Abbey, and that venerable pile adjoining to it, called Henry the
Seventh’s chapel; we have mentioned and described the monuments in
both that are worthy of notice, and we shall conclude this article
with the following reflections, extracted from an ingenious writer, on
this subject.
“However amiable fame may be to the living, ’tis certain no
advantage to the dead, whatever dangers they have dared,
whatever toils they have undergone, whatever difficulties they
have surmounted; the grave is deaf to the voice of applause,
and the dust of the noble and vulgar sleep in the same
obscurity together. ’Tis possible the conscious spirit may
have an idea of the honour that is paid to his ashes; but ’tis
much more probable, that the prospect of this imaginary glory,
while he lived among us, was all the pleasure it ever could
afford him. I make this observation, because most monuments
are said to be erected as an honour to the dead, and the
living are supposed to be the least concerned in them: but one
man’s fame is made the foundation of another’s, in the same
manner with the gentleman’s, who ordered this sentence to be
made his epitaph; HERE LIES SIR PHILIP SIDNEY’S FRIEND. Some
there are that mention only the names of the persons whose
dust they cover, and preserve a noble silence with regard to
the hand that raised them; but even here, the dead can receive
no benefit from such disinterested affection; but the living
may profit much by so noble an example. Another thing that
displeases me is the manner of the inscriptions, which
frequently mistake the very design of engraving them, and as
frequently give the lie to themselves. To pore one’s self
blind in guessing out _Æternæ Memoriæ Sacrum_, is a jest, that
would make Heraclitus laugh; and yet most of them begin in
that pompous taste, without the least reflection that brass
and marble can’t preserve them from the tooth of Time; and if
men’s actions have not guarded their reputations, the proudest
monument would flatter in vain. Sepulchral monuments should be
always considered as the last public tribute paid to virtue;
as a proof of our regard for noble characters, and most
particularly as an excitement to others to emulate the great
example.
“It is certain there is not a nobler amusement, than a walk
in Westminster Abbey, among the tombs of heroes, patriots,
poets, and philosophers; you are surrounded with the shades
of your great forefathers; you feel the influence of their
venerable society, and grow fond of fame and virtue in the
contemplation: ’tis the finest school of morality, and the
most beautiful flatterer of imagination in nature. I appeal
to any man’s mind that has any taste for what is sublime and
noble, for a witness to the pleasure he experiences on this
occasion; and I dare believe he will acknowledge, that there
is no entertainment so various, or so instructive. For my
own part, I have spent many an hour of pleasing melancholy
in its venerable walks; and have been more delighted with
the solemn conversation of the dead, than the most sprightly
sallies of the living. I have examined the characters that
were inscribed before me, and distinguished every particular
virtue. The monuments of real fame, I have viewed with real
respect; but the piles that wanted a character to excuse
them, I considered as the monuments of folly. I have
wandered with pleasure into the most gloomy recesses of this
last resort of grandeur, to contemplate human life, and
trace mankind thro’ all the wilderness of their frailties
and misfortunes, from their cradles to their grave. I have
reflected on the shortness of our duration here, and that I
was but one of the millions who had been employed in the
same manner, in ruminating on the trophies of mortality
before me; that I must moulder to dust in the same manner,
and quit the scene to a new generation, without leaving the
shadow of my existence behind me; that this huge fabric,
this sacred repository of fame and grandeur, would only be
the stage for the same performances; would receive new
accessions of noble dust; would be adorned with other
sepulchres of cost and magnificence; would be crouded with
successive admirers; and at last, by the unavoidable decays
of time, bury the whole collection of antiquities in general
obscurity, and be the monument of its own ruin.”
ABBOTS LANGLEY, a village in Hertfordshire, situated to the east of
Kings Langley, and three or four miles to the S. W. of St. Alban’s, to
whose abbey it once belonged. It is famous for being the birth place
of Nicholas Breakspeare, who was made Pope by the title of Adrian IV.
and had his stirrup held by the Emperor Frederic while he dismounted:
but notwithstanding his pride, it is a still more indelible stain to
his memory, that when Sovereign Pontiff, he suffer’d his mother to be
maintained by the alms of the church of Canterbury. This place gives
the title of Baron to the Lord Raymond, who has a seat in this
neighbourhood.
ABBS COURT, in the parish of Walton upon Thames in Surrey. The Lord of
this Manor, which is also called APS, used formerly upon All-Saints
Day to give a barrel of beer, and a quarter of corn baked into loaves,
to as many poor as came. This charity was begun in the days of Popery,
in order, as ’tis supposed, to encourage the prayers for deliverance
of souls out of purgatory.
ABCHURCH _lane_, 1. Gracechurch street.☐ 2.Lombard street.☐ See _St._
Mary Abchurch.
ABEL _court_, Rosemary lane.
ABEL’S _buildings_, Rosemary lane.†
ABINGDON _buildings_, Old Palace yard.
ABINGDON _street_, near Old Palace yard.
ACADEMY _court_, Chancery lane.
Acorn _alley_, Bishopsgate street, without.*
ACORN _court_, Bishopsgate street, without.*
ACTON (EAST) a village six miles from London, a little to the north of
the Oxford Road, noted for the medicinal wells near it, which are
frequented in the summer months.
ACTON (WEST) a village in the road to Oxford, situated seven miles from
London.
ADAM-A-DIGGING _yard_, Peter street, Westminster.*
ADAM AND EVE _alley_, 1. Barnaby street.* 2. by West Smithfield.*
ADAM AND EVE _court_, 1. Oxford street.* 2. Tottenham court road.* 3.
West Smithfield.* 4. Hatchet alley, Whitechapel. 5. Petticoat lane.*
ADAM AND EVE _yard_, 1. Homerton.* 2. Ratcliff highway.*
ADAM’S _court_, 1. Little Broad street.† 2. Pig street.† 3. Sharp’s
buildings, Duke’s place.† 4. Near Swan’s close.†
ADAM’S _mews_, 1. Audley street.† 2. Charles street near Mount street.†
ADAM’S _yard_, Hockley in the Hole. †
ADDINGTON, a village in Surrey, three miles from Croydon, situated at
the descent of a high spacious common to which it gives name. Its
church, though said to be above 300 years old, is still very firm. But
what is most remarkable, is, that the Lord of the Manor held it in the
reign of Henry III. by the service of making his Majesty a mess of
pottage in an earthen pot in the King’s kitchen at his coronation; and
so late as the coronation of King Charles II. Thomas Leigh, Esq; then
Lord of the Manor, made a mess according to his tenure, and brought it
to his Majesty’s table, when that King accepted of his service, though
he did not taste what he had prepared.
ADDISON’S _yard_, Peter street, Westminster. †
ADDLE _hill_, Great Carter lane, Thames street.
ADDLE _street_, Wood street, Cheapside.
ADMIRALTY _court_. This court, which is held in Doctors Commons, was
formerly under the direction of the Lord High Admiral, as it is now
under the Lords of the Admiralty, who here take cognisance of all
causes relating to merchants and mariners. The proceedings are in the
Civil Law. The plaintiff gives security to prosecute, and if cast, to
pay what shall be adjudged, and likewise to stand to all his proctor
shall transact in his name. But in criminal cases, as the trial of
pirates, and crimes committed at sea, the process, by a special
commission, is by a judge, jury and witnesses, a Judge of the Common
Law assisting: on which occasion the court is commonly held at the
Session-house in the Old Bailey. The officers of this court are the
Judge of the Admiralty, who must be a Civilian, an Advocate and
Proctor, a Register, and a Marshal, who carries a silver oar before
the Judge.
[Illustration: _S. Wale delin._ _J. Green sc. Oxon._ _Admiralty_]
ADMIRALTY _office_, an edifice built with brick and stone, on the west
side of the street, opposite to Scotland yard. The east front, which
is that represented in the print, has two deep wings, and is entered
by a very lofty portico supported by four very large stone columns of
the Ionic Order, to which there is an ascent by a few steps.
The importance of this building is what recommends it to notice. The
portico, which was intended as an ornament, rather disgusts than
pleases, by the immoderate height and ill shape of the columns.
In this office are transacted all martime affairs belonging to the
jurisdiction of the Admiralty, who here regulate the affairs of the
navy; nominate Admirals, Captains, and other officers to serve on
board his Majesty’s ships of war, and give orders for the trial of
those who have failed in their duty, or been guilty of other
irregularities.
ADMIRALTY _office yard_, Whitehall.☐
ADSCOMB, in Surrey near Croydon, is the seat of William Draper, Esq; the
paintings and furniture of which are fine.
ADVOCATES _of Doctors Commons_. See DOCTORS COMMONS.
AFFIDAVIT _office_, in Symond’s inn. This office belongs to the Masters
in Chancery, where one or more of them constantly attend to take
affidavits, and there all affidavits belonging to the Court of
Chancery are filed.
AFRICAN COMPANY. The English first sent ships to Africa on account of
commerce about the year 1553, from which time the trade to that
country was carried on by private hands till 1588, when Queen
Elizabeth, by her letters patent, erected a company, for the more
effectual promoting of that trade, which then was only for gold,
elephants teeth, and Guinea pepper; for the use of negroes was not yet
introduced into America.
This company was greatly encouraged during the reigns of James I. and
Charles I. but the Dutch taking several forts on the coast of Africa
from the Portuguese, committed great depredations on the English, upon
which Charles II. the better to enable his subjects to carry on that
trade, incorporated a body of merchants, in the year 1662, by the
title of _The Company of Royal Adventurers of England to Africa_: but
the subscriptions for carrying on this precarious commerce not
answering the expectation of the incorporated merchants, they were
soon involved in debt, and reduced to such difficulties as rendered
them unable to continue their trade to advantage; wherefore they
agreed for a certain sum, to surrender their charter to the crown, and
to assign all their estates and effects both at home and abroad to
certain merchants, who intended to erect a new company, for the more
effectual carrying on a trade to Africa: these merchants the King
incorporated in the year 1672, and these were the Royal African
company, who had a power to trade from the port of Sallee, to the Cape
of Good Hope, exclusive of all the King’s other subjects, during the
term of a thousand years.
By virtue of this royal grant, the company made a considerable
progress in erecting forts, and settling factors: but their trade
being laid open by parliament in the year 1697, they were rendered
unable to support their forts, it was therefore enacted, that all
private traders to Africa should pay ten _per cent._ to the company
for that purpose.
This duty did not however answer the end for which it was granted, and
the company was obliged to apply to parliament in the year 1730 for
relief, when they obtained a certain sum for that purpose, and it was
enacted that all his Majesty’s subjects treading to and from Africa,
between Cape Blanco and the Cape of Good Hope, should hereafter be
deemed a body corporate, and that all the countries, islands, rivers
and places, together with the forts, should be in the possession of
this new company; the members of which should not trade to or from
Africa in their joint capacity, have any joint or transferable stock,
or borrow money on their common seal. That the persons trading or
intending to trade to Africa, should pay to the Chamberlain of London,
the Clerk of the Merchants-hall in Bristol, or the Town Clerk of
Liverpool, 40_s._ each for the freedom of the new company. That the
management of the affairs of this new company, should be under the
direction of a committee of nine persons, to be chosen annually, three
out of the members in the city of London, three out of those of
Bristol, and three out of those of Liverpool. That this committee
should have power to make orders for the government and improvement of
the forts and factories; to appoint governors, and other officers
civil and military; to receive annually the sum of 40_s._ and to take
a list of the names of all the persons making payment.
It is also enacted, that the committee shall once a year give an
account of all their transactions to the Commissioners for trade and
plantations, and likewise lay before the Cursitor Baron of the
Exchequer, an account, upon oath, of all the money they have received
within the preceding year, and the application thereof; and the Lords
of the Admiralty are to give instructions to the Captains of such of
his Majesty’s ships of war as shall be stationed or ordered to cruize
within the above limits, to inspect, and make report to them from time
to time of the state of the forts and settlements, copies of which are
to be laid before the parliament every sessions.
This is the state at present of this company, who keep their office in
Cooper’s court, Cornhill.
AGNES _court_, Little George street.
_St._ AGNES LE CLARE _fields_, near Hoxton, so called from a spring of
water dedicated to that Saint, and now converted into a cold bath.
AILSBURY _court_, George street.
AILSBURY _street_, 1. By Jermyn street. 2. St. John’s street,
Clerkenwell green.
AINGER _street_, York street.†
AIR _street_, 1. Piccadilly.† 2. By Mary la bone.† 3. Leather lane.†
AKERSLEY _yard_, Great St. Anne’s street.†
ALAM _yard_, Crutched Friars.
_St._ ALBAN’S, a large and very ancient town in Hertfordshire, 21 miles
from London, was so called from St. Alban, who suffered in the
persecution under Dioclesian, and being afterwards canonized, and
interred on a hill in the neighbourhood of this town, a monastery was
erected and dedicated to him by King Offa. King Edward I. erected a
magnificent cross in memory of Queen Eleanor; and King Edward VI.
incorporated this town by a charter, granting the inhabitants a Mayor,
a Steward, a Chamberlain, and ten Burgesses: but the Mayor and Steward
are here the only Justices of peace. Here are three churches, besides
the ancient cathedral called St. Alban’s, belonging to the monastery,
which is now a parish church.
In this ancient edifice is a funeral monument and effigies of King
Offa, its founder, who is represented seated on his throne; and
underneath is the following inscription:
Fundator Ecclesiæ circa annum 793.
Quem male depictum, et residentem cernitis alte
Sublimem solio, MERCIUS OFFA fuit.
That is,
_The founder of the church, about the year 793.
Whom you behold ill-painted on his throne
Sublime, was once for_ MERCIAN OFFA _known._
On the east side stood the shrine of St. Alban, where the following
short inscription is still to be seen;
S. ALBANUS VEROLAMENSIS, ANGLORUM PROTOMARTYR, 17 Junii 293.
In the south isle near the above shrine is the monument of Humphry,
brother to King Henry V. commonly distinguished by the title of the
Good Duke of Gloucester. It is adorned with a ducal coronet, and the
arms of France and England quartered. In niches on one side are
seventeen Kings; but in the niches on the other side there are no
statues remaining. The inscription, which alludes to the pretended
miraculous cure of a blind man detected by the Duke, is as follows:
Piæ Memoriæ V. Opt. Sacrum.
Hic jacet HUMPHREDUS, Dux ille Glocestrius olim,
HENRICI Sexti protector, fraudis ineptæ
Detector, dum ficta notat miracula cœci.
Lumen erat patriæ, columen venerabile regni,
Pacis amans, Musisque favens melioribus; unde
Gratum opus Oxonio, quæ nunc schola sacra refulget.
Invida sed mulier regno, regi, sibi nequam,
Abstulit hunc, humili vix hoc dignata sepulcro.
Invidia rumpente tamen, post funera vivit.
Which has been thus translated:
_Sacred to the memory of the best of men._
Interr’d within this consecrated ground,
Lies he, whom HENRY his protector found:
Good HUMPHRY, Gloc’ster’s Duke, who well could spy
Fraud couch’d within the blind impostor’s eye.
His country’s light, the state’s rever’d support,
Who peace and rising learning deigned to court;
Whence his rich library at Oxford plac’d,
Her ample schools with sacred influence grac’d:
Yet fell beneath an envious woman’s wile,
Both to herself, her King, and country vile;
Who scarce allowed his bones this spot of land:
Yet spite of envy shall his glory stand.
About 40 years ago in digging a grave, a pair of stairs were
discovered that lead down into a vault where his leaden coffin was
found, in which his body was preserved entire, by a kind of pickle in
which it lay, only the flesh was wasted from the legs, the pickle at
that end being dried up. Many curious medals and coins are to be seen
in the church, that have been dug out of the ruins of Old Verulam that
stood on the other side of the river Ver, or Moore, which runs south
west of the town.
Near St. Alban’s is a fort, at a place called by the common people the
Oyster Hills, which is supposed to have been the camp of Ostorius, the
Roman Proprætor. This town is the largest in the county, and besides
the four churches, has several meeting-houses, two charity schools,
and three fairs, and has on Saturday one of the best markets for wheat
in England. It gives the title of Duke to the noble family of
Beauclerc. The great John Duke of Marlborough erected a seat here,
called Holloway-house, and several neat alms-houses have been built
here by him and his Duchess.
_St._ ALBAN’S, _Wood street_, on the north side of London, and the east
side of Wood street, Cheapside, is dedicated to St. Alban, the British
Proto-Martyr, who suffered under the persecution of Dioclesian. The
first church in this place was erected in the year 930, and dedicated
to the same Saint. After various repairs, the old church was pulled
down in 1634, and another erected, which was destroyed by the fire of
London thirty-two years after, when the present edifice was built from
the same model as the former. It is entirely in the Gothic stile, and
consists of a spacious body, and a handsome tower with pinacles.
This church is a rectory in the patronage of Eton College, and the
parish of St. Olave, Silver street, is united to it. The Rector,
besides other advantages, receives 170_l._ in lieu of tithes.
Munday in his edition of Stow mentions several uncommon epitaphs in
this church, from which we have only selected the following:
Hic jacet Tom Shorthose,
Sine tombe, sine sheet, sine riches,
Qui vixit sine gowne,
Sine cloake, sine shirt, sine breeches.
_St._ ALBAN’S _street_, Pall-mall.
ALBEMARLE _buildings_, Bond street, so called from the Duke of
Albemarle, who bought the Earl of Clarendon’s seat, which stood here,
and afterwards selling the house and gardens, they were laid out into
streets, whence arose this and the two following streets.
ALBEMARLE _mews_, Dover street.
ALBEMARLE _street_. 1. Piccadilly, 2. St. John’s street, West
Smithfield.†
In the possession of Richard Mead, Esq; in Albemarle street, is a book
bought out of the collection of the famous Cardinal Maximi at Rome; it
contain 148 accurate and elegant paintings in water colours, done from
ancient pictures found on the walls, ceilings and floors of the baths
of Titus, and various other buildings in Rome, some of which have been
engraved by Bartoli in his _Sepolchri di Nassoni_, and in other books:
but many of them are to be seen no where else, neither engraved, nor
on the walls from whence they were first copied, where they are much
defaced by the weather, the smoke of torches, and other accidents.
Of these ancient paintings on wall, Mr. Mead has also a very elegant
little specimen representing Augustus restoring a crown to a conquered
Prince in the presence of several of his courtiers, among which the
faces of Mecænas and Horace may be distinguished.—This has been
engraved and explained by Turnbull.
An ancient Greek inscription, being eight lines of Hexameter and
Pentameter verses on a marble brought from Asia, which had been a
pedestal to a statue of Jupiter Urius. This has been engraved and
explained by the learned Mr. Chishul in his _Antiquitates Asiaticæ_.
ALCOCK’S _rents_, Barnaby street.†
ALDERMANBURY, Cateaton street. This street was thus named from the
Guildhall being anciently situated there, till falling to decay, the
present hall was built at the end of King street, about the year 1420.
The old hall must have been very ancient, as this street had the name
of Aldermanbury so early as before the year 1189; and Mr. Maitland
supposes that Edward the Confessor, who began his reign in 1042, had a
considerable share in its first foundation.
ALDERMANBURY _Postern_, London wall.
ALDERMAN PARSONS’S _stairs_, St. Catharine’s.†
ALDERMAN’S _walk_, Bishopsgate street.
ALDERMEN. These are twenty-six in number, and each has his separate
ward, to the government of which he is more immediately to attend.
Those who have served the office of Lord Mayor, are said to be above
the chair, and with three of the eldest that are next it, are justices
of the peace by charter. All the Aldermen keep their wardmote for
chusing ward officers, and settling the affairs of the ward; for
redressing grievances, and presenting all defaults found in the ward.
In the management of these affairs, every Alderman has his deputy,
chosen out of the common council, and in some of the wards, that are
very large, the Alderman has two deputies.
ALDERSGATE, which is situated 1265 feet south west of Cripplegate, is,
in Stow’s opinion, one of the original gates of the city; but this is
disputed by Maitland, who observes, that the epithet of Alder does not
necessarily imply its antiquity, as some derive the name of the gate
from Aldrich, a Saxon; others from the seniors or old men by whom it
was built; and others from the great number of alder trees, which grew
in that neighbourhood; whence he imagines that either of these
opinions is more probable, than that this name was conferred upon it
on account of its age, particularly as it is no where found to be
mentioned before the conquest.
The present gate was built in the year 1616, and being much damaged by
the fire of London, was repaired in 1670. In a large square over the
arch is King James I. on horseback, in the same posture as when he
made his entry through this gate, on his coming to take possession of
the crown. The arms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, are quartered
above his head. In a nich on the east side is the prophet Jeremiah,
with the words of the 25th verse of the 17th chapter of his book; and
in a nich on the west side stands the prophet Samuel, with the first
verse of the 12th chap. of 1 Sam. On the south side is King James I.
in his royal robes, sitting in a chair of state, done in relief. By
the sides of the gate there are two posterns for the convenience of
foot passengers: and the apartments above are appropriated to the use
of the common crier of the city.
A late author observes, that this gate is so heavy and Gothic a
structure, that it hardly deserves notice, unless for the sake of the
bass relief of King James, which, though in an aukward and inelegant
taste, is a very tolerable piece of workmanship, and may challenge
some applause.
ALDERSGATE _bars_, in Goswell street, a little beyond the north end of
Aldersgate street, where the liberties of the city end on that side.
ALDERSGATE _street_, extends from the gate to the corner of Barbican.