bears testimony to the power of the torrent at London Bridge at that
period; and you will find it recorded in that very interesting work,
entitled ‘_The Travels and Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, Baronet_,’ best
edition, with a Preface by Edmund Lodge, Esq., London, 1813, 8vo. page
406.--‘About this time,’--says the Author of this volume,--‘a very sad
accident happened, which, for a while, was the discourse of the whole
town: Mr. Temple, son to Sir William Temple, who had married a French
lady with 20,000 pistoles; a sedate and accomplished young gentleman,
who had lately by King William been made Secretary of War; took a pair
of oars, and drawing near the Bridge, leapt into the Thames and drowned
himself, leaving a note behind him in the boat, to this effect: ‘My
folly in undertaking what I could not perform, whereby some misfortunes
have befallen the King’s service, is the cause of my putting myself
to this sudden end; I wish him success in all his undertakings, and a
better servant.’ Pennant, in repeating this anecdote in his ‘_Account
of London_,’ page 323, adds that it took place on the 14th of April;
that the unhappy suicide loaded his pockets with stones to destroy all
chance of safety; and that his father’s false and profane reflection on
the occasion was, ‘that a wise man might dispose of himself, and make
his life as short as he pleased!’
“From a very remote period, the City of London has protected the
persons and property of its Orphans; and so early as the year 1391 the
Orphans’ Fund was possessed of very considerable wealth, since the sum
of 2000 marks, or £1333. 6_s._ 8_d._, was then borrowed from it to
procure corn during a dearth. In the year 1693, the City stood indebted
to the same source, as well as to other creditors, in the amount of
£747,500, and an Act of Parliament was at length procured, establishing
a fund for their re-payment; by which all the City estates, excepting
those belonging to the Hospitals, London Bridge, and such places as
were liable to its repairs, were charged with raising the annual sum
of £8000, clear of all deductions, as a perpetual deposit for paying
an interest of 4 per cent. to the said creditors. The act itself is in
volume iii. of Owen Ruffhead’s ‘_Statutes at Large_,’ London, 1770,
4to., the 5th of William and Mary, 1694, chapter x., section 2. In
which year also, during the Mayoralty of Sir William Ashurst, the
Common Council passed an Act, on Wednesday the 15th of June, that as
the ensuing Midsummer day, the time for delivering the Bridge-House
accounts, would fall on a Sunday, for ever after, in such a case, they
were to be delivered the next day following. An original copy of which
Act is in the xxv.th volume of London Tracts in the British Museum,
folio.
“I have already mentioned several particulars of the Bridge-House
revenues, and the salaries of the Wardens at various periods; and I
shall now shew you the ancient estimation of several other offices
of the same establishment. In the xxviii.th volume of London Tracts
last cited, is a folio sheet, entitled ‘_A List of the Rooms and
Offices bought and sold in the City of London_;’ the total amount of
which is £145,586; and there occur in it the following valuations
of places belonging to the Bridge. ‘1 Clerk of the Bridge House,
£1250.--2 Carpenters of the Bridge-House, £200 each.--1 Mason of the
Bridge-House, £200.--1 Plasterer to the Bridge-House, £200.--1 Pavier
to the Bridge House, £250.--1 Plummer to the Bridge-House, £250.--2
Porters of the Bridge-House, £100 each.--1 Purveyor of the Bridge
House, £200.--1 Shotsman of the Bridge-House, £200.’ The whole of
this list is also printed in Motley’s ‘_Seymour’s Survey of London_,’
volume i., page 261: and at the end of the original is the following
note, more particularly fixing the time when these offices were held
in such estimation. ‘Whereas, James Whiston, in a late book, intituled
‘_England’s Calamities Discovered_,’ &c.--London, 1696, quarto,--‘set
forth the mischievous consequences of buying and selling places in
Cities, States, and Kingdoms: and the discovery of the disease
being the first step towards the cure; for that end some persons,
well-affected to the government of this City and Kingdom, have taken
great pains to find out the number and value of y^e places bought and
sold within this City; which are to y^e best information that can at
present be got, as followeth.’--And now, pledge me once more, Mr.
Geoffrey Barbican, in a farewell libation to the seventeenth century,
for this notice brings us down to the year 1701.”
“Marry, Sir, and I’m heartily glad on’t,” said I, “for I began to be
like honest Bunyan’s Pilgrims on ‘the Enchanted Ground,’ and to have
much ado to keep my eyes open: but as I now really think there is
some _little_ prospect that your tale will have an end, I shall do
mine endeavour to be wakeful during the next century and a quarter,
which you have yet to lecture upon. And, in the meanwhile, like Peter
the Ziegenhirt, in Otmar’s German story, which gave Geoffrey Crayon
the idea of Rip Van Winkle, I shall take another draught of the
wine-pitcher; and so once again, Mr. Barnaby, here’s to you.”
“My most hearty thanks are your’s,” replied he, “and let me add, for
your consolation, that I really have comparatively but little to
say in the next century; for a great portion of it was occupied in
doubting whether the Bridge would stand, in surveying its buildings,
in repairing it, in disputing concerning the erection of a new one, in
receiving the reports of architects, and in adopting schemes for its
alteration.
“The year 1701 may be considered as the important period, when the
Water-works at London Bridge began to advance towards that extent and
power at which they afterwards arrived. Peter Moris, the original
inventor, had a lease from the City for 500 years, paying 10_s._
of yearly rent for the use of the Thames water, one arch of the
Bridge, and a place on which he might erect his mill. The Citizens
soon experiencing the benefit of his invention, granted him, two
years after, a similar lease for a second arch, by which his wealth
considerably increased; and, with various improvements, the property
continued in his family until this time, when the proprietor finding
his profits lessened by the works at the New River, it was sold to
one Richard Soams, Citizen and Goldsmith, for £36,000. That it might
be the more secure, Soams procured from the City, in confirmation of
his bargain, another grant for the fourth arch,--the third belonging
to a wharfinger,--and a new lease of the unexpired term, at the
yearly rent of 20_s._, and a fine of £300. He then divided the whole
property into 300 shares of £500 each, and formed it into a company;
all which information you will find in Strype’s ‘Stow’s _Survey_,’
volume i., page 29; and in Maitland’s ‘_History_,’ volume i., pages 51,
52. Subsequently, however, a fifth arch was granted by the Court of
Common Council, after a long debate, on June the 23rd, 1767; under an
express condition that if, at any time, it should be found injurious to
the navigation of the river, the City might revoke their grant, upon
re-payment of the expenses. A particular description of these works,
which I shall speak of hereafter, will be found in the ‘_Philosophical
Transactions, volume xxxvii. for the years 1731, 1732_,’ London, 1733,
4to. No. 417, pages 5-12, written by Henry Beighton, with a plate,
of which I possess the original drawing, executed very carefully in
pen-and-ink.
“The earliest view of London Bridge in this century, I take to be that
very barbarous print by Sutton Nicholls, an Engraver who resided in
London, about the year 1710, was much employed by the booksellers,
and who executed several of the plates in Strype’s edition of ‘Stow’s
_Survey_.’ His prospect of the Bridge is a large and coarse engraving
in two sheets, measuring 35 inches, by 22-1/2, and is divided
lengthways into two parts; the upper one entitled ‘_The West side of
London Bridge_,’ on a ribbon, and the lower one the Eastern side,
in the same manner. Both of these views are horizontal, and of most
execrable drawing, especially with respect to the water and vessels;
and the Print seldom produces more than a few shillings, though I
should observe that there are two editions of it. One bearing the
imprint of ‘_Printed for and Sold by I. Smith, in Exeter Exchange in
the Strand_,’ which is the earliest and best; and another marked
‘_Printed for, and Sold by, Tho. Millward and Bis. Dickinson, at Inigo
Jones Head, next the Globe Tavern, in Fleet Street_;’ which latter is
probably still in existence, as impressions of it are by no means rare.
Below the views are engraven ‘_An Historical Description of the great
and admirable Bridge in the City of London over the River of Thames_,’
and Howell’s verses, which I have already cited to you. But although
its present value is so trifling, it is yet far beyond the original
price of it, for in the Harleian MSS., No. 5956, is an impression
of the following curious original copper-plate Prospectus for its
publication:--
“‘Proposals for Printing a Prospect of London Bridge, Thirty-five
Inches Long, and Twenty-three Inches Broad.
‘1st. Every Subscriber paying half a Crown at the time of subscription,
shall have a Prospect pasted on Cloath in a Black Frame, paying half a
Crown more at the receipt thereof.
‘2dly. Every Subscriber paying one shilling at the time of
subscription, shall have one of the Prospects on Paper only, paying one
shilling more at the receipt thereof.
‘3dly. He that subscribes, or procures subscriptions, for six framed
ones, shall have a seventh in a Frame, Gratis; and he that subscribes,
or procures subscriptions, for six in sheets, shall have a seventh in
sheets, Gratis.
‘4thly. Any person that desires it, may see a Drawing of the same
in the hands of Sutton Nicholls, Ingraver, against the George Inn,
in Aldersgate Street, London, where subscriptions are taken in. At
the same place is taught the Art of Drawing, by Sight, Measure, or
Instrument; also the Art of Writing: Prints and Mapps, Surveys, Ground
Plotts, Uprights, and Perspectives, are there Drawn and Coloured at
reasonable rates.’ This view of London Bridge is mentioned by Gough, in
his ‘_British Topography_,’ volume i., page 734.
“Although the Thames was again frozen over at intervals in the year
1709, and some persons crossed it on the ice, yet the frost was neither
so intense nor so permanent as to cause another fair; though, in the
illustrated Pennant in the British Museum, there is an impression of
a coarse bill, within a wood-cut border of rural subjects, containing
the words ‘_Mr. John Heaton, Printed on the Thames at Westminster,
Jan. the 7th, 1709. The Art and Mystery of Printing first invented by
John Guttemberg, in Harlem, in 1440, and brought into England by John
Islip_.’ 7 inches by 5-3/4.
“About the end of November 1715, however, a very severe frost
commenced, which continued until the 9th of the following February,
when the sports of 1683 were all renewed; but of this I shall mention
only the few curious memorials of it to be found in Mr. Crowle’s London
collections in the British Museum.
“A copper-plate, 6 inches by 7-1/4, representing a view of London from
the opposite shore, with London Bridge on the right hand, and a line
of tents on the left, leading from ‘_Temple Stairs_.’ In front, another
line of tents marked ‘_Thames Street_,’ and the various sports, &c.
before them: below the print are alphabetical references, with the
words ‘_Printed on the Thames 17-16/15_;’ and above it, ‘_Frost Fair on
the River Thames_.’
“A copper-plate, 16 inches by 20-1/4, representing London at St.
Paul’s, with the tents, &c. and with alphabetical references; ‘_Printed
and Sold by John Bowles, at the Black Horse, in Cornhill_.’ In the
right hand corner above, the arms and supporters of the City; and
in the left, a cartouche with the words ‘_Frost Fayre, being a True
Prospect of the Great varietie of Shops and Booths for Tradesmen,
with other curiosities and humors, on the Frozen River of Thames, as
it appeared before the City of London, in that memorable Frost in y^e
second year of the Reigne of Our Sovereigne Lord King George, Anno
Domini 1716_.’
“‘_Frost Fair: or a View of the booths on the frozen Thames, in the 2nd
Year of King George, 1716._’ A wood-cut.
“‘_An exact and lively view of the booths, and all the variety of
shows, &c. on the ice, with an alphabetical explanation of the most
remarkable figures, 1716._’ A copper plate.
“In the year 1716, a very remarkable phenomenon occurred at London
Bridge, when, in consequence of the long drought, the stream of the
River Thames was reduced so low, and from the effects of a violent gale
of wind, at West-South-West, was blown so dry, that many thousands of
people passed it on foot, both above and below the Bridge, and through
most of the arches. Strype, in his edition of Stow’s ‘_Survey_,’ volume
i., page 58, states, that he was an eye-witness to this event; and
observes that, on September 14th, the channel in the middle of the
River was scarcely ten yards wide, and very shallow; the violence of
the wind having prevented the tide from coming up for the space of
four and twenty hours. Whilst the Thames remained in this state, many
interesting observations were made on the construction and foundation
of London Bridge; and the ‘_Weekly Packet_,’ from September the 15th
to September the 22d, states, that a silver tankard, a gold ring, a
guinea, and several other things which had been lost there, were then
taken up.
“The author of ‘_Wine and Walnuts_,’ in one of his chapters, which
relate to this edifice, volume ii., page 112, gives a few notices of a
feast held upon it in April, 1722, whilst some repairs were carrying
on about the Draw-Bridge: and states, that it being settled that the
Bridge should be shut on the Saturday and Sunday, the old street was
empty and silent; tables were set out in the highway, where, besides
the residents, several of the wealthy tradesmen in the vicinity sat
drinking through the afternoon; that they might be enabled to say--adds
Malcolm,--who notices the circumstance in his ‘_Anecdotes of the
Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century_,’ London,
1808, quarto, volume ii., page 233,--‘however crowded the Bridge is,
I have drank punch upon it for great part of a day.’ Though I do not
find this festivity recorded in any of the public prints, yet in the
‘_Daily Courant_’ for Friday, April the 13th, 1722, is a notice from
the Wardens of London Bridge, that the Draw-Bridge Lock, through which
hoys, lighters, and other vessels usually passed, would be boomed up
on the following Wednesday, the 18th, for repairing; whilst in the
same paper for Friday, April the 20th, a second notice appeared, that
on Saturday, the 12th of May, between the hours of 9 and 10 in the
evening, the Draw-Bridge itself would be taken up in order to lay down
a new one, which was completed by the Thursday following. At the same
time, the Rulers of the Company of Watermen issued a notice, that the
Stairs at Pepper Alley would be dangerous during the repairs; and that
persons were requested to take water higher up the River. It is also
stated in the ‘_Daily Post_’ of Tuesday, May the 15th, that the new
Draw-Bridge was to be considerably stronger than the old one, both in
wood and iron; and that the former had been laid down in the Whitsun
holidays, exactly fifty years previously, on May the 12th, 1672, the
work being completed in five days.
“About the end of the seventeenth century, the improvement of the
passage over London Bridge seems to have been actively considered,
if not executed: for in 1697, the 8th and 9th year of William III.,
(chapter xxxvii.,) an Act was passed concerning the Streets in
London, Westminster, Southwark, &c. ‘_and for widening the Street
at the South end of London Bridge_.’ In section 8 of which, it is
stated that ‘the Corporation of London have of late years, with great
charge and difficulty, pulled down and new built all the houses upon
London Bridge, and caused the street or common passage over the same
to be opened and enlarged; which good and public intention is not
yet perfected, by reason of certain tenements on or near the South
end of the Bridge, which yet continue a great hindrance to commerce
by occasioning frequent stops, and endangering the lives of many
passengers.’ Commissioners are then appointed to treat with the owners
of such houses, as they shall think fit to be pulled down. See the Act
itself in Ruffhead’s ‘_Statutes at Large_,’ volume iii., page 687.
Again, in the year 1722, during the Mayoralty of Sir Gerard Conyers,
an Act was issued by the Corporation of the City, for preserving the
passage of the Bridge free, which you may read at length in Motley’s
‘_Seymour’s Survey_,’ volume i., page 49: it ordains that there shall
be three persons, appointed by the Governors of Christ’s Hospital, the
inhabitants of Bridge Ward Within, and the Bridge-Masters, to give
daily attendance at each end of the Bridge. Their duty being, to oblige
all carriages coming from Southwark, to keep the West side, and others
the contrary; and to prevent any cart from standing across the Bridge
to load or unload. It was also ordered, that the Toll Collector--whose
station was in the present Watch House, at the North-west corner of
the Bridge,--should collect the duties without delay; and, in 1723,
they were ‘For every cart or waggon with shod wheels, 4_d._; For a dray
with five barrels, 1_d._; For every pipe or butt, 1_d._; For a ton of
any goods, 2_d._; for any thing less than a ton, 1_d._;’ which order
was directed to be printed and published in the most public places
within the City, and upon London Bridge itself. I may merely add, that
Maitland tells us in his ‘_History_,’ volume i., page 48, that in
1725, when it was proposed to erect a Bridge at Westminster, Mr. Henry
Garbrand, the Deputy Comptroller of London Bridge, and Mr. Bartholomew
Sparruck, the Water Carpenter, measured the River at this building, and
found it to be 915 feet 1 inch in breadth; the height of the Bridge,
43 feet, 7 inches; the width of the street, 20 feet; and the depth of
the houses on each side, 53 feet, or 73 feet in the whole. One of the
last fires which happened on London Bridge, took place on the 8th of
September in this year, during the Mayoralty of Sir George Mertins,
Knight; and, as Motley tells us in his ‘_Seymour’s Survey_,’ volume i.,
page 49, commenced at the house of a brush-maker, near St. Olave’s,
Tooley Street, through the carelessness of a servant. It burned down
all the houses on that side of the way as far as the Bridge-Gate, with
several of the buildings on the other; and ‘_Mist’s Weekly Journal_,’
of Saturday, September the 11th, describes it in the following
words:--‘On Wednesday night, between eleven and twelve o’clock, a fire
broke out at a Haberdasher’s of Hats, on the Bridge foot in Southwark,
which burnt on both sides of the way with great violence for four or
five hours. We hear that about sixty houses are consumed, some upon the
first and second arch of the Bridge; and had it not been for the stone
gate which stopp’d the fire very much, the rest of the houses on the
Bridge had in all likelyhood been down: the Bridge for some time was,
by the fall of the timber and rubbish, render’d impassable for coaches,
waggons, and carts, which were oblig’d to cross over at Lambeth Ferry.
The damage done amounts to many thousands of pounds, but no just
computation can yet be made.’ The old Bridge-Gate was so much damaged
by this conflagration, that in 1726 it was taken down and re-built,
being finished in the year 1728. THE NEW SOUTH GATE ON LONDON BRIDGE,
[Illustration]
was furnished with two posterns for foot-passengers, and was decorated
with the Royal Arms, under which was inscribed, ‘This Gate was widened
from eleven to eighteen feet, in the Mayoralty of Sir Edward Becher,
Knight, S. P. Q. L.’ The medalet, with a representation of this
edifice, I have already mentioned to you, and it may now be stated that
it was taken down in the year 1760, with all the other buildings on the
Bridge, and the materials sold by auction. At which sale, the fine old
sculpture of the Royal Arms was bought, with some other articles, by
a Mr. Williams, a stone-mason of Tooley Street; who, being soon after
employed to take down the gateway at Axe and Bottle Yard, and to form
the present King Street, in the Borough, introduced several of the old
Bridge materials in erecting it. The ancient Royal Arms, too, are yet
to be seen on the front of a small public house, on the right-hand side
of the Western end of the same street, between the numbers 4 and 67;
with the inscription ‘G. III. R. 1760., King Street,’ carved around
them. Mr. Williams also bought several of the facing stones of the old
London Bridge, of which he built a very curious house, the roof being
of the same stone, and which, about three years since, was standing in
Lock’s Fields, near Prospect Row, Newington, usually known by the name
of ‘_Williams’s Folly_.’ The new Bridge-Gate stood near the corner of
Pepper Alley Stairs, and you will find a representation of it in the
Frontispiece to the first volume of Maitland’s ‘_History_.’ I imagine,
that upon the removal of the old gate, the custom of erecting the
heads of traitors there was discontinued, as I find no subsequent
notice of it; and the last heads which, probably, were placed upon its
towers, are said to have been those of the Regicides in 1661, as I
have shewn from Monconys, though, in the numerous pamphlets of their
Trials, &c., I find no account of their being thus disposed. From ‘_The
Traytors’ Perspective Glass_,’ London, 1662, 4to., we learn, however,
that the heads of Cromwell and Ireton were set over Westminster Hall;
and of the others, it is said, ‘their heads, _in several places_, are
become a spectacle both to angels and men, and a prey to birds of the
air.’
In Maitland’s ‘_History_,’ volume i., page 49, we are furnished with ‘a
brief state of the Bridge Account, from Lady-day 1726 to ditto 1727, by
the Bridge-Masters, Matthew Snablin and John Web.
‘_Charge._ £. _s._ _d._
‘By Money in the Bridge-Masters’ hands, at the}
foot of the last Account } 576 9 9
By ditto in the Tenants’ hands in arrears 4271 13 3
By the General Rental this year 3299 0 5
By Fines this Year 493 4 2
By Casual Receipts 267 6 8
---------------
The whole charge. £8907 14 3
===============
‘_Discharge._ £. _s._ _d._
‘To Rents and Quit-Rents 49 12 8
To Taxes and Trophy-Money 209 14 3
To Weekly Bills, Expenses, and Emptions 1648 0 7
To Timber and Boards 430 18 9
To Stones, Chalk, Lime, Terrass, and Bricks 197 6 0
To Iron-work 170 0 0
To Plumber, Glazier, Painter, and Paviour 278 8 0
To Shipwrights’ Work and Cordage 61 5 0
To Benevolence to the Lord Mayor, &c. 145 6 8
To particular Payments by Order of Court 173 7 0
To Fees and Salaries 270 4 0
To Costs at Audit and Lady Fair 296 2 0
To Money due to balance 4977 9 4
--------------
£8907 14 3’
==============
On Wednesday, the 26th of December, 1739-40, commenced another Frost,
the most severe which had occurred since 1716. The Thames, as we are
told by the ‘_Gentleman’s Magazine_,’ of 1740, volume x., page 35,
January 31, floated with rocks and shoals of ice; and when they fixed,
represented a snowy field, every where rising in masses and hills of
ice and snow. Of this scene, several artists made sketches; whilst
tents and printing-presses were erected, and a complete Frost-fair was
again held upon the River, over which multitudes walked, though some
lost their lives by their rashness. It was in this fair that Doll, the
Pippin-woman, whom I before mentioned, lost her life, as Gay relates
it in the Second Book of his ‘_Trivia_,’ verses 375-392; the last line
of which seems to be an imitation of that song which we formerly
considered, and which was extremely popular even in the time of Gay
himself. The passage I particularly allude to is this: