(_For the Mirror_.)
On entering Tottenham, on the right from London, is to be seen the
following inscription over eight alms-houses:--
1600.
Not vnto vs,
O Lord--
Not vnto vs--But
vnto thy name
give ye glorie.
_Ps. 115, v. i._
"Balthaza Zanchez, born in Spain, in the citie of Shere, in Estramadvra,
is the fownder of these eyght Alma-Houses for the relieefe of eyght
poore men and women of the Town of Tattenham High Crasse."
The founder of these alms-houses, Balthazar Zanches, was confectioner to
Philip II. of Spain, with whom he came over to England, and was the
first who exercised that art in this country. He became a Protestant,
and died in 1602. It is said that he lived in the house, now the George
and Vulture Inn; at the entrance of which he had fixed the arms of
England, in a garter, supported by a lion and griffin, and with the
initials E.R.: over another door, 1587.
Among the ancient possessors of the manor of Tottenham, was Robert
Bruce, king of Scotland, from whom the Manor-House obtained the name of
Bruce Castle, which it still retains.--At the end of Page Green stands a
remarkable circular clump of elms, called the Seven Sisters; and on the
west side of the great road is St. Loy's well, which is said to be
always full, and never to run over; and opposite the vicarage house
rises a spring, called Bishop's Well, of which the common people report
many strange cures.
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