, when there were many inhabited houses on that structure, the Alderman of the Ward represented an actual community of citizens, though small in comparison ; now it is not so, though the custom of its sending a delegate to the Court of Aldermen is maintained.
The City laws against foreigners appear to have been formerly very stringent. An order of Common Council, 1605, enjoins a penalty of 51. per day on any foreigner or stranger, not free, keeping a retail shop in the City or liberty ; and if any freeman employs a foreigner to work for him in the City or liberty, he forfeits 51. per day. By stat. 21 Hen. VIII., a stranger, artificer in London, &c, shall not keep above two stranger servants, but he may have as many English servants and apprentices as he can get. It is an ancient custom of London, that if one stranger or foreigner buys any thing of another stranger, it shall be forfeited to the mayor and commonalty of the City.— Vide Jacob’s City Liberties, 1732.
The number of members of the Common Council have been, from time to time, altered as follows :— 1273.1st Edward I., 40 men elected from all the Wards—the original number.—1317.2nd Edward II., the Commonalty elected from the following Wards: Vintry, Bread-street, Cripplegate, Farringdon, Alders-gate, Queenhithe, and Coleman-street=72men.—1322.16th Edward II., 2 men from each Ward=48.— 1347. 20th Edward III., 8, 6, or 4 men elected, according to the size of the Ward: 133.—1351. 25th Edward III., elected from the 13 Misteries=54.—1376. 50th Edward III., from 47 Misteries=156.— 1383. 7th Eichard II., 4 persons from each Ward=96.—1533. 25th Henry VIII., Cornhill Ward to return 6 instead of 4.—1549. Edward VI., total, 187; but there is nothing to show how the number increased, except the 2 for Cornhill.—1639. 15th Charles I., 5 added to Farringdon Without.—1641. 17th Charles I., 1 added to Portsoken—1645. 21st Charles I., 4 added to Coleman-street Ward.—1654. 6th Charles II., Cheap Ward to choose 12 members.—1656. 8th Charles II., 4 added to Tower Ward= 234.—1736. 10th George II., 2 added to Farringdon Within; total, 236.—1826. 7th George IV., 4 added to Cripplegate Without; total, 240.—1840. 8th May. The number fixed at 206, the present number.
From 1660elef”> Fro to 1676, several attempts were made by the Aldermen to limit the choice of the Wardmote to citizens of the higher class; but no permanent regulation was the result. In 1831, a Committee reported that persons convicted of defrauding in weights or measures, or having compounded with their creditors, or of having been bankrupt, without paying 20*. in the pound, were ineligible as Common Councilmen.
Each Common Councilman wears a gown of Mazarine-blue silk, trimmed with badger’s fur—a costume, probably, of the reign of Edward VI. They formerly wore black gowns ; the change is thus alluded to in the chorus to a political song of 1766 : “Oh, London is the town of towns! Oh, how improved a city! Since chang’d her Common Council’s gowns from black to blue so pretty!”
They, however, discontinued wearing their gowns in Court in 1775; perhaps in consequence of a Common Councilman being called ” a Mazarine.” Nor has he escaped the severer whipping of the satirist:
” The cit—a Common-Councilman by place, Ten thousand mighty nothings in his lace. By situation, as by nature, great, With wise precision parcels out the state; Proves and disproves, affirms and then denies, Objects himself, and to himself replies; Wielding aloft the politician rod, Makes Pitt by turns a devil and a god; Maintains, ev’n to the very teeth of pow’r, The same thing right and wrong in half-au-hour. Now all is well, now he suspects a plot, And plainly proves whatever is—is not: Fearlully wise, he shakes his empty head, And deals out empires as he deals out thread: His useless scales are in a corner flung, And Europe’s balance hangs upon his tongue.”— Churchill.
The Court held their sittings in a Chamber on the north side of the Guildhall, where the Lord Mayor presides in a chair of state; and visitors are admitted below the bar, at which petitions, &c, are presented in due legislative form. The entire Court were entertained by George I. at a banquet at St. James’s Palace in 1727.
CONDUITS.
SPRING water was formerly conveyed to public reservoirs in the City by leaden pipes from various sources in the suburbs—viz., from Tyburn in 1236, from Highbury in 1438, from Hackney in 1535, from Hampstead in 1543, and from Hoxton in 1546. For these useful works the citizens were indebted to the munificence of mayors, sheriffs, and other individuals. Stow devotes a section of his Survey to ” ancient and present rivers, brooks, bowers, pools, wells, and conduits of fresh water, serving the City :” he also gives a long list of benefactors to the Conduits, the principal of which were in Aklgate, Leadenhall, Cornhill, West Cheape, Aldermanbury, Dowgate, London Wall, Cripplegate, Paul’s-gate, Old Fish-street, Oldbourne, &c. In a large Map and Drawing* of London and Westminster, early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the several Conduits occupy central positions in the roadways.
Bayswatee was noted for its Conduit-Heads; and the association is preserved in Conduit-street, Tyburnia, the town built between 1839 and 1849, in the rear of Hyde Park Gardens.
Canonbuey. —The Priory of St. Bartholomew was supplied from Canonbury; for a water-course is specified in the grant made to Sir Richard Rich, Knight, at the, Knighthe Suppression, as ” the water from the Conduit-head of St. Bartholomew, within the manor of Canonbury, as enjoyed by Prior Bolton and his predecessors.”
Cheapside. —The Great Conduit stood at the east end of Cheapside, at its junction with the Poultry; and, says Stow, ” was the first sweete water that was conveyed by pipes of lead under ground to this place in the citie from Paddington.” Another Great Conduit stood in West Cheape, at the west end of Cheapside, facing Foster-lane and Old ‘Change.
Conduit-mead. —” New Bond-street was, in 1760, an open field, called Conduit-mead, from one of the conduits which supplied this part of the town with water; and Conduit-street received its name for the same reason.” (Pennant). Carew Mildmay, who died between 1780 and 1785, told Pennant that he remembered killing a woodcock on the site of Conduit-street, when it was open country.
Coenhiel. —The Conduit, “castellated in the middest” of Cornhill, opposite the south entrance to the present Royal Exchange, was called the Tun, from its being like a tun standing on one end. It was a prison-house until 1401, when ” it was made a cistern for sweet water, conveyed by pipes of lead from Tiborne, was from thenceforth called the Conduit upon Cornhill.” (Stoio.) A well, which adjoined, was then planked over, and a timber cage, pillory, and stocks, set upon it; these were removed in 1546, the well revived, and made a pump; since renewed, with the following inscription: ” On this spot a well was first made, and a House of Correction built by Henry Wallis, Mayor of London in 1285. The well was discovered, much enlarged, and this pump
* Dimensions, 6 feet 3 inches by 2 feet 6 inches, with References and Historical Notes. Published by Taperell and Innes, 2, Winchester-building, Old Broad-street, 1850.
erected in 1799, by the contributions of the Bank of England, East India Company, and the neighbouring Fire Offices, together with the Bankers and Traders of the ward of Cornhill.” Bound the head of the pump are the devices of the Fire Offices. ” The Standard in Cornhill” was a sort of Conduit, set up in 1582, by Peter Morris, who, by an ” artificial forcer,” conveyed Thames water in pipes of lead over the steeple of St. Magnus’ Church, and from thence to the north-west corner of London Wall, the highest ground of all the City, where the waste of the main-pipe rising into the Standard at every tide, ran by four mouths, and thus served the inhabitants, and cleansed the streets towards Bishopsgate, Aldgate, London Bridge, and Stocks Market. This Conduit appears only to have run from 1598 to 1603 : from its site have since been measured distances, and hence * the Standard in Cornhill” on our old milestones.
D Alston and Islington had their Conduit-heads; and the Report of a View of them, dated 1692, describes the entire course of this supply until it reaches the Conduit at Aldgate. This Report mentions ” the White Conduit,” fed by sundry springs, in a field at Islington, and resorted to by the Carthusian friars of the monastery upon the site of which Sutton founded the Charterhouse, supplied also from the above conduit. It likewise gave name to White Conduit House. (See Amusements, Tea-gardens, p. 17.) The small stone house built over the well or conduit in 1641 was taken down in 1832. It was, however, survived by the Old Conduit at Dalston, the remains of which, in 1849, served as a tool-house in cesool-houthe nursery-ground of Mr. Smith. The Charter-house Conduit was rebuilt by the executors of Thomas Sutton; it bore the date 1641, and upon it were sculptured the arms and initials of Sutton; no vestige of it now remains.
Fleet-street. —Another famous Conduit stood at the south end of Shoe-lane, Fleet-street, surmounted with automaton figures, chimes, &c.
St. James’s. —A print by Godfrey, after a drawing by Hollar (probably temp. Charles I.), shows a stone conduit in St. James’s-square, on or near the spot now occupied by Bacon’s equestrian bronze statue of William III.: the whole of Pall Mall was then clear of houses, from the village of Charing to St. James’s Palace. The above conduit is mentioned by Francis Bacon (Works, vol. ii.) in connexion with one of his experiments. In 1720, a basin of water, with a fountain and pleasure-boat, had taken the place of the conduit j into this basin were thrown the keys of Newgate Prison during the riots of 1780.
Kensington. —On the Palace-green was formerly a four-gabled Conduit, built temp. Henry VIII.; and a Water Tower, erected by Sir John Vanbrugh, temp. Queen Anne; both were very fine specimens of brickwork, and communicating by pipes with the wells on the green, supplying the Palace with water, which was raised in the tower by a horse and wheel. By forming the great sewer for Palace Gardens adjoining, all the wells on the green, except one, were unexpectedly drained: the Conduit and tower were taken down, and the Palace has since been supplied from Chelsea Water-works.
Lamb’s Conduit was founded by William Lamb, sometime a Gentleman of the Chapel to Henry VIII., citizen and clothworker: “neere unto Holborn,” says Stow, ” he founded a faire conduit and a standard, with a cocke at Holborn-bridge, to con-veye thence the waste,” in 1577.
The conduit is described by Hatton, in 1718, as “near the fields (now Lamb’s Condnit-streell, affording plenty of water, clear as crystal, which is chiefly used for drinking. It belongs to St. Sepulchre’s parish, the fountain-head being under a stone, marked S. S. P., in the vacant ground a little south of Ormond-street, whence the water comes in a drain to this conduit; and it runs thence in lead pipes (2000 yards long) to the conduit on Snow-hill, which has the figure of a Lamb upon it, denoting that its water comes from Lamb’s Conduit.
The sign of the Lamb public-house, at the north-east end of Lamb’s Conduit-street, is the effigy of a lamb cut in stone, believed to be one of the figures which stood upon Lamb’s Conduit, as a rebus on his name. When the Foundling Hospital was erected, we learn from Hatton that the Conduit was taken down, and the water conveyed to the east side of Red Lion-street, at the end (now Lamb’s Conduit-street); an inscription stating the waters to be preserved ” by building an arch over the same ;” and in 1851, Mr. J. Wykeham Archer discovered, beneath a trap-door in the pavement of the Lamb-yard, a short flight of steps, a brick vault, and the covered well; as well as on
the north wall of the next yard southward, this inscription cut in wood, over a recess now bricked up : ” Lamb’s Conduit, the property of the City of London. This pump is erected for the benefit of the publick.” The water is perfectly clear, and is slightly astringent; and the Mansion Houon e Mansise is said still to derive a supply from this source. In the garden of the house, No. 30, East-street, Lamb’s Conduit-street, are a pump and spring ; and on the opposite wall a stone stating this to be ” the head of the spring Lamb’s Conduit Water.”
Tyburn furnished nine Conduits, and with Bayswater, was viewed periodically by the Lord Mayor on horseback, accompanied by ladies in wagons.
Strype notes that on Sept. 18,1562, ” the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and many worshipful persons, rode to the Conduit-heads to see them, according to the old custom; and then they went and hunted a hare before dinner, and killed her; and thence went to dinner at the Banqueting House at the head of the Conduit, where a great number were handsomely entertained by their Chamberlain. After dinner they ¦went to hunt the fox. There was a great cry for a mile, and at length the hounds killed him at the end of St. Giles’s, with great hollowing and blowing of horns at his death; and thence the Lord Mayor, with all his company, rode through London to his place in Lombard-street.” The Banqueting House was at the end of the street now Stratford-place, Oxtord-road; and when the mansion was taken down in 1737, the cisterns beneath were arched over.
The establishment of the “Waterworks at London Bridge, in 1512, and the subsequent introduction of the New River in 1618, having superseded the use of the Tyburn water, the Corporation let the water of these Conduits on a lease for forty-three years, for the sum of 700Z. per annum.
Many of the City Conduits were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666; and others were removed in 1728, it is stated, to compel the public to have the New River water laid on to their houses. Upon great festal occasions, the Conduits flowed with wine instead of water : at the procession of Anne Boleyn, June 1, 1533, the Great Cheap Conduit ran with white and claret wine all the afternoon. Probably the last of these prodigal events was in 1727, on the anniversary of the Coronation of George 1., when Lamb’s Conduit ran with wine.
Westminster Abbey has been, from a very distant period, supplied with spring-water from a Conduit-head at Bayswater, communicatiug with a Gothic conduit, erected by the Dean and Chapter (bearing their arms), at the lower end of the Serpentine in Hyde Park. West of the Lodge at Hyde Park-corner, and facing the Knightsbridge-road, is a square building, inclosing a tank filled from the above Conduit-head, for the supply of Buckingham and St. James’s Palaces; the water is remarkably fine, and the building bears on a tablet ” IV. G. R., 1820,” the date of its repair. The leaden pipes pass through the Green Park, and the end of the ornamental water in St. James’s Park, at a spot denoted by a stone, and through Queen-square to the Abbey.
Westminster Palace had its Conduit. In the Close Rolls (Hen. III. 1244) the king commands a payment to be made out of his treasury to Edward of Westminster, on account of ” our conduit;” and by a singular precept of the same year is a grant to Edward, that ” from the aqueduct which the king had constructed to the Great Hall at Westminster, he might have a pipe to his own court at Westminster, of the size of a goose-quill.” In a memorandum of works executed (Edw. II. 1307-1310), is the following entry:—
” The Conduit of water c, ait of woming into the palace, and into the King’s Mews, for the falcons, which in various places was obstructed and injured, and the underground pipes stolen, was completely repaired, and the water returned to its proper courses and issues, both at the palace and at the mews.”
” A beautiful fountain, which fell in large cascades, and on jubilee days was made to pour forth streams of choice wine, stood rather towards the west, and on the north side of the court. Permission to make use of the surplus water which flowed from this conduit was granted, on Feb. 3 (25 Hen. VI.1, to the parish. Under the date 1524, the churchwardens for the time being note,’ Memm. the King’s charter for the Condett at the Pales’-gate remayneth in the custody of the churchwardens.’ The fountain was removed in the reign of King Charles 11.”—Walcott’s Westminster. Lastly, in the very curious Harleian MS., numbered 433 (Rich. 111. 1484), we find mentioned,” the lytell water conduct.”
CONVENTS.
RELIGIOUS Houses and Hospitals, for ages before the Reformation, occupied nearly two-thirds of the entire area of London. Independently of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, the following Friaries and Abbeys existed almost immediately prior to the Reformation :—
Friaries: Black Friars, between Ludgate and the Thames ; Grey FriarS, near old Newgate, now Christ’s Hospital; Augustine Friars, now Austin Friars, near Broad-street: White Friars, near Salisbury-square; Crouched or Crossed Friars, St. Olave’s, Hart-street, near Tower-hill: Carthusian Friars, now the Charter House; Cistercian Friars, or New Abbey, East Smithfield; Brethren de Sacco, or Eon Homines, Old Jewry.
Priories: St. John’s of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell; Holy Trinity, or Christ Church, on the site of Duke’s-place, and near Aldgate; St. Bartholomew the Great, near Smithfield; St. Mary Overie’s, South-wark; St. Saviour’s, Bermondsey.
A’unneries: Benedictines, or Black Nuns, Clerkenwell; St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate-strect; St. Clare’s, Minories; Holy-well, between Holy well-lane and Norton-folgate.
Colleges, tyc.: St. Martin’s-le-Grand; St. Thomas of Acres, Westcheap; Whittington’s College and Hospital, Vintry Ward; St. Michael’s College and Chapel, Crooked-lane; Jesus Commons, Dowgate.
Hospitals (having resident Brotherhoods): St. Giles’s in the Fields, near St. Giles’s Church; St. James’s, now St. James’s Palace: Our Lady of Bounceval, near Charing-cross: St. Mary, Savoy, Strand; Elsing Spital, now Sion College; Corpus Christi, in St. Lawrence Pountney; St. Passey, near Bevis Marks; St. Mary Axe; Trinity, without Aldgate; St. Thomas, Mercers’ Chapel; St. Bartholomew the Less, near Smithfield: St. Giles’s, and Corpus Christi, without Cripplegate; St. Mary of Bethlehem, on the eastern side of Moorfields; St. Mary Spital, without Bishopsgate; St. Thomas, Southwark; Lok Spital, or Lazar, Kent-street, Southwark; St. Katherine’s, below the Tower.
Fraternities: St. Nicholas, Bishopsgate-street; St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, or the Holy Trinity, Aldersgate-street; St. Giles, Whiteeross-street; the Holy Trinity, Leadenhall; St. Ursula-le-Strand; Hermitage, Nightingale-lane, East Smithfield; Corpus Christi, St. Mary Spital; the same at Mary Bethlehem, and St. Mary Poultry.
The majority of these establishments disappeared at the Reformation; but a glance at the Sutherland View of London in 1543, and at Tapperell and Innes’s Map (early in the reign of Elizabeth), shows us many of these important buildings entire, and others lying distant in the fields. Almost the only remains now traceable are around the Abbey Church at Westminster, where some of the monastic offices are tenanted as the School; of Grey Friars, the cloisters exist; of the Augustine Friars, the church; of the Carthusian Friars, the wooden gate and a few other relics; of St. John of Jerusalem, the gateway; of St. Bartholomew the Great, the church cloister and crypt; of St. Mary Overie’s, the church-choir and lady-chapel; and at Bermondsey, the great gate-house remained nearly entire till 1807; of St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, the church remains; of St. Bartholomew’s the Less, the church-tower; and St. Katherine’s ” by the Tower ” disappeared in 1827. Such are the principal Monastic Remains in the metropolis.
Since the relaxation of the penal laws, Roman Catholic Convents have been erected in London and the suburbs. Of these, one of the earliest was the Convent for the Order of the Sisters of Mercy, founded by subscription, at Dockhead, Bermondsey, in 1838, and opened for the Sisterhood December 12, 1839; when Sister Mary, the Lady Barbara Eyre, sister to Francis the eighth Earl of Newburgh, took the vows, with five other ladies of fortune, and liberal benefactresses to the chapel and convent. In addition to the services of their religion, the Sisters devote themselves to the education of poor girls, the visitation and comfort of the sick and afflicted, and the protection of distressed reputable females.
The reception of a postulant into the Sisterhood, or the “taking of the veil,” is an impressive ceremony performed in the chapel of the convent, or in the church adjoining; when the whole sisterhood walk in procession, dressed in the habit of their order, each bearing a lighted taper, and followed by the postulants, in white dresses, and head-wreaths of white flowers and evergreens. The choir then chant ” Gloriosa virginum;” the priest invokes the prayers of the Virgin in behalf of the postulants, to each of whom he presents a lighted taper, ” as a corporal emblem of inward light.” The superioress and her assistant then conduct the postulants to the celebrant, who inquires if they enter the order by their own free will, andif it be “their firm intention to persevere in religion to the end of their lives.” These questions being answered satisfactorily, the postulants withdraw with the superioress, put off their secular dress, and return wearing the sombre habit of the Order. The superioress then girds them with the cincture; and the celebrant holds a white veil over the head of each, requesting her to accept it as ” the emblem of purity.” They are subsequently habited with ” the cloak ot the Church;” each of the novices sings : *’ My heart hath uttered a good word; 1 speak my words to the King,”&c; each novice embraces the superioress and each member of the sisterhood, and they retire as they entered, in procession.
CORNHILL,
A PRINCIPAL street of the City, extending from the western end of Leadenhall-street, crossing westward to the Mansion House. Tt was named ” of a corn-market time out of mind there holden.” (Stow.) Here was the ” Tun” prison, built in 1283, upon the spot now occupied by a pump; also a castellated conduit, and its water ” Standard” (1528) near the junction of the street with Leadenhall-street. Cornhill has been the site of the Merchants’ Exchange for nearly three centuries. On the west side, adjoining the Bank of England, was St. Christopher-le-Stocks Church, •with a lofty pinnacled tower, which escaped the Great Fire of 1666 : the church was rebuilt by Wren, but taken down in 1781, and its site included within the Bank. About the same time were erected Bank-buildings, designed by Sir Robert Taylor, wedgelike in plan, in place of a block of houses built after the Great Fire j the former were removed in 1844: the end house extended to the site of the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington. In excavating for the new Royal Exchange, in 1841, was discovered a gravel-pit, supposed by Mr. Tite, the architect, to have been sunk during the earliest Roman occupation of London; and then to have been a pond, gradually filled with rubbish. In it were found Roman work, stuccoed and painted; fragments of elegant Samian ware ; an amphora, and terra-cotta lamps, 17 feet below the surface : also pine-wood table-books and metal styles, sandals and soldiers’ shoes, a Roman strigil, coins of Vespasian and Domitian, &c.; and almost the very foot-marks of the Roman soldier. The locality is now the most embellished area of the City, and the nucleus of new streets and sumptuous architecture.
Cornhill was formerly noted for its shops of ” much stolen gear,” mentioned by Lydgate early in the fifteenth century, as well as for its taverns, where was ” wine one pint for a pennie, and bread to drink it was given free in every tavern.” Here was the famous Pope’s-Head Tavern, whence Pope’s-Head-alley.
Finch-lane, properly Fiuke-lane, is so called of the Finke family, the elder of whom new-built the parish church of St. Bennet (Finke). In Finch-lane, in the year 1765, James Watt obtained work with John Morgan, an instrument-maker. Here Watt became proficient in making quadrants, parallel rulers, compasses, theodolites, &c, and contrived to live upon eight shillings a week, exclusive of his lodging. Birchin-lane, properly Birchover-lane, from its builder, was anciently tenanted by wealthy drapers. Anderson states that, in the year 1372, in the reign of Edward III., at least twenty houses in Birchin-lane, in the very heart of the City, came under the denomination of cottages, and were so conveyed to St. Thomas’s Hospital, in Southwark. The shops also, at this time, appear to have been detached and separate tenements, or, at least, unconnected with houses, as they are drawn to appear in Aggas’s Map of London, where you may know the shops from the dwelling-houses by the signs attached. In Birchin-lane lived Major Graunt, said to have written The Observations on the Bills of Mortality, 1661-2. The houses in the lane were in our time small: twenty years ago it contained 23 houses, now it has but 16: what it has lost in number is made up in altitude. The lease for 80 years, from 1862, of the premises of the London and Middlesex Bank, No. 21, Finch-lane, with a frontage of 18ft. 6in., was sold by auction, in 1864, and realized 10,100^., subject to a rental of 500Z per annum.
On the east side of Cornhill is Change-alley, a maze of thoroughfares. ” With something like four or five entrances, two from Lombard-street, twas rd-streo from Cornhill, and one rom Birchin-lane, there is great danger of losing your way either to the right or the left: you may possibly find that, instead of going as you intended through the Alley, and reaching Cornhill, you have in reality only taken another turning which leads you into Lombard-street, whence you started.”— {The City, p. 169.) In Change-alley was Garraway’s coffee-house, described at page 265.
No. 15, Cornhill, Birch’s, the cook and confectioner’s, is probably the oldest shop of its class in the metropolis. This business was established in the reign of King George I., by a Mr. Horton, who was succeeded by Mr. Lucas Birch, who, in his turn, was succeeded by his son, Mr. Samuel Birch, born hi 1757; he was many years a member of the Common Council, and Alderman of the Ward of Candlewick. He was also Colonel of the City Militia, and served as Lord Mayor in 1815, the year of the battle of Waterloo. In his Mayoralty, he laid the first stone of the London Institution; and when Chantrey’s marble statue of George III. was inaugurated in the Council Chamber, Guildhall, the inscription was written by Lord Mayor Birch. Ho possessed considerable literary taste, and wrote poems and musical dramas, of which The Adopted Child remained a stock piece to our time. The Alderman used annually to send, as a present, a Twelfth-cake to the Mansion House. The upper portion of the house in Cornhill has been rebuilt, but the ground-floor remains intact, a curious specimen of the decorated shop-front of the last century; and here are preserved two door-plates, inscribed, “Birch, Successor to Mr. Horton,” which are 140 years old. Alderman Birch died in 1840, having been succeeded in the business in Cornhill, in 1836, by the present proprietors, Eing and Brymer. Dr. Kitehiner extols the soups of Birch, and his skill has long been famed in civic banquets.—Chambers’s Book of Days, vol. ii. p. 161.
At a corner house, between Cornhill and Lombard-street, Thomas Guy, the wealthy stationer, commenced business. (See Hospitals.) This ” lucky corner” was subsequently Bidding’s Lottery-office. There were several other lottery-offices in Cornhill, including that of George Carroll, knighted as Sheriff in 1837; Lord Mayor in 1846.
Don Thomas Isturitz was one day walking near the Royal Exchange during the drawing of tho lottery in 1815, and feeling an inclination to sport twenty pounds, went into the office of Martin & Co., Cornhill, where, referring to his pocket-book, he counted the number of days that had elapsed from that of his providential escape from Madrid (and the tender mercies prepared for him by the beloved Fernando), he found them amount to 261, and then demanded to buy that ticket; but it was nearly half an hour before it could be obtained, and only after a strict search amongst the lottery-offices in the city. At length, a half ticket of No. 261 was procured at two o’clock; and at five it was drawn a prize of forty thousand pounds, the only one ever exhibited to that amount in England. The lucky Don lay down that night twenty thousand pounds richer than he had risen.
Cornhill has been the scene of two calamitous fires — one, March 25, 1748, commenced at a peruke-maker’s, in Exchange-alley, and burnt, within twelve hours, from 90 to 100 houses (200,000Z. loss), including the London Assurance Office, the Fleece and Three Tuns Taverns, and Tom’s and the Rainbow Coffee-houses heCoffee-, in Cornhill; the Swan Tavern, with Garraway’s, Jonathan’s, and the Jerusalem Coffee-houses, in Exchange-alley ; besides the George and Vulture Tavern, and other coffee-houses: many lives were lost. Among the houses burnt was that in which was born the poet Gray, whose father was an Exchange broker; the house was rebuilt, and was, in 1774, occupied by one Natzell, a perfumer; and in 1824 it was still inhabited by a perfumer— No. 41, a few doors from Birchin-lane.
The second fire commenced also at a peruke-maker’s, in Bishopsgate-street, adjoining Leadenhall-street, November 7, 1765, when all the houses from Cornhill to St. Martin Outwich Church were burnt; and the church, parsonage house, Merchant Tailors’ Hall, and several houses in Threadneedle-street were much damaged. The White Lion Tavern, purchased for Z0O01. on the preceding evening, and all the houses in White Lion-court, were burnt, together with five houses in Cornhill and others in Leadenhall-street, when several lives were lost.
COVENT GASDEN,
LYING between the north side of the Strand and Long-acre, has been a locality of great interest and celebrity for six centuries past. In 1222 most of the present parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, was occupied by the garden of the Abbey at Westminster; unde Convent, corrupted to Covent-garden, which name occurs in a deed of 2 August, 9 Elizabeth. Strype also tells us that it ” hath probably the name of Covent-garden because it was the garden and fields to that large convent or monastery where Exeter House formerly stood.” Although this is the true orthography of the word, we see it commonly, if not invariably, written Covent, as being taken from the French convent, more immediately than from the Latin conventus; and in 1632 we find Sir Syniond d’Ewes writing it ” Coven or Common Garden.” In 1627, only two persons were rated to the poor of the parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, under the head Covent-garden. The parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, is completely encircled by that of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields ; but the boundary of each, upon the site of Bedford House and grounds, towards the lower end of Southampton-street, has been contested since the eighteenth century. Although the Market dates from the reign of Charles II., in 1726 and later, it was called Convent-garden; and by the vulgar ” Common-garden” (Sir John Fielding, 1776). In digging for the foundations of the new market, in 1829, a quantity of human bodies was exhumed on the north side of the area, supposed to have been the Convent burial-ground. After the Dissolution, this garden, and the lands belonging to it, were granted by Edward VI. to his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, upon whose attainder they reverted to the Crown. In 1552, they were granted by patent, with seven acres, called Long-acre, of the yearly value of 61. 6s. 8d., to John Earl of Bedford, who built a town residence, principally of wood, upon the site of Southampton-street, where it remained till 1704; the garden extending northward nearly to the site of the present market. Southampton-street was then built, and named after Lady William llussell, daughter of the Earl of Southampton; and other streets were named from the Russell family—as Russell, Bedford, Tavistock, Chandos; King and Henrietta streets, from Charles I. and his queen ; and James and York streets, from the Duke of York, afterwards James II.
In 1634, Francis Earl of Bedford cleared the area; in 1640, Inigo Jones built for his lordship the church of St. Paul, on the west side (see Chtjkcues, p. 195); and lines of lofty houses upon arcades on the north and east sides, a near imitation of the piazzawn of the at Livorno; Tavistock-row being built, in 1704, upon the south. The area was
inclosed with railings, at 60 feet from the buildings; and in the centre was a dial, with a gilt ball, raised upon a column. One of Hollar’s prints, temp. Charles II., shows the place as above, with uniform houses, one on each side of the church. In 1671, the E<irl of Bedford obtained a patent for the Market, which, however, was for a long time only held on the south side, against the garden-wall of Bedford House; for we read of ” bonefires” and fire-works in the square in 1690 and 1691.
From its contiguity to the Cockpit and Drury-lane theatre, Covent-garden, ” amorous and herbivorous,” became surrounded with taverns. Here, in 1711, stood ” Punch’s Theatre,” which thinned the congregation in the church; quacks used here to harangue the mob, and give advice gratis. These adventitious notorieties did not improve the morals of the locality—
Where holy friars told their beads,
And nuns confess’d their evil deeds:
But, oh, sad change! oh, shame to tell
How soon a prey to vice it fell!
How?—since its justest appellation
Is Grand Seraglio to the nation.”— Satire, 1756. ” The convent becomes a playhouse; monks and nuns turn actors and actresses. The garden, formal and quiet, where a salad was cut for a lady abbess, and flowers were gathered to adorn images, becomes a market, noisy and full of life, distributing thousands of fruits and flowers to a vicious metropolis.”— W. 8. Landor.
Covent-garden was the first square inhabited by the great; for immediately upon the completion of the houses on the north and east sides, after Inigo Jones’s design, they were every one of them inhabited by persons of the first title and rank, as appears by the parish-books of the rates at that time. Part of the east side was destroyed by fire, but not rebuilt in corresponding manner.
The chambers occupied by Richard Wilson, now the Tavistock breakfast-rooms, were portions of the house successively inhabited by Sir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Sir James Thornhill. Covent-garden, even so late as Pope’s time, retained its fashion, as may be seen in the Morning Advertiser, March 6th, 1730:—” The Lady Wortley Montague, who has been greatly indisposed at her house in Covent-garden for some time, is now perfectly recovered, and takes the benefit of the air in Hyde Park every morning, by advice of her physicians.” The parish of St. Paul was at that time the only fashionable part of the town, and the residence of a great number of persons of rank and title, and artists of the first eminence. A concourse of wits, literary characters, and other men of genius, frequented the numerous coffee-houses, wine and cider-cellars, jelly-shops, &c, within the boundaries of Covent-garden; the list of whom particularly includes the names of Butler, Addison, Sir Richard Steele, Otway, Dryden, Pope, Warburton, Cibber, Fielding, Churchill, Bolingbroke, and Dr. Samuel Johnson; Rich, Woodward, rich, Wo, Booth, Wilkes, Garrick, and Macklin; Kitty Clive, Peg Woffington, Mrs. Pritchard, the Duchess of Bolton, Lady Derby, Lady Thurlow, and the Duchess of St. Albans; Sir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Sir James Thornhill ; Vande-velde, Zincke, Lambert, Hogarth, Hayman, Wilson, Dance, Meyer, and Samuel Foote.
The Garden became «w-famous when its opulent inhabitants exchanged their residences for the newly-built mansions in Hanover, Grosvenor, and Cavendish squares, and Holies and the other streets adjacent. It was at that period that Mother Needham, Mother Douglas (alias, according to Foote’s Minor, Mother Cole), and Moll King, the tavern-keepers and gamblers, took possession of the abdicated premises. Beneath St. Paul’s portico was ” Tom King’s Coffee-house.” Upon the south side of the market-sheds was the noted ” Finish,” originally the Queen’s Head, kept by Mrs. Butler, open all night—the last of the Garden night taverns, and only cleared away in 1829. Shuter was pot-boy here and elsewhere in the Garden, and, from carrying beer to the players behind the scenes, joined them as an actor.
The north and east sides are principally occupied as hotels and taverns. At the Old Hummums (in Arabic, ” hammam”), when a bagnio, died Parson Ford, who conspicuously figures in Hogarth’s Midnight Modern Conversation. There is a capital ghost-story connected with his exit, told in Croker’s edition of Boswell’s Life of Dr. Johnson. (See Bedford Coffee-house, p. 261.) *
The scene of Dryden’s Sir Martin Mar-all is laid in this once fashionable quarter of the town; and the allusions to the square, the church, and the piazza are of constant
occurrence in the dramas of the age of Charles II. and Queen Anne. Gay, in his-Trivia, gives this picture of the place :—
” Where Covent-garden’s famous temple stands,
That boasts the work of Jones’ immortal hands,
Columns with plain magnificence appear,
And graceful porches lead along the square.
Here oft my course I bend, when lo! from far
I spy the furies of the foot-ball war :
The ‘prentice quits his shop to join the crew— »
Increasing crowds the flying game pursue.
Oh ! whither shall I run? the throng draws nigh;
The ball now skims the street, now soars on high;
The dexterous glazier strong returns the bound,
And jingling sashes on the penthouse sound.” The Piazza ala” The Pwas very fashionable when first erected, and much admired. However, a century ago, it must have been ” a sad place.” Shenstone writes in 1774:—
” London is really dangerous at this time; the pickpockets, formerly content with mere filching, make no scruple to knock people down with bludgeons in Fleet-street, in the Strand, and that at no later hour than eight o’clock at night; but in the Piazzas, Covent-garden, they come in large bodies, armed with couteaus, and attack whole parties, so that the danger of coming out of the playhouse is of some weight in the opposite scale, when I am disposed to go to them oftener than I ought.”
Otway has laid a scene in the Soldier’s Fortune in Covent-garden Piazza; and Wycher-ley, a scene in the Country Wife. Thomas Killigrew, the wit, lived in the north-west and north-east angles; in the latter (corner of James-street), in 1.676, dwelt “Viscountess Muskerry, the celebrated Princess of Babylon of De Grammont’s Memoirs. The famous George Robins, of the Piazza, for fifty years, by his hammer, dispersed more property than any other man of his time. Lord Byron used to say his order could not go on long without George Eobins to set their affairs right: he was beloved in literary and theatrical circles. His auction-rooms were formerly the studio of Zoffany, who painted here Foote, in the character of Major Sturgeon. Hogarth’s Marriage-a-la-Mode pictures were exhibited here gratis. One of the earliest records of artistic Covent-garden, is that of Charles I. establishing at the house of Sir Francis Kynaston, in “the Garden,” an academy called “Museum Minervse,” for the instruction of gentlemen in arts and sciences, knowledge of medals, antiquities, painting, architecture, and foreign languages. Mr. Cunningham’s Handbook is pleasantly anecdotic of the residence of many eminent persons resident in this locality. Till the present century, the neighbouring streets were a fashionable quarter; and Tavistock and Henrietta streets, famed for perruquiers, were crowded with carriages at shopping hours.
In Russell-street, eastward, were Wile’s, Button’s, and Tom’s Coffee-houses. (See pp. 272, 262, 27l). In James-street, northward, was formerly held a Bird-market on Sunday mornings. In the house which occupied the site of Evans’s Hotel, at the south-west corner of the Piazza, lived Sir Harry Vane, the younger; and next Sir Kenelm Digby, of ” Sympathetic Powder” fame. Aubrey says:—
” Since the Eestoration of Charles II., he (Sir Kenelm Digby) lived in the last faire house westward in the north portico of Covent-garden, where my Lord Lenzil Holies lived since. He had a laboratory there. I think he dyed in this house.”
In the same house, from 1681 to 1689, lived Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham; and it appears from the books of St. Paul’s, Covent-garden, that almost all the foundlings of the parish were laid at the door of the bishop’s house. The exterior was much altered for Russell, Earl of Orford, the English Admiral, who, in 1692, defeated the French off Cape la Hogue; and people are found who see a fancied resemblance in the front of the house to the hull of a ship. Lord Orford’s house was subsequently occupied by Thomas Lord Archer; and by James West, the great collector of books, prints, drawings, &c, the sale of whose collection in this house occupied the auctioneer six weeks. After this sale, in the house was established the first family hotel in London, by David Low. About 1790, Mrs. Hudson, the proprietor, advertised her house, “with stabling, for one hundredan”r one h noblemen and horses.” In the garden was formerly a small cottage, in which the Kembles, when in the zenith of their fame at Covent Garden Theatre, occasionally took up their abode; and here was born the gifted Fanny Kemble, in the chamber whij:h now forms the gallery to the Music-room of Evans’s Hotel. Evans was succeeded by Mr. John Green, for whom was built the magnificent room, designed by Finch Hall, and opened in 1855. Here is a very interesting collection of portraits of eminent dramatists, actors, and actresses.
In King-street lived the lady for whom mahogany was first used in England; and a few of the houses in the street have doors of solid mahogany.
Next door, westward of the original Garrick Club-house, in King-street, lived Arne, the upholsterer; his son, Dr. Arne, the composer, and his daughter, Mrs. Cibber, were born in this house ; where had lodged the Indian Kings, commemorated in the Tatler and Spectator. The house has long been tenanted by Mr. William Cribb, who was the first to appreciate the genius of Mr. Thomas Sydney Cooper, R.A.
It was in Rose-street (Dec. 18th, 1679) that Dryden, returning to his house in Long-acre, over against Rose-street, was barbarously assaulted and wounded by three persons, hired by Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. There are many allusions to this Rose-alley Ambuscade, as it is called, in our old State Poems. Butler, the author of Hudibras, lived, in the latter part of his life, in Rose-street, ” in a studious and retired manner,” and died there in 1680 : the house was taken down in 1863. Butler is said to have been buried at the expense of Mr. William Longueville, ” though he did not die in debt.” Some of his friends wished to have interred him in Westminster Abbey with proper solemnity; but not finding others willing to contribute to the expense, bis corpse was deposited privately, ” in the churchyard of St. Paul’s, Covent-garden.” In 1786 a marble monument was placed on the inside south wall of the church, with this inscription :
” This little monumcrt was erected in the year 1786, by some of the parisliioners of Covent-gardeo, in memory of the celebrated Samuel Butler, who was buried in this church, a.d. 1680.
” A few plain men, to pomp and state unknown, O’er a poor bard have raised this humble stone; Whose wants alone his genius could surpass— Victim of zeal! the matchless Hudibras ! What though fair freedom suffer’d in his page, Reader, forgive the author for the age! How few, alas! disdain to cringe and cant, When ’tis the mode to play the sycophant. But, oh! let all be taught from Butler’s fate, Who hope to make their fortunes by the great, That wit and pride are always dangerous things, And little faith is due to courts and kings.”
In 1721, Alderman Bai-ber erected to Butler a monument in Westminster Abbey, upon its epitaph Samuel Wesley wrote these stinging lines:—¦
“While Butler, needy wretch, was still alive, No generous patron would a dinner give; See him, when starved to death, and turned to dust, Presented with a monumental bust. The poet’s fate is here in emblem shown : He ask’d for bread, and he received a stone.”
It was soon after this proposed to erect a monument in Covent-garden Chure at-gardech, for which Dennis, the critic, wrote an inscription, with these lines:
” He was a whole species of poet in one:
Admirable in a manner In which no one else has been tolerable: A manner which began and ended in him,
In which he knew no guide,
And has found no followers.”
In TavistocJc-row, No. 4, lived Miss Reay, the mistress of Lord Sandwich: she was shot in the Piazza, in 1779, by the Rev. W. Hackman, in a fit of jealousy:
” A Sandwich favourite was his fair,
And her he dearly loved; By whom six children had, we hear;
This story fatal proved. A clergyman, O wicked one!
In Covent-garden shot her; No time to cry upon her God,
It’s hoped He’s not forgot her.”— Qrub-ttreet Ballad.
In Southampton-street is a bar-gate; the Duke of Bedford having power to erect walls and gates at the end of every thoroughfare on his estate. Here, in 1711, Bohea-tea was sold at 26*. per pound, at the sign of the Barber’s Pole. At No. 27 lived David Garrick, before he removed to the Adelphi. No. 31, late Godfrey and Cooke’s, was the oldest chemist’s and druggist’s shop in London; but was removed from here in 1863. Here phosphorus was first manufactured in England ; the above
premises having been the house, shop, and laboratory of Ambrose Godfrey Hanckwitz, who, immediately after the discovery of phosphorus by Brandt, the alchemist, under the instructions of the celebrated Robert Boyle, succeeded in preparing an ounce of solid phosphorus; such as he subsequently sold at 50*. and 60*. au ounce. His laboratory was a fashionable resort in the afternoon on certain occasions, when he performed popular experiments for the amusement of his friends. It opened into a garden, which extended as far ast he Strand. Curious prints exist of the laboratory in its former state; also a portrait of Hanckwitz, engraved by Vertue (1718), which he had distributed among his customers as a keepsake. Hanckwitz died in 1741. His successors, Godfrey and Cooke, maintained the date 1680 on their premises in Southampton-street, and over the entrance to the laboratory, in the rear.
In Maiden-lane, Andrew Marvell lodged in a second-floor while he sat in Parliament for Hull, and refused a Treasury order for 1000/., brought to him by Lord Danby from the king. Voltaire lodged at the White Peruke. More in character with the place was the Cyder Cellar, opened about 1730, and described in Adventures Underground, 1750; and by Charles Lamb in the London Magazine. In the house, No. 26, nearly opposite, lived William Turner, who dressed wigs, shaved beards, and, in the days of queues, topknots, and hair-powder, waited on the gentlemen of the Garden at their own houses. A door kwiuses. Aunder the arched passage on the right led to the shop, in the room above which was born, in 1775, his son, Joseph Mallord William Turner, landscape-painter. The great painter’s natal house has been taken down: here, and in the above house, Turner painted 59 pictures, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy.
At the house at the south-east corner of Bedford-street, Clay sold his papier-mache. Clay was a pupil of Baskerville, of Birmingham, and first applied papier-mache to tea-trays in 1760, by which he realized a fortune of 80,000/. Some of the finest of his trays were painted by early members of the Royal Academy, among whom was Wheatley. ” At the Riding-hood Shop, the corner of Chandos and Bedford-street,” Humphry Wanley, the antiquary, was lodging in 1718.
CRANE- COURT.
OF the four-and-thirty streets, lanes, courts, and alleys leading from Fleet-street, the most notable is Crane-court, eastward of Fetter-lane; though this court does not lead anywhere, it being a cul-de-sac. It was originally named Two Crane-court. It was rebuilt immediately after the Great Fire, and contains a few specimens of fine brickwork. Strype describes Crane-court as ” a very handsome open place, graced with good buildings, well inhabited by persons of repute.” Until about 1782 it was paved with black and white marble. The large end house was built by Sir Christopher Wren, and was inhabited by Dr. Edward Brown, an eminent physician, until 1710, when it was purchased, with the ” atljoyning little house,” by the Royal Society; the President, Sir Isaac Newton, recommending it as being ” in the middle of the town, and out of noise.” On the meeting-nights, a lamp was hung out over the entrance to the court from Fleet-street. The Society met here until 1782, when they removed to Somerset House, and sold that in Crane-court to the Scottish Hospital and Corporation, who now occupy it. This Company originated in ” the Scottish Box,” in 1613: the members then numbered only 20, and met in Lamb’s Conduit-street; their Charter dates from 1665. The Hospital now distributes about 2200/. a year, chiefly in 101. pensions to old people; and the princely bequest of 76.495Z., by Mr. W. Kinloch, allow s 1800Z. being given in pensions of 41. to disabled soldiers and sailors. The monthly meetings of the Society are preceded by Divine service in the chapel, in the rear of the house. The meeting-room has an enriched ceiling of finely-carved oak. The walls are hung with portraits of the Duke of Lauderdale, by Lely; Mary Queen of Scots, by Zucchero; the Earl of Bedford; the Duke of Queensberry; the second Duke of Sutherland; James, third Duke of Montrose; the Scottish Regalia; and a large whole-length portrait of William IV., painted by Wilkie, and presented by him to the Scottish Hospital, &c.
Crane-court had a few other notabilities. In the first house on the right (now rebuilt) lived Dryden Leach, the printer, who, in 1763, was arrested on a general warrant, upon suspicion of having printed Wilkes’s North Briton, No. 45 : Leach was
taken out of his bed in the night, his papers were seized, and even his journeymen and servants were apprehended; the only foundation for the arrest being a hearsay that Wilkes had been seen going into Leach’s house. Wilkes had been sent to the Tower for the No. 45; after much litigation he obtained a verdict of 4000Z., and Leach 300Z. damages from three of the king’s messengers, who had executed the illegal warrant. Crane-court has long been a sort of nursery for newspapers : here was the es here waoffice of the Commercial Chronicle; the Traveller removed to No. 9 from Fleet-street, and remained here until its junction with the Globe. In the basement of another house were printed the early numbers of Punch; or, the London Charivari ; and in No. 10 (Palmer and Clayton’s), immediately opposite, was first printed the Illustrated London News, projected and established by Herbert Ingram, in the spring of 1842. The Society of Arts first met in apartments over a circulating library in Crane-court; and here the Society awarded its first prize (15Z.) to Cosway, then a boy of fifteen, and afterwards a fashionable miniature-painter. The circulating library in the court was one of the earliest established in the metropolis; the first was Batho’s, about 1740, at No. 132, Strand; in 1770 there were but four.
CROSBY HALL,
IN Bishopsgate-street, and north of the entrance into Crosby-square, is a portion of Crosby Place, built upon ground leased of the Prioress of St. Helen’s in 1466, by-Sir John Crosby, alderman, one of the sheriffs in 1471, knighted by Edward IV. in the same year, and deceased in 1475: ” so short a time enjoyed he that his large and sumptuous building; he was buried in St. Helen’s, the parish church; a fair monument to him and his lady was raised there.”— (Stow.)
The next possessor of Crosby Place was Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard III.; and here Shakspeare has laid a portion of his drama of that name; though “the historian is compelled to say, that neither at the death of Henry VI. in 1471, nor at the marriage of Richard with the Lady Anne in 1473, is it probable that Richard was in possession of Crosby Place;” but here he determined upon the deposition, and perhaps the death, of the young King Edward V., and here plotted his own elevation to the vacant throne.
The Eev. Joseph Hunter, in his New Illustrations of Shakspeare, says:—” In the course of my researches only one document has presented itself which is entirely unknown, containing a notice of Shakspeare during the course of his London life. It shows us, what has hitherto remained undiscovered, in what part of London he had fixed his residence at the period of his life when he was producing the choicest of his works. We have evidence of the most decisive nature, that on October 1, in the fortieth year of Queen Elizabeth, which answers to the year 1598, Shakspeare was one of the inhabitants of St. Helen, Bishopsgate, and consequently a near neighbour of Crosby Hall. In an assessment-roll of that date, for levying the first of three entire subsidies which were granted to the Queen in the thirty-ninth year of her reign, the name of William Shakspeare occurs in connexion with that of Sir John Spencer, and other inhabitants of the parish of St. Helen’s, with the sum 51. 13*. 4rf., the assessment, against the poet’s name. This document gives us the names of his neighbours; among whom we find Sir John Spencer; Dr. Richard Taylor, Dr. Peter Turner, Dr. Edward Jordan, all well-known physicians; Dr. Cullimorc, Robert Honeywood, and the heads of the wealthy families of Read and Robinson.”
Crosby Place was next purchased by Sir Bartholomew Read, who kept here his mayoralty, 1501. Its next possessor was Sir John Best, Mayor in 1516 (the year of Evil May-day), and by him it was sold to Sir Thomas More, in what year is uncertain; but it was probably soon after his return from his mission to Bruges, in 1514 and 1515; and as this journey forms the groundwork of the Utopia, there is reason to infer this charming releis charomance to have been written at Crosby Place, to which the picture in the preface of Sir Thomas’s domestic habits may apply. There is little or no doubt that More wrote his History of Richard the Third at Crosby Place, however it may be with the Utopia. Here, too, More probably received Henry VIII.; for this was just the time he was in high favour with the king, who then kept his court at Castle Baynard’s, and St. Bride’s. In 1523 More sold Crosby Place to his dearest friend Antonio Bonvisi, a rich merchant of Lucca, who leased the mansion to William Rastell, More’s nephew; and to William Roper, the husband of More’s favourite daughter Margaret. In the reign of Edward VI., Bonvisi, Rastell, and Roper were driven abroad by religious persecution, and Crosby Place was forfeited, but restored on the accession of Mary. The next proprietors were Jermyn Cioll, who married a cousin of Sir Thomas Gresham ; and Alderman Bond, who added to the edifice a lofty turret, though no traces of it are now to be found.
In 1594, Sir John Spencer purchased Crosby Place, and in it kept his mayoralty that year. He greatly improved the Place, and ” builded a most large warehouse near thereunto.” He was the ” rich Spencer,” worth nearly a million of money; and here he entertained Sully, when he came on a special embassy from Henry IV. of France to James I. Sir John Spencer’s daughter and sole heiress married William, the second Lord Compton, afterwards Earl of Northampton, and ancestor of the present Marquis. During Lord Compton’s proprietorship, the celebrated Countess of Pembroke, ” Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother,” lived many years in Crosby Place. Spencer, Earl of Northampton, son of the last-mentioned proprietor, resided here in 1638. Two years previously, the property was leased to Sir John Langham, sheriff in 1642, during whose occupation it was frequently used as a prison for Royalists. His son, Sir Stephen Langham, succeeded him ; and during his tenancy, Crosby Place was so injured by fire, that it was never afterwards used as a dwelling. In 1672, the Upper Hall was converted into a Presbyterian meeting-house by the Rev. T. Watson; he was followed by Stephen Charnock; Dr. Grosvenor, a pupil of Benjamin Keach; and Edmund Calamy, jun. The congregation continued to meet here till 1769, when it was dispersed; previously to which a farewell sermon was preached here by the Rev. Mr. Jones, the predecessor of the Rev. Dr. Collyer, of Peckham.
The Hall was then let as a packer’s warehouse. In 1677, the present houses in Crosby-square were built on the ruins of the old mansion. In 1831, the packer’s lease of the Hall expired; when public attention was drawn to its restoration, as the finest example in the metropolis of the domestic mansion of Perpendicular work. Its long list of distinguished tenants,—above all, its association with Richard III., greatly popularized the proposed restoration; and, on June 27, 1836, the first stone of the new work was laid by Lord Mayor Copeland, alderman of Bishopsgate Ward; when the Hall was fitted up with banners, strewed with rushes, and an Elizabethan breakfast served upon the long tables.
On July 12, 1838, a musical performance was given in the Hall, after service in St. Helen’s Church, in commemoration of Sir Thomas Gresham : the place is fraught with musical memories, for under its shadow once lived Byrde, Wilbye, and Morley, the celebrated madrigalists.
The restoration was completed in 1842 : repairs have been made, and much of the original mansion has been bly on has uilt: the Hall, the Council-chamber, with the Throne-room above, remain; and the vaults are a fine specimen of early brickwork. The entrance to Crosby-square is through a small gateway from Bishopsgate-street. The Hall consists of one story only, lighted by lofty and elegant windows, and a beautiful oriel window, reaching from the floor to the roof. The Council-chamber* was stripped of many of its decorations in 1816 by the proprietor, who removed them to adorn a dairy at his seat, Fawley Court, Bucks; but the finely-coved ceiling hecame the property of Mr. Yarnold, of Great St. Helen’s, at the sale of whose Collection, in 1825, this lot was purchased by Mr. Cottingham, the architect, who fitted it as the ceiling of his Elizabethan Museum at No. 43, Waterloo-bridge-road: at the dispersion of which, in 1851, the relic was again sold. The Throne-room has an oak-ribbed rounded roof; and among its windows, is one reaching the entire height of the apartment.
The Great Hall, the innermost sanctuary, is 54 ft. long, 27£ broad, and 40 feet high. It has a minstrels’ gallery, but not a dais.
The glory of the place is, however, the roof, which is an elaborate architectural study, and decidedly one of the finest specimens of timber-work in existence. It differs from many other examples in being an inner roof; it is of cork or chestnnt, of low pointed arches, approaching to an ellipse. From the main points of intersection hang pendants, which end in octagonal ornaments, pierced with small niches, each pendant forming the centre of four arches; so that, in whatever point it is viewed, the design presents a series of arches of elegant construction, whilst the spandrels are pierced with perpendicular trefoil-headed niches. The principal timbers are ornamented with small flowers, or knots of foliage, in a hollow ; and the whole springs from octangular corbels of stone attached to the piers between the windows. Here the superior taste of the architect is strikingly displayed in the method by which he has avoided an horizontal import to his ceiling, by constructing arches of timber corre-
* In 1794, Mr. Capon painted for John Philip Kemble, at New Drury-lane Theatre, the Council Chamber, for the play of Jane Shore ; a correct restoration of the original apartment, as far as existing-documents would warrant.
sponding with the ornamental portions of the roof above the lateral windows, and thus completely avoiding a horizontal line, which was as much the abomination of our ancient architects as it is the favourite of our modern ones. These arches are surmounted by an elegant entablature, of a moulded architrave, a frieze of pierced quatrefoils in square panels, and an embattled cornice; each quatrefoil contained a small flower, of which fifty-six originally existed on each side of the Hall, the designs being dissimilar.
The oriel, forming an ornamented recess in the side of the Hall, has ever been regarded as one of its Lest features: it is vaulted with stone, beautifully groined, the ribs springing from small pillars attached to the angles ; while knots of foliage and bosses are at the points of intersection. Among them is a ram trippant, the crest of Sir John Crosby. This and the other windows have been, for the most part, filled with stained glass, decorated with the armorial bearings of the several personages famous in the history of Crosby Place, as well as of persons of taste who have contributed to its restoration. The lower aperture has been closed by the same piece of wood-work that was y-sork thaformerly elevated above it. The floor is paved with stone in small squares arranged diagonally. In the north wall is a fire-place, which is at least singular, if not unique, in a Hall of this age.
Crosby Hall, in its restored state, has been let for musical performances and lectures; and it was, for some time, the meeting-place of a Literary Society. The west front of the premises, next Bishopsgate-street, has been composed in the style of the half-timbered houses of the Crosby period. Here is a statue of Sir John Crosby, by Nixon j with his arms and crest.
CRUTCHED FEIABS.
THIS picturesque fragment of old London, which Hatton describes “as a very considerable, though crooked street,” lies between Jewry-street and Hart-street, the oldest portion being a short distance towards Tower-hill, from Fenchurch-street. Here remained till lately a group of houses, but little altered since Queen Elizabeth’s days j the quaint gables, the highly-pitched roofs, the peculiar arrangement of the water-troughs, the projections over the shop windows little more than seven feet in height, the thick window-frames and small squares of glass—all denoted the considerable age the structure.
The street derives its name from being on the site of the ancient monastery of Crouched or Crossed Friars (Fratres Sancta Cruris), founded in 1298, by Ralph Hosier and William Sabernes, who became friars here. Originally they carried in their hands an iron cross, which they afterwards exchanged for one of silver. They wore a cross, made of red cloth, on their garment, which at first was grey, and in later times altered to blue. One Adams was the first prior, and Edmund Streatham the last. Their annual income seems to have been small. Henry VIII. granted their house to Sir Thomas Wyat, the elder, who built a handsome mansion on part of the site. This house afterwards became the residence of John Lord Lumley, a celebrated warrior in the time of Henry VIII., who greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Flodden, by his valour and the number of men he brought into the field. ” John Lord Lumley, grandson to the first,” says Pennant, “was amongst the few of the nobility of that time who had a taste for literature.” He married his sister Barbary to Humphrey Llwyd, of Denbigh, and by his assistance formed a considerable library, which at present makes a valuable part of the British Museum. The refectory was converted into the first glass-house ever established in England, which was burned down in 1575. On the site was subsequently erected a stupendous tea-warehouse for the East India Company.
Near this place stood a Northumberland House, which was inhabited in the reign of Henry VI. by two of the Earls of Northumberland. One lost his life at the battle of St. Albans, and the other his son in that of Toulon. Being deserted by the Percies, the gardens were converted into bowling-alleys, ” and other parts,” says Stow, ” into dicing-bouses.” This was probably one of the first of those evil places of resort.
In the valley, now crossed by a viaduct of the Blackwall Railway, were the Almshouses of the Drapers’ Company, erected and endowed in 1521, by Sir John Milborne. They were taken down in 1862; they are described under Almshouses, p. 8.
The neighbourhood has, however, a far more remote antiquity, for an inscri thfor an bed stone
found in the Tenter-ground, in Goodman’s-fields, while making an excavation in a garden at a depth of about seven feet below the surface, takes us back to the Roman occupation of Britain. Several fragments of urns were found at the same time. The inscription connects it with the Sixth Legion; and from it this portion of the Roman army is presumed to have been stationed for a time in or near London.
In 1865, there was excavated in Jewry-street a portion of the western wall of old London. Almost upon the very day that the above discovery was made of the western wall, near Aldersgate-street was excavated a portion of the eastern. The wall runs in a straight line from the Tower to Aldgate, by Trinity-square, where a portion has been discovered, which, though not Roman, was supposed to rest on Roman foundations. In 1841, the Blackwall Railway, much further north than this point, cut through Roman remains of the great Wall, nearly opposite Milborne’s Almshouses. These remains are engraved in Knight’s London, vol. i. p. 164, where the fragment is described as ” recently excavated behind the Minories.” In August, 1864, was discovered an extensive fragment of a Norman wall, upon undoubtedly Roman foundations; and partly behind the Minories, on the east side of the lower end of Jewry-street, which had been cleared of a number of small houses, remains were found at various levels; as, masses of Roman stonework, with bondings of Roman bricks, or, as we should call them, tiles; a superstructure of earlier date; and in the lowest depths horns of oxen and other remains in abundance. East of the site is Vine-street, named from a vineyard anciently there, in the rear of the Minories. Some of the entire Roman bricks, cleared of cement, &c., were fine specimens of the building materials of our conquerors. (See Goodman’s Fields.)
CRYPTS.
THE Crypts, vaults, or undercrofts remaining in the metropolis, are interesting specimens of its ecclesiastical and domestic architecture.
The Crypt or Lower Chapel of Old London Bridge belongs to the past: it was constructed in the tenth or tireat pier, and was entered both from the upper apartment and the street, as well as by a flight of stone stairs winding round a pillar which led into it from outside the pier: whilst in front of this latter entrance the sterling formed a platform at low-water, which thus rendered it accessible from the river. This Crypt was about 60 feet in length, 20 feet high, and had a groined roof, supported by stone ribs springing from clustered columns; at the intersections were bosses sculptured with cherubs, episcopal heads, and a crowned head (probably Richard Coeur-de-Lion), grouped with four masks; and near the entrance was a piscina for holy water. Here was a rich series of windows looking on to the water, and the floor was paved with black and white marble: herein was buried Peter of Colechureh, the priest-architect of the bridge. The Chapel was taken down in 1700: the Crypt had been many years used as a paper warehouse; and though the floor was always from 8 to 10 feet under the surface at high-water mark, yet the masonry was so good that no water ever penetrated. In front of the bridge-pier a square fish-pond was formed in the sterling, into which the fish were carried by the tide, and there detained by a wire grating placed over it; and ” an ancient servant of London Bridge, now (1827) verging upon hlumerging is hundredth summer, well remembers to have gone down through the Chapel to fish in the pond.”—Thomson’s Chronicles, p. 517.
St. Bartholomew’s Crypt, Smithfield, exists in good preservation under the dining-hall or refectory of the priory, of which also there remain other appurtenances. The crypt is of great length, has a double row of beautiful aisles, with Early-Pointed arches, divided by Middlesex-passage, leading from Great to Little Bartholomew-close; a door at the extremity is traditionally said to have communicated by a subterranean passage with Canonbury, at Islington. Beneath the ” Coach and Horses” public-house, probably once the hospitium, within the west gate of the monastery, is the remains of another crypt.
Bishopsgate-street Within, No. 66 (taken down in 1865), was built upon a crypt, of ecclesiastical architecture.
Bow Church Crypt, Cheapside, consists of columns and simple Romanesque groin-ings, said to be of the age of the Conqueror; it is the crypt of the ancient Norman church, but it was mistaken by Wren for Roman workmanship. It has long been used as a dead-house, is ventilated, and the coffins are put in fair order. At Messrs. Grow-coek’s, in Bow Churchyard, is a small portion of another crypt or undercroft. It is difficult to understand how Wren was led to the belief that the above remains were Roman; unless, as was pointed out by Mr. Gwilt, in an admirable description of the crypt ( Vetusta Monumenta, vol. v. plates 61 to 65), Wren was deceived by the fact
that Roman bricks are used in the construction of the arches j or did he mean that they were more Romano, or in the Roman manner ?
St. Etheleeda’s Chapel Crypt, Ely-place, originally a burial-place, is not vaulted, but has for its roof the chapel-floor, supported by enormous chestnut posts and girders. During the Interregnum, when Ely House and its offices were converted into a prison and hospital, this crypt became a kind of military canteen ; it was subsequently used as a public cellar to vend drink in; and here were frequently revellings heard during divine service in the chapel above.
Gabhaway’s Coffee-hotjse, 3, Change-alley, Cornhill, had a crypt of fourteenth and sixteenth century architecture, was of ecclesiastical character, and had a piscina; it was used as the coffee-house wine-cellar, and extended under Change-alley.
Gerard’s Hall Crypt, Basing-lane, was the only remaining vestige of the mansion of John Gisors, pepperer, Mayor of London in 1245; ” a great house of old time, builded upon arched vaults, and with arched gates of stone brought from Cane in Normandy” (Stow); Gisors’ Hall being corrupted to Gerard’s Hall. The date of this crypt was probably late in the thirteenth century. The groined roof was supported by sixteen columns: the crypt, although generally resembling a subterranean ecclesiastical edifice, was constructed solely for the stowage of merchandize, and was thus an example of the warehouse of the wealthy London merchant of the thirteenth century. The great house called the Vintrie stood upon similar vaults, which were used for the stowage of French wines ; it was likewise occupied, in 1314, by Sir John Gisors, who was a vintner. Gerard’s Hall Crypt, with the modern inn which had replaced the hall, was removed in forming a new street in 1859, when some curis, hen somous old merchant’s marks were found.
Here was preserved the tutelar effigies of ” Gerard the grant,” a fair specimen of a London sign, temp. Charles II. Here also was shown the staff used by Gerard in the wars, and a ladder to ascend to the top of the staff; and in the neighbouring church of St. Mildred, Bread-street, hangs a huge tilting-helmet, said to have been worn by the said gyant. The staff, Stow thinks, may rather have been used as a May-pole, and to stand in the hall decked with evergreens at Christmas j the ladder serving for decking the pole and hall-roof.^<7. W. Archer.
Guildhall Crypt is the finest and most extensive undercroft remaining in London, and is the only portion of the ancient hall (erected in 1411) which escaped the Great Fire. It extends the whole length beneath the Guildhall from east to west, divided nearly equally by a wall, having an ancient Pointed door. The crypt is further divided into aisles by clustered columns, from which spring the stone-ribbed groins of the vaulting, composed partly of chalk and bricks ; the principal intersections being covered with carved bosses of flowers, heads, and shields. The north and south aisles had formerly mullioned windows, now walled up. At the eastern end is a fine Early-English arched entrance, in fair preservation; and in the south-eastern angle is an octangular recess, which formerly was ceiled by an elegantly groined roof; height, 13 feet. The vaulting, with four-centred arches, is very striking, and is probably some of the earliest of the sort, which seems peculiar to this country. Though called the Tudor arch, the time of its introduction was Lancastrian. (See Weale’s London, p. 159.) In 1851 the stone-work was rubbed down and cleaned, and the clustered shafts and capitals were repaired j and on the visit of Queen Victoria to Guildhall, July 9, 1851, a banquet was served to her Majesty and suite in this crypt, which was characteristically decorated for the occasion. Opposite the north entrance is a large antique bowl, of Egyptian red granite, which was presented to the Corporation by Major Cookson in 1802, as a memorial of the British achievements in Egypt.
” Gtty Fawkes’s Cellar” was a crypt-like apartment beneath the old House of Lords, the ancient Parliament-chamber at Westminster, believed to have been rebuilt by King Henry II. on the ancient foundations of Edward the Confessor’s reign. ” The walls of this building were nearly seven feet in thickness, and the vaults below (‘ Guy Fawkes’s Cellar’) were very massive. Piers of brickwork (possibly of Charles the Second’s time) had been raised to strengthen the ceiling and sustain the weight of the Parliament-chamber floor, together with strong rafters of oak, supported by twelve octagonal oak posts, on stone plinths. This building was taken down about the year
1823, when it was ascertained that the vaults had heen the ancient kitchen of the Old Palace; and near the south end the original buttery-hatch was discovered, together with an adjoining pantry or cupboard.” (Britton and Bailey’s Westminster Palace, p. 421.) The conspirators obtained access to the vaults through a house in the southeast corner of Old Palace-yard, which was at one time occupied as the Ordnance Office, and afterwards as the entrance to the House of Lords.
After the Gunpowder Plot, Nov. 5,1605, it became the custom to search and carefully examine all the vaults and passages under the Houses of Parliament, previous to the Sovereign opening the Session. This precautionary inspectitinnary inon, continued to our time, was performed by certain officers of Parliament, headed by the Usher of the Black Rod, who went through the vaults, and examined the various nooks and recesses that might, if conspirators were so inclined, again hold combustibles, with the intent, ” suddenly and with one blast, to blow up and tear in pieces” those assembled on the occasion in Parliament. The search took place on the morning of the day of the Koyal ceremonial.
Hostelbt of the Peioes of Lewes Cetpt, the, was discovered in Carter-lane, Southwark, in 1832. This vaulted chamber was supported by six demi-columns, attached to the side walls; the columns and arches of wrought stone, and the vaultings of chalk. In 1834 was discovered another cryptal chamber, with a plain massive round pillar in the centre, from which sprang elliptic-ribbed arches, forming a groined roof. This vault is supposed to have been the cellar of ” the Hostelry for Travellers, which had the sign of the ‘ Walnut Tree.'” (Stow.) Both Crypts originally belonged to the town-lodging of the Priors of Lewes; the larger Crypt being under the great Hall, which had been used as the grammar school-room of St. Olave’s, founded by Queen Elizabeth. These crypts were destroyed in making the approaches to the New London Bridge.
St. John’s Cetpt, Clerkenwell, is semi-Norman and Early English, and part of the magnificent Priory Church of St. John of Jerusalem; the superstructure of the present Church of St. John being mostly the patched-up remains of the choir. This Crypt in modern times (1762) has been rendered notorious by the detection of the imposture known as the Cock-lane Ghost. The most interesting remaining portions of the Crypt comprise the central avenue and a small compartment on each side of it by the entrance at the east end. The Crypt appears to have been originally above ground, and not subterraneous: an entrance to it may be seen in Hollar’s view of the east end as it appeared in 1661 from St. John-street, with the hospital gardens and boundary-wall. The central portion of the crypt consists of four severeys or bays: two simple and plain, being semi-Norman, and two Early English, and very perfect, the details and mouldings being worthy of careful examination. The ribs of the Early-English bays spring from triple-clustered columns, in each angle of the bays, with moulded capitals and bases; the upper moulding horizontally fluted, similar to some Grecian-Ionic bases. The central shafts of the clustered columns are pointed, and the diagonal ribs have three mouldings : the central one is pointed and the outer are rolls. This pointed bowtell occurs frequently in semi-Norman and Early-English work, and is coeval with the introduction of the pointed arch. Suspended from the keystone of each arch is an iron ring. On each side of the two western bays of the central aisle is a deeply-recessed pointed widow: the doorways are trefoil-headed.
Lambeth Paxace Cetpt, or Under, chapel, is considered to be the oldest portion of the Palace. It consists of a series of strongly-groined stone arches, supported centrally by a short, massive column, and by brackets in the side walls. These vaults are now converted into cellars; they might, possibly, have been originally used for Divine . worship, as there are two entrances to them from the cloisters.
” Lambeth Palace Chapel retains a Crypt, a doorway, and windows of great beauty, but the Chapel has otherwise been quite barbarised; and the remainder of this archiepiscopal residence, though founded as early as the reign of Richard Cceur-de-Lion (before which it was a residence of the Bishop of Rochester), now”Bochester forms only a confused medley of buildings, with no fragment older than the fifteenth century.” AVeale’s London, p. 145.
Lamb’s Chapel Cetpt, Monkwell-street, is a remarkably pure and finished specimen of the Norman style. The vaulted roof has been supported by nine short columns, six of which remain, with very ornate capitals; and the interesting ribs of the groining are decorated with zig-zag mouldings and a spiral ornament. The carved work is of Caen stone. The chapel was originally ” the Hermitage of St. James’s” in the wall,
a cell to the Abbey of Quorndon, in Leicestershire, and said to have been founded by Henry III., but evidently upwards of a century earlier. The Chapel and its appurtenances were granted by Henry VIII. to William Lamb, who bequeathed and endowed it at his death for the benefit of the Clothworkers’ Company, of which he was a member. (-See Lamb’s Coxdl-it, p. 288.)
Leather-Sellers’ Hail Crypt, at the east end of St. Helen’s-place, Bishopsgate, adjoins the church of St. Helen on the north side, and extends beneath the present hall: it is boldly groined. In the wall which separated this Crypt from the church were two ranges of small apertures, made in an oblique direction, so that the high altar might be seen by those in the Crypt when mass was performing. The position of one set of these openings (” The Nuns’ Grating”) is marked out within the present church by a stone-canopied altar affixed to the wall. The Crypt has been engraved by J. T. Smith.
St. Martin’s-le-Grand Crypt was laid open in clearing for the site of the new General Post-Office, in 1818, the area formerly occupied by the Church and Sanctuary of St. Martin. There were then found two ranges of vaults, which had served as cellars to the houses above; one of these being the crypt of St. Martin’s (taken down in 1547), and afterwards the cellar of a large wine-tavern, the ” Queen’s Head,” This •was in the Pointed style of Edward III., and was most likely the work of William of Wykeham. The second or westernmost range, which must have supported the nave, was of earlier date, and was a square, vaulted chamber, divided by piers six feet square : here were found a coin of Constantine, and a stone coffin containing a skeleton; and in digging somewhat lower down, Roman remains were met with in abundance. In St. Martin’s-le-Grand also, between Aldersgate and St. Ann’s-lane end, was the large tavern of the “Mourning Bush,” whose vaulted cellars, as they remain from the Great Eire of 1666, disclose the foundation-wall of Aldersgate, and a remarkably fine specimen of early brick arch-work.
St. Mary Aldermary, Bow-lane.—In 1835, upon the removal of some houses in Watling-street, at the east end of this church, a building, thought to be the Crypt of the old church commenced by Sir Henry Keble in 1510, was brought to light. In 1851, in widening the thoroughfare by way of Cannon-street, just opposite St. Swithin’s Church and London Stone, an ancient vault or crypt, of considerable length, was opened j it had stone cross-springers, forming a Pointed arch, and was vaulted with chalk.
Merchant Tailors’ Hall Crypt was brought under notice during some repairs in 1855, this being the crypt of the former Hall, destroyed by the Great Fire. The kitchen, seen in the way to the Crypt, may be older than the time of the fire, probably about the time of Henry VIII. On a conspicuous part of the wall is the excellmovis the ent motto—” Waste Not, Want Not.” There are some Pointed arches and windows, and also two corbels, visible. The Crypt is at a considerable depth below the kitchen, and has been used for some time past as a coal-cellar: the walls and filling in between the groins are of chalk. The Company have preserved it. About seven feet from this Crypt, and under the late open yard of the Hall, another old vault has been since discovered: it is 7 feet wide, and quite full of garden-mould. The walls are of chalk-rubble, and the voussoirs of Kentish rag.
St. Michael, Aldg-ate. —A subterranean passage is said to conduct from the Tower to the ancient Chapel or Crypt of St. Michael at Aldgate, situated under the house at the south-east corner of London Wall-street, hard by Aldgate pump. It has some marks of the semi-Norman, or Transition style, but it is assigned to Prior Norman, in 1108. The central clustered column is Norman ; the bosses remain perfect, and contain roses and grotesque heads. A means of approach from the street has existed; and there are indications of two other passages, one said to have run to Duke’s-place, and the other to the Tower.
St. Paul’s Crypt extends beneath the whole of the church, and, like the body of the Cathedral, is divided into three avenues by massive pillars and arches; except the portion beneath the area of the dome, it is well lighted and ventilated by windows
opening into the churchyard. The north aisle is a place of sepulture for the parishioners of St. Faith. (See Cnr/RcnES, p. 113.) In the crypt of Old St. Paul’s the stationers of Paternoster-row had warehoused their stocks of books, which were destroyed in the Great Fire.
St. Stephen’s Cetpt, Westminster Palace, also called ” St. Mary’s Chapel in the Vaults,” formed the basement of St. Stephen’s Chapel, founded by King Stephen, and rebuilt by Edward I. in 1292: a roll of this date records the purchase of two shiploads of chalk, besides burnt lime, ashes, and sand, for the foundation of the chapel, thus proving it to have been raised on a concrete basis; and how substantially is proved by the Crypt remaining in excellent preservation, notwithstanding the superstructure has been twice destroyed by fire—in 1298 and 1834. Like other crypts, this is of low proportions, but has no division by detached pillars; the masses projecting inwards, and dividing window from window in short massive clusters, the vault-ribs and all other members partaking of the same bold, thick character; whilst the tracery of the windows is exquisitely beautiful. Strength, solidity, fine proportions, and skilful execution, are the characteristics of this basement chapel” (Brilton and Brayley), which ” is the last fragment in London that can be decidedly classed in the first or progressive period of English architecture.”—(Weale’s London?) This Crypt was fitted up as the state dining-room of the Speaker of the House of Commons; it was much damaged in the great fire of 1834, but has been restored as a chapel for the officers of the House of Commons; and during the works, on January 17, 1852, the workmen discovered, beneath a window-seat, the embalmed body of an ecclesiastic, without any coffin. The corpse lay with the feet towards the east (said to be an unusual position for an ecclesiastic) ; it was wrapped in several folds of waxed cloth sewn together with coarse twine; its right hand, on which was probably the ring or jewelled glove, was lying on the breast. Over the left arm was the pastoral staff—’ a crook—of oak, beautifully carved. On the feet were sandals, witb leathern soles sharply pointed. Upon removcidd. Uponing the cere-cloth, the face proved to be in remarkable preservation, with hair on the chin and upper lip. The remains are presumed to be those of William Lyndwoode, Bishop of St. David’s, who founded a chantry in St. Stephen’s Chapel, and died in 1446; and in the patent roll of 32 Henry VI. there is a license to the bishop’s executors for one or two chaplains to celebrate divine service daily ” for the soul of the aforesaid bishop, whose body lies buried in the said under-chapel,” &c. The relics were inspected by a deputation from the Society of Antiquaries on Jan. 31, 1852 ; and a cast of the face having been taken for Her Majesty, the remains were placed in an elm coffin, and buried in a grave in the north cloister of Westminster Abbey j the pastoral staff and sandals being sent to the British Museum.
Tower op London. —The Crypt, or large range of vaults, beneath the White Tower, is half underground, and now covered by modern brickwork. These vaults were formerly occupied as prisons; and among the inscriptions still remaining on a wall of a subterranean cell is one cut by the unfortunate Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher, who was beheaded for his opposition to the Reformation.
CURIOSITY-SHOPS.
THE principal locality for dealers in Curiosities, including ancient furniture and carvings, pictures, china and enamels, painted glass, metal-work, and church-furniture, has long been in Wardour-street, Soho, and Oxford-street. Formerly it was also noted for its book-stalls; but in the spreading taste for Curiosities within the last quarter of a century, the book-stalls have mostly disappeared, and the Curiosity-dealers here now number sixteen. Wardour-street is especially famous for old furniture and carvings; Hanway-street (formerly Hanway-yard, at the east end of Oxford-street), being more exclusively celebrated for its china-dealers. There are also good specimens of well-stocked Curiosity-shops towards the middle of the Strand. These several shops are principally supplied from the Continent; but it is a profitable business to collect specimens from our provinces, where an Elizabethan bedstead has been bought for five shillings, and sold for twice as many pounds in Wardour-street.
The marks on porcelain denote its age and manufacture; but there is no such warrant for genuine old furniture; and rough work which has just left the carver’s hands, and has been pickled and charred, ante-dated, and even shattered, to imitate age, is often sold for the ingenuity of the two preceding centuries.
The revival of the style of Louis XV. has done much to foster this false taste; and our collectors, “not content with ransacking every pawnbroker’s shop in London and Paris for old buhl, old porcelain, and old plate, old tapestry and old frames, even set every manufacturer to work, and corrupt the taste of every modern artist by the renovation of this wretched style.”—Hope’s Hist. Architecture,
The dispersion of famed collections (as Strawberry Hill, in 1842; Mr. Beckford’s, in 1845; Stowe, in 1849; and Bernal’s in 1855;) is a benefit, direct and indirect, to Curiosity-dealers. The taste for Mediaeval art in church-fittings and painted glass has also greatly encouraged this trade, as well as the copying of olden works in new materials. Certain auction-rooms are noted for the sale of Curiosities: as Christie and Manson’s, King-street, St. James’s, especially for pictures. Phillips’s, Ne evhillipsw Bond-street ; Foster, Pall-mall; and Oxenhams’, Oxford-street, are known for their sales of articles of vertu, and collections, as well as ” importation sales.” Here the accumulation of a lifetime is often distributed in a week or a day. (See Carvings in Wood, pp. 78-81, and Chelsea Porcelain, p. 94.)
The Fox public-house, in Wardour-street, was formerly kept by Sam House, ” publican and republican,” who commenced politician in 1763, and became conspicuous in the memorable Westminster election-contest between Lord Lincoln and Mr. Fox, in 1780: a picture, with Fox arm-in-arm with House, was sold by Christie and Manson in 1845. In the window of Harrison, the pawnbroker, 95, “Wardour-street, the writer ri.members to have seen the Ireland Shakspearean MSS. (” great and impudent forgery,” Dr. Parr) lying for sale upon a family Bible. With Harrison, who was a liberal man, Sheridan was accustomed occasionally to deposit his valuables.
CUSTOM-HOUSE (THE),
LOWER THAMES-STREET, immediately east of Billingsgate-dock, was originally designed by David Laing: the foundations were laid in 1813, upon piles driven into the old bed of the river, and extending eastward beyond the site of the Custom-house, destroyed by fire Feb. 12, 1814, when the greater part of the trade records were consumed. The northern elevation, fronting Thames-street, is plain; but the south front towards the Thames has in the wings Ionic colonnades and a projecting centre, the attic of which was decorated with terra-cotta bas-relief figures of the Arts and Sciences, Commerce and Industry; and natives of the principal countries of the globe, with emblems of their arts. The clock-dial, nine feet in diameter, was supported by colossal figures of Industry and Plenty; and the royal arms by Ocean and Commerce. Unfortunately, the piling gave way; and in 1825 the re-centre was taken down, the foundation relaid, and the Thames front erected as we now see it, by Sir Robert Smirke. The expense was 180,000^., which, added to the original expenditure, 255,000^., made the total cost of the edifice nearly half a million, or two-thirds the cost of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The river facade is 488 feet in length, or nearly one tenth of a mile. It is fronted by a noble esplanade, or quay; but as the breadth of this quay is not equal to the height of the Custom-house, its facade, which is of Portland stone, is not seen to advantage from that point, but from London Bridge or the middle of the river.
The interior contains, besides warehouses and cellars, about 170 apartments, classified for contiguity and convenience of the several departments. In the Boardroom are portraits of George III. and George IV., the latter by Lawrence. The Long Room, in the centre of the building, is probably the largest apartment of its kind in Europe: its length is 190 feet, width 66 feet, and height between 30 and 40 feet; but it is not so handsome as the ” Long Room ” taken down after the failure of the foundation. The officers and clerks form three divisions : the inward department, with its collectors, clerks of rates, clerks of ships’ entries, computers of duties, receivers of plantation duties, wine duties, &c.; the outward department, with its cocket-writers, &c.; and the coast department. Here a Trinity-house officer sits for the collection of lighthouse dues; and here is a constant succession of ship-brokers and ship-owners, and their clerks, and of skippers and wholesale merchants. Defoe relates Count Tallard to have said, that nothing gave him so true and great an idea of the richness and grandeur of England as seeing the multitude of payments made in a mornigesde in ang in the Long Room; since this was said, the Customs have increased tenfold.
On the ground-floor is the Queen’s Warehouse, with diagonal-ribbed roof. The cellars in the basement form a groined crypt, and are fire-proof j the walls are extraordinarily thick j and here are kept the wines and spirits seized by the officers of the Custom-house. The condemned articles are disposed of quarterly by auctions or ” Custom-house Sales,” at which the lots are not produced, but have been previously viewed in the Queen’s Warehouse and at the Docks.
The following is an average daily report of the principal articles passed through the Custom House, and issued to the public for consumption; and to arrive at a year’s amount these figures must be multiplied in many instances 300 times:—Anchovies, 1455 lbs.; arrow-root, 101 cwt.; cattle, 172; cocoa and coffee, 78,681 lbs.; corahs, 1042 pieces; elephants’ teeth, 395; gloves, 2237 pairs; gum, 450 packages; handkerchiefs, 791 pieces; hemp, 587 bales; hides, 780; honey, 17 cwt.; horns, 1500; indigo, 274 chests; iron, 5760 bars; isinglass, 6 cwt.; jute, 636 bales; leeches, 1802. value; lemon-peel, 20 pipes; lithographic stones, 953; manufactures, 63522. value; marble, 12 blocks; molasses, 1176 cwt.; nutmegs, 414 lbs.; oil, 546 packages; oil, scented, 810 lbs.; onions, 800 bushels; pepper, 11,832 lbs.; quicksilver, 4039 bottles; rags, 67 bales; rice, 215 cwt.: sago, 70 cwt.; sheep, 65; silk, 382 bales; spelter, 638 cakes; spirits, 19,875 gallons; sugar, 11,151 cwt.; tallow, 327 cwt.; tea, 89,742 lbs.; timber, 1900 loads; tobacco, 14,143 lbs.; whale-fins, 279 bundles; wine, 10,765 gallons; wool, 354 bales. Warehoused in one day: anchovies, 250 barrels; butter, 539 casks; coffee, 2650 bags; cork,19 bales; hams, 600; manufactures, 163 packages; marble mortars, 50; mats, 1000; raisins,750 drums; rice,581 bugs; rum, 111 casks; spirits, 554 cases or casks; sugar, 1345 packages; tallow, 191 packages; tobacco,990 packages; tin, 1075 slabs; timber, 12,635 deals and pieces; wine, 896 cases or casks.
The present is the fifth Custom-house built nearly upon the same site. The first was erected by John Churchman, Sheriff of London in 13S5. (Stoic) The second was built in the reign of Elizabeth, and appears in the 1543 View of London with several high-pitched gables and a water-gate : it was burnt in the Great Fire of 1666. It was rebuilt by Wren, at a cost of 10,0002″. ; and this third House was consumed by fire in 1718, and was the only one of Wren’s buildings that in his long life was destroyed. Wren’s Custom-house was replaced by Ripley, who introduced the ” Long Room,” and’ embellished the river front with Ionic columns, pediments, and a Tuscan colonnade: this fourth House was burnt in 1814.
The taxes levied on imported and exported commodities having been repeatedly altered, to meet the necessities of the State, or serve political purposes, their amount at different periods is not of tself a correct test of the increase of trade. In 1613, the date of one of the earliest notices preserved, the Customs duties collected in London amounted to 109,5722., being nearly thrice as much as was collected in all the rest of the kingdom (England), the whole Customs duties then amounting to 143,0752. There are now no heaps of money at the Custom-house such as excited Tallard’s admiration. The duties are paid into the Receiver-General’s Office in the Custom-house, and almost invariably in paper, so that only very small sums of metallic money pass in collecting the twenty
The value of the Exports and Imports at the Port of London in 1700 was about 10,000,0002.; in 1794 the amount increased to 31,000,0002. London is distinguished among the ports of the world by the enormous quantity and value of its imports, rather than of its exports, yet the value of the exports alone reached, in 1S64, to above 36,000,0002. The gross Customs revenue of the United Kingdom ir£ 1864 was 22,498,2102., of which London contributed 11,491,4122. Thus, the London Customs Duties are nearly double the amount levied at all the other ports of England put together, and more than double the amount taken in all Scotland and Ireland.