Books: London in 1731
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Don Manoel Gonzales >> London in 1731
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On the four sides of the piazza within the Exchange are twenty-eight
niches, which are all vacant yet, except one near the north-west
angle, where is the figure of Sir Thomas Gresham. The piazza itself
is paved with black and white marble, and the court, or area,
pitched with pebbles; in the middle whereof is the statue of King
Charles II. in a Roman habit, with a battoon in his hand, erected on
a marble pedestal, about eight feet high and looking southward; on
which side of the pedestal, under an imperial crown, wings, trumpet
of fame, sceptre and sword, palm branches, &c., are these words
inscribed, viz.:-
Carolo II. Caesari Britannico, Patriae Patri, Regum Optimo
Clementissimo Augustissimo, Generis Humani Deliciis, Utriusq;
Fortunae Victori, Pacis Europae Arbitro, Marium Domino, ac Vindici
Societatis Mercatorum Adventur' Angliae, quae per CCCC jam prope
Annos Regia benignitate floret, Fidei Intemeratae & Gratitudinis
aeternae hoc Testimonium venerabunda posuit, Anno Salutis Humanae
1684.
On the west side of the pedestal is neatly cut in relievo the figure
of a Cupid reposing his right hand on a shield containing the arms
of England and France quartered, and in his left hand a rose.
On the north side are the arms of Ireland on a shield, supported by
a Cupid.
On the east side the arms of Scotland, with a Cupid holding a
thistle all in relievo.
The inner piazza and court are divided into several stations, or
walks, where the merchants of the respective nations, and those who
have business with them, assemble distinctly; so that any merchant
or commander of a vessel is readily found, if it be known to what
country he trades. The several walks are described in the following
ground-plot of the Exchange:-
0--North
+--------------------+ +------------------------+
| 1 2 | | 3 4 |
| +----------------+ +-------------------+ |
| | 7 8 9 10 | |
| 5 | 6 | 11 |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
West| | +--------+ | | East
12 | | 13 14 | | 15 16 | | 17
| | | | | |
| | +--------+ | |
| | | |
| | | |
|18 | 19 | 20 |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 21 22 | |
| +-----------------+ +------------------+ |
| 23 24 | | 25 26 |
+---------------------+ +-----------------------+
27--South
0. Threadneedle Street
1. East Country Walk
2. Irish Walk
3. Scotch Walk
4. Dutch and Jewellers
5. Norway Walk
6. Silkmens Walk
7. Clothiers Walk
8. Hamburgh Walk
9. Salters Walk
10. Walk
11. American Walk
12. Castle Alley
13. Turkey Walk
14. Grocers and Druggists Walk
15. Brokers, &c of Stocks Walk
16. Italian Walk
17. Swithin's Alley
18. East India Walk
19. Canary Walk
20. Portugal Walk
21. Barbadoes Walk.
22. French Walk
23. Virginia Walk
24. Jamaica Walk.
25. Spanish Walk
26. Jews Walk
27. Cornhill
Near the south gate is a spacious staircase, and near the north gate
another, that lead up to the galleries, on each side whereof are
shops for milliners and other trades, to the number of near two
hundred, which brought in a good revenue at first, nothing being
thought fashionable that was not purchased there; but the milliners
are now dispersed all over the town, and the shops in the Exchange
almost deserted.
8. Langbourn Ward, so called of a bourne, or brook, that had its
source in it, and run down Fenchurch Street, contains these
principal streets: part of Lombard Street, part of Fenchurch
Street, part of Lime Street, and part of Gracechurch Street, with
part of the courts, lanes, and alleys in them, particularly White
Hart Court, Exchange Alley, Sherbourne Lane, Abchurch Lane, St.
Nicholas Lane, Mark Lane, Mincing Lane, Rood Lane, Cullum Court,
Philpot Lane, and Braben Court.
The public buildings in this ward are, the Post Office, Ironmongers'
Hall, Pewterers' Hall; the churches of Allhallows, Lombard Street,
St. Edmund's, Lombard Street, St. Mary Woolnoth, St. Dionis
Backchurch, and St. Allhallows Staining.
The Post Office is situated on the south side of Lombard Street,
near Stocks Market. It was the dwelling-house of Sir Robert Vyner,
in the reign of King Charles II. The principal entrance is out of
Lombard Street, through a great gate and passage that leads into a
handsome paved court, about which are the several offices for
receiving and distributing letters, extremely well contrived.
Letters and packets are despatched from hence every Monday to
France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Flanders, Germany, Sweden, Denmark,
Kent, and the Downs.
Every Tuesday to the United Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark,
and to all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Every Wednesday to Kent only, and the Downs.
Every Thursday to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and all parts of
England and Scotland.
Every Friday to the Austrian and United Netherlands, Germany,
Sweden, Denmark, and to Kent and the Downs.
Every Saturday to all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The post goes also every day to those places where the Court
resides, as also to the usual stations and rendezvous of His
Majesty's fleet, as the Downs, Spithead, and to Tunbridge during the
season for drinking waters, &c.
Letters and packets are received from all parts of England and
Scotland, except Wales, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; from
Wales every Monday and Friday; and from Kent and the Downs every
day.
His Majesty keeps constantly, for the transport of the said letters
and packets, in times of peace,
Between England and France, three packet-boats; Spain, one in a
fortnight; Portugal, one ditto; Flanders, two packet-boats; Holland,
three packet-boats; Ireland, three packet-boats.
And at Deal, two packet-boats for the Downs.
Not to mention the extraordinary packet-boats, in time of war with
France and Spain, to the Leeward Islands, &c.
A letter containing a whole sheet of paper is conveyed eighty miles
for 3d., and two sheets 6d. and an ounce of letters but 1s. And
above eighty miles a single letter is 4d., a double letter 8d., and
an ounce 1s. 4d.
9. Billingsgate Ward is bounded by Langbourn Ward towards the
north, by Tower Street Ward on the east, by the River Thames on the
south, and by Bridge Ward Within on the west. The principal streets
and places in this ward are, Thames Street, Little East Cheap,
Pudding Lane, Botolph Lane, Love Lane, St. Mary Hill, and Rood Lane.
The wharves, or quays, as they lie on the Thames side from east to
west, are, Smart's Quay, Billings gate, Little Somer's Quay, Great
Somer's Quay, Botolph Wharf, Cox's Quay, and Fresh Wharf which last
is the next quay to the bridge; of which Billingsgate is much the
most resorted to. It is a kind of square dock, or inlet, having
quays on three sides of it, to which the vessels lie close while
they are unloading. By a statute of the 10th and 11th of William
III. it was enacted, "That Billingsgate should be a free market for
fish every day in the week, except Sundays." That a fishing-vessel
should pay no other toll or duty than the Act prescribes, viz.,
every salt-fish vessel, for groundage, 8d. per day, and 20d. per
voyage; a lobster boat 2d. per day groundage, and 13d. the voyage;
every dogger boat, or smack with sea-fish, 2d. per day groundage,
and 13d. the voyage; every oyster vessel, 2d. per day groundage, and
a halfpenny per bushel metage. And that it should be lawful for any
person who should buy fish in the said market to sell the same in
any other market or place in London, or elsewhere, by retail." And
because the fishmongers used to buy up great part of the fish at
Billingsgate, and then divide the same among themselves, in order to
set an extravagant price upon them, it was enacted, "That no person
should buy, or cause to be bought, in the said market of
Billingsgate, any quantity of fish, to be divided by lot among the
fishmongers, or other persons, with an intent to sell them
afterwards by retail; and that no fishmonger should buy any more
than for his own use, on pain of 20 pounds." And by the 6th Annae
it was enacted, "That no person should buy fish at Billingsgate to
sell again in the same market; and that none but fishermen, their
wives, or servants, should sell fish by retail at Billingsgate; and
that none should buy or sell fish there before the ringing of the
market bell."
The public buildings in this ward are Butchers' Hall, and the
churches of St. Mary Hill, St. Margaret Pattens, and St. George, in
Botolph Lane.
10. Bridge Ward Within contains London Bridge, New Fish Street,
Gracechurch Street as far as Fenchurch Street, Thames Street from
Fish Street to the Old Swan, part of St. Martin's Lane, part of St.
Michael's Lane, and part of Crooked Lane.
The public buildings in this ward are London Bridge, the Monument,
Fishmongers' Hall, and the churches of St. Magnus and St Bennet,
Gracechurch Street.
The Monument stands on the west side of Fish Street Hill, a little
to the northward of the bridge, and was erected by the legislative
authority, in memory of the Fire, anno 1666, and was designed by Sir
Christopher Wren. It has a fluted column, 202 feet high from the
ground; the greatest diameter of the shaft 15 feet, and the plinth,
or lowest part of the pedestal, 28 feet square, and 40 feet high;
the whole being of Portland stone, except the staircase within,
which is of black marble, containing 345 steps, ten inches and a
half broad, and six inches deep; and a balcony on the outside 32
feet from the top, on which is a gilded flame. The front of the
pedestal, towards the west, contains a representation of the Fire,
and the resurrection of the present city out of the ruins of the
former.
11. Candlewick or Cannon Street Ward contains part of Great East
Cheap, part of Candlewick, now called Cannon Street, part of
Abchurch Lane, St. Nicholas Lane, St. Clement's Lane, St. Michael's
Lane, Crooked Lane, St. Martin's Lane, St. Lawrence Poultney Lane,
with the courts and alleys that fall into them.
In Cannon Street is that remarkable stone called London Stone, which
has remained fixed in the ground many hundred years, but for what
end is uncertain, though supposed by some to be the place from
whence the Romans began to compute the number of miles anciently to
any part of the kingdom.
12. Walbrook Ward contains the best part of Walbrook, part of
Bucklersbury, the east end of Budge Row, the north end of Dowgate,
part of Cannon Street, most of Swithin's Lane, most of Bearbinder
Lane, part of Bush Lane, part of Suffolk Lane, part of Green Lattice
Lane, and part of Abchurch Lane, with several courts and lanes that
fall into them.
Stocks Market consists of a pretty large square, having Cornhill and
Lombard Street on the north-east, the Poultry on the north-west, and
Walbrook on the south-east. Before the Fire it was a market chiefly
for fish and flesh, and afterwards for fruit and garden stuff.
In this market Sir Robert Vyner, Bart. and Alderman, erected a
marble equestrian statue of King Charles II., standing on a pedestal
eighteen feet high, and trampling on his enemies.
The public buildings in this ward are Salters' Hall, the churches of
St. Swithin and St. Stephen, Walbrook.
13. Dowgate, or Dowgate Ward, so called from the principal street,
which has a steep descent or fall into the Thames, contains part of
Thames Street, part of St. Lawrence-Poultney Hill, part of Duxford
Lane, part of Suffolk Lane, part of Bush Lane, part of Dowgate Hill,
Checquer Yard, Elbow Lane, and Cloak Lane; and the southward of
Thames Street, Old Swan Lane, Cole Harbour, Allhallows Lane, Campion
Lane, Friars Lane, Cozens Lane, Dowgate Dock, and the Steel Yard.
The public buildings in this ward are Tallow-chandlers' Hall,
Skinners' Hall, Innholders' Hall, Plumbers' Hall, Joiners' Hall,
Watermen's Hall, and the church of Allhallows the Great.
14. Vintry Ward (which was so called from the wine merchants who
landed and sold their wines here) contains part of Thames Street,
New Queen Street, Garlick Hill, College Hill, and St. Thomas
Apostles.
The public buildings in this ward are Vintners' Hall, Cutlers' Hall,
the churches of St. Michael Royal and St. James, Garlick Hill.
Vintners' Hall is situated on the south side of Thames Street,
between Queen Street and Garlick Hill, being built on three sides of
a quadrangle fronting the street. The rooms are large, finely
wainscoted and carved, particularly the magnificent screen at the
east end of the great hall, which is adorned with two columns, their
entablature and pediment; and on acroters are placed the figure of
Bacchus between several Fames, with other embellishments; and they
have a garden backwards towards the Thames.
15. Cordwainers' Street Ward, so called from the cordwainers
(shoemakers), curriers, and other dealers in leather, that inhabited
that part of the town anciently, includes Bow Lane, New Queen
Street, Budge Row, Tower Royal Street, Little St. Thomas Apostle's,
Pancras Lane, a small part of Watling Street, a little part of
Basing Lane, and St. Sythe's Lane.
The public buildings in this ward are the church of St. Anthony, St.
Mary Aldermary, and St. Mary-le-Bow.
16. Cheap Ward. The principal streets and places in this ward are
Cheapside, the Poultry, part of Honey Lane Market, part of the Old
Jewry, part of Bucklersbury, part of Pancras Lane, part of Queen
Street, all Ironmonger Lane, King Street, and St. Lawrence Lane, and
part of Cateaton Street, part of Bow Lane, and all Guildhall.
The public buildings in this ward are, Guildhall, Mercers' Chapel
and Hall, Grocers' Hall, the Poultry Compter, the churches of St.
Mildred, Poultry, and St. Lawrence Jewry.
Guildhall, the town house of this great City, stands at the north
end of King Street, and is a large handsome structure, built with
stone, anno 1666, the old hall having been destroyed by the Fire in
1666. By a large portico on the south side we enter the principal
room, properly called the hall, being 153 feet in length, 48 in
breadth, and 55 in height. On the right hand, at the upper end, is
the ancient court of the hustings; at the other end of the hall
opposite to it are the Sheriff's Courts. The roof of the inside is
flat, divided into panels; the walls on the north and south sides
adorned with four demy pillars of the Gothic order, painted white,
and veined with blue, the capitals gilt with gold, and the arms
finely depicted in their proper colour, viz., at the east the arms
of St. Edward the Confessor, and of the Kings of England the shield
and cross of St. George. At the west end the arms of the Confessor,
those of England and France quarterly, and the arms of England. On
the fourteen demy pillars (above the capital) are the king's arms,
the arms of London, and the arms of the twelve companies. At the
east end are the King's arms carved between the portraits of the
late Queen, at the foot of an arabathram, under a rich canopy
northward, and those of King William and Queen Mary southward,
painted at full length. The inter-columns are painted in imitation
of porphyry, and embellished with the portraitures, painted in full
proportion, of eighteen judges, which were there put up by the City,
in gratitude for their signal service done in determining
differences between landlord and tenant (without the expense of
lawsuits) in rebuilding this City, pursuant to an Act of Parliament,
after the Fire, in 1666.
Those on the south side are, Sir Heneage Finch, Sir Orlando
Bridgeman, Sir Matthew Hale, Sir Richard Rainsford, Sir Edward
Turner, Sir Thomas Tyrrel, Sir John Archer, Sir William Morton.
On the north side are, Sir Robert Atkins, Sir John Vaughan, Sir
Francis North, Sir Thomas Twisden, Sir Christopher Turner, Sir
William Wild, Sir Hugh Windham.
At the west end, Sir William Ellis, Sir Edward Thurland, Sir Timothy
Littleton.
And in the Lord Mayor's Court (which is adorned with fleak stone and
other painting and gilding, and also the figures of the four
cardinal virtues) are the portraits of Sir Samuel Brown, Sir John
Kelynge, Sir Edward Atkins, and Sir William Windham, all (as those
above) painted in full proportion in their scarlet robes as judges.
The late Queen Anne, in December, 1706, gave the City 26 standards,
and 63 colours, to be put up in this hall, that were taken from the
French and Bavarians at the battle of Ramillies the preceding
summer; but there was found room only for 46 colours, 19 standards,
and the trophy of a kettle-drum of the Elector of Bavaria's. The
colours over the Queen's picture are most esteemed, on account of
their being taken from the first battalion of French guards.
From the hall we ascend by nine stone steps to the Mayor's Court,
Council Chamber, and the rest of the apartments of the house, which,
notwithstanding it may not be equal to the grandeur of the City, is
very well adapted to the ends it was designed for, namely, for
holding the City courts, for the election of sheriffs and other
officers, and for the entertainment of princes, ministers of State,
and foreign ambassadors, on their grand festivals.
17. Coleman Street Ward. The principal streets in this ward are
the Old Jewry, part of Lothbury, Coleman Street, part of London
Wall, and all the lower part of Moorfields without the walls.
The public buildings are Bethlem or Bedlam Hospital, Founders' Hall,
Armourers' Hall, the churches of St. Olave Jewry, St. Margaret,
Lothbury, and St. Stephen, Coleman Street.
New Bethlem, or Bedlam, is situated at the south end of Moorfields,
just without the wall, the ground being formerly part of the town
ditch, and granted by the City to the governors of the hospital of
Old Bethlem, which had been appropriated for the reception of
lunatics, but was found too strait to contain the people brought
thither, and the building in a decaying condition.
The present edifice, called New Bedlam, was begun to be erected anno
1675, and finished the following year. It is built of brick and
stone; the wings at each end, and the portico, being each of them
adorned with four pilasters, entablature and circular pediment of
the Corinthian order. Under the pediment are the King's arms,
enriched with festoons; and between the portico and each of the said
wings is a triangular pediment, with the arms of the City; and on a
pediment over the gate the figures of two lunatics, exquisitely
carved. The front of this magnificent hospital is reported to
represent the Escurial in Spain, and in some respects exceeds every
palace in or about London, being 528 feet in length, and regularly
built. The inside, it is true, is not answerable to the grand
appearance it makes without, being but 30 feet broad, and consisting
chiefly of a long gallery in each of the two storeys that runs from
one end of the house to the other; on the south side whereof are
little cells, wherein the patients have their lodgings, and on the
north the windows that give light to the galleries, which are
divided in the middle by a handsome iron gate, to keep the men and
women asunder.
In order to procure a person to be admitted into the hospital, a
petition must be preferred to a committee of the governors, who sit
at Bedlam seven at a time weekly, which must be signed by the
churchwardens, or other reputable persons of the parish the lunatic
belongs to, and also recommended to the said committee by one of the
governors; and this being approved by the president and governors,
and entered in a book, upon a vacancy (in their turn) an order is
granted for their being received into the house, where the said
lunatic is accommodated with a room, proper physic and diet, gratis.
The diet is very good and wholesome, being commonly boiled beef,
mutton, or veal, and broth, with bread, for dinners on Sundays,
Tuesdays, and Thursdays, the other days bread, cheese, and butter,
or on Saturdays pease-pottage, rice-milk, furmity, or other pottage,
and for supper they have usually broth or milk pottage, always with
bread. And there is farther care taken, that some of the committee
go on a Saturday weekly to the said hospital to see the provisions
weighed, and that the same be good and rightly expended.
18. Basinghall, or Bassishaw Ward, consisteth only of Basinghall
Street, and a small part of the street along London Wall.
The public buildings of this ward are Blackwell Hall, Masons' Hall,
Weavers' Hall, Coopers' Hall, Girdlers' Hall, and St. Michael
Bassishaw Church.
Blackwell Hall is situated between Basinghall Street on the east,
and Guildhall Yard on the west, being formerly called Bakewell Hall,
from the family of the Bakewells, whose mansion-house stood here
anno 1315, which falling to the Crown, was purchased by the City of
King Richard II., and converted into a warehouse and market for
woollen manufactures; and by an act of common council anno 1516, it
was appointed to be the only market for woollen manufactures sold in
the City, except baize, the profits being settled on Christ's
Hospital, which arise from the lodging and pitching of the cloth in
the respective warehouses, there being one assigned for the
Devonshire cloths, and others for the Gloucester, Worcester,
Kentish, Medley, Spanish cloths, and blankets. The profits also of
the baize brought to Leadenhall are settled on the same hospital.
These cloths pay a penny a week each for pitching, and a halfpenny a
week resting; stockings and blankets pay by the pack, all which
bring in a considerable revenue, being under the direction of the
governors of Christ's Hospital. This hall was destroyed by the
Fire, and rebuilt by Christ's Hospital, anno 1672. The doorcase on
the front towards Guildhall is of stone, adorned with two columns,
entablature, and pediment of the Doric order. In the pediment are
the King's arms, and the arms of London under them, enriched with
Cupids, &c.
19. Cripplegate Ward is usually divided into two parts, viz.,
Cripplegate within the walls and Cripplegate without.
The principal streets and places in Cripplegate Ward within the
walls are Milk Street, great part of Honey Lane Market, part of
Cateaton Street, Lad Lane, Aldermanbury, Love Lane, Addle Street,
London Wall Street, from Little Wood Street to the postern, Philip
Lane, most of Great Wood Street, Little Wood Street, part of Hart
Street, Mugwell Street, part of Fell Street, part of Silver Street,
the east part of Maiden Lane, and some few houses in Cheapside to
the eastward of Wood Street.
The principal streets and places in Cripplegate Ward Without are
Fore Street, and the Postern Street heading to Moorfields, Back
Street in Little Moorfields, Moor Lane, Grub Street, the south part
to the posts and chain, the fourth part of Whitecross Street as far
as the posts and chain, part of Redcross Street, Beach Lane, the
south part of Golden Lane as far as the posts and chain, the east
part of Golden Lane, the east part of Jewin Street, Bridgewater
Square, Brackley Street, Bridgewater Street, Silver Street, and
Litton Street.
The public buildings in this ward are Sion College, Barber-Surgeons'
Hall, Plasterers' Hall, Brewers' Hall, Curriers' Hall, the churches
of St. Mary Aldermanbury, St. Alphege, St. Alban, Wood Street, and
St. Giles, Cripplegate.
Sion College is situated against London Wall, a little to the
eastward of Cripplegate, where anciently stood a nunnery, and
afterwards a hospital founded for a hundred blind men, anno 1320, by
W. Elsing, mercer, and called Elsing's Spittal: he afterwards
founded here a priory for canons regular, which being surrendered to
King Henry VIII. anno 1530, it was purchased by Dr. Thomas White,
residentiary of St. Paul's, and vicar of St. Dunstan's in the West,
for the use of the London clergy, who were incorporated by King
Charles I., anno 1631, by the name of the president and fellows of
Sion College, for the glory of God, the good of His Church, redress
of inconveniences, and maintaining of truth in doctrine, and love in
conversation with one another, pursuant to the donor's will; which
college is governed by the president, two deans and four assistants,
who are yearly elected out of the London clergy, on the third
Tuesday after Easter; but none of them reside there, the whole being
left to the care of the librarian. The great gate against London
Wall is adorned with two columns, their entablature and pitched
pediment of the Tuscan order, whereon is this inscription in gold
letters:-
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