14. An ivory sceptre with a dove, made for the late King James’s
queen.
15. The golden spurs and the _armillas_ that are worn at the
coronation.
There is also an apartment in the Tower where noble prisoners used to be
confined, but of late years some of less quality have been sent thither.
The Tower where the lions and other savage animals are kept is on the
right hand, on the outside the ditch, as we enter the fortress. These
consist of lions, leopards, tigers, eagles, vultures, and such other wild
creatures as foreign princes or sea-officers have presented to the
British kings and queens.
Not far from the Tower stands London Bridge. This bridge has nineteen
arches besides the drawbridge, and is built with hewn stone, being one
thousand two hundred feet in length, and seventy-four in breadth, whereof
the houses built on each side take up twenty-seven feet, and the street
between the houses twenty feet; there being only three vacancies about
the middle of the bridge where there are no houses, but a low stone wall,
with an iron palisade, through which is a fine view of the shipping and
vessels in the river. This street over the bridge is as much thronged,
and has as brisk a trade as any street in the city; and the perpetual
passage of coaches and carriages makes it troublesome walking on it,
there being no posts to keep off carriages as in other streets. The
middle vacancy was left for a drawbridge, which used formerly to be drawn
up when shipping passed that way; but no vessels come above the bridge at
this day but such as can strike their masts, and pass under the arches.
Four of the arches on the north side of the bridge are now taken up with
mills and engines, that raise the water to a great height, for the supply
of the city; this brings in a large revenue which, with the rents of the
houses on the bridge, and other houses and lands that belong to it, are
applied as far as is necessary to the repair of it by the officers
appointed for that service, who are, a comptroller and two
bridge-masters, with their subordinate officers; and in some years, it is
said, not less than three thousand pounds are laid out in repairing and
supporting this mighty fabric, though it be never suffered to run much to
decay.
I come next to describe that circuit of ground which lies without the
walls, but within the freedom and jurisdiction of the City of London.
And this is bounded by a line which begins at Temple Bar, and extends
itself by many turnings and windings through part of Shear Lane, Bell
Yard, Chancery Lane, by the Rolls Liberty, &c., into Holborn, almost
against Gray’s-Inn Lane, where there is a bar (consisting of posts,
rails, and a chain) usually called Holborn Bars; from whence it passes
with many turnings and windings by the south end of Brook Street,
Furnival’s Inn, Leather Lane, the south end of Hatton Garden, Ely House,
Field Lane, and Chick Lane, to the common sewer; then to Cow Cross, and
so to Smithfield Bars; from whence it runs with several windings between
Long Lane and Charterhouse Lane to Goswell Street, and so up that street
northward to the Bars.
From these Bars in Goswell Street, where the manor of Finsbury begins,
the line extends by Golden Lane to the posts and chain in Whitecross
Street, and from thence to the posts and chain in Grub Street; and then
runs through Ropemakers Alley to the posts and chain in the highway from
Moorgate, and from thence by the north side of Moorfields; after which it
runs northwards to Nortonfalgate, meeting with the bars in Bishopsgate
Street, and from thence runs eastward into Spittlefields, abutting all
along upon Nortonfalgate.
From Nortonfalgate it returns southwards by Spittlefields, and then
south-east by Wentworth Street, to the bars in Whitechapel. From hence
it inclines more southerly to the Little Minories and Goodman’s Fields:
from whence it returns westward to the posts and chain in the Minories,
and so on more westerly till it comes to London Wall, abutting on the
Tower Liberty, and there it ends. The ground comprehended betwixt this
line and the city wall contains about three hundred acres.
There is no wall or fence, as has been hinted already, to separate the
freedom of the City from that part of the town which lies in the county
of Middlesex, only posts and chains at certain places, and one gate at
the west end of Fleet Street which goes by the name of Temple Bar.
This gate resembles a triumphal arch; it is built of hewn stone, each
side being adorned with four pilasters, their entablature, and an arched
pediment of the Corinthian order. The intercolumns are niches
replenished; those within the Bar towards the east, with the figures of
King James I. and his queen; and those without the Bar, with the figures
of King Charles I. and King Charles II. It is encircled also with
cornucopias, and has two large cartouches by way of supporters to the
whole; and on the inside of the gate is the following inscription, viz.,
“Erected in the year 1671, Sir Samuel Starling, Mayor: continued in the
year 1670, Sir Richard Ford, Lord Mayor: and finished in the year 1672,
Sir George Waterman, Lord Mayor.”
The city is divided into twenty-six wards or governments, each having its
peculiar officers, as alderman, common council, &c. But all are subject
to the lord mayor, the supreme magistrate of this great metropolis. Of
each of these wards take the following account.
1. Portsoken ward is situate without Aldgate, the most easterly ward
belonging to the City; and extends from Aldgate eastward to the bars.
The chief streets and places comprehended in it, are part of Whitechapel
Street, the Minories, Houndsditch, and the west side of Petticoat Lane.
Whitechapel is a handsome broad street, by which we enter the town from
the east. The south side, or great part of it, is taken up by butchers
who deal in the wholesale way, selling whole carcases of veal, mutton,
and lamb (which come chiefly out of Essex) to the town butchers. On the
north side are a great many good inns, and several considerable
tradesmen’s houses, who serve the east part of England with such goods
and merchandise as London affords. On the south side is a great market
for hay three times a week.
Tower ward extends along the Thames from the Tower on the east almost to
Billingsgate on the west, and that part of the Tower itself which lies to
the westward of the White Tower is held by some to be within this ward.
The principal streets and places contained in it are Great Tower Street,
part of Little Tower Street and Tower Hill, part of Thames Street, Mark
Lane, Mincing Lane, Seething Lane, St. Olave Hart Street, Idle Lane, St.
Dunstan’s Hill, Harp Lane, Water Lane, and Bear Lane, with the courts and
alleys that fall into them.
Great Tower Hill lies on the outside of the Tower Ditch towards the
north-west.
Upon this hill is a scaffold erected, at the charge of the City, for the
execution of noble offenders imprisoned in the Tower (after sentence
passed upon them).
The names of the quays or wharves lying on the Thames side in this ward
between the Tower and Billingsgate, are Brewer’s Quay, Chester Quay,
Galley Quay, Wool Quay, Porter’s Quay, Custom-House Quay, Great Bear
Quay, Little Bear Quay, Wigging’s Quay, Ralph’s Quay, Little Dice Quay,
Great Dice Quay, and Smart’s Quay, of which, next to the Custom-House
Quay, Bear Quays are the most considerable, there being one of the
greatest markets in England for wheat and other kinds of grain, brought
hither by coasting vessels.
The public buildings in this ward (besides the western part of the Tower
above-mentioned to be within the City) are the Custom House,
Cloth-workers’ Hall, Bakers’ Hall, and the three parish churches of
Allhallows Barking, St. Olave Hart Street, and St. Dunstan’s in the East.
The Custom House is situated on the north side of the Thames, between the
Tower and Billingsgate, consisting of two floors, in the uppermost of
which, in a wainscoted magnificent room, almost the whole length of the
building, and fifteen feet in height, sit the commissioners of the
customs, with their under officers and clerks. The length of this
edifice is a hundred and eighty-nine feet, and the general breadth
twenty-seven, but at the west end it is sixty feet broad. It is built of
brick and stone, and covered with lead, being adorned with the upper and
lower orders of architecture.
3. Aldgate, or Ealdgate Ward. The principal streets and places in it
are Aldgate Street, Berry Street, part of St. Mary Axe, part of
Leadenhall Street, part of Lime Street, Billiter Lane and Square, part of
Mark Lane, Fenchurch Street, and Crutchedfriars.
The public buildings in this ward are the African House, the Navy Office,
Bricklayers’ Hall, the churches of St. Catherine Creechurch, St. James’s,
Duke’s Place, St. Andrew Undershaft, St. Catherine Coleman, and the Jews’
Synagogues.
The Royal African House is situated on the south side of Leadenhall
Street, near the east end of it. Here the affairs of the company are
transacted; but the house has nothing in it that merits a particular
description.
The Navy Office is situated on the south side of Crutchedfriars, near
Tower Hill, being a large, well-built pile of buildings, and the offices
for every branch of business relating to the navy admirably well
disposed.
The Jews’ synagogues are in Duke’s Place, where, and in that
neighbourhood, many of that religion inhabit. The synagogue stands east
and West, as Christian churches usually do: the great door is on the
west, within which is a long desk upon an ascent, raised above the floor,
from whence the law is read. The east part of the synagogue also is
railed in, and the places where the women sit enclosed with lattices; the
men sit on benches with backs to them, running east and west; and there
are abundance of fine branches for candles, besides lamps, especially in
that belonging to the Portuguese.
4. Lime Street Ward. The principal streets and places in it are part of
Leadenhall Street, and Leadenhall Market, part of Lime Street, and part
of St. Mary Axe.
Leadenhall Market, the finest shambles in Europe, lies between Leadenhall
Street and Fenchurch Street. Of the three courts or yards which it
consists of, the first is that at the north-east corner of Gracechurch
Street, and opens into Leadenhall Street. This court or yard contains in
length from north to south 164 feet, and in breadth from east to west
eighty feet: within this court or yard, round about the same, are about
100 standing stalls for butchers, for the selling of beef only, and
therefore this court is called the beef market. These stalls are either
under warehouses, or sheltered from the weather by roofs over them. This
yard is on Tuesdays a market for leather, to which the tanners resort; on
Thursdays the waggons from Colchester, and other parts, come with baize,
&c., and the fellmongers with their wool; and on Fridays it is a market
for raw hides; on Saturdays, for beef and other provisions.
The second market yard is called the Greenyard, as being once a green
plot of ground; afterwards it was the City’s storeyard for materials for
building and the like; but now a market only for veal, mutton, lamb, &c.
This yard is 170 feet in length from east to west, and ninety feet broad
from north to south; it hath in it 140 stalls for the butchers, all
covered over. In the middle of this Greenyard market from north to south
is a row of shops, with rooms over them, for fishmongers: and on the
south side and west end are houses and shops also for fishmongers.
Towards the east end of this yard is erected a fair market-house,
standing upon columns, with vaults underneath, and rooms above, with a
bell tower, and a clock, and under it are butchers’ stalls. The
tenements round about this yard are for the most part inhabited by cooks
and victuallers; and in the passages leading out of the streets into this
market are fishmongers, poulterers, cheesemongers, and other traders in
provisions.
The third market belonging to Leadenhall is called the Herb Market, for
that herbs, roots, fruits, &c., are only there sold. This market is
about 140 feet square; the west, east, and north sides had walks round
them, covered over for shelter, and standing upon columns; in which walks
there were twenty-eight stalls for gardeners, with cellars under them.
The public buildings in this ward are Leadenhall, the East India House,
Pewterers’ Hall, and Fletchers’ Hall.
Leadenhall is situated on the south side of Leadenhall Street. It is a
large stone fabric, consisting of three large courts or yards, as has
been observed already; part of it is at present a warehouse, in the
occupation of the East India Company, where the finest calicoes, and
other curiosities of the Eastern part of the world, are reposited;
another part of it is for Colchester baize, and is open every Thursday
and Friday. Here was also anciently a chapel, and a fraternity of sixty
priests constituted to celebrate Divine Service every day to the market
people; but was dissolved with other religious societies at the
Reformation.
On the south side of Leadenhall Street also, and a little to the eastward
of Leadenhall, stands the East India House, lately magnificently built,
with a stone front to the street; but the front being very narrow, does
not make an appearance answerable to the grandeur of the house within,
which stands upon a great deal of ground, the offices and storehouses
admirably well contrived, and the public hall and the committee room
scarce inferior to anything of the like nature in the City.
There is not one church in this ward at present. The officers of the
ward are, an alderman, his deputy, four common-council men, four
constables, two scavengers, sixteen for the wardmote inquest, and a
beadle.
5. Bishopsgate Ward is divided into two parts, one within Bishopsgate,
and the other without.
The streets and places in this ward, within the gate, are, all
Bishopsgate Street, part of Gracechurch Street, all Great and Little St.
Helen’s, all Crosby Square, all Camomile Street, and a small part of
Wormwood Street, with several courts and alleys that fall into them.
That part of this ward that lies without Bishopsgate extends northwards
as far as the bars, being the bounds of the City freedom on this side.
The principal streets and places in this ward, without the gate, are,
Bishopsgate Street, Petty France, Bethlem Court and Lane, and Devonshire
Square; besides which, there are little courts and alleys without number
between Bishopsgate Street and Moorfields.
The public buildings in this ward are Leather-sellers’ Hall, Gresham
College, the churches of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, St. Ethelburga, and
St. Helen.
London Workhouse, for the poor of the City of London, also stands in this
ward, just without Bishopsgate, being a long brick edifice four hundred
feet in length, consisting of several work-rooms and lodging rooms for
the vagrants and parish children brought thither, who are employed in
spinning wool and flax, in sewing, knitting, or winding silk, or making
their clothes or shoes, and are taught to write, read, and cast accounts.
The grown vagrants brought here for a time only are employed in washing,
beating hemp, and picking oakum, and have no more to keep them than they
earn, unless they are sick; and the boys are put out apprentices to
seafaring men or artificers, at a certain age, and in the meantime have
their diet, clothes, physic, and other necessaries provided for them by
the house, which is supported by private charities, by sums raised
annually by the City, or by the labour of the children, which last
article produces seven or eight hundred pounds per annum.
6. Broad Street Ward contains part of Threadneedle Street, Bartholomew
Lane, part of Prince’s Street, part of Lothbury, part of Throgmorton
Street, great part of Broad Street, Winchester Street, Austinfriars, part
of Wormwood Street, and part of London Wall Street, with the courts and
lanes running into them.
The public buildings in this ward are Carpenters’ Hall, Drapers’ Hall,
Merchant Taylors’ Hall, the South Sea House, the Pay Office, Allhallows
on the Wall, St. Peter’s Poor, the Dutch Church, St. Martin’s, St.
Bennet’s, St. Bartholomew’s, St. Christopher’s, and the French Church.
The most magnificent and beautiful edifice of the kind in this ward, and
indeed in the City of London, is the South Sea House, lately erected at
the north-east corner of Threadneedle Street, near Bishopsgate Street,
and over against the church of St. Martin Outwich. It is built of stone
and brick.
The several offices for transacting the business of this great company
are admirably well disposed; and the great hall for sales is nowhere to
be paralleled, either in its dimensions or ornaments, any more than the
dining-room, galleries, and chambers above.
7. Cornhill Ward comprehends little more than the street of the same
name, and some little lanes and alleys that fall into it, as Castle
Alley, Sweeting’s or Swithin’s Alley, Freeman’s Yard, part of Finch Lane,
Weigh House Yard, Star Court, the north end of Birching Lane, St.
Michael’s Alley, Pope’s Head Alley, and Exchange Alley.
Cornhill Street may, in many respects, be looked upon as the principal
street of the City of London; for here almost all affairs relating to
navigation and commerce are transacted; and here all the business
relating to the great companies and the Bank are negotiated. This street
also is situated near the centre of the City, and some say, upon the
highest ground in it. It is spacious, and well built with lofty houses,
four or five storeys high, inhabited by linendrapers and other
considerable tradesmen, who deal by wholesale as well as retail, and
adorned with the principal gate and front of the Royal Exchange. Here
also it is said the metropolitan church was situated, when London was an
archbishopric.
Exchange Alley, so denominated from its being situated on the south side
of this street, over against the Royal Exchange, has long been famous for
the great concourse of merchants and commanders of ships, and the
bargains and contracts made there and in the two celebrated coffee-houses
in it, which go under the respective names of “Jonathan’s” and
“Garraway’s,” where land, stocks, debentures, and merchandise, and
everything that has an existence in Nature, is bought, sold, and
transferred from one to another; and many things contracted for, that
subsists only in the imagination of the parties.
The public buildings in this ward are, the Royal Exchange, and the
churches of St. Peter and St. Michael.
The Royal Exchange is situated on the north side of Cornhill, about the
middle of the street, forming an oblong open square, the inside whereof
is a hundred and forty-four feet in length from east to west, and a
hundred and seventeen in breadth from north to south; the area sixty-one
square poles, on every side whereof is a noble piazza or cloister,
consisting of twenty-eight columns and arches that support the galleries
above.
The length of the building on the outside is two hundred and three feet,
the breadth a hundred and seventy-one, and the height fifty-six. On the
front towards Cornhill also is a noble piazza, consisting of ten pillars;
and another on the opposite side next Threadneedle Street, of as many;
and in the middle of each a magnificent gate. Over the Cornhill gate is
a beautiful tower, a hundred and seventy-eight feet high, furnished with
twelve small bells for chimes; and underneath the piazzas are capacious
cellars, which serve for warehouses.
The whole building is of Portland stone, rustic work; above the arches
the inward piazza is an entablament, with fine enrichments; and on the
cornice a range of pilasters, within entablature, and a spacious compass
pediment in the middle of the corners of each of the four sides. Under
the pediment on the north side are the king’s arms; on the south those of
the City; and on the east the arms of Sir Thomas Gresham. And under the
pediment on the west side the arms of the Company of Mercers, with their
respective enrichments. The intercolumns of the upper range are
twenty-four niches, nineteen of which are filled with the statues of the
kings and queens regent of England, standing erect with their robes and
regalia, except that of King James II. and King George II., which are
habited like the Cæsars.