extent, with a commodious market house in the middle, filled with
butchers shops, &c. The stalls in the market place are for country
butchers, higlers, &c.
[Illustration:
_S^t. James’s Palace, view’d from Pall Mall._
_S. Wale delin._ _J. Green sc. Oxon._
]
[Illustration:
_The Same from the Park._
_S. Wale delin._ _J. Green sc. Oxon._
]
_St._ JAMES’S _Palace_. On the place where this edifice stands, was
once an hospital dedicated to St. James, originally founded by the
citizens of London for only fourteen maids afflicted with the leprosy,
who were to live a chaste and devout life; but afterwards new
donations increased the extent of the charity, and eight brethren were
added, to minister divine service. This hospital, which is mentioned
in a manuscript of the Cotton library, so early as in the year 1100,
was at length suppressed by King Henry VIII. who allowed the sisters
pensions during the term of their lives, and taking down the edifice
built a palace in its room, which retained the name of the hospital,
and is still standing. In this edifice our Kings have resided ever
since Whitehall was consumed by fire in 1697, and his Majesty usually
resides here during the winter season: but though it is pleasantly
situated on the north side of the Park, and has very convenient, and
not inelegant apartments, it is an irregular brick building, without
having one single beauty on the outside to recommend it, and is at
once the contempt of foreign nations, and the disgrace of our own. In
the front next St. James’s street, there appears little more than an
old gatehouse; and on passing through the gate we enter a little
square court, with a piazza on the west side of it leading to the
grand stair case; the buildings are low, plain, and mean; and there
are two other courts beyond, which have not much of the air of a
palace. The windows however look into a pleasant garden, and command a
view of St. James’s Park, which seem to be the only advantage this
edifice enjoys, above many others devoted to charity. This palace
claims a print, as it is the dwelling of a British Monarch, having
otherwise not the least beauty to recommend it. The print shews both
sides of it.
In other kingdoms the attention of foreigners is first struck with the
magnificent residence of the Sovereign, on which all the decorations
of architecture are lavished without the least regard to expence. The
outside is grand and noble; and the galleries and apartments are
adorned with all the boasted pieces of art, the finest efforts of
genius, and the most rare and precious productions of nature: for the
magnificence of the palace is intended to give an idea of the power
and riches of the kingdom: but if the power, wealth and strength of
the King of England should be judged from this palace, how great would
be the mistake! We are however in no want of a design for an edifice
suitable to the dignity of the British Crown; the celebrated Inigo
Jones drew a draught of such a structure; but the ideas of that
architect were greater than the spirit of the public, and the expence
of building it has hitherto prevented its being begun: but as a taste
for elegance in building gains ground, and new schemes are continually
laid for building magnificent bridges, streets and squares, it is to
be hoped that the erecting of so necessary a structure will not be
much longer neglected: especially if it be considered, that however
great the expence may be, it will cost the nation nothing, for on
these occasions, what is given by the people is paid to the people.
_St._ JAMES’S PARK, was in the reign of Henry VIII. a wild wet field;
but that Prince, on his building St. James’s palace, inclosed it, laid
it out in walks, and collecting the waters together, gave to the new
inclosed ground, and new raised building, the name of St. James. It
was afterwards much enlarged and improved by King Charles II. who
added to it several fields, planted it with rows of lime trees, laid
out the Mall, which is a vista half a mile in length, and formed the
canal, which is an hundred feet broad, and two thousand eight hundred
feet long, with a decoy, and other ponds for water fowl. Succeeding
Kings allowed the people the privilege of walking in it, and King
William III. in 1699 granted the neighbouring inhabitants a passage
into it out of Spring Garden.
It is certain that the Park enjoys a fine situation, and is laid out
with a very agreeable air of negligence. It affords many pleasant
walks, diversified by new scenes, varied by different rural prospects,
and the view of distant structures on the west side.
_St._ JAMES’S _Place_, St. James’s street.
JAMES’S _rents_, Hermitage dock.†
JAMES’S _rope-walk_, 1. Red Maid lane.† 2. North of Bedford row.
_St._ JAMES’S _square_, is very large and beautiful; the area on the
inside is encompassed with iron rails which form an octagon, and in
the center is a fine circular bason of water. On the north side of the
square is St. James’s church, in a very fine situation with respect to
the prospect, and had it been an elegant structure, would have had a
very noble effect. An ingenious author observes, that though this
square appears extremely grand, yet this grandeur does not arise from
the magnificence of the houses; but only from their regularity, the
neatness of the pavement, and the beauty of the bason in the middle:
and that if the houses were built more in taste, and the four sides
exactly correspondent to each other, the effect would be much more
surprising, and the pleasure arising from it more just.
_St._ JAMES’S _street_, Pall Mall.
JAMES _street_, 1. Brook’s street, New Bond street.† 2. Bunhill fields.†
3. Covent garden.† 4. Golden square.† 5. Hare street.† 6. Hay market.†
7. Hoxton.† 8. Long Acre.† 9, Near Theobald’s row.† 10. Petty France,
Westminster.†
JANE _alley_, Blackman street.
JANE SHORE’S _alley_, Shoreditch. See SHOREDITCH.
JANE SHORE’S _yard_, Shoreditch.
JASPER _street_, Aldermanbury.†
IDLESTRY, a village in Hertfordshire, situated on the very edge of
Middlesex, near Brockley hill, by Stanmore, which affords a delightful
prospect across Middlesex over the Thames into Surry.
IDOL or IDLE _lane_, Tower street.
JEFFERIES’S _Almshouse_, a large and handsome building, situated in
Kingsland road. It consists of a spacious front, with two wings, and a
chapel in the center, which has a plain frontispiece, and is crowned
with a well-proportioned turret. It was erected in the year 1713, by
the Ironmongers company, pursuant to the will of Mr. Robert Jefferies,
some time Lord Mayor of this city, for the reception of as many of his
relations as should apply for this charity; and in case there were
none of these, for fifty-six poor members of the company, who, besides
a convenient room and part of a cellar, have each 6_l._ a year and a
gown. _Maitland._
JEFFREY’S _buildings_, Westminster.†
JEFFREY’S _square_, St. Mary Ax.†
JENKIN’S _buildings_, Carey street.†
JENKIN’S _court_, Ropemakers fields.†
JERICHO _yard_, Jerusalem alley.
JERMAIN _court_, Jermain street.†
JERMAIN _street_, Near Piccadilly. This street and court were thus named
from the Lord Jermine, nephew to the Earl of St. Alban’s.
JERUSALEM _alley_, Gracechurch street.
JERUSALEM _court_, 1. St. John’s street, West Smithfield. See _St._
JOHN’S SQUARE. 2. Shad Thames, Horselydown.
JERUSALEM _passage_, Ailesbury street, St. John’s street.
JERUSALEM _row_, Church street, Hackney.
JESUITS _ground_, Savoy.
JEWEL OFFICE, in the Tower, a dark strong stone room, about twenty yards
to the eastward of the grand storehouse or new armoury, in which the
Crown jewels are deposited. It is not certain whether they were always
kept here, though they have been deposited in the Tower from very
ancient times, and we have sufficient proof of their being in that
fortress so early as the reign of King Henry III.
The jewels at this time shewn to all who chuse to give a shilling for
seeing them, or eighteen pence for a company, are:
I. The imperial crown, with which it is pretended that all the Kings
of England have been crowned since Edward the Confessor, in 1042. It
is of gold, enriched with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, saphires and
pearls: the cap within is of purple velvet, lined with white taffety,
turned up with three rows of ermine. They are however mistaken in
shewing this as the ancient imperial diadem of St. Edward; for that,
with the other most ancient regalia of this kingdom, was kept in the
arched room in the cloisters in Westminster Abbey, till the grand
rebellion; when in 1642, Harry Martin, by order of the parliament,
broke open the iron chest in which it was secured, took it thence, and
sold it, together with the robes, sword, and scepter of St. Edward.
However after the restoration, King Charles II. had one made in
imitation of it, which is that now shewn.
II. The golden orb or globe put into the King’s right hand before he
is crowned; and borne in his left with the scepter in his right, upon
his return into Westminster Hall, after he is crowned. It is about six
inches in diameter, edged with pearl, and enriched with precious
stones. On the top is an amethyst, of a violet colour, near an inch
and a half in height, set with a rich cross of gold, adorned with
diamonds, pearls, and precious stones. The whole height of the ball
and cup is eleven inches.
III. The golden scepter, with its cross set upon a large amethyst of
great value, garnished round with table diamonds. The handle of the
scepter is plain; but the pummel is set round with rubies, emeralds,
and small diamonds. The top rises into a _fleur de lis_ of six leaves,
all enriched with precious stones, from whence issues a mound or ball
made of the amethyst already mentioned. The cross is quite covered
with precious stones.
IV. The scepter with the dove, the emblem of peace, perched on the top
of a small Jerusalem cross, finely ornamented with table diamonds and
jewels of great value. This emblem was first used by Edward the
Confessor, as appears by his seal; but the ancient scepter and dove
was sold with the rest of the regalia, and this now in the Tower was
made after the restoration.
V. St. Edward’s staff, four feet seven inches and a half in length,
and three inches three quarters in circumference, all of beaten gold,
which is carried before the King at his coronation.
VI. The rich crown of state worn by his Majesty in parliament; in
which is a large emerald seven inches round; a pearl esteemed the
finest in the world, and a ruby of inestimable value.
VII. The crown belonging to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
These two last crowns, when his Majesty goes in state to the
parliament house, are carried by the keeper of the Jewel Office,
attended by the warders, privately in a hackney coach to Whitehall,
where they are delivered to the officers appointed to receive them,
who with some yeomen of the guard carry them to the robing rooms
adjoining to the house of Lords, where his Majesty and the Prince of
Wales put on their robes. The King wears this crown on his head while
he sits upon the throne; but that of the Prince of Wales is placed
before him, to shew that he is not yet come to it. As soon as the King
is disrobed, the two crowns are carried back to the Tower by the
persons who brought them from thence, and again locked up in the jewel
office.
VIII. The late Queen Mary’s crown, globe and scepter, with the diadem
she wore at her coronation with her consort King William III.
IX. An ivory scepter with a dove on the top, made for the late King
James the second’s Queen, whose garniture is gold, and the dove on the
top gold, enamelled with white.
X. The _curtana_, or sword of mercy, which has a blade thirty two
inches long, and near two broad, is without a point, and is borne
naked before the King at his coronation, between the two swords of
justice, spiritual and temporal.
XI. The golden spurs, and the armillas, which are bracelets for the
wrists. These, tho’ very antique, are worn at the coronation.
XII. The _ampulla_ or eagle of gold, finely engraved, which holds the
holy oil the Kings and Queens of England are anointed with; and the
golden spoon that the Bishop pours the oil into. These are two pieces
of great antiquity. The golden eagle, including the pedestal, is about
nine inches high, and the wings expand about seven inches. The whole
weighs about ten ounces. The head of the eagle screws off about the
middle of the neck, which is made hollow, for holding the holy oil;
and when the King is anointed by the Bishop, the oil is poured into
the spoon out of the bird’s bill.
The following legend is told of this eagle. Thomas Becket being in
disgrace at Sens in France, the holy Virgin appeared to him, and gave
him a stone vessel of oil inclosed in a golden eagle, and bid him give
it to William a monk, to carry to Pictavia, and there hide it under a
great stone, in St. Gregory’s church, where it should be found for the
use of pious and prosperous Kings: accordingly Henry III. when Duke of
Lancaster, received it from a holy man in France; and Richard II.
finding it among other jewels, endeavoured to be anointed with it; but
was supplanted by Archibald Arundel, who afterwards anointed Henry IV.
Such is the fabulous history of the _ampulla_.
XIII. A rich salt-seller of state, in form like the square white
tower, and so exquisitely wrought that the workmanship of modern times
is in no degree equal to it. It is of gold, and used only on the
King’s table at the coronation.
XIV. A noble silver font, double gilt, and elegantly wrought, in which
the royal family are christened.
XV. A large silver fountain, presented to King Charles II. by the town
of Plymouth, very curiously wrought; but much inferior in beauty to
the above.
Besides these, which are commonly shewn, there are in the jewel office
all the crown jewels worn by the Prince and Princesses at coronations,
and a vast variety of curious old plate.
This office is governed by a Master, who has 450_l._ a year patent
fees; two yeomen, who have 106_l._ 15_s._ _per annum_ each; a groom,
who has 105_l._ 8_s._ 4_d._ a year, and a clerk.
JEWIN _street_, Aldersgate street.†
JEWS HARP _court_, Angel alley, Bishopsgate street.*
JEWS _row_, Chelsea.
JEYE’S _yard_, Three Colts street, Limehouse.†
INDEPENDENTS, a set of dissenters from the church of England, received
their name from each congregation being entirely independent with
respect to church government. They are Calvinists, and like the
Baptists receive the sacrament in the afternoon; none are admitted to
communion till after having given in a paper containing an account of
their conversion, religious experiences, &c. Their places of worship
within the bills of mortality, are, 1. Berry street, St. Mary Ax. 2.
Boar’s Head yard, Petticoat lane. 3. Brick Hill lane, Thames street.
4. Broad street, near Old Gravel lane. 5. Coachmakers hall, Noble
street. _Antinomian._ 6. Collier’s rents, White street. 7. Court yard,
Barnaby street, Southwark. 8. Crispin street, Spitalfields. 9.
Deadman’s Place, Southwark. 10. Hare court, Aldersgate street. 11.
Jewin street, Aldersgate street. 12. Lower street, Islington, two
meeting houses. 13. Mare street, Hackney. 14. New Broad street,
Moorfields. 15. New court, Carey street. 16. Old Artillery Ground,
Spitalfields. 17. Orchard, Wapping. 18. Paved alley, Lime street. 19.
Pavement row, Moorfields. 20. Pinner’s hall, Broad street, in the
morning, the only Independent congregation that is not Calvinist. 21.
Queen street, Ratcliff. 22. Queen street, Rotherhith. 23. Redcross
street, Barbican. 24. Ropemakers alley, Little Moorfields. 25. St.
Michael’s lane, Canon street. 26. St. Saviour’s Dockhead, Southwark.
27. Staining lane, Maiden lane. 28. Stepney fields. 29. Turner’s hall,
Philpot lane. 30. White Horn yard, Duke’s Place. 31. Zoar street,
Southwark.
INGATSTONE or ENGERSTONE, a town in Essex, twenty-three miles from
London, from which it is a great thoroughfare to Harwich, has many
good inns, and a considerable market on Wednesdays, for live cattle
brought from Suffolk.
Here is the seat of the ancient family of the Petres; to whose
ancestor Sir William, this manor was granted by Henry VIII. at the
dissolution of Barking Abbey, to which it till then belonged. That
gentleman founded eight fellowships at Oxford, called the Petrean
fellowships, and erected and endowed an almshouse here for twenty poor
people. He lies interred under a stately monument in the church, as do
several others of that family.
INGRAM’S _court_, an open well-built place in Fenchurch street, thus
named from Sir Thomas Ingram, who built this small square on the
ground where his own house before stood.
INNER SCOTLAND _yard_, Whitehall.
INNER TEMPLE. See the article TEMPLE.
INNER TEMPLE _lane_, Fleet street.
INNHOLDERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by Henry
VIII. in the year 1515. They are governed by a Master, three Wardens,
and twenty Assistants, and have a livery of an hundred and thirty-nine
members, whose fine upon admission is 10_l._
They have a handsome and convenient hall in Elbow lane.
INNS OF CHANCERY. The colleges of the professors and students of the
municipal and common law, are stiled Inns, an old English word,
formerly used for the houses of noblemen, bishops, and persons of
distinguished rank, and the eight Inns of chancery were probably thus
denominated from there dwelling in them such clerks, as chiefly
studied the forming of writs, which regularly belonged to the
cursitors, who are officers in chancery. These are Lincoln’s Inn, New
Inn, Clement’s Inn, Clifford’s Inn, Staple’s Inn, Lion’s Inn,
Furnival’s Inn, and Barnard’s Inn. These were formerly considered as
preparatory colleges for younger students, many of whom were entered
here, before they were admitted into the Inns of court; but now they
are for the most part taken up by attorneys, sollicitors and clerks,
who have separate chambers, and their diet at a very easy rate in an
hall together, where they are obliged to appear in grave long robes,
and black round knit caps. See the articles CLEMENT’S INN, CLIFFORD’S
INN, LINCOLN’S INN, LION’S INN, &c.
INNS OF COURT, were so named, either from the students, who live in
them, serving the courts of judicature; or, according to Fortescue,
from these colleges anciently receiving none but the sons of noblemen,
and gentlemen of high rank.
The Inns of court, are only four, viz. the two Temples, Lincoln’s Inn,
and Gray’s Inn. See the articles TEMPLE, LINCOLN’S INN, and GRAY’S
INN.
Though these societies are no corporation, and have no judicial power
over their members, they have certain orders among themselves, which
have by consent the force of laws: for small offences, they are only
excommoned, or not allowed to eat at the common table with the rest;
and for greater offences they lose their chambers, and are expelled
the college, after which they are not to be received by any of the
other three Inns of court.
As these societies are not incorporated, they have no lands or
revenues, nor any thing for defraying the charges of the house but
what is paid at admittance, and other dues for their chambers. The
whole company of gentlemen may be divided into four parts, benchers,
utter-barristers, inner-barristers and students.
The benchers are the seniors, who have the government of the whole
house, and out of these are annually chosen a treasurer, who receives,
disburses and accounts for all the money belonging to the house. See
SERJEANTS INN.
There are at present no mootings, or readings in any of the courts of
Chancery. _Chamberlain’s Present State._
It ought not to be omitted, that gentlemen may take chambers in the
Inns of Court or Chancery, without laying themselves under an
obligation to study the law.
A description of the structures and gardens belonging to these Inns we
have given under their respective heads: but it may not be improper
here to add, that strangers are apt to be disgusted at the nastiness
of the walls, and the dirt and filth observable on all the stairs and
public passages leading to the Inns of Court and Chancery: where every
thing seems neglected, and generally out of repair: but on stepping
into the chambers, one is surprised to see so remarkable a contrast;
to observe the utmost neatness reign there, and the most handsome and
commodious rooms, furnished and adorned with great elegance.
Dr. Blackstone in his discourse on the study of the law, gives us the
following curious account of the changes and revolutions in this
study, and of the origin of the several _Inns of Court and Chancery_.
That ancient collection of unwritten maxims and customs, says he,
which is called the common law, however compounded or from whatever
fountains derived, had subsisted immemorially in this kingdom: and,
though somewhat altered and impaired by the violence of the times, had
in a great measure weathered the rude shock of the Norman conquest.
This had endeared it to the people in general, as well because its
decisions were universally known, as because it was found to be
excellently adapted to the genius of the English nation. In the
knowledge of this law consisted great part of the learning of those
dark ages; it was then taught, says Mr. Selden, in the monasteries, in
the universities, and in the families of the principal nobility. The
clergy in particular, as they then engrossed almost every other branch
of learning, so (like their predecessors the British Druids) they were
peculiarly remarkable for their proficiency in the study of the law.
‘But the common law being not committed to writing, but only
handed down by tradition, use, and experience, was not so
heartily relished by the foreign clergy who came over hither
in shoals during the reign of the Conqueror and his two sons,
and were utter strangers to our constitution as well as our
language. And an accident, which soon after happened, had
nearly completed its ruin.’
A copy of Justinian’s Pandects, being newly discovered at Amalfi,
about A.D. 1130, soon brought the civil law into vogue all over the
rest of Europe. It became in a particular manner the favourite of the
Popish clergy; and Theobald, a Norman Abbot, being elected to the see
of Canterbury, A.D. 1138, and extremely addicted to this new study,
brought over with him in his retinue many learned proficients therein;
and among the rest Roger surnamed Vacarius, whom he placed in the
university of Oxford to teach it. The monkish clergy (devoted to the
will of a foreign Primate) received it with eagerness and zeal; but
the laity, who were more interested to preserve the old constitution,
and had already severely felt the effect of many Norman innovations,
continued wedded to the use of the common law.
The clergy, finding it impossible to root out the municipal law,
withdrew by degrees from the temporal courts; and in 1217, they passed
a canon in a national synod, forbidding all ecclesiastics to appear as
advocates _in foro sæculari_[1]; nor did they long continue to act as
judges there, not caring to take the oath of office which was then
found necessary to be administered, that they should in all things
determine according to the law and custom of this realm; though they
still kept possession of the high office of Chancellor, an office then
of little juridical power; and afterwards as its business increased by
degrees, they modelled the process of the court at their own
discretion.
Footnote 1:
Sir H. Spelman conjectures (Glossar 335.) that coifs were introduced
to hide the tonsure of such renegade clerks, as were still tempted
to remain in the secular courts in the quality of advocates or
judges, notwithstanding their prohibition by canon.