DESCRIPTION.--This map seems at first sight to be much less interesting
than those which have preceded it, but that is due chiefly to its small
size. The probable date is 1572, and even if otherwise unknown, it might
have been judged approximately by the costumes of the figures in the
foreground. It must have been contemporary with, or even earlier than,
Agas, with whose work it is interesting to compare it. This map was made by
Hoefnagel, and is taken from Braun and Hogenburg's work, _Civitates Orbis
Terrarum_, in which Braun wrote the text, while Hogenburg and Hoefnagel
engraved the maps. In the left-hand top corner are the arms of Elizabeth,
and in the right-hand corner those of the City. In the later editions the
delicately drawn figures in the foreground are omitted. In his notes on Old
London Maps in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. vi., Mr.
W. H. Overall says it cannot be supposed that all the cities of the world
engraved in Braun and Hogenburg's work were freshly surveyed for the
purpose; and there are several points--such, for instance, as the inclusion
of the steeple of St. Paul's, destroyed in 1561--which point to the fact
that this version was probably taken from existing surveys. The original is
19 inches by 12¾ inches. The bull- and bear-baiting pits on the Surrey side
are quite conspicuous, and so is the royal barge, in very much the same
position in the river as it is in Agas's map. Here is a detailed account of
it in Sir Walter Besant's own words:
DETAILS.--"This is in some respects more exact than the better-known map
attributed to Agas. The streets, gardens, and fields are laid down with
greater precision, and there is no serious attempt to combine, as Agas
does, a picture or a panorama with a map. At the same time, the surveyor
has been unable to resist the fashion of his time to consider the map as
laid down from a bird's-eye view, so that he thinks it necessary to give
something of elevation.
"I will take that part of the map which lies outside the walls. The
precinct of St. Katherine stands beside the Tower, with its chapel, court,
and gardens; there are a few houses near it, apparently farmhouses. The
convent of Eastminster had entirely vanished. Nothing indicates the site of
the nunnery in the Minories, yet there were ruins of these buildings
standing here till the end of the eighteenth century. Outside Bishopsgate
houses extended past St. Mary's Spital, some of whose buildings were still
apparently standing. On the west side St. Mary of Bethlehem stood, exactly
on the site of Liverpool Street Station, but not covering nearly so large
an area; it appears to have occupied a single court, and was probably what
we should now consider a very pretty little cottage, like St. Edmund's
Hall, Oxford.
"Outside Cripplegate the houses begin again, leaving between the Lower
Moorfields dotted with ponds; there are houses lining the road outside
Aldersgate. The courts are still standing of St. Bartholomew's Priory,
Charterhouse, St. John's Priory, and the Clerkenwell nunnery; Smithfield is
surrounded with houses; Bridewell, with its two square courts, stands upon
the river bank; Fleet Street is irregular in shape, the houses being
nowhere in line; the courts of Whitefriars are still remaining. The Strand
has all its great houses facing the river; their backs open upon a broad
street, with a line of mean houses on the north side. On the south of the
river there is a line of houses on the High Street, a line of houses along
the river bank on either side, and another one running near Bermondsey
Abbey.
"Within the walls we observe that some of the religious houses have quite
disappeared--Crutched Friars, for instance. There is a vacant space, which
is probably one of the courts of St. Helen's. The Priory of the Holy
Trinity preserves its courts, but there is no sign of the church. There are
still visible the courts and gardens of Austin Friars. There is still the
great court of the Grey Friars, but the buildings of Blackfriars seem to
have vanished entirely" (_London in the Time of the Tudors_, p. 185).
* * * * *