Francesco Mille. The composition is fine, and this is one of his
richest pictures.
A piece of ruins, by Viviano, about the same size.
A piece of ruins, by Ghisolfi, with a man sitting by the side of the
Tiber.
A sea calm with English yachts, by William Vandevelde. The keeping,
the figures, and the water, are uncommonly fine in this picture.
A canal with boats on it, and a bridge at the end, with buildings on
each side, by Canaletti. This picture, for the fineness of the water,
and the justness of the perspective, is allowed to be one of the very
finest of this master.
A landskip with figures, fishing, &c. by Zuccharelli, about 2 feet 9
inches wide. This picture from the fineness of the figures, and the
uncommon richness of the colouring, has been always deemed at least
equal to any thing this great master ever painted.
A holy family, with a little St. John sitting on a lamb, by
Scarcellini de Ferrara, after a design of Augustine Caracci; it is a
small picture, but the characters and colouring are remarkably sweet
in it.
A very masterly sketch of the miraculous cross of St. Antonio de
Padua, by Seb. Ricci. This at a little distance, has all the effect of
a finish’d picture.
Christ and the two disciples at Emaus, by Elsheimer. The story is
finely told, and there is great expression in the figures: this
picture is a curiosity, not only from the great scarceness of the
works of this master, but there are in it two different candle lights,
and a moon light, which have an uncommon, and yet pleasing effect.
The Virgin supporting a dead Christ, by Lubin Baugin, called in
France, Le Petit Guide, from his happy manner of imitating the stile
of that great master, of which this little picture, among others, is a
proof: this was out of the Duke de Tallard’s collection.
A sea monster swimming away with a woman, by Albert Durer, who has
engraved a print of the same subject: this is extremely well
preserved, and there is a much better keeping observed in it than is
usual in pictures of that age.
A camelion with a thistle and flies, most exquisitely painted after
the life, by Van Aelst.
A group of various flowers with insects in a glass of water, by a
master who has mark’d the picture with [Albrecht Durer’s mark] This in
point of finishing, is perhaps carried as high as art, colours, and
the finest pointed pencils can possibly arrive.
A man sitting smoaking, and other back figures, by David Teniers. This
is in his finest stile, both for colouring and expression.
Two men with a little dog going to enter a cottage; a smaller picture
by the same master. Mr. Major has engraved a print from this, and
call’d it the Friendly Invitation.
There are other smaller pictures, good in their kind, such as the
Virgin and Child, by Rottenhammer, highly finished and coloured.
The same subject, the school of Caracci, if not of him.
The Virgin and Child with a bird, and a little St. John, by Sebastian
Bourdon, richer coloured than common of this master.
A holy family and St. Catherine, by Schidoni.
An angel drawing an arrow from the side of St. Sebastian, finely
coloured by Gerrard Seghers.
Alpheus and Arethusa, Glaucus and Scylla, by Filippo Lauri, in his
best manner.
A ship on fire, by Vandevelde: the effect surprizingly fine.
A landskip, by Wynants, highly finish’d, &c.
The same Gentleman has also a collection of about twelve thousand
prints, engraved and etched by the most celebrated masters of the
three last centuries, much the greatest part of which are not only in
the highest preservation, but also of the finest impressions; and of
many of the matters, there are either all, or very near the whole
work; they are contained in about 50 large volumes, besides above 60
volumes in sculpture and architecture. The principal part of this
collection of prints are engraved and etched by Andrea Mantegna, Marco
Antonio Raimondi, Ugo da Carpi, Silvestra and Marco de Ravenna, Julio
Bonafoni, Augustino Venetiana, Martinus Rota, Adamo of Mantua, Andrea
del Sarto, Parmegiano, Primaticcio, Schidoni, Sisto Badalocchi,
Baroccio, Carnillo Procaccino, Michael Angelo Caravaggio, Guercino,
Spagnoletto, Paulo Veronese, Palma, Giulio Carpioni, Domenico Canuti,
Odoardo Fialetti, Paulo Farinati, Ventura Salembeni, all the
Caracci’s, Battista Franco, Guido Rheni, Simone Cantarini, Elisabetta
Sirani, Claude Lorrain, Gaspar Poussin, Crescentio, Horizonti,
Francesco Bolognese, Paul Brill, Both of Italy, Salvator Rosa, Pietro
Testa, Castiglione, Bourgognone, Carlo Maratti, Luca Jordano, Rubens,
Vandyck, and others, after him the whole work, Jordaens Rombouts,
Cornelius de Wael, Vosterman, Martinus Secu, Albert Durer, Lucas Van
Leiden, Hisbin, Geo. Pens, the Visschers, Rembrant near the whole
work, Ostade, David Teneirs, Both, Bega, Berchem, Paul Potter, Stoop,
Ad. Vandevelde, Bamboccio, Hondius, Fyt, Jean Miele, Molenaer, Hollar,
Bloemart, Sebastian Bourdon, Le Brun, La Hyre, Mignard, Della Bella,
Callot, Mellan, Spierre, Perelle, Coypel, Pittau, Morin, Edelinck,
Masson, Drevet, Nanteuil, and many other excellent masters: also a
very considerable collection of original drawings by most of the
greatest Italian, and some of the best Flemish and Dutch masters.
BERKLEY _street_, Hyde park road; thus called from its being near the
Lord Berkley of Stratton’s mansion house.
BERMEETER’S ALMSHOUSE, in St. John street Bethnal green, was founded by
Mr. Bermeeter, for six poor women, and by him endowed with 30_l._ _per
annum_.
BERMONDSEY SCHOOL, was founded in the year 1718, by Mr. Josiah Bacon,
who bequeatheth the sum of 700_l._ for purchasing land, and erecting a
school upon it, which he endowed with 150_l._ a year, for educating
sixty poor children of the parish of St. Mary Bermondsey street,
called by corruption Barnaby street. See _St._ MARY MAGDALEN’S
BERMONDSEY.
The district of Bermondsey appears in William the Conqueror’s survey
to have been a royal manor, in which were twenty five husbandmen, and
twenty-three cottagers. _Maitland._
BERNARD’S or BARNARD’S INN, situated on the south side of Holborn, near
Fetter lane, was anciently called Mackworth’s Inn, and is one of the
Inns of Chancery. This Society consists of a Principal and twelve
Antients, besides other members, who are obliged to be in commons a
fortnight in two terms, and ten days in each of the other two, on the
penalty of forfeiting five shillings a week.
BERRY _court_. 1. Liquorpond street.†. 2. Love lane, Wood street,
Cheapside.† 3. St. Mary Ax.
BERRY _street_. 1. Piccadilly.† 2. Near St. Mary Ax, Leadenhall street.†
BERWICK _street_, Old Soho.
BETHLEHEM _court_, Old Bethlehem.†
BETHLEM, or BEDLAM HOSPITAL, originally a priory, was founded in the
year 1247, by Simon Fitzroy, of London, or according to Stow, Simon
Fitz Mary, Sheriff of London, on the east side of the place now called
the quarters of Moorfields, and of the burial ground of Old Bethlem.
This priory consisted of brothers and sisters, who wore a star upon
their copes and mantles, probably in commemoration of the star that
guided the wisemen in their visit to our Saviour at his birth; and
these monks were to receive the Bishop and the Canons of Bethlehem,
whenever they should come to England. But King Henry VIII. giving this
house to the city of London, it was converted into an hospital for the
cure of lunatics; but not without a certain weekly expence, paid
either by their relations or the parish.
This hospital being, however, in an incommodious situation, and
becoming both ruinous, and unable to receive and entertain the great
number of distracted persons, whose friends sued for their admission,
the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, granted the Governors a
piece of ground along the south side of the lower quarters of
Moorfields, upon which the foundation of the present hospital was laid
in April 1675, and notwithstanding its being the most magnificent
edifice of its kind in Europe, was only fifteen months in erecting, as
appears by an inscription on its front.
This noble edifice is 540 feet in length, and 40 feet in breadth, and
is finely situated. The middle and ends, which project a little, are
adorned with pilasters, entablatures, foliages, and other ornaments,
and rising above the rest of the building, have each a flat roof with
a handsome balustrade of stone, in the center of which is an elegant
turret. That in the middle is adorned with a clock, and three dials, a
gilt ball, and a vane on the top.
[Illustration: S. Wale del. B. Green sculp. _Bethlem._]
[Illustration: S. Wale del. B. Green sculp. _London Bridge._]
This building upon the whole shews more the good intentions, than the
good taste of the founders of this charity, the style of architecture
being very improper for an hospital for madmen. Simplicity and
regularity was all that should have been aimed at, and if there was a
necessity for pilasters, those of the Tuscan order would have suited
the design much better than Corinthian; but without regarding the
application, the middle pavilion, which is elegant, should have
certainly been larger and more principal. The entrance is grand, and
the figures on the piers, one representing raving, and the other
melancholy madness, are finely expressed, and do honour to their
author Mr. Cibber, father of the late Poet Laureat. Since the first
erecting of this edifice, two wings have been added, in order to
contain a number of incurables. And before this fabric is a handsome
wall 680 feet in length, which, like the structure itself, is built
with brick and stone. It incloses a range of gardens neatly adorned
with walks of broad stone, grass plats and trees, wherein those of the
lunatics who are well enough to be suffered to go about, are allowed
to walk there and enjoy the benefit of the fresh air. In the middle of
this wall is a large pair of fine iron gates, and by them a small
entrance for the admission of those who come out of curiosity to visit
this hospital; on each side towards the top of these gates are placed
the two statues, in the manner represented in the print.
The expence of erecting this edifice, besides that of building the
wings, amounted to near 17,000_l._
The inside chiefly consists of two galleries one over the other, which
cross the wings, and are 193 yards long, thirteen feet high, and
sixteen feet broad; without including the cells for the patients,
which are twelve feet deep. These galleries are divided in the middle
by two iron grates, by which means all the men are placed at one end
of the house, and all the women at the other, and in each gallery
servants lie, to be ready at hand on all occasions. In the middle of
the upper gallery is a large spacious room, where the Governors, and,
in the lower, where the weekly Committee meet, and the Physician
prescribes for the patients; besides, above there are convenient
apartments for the steward of the house, the porter, matron, nurse and
servants; and below stairs all necessary offices for keeping and
dressing the provisions; for washing, and other necessary offices
belonging to so large a family; and also a bathing place for the
patients, so contrived, as to be an hot or cold bath, as occasion
requires.
[Illustration: _S. Wale delin._ _C. Grignion sc._ _Figures on Bethlem
Gate_]
There are generally above 200 lunatics maintained in this hospital,
each of whom has a small room or cell to himself, where he is locked
up on nights, and in this room is a place for a bed; but where the
patients are so senseless as not to be fit to make use of one, they
are every day provided with fresh clean straw. Those are judged the
fittest objects that are raving and furious, and yet capable of cure.
As to the method of admitting them, they are brought on Saturday, when
the Committee meets, to be viewed by them and the Physician; and if a
person be judged a fit object, a warrant is drawn up for his admission
by the clerk of the hospital, to be signed by the President, or, in
his absence, by the Treasurer. Those who put in the patient are
obliged to give a bond, signed by two persons, to take him away when
discharged, or if he dies, to be at the expence of burying him. Their
friends, who put them in, are obliged to provide them with cloaths;
but there is a wardrobe from whence they are supplied, when neglected
by those friends: for though, when raving and furious, they suffer but
little from the weather; yet in their intervals, they frequently
contract other distempers, care of which is also taken, as well as of
their lunacy, whether those distempers be external or internal; and
though formerly every patient paid 5_s._ a week, they now not only pay
nothing, but after their recovery and leaving the hospital, are
furnished with medicines to prevent a relapse. When a patient is
cured, he is called before a Committee of the Governors and
Physicians, who examine him, and being found fit to be discharged, the
Physician gives a certificate to that purpose, and then the steward of
the house takes care to have him delivered to his friends.
The hospitals of Bethlem and Bridewell being made one corporation,
they have the same President, Treasurer, Governors, Clerk, Physician,
Surgeon, and Apothecary; yet each hospital has its proper steward and
inferior officers, and a particular committee is chosen out of the
Governors for each. Out of that appointed for Bethlem, there are six
who meet every Saturday, to examine the steward’s account of expences
for the preceding week, and to sign it after it is approved; they also
view the provisions, examine the patients that are to be received or
discharged, and have the direction of other affairs belonging to this
hospital.
BETHNAL GREEN, a village near Mile End, and lately one of the hamlets of
Stepney, from which parish it was separated by an act of parliament in
the 13th year of his present Majesty’s reign. The old Roman way from
London led thro’ this hamlet, and joining the military way from the
west, passed with it to Lea Ferry at Old Ford. Within this hamlet,
Bonner, Bishop of London, had a palace, and the Trinity House have a
hospital for twenty-eight decayed seamen, who have been masters of
ships or pilots, or their widows. See TRINITY HOSPITAL.
The church built pursuant to the above act, is placed at the north
east corner of Hare street, Spitalfields, and is a neat, commodious
edifice, built with brick coped and coined with freestone; and the
tower, which is not high, is of the same materials. It is remarkable,
that though the village of itself is small, yet as part of
Spitalfields anciently belonged to that hamlet, this parish contains
1800 houses, and the parishioners are computed to amount to above
15000.
BETT’S _alley_, Anchor street.†
BETT’S _street_. 1. By Knockfergus.† 2. Ratcliff Highway.†
BEVIS _lane_, Duke’s place.
BEVIS MARKS, St. Mary Ax. Here was once a very large house with several
courts and gardens, which belonging to the Abbot of Bury in Suffolk,
was called Bury’s Marks, corruptly Bevis Marks. This house being
demolished, the ground has many houses built upon it, and among the
rest a synagogue of Jews. _Stow._
BEVIS MARKS SCHOOL, was founded in the in the year 1731, by Isaac de
Costa Villa Real, a Portuguese Jew, who also endowed it with the
annual sum of 80_l._ for cloathing and educating twenty Jew girls of
his nation.
BEWLEY’S _rents_, Holiwell court.†
BIGG’S _alley_, Thrall street, Spitalfields.†
BIGG’S or BETT’S _rents_, Rosemary lane, Tower hill.
BILL _alley_, Billiter lane.
BILLET _yard_, Billiter lane.
BILLINGSGATE, a great fish market in Thames street; which is only a
large water-gate, port, or harbour, for small vessels, laden with
fish, oranges, lemons, Spanish onions, and in summer, with Kentish
cherries; here the Gravesend boats wait to take in their fare; and
here the woodmongers and coalmen meet at about eight or nine o’clock
every morning, this being a kind of exchange for those concerned in
the coal trade.
Billingsgate is however most famous for being the greatest fish market
in England, and the only port for fish in London, which has occasioned
several acts of parliament, to prevent the fishmongers monopolizing
that considerable article of food. By these acts it is made lawful for
any person to buy fish in that market, and to sell it again in any
other market or place in the city of London, or elsewhere, by retail;
but no fishmonger, or other person, is to engross or buy more than
shall be for his own sale or use, on pain of forfeiting 20_l._ for
every such offence, and no fishmonger, or other person, is to expose
to sale any fish at Billingsgate by retail that was before bought in
the same market.
BILLINGSGATE _dock_, Thames street.
BILLINGSGATE _ward_, is situated on the side of the Thames, and is
therefore bounded by that river on the south; as it is on the east by
Tower street ward, on the west by Bridge ward, and on the north by
Langbourn ward. It contains a part of Thames street, and Little
Eastcheap, which lie in the same direction, and those leading from one
of those streets to the other, as St. Mary at hill, Love lane,
Botolph’s lane, Pudding lane, and on the other side of Little
Eastcheap, a considerable part of Rood lane, and Philpot lane. The
most remarkable buildings are the churches of St. Mary at hill, St.
Margaret Pattens, and St. George, Botolph lane; Butchers hall, and the
King’s weigh-house.
This ward is governed by an Alderman, and ten Common Council men, one
of whom is Deputy, eleven constables, six scavengers, fourteen
wardmote inquestmen, and a beadle.
The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest, serve as jurors in the
courts of Guildhall in the month of May.
BILLITER _lane_, Leadenhall street. It was anciently called Belzeter’s
lane, from its first builder and owner, which was at length corrupted
to Billiter lane. _Maitland._
BILLITER _square_, Billiter lane.
BILTON’S _alley_, Freeman’s lane, Horselydown.†
BINGLE’S _lane_, Poplar.†
BINHAM’S _yard_, near St. James’s square.†
BIRCHIN _lane_, Cornhill. Stow observes that it was anciently called
Birchover’s lane, from Birchover, the first builder and owner, and
that this name was corrupted to Birchin lane.
BIRD’S _alley_, Fashion street.†
BIRD’S _court_, Philip lane.†
BIRD’S _street_, 1. Brook’s street.† 2. Green Bank, Wapping.† 3. Orchard
street.†
BIRD’S _wharf_, White Friars stairs.†
BIRD’S _yard_, Chick lane, Smithfield.†
BIRD CAGE _alley_. 1. Anchor street.* 2. In the Borough.* 3. St.
Margaret’s Hill, Southwark.*
BIRDCATCHERS _alley_, Whitechapel.
BIRD IN HAND _alley_, Cheapside.*
BISHOP’S _court_. 1. Ailsbury street. 2. Brook’s street. 3. Chancery
lane, from the Bishop of Chichester’s house near that place. 4.
Coleman street. 5. Durham yard in the Strand. 6. Fore street. 7.
Gray’s Inn lane. 8. Little Old Bailey. 9. Lothbury. 10. Old Soho. 11.
Old street.
BISHOP’S _yard_, Charles street, Grosvenor square.
BISHOPSGATE, is situated 1440 feet north west of Aldgate. Mr. Strype
imagines that it was erected by Erkenwald Bishop of London about the
year 675, a conjecture founded only on the effigies of two Bishops
wherewith this gate was formerly adorned, and from which it might take
its name: but it is probable that it was not erected so early, since
Mr. Stow could not find it mentioned before the year 1210.
In the reign of King Henry III. the Anseatic company residing in this
city, in consideration of several privileges granted them, obliged
themselves and their successors, not only to keep this gate in repair,
but to defend it, whenever it should be attacked by an enemy: and by
this company it was rebuilt in a beautiful manner in the year 1479. On
the south side over the gateway, was placed a stone image of a Bishop
with a mitre on his head; he had a long beard, eyes sunk, and an old
mortified face, and was supposed to present St. Erkenwald. On the
north side was another Bishop with a smooth face, reaching out his
right hand to bestow his benedictions, and holding a crosier in his
left, who is thought to have been the courtly Bishop William the
Norman: this last was accompanied by two other figures in stone,
supposed to be King Alfred, and his son Eldred Earl of Mercia. The
present structure is a plain neat edifice erected in 1735. On the top
over the gateway, which is very lofty, is the city arms supported by
dragons; and on each side of the gate is a postern for the convenience
of foot passengers.
BISHOPSGATE _street_ extends from Cornhill, thro’ the gate, to Norton
Falgate, that part between the gate and Cornhill being called
Bishopsgate street within, and all without the gate, Bishopsgate
street without.
BISHOPSGATE _ward_, which takes its name from the gate, that stands
almost in its center, is bounded on the south by Langbourn ward; on
the west by Broad street ward; and Moorfields on the east by Aldgate
ward, Portsoken ward, and part of the Tower liberty; and on the north
by Shoreditch: thus this ward extends from the bars near Spital
square, on both sides of the way, (including near half of Houndsditch)
as far as the pump at the corner of St. Martin’s Outwich; and winds by
the west corner of Leadenhall, down Gracechurch street, to the south
west corner of Fenchurch street. The principal places in this ward
are, the parish churches of St. Botolph without Bishopsgate, St.
Ethelburga’s, and Great St. Helen’s; Leatherfellers hall, Gresham
college, and the London Workhouse.
This ward is under the government of an Alderman and two Deputies, one
within, and the other without the gate, six Common Council men,
thirteen wardmote inquest men, seven constables, seven scavengers, and
a beadle. The jurymen returned by the inquest men are to serve in the
several courts of Guildhall in the month of December
BISSEL’S _court_, Wapping.†
BIST’S _gardens_, in the Mint, Southwark.†
BITT _alley_, Turnmill street.
BLACK _alley_, Turnmill street.
BLACK AND WHITE _alley_. 1. Old Bailey. 2. Tower hill.
BLACK AND WHITE _court_, Old Bailey.
BLACK BELL _alley_. Petticoat lane.*
BLACK BIRD _alley_. 1. St. John’s street, Spitalfields.* 2. Spicer
street.*
BLACK BOY _alley_. 1. Chick lane.* 2. Barnaby street.* 3. Blackman
street, Southwark.* 4. Fore street, Lambeth.* 5. In the Minories.* 6.
Near Peter’s Hill, Thames street.* 7. Rosemary lane.* 8. Saltpetre
Bank.*
BLACK BOY _court_, Long Acre.*
BLACK BOY _yard_. 1. In the Minories.* 2. Saltpetre Bank.*
BLACK BULL _alley_, Petticoat lane, Whitechapel.*
BLACK BULL _yard_, Whitechapel.*
BLACKBURN’S _alley_, Rotherhith wall.†
BLACKBURN’S _court_, Portpool lane.†
BLACKBURN’S _mews_, Grosvenor street.†
BLACK DOG _alley_. 1. Bowling alley, Dean’s yard, Westminster.* 2. East
Smithfield.*
BLACK DOG _yard_. 1. Near Vauxhall.* 2. Shoreditch.*
BLACK EAGLE _court_, Whitechapel.*
BLACK EAGLE _street_, Brick lane, Spitalfields.*
BLACK EAGLE _yard_, Black Eagle street.*
BLACK FIELDS, Horselydown.