ornaments, and inhabitants, received a considerable alteration from the
abolition of popery in these kingdoms; and the reader will probably be
pleased at seeing, at one view, a list of these religious houses, which
will the better enable him to form an idea of the difference between
London at that time and the present.
The priories then were, that of St. John of Jerusalem, near Clerkenwell.
That of the Holy Trinity of Christ church, or Creechurch, within
Aldgate.
That of St. Bartholomew the Great, between Newgate street and West
Smithfield.
The priory or abbey of Bermondsey, Southwark.
The priory of the Knights Templars, in Fleet street. And
The old Temple of Holborn.
The friaries were, that of the crutched or crossed friars, in St.
Olave’s, Hart street.
That of the brethren _de sacca_, or _de pœnitentia Jesu Christi_, in the
Old Jewry.
The Charter house monks, or the house of the Carthusians, between St.
John’s street and Goswell street.
The New Abbey, by East Smithfield.
And that of Westminster Abbey.
The five following were convents of begging friars;
Black friars in Holborn, and
The black friars, Dominicans, or preaching friars, near Ludgate.
The gray friars, or Franciscans, near Newgate.
The Augustine friars, in Broad street.
And the white friars, or Carmelites, in Fleet street.
The convents of women were, that of Clerkenwell.
That of St. Helen, within Bishopsgate.
That of St. Clare, in the Minories.
And that of Holiwell by Shoreditch.
The guilds or fraternities were, the brotherhood of St. Fabian and St.
Sebastian, in St. Botolph’s, Aldgate.
The fraternity and chapel of the Holy Trinity, in Leadenhall; and
innumerable others, founded in most churches.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the far greatest part of this
metropolis was contained within the walls, and even in these narrow
limits were many gardens, which have been since converted into lanes,
courts, and alleys. The buildings of London were, on the west, bounded
by the monastery of St. Catharine’s; East Smithfield was open to Tower
hill, and Rosemary lane was unbuilt. The Minories were built only on the
east side, which fronted the city wall: cattle grazed in Goodman’s
Fields, and Whitechapel extended but a little beyond the bars, and had
no houses to the north; for Spitalfields, which of themselves would now
compose a very large town, were then really fields, separated from each
other by hedges and rows of trees. Houndsditch consisted only of a row
of houses fronting the city wall, and the little yards and gardens
behind them also opened into those fields. Bishopsgate street, Norton
Falgate, and the street called Shoreditch, were then however built as
far as the church, but there were only a few houses and gardens on each
side, and no streets or lanes on either hand. Moorfields lay entirely
open to the village of Hoxton; and Finsbury Fields, in which were
several windmills, extended to the east side of Whitecross street.
Chiswell street was not erected, and St. John’s street extended by the
side of the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, to the monastery of
Clerkenwell, and Cow Cross, which opened into the fields.
But on leaving the city walls, the buildings were much less extensive;
for though the village of Holborn was now joined to London, the backs of
the houses, particularly on the north side, opened into gardens and
fields; part of Gray’s Inn lane were the only houses that extended
beyond the main street; great part of High Holborn had no existence, and
St. Giles’s was a village contiguous to no part of London.
If we turn to the Strand, we also find, that spacious street had gardens
on each side, and to the north, fields behind those gardens, except a
few houses where is now the west end of Drury lane. On the south side of
the street, the gardens generally extended to the Thames; though some of
the nobility had houses on the back of their gardens, next the water
side. Covent Garden, so called from its belonging to the convent at
Westminster, extended to St. Martin’s lane, and the field behind it
reached to St. Giles’s. That lane had few edifices besides the church;
for Covent Garden wall was on one side, and a wall which inclosed the
Mews, on the other, and all the upper part was a lane between two
hedges, which extended a little to the west of the village of St.
Giles’s. Hedge lane was also a lane between two hedges; the extensive
street now called the Hay Market, had a hedge on one side, and a few
bushes on the other. Neither Pall Mall, St. James’s street, Piccadilly,
or any of the streets or fine squares in that part of the town, were
built; and Westminster was a small town on the south west, and south
sides of St. James’s Park.
Lambeth was, at that time, a little village at a considerable distance
from Southwark, and there were no buildings on the south bank of the
Thames, till a row of houses began opposite to White Friars, and
extended along the river, with gardens, fields, or groves behind them,
till almost opposite the Steel Yard, where several streets began: the
Borough extended a considerable distance from the bridge to the south,
and the buildings to the east as far as the Tower.
This was the state of this great metropolis, so lately as in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth; and how inconsiderable soever it must appear, when
compared with its present dimensions, yet, by order of that Queen, a
proclamation was published, by which all persons were forbid to build
upon new foundations, and this order was twice repeated in the following
reign.
On the 1st of January 1559, the Litany, as now used, was first read in
all the churches of London; and about this time the populace not only
destroyed all the statues and pictures of the saints in the churches,
but most of their rich robes, altar cloths, books, and sepulchral
banners.
In the year 1582, expence in dress having prevailed in the city, among
people of all ranks, particularly among apprentices, which was then
apprehended might prove of dangerous consequence to their masters, the
following orders were published by the Lord Mayor and Common Council,
which will be now thought very extraordinary, viz. That from thence
forward no apprentice whatsoever should presume,
To wear any apparel but what he receives from his master.
To wear no hat within the city and liberty thereof, nor any thing
instead of it but a woollen cap, without any silk about it.
To wear no ruffles, cuffs, loose collar, nor any thing more than a ruff
at the collar, and that only of a yard and a half long.
To wear no doublets but what were made of canvas, sackcloth, fustian,
English leather, or woollen cloth, without being enriched in any manner
with gold, silver, or silk.
To wear no other coloured cloth or kersey, in hose or stockings, than
white, blue, or russet.
To wear little breeches of the same stuffs as the doublets, without
being stitched, laced, or bordered.
To wear a plain upper coat of cloth or leather, without pinking,
stitching, guarding, lace, or silk about it.
To wear no other surtout than a cloth gown or cloak, lined or faced with
cloth, cotton, or bays, with a fixed round collar, without stitching,
guarding, lace, or silk.
To wear no pumps, slippers, nor shoes, but of English leather, without
being pinked, edged, or stitched; nor girdles nor garters except of
crewel, woollen, thread, or leather, without being garnished.
And to wear no sword, dagger, or other weapon, but a knife; nor neither
a ring, nor a jewel, gold, silver, nor silk in any part of his apparel.
Rigorous as these laws were, and unsufferable as they would be now
thought, yet any apprentice offending against any of the above
particulars, was, for the first offence, to be punished at the
discretion of his master; for the second he was to be publickly whipped
at the hall of his company; and for the third, to serve six months
longer than specified in his indentures. And every master conniving at
his apprentice’s violating the above severe decree, was to forfeit 6s.
8d. to the poor of the parish in which he dwelt.
The plague, which had broke out many times in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, appeared afresh in 1603, on the accession of King James I. to
the throne, and made such dreadful devastation, that, within the space
of a year, it swept away 30,578 persons: but it having at length happily
ceased, the King, Queen, and Prince Henry, made their public entry from
the Tower on the 15th of March 1604, on which occasion the city was
embellished with seven magnificent triumphal arches, numerous pageants,
and other pompous decorations. The streets were adorned with the richest
silks and carpets, and lined with the stands of the several
corporations, with their flags and bands of music.
In the year 1608, King James I. granted the city a charter, by which he
not only confirmed all the ancient rights, liberties, and immunities of
the citizens, but added to the bounds and jurisdiction of the city the
precincts of Duke’s Place, St. Bartholomew’s the Great and Less, Black
and White Friars, and Cold Harbour. That King also granted the city two
other charters.
In 1613, the water of the New River, brought from Ware by the great Sir
Hugh Middleton, was let into the lower reservoir at Islington, with
great ceremony: the next year Smithfield was first paved, and in 1615,
the sides of the streets of this city being paved with pebble stones,
which had hitherto rendered walking very troublesome, the inhabitants of
the principal streets first began to pave their doors with broad free
stone and flags.
In the year 1625, when King Charles I. ascended the throne, a most
dreadful pestilence raged in London; the fatal effects of this distemper
had been frequently felt; but it now carried off, within the space of a
year, in the city and suburbs, 35,417 persons, besides those who died of
other distempers, which, in the whole, amounted to 54,265, said to be
one third of the inhabitants.
It is remarkable that in the year 1629, the goldsmiths shops in the
south row of Cheapside, reached from the Old Change to Buckler’s Bury,
exclusive of only four shops of other trades in all that space; but
these four shops gave King Charles I. and his Privy Council such
offence, that they sent an order to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen,
commanding them to turn out the tenants, and to oblige all the
goldsmiths in the city, to settle in Cheapside and Lombard street. This
arbitrary order however not being complied with, several others were
sent, both by the Council and the court of Star-chamber, in which they
were commanded to commit the tenants to prison, if they refused to give
security to quit their houses by a certain day: and the court of
Star-chamber even threatened the Alderman of the ward, that if he or his
deputy did not immediately cause every such shop to be shut up, he or
his deputy should be sent to prison, by warrant from the Board.
In 1633, King Charles I. being returned from his progress into Scotland,
the gentlemen of the four Inns of Court entertained their Majesties with
a pompous masque, which excelled every thing of the kind that had been
seen in England, the expence amounting to 21,000l. the greatest sum
probably ever expended in this kingdom in mere shew, except at a
coronation; we shall therefore give it our readers, as a specimen of the
taste of the times; the following account being the more curious, as
these kinds of entertainments are now entirely laid aside.
The masquers, musicians, and all who were actors, met on Candlemas day
in the afternoon, at Ely House in Holborn, where the Committee for the
management of it sat all day, and in the evening they set forward, in
the following order, down Chancery lane to Whitehall.
The march began with twenty footmen in scarlet liveries, trimmed with
silver lace, each having his sword by his side, a baton in one hand, and
a lighted torch in the other. These were the Marshal’s men, who cleared
the streets, and were about the Marshal, waiting his commands. After
them, and sometimes in the midst of them, came Mr. Darrel the Marshal, a
very handsome gentleman, of Lincoln’s Inn, mounted upon one of the
King’s best horses, and richest saddles. He was magnificently dressed,
and, besides his Marshal’s men, had two lacquies who carried torches,
and a page in livery carrying his cloak.
He was followed by an hundred of the handsomest young gentlemen of the
Inns of Court, twenty-five chosen out of each house, all of them mounted
on the best horses, and with the best furniture that the King’s stables,
and those of all the noblemen in town could afford. These hundred
gentlemen were so richly dressed, that scarce any thing but gold and
silver lace could be seen, and every one of them had two lacquies, in
his own livery, carrying torches by his horse’s side, and a page
carrying his cloak. These gentlemen had about a dozen of the best
trumpeters, in their own livery, sounding before them.
After this noble troop, came the antimasquers; preceded by the sound of
keys and tongs, playing in concert. The first antimasque consisted of
beggars and cripples, mounted on the poorest leanest jades that could be
got out of the dust carts or elsewhere, a change, which from the
nobleness of the music, the fineness of the horses, and the magnificent
appearance of the gentlemen, afforded a very odd and surprizing
contrast; the habits and every thing belonging to these cripples and
beggars being ingeniously fitted by the direction of the commissioners,
among whom were Mr. Attorney Noy, Sir John Finch, Sir Edward Herbert,
and Mr. Selden.
After the beggars antimasque, came men on horseback, playing upon pipes,
whistles, and instruments, imitating the notes of all sorts of birds,
and playing in excellent concert.
These were followed by an antimasque of birds, consisting of an owl in
an ivy bush, with many different sorts of birds, in a cluster gazing
upon her; these were little boys put in covers in the shape of those
birds, nicely fitted, sitting on small horses, with footmen going before
them with torches in their hands, and others to look after them, to
prevent their falling.
After this antimasque, came other musicians on horseback, playing upon
bagpipes and other kinds of Northern music, to shew that the following
projectors were Scots; and these, like the rest, had many footmen with
torches waiting on them.
First in this antimasque rode a fellow upon a little horse with a great
bit in his mouth, carrying upon his head a bit with a headstall and
reins; a projector, who begged a patent, that none in the kingdom might
ride their horses, without such bits as they should buy of him.
Then came another fellow with a capon upon his fist, and a bunch of
carrots upon his head, representing a projector, who begged a patent of
monopoly, as the first inventor of the art of feeding capons fat with
carrots.
Several other projectors were personated in this antimasque, which
pleased the spectators the more, because an information was thus
covertly given to the King, of the unfitness and ridiculousness of these
projects against the law. The Attorney Noy, who had most knowledge of
them, had a great hand in this antimasque of the projectors.
After this and the rest of the antimasques, came six of the chief
musicians on horseback upon foot-cloths, and in the habits of Heathen
priests, footmen carrying torches by their sides. These were followed by
a large open chariot, drawn by six fine horses with large plumes of
feathers on their heads and cruppers. In this chariot were about a dozen
persons, in the habits of Gods and Goddesses, many footmen walking an
all sides with torches.
This chariot was followed by six more of the musicians on horseback,
dressed and attended with torches like the former, proceeding before
another large open chariot, drawn by six fine horses, with feathers,
liveries, and torches, like the other. Within it were twelve musicians,
as variously dressed as the others, to represent, like them, Pagan
deities. These chariots were made for this occasion, and, preceding the
grand masquers chariots, played upon excellent loud music all the way.
After this chariot came six more musicians, dressed and attended like
the former, followed by the first chariot of the grand masquers, which
was not so large as those that went before, but was curiously carved and
painted. It was in the form of a Roman triumphal chariot, and richly
painted with crimson and silver all over, not excepting the wheels. It
was drawn by four horses all in a breast, covered to the heels with
crimson and silver tissue, and with huge plumes of red and white
feathers on their heads and cruppers. The coachman’s cap and feather,
his long coat, his cushion, and his very whip, were of the same stuff
and colour. In this chariot sat the four grand masquers of Gray’s Inn,
who were handsome young gentlemen. Their habits, doublets, trunk hose
and caps, were of the richest tissue, covered as thick with silver
spangles as they could be placed; large white silk stockings up to their
trunk hose, and very fine sprigs in their caps.
On each side of the chariot were four footmen, in liveries of the colour
of the chariot, carrying huge flambeaus, which, with the torches, gave
the greatest lustre to the paintings, spangles and habits.
After this chariot came six more musicians, in habits like the former,
followed by the second chariot, which differed only from the other in
its being painted silver and blue. The chariot and horses were covered
with tissue of blue and silver, as the former was with silver and
crimson.
In this second triumphal chariot were four grand masquers of the Middle
Temple, in the same habits as the other masquers, and had the like
attendance, torches and flambeaus, as the former.
After these followed the third and fourth triumphal chariots, with six
musicians between each; both they and their horses dressed as before.
The triumphal chariots were all of the same make, and alike carved and
painted, only differing in the colours. In the third of these chariots
rode the grand masquers of the Inner Temple, and in the fourth those of
Lincoln’s Inn; each taking the place assigned them by lot.
In this order they proceeded to Whitehall, where the King and Queen,
from a window of the Banquetting house, beheld this procession, and were
so highly delighted with it, that the King sent to desire the Marshal to
take a turn round the Tilt Yard, that he and his consort might have a
second view of this pompous procession; which being accordingly
performed, they entered the palace, and were conducted to several
apartments prepared for their entertainment; where the Ladies of honour,
and even the Queen herself, danced with the principal masquers.
With this fine cavalcade her Majesty was so delighted, that she desired
to have it repeated, which being intimated to the Lord Mayor, he invited
the King and Queen, with the above masquers, to an entertainment in
Merchant Taylors Hall; and on this occasion they came in procession into
the city, in exactly the same order, and with equal splendor and
applause as at Whitehall. _Whitlock’s Memoirs._
During this unhappy reign, great disputes arose between the King and the
city, in relation to ship-money, loans, &c. the city was deprived not
only of the new plantation of Ulster in Ireland, which had been granted
to the Lord Mayor and citizens by King James I. but fined 50,000l.
Several of the Aldermen were imprisoned, for neglecting to send to court
an account of such persons as were able to lend his Majesty money, and
the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs prosecuted in the Star-chamber; the five
members whom the King himself went with a guard to seize in the
Parliament House, took refuge in the city, and were conducted back by
water to the House of Commons, by a great number of citizens, while the
Trained-Bands, as a farther guard, marched by land to Westminster. But
even in the midst of these disputes, while the King was actually
opposing the liberties of the citizens, he granted them several
charters, by which he confirmed all their former privileges, and added
some new ones. At length the Lord Mayor, contrary to an order of
Parliament, endeavouring by proclamation to raise troops for his
Majesty, he was committed to the Tower; and several articles of
impeachment being brought against him, he was, by the sentence of the
House of Peers, degraded from the Mayoralty, and rendered incapable of
bearing any office, or receiving any farther honour.
There being some time after but little prospect of an agreement between
the King and Parliament, and the greatest part of the city being averse
to all thoughts of an accommodation, the Common Council passed an act
for fortifying the city with out-works; agreed that all the ways leading
to the city should be shut up, except those entering at Charing Cross,
St. Giles’s in the Fields, St. John’s street, Shoreditch, and
Whitechapel, and that the exterior ends of those streets should be
fortified with breastworks and turnpikes, musket proof; that the several
courts of guards, and rails at the extreme parts of the liberty of the
city, should be fortified with turnpikes, musket proof; that all the
sheds and buildings contiguous to the outside of London Wall should be
taken down; and that the city wall with its bulwarks should be not only
repaired and mounted with artillery, but that several new works should
be added to it, at the places most exposed.
This act of Common Council being soon after confirmed by an order of
Parliament, the following forts were raised, 1. A bulwark and a half, at
the north end of Gravel lane. 2. A hornwork, near the windmill in
Whitechapel road. 3. A redoubt with two flanks, near Brick lane. 4. A
redoubt with four flanks, in Hackney road, Shoreditch. 5. A redoubt with
four flanks, in Kingsland road. 6. A battery and breast-work, at
Mountmill. 7. A battery and breast-work, at the end of St. John’s
street. 8. A small redoubt, near Islington pound. 9. A large fort with
four half bulwarks, near New River head. 10. A battery and breast-work,
on the hill, east of the place afterwards called Black Mary’s Hole. 11.
Two batteries and a breast-work, at Southampton, now Bedford-house. 12.
A redoubt with two flanks, near St. Giles’s pound. 13. A small fort, at
the east end of Tyburn road. 14. A large fort with four half bulwarks,
across the road where Wardour street is now built. 15. A small bulwark,
at the place now called Oliver’s Mount. 16. A large fort with four
bulwarks, at Hyde Park Corner. 17. A small redoubt and battery on
Constitution Hill. 18. A court of guard at Chelsea turnpike. 19. A
battery and breast-work, in Tothill Fields. 20. A quadrant fort with
four half bulwarks, at Vauxhall. 21. A fort with four half bulwarks, at
the Dog and Duck in St. George’s Fields. 22. A large fort with four
bulwarks, near the end of Blackman street. 23. A redoubt with four
flanks, near the Lock Hospital.
These forts were all joined by a line of communication, formed by a
rampart of earth, which on all sides surrounded the cities of London and
Westminster, and the borough of Southwark, This was done at the expence
of the city, and the whole was immediately executed with the greatest
alacrity.
After this, the city entered heartily into the measures of the
Parliament, though the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council
frequently sollicited that body to settle the peace of the kingdom: but
soon after the King’s death, an order being sent to the Lord Mayor and
Sheriff, to proclaim the abolition of monarchy, he refused to comply,
upon which he was brought to the bar of the House of Commons, committed
prisoner to the Tower for two months, and another Mayor chosen in his
room.
At the inauguration of Cromwell in 1657, as Lord Protector, the Lord
Mayor carried the city sword before him, accompanied by the Earl of
Warwick, who carried the sword of state, and during the ceremony stood
on the right side of Cromwell’s chair, while the Lord Mayor stood on the
left.