Plumbers hall, Watermens hall, Joiners hall, Innholders hall,
Skinners hall, and Tallow Chandlers hall; Merchant Taylor’s school,
and the Steel Yard.
It has an Alderman, his Deputy, and seven other Common Council men,
fourteen wardmote inquest men, five scavengers, eight constables and
a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest serve in the
several courts of Guildhall in the month of October. _Maitland._
DOWGATE _wharf_, Thames street.
DOWNING _street_, King’s street, Westminster.†
DOWN’S _street_, Hyde Park road.†
DOWSE _key_, near Dice Key, Billingsgate.
DRAKE _street_, Red Lion square.†
DRAPERS, one of the twelve principal companies, was incorporated by
letters patent granted by Henry VI. in the year 1439, by the title
of _The Master, Wardens, Brethren and Sisters of the guild or
fraternity of the blessed Mary the Virgin, of the mystery of Drapers
of the city of London_.
This company is governed by a Master, four Wardens, and thirty
Assistants, with a livery of 140 persons, who upon their admission
pay a fine of 25_l._ They apply to charitable uses about 4000_l._ a
year.
DRAPER’S _alley_, Woodroffe street, Tower hill.
DRAPER’S _court_, Prince’s street, Lothbury.†
DRAPERS HALL, situated on the south side of Throgmorton street, is
built upon the ruins of a noble palace erected on that spot, in the
reign of King Henry VIII. by Thomas Lord Cromwell, Earl of Essex,
which upon his attainder and execution for high treason devolving to
the Crown, was purchased by the Company of Drapers, for the use to
which it is now applied: but was burnt in the fire of London in
1666, and has been since rebuilt in a very handsome manner.
This is a spacious and noble edifice, which composes the four sides
of a quadrangle, each of which is elevated on columns and adorned
with arches, forming a piazza round a square court, and between each
arch is a shield, mantling, and other fretwork. The room called the
hall is adorned with a stately screen, and fine wainscot; the
pictures of King William III. King George I. King George II. at full
length; and an ancient picture, a three quarter length of Henry
Fitz-Alwine, a draper, and the first Lord Mayor of London.
There are also several other large rooms wainscoted with oak; as the
court room, at the end of which hangs a valuable picture of Mary
Queen of Scots at full length, with King James her infant son in her
hand. This leads into a long gallery, at the south end of which is a
door into the apartments for the clerk and offices: at the north end
a folding sash door opens into a grand square room called the Ladies
chamber, where the company have been used at certain seasons to
entertain their wives and friends with a ball. In the center of this
room hangs a large and beautiful cut chandelier, which was a present
from the late Sir Joseph Eyles, when he served the office of
Sheriff: and over the chimney piece is a fine picture of Sir Robert
Clayton, Lord Mayor of London. Out of the west side of this room is
a passage that leads to a place called the Record room; the door to
which is of iron; it is strongly built over the passage that leads
into the garden, and covered with a cistern that contains such a
body of water as may at any time be sufficient to defend this
apartment from fire that might spread from the adjacent buildings.
DRAPERS GARDENS, are pleasant and commodious, though not very large.
They are situated behind the hall, and being nearly square, have on
each side rows of lime trees which form very agreeable walks. The
middle part, which is enclosed by iron rails, has several grass
plats bordered with beds of flowers, and in the center is a statue
of Flora. In this part there are also several mulberry trees. These
gardens are open every day in the week except Sundays, for all
persons decently dressed.
DRAYTON, a village in Middlesex, situated on the river Coln, about
eighteen miles west from London.
DREW’S _alley_, Cow Cross, West Smithfield.†
DREW’S _court_, Peter street, Westminster.†
DREW’S _rents_. Upper Ground.†
DRIFTWAY, Near Bethnal green.
DRIVER’S _yard_, Old street.
DRUM _alley_, 1. Drury lane.* 2. High Holborn.*
DRUM _yard_, Whitechapel.*
DRURY _lane_, between the Strand and St. Giles’s Broad street. Drury,
was the old word for modesty; but this lane received its name from
the house of the noble family of Drewry being anciently situated at
the lower end of Drury lane, and the upper end of Wych street.
_Vocab. to Chaucer, Maitland’s Survey._
DRURY’S _rents_, Hermitage.†
DRYING _Grounds_, New Bond street.
DUAL’S _alley_, High Holborn.†
DUCK _lane_, 1. Peter street, Westminster. 2. West Smithfield.
DUCK’S _court_, Cursitor street.†
DUCKING POND _alley_, Whitechapel common.
DUCKING POND _lane_, 1. Mile end, New town.
DUCKING POND _row_, Whitechapel common.
DUDLEY’S _court_, Hog lane, St. Giles’s.†
DUET’S _wharf_, Lemon street, Southwark.†
DUFFER’S _court_, Little Broad street.†
DUFFIN’S _alley_, King’s street, Westminster.†
DUKE’S _alley_, 1. Castle yard, Holborn. 2. Kingsland road.
DUKE’S _court_, 1. Bow street, or Drury lane. 2. Crown alley, Upper
Moorfields. 3. Kingsland road. 4. Little Almonry. 5. St. Martin’s
lane, Charing Cross. 6. Narrow street, Limehouse.
DUKE’S _Place_, near Aldgate, so called from the Duke of Norfolk
having formerly a seat there. _Maitland._
DUKE’S PLACE _court_, Duke’s place.
DUKE SHORE, Limehouse.
DUKE SHORE _alley_, Duke shore.
DUKE SHORE _stairs_, Limehouse.
DUKE _street_, 1. Brook’s street, New Bond street. 2. Gravel lane,
Southwark. 3. Great Germain street. 4. Great Russel street,
Bloomsbury. 5. Grosvenor square. 6. Lincoln’s Inn fields. 7. Mint
street. 8. Piccadilly. 9. Spitalfields. 10. Tyburn road. 11. By
Charles street, near King’s street, Westminster. 12. York buildings.
See YORK BUILDINGS.
DUKE OF NORFOLK’S _yard_, St. Alban’s street.
DULWICH, a very pleasant village in Surry, five miles from London,
where there is a spring of the same medicinal waters as those of
Sydenham wells, with which the master of the Green Man, a house of
good entertainment, serves this city, and in particular St.
Bartholomew’s Hospital. The fine walk opposite to this house,
through the woods, affords from its top a very noble prospect; but
this is much exceeded by that from a hill behind the house, where
from under a tree distinguished by the name of _The Oak of Honour_,
you have a view as in a fine piece of painting, of the houses as
well as churches, and other public edifices, from Putney down to
Chelsea, with all the adjacent villages, together with Westminster,
London, Deptford, and Greenwich, and over the great metropolis, as
far as Highgate, and Hamstead. But Dulwich is most famous for its
college.
DULWICH COLLEGE, was founded and endowed in 1619, by Mr. William
Alleyn, who named it, _The college of God’s gift_. This gentleman
being a comedian and principal actor in many of Shakespear’s plays;
once personating the devil, was said to be so terrified at the
opinion of his seeing a real devil upon the stage, that he from that
moment quitted the theatre, devoted the remainder of his life to
religious exercises, and founded this college for a Master and
Warden, who were always to be of the name of Alleyn, or Allen; with
four Fellows, three of whom were to be divines, and the fourth an
organist; and for six poor men, as many poor women, and twelve poor
boys, to be educated in the college by one of the fellows as
schoolmaster, and by another as usher. In his original endowments,
he excluded all future benefactions to it, and constituted for
visitors, the churchwardens of St. Botolph’s Bishopsgate, St.
Giles’s Cripplegate, and St. Saviour’s Southwark; who, upon
occasion, were to appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury, before
whom all the members were to be sworn at their admission. To this
college belongs a chapel, in which the founder himself, who was
several years Master, lies buried. The Master of this college is
Lord of the manor, for a considerable extent of ground, and enjoys
all the luxurious affluence and ease of the Prior of a monastery.
Both he and the Warden, must be unmarried, and are for ever debarred
the privilege of entering that state, on pain of being excluded the
college; but as the Warden always succeeds upon the death of the
Master, great interest is constantly made, by the unmarried men of
the name of Allen, to obtain the post of Warden.
The original edifice is in the old taste; but part of it has been
lately pulled down and rebuilt with greater elegance, out of what
has been saved from the produce of the estate. The Master’s rooms
are richly adorned with very noble old furniture, which he is
obliged to purchase on his entering into that station; and for his
use there is a library, to which every Master generally adds a
number of books. The college is also accommodated with a very
pleasant garden, adorned with walks, and a great profusion of fruit
trees and flowers.
DUMB _alley_, High Holborn.║
DUN COW _court_, Little Cock lane.
DUN HORSE _yard_, 1. Coleman street.* 2. St. Margaret’s hill.*
DUNG _wharf_, 1. Millbank. 2. Wapping Wall.
DUNGHILL _lane_, High Timber street.║
DUNGHILL _mews_, near Hedge lane.║
DUNKIRK _court_, Cock lane, Shoreditch.
DUNNING’S _alley_, Bishopsgate street without.†
DUN’S _Almshouse_, was erected by Cornelius Van Dun, a Fleming, in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, with twenty rooms for so many poor widows;
but it not being endowed, is inhabited by the parish pensioners of
St. Margaret’s Westminster.
[Illustration:
_St. Dunstan in the East._
_S. Wale delin._ _J. Fougeron sculp._
]
_St._ DUNSTAN’S _in the East_, a church situated on the west side of
St. Dunstan’s hill, Thames street, is dedicated to St. Dunstan
Archbishop of Canterbury, an implacable enemy and cruel persecutor
of the secular clergy, in favour of the regulars; and the additional
epithet _the East_, is given it, to distinguish it from St.
Dunstan’s in Fleet street. This church was repaired at a great
expence in 1633, and in 1666 suffered greatly by the fire of London;
but not being totally destroyed, the church was thoroughly repaired
in eighteen months; but the steeple was delayed ten years longer.
The style of the building is the modern Gothic. It is 87 feet in
length, 63 in breadth, and the roof is 33 feet high; it is well
enlightened, and agreeably disposed within. The steeple is 125 feet
high, and is well constructed in the Gothic manner: the tower is
light, supported by outworks at the angles; it is divided into three
stages, and terminated at the corners by four handsome pinacles, in
the midst of which rises the spire, not from a solid base, but on
the narrow crowns of four Gothic arches, a base so seemingly
insecure, that it fills the mind with apprehensions of its falling
with the first tempest, and yet is perhaps able to stand for ages.
This tower, which is extremely light and elegant, was built by Sir
Christopher Wren. The placing the spire on the top of four arches,
as the print shews, is esteemed a bold attempt in architecture, and
is one proof, among many, of the great geometrical skill of the
architect.
This church is a rectory, and one of the thirteen peculiars in this
city belonging to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury. The Rector
receives 200_l._ a year in lieu of tithes.
_St._ DUNSTAN’S _in the West_, on the north side of the west end of
Fleet street, is dedicated to the same Saint as the former, from
which it is distinguished by the epithet _the West_. It appears to
have been built four or five hundred years, since there are accounts
of funerals and donations to it from the year 1421, with earlier
anecdotes of little consequence; and it is easy to see that it has
been repaired and altered at different periods, till the original
style, whatever it was, is lost. It narrowly escaped the fire in
1666, the flames stopping within three houses of it. This edifice,
in a very disagreeable manner, stands out into the street, and as it
has been observed, is but an incumbrance to the way, and without
having any thing but deformity itself, spoils the beauty of the
whole street, and hides the prospect of Temple Bar, which would
terminate the view very advantageously, and be seen almost as far
again as it is at present. The church consists of a large body, and
a small tower, every way unproportioned. The shops, which are in a
kind of sheds below it, make, as it were, a part of the building.
The clock projects to the south near the west end, and for the
amusement of the gaping vulgar, two human figures are placed in a
kind of Ionic loggia, and by means of clock work, strike two bells
hung over them, and declare the hour and quarters. _English
Architecture._
This church was originally a rectory in the patronage of the convent
of Westminster; though it afterwards became a vicarage, and being
granted by King Edward VI. to the Lord Dudley, has ever since
continued in lay hands. The Vicar receives 240_l._ a year in lieu of
tithes. _Maitland._
_St._ DUNSTAN’S _Stepney_. See STEPNEY.
DUNSTAN’S _court_, 1. Fleet street.☐ 2. Little Old Bailey.
DUSTAN’S _square_, Whitechapel.
DUNSTER’S _court_, Mincing lane.†
DURHAM _court_, Trinity lane.
DURHAM _yard_, 1. Chick lane. 2. In the Strand; from Durham House,
built by Dr. Beck Bishop of Durham. _Camden’s Britannia._
DURHAMS, in Middlesex, two miles north of Barnet, a seat which the
Earl of Albemarle bought of Sir John Austin, and has since greatly
beautified, by laying most of the neighbouring fields belonging to
it into a park, and by turning and repairing the roads. The house is
situated on an eminence that rises in a small valley, surrounded
with pretty high hills at a little distance, so that in the summer
months it affords an agreeable retreat; but the soil around it being
a stiff clay, the rain which falls in winter is detained on its
surface, and renders the situation very moist and cold.
DUTCH _Almshouse_, in White’s alley, Moorfields, was erected by Samuel
Shepherd, Esq; an eminent Dutch merchant, for twenty-eight poor
ancient women of his nation, each of whom has an allowance of 3_s._
a week, and 12_s._ to buy a gown every other year. _Maitland._
DUTCH _Almshouse_, in Moorfields. About the year 1704, the Dutch
congregation in Austin Friars purchased a piece of ground in Middle
Moorfields, and erected upon it a handsome almshouse, containing
twenty-six rooms for maintaining their poor, whether men or women,
besides a room where the Elders and Deacons meet weekly to pay the
pensions of those in the house, and to transact other business
relating to the poor. The pensions are either more or less,
according as their necessities may require; and the rooms are not so
appropriated to the Dutch nation, but that any English woman, the
widow of a Dutchman who had been a member of that church, is capable
of being admitted; and it often happens, that there are more English
than Dutch supported here.
DUTCH FURLONG _row_, Clerkenwell.
DUTCHY _lane_, in the Strand.
DUTCHY OF LANCASTER _court_. See LANCASTER.
DUXFORD _lane_, Thames street.
DYERS, anciently one of the twelve principal companies, was
incorporated by letters patent granted by Edward IV. in the year
1742, when this society among other privileges, obtained that of
keeping swans upon the river Thames.
This corporation consists of two Wardens, thirty Assistants, and 147
Liverymen, who upon their admission, pay a fine of 15_l._
Their hall, which was formerly situated near Old Swan lane, Thames
street, being destroyed by the dreadful conflagration in 1666, and a
number of warehouses erected in its place, the company have
converted one of their houses in Little Elbow lane, Dowgate hill,
into a hall to transact their affairs in. _Maitland._
DYERS _alley_, Brick lane, Spitalfields.
DYERS _Almshouse_, in Dyer’s buildings, Holborn, was erected by the
Dyers company, and contains eight rooms for so many poor women, who
are only allowed two pence per week, an evident proof of the
antiquity of the foundation.
The Dyers have another almshouse in St. John’s street, near
Spitalfields, erected by the master Dyers for the benefit of six
poor widows, each of whom is allowed 1_l._ 10_s._ a year.
DYER’S _buildings_, Holborn.
DYER’S _court_, 1. Aldermanbury. 2. Holborn hill. 3. Noble street,
Foster lane.
DYER’S _Court rents_, Dowgate hill.
DYER’S _yard_, 1. Church lane, Whitechapel. 2. Old Bethlem. 3.
Whitechapel.
DYOT _street_, St. Giles’s Broad street.
[Illustration]
E
EAGLE AND CHILD _alley_, Shoe lane.*
EAGLE AND CHILD _yard_, Broad street, St. Giles’s.*
EAGLE _court_, 1. In the Strand.* 2. St. John’s street, West
Smithfield.*
EAGLE _street_, 1. Piccadilly.* 2. Plumtree street.* 3. Red Lion
street, Holborn.
EARL’S _court_, 1. Drury lane. 2. Great Earl’s street. 3. Little
Newport street.
EARL’S _passage_, Earl street.
EARL _street_, Seven Dials.
EAST _court_, Spitalfields market.§
EAST HARDING _street_, New street, Shoe lane.§
EAST INDIA COMPANY, was first incorporated by a charter granted by
Queen Elizabeth in 1601, when the first subscription for carrying on
this trade amounted to 739,782_l._ 10_s._ and a year or two after by
an additional subscription of 834,826_l._ the stock was raised to
1,574,608_l._ 10_s._ and with this capital they established a
commerce by the Red sea to Arabia, and to Persia, India, China, and
several of the East India islands. But about the beginning of the
protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, it being imagined that the laying
open the trade to the East Indies would be of advantage to the whole
nation, that commerce was made general, and thus continued till the
year 1657, when it being found that the separate trade was of
disadvantage to the undertakers, they were for the good of the whole
united to the company by the legislature. _Stow’s Survey, last
edit._
However in the year 1698, a new East India company was established,
by virtue of which the old company was to be dissolved after the
expiration of a certain term allowed them for the disposing of their
effects. This new company immediately advanced two millions sterling
to the government, at eight _per cent._ However, by the kind offices
of friends, the two companies were united in the year 1702, when a
new charter was granted them under the title of _The united Company
of Merchants trading to the East Indies_, and the old company had
their share of the two millions. In the 6th of Queen Anne, the
united company lent the government 1,200,000_l._ which made their
whole loan to amount to 3,200,000_l._ the interest of part of which
was a few years ago reduced to 3_l._ 10_s._ _per cent._ and part to
3_l._ _per cent._ the first of these is now called the 3 1-half _per
cent._ annuities, and the last the 3 _per cent._ annuities.
As to India stock, it is the trading stock of the company, and the
proprietors, instead of receiving regular annuities for money at
interest, have dividends of the profits arising from the company’s
trade, which being more valuable, these shares generally sell much
above the original value. _Pocket Library._
The transfer days of India stock, are now Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday; and of India annuities on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,
except on Holidays, which are the same as at the Bank. See BANK _of
England_.
The hour of payment of dividends is from nine o’clock to eleven, and
from twelve o’clock to three; and the hour of transfer from twelve
to one.
As to the management of this company, 500_l._ in the company’s stock
gives the owner a vote in the general courts, and 2000_l._ qualifies
a person to be chosen a Director. The Directors are twenty-four in
number, including the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, who may be
reelected four years successively. The Chairman has a salary of
200_l._ a year, and each of the Directors 150_l._ A court of the
Directors is held at least once a week, at the East India House; but
they are commonly held oftener, they being summoned as occasions
require.
Out of the body of Directors are chosen several committees, who have
the peculiar inspection of separate branches of the company’s
business; as the committee of buying, committee of correspondence,
committee of accounts, committee of the treasury, a house committee,
a warehouse committee, a committee of shipping, a committee to
prevent the growth of private trade, and a committee of law suits.
The East India company export bullion to a very great value, with
woollen cloth, lead, and some other English commodities; and import
China ware, tea, cabinets, raw and wrought silks, calicoes, chints,
pepper, &c. but all the wrought silks, and calicoes, are to be
exported again.
All the goods imported by the company are to be sold openly by inch
of candle, on pain of forfeiting one half to the King, and the other
to the prosecutor.
East India stock is esteemed in law, personal estate, and the shares
exempt from taxes.
[Illustration:
_East India House._
_S. Wale delin._ _B. Green sculp._
]
EAST INDIA HOUSE, on the south side of Leadenhall street, and a little
to the west of Lime street. This edifice was built on the place
where anciently stood the city house of the Lord Craven, and his
ancestors. The present structure was erected by the company in the
year 1726. It is a plain Doric on a rustic basement, and has not
much to be found fault with or commended. It might have been justly
considered as a very fine edifice, had it been the house of a single
Director; but it is not at all equal to the grandeur of this
company, and the great figure they make in the trading world; nor
bears any proportion to the idea we conceive of this body, when we
consider, that the Directors who meet here, appoint or remove
Governors who are their servants, and yet have all the dignity and
state of Kings, some of whom seldom stir abroad without their guards
and a numerous retinue, or eat, but upon gilt plate, or the finest
China.
The house, however, though too small in front, extends far
backwards, and is very spacious, having large rooms for the use of
the Directors, and offices for the clerks. It has a spacious hall
and court yard for the reception of those who have business, and who
attend on the company on court days, which are every Wednesday.
There also belongs to it a garden, with warehouses in the back part
toward Lime street, to which there is a back gate for the entrance
of carts to bring in goods. These warehouses were rebuilt in a very
handsome manner in the year 1725, and are now greatly enlarged. The
company have likewise warehouses in Seething lane, the Steel yard,
and at the Royal Exchange, particularly under the last they have
spacious cellars entirely for pepper. _Stow_, _Maitland_, &c.
EASTLAND COMPANY. These merchants were first incorporated by a charter
granted them by Queen Elizabeth in the year 1579, and their factory
being first settled at Elbing in Prussia, they obtained the name of
the merchants of Elbing. By their charter they were impowered to
trade to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Prussia, and all the other
parts of the Baltic, exclusive of the city of Narva, which had been
previously granted to the Russia company; but the smallness of the
river Elbing rendering it very incommodious for navigation, the
factory removed, and settled at Dantzick, Koningsberg, Riga, and
other cities of the Baltic.
This company was confirmed by a charter granted by King Charles II.
but by a late act of parliament any persons are allowed to trade to
Norway and Sweden, though not of this company: and the Eastland
commerce in general is in a manner laid open.
Our commodities exported to these countries, are woollen cloths,
serges, kersies, Norwich stuffs, perpetuanoes, cottons, stockings,
hats, tin, pewter, lead, &c. and in return they import to England
timber, deals, masts, oars, clap boards, balks, bomspars, cantspars,
pipe-staves, flax, pitch, tar, tallow, pot-ashes, wheat, rye, rich
furrs, bees wax, and several other commodities. This trade is
however generally allowed to be of great disadvantage to England, as
the balance against us annually amounts to several hundred thousand
pounds: which is the more extraordinary, as all these articles might
be had from our own American plantations.