the relief of the poor, the sick, the afflicted. The unemployed were
assisted with lodging and food on their way as they journeyed in search
of a market for their labour, paying for their entertainment at the
religious houses by work either on the roads in the neighbourhood or
on the buildings or in the gardens and fields, according to their
trades and skill. It would seem that King Henry did not realise the
importance and extent of this feature in the social economy, because,
after he had suppressed the religious establishments, he complained
very reproachfully of the number of masterless men and rogues that
were everywhere to be found, especially about London. The good Bishop
Ridley, in an eloquent appeal addressed to William Cecil, represented
the poor and sick and starving in the streets of London in the person
of Christ, beseeching the king to succour the poor and suffering Christ
in the streets of London by bestowing his palace of Bridewell to be a
home for the homeless, the starving, and the sick, where erring ones
could be corrected and the good sustained. The good young monarch
granted the bishop's request, and Bridewell Hospital was thus founded
to do the social work in which Blackfriars monastery on the other side
of the Fleet river had formerly borne its share. But single efforts of
this kind were quite unequal to cope with the social difficulty; and
early in the reign of Elizabeth the first Poor Law was passed and a
system of relief came into operation.
To meet the difficulty of unemployment, it was part of the policy of
Queen Elizabeth's Government to encourage new industries, whether due
to invention and discovery or to knowledge gained by visiting foreign
countries to learn new processes and manufactures; the inventor or
the introducer of the novelty was rewarded with a monopoly, and he
received a licence "to take up workmen" to be taught the methods of the
new industry. One of the manufactures which had been thus stimulated
was glass-making; and in the precinct of Blackfriars was a famous
glass-house or factory, a reminiscence of which still exists in the
name Glasshouse Yard. It has been shown how the crafts and trades of
Elizabethan London gravitated to separate areas: Blackfriars precinct
was famous as the abode of artists; one may hazard the guess that some
of the portraits of Elizabethan and Jacobean players in the Dulwich
Gallery may have been painted here. In the reign of Charles I. Vandyke
had his studio in Blackfriars, where the king paid him a visit to see
his pictures. The precinct was famous also as the abode of glovers; and
in the reigns of James and Charles it became a notorious stronghold
of Puritans. The existing name of Playhouse Yard, at the back of
_The Times_ newspaper office, affords some indication of the site of
the theatre; and the name Cloister Court is the sole remnant of the
cloisters of Blackfriars monastery.
The eastern boundary of the precinct was St. Andrew's Hill, which still
exists. On the site of the present church of St. Andrew in the Wardrobe
stood a church of the same dedication in Elizabethan London. Stow wrote
of "the parish church of St. Andrew in the Wardrobe, a proper church,
but few monuments hath it." Near the church (the site being indicated
by the existing court called the Wardrobe) was a building of State,
which Stow calls "the King's Great Wardrobe." The Elizabethan use of
the Wardrobe is described by Stow thus: "In this house of late years is
lodged Sir John Fortescue, knight, master of the wardrobe, chancellor
and under-treasurer of the exchequer, and one of her majesty's most
honorable privy Council."
Near the top of St. Andrew's Hill and within the precinct of
Blackfriars was a house which Shakespeare purchased in 1613. It is
described in the extant Deed of Conveyance as "now or late being in
the tenure or occupation of one William Ireland ... abutting upon a
street leading down to Puddle Wharf on the east part, right against the
Kinges Majesties Wardrobe." Curiously enough, the name of this occupier
survives in the existing Ireland Yard.
[Illustration]
ENVOY
The omissions in this imperfect sketch of Elizabethan London are many
and obvious. The design has been to show the tangible setting of a
jewel rather than the jewel itself; the outward conditions in which
the life of a new age was manifested. The background of destruction
has been inevitably emphasised; but in Elizabethan London historic
memorials existed on every hand. Nothing has been said of Baynard's
Castle, its Norman walls rising from the margin of the river to
the south of Blackfriars, or of St Bartholomew the Great, or the
Charterhouse, or St. Giles's, Cripplegate; although an account of them
would have completed the outer ring of our perambulation of the London
described by Stow. The whole region westward--Holborn, Fleet Street,
the Strand, and Westminster--has been left for another occasion. Here
and there, however, we have been able to glance at historic buildings
which had survived from earlier ages to witness the changes in London
after the Reformation. It was those changes that led to the making of
the playhouse and brought the conditions which enfolded the possibility
realised in Shakespeare. This has been the point of view in the
foregoing pages. A study of characteristics rather than a detailed
account has been offered for the consideration of the reader.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Thomas Dekker, the pamphleteer and dramatist, describes the
Exchange as it was in 1607, when "at every turn a man is put in mind of
Babel, there is such a confusion of languages"; and as late as 1644 the
picturesque dresses of the foreign merchants appear in an engraving by
Hollar.
[2] Camden speaks of "this so stately building," and in his terse
fashion conveys the effect of the interior: "The west part, as also the
Cross-yle, are spacious, high-built, and goodly to be seene by reason
of the huge Pillars and a right beautiful arched Roof of stone."
[3] This is Stow's figure. Camden gives the measurement as 534 feet.
[4] The name survives in Pike Gardens, Bankside.
[5] See the "Bear-house" near the "Play-house" (_i.e._, the Rose) in
Norden's plan, 1593.
PEPYS'S LONDON
BY HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.
The growth of population in London was almost stationary for many
centuries; as, owing to the generally unhealthy condition of ancient
cities, the births seldom exceeded the deaths, and in the case of
frequent pestilences the deaths actually exceeded the births. Thus
during its early history the walls of London easily contained its
inhabitants, although at all times in its history London will be found
to have taken a higher rank for healthy sanitary conditions than most
of its continental contemporaries. In the later Middle Ages the city
overflowed its borders, and its liberties were recognized and marked by
Bars. Subsequently nothing was done to bring the further out-growths of
London proper within the fold, and in Tudor times we first hear of the
suburbs as disreputable quarters, a condemnation which was doubtless
just, as the inhabitants mostly consisted of those who were glad to
escape the restrictions of life within the city walls.
The first great exodus westwards of the more aristocratic inhabitants
of London took place in the reigns of James I. and Charles I.--first to
Lincoln's Inn Fields and its neighbourhood, and then to Covent Garden,
and both these suburbs were laid out by Inigo Jones, the greatest
architect of beautiful street fronts that England has ever produced. It
is an eternal disgrace to Londoners that so many of his noble buildings
in Lincoln's Inn Fields have been destroyed. The period of construction
of these districts is marked by the names of Henrietta and King
Streets in Covent Garden, and Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
After the Restoration modern London was founded. During the
Commonwealth there had been a considerable stagnation in the movement
of the population, and when the Royalists returned to England from
abroad they found their family mansions in the city unfitted for their
habitation, and in consequence established themselves in what is now
the city of Westminster. Henry Jermyn, first Earl of St. Albans, began
to provide houses for some of them in St. James's Square, and buildings
in the district around were rapidly proceeded with.
We have a faithful representation of London, as it appeared at the
end of the Commonwealth period, in Newcourt and Faithorne's valuable
Plan of London, dated 1658. A long growth of houses north of the
Thames is seen stretching from the Tower to the neighbourhood of
Westminster Abbey. Islington is found at the extreme north of the plan
unconnected with the streets of the town, Hoxton connected with the
city by Shoreditch, Bethnal Green almost alone, and Stepney at the
extreme north-east. South of the Thames there are a few streets close
to the river, and a small out-growth from London Bridge along the great
southern road containing Southwark and Bermondsey. There is little at
Lambeth but the Archbishop's Palace and the great marsh.
On this plan we see what was the condition of the Haymarket and
Piccadilly before the Restoration. This was soon to be changed, for
between the years 1664 and 1668 were erected three great mansions in
the "Road to Reading" (now Piccadilly), viz., Clarendon House (where
Bond and Albemarle Streets now stand), Berkeley House (on the site
now occupied by Devonshire House), and Burlington House. Piccadilly
was the original name of the district after which Piccadilly Hall was
called. The latter place was situated at the north-east corner of the
Haymarket, nearly opposite to Panton Square, and close by Panton
Street, named after Colonel Thomas Panton, the notorious gamester, who
purchased Piccadilly Hall from Mrs. Baker, the widow of the original
owner.
There is much to be said in favour of associating the name of some
well-known man with the London of his time, and thus showing how his
descriptions illustrate the chief historical events of his time, with
many of which he may have been connected. In the case of Samuel Pepys,
we can see with his eyes many of the incidents of the early years of
the Restoration period, and thus gain an insight into the inner life of
the times. Pepys lived through some of the greatest changes that have
passed over London, and in alluding to some of these we may quote his
remarks with advantage. His friend, John Evelyn, also refers to many of
the same events, and may also be quoted, more particularly as he was
specially engaged at different periods of his life in improving several
parts of London.
We are truly fortunate in having two such admirable diarists at hand to
help us to a proper understanding of the course of events and of the
changes that took place in London during their long lives.
When Pepys commenced his _Diary_ on January 1st, 1660, we find him
living in a small house in Axe Yard, Westminster, a place which derived
its name from a brewhouse on the west side of King Street, called
"The Axe." He was then clerk to Mr. (afterwards Sir George) Downing,
one of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of the Exchequer, from whom
Downing Street obtained its name. Pepys was in the receipt of £50
a year, and his household was not a large one, for it consisted of
himself, his wife, and his servant Jane. He let the greater part of
the house, and his family lived in the garrets. About 1767 Axe Yard
was swept away, and Fludyer Street arose on its site, named after Sir
Samuel Fludyer, who was Lord Mayor in 1761. Nearly a century afterwards
(1864-65) this street also was swept away (with others) to make room
for the Government offices, consisting of the India, Foreign and
Colonial Offices, etc., so that all trace of Pepys's residence has now
completely passed away.
Macaulay, in the famous third chapter of his History, where he gives
a brilliant picture of the state of England in 1685, and clearly
describes London under the later Stuarts, writes: "Each of the two
cities which made up the capital of England had its own centre of
attraction." We may take this sentence as our text, and try to
illustrate it by some notices of London life in the city and at the
Court end of town. The two extremes were equally familiar to Pepys, and
both were seen by him almost daily when he stepped into his boat by the
Tower and out of it again at Westminster.
To take the court life first, let us begin with the entry of the
King into London on his birthday (May 29th, 1660). The enthusiastic
reception of Charles II. is a commonplace of history, and from the
Tower to Whitehall joy was exhibited by all that thronged the streets.
Evelyn was spectator of the scene, which he describes in his _Diary_:--
"May 29th. This day his Majestie Charles the Second came to
London after a sad and long exile and calamitous suffering
both of the King and Church, being 17 yeares. This was also
his birthday, and with a triumph of above 20,000 horse
and foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with
inexpressible joy; the wayes strew'd with flowers, the bells
ringing, the streetes hung with tapissry, fountaines running
with wine; the Maior, Aldermen and all the Companies in their
liveries, chaines of gold and banners; Lords and nobles
clad in cloth of silver, gold and velvet; the windowes and
balconies all set with ladies; trumpets, music and myriads
of people flocking, even so far as Rochester, so as they
were seven houres in passing the citty, even from 2 in y^e
afternoon till 9 at night.
"I stood in the Strand and beheld it, and bless'd God. And
all this was done without one drop of blood shed, and by that
very army which rebell'd against him; but it was y^e Lord's
doing, for such a restauration was never mention'd in any
history antient or modern, since the returne of the Jews from
the Babylonish captivity; nor so joyfull a day and so bright
ever seene in this nation, this hapning when to expect or
effect it was past all human policy."
One of the brilliant companies of young and comely men in white
doublets who took part in the procession was led by Simon Wadlow,
the vintner and host of the "Devil" tavern. This was the son of Ben
Jonson's Simon Wadlow, "Old Simon the King," who gave his name to
Squire Western's favourite song. From Rugge's curious MS. _Diurnal_ we
learn how the young women of London were not behind the young men in
the desire to join in the public rejoicings:--
"Divers maidens, in behalf of themselves and others, presented
a petition to the Lord Mayor of London, wherein they pray
his Lordship to grant them leave and liberty to meet his
Majesty on the day of his passing through the city; and if
their petition be granted that they will all be clad in white
waistcoats and crimson petticoats, and other ornaments of
triumph and rejoicing."
Pepys was at sea at this time with Sir Edward Montagu, where the
sailors had their own rejoicings and fired off three guns, but he
enters in his _Diary_: "This day, it is thought, the King do enter the
city of London."
Charles, immediately on his arrival in London, settled himself in the
Palace of Whitehall, which was his chief place of residence during the
whole of his reign, but although he was very much at home in it, he
felt keenly the inconveniences attending its situation by the river
side, which caused it frequently to be flooded by high tides.
The King alludes to this trouble in one of his amusingly chatty
speeches to the House of Commons on March 1st, 1661-62, when
arrangements were being made for the entry of Katharine of Braganza
into London. He said:--
"The mention of my wife's arrival puts me in mind to desire
you to put that compliment upon her, that her entrance into
the town may be with more decency than the ways will now
suffer it to be; and for that purpose, I pray you would
quickly pass such laws as are before you, in order to the
amending those ways, and that she may not find Whitehall
surrounded by water."
[Illustration: A VIEW OF LONDON AS IT APPEARED BEFORE THE GREAT FIRE.
_From an old print._
1 St. Paul's.
2 St. Dunstan's.
3 Temple.
4 St. Bride's.
5 St. Andrew's.
6 Baynard's Castle.
7 St. Sepulchre's.
8 Bow Church.
9 Guildhall.
10 St. Michael's.
11 St. Laurence, Poultney.
12 Old Swan.
13 London Bridge.
14 St. Dunstan's East.
15 Billingsgate.
16 Custom House.
17 Tower.
18 Tower Wharf.
19 St. Olave's.
20 St. Saviour's.
21 Winchester House.
22 The Globe.
23 The Bear Garden.
24 Hampstead.
25 Highgate.
26 Hackney.]
In the following year we read in Pepys's _Diary_ a piquant account
of the putting out of Lady Castlemaine's kitchen fire on a certain
occasion when Charles was engaged to sup with her:--
"October 13th, 1663. My Lady Castlemaine, I hear, is in as
great favour as ever, and the King supped with her the very
first night he came from Bath: and last night and the night
before supped with her; when there being a chine of beef
to roast, and the tide rising into their kitchen that it
could not be roasted there, and the cook telling her of it,
she answered, 'Zounds! she must set the house on fire, but
it should be roasted!' So it was carried to Mrs. Sarah's
husband's, and there it was roasted."
The last sentence requires an explanation. Mrs. Sarah was Lord
Sandwich's housekeeper, and Pepys had found out in November, 1662, that
she had just been married, and that her husband was a cook. We are not
told his name or where he lived.
Lord Dorset, in the famous song, "To all you ladies now on land,"
specially alludes to the periodical inundations at the Palace:--
"The King, with wonder and surprise,
Will swear the seas grow bold;
Because the tides will higher rise
Than e'er they did of old;
But let him know it is our tears
Bring floods of grief to Whitehall stairs."
Pepys was a constant visitor to Whitehall, and the Index to the _Diary_
contains over three pages of references to his visits. He refers to
Henry VIII.'s Gallery, the Boarded Gallery, the Matted Gallery, the
Shield Gallery, and the Vane Room. Lilly, the astrologer, mentions the
Guard Room. The Adam and Eve Gallery was so called from a picture by
Mabuse, now at Hampton Court. In the Matted Gallery was a ceiling by
Holbein, and on a wall in the Privy Chamber a painting of Henry VII.
and Henry VIII., with their Queens, by the same artist, of which a copy
in small is preserved at Hampton Court. On another wall was a "Dance of
Death," also by Holbein, of which Douce has given a description; and in
the bedchamber of Charles II. a representation by Joseph Wright of the
King's birth, his right to his dominions, and miraculous preservation,
with the motto, _Terras Astræa revisit_.
All these rooms, and most of the lodgings of the many residents, royal
and non-royal, were in the portion of the Palace situated on the river
side of the road, now known as Whitehall. This road was shut in by two
gates erected by Henry VIII. when he enlarged the borders of the Palace
after he had taken it from Wolsey. The one at the Westminster end was
called the King Street gate, and the other, at the north end, designed
by Holbein, was called by his name, and also Whitehall or Cock-pit gate.
It is necessary to remember that Whitehall extended into St. James's
Park. The Tilt Yard, where many tournaments and pageants were held
in the reigns of Henry VIII., Elizabeth, and James I., fronted the
Banqueting House, and occupied what is now the Horse Guards' Parade. On
the south side of the Tilt Yard was the Cockpit, where Monk, Duke of
Albemarle, lived for a time. His name was given to a tavern in the Tilt
Yard ("The Monk's Head").
On the north side was Spring Gardens, otherwise the King's Garden, but
it subsequently became a place of public entertainment, and after the
Restoration it was styled the Old Spring Garden; then the ground was
built upon, and the entertainments removed to the New Spring Garden at
Lambeth, afterwards called Vauxhall.
The Cockpit was originally used for cock-fighting, but it cannot be
definitely said when it ceased to be employed for this cruel sport. It
was for a considerable time used as a royal theatre, and Malone wrote:--
"Neither Elizabeth, nor James I., nor Charles I., I believe,
ever went to the public theatre, but they frequently ordered
plays to be performed at Court, which were represented in the
royal theatre called the Cockpit."
Malone is probably incorrect in respect to Elizabeth's use of the
Cockpit, for certainly cock-fighting was practised here as late as
1607, as may be seen from the following entry in the State Papers:--
"Aug. 4th, 1607. Warrant to pay 100 marks per annum to William
Gateacre for breeding, feeding, etc., the King's game cocks
during the life of George Coliner, Cockmaster."[6]
It is, of course, possible that the players and the cocks occupied the
place contemporaneously.
The lodgings at the Cockpit were occupied by some well-known men.
Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, saw Charles I. pass
from St. James's to the scaffold at the Banqueting House from one
of his windows, and he died in these apartments on January 23rd,
1650. Oliver Cromwell, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was given,
by order of Parliament, "the use of the lodgings called the Cockpit,
of the Spring Garden and St. James's House, and the command of St.
James's Park," and when Protector, and in possession of Whitehall
Palace, he still retained the Cockpit. When in 1657 he relaxed some
of the prohibitions against the Theatre, he used the Cockpit stage
occasionally for instrumental and vocal music.
A little before the Restoration the apartments were assigned to General
Monk, and Charles II. confirmed the arrangement. Here he died, as Duke
of Albemarle, on January 3rd, 1670. In 1673 George Villiers, second
Duke of Buckingham, became a resident, and at the Revolution of 1688
the Princess Anne was living here.
There has been some confusion in respect to the references to the
Cockpit in Pepys's _Diary_, as two distinct theatres are referred to
under this name. The references before November, 1660, are to the
performances of the Duke's Company at the Cockpit in Drury Lane.
Here Pepys saw the "Loyal Subject," "Othello," "Wit without Money,"
and "The Woman's Prize or Tamer Tamed." The subsequent passages in
which the Cockpit is referred to apply to the royal theatre attached
to Whitehall Palace. Here Pepys saw "The Cardinal," "Claricilla,"
"Humorous Lieutenant," "Scornful Lady," and the "Valiant Cid." It is
useful to remember that the performances at Whitehall were in the
evening, and those at the public theatre in the afternoon.
The buildings of the Old Whitefriars Palace by the river side were
irregular and unimposing outside, although they were handsome inside.
The grand scheme of Inigo Jones for rebuilding initiated by James I.,
and occasionally entertained by Charles I. and II. and William III.,
came to nothing, but the noble Banqueting House remains to show what
might have been.
The Rev. Dr. Sheppard, in his valuable work on _The Old Palace of
Whitehall_ (1902), refers to Grinling Gibbons's statue of James II.,
which for many years stood in the Privy Garden, and is one of the very
few good statues in London. He refers to the temporary removal of the
statue to the front of Gwydyr House, and writes: "Since the statue has
been removed to its present position an inscription (there was none
originally) has been placed on its stone pedestal. It runs as follows:--
JACOBUS SECUNDUS
DEI GRATIA ANGLIÆ SCOTIÆ FRANCIÆ
ET HIBERNIÆ REX.
FIDEI DEFENSOR. ANNO MDCLXXXVI."
This, however, is a mistake, and the inscription runs as follows:--
JACOBUS SECUNDUS
DEI GRATIÆ
ANGLIÆ SCOTIÆ
FRANCIÆ ET
HIBERNIÆ
REX
FIDEI DEFENSOR
ANNO MDCLXXXVI
in capitals, and without any stops.
The present writer remembers well being taken as a little boy to
read the inscription and find out the error in the Latin. The statue
has since been removed to the front of the new buildings of the
Admiralty between the Horse Guards' Parade and Spring Gardens, a very
appropriate position for a Lord High Admiral. I am happy to see that
the inscription has not been altered, and the incorrect "Dei gratiæ"
appears as in my youth.
James Duke of York, after the Restoration, occupied apartments in
St. James's Palace, and his Secretary of the Admiralty, Sir William
Coventry, had lodgings conveniently near him. The Duke sometimes moved
from one palace to the other, as his father, Charles I., had done
before him. Henrietta Maria took a fancy to the place, and most of
their children were born at St. James's, the Duke being one of these.
James's changes of residence are recorded in Pepys's _Diary_ as
follows:--
"Jan. 23rd, 1664-65. Up and with Sir W. Batten and Sir W. Pen
to White Hall; but there finding the Duke gone to his lodgings
at St. James's for alltogether, his Duchesse being ready to
lie in, we to him and there did our usual business."