carried with them the same zeal to introduce the rules of the civil,
in exclusion of the municipal law. This appears in a particular manner
from the spiritual courts of all denominations, from the Chancellor’s
courts in both our universities, and from the high court of Chancery;
in all of which the proceedings are to this day in a course much
conformed to the civil law. And if it be considered, that our
universities began about that period to receive their present form of
scholastic discipline; that they were then, and continued to be till
the time of the reformation, entirely under the influence of the
Popish clergy; this will lead us to perceive the reason, why the study
of the Roman laws was in those days of bigotry[2] pursued with such
alacrity in these seats of learning.
Since the reformation, the principal reason that has hindered the
introduction of this branch of learning, is, that the study of the
common law, being banished from hence in the times of Popery, has
fallen into a quite different channel, and has hitherto been wholly
cultivated in another place.
As the common law was no longer taught, as formerly, in any part of
the kingdom, it perhaps would have been gradually lost and over-run by
the civil, had it not been for the peculiar incident which happened at
a very critical time, of fixing the court of Common Pleas, the grand
tribunal for disputes of property, to be held in one certain spot;
that the seat of ordinary justice might be permanent and notorious to
all the nation. Formerly that, in conjunction with all the other
superior courts, was held before the King’s justiciary of England, in
the _aula regis_, or such of his palaces wherein his royal person
resided, and removed with his houshold from one end of the kingdom to
the other. This was found to occasion great inconvenience to the
suitors; to remedy which it was made an article of the great charter
of liberties, both that of King John and King Henry the Third, that,
“Common Pleas should no longer follow the King’s court, but be held in
some certain place:” in consequence of which they have ever since been
held (a few necessary removals in times of the plague excepted) in the
palace of Westminster only. This brought together the professors of
the municipal law, who before were dispersed about the kingdom, and
formed them into an aggregate body; whereby a society was established
of persons, who (as Spelman observes) addicted themselves wholly to
the study of the laws of the land.
Footnote 2:
There cannot be a stronger instance of the absurd and superstitious
veneration that was paid to these laws, than that the most learned
writers of the times thought they could not form a perfect
character, even of the blessed Virgin, without making her a Civilian
and a Canonist. Which Albertus Magnus, the renowned Dominican Doctor
of the thirteenth century, thus proves in his _Summa de laudibus
Christiferæ Virginis (divinum magis quam humanum opus) qu. 23. §.
5_. “_Item quod jura civilia, & leges, & decreta scivit in summo,
probatur hoc modo: sapientia advocati manifestatur in tribus; unum,
quod obtineat omnia contra judicem justum & sapientem; secundo, quod
contra adversarium astutum & sagacem; tertio, quod in causa
desperata: sed beatissima Virgo, contra judicem sapientissimum,
Dominum; contra adversarium callidissimum, dyabolum; in causa nostra
desperata; sententiam optatam obtinuit._“
They naturally fell into a kind of collegiate order; and, being
excluded from Oxford and Cambridge, established a new university of
their own, by purchasing certain houses (now called the Inns of Court
and Chancery) between the city of Westminster, the place of holding
the King’s courts, and the city of London; for advantage of ready
access to the one, and plenty of provisions in the other.
In this juridical university (for such it is insisted to have been by
Fortescue and Sir Edward Coke) there are two sorts of collegiate
houses; one called Inns of Chancery, in which the younger students of
the law used to be placed, “learning and studying, says Fortescue, the
originals, and as it were, the elements of the law; who, profiting
therein, as they grow to ripeness so are they admitted into the
greater Inns of the same study, called the Inns of Court.” And in
these Inns of both kinds, he goes on to tell us, the knights and
barons, with other grandees and noblemen of the realm, did use to
place their children, though they did not desire to have them
thoroughly learned in the law, or to get their living by its practice;
and that in his time there were about two thousand students at these
several Inns, all of whom he informs us were _filii nobilium_, or
gentlemen born.
But in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Edward Coke does not reckon
above a thousand students, and the number at present is very
considerably less: ‘Which seems principally owing to these reasons;
first, because the Inns of Chancery being now almost totally filled by
the inferior branch of the profession, they are neither commodious nor
proper for the resort of gentlemen of any rank or figure; so that
there are now very rarely any young students entered at the Inns of
Chancery: secondly, because in the Inns of Court all sorts of regimen
and academical superintendance, either with regard to morals or
studies, are found impracticable, and therefore entirely neglected:
lastly, because persons of birth and fortune, after having finished
their usual courses at the universities, have seldom leisure or
resolution sufficient to enter upon a new scheme of study at a new
place of instruction. Wherefore few gentlemen now resort to the Inns
of Court, but such for whom the knowledge of practice is absolutely
necessary: such, I mean, as are intended for the profession.’
INOCULATION HOSPITAL for the smallpox, in the Lower street, Islington,
beyond the church; in an old building situated backwards, out of the
view of the street. This hospital is under the direction of the
Small-pox hospital, in Cold Bath fields. See the article SMALL-POX
HOSPITAL.
_Clerk of the_ INROLLMENTS OF FINES AND RECOVERIES, an officer under the
three puisne judges of the court of Common Pleas. The inrollments here
filed are by statute valid in law, and are of great use in preventing
law-suits. This office is kept in the Inner Temple.
JOAN HARDING’S, near Oakey street, Thames street.
JOCKEY FIELD _row_, Near Gray’s Inn.
JOHN DEVER’S _yard_, Seething lane.†
JOHN’S _alley_, Budge row.
_St._ JOHN’S _alley_, St. Martin’s le Grand.
_St._ JOHN _the Baptist_, a church which stood on the west side of
Dowgate; but being destroyed by the fire of London in 1666, and not
since rebuilt, the parish is annexed to the church of St. Antholin.
_St._ JOHN _the Evangelist_, a church that was seated in Watling street,
at the north east corner of Friday street; but being consumed by the
fire of London, and not rebuilt, the parish is united to that of
Allhallows Bread street.
_St._ JOHN _the Evangelist_, Southwark, like several other churches in
the suburbs, owed its rise to the great increase of buildings and
inhabitants, and is one of the fifty new churches ordered to be built
by act of parliament. It was finished in 1732, and the district of
Horselydown, being separated from St. Olave’s, was by act of
parliament constituted its parish. The sum of 3500_l._ was also
granted by parliament to be laid out in lands, tenements, &c. in fee
simple, and as a farther provision, the church wardens are to pay him
the additional sum of 60_l._ to be raised by fees arising from
burials. _Maitland._
The body of this church is enlightened by two ranges of windows, with
a Venetian in the center; the tower which rises square has a
balustrade on the top, and from thence rises the spire, which is very
properly diminished and well wrought; but the architect having
absurdly resolved to give it some resemblance to a column, has not
only fluted it; but placed on the top an Ionic capital, which last
gives the whole edifice an aukward whimsical appearance.
This church, which is situated near the lower end of Fair street, is
in the gift of the Crown, as well as that of St. Olave’s, from whence
this parish was taken. _Stow._
_St._ JOHN’S _Wapping_, situated on the north side of the street near
the Thames, was built in the year 1617, when the increase of houses in
the parish of St. Mary Whitechapel, rendered such an edifice
necessary. It was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and as there were
other churches under the patronage of the same saint, it was
distinguished, from its situation, by the name of Wapping. Originally
it was no more than a chapel of ease to St. Mary’s parish; but in
1694, the hamlet of Wapping was constituted a distinct parish; the
inhabitants were impowered to purchase 30_l._ _per annum_ in mortmain,
and as a farther provision for the Rector, he was allowed to receive
all ecclesiastical dues, except tithes, instead of which the Rector
has 130_l._ a year raised upon the inhabitants by an equal pound rate.
_Maitland._
This church, which was built at the expence of 1600_l._ is a very mean
building, it consisting of a plain body, a tower which scarcely
deserves the name, and a spire that might be taken for a lengthened
chimney. _English Architecture._
The advowson of this church is in the principal and scholars of King’s
hall and Brazen Nose college, Oxford.
_St._ JOHN’S _Westminster_. The parish of St. Margaret’s Westminster
being greatly increased in the number of houses and inhabitants, it
was judged necessary to erect one of the fifty new churches within it;
this church being finished, was dedicated to St. John the Evangelist;
a parish was taken out of St. Margaret’s, and the parliament granted
the sum of 2500_l._ to be laid out in the purchase of lands,
tenements, &c. for the maintenance of the Rector: but besides the
profits arising from this purchase, it was also enacted that as a
farther provision for the Rector, the sum of 125_l._ should be
annually raised by an equal pound rate upon the inhabitants.
_Maitland._
This church was finished in the year 1728. The chief aim of the
architect was to give an uncommon, yet elegant outline, and to shew
the orders in their greatest dignity and perfection; and indeed the
outline is so variously broken, that there results a diversity of
light and shadow, which is very uncommon, and very elegant. The
principal objections against the structure are, that it is so much
decorated that it appears encumbered with ornament; and that the
compass being too small for the design, it appears too heavy. In the
front is an elegant portico supported by Doric columns, which order is
continued in pilasters round the building. Above the portico are two
towers crowned with well-proportioned turrets, and adorned with
columns of the Corinthian order, which are supported on pedestals, and
stand free, with corresponding columns behind. _English Architect._
The advowson of this church is in the Dean and Chapter of Westminster:
and to prevent this rectory being held in commendam, all licences and
dispensations for holding it are by act of parliament declared null
and void.
_St._ JOHN ZACHARY’S, a church that was situated at the north west
corner of Maiden lane, Wood street; but being destroyed by the fire of
London in 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish is annexed to that of St.
Anne’s Aldersgate. _Maitland._
JOHN’S _court_, 1. Cable street. 2. Cats hole, Tower ditch. 3. East
Smithfield. 4. Hannoway street. 5. John’s street. 6. Nightingale lane.
_St._ JOHN’S _court_, 1. Addle hill. 2. Cow lane. 3. Great Hart street.
4. Little Hart street, by Covent garden. 5. St. John’s square. 6.
Somerset street, Whitechapel. 7. Stepney.
_St._ JOHN’S _gate_, St. John’s lane; the south gate of the hospital of
St. John of Jerusalem.
JOHN’S _hill_, Ratcliff highway.
_St._ JOHN’S _lane_, vulgarly called St. Joans’s lane, from Hicks’s hall
to St. John’s gate.
_St._ JOHN’S _passage_, St. John’s street, West Smithfield.
_St._ JOHN’S _square_, Clerkenwell. Where the present square is situated
anciently stood the house of St. John of Jerusalem, founded by Jordan
Briset, who for that purpose purchased of the nuns of Clerkenwell ten
acres of land, for which he gave twenty acres in his lordship of
Willinghale in Kent, and erected that hospital on this spot about the
year 1110: but the church belonging to it was not dedicated to St.
John the Baptist till 1185. By the profuse liberality of bigots and
enthusiasts, these Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem soon
attained to that degree of riches and honour, that they not only built
a magnificent structure in this spot, that became the chief seat in
England of those of their order, but their Prior was esteemed the
first Baron in the kingdom, and in state and grandeur vied with the
King. The populace however had an extreme antipathy to these imperious
Knights; and in 1381, the rebels under Jack Straw and Wat Tyler
consumed this stately edifice by fire. However it was rebuilt in a
still more magnificent manner, and thus continued till the year 1541,
when it was suppressed by Henry VIII.
This spacious and stately edifice was soon after converted into a
repository for martial stores, and of the royal hunting equipage; and
to this use it was applied till the year 1550; when Edward Seymour
Duke of Somerset, and protector of the kingdom, caused the church,
with its lofty and beautiful steeple, to be demolished, and the stones
employed in building his magnificent palace of Somerset House in the
Strand. _Camden’s Britannia._
This square, which is an oblong, chiefly consists of two rows of good
houses, at the east end of which is a chapel of ease to the
neighbouring church of St. James Clerkenwell. It is entered by two
gates, which bear evident marks of great antiquity; the largest and
most remarkable of which is that to the south, called St. John’s Gate.
_St._ JOHN’S _street_, 1. Brick lane, Spitalfields. 2. Long ditch. 3.
West Smithfield, near St. John’s square.
JOHN’S _street_, 1. David’s street. 2. Gainsford street. 3. Golden
square. 4. By Mount street, Westminster. 5. Ratcliff highway. 6.
Windmill street.
JOHNSON’S _court_, 1. Charing Cross.† 2. Fleet street.†
JOHNSON’S _street_, Old Gravel lane.†
JOHNSON’S _yard_, Three needle alley, Moorfields.
JOINERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by Queen
Elizabeth in the year 1565. They are governed by a Master, two
Wardens, and twenty-four Assistants, with a livery of 323 members, who
upon their admission pay a fine of 8_l._
They have a convenient hall in Friars lane, Thames street, remarkable
for a curious screen finely carved at the entrance into it. The great
parlour is wainscotted with cedar. _Maitland._
JOINERS _court_, 1. Houndsditch. 2. Jacob street, Mill street.
JOINERS HALL _alley_, Thames street.
JOINERS _street_, Tooley street.
JOLLY _court_, Durham yard, in the Strand.†
JONES’ _court_, Nightingale lane, East Smithfield.†
JONES’ _yard_, 1. Stony lane, Petticoat lane. 2. Little Swan alley.
INIGO JONES, the celebrated architect, several of whose best designs are
described in different parts of this work, has therefore a just claim
to our regard in this place. And we are obliged to the ingenious
authors of the _Biographia Britannica_ for the following particulars
relating to his life and works in general. He was born about the year
1572, in the neighbourhood of St. Paul’s in London, of which city his
father, Mr. Ignatius Jones, was a citizen and clothworker. Nothing
certain being delivered concerning his education, some very different
conjectures have been advanced upon that subject, some having
suggested that his education was liberal, and others that he was bound
apprentice to a joiner, of which latter opinion was Sir Christopher
Wren. But in whatever way he was bred, his natural inclination leading
him to the study of the arts of drawing and designing, he
distinguished himself early by the extraordinary progress he made in
those polite and useful arts, and was particularly taken notice of for
his skill in the practice of landscape painting. These admirable
talents introduced him to the knowledge of William Earl of Pembroke,
who was a great patron of all liberal sciences. His Lordship admiring
Mr. Jones’s genius, took him into his patronage, and sent him abroad
with a handsome allowance, in order to perfect himself, by viewing and
studying the works of the best masters ancient and modern, in Italy
and the politer parts of Europe. Thus supported, he spent many years
in compleating his education; to which end, chusing the city of Venice
for the chief place of his residence, he suffered nothing of real
value or merit any where to escape his industry; and the improvements
he made thereby gave such an eclat to his reputation all over Europe,
that Christian IV. King of Denmark sent for him thence, and appointed
him his Architect-general. He had enjoyed this post some years, when
that Prince, whose sister Anne had married King James I. made a visit
to England in 1606. Mr. Jones took this opportunity of returning home;
and expressing a desire to continue in his native country, the Queen
appointed him her architect; and being not long after taken in the
same character into the service of Prince Henry, he discharged his
trust with so much fidelity, that the King gave him the reversion of
the place of Surveyor-general of his works. After the death of Prince
Henry in 1612, our architect made a second tour to Italy, and
continued some years there, improving himself still further in his
favourite art, till the Surveyor’s place fell to him. He then returned
to England to enrich his country with the fruits of his studies. Soon
after his arrival, the office of works being found several thousand
pounds in debt, he voluntarily gave up his own dues, and prevailed
with the Comptroller and Paymaster to do the like, whereby the whole
arrears were absolutely cleared. In 1620, by the King’s command, he
took an accurate survey of the surprizing group of stones upon
Salisbury-Plain, commonly called Stone-henge, and drew up an account
with his opinion of that famous monument of antiquity, which he
presented to his royal master, and it was printed. In this account,
after much reasoning and a long series of authorities, he concludes at
last that this ancient and stupendous pile must have been originally a
Roman temple, inscribed to _Cœlus_ the senior of the heathen gods, and
built after the Tuscan order, and that it was erected when the Romans
flourished here in peace and prosperity in Britain, and probably
betwixt the time of Agricola’s government and the reign of Constantine
the Great, about 1650 years ago.
On the 16th of November the same year, Mr. Jones was appointed, among
others, a Commissioner for repairing the cathedral of St. Paul’s in
London. Upon the demise of King James, he was continued in his posts
by King Charles I. whose consort also entertained him in the like
station. And he soon after formed that most stately and elegant
pavilion, the Banquetting-house at Whitehall, which was at first
designed for the reception of foreign Ambassadors. The ceiling was
painted some years after with the Felicities of King James’s reign, by
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, and prints from these by Simon Gribelin were
published in 1724. The late Lord Burlington about the year 1740
published _a north west view of the palace designed for Whitehall, by
Inigo Jones_, which is what is called a bird’s eye prospect, or as it
is seen by a bird in flying over it, by which artifice all the parts
are brought distinctly into view; and in this view the pavilion or
banquetting-house appears in its proper place as part of that palace.
Several other designs of Mr. Jones’s were executed in this reign, such
as Surgeon’s hall, the Queen’s chapel at St. James’s palace, and her
Majesty’s new building fronting the gardens at Somerset House in the
Strand; the church and piazza of Covent Garden; the first of which is
universally allowed to be a master-piece of the Tuscan order, the
portico at the west end, majestic in its plainness, and the roof so
happily contrived, by extending itself beyond the wall, as both to
cast a shade, which adds to the solemnity of the sacred edifice, and
at the same time serves to strengthen the wall, by resting thereon its
center of gravity. In the last performance he had in view the piazza
of Leghorn, but has vastly surpassed the original in the beauty and
largeness of his pillars. Our architect also laid out the ground plot
of Lincoln’s Inn fields, and designed the Duke of Ancaster’s house,
which stands on the west side of that noble square, and which is no
inconsiderable instance of the _softness_ and _sweetness_ of his
touches. The royal chapel at Denmark House, the King’s house at
Newmarket, and the Queen’s buildings at Greenwich, were also of his
design. But it does not come within our plan to describe the number or
form a judgment upon the excellence of all his buildings, though views
and descriptions of the principal of them we have given, which may be
seen under their several names, to which we refer.
In 1633 Mr. Jones began the reparation of St. Paul’s cathedral, the
first stone was laid by Dr. Laud then Bishop of London, and the fourth
by Mr. Jones; and, in carrying them on, he added a magnificent portico
at the west end, which excited the envy of all Christendom on his
country, for a piece of architecture not to be parallelled in modern
times. While he was raising these noble monuments of his extraordinary
genius as an architect, he employed his leisure hours in designing
decorations for dramatic entertainments; and there appeared a fine
intermixture of fancy and judgment in his pompous machinery of masques
and interludes, which were the vogue in his time. Several of these
representations are still extant in the works of Chapman, D’Avenant,
Daniel, and particularly Ben Johnson. The subject was chosen by the
Poet, and the speeches and songs were also of his composing; but the
invention of the scenes, ornaments, and dresses of the figures, were
the contrivance of Mr. Jones. By these means he acquired a handsome
fortune. But his loyalty, the effect both of his integrity and
gratitude, exposed him to considerable losses; and he bore a part in
the ruins of his royal master. Upon the opening of the Long Parliament
in November 1640, he was called before the house of Lords, upon a
complaint of the parishioners of St. Gregory’s in London against him,
for damages done to that church; and afterwards, during the
usurpation, he was constrained to pay 400_l._ by way of composition
for his estate, as a malignant. After the death of King Charles I. he
was continued in his post by King Charles II. But grief, in one of his
years, for the fatal calamity of the former, prevented him from doing
the latter any actual service, by cutting him off many years before
the restoration. He died most probably about Midsummer 1652, and was
interred June 26, in the chancel of St. Benet’s church, near St.
Paul’s Wharf, London, where there was a monument erected to his memory
upon the north wall, at some distance from his grave; but it suffered
greatly in the fire of London, Sept. 1666. His age was about
seventy-nine years. Mr. Jones left several manuscripts, which have
been published since his death. With respect to his character, we are
told by Mr. Webb, that his abilities in all human sciences surpassed
most of his age. However that be, ’tis certain he was perfectly well
skilled in the mathematics, and had some insight into the two learned
languages, Greek and Latin, especially the latter, and he had a taste
for poetry. However, these accomplishments were no more than the
decorations and counterpart of his proper character, which was,
indeed, that of an architect, the most eminent in his time.
Accordingly he was then, and is still, generally stiled the _British
Vitruvius_; and it is observable that the art of design, little known
in England before, was brought into use and esteem by him, under the
patronage of King Charles I. and Thomas Earl of Arundel. In short, Mr.
Jones was generally learned, eminent for architecture, a great
geometrician, and, in designing with his pen (as Sir Anthony Vandyke
used to say) not to be equalled by whatever great master in his time,
for the _boldness_, _softness_, _sweetness_, and _sureness_ of his
touches.
IRELAND _yard_, Black Friars.
IRISH _court_, Whitechapel.