Books: London in 1731
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Don Manoel Gonzales >> London in 1731
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The next office I shall mention is the Mint, where, at present, all
the money in the kingdom is coined. This makes a considerable
street in the Tower, wherein are apartments for the officers
belonging to it. The principal officers are:- l. The warden, who
receives the gold and silver bullion, and pays the full value for
it, the charge being defrayed by a small duty on wines. 2. The
master and worker, who takes the bullion from the warden, causes it
to be melted, delivers it to the moneyers, and when it is minted
receives it from them again. 3. The comptroller, who sees that the
money be made according to the just assize, overlooks the officers
and controls them. 4. The assay-master, who sees that the money be
according to the standard of fineness. 5. The auditor, who takes
the accounts, and makes them up. 6. The surveyor-general, who
takes care that the fineness be not altered in the melting. And, 7,
the weigher and teller.
The Jewel-office, where the regalia are reposited, stands near the
east end of the Armoury. A list is usually given to those who come
daily to see these curiosities in the Jewel-house, a copy whereof
follows, viz.:
A list of his Majesty's regalia, besides plate, and other rich
things, at the Jewel-house in the Tower of London.
1. The imperial crown, which all the kings of England have been
crowned with, ever since Edward the Confessor's time.
2. The orb, or globe, held in the king's left hand at the
coronation; on the top of which is a jewel near an inch and half in
height.
3. The royal sceptre with the cross, which has another jewel of
great value under it.
4. The sceptre with the dove, being the emblem of peace.
5. St. Edward's staff, all beaten gold, carried before the king at
the coronation.
6. A rich salt-cellar of state, the figure of the Tower, used on
the king's table at the coronation.
7. Curtana, or the sword of mercy, borne between the two swords of
justice, the spiritual and temporal, at the coronation.
8. A noble silver font, double gilt, that the kings and royal
family were christened in.
9. A large silver fountain, presented to King Charles II. by the
town of Plymouth.
10. Queen Anne's diadem, or circlet which her majesty wore in
proceeding to her coronation.
11. The coronation crown made for the late Queen Mary.
12. The rich crown of state that his majesty wears on his throne in
parliament, in which is a large emerald seven inches round, a pearl
the finest in the world, and a ruby of inestimable value.
13. A globe and sceptre made for the late Queen Mary.
14. An ivory sceptre with a dove, made for the late King James's
queen.
15. The golden spurs and the armillas that are worn at the
coronation.
There is also an apartment in the Tower where noble prisoners used
to be confined, but of late years some of less quality have been
sent thither.
The Tower where the lions and other savage animals are kept is on
the right hand, on the outside the ditch, as we enter the fortress.
These consist of lions, leopards, tigers, eagles, vultures, and such
other wild creatures as foreign princes or sea-officers have
presented to the British kings and queens.
Not far from the Tower stands London Bridge. This bridge has
nineteen arches besides the drawbridge, and is built with hewn
stone, being one thousand two hundred feet in length, and seventy-
four in breadth, whereof the houses built on each side take up
twenty-seven feet, and the street between the houses twenty feet;
there being only three vacancies about the middle of the bridge
where there are no houses, but a low stone wall, with an iron
palisade, through which is a fine view of the shipping and vessels
in the river. This street over the bridge is as much thronged, and
has as brisk a trade as any street in the city; and the perpetual
passage of coaches and carriages makes it troublesome walking on it,
there being no posts to keep off carriages as in other streets. The
middle vacancy was left for a drawbridge, which used formerly to be
drawn up when shipping passed that way; but no vessels come above
the bridge at this day but such as can strike their masts, and pass
under the arches. Four of the arches on the north side of the
bridge are now taken up with mills and engines, that raise the water
to a great height, for the supply of the city; this brings in a
large revenue which, with the rents of the houses on the bridge, and
other houses and lands that belong to it, are applied as far as is
necessary to the repair of it by the officers appointed for that
service, who are, a comptroller and two bridge-masters, with their
subordinate officers; and in some years, it is said, not less than
three thousand pounds are laid out in repairing and supporting this
mighty fabric, though it be never suffered to run much to decay.
I come next to describe that circuit of ground which lies without
the walls, but within the freedom and jurisdiction of the City of
London. And this is bounded by a line which begins at Temple Bar,
and extends itself by many turnings and windings through part of
Shear Lane, Bell Yard, Chancery Lane, by the Rolls Liberty, &c.,
into Holborn, almost against Gray's-Inn Lane, where there is a bar
(consisting of posts, rails, and a chain) usually called Holborn
Bars; from whence it passes with many turnings and windings by the
south end of Brook Street, Furnival's Inn, Leather Lane, the south
end of Hatton Garden, Ely House, Field Lane, and Chick Lane, to the
common sewer; then to Cow Cross, and so to Smithfield Bars; from
whence it runs with several windings between Long Lane and
Charterhouse Lane to Goswell Street, and so up that street northward
to the Bars.
From these Bars in Goswell Street, where the manor of Finsbury
begins, the line extends by Golden Lane to the posts and chain in
Whitecross Street, and from thence to the posts and chain in Grub
Street; and then runs through Ropemakers Alley to the posts and
chain in the highway from Moorgate, and from thence by the north
side of Moorfields; after which it runs northwards to Nortonfalgate,
meeting with the bars in Bishopsgate Street, and from thence runs
eastward into Spittlefields, abutting all along upon Nortonfalgate.
From Nortonfalgate it returns southwards by Spittlefields, and then
south-east by Wentworth Street, to the bars in Whitechapel. From
hence it inclines more southerly to the Little Minories and
Goodman's Fields: from whence it returns westward to the posts and
chain in the Minories, and so on more westerly till it comes to
London Wall, abutting on the Tower Liberty, and there it ends. The
ground comprehended betwixt this line and the city wall contains
about three hundred acres.
There is no wall or fence, as has been hinted already, to separate
the freedom of the City from that part of the town which lies in the
county of Middlesex, only posts and chains at certain places, and
one gate at the west end of Fleet Street which goes by the name of
Temple Bar.
This gate resembles a triumphal arch; it is built of hewn stone,
each side being adorned with four pilasters, their entablature, and
an arched pediment of the Corinthian order. The intercolumns are
niches replenished; those within the Bar towards the east, with the
figures of King James I. and his queen; and those without the Bar,
with the figures of King Charles I. and King Charles II. It is
encircled also with cornucopias, and has two large cartouches by way
of supporters to the whole; and on the inside of the gate is the
following inscription, viz., "Erected in the year 1671, Sir Samuel
Starling, Mayor: continued in the year 1670, Sir Richard Ford, Lord
Mayor: and finished in the year 1672, Sir George Waterman, Lord
Mayor."
The city is divided into twenty-six wards or governments, each
having its peculiar officers, as alderman, common council, &c. But
all are subject to the lord mayor, the supreme magistrate of this
great metropolis. Of each of these wards take the following
account.
1. Portsoken ward is situate without Aldgate, the most easterly
ward belonging to the City; and extends from Aldgate eastward to the
bars. The chief streets and places comprehended in it, are part of
Whitechapel Street, the Minories, Houndsditch, and the west side of
Petticoat Lane.
Whitechapel is a handsome broad street, by which we enter the town
from the east. The south side, or great part of it, is taken up by
butchers who deal in the wholesale way, selling whole carcases of
veal, mutton, and lamb (which come chiefly out of Essex) to the town
butchers. On the north side are a great many good inns, and several
considerable tradesmen's houses, who serve the east part of England
with such goods and merchandise as London affords. On the south
side is a great market for hay three times a week.
Tower ward extends along the Thames from the Tower on the east
almost to Billingsgate on the west, and that part of the Tower
itself which lies to the westward of the White Tower is held by some
to be within this ward. The principal streets and places contained
in it are Great Tower Street, part of Little Tower Street and Tower
Hill, part of Thames Street, Mark Lane, Mincing Lane, Seething Lane,
St. Olave Hart Street, Idle Lane, St. Dunstan's Hill, Harp Lane,
Water Lane, and Bear Lane, with the courts and alleys that fall into
them.
Great Tower Hill lies on the outside of the Tower Ditch towards the
north-west.
Upon this hill is a scaffold erected, at the charge of the City, for
the execution of noble offenders imprisoned in the Tower (after
sentence passed upon them).
The names of the quays or wharves lying on the Thames side in this
ward between the Tower and Billingsgate, are Brewer's Quay, Chester
Quay, Galley Quay, Wool Quay, Porter's Quay, Custom-House Quay,
Great Bear Quay, Little Bear Quay, Wigging's Quay, Ralph's Quay,
Little Dice Quay, Great Dice Quay, and Smart's Quay, of which, next
to the Custom-House Quay, Bear Quays are the most considerable,
there being one of the greatest markets in England for wheat and
other kinds of grain, brought hither by coasting vessels.
The public buildings in this ward (besides the western part of the
Tower above-mentioned to be within the City) are the Custom House,
Cloth-workers' Hall, Bakers' Hall, and the three parish churches of
Allhallows Barking, St. Olave Hart Street, and St. Dunstan's in the
East.
The Custom House is situated on the north side of the Thames,
between the Tower and Billingsgate, consisting of two floors, in the
uppermost of which, in a wainscoted magnificent room, almost the
whole length of the building, and fifteen feet in height, sit the
commissioners of the customs, with their under officers and clerks.
The length of this edifice is a hundred and eighty-nine feet, and
the general breadth twenty-seven, but at the west end it is sixty
feet broad. It is built of brick and stone, and covered with lead,
being adorned with the upper and lower orders of architecture.
3. Aldgate, or Ealdgate Ward. The principal streets and places in
it are Aldgate Street, Berry Street, part of St. Mary Axe, part of
Leadenhall Street, part of Lime Street, Billiter Lane and Square,
part of Mark Lane, Fenchurch Street, and Crutchedfriars.
The public buildings in this ward are the African House, the Navy
Office, Bricklayers' Hall, the churches of St. Catherine Creechurch,
St. James's, Duke's Place, St. Andrew Undershaft, St. Catherine
Coleman, and the Jews' Synagogues.
The Royal African House is situated on the south side of Leadenhall
Street, near the east end of it. Here the affairs of the company
are transacted; but the house has nothing in it that merits a
particular description.
The Navy Office is situated on the south side of Crutchedfriars,
near Tower Hill, being a large, well-built pile of buildings, and
the offices for every branch of business relating to the navy
admirably well disposed.
The Jews' synagogues are in Duke's Place, where, and in that
neighbourhood, many of that religion inhabit. The synagogue stands
east and West, as Christian churches usually do: the great door is
on the west, within which is a long desk upon an ascent, raised
above the floor, from whence the law is read. The east part of the
synagogue also is railed in, and the places where the women sit
enclosed with lattices; the men sit on benches with backs to them,
running east and west; and there are abundance of fine branches for
candles, besides lamps, especially in that belonging to the
Portuguese.
4. Lime Street Ward. The principal streets and places in it are
part of Leadenhall Street, and Leadenhall Market, part of Lime
Street, and part of St. Mary Axe.
Leadenhall Market, the finest shambles in Europe, lies between
Leadenhall Street and Fenchurch Street. Of the three courts or
yards which it consists of, the first is that at the north-east
corner of Gracechurch Street, and opens into Leadenhall Street.
This court or yard contains in length from north to south 164 feet,
and in breadth from east to west eighty feet: within this court or
yard, round about the same, are about 100 standing stalls for
butchers, for the selling of beef only, and therefore this court is
called the beef market. These stalls are either under warehouses,
or sheltered from the weather by roofs over them. This yard is on
Tuesdays a market for leather, to which the tanners resort; on
Thursdays the waggons from Colchester, and other parts, come with
baize, &c., and the fellmongers with their wool; and on Fridays it
is a market for raw hides; on Saturdays, for beef and other
provisions.
The second market yard is called the Greenyard, as being once a
green plot of ground; afterwards it was the City's storeyard for
materials for building and the like; but now a market only for veal,
mutton, lamb, &c. This yard is 170 feet in length from east to
west, and ninety feet broad from north to south; it hath in it 140
stalls for the butchers, all covered over. In the middle of this
Greenyard market from north to south is a row of shops, with rooms
over them, for fishmongers: and on the south side and west end are
houses and shops also for fishmongers. Towards the east end of this
yard is erected a fair market-house, standing upon columns, with
vaults underneath, and rooms above, with a bell tower, and a clock,
and under it are butchers' stalls. The tenements round about this
yard are for the most part inhabited by cooks and victuallers; and
in the passages leading out of the streets into this market are
fishmongers, poulterers, cheesemongers, and other traders in
provisions.
The third market belonging to Leadenhall is called the Herb Market,
for that herbs, roots, fruits, &c., are only there sold. This
market is about 140 feet square; the west, east, and north sides had
walks round them, covered over for shelter, and standing upon
columns; in which walks there were twenty-eight stalls for
gardeners, with cellars under them.
The public buildings in this ward are Leadenhall, the East India
House, Pewterers' Hall, and Fletchers' Hall.
Leadenhall is situated on the south side of Leadenhall Street. It
is a large stone fabric, consisting of three large courts or yards,
as has been observed already; part of it is at present a warehouse,
in the occupation of the East India Company, where the finest
calicoes, and other curiosities of the Eastern part of the world,
are reposited; another part of it is for Colchester baize, and is
open every Thursday and Friday. Here was also anciently a chapel,
and a fraternity of sixty priests constituted to celebrate Divine
Service every day to the market people; but was dissolved with other
religious societies at the Reformation.
On the south side of Leadenhall Street also, and a little to the
eastward of Leadenhall, stands the East India House, lately
magnificently built, with a stone front to the street; but the front
being very narrow, does not make an appearance answerable to the
grandeur of the house within, which stands upon a great deal of
ground, the offices and storehouses admirably well contrived, and
the public hall and the committee room scarce inferior to anything
of the like nature in the City.
There is not one church in this ward at present. The officers of
the ward are, an alderman, his deputy, four common-council men, four
constables, two scavengers, sixteen for the wardmote inquest, and a
beadle.
5. Bishopsgate Ward is divided into two parts, one within
Bishopsgate, and the other without.
The streets and places in this ward, within the gate, are, all
Bishopsgate Street, part of Gracechurch Street, all Great and Little
St. Helen's, all Crosby Square, all Camomile Street, and a small
part of Wormwood Street, with several courts and alleys that fall
into them.
That part of this ward that lies without Bishopsgate extends
northwards as far as the bars, being the bounds of the City freedom
on this side.
The principal streets and places in this ward, without the gate,
are, Bishopsgate Street, Petty France, Bethlem Court and Lane, and
Devonshire Square; besides which, there are little courts and alleys
without number between Bishopsgate Street and Moorfields.
The public buildings in this ward are Leather-sellers' Hall, Gresham
College, the churches of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, St. Ethelburga,
and St. Helen.
London Workhouse, for the poor of the City of London, also stands in
this ward, just without Bishopsgate, being a long brick edifice four
hundred feet in length, consisting of several work-rooms and lodging
rooms for the vagrants and parish children brought thither, who are
employed in spinning wool and flax, in sewing, knitting, or winding
silk, or making their clothes or shoes, and are taught to write,
read, and cast accounts. The grown vagrants brought here for a time
only are employed in washing, beating hemp, and picking oakum, and
have no more to keep them than they earn, unless they are sick; and
the boys are put out apprentices to seafaring men or artificers, at
a certain age, and in the meantime have their diet, clothes, physic,
and other necessaries provided for them by the house, which is
supported by private charities, by sums raised annually by the City,
or by the labour of the children, which last article produces seven
or eight hundred pounds per annum.
6. Broad Street Ward contains part of Threadneedle Street,
Bartholomew Lane, part of Prince's Street, part of Lothbury, part of
Throgmorton Street, great part of Broad Street, Winchester Street,
Austinfriars, part of Wormwood Street, and part of London Wall
Street, with the courts and lanes running into them.
The public buildings in this ward are Carpenters' Hall, Drapers'
Hall, Merchant Taylors' Hall, the South Sea House, the Pay Office,
Allhallows on the Wall, St. Peter's Poor, the Dutch Church, St.
Martin's, St. Bennet's, St. Bartholomew's, St. Christopher's, and
the French Church.
The most magnificent and beautiful edifice of the kind in this ward,
and indeed in the City of London, is the South Sea House, lately
erected at the north-east corner of Threadneedle Street, near
Bishopsgate Street, and over against the church of St. Martin
Outwich. It is built of stone and brick.
The several offices for transacting the business of this great
company are admirably well disposed; and the great hall for sales is
nowhere to be paralleled, either in its dimensions or ornaments, any
more than the dining-room, galleries, and chambers above.
7. Cornhill Ward comprehends little more than the street of the
same name, and some little lanes and alleys that fall into it, as
Castle Alley, Sweeting's or Swithin's Alley, Freeman's Yard, part of
Finch Lane, Weigh House Yard, Star Court, the north end of Birching
Lane, St. Michael's Alley, Pope's Head Alley, and Exchange Alley.
Cornhill Street may, in many respects, be looked upon as the
principal street of the City of London; for here almost all affairs
relating to navigation and commerce are transacted; and here all the
business relating to the great companies and the Bank are
negotiated. This street also is situated near the centre of the
City, and some say, upon the highest ground in it. It is spacious,
and well built with lofty houses, four or five storeys high,
inhabited by linendrapers and other considerable tradesmen, who deal
by wholesale as well as retail, and adorned with the principal gate
and front of the Royal Exchange. Here also it is said the
metropolitan church was situated, when London was an archbishopric.
Exchange Alley, so denominated from its being situated on the south
side of this street, over against the Royal Exchange, has long been
famous for the great concourse of merchants and commanders of ships,
and the bargains and contracts made there and in the two celebrated
coffee-houses in it, which go under the respective names of
"Jonathan's" and "Garraway's," where land, stocks, debentures, and
merchandise, and everything that has an existence in Nature, is
bought, sold, and transferred from one to another; and many things
contracted for, that subsists only in the imagination of the
parties.
The public buildings in this ward are, the Royal Exchange, and the
churches of St. Peter and St. Michael.
The Royal Exchange is situated on the north side of Cornhill, about
the middle of the street, forming an oblong open square, the inside
whereof is a hundred and forty-four feet in length from east to
west, and a hundred and seventeen in breadth from north to south;
the area sixty-one square poles, on every side whereof is a noble
piazza or cloister, consisting of twenty-eight columns and arches
that support the galleries above.
The length of the building on the outside is two hundred and three
feet, the breadth a hundred and seventy-one, and the height fifty-
six. On the front towards Cornhill also is a noble piazza,
consisting of ten pillars; and another on the opposite side next
Threadneedle Street, of as many; and in the middle of each a
magnificent gate. Over the Cornhill gate is a beautiful tower, a
hundred and seventy-eight feet high, furnished with twelve small
bells for chimes; and underneath the piazzas are capacious cellars,
which serve for warehouses.
The whole building is of Portland stone, rustic work; above the
arches the inward piazza is an entablament, with fine enrichments;
and on the cornice a range of pilasters, within entablature, and a
spacious compass pediment in the middle of the corners of each of
the four sides. Under the pediment on the north side are the king's
arms; on the south those of the City; and on the east the arms of
Sir Thomas Gresham. And under the pediment on the west side the
arms of the Company of Mercers, with their respective enrichments.
The intercolumns of the upper range are twenty-four niches, nineteen
of which are filled with the statues of the kings and queens regent
of England, standing erect with their robes and regalia, except that
of King James II. and King George II., which are habited like the
Caesars.
On the south side are seven niches, of which four are filled, viz.:-
1. The most easterly figure, which has this inscription in gold
letters, Edvardus Primus Rex, Anno Dom. 1272. 2. Westward,
Edvardus III. Rex, Anno Dom. 1329. 3. Henricus V. Rex, Anno Domini
1412. 4. Henricus VI. Rex, Anno Domini 1422.
On the west side five niches, four of which are filled, viz.:-
1. Under the most southerly figures is subscribed in gold letters,
Edvardus IV. Rex, Anno Domini 1460. 2. Northward (the crown pendent
over his head) Edvardus V. Rex, Anno Domini 1483. 3. Henricus VII.
Rex, Anno Domini 1487. 4. Henricus VIII. Rex, Anno Domini 1508.
On the north side seven niches are filled, viz.:-
1. The most westerly, subscribed in golden characters, Edvardus VI.
Rex, Anno Domini 1547. 2. Maria Regina, Anno Domini 1553. 3.
Elizabetha Regina, Anno Domini 1558. 4. Is subscribed Serenissim &
Potentissim' Princip' Jacobo Primo, Mag. Brit' Fran' & Hibern' Reg.
Fid. Defensori, Societas Pannitonsorum posuit, A.D. 1684. 5. [Greek
text which cannot be reproduced] Serenissimi & Religiosissimi
Principis Caroli Primi, Angliae, Scotiae, Franciae Hiberniae Regis,
Fidei Defensoris; Bis Martyris (in Corpore Effigie) Impiis Rebellium
Manibus, ex hoc loco deturbata confracta, Anno Dom. 1647. Restituta
hic demum collocata, Anno Dom. 1683. Gloria Martyrii qui te fregere
Rebelles non potuere ipsum quem voluere Deum. 6. Carolus Secundus
Rex, Anno Domini 1648. 7. Jacobus II. Rex, Anno Domini 1685.
On the east side five niches, one of which is vacant, the other
filled, viz.:-
1. The most northerly contains two statues, viz., of King William
and Queen Mary, subscribed Gulielmus III. Rex, & Maria II. Regina,
A.D. 1688. S. P. Q. Londin' Optim Principibus, P. C. 1695. 2.
Anna Regina Dei Gratia Mag. Britan' Franciae & Hiberniae, 1701. 3.
George I. inscribed Georgius D. G. Magnae Britan' Franciae &
Hiberniae Rex, Anno Dom. 1714. S.P.Q.L. 4. Southerly the statue
of King George II. in the habiliment of a Caesar, wreathed on the
head, and a battoon or truncheon in his hand, little differing from
that of Charles II. in the centre of the area, only in looking
northward; inscribed Georgius II. D. G. Mag. Brit. Fra. & Hib. Rex,
Anno Dom. 1727. S.P.Q.L.
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