citizen of London, bred up in the custom house. He became, in 1620, Lord
Treasurer of England. The Duke of Dorset is descended from Frances,
sister and heir of the third Earl of Middlesex, married to Richard, Earl
of Dorset.
The noble family of INGRAM, Viscount Irwin, was raised in the reign of
queen Elizabeth, by Hugh Irwin, citizen, merchant, and tallow-chandler,
who died in 1612. He left a large fortune between two sons; of whom Sir
Arthur, the younger, settled in Yorkshire, and purchased a considerable
estate, the foundation of the good fortune afterwards enjoyed by the
family. The present Marchioness of Hertford is the representative of the
Ingrams, being the daughter and co-heir of the last Viscount Irwin.
Sir STEPHEN BROWN, son of John Brown, of Newcastle, Lord Mayor of
London, in 1438, and again in 1448, was a grocer, and added another
peer, in the person of Sir Anthony Brown, created Viscount Montagu, by
Philip and Mary, in 1554.
The LEGGES rose to be Earls of Dartmouth.—The first who was raised to
the peerage was that loyal and gallant naval officer, George Legge,
created Baron of Dartmouth in 1682. He was descended from an ancestor
who filled the Pretorian Chair of London in the years 1347 and 1354,
having by his industry in the trade of a skinner, attained great wealth.
Sir GEOFFREY BULLEN, Lord Mayor in 1458, was grandfather of Thomas, Earl
of Wiltshire, father of Anna Bullen, and grandfather of queen Elizabeth,
the highest genealogical honour the city of London ever possessed.
Sir BAPTIST HICKS was a great mercer at the accession of James the
first, and made a large fortune, by supplying the court with silks. He
was first knighted, and afterwards created Viscount Campden. It is said
he left his two daughters one hundred thousand pounds each. He built a
large house in St. John’s street, for the justices of Middlesex to hold
their sessions in, which (till its demolition a few years ago, upon the
erection of a new sessions house on Clerkenwell Green,) retained the
name of Hicks’ Hall.
The CAPELS, Earls of Essex, are descended from Sir William Capel,
draper, Lord Mayor in 1503. He first set up a cage in every ward of
London, for the punishment of idle people. It is probable that he had
his mansion on the site of the present Stock Exchange, in Capel Court,
so called after him.
MICHAEL DORMER, mercer, Mayor in 1542, was the ancestor of the Lords
Dormer.
EDWARD OSBORNE, was apprentice to Sir William Hewet, clothworker. About
the year 1536, when his master lived in one of those tremendous houses
on London bridge, a servant maid was playing with his only daughter in
her arms, in a window over the water, and accidentally dropped the
child. Young Osborne, who was witness to the misfortune, instantly
sprung into the river, and beyond all expectations brought her safe to
her terrified family. When she was marriageable, several persons of rank
paid their addresses to her, and among others the Earl of Shrewsbury;
but Sir William gratefully declined in favour of Osborne.—“OSBORNE
_saved her_,” said he, “_and_ OSBORNE _shall enjoy her_.” In her right
he possessed a most ample fortune. He became sheriff of London in 1575,
and Lord Mayor in 1583, and from his loins sprung the Dukes of Leeds.
From Sir WILLIAM CRAVEN, merchant tailor, Mayor in 1611, sprung the
gallant Earl Craven, who was his eldest son, and was greatly
distinguished by his actions in the service of the unfortunate Elector
Palatine, by his attachment to the Dowager, and his marriage with that
illustrious Princess.
Lord Viscount DUDLEY AND WARD is descended from William Ward, a wealthy
goldsmith in London, and jeweller to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles
the first. His son Humble Ward, married Frances, grand-daughter of
Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley; who, on the death of her grand-father,
became Baroness Dudley; and he himself was created in 1643, Lord Ward of
Birmingham.
LAST MOMENTS OF QUEEN CAROLINE.
A little before the Queen died she asked the physician who was in
attendance, “How long can this last?” And on his answering “Your majesty
will soon be eased of your pains;” she replied “The sooner the better!”
The queen then repeated a prayer of her own composing, in which there
was such a flow of natural eloquence, as demonstrated the vigour of a
great and good mind. When her speech began to falter, and she seemed
expiring, she desired to be raised up in her bed, and fearing that
nature would not hold out long enough without artificial support she
called to have water sprinkled upon her, and a little after desired it
might be repeated. She then with the greatest composure and presence of
mind, requested her weeping relations to kneel down and pray for her.
Whilst they were reading some prayers, she exclaimed “Pray aloud, that I
may hear,” and after the Lord’s prayer was concluded, in which she
joined as well as she was able, said “So,” and waving her hand, lay down
and expired.
THE BRITONS, ACCORDING TO THE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS.
Strabo observes in his Geography, that “the woods are their towns; for
having fenced round a wide circular space with trees hewn down, they
there place their huts, and fix stalls for their cattle; but not of long
duration. They have dwellings of a round form, constructed of poles and
wattled work, with very high pointed coverings of beams united at a
point.”
Diodorus Siculus asserts, that “they inhabit very wretched dwellings,
composed for the most part of reeds (or straw) and wood.”
Cæsar thus describes, not Londinium, but the capital of Cassivellaunus:
“The Britons call a place, a town, when they have fortified thick
impassable woods, by means of a _vallum_ and fosse, or a high bank and a
ditch; in which sort of a place they are accustomed to assemble
together, to avoid the invasion of enemies.”
Tacitus describing the strong holds, to which Caractacus resorted,
observes: “They then fortified themselves on steep mountains; and,
where-ever there was any possibility of access in any part, he
constructed a great bank of stones, like a _vallum_.”
The curious reader is referred to the first volume of King’s Munimenta
Antiqua, for prints and plans, both of the Welsh houses and fortresses,
_of which some are yet entire_ and others in ruins, in every part of
England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. No book, either in our tongue, or
in any of the European languages, is so complete and satisfactory on
this interesting and domestic subject: the prints are excellent.
Diodorus Siculus also notices that the Britons laid up their corn in
subterranean repositories, whence they used to take a portion every day;
and having bruised and dried the grain, made a kind of food from it of
immediate use. Martin in his description of the Western Isles, (p. 204.)
describes this sort of diet, and the quick mode of preparing it, as yet
continued. King, in the 48th and following pages of his first volume,
_has detected, and delineated these rude monuments of our ancestors_.
It is highly curious to trace the appearance of the persons of our
forefathers and their manners. Cæsar remarks that they painted
themselves with vitrum, or woad; and Herodian, that some of them on the
sea-coast punctured or _tattooed_[48] their bodies with figures
resembling various kinds of animals; in consequence of which they also
went without garments, that they might not cover, nor conceal, these
marks. The other natives were, in _general_, clad with skins. They had
long lank hair, but were shorn in every part of the body, except the
head and upper lip.
A wretched substitute for salt was obtained merely by pouring sea-water
on the embers of burning wood.
The Irish drank the blood of animals and even of their enemies.
King, in the latter half of the first volume, (_Munim. Ant._) gives
prints of the altars, or _Cromlechs_, yet entire, in many situations in
Ireland, the Highlands, and England, on which human victims were cruelly
murdered.
The Druids were richly clad; some of them even wore golden chains, or
collars, about their necks and arms; and had their garments dyed with
various colours, and adorned with gold. Chains also both of iron and
gold, were worn by some of the chieftains and nobler ranks. These facts
will appear so incredible, that the reader must be informed, that in
most of the tumuli, or old British graves, described by King, these
ornaments are found in our days. It is a remarkable omission in Mr.
King, that he did not quote the three verses from the fourteenth chapter
of Isaiah so descriptive of the Babylonian regal tumuli, similar to the
British: “All the kings of the nations lie down in glory, each in his
own sepulchre: To meet thee, O Sennacherib, Hades rouseth his mighty
dead: he maketh them rise up from their thrones. All of them shall
accost thee, and shall say unto thee, Art thou become weak as we? Art
thou made like unto us? Is then thy pride brought down to the grave? Is
the vermin become thy couch, and the earth-worm thy covering?”
Strabo, at the end of his third book, says, that “the Cassiterides, or
Islands of Tin, were inhabited by men dressed in black garments, in
tunics descending to the feet, a girdle around their breast; walking
erect with a staff in their hand; and permitting the beard to grow like
that of a goat. They subsist on their cattle, in general spending an
erratic pastoral life.”
Some of the common order of Britons wore, instead of the skins of
beasts, very thick coarse wrappers made of wool; a sort of blanket or
rug, fastened about the neck with a piece of sharp pointed stick. They
used also a coarse, slit, short vest, with sleeves; it barely reached
down to the knees.
As armour, the Britons had a long two-handed sword, hanging by a chain
on the right hand side; a great long wooden shield as tall as a man;
long spears; and a sort of missile wooden instrument, like a javelin,
longer than an arrow, which they darted merely by the hand: modern
writers call these two last mentioned, _Celts_, fixed on the end of
staves and sticks. Some of them used slings for stones, others had
breast plates, made of plates of iron, with hooks, or with wreathed
chains: some had helmets of different forms. Many went to battle nearly
naked, and some wound chains of iron around their necks and loins.
They generally lay and reposed themselves on the bare ground, yet most
of them ate their food sitting on seats. A very beautiful print is given
by Mr. King of their various dresses. The plaid seems to be derived from
them. The coins of the old British, which are engraven in Speed, in
Borlase’s Cornwall, in Gough’s edition of Camden’s Britannia, and in
Plot’s History of Oxfordshire, will explain these descriptions of the
classics. Even Julius Cæsar had noticed that the Britons used either
brass money, or iron circular coins reduced to a standard weight. In the
scale of civilization, therefore, the ancient Britons were as advanced
in the era of Cæsar, as the Romans themselves at the expulsion of their
kings; as the Grecians in the age of Homer; as the Mexicans at the
Spanish conquest; and as the modern Tartars.[49]
Footnote 48:
The practice of tattooing is of great antiquity, and has been common
to numerous nations in Turkey, Asia, the Southern parts of Europe, and
perhaps to a great portion of the inhabitants of the earth. It is
still retained among some of the Moorish tribes, who are, probably,
descendants of those who, formerly, were subjected to the Christians
of Africa, and who to avoid paying taxes, like the Moors, thus
imprinted crosses upon their skins, that they might pass for
Christians. This custom, which originally might serve to distinguish
tribes by their religion, or from each other, became afterwards a mode
of decoration that was habitually retained, when all remembrance of
its origin was effaced.
It may be inferred that the Canaanites and the other nations of the
East, were in the habit of tattooing their skins, because Moses,
(Levit. xix, 28.) expressly enjoins the Israelites not to imprint any
marks upon their bodies, in imitation of the heathens.
The ancient inhabitants of the British Islands, painted their skins in
various grotesque figures, with the juice of woad. This custom of
tattooing was in use both by the Britons and their first invaders, the
Belgæ, and I believe it will be found, that the warriors of all those
nations which practised tattooing, invariably threw off their garments
in the hour of battle. The name of Picts, is said, though erroneously,
to have been given by the Romans to the Caledonians, who possessed the
East coast of Scotland, from their painting their bodies. This
circumstance has made some imagine that the Picts were of British
extraction, and a different race of men from the Scots. That more of
the Britons who fled northward, from the oppression and tyranny of the
Romans, settled in the low lands of Scotland, than among the Scots of
the mountains, may be easily imagined, from the very nature of the
country. It was these people who introduced painting among the Picts,
From this circumstance, some antiquaries affirm, proceeded the name of
the latter, to distinguish them from the Scots, who never had that art
among them, and from the Britons, who discontinued the practice of
tattooing after the Roman conquest.
The inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, at this day, paint upon
their bodies various grotesque figures, for the purpose of striking
terror into their enemies, in the day of battle. J. S.
Footnote 49:
From the Classical Journal.
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS.
Among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history, one of the most
memorable is that of the Seven Sleepers, whose imaginary date
corresponds with the reign of the younger Theodosius and the conquest of
Africa by the Vandals, or sometime about the year 440. When the Emperor
Decius persecuted the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus
concealed themselves in a spacious cavern in the side of an adjacent
mountain; where they were doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave
orders that the entrance should be firmly secured with a pile of huge
stones. They immediately fell into a deep slumber, which was
miraculously prolonged, without injuring the powers of life, during a
period of one hundred and eighty seven years. At the end of that time,
the slaves of Adolius, to whom the inheritance of the mountain had
descended, removed the stones to supply materials for some rustic
edifice; the light of the sun darted into the cavern, and the Seven
Sleepers were permitted to awake. After a slumber, as they thought of a
few hours, they were pressed by the calls of hunger; and resolved that
Jamblichus, one of their number, should secretly return to the city, to
purchase bread for the use of his companions. The youth, if we may still
employ that appellation, could no longer recognise the once familiar
aspect of his native country; and his surprize was increased by the
appearance of a large cross triumphantly erected over the principal gate
of Ephesus. His singular dress and obsolete language, confounded the
baker, to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the current coin
of the empire; and Jamblichus, on the suspicion of a secret treasure,
was dragged before the judge. Their mutual enquiries produced the
amazing discovery that two centuries were almost elapsed since
Jamblichus and his friends had escaped from the rage of a Pagan tyrant.
The Bishop of Ephesus, the clergy, the magistrates, the people, and as
it is said, the Emperor Theodosius himself, hastened to visit the cavern
of the Seven Sleepers, who bestowed their benediction, related their
story, and at the same instant peaceably expired. The origin of this
marvellous fable cannot be ascribed to the pious fraud and credulity of
the _modern_ Greeks, since the authentic tradition may be traced within
half a century of the supposed miracle. James of Sarug, a Syrian bishop,
who was born only two years after the death of the younger Theodosius,
has devoted one of his two hundred and thirty homilies to the praise of
the young men of Ephesus. Their legend, before the end of the sixth
century, was translated from the Syriac into the Latin language, by the
care of Gregory of Tours. The hostile communions of the East preserve
their memory with equal reverence; and their names are honourably
inscribed in the Roman, the Abyssinian, and the Russian Calendar. Nor
has their reputation been confined to the Christian world. This popular
tale, which Mahomet might learn when he drove his camels to the fairs of
Syria, is introduced as a divine revelation, into the Koran. The story
of the Seven Sleepers has been adopted, and adorned, by the nations,
from Bengal to Africa, who profess the Mahometan religion; and some
vestiges of a similar tradition have been discovered in the remote
extremities of Scandinavia.
JOHN RAY, THE NATURALIST.
Ray was the son of a blacksmith, at Black Notley, in Essex, where he was
born in 1628. He received his education at Braintree school, at
Catharine Hall, and afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge. His
intense studies, requiring country air and exercise, occasioned his
predilection for botany; his first rambles in search of plants were
confined in extent, but subsequently diverged throughout England and
Wales; and at length passing the channel he visited many parts of
Europe. His books of instruction were the works of Johnson and
Parkinson, and the Phytologia Britannica. His friend and companion,
Francis Willoughby,[50] was a gentleman as amiable as scientific, their
souls seeming to be blended together. Ray having been ordained, did not
chuse to accept of the emoluments of the church, with which he did not
entirely unite; but just before his death, when it was too late to gain,
he became reconciled to it. Mr. Willoughby, who died in 1672, left him
an annuity of sixty pounds, but it does not appear what other property
he possessed, except his fellowship of Trinity. Though the generations
which have followed him have produced a Linnæus, a Buffon, and a
Pennant, yet Ray’s fame is too well established ever to be supplanted.
He was a wise, a learned, as well as a pious and modest man, and ever
ready to impart that knowledge which he had taken so much pains to
acquire. He died in 1705 with a devout humility that had ever
distinguished him, wishing that he had spent much more of his life in
the immediate service of his Creator. There was no task too arduous for
Ray; if Lister, a contemporary naturalist, would have gone to the bottom
of the ocean for a shell, Ray would have climbed to the extreme point of
the Alps for a new plant. In the church-yard of Black Notley, his native
place, there is a long and elegant inscription to the memory of this
great man, and in the library of Trinity College, there is a fine marble
bust of him, in company with Bacon and other splendid ornaments of that
magnificent foundation.
Footnote 50:
This eminent naturalist and excellent man, was justly admired both at
home and abroad for his virtues and knowledge in every branch of human
learning, more particularly in natural history. He was the son of Sir
Francis Willoughby, Knt. of Wollaton Hall in the county of Nottingham.
Observing in the busy and inquisitive age in which he lived, that the
history of animated nature had in a great measure been neglected, he
made the study and illustration thereof his unceasing object. For the
promotion of this branch of science he went abroad with Mr. Ray, for
the purpose of searching out and describing the several species and
productions of nature. He travelled over most parts of France, Spain,
Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, in all which countries he was so
diligent and successful, that not many sorts of animals described by
others escaped his observation. He drew them with a pencil, and they
were afterwards engraven on copper-plates, at the expense of his
widow. His labours were printed in latin under the title of
“_Ornithologiæ libri tres, &c._ London, 1676,“ folio. This work was
afterwards translated into English by Mr. Ray, with an appendix, and
printed at London, in 1678. Mr. Willoughby also wrote the “History of
Fishes,” which was published by Mr. Ray, at London, in 1686, in folio.
He likewise printed several papers in the Philosophical Transactions.
Mr. Willoughby died on the third of July, 1672, leaving issue by his
wife, Emma, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Bernard, Knt. two Sons,
Francis and Thomas, and one daughter Cassandra, married to the Duke of
Chandos. The second son Thomas was in 1712 created Lord Middleton,
from whom is descended the present peer of that title.
LONDON BANKERS, AND THEIR ORIGIN.
The company of Goldsmiths, in London, appeared as a fraternity, as early
as 1180, but it was in the reign of Edward the third, that they were
first incorporated. They became, in time, the bankers of the capital.
The _Lombards_ were the first and greatest, and most of the money
contracts, in old times, passed through their hands. Many of our
monarchs were obliged to them for money.—The three blue balls, now used
by pawnbrokers, but converted by them into golden ones, are, in reality,
the arms of the Lombards.
Lombard-street, in the metropolis, took its name from being the
residence of the Lombards, the great money-changers and usurers of early
times. They came out of Italy into this kingdom before the year 1274; at
length their extortions became so great, that Edward the third seized on
their estates; perhaps the necessity of furnishing himself with money
for his Flemish expedition, might have urged him to this step. They seem
quickly to have repaired their loss; for complaint was soon after made
against them, for persisting in their practices. They were so opulent in
the days of Henry the fourth, as to be able to furnish him with money,
but they took care to get the customs mortgaged to them, by way of
security.
They continued in Lombard-street till the reign of queen Elizabeth, and
to this day it is filled with the shops of eminent bankers. The shop of
the great Sir Thomas Gresham stood in Lombard-street; it is now occupied
by Messrs. Martin and Stone, bankers, who are still in possession of the
original sign of that illustrious person, the _Grasshopper_.
The business of goldsmiths was confined to the buying and selling of
plate, and foreign coins of gold and silver, melting them, and coining
others at the mint. The banking was accidental and foreign to their
institution.
Regular banking by private persons resulted in 1643 from the calamity of
the times, when a seditious spirit was incited by the acts of the
parliamentary leaders. The merchants and tradesmen who before trusted
their cash to their servants and apprentices found that mode no longer
safe; neither did they dare to leave it in the mint at the tower, by
reason of the distresses of majesty itself, which before was a place of
public deposit. In the year 1645, they first placed their cash in the
hands of goldsmiths, who then began publicly to exercise the two
professions of goldsmiths and bankers. Even of late years there were
several very eminent bankers who kept the goldsmith’s shop; but they
were more frequently separated.
The first regular banker was Mr. Francis Child, goldsmith, who began
business after the restoration. He was the father of the profession, a
person of large fortune, of most respectable character, and he was
knighted by the king. He lived in Fleet-street, in the house adjoining
Temple-bar, where the banking business is still carried on in the same
firm, though by different persons. Granger, in his Biographical History,
mentions that Mr. Child succeeded Mr. Backwell,[51] a banker in the time
of Charles the second, noted for his integrity, abilities, and industry;
who was ruined by the shutting up of the Exchequer in 1672.[52] His
books were placed in the hands of Mr. Child, and still remain in the
family.
The next ancient shop was that possessed at present by Messrs. Snow and
Co. in the Strand, a few doors westward of Mr. Child’s, who were
goldsmiths of consequence in the latter part of the same reign. Mr. Gay
celebrates the predecessor of these gentlemen, for his sagacity in
escaping the ruin of the fatal year 1720, in his epistle to Mr. Thomas
Snow, goldsmith, near Temple-bar:—